Help! I don't want to NTR the protagonist!

Chapter 176: 176. A Good Boss

The star seed was extremely rare, but that was because it was just that precious.

Lucius remembered what a star seed was; it was a strange mystical object that fell from the sky and planted itself in the ground before fully maturing.

When matured, a star seed could be used to strengthen and evolve an innate talent. Yes, that's right—the one fundamental ability that determined everything in this world. This was one of the objects that could change that, and it simply fell out of the sky.

In the world, there were countless fantasy stories where people imagined themselves magically finding a falling star seed, evolving their innate talent, and then rising up to walk the road to invincibility!

It was said that star seeds were parts of the gods' realm that had broken off and fallen into the mortal realm.

It was unknown if that was true, but there was one myth that had basically been confirmed.

The legendary holy weapons—the mystical heavenly objects granted by the goddess that had created the ruling heroic lineages.

Each of those weapons contained the same properties as a star seed.

With such a fact confirmed, the effect of star seeds didn't really need to be discussed.

The best people in the world were using it; its effect could only be mystical.

Barely even able to contain his greed anymore, Lucius grabbed Van and rushed straight back towards the site of their attack, and when he arrived, he saw a sight of absolute carnage.

Blood soaked the floor, objects were broken and shattered, and people were shouting as they completely ransacked the place.

Not too far away, he could see Reina leading her men, roaring and laughing with a wide smile on her face.

"Yes, that's it! Take it all—anything of worth!

You goddamn idiot, can't you see that's an exquisite painting? The nobles in the inner circle will pay bars of gold for that! If that's damaged, I'll lose your head!"

You can take the girl out of the bandit nest, but you can't take the bandit out of the girl.

Camilla, on the other hand, was silently watching over the entire process.

As Lucius's most trusted assistant, she already considered all of this as Lucius's property.

She wouldn't allow any mistakes to be made.

When she saw Lucius arriving, a smile appeared on her face as she lightly bowed.

"Young Leader, everything you asked for has been done. The lower-tier members have been dispersed, and the upper middle management… well, they have been 'dealt with.'"

Lucius smiled.

"I can always count on you to pull through, Camilla."

As he said this, he dragged out a body from behind.

"This is?" asked Camilla.

"Van, their leader, and more importantly…"

As Lucius spoke, he leaned in towards her and whispered in her ear.

As Camilla listened, her eyes shook wildly as she looked down on Van with a vicious glint in her eyes.

Lucius threw the body down at her feet and spoke coldly.

"Take care of him and confirm anything he knows. I trust you, Camilla."

"Of course, young leader, I won't disappoint your trust."

After saying these words, Camilla's eyes turned icy as she picked up Van and dragged him away like a pig off to the slaughter.

Not too long after Camilla left, Lucius saw a hulking figure walking in with heavy steps. There was some blood and dust on the man's body, but seeing how he was unharmed, it obviously wasn't his.

As soon as the man saw Lucius, a surprised expression appeared on his face as he clumsily tried to salute.

"Greetings, boss! I didn't know you had already arrived."

Seeing this clumsy sight, Lucius wanted to laugh.

"Ryan, I already told you that you don't have to salute, and you know, you don't have to call me boss all the time. You can just call me Lucius if you want."

As Lucius said this, a surprisingly stern expression appeared on Ryan's face.

"You're the one who helped me, so I'll continue to call you boss."

Hearing this, Lucius just shook his head.

"Well then, since you call me boss, I should at least act like one. You're currently at the peak of the First Rank Fighter realm, right? Go ahead to the treasury and take as many resources as you need, and prepare yourself to break through to the next rank. If Reina tries to stop you, just tell her that I sent you, and there shouldn't be any problems."

As soon as Ryan heard this, his eyes shook, and he almost couldn't believe what he heard.

"B-Boss, are you being for real?"

If Ryan had to pick his biggest struggle aside from the bullying, it would be his utter lack of training resources.

Despite being the son of the family head, his existence was completely ignored. He was lucky they hadn't killed him—how could they have assigned any resources to someone like him?

The fact he could even reach First Rank was a result of the key training for being in the Golden Rank class at Sanctuary.

Normally at this stage, children from big noble families had already broken through to the Adept Fighter Rank.

If he could get adequate training resources with his talent…

Ryan was extremely excited, and he had a difficult time hiding it.

Lucius saw this and smiled.

"My words are the truth, and I have no intention of taking them back."

Hearing this, Ryan was so excited he nearly burst into tears.

"Thank you, boss! I'll never forget your help. Anything you need me to do, I'll be there to help—no questions asked."

Lucius heard this and smiled.

"Yes, yes… you'll have all the time to thank me when you break through and become stronger. Focus on yourself first for now."

As Ryan heard this, he nodded and rushed out of the room, obviously headed towards the treasury to raid it completely.

Lucius could already imagine Reina's utterly distraught expression as she could only sit there and watch as this mountain of a man ran away with over half of her treasure haul.