Chapter 45: The Cruel Ultimatum

As those cloudy, aged eyes shifted, the village chief blurted out the lie he had hastily fabricated:

“I am truly sorry, but your sister is no longer with us.”

‘No longer with us,’ of course, didn’t mean she had simply left the village. The chief was subtly informing You that his sister had already departed from this world.

Regarding the cause, the village chief explained: “Six years and seven months ago, an epidemic spread through the village, claiming the lives of many adults. Your sister was so young then, she couldn’t escape it either…”

The village chief began to admire his own cleverness. Even when improvising a lie, he had a firm grasp of the art of language.

For instance, the reason he provided such precise details, even specifying the month, was to lend greater credibility to his fabrication.

Before the next moment arrived, the village chief was confident that his masterful lying skills would convince his listener of the truth.

By shifting the blame for this ‘human calamity’ entirely onto a ‘natural disaster,’ he believed You would likely not quarrel with his fellow villagers, and the truth could remain buried forever.

“Old man! Do you take me for an idiot?”

You raised his forehead, licked his tongue, and a chilling glint, capable of transforming into murderous intent, surged within his pupils.

“Does the old man truly believe I’d fall for any random story he concocts? Or are you simply jesting, perhaps to invite your own demise?”

A few drops of cold sweat trickled down his forehead, causing the village chief’s body temperature to rapidly plummet.

While his heart pounded like a drum, the village chief had to maintain an innocent facade, earnestly trying to explain: “N-nothing of the sort! How could a timid old man like myself dare to deceive someone sent by the kingdom?”

“Still pretending? If you’re going to be so shameless, old man, don’t blame me for showing no mercy.”

You raised three fingers, baring sharp teeth in a grin, and delivered his serious ultimatum.

“If you don’t tell me the truth before the countdown of three ends, I will immediately turn and leave. Then, the knights waiting outside the village will flood in, and by nightfall, all the villagers will be sacrificed in blood!”

Upon hearing this, the already timid village chief instantly turned ashen, his few remaining teeth chattering violently: “What? You, you can’t do this! We are fellow villagers!”

“Who cares for such utterly uncouth fellow villagers as yourselves? Three!”

“Are you saying the time you grew up in this village means nothing, as if it never happened?”

“Silence! If you bring up those unbearable memories, I’d be even more eager for all of you to die here. Two!”

Two of the three raised fingers had now fallen, leaving the villagers before You with precious little time to react.

The villagers were not people accustomed to combat. Yet, even without battlefield experience, they could clearly perceive the potent murderous intent now permeating the village.

It was as if a pack of wolves had surged into the village, their gaze fixing upon the inhabitants, causing rationality to swiftly be overridden by primal instinct.

In that brief, final second, most of them, including the village chief, uniformly swiveled their bodies and pointed a finger in a single, shared direction.

“He did it all!”

The fortune-teller was thrust forward as a scapegoat. The others reasoned: ‘Someone has to be sacrificed anyway, so why not betray this clumsy fortune-teller right now? Afterward, we just need to insist we had nothing to do with it, letting the ‘sacrifice’ bear all the responsibility.’

Unexpectedly betrayed, the fortune-teller, in his panic, met You’s gaze directly.

The overwhelming pressure he faced caused the fortune-teller’s forced composure to quickly crumble into terror.

Left with no choice, the fortune-teller could only recount the events of five days prior, exactly as they had transpired.

Naturally, no noble thought of ‘sacrificing myself for everyone’s happiness’ resided in his heart. As he described the truth, the fortune-teller made sure to confess, without missing a single one, all the accomplices involved in the incident.

You made his judgment based on the fortune-teller’s words: “In other words, there isn’t a single innocent person among you. Including the old man, all of you are guilty!”

Under normal circumstances, You would have personally massacred a dozen people on the spot. But not now. His thoughts were consumed by his sister, and these villagers still held some use for him.

“Tell me, how many days ago did my sister go up that mountain?”

The cowering villagers, now, could only nod incessantly, attempting to downplay their involvement and shift the blame away from themselves.

“Your sister willingly sacrificed herself for the village. If anyone is at fault, it’s those cruel demons!”

“Lord You, if you don’t mind, we able-bodied young men can organize and storm the mountain tomorrow to avenge your sister!”

You did not reply immediately. Instead, he clasped the iris pendant in his palm and gazed down at its emanating red glow for a moment.

He stood for a long time. Only when the moonlight above was gradually obscured by dark clouds did his long-closed mouth finally speak again.

