"But that doesn't mean I can just let this go."
Death and Famine both kept quiet and waited for Senzo's verdict; even if they were used to Pest's behavior, that didn't mean their master had to accept it.
"Haaah..."
Senzo couldn't help but sigh; he felt like Pest might be troublesome, but he didn't expect it to be this bad.
"How about this? I'll not let him out for some time to make sure he properly reflects on his actions. But after that I'll let him out again, and all three of you need to help me reeducate him."
Death, Famine, and War stared at Senzo with wide eyes; this was a massive compromise from him after all. There was no need for him to do this for them.
"Thank you, master!" Death exclaimed, his whole body trembling with excitement.
Famine and War both nodded their heads while tightly clenching their fists.
"Alright, now that that's decided, I'll explain it to Pest and take him back."
After Senzo said that, he took a couple steps forward until he stood right behind Pest, who, without a care in the world, was feeding the green monster one potion after the other and carefully observing its reactions.
Senzo took a single glance at the monster, and it vanished from sight; he had completely crushed its body so that it wouldn't suffer anymore.
"Huh? How is that possible?" Pest muttered to himself, looking at the empty space in front of him.
He was clearly taking his time to torture it as much as possible, so how did the monster disappear like that?
"Pest, we need to talk."
He suddenly heard from behind, and he immediately turned his head around to see Senzo and the other three standing around him with serious expressions on their faces.
Especially Senzo; he had a grave expression on his face that made him sweat uncontrollably.
"Ah, I took care of all the monsters near the staircase, master! And I even experimented to see if they were the same as the ones on the previous floor."
But before he could continue, Pest suddenly felt his whole body stiffen, and a moment later he couldn't control his body anymore. He was frozen in place right there.
"!?"
He couldn't understand what was happening, but seeing his master and brothers not react, he knew there weren't any enemies around for the time being.
"Be quiet and listen very carefully to what I'm about to say, okay?" Senzo asked slowly, making sure to pronounce each and every word properly.
After he said that, Pest felt that he could move his head again, but only his head; he couldn't make any sound or do anything else.
He quickly nodded; his head went up and down like crazy. He had no idea why his master was looking at him like that, but it was definitely something very important.
Senzo cleared his throat and glanced at the other three horsemen, making up his mind; he had to rein them in carefully. Especially after seeing how they didn't care at all while Pest was clearly crossing every line.
They are walking calamities after all; I'll need to keep a close eye on them and rein them in properly.
"What you just did is absolutely unacceptable, and if I ever catch you doing something like it without my orders again, you will never be let out ever again."
"!?"
Senzo could clearly feel Pest's desperate struggle to regain control of his body and defend himself, but he was having none of it and just kept talking without stopping.
"But it's also partly my fault for not getting to know you all better, so this one time I will let it slide. That doesn't mean that I condone it though, so you will be locked up and not let out for a period of time."
He had clearly been way too careless with the handling of these horsemen. On the previous floor he could already see glimpses of Pest's true personality, but he didn't take it to heart, and look what happened.
"..."
While Senzo was staring at Pest, Death and the others were carefully observing both of them. But even if they wanted to change anything, they couldn't.
To them it might have been normal what Pest had been doing, but to their master it was clearly an unforgivable crime.
After hearing Senzo's words, War was clearly the most uncomfortable; at some point in time, his sword had appeared in his hand, and he was wildly swinging it around to get rid of all his frustrations.
Senzo clearly saw it but let it be; right now the most pressing matter was dealing with Pest.
"You might think that it is unfair because I never specifically forbade it, and that is fair. But I am the master, and my decisions are final."
Without letting Pest retort, he waved his hand, and Pest disappeared, reentering Senzo's head.
What followed wasn't anything special—Senzo and the other three just stared ahead, letting everything that had just happened sink in.
Even War, who had been swinging his sword wildly, stood there like a statue, holding his blood-red great sword tightly in his right hand.
What his master said was right; it was unfair. They didn't know what was allowed and what wasn't, but from Senzo's standpoint, what Pest had just done was clearly way too far.
I'll have to contribute as much as I can and then try to get Pest out as soon as possible.
War vowed he would definitely properly discipline that little troublemaker the next time he saw him!
And while all three of them were staring at nothing in particular, all of them figuring out their feelings regarding the situation, in the forest next to them thousands of green creatures were slowly approaching them.
Some were walking on foot, others rode on large wolves like the ones Pest had massacred earlier, and others rode on massive boars the size of a small car.
And the ones at the back were walking on foot, but they also were armed to the teeth, holding crude weapons made out of monster teeth.
"Looks like we have company..." Senzo muttered; he was clearly not in the mood to fight after what had just happened.
"War, you take care of all of them; if you need help, you can ask Death or Famine. Get rid of them as fast as possible; I want to get out of this hellhole ASAP."