Chapter 152: Punishment

"What?!" Grant snapped, shooting up from his seat so abruptly the chair scraped loudly against the floor. "So now you’re dumping everything on me?!"

He stormed toward Max and grabbed him by the collar, yanking him forward. "You ungrateful idiot. You think you’d even have a job without me? You were nothing before I took you in. A bunch of strays begging to survive!"

Max froze, trembling under his grip, unable to respond as the room tightened around them.

"Grant."

Jade’s voice cut through the tension cleanly.

Grant’s hand loosened slightly as he turned toward her, the anger on his face faltering. "B-But—"

"I think it’s better if you rest," Jade said, her tone flat.

He released Max’s collar slowly, as the strength had drained out of him, but the desperation lingered. "But this—"

"Rest," Jade repeated, sharper this time. "You’ll be back after the project is finished."

"And remember this. Your group became the best in this field because of me." Her gaze hardened. "So don’t drag your mess outside of this project. Leave quietly."

She wasn’t wrong about that, Gideon knew Grant and his men because of her and most of his clients were probably the same. Safe to say that most of the project in Climber Rift was done by his group.

She then sighed, "You disappointed me."

That was what broke him.

Grant’s shoulders stiffened, then dropped slightly, whatever resistance he had left collapsing under those words. He didn’t argue. Didn’t defend himself. He simply turned and walked out, his steps heavier than before, his pride swallowed whole.

It was a clean cut. With Jade’s warning hanging over him, there was no chance he would risk taking his men and leaving.

Silence settled in the room after he was gone.

Gideon leaned back slightly, a faint smile forming on his lips. It wasn’t loud or showy, but it carried a clear message. Let this be a lesson to everyone who messes with his people and this territory.

Jade broke the quiet first, pushing herself up from her seat. "Well then, that’s settled." She stretched her arms lightly before glancing at Gideon. "Let’s go deal with the real problem."

Gideon stood as well, already moving.

William excused himself and returned to the construction site without a word, while Max slipped out quietly, almost like he didn’t want to be noticed, heading back toward the workers’ quarters since his shift had ended hours ago.

***

They walked side by side toward the so-called underground jail, which was, in reality, just the wine cellar beneath Gideon’s house. The thought alone made him regret his decision all over again.

Freebound loved alcohol. Jade especially loved alcohol.

’I should’ve bought the normal basement instead.’

Back then, the system had given him two choices: a standard basement or a wine cellar. At the time, the wine cellar sounded more useful, and he certainly hadn’t planned on turning it into a prison.

He didn’t even want criminals anywhere near his home in the first place. This place was supposed to become the home of his harem, maybe even his children in the future.

Thinking about children made another thought cross his mind.

’How’s Summer doing? I should visit her after this.’

"Gideon," Jade suddenly spoke beside him, pulling his attention back to the hallway ahead, "if you ever want to join an expedition, come to my faction."

"Hm?" He glanced at her lazily. "You send me arrogant workers that nearly started a riot, and now you want me to trust you with my life?"

Honestly, he was still annoyed at her. That was why he hadn’t bothered thanking her earlier. Cleaning up Grant’s mess should’ve been her responsibility from the start.

"Don’t be like that. I already kicked Grant out, didn’t I? One of my people will replace him. You know Jacob, right?"

"You should’ve used him from the beginning."

After a pause, he added, "And seriously, are Grant and his crew the only decent construction workers left in the world? This territory’s going to keep growing. I’ll need more people."

"There are others, but their quality isn’t as good as his. Though you could just send a request to the mercenary guild. They’ll dispatch workers here if you pay enough."

Gideon immediately shook his head. "Too risky. I don’t trust organizations like that."

Jade snorted softly but didn’t argue further.

By then, they had reached the wine cellar door. Gideon unlocked it and pushed it open, the old hinges creaking quietly as they descended the stairs. Empty wine barrels lined the walls below, and the moment Jade saw them, her eyes lit up.

A wide grin spread across her face.

Gideon instantly knew what she was thinking.

"Don’t even start," he muttered.

At the end of the hallway was a smaller room. Gideon opened the door, revealing Elaine already inside, sitting with an irritated expression she rarely showed to strangers but used freely around people she was comfortable with.

