The Lord Is Too Overbearing

Roughly an hour ago, when Basil and the others had just arrived at Familia Hotel, he briefly excused himself to have a little bit of a talk with some of his staffs. Iliana didn't want to leave him behind, so she insisted on waiting for him.

Basil didn't tell her otherwise; he told them to wait in the lounge room instead. As Basil had his talk with his staffs, the Knights and the unoccupied staffs helped the civilians settle themselves.

They brought the civilians to the unoccupied room, so the civilians could rest their tired body.

As soon as Iliana and the rest of Team 4 went out of sight, Basil concluded his talk with his staffs, then looked for Thompson. He met Thompson, who was still helping a civilian at that time, on the third floor.

"I have something to talk about."

Basil talked to Thompson formally, as if he was treating a business partner rather than a friend, and Thompson wasn't very comfortable with that. Thompson looked at him hesitantly, while thinking about what his true intention was.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"An offer."

Thompson immediately shook his head. "I can't trust someone, who doesn't even trust us." Looking at Basil bitterly, he continued, "I still can't even figure out what has just happened back then in the Dungeon."

"It is as you might have expected: everything is premeditated by me."

"I know that already. I have heard it from Steve who heard it from Cray."

Quirking his eyebrow, Basil looked at Thompson in wonder. "If you already know that much, why do you hesitate to take my offer?"

"I can't read you at all, Basil. I can't just trust someone who keeps almost everything to himself." Thompson sighed. "Those Monsters chasing us, and the impersonating Monster amongst us—everything occured in the Dungeon was all your plan, wasn't it?"

"Correct."

"You don't even try to deny it..." Thompson was a little bit astonished, but he didn't dwell in it too much. "What is your purpose of doing that? I believe, with the control over the Dungeon, you can save everyone."

Just as what Thompson said, Basil, due to his possession of the Sealing Sword, had full control over Death Howl. It was very apparent even if he didn't explain about it; he had restructured the Dungeon to change Iliana and the others' route after all.

'With that ability, shouldn't it be easier for Basil to keep the Demons away from us?'

Thompson was extremely puzzled about what Basil had actually been thinking at that time. Consequentially speaking, if Basil had used his ability to control the Dungeon to keep the Demons at Bay, there would have been no civilians fell victim to them.

"It is very bold of you to assume that controlling the Dungeon doesn't seem to burden me in the slightest." Basil scoffed lightly.

"Keeping the Monsters of Oster Forest at bay without utilizing Mana or Qi was taxing enough for me." Basil frowned lightly. "I am good at multitasking, but doing two equally difficult things at the same is not easy."

"I see..." Thompson slightly recoiled in surprise at the very faint annoyance in Basil's tone. "Kuhum! I am sorry about my insensitivity. I don't have any intention to blame you here, but why did you keep the identity of the impersonating Monster a secret?"

"Me not telling any of you a word about it doesn't equal to me keeping its identity a secret."

"So you did already know of its existence since the very beginning..." Basil didn't respond Thompson's word as he merely gave Thompson a 'So?' look. "Do you have any reason for doing that."

"Iliana's growth."

"What?"

Thompson was so dumbfounded by Basil's answer, he didn't know how to react properly. He understood what Basil meant; by the way she acted, it was apparent Iliana needed some character growth.

To think that Basil had sacrificed tens of innocent, unrelated people to give Iliana the very growth she needed however, Thompson couldn't help seeing Basil as a madman—a typical Mage.

He looked at Basil like he was asking if Basil was really serious, and Basil was, of course, serious.

Thompson couldn't help shaking his head when he noticed it. "You are mad, Basil."

"Naivety is a poison, Thompson. I would rather sacrifice tens of unrelated people to remove that poison than losing someone I care to that poison."

"I... I don't like your way, Basil." Thompson smiled bitterly.

He should've seen it coming. From the day where Basil had saved them—the decisiveness Basil had showed them—he should've guessed Basil would likely do something like this.

He could easily see that Basil was a lot better than most Mages who treated lives like an exploitable resource, but he still couldn't accept Basil's way of doing things. In his opinion, Basil indeed did good things for his friends, but the way he did them was wrong.

"Do you want to hear my offer?"

"I will lend you my ears, but I won't I guarantee I will accept it."

Of course, no matter how much he didn't like Basil's way of doing things, he couldn't dictate Basil on that. Each person has a different outlook, and no one should force their outlook on another person.

