Watson walked out of the hall with a headache. He looked at the sky outside and realized that it was already evening.

He had spent the entire afternoon interrogating the Demoness Bandit Gang leaders. Most of the time, he asked about the grudges between the King and the border count.

The Demoness Bandit Gang leaders all gave similar accounts, and Watson managed to get the whole story as he st.i.tched their stories together.

It seemed like some people who believed in the evil G.o.d—the Primordial Demoness—had founded the Demoness Church a few years ago. That was probably how the story started.

The Primordial Demoness believed that humans were born with a combination of desires. It was instinctive to indulge in desires, but indulgence would lead to destruction. Therefore, humans should balance their desires and achieve pleasure without getting lost.

That was the Demoness Church's original creed, which many people accepted. The church also had the complete version of the platinum-tier Great Sin Mask, which could absorb emotions. For example, if a person was too obsessed with money, and if he wanted to reduce it, he could transfer his greed to a part of the Great Sin Mask, which led to the rise of the Demoness Church.

Unfortunately, as time pa.s.sed, the Great Sin Mask could not bear the burden of absorbing too many negative emotions, and those emotions drifted out. The first person to be affected was the saintess who had kept the mask in the Demoness Church—Queen Avril.

Due to the mask's influence, Avril had transformed from a beautiful and kind empress who loved her people to a dark-hearted woman who abused her subordinates and animals; some would even call her crazy. That was why the King had executed her discreetly.

Phew!

Watson sighed as he stretched his lazy waist. His tender body expanded outward. He also removed the spatial package that he always carried with him. He wanted to put it in a room; he did not want to get too close to the Great Sin Mask.

He knew what it was like when one could not control their emotions when they used the Great Sin Mask.

However, those were what the Demoness Bandit Gang leaders told him. He did not wholly believe them because he felt that there was something strange with the story.

For example, the King had already killed Queen Avril. Why did he let the Demoness Church members disguise themselves as members of a bandit gang? He even arranged for their leader to be the Mage Guild President and monitor the border count?

After all, Queen Avril had been influenced by the Great Sin Mask. She did not plan to become like that. Was the King really a person who only cared about profit? Was he cold-blooded and heartless?

There was another strange thing. Envy mentioned that she was Queen Avril's guard; she was a gold-tier warrior, only one step away from being a platinum-tier elite. However, before Queen Avril's accident, the King had ordered her to duel with a young and genius gold-tier warrior from the Saint Laurent family.

She had been severely injured, and her level was reduced by one rank. Her opponent had held back, and he had been severely punished for that. He eventually disappeared.

Why did the King have to find someone to duel with her before the Queen's accident?

“By the way, was that young genius my father? I remember he used to be a member of the Saint Laurent family. When he was young, he was a gold-tier warrior too.”

Watson rubbed his chin as he thought about that. Then, he smiled and dispelled that thought.

How was that possible?

His father only knew how to make babies with his mother, Catherine. He was an idiot who did not know how to manage or farm; Watson found it difficult to a.s.sociate him with the word genius.

“Young Master Watson, the interrogation has ended. Your most loyal and capable captain, Allen, has been waiting for you for a long time. He wants to what to do with the Demoness Bandit Gang members next?”

As Watson was deep in his thoughts, he suddenly heard a voice. He turned around and saw Allen standing nearby. He asked, “How are the men we brought back from the Misty Forest?”

“With your help, Young Master Watson, none of our knights have died. They were only slightly injured. I believe that they will recover in two or three days.”

“Very good. They have worked really hard. Reward each of them with three Rainbow Phoenix Chicken eggs daily to help them recover! Sven, the Shabby Bandit Gang leader, came back with us as well, and he wants to join Blackmoon Castle. I will let him continue to act as a bandit and observe for a period to see if he is sincere in joining us.”

Watson had already made plans for Sven. He wanted to form a bandit gang after the winter to learn more about the other bandit gangs from other sections of the border.

Blackmoon Castle was in constant expansion and would one day occupy the entire border. He would use it as a foundation for the future. Furthermore, if he had a bandit gang, then he could do some of the things that were inconvenient in the past.

For example, he could rob the business alliances unwilling to join his organization or the owner manors who had objections against him. He could do that in the name of the bandit gang.

“Allen, have you calculated the gains and losses from that trip?”

“Young Master Watson, I've just calculated it with the help of the Young Masters Zeke and Zenoah! We've lost 400 silver-tier two-winged ligers and ten sets of silver-tier Gale Force armor,” Allen explained respectfully. The reason the Blackmoon Knights did not suffer from the petrification spell was the armor they wore; it had saved their lives.

“As for the gains, we have obtained the Demoness Bandit Gang's a.s.sets, and that included a small number of bronze-tier equipment and a large number of iron-tier equipment. The total value of that is about hundreds of thousands of gold coins, and we have also captured nearly five hundred Demoness Bandit Gang members! Apart from that, we also have a herd of fused magical beasts, more than 1000 silver-tier magical beasts, and 4000 bronze-tier magic beasts left. I have brought them back. Overall, we have made a profit.”

“I understand, Allen. Take the Demoness Bandit Gang leaders to the Hall! From now on, they will be our slaves until our losses are completely compensated. They will work here.”

Allen nodded.

“Yes, Young Master Watson! The loss of hundreds of silver-tier magical beasts is worth at least 100,000 gold coins. Even if we give them ten gold coins a month, they will never be able to pay it off in their lifetime.”

“This is where you will live. Go in! Take a bath and rest. From tomorrow onward, I will teach you how to be a qualified maid. If you don't do well, I will not be so polite about it.”

Capella led the six Demoness Bandit Gang leaders to a few s.p.a.cious bedrooms. After she gave them a few instructions, she turned around and left.

“Are we really going to live here?” The youngest girl looked around the room and asked helplessly.

“This is all because of Envy. If she hadn't betrayed us, we could've escaped even if we were no match for that brat.” She looked dissatisfied, and her thin lips pursed tightly.

Envy glanced at her, but she could not be bothered to say anything. She opened the door to a room and walked into it; the room had a gorgeous interior style.

“Alright, it's too late to say that now. At least Watson is still quite nice to us.” Greed rubbed her fingers habitually and tried to smooth things over. She took the room next to Envy; it had the same s.p.a.ce and design.

“He had arranged such good rooms for us. He did not say it, but he is treating us like distinguished guests! After all, we still have to find out how he fused the Great Sin Masks, and we need to get it back. I think we can stay here for the time being.”

Even the one who had been the angriest did not have anything to say when they saw the room.

The s.p.a.cious room included a bedroom, a living room, and a place to bath, and the sofa was made of genuine leather. They had been bandits for so long, but they had never stayed in such a high-cla.s.s room.

Suddenly, the door to the opposite room opened. Sven walked out of the room with a basket of colorful eggs in his hands. His left hand held a set of silver armor.

Sven was stunned when he saw the Demoness bandits. Then, he walked toward their room with a strange expression, “I did not expect to see you guys as soon as I opened the door. I'm sorry for laughing, but why are you standing in front of the storeroom?”

Storeroom?

Sven called the place where they lived a storeroom?

The Demoness Bandit Gang leaders looked at each other. Their expressions changed as if a big question mark had appeared on their forehead.