Chapter 014: Du Fan’s Mercy

Fei Lei looked at Du Fan with an expression of sudden realization. He first slapped Kasimir a few times to wake him up, then yanked off the leather armor and boots from Kasimir’s legs, revealing his hairy thighs. Instantly, a strong smell of foot odor filled the entire tent.
Du Fan frowned and covered his nose. Fei Lei was almost knocked unconscious by the stench. He quickly stuffed Kasimir’s feet into a bucket and ran outside the tent, vomiting nonstop.
Du Fan used his Light Combat Qi to dispel the smell after a while. Using this divine energy meant to eradicate evil to get rid of foot odor—if the Light God found out, he might be so angry he’d vomit blood.
By the time Fei Lei recovered enough to return to the tent, Kasimir’s feet had frozen in the bucket. Given the freezing conditions, this wasn’t surprising.
Kasimir was pale, his lips turning black from the cold—whether from embarrassment or something else, it was hard to tell. Fei Lei stepped over and slapped him again, shouting, “Idiot! How long has it been since you last washed your feet?”
Even as a mercenary for decades, Kasimir had probably never encountered such a situation. He didn’t know whether to admit it or not. Thinking about his current plight, he almost burst into tears.
Du Fan waved his hand and said, “Enough. It’s better to focus on the important task.”
Fei Lei looked annoyed, wiping his hands on his clothes, still feeling disgusted. But since Du Fan had spoken, he didn’t dare say more. He glared at Kasimir darkly. If interrogating Kasimir before was only because of Du Fan’s orders, then if he acted again, Kasimir would truly have a hard time.
Du Fan walked around Kasimir and gently kicked the bucket beneath his feet. With a flash of Light Combat Qi, the bucket turned to dust, revealing the crystal-clear ice beneath. Kasimir’s big feet were embedded in the ice, looking like some kind of artwork—black and shiny.
Du Fan gently pulled out the long sword from Kasimir’s waist, tapped it with his finger, and couldn’t help but exclaim, “What a fine sword!”
Kasimir grunted and said, “If Lord Du Fan wants it, just take it. Why go to such lengths?”

Du Fan didn’t even glance at him; instead, he slapped him right away. The slap contained combat energy, knocking out several of Casimir’s teeth. After that, Du Fan took out a handkerchief, wiped his backhand, then threw the handkerchief at Casimir’s face and said, “Young master, do you have the right to speak when I haven’t asked you to?”

After saying that, he waved the sword in his hand again and exclaimed, “What a great sword!” This time, as he swung it, the sword spun a few times in the air before slashing toward Casimir’s feet. Without any sound, the sword sank into the ice.

Casimir felt a chill in his heart and warmth in his pants. His feet were frozen stiff and numb, but from Du Fan’s actions, he could guess that Du Fan had most likely cut off his feet. In that moment, he felt utterly despondent. Without his feet, even if he managed to escape, he couldn’t leave this northern ice plain. His last glimmer of hope was ruthlessly snuffed out by Du Fan.

Seeing his expression, Du Fan burst into laughter and said in a low voice, “Lord Casimir, why did you wet your pants? Are you afraid your feet will be cut off? Don’t worry, don’t worry. My hand is very steady. There was no mistake in that strike. Although it might have cut your flesh, your feet are definitely not broken. If you don’t believe it, you can take a look.”

Casimir was shocked and quickly looked down. He saw that his sword, which could cut through iron like mud, hadn’t split the ice into two but merely rested on it, which was quite disheartening.

Du Fan smiled, drew back the sword, and waved it in front of Casimir, saying, “See? This time it was my mistake, but next time… to ensure no mistakes, I’ll kick this ice to pieces. I suppose anyone who’s been in the north knows what happens when your feet are frozen in ice and the ice is kicked apart.”

Casimir’s face turned even paler, but he couldn’t say anything.

