Don't Burn Them! Even Witches Have Value!

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"Phew……finally done. This thing is dead heavy."

Lynn wiped the sweat from his forehead, looked at the "rice dumpling" that had already been trussed up tightly in front of him, and gave a satisfied nod.

Since the Sealing Necklace's beam had a time limit, they had still tied the snake girl up as a precaution.

It had been an extremely arduous process, because she had completely gone limp like a pile of dead snakes, and she was very heavy; one person simply couldn't tie her up alone.

Fortunately, she slept very soundly, so her limbs could be arranged however they pleased, otherwise the difficulty of tying her up would have increased even further.

After a struggle comparable to trussing up a pig for the New Year, they finally managed to toss this lazy snake into the attic, taking the place Griffin had previously occupied.

With her problem temporarily settled, the next thing to deal with was another fellow.

"Dilated pupils, short and rapid breathing— doesn't look good."

The gaunt Theodore offered his assessment.

"I didn't expect you to know a bit of physiology. Then why is it that you don't know the importance of eating on time?"

"By the Goddess of Wisdom, absorbing knowledge is nourishment for the soul."

Elysia looked at Theodore with mild exasperation, then turned her head to look at Griffin, who had been moved over to beside the dining table.

"Completely hollow expression."

She was a little worried:

"It feels like he'd jump off the roof the next second if left alone."

"That absolutely won't do. Property values will drop."

Lynn instantly grasped the severity of the problem, and his expression turned serious.

"Mmph-pfft, this is why small fry are such a handful, not a shred of the steady composure that comes with age.

Can't be helped, let me enlighten him then."

"As if you're one to talk — some old hag who just woke up and cried herself unconscious. You can stand aside."

"Where did I cry myself unconscious! I was just……"

Flora, who had been reminded of her own situation, hadn't even finished putting up a tough front before her eyes grew wet.

Lynn looked at Flora, who displayed absolutely none of the composure befitting her age, and waved his hand in distaste:

"At a time like this one should first ask what happened. Let me handle it."

After clearing his throat twice, he leaned over to Griffin's side with a smile on his face:

"Mr. Griffin, you still haven't paid for your board and lodging during this period, or the treatment fees from before!

But don't worry, I magnanimously allow you to pay it off with intelligence!

So, tell me now what happened — guh!"

"You stand aside too!"

After retracting the fist that had knocked Lynn down, Elysia let out a long sigh:

"Haah, honestly unbearable — these people have absolutely no regard for others' emotions.

Though that's perfectly normal. Empathy is a falsehood; people only ever see what they want to see, and believe what they want to believe.

That is why people come to despise witches they have never personally witnessed do evil, simply on the basis of rumors.

I cannot understand your feelings either, but I know that sometimes pent-up emotions need an outlet to be released."

Elysia calmly gazed into Griffin's dead and silent eyes.

But she did not feel that those eyes were looking at her.

The eyes are the windows to the soul, and the soul that lived behind those windows seemed to have vanished at this moment.

"Doesn't seem to be working."

She let out a sigh.

"Can't be helped, then let's return to where we left off and treat him as an enemy to be interrogated."

Lynn, who had gotten up from the floor, calmly said the most merciless thing.

Elysia furrowed her brow but said nothing more.

Griffin had originally made contact with them as an enemy to begin with, and if he stubbornly refused to cooperate, then doing so was not unreasonable.

However, the Lynn who had previously extracted intelligence from him had also said that he had his own hardships.

"Give him one more day to recover. There shouldn't be any other variables in the short term. I can work overtime to cover his board and lodging fees on his behalf."

Elysia looked toward Lynn, seeking his opinion.

"He's currently at full strength, the rope has been used on that snake, and it would take all three of you— you, Flora, and Iyanna —to keep watch over him.

Considering that we are just about to begin the new phase of our work, this is clearly not realistic. His situation must be resolved as soon as possible."

Lynn coldly waved his finger.

