HTLCCBFT Chapter 212

Has The Lord’s Career Chart Been Filled Today? – Chapter 212

Jack finally woke to excruciating pain.

When he managed to open his eyes with difficulty, he initially saw only darkness, and his heart raced with terror.

“Awake already?”

Trett callously stomped on his chest, forcing a pained grunt from him. Trett’s face was twisted in a malicious grin. “So tough—no wonder you were chosen for the guard reserve team back then, serving as that young duke’s lackey.”

First, a heavy blow to the back of his vulnerable head, then a prolonged, vengeful beating by a gang of thugs while unconscious—by now, Jack was covered in wounds.

A ringing filled his ears, and he could only vaguely recognize Trett’s voice, unable to make out the specific words.

His mouth, stuffed with dirty cloth and ropes, was full of a sweet, metallic taste. Many of his teeth were knocked out, and warm blood continuously flowed from his nostrils.

His body was tightly bound with ropes, leaving him unable even to sit up.

But even if Jack had wanted to struggle, he was powerless: not to mention the dozen or so slaves eyeing him menacingly in the grain warehouse, the countless flesh wounds and fractures left him barely clinging to life, lying helplessly on the ground.

“Time to go. Are you sure you want to waste time here?”

Insait calmly reminded him.

A flicker of fear crossed Trett’s eyes, but he put on a brave face. “Hmph.”

Despite his feigned indifference, he deliberately shifted his weight off Jack’s chest, where several ribs were broken.

He was indeed deeply wary of Insait: though Insait had only recently arrived from Albury, he had somehow obtained the key to the grain warehouse, figured out the gaps in the guard patrols, and led their group inside.

Moreover, that afternoon, no one else had noticed Jack eavesdropping nearby—only Insait had detected him in time.

Jack had actually been quite cautious, waiting until he heard the group leave and lingering a while longer before getting up to depart. But he hadn’t realized that Insait had stayed behind, signaling the others to go on ahead.

Confirming Jack’s identity was all too easy for Insait: he simply followed him, inquired near Edley’s home, and other unsuspecting slaves readily revealed the name “Jack” and his address.

Since Jack was kind-hearted enough to help Edley, claiming that Edley had fallen ill would surely lure him out easily.

—And things went just as smoothly as Insait had imagined.

What Trett didn’t know was that this was only one of Insait’s hastily devised plans: originally, Insait had intended to stay longer, attempt to enter the cat god’s divine temple through examinations, and even infiltrate higher ranks.

But from the steward’s attitude and the frequency of nearby guard patrols, he vaguely sensed that the higher-ups did not value him as they did other slaves, despite his deliberate display of unique talents.

Perhaps his identity had been exposed.

It was a bold speculation, but Insait knew his mission was too critical to blindly take risks in such circumstances.

He had to leave as soon as possible.

But Insait couldn’t bear to leave empty-handed. He turned to inciting the slaves who had long harbored resentment against Duke Oliver, urging them to at least destroy several granaries and create chaos.

“Don’t be too greedy,” Insait frowned coldly, seeing everyone carrying bulging, heavy loads on their backs while laughing and joking without a trace of tension. “The moment the guards receive news of abnormalities in the city, their first reaction will be to close the gates—your attack must be effective in one strike. How could you possibly deceive them with all this weight? Do you think they won’t notice?”

The people looked embarrassed, yet no one was willing to put anything down.

“And it will hinder your mobility,” he continued. “If anyone makes extra noise, none of you will escape.”

“……I know.”

In the end, Trett, who acted as the leader of the group, reluctantly glanced at him and chose to follow his advice.

What were Trett and the others planning?

Jack, who had barely caught his breath, sluggishly analyzed the situation while still lying motionless on the ground. In his bloody, mangled state, he looked like a real corpse except for the faint rise and fall of his chest.

But the people present were too excited and fearful to care about the captive on the ground who had nearly exposed them.

While waiting for the next guard shift change, they kept their voices low. Yet, from their cheerful tones, it was clear they neither knew nor cared if Insait was using them, solely focused on anticipating a new, better life—relying on the food and weapons they had seized this time.

Insait had promised to provide them with new identities and a route, detouring through the western mining city to reach the royal capital!

Of course, not everyone dreamed of a life in the capital—but with these resources, they could buy a home in an unfamiliar city. After paying taxes and residing for a year, they would become free citizens there.

Born and raised in Laina, these slaves who scorned “learning” had no idea how unrealistic this notion was, easily deceived by Insait’s flawed reasoning.

“Alright, Jack.”

