Arriving at the village, Nolan could not help but smile.
The beggars were setting a bonfire, but unlike the first time when they set two bonfires, now they were setting only one bonfire. This showed that the relationship and the bond between the beggars has deepened.
"BOSS!" Kelton shouted when he saw Nolan and Harley.
Immediately, all the beggars surrounded Nolan.
Nolan and Harley got off the horse.
"Boss, did you buy everything we needed?" Alfred asked.
Nolan nodded, " I bought two carts, ropes, tools, and food," He lied for the last one. "That should be all,"
"Boss, you are awesome. How did you buy all of those? It must have cost you a lot," A beggar commented.
"Everything costs about thirty taels of silver," Nolan said. Just hearing this, the jaws of the beggars all dropped.
"B-Boss, that is too much money," A beggar said.
Nolan smiled. "Did you think being the village head was easy? Now, I hope you realized what would have happened if you killed me." Nolan brought up the topic everyone wanted to forget.
They wanted to forget it because of two reasons. One, because of the horror they witnessed, the bloodthirsty Nolan. Two, because of how foolish they were. If they do not forget it, they can not look Nolan in the eyes,
"Fox told you that you would turn the forest into a farmland." Nolan continued. "But seeing how much this cost me, do you think you would have had the money to buy the tools? Also, would you have had the money to buy wheat to plant on the farmland? If you did indeed kill me, by now, you would have returned to the city on your old life as a beggar."
"W-We are sorry," The beggars bowed simultaneously in apology.
Nolan shook his head. "Raise. I did not remind you of this because I want an apology. You already apologized to me, and I accepted it. I reminded you of this because I wanted you to see that the decision to follow me was correct. And I declare, in the future you will not regret it."
"Boss, do not worry! We will not repeat the same mistake. We will follow you even in death!" A beggar screamed.
"Till death with Boss Nolan!"
"Till death with Boss Nolan!"
The beggars screamed unanimously.
Seeing the beggars like this and seeing how much their relationship has progressed, a wide smile spread across Nolan's face.
However, as he looked at the beggars surrounding him, he frowned suddenly, his smile completely disappearing.
He looked around himself again, searching more carefully for the familiar face in the group of beggars he did not see. Stephany was not among the group of beggars surrounding Nolan.
This was not very strange and not something worrying. After all, she might be busy preparing food. But previously, every time Nolan returned from the city to the village, Stephany was the first to greet him and run to him. So now, not seeing her around him, a sense of crisis and worry rose in Nolan's heart. He felt it. Something was wrong.
"Make way!" He shouted, pushing the beggars aside with both his hands as he moved forward toward the bonfire.
After leaving the large group of beggars, Nolan saw Stephany near the unlit bonfire with the other women preparing food. She was turned with her back towards Nolan.
Seeing her, Nolan breathed a sigh of relief. She was fine. "Stephany!" Nolan shouted as he walked towards her.
However, even though she clearly heard him, she did not turn.
Nolan quickened his pace and quickly arrived behind her.
"Stephany," He called her again. But she still did not turn.
Nolan felt something was wrong. He looked at the other women around, but surprisingly to him, they all avoided his gaze. He did not pay much mind to their behavior.
"Stephany!" Nolan shouted angrily, grabbing her hand. "Why don't you respond when I call…" Nolan forcibly turned her towards him, but the sight that greeted him shut him up.
Her face, her beautiful face was full of bruises.
Looking at her face in disbelief, Nola slowly let go of her hand.
With a sad expression, Stephany held her gaze on the ground, not daring to look Nolan in the eyes.
"W-Who did this?" Nolan muttered in a barely hearable voice.
"WHO DID THIS!?" Nolan shouted from the bottom of his lungs, his gaze fixed on Stephany's face.
The beggars, still around the carts with goods, all turned towards Nolan.
Alfred and Kelton, together with Harley, hurriedly walked over to Nolan.
"Alfred, what is the meaning of this?" Nolan asked, clenching his fists.
"B-Boss, we don't know who did this to her," Alfred spoke in a barely hearable voice. He didn't know how to explain to Nolan that he didn't know anything. "We asked her, but she refused to say anything,"
"What?" Nolan turned to Alfred. "You don't know? Then who knows!?"
