City of Sin

Book 8, 96

Inherited Enemies

Richard hadn’t spent too many days in Norland time on the Forest Plane, but when he returned he was faced with an ultimatum from the Sacred Tree Empire. They were asking him to explain his killing of Marquess Brahms; if his reasoning was inadequate, they would be forced to take action against him.

This note had a stern tone, but it didn’t take any genius to realise that this was a sign of weakness. If the Empire was firm, they wouldn’t have needed to explain anything and could just send troops over. He himself had done exactly that, heading to the Brahms territory and killing all obstacles on the way.

These kinds of notes were a common diplomatic dance. Richard spent a few minutes writing some fluff, having a mage find a messenger to send it to the Sacred Tree Empire. However, the messenger would have to travel there physically because it was too ‘expensive’ to teleport. The other side was buying time, which was exactly what he wanted.

Within the reply, he obviously denied all accusations and pointed out that Marquess Brahms had died in a fire. It was an accidental death that could not be blamed on the Archerons. Such a response was nearly identical to the blatant lies Brahms himself had spouted, but if he wasn’t wrong the response would be another note refuting him and asking for another explanation. This dance would go on for a few months, giving both sides time to recover before they decided whether it would be reconciliation or war.

Once the mage left, he put the matter aside. It seemed like Martin was quite capable and had managed to delay things, and even though he had no idea what the Saint’s true intentions were, working with the charming man had been a pleasant experience so far.

He raised a hand, gathering numerous specks of light into a holy glow on his palm; this was the light of the Radiant Lord, the source for the divine spells of the Church of Glory. Be it Michael’s golden flames or Midren’s crimson ones, they all came from this power. It was because of his control of this light that Richard could activate Midren’s battle edition.

The sacred light didn’t come out of nowhere. Richard had analysed all of the divine items that Martin had given him, understanding their inner workings and decoding the laws of light. Although he had only begun, he could still use divine light that wasn’t weaker than any cardinal’s.

Every exchange with Martin so far had given him something of value. Richard had no need of wealth or equipment, those could be bought with money. However, rare materials and an opportunity to analyse various laws was different; each chance was a significant boost to his power. This divine light was one such advantage; it gave him a huge amount of resistance to the clergy of the Church of Glory.

Dissipating the glow with a clap, Richard picked up another document with a scarlet exclamation mark on the envelope indicating its importance. Taking it out and reading it, he immediately turned grim. The letter was only a few paragraphs, but he read it over and over again before putting it down. Pondering over things for a while, he eventually ordered a shadowspear to call Asiris over.

Just like Richard, Asiris’s expression changed when he read the two pages, “Firefox is still alive?”

“Mm, Sauron sent this. People have seen him at the south of the Millennial Empire, and he seemed to be heading for the ocean. Wasn’t this the guy behind the problems with Ward’s family?”

“Not just Ward. Senma, Kaylen, and Kayde too, although they got off better. Firefox was always in the shadows whenever something bad happened.”

“He had a grudge against you thirteen?”

“No, I believe he was only a subordinate executing orders. There should have been another hand at work, targeting Lord Gaton.”

“So an enemy of Father’s, huh...” Richard grinned, crushing the two pages into a ball and tossing it into the wastepaper basket, “He’s got dozens of them. I wasn’t strong enough yet, so there wasn’t a need to check every single one, and now it’s been a long time...”

He suddenly went silent, recalling the raging flames of his past. Gaton had gained glory from his reckless youth, but that had also killed the woman he loved. Dispelling the memories with a deep breath, he continued, “We won’t pursue the past, but that doesn’t mean it’s over. If Firefox is being active, then he should give up on a comfortable life. This is my family, nobody gets to be safe after targeting us.”

Richard stood up and paced around the study for a while before stopping in front of Asiris, “You said he was hard to deal with, didn’t you? Then let’s leave it to the experts. Set up a bounty for his head, five million gold.”

“Five... million...” Asiris took a deep breath, understanding slowly crawling up his face, “Alright. Calamity, Nightblade, Blood Disaster... They’ll all have the bounty up by next morning.”

“Good. We won’t be able to get the people behind this, but they’ll need to find other lackies once he’s gone.”

*Knock knock!* “Your Grace, there is an urgent letter from the Deepblue!”

Richard smirked, “Looks like Blackgold is giving me another surprise.”

The mage delivered a thick envelope, containing over a hundred pages of blueprints and descriptions. It was all equipment for the night elves, from heavy ballistae that required full squadrons to small hand crossbows that could be hung by the waist. Everything was designed meticulously, and it could all be manufactured in large quantities.

Richard spent a bit of time on every single image, taking a full hour to go through all the designs. The equipment was all practical, easy to maintain, and powerful, made with materials that could be bought in bulk or produced by his private planes. For instance, the crossbows used certain woods from the Forest Plane instead of high-elasticity alloy, increasing their longevity and power.

He handed over the designs to Asiris, “Could you go to Noelene and have her workshops focus on these? I need a thousand sets right away.”

A thousands sets meant a thousand night elves, a powerful army of soldiers that were all at least level 15. Even the wealthiest of families wouldn’t be able to keep calm at the prospect, but Asiris didn’t ask for more details and left quietly.

Once the Dark Priest was gone, Richard opened up his map and examined it while deep in thought. Looking over everything he needed, he found he had seven days to empty where he could do whatever he wanted. He sent word for Senma.

“I swear, if you give me one more task I’m going to blow!” the Blood Paladin shouted as she entered, “I’m taking care of the Brahms planes right now, do you think just taking them was enough? None of those bastards are going to lie down and roll over; if we don’t teach them a lesson, who knows when they’ll stab us in the back?!”

Richard chuckled, patting her on the shoulder, “Calm down. Those planes were a surprise anyway, I don’t care if they rebel. We’ll see the ambitious ones and then take care of them together. There’s something else we need to take care of now, it won’t be too long.”

“Ugh, whatever you say.”

“Pack up, we’re heading to the Resting Orchid Plane. You have a day.”

“Resting Orchid? Is there anything going on?”

“Did you forget the mouse hidden in there?”

“Mouse?”

“Stardragon.”

“That guy’s a legend!”

Richard suddenly sneered, “Yes. Only a legend.”