"I want you to stay in the hotel for 6 days. I need you to protect my family." Basil took out a piece of small tablet stone from his Spatial Ring, and gave it to Thompson. "This Sound Tablet will notify you when my family is already nearby."

"Wait! I haven't said anything about accepting your offer." Thompson put up his hands.

"It is fine; I just want you to help my family someday. I hope you will be willing to answer my family's request for help at that time."

A Sound Tablet worked the same way as a Transmission Talisman: both transmitted the voice of the owner to the receiver upon activation.

The only difference lies in the energy needed to activate them. A Sound Tablet was activated with Qi, meanwhile a Transmission Talisman was activated with Mana.

"Damn it, Basil!" Thompson clicked his tongue in conflict when he looked at the sincere care on Basil's face. "Give me an hour ... Let me discuss this with my party."

"Thank you."

Thompson dismissed Basil's thanks with a wave of his hand, but Basil didn't mind that at all. He merely watched as Thompson's back slowly disappeared, before his face turned completely neutral when Thompson was completely gone.

"This is why Knights are prone to death—they are naive." Basil lightly scoffed. "You better thank your luck, Thompson. I am genuinely asking for your help this time."

Thompson ended up accepting the offer without even asking what he got in return.

...

An hour had passed since the end of the meeting, and every student of Randalvine Magic Institute staying in Familia Hotel were now gathering outside of the hotel. They were ready to take off to Woster County.

Iliana, Cray, and Whitney were still inside the lobby waiting for Basil who hadn't showed himself ever since he had excused himself from the guest room. Thompson said that he had encountered Basil before, but he, too, didn't know where Basil was now.

"I think he is cheating on you right now, Iliana," Cray said surely. "That assistant of his, Poppy, is quite a heartthrob, no? I mean, I wouldn't mind if I were... Sorry."

Cray squirmed under Iliana's subzero gaze. He had intended to sow a seed of doubt in Iliana's heart so he could cause the couple to fight as his way to get back at Basil, but Iliana's trust on Basil was greater than he had thought.

If looks could kill, Iliana's gaze had already reduced him to smithereens from the moment he received it.

"Hmph! I would make him eat the sausage he would never eat if it was the case."

"Ooh... That is a nightmare indeed."

Cray and Whitney cringed while imagining the gruesome scenario, and they couldn't help covering their crotch when they looked at Iliana. Iliana gave them a light scoff, before smirking at them.

Silence descended upon the three of them, as they once again waited for Basil to show up. Each of them was thinking where Basil could possibly be, while hoping he wasn't up to something again.

Unaware of the people's hope, Basil had just finished carving a Magic Circle on the hotel's rooftop, which was only accessible to his family and him. The Magic Circle was the conclusion of his plans on Raneil Barony, and he was about to activate it.

Infusing his Mana to the Magic Circle he had carved on the floor with the blood he had collected from the Paladins he had killed, it quickly shone in ominous, dark red. Mana overwhelmed the surrounding as the Magic Circle emitted a sickening aura.

"[Elborítja a világot a sötétség: Bloody Mist]!"

Basil cast the Spell he had only cast once in this life—at Lone Mountain—and the Mana the Magic Circle was emitting was immediately spread all over the Barony.

Boom!

Everyone could feel the sudden influx of the Mana, and they couldn't help themselves from having a goosebump. They could feel the difference in the Mana—the sickening aura the Mana carried was too thick to be overlooked.

As the topmost floor of the hotel was shining, every student outside of the hotel immediately looked up. They could easily conclude that was the source of the Mana, but they still couldn't understand what it actually signified.

It wasn't long until their question was answered as they saw a flow of blue and red blood floating in the air in the next moment. The blood was heading towards the rooftop, forming a dense sphere of purple colored blood above it.

Everyone was appalled at the scene, but unfortunately it didn't stop just there. The sphere of blood exploded the moment it was wider than the hotel, covering the entire Barony in a thick, repulsive smelling, purple mist.

None of the people who had watched the entire scene knew what to make of the situation, but they currently had the same thing in their mind—run!

The one who had caused the phenomenon, Basil, merely nodded his head in appreciation at what he had done.

"With this, I can shoo the Demons and Beasts away from this place. In exchange for being my family's escort, you and your party got my permission to stay in this dome, Thompson."

Everything had gone according to his plan, and now it was time for him to pick up his family who were still in Randalvine.