"Surrender…?" Robin arched one brow high, his voice calm yet edged with curiosity. He turned his gaze toward the prisoner sprawled on the ground, bound tightly with thick ropes. Three sealing nails jutted cruelly from the man's chest, pulsing faintly with suppression runes. Robin's tone lowered, deep and probing.
"Is there something I'm not seeing here?"
"Please… please, save me… I don't want to die…" The World Cataclysm forced himself upright with agonizing effort, his shoulders trembling as sweat rolled down his dirt-stained face. "I'm only a hired hand! Nothing more! I work for a mere twenty thousand Pearls a year. I felt it—the young master's soul contract breaking. His death reverberated through me… and with him gone, nothing binds me anymore. I will serve you. I swear it. No salary, no conditions! Just… order him to free me from these cursed chains before the herds tear me apart!"
