"I remember... there should be a plate here!" A foreign merchant in his fifties looked somewhat bewilderedly at his display cabinet, an empty compartment there. But he remembered that it once housed a pure gold plate.
Actually, that plate wasn’t particularly heavy. Although international gold prices have risen, overall it’s perhaps somewhat valuable, but its commemorative significance and value are more pronounced.
For a while, he hadn’t paid attention to the items here, and now as he planned to pack up and leave, he discovered the plate was missing.
"Did you perhaps put it away?", the steward helping out asked softly.
"Impossible!", the merchant shook his head, "I haven’t come to this room to pack things before. Who is usually in charge here?"
The steward mentioned a name, a middle-aged Nagariel woman in her thirties.
For Nagariel people, thirty or so years old is considered middle-aged, as their lifespan isn’t long.
According to unofficial statistics, the average lifespan of Nagariel people is less than sixty years, restricted heavily by medical conditions, living environment, chemical pollution, and other factors.
The merchant nodded indifferently, his expression already somewhat displeased, "Bring her in."
The steward nodded silently, then quickly fetched the maid responsible for cleaning this room.
This room contained many items that were either valuable or held certain commemorative significance, so it was always handled by a dedicated person, a middle-aged woman.
She was married, with her own children, more than one, and stable social relationships made it unlikely for her to bear severe consequences by committing illegal acts like theft.
For years, the merchant had used her without any issues, so even though he was very angry, he hadn’t erupted in rage until now.
Soon, the maid was brought to the collection room. The furious merchant didn’t pay much attention to the maid, whose expression seemed off. He merely pointed to the empty compartment of the display cabinet and asked, "Where did the item go? Don’t think about lying to me, I remember it was a pure gold plate!" Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novel※fire.net
The maid didn’t refute or claim ignorance, her hands tightly twisting the edge of the apron, fingertips turning red-purple, and the twisted part entirely losing blood color.
Her body trembled slightly, and the merchant seemed to understand something, looking at the maid with a very indifferent and disappointed gaze, chuckling, "Did you steal something?"
A question posed with a tone of certainty; as soon as he uttered it, he held a definitive view, not easily changed.
The maid still remained silent, fueling the merchant’s anger, which viewed her silence as a form of resistance, even an attack.
The Federation was expelling him, locals occasionally threw trash into his home and shouted for him to get out. Anyone could make things difficult for him, and now even a timid maid dared to steal from him.
The grievance and wrath he suffered from Lynch and other Federation merchants, unable to be vented, ignited completely at this moment, and his expression turned frightening, "Hang her up..."
Nagariel’s Divine Authority law and secular law run concurrently, with Divine Authority law slightly above secular law, causing legal chaos and the prevalence of private punishment.
Just like Mr. Simon, many foreigners favor using physical pain to punish their servants, and this merchant is no different.
The steward slightly bowed, seized the maid’s shoulder, and pushed her out of the room.
As they moved toward the tree in the courtyard designated for punishment, the steward whispered softly, inaudible to others, "I promise to do what I agreed to, God watches over me from heaven, so... don’t blame me."
The maid’s body initially trembled, but at this moment, it seemed to calm down.
"I hope you keep your word. God watches over you from heaven..."
Standing beneath the tree, the maid turned to face the steward as she spoke this sentence. The steward remained solemnly and seriously nodded, then looped the lasso around her wrists and activated the motor.
The rope ascended, suspending the maid in mid-air, although she could almost touch the ground with her tiptoes, not far from the ground.
Soon, the merchant, wearing only a shirt and with sleeves rolled up, emerged from the room, followed by a dozen or so servants, all employees of the house.
For crimes like theft, locals typically vent their anger first, using private punishment to express discontent before considering contacting the police.
One reason private punishment prevails is related to warning others, and punishing a servant in front of others effectively serves as a cautionary tale.
Whether local or foreign, each time private punishment occurs behind closed doors, they will have all the servants watch, intimidating them.
"Strip off her clothes..." The Merchant was furious, everyone came to harm him, he was extremely agitated, and added a sentence, "Don’t leave even the underwear, such a lowly thief should be exposed to the sunlight!"
