บท 21: Chapter 20: What, you're not convinced?
Baron Hovern's smile vanished abruptly, and he exuded a serious and undeniable presence from within.
"I have already thoroughly investigated the entire incident with extremely adverse effects, and I will share with everyone what has happened," he said.
Having said that, he gathered everyone attending the banquet and calmly explained:
"The tragedy that occurred in the night is chilling to the bone. After I returned, I investigated carefully at the first opportunity, and here is what happened."
Everyone was silent, simply waiting for Baron Hovern to continue, knowing that his announced "investigation result" would become the irrefutable "fact".
"First was a despicable servant from the town chief's house, who conspired with the jungle natives to abduct the town chief's granddaughter. Out of desperation, the town chief mobilized all the patrol guards to search for his granddaughter in the jungle."
Irene and Lucius already had a good understanding of Baron Hovern's thoughts on handling the town chief upon hearing this much.
Baron Hovern continued, taking a deep breath, and said, "With the sheriff leading the patrol team away, that servant opened the gates at night, ultimately leading to the horrible tragedy."
"The patrol team has arrested that servant, and in a few days, I will personally judge him. Those jungle natives are truly despicable, and the town chief has also lost his granddaughter, his grief immeasurable."
"He is willing to give up half of his wealth to fund our campaign against the jungle natives, believing their blood will appease the souls of the Cyart people."
He paused for a moment, calmly looked into each person's eyes, and asked:
"People of Nasir Town, are you satisfied with such investigation results and handling measures?"
Before anyone had a chance to speak, loud clapping suddenly resounded in the banquet hall.
It turned out to be Lucius from the Fischer family, who was surprisingly smiling while applauding loudly, saying:
"Worthy of Lord Baron Hovern, the handling is extremely appropriate. The Fischer family is very satisfied!"
The crowd followed suit with their stances, feeling that everything the Baron said was perfectly reasonable, with no dissatisfaction at all.
Irene silently observed the crowd, knowing there was a familial relationship between the town chief and the Baron, but she had still harbored a sliver of faint hope.
After all, more than fifty people perished overnight in Nasir Town.
Many were neighbors she knew, including a mother and daughter who sold eggs for a living; both had died. She had once treated the mother for an illness, and the daughter had since then brought a basket of eggs to the Fischer family every month with a smile.
After consuming eggs for more than half a year, Irene and her family could no longer stomach them, and out of politeness, couldn't refuse, so they quietly distributed them to the family's servants.
On the surface, she coordinated with the members of the Fischer family to tell the mother and daughter that the eggs were consumed by the members of the Fischer family themselves.
They had struggled to maintain this pretense, but now there would be no more need for it.
That morning, as Irene passed by, she saw some of the chickens the mother and daughter used to feed early in the morning had been burned to death. Other chickens which had returned after the disaster were wandering back and forth quietly in the same spot, still waiting for their owners to feed them.
At this moment, praises were sounding incessantly around her.
She wanted to say more, but her shoulder was firmly held down by the robust hand of Lucius.
Lucius's face beamed with an exaggerated smile, like he had encountered an extremely delightful event, and a feeling of unprecedented joy emerged from deep within him.
Finally, Irene nodded silently and saw the serious expression on Baron Hovern's face break into an elegant smile once again.
"And you, Lucius Fischer, the warrior of the Fischer family, my friend, you are our true hero!"
"I have decided to award you a modest honor in my personal capacity, please accept it as it is all for the glory of the Cyart people!"
After the banquet, various families from Nasir Town sent money and supplies, some even offering personnel.
The Fischer family contributed ten Gold Coins, without providing any manpower, and in turn, the reward they received from the Baron was a "Metal System low-level Knight Bequest."
Those with metal affinity bloodlines could progress to an Extraordinary Exponent of the first level by training with this Knight Bequest in conjunction with a Magic Potion, which included a matching defense combat skill, "Full Armor."
The value of the low-level Knight Bequest was around fifteen Gold Coins. In essence, the Fischer family had profited five Gold Coins.
