Adrian just looked down at them with a blank expression.
"So you guys are from Ironhold," he started. "You’ve been trying to attack me for a while now actually. You succeeded once and you failed the second time. And that is exactly why you’re sitting here right now."
The girl just glared up at him from the dirty floor.
"Let us go or my father won’t let you get away with this. He will kill you."
Adrian just stared at the princess in absolute silence.
She really thought she had some kind of high ground here. She actually believed her royal blood was some magic shield that Adrian wouldn’t dare touch.
He slowly shook his head.
"No. You’re wrong."
He looked down at her.
"I will be the one who kills your father."
He watched the fake confidence instantly drain right out of her face. Her eyes widened and her mouth parted slightly, but before she could even say anything to defend herself or throw out another useless threat Adrian just turned away.
He looked directly at the leader of the shadow assassination squad standing at attention a few feet away.
"Every single person here... I want their bones broken."
"Don’t leave anyone out," Adrian continued in a completely flat tone. "The prince, the princess, the knights, the mages. I want them all suffering. Break their bones. Peel their skin. I honestly don’t give a shit what you do to them."
He crossed his arms.
"Pull off their nails or whatever. I just want them to feel pain."
Adrian glanced back at the cell where the prince was currently shaking in the corner.
"No one gets away with attacking my people and my territory. I’ll send a few healers down here later so you don’t have to worry about them dying on you. Make sure you give them as much pain as physically possible. And then heal them back up and repeat the whole process."
He looked around the cold room as he spoke.
"Repeat the damn thing until they’re ready to willingly work for me. Until they are totally broken and ready to submit to Oresfall."
He looked back at the squad leader.
"I will let the people who are innocent go. But those who actively join and participate in a mission to harm my city? They will suffer."
He said it with a cold finality that made the prince and princess shiver.
The shadow assassin squad leader gave a firm nod. He glanced sideways at the two royals locked in the cell before looking back at Adrian and giving a deep bow.
"I will do exactly as you say sir."
Adrian nodded once.
He didn’t waste another second looking at the prisoners. He just turned around and walked right out of the underground prison.
The people inside the cells immediately started crying and begging him to stop.
He totally ignored them. He just walked down the torch-lit stone corridor and headed straight for the stairs. He went up and pushed the heavy wooden trapdoor open.
He walked through the back storage room of the potion shop and gave a brief nod to the older shop owner behind the counter before stepping out onto the bustling streets of his city.
And for the first time since coming back to Oresfall he finally realized there was one incredibly unpleasant change to the territory.
Oresfall always had a huge issue with cleanliness.
Actually it wasn’t just Oresfall. It was a massive issue for all the territories nearby and basically this entire fucking continent. There was always a huge problem with plumbing and the drainage systems were just exceptionally bad. Since they had zero modern infrastructure out here, people would just take a shit anywhere they could find a quiet spot and cover it up with dirt like stray dogs.
Adrian really didn’t want that happening in his city.
All it did was spread diseases and make the place look like a filthy slum regardless of how nice the new buildings were.
And the smell right now was pretty damn bad.
Even though there wasn’t much trash in sight and he didn’t see any actual human waste sitting on the newly paved roads, he could still smell something totally awful hanging in the air.
It was this nasty sour scent and he couldn’t even put his finger on it. He didn’t know what the hell the smell was but it made him scrunch his nose up in total disgust.
So he just walked faster.
He kept his head down and weaved through the crowds of people until he made it straight back to his mansion. He walked right past the heavily armed guards at the front gate and headed up the grand staircase to his bedroom.
He pushed the wooden doors open and let out a huge breath.
This place actually smelled good. It smelled like lime and light incense just like it always did thanks to the maids constantly airing it out and burning lime infused incense sticks inside.
He took off his outer shirt and just plopped face first onto the huge mattress.
The bed was stupidly soft. He just laid there face down in total silence for a minute before rolling over onto his back to stare at the ceiling.
’System.’
[System Online.]
The familiar blue screen popped up right in front of his face.
"I want you to check for monsters in that monster encyclopedia thing we have. What is it even called again?"
[The dungeon ability is called Monster Catalog.]
Adrian nodded to himself.
"Yeah. Use the Monster Catalog and give me a few methods on how I can deal with this waste issue outside."
He waved a hand vaguely toward his bedroom window.
"I want some kind of system where all the waste gets dealt with. All the organic garbage and human waste basically. Like leftover stuff from the kitchen too. I want all of it to just be destroyed or digested or whatever so it’s handled efficiently."