"But……"

Just as Elysia was attempting to persuade Lynn, a figure slipped over to Griffin's side:

"You look very sad, but it's okay— eating something when you're feeling down will make you happy again."

It was none other than Iyanna, who had sneaked a piece of jerky from the kitchen.

She smiled, baring her canine teeth, and held out the half-eaten piece of jerky— covered in saliva and bite marks— toward Griffin's mouth.

Faced with the young girl holding out food to him, Griffin's eyes trembled slightly.

And then, they focused on that small hand reaching out toward him.

Once, a stray child taken in by a lord had seen a hand like this before.

When he was trained in all manner of cruel ways, when he had witnessed many of his companions die before his eyes, when he could no longer distinguish between fear and suffering, it was then that he saw a hand like this.

Because he had failed to separate a rabbit's limbs from its bones while it was still alive, he had been strung up in a frigid underground cellar, feeling the blood slowly seep from the wounds the long whip had torn open.

It was then that a hand gently touched him, and passed him a piece of bread.

And it was in that very moment that he felt his own heart was still beating.

He was not a dead thing, not a blade — he was alive, a person by the name of Griffin.

It was the owner of that hand who had kept his heart alive.

She was the life of his heart.

And now, that heart had lost its life.

Then why should he go on living?

"I should……have died together with her……"

Without knowing when it had begun, Griffin had already started to speak of the story of the past aloud.

"Wuwuwu……" x3

All three women cried streams of tears.

"What a pair of star-crossed lovers."

Lynn also imitated them and dabbed at his dry eye corners:

"But, I have one question. Are you an idiot?

Perhaps following the script of a tragic hero and heroine, you ought to take your own life — but are you acting in a play?

He killed the person you loved most, worked you like a dog, and in the end threw you away like trash.

And the revenge you give him is to kill yourself?

Not even at his doorstep, at that, saving him the trouble of disposing of the body."

Lynn's voice gradually rose:

"An eye for an eye, blood for blood! That is the proper equivalent exchange!"

The completely unmoved Theodore scratched his head:

"Is revenge lawful under the Milanese Codex?"

"The law belongs to the living, because it only has binding power over the living.

And revenge belongs to the dead, because it only holds meaning for the dead.

Besides, it is plainly Baron Rose and the Blood Snake Society who broke the law first."

Lynn walked over to stand before Griffin and looked at his eyes, which were gradually regaining their luster — the very picture of someone consumed by righteous indignation:

"I, Lynn, have throughout my life been unable to abide evildoers. All evil must be brought to justice!

However, one must have just cause before acting, so that subsequent matters can be properly dealt with."

And so, he pulled out the contract he had long since prepared from his breast pocket and revealed a benevolent smile:

"If it is done in fulfillment of the promise made by my contractee to investigate a criminal organization, then evidence lawful enough to go through proper channels can be obtained."

The other party was, at least in name, a baron of equal rank to him, and regardless of whether he would later report him or physically eliminate him, evidence recognized by the Milanese Codex would be required.

After all, although the other party had long since abandoned all semblance of being human, he — Lynn — still intended to continue doing business in Milan.

"You want to help me……take revenge?"

Griffin murmured.

"Haha, what a joke."

Lynn looked as though he had heard something utterly absurd:

"This is a loan, not help. I never help anyone, because there is no exchange of interest in that.

I do not want your intelligence now. I want your life, your strength, your everything!

In exchange, I will provide you with the support needed for your revenge, until you send that man to hell with your own hands."

Griffin stared fixedly at that piece of parchment, his breathing rapid like a bellows.

Finally, with a trembling hand, he snatched up the quill and signed his name on that paper with fierce force.

The pen strokes drove through the paper, as though it was not ink, but the blood of his enemy.

【Favorability: 20 (As long as I can cut that man's throat……)】

Looking on at this scene, Lynn stood with his hands on his hips in satisfaction.

It hadn't been easy but he had finally recruited this NPC.

And then, he immediately asked the question he had been wanting to ask all along.

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