Chapter 138

"What... what's going on?!"

"Look! Isn't that Mayor Vernon kneeling there? Why is he here?!"

"It wasn't just the mayor... many people were tied up and forced to kneel on the ground. Did they do something wrong?"

"But who tied them up?"

Something must have happened last night!

"I was awakened by a noise in the middle of the night and saw a group of soldiers rush into the mayor's residence through the window... Afterwards, many people were taken out, including the mayor."

"Who arrested all of these people?!"

"Who has that authority? A position even higher than the mayor's... Could it be...?"

At dawn, just as day was breaking.

A hammer-driven clock in Kunseci was struck loudly, its continuous chimes waking people from their sleep, leaving them bewildered and astonished.

They were then called outside by soldiers shouting in the street and directed to gather at the city gate.

This is the city gate of Kunseci facing the direction of the Saint Airo Empire. Looking into the distance, there is a flat wasteland. Further west, you will reach the checkpoint set up by the Saint Airo Empire.

Now, the gates of Kunseci are surrounded by a circle of Black-and-White Cavalry. In the middle, a small space is left open, where Mayor Vernon, the officials involved, and the captured bandits are kneeling.

The crowd that had gathered pointed and whispered at these people, their faces showing confusion and bewilderment.

Just then, a row of soldiers suddenly spread out on both sides, and the poor people who had been imprisoned in the village came out from behind, their steps appearing slightly unsteady.

[Honestly, I've been using this app to follow my favorite books lately. It has multiple reading sources, various voice options, and works on both Android Apple.]

Their wounds were carefully bandaged and treated. The sick were properly housed and given medicine before falling into a deep sleep. Those who were not seriously injured went out to the city gate.

They wanted to see these wicked people get what they deserved.

The crowd, initially bewildered by Mayor Vernon and others kneeling on the ground, discussed amongst themselves with confusion.

When these persecuted and impoverished people appeared, the discussion paused abruptly, then grew louder, accompanied by expressions of surprise and astonishment.

"Lier? Wasn't he taken to Naxi Village? How did he end up like this?!"

"Wasn't old Roth missing?! He's still missing, how come he's here... What happened to him?"

"Why do these people have wounds? And Mayor Vernon is tied up... Could it be that they...?"

The crowd buzzed with discussion and speculation, and some acquaintances stepped forward to ask.

But some people weren't oblivious last night—they pieced together what happened this morning and seemed to have made some connections...

Mayor Vernon was an overweight middle-aged man with a somewhat honest-looking face, but his eyes often gleamed with shrewdness and calculation.

He was still wearing the soft pajamas he had changed into before going to bed last night.

With her hands tightly bound by soldiers and kneeling on the ground, her expensive pajamas inevitably became dusty and wrinkled from the ropes... she looked extremely disheveled.

What's more, he was dressed in thin clothes and shivering in the chilly morning sunlight, his face trembling, his expression filled with fear and apprehension.

And the others kneeling alongside Vernon were no less so.

Bunier looked at the group with a sense of satisfaction, his face showing either deep regret or fear.

Someone beside him was getting to the bottom of what had happened, and upon hearing that the lord himself had appeared in the village last night, they couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

"It was the lord who saved you, and it was also the lord who secretly orchestrated the capture of Vernon and his gang of villains..."

That's right.

Just as Bunier was about to answer, he heard shouts from the crowd. He looked up—

A cry of an eagle came from the sky.

Immediately, an exceptionally handsome eagle landed on the city wall not far away, its blue-gold eyes gazing in this direction.

The ferocious beasts gradually emerged from behind the soldiers.

A large black tiger with white stripes yawned and then slowly walked into the rows of kneeling people, its fangs and claws almost within reach.

The sound of the beast pacing back and forth, the brush against their faces, and the fur around them nearly made Vernon and his group faint.

In the end, it was a voice that gave them a moment's respite from their tension.

But then, a wave of fear and apprehension washed over them—they stared wide-eyed as the boy in a sharp, fitted vest and a black overcoat slowly emerged from behind.

The soldiers bowed their heads respectfully and stepped aside.

Behind the boy were the White Cavalry ' Commander-in-Chief Walker, and his two regimental commanders Taylor and Bana.

The large black tiger with white stripes ran to the boy's side after being called by name, purring softly and rubbing its head against the boy's outstretched hand.

Cyrus patted the Coalball, telling it to be mindful of the occasion before trying to be affectionate again.

When he came to Kunseci this time, he only brought Qing Tuan, Coalball, Snowball, and Ice Cream. He left the rest of the wild beasts in the castle to avoid being too obvious and revealing his whereabouts.

He stepped forward, and facing the indignant or still puzzled expressions of the group, gestured for Walker to read out the charges against Vernon and the others.

