The peasant boy started trembling like a leaf caught in a thunderstorm, sliding his knife through the gap of one of the windows, trying to force it open as quietly as possible.
"Breath in and out Nong, don't stress"
'Our lives are on the line here!'
"Right… It's just- I think I am only starting to realise what I am trying to do…" he casually admitted that he hadn't thought it through at all, which made Xiao visibly cringe, but thankfully, the peasant was focused on the window instead of him.
'Dear lord, I hope that plot armour will work this time…' the protagonist could only hope that such an elusive and powerful force would still show up to save the day, unknowing that it already had manifested itself in a way.
The sharp tinging of iron resounding in a low hum as Nong managed to actually open the way by doing random movements, the way this was all built was a bit weird, as there were window flaps, but they were on the inside for some reason.
Anyways, opening them after the window was easy as the knife could raise the locking mechanism from the outside.
"Alright, I am going in-" whispered Nong.
"Hold on, be careful where you walk- He might not have guards, but if he is a lord, there may be killing arrays set up against intruders" he warned, the peasant looking at him like he was speaking another language.
"A killing array is a cultivation trap, basically…"
"Oh, thanks! I'll be careful…"
Then, he climbed through and quietly set foot inside of the residence, it was the second time inside of here for him, the first having not been pleasant, being the time he had discovered that Edrick had Fanqia under his thumb, the time one of his brothers had been killed by the maid, and also the time his family had been shattered as a whole.
All because of the town lord.
'You ugly monster… I just need to find that sword and you're done!'
Whilst the peasant skimmed through the residence in the dark, Xiao waited outside, hiding behind a big rock in case someone noticed the open window and came to check it out, there was no bravery within him, but there was much carefulness, if not for the looming threat of a changed series of event compared to the novel, he wouldn't have even tried to get back that mythical artefact, Edrick had clearly demonstrated that when it came to pure brawn, they were in completely different worlds.
Without the fear that the loss of this sword would have negative consequences, Xiao would have only come back for it after becoming a cultivator, and not just after beginning cultivation, a little while after, because Edrick was seriously a big fellow, wouldn't be surprising for beginner cultivators to get trounced just as easily.
Magical powers were nice and all, but being more than two meters tall and hitting as hard as an ape were also pretty effective against most things.
'It's been like ten minutes already…' although lacking in much courage, Xiao was still worrying for the safety of the poor, clearly reckless and probably intellectually deprived peasant, he was sort of using him to get his sword back and planning on not honouring his end of the deal, but getting the guy killed seemed a bit much.
'Well shit… Having compassion and shame in a cultivation novel…' he grumbled to himself whilst standing up, heading toward the window and slowly looking inside, nearing close he started hearing a rhythmic noise.
Something like clapping, but definitely different.
'Mmh…' with much hesitation, he climbed through the window and officially intruded upon private property, the residence was mostly flooded with darkness, the only moonlight peering within was from the open window behind him.
Naturally, he assumed that Nong would be further in, probably attracted by the sound as well, so Xiao carefully hugged the wall to his left as the moonlight had showed that a hallway was over there, over the corner however, he didn't see pitch blackness, there was clearly light peering from one of the room further down, and Nong was right there, sitting against the wall with his face buried in his hands.
'Seriously?' the peasant couldn't see him like this, and he just knew, it was obvious that if he moved up to him and tried to get his attention, that he would make some sort of noise attracting attention, that was such a clear outcome.
'Well, if that happens… Maybe we can make a run for it?' softly breathing out from his nose, Xiao slowly walked in Nong's direction, the noise becoming clearer and accompanied by a few others as well.
He had already been suspecting it, but now there was no doubt about its source.
Arriving up to the peasant, there was no need to do anything as he noticed his approach and remarkably stayed both silent and still, Nong beckoned Xiao to come closer, whispering something in his ear :
"Good sir… Your sword is hung up on the wall in that room… I fear that none of us can get what we want right now…"
Even though the explanation was crystal clear, Xiao still looked through the gap that was allowing light to pour out, both to check if the sword was really here, but mostly because he was very curious about all that noise.
The scene wasn't in full due to the gap not being very wide at all, but the essence was there.
Edrick, who had struck and disfigured Xiao earlier in the day, was currently on top of Fanqia, holding the girl in a chokehold whilst pounding away like there was no tomorrow, producing a depraved melody of flesh striking flesh, this particular position allowing for the lord to make impact, but also because his wife's lovely masses had been increasing in size.
The rest of the song was caused by Fanqia's stifled moans who was clearly loving every second of it.
This sight hurt Xiao a little, knowing that she was originally supposed to be his very first harem member, but that was fine, it wasn't like he had personally known her or ever interacted with her before, it was just a shame really.
What the protagonist was most miffed about was the fact that Anoteros had indeed hung up the sword on his wall, and clearly he had done so himself as it was hung very high up there.
With what was happening inside, getting it back was indeed problematic.
Turning back to Nong, Xiao put up one hand on his shoulder.
He too wouldn't be getting revenge in this scenario, but that was not what had left him in this dazed state.
"How… How can it be? This man defiled and broke our entire family, he forcefully seized her from home and yet…"
"Don't think about it, Nong, it is what it is- You should focus on bettering yourself to help the rest of your family, it may be broken, but you can surely put it back together" Xiao came up with a motivating speech whilst helping the peasant stand up, it was time to leave, there was nothing to be done.
"I don't know…"
"Come on, they must be worried about where you went-"
The door to the room suddenly flung open.
'The hell?! But the noises-'
"Lord Edrick, I'll be back in a moment" hearing a voice, Xiao quickly pulled the peasant with him over the corner before the person actually stepped out.
Basically throwing the poor guy through the window before quickly leaping through himself, doing that whilst trying to remain quiet was exceptionally straining, hearing soft footsteps approaching, he didn't bother to close the flaps or window and just took off running with Nong.
"..."
Linmin walked up to the forced window, his stare as frigid as it could get.
Spitting the mint leaf he was chewing on, he quickly sealed everything back up and checked every nook and cranny of the residence just in case, he had not missed the clear sound of what sounded like two people running and stumbling in the distance but he wasn't going to assume that the scoundrels had all left.
'Absolute filth… How dare they disturb Lord Edrick?' as a diligent servant-wife, Linmin had to inform Anoteros of what had happened without any unnecessary delays.