“Who said… my sister is no longer in this world?”

Outsiders might not understand, but You himself was intimately aware of the pendant’s function.

It was more than just an ornament that brought a sense of security; it was a magical artifact left by his deceased parents for their two children!

His sister, Cai, believed her brother was dead. You, however, had determined his sister was still alive by assessing the pendant’s current state.

The primary reason for the siblings’ differing perceptions was their age.

You had learned the secret of the iris pendant from his parents when he was just fifteen. Cai, however, was only seven years old when their parents passed, far too young compared to her brother to comprehend such matters.

Among all those still living, only You understood the purpose of this magical item.

To illustrate with the siblings: if both wore their pendants, and the distance between them remained within a ten-mile radius, the artifact would emit a vibrant red glow.

Should one of them lose their life for any reason, the pendant worn by the other would shatter instantly.

Conversely, if no shattering occurred, it served as absolute proof that the other person was still alive!

“But this is quite incredible. My sister went to the demons’ gathering place, stayed for five days, yet her personal safety was never threatened…”

What factor could possibly be at play?

You could only conduct a general analysis based on the information he currently possessed.

Unlike the uninformed masses who merely repeated rumors, You, as the leader of the knight order, knew truths that many did not.

He was aware that the leader commanding those thousands of demons was, in fact, human, and a young woman at that.

After all, Wang had previously visited the market to shop, making it relatively easy for the kingdom’s intelligence network to gather this information.

The demon leader was human, and his sister had suffered no misfortune after ascending the mountain.

Analyzing this information, it wasn’t difficult to reach a conclusion: “That individual seems to have a certain interest in my sister!”

Otherwise, You truly couldn’t fathom it: a young girl staying on a mountain teeming with demons for several days, neither harmed nor released.

The specific reason: beyond the possibility that the demon leader had taken an interest in his sister and forcibly kept her, You simply couldn’t conceive of any other plausible explanation.

“For things to have developed this way… it truly becomes quite interesting.”

Though he was speaking to himself, an idea had indeed surfaced in You’s mind.

He summoned the villagers, who were nearly paralyzed with fear, and questioned them in an utterly commanding tone: “Do you wish to live?”

This single sentence, like an impending absolution, caused them to instantly cast aside their last shred of dignity, prostrating themselves on the ground without a care for their appearance.

“We haven’t lived enough, we still want to go on living!”

“We were indeed wrong in how we treated your sister. Please give us a chance to atone for our mistakes…”

Having seen through their fear of death, You was confident that no matter what he asked these people to do, they would exert their utmost effort.

“There’s no need to be so tense. I’m not asking you to do anything life-threatening.”

The task You was about to assign the villagers was directly related to his sister.

According to his earlier conjecture, his sister was currently deprived of her freedom, effectively under house arrest by the demon leader.

Even rescuing his sister wouldn’t be something achievable in a short time. You had to await the arrival of the main forces before he could launch a full assault on the demons.

However, if, during this waiting period, his sister fortuitously found an opportunity to sneak down the mountain…

If she truly managed to escape, she would inevitably return to the village, and then she would certainly interact with the villagers again.

“When my sister returns to the village, you must pay close attention to your attitude towards her.”

It wasn’t, as most might assume, that You demanded everyone treat his sister with kindness.

His demand was precisely the opposite. In an unyielding tone, You stated clearly: “When you face my sister, you are forbidden from showing her any friendliness because of me. You must treat her cruelly!”

“Why? She’s your own sister!”

“Precisely because she is my own sister, I am instructing you to treat her cruelly.”

“We don’t understand.”

“It’s actually quite simple: if you don’t do something even more excessive than before, how could she, with her stubborn personality evident since childhood, possibly abandon this village obediently?”

You wanted his sister to abandon this hopeless village and accompany him to the kingdom.

However, You surmised that his sister would not readily agree. This place was her hometown, a place filled with childhood memories for her.

When the wills of the siblings were likely to clash, the brother had only one thought: there was no room for discussion; his sister *must* obey him!

To achieve this, he had to make his sister completely give up on this village. Even if it meant his closest kin experiencing some painful ordeals along the way, it was an indispensable and inevitable process!

The village chief looked at You before him, observing the sadistic curve of his lips, and then suddenly realized something.

In truth, everyone present had fallen into a huge misconception, taking it for granted that all brothers would be kind to their sisters.

But they were unaware that in this world, there were exceptions to everything. And You was precisely such an exception!