"Sword," Nolan muttered, and the sword appeared in his hand.
He unsheathed the sword and dropped the sheath on the ground.
Nolan stood before the entrance of the house. The women didn't notice him because they were too immersed in beating Stephany. "Is it fun?!"
All the women turned toward the direction of the voice.
Seeing who stood before the entrance of the house, fear filled the women's hearts.
They instantly let go of Stephany.
"I-it's not what it looks like. We can explain," A woman said anxiously.
"Y-Yes. It may sound stupid, but Stephany asked us to do this to her." Another woman added. "R-Right, Stephany?"
However, Stephany sat on the ground in silence, her face red and a little blood dripping off her mouth.
The woman's face twitched in anger. At the moment, they wanted to beat Stephany to death. But under the cold gaze of Nolan, they didn't dare to even move, let alone lay a finger on Stephany.
"I am a fool, am I not?" Nolan spoke coldly. "Come on, fool me again. Why don't you fool me again?"
"We..." The woman was left speechless. They didn't know what to do.
Now, they had only one way of getting out of this situation. They need to seduce Nolan.
The youngest, and most beautiful woman, at most in her middle forties, got closer to Nolan. With one hand, she touched Nolan's hand with which he held the sword, and with the other hand, she touched Nolan's chest.
"Why don't you consider letting us go?" She threw herself to Nolan, pushing her bre.asts against Nolan's chest. "Is it worth it to hurt us for her?" The woman looked at Stephany.
Swoosh!
With lightning-fast speed, Nolan pushed the woman off himself, placing the sword on her neck. "I am nineteen. How dare you, an old hag, try to seduce me?"
"Ehh?" The woman stared at Nolan with her eyes widened in shock, still comprehending what happened. She looked at the sword on her neck.
Only after seeing the sword on her neck, she realized the situation. She can die at any moment.
"AAHH..." The woman was preparing to scream.
Nolan closed the sword to her neck, creating a small cut. Blood immediately started dripping off the cut. "Shut up!" Nolan commanded coldly, silencing the woman.
Poff!
The woman fell to her knees.
"Please spare me," She begged. "I was wrong."
Seeing that their plan of seducing Nolan didn't work, the other woman fell to their knees too.
They lowered their head, "We are sorry!" They shouted all together.
However, when they raised their heads to see Nolan's reaction, they met his cold gaze. He coldly stared at them from above.
"I told you," Nolan spoke. "Whoever did that to her is going to pay. I want to see blood!"
"Noo!" One woman shouted, jumping and hugging Nolan's leg.
"Please, don't kill us!" Another woman shouted.
Slam!
Nolan slammed the woman hugging his leg in the face with his foot.
The woman flew back. Blood immediately started flowing down her nose.
"We are sorry!" A woman still kneeling took the lead and started slapping herself.
Slap!
Slap!
Slap!
The other women did the same.
They slapped themselves with all their strength. But no matter how hard they slapped themselves, Nolan still stared at them coldly, without even a trace of showing mercy.
Slap!
Slap!
Slap!
The women continued slapping themselves. Their cheeks became blood red. They came to the point where their cheeks hurt so much they could not slap themselves anymore.
"Enough!" Nolan said.
The women instantly stopped slapping themselves and looked at him hopefully.
"Don't get hopeful so soon," Nolan dropped the sword. " You will stay just like this, on your knees, and each of you will receive three laps from me, and then you will get the hell out of here."
"P-Please don't chase me away!" A woman shouted.
"No problem. You can also stay here, but are you willing?" Nolan asked.
"I am," The woman nodded happily. "I will do everything you ask."
"Perfect," Nolan forced a smile on his face. "To stay here, you just need to let me stab you in the heart once with my sword, and then you can stay here as long as you like,"
The woman's face immediately twitched in fear. "N-No," tears appeared in her eyes.
"There is no other choice for you," Nolan said, the previous cold expression returned to his face. "You either accept three slaps from me and get away from this place or die."
The women remained silent.
