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.

when Shang arrived at the Grandmountain Kingdom, he didn't seem much different from what Duke

returned, it was

Tide Serpent Zone, and that

could have motivated Shang to change that drastically

noticed that Shang didn't seem to notice the

had only accidentally come close to his hiding

chances of them actually finding Shang were slim, and if Shang wanted to escape, they

leaving,

Shang was talking, it

was like, in his mind, this was the only thing he could

he could come up with

risk that he now even perceives a minor inconvenience as a risk and treats

about his actions or the impact. It's like he is forcing

Whirlwind's mind,

Shang had always been like this, but he

was

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

was old and knew a

narrating, the

and more like George,'

thing. I'm pretty sure it would be better if he could get some empathy back, even if it were for the sole reason of not killing absolutely everyone that even slightly steps in front of his

bit, but in the end, he only released a hidden

'I'm not his teacher or father. It's not my place to dictate how another adult

his life, not mine, and I should

that he won't become

Whirlwind's thoughts were

in the Empress

became colder as he heard Shang narrate the battle, which had been very

had to keep his facial expressions in check as Shang told him how easy and natural it was to kill a Mage on

even see

It was just normal.

a bit of

moment, Duke Whirlwind focused more on

Shang's aura, the more

he became even more shocked when he realized