Chapter 11: The Struggle for Power (Fifth Update, Dedicated to the Silver Alliance ‘The One Who Stays Up Late’)
“Zhabo, have you… been lying to me all along?”
The beautiful woman’s eyes widened. Hearing her words, the High Priest Zhabo was stunned.
“Iron Hand, I can give you whatever you want—money, women, anything.”
High Priest Zhabo tossed the bundle on his back toward Su Xiao. With a clatter, gems and gold coins scattered across the ground.
Crack, crack, crack…
Su Xiao stepped over the gems and gold coins. He was indeed in dire need of gold coins right now, but he needed legitimate gold coins—kingdom currency that could circulate freely without having to hide in the shadows.
“I have a daughter. Her name is Elena. She’s just turned 13. If you let me go and leave, I’ll give her to you.”
High Priest Zhabo’s will to survive was tenacious, so tenacious that it had stripped away all his bottom lines.
“Hahaha, what am I even saying? Oh gods, are you punishing me? Punishing me for the beastly things I’ve done?”
High Priest Zhabo suddenly burst into laughter, his mind on the verge of collapse.
Then, veins bulged on his face.
“Bai Herbert! You will face retribution!!”
High Priest Zhabo roared the king’s name, pulling a long dagger from his waist and pulling his wife close.
With a slash, the dagger pierced the beautiful woman’s chest and also stabbed into High Priest Zhabo’s body. The blade was coated with deadly poison.
“Angia, forgive me.”
The High Priest softly called his wife’s name.
“Mm.”
The beautiful woman nestled in the High Priest’s arms.
“Even after I said such vile things, you still forgive me. You are truly a gift from the gods.”
The High Priest’s face gradually turned blue as the poison took effect.
“How could it be otherwise? You were just too afraid. We don’t even have a daughter.”
The beautiful woman’s body slowly went limp.
“Bai Herbert, and you, Iron Hand… just wait! I will look forward to your suffering from hell. The furious dead will tear you apart, and what lies hidden beneath the throne…”
Slash, slash, slash…
The sounds of hacking drowned out the High Priest’s roar. It was the ten Imperial Guards, swinging their long swords, chopping the High Priest and his wife into minced flesh.
“Hm?”
Su Xiao’s eyes narrowed. According to normal procedure, the Imperial Guards couldn’t act against officials; otherwise, it would cause trouble, even with the old king’s secret orders. This was a matter of political stance.
Yet these ten Imperial Guards had acted. Why had the king’s personal guards, who should have been sent, been replaced on the spot by these killing machines, the Imperial Guards? This was a question worth pondering. And what had the High Priest meant by his last words? What was hidden ‘beneath the throne’? A curse? A weapon?
‘Beneath the throne’ itself was ambiguous. It could refer to royal authority, the palace itself, or even someone under the king’s command.
After the ten Imperial Guards dismembered the High Priest and his wife, they quickly came to Su Xiao’s side and knelt on one knee. They had just overstepped their authority, and Su Xiao could now execute them on the spot.
“The High Priest has been executed by my own hand.”
Su Xiao spoke. The ten Imperial Guards just kept their heads down. Could the position of Iron Hand really kill without restraint? No. It was a sensitive role. Used well, it could make everyone in the capital fear it. Used poorly, it would bring death. The previous Iron Hand had held the position for only twelve days, but this current Iron Hand had already held it for two full years.
Hearing Su Xiao’s words, the Imperial Guards rose and stood behind him again.
Three targets had been eliminated. Only the Chief Justice, Elvi Anthony, who lived in the southern part of the capital, remained.
The capital was vast. It took a full half hour for Su Xiao to reach the residence of Chief Justice Elvi.
This wasn’t a wealthy district, so the surrounding houses were pitch black. Only the faint croaking of frogs from the edge of the capital, where a moat lay, could be heard.
A cool night breeze blew, thinning the smell of blood on Su Xiao.
Su Xiao crouched on a rooftop, sensing something off about the atmosphere.
“Bubu, this is a portrait of Elvi Anthony. Identify it. Later, you’ll be responsible for finding him. If things go wrong, find a way to restrain him.”
Su Xiao pulled out a portrait. Bubu Wang stretched his dog face forward, nearly pressing it against the image. After more than ten seconds, he looked at Su Xiao. Those big, watery eyes seemed to say, “Master, are you a demon? Isn’t this a panda on the portrait?”
