Hal had not gone too far away from where Loretta had stood with her family before Grimoire broke the silence in his head,

'Well well well, color me surprised. Hal, the champion of selfishness was actually selfless for once.'

​​

Hal smirked,

'Well, Grimmy, what can I say? I am nothing if not flexible in my beliefs. Also, for all the selfish things I have done and I will definitely still do, I might as well add a little bit of good.'

Grimoire paused,

'I have to say, Hal, this does not seem like you.'

Hal smiled lightly,

'I know. I don't really feel like myself either. It just doesn't feel right. I tell you Grimmy, I feel I have filled my quota of purely unselfish good deeds throughout my entire lifetime.

From now on, I shall strive to be as selfish and uncaring for the feelings of those who are not close to me as I can possibly be, so help me, Mother'

Grimoire made a gesture of approval,

'A solemn vow' it said.

Anyway, after the long walk through the denizens of Dell's gate city with many finally noticing whose head Hal was carrying and how he did not particularly have the look of a bounty hunter, Hal finally arrived at the law enforcement building.

Without announcing his presence, he walked right in and placed Red Beard's head on the table the law enforcers were seated around.

All their mouths were open in surprise which Hal ignored as he propped himself onto one empty chair he could find.

Anne's eyes went from his face to the severed head and it was clear that she had no idea what to say.

It was the rude man that spoke first,

"How... How did you do it?"

Hal looked up at him with mock confusion,

"Did what? Cut his head? Well, funnily enough, it was not that hard to cut it off. All I needed was something sharp... Something like a weapon. Maybe a meat cleaver..."

Hal seemed ready to launch into a whole sarcastic explanation and the rude man cut him off,

"Not that. I know how to cut off a head, I meant, how did you kill... HIM?" He asked.

Instead of answering, Hal produced a spatial pouch with an opening wide enough for a human head and placed it on the table.

Anne, who had still not said a word so far, opened the pouch and looked into it. Lo and behold, there are at least one hundred severed heads inside. All presented as proof that the bandit band had been eradicated.

"So, how about that reward money?"

...

Once the shock that Hal had actually pulled this off, wore off, the law enforcers, with Hal looking, if possible, more attractive to the ladies, decided to tell this to the city council.

Red Beard was the sort of menace and threat to Dell's gate whose death as well as the complete eradication of his Bandit band could not be seen as simple bounty hunting.

No, It deserved fanfare.

It deserved pizzazz.

With Hal having walked through the city streets with the bandit leader's head, the news was already circulating the city and there was already much rejoicing. The news had also reached the councilmen and women who wished to meet the one who had performed this feat.

And so, Hal was not to be given his reward until he was put in front of the council who wished to show their appreciation in person.

It was already nightfall and Hal was not averse to them showing their appreciation and once he was before the council and they began fawning over what he had accomplished, he soaked it all in.

The meeting was being held in a hall in the furnished mansion of the head of Dell's gate city council.

The head of the council was a mature-looking woman with large breasts that strained against the flimsy piece of clothing covering her chest. Sticking with the Doxon custom, she was dressed in skimpy clothing that quite highlighted all of her curves to Hal's eyes.

Being the guest, Hal sat on the chair right after hers and to her right.

"We cannot thank you enough. I mean, it can be argued that you will be rewarded for your deeds but if we are being honest, no amount of gold could truly compensate you for finally bringing us peace and security." Said Alexia, the head of Dell's gate city council.

The woman could not explain why she was feeling the way she was feeling when she looked at Hal.

Being married for more than 200 years, she believed herself to be well in control of her body by now, and normally, that would have been true.

But Hal was a whole different level of a specimen.

Even his looks were enough to make her swoon.

Before this late meeting was set up, she had heard the news being passed around the city, not only about Red Beard's severed head but the one who was with it.

They had said someone with looks such as his had never been seen before and while that was high praise, Alexia felt it did not do him justice.

It took active use of her self-control to stop herself from going after him.

She was at the early stage of the cosmic phenomenon realm for goodness sake and even though, there were others in the council at the same cultivation realm, none could actually defeat her in combat.

That was how tough she was and yet, she could barely control herself in Hal's presence.

Hal smiled at all the councilwomen present, stealing all of their breaths away,

"I truly feel I don't deserve all this appreciation" Hal said in a false attempt at being modest.

"Nonsense" said one of the councilmen "You definitely deserve every bit of praise we shower you with." He said.

Hal chuckled in his mind. While the man's words were not oozing with sarcasm, Hal could tell that he definitely did not mean what he said. He probably felt all this was very unnecessary.

They should just pay the reward and let this trouble on legs be on his way.

His sentiment was shared by so many of the other men in the council. They could see how their female counterparts who were all married were acting around him.

If Hal decided he fancied their women. How would they stop him?

How would they stop the man who had killed Red Beard and eradicated his entire bandit band, seemingly single-handedly?

The answer was that there was no way.

There was no way they could stop him.

Hal could feel their sentiments towards him and while he did not particularly care how they felt, he also wished they left as he had no patience for them.

So he said,

"Very well, if you insist that I deserve to be appreciated. I will no longer resist. However, I will prefer a thinning of the herd. There is no need for you all to be here while I get presented with the reward.

The Council head is more than enough. After all, from what I understand, we are already in her house."

The other council members looked at one another and then they looked at Hal.

The women, wistfully, and the men, suspiciously.

Alexia looked into Hal's sapphire blue eyes and they captivated her so much that she found herself saying,

"Oh... Yes, I can take it from here. You should all return to your families. It's late already. I will... Thank him for all of us and then send him off with a Bang... *cough*... I mean I will send him off with the reward."

The suspicion increased and it was now directed at both Hal and Alexia.

The other councilwomen frowned at Alexia as they took their leave while the men frowned at Hal while they left.

Once Hal ascertained they were truly gone from the surrounding of the Hall, he reached across the table and stroked the back of Alexia's hand which was on the table,

"Mmmm" she moaned at the pleasure she felt from that touch and her eyes widened as her underpants got wet from the pussy juice she leaked in her excitement.