Book 9, Chapter 66

Crushing Unwritten Law

A personal appearance from Richard at the Assembly would normally indicate that the Archerons were trying to fake that they still had all their power, but some of the nobles present realised that things couldn’t be so simple. Indeed, he picked up a strange weapon from one of his guards and pointed towards the roof of the building, a loud explosion forming a gaping whole in the ceiling!

“This is what went missing,” Richard said as he watched the panic amongst those present. Rubble rained down on those below, and after a period of chaos where everyone tried their best to not get hurt they went quiet as they stared at the thunder cannon with fear. Destroying the assembly building was a huge offence, but no one was stupid enough to bring that up. They had all seen that he’d only fired the weapon once, and it was clear that he was out for blood.

His cold voice rang out again, “My family is currently in unique circumstances, so listen well. I don’t give a damn about your unwritten laws, I have mine. Anyone who still wants to fuck with me, here’s the sentence: Viscount Zieg is sentenced to death, with a million-gold bounty for his head. Any family harbouring him will be exterminated, and his own family is now banished with their lands falling into Archeron hands.”

This declaration caused a huge commotion, leaving those who had actually made plans against the Archerons pale. This decision completely broke traditions that had been followed for thousands of years; if it couldn’t be stopped, then no one would be able find a scapegoat to test the Archerons with.

However, some other nobles thought of something else. Zieg truly was unlucky; he thought he had plundered some normal goods, but they turned out to be such strong weapons that the Archerons clearly needed them for battle. One couldn’t blame Richard for his rage in this scenario; normally, the thief would have returned these things the moment they realised how useful they were. Someone had clearly stolen them anyway, knowing fully well that Faelor was a fast plane where a single day’s delay could kill off thousands of Archeron warriors.

“What right do you have to punish a viscount?” a young noble stood up, only to be met with the blaze of a muzzle as half of his body vanished into a mist of blood. A single leg flew into the sky and spun around for a bit, shocking the crowd into silence.

Richard growled, “Every minute I stand here could be a reason for the deaths of several of my warriors. I came here to make a declaration, not to listen to your whining. No one here has the authority to doubt my decisions!”

He tossed the thunder cannon back to the night elf, who expertly loaded it with new bullets before aiming it at the crowd alongside its comrades. The nobles realised that he wasn’t yet done, which left a shiver running down their spines.

Richard waited for the hall to quiet down once more before continuing, “The person behind this is Yaya Turing, with indirect participation by Weiss Hasting. Both are to be executed alongside their next of kin. The Turings have an hour to hand over Yaya, or they’ll bear the consequences.”

“ARE YOU LOOKING FOR WAR?” someone shouted from the crowd, but Richard simply clawed towards the air and pulled the middle-aged man into the sky. His face paled as invisible force crushed him from all side, not even allowing him to speak.

Richard didn’t even look at the offender, instead sweeping his gaze across the others present, “I don’t want to see such provocation again. Any family that wants to challenge the Archerons can be prepared to pay the price in their bloodline’s destruction. You want a fight? I’ll give you a massacre. Even if I’m the last Archeron left standing, all of you will be obliterated.”

Richard’s voice was calm and relaxed, neither hysterical nor furious. His announcement was direct and factual, but the tranquility was more than sufficient to show his determination. It was only now that many were forced to put aside their prejudice, deciding to give the Archerons the respect they deserved. Many only just realised that he was now an epic being qualified to found his own country, with the power to wipe out a number of the strongest families on his own. No clan without an epic being of their own would be able to stop his wrath.

Who, then, was it that overstepped their bounds first?

As he walked out of the hall, one of his elves raised a thunder cannon and pulled the trigger, turning the middle-aged man up in the air into chunks of flesh and bone. The squad then lined up and followed him out, with no one daring to interrupt. Richard had used two examples to show that anyone who dared doubt him would be exterminated. Such a method was savage, but it was clear that debates could not sway him. There would be no ignoring his will.

……

Upon his return to his island, Richard assembled the assassin unions of Norland and gave them a bounty on Weiss Hasting. His head would be worth two million gold, and live capture would be five. His family had different rewards based on their proximity and importance; while Weiss was a favoured nephew of Hasting’s, a single legendary mage couldn’t frighten assassin organisations that encompassed all of Norland.

Four organisations immediately accepted the offer, with two more asking for some time for research. However, this was enough to guarantee a favourable result. Things would have gone faster if he assigned Waterflower or Zangru to the task, but he didn’t believe a random noble was worth the time of his followers.

There were about ten minutes to the deadline by the time the assassins left, and in that time Asiris had formulated a new plan to adjust logistics so anything related to the thunder cannons would be transported aerially. The new two-barrelled cannons were cheaper than the six-barrelled ones, so the actual bottleneck came in making the bullets out of the energy cores. Blackgold already had his workshops running overtime to make up for the missing batch.

However, Richard shook his head as he read through the plan, “No, keep to the original plan, even for the bullets. Maybe make the individual batches smaller, but that’s it.”

"But we don't have enough guards!"

“That’s fine. If someone still wants to rob us, I’ll have the chance for a proper demonstration… Oh?” His ears perked up as the clock rang out, “Let’s make that another proper demonstration. Come.”

Asiris followed Richard out of the castle, a small army of night elves already in the process of assembling. Many powerhouses who had been participating in the fights against the dragons or demons had heard the news and followed behind, but Richard didn’t stop them. Outsiders would find it difficult to judge if they were with him or simply spectating, which would only add to the pressure.

“I’ll come have a look as well,” a spirited voice rang out, immediately multiplying that pressure with its mere presence. The Celestial Sage was coming along.

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