Chapter 491: The Most Foolish One
That’s right, as long as the Hero’s corpse could be delivered to His Majesty the Demon King, who actually killed the Hero was never an important issue.
A smile gradually bloomed on Atrice’s face. As a Demon Beast, doing such a thing required absolutely no psychological pressure. Atrice was certain that if she had killed the Hero after paying a huge price, her younger brothers and sisters would absolutely make the same choice.
“Your Highness Princess, regarding Iyeta and Heloise…” Vina chose her words carefully: “After the matter is settled, will you really grant them freedom?”
As Iyeta’s sister, Vina absolutely didn’t want to see this happen.
“How could that be? Having two subordinates who were once captured by humans, what benefit does that bring me?” A cold smile appeared on Atrice’s face. She knew very well how to make trade-offs.
The Blood Elf clan had pledged allegiance to her, and Vina held great influence among the Blood Elves, even able to sway the decisions of the entire clan.
Atrice knew very well who held more value between Iyeta and Vina.
As for Iyeta and Heloise, they were just two disposable pawns. Just deal with them after use… This was also the intention of the entire Snow Woman and Blood Elf clans.
After all, having two captives appear in one’s own clan was also a disgrace to the clan. Only when these two women were completely dead would this disgrace disappear.
…
Meanwhile.
Within the Imperial City.
Commoner District.
Numerous figures clad in black robes gathered together.
Around the round table sat a full circle of figures. Under the dim glow of the kerosene lamp, pale, angry faces could be seen. A closer look revealed almost all of these people were nobles.
Moreover, they were the few remaining high-ranking nobles in the current Empire.
The great nobles who once held immense influence, capable of easily shaking the Empire’s situation, were now reduced to this circle of ten or twenty.
For these great nobles, the commoner district was a place they would normally never set foot in; it would make them feel their honor was tainted.
But now they had nowhere else to go. Recently, the noble class had suffered unprecedented blows.
Who knew how many spies that fellow Wadsworth had planted in the noble district? Once Wadsworth caught even the slightest handle, the Imperial Guard directly under Wadsworth would immediately appear at your doorstep, arresting you without a second word.
Perhaps the initial cause was just some trivial, insignificant matter, like seizing commoners’ property or killing a few commoners. But Wadsworth, this detestable bastard, would use these minor issues as an excuse to conduct a full investigation on the arrested noble. This investigation would immediately uncover numerous dirty deeds.
To put it bluntly, how many in the noble class were clean?
Who didn’t have a belly full of “dirty” dealings in secret? Murder, arson, embezzling Empire assets…
Once Wadsworth grasped such leverage, the execution ground’s guillotine was already prepared for you.
Just in these recent months, hundreds of nobles had been executed.
Almost every day, a noble’s head rolled. The execution ground had never been so lively.
Who could have imagined the emperor, who once tried hard to maintain the balance between the royal family and the noble class, would suddenly go mad? Numerous nobles were scared silent, not daring to speak much unless absolutely necessary, fearing they might accidentally attract the emperor’s attention and become the next unlucky one to lose their head.
But, these nobles were used to being arrogant. Who could endure such humiliation? They absolutely didn’t want to die for no reason.
Under this pressure, numerous nobles gathered together to discuss matters that absolutely couldn’t be known by Wadsworth. Because the noble district was full of the emperor’s spies, they didn’t dare meet there, only able to arrange the location in this commoner district they would normally never even approach.
At the meeting site, perhaps feeling this place couldn’t possibly be monitored by Wadsworth, these nobles almost unscrupulously vented the pressure in their chests. Various dirty curses, even imprecations, continuously spewed from the mouths of these upper-class individuals who usually prided themselves on being noble and elegant.
After a long time passed, the matter finally got to the main point: how to overthrow Wadsworth’s rule.
Only then did the somewhat noisy surroundings suddenly quiet down. The noble class held powerful forces; each noble cultivated a group of private soldiers. They could swagger before commoners.
But, compared to the emperor who controlled the entire Empire’s army, these private soldiers were fundamentally insignificant.
“How about… we find the Hero?” a noble suddenly spoke up.
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone’s eyes lit up fiercely.
This seemed like a good idea. The Hero’s strength was quite good, and a powerful force had already gathered around him. The current Qin Chu also concurrently held the position of Pope of the Holy See, controlling the full power of the Holy See and the former Church of the Earth Mother Goddess.
