The moment Alex stepped outside Heaven's Palace, he noticed something strange about the people kneeling along both sides of the road. Their postures appeared respectful, but their expressions revealed something entirely different: they were terrified.
Alex was taken aback by the sight. At first, he had assumed that the people inside the carriage must have done something worthy of respect, which explained why so many people had gathered to welcome them. However, after seeing the fear on everyone's faces, he no longer knew what to think.
'What's actually going on here?' Alex wondered, looking around in confusion.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" a voice suddenly called out from beside him.
Alex turned his head and saw a middle-aged man kneeling on the ground, staring at him with a frightened expression. The man looked as though Alex had just done something incredibly foolish.
"Do you have a death wish?" the middle-aged man whispered urgently, his eyes darting toward the passing carriage.
"What?" Alex was taken aback once again. "What do you mean?"
He was becoming increasingly curious about the situation and wanted to understand why everyone was so afraid. However, before he could ask anything else, the middle-aged man hurriedly interrupted him.
"Don't pretend to be ignorant!" the man whispered, his voice filled with anxiety. "If you want to act brave, go somewhere else! Don't drag the rest of us into your stupidity!"
A little girl was kneeling beside the man, watching Alex with the same fearful expression as everyone else. She appeared to be his daughter, and judging by the way the man kept glancing at her, he was worried about her as well.
'What exactly is happening here?' Alex wondered, growing more confused with every passing moment.
Before he could make sense of the situation, a child's voice suddenly rang out from beside the middle-aged man.
"No!"
It was the little girl who had been kneeling quietly until now. To everyone's surprise, she suddenly stood up, her small fists clenched tightly as she stared toward the carriage.
"What do you think you're doing?" her father exclaimed in panic, immediately looking up at her.
The girl's unexpected actions attracted everyone's attention. People who had been keeping their heads lowered cautiously glanced toward her, while others looked away as though they were afraid even to witness what would happen next.
"Those damn bastards killed my mother!" the girl shouted, her voice trembling with anger and grief.
Although she was trying to appear brave, her trembling body betrayed her fear. She was clearly terrified, yet the pain of losing her mother seemed to have pushed her beyond the point where she could remain silent.
"No! No! No! I won't kneel!" she shouted again, refusing to lower her head.
Her father immediately stood up and slapped her across the cheek, his face filled with panic. "So what? Do you want to die too? Do you even know what happens to people who defy them?"
The girl stumbled slightly from the slap, but she continued staring toward the carriage with tears gathering in her eyes. Her father, meanwhile, looked as though he was about to lose his mind from fear.
Alex watched the scene in astonishment, struggling to understand how things had reached this point.
"But I won't!" the girl insisted, pointing toward Alex with her trembling hand. "Can't you see that man? He's so brave! He's not kneeling!"
'What in the world is happening?' Alex thought, his mind racing as he tried to piece everything together.
Before he could respond, a man suddenly stepped forward and stopped directly in front of the girl. He was one of the people who had been following the carriage, and a sword hung at his waist, marking him as someone who was likely accustomed to using violence to enforce his authority.
"Hey, girl," the man said coldly, fixing his gaze on her.
His expression was completely devoid of sympathy as he slowly drew his sword from its sheath. The blade caught the light as he raised it and pointed it directly toward her face.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, his voice carrying a dangerous chill.
The girl's body trembled even more as the sword came closer. The defiant expression she had worn moments earlier disappeared, replaced by unmistakable fear, and her confidence nearly crumbled under the man's threatening gaze.
Nevertheless, she did not retreat or kneel again. Despite knowing that she could lose her life at any moment, she forced herself to remain standing and faced the man with what little courage she had left.
Before the armed man could make another move, the girl's father suddenly rushed forward. He pushed his daughter behind him and immediately dropped to his knees, lowering his head as far as he could.
"Father!" the girl cried out, shocked by his desperate actions.
Before she could say anything more, her father turned around and slapped her across the cheek a second time. His hands trembled as he desperately tried to prevent her from provoking the armed man any further.
