6kv Chapter 42 Compensation
Chapter 42 Compensation
Hick did not slack off after leaving the top floor.
After swiftly arranging for Kurt to contact the Moreno family, he rushed to the forbidden room where his mentor Perot's private library was kept.
"Oh? Hick."
The familiar owl statue on the gate gleamed with an eerie light in its eye sockets and emitted a slightly monotonous sound:
"Congratulations on your promotion to a formal disciple. I have received your master's instructions, and your privileges have been activated."
Hick dared not be negligent and bowed respectfully to the owl:
"Greetings, Your Excellency Kerry. It's a pleasure to see you again."
"Since you are the master's personally taught disciple, there's no need for such formalities. Just call me Kerry."
Kerry flapped his wings and took flight, reciting a few obscure syllables towards the gate.
The heavy stone door slid open silently.
"Go in, Hick. May knowledge guide your path."
Hick thought to himself: "My predecessor served my mentor for three years, risking his life twice, and only then did I earn the title of 'formal disciple'?"
This threshold... is really high!
He showed no sign of it on his face, but simply thanked him again: "Thank you, Lord Kerry."
Then, under Kerry's watchful gaze, he stepped into this long-awaited treasure trove of knowledge.
Looking at the vast and priceless experimental manuals, Hick's heart surged with joy! If he could master them all... how promising his future would be!
However, this immersion did not last long.
A few days later, outside the Wizard Tower, the Moreno family's men arrived in a flurry of dust.
"Lord Hick has dealt with that damned murderer?!" The leader was still Knight Commander Riso, his tone urgent and expectant.
When questioned, Kurt gave a strange look and spoke evasively:
"Well... you'll know when Boss Hick arrives in person."
Riso frowned slightly, his mind filled with doubts: Why would a mere first-level apprentice be so secretive?
At the agreed-upon meeting place, Riso suppressed his unease and waited anxiously.
Soon, Hick strode out of the wizard tower and came straight to him.
Rizzo put on a smile and stepped forward eagerly:
"Lord Hick! You summoned us here, so surely Nakrar has been executed? I wonder what our family's mark is...?"
"Smack—!!!"
A resounding slap landed on Riso's face like a thunderclap! The force was so great that his vision went black and his cheek instantly swelled up!
"You bastard!!"
Hick's hair stood on end in fury, his eyes burning with icy rage, and he roared so loudly that the eardrums of the surrounding knights rang:
"What evil intentions are you, the Moreno family?! Are you tired of living and want to be wiped out completely?!"
"Sir, calm down!!"
Despite the excruciating pain and humiliation, Rizzo desperately held back his knights, who had instantly drawn their swords and were now glaring in fury. He was utterly astonished and bewildered.
What... what on earth is going on?! Weren't they here to make a deal? Why did they start attacking right away? And why are they accusing them of something so serious?!
"Lord Hick! There must be a huge misunderstanding here!" Rizzo's voice trembled as he tried to explain.
"Misunderstand?!"
Hick seemed utterly enraged; his voice suddenly rose, filled with grief, indignation, and accusation:
"A third of the apprentices in the Wizarding Tower were brutally murdered on the spot! Their bodies were never found! This is a misunderstanding?!"
"My mentor, Lord Perot! A dignified second-level wizard! He was nearly seriously injured while cleaning up the mess you've made! And this is all a misunderstanding?!"
"Fine! I'll take my men right now and slaughter the entire Moreno family, leaving no one alive! Then I'll say it was a misunderstanding, how about that?!"
A gruesome death?! Severe injuries?!
Riso and the knights were completely stunned, as if they had fallen into an ice cave! A huge, ominous premonition instantly gripped them!
Hick seemed extremely angry and waved his hand impatiently:
"Kurt! You tell them what a mess these idiots have made!"
"Yes, boss!" Kurt stepped forward, cleared his throat, and began to vividly and embellish the "complete truth" of the "Klar incident."
Under his brilliant performance:
The Moreno family's commission became the fuse for disaster.
Klar is portrayed as a deeply hidden outlaw with terrifying trump cards.