Du Fan still wore a smile as he fiddled with the sword in his hand, whispering, “But don’t worry, Casimir. As a believer of the God of Light, I certainly won’t kill people recklessly. At most, I’ll break your arms and legs, then send you out of the camp. Oh! Not just you—everyone from your Snow Fox Mercenaries should come and go together. After breaking your limbs, I’ll bandage your wounds and feed you well. To prevent you from being attacked by monsters, I’ll also sprinkle some powder on you that monsters hate. That way, along the way, you won’t be attacked by them… Maybe, with your own strength, you can even crawl out of this northern ice plain… What do you think, Casimir? Am I not very merciful?”

Feyre listened, feeling chilled to the bone. He admired this white-robed priest even more—unimaginable how kind he could be at times, yet how ruthless when torturing others. His admiration for Du Fan grew like an endless river, unstoppable like a flooded Yellow River.

Feyre resolved in his heart that if he got the chance in the future, he must follow this Lord Du Fan. Working under him surely wouldn’t bring any harm.

Meanwhile, Casimir was struck like by lightning. If he really suffered such torture at Du Fan’s hands, it would be worse than death. In a situation where even death seemed impossible, it would be an extreme torment for anyone.

He raised his head, his gaze weak and powerless. Looking at Du Fan’s smiling face, he couldn’t help but say, “You… How can you even call yourself a believer of the God of Light? How can you…?”

Du Fan smiled faintly without saying a word, but inwardly, he felt no fear. Compared to the methods used in the Prison of Divine Power and the Tribunal of Heresy, he was truly extremely merciful. Even those in the Prison of Divine Power were the God of Light’s most favored believers—so how could he be despised by the God of Light?

Seeing Du Fan’s smile, Casimir shuddered. After a long while, he let out a deep sigh, seeming years older. He looked at Du Fan and said, “Promise me that if I tell you this, you’ll ensure you set me free.”

Du Fan shook his head. “We both know it’s absolutely impossible. At most, I can promise to end it quickly for you—of course, that’s on the condition that you confess honestly. After you finish speaking, I’ll knock you out, then have the others from your Snow Fox Mercenaries tell you again. I think they’ll know something at least.”

Casimir looked at Du Fan and forced a wry smile. His eyes were dull and lifeless, clearly having lost all hope of survival. With a soft sigh, Casimir whispered, “If that’s the case, could you at least spare me some more suffering before it’s too late?”
Du Fan sighed. “If I had known it would turn out like this, I wouldn’t have done it in the first place. What’s so hard about wanting to suffer less?”
With a gentle wave of his hand, a beam of light-based combat energy shot from his fingers and struck the ice beneath Casimir’s feet. The gentle energy slowly melted the ice, but Casimir’s feet were already frozen solid, and recovering would take a long time.
After hesitating for a moment, Du Fan took out a small blue-green bottle from his storage ring, picked up a little powder with his fingernail, and tossed it into Casimir’s mouth. “This is an anesthetic from the southern regions. It will numb your entire body, so you won’t feel pain.”
Casimir forced another wry smile. “Then I really owe you much thanks…”
Du Fan snorted. “Stop talking nonsense. Just get to the point.”
Casimir nodded, lowered his head, and began to speak in a low voice, “It was half a month ago.”
At those words, both Du Fan and Feri’s hearts skipped a beat. Half a month ago—wasn’t that around the time they set out?
Unaware of their strange expressions, Casimir continued, “It was a cold night. As usual, I went to the gambling house that night. Lord Du Fan, don’t look at me like that. We mercenaries live on the edge of danger all year round; no one knows when they’ll die. So whenever we get the chance, we enjoy ourselves…”
Du Fan nodded in understanding. “Go on… get to the point.”

Casimir gave a bitter smile and continued, “That night, I lost everything as usual, and I almost lost my equipment as collateral… Lord Du Fan, you should know that I have no other strengths—just a poor luck at gambling. If I lose, I lose; I don’t try to cheat… After taking off my equipment, I planned to leave, thinking of returning to the ice fields the next day with my team to try and make some money to replace my gear. But before I could leave, someone suddenly called out to me… That person said he had a task he wanted a mercenary group to complete. If I agreed to take on the task, he could pay me 100,000 gold coins in advance, and after completing it, I could get another 900,000 or so gold coins… One million gold coins… That’s equivalent to the money we earn in a whole year of hard work… So…”
“So, you took on that task?” Du Fan asked back.