With Xu Feng's guarantee that Rolph would remain alive as long as they wanted, a cold shiver ran down his spine.
"N-No, you cannot do this to me." Rolph roared, hoping to break free from the ropes. Alas, the ropes remained tight and continued to squeeze him harder the more he struggled.
"Oh, the irony of you struggling." Xu Feng snickered coldly.
The ropes were obtained by them, so it was clear that they were used to tying their enemies up with these ropes. Now that karma had hit them back, and it was his turn to be on the receiving end, it was quite amusing.
"Why are you doing this to me?" Rolph questioned in a disbelieving tone.
"These women are non-citizens anyway, so why are you letting them torture me, a citizen of BrownBird Town?" He added, bringing up his social status.
However, what he received in response was a hard smash to the face by Xu Feng's staff.
"Speak one more nonsense of citizenship this or that, and I'll make sure that death is what you will be pleading me for." Xu Feng warned sternly.
With his face bruised terribly by Xu Feng's strike, Rolph couldn't speak even if he wanted to. The strike nearly deformed his mouth, causing him to feel an excruciating pain on his cheek.
Ignoring his pathetic state, Xu Feng turned around and stared at the women who were still hesitating.
"Please, feel free to vent all your frustration. Keeping it inside you would only make you go crazy sooner or later. Just vent them all out." He said in a tranquil tone, trying to ease their nervousness.
"He's right…" Clara interjected, her hands holding tightly on the daggers.
"It feels so damn great stabbing this scum." She urged her fellow inmates to join her in the activity.
Shortly after, the women bit their lips, clenched their fists, and grabbed a weapon of their choice.
"You won't let him die, right?" Clara turned to Xu Feng and asked once again for confirmation.
Xu Feng simply nodded and held his staff, a clear indication that he was going to honor his words.
Satisfied, Clara told the women to avoid the mark that she had carved on Rolph's body.
"Those are fatal wounds, so avoid hitting there. We can't let him have an easy death." She smiled sadistically.
Meanwhile, Rolph's face turned ashen gray as he could feel the tremendous pressure upon him. He was like a worm, surrounded by a bunch of pigeons from all sides. There was no escape, and there was no way to die either.
"N-No… I apologize, please don't—"
Before Rolph could proceed any further with his mercy, the women were now overwhelmed by their desire for revenge, with every attack causing blood to be scattered across the land.
The screaming started very loud, and then gradually dimmed down with his vitality diminishing at a rapid rate.
To make his tragic fate even worse, Xu Feng would be like the devil disguised as an angel, healing him.
"Don't die, Rolph. You still have a lot of people waiting for their turn." Xu Feng said sweetly.
One by one, the women took their turn in satisfying their revenge. Some of them who were done with the torture, had returned to line up once again whenever they recalled their painful experience.
Rolph could only blame himself and only himself for receiving such treatment.
There was not an ounce of pity and sympathy from anyone, as each one of them was glad and joyful of his ongoing demise.
As for Xu Feng, he could have ended Rolph's life from the start, but he didn't do that.
Instead, he strived for the hidden outcome. By allowing these captive women to obtain their revenge and be free of their trauma, he would receive even more benefits.
Although it could be considered somewhat immoral to use these women, it was technically a win-win situation for both parties.
Time slowly passed by, and the women were finally exhausted from overusing their strength in torturing Rolph. They all sat down in a group, panting heavily as they attempted to recover their stamina.
Meanwhile, Rolph remained lifeless on the ground, not moving an inch. He had been healed already, but he would rather die than stay alive.
His so-called pleas and shouting stopped altogether after "X" amount of torture rounds.
"Are you going to end his life now?" Xu Feng stepped forward and asked Clara.
Much to his surprise though, Clara shook her head and gazed at him.
"I appreciate your actions, but I know you want him alive for your mission. He's a scumbag, but he's much more useful alive than dead. I'm already satisfied with being able to torture him for what he had done to me." She said solemnly.
"What do you mean by that?" Feigning ignorance, Xu Feng inquired further.
"Just like the scumbag said. We don't have any citizenship, so if we did kill them, it would be problematic for you." Clara smiled bitterly. She understood her status was just a bit better than slaves, but that was about it.
Right at this moment, Xu Feng suddenly received a system prompt.
System: You have triggered a Hidden Quest: Citizenship Status!
—
Mission Quest: Citizenship Status
Description: Clara and the other captive women are lost on where to go from now on.
Objective: It appeared they had a bit of reliance toward you, and wanted you to help them choose a path.
First Path: Let them be and fend for themselves in the wild.
Second Path: Take them with you in the town and attempt asylum for them.
Third Path: Use your Baron rank authority and grant them citizenship status.
Rewards: Depending on the user's choice, the reward varies.
Accept Mission? [Yes] / [No]
—
Dumbfounded, Xu Feng didn't expect the rewards to be so vague. It mentioned the rewards would vary depending on his choices, but it didn't state what kind of reward.
'Is this hinting to a bigger backstory?' Xu Feng wondered silently. He was unsure of it, but he had to admit one thing. He had been impressed by Clara, and granting her citizenship status with his Baron rank was a piece of cake.
He chose the third path without much hesitation.