Sword God in a World of Magic

Shang furrowed his brows.

By now, he was certain that the Cleaner had been sent by the Wilbury couple. They were the only ones with a motive, and they had the funds to send one.

The timeline also fit very well.

"Can you tell me more about the Wilburys?" Shang asked.

"Baroness Wilbury is one of the five teachers in the outpost of the Mage Academy," Soran explained. "The outpost is specifically for students with a Poison Affinity, and it's inside the Empress Cobra Zone, inside Swamp Lake City."

"Major Wilbury is assistant to the commander of the guards of Swamp Lake City. Individually, there are two people in Swamp Lake City more powerful than them, namely the commander and the head teacher, but combined, those two hold a lot of sway over Swamp Lake City."

"You can view Swamp Lake City as a smaller and weaker version of Warrior's Paradise. Swamp Lake City, just like Warrior's Paradise, is responsible for killing beasts and selling their corpses. It is the southernmost outpost of humanity in the Empress Cobra Zone, and it takes the brunt of attacks during the Day of Chaos."

"It's only outclassed by Warrior's Paradise, which is the most powerful and biggest city in Duke Whirlwind's territory, and Ice Heaven, which is the place where most nobles live in Duke Whirlwind's territory."

"In short, those two are very powerful," Soran said.

Shang looked at Soran. "What will happen from now on?"

Soran could only sigh. "Even though we can be certain of their guilt, we can't judge or report them without evidence."

"And we have zero evidence."

Shang furrowed his brows. "So, there's nothing I can do?"

"You can't do anything against them as you are now, Shang," Soran said. "Even though you have a connection with Duke Whirlwind, he can't just start an investigation without any proof."

"Many nobles do shady things, and the Duke knows this. If the Duke suddenly starts investigating people, a great number of nobles will leave for Duke Mithril's territory."

"Green Wind County would lose a huge chunk of its force, and Duke Whirlwind can't risk that," Soran explained.

"So, I'm just supposed to not do anything?" Shang asked.

Soran sighed again. "It's not that you shouldn't do anything. It's that you can't do anything."

Shang raised an eyebrow.

"Theoretically, you could do the same thing they did. You could hire a Cleaner. You could even do it yourself as long as you stay hidden."

"I'm not telling you to stay put like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. It's normal to retaliate if someone attacks you, and nobody will fault you for that."

money nor the power to

definitely should do something, you simply

"You're just too weak."

gritted his teeth in

if Shang killed the couple. Even the Dean would have no problems. Duke Whirlwind wouldn't say it, but he would

gave Shang the

didn't

ask for

what

wasn't in danger as long as he didn't leave Warrior's Paradise.

wasn't like Shang was only waiting for his death right

time being, he could protect himself by not

call for help in

more importantly, what if something similar, or

through such a minor crisis, how could he expect

about when Shang became the most powerful

time, his enemies

then, would

that he couldn't rely on someone else during every

hate this!'

but I don't even nearly have the power to fight

the first moment Shang truly got confirmation

very beginning, Shang had been under the impression that this was a

through many experiences that contradicted that belief. There were plenty of people that

saw what he had feared ever since

powerful than him had gone against him, and there

reminded of the

Shang had felt the hopeless powerlessness that came right before someone stronger than him decided to

feeling was identical but weaker

from happening as long as

Shang silently with a

a lot, but he had

exactly

had gone through very similar situations

Soran valued cooperation and empathy, he wasn't

kill, he

just that he preferred

of silence