*Drip**Drip*

“Father….father...ahhhh!!!”

The whole room was enveloped by the faint sound of blood dripping from Lux and the boy desperately crying for his father.

The battle is done and it’s time for Arthur to take care of the after-effects.

“Boy, what is your name?”, Arthur while leaning on one of the walls inquired with a low voice.

“...”

Silence, huh...it’s expected, after all, I killed his father in front of his own eyes.

[Jane. The boy’s name?]

[Hale Devon.]

“Unhand him.”

“My lord?”, the assassins keeping the boy in check, answered in a dumbfounded tone.

“Unhand him.”

“But…”

“Unhand him and move to the corner”, with Arthur‘s pressure, they let go of the boy with a reluctant expression and moved to the corner.

Once the assassins reached the corner, Hale launched himself towards Arthur.

“DIEEEE!!!!!!”

*Thud*

Hale pinned Arthur to the wall by strangling his neck as hard as he could, Arthur on the other hand stayed calm, not moving an inch.

“MY LORD!!”

Arthur raised his hands to stop Ron and the other assassins from moving.

To him, I am a murderer, who mercilessly killed his father. 

“Why?!? Why did you kill him?!?? He was the only one for me!!!!....” *Sniff* “ After mother left the world, he took care of me with all his heart!!!! What did he do wrong?!? WHYYYYY?!??”

According to Jane, Hale was kept in the dark about whatever Astley was doing.

“Hale, listen to me very carefully. This would probably be the only time you hear about this.”

“...”, with Hale’s silence as acceptance, Arthur started listing Astley’s misdeeds.

“Your father, for the past seven years, he smuggled money from Ellen. Or Switon as you know it.”

“You killed him for smuggling money!!!!”, Hale screamed in anger.

“No, but because of Slave Trading.”

“What?!?”

“He was involved in slave trading, and that’s why I killed him.”

“No way, I know my father was never righteous, but he is not crazy enough to commit slave trading.”

“He is, and the proof is those documents.”

Sebastian those documents to Hale, and after a couple of minutes of reading them, Hale devoid of energy, fell limp onto the ground.

Even for him, this is a huge surprise. But I am sure, he still wants to kill me.

“Father!!” *Sniff* “Why?!?…Why did you not tell about his?!??”

“So tell me, Hale. Do you still want to kill me?”

“Was that supposed to be a question? It doesn’t matter what my father did, you killed him. And I will make sure that when you are going to die, it will only be when you fall into the depth of despair.”

It has been a while...the amount of blood lust and killing intent he is letting, it’s no joke.

“I see...looks like I have made myself a worthy enemy. But choose wisely, Hale. You can kill me here, and I assure you, that Sebastian and Ron behind you will instantly kill you. Or you can walk out, you have my promise that none of the assassins will chase you.”

“Don’t tell me you are afraid of death?”

“Fool, I am giving you a chance. You are Astley’s son, use that brain of yours. If you kill me now, do you really think I would be in the depth of despair like you want me to? Of course not!! But if you beat me in my own game, yes...only then will I have the taste of despair.”

“...”

“But at the same time, I forbid you from following your father’s path. Believe me, even if you think of being like your father, I will be on your doorstep, waiting to harvest your life.”

“What do you want me to do? Help people? Stop joking!!! I am not going to be running a charity, while you are running around the streets!!”

“You don’t have to. As I said, beat me in my own game and I can assure you, I am not running a charity. Let me tell you again, though your father had blood and dirt on his own, it’s not a lie that he had a great brain. Make your father proud, by beating me and Duke Arma of Lysandra Empire.”

Hale sprung up from the ground, got close to Arthur’s face, and declared.

“...tch...remember this, Arthur. You and that Arma bastard or whatever, you both are going to die by my hands. I assume, he is the other partner of Slave Trading, I don’t care about the people, but as one of the reasons leading to my father’s death, he too will face end by my own hands”

*Clang*

With Arthur looking at him in awe, Hale took Lux from Astley’s body and threw it aside. He then started moving out of the room with Astley’s body, only to be stopped by Arthur’s voice.

“Next time I see you, I hope you are not the kind of person who uses another’s name. Richard, he is nothing but a muscle head. Become an individual, whose name will be reaching every corner of the Emire.”

