HTLCCBFT Chapter 201

Has The Lord’s Career Chart Been Filled Today? – Chapter 201

Two days later, night.

“I’m terribly sorry to disturb you, Miss Lucy.”

A soft voice tinged with lingering fear suddenly shattered the tranquility of this vacant lot in the new city district, which had been designated as the divine temple construction area.

The young girl, who had been either staring blankly at the blooming rose bushes or quietly contemplating something, turned her head upon hearing this.

After more than a year of training, Lucy had nearly mastered the ability to roughly determine a person’s approximate age, family background, and purpose for approaching just by looking at them.

This girl—or rather, woman—who had suddenly approached her appeared to be around twenty years old. Judging by her demeanor alone, she seemed to be a child from the slums.

Yet, certain subtle details in her posture and manners, likely shaped by her childhood environment, hinted that her family might have once been well-off enough to provide her with a decent education.

The fact that she was seeking Lucy out now suggested some urgent and terrible matter, compelling her to desperately seek help.

Lucy instinctively offered a gentle smile: “It’s alright, what happened?”

Although Ticher had secretly observed the “legendary Lucy” from afar a few days prior, this was her first time being so close to the woman she infinitely admired—both fortunate and powerful.

Her heart pounded wildly, so tense it felt as though it might leap out of her throat.

But the moment her gaze met Lucy’s smile, her pupils slightly dilated, struck by a sudden sense of déjà vu.

For some reason…

Though this was undoubtedly Miss Lucy, the smile at the corners of her lips bore some resemblance to that noble figure—beautiful as a God—who had once granted her infinite courage and luck.

But now was not the time for wild thoughts!

Ticher quickly pushed those notions from her mind and stammeringly recounted her recent ordeal to the woman she regarded as the most remarkable.

Though she was extremely flustered and frightened, and her speech somewhat faltering, her account remained clear and concise.

—Sufficient for Lucy to thoughtfully grasp the severity of the situation.

Her brows tightly furrowed, Lucy abruptly stood up: “Are you certain they went deep into Valence Street?”

“Yes, Miss Lucy!”

With her dear friend’s safety at stake, Ticher’s heart ignited with hope upon seeing Lucy’s serious attitude: “I can lead you to them!”

Her workload today had been heavier, but she worked efficiently and managed to finish before dark. Her friend, however, hadn’t been able to complete hers in time.

Although the steward was lenient and allowed them to finish early the next day, her friend refused to leave today’s tasks for tomorrow, insisting on completing them before heading home.

Unwilling to abandon her friend, Ticher stayed to help. The two finished just after dinner time and set off for home together.

Little did they expect that the familiar path would become so terrifying after dark, illuminated only by the hazy moonlight—one moment she was chatting and laughing with her friend, the next she heard her let out a sharp, sudden scream.

Before either could comprehend what was happening, Daining was dragged into the shadows by a dark figure, her throat making a gurgling sound like a chicken being violently choked.

It was a ruffian!

She was instantly petrified. After instinctively letting out a piercing scream, she began desperately running back amid the other party’s belated curses.

The moonlight was dim tonight, but through her fear and familiarity with the figure, she immediately recognized the identity of the scoundrel who had abducted her friend—Rayper[mfn]瑞普尔(Ruì pǔ’ěr)- ‘raper'[/mfn], the only son of Gad[mfn]伽德(Jiā dé)- unknown if this name is supposed to sound like anything else.[/mfn], the former sheriff of Gregor City!

Logically, someone like him should have been far above her, a girl living in the slums, with no connection whatsoever.

But he was abnormally lustful. He had once made advances toward the daughter of a minor steward and, after being warned by his father, reluctantly shifted his vile little hobbies to soliciting prostitutes.

Slum girls, tempted by the gold coins in his hand and naively following him, would only return days later.

Compared to some deceitful villains, he did keep his promises—he truly gave the girl that gold coin as payment. She knew this because she could clearly see that even when unconscious, the girls carried back would clutch that blood-stained gold coin tightly.

Most survivors were severely traumatized, while the unfortunate ones, too gravely injured, would bleed incessantly from their lower bodies and eventually die in agony.

After such incidents occurred several times, Rayper’s notorious reputation spread throughout the slums, and no girl dared to boldly follow him anymore.

But Rayper didn’t let them off. Instead, he revealed his ferocious nature, turning the pursuit of these hiding girls into an entertaining hunt, even inviting his friends to join.

Ticher never dared to venture far from home to “solicit business” out of fear of him.

Even after the kind and great new lord conquered Gregor, the former sheriff was dismissed, and Rayper lost the men he could command, bringing much peace to the slums.

Everything had gotten better, so why… why had Rayper reappeared!

Ticher ran desperately, tears of despair streaming down her face.

Whether he was chasing her or not, she knew she absolutely couldn’t be caught—it wasn’t that she was heartlessly abandoning her friend, but she was fully aware that even combined, she and her friend stood no chance against the enemies lurking in the darkness.

In that panicked glance earlier, she had confirmed there was more than one figure in the alley!

