I looked over to see an old man hunched over with one hand on his back by his waist and the other hand inching forward with his cane. From the way everyone was moving out of the old man's way, I could only guess that he was the village elder and Trent's grandfather. "Is no one going to speak?"
A guard walked forward and whispered into the old man's ear. The old man looked up at me, and that one look made me feel a strong pressure coming from him. It seemed the village elder was not as simple as he looked. "Little girl, can you let my grandson go?"
The old man's words angered me. Was he asking me to let go of the main culprit? For what? To spill out lies? I couldn't help but spit out coldly: "Why should I let him go when my family and Auntie Finna are being held captive? Why should I let him go when he was trying to kill me just now? Old man, I do not want to sound rude, but asking me to let go of the person who is harming not only me but my family and friends and had also set up this lynching, I think it's a bit too much, don't you think?"
I was beyond angered. I raised my hand and wrote a flame spell in front of me. "Ignite…."
A flame of fire danced in my free hand as I brought it closer to Trent's face. "I will say it again. Release my family and Auntie Finna."
I watched as the old man's gaze drifted from me to my family members and a frown appeared on his face. "What the hell are you guys doing!? Is this how the village guard should handle themselves!? Sander, explain what happened!"
I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the guards letting my father up. But I felt pain seeing how bruised and beat up he was. My father was strong, but if he is snuck up on him, he won't be able to do much. "You bastard!" My father roared as he got up and punched one of the guards in the face causing him to smash into the crowd of villagers. Screams could be heard as blood dripped from the man's face. "Village elder, you said my daughter would be welcomed here no matter what. You said no one would try to harm her. And now here your good for nothing brat of a grandson just tried to hold a public lynching!"
My father roared in anger. This was the first time I saw him so angry. I could even see some scales forming on his body. It seems he actually had a bit of our ancestral bloodline within him. He turned and looked at me, his eyes growing soft. "Faith, go ahead and kill the little bastard. Your father will bear it all!"
"No, wait!" The village elder yelled out in a panic. It seems my father's words really scared him. "Sander, please let him go. I will severely punish him and put him in a holding cell for a few years so he can learn his lesson. But he is the last of my bloodline."
I watched as my father's chest heaved up and down. "I want every guard who participated and every woman as well punished with the most severe punishment below death. My family has done nothing but help this village, and this is the respect we get in turn. Not a single one of you even stepped forward to try to help. All of you are a shame on humankind. All the land that I own will also no longer belong to this village. This means no more wheat will be given to the village or its people. All rental rights will also be revoked. You must agree to all these demands, or I will have my daughter snap that little bastard's neck!"
As my Father was saying this, he helped my brother up. Auntie Finna and my mother also walked over to his side. Luckily they did not get seriously hurt, I could only see a few bruises on their wrists. They all began picking the things up from the cart that had spilled. I kept a tight grip on Trent. I only needed to squeeze his neck a little more to kill him. Deep inside of me, I truly wished to do that. Scum like this did not deserve to live. But I kept my calm and pushed those feelings down. There was a time and place for everything.
I saw the old man sigh and shake his head. "I can't allow the wheat fields to be taken away. That would be cutting a lifeline for all the farmers."
"Why do I care? It's my land!" My father said with a sneer. "If I see a single person on any of my land, I will burn the fields to ash!"
"Sander, you are being unreasonable!" The village elder yelled out. My anger began to soar once more, causing Trent to groan in pain. Hearing his grandson cry out, the village elder began to panic once more. "I am sure we can work something out if we all calm down."
"Old man, you want us to calm down? Do you not realize if I was weak, I would have died before you even showed up?" I understood that the old man wanted to save his grandson. I was angry, and I was holding myself back big time, but I was starting to lose my patience.
"I understand…." The old man lowered his head. I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was feeling regretful. "If I had not believed that Trent wanted command of the guards to take a few with him out into the forest, then none of this would have happened. I am just as at fault as he is. But please, as I said, he is the last of my family's bloodline."
The old man looked up at me with eyes that showed no hint of malice. I felt like what he was saying was not a lie. But this still doesn't change the fact of what has happened here today. Some things can not be forgiven so easily. "Father…."
At my call, my father hopped up into the air with me and stood in front of me. This was a fruit of our training at night called air step. A spell that allowed you to walk on air. It was a tricky spell because you had to trust your magic, and you also had to have perfect control of it or you would fall to the ground. It was an intermediate spell, almost a high ranking spell, but because of its low mana cost, it could be used by anyone as long as they had the concentration to use it.
"Faith?" My father looked at me with a questioning gaze. His eyes were soft when he looked at me. A big difference from the cold gaze he was giving the others.
"What if…." I whispered into my father's ear. While holding Trent out away so he couldn't hear anything. "Will this work?"
"Hmmm… As long as you are willing to do it this way." My father answered with a nod.
"I just don't want to cause more of a scene than necessary. It is already a fact I can never enter the main village again…." I said, lowering my head. I hated to say it, but I would have no choice. I could not risk any incidents like this again.
"Alright." My father nodded and patted my head before turning around and letting himself fall to the ground. We were not high up, only about ten feet off the ground. "Village Elder, let's do this. Let my daughter beat up Trent and all the women who were involved today until she is satisfied, without killing them of course, and I get to beat up the guards. And lastly, I will continue to lend my land out, but….. You all will need to pay a higher tax."
I had not known at all that all the farmland near my house was owned by my father. It all seemed to have been passed down to my father from his father, who got it from his father. It was all inherited, and it seemed to have been lent out for many years now. I had been wondering why we were never in the need of anything with how little land we had.
The Elder frowned slightly but still nodded his head. "Fair enough. I agree."
I smiled hearing that as I raised my little fist and pulled it back. Trent seemed to find my sweet angelic smile terrifying because his eyes shot open wide and with a little bit of fear.
*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*
I kept hitting him over and over again. The entire time I was smiling away. I am sure I probably looked like a demon to the villagers, but I no longer cared. Right now, I was letting out all the anger that I had bottled up. To make things worse, I was secretly healing him. With every punch, I would break his nose, over and over again. With healing him in between, he would end up with no pain until I broke his nose once more. I punched his eyes, his cheeks, and his mouth. I didn't heal those. I planned to beat him up until he was unrecognizable. When I finished with this face, I landed on the ground and tossed Trent like a piece of trash to the ground before I started kicking him.
No one dared to stop me, not even the village elder. They all watched and gasped as I continued my torrent of blows to Trent's body. I have no idea how many teeth he spat out or how many bones I broke so far. All I know was he deserved every bit of this beating. Only when my anger subsided, enough did I finally let him go. He was probably in a lot of pain to the point he couldn't even move. He was still breathing that much, I did know.
Now that he was done, it was time to take care of the ladies who held my mother and Auntie Finna back, but when I turned around, I saw them all on the ground already and my mother cracking her knuckles. It seemed she needed to vent her anger as well.
On my father and brother's side, well, those guards were not having a good time. My father's fist was like a steel beam smashing them in the head. I wondered if they would have brain damage once he was done with them. I had refrained from doing that to Trent as I did not want to cause more trouble. But all in all, I was very satisfied with this scene. It was a breath of fresh air knowing my family was able to vent out their anger as well.
