Cliff

Cliff surrendered so quickly and so thoroughly that not only Karen, but even Ogren, who had accompanied Cliff, was left utterly dumbfounded. Yet Cliff’s instant submission made Karen’s eyes light up, as if a new idea had occurred to her.

However, Karen paid no attention to Cliff at that moment, instead turning her gaze to Ogren. “Haven’t you recently provided Dolai Village with many axes for chopping wood and all sorts of tools? Go back, gather some of those tools and place them at the edge of the Goblin Forest. Tonight, I’ll send the undead to collect them.”

This request left Ogren in a difficult position; those tools were meant for Dolai Village’s construction. Karen’s demand left him at a loss for how to respond, so he turned to look at Cliff.

As Ogren’s gaze shifted, Karen’s eyes followed, fixing on Cliff, who was being stared down by three third-tier undead behind her. Cliff immediately straightened, uneasy.

“What are you looking at? Since the esteemed necromancer has given her orders, you’d best do as you’re told!”

With that, Cliff glanced at Karen, saw the satisfied smile on her face, and breathed a sigh of relief, offering her a sycophantic grin.

Once Cliff had nodded, Ogren quickly turned to leave and prepare—after all, with someone else to take the blame, what was there to hesitate about?

“Um... Esteemed necromancer, I have some matters to attend to, so I’ll be on my way...”

Watching Ogren depart, Cliff felt the hairs on his neck stand on end and instinctively tried to slip away.

But as he turned, he found Little Green blocking his path. Cliff’s expression changed dramatically, and then he did something that left Karen utterly astonished: he turned back, dropped to his knees before her, and burst into loud sobs.

“Esteemed necromancer, please let me go! I am but a pitiful, weak deputy city guard...”

Karen looked at him with a face full of disdain. “With your temperament, how did you ever reach the third tier or become the deputy city guard of Moon-Worship City?”

“My father was the previous lord of Moon-Worship City,” Cliff muttered quietly.

Upon hearing this, Karen immediately understood: so the man was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

But Karen’s eyes narrowed again. “No, something’s off.”

This Cliff before her was far too afraid of death. Even if he hadn’t realized at first that his actions had offended Karen, he shouldn’t have been so utterly submissive afterward. His fear was unusually extreme.

After all, under normal circumstances, Karen would never kill him. There must be some other reason for his behavior.

Of course, Karen didn’t know why Cliff was so afraid of her, but she could bluff.

“So, you’ve learned something, haven’t you?”

The moment Karen uttered those words, Cliff shuddered, his face turning deathly pale. Karen saw she had found a breakthrough and pressed her advantage.

Cliff’s nature was timid, especially in such an atmosphere of despair and terror. It took little for Karen to coax the truth out of him, and once he confessed, Karen couldn’t help but see him in a new light.

Though Cliff was both cowardly and a noble, aside from his timidity, he had no other serious faults. Even if his martial prowess had been elevated to the third tier by resources, it still required effort on his part.

Moreover, Cliff was quite clever. His father, the count and lord, had died five or six years ago, yet Cliff had managed to maintain his position and even increase his family’s wealth. That required skill.

The reason for his groveling, nearly crying for his life before Karen, was clear.

Once Cliff realized Karen’s strength was far beyond what he’d been told, he sensed that someone was setting him up—to kill him!

It wasn’t mere nervousness; recent events in Moon-Worship City justified his fears.

Cliff was most anxious about what happened just days prior, when three noble families of Moon-Worship City were wiped out.

On the surface, it appeared to be a diversionary revenge by the Shadow Wraiths, but Cliff felt something was wrong. Combined with other recent occurrences, he suspected a force was cleansing the old powers from Moon-Worship City.

Those three noble families were just the beginning. He even worried he was next.

That’s why, upon discovering Karen’s strength was far greater than expected and seeing her unfriendly attitude, he became so desperately afraid.

After listening to Cliff’s analysis of the situation within Moon-Worship City, Karen’s eyes narrowed further.

“If Cliff’s guess is correct, and a force is indeed reshuffling the cards within Moon-Worship City, then its situation is far more complicated than I originally imagined!”

This was not good news for Karen. She had hoped the relationship between Moon-Worship City and the Shadow Wraiths would be a straightforward matter of life and death, not the tangled web before her.

Of course, such things were beyond Karen’s control, so now she had to consider how to face the current situation. As she pondered, her gaze fell upon Cliff.

Cliff, though timid, was no fool—indeed, he was very sharp. In that brief moment, he realized that Karen was not connected to the power he’d anticipated.

Still, he remained respectful, for Karen could easily end his life, especially now that he had confessed his predicament.

Naturally, Karen had no intention of killing him; in fact, she wanted him alive—so long as he cooperated.

“If your guess is correct, then someone wants to use me to get rid of you.

No—they know perfectly well that I’m unlikely to kill you. No matter your offense, at most I’d teach you a lesson. But they might not stop at that.

Do you believe that, once you leave my territory, you won’t survive to return to Moon-Worship City?”

At these words, Cliff’s face turned ashen, terror filling his eyes. His response pleased Karen greatly.

“Do you want to live?”

Karen’s question made Cliff’s eyes light up, his face full of hope. “Yes!”

When Cliff uttered his desire to live, Karen smiled faintly and extended her right hand. At the same time, a ball of black flame appeared in her palm, and within that flame was a skull, biting down on a sword...