CH 51

Chapter 51 Eve of war(2)

Translator: BaeBae Editor: BaeBae

Ethan kicked upon entering the room.

The people inside the dark room all stood up with a nervous expression.

Soon after, guards followed him into the room with awkward expressions.

The correct thing to do was to stop Ethan who was barging in, but there was no one who wanted to confront a Paladin.

“Ethan? This is the Hiveden’s governing council. It’s not a place where you can freely enter, especially after kicking the door open.”

Ethan looked at the man who spoke.

When he was at the capital, he was a noone, but upon coming to Hiveden, he became head of the Hiveden’s loan industry.

It was the same for the rest. Heads of prostitutes, swindlers, gangsters, gamblers and smugglers…

“What? Then what’s the point of having a security guards?”

“I don’t know why you’re asking such stupid question, but if you really want to know, its because it was deemed best for the city to focus the guards on protecting our citizens from potentially harming each other.”

Everyone agreed that Hiveden didn’t have the best public order in place.

Although people would laugh, Hiveden did in fact have security guards.

But they competence only extended to covering murder incidents and scuffles around the city.

Having been hit with reality, every Hiveden’s heads dropped their faces into their hands. Selpa mumbled a groan.

“So facing the White crow knights isn’t a viable option then?”

“Even causing damage to their equipment would anger the church. They would come demanding recuperation. We need to make ourselves the victims here……. We need to somehow provide proof that the Hugin knights aren’t here.”

“Well, we have our associates in the capital. We should make contact with them. Part of our cash is going to the Pope. What can the Paladins do if we have the Pope on our side.”

“Didn’t you hear him before? Ethan that crazy bastard explicitly said that he won’t care about any of that.”

“Well if they can’t get Ethan to obey orders, then they should send us an army! It’s the least they can do after they’ve been freely pocketing our cash till now!”

As Yuldrick wildly shouted, the other heads looked at him as if they were looking at a maniac. Ardin sighed.

“You think the church and the capital knights will fight? The General isn’t someone that can be bought with money and the Capital’s pigs only care for themselves. They will not put themselves in danger for anyone else. No, this is something we’re going to need to figure out on our own.”

“……..Well, at least we should send a message to the capital. One way or another, they’ll make their stance known. And maybe it could be to our benefit. Ethan may just as well have been bluffing.”

“I hope that’s the case.”

Ardin nodded. The heads whispered to their subordinates with worried expressions. It seemed in everyone’s minds, their future was bleak.

They’d been through all sorts of hardships, but it was never a good thing to be involved in incidents with Paladins.

“Then I’ll call this meeting to an end. Go back home and spend some time with your family…..”

“What about joining forces with the Hugin knights?”

The one who’d stayed silent till now but suddenly opened his mouth was Oppert, the head of the smuggling faction in Hiveden.

He had established his influence by bringing in rare spices and products from outside the border, and selling them to nobles in the Capital.

He could easily get his hands on products that were banned by the church, so he was sought by many nobles and even members of the Hiveden council.

Until now, Ardin thought the man was quite clever, but hearing him now Ardin considered whether that perception needed changing.

“What do you mean joining forces with the Hugin knights?”

“Exactly as I’ve said, join forces with the Hugin knights and bring down the White crow knights. If we’re going by pure numbers, it’s not like we’re disadvantaged. Other than the guards, we have members of various organisations. Many are trained soldiers who are confident and skilled.”

“Are you stupid or just foolish? If we agree terms with the White crow Paladins and get the noble committee’s help, we may survive through this. But if we join hands with the Hugin knights? Then we’ll be branded as traitors by the entire empire for joining the enemy. Don’t you know what will happen then?”

The arrival of the imperial army.

The General, Vares Valte will make his way here.

Hiveden and all it’s buildings will be crumbled and it’s citizens reduced to ash.

If they don’t hide deep in the mountains like the Hugin knights did, they would vanish without a trace.

After the emperor’s assasination, there were already two cities that were made examples of this.

And the workings of that severe purge, naturally sent the entire empire in fear.

The relationship with the Hugin knights till now had lasted because it was under straps.

Oppert was about to say something more, but Ardin ignored him.

He had the least influence out of the heads. Disregarding his opinion, Arwin dismissed the meeting.

“Everyone return to……”

“Ardin nim!”

Arwin was about to blow up.

It felt like everyone was out to stop him from ending the meeting. The man who had called out to him was a soldier.

He was out of breath and his face pale. Seeing his expression, Ardin started to get worried.

“Sir, you need to see what’s going on outside.”

“Outside?”

Ardin and the heads in confusion looked out the window.

Upon looking out the terrace window, there were many others who were looking up into the sky.

Wondering if there’s something going on, Ardin looked up and saw a golden light covering the entire city in a bubble.

Ardin still didn’t know what this was.

Then someone grabbed his wrist. It was Yuldrick, head of the mercenary corps.

Only moments ago, his face was full of vigor ready to fight back, yet now his expression was pale white.

“Ar, Ardin. I think we should just surrender.”

“What? Why do you say that. What is that?”

“I, I’ve seen that ‘grace’ a few times in battle. At the time, I had been deployed alongside Paladins and they told me that’s a wall made from the power of ‘grace’. Once inside, any sound, anything physical won’t be able to escape. The Paladins call this ‘grace’ the emperor’s ‘foot’.”

“It’s a wall?”

Yuldrick quickly nodded his head.

“The important thing is, everytime this grace was used, they killed everyone inside that didn’t surrender. Just like its name, they’ll stamp and crush anyone that doesn’t submit to the emperor’s name. Ethan is saying he’ll wipe us out if we don’t concede our stance.”