The butler said nothing, just held a pair of scissors, cutting off all the clothes from the Servant’s body, leaving her completely naked before everyone.
The Merchant picked up a whip and lashed it fiercely, with a crack, a whip mark appeared on the Servant’s body, quickly swelling with blood, oozing blood, and turned red and swollen.
"Where did you hide my dish, you whore?"
The Servant screamed in pain, but she just screamed, without saying anything else, her stubbornness made the Merchant even angrier, and he viciously whipped her again, with another crack, creating another bloody whip mark.
Actually, by this moment, even if the Servant might have said something initially, now she wouldn’t say anything.
She was stripped and whipped here, even if she could leave here unscathed, she must end her life as soon as possible because her body was seen by a man who was not her husband, so she was not considering other matters, only thinking about the deal between her and the butler.
The Servant’s silent defiance seemed like a provocation, making the Merchant’s temples throb, and he hadn’t been driven away, yet these Servants dared to act towards him. His surging anger could no longer be calmed, while he cursed loudly, he whipped the Servant fiercely.
Maybe seeing the Merchant so vigorously whipping that he became breathless, thinking of how hot, thirsty, and tired he must be, the butler kindly offered him a cup of tea.
After drinking the tea, rather than calming down, the Merchant became increasingly agitated, increasingly dissatisfied, increasingly furious for some unknown reason!
Before him appeared Federation Merchant’s arrogant gaze, tacit ridicule, and his incompetence.
Those negative emotions kept surging, those watching Servants seemed to also reveal twisted smiles one by one. They seemed to be whispering to each other in their hearts, mocking him, ridiculing him, insulting him. The whispers of those whores filled his ears.
His anger, his body, his spirit all became uncontrollable, he even saw those Servants starting to attack him, which made him even more frightened and furious...
He didn’t know how long it had been; the ringing in his ears and those unpleasant sounds had disappeared, he gazed at the terrified expressions of Servants around him, his gaze slowly moved to in front of him.
His hands tightly gripped the Servant’s neck, and the Servant, whose body was covered in wounds, had already passed away...
"Murder!", the Servants suddenly screamed in panic and fled towards the door, continuously shouting.
The Merchant suddenly realized what had happened, he wanted to chase after them but found himself unable to run; after just a few steps, he was short of breath, his vision blurred, and the world spun, causing him to collapse to the ground.
Tender green leaves pressed against his cheeks, and he could even smell the raw but vigorous Life Force scent of the grass.
He knew that a big problem had occurred!
The butler diligently carried him up, threw him into a car in the garage, and started the vehicle.
"Master, if there truly is a God, please tell Him when you see Him, that I’m not doing this for myself...", he said, and with that, he ignited the engine and drove off, sending the unfortunate Merchant to a friend’s place before the situation fully exploded.
His excuse was that his Master had had some conflicts with the Servants and unexpectedly fell. Before he lost full control of his body, he mentioned the name of his close friend, so the butler sent him there.
Regarding this excuse, the Merchant’s friend, another foreign Merchant, expressed recognition; this was a common occurrence; these Merchants had been helping each other for a long time. Hence, he took the Merchant into his home and planned to contact the Police Station to learn about these matters.
But he did not know that within a short time, a large number of Nagariel people rushed into the Merchant’s residence, and when they saw the Servant hanging from the tree with whip marks all over her body, tortured and throttled to death, people immediately became enraged!
Some people rushed into the Merchant’s home, taking what they could, smashing what they couldn’t, including the Merchant’s local wife, who was stripped naked and dragged by the hair across the ground as if only that could appease the anger for the poor Servant.
The Nagariel Youth Party quickly followed suit; they somehow learned the news of the Merchant’s hiding place and surrounded his friend’s premises with a large crowd.
Seeing the passionate crowd outside, the Merchant’s friend suddenly felt he had been sticking his nose in other people’s business, and the problem became tricky.
He called the Police Station several times in succession, but no one answered.
He was considering whether to hand over the people or find someone outside to talk when, out of nowhere, a group arrived; they beat anyone they saw, loudly shouting for people to stay away from the Merchant friend’s house.
The already agitated crowd exploded!
"Beat these foreigners to death!"