If they could really pull the Hero to their side, overthrowing Wadsworth’s rule would immediately gain some guarantee.
Just as a group of nobles fantasized about the beautiful future of regaining wealth and power after overthrowing Wadsworth with the Hero’s help and the Church’s power, a noble suddenly poured cold water: “But, why should the Hero help us?”
“He’s the Hero! Isn’t helping us a matter of course?”
“That’s right, the Hero is meant to protect the people of the Heavenly Continent. Wadsworth is so tyrannical now; as the Hero, he should take the initiative to stand up.”
“Otherwise, what qualification does he have to continue being the Hero?”
“Don’t forget, he’s just an outsider from another world. Without the title of Hero, he’s nothing… As long as all of us nobles don’t recognize him as the Hero, the glory, status, and power he currently enjoys will surely vanish. Maybe even the Church will kick him out.”
“A person who has lost the title of Hero holds no value to the Church.”
“Doesn’t the Hero like women? If worse comes to worst, just grab a few pretty women from the commoner district and give them to him.”
A group of nobles argued noisily here, as if they had already firmly tied the Hero to their war chariot.
Although some nobles frowned tightly, clearly knowing the situation wouldn’t be smooth, in the current situation where everyone’s enthusiasm was high, it was really inconvenient to say more.
If not for fighting the emperor and needing to gather the strength of all nobles, I really wouldn’t want to cooperate with such a bunch of pig teammates.
Even more foolish trash suggested mobilizing the commoners. Although commoners were all stupid garbage, their sheer numbers were overwhelming. If all commoners could be mobilized to resist Wadsworth’s tyrannical rule together, that would be another strong bargaining chip. After all, these commoners wouldn’t dare resist the nobles.
Regarding the suggestions of these foolish companions, the few nobles with some sense sighed helplessly. Yet, it was precisely this group of foolish trash whose voices were the loudest, drowning out all voices of doubt.
These garbage, don’t they understand the current situation yet?
Don’t they understand that compared to the royal family, those commoners hate the nobles more… After all, the royal family lives in the palace and rarely interacts with commoners, but nobles are different. Conflicts between nobles and commoners happen almost every day.
The number of commoners who died at the hands of nobles is hundreds of times greater than those who died at the hands of the royal family.
Worst of all, that cunning fellow Wadsworth recently executed a large number of nobles. This directly led to Wadsworth being seen as an irredeemable madman in the eyes of the noble class, but in the eyes of the commoners, he was unprecedentedly wise and benevolent.
Moreover, Wadsworth even allowed those commoners to storm into the noble district, looting the homes of executed nobles. All these things invisibly deepened Wadsworth’s prestige in the minds of the commoners.
Under such circumstances, inciting commoners to fight against Wadsworth is almost absolutely impossible.
Furthermore, commoners don’t dare resist nobles, so would they dare resist the royal family?
Watching the meeting scene, more than half of the nobles were discussing excitedly, as if victory was already in hand, the advantage theirs. They even began discussing arranging someone to persuade the Hero tomorrow.
The remaining nobles looked at each other, seeing the helplessness in each other’s eyes. These old foxes increasingly felt that cooperating with this bunch of idiots might lead to capsizing accidentally.
Almost at the same time, inside the Imperial Palace, Wadsworth summoned all his children. Except for Carol, who was staying at the Hero’s Residence, everyone else arrived.
During this period, not only the nobles lived in fear, but even these princes and princesses were no exception. Almost everyone was terrified every day, afraid of accidentally angering their father king somewhere.
The current father king, killing a few sons and daughters, no one would doubt it.
Now suddenly summoned by the father emperor, each one turned pale, trembling with fear.
However, what surprised these princes and princesses was that this time, their father king didn’t get angry like before. Instead, he issued a command without accepting any rebuttal, directly assigning all princes and princesses to the forefront of the fight against the Demon Beasts, becoming members of the army.
…
The next day.
Qin Chu finally returned.
Big Shaye and Little Shaye, who had been guarding the bedroom, both breathed a sigh of relief.
The two were quite curious about where Qin Chu had gone and why he had become so weak, but neither woman pried, only reminding Qin Chu to be careful.
Inside the residence, Anastasia was already prepared.
She desperately wanted to return to the Ice Duchy immediately. Just yesterday, she received another message from her mother. Although in the magical message her mother urged her that everything was fine in the Ice Duchy and she didn’t need to return.