After what felt like an eternity, the time to leave finally arrived.

Following Insait’s instructions, Trett lit the simple fuses made as directed. Before leaving, he stomped heavily on the wound on Jack’s head, grinning, “Now pray hard that your ridiculous cat god can protect you from the hell that’s about to unfold.”

Thinking of the horrors Jack would soon face, the others couldn’t help but chuckle with schadenfreude.

Purgatory?

Jack’s eyes remained tightly shut. Though he didn’t know what Trett was planning, the overwhelming smell of burning and the sizzling sounds, which even overpowered the scent of his own blood, filled him with a deep sense of foreboding.

Could it be…?

Once he heard the soft sound of the door closing, Jack could no longer pretend to be dead. Ignoring the pain in his body, he struggled to sit up with all his might, and in an instant, he saw a sight that made his eyes nearly burst with rage—

Oil, fire, and grain!

As a reserve guard, Jack was not extremely familiar with this place, but he had patrolled the area before, so he quickly recognized his location—it was the newly expanded granary built to store the spring grain!

In Trett and the others’ plan, the existence of those fuses could delay the ignition time and immediately attract the attention of the guards and others, creating conditions for their subsequent escape.

As for Jack?

He would either be burned alive by the rapidly spreading flames or, after barely escaping, face harsh interrogation as the prime suspect. In any case, he would no longer be able to foolishly continue as a reserve guard.

Just imagining the tragic fate awaiting Jack made Trett’s mood even better.

But at this moment, Jack’s mind was clearer than ever before.

He knew he was a fool, always had been a fool… Only with his great strength and good luck had he managed to meet the current lord, seizing the opportunity to completely change his family’s destiny.

He didn’t know what he could do while tightly bound and gagged, nor did he have time to regret his foolishness for not immediately reporting those people’s plans to his superior at the guard team that afternoon.

He only knew… he couldn’t just stand by and watch the grain they had worked so hard to grow for half a year be burned by the fire set by those scoundrels. He couldn’t let those who sought to harm Lord Oliver, harm Laina, and destroy everyone’s happiness succeed!

Cat god, please grant me strength.

Straining to keep his eyes wide open despite the blood obscuring his vision, he watched the flames rapidly devouring the fuses and racing forward.

He completely forgot the pain in his body, using the only movable parts—his toes, chin, and the friction against the ropes on his chest—to crawl as fast as possible toward the end of the fuses.

He knew perfectly well that even with his utmost effort, he couldn’t possibly catch up to the burning fuses.

But he still crawled desperately.

Sure enough, the fuses soon burned to their ends. When the flames hit the oil that had been pre-sprayed on bags of grain, the fire suddenly expanded and shot upward, bursting into a massive fireball!

In that critical moment.

Jack widened his eyes, staring at the flames right before him, and without hesitation used the last bit of his strength to lift himself up, then—

He pressed his chest, clad only in thin linen clothing, firmly onto the blazing, scorching fireball!

He had no way to call for help from outside, nor any tools to extinguish the fire.

At this moment, all he had left was his own flesh and blood.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH———————————————!!!

The nauseating smell of scorched fabric and burning flesh, accompanied by unprecedented, excruciating pain, swept over him like a summer hurricane, devastating everything.

Already severely injured, Jack convulsed violently from the pain. He opened his mouth wide in vain, his chin pressed hard against the wheat grains that felt as hot as sand baked by the summer sun.

Perhaps because he was nearing death, countless scenes flashed rapidly before his blurred vision, obscured by physiological tears and blood: there was the smiling face of his beloved wife Marianne, the sparkling eyes of his children, the first set of probationary guard uniform he received from the guard captain; there was Laina’s bountiful harvest last autumn that fed everyone; there was the divine statue of the cat god in the divine temple that filled him with profound reverence.

Unconsciously, he had already possessed so much beauty.

And his memory finally settled on… that noble and sacred divine messenger smiling as he praised his random answer and had someone hand him an egg as a reward.

He would never forget that single egg that completely changed his destiny.

“Ahhhhhhh——!!!”

While silently roaring and screaming in agony, Jack suppressed his last shred of desire for survival with a willpower even he couldn’t imagine possessing.

Even as his chest was quickly being burned to near-doneness by the scorching flames, and muscles throughout his body twitched from excruciating pain.

Yet before he completely closed his eyes and lost consciousness, he still kept himself firmly pressed against it.

As if treating himself as a lump of earth, a lump of earth that couldn’t feel pain—from beginning to end, he never shifted even slightly.

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