If she could run out in time to seek help, her friend might still be saved; but if she were caught too, both of them would surely be doomed.

Fortunately, she was lucky enough. Before running too far, she shook off her pursuers and spotted the legendary Lucy.

“Hmm.”

After following Ticher for a short distance, Lucy quickly noticed the patrolling guards not far away and summoned them with a wave.

Though she had only been in Gregor City for a few days, as the only woman among the key personnel allowed into the castle and the sole “Priest appointed by the great cat god”—the lord, of course, excluded, as he was the divine messenger—her face had quickly become known to all the clever ones after that meeting.

Those who strutted arrogantly before slaves and even most freemen, considering themselves the “upper class among freemen,” wouldn’t dare…They hadn’t reached the point of treating her with utmost reverence, but they were always courteous.

The so-called upper class, of course, did not refer to nobles, but rather to servants or stewards employed in the castle, or those wealthy enough to forge marital alliances with those closest to the noble class—such as knight pages—striving desperately to ennoble their bloodlines.

These rotating patrol guards, however, were former slaves.

Toward Lucy, who had also once been a slave but now stood at a height they dared not imagine, they treated her less as a woman and more as a kind of “being” they had to cautiously respect.

They bowed and inquired, “Miss Lucy, how may we assist you?”

“The one in need of help isn’t me—it’s her.”

Lucy gestured toward the still-shaken Ticher and said succinctly, “Ruffians have kidnapped her companion. Please hurry over there at once.”

The guards’ expressions immediately turned grave. “Is that so, miss?”

Ticher nodded uneasily.

She quickly led the guards to the alley where the incident had occurred. Fortunately, it seemed the perpetrators had realized Ticher’s escape would expose their plans, so the search didn’t take long. In that filthy alley, they found the girl—beaten unconscious and discarded like trash on the ground.

“She’s safe!”

Holding her unconscious but unharmed friend, Ticher’s face lit up with tears of relief.

At that moment, Lucy asked as if casually: “Ticher, why didn’t you seek the guards’ help directly earlier?”

Ticher froze.

She bit her lower lip, her eyes filled with pain and sorrow. “That was an ‘upper-class person,’ Miss Lucy. They wouldn’t have been able to do anything.”

It wasn’t that she distrusted the guards.

Ever since the guards had protected her from common thugs, she had felt genuine gratitude toward them—even though she had once been a lowly prostitute, they had arrested the wrongdoer.

But the guards were still slaves—how could they possibly stand up to an ‘upper-class person’?

In her panic, she hadn’t turned to the guards first. The guards might have been able to scare them off and prevent Rayper from attacking her further, but they might not have dared to search Rayper’s residence.

If Rayper had hidden her friend there, all hope would have been lost.

Yet, she couldn’t blame the guards—because Rayper’s father was a knight, a low-ranking noble. If commoners or slaves offended a noble, they faced execution by beheading!

Even though he had been removed from his position as sheriff, his status as a knight had not been revoked. Moreover, due to Duke Oliver’s benevolent attitude toward the natives, his wealth and connections had been largely preserved.

And all of that was at the disposal of his beloved son, Rayper.

Hearing this, the guards couldn’t help but tighten their grips on their weapons.

They deeply understood these sentiments—as slaves, even with this chance at a new life, the deeply ingrained inferiority and subservience toward commoners couldn’t be erased by just a few months of training.

The reason they could stand tall here, maintaining order, was that their instructor was a high-ranking knight.

The noble knights, far from treating the students selected from slaves as mere dust beneath their feet, diligently trained them in every aspect based on their own accumulated experience.

Though the training was unimaginably arduous, far exceeding their initial expectations, it transformed them entirely, filling their hearts with gratitude.

However… if they were to face a ‘superior’ and the knights behind him, the timidity in their hearts might resurface.

Some guards also showed expressions of shame—the humiliation of feeling they had failed their knight instructors.

But Lucy remained unmoved by her words.

On the contrary, she furrowed her brows, her eyes sharp and stern.

“Stand up and stop crying, Ticher.”

Her voice was low as she issued the simple command.

Though she was the youngest of all present, the girl radiated an authority that brooked no doubt.

Everyone was cowed by her presence, and Ticher trembled slightly, struggling to her feet.

“Never say ‘impossible’ about something you haven’t even tried.”

Lucy showed no intention of comforting her.

Her expression was cold, her eyes nearly blazing with anger.

At that moment, she was like an enraged lioness defending her territory, roaring at her cowardly, foolish companions: “You, and the guards—before feeling gratitude toward the great cat god and the honorable lord, have any of you ever imagined the immense price he must pay to grant us wretched creatures… weapons, clothes, money, housing, dignity, status, even the right to stand tall on this land?! The selfless, benevolent god and the divine messenger bear the brunt of the wrath, and it is your retreat that dims his glory! To fear failure and refuse to try, to feign ignorance out of fear of loss—this is a desecration of the divine messenger’s favor, a betrayal of his expectations for us. It is utterly shameful—if the lord is saddened by this, I will personally kill every last one of you!”

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