CH 466

Actually, Hardy’s true goal wasn’t to have peace talks with the rebels, he knew that Gotham Kingdom could never stop fighting because that was no different than just waiting to die. Hardy’s true goal was to argue with Barrett during the meeting, not to win, but to ensure this meeting ends without a breakthrough and the plan gets delayed.

But Lin Xiao suddenly appeared and completely messed up his plans! This brat he initially looked down on displayed his terrifying strategies.

Once Lin Xiao announced the end of the meeting, then both sides will have come to an agreement to prepare for the eventual counterattack. As long as they all worked together, counterattacking the rebels and winning in the end was something that would come sooner or later!

That was something Hardy couldn’t accept! He didn’t want to use this method, but now he had no choice!

“What? Dismissing Barrett? Y-you’re joking, right?”

Before Lin Xiao said anything, Taike couldn’t hold back and pulled on Hardy’s sleeves thinking he went crazy.

“I’m not joking, I’m serious!”

Hardy ignored Taike and pushed him off and then sternly stared at Lin Xiao waiting for his response.

“Uh… General Hardy, even if you’re serious, you must have a reason, right? If it’s just because you don’t like him, then that’s not enough. Misconduct, embezzlement, incompetence… you have to pick at least one of them.”

“No, it’s none of those, Barrett’s crime was even worse than all of those combined! I got secret intel that Barret has been secretly training personal forces while communicating with the rebels and is planning on rebelling! Lin Xiao, what do you think about that as a reason?”

“What? Rebel!?”

Taike was shocked and quickly pulled at Hardy and tried to persuade him.

“General Hardy, y-you can’t say something like that! Conspiring to rebel is a serious crime! You can’t just slander him like that!”

“Slander? Hmph, it’s not slander! I have proof!”

“Impossible, Grand Marshall Barrett wouldn’t do that!”

“Hmph, what’s so strange about it? He supports his own troops and he probably already long had thoughts of rebelling.”

“Bastard, say that again? Our grand marshall has always scrupulously performed his duty and is loyal to the country and has never thought about that!”

“I’m just saying, what are you getting so riled up for? Unless you have a guilty conscience?”

“You!?”

Strangely the person in question was extraordinarily calm. Lin Xiao thought that Barrett would be angry and directly refute Hardy, but he just continue to cross his arms and sit there, the only thing different was his gaze.

He completely ignored Hardy and didn’t reign in his subordinates, he just looked at Lin Xiao like he was waiting for his judgment.

Say something, what are you staring at me for?

Lin Xiao knew that he was just provoking him, like he was saying since you’re so amazing you should be able to tell if Hardy was lying or not, if you misjudge then you were just that.

“Tsk, old fox.”

Lin Xiao scratched his head in annoyance, he originally wanted to successfully retire, but now he was forced back on. He could only exchange a helpless look with Claire and help until the end.

“Okay then Hardy, since you have proof, then take it out.”

Lion Xiao turned to Hardy and started questioning him.

“Princess, Lin Xiao…. in addition to the intelligence gathered, I also have three confessions that can prove Barrett’s crimes!”

Lin Xiao and Claire looked through the evidence and realized it wasn’t forged and had high credibility, the three who confessed were all highly regarded subordinates of Barrett.

“Those three are all Barrett’s trusted aides, but they weren’t willing to rebel with him, so they exposed his crimes to me!”

With the confessions and evidence he held, it wasn’t just slander anymore, it was a real accusation! But Barrett still didn’t make any excuse and just closes his eyes and leaned back against his chair.

Are you purposely not saying anything and trying to make it difficult for me!?

“So Hardy, where are those three? Since they’re willing to accuse Barrett, why didn’t you call them here?”

“Hmph, they went missing!”

“How did they go missing?”

“They were probably silenced by Barrett! Since they were his trusted aides after all, how could Barrett forgive them for exposing his crimes?”

“Is that so…”

Lin Xiao fell into silence.

What should he do next?

Should he remove his military authority and then lock him up for interrogation?

No, this is a crucial time, if he rashly apprehended Barrett, then that would anger his loyal subordinates and if they wasted time seeking justice, who would defend the front lines and counterattack?

“Hey, Lin Xiao! What should we do?”

She never could have imagined that uncle Barrett would conspire to rebel and didn’t know how to deal with it. Today’s meeting gave was too much for her and she was completely clueless.

As for Lin Xiao…

Lin Xiao was aware he was faced with a crucial choice that can waste all their efforts. But he didn’t need to be so worried, since his work was already done! He said that he would help Claire get both sides to come to an agreement, so the rest was up to Claire and had nothing to do with him. He did indeed want to ignore it when he heard Hardy’s accusation, but he just couldn’t do it… What he thought about wasn’t Gotham Kingdom or winning or losing, but Claire’s painful expression as she cried and that bloodstained earring.

He didn’t want his student to be bullied and make that painful expression again!

“Grand Marshall Barrett!”

“What? If you want to interrogate me then forget it, I won’t say anything and I won’t admit guilt.”

“Hehe, don’t worry, I just want to ask you a question, a simple question unrelated to the accusations.”

“Oh? What do you want to know?”

After hearing that, Barrett finally opened his eyes and curiously looked toward Lin Xiao.

“Grand Marshall, I want to ask… did you go anywhere else when arriving in the city today?”

“Hm? What kind of question is that?”

“You just have to answer, did you go anywhere else?”

“Damn brat! The grand marshall rushed us all back to the city and came directly to the palace without eating or resting! Did you not see us taking off our armor and weapons earlier!?”

Before Barrett could respond, his subordinate couldn’t keep listening and answered first.

“Grand Marshall, is that true? I want to hear you personally respond.”

“It’s true, I never went anywhere else.”

Barrett didn’t understand what he was getting at and could only nod and answer honestly. Could a foolish question like that really judge whether he was conspiring to rebel or not?

“Princess, I believe the grand marshall has no intentions of rebelling and since this is a matter of importance I hope that you can temporarily keep Barrett’s position to prevent any disruptions to the military. You can keep him in the city and it would not be late to convict him after a thorough investigation.”

“O-okay! Lin Xiao, we’ll do that!”

When Claire heard Lin Xiao’s order that was disguised as a suggestion, she grabbed onto her lifeline! On the other hand, Hardy was angry and didn’t understand why Lin Xiao would treat Barrett so leniently when all the evidence was already there.

When Barrett heard Lin Xiao’s final judgment, he suddenly burst out into laughter.

“Lin Xiao! What a courageous and resourceful youth! I’ve been on the battlefield for numerous years and it’s my first time meeting someone like you! Lin Xiao, you actually could trust me with just one simple question… what a kid! I really have to hand it to you!”

Barrett suddenly started praising Lin Xiao and said what he had been suppressing.

“Listen up you bastards! Lin Xiao is right, I never conspired to rebel! And I never had a liaison with the rebels! … The real spy is Hardy!”

“Barrett, you!?”