A creepy grin formed on Luz's face as blood and piss slowly dripped off it.「 'From today onwards, you shall use magic' 」

"OYY… Harold, why is that motherfucker grinning like an idiot?" commented one of the guards with a raised eyebrow while tightening his grip around Luz's collar.

"I don't know, Richard. Maybe we kicked him a few times, too often on his head," chuckled Harold while glancing at Luz in boredom.

Luz remained silent and slowly raised his gaze before spitting right into the guard's face to provoke a reaction.

Enraged, Richard punched right into Luz's abdomen, making him cough blood before Luz fell onto him.

But getting as close as possible to the guard was Luz's plan from the start, especially since the duo had their guards down at the moment.

As Luz fell onto the guard known as Richard, Luz's eyes immediately narrowed while his grin widened in the blink of an eye. As quickly as possible, he muttered,「"spatial distortion"」while striking towards the guard's chin with his palm.

Luckily for Luz, his timing was perfect. The spell was activated right upon impact, sending a mixture of shrapnel, blood, and flesh flying in every direction as the magic spell obliterated the latter's jaw.

What followed afterward was a bloodcurdling scream as the two guards dropped onto the ground. Blood and flesh slowly dripped from everyone's faces, and by now, the guard duo was way too frightened to take any action. "Richard?" stuttered Harold as he couldn't believe what just happened.

'Finally…' shot through Luz's head, and a smile of triumph formed on his twisted face. But his victory was short-lived because the consequence of his action hit him a second later.

A searing pain coming straight from his mana core shot straight through his body, resulting in Luz losing his balance. But thankfully, he ends up crashing towards the wall against which Luz leaned while breathing heavily with his eyes tightly shut. 'It hurts,' went through Luz's head as he bitterly clenched his teeth in pain.

The injured guard, known as Richard, wailed loudly in pain while pressing both hands tightly against his wrecked jaw, hoping to stop the blood loss he had been facing. Unfortunally, it was way too late to stop the inevitable.

Even though these two guards didn't recognize which type of elemental spell Luz utilized moments ago, they were still terrified as it wasn't one of the four elements. In fear, the two crawled back while whimpering for mercy.

After taking a deep breath, Luz opened his bloody red eyes before looking down in disgust at the two since they were getting onto his nerve. 'I gotta make sure that they don't realize that my situation is critical.'

At that moment, Luz finally got an idea of how he could subdue the healthy one of the two, known as Harold, even if the latter could suppress him with ease.

"You two," Luz groaned while shakily taking out the medallion his older sister had given him earlier. It was his last hope of what might await him here. With a trembling hand, he clenched tightly onto the chain. The light rays coming from the sun caused the sigil, depicting a double-headed golden eagle slightly to glow upon impact. 'Master Brian's position shouldn't be a joke in this place, right?'

Only now did the two guards realize to what a degree they fucked up for a few silver coins. Richard immediately shrieked loud before pleading in an unrecognizable voice, "Plea-Please, I-I got a family."

But before they could plead further, Luz cut him short with laughter. "Family… You know I have one as well. Well, I had one. So what?" His laughter immediately vanished, and his voice became serious. "If you want me to leave them out of the picture, kill yourself, and I won't pursue the matter further."

Richard was furious and gripped a dagger tightly while contemplating killing Luz on the spot. But the sigil forced him into acknowledging his current situation. After all, there is no chance that a goddamn guard could afford the costly treatment for that nasty wound, nor would any of his family members survive if he proceeded with killing Luz.

The injured guard nodded in agreement before peacefully taking his iron dagger out of its sheath. Filled with regret, Richard calmly closed his eyes, preparing himself mentally for what he was about to do. Only then did Richard place his dagger in tremble against his throat as the facade of peacefulness imploded before immediately getting replaced by twisted emotions as the man with an obliterated jaw cut through his carotid artery, as if there was no tomorrow.

Shocked at how quickly his comrade died, Harold stared in fright at Luz's face, which was now resembling that of a demon from the depths of hell.

However, Luz ignored Harold completely and merely clapped as if he was in a theater. Only after a minute passed did Luz shift his gaze towards the filth sitting there quietly.

After gulping, Harold dared to ask what kind of fate awaited him.

Luz erupted into laughter before stating coldly: "As for you… well, you will be doing my bidding, so stand up." After all, now was the time to carry out his judgment on those he deemed unworthy.

Shaky like a newborn fawn, Harold stood up before stuttering, "What is your wish, sir?"

Ready to quench his wrath, Luz bent over to pick the dead guard's dagger before declaring with a trembling rough voice, "Lead me to that fucking shop owner. It's time for us to force him to uphold his part of the deal."

Harold nodded, and a smile of relief formed on his face. "By your command," he answered respectfully before leading Luz out of the small alleys. 'If I'm compliant, the punishment awaiting me should be a lot milder.'

The shop owner had long forgotten what had happened earlier today and continued his business, as usual, selling animals and other dairy goods on the market.

However, the moment he, the owner, appeared in Luz's eyesight, the latter's gaze immediately narrowed while his grip around his new dagger tightened. "You will go from behind and enable him."

Nodding, the guard did as Luz wished, and the two split. Luz, however, made his way towards the stand as blood dripped from his forehead.

Upon seeing Luz, the owner was baffled that this man dared to appear in his sight after these two guards beat him up and took all his money. A grin formed on his face, and he asked, "are you here to ask for your money or to ask me to hold my part of the deal?"

However, Luz simply shook his head, and in the next moment, Harold, the guard, grabbed the vendor from behind.

The vendor resisted but immediately got subdued by the guard. Harold used the vendor's head like a hammer, hitting it a couple of times against the desk before lifting him up.

Terrified of what was about to happen to him, the owner immediately stuttered, "I-I'll uphold the deal."

Unfortunally, it was too late, and neither would Luz accept that outcome.

Luz shook his head again before answering seriously, "No, that is not enough since you abandoned the deal."

Gulping, the owner's eyes immediately narrowed, and he glanced slightly at the table before stating coldly: "Fine. You can pick more than one animal."

The smile on Luz's face immediately grew, going from one ear to another, which the vendor interpreted as Luz giving in, and he sighed in relief. 'Thankfully, he isn't too unreasonable,'  the vendor thought.

However, the answer that followed was completely different.