"I had bumped your head so hard that you had not only received a concussion but also lost your memories," Malik said, his expression morphing into amusement as he roared out in laughter.
"Good. Good… I will smash your head again, and this time, I will ensure that you don't ever wake up again. Your days on this sea are numbered," Malik added with a crazed smile. His expression caused a chill to travel down Zuriel's spine.
┏━━━━━━༻✾༺━━━━━━┓
[System's notification ]
Action: You have received a death threat from the main protagonist.
Reward: +2,000EP
Remarks by the thegreatquill:
"Aye! You are already raising a death flag. Amazing! I'm learning a lot about how to live long from you, teacher!"
┗━━━━━━༻✾༺━━━━━━┛
Zuriel took a glance at the notification tab and dismissed it.
Finn narrowed his eyes and scowled at Malik with a deep frown emerging on his face.
Undeterred, Malik scowled back, demonstrating that he wasn't afraid to threaten the ship owner he was imprisoned in.
Finn's frown deepened. He refocused on Zuriel, his expression morphing into concern and nervousness, ignoring Malik's death stare.
"I will explain everything for you, captain," Finn said, recomposing himself and explaining the details to Zuriel.
Although he had already clarified that Zuriel had lost his memories, he had hoped that he would be able to regain fragments of them upon meeting Malik and making a decision, as it was critical to the ship's survival. He wasn't sure about his decision—if Zuriel would react as his former self or react differently by making another decision.
After some minutes, Finn was done with his explanation. Witnessing Zuriel's expression filled with shock, disbelief, confusion, and fear, Finn sighed inwardly, realising that they might not escape this situation in one piece as he initially thought they would.
Zuriel took a deep breath and exhaled again, his mind racing.
According to Finn's explanation, his family was responsible for attracting the beast hordes to their shelter instead of Malik. This was explicitly done by an exiled clansman of the Zaraha household, his paternal uncle, who was caught using a forbidden method to raise the potential of his beasts.
The one who had exiled him was his father, the Head of the Zahara Household. His father had spared him, thinking that his uncle would chase repentance and change his ways so he could handle one of the family's businesses. Unfortunately, things took a drastic turn further than what he had expected to transpire.
Angered by his exile, he sought revenge by gathering gangs of criminals and breaking into the Zahara Household's sacred grounds to steal a sacred magic tool that was part of their ancestral heritage.
Because of this, chaos broke out within the Zahara Household. But the entire event was kept under wraps to prevent the public, including the other major clans, from learning about the information and getting their hands on the sacred magic tool. At the same time, they went on a manhunt for his exiled uncle.
Unfortunately, his uncle had other plans. He sold the sacred magic tool to an auction house, shared the money with other gang members, and attempted to flee the shelter to another shelter before he was apprehended. Upon learning of his actions, he was sentenced to one of the most brutal death sentences in the Zahara Household.
In an attempt to get the magic tool back, they soon realised that the magic tool sold to the auction house was a fake. The original was still in the hands of the gangs that had raided the Zahara sacred grounds with his uncle.
Feeling betrayed that the Zahara household had orchestrated the plot to drain them financially, humiliate them, and kick them out of the shelter, the auction house released information about the event to the public.
Thus, all the prominent clans within that shelter initiated a manhunt searching for the Zahara Houshold's infamous sacred magic tool. By chance, Malik not only located the whereabouts of the magic tool but also uncovered the gang members' plan to utilise it to summon an enormous beast horde to attack the shelter and then, with the help of their mysterious backer, flee to the subsequent settlement.
The only issue was that the mysterious backer was said to be the Head of the Zahara Household.
Yes! It was rumoured that the Zahara household had orchestrated the entire plot from start to finish—to eradicate all the major clans and use the opportunity to seize control of the shelter while making themselves look like victims who had also been played into the enemies' hands.
Malik immediately delivered the information he uncovered to the shelter head, who was secretly his stepfather, so he easily believed him.
The novel mentions that Malik's parents helped the shelter's head fulfil an unknown request in exchange for looking after their child for an extended period. This was one of the few details that made Zuriel believe Malik's family was a mysterious, influential beastmaster clan.
After all, which unknown family could aid a shelter head in fulfilling his request in return for him caring for their child in secret?
The fact that they weren't afraid to hand their child to a stranger meant they had a way to track and ensure his well-being.
Even the shelter's head contemplated his actions when reminded of Malik's parents. He raised the main protagonist in secret as his stepson.
While others worked their way up through hard work and connections by themselves or through their families to cultivate their magical beasts and grow stronger, Malik, publicly treated as an orphan and pretending to be poor and foolish on the outside, enjoyed all the privileges within the shelter's head home.
He was the literal definition of a sheep in wolf's clothing.
Nonetheless, the shelter head swiftly believed his stepson's words and launched a plan to capture them red-handed. Unfortunately, they had fallen into the plot of the real supporter behind the gangs who had orchestrated the entire thing.
At an unexpected hour, a terrifying number of beast hordes attacked the shelter, overpowering and laying waste to the entire shelter within a few hours. Many lives were lost, and households fell.
Due to this, the shelter head released the report he had learned from the stepson to the remaining survivors, blaming the entire event on the Zaraha Household, which they unsurprisingly denied.
However, the Zaraha Household was the only force that had escaped destruction by sacrificing little. They could not entirely negate the accusation with their already established grudge against the auction house and other major clans suffering significantly from the event.
The members of the Zahara Household were interrogated, followed by a sweeping search. Testimonies emerged from the Zahara Household members themselves about the Zahara Household's involvement in the beast horde's attack.
The members of the Zahara household were compromised. Before the head of the Zahara household could take action, it was too late.
Malik found the missing sacred magic tool in the Head of the Zahara Household's private quarters, solidifying the Zahara Household's involvement in the beast horde attack.
Then, the inevitable happened. The entire Zahara household was divided, with one side pleading for forgiveness and ensuring that they had no idea that such an evil plot was brewing; meanwhile, the other chose to stand with the Head of the Zahara household, expressing defiance against the evidence that has been presented, and actively trying to resist arrest.
The Zahara Household was a major clan that had survived the beast horde attack with little to no losses. Thus, they withstood the combined efforts of the entire shelter banded together to suppress them. Alas, they were also facing other major clans, so their resistance wasn't fated to last long.
Somehow, his father snatched back the sacred magic tool and gave it to him. He prepared an escape vessel for him to journey to the Tower of Extinct of Beasts to meet with his other siblings, inform them of the situation, and bring them to the household than they had planned.
With their support, they hoped to help uncover the true culprit responsible for this dire situation that had befallen them or take revenge on their behalf if it was too late.
This decision was made by the head and the elders of the Zahara Household and secretly added with the help of others who had decided to stand with them.
Yet, their plan was not foolproof, as Malik had somehow uncovered it and informed the shelter head.
Then, a plan was made to covertly capture the sacred magic tool of the Zahara Household and use him, the son, to threaten the Zahara Household and force them into surrendering. But, the ship that the Head of the Zahara Household would board his son was only known to him, and they couldn't make such a plan without knowing it.
So, several groups of individuals were chosen to stand by and observe any suspicious movement from the Zahara Household. His father was cautious and had managed to escape any suspicious gaze, except for Malik's.