"Sir, please forgive her!" the middle-aged man pleaded, his entire body shaking with fear. "She's just a child and doesn't know any better! I promise I'll punish her properly, and something like this will never happen again!"
He pressed his forehead toward the ground, begging for mercy while trying to shield his daughter from the consequences of her actions.
"Please, sir, I beg you!" he continued, his voice breaking as he desperately pleaded for their lives.
"Why?" the girl whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks like a river. She stared at her father, unable to understand why he had to humiliate himself in front of the very people she hated.
Seeing the scene unfold before him, Alex clenched his fists tightly. His gaze settled on the armed man, and he could no longer ignore the anger building inside him.
"Why?" the girl suddenly shouted, her grief overwhelming her fear. "What did we ever do to deserve this?"
Her voice grew louder as she looked directly at the man standing before her.
"You nobles know nothing except robbing people!" she cried. "You're nothing but bandits! You killed my mother just because she accidentally got in front of your carriage and blocked your path!"
Her tears continued to fall as she struggled to control her trembling voice.
"Is human life really worth so little to you?" she demanded, her small hands shaking at her sides. "I won't kneel! Why should I kneel before you? What great things have you ever done for us?"
She pointed accusingly toward the man, her grief turning into open defiance.
"All you thieves ever do is kill and rob ordinary people!" she shouted, refusing to take back a single word.
The armed man's expression turned completely cold. He had clearly lost whatever little patience he possessed, and the girl's accusations had pushed him beyond his willingness to tolerate her defiance.
"If you're so eager to die, then allow me to help you," he said, tightening his grip around the sword.
He glanced at the girl's father, who was still kneeling before him, and a cruel smile appeared on his face.
"But before that, I'll kill your father right in front of you and make an example out of you that, what happens to anyone who dares to stand against the knights and nobles!"
Without giving the father any chance to react, the man swung his sword and slashed across his chest.
The middle-aged man collapsed to the ground, clutching his wounded chest as blood began to seep from the deep cut. His body shook from the pain, and he struggled to remain conscious as he fell helplessly onto the road.
Alex trembled at the sight before him. He had never imagined that a city that appeared so lively and prosperous could conceal such a cruel reality beneath its surface.
'How can people behave like this in broad daylight?' he thought, staring at the armed man in disbelief.
The little girl rushed toward her father, dropping to her knees beside him as panic overtook her.
"Father! Father!" she cried desperately, shaking him as though doing so could somehow make everything right. "Someone, please help us! Somebody, please!"
She looked around desperately, hoping that at least one person would step forward to help them. However, the surrounding people remained silent, unwilling to risk their own lives by interfering with the nobles.
Not a single person came forward, and some even lowered their heads further to avoid being noticed. The girl's expression froze as she realized that nobody was willing to help her father, no matter how desperately she begged.
With nowhere else to turn, she slowly raised her tear-filled eyes toward Alex.
"Please help," she whispered, her voice barely audible through her sobs.
Alex stood motionless for a brief moment, his mind still struggling to process the sudden violence. However, when he met the girl's desperate gaze, he finally snapped out of his daze.
Without wasting another second, he rushed toward the wounded man.
Alex quickly knelt beside the middle-aged man and began examining his injury. Fortunately, his knowledge of medicine and human anatomy, which he had acquired back on Earth, came in handy at that moment.
Although his main profession had been engineering rather than medicine, he had also studied medical subjects. That knowledge gave him at least a basic understanding of the human body and how to assess an injury.
He carefully examined the wound on the man's chest, checking its depth and location while trying to determine how serious the damage was. His expression grew increasingly grave as he realized that the situation was worse than he had initially hoped.
The cut was large, but fortunately, it did not appear to be particularly deep. Even so, the injury was dangerous, and the man had already begun losing blood.
'If this wound isn't treated quickly, he'll definitely die,' Alex thought grimly, realizing that he had very little time to act.
Despite the wound not being especially deep, its position on the chest made it dangerous enough that he couldn't afford to waste another moment. He needed to find a way to stop the bleeding and treat the injury before the man's condition deteriorated further.