The Devil's Cage

The young girl’s cry woke up the sleeping Harold.

The young man, who was holding his long sword, tried to stand up immediately, but after a whole night of maintaining the same posture, his limbs were stiff and numb. It was not even possible for him to stand up completely.

All he could do was groan and fall on his bum.

"Young master, are you alright? It’s nothing to worry about. It must be the men who answered the recruitment ad," one of the wagoner bodyguards said, coming to Harold’s aid.

"Oh, I see..." the young man said, slightly embarrassed.

Harold was staring at Kieran, who had stood up straight.

As a matter of fact, Kieran had already noticed the men a few minutes ago and confirmed that they were not dangerous. At least they did not look dangerous.

The Sub Mission description had mentioned that there might be some who harbored malicious intent, so Kieran kept that in mind.

"I’ll leave those two to you!" he told Harold as he glanced over at Herbert, who had just fallen asleep at sunrise, and the big guy he’d brought back yesterday, who was snoring loudly.

Kieran headed over to the candidates.

He was sure the big guy he had brought back was dead asleep and not faking it.

Otherwise, he would not have allowed Kieran to tie him up with chains like a chinese dumpling.

While he had been tying the guy up, Kieran had noticed that his swollen forehead had healed.

"What astonishing healing powers!" he had commented.

He had wanted to ask what the man had been to Calkin, but he knew his priority at the moment was to finish his Sub Mission, not ask questions and look for the unknown.

Kieran walked towards the entrance of Herbert’s place and stood there waiting for the candidates.

"The temptation of gold is even stronger than I thought. This is really quite a number of men!"

The scene that was supposed to take place after two to three days after the news had spread was already taking place on the second day.

Kieran scanned over the people before him. He was in awe.

He could make out at least 30 to 40 men.

"Please wait here while the others arrive!" he told the ones who had reached him first.

Of course, not all the candidates were willing to comply.

"Who the f*ck are you? Piss off!" one of the biggest guys of the first batch yelled at Kieran.

He raised his hand to slap him on the face, but the sound that followed was not that of his hand landing on Kieran’s cheek. The big guy cried out in pain.

Kieran had caught his hand with his right hand and twisted it back.

The big guy’s seemingly strong body instantly shrunk like a shrimp as he cried like a little girl.

Any others who wanted to move on Kieran suddenly backed off.

They hadn’t noticed how or when Kieran had struck the guy.

Kieran’s actions inspired reverence in the candidates’ hearts and made them obey quietly.

Kieran had used his Transcendence Level [Hand-to-Hand Combat]. Although his choices had not made his punches as powerful as his kicks, that didn’t mean that he could not fight with his hands.

Whoever underestimated Kieran’s hands would taste the power of his fists.

"Aaaah! It hurts! Let go!"

The guy was crying out in pain, but Kieran had no intention of letting go. Instead, he gripped him even harder.

"Arrrgh! It’s breaking! My hand is breaking!" the big guy cried even louder.

"Mr. Herbert put me in charge of every single one of you. You can call me 2567 or anything else you like, but everyone will follow my rules. If anyone disobeys or breaks the rules, not only will they be eliminated, but bad things might also happen to them," Kieran said amidst the crying.

His tone was cold, and his words were even colder. He used the sharp gaze he had perfected through a couple of life-and-death dungeons to scan over the candidates. It made the candidates fall silent like cicadas during the winter.

Unlike the thugs that had come by the previous day, the current candidates had a certain level of strength. Just like the thugs though, they knew that they would have to beat a more formidable opponent.

Compared to the three thugs, the candidates knew what kind of person would have that kind of sharp gaze though. It was the kind who had been through life-and-death situations a couple of times.

Definitely not someone they could afford to mess with.

"2567?"

"Sounds familiar!"

"Where did I hear that before?"

Some of the candidates instantly searched their memories for where they’d heard that name.

For a moment, the space in front of Herbert’s place became oddly quiet.

Delighted, Kieran nodded lightly.

Ever since he had accepted the [Sifting Through Bodyguards] Sub Mission, he had been thinking about how he would complete it perfectly.

Strength!

In the end, Kieran chose to go with the most direct way, which was to display his own strength in front of the candidates and exert his dominance.

He could mostly guess who the people who had come for the job were. Most of them believed their knuckles spoke louder than words.

Not everyone, but most of them.

If Kieran had chosen to use words, the final outcome would have been extremely awkward and the time consumption alone would have been unacceptable.

Herbert had mentioned that they would be leaving for Isogu City on the 25th. It was already the 23rd.

Kieran, who still had a couple of things to sort out before leaving for the expedition, had no intention of wasting all his time on a single Sub Mission.

As for the men who harbored malicious intent, he had come up with a countermeasure against them. The situation before him was not the right time for it though.

Kieran loosened his right hand and pushed the big guy back.

The guy staggered forward for a few steps, his body out of balance, before he fell to the ground.

His right wrist had obvious bruises from Kieran’s grip.

"Thank Mr. Herbert for that. If it was not for him, I wouldn’t have broken your hand, but your neck!"

In order for the selection to proceed smoothly, Kieran had to act ruthless and cold.

To further fortify his stance, he activated the [Dead-Man’s Gaze].

The next moment, a whole bunch of men were crying for their mothers and jumping around like ants on a hot pan.

When the rest of the candidates reached the scene, they saw a whole bunch of people lying or sitting down, drooling blankly.

Fear was evident on their faces. Powerful, uncontrollable fear.

Even more so when Keiran, who was standing on a small platform, turned his gaze towards them. They all shivered in fear and shrunk back like quail.

Instantly, the last men to arrive looked at Kieran in a different manner. They were unsure about what they were facing.

Scared, everyone kept looking at him.

Kieran looked calm and casual about it.

When he glanced at the last person in the crowd though, his heart rose up in his throat in surprise.

Translator’s Thoughts

Dess Dess

The calvary and a bunch of useless cry baby