Chapter 52: A Noble with Human Feelings!

Although she felt pity for these hunters, for her sister's safety and to repay her master's trust over the past few days, Eve Lan strictly obeyed Gervas's orders.

Drawing the bow and nocking the arrow, her pupils constricted; in the vision only Eve Lan herself could perceive, the hunter opposite her arm expanded infinitely.

With a whoosh, the arrow flew.

Thwack!

A burst of blood bloomed on Captain Pike's arm.

"Charge forward! Do not kill those who surrender; anyone who dares resist shall be executed on the spot!"

Without further delay, Gervas directly issued the order for a full assault.

"Do not kill those who surrender!"

Amidst the shouts, led by Lei Meng, Knight Mi Gen, and other knights, the guards surged forward.

Whether it was because the hunters were terrified by the fact that Pike, the strongest man in the village, had been shot and wounded in one strike, or because the guards' momentum was sufficiently terrifying.

When the guards rushed close, these hunters surprisingly did not choose to resist.

"You people, resist! If we don't resist, our families and we will surely be executed by this noble. We hunted on his territory, which is stealing noble wealth, a capital offense..."

Crack!

The wounded Pike still would not behave, and was immediately knocked to the ground by a sword-back strike from Lei Meng, who was at the very front.

However, Pike's defiance was not due to treachery; rather, twenty years ago his father had been persecuted to death by a noble.

If his mother had not taken him to become a fugitive, and he had not later luckily joined the hunter village, he likely would have died long ago.

Therefore, his hatred and wariness toward nobles were far stronger than those of the other villagers.

Now that he had been knocked down by Lei Meng, Pike, with his mouth full of blood, was immediately restrained by Knight Mi Gen.

As for the other hunters, there was no need to mention them; swords were pressed against their heads one after another.

Only a few women and children, who had been sent ahead to the mountain path, were still climbing in terror.

"My lord, what should be done with those women and children?"

Gervas looked at the steep slope, seventy or eighty meters high; even for a normal man, climbing it was very dangerous.

Now only women and children were up there; sending anyone to pursue them would surely cause problems.

"Do not worry about them for now!"

Gervas decided to use Chasing Moon later to search the back mountain for them.

"Which one of you is the village head?"

"Noble, you need not ask. If you wish to kill, just kill; I know you will not spare us in the end," Pike answered again, preempting others.

Gervas frowned and looked at this Pike.

He was a man of backbone; one had to admire him.

But the same principle applied: since he was now opposing Gervas himself, it would not do.

Boom!

"Behave! Do you seek death?" Knight Mi Gen fiercely punched the other's abdomen, bending Pike into the shape of a shrimp.

The other guards were even more eager to act; at a single word from Gervas, they would without hesitation execute this fellow who dared to offend my lord.

Kill the chicken to scare the monkey?

Gervas was also considering it.

However, this would certainly be the last resort.

He had not expended great effort to come here merely to slaughter indiscriminately.

Rather, it was to subdue them and have them serve him in the future; experienced hunters were scarce talents.

"Ah! Little Pike!"

Just then, a cry of alarm suddenly came from above everyone's heads.

Looking up, they saw a child of five or six years old, due to nervousness and a slipping foot, had missed a step and slid down to the edge of a cliff with a drop of thirty or forty meters.

Fortunately, a vine had bound the child's ankle, barely preventing the child from falling further.

However, the current situation was not much better.

The vine was not secure, the binding not firm; the child's body, hanging upside down, was still slowly descending, and it would not be long before he fell.

Above, a woman was constantly weeping and shouting; perhaps desperate to save the child, she herself had also begun to slide toward the cliff edge.

"Mia, Little Pike, no! Someone, save them!"

Just as Gervas was preparing to take action, Pike struggled violently, shouting urgently and repeatedly.

"Ah!" And as his shout fell, the child's mother finally missed her footing and began to fall rapidly toward the cliff.

"No! Mia..." Pike's voice was hoarse and desperate, his eyes filled with hopelessness.

Whoosh!

A snow-white figure swept past the rear of the crowd and reached the cliff edge.

This figure was naturally Gervas and Chasing Moon.

At the critical moment when the woman was about to hit the ground, Gervas precisely caught her in mid-air.

That was not all; Chasing Moon executed another beautiful spin, sweeping to the side of the hanging child, and Gervas similarly held the child steadily in his hand.

Splash!

Chasing Moon landed at the spot where Gervas had previously stood.

And Gervas, on the horseback, held the cliff-falling woman in his right hand and the upside-down child in his left.

Pike first stared blankly for a moment, then suddenly cried out, "Mia, Little Pike!"

The woman and child finally reacted; Gervas signaled to Knight Mi Gen, and Knight Mi Gen released his grip.

Immediately, the woman, the child, and Pike embraced and wept together.

After crying for well over a minute, Captain Pike finally lifted his head.

With a thud, Captain Pike knelt before Gervas.

"My lord, thank you for saving my wife and child. I beg you to execute me as punishment for my offense against you just now!"

"Mia and little Pike will never defy your orders again, my lord. Please be merciful and let them become your slaves; do not kill them!"

Having spoken, Captain Pike prostrated himself with his forehead to the ground, motionless.

"Pike!" the woman cried out.

"Mia, I spoke disrespectfully to my lord earlier, which was already a capital offense. Now my lord has saved you and little Pike. Even if I die, it is not enough to atone, so please do not grieve for me!" Captain Pike was resolute.

Silence instantly fell over the scene, and all eyes turned to Gervas.

Gervas stepped forward two paces with a blank expression, came close to Captain Pike, and then slowly reached for the hilt of the sword at his waist.

Instantly, whether the villagers of Hunter's Village or the guards, all could not help but hold their breath.

Just as everyone thought Gervas would draw his sword and stab Captain Pike to death, Gervas instead released the hilt and waved to Knight Mi Gen.

"Dying is not that easy. You stole so much game from Storm Domain; killing you would be too kind."

"Therefore, I will demote you all to slaves. Your entire hunting village must help me capture five thousand large wild beasts. Once you have captured enough, I will consider allowing you to become serfs of Storm Domain again."

"This..." The villagers were stunned, and Captain Pike also lifted his head in disbelief.

"What, you are unwilling?" Gervas demanded coldly.

"No, we are willing! Thank you, my lord, for your mercy! Thank you, my lord, for your grace!"

For a moment, Captain Pike's head knocked against the ground with loud thuds.

The other villagers of Hunter's Village did the same, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing in gratitude as if granted a reprieve from death.

Gervas, however, maintained the cold dignity of a lord, his expression utterly untroubled.

Of course, this "coldness" of Gervas had long been seen through by his subordinates and the villagers.

"This master is truly a noble with human feelings. Perhaps my sister and I are lucky!" Recalling her and her sister's treatment, and having just experienced the turmoil, Evelan finally gained a profound understanding of her new master.