City of Sin

Book 7, 4

Failed Threats(2)

Richard took away all the rune knights, leaving only Tiramisu on the floating island. The place seemed to lack defences, but anyone trying to take advantage of the situation would be in for a rude surprise.

By the time he appeared in the teleportation plaza, the place was quite noisy. More than a dozen nobles were arguing with the portal guards, some even starting to push around. Richard immediately frowned; these guards were only symbolic, but any physical actions against them was an act of war. None of these nobles were authorized to use the Archeron portals without permission.

“How did these people get here?” he asked one of his soldiers.

A balding and obese middle-aged man in the crowd took a step forward, bowing, “Lord Richard, I am Viscount Learst of the Wingstag Family, our patriarch is Earl Cole. The family has live in Faust for five generations, you should have—”

“Get to the point!” Richard interrupted.

The Wingstag Family was meagre compared to any of the fourteen, but it was still a decent power. The lesser families in Faust also tended to band together, and with a hundred of them they totalled up to a decent force.

The bald man wanted to show off his family’s deep roots, but with Richard’s cold gaze he quickly skipped the eloquence, “The blue moon of the Rainbow suddenly fell off and we all saw it fly towards the Archeron island. The Rainbow of the Moons is a symbol of Faust, any damage to it might endanger the entire city’s interests. We discussed the situation and agreed that we should come over to see what happened.”

“And what if the moon’s in my hands?” Richard asked.

The man immediately broke into a sweat, but he still remained clear in his words, “The blue moon belongs to the Rainbow of the Moons; for the sake of the future of Faust, we families believe that you should hand it over to us and negotiate who it belongs to.”

“Wait, what did you say?” Richard seemed confused.

Learst cringed, but gaining courage from the large number of companions behind him he spoke loudly, “You have to hand over the blue moon! Or else—”

“Who said the blue moon is in my hands?”

“So many people saw the blue moon falling towards your island, how could they—” Before he could finish his words, Richard picked up a longsword from one of his rune knights. The blade flashed and sent Learst’s head flying into the sky. A fountain of blood erupted from his neck, shocking the nobles nearby.

Richard looked at the headless body before his cold gaze swept across the crowd, “You see, you need to be alive to try and rob me. You lot rush towards my island and think you’ll get away with it? Well, you’re about to pay for that folly with your lives.”

The nobles froze up for a moment before reacting, screaming as they rushed towards the portal to escape. However, it was too late. Richard’s rune knights flew out like the wind and cut down dozens in the blink of an eye, emptying out the place near the plaza. There were still some nobles who were teleporting over from the other side, but seeing the horrific scene they immediately fled.

The rune knights had followed Richard for a long time and executed every one of his orders without fail. However, some of the younger knights in training here were stunned. Anyone able to enter this place could at least become a squad captain in the army, and they had basic political sense. They knew that killing so many nobles, even if they were minor ones, would bring trouble.

“Let’s go,” Richard said indifferently, “You lot, throw the bodies off. I expect the plaza to be cleaned up by the time I’m back.”

Even as the guards nodded in a hurry, a rune knight with a few scars on his face sneered and held his still-dripping sword in hand as he stepped through the portal. The rest quickly followed, with Richard in the middle of the formation.

...

The teleportation temple was quite crowded, with many second- and third-class nobles of low status and even more warriors without noble status at all. There were more than a dozen saints present, all here of their own accord; they wouldn’t deign to work with the worthless nobles, but they couldn’t put aside their greed so they’d come here to see if they could snag anything.

The blue moon was from the Rainbow of the Moons, something even legendary beings hadn’t been able to approach for centuries. Many people were calling it an artefact of Faust already, but that word wasn’t enough to describe its value. Nobody knew what uses the blue moon had yet, but they had seen two legendary beings fail to acquire it alongside a third mysterious one who was even more powerful than the first two. It only made sense for the moon to have unimaginable value.

The temptations of the minor nobles were stoked, but none of them actually planned to get the moon itself. They knew that something so big might attract even the royal family, so even if they stole it from the Archerons they wouldn’t be able to keep it. These nobles had united to extort the Archerons; Richard was now famous for his wealth, with every single one of his knights being armed to the teeth, so they wanted to make a fortune off of him.

Some of the small nobles even thought of forcing Richard to send a rune knight to each of their families in exchange for their solidarity. Richard had hundreds of rune knights, and there were only a hundred noble families in Faust. It was just that the portal could only accommodate so many people, which was why they hadn’t made their way over.

As the next batch of nobles entered the portal, one of them immediately came back out and started running, yelling crazily, “They’re all dead! They’re all dead!”

Everyone was stunned, not understanding his words perfectly, but the look on his face caused their hearts to tremble. The portal suddenly lit up and they took a few steps back, opening up a large space nearby.

A fierce horse-like mount made its way through, atop it a rune knight who was grinning from ear to ear. Feeling his murderous aura and seeing the giant sword on his back still dripping blood and even some meat, many people gasped. They finally understood what all dead meant. Everyone was dead.

The knight pulled up the mask of his helmet, revealing a face with several scars as he looked around at the several people nearby. However, there was no fear in his expression as he sneered, his mount walking right towards the densest section of the crowd.

The nobles were instantly stunned. Although there were many warriors amongst them, some even with experience, none could compare to a true rune knight who had been forged in bloody battle. They subconsciously retreated in the face of his might; this was the difference between a warrior and a soldier.

The portal continued to flash as more rune knights emerged from within, entering formation around Richard. Some of the rune knights right behind him were carrying large chests that were marked with numbers.

The moment they saw Richard, the crowd suddenly grew excited. Someone shouted about the moon entering the island, others asking where it was. Some asked him for compensation for their weapons that were damaged while intercepting the blue moon. The surrounding saints also released their auras, giving the crowd even greater courage. Richard was fierce, but how could so many of them be in the wrong? They had more than a dozen saints!