The siege of the Wizard Tower turned into a tragic and heroic sacrifice.
The devastating explosion in the underground cave was portrayed as an apocalyptic disaster.
And the root of all this points to that damned award commission from the Moreno family!
As Kurt recounted his story with great emotion, Riso and the knights' expressions changed from initial astonishment to disbelief, then to deathly pale faces, and finally only boundless fear and despair remained!
"That...that apprentice...he...he..."
Riso's lips trembled, and he could barely speak, "Even...even a level two wizard couldn't...control him?!"
"The Silent Forest's underground caves...now...have truly become...a lava lake?!"
A knight muttered in a daze, as if confirming an unbearable nightmare.
A terrifying scene seemed to appear before my eyes: mountains of corpses, seas of blood, the earth cracking, and towering lava...
And the culprit behind all of this was actually that seemingly insignificant request from their family?!
A tremendous sense of absurdity and the fear of annihilation instantly overwhelmed them!
"You all swore back then that he was just a lowly first-level apprentice?!" Hick's voice was like a blade chilled to the bone, each word piercing to the heart:
"This monstrous disaster, is it what you call a 'little apprentice'?! Speak! Did you deliberately frame the Wizard Tower?! For this crime you committed, the entire Moreno family deserves to be buried ten times over!!"
Hick's menacing questioning was like the last straw, completely crushing Rizzo and the others.
"Splash!" "Splash!"
The knights were pale and trembling, and they all knelt down on the ground!
Rizzo prostrated himself on the ground, his forehead pressed firmly against the cold earth, his voice distorted by extreme fear:
"Lord Hick! Innocent! Utterly innocent!! Our family... our family truly had no idea that Klar was such a heartless demon! Nor did we know he possessed such a world-destroying weapon! My lord! Our Moreno family... is innocent! Innocent!!"
"Innocent?" Hick let out a short, harsh laugh, full of undisguised contempt.
"Ha... Do you think that once this matter is reported, the Silent Forest... will care whether you are 'innocent' or not?!" He deliberately emphasized the word "innocent," as if it were a heavy hammer blow to Riso's heart.
"But we..."
Rizzo raised his head in despair, but before he could finish speaking, a thought flashed through his mind!
"As long as" it's reported? ...That means...there's also the possibility of "not reporting it"?!
Like a drowning man grasping at the last piece of driftwood, Rizzo suddenly sat up, his eyes flashing with a desperate, desperate will to survive, his voice hoarse and urgent:
"My lord! My lord, have mercy! I beg you... to spare my life!!" He kowtowed heavily, ignoring the blood seeping from his forehead.
"We, the Moreno family... are willing to give everything! We are willing to compensate for all the losses suffered by the Wizard Tower! We beg you, sir, to show mercy!!"
At this moment, Kurt, standing nearby, let out a timely, mocking laugh, adding fuel to the fire:
"Compensation? Can you afford to pay?"
Hick remained expressionless, his gaze indifferently fixed on the embers of the burning forest in the distance, seemingly uninterested in the "negotiation" and ready to "handle business" at any moment.
This cold indifference terrified Rizzo! He gritted his teeth, as if he were about to vomit his very soul, and uttered a number that made his heart bleed:
"Fifty...fifty thousand Magic Mirror Coins!! My lord! If you can quell this matter and not pursue it any further... our Moreno family is willing to immediately offer fifty thousand Magic Mirror Coins!!!"
Hick's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly, his fingers twirling lightly inside his sleeve, but he remained silent.
Cold sweat poured down his forehead, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst! He abruptly closed his eyes, and with all his remaining strength, shouted out his last, desperate gamble:
"Add another ten thousand!! As long as... as long as you can return that medal... to our family!! We... we are willing to offer another ten thousand Magic Mirror Coins! A total of sixty thousand!! My lord! This is all our family can offer!!"
The air seemed to freeze.
Hick's gaze finally shifted slowly back, landing on Rizzo's face, which was contorted with fear and despair.
It's like examining a...
Finally, we've collected enough items to meet the price requirement.