Of course, Irene was very aware that the low-level Knight Bequest was a token of compensation from Baron Hovern.
After all, on that fateful night, the Fischer family was in the gravest danger, and two guards even met their unfortunate demise.
When everyone else had left, only Baron Hovern and the town chief remained in the banquet hall.
Not a trace of a smile could be found on Baron Hovern's face; he sat in his chair silently for a long time, the town chief standing beside him with bowed head, not daring to make a single move.
"Over fifty people dead, you really have some nerve. If you weren't a distant relative of mine, I would have sent you to Nasir's prison today."
The expression on Baron Hovern's face was extremely cold and grim, as the town chief took a deep breath, internally dismissing the threat.
He was friends with the largest sea merchant on the East Coast, responsible for helping to dump goods, and the money he supplied every year accounted for one-third of Baron Hovern's expenditures.
If he really killed me, wouldn't that be akin to cutting off one of Baron Hovern's own legs?
He could never let me simply die like this, but he still wanted to take advantage of the situation to seize half of my property, which was even more despicable than those jungle natives.
The town chief's face twitched slightly, but he still bowed respectfully and said,
"Lord Baron, I will never dare again, I am truly grateful for your rescue! From now on, I will serve the Hovern family with even greater loyalty!"
----
Three months later, as spring arrived, Baron Hovern's uncle, the East Coast Governor, finally sent for a regiment of Cyart Kingdom's infantry.
The gradual development of alchemy, technology, and group spells created an army that could threaten Extraordinary Exponents, changing the previous warfare pattern dominated by small-scale battles of Extraordinary Exponents.
In recent years, the Cyart Kingdom, taking a leaf out of the Lorne Empire's book on military reform, established a national unified standing army, dividing the troops into two parts: the standing army and the reserve army.
The infantry regiment had a total of 1,200 men, equipped with flintlocks, and had two field training days per week, each time providing seven rounds of gunpowder and live ammunition.
Accompanying the army in combat were fifteen Extraordinary Exponents, five spellcasters, and ten knights. Leading the forces were Baron Hovern himself and a Tempest Priest accompanying the army, the only two Level 2 "Transmutation" tier Extraordinary Exponents.
The bloody suppression lasted about three months, the jungle natives who could only steal a living were continuously slaughtered, and the battle situation was almost completely one-sided.
It wasn't until the jungle natives organized a very terrifying ambush by sacrificing their own flesh and blood.
The sudden emergence of that mysterious being, the so-called Lord of Bloody Cult by the natives, marked the appearance of the Mighty Bloody Demon, whose fearsome power instantly claimed the lives of over three hundred soldiers, with the rest suffering from the Curse and dying off gradually.
The governor was extremely enraged and convinced the East Coast's Tempest Bishop to personally go, only to quickly find that the natives had collectively migrated north, leaving no trace of enemies in the jungle.
The north was the territory of the neighboring Rhea, with which the Cyart people had a thirty-year peace treaty, making it improper to pursue and exterminate the fleeing natives.
This disproportionate war ultimately ended with the complete escape of the surviving jungle natives.
----
One sunny noon in Nasir Town,
Irene and her servants, having finished shopping in the market for festival necessities, were about to return to the carriage when she suddenly heard crying; soon after, she noticed a group of bound jungle natives not far away, mostly women and children.
They were spoils of this war, soon to be shipped to Fein City under the escort of Cyart soldiers, their fates hereafter unknown.
A jungle girl around her age was kneeling on the ground, crying, as a soldier lashed her bare back fiercely with a whip while the surrounding townspeople cheered on.
Deep in Irene's heart surfaced an instinctive discomfort.
She suddenly remembered the smiling face of the girl who brought eggs—if the Fischer family had not obtained the great power of the Lord of the Lost, then they would have been the ones to die that night.
Just like Byrne said, what mattered most to her were only the gods and her family; any excess pity could at best extend to acquaintances with emotional ties, not enemies.
She simply could not afford anymore sympathy, because that would eventually bring misfortune upon the Fischer family.
"Is something wrong, Miss Irene?" the coachman inquired.
"Nothing, let's go back."
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