Grabbing the red sides of his face that sting like a bitch, Carl gritted his teeth, and words escaped his mouth one at a time. "Y-you… dare?! Do you know who I am?!"
Roy seemed indifferent to his heart. "No, I don't, and honestly, even if I did, I would've still slapped you, silly." Sarcasm came out of his mouth like a waterfall, drenching Carl to the level a wet dog.
"Bullshit. That barely hurt!"
Although he said that, his face was saying something else. Tears were escaping his eyes, and the red and visible palm-shaped mark on his face told everyone that Roy's slap was hurting him like a bitch.
Roy's lips thinned into a murderous smile. "Then I guess… I have to continuously slap you until you go silly."
Roy slapped out with such speed that Carl couldn't even register what happened before it landed on his face.
"Pa!"
The crisp sound of a slap landing on someone's face rang out, but this was just one of the many slaps Roy dished out on Carl, who first tried to fight back but failed, then tried to run away but failed at that too, as he was immobilized in a vicious way by Roy.
After freeing him of his restraint, the thirteenth slap that Roy landed on Carl's face sent him circling all the way back to the embrace of his wives.
The pedestrians licked their lips in excitement, and some onlookers threw their heads backs, laughing at the top of their lungs.
"What luck! I came out to buy some fruits for my wife and breathe in some fresh air, but I unexpectedly got to watch a comedy show for free."
"I don't know why but seeing this big guy slap that little bastard silly is funny to me."
"Carl had been a pain in the ass for the people of this neighborhood for years. He bullied quite a few but was never held accountable for his lowly actions because of his father bribing the official. But this time, he had offended the wrong person in his drunken stupor. I'm afraid he won't get out of this mess Scott-free."
"I hate this bastard too. He is rich, but he still ripped me off like a thug and forced me to run errands for him as if I were his slave. I didn't dare hit back as my parents work for his father. I was afraid he would get them kicked. Complaining to the officials of the Southern District wasn't helpful either, as Merchant Gray had them on his payroll. I'm the most happiest seeing him in this situation."
The faces of Carl's wives were red and puffing with embarrassment for his sake, but even more than that was their shock at seeing him get beaten ruthlessly.
'Is this really happening?'
'The bully got bullied?!'
Carl wasn't an arse without a reason.
After Carl got disqualified from the awakening ceremony, he became depressed.
He would drink most of the time and do drugs, but then he got into a brawl and beat a man to death, becoming so afraid he would be thrown behind bars that he begged his father to rig the case and save his hide, which was the same as telling a father to commit a crime for his son's sake.
Gray only had this one son, and he was the last memory of his wife, so he used his connections and good bars to bury the matter.
That day, Carl realized what power he held; even killing a person wouldn't mean the destruction of his life.
Ever since then, both of Carl's wives were used to watching him bully others, and if he were targeting someone not pleasant to their eyes, they would join him in beating the target to let off the stress of not getting their desires fulfilled.
Carl looked at Roy with a cruel gaze. "Did the likes of you just slapped me?!"
Forget about getting slapped... even the concept of getting hit back while beating others was foreign to Carl, but the slaps of the "Man Himself" shattered his skewed perception of reality and helped him sober up.
"Did I give you amnesia with that last slap or what?"
Roy rolled his eyes at the dumb bastard. Hearing what he said, Carl spewed out a bucket of blood.
"Y-you... you just made the entire Gray family your enemy. I-"
Suddenly, Carl was glared at with such murderous eyes that the words at the tip of his tongue rolled back down his throat.
He swallowed what he wanted to say, for he was glared daggers at by a man who had butchered 200 bloodthirsty beasts in cold blood.
Roy's bloodlust was worse than that of an entire pack of wolves, and it washed over Carl like a tsunami, almost siphoning the strength in his legs and making him wobble.
Stared by those eyes, Carol felt like a deer pressed under a predator's claw, and hence he subconsciously stepped back until his back was touching the gate.
Only then did the fear those eyes instilled in his heart subside enough for him to compose himself and come to a halt.
"Shut up and listen! There are some people you can't afford to offend in this county. I'm one of them. Now... move out of my way when I am talking to you nicely. If I lose my temper, you might end up crippled for life." Roy said as a matter of factly.
Drunk or not... this man wouldn't earn his mercy if he kept nagging and taunting him.
There was a limit to how much humiliation a man could endure.
And Roy's anger was just one push away from reaching his head!
Carl gnashed his teeth viciously at Roy.
How could he do as he said?
Roy humiliated him in front of an entire crowd and his wives.
If he didn't teach him a lesson, he would become the butt of every joke, just like that trash third son of the count.
"Damn you... damn you... damn you... You can forget about leaving this place in one piece. I'm gonna fight you... to death!"
While saying that, Carl's hands went for Shadow Piercer's hilt, an Heirloom of his family.
A sense of absurdity filled everyone present. Literally, no one expected him to be so fearless of the law as to pull out his sword in public and charge at a man like a marauder.
"Face the power of Shadow Piecer!"