No wonder Bubu Wang reacted this way. The portrait was drawn with a quill pen, only in black and white, and its abstractness was beyond imagination.
“Cough. Try your best to identify it.”
Su Xiao said in a low voice. Bubu Wang let out a long sigh and began staring intently at the portrait.
A few minutes later, Bubu Wang nodded, indicating he had roughly identified it.
“Sure?”
“Woof~”
Bubu Wang’s voice was very low. On the surface, he seemed as steady as an old dog, but inside, he was full of doubt. Who is this? Where is he? Where do I find him?
“Amu, get ready.”
Su Xiao’s gaze fixed on an old courtyard ahead. This was the residence of Chief Justice Elvi. Though the area was sizable, it looked somewhat rundown. If Su Xiao hadn’t known the Chief Justice’s character well, he would have thought the man was an incorruptible official.
This purge couldn’t be done through assassination. It had to be done openly and loudly, to intimidate the officials in the capital who were stirring restlessly as the power struggle was about to begin.
“Leave no one alive.”
Boom!
Amu charged out like a tank, smashing straight through the outer wall of the Chief Justice’s courtyard.
“Enemy attack!!”
The moment the crash sounded, a roar came from the pitch-black courtyard. Noisy footsteps followed, and several torches flared to life.
In less than ten seconds, the courtyard was lit by dozens of torches. Soldiers holding round shields rushed out from the castle at the center of the courtyard.
This Chief Justice was not as simple as he appeared. He knew what he had done, so he was naturally wary of the old king. That was why he had chosen a residence far from the palace and secretly hired dozens of mercenaries.
Raising his own private army would have been the ideal approach, but Chief Justice Elvi wasn’t stupid. He knew the entire capital was under the old king’s watchful eye. So he chose a more covert method: spending a fortune to hire mercenaries and using his authority to smuggle them into the capital. That was the power of connections.
In truth, the old king had seen through all these little schemes of Chief Justice Elvi. But he hadn’t moved against him before because he could keep this minister in check.
The old king could control him, but the new king might not. Even so, the old king had given Chief Justice Elvi one chance—a chance to show loyalty. After all, Elvi had devoted his life to the kingdom. Unfortunately, Elvi hadn’t seized that opportunity.
The ten Imperial Guards met the mercenaries. These mercenaries weren’t pushovers; they were battle-hardened and could hold off the Imperial Guards for a short time.
Su Xiao walked through the crowd. A flash of blade aura, and two heads flew. Moments later, he appeared at the center of the courtyard, in front of the somewhat old castle.
Bang.
Wood splinters flew as Su Xiao kicked open the castle’s main door. What met his eyes was a very wide staircase. At the top of the stairs stood a bald, burly man with a lizard tattooed on his bald head.
“I heard you’re the strongest warrior in the capital? I’m curious. Among the capital’s useless fools, how strong could the strongest warrior be? True strong men are all on the front lines. Only useless fools stay in the capital to enjoy themselves.”
The bald man cracked his knuckles. His pupils were green, but he wasn’t undead. That meant only one thing: he was a Holy Warrior who had defected from the kingdom. Money makes the world go round, let alone a Holy Warrior. The wealth of Chief Justice Elvi was enough to make even the old king envious.
The struggle for power was this brutal. Those who died tonight were the losers in this power struggle. In truth, the struggle for power had already begun tonight.
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Thank you to ‘The One Who Stays Up Late’ for the Silver Alliance patronage.
Three Silver Alliances + tens of thousands in monthly ticket red envelopes. Waste Mosquito thanks you here. Cough, now let’s talk about the issue of owed updates.
According to a diligent reader’s statistics, the updates Waste Mosquito owes… cough, cough, cough. In the near future, Waste Mosquito will start working like crazy. As for how many updates I can manage, I can’t really guarantee. I wrote for about ten hours today. My neck is very stiff—old cervical spine problems. I’m used to it by now, no need to play the victim. Once you get used to it, it’s not that uncomfortable. If I’m careful, it basically doesn’t affect my writing. It’s a moderate issue.
Blindly chasing speed obviously won’t work. Quality must also be ensured.
Saying all this, the main point is just one sentence: I’ll work hard on updates in the near future. Patronage is a form of recognition for me. Yeah, that’s about it. Waste Mosquito’s writing expression is average when not in the zone.
Oh, and by the way, I’ll take this chance to ask for monthly tickets.