Sword God in a World of Magic

Shang only looked at Duke Whirlwind. "A lot of things happened, and I came back with a lot of information regarding the Grandmountain Kingdom."

Duke Whirlwind looked at Shang with a complex expression.

He wasn't sure if Shang understood what he had actually meant.

However, Duke Whirlwind was also interested in what actually happened to Shang in the last decade. What could change someone to such a degree?

Shang told Duke Whirlwind basically everything except for the trial and the Abominations. He only used the Abominations once, which was when he escaped from the Grandmountain Kingdom initially.

As Duke Whirlwind listened more to Shang's story, his focus shifted to the actual intelligence Shang brought back.

The information he brought back was monumental!

How the barbarians trained.

The way the Grandmountain Kingdom organized its forces.

Insight into the distribution of their forces.

And, most importantly, the method the Mages had created to stack so many Strengthening Spells on a single barbarian.

Shang had been that researcher's plaything for several months, and he had also been under the effect of these Spells while assaulting the Plague Rat Zone.

During these months, he had learned a lot about how the Mages accomplished these things.

When Shang came to the part where he killed Lash, Duke Whirlwind noticed that something wasn't right.

Doing this was unlike the Shang he had just heard of a minute ago.

Duke Whirlwind would have bet that Shang would have simply trusted Lash. After all, he was an old friend, and the Mages wouldn't even interrogate him.

Duke Whirlwind even remembered hearing about a similar incident before Shang had left.

A couple of students of the Warrior's Academy had found out about Shang's Affinity, but even at the behest of the Dean, Shang had decided to keep them alive.

That risk was far greater than the risk Lash had posed, but Shang had still let them go.

he didn't seem much different

Kingdom and returned, it was like they had been switched

happened in the Tide Serpent Zone, and that something was the catalyst for

could have motivated Shang to change that drastically in a

much darker, but Duke Whirlwind noticed that Shang didn't seem to notice the

people that had only accidentally come close to

of them actually finding Shang were slim, and if Shang wanted

simply leaving,

talking,

his mind, this was

could come up with

to killing everything that poses a risk that he now even perceives a minor inconvenience as a risk and treats it as

his actions or the impact. It's like he is forcing himself to do

shot through Duke Whirlwind's

had always been like

was subconsciously

own guilt that he completely blocked it out of his being, isolated the feeling, and acted like

knew a

continued narrating, the Duke stopped paying

more and more like George,' Duke

empathy back, even if it were for the sole reason of not killing absolutely everyone that even slightly steps in

bit, but in the end, he only released

business,' he thought helplessly. 'I'm not his teacher or father. It's not my place to dictate how another adult should

mine, and I should afford him the freedom to

is what he wants, it's fine. I only hope that he won't become an enemy in the future

then, Duke Whirlwind's thoughts were pulled back to Shang's

been ambushed in the

as he heard Shang narrate the battle,

in check as Shang told him how easy

even see it as anything

It was just normal.

was just a bit

Duke Whirlwind focused more on Shang's aura

at Shang's aura, the more he realized how

he became even more shocked when he realized