One by one, the charges became clear, and the unsuspecting crowd finally learned what had happened in Kunseci.

The mayor and most officials secretly colluded with bandits, harmed and forcibly enslaved the people, concealed the discovery of minerals, and sold the minerals to merchants of the Saint Airo Empire without authorization.

With numerous charges and serious circumstances, he was executed on the spot.

After Walker finished speaking, cheers erupted from the crowd—these wicked people deserved to die!

Especially Mayor Vernon.

The way people looked at him suggested they wanted to slice him alive with a knife.

This is the Desinia Territory, not a place where nobles can have private rights—the improved laws and newly formulated policies no longer allow nobles to act without restraint.

What's more, it involves illegally hoarding minerals and persecuting innocent civilians...

The mayor's collusion with robbers makes his crime even more serious.

Before long, stones were picked up and thrown at Vernon.

If there were no stones on the ground, they would pick up other things; some people even took off their shoes and threw them into the kneeling crowd, spitting and cursing at them...

Cyrus raised her hand, and the anger that erupted in the crowd gradually subsided.

They couldn't help but clutch their violently pounding chests; after the initial anger came a deep sense of relief and excitement.

--They had a good lord, and Kunseci was saved.

The brief darkness will eventually pass, and then dawn will arrive.

On Cyrus's orders, the bandits were executed on the spot.

They faced the rising sun, witnessed the last glimmer of dawn, and then their heads fell to the ground, blood splattering everywhere.

Subsequently, Kunseci's mayor, Vernon, along with other officials who aided and abetted the perpetrators, were dragged before the city's residents.

A gallows have been erected here.

One by one, they were bound by thick ropes around their necks, the wooden barrels they were stepping on were kicked away, and they slowly died in suffocating pain.

The last people to remain were merchants from the Saint Airo Empire.

They witnessed the deaths of the criminals, their expressions turning fearful and chilling. The swift and clean execution of these men terrified the merchants who had been spared.

They cried out that they knew they were wrong and were willing to offer a large sum of money in exchange for their lives, hoping that Cyrus would spare them.

Cyrus said, "If the Saint Airo Empire is willing to cede territory to compensate for my losses, as well as the harm suffered by Kunse City and its people, I will naturally let you go."

"I want the border territories of the Saint Airo Empire..."

How could this group of merchants possibly have bought up all the minerals mined in the Lifens Mountains?

As dawn approached, news arrived from the cavalry force that Cyrus had dispatched to pursue the enemy on the border of the Saint Airo Empire —this matter was also related to a border lord of the Saint Airo Empire.

And surprisingly, some of the bandits who colluded with Mayor Vernon were from the Saint Airo Empire...

This reminded Cyrus of the bandits who had previously occupied a large area of territory on the border of the Saint Airo Empire.

Although they were later wiped out by Prince Warner's cavalry, some inevitably escaped.

They actually escaped from the border of the Saint Airo Empire to Kunseci.

Cyrus wasn't going to let this matter pass so easily.

He found a pretext to spare the lives of the merchants, and a letter was delivered to the border lord of the Saint Airo Empire.

What Cyrus meant in the letter was that your secret deal with Mayor Vernon had seriously wasted my precious time and caused even more harm to Kunseci and the people of the city.

Please pay the appropriate compensation promptly—in exchange for the lives of these merchants, in exchange for territory on the imperial borders.

The border lord who received the letter was so angry he laughed.

The lord of Desinia was utterly ridiculous to demand compensation for the deaths of a group of insignificant merchants by declaring it a loss of territory on the border.

He then ignored the letter and did not report the letter demanding compensation to the king or the prince.

Three days later, Taylor led a large number of White Cavalry to the city gates on the border of the Saint Airo Empire and lined up in formation.

They took out the darts that Cyrus had ordered made and threw them onto the city gate—hundreds of darts burst into fierce flames on the city wall.

The fire could not be extinguished and instead burned even more fiercely.

In the end, the guards at the city gate scattered and fled, the gates were left wide open, and the people inside the city were filled with anxiety.

Taylor ordered his men to shout, "Kill those who resist, spare those who surrender! The Lord of Desinia is only here to collect compensation; he will not do anything to the ordinary people."

First, Desinia sent doctors with bird beaks to help people suffering from the Black Death in various places, and then the Thorn Merchant Guild sent relief supplies.

After their initial panic subsided, the people in the border city of the Saint Airo Empire quietly made way, allowing Taylor's White Cavalry to enter the city unimpeded.

Not long after, the lord of this border territory was captured before he could escape.

He had never imagined that the city gates would be breached so suddenly and so quickly, with the defending knights offering absolutely no resistance...

What on earth was that thing that was thrown up and could explode?!

The border was swiftly occupied by Desinia, and when the news reached the imperial capital, the king was immediately enraged.