"You took forever," she complained the moment they entered. "It’s suffocating down here."

"I told you Piggy could stay in the room upstairs," Gideon replied as he leaned against the wall.

"You’re the one who insisted we use this place. There’s no way I’m listening to her ramble about the future of my territory while sitting in this gloomy place."

The room itself was bare. A single bed pushed against the wall, one chair beside a small table, and a bucket in the corner that needed no explanation.

"Anyway," Jade said as she casually sat on top of the table, since Elaine had already claimed the chair, "let’s stop wasting time."

Her eyes shifted toward the woman sitting on the bed. "What do you know about the Eagle Union?"

Piggy kept staring at the floor for a moment before finally speaking. There was no hesitation in her voice anymore, as if she had already accepted which side she was on.

"I only know what’s happening around Edelweiss Town," she began quietly. "That’s usually where I meet my suppliers. The Eagle Union... they’re normally the ones hunting us down. They act like some kind of self-righteous guardians, though they’ve always had a bad relationship with the governor."

"The last time I went there, though..." She frowned slightly. "Everything felt different. More relaxed."

She slowly lifted her head. The dark circles beneath her eyes were heavy, her dim expression making her look half-dead already.

"We didn’t even need to hide anymore. My suppliers said the Eagle Union wasn’t coming after us these days because they were ’busy dealing with their own shit.’"

"When I asked what they meant, they told me this. ’The leader recalled everyone back to headquarters. After that, nobody from Eagle Union stayed in Edelweiss Town anymore.’"

"They also mentioned something about the King moving," Piggy added. "Some people think that’s why the Eagle Union disappeared. Others think... they might all be dead. It’s King anyway, even the Order of the West isn’t able to get rid of them."

She let out a weak breath and lowered her gaze again.

"But it was all rumors. I didn’t really care enough to dig deeper."

Jade rubbed her jaw slowly, clearly deep in thought. "And when exactly did this happen?"

Piggy frowned slightly as she tried to remember. "Around two weeks ago... maybe a month."

"That lines up with the distress message they sent," Jade murmured. "I already sent another courier dove to Edelweiss Town’s governor, but there’s still no response. He’s either buried in work...Or something happened."

Gideon leaned against the wall, his thoughts already connecting pieces together. "Then the men who came to Delilah’s bunker were probably cut off from the rest of their faction’s communication."

He narrowed his eyes slightly. "Maybe they were dispatched before the Eagle Union isolated themselves, maybe before their demise."

Still, something about it didn’t fit properly. It didn’t explain the pins.

Why would they carry both their own insignia and Skull Fangs’ symbol at the same time?

"It was probably a covert mission," Elaine said, joining in. "Either they were planning something against Freebound, or they specifically didn’t want Freebound involved in whatever mess they were dealing with."

She crossed her arms. "And they probably never expected the bunker to already have people living inside, so they didn’t bother hiding the pins properly."

"Yeah, that would make sense," Jade admitted with a sigh. "But it’s still just assumptions stacked on assumptions."

She glanced toward Elaine before shaking her head. "Something definitely happened on the way, though. Enough that they had to disguise themselves as Skull Fangs members."

"Which is exactly why you don’t kill everyone before figuring out why they attacked in the first place, Elaine. We wouldn’t be piecing scraps together like this if you hadn’t wiped them all out."

"Hey!" Elaine immediately protested. "I thought they were Skull Fangs, alright? And I was already pissed off back then. It’s not my fault they jumped us looking suspicious as hell."

"Oh, come on," Gideon sighed, rubbing his temple lightly. "Can we stop blaming each other for five minutes and think properly?"

"More importantly," he continued, "there’s still a real chance Eagle Union’s already gone." His tone became more serious.

"The isolation alone is weird enough. A faction like that suddenly pulling everyone back to headquarters without explanation? That’s not normal."

He pushed himself off the wall and looked at Jade directly.

"So let’s ignore the Skull Fangs symbol for a second. What’s your next move? Are you planning to check their headquarters yourself or leave it alone?"

The room quieted again, waiting for Jade’s decision.