“...”

*Step*Step*

With that, Hale’s figure carrying Asley’s body disappeared from the room.

[Jane.]

[Boss?]

[I want you to keep an eye on Hale...report every single one of his actions to me.]

[Sure.]

[And send some details of Duke of Arma to him. As for me, I am expecting complete information of the Duke of Arma.]

[Honestly, you are using me too much.]

[I know, you can’t do anything about it.]

[Ughhhhhh…..]

“My lord, are you sure it was a good idea to keep him alive?”

Sebastian asked me in a quiet tone.

“I don’t know...but what I do know is that, if I had killed Hale today, the guilt would not let me sleep for years.”

“I see, but it’s going to be difficult to explain this to them.”

“I know...but that is for later. Right now we have a more fun activity to attend to.”

“Haha~ Please enjoy them.”

“Now then, you stupid good for nothing nobles.”

At my words, every single one of them flinched, and some even had tears in their eyes.

“Duke Arthur!! Please spare me, I will give you all the money I stole!!!”

“No...I will give you twice the amount of money I stole, please let me live!!!”

“Please do not kill us!!”

Ahh...though it is annoying to hear, the sight of the prideful nobles kneeling with apologizing words emerging out of their mouth, is quite the sight to see.

“Be at ease, I have no intentions to kill you all. Too much work. But I will gladly take the money back.”

“AH...Thank you, Duk-”

“20 times.”

“I am sorry?”

“It’s been 19 years since the fall of Switon family, but for convenience, I will gladly take 20 times of the money you lot smuggled.”

“Tw- Twenty times!!”

“This is outrageous! There’s no way we could pay that grand amount”

“To think that you have the nerve to talk back at me”

*Silence*

At Arthur’s words, all the nobles fell silent. Some also looked at the blood left behind by Astley.

“I have seen the documents, it’s clear that you all have the money. Even if I take the money back, you should have enough to run your territories with no problems.”

“But-”

“Think of it as payment. Payment for your life.”

With that, no one talked back to me,

Yahoooooo~~… Finally, the amount of money I am going to get is absolutely huge!!!!! Damn it, I can’t wait for it.

“At the same time, your not allowed to raise the taxes. If you do, you will be called to the palace, to face the Emperor that is.”

Instantly, their face paled. I guess the death of the Baron’s son did have some effect on these idiots. 

Good for you, Emperor...there are fools who are even afraid of you.

Having such amusing thoughts, I noticed four of the young nobles, raising their hands.

“Yes?”

“Your highness, it is true that our family smuggle money, but-”

“Oh it’s you four, I remember, your four were recently titled as the head of the families right?”

“Ye...you are right, your highness”

“Hmm~ So, I can see that the smuggling stopped when you four came into power. But it doesn’t matter, your parents stole my money. But for your good heart, pay 15 times of the money your parents stole. That will be enough.”

“Thank you, your highness!!!”, those four sung in chorus.

I am surprised...I guess the Empire still has some light, having good people like these.

“Great...now then, the Emperor has issued a gag order on what happened here. So, if I get to know anyone is leaking information, I will personally make sure that your head separated from your body.”

*Gulp*

“Alright, you can all leave. One week...By the end of one week, I want all the money to be returned. Do you all understand?”

““““Yes, your highness””””

*****************************

After all the nobles left the building, I put myself to rest on one of the chairs.

Lysandra Empire, huh….

“Looks like you have to contact him, my lord”, Sebastian commented while going through the documents.

“Him?”, Ron asked confusingly.

“Yes, that idiot...the crown prince of Lysandra Empire, Alexander Lysandra.”, I said reluctantly

“Your only friend, my lord.”

---

---

---

 

HEYYYYY, ARTIQUE HERE!!!

 

First of all, I would like to apologize for the delay in this chapter. I really do. As you know, I am going to be attempting an exam called JEE this year (somewhere near Jan). One of the most difficult exams here in India. Unfortunately, the govn. haven't announced the date of the examination yet. I really pray that it would get postponed. But anyway, because of the exam, my concentration has completely been on the studies.

So, I apologize for the delay, and no, I have no intention to drop this. Please don't worry.

 

And as always, Thank you for reading!!!

 

PS: I will be trying to push out a chapter per week.