But from her mother’s voice, Anastasia could feel the terrifying pressure and torment her mother was shouldering. The situation in the Ice Duchy must be many times worse than her mother described.
Not letting her return was perhaps just her mother not wanting her to perish together with the entire Duchy in the ice.
The more it was like this, the more worried Anastasia became about the situation in the Ice Duchy.
Inside the residence, Qin Chu also called everyone together and began arranging tasks.
Ekaterina, Sylph, and Athena would continue to stay at the residence, responsible for Loseweisse’s situation. This woman seemed to have entered the Endless Sea recently. It was unknown whether she died in the Endless Sea or was affected by the mysterious power of the Endless Sea; Athena couldn’t even contact her.
Carol looked worried all the time. Although she had been living in the Hero’s Residence during this period, Her Highness the Princess was also well aware of what was happening in the Imperial Palace. The conflict between the nobles and the royal family had become increasingly sharp and intense.
Perhaps before long, before the impact of the Holy See’s internal conflict could even subside, a civil war between the nobles and the royal family would also erupt.
Carol didn’t want to see this scene but had no way to stop it.
“Violet, Norma, you two stay here too. Veronica over at the Holy See might still need support,” Qin Chu said after thinking for a moment.
Violet and Norma both nodded, having no objection to Qin Chu’s arrangement. Both Violet and Norma were very powerful, especially Violet. Plus Phil over at the Church of the Earth Mother Goddess, with two super experts holding down the fort in the Imperial City, any abnormalities that occurred could be handled.
“Anthea, Heloise, Iyeta, and… Angelica, you four come with Anastasia and me to the Ice Duchy.”
As for the matter of Big and Little Shaye, Qin Chu had already arranged it long ago.
These two Dark Witches were the final guarantee. Unless absolutely necessary, there was no need for these two to act.
Angelica’s small face was flushed red. She was very happy. This was the first time the master had taken her along when going out after such a long time.
After carefully giving some more instructions, Qin Chu finally left with the five girls.
Just as they reached the main gate, they surprisingly found a luxurious carriage parked there. A short, stout man dressed in fine clothes was getting off the carriage.
Although the atmosphere in the Imperial City had been tense recently and the situation delicate, this noble was still unwilling to lose the style of an upper-class person; nobility and elegance were essential.
He held a gold-plated cane, wore a top hat, and even pretentiously sported a monocle on his nose bridge.
Seeing Qin Chu appear, a smile immediately appeared on the man’s face. He took off his hat with one hand, placed it between his chest and abdomen, his fat body bending slightly, a very difficult action for him: “Ah, respected Lord Hero, long time no see. Your demeanor remains unchanged, still so imposing.”
Qin Chu desperately searched his memory. Only after several seconds did he finally react, a professional smile also appearing on his face: “Ah, so it’s Viscount Bohr… You are still as portly as ever.”
Just a minor Viscount. If not for his ball-like figure, Qin Chu probably really wouldn’t remember.
The smile on Bohr’s face grew wider. Although they had only met once, the Hero still remembered him. This was the weight of being a Viscount!
What a bunch of trash. Clearly hoping for the Hero’s support, yet no one was willing to come and discuss this matter with the Hero. Didn’t those idiots understand that whoever accepted this task would become a bridge between the Hero and the noble class?
In the future, after overthrowing Wadsworth, it would also be a great merit, with no shortage of benefits.
Really don’t know how those good-for-nothings managed to become Earls, Marquises, even Dukes.
His slightly arrogant gaze swept over the women behind Qin Chu… Truly a bunch of ill-mannered female monkeys. Seeing him, the noble Viscount, they didn’t even know to curtsy.
Among them were even two filthy Demon Beasts.
If not for the Hero’s sake, just this disrespectful behavior would warrant whipping.
However, for the Hero’s sake, I won’t bother with these foolish women. Viscount Bohr is very smart.
Speaking of which, these women are quite beautiful.
The Hero’s life is truly exciting. When can I also enjoy such things? That would be great.
Seemingly sensing Viscount Bohr’s impolite gaze, the girls’ brows instantly furrowed, displeasure already showing on their faces.
“Ahem…” Just then, Bohr cleared his throat, his arrogant gaze sweeping over these women again: “Your Excellency Hero, could you ask these women to leave? I have important matters to discuss with you.”
If, among the entire noble class, only a small minority were intelligent, and the vast majority were fools, then this Viscount Bohr was definitely the most foolish one among them.
