Regressor's Harem Of Vengeance-Chapter 44. Baron Harvard [8]: The End.

"No! Wait!!! Argh!!!"

An inhumane scream tore through the Baron’s throat.

Since Ray was a Level 10 Awakened and the Baron was an unawakened individual, basically, a level 0, Ray was way stronger than the Baron and that meant his fingers were able to easily pierce through the Baron’s eyes as he thrashed against the floor, trying to escape the torture he was going through, but was completely powerless to do so.

Ray withdrew his fingers and Harvard’s world turned red then dark.

Blood poured down his face and the Baron continued to scream as he felt the taste of copper in his mouth, thanks to the blood drizzling from his eyes down to his mouth.

The pain he was feeling right now was beyond anything he had ever gone through.

After being pampered for so many years, nothing could have possibly prepared him for something like this.

"PLEASE!! PLEASE! I’LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING!! ANYTHING YOU WANT!!!"

Ray remained silent once again and this troubled Harvard once more.

"Please... Whatever I did!! Whoever you are, whoever sent you, I can make things right. I swear!! I swear on everything I have!! Just tell me what you want!!"

Ray furrowed his brows and the edge of his lips twitched in irritation as he stared at the Baron in front of him.

If the Baron hadn’t been unsympathetically greedy with his desires, he wouldn’t have increased the tax the way he had.

But because he wanted more gold for selfish reasons, he had to make people like Helen suffer for it.

Ray recalled something very important from Marcus’ letter in his first life.

Right after Mira had been killed in front of everyone and Helen was badly injured.

His mother had been too ill and weak to escape when the monster tide appeared out of nowhere in the following weeks.

If the Baron had requested the same tax payment as always, nothing would have happened to Mira, Helen, or Emma.

Helen wouldn’t have been injured and neither would she have fallen ill, and that meant neither she nor Emma would have been killed during the monster tide. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

All three ladies would probably have still been alive even when the monsters stormed into the village.

In a nutshell, the Baron was the main reason why Ray lost all three of his family members, so seeing him right now and how he was pleading for his life really infuriated Ray.

Ray swiftly grabbed the Baron by the collar before lifting him off the ground with ease, then he turned toward the nearest tree.

"Wait....Wait ..... Wait.... Please...."

Not knowing what was going on, Harvard continued to plead as hard as he could. But Ray’s expression didn’t change, although he couldn’t see it.

He pulled back and then swung forward with all his enhanced strength.

*Crack*

Ray smashed the Baron’s skull against the tree trunk with a devastating force, and the loud sound echoed in the quiet forest.

The Baron’s blood and brain matter exploded across the tree bark with fragments of bone embedding themselves in the tree.

Ray let go and Harvard’s body crumpled to the ground with his crushed skull leaking the remnants of its contents onto the floor.

The afternoon sun continued to shine down through the canopy of trees, but Ray simply stood still as a huge burden was lifted off him.

Mira slowly approached Ray before wrapping her arms around him from behind.

After a while, the two left the scene since there was nothing more for them to do.

******

Days passed and word got out of the Baron’s demise.

Merchants from the nearest village had discovered the carnage on the forest road with over thirty dead knights and the shattered skull of the Baron.

Investigators were summoned from within Harvard’s territory, then they were summoned from the capital and the cathedral.

Knowing the tense relationship between Harvard and Lord Fluffybottom, investigators naturally began to question Fluffybottom as the key suspect, but he denied any involvement immediately.

He expressed his shock and outrage at the suggestion of him being blamed for Harvard’s death. But he didn’t deny the conflict between the two of them.

Lord Fluffybottom admitted to the disagreement between him and the Baron but he also used the opportunity to inform the investigators from the cathedral and the capital city about his concern regarding certain things he had noticed during Harvard’s reign.

Feeling intrigued, the investigators asked him to elaborate on it and Lord Fluffybottom revealed how he had heard whispers of the late Baron’s excessive taxes, along with reports of demihumans being taken as slaves when their families couldn’t pay the tax required of them.

This was a huge offense so the investigators looked into what had been reported to them, and they were able to find the enslaved demihumans in Harvard’s holdings along with their names listed in his ledger as "assets to be sold".

The investigators also found evidence that his personal wealth was accumulated through inflated tax rates, extortion, and seizures.

In short, they found exactly everything Fluffybottom had pointed out to them but since Lord Fluffybottom was a really smart noble, his astute mind wasn’t done with the investigators just yet, as he tried to make use of this sudden attention from the capital to his advantage.

Fluffybottom offered to take responsibility for Harvard’s territories temporarily, if not permanently, because he knew the Crown would be looking for someone to rule the late Baron’s land and since it would definitely take months before a future replacement could be found, Fluffybottom decided to offer himself as a suitable option.

Since Harvard had no heir to take over from him, Fluffybottom vowed to make changes by freeing the enslaved demihumans and returning them back to their families, along with apologizing for Harvard’s cruelty.

He reduced the tax rates in Harvard’s territories while returning the excessive amount each family had paid already.

This easily projected Fluffybottom as a merciful leader in contrast to his predecessor’s tyranny and even the villagers began to support Lord Fluffybottom’s desire to expand his own territory.

The King himself, upon hearing this, was satisfied, because despite the fact that there was a local dispute between his nobles, he had other problems to deal with regarding his kingdom, so he was pleased to accept Fluffybottom as a temporary solution to the predicament and eventually, the investigation on Harvard’s death grew cold.

Everyone in Thornsville and several other villages had smiles on their faces as they felt relieved knowing that they wouldn’t have to pay such an insane amount of tax anymore.

And as for Lord Fluffybottom, he was pleased with the resources he gained from his expanded territory and the knowledge that he wouldn’t have to be dependent on other nearby nobles anymore.

Meanwhile, Ray sighed softly as everything seemed to turn out better than he had anticipated.

=====

A/N: Hi, I would like to know what you guys feel about Ray’s first target.

I know and understand that not everyone may like the long flashback of what happened through Harvard’s strange dream but there’s definitely a reason for that.

Don’t worry, there won’t be any more flashbacks like this, unless you want more.

Also, the targets of future harem members will mainly be focused on things they’ve done in Ray’s current timeline and not things they’re yet to do, so that the emotions will be truly felt by you guys as you read through Ray’s journey and that of the other female characters.

Hopefully, Ray’s future abilities and strategic thinking will be cool enough to impress you in future arcs as well

And please, if you do have anything to say about this arc or future arc, I’ll be happy to listen to them as I hope to grow and improve as a writer, thank you so much.

And yes, this is the end of the current arc.