Alfred lowered his head.
"Nolan, calm down," Harley tried to calm Nolan down.
"Harley, stay out of this!"
"Alfred, find who did this to Stephany," Nolan commanded in a voice void of emotions.
"Yes,"
"I want to see blood!" Nolan's cold voice echoed across the mountain. "Whoever did this to her is going to pay!"
After saying what he had to say, Nolan walked to the carts, still surrounded by beggars.
"Get away from here," Nolan commanded. "Go and light the bonfire,"
The beggars immediately ran to the bonfire. They did not want to make Nolan angrier than he currently was. After all, they heard what he said just now.
Nolan unconnected the carts from the horses.
He then took the horses by the reins and led them to the river to drink water.
As the horses drank water, he took a bale of hay out of the inventory and gave it to the horses to eat.
The night started to fall, but he could still see the bridge across the river. In the one day he was away from the village, they had finished the bridge.
It took fifteen minutes for Nolan to take care of the horses. By the time they ate and drank water, the night had fallen, and the beggars had lighted the bonfire.
Nolan took the horses to one temporary house and tied them to the house.
Nolan did not feel like chatting, so instead of going to the bonfire, he entered the temporary house and lay on his back.
...
Hours passed, and the chatter coming from the direction of the bonfire died down. But, Nolan lay on his back, unable to fall asleep, still thinking of who might have done that to Stephany.
Nolan closed his eyes and tried remembering every time Stephany acted strange.
...
(Chapter 22)
A day ago. When Nolan crossed the river after cutting down the first tree.
Nolan safely crossed the river.
"Boss!" Stephany called out the moment she saw him.
Nolan walked over to her. Surprisingly, despite her kind and easygoing personality, she sat alone near the extinguished campfire she used in the morning to cook the grain porridge.
"Why are you alone?" Nolan asked, looking around.
Sam and Sem played around as always while the other women were nowhere in sight.
"W-Well, they are working," Stephany spoke. However, she behaved strangely. Her gaze was fixed on the ground as if not daring to look Nolan in the eyes.
Nolan noticed her strange behavior and could only think of one thing. 'She is lying.'
...
"It's them!" Nolan abruptly opened his eyes. "The other women did that to Stephany. That explains why when I previously looked at them, they dodged my glance."
Nolan stood up.
"How dare they!" He gritted his teeth. "They are going to pay!"
He left the temporary house.
After leaving the temporary house, Nolan entered the temporary house next to his, in which he was sure Alfred was.
Entering the house, Nolan saw Alfred, Harley, and Kelton sleeping.
"Alfred," Nolan shook Alfred, but he did not wake up.
He tried to wake him up several times but without success. If he tried to slap him awake, he would wake Kelton and Harley too, which he did not want.
In the end, he gave up on waking him up and decided he would find the house of the woman himself.
He left the temporary wooden house.
He walked from house to house, but he was unable to find anything and was about to give up, he noticed a weak light in the distance.
He ran towards the light.
He arrived in front of a temporary house.
'Oil lamp?' Nolan secretly stole a glance inside the house.
'Found you,' Nolan smiled.
Inside the house, the women and Stephany sat around an oil lamp.
'Oil lamp? Where did they get it from? It is true what they say. A woman is like a poisonous snake.' Nolan thought.
Including Stephany, around the oil lamp sat eleven women. They barely fit in the temporary house.
"That Nolan that everyone praises is just a fool." A woman said.
"We fooled him." Another added.
"Now, as long as our beautiful princess does not say anything, we will be fine." The woman sitting next to Stephany said. "Right!" She grabbed Stephany's hair with one hand.
"Y-Yes," Stephany replied weakly,
"What?" The woman pulled Stephany's hair, "I did not hear you."
Slap!
She slapped Stephany.
"Speak louder!"
"Yes!" Stephany shouted.
"You dare shout at us?"
Slap!
The woman slapped her again.
The other woman stood up and started slapping Stephany too.
And Stephany could do nothing but silently cry.