Free Web NovelChapter 303: A Messenger
A few days passed without any word from the duke, and while Rion was sparring with Jareb and Henry, a soldier they knew very well walked over to the training ground and knelt at its edge.
Rion caught Jareb’s sword between two fingers and turned his head toward the soldier. "What message do you have, Enris?"
Enris lifted his head and looked at Rion in terror as he stuttered, "D-Duke Clifford has sent a messenger, my lord."
From the day his elder brother had been chosen as the heir of the duchy, Enris had turned into what he was now.
He forced others to follow him, and if they did not, he made their lives hell.
Most noble already feared his father, Walton, because he was one of the seven nebulae that the kingdom had, so he never had anyone dare question his authority.
That was until Jareb and Henry came into his life.
Both of them were something he couldn’t become — heir to their marquessate, so he wanted to keep them as his followers or, if said bluntly, slaves.
But unlike other heirs, these two didn’t have the destructive greed or passion that was his main poison, so his plan was fruitless, and from then on, he began to despise them.
He wanted nothing more than to ruin them, but as they were the children of the two marquises, he kept his distance and pulled the strings that kept them from gaining any recognition from other noble heirs, and this plan was going well.
In fact, it was going absolutely great until a few days ago.
As the soldiers had also seen Rion fight, they spread the story of his extreme prowess in the camp, and then he finally understood that he had dug his own grave.
Though Rion, being the person he was, understood him and took him in as a servant for both himself and his students.
Walton was obviously against this, but even he could do nothing before Rion, who was already being kind to his son.
Rion looked at Jareb and Henry and said, "Spar with each other."
They nodded and took a glance at Enris.
Feeling their gazes, the corners of Enris’s lips quivered as he tried his best not to snap at them.
"Where is the messenger?" Rion asked as he stepped out of the training ground.
Enris followed behind him and answered, "The chief commanders have kept him at the northernmost tent, my lord."
’The northernmost tent,’ Rion noted in his head and said, "Make sure to have a meal prepared for me and those two."
’What does he think I am?!" Enris stared at his back with a deadpan face and answered while biting his lower lip, "I will make sure it’s to your taste, my lord."
"Good," Rion whispered and allowed his will to flow freely.
Within a moment, his Zone covered the whole camp, and he used Zone Relocation to appear in the tent with the messenger. frёewebηovel.cѳm
Seeing him appear out of thin air, everyone stepped backwards and looked at him with surprised yet reserved expressions.
On the other hand, the messenger fell to his butt and screamed while pointing a trembling finger at Rion, "G-Ghost!!"
"Calm down, I am not a ghost," Rion mumbled while shaking his head, then noticed, ’It sounds like something a ghost would say, doesn’t it?’
The messenger looked around and, seeing everyone so calm, he doubted whether what had just happened was real.
After a minute, he calmed as well and shot up on his feet. He looked in front of himself, and his gaze fell on Rion, who was sitting in the only chair that the tent had.
"Are you the person who had killed Lord Tristram and Lord Holias?" he asked in a terrified yet angry tone.
"I did kill Tristram, as for Holias, I am not sure if what I had killed was him anymore," Rion replied flatly as if knowing it mattered nothing.
Seeing him being so casual about killing two of their commanders, the messenger’s face turned furious, and he spat, "Do you feel nothing for the people you have killed?"
Suddenly, the tent turned colder, and fury blazed in all of the chief commanders’ and commanders’ eyes, but before things could go wrong, Rion raised his left hand and spoke, "Calm down."
Their fury vanished instantly, and they looked around in surprise before their gaze stilled on Rion and they thought, ’What did he just do?’
’It actually worked,’ Rion thought. What he had done was mix some of the ether stored in his ether core into his words, making them more than just words. frёeωebɳovel.com
Impressed by himself, he let out a chuckle and said, "Let us not talk about morals when you stand with a person who has done the most immoral act a person from Leonara can do."
However, the messenger didn’t stop; instead, he shot back, "The duke only did what was right!"
"Heh. Are you saying the people who died because of his coup were killed rightfully? Or are you saying the lies that he fed to the people were for the right cause?"
"Absolutely," the messenger stayed firm on setting the duke on the pedestal of the most honorable man.
"I see..." Rion nodded and rose from his chair. "You may return to your camp. Show him the way out."
The messenger’s face turned dumbfounded, and he said, "But you haven’t even listened to the duke’s words..."
Rion let out a chuckle and replied, "I never needed any words. I only wanted to know how the duke’s army saw him, and seeing you justify his cruelty, I have gained more than enough from this meeting."
At his words, the messenger spat, "What?! How dare—"
However, before he could finish, Melvin suggested, "Be sure not to say words that you cannot hold the weight of."
The messenger fell silent, and Rion’s words drifted in his ear,
"Three days. That’s the most time I can offer to the duke for his surrender, and if he fails to comply — I, Bael Leonara, would come to see him."
