Chapter 89

When Roland arrived at Betta’s house, he saw that the door was halfway open . He pushed the door completely open and entered without hesitation .

Once he entered the living room, he saw two women embracing each other, crying, the sorrowful atmosphere pervading .

It was the maidservant and her freckle-faced sister .

Betta stood by them, somewhat ill at ease . Upon seeing Roland, he immediately came to greet him and said, “Brother Roland, there’s something wrong . ”

Roland looked at the two women who were sobbing and embracing each other . He could guess the gist of what was happening, but he still asked, “What exactly is going on?”

“Lisa’s family was assaulted . Her big brother and sister-in-law were killed on the spot, her parents are missing, and the corpses of her second and third older brother and youngest brother were thrown out around the house . ” Betta sighed softly after he said this .

In reality, they already expected such a situation . Since Lisa didn’t die, the murderer, assumed to be intelligent and proud, would most likely come for revenge .

For this reason, Roland and Betta suggested that Lisa’s family leave this city . Lisa became Betta’s maidservant, so she was relatively safer, and because her older sister was usually at some tavern as a courtesan—places like those were usually protected by certain important figures—she was also relatively safer .

This was why those who were met with disaster were the family members that stubbornly stayed in the city and wouldn’t leave .

In actuality, Lisa’s parents were betting that Betta would constantly protect them .

However, Betta felt that Roland made a good point previously—he couldn’t protect these people forever . Moreover, he was willing to escort these people out of this city to live elsewhere .

But they weren’t willing, they insisted on staying, on dying in the city! He was already extremely benevolent . He didn’t feel any guilt, but he was somewhat emotional hearing the two women crying .

These two women were reasonable . They knew that this matter couldn’t be blamed on Roland and Betta, so they naturally wouldn’t shout nonsense like “Why didn’t you protect us?!”

1However, being reasonable was one thing . They would still feel sorrow and pain even if their parents courted death of their own accord .

“You stay here and protect these two . The enemy might come to this place . ” Roland looked at the weather outside and continued, “I’ll go find Hawk and the others to explain the situation to them . ”

Betta nodded . Even if Roland didn’t say anything, he would’ve done so .

After leaving Betta’s home, Roland wasn’t in a hurry to leave the city . He first made a trip to the Church of Life .

Inside the prayer hall, Roland saw Jett kneeling on the ground, facing the statue of the Life Goddess, eyes closed and appearing very devout .

There was no one else except for Jett inside the Church of Life .

Roland walked in, walked up behind Jett, and asked, “Are you interested in doing a quest without rewards with me?”

1“Sure . ” Jett opened his eyes and stood up .

“I didn’t interrupt your prayers, did I?”

“It’s fine, so long as the goddess is inside my heart . ”

Roland couldn’t help but laugh . “You sound somewhat like you’re praying to the Buddha . ”

“It’s pretty much the same,” Jett said quite plainly . “The Buddha is a god, the Life Goddess is also a god, just change the name in the prayers . ”

Believing in pragmatism… In essence, this should be considered a false believer .

2However, this didn’t really concern Roland . He waved his hand at Jett and led him out of the city .

On the construction site by the riverbank, Roland found Hawk .

Upon seeing him, Hawk immediately brought them into a house, which was newly built but had no furniture inside .

Inside the rooms, it smelled of fresh mud, and for some people, this smell was quite pleasant, but others didn’t like it . Jett didn’t like it . He gently fanned the air in front of his nose .

“You asked me to put some beggars on the lookout for the Ritter family in the slums . Some time ago, the beggars came to report that something had happened . I guessed that you would come to me soon . ” Hawk looked somewhat angry . “I don’t know much, and the beggars aren’t professional scouts, but the perpetrators were definitely north-district gangsters . They killed Old Ritter’s sons that night and kidnapped the Ritter couple . They’re quite arrogant, treating human lives like bugs . ”

Roland looked at Hawk’s expression and sighed . “There’s no need to be so furious . Didn’t we already know that humans devour humans in this world? No matter whether it was the heart-feasting incident you took part in, or the missing-girl case Betta and I were caught up in, those important figures honestly never treated the lives of commoners as human lives . Take it easy . ”

Jett knew that Roland was involved in a missing-girl case, but he didn’t know about the heart-feasting incident that Hawk participated in . This was why he looked very curious right now .

“What infuriates me the most is that the commoners here have no intention at all of resisting . They’re only glad that it didn’t happen to them, as if resigning themselves to fate . ” Hawk’s square face was filled with resentful disappointment . “This has made me want to carry over the contents of the little red books1 . ”

1Upon hearing this, Jett was immediately excited . “Well, that sounds quite interesting . I think something can be done . ”

It was evident that he was someone who liked to join in on the fun and cause more trouble .

1However, Roland shook his head . “It’s impossible . This world’s productive capability and military strength are all centered in the hands of professionals and nobles . They can use magic to improve crops, so the land also belongs to them . A fully armed physical professional, not even at an elite level, can easily get rid of dozens of villagers—even if these villagers took up simple weapons . Not to mention there are still professional ranks of Master, Legendaries, and so on, so the disparity in battle power is too great . I’m personally not too optimistic about such a course of action, unless we players increase our levels to a certain degree and possess our own organizations and influences . Otherwise, it’s best not to start something like a revolution . ”

1The three of them had all mechanically memorized political textbooks, or else they wouldn’t have been able to pass college examinations .

The simple truth was clear—one had to have enough firepower to seize political power . The two of them were discouraged upon hearing this, but they had to admit that Roland made a good point .

Roland saw that they had given up on this idea and continued: “Although we can’t do anything major right now, we can still do some minor things . How about we take a stroll in the eastern suburbs?”

With a cheerful expression, Jett said, “Sure, no problem . ”

Hawk nodded . “Give me a few minutes, I’m going to have a few words with Link . ”

After roughly twenty minutes, Roland and the other two arrived at the slums of the eastern suburbs .

Things like criminal gangs often developed better in impoverished lands, whereas in the nobles’ neighborhoods, who had their own private soldiers and guards, they would only be hammered violently . So, they could only bully commoners and absorb the flesh of the weak, relying on such a way to survive and expand .

In the alleys of the slums, it was very quiet . There wasn’t anyone walking around .

Roland looked from side to side, occasionally seeing the eyes of a pauper peeping through a crack in a window, but noticing Roland staring at them, they immediately retreated into the darkness and closed the window tightly .

These pairs of eyes were filled with alarm and fear .

In the alleys, there was an indistinct scent of blood .