Kill One to Warn a Hundred
The Royal Palace in Oga City.
All the prominent nobles in the city had arrived and stood obediently below the main hall.
Patur, on the other hand, sat high on his throne.
Gallo stood beside Patur and whispered, "Father, everyone's here."
Patur nodded, his gaze sweeping over the nobles below.
Cabinet members, military generals, ancient nobles—the upper echelons of the Oga Kingdom —are all here.
When the nobles saw Patur, they instinctively felt that Patur must have come for the old king's funeral and the new king's coronation.
Many people secretly glanced at Gallo.
Within the noble circles of the Royal Capital, it was widely accepted that Gallo would become the new king.
"The old king's funeral will be held first, followed by the new king's coronation ceremony. Patur's call for a meeting is most likely for these two matters."
The nobles had already formed their expectations.
As a result, Patur's first words left them speechless.
"The Yasen City has decided that the next king of the Oga Kingdom will be Inori of the Demian Family," Patur said calmly.
All the nobles were stunned, but before they could even process the news, Patur's next words caused an uproar throughout the hall.
"So I rebelled. The next king of the Oga Kingdom is my son, Gallo."
"This..."
The nobles were in an uproar, whispering and discussing amongst themselves, creating a cacophony throughout the hall.
"What is this? Is it a rebellion? But Gallo is the most rightful heir."
"But Yasen City represents the Human Saint Realm, and the decisions of the Saint Realm expert are inviolable."
The nobles felt their minds were no longer sharp enough. Logically, since the Yasen City had decided that Inori would be the next king, Patur's current actions constituted rebellion.
However, the nobles had to admit that Gallo's line of succession was indeed ahead of Inori's.
Patur's current behavior doesn't seem so incomprehensible.
Amid the chaos, Grand Master of the Kingdom Knights, "Balzan," stepped forward. He first bowed to Patur, then asked, "Lord Patur, may I ask what should be done about the Yasen City?"
As soon as the words were spoken, the nobles fell silent.
Yes, how can Patur face other Human Saint Realm after openly disobeying the orders of Yasen City?
At the same time, the nobles realized an even more important issue for them: how to choose and which side to take.
From their own hearts, they naturally do not want to get involved in the conflict between the Saint Domain, but the development of events may not be up to them.
While the nobles watched Patur's response, they also considered what they and their families should do next.
Patur looked at Balzan with a cold smile on his face, "As for Yasen City? You don't need to worry. I have reached an agreement with the Beastmen. Our Oga Kingdom will no longer follow the Holy Alliance and the Elf Race, but will obey the Beastmen. In return, our Oga Kingdom can unify the three major human kingdoms of the Noah Continent."
"Cooperate with Beastmen?"
If Patur's previous words were like throwing a boulder into everyone's minds, then this sentence was undoubtedly a gunpowder bomb.
Balzan immediately exclaimed, "Lord Patur, how can we cooperate with Beastmen? Over the years, how many of our soldiers have died at their hands, how many of our compatriots have been captured and tortured by them? I cannot obey Beastmen!"
Not only Balzan, but many nobles present were extremely dissatisfied.
Among these upper-class figures of the Oga Kingdom, some were born superior because of the protection of their ancestors, while others rose to their current position step by step through military merit. Many of their brothers, friends, comrades-in-arms, and classmates died in battles against the Beastmen, and it is no exaggeration to say that their hatred runs deep.
They could accept Patur disobeying the orders of Yasen City and allowing his son to sit on the throne, since it was just an internal struggle among Human Race.
But they would never accept becoming vassals of the Beastmen.
Upon hearing Patur's words, Balzan and the other military nobles were filled with indignation.
"Oh? You can't do it?"
Faced with Balzan's dissatisfaction, Patur simply smiled, then pointed a finger, and a beam of Battle Qi shot out, instantly piercing Balzan's heart.
Balzan stared at Patur in disbelief, never expecting the man to kill someone outright.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but couldn't utter a word before collapsing and dying.
"Since you can't do it, there's no use keeping you around," Patur said calmly.
The entire hall fell silent instantly, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Everyone fell silent.
Balzan was the Grand Master of the Kingdom Knights, Level Nine Warrior. No noble present was stronger than Balzan, but Patur killed him without hesitation, which terrified everyone.
"Does anyone else have any objections?" Patur smiled faintly, scanning everyone present.
No one dared to speak.
Patur nodded in satisfaction.
He killed Balzan to make an example of him.
He couldn't possibly kill everyone.
Although no one in the Oga Kingdom could rival him, he couldn't do everything himself to rule such a large kingdom, so he still needed to keep these nobles around to do the work.
"In that case, everyone go back and prepare. Today, the Beastmen's Saint Domain will go to kill the royal families of the Radiance Kingdom and the Misoko Kingdom. Then, our Oga Kingdom will cooperate with the Beastmen army to unify the three major human kingdoms."
"Yes." Everyone answered tremblingly, and then carefully withdrew from the hall.
After they had all left, Gallo said to Patur, "Father, will they really behave?"
Patur said, "Of course there will be those who don't obey. Have people keep an eye on them, and if anyone makes any unusual moves, take action immediately without holding back!"
"Yes!"
Gallo walked away quickly.
Patur also rose from his throne and walked out of the hall.
He walked familiarly through the Royal Palace, passing various palaces and gardens, until he came to a Stone Tower.
Outside the Stone Tower, powerful guards stood watch.
The guards bowed to Patur when they saw him.
Patur walked straight into the Stone Tower and came to Stone Tower very top.
There, there was a smooth boulder, which resembled a stone platform with intricate patterns carved on its surface.
This thing is called a "Teleportation Magic Array," which can be used to transmit messages over long distances and is extremely rare.
Yasen paid a huge price to obtain four pieces from the Goblin Merchant Guild, which he placed in the three kingdoms and Yasen City respectively, to be used to transmit messages in times of emergency.
Patur didn't understand the principles behind this Magic Array. He only knew that activating it once would consume the energy of an eighth-level Magic Crystal Core, so it was generally not used unless it was a major event.
Patur waved his hand and put the boulder into his Space Ring.
He needed to prevent anyone from sending messages to Yasen City via Magic Array.
Although Yasen City will find out sooner or later, we can delay it for as long as possible.
Thinking of this, Patur became somewhat worried about Gleb.
He didn't know where the Magic Array of the other two kingdoms were located, so he couldn't tell Gleb, fearing that Gleb wouldn't be able to stop the news from getting out in time.
However, he also knew that worrying was useless, so he quickly stopped thinking about it.