"I see. So you leave the decision to me? If you ask me, I want to kill you right now, but I am sure Stephany would not like it. So I give you a chance." Nolan said.
"Please slap me,"
"Me too,"
"Me too."
All the women accepted the slap.
"Great," An devilish grin appeared on Nolan's face.
All the women lined in a line, so Nolan started from the first woman on the left.
The first woman on the left was the woman Nolan kicked in the face with his foot. He didn't exclude her just because blood kept dripping from her nose. He was not going to spare anyone who hurt Stephany.
Slap!
Nolan delivered her a slap with all his strength, throwing the woman with her back on the ground.
"Get up!" Nolan commanded coldly.
The woman knew it was no use trying to persuade Nolan to let her go, so she got back on her knees and got ready to receive the second slap.
Slap!
Nolan slapped her with his full strength, throwing the woman back again.
The woman got back on her knees again.
Slap!
She received the last slap. After receiving all three strong slaps, the woman immediately left the house.
Nolan didn't pay her any attention. After all, she received his three slaps and was free to go. He moved on to the next woman.
Slap!
Slap!
Slap!
After receiving the three slaps from Nolan with blood dripping from her mouth, the woman left the house.
Nolan moved to the next woman.
Slap!
Slap!
Receiving the second slap, the second woman lost consciousness. However, Nolan did not let her go just because she lost consciousness.
He grabbed her by her clothes.
Slap!
He slapped her with all his might. He then dragged her by the clothes to the entrance of the temporary house and threw her outside.
Slap!
Slap!
Slap!
...
Fifteen minutes later, Nolan finished slapping the women.
Three of the ten women fainted after receiving Nolan's slap, and the rest had blood dripping from their mouths.
Nolan got out of the temporary house.
The women were still there.
"Get out from here," Nolan said coldly.
"It's the middle of the night. There are many wild animals on the mountain." One woman said. "We will leave as soon as the sun rises."
"After the sun rises and you have a meal, leave." Nolan agreed to let them stay the night. Though he detested them for doing that to Stephany, they still didn't deserve to experience the horror of being eaten alive by wild animals.
"Thank you," the woman thanked.
"Get in the house," Nolan said. He bent and picked up the sword sheath he previously dropped before the house.
He then entered the house, picked up the sword, sheathed the sword, and finally stored the sword in the inventory.
Nolan took the oil lamp with one hand.
With the other hand, he supported Stephany to stand up. She had sat on the ground in silence, traumatized and afraid, locked in her own world.
He slowly guided her out of the temporary house, leaving the temporary house to the beaten woman.
Under the light of the oil lamp, Nolan guided Stephany to his temporary house.
They entered Nolan's temporary house.
Nolan placed the oil lamp on the ground in the middle of the house.
Nolan let Stephany sit on the ground, and he spread her body into a laying position.
He then sat on the ground too and leaned on the unstable wall of the temporary house.
He placed Stephany's head on his lap.
Even after he did this, Stephany remained silent.
Like that, in the house lit by the oil lamp, with Stephany lying in his lap, Nolan sat in silence for a long time.
Nolan looked at Stephany lying in his lap. He could not see her face and could only see her beautiful, golden, silk-like hair.
He stroked her hair, "Silly girl." He said gently. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was afraid," Stephany replied in a barely hearable voice.
"What were you afraid of? Them?"
"No," Stephany moved her head and looked straight into Nolan's eyes. "I was afraid of you,"
"Of me??" Nolan was confused. "Why?"
"I was afraid you won't help me," She raised a little.
"Silly girl." Nolan smiled gently. "If I don't help you, who will I help?"
Tears filled Stephany's beautiful blue eyes.
Thud!
She threw herself into Nolan's arm.
"WaaaahhhH!" Stephany burst into tears.
Nolan was startled for a moment, but he quickly came to himself and hugged her.
"Everything is fine now," He gently patted her head. "I won't let anyone hurt you ever again."
...
Time passed.
Without them even knowing it, hugged, Nolan and Stephany fell asleep.