"What are you doing living near Nevermore Academy?" A cold voice echoed in the middle of nowhere, where a man, kneeling and dressed only in ragged pants, cried silently.
Around the man, a group of seven people with strange weapons surrounded him without saying a word.
Closer to the man stood Jonathan, dressed in black clothing with a long scarlet trench coat.
His gaze reflected no empathy; instead, it showed complete disinterest in the well-being of the man kneeling before him.
"Are you going to leave this world without saying a single word?"
"I'm sorry…"
"I think you're misunderstanding something here." Jonathan didn't react to the man's apologies. "The amount of blood on your hands means you have killed. Looking at your appearance, it's easy to see you've let your savage instinct make the decisions of your life."
"No, it's not human blood…"
"I don't have time to confirm whether what you're saying is true or false. What I do know is that you're hiding something very important from me." Jonathan knew this man was hiding something from the information they had extracted from his belongings.
Since his arrival, he had ordered his team to follow him closely to find out if they were being tracked.
It wasn't unusual for priests or hunters to be followed by ancient cults of supernatural beings.
Jonathan knew something like that could happen—after all, he never knew who had killed the original owner of his body. And precisely because of that, he needed to be very careful.
"He's too strong, stronger than any hunter…"
"The fact that you think there are beings more powerful than us, the agents of the light, means you haven't yet seen what we're capable of. That's the point. Now then, would you give me the reason for your visit?" Jonathan stood up, but as he moved away, the man kneeling on the ground began to float.
"Argh…"
Someone who wanted them dead. Someone who needed them gone from this place was watching them from the darkness. This endless dispute had continued since ancient times.
The ancient clans of dark entities that still existed survived hidden in the shadows and rarely took action against The Healing Church.
Those who had some control over certain regions avoided conflict, but many others, eager to rise up, always sought opportunities to gain power.
Jonathan didn't care if The Healing Church was the "good guy" in the story; he only sought to become strong enough not to depend on anyone for his own safety.
"Tell me about him."
"I don't know much…"
"That won't help you." Jonathan shook his head slightly, looked at Father Doug for a few seconds, and the priest nodded, pulled a revolver from his belt, and handed it to him.
"Do you realize what this is?"
"A gun…" The man looked calmly at Jonathan as if he had gained some advantage and remained still.
"Back away, will you…? Heh."
"What's the name of the organization you work for?"
"I told you, I don't know."
Bang!
"AAAHHHHH!"
Jonathan threw the captive against a tree to wake him up.
Crack!
The impact was so strong that the man was left with serious injuries, but these healed quickly. However, unlike those wounds, the gunshot wound did not heal.
"Damn, that bastard really wants to die." Father Doug pulled a long cigar from his robe and lit it.
"Please, please, please let me go!" The man begged once more when he woke up and saw Jonathan standing in front of him.
"I will, after you tell me what I want to know," Jonathan said calmly.
However, the calm tone seemed to frighten the ragged man even more, as he couldn't tell what Jonathan's intentions were or whether he was telling the truth.
He had no choice.
Jonathan was the one holding his life in his hands.
"What do you want to know?" he asked softly.
"Everything you know. The exact location of those who sent you here, your companions, and how many men they have there!" Jonathan spoke in a calm tone, never losing composure.
"I don't know much about them, but we usually use the forests, in an area where humans don't pass. We have twenty men… AAAAH!"
Before he could finish, he screamed in agony.
Jonathan had cut off one of his fingers with a knife.
"Shut your mouth! Don't tell me the nonsense everyone already knows. Tell me something I don't know! You have two more chances!" Jonathan said, holding the knife in his hand and staring at him intently.
"I only know that he will come for you, killing you is his goal… Some are hiding in the nearby prison, they're waiting there."
Bang!
Before he could finish speaking, Jonathan shot him in the head and handed the weapon back to Father Doug, who stood beside him.
"Clean this up, we're heading to the town's police station now."
"Understood, Regent."