As soon as he finished speaking, the special forces soldiers who were kicking and punching stopped and looked at Dingle.

The beaten man was so badly injured that he was unable to curl up and lay motionless on the ground like a tattered wad of cotton, but a very faint groan could still be heard.

The hook-nosed soldier glanced at the man, then turned back to look at Dingle. After staring at Dingle's face for a few seconds, he confirmed Dingle's identity, then grinned and said:

"Colonel Dingle, you truly deserve to be the most outstanding graduate of the Salvia Military Academy. It seems that in addition to your profound knowledge of military affairs, you are also very familiar with interrogation procedures."

"Thank you for your suggestion. We will consider adopting it."

At this point, the hook-nosed man smiled and extended one hand, saying:

"But now, please leave immediately and do not disturb our work."

Dingle looked at the smiling, hook-nosed man, but felt uneasy all over. He glanced at the man lying on the ground, and after a few seconds, looked up at the tightly closed windows on both sides of the street before speaking:

"Arrest only after you have solid evidence, and interrogation should follow immediately, instead of beating him in the street."

At this point, Dingle pointed to a second-floor window of a house, but his eyes were fixed on the hook-nosed man:

"This will have a very negative impact."

"Also, the Wall of St. Mary is there to protect us, not to be used as..."

At this point, the hook-nosed man nodded at Dingle with a big smile. Dingle stopped talking, glared at the hook-nosed man, and then turned and left.

"Bang!"

As soon as he took a step, Dingle heard kicking sounds behind him. When he turned around again...

"Bang bang bang!"

The hook-nosed man had already delivered several kicks, each landing heavily on the man's jaw, which even stretched the man's neck.

Dingle's face froze completely.

Is he dead?

"It sounds like I can still hear breathing, Captain."

"Stinky rats are just tough."

The man with the hooked nose raised his left foot high and stomped it down on the man's neck.

With a crisp "snap," the soldiers waiting beside Dingle involuntarily shrank back.

"Sir, let's go quickly. Aren't you going to the Royal Castle?" the guard whispered to Dingle.

Dingle clenched his fists, his face twitching slightly. He turned his head and saw a window being suddenly slammed shut.

“Sir, this has nothing to do with you,” a fellow cavalryman whispered when he saw Dingle’s ashen face.

Dingle took a deep breath to calm his agitated emotions, and then said expressionlessly:

"Yes, I know."

"Let's go, the sun is about to set," the guard urged.

The group continued forward. Dingle, who was still calming himself down, raised his head and turned his face slightly to look at the Wall of Saint-Marie on his left.

The towering Wall of Saint Marin still stood prominently in view, but the crimson glow of moments before had completely vanished.

Instead, sentries who had already arrived on the city walls were on guard, and the lighthouses were being lit one by one, their dim light spreading across the walls.

But in the places where the lighthouse's light couldn't reach, the long inner walls of St. Mary's were shrouded in darkness.

"It gets dark so quickly," Dingle murmured in realization.