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

Shang left the Grandmountain Kingdom and returned, it was like they had been

Zone, and

have motivated Shang to change that drastically in

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

that had only accidentally come close to his hiding

and if

simply leaving, Shang always killed

by the way Shang was talking, it seemed to

in his mind, this was the only

could come up

he so used to killing everything that poses a risk that he now even perceives a minor inconvenience as a risk and treats it as such, regardless of the

the impact. It's like he

reasons shot through Duke Whirlwind's mind, but he couldn't be

like this,

Shang was

so aggrieved by his own guilt that he completely blocked it out of his being,

Whirlwind was old and knew a

narrating, the Duke stopped paying

seems more and more like

back, even if it were for the sole reason of not

thoughts for a bit, but in

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

his life, not mine, and I should afford him the freedom

he won't become an enemy

thoughts were pulled back

had been ambushed in

eyes became colder as he heard Shang narrate the

check as Shang told him how easy

even see

It was just normal.

just a bit of

focused more

at Shang's aura, the

he became even more