City Of Sin

91-100

The Cornerstone Of Heroes

News of the trial within the Archeron Family quickly spread out to Faust's nobility. Some were shocked by the news, while others were left deep in thought.

In a private library within the Joseph Castle on the sixth island of the sixth layer, Raymond was in a rare state of deep thought as he listened to a report on the trial. After a long time, he turned to Valen, "Gaton isn't just disciplining his family with this; he's also telling all the nobles of Faust that this matter isn't done yet. His own son is dead, but Faulk is still alive."

Valen fell silent, a grave expression on his face. With their assassination attempt failed, it didn't seem like the Archerons had suffered any losses. In fact, they managed to cripple Faulk and several youths from their subordinate families as well. Although those other youths weren't from the fourteen, they were still children of nobles who'd settled down permanently in Faust proper. Even Earl Goliath had to bear an entire week of suspicion and enquiry for that- although Gaton was also a member of the assembly, being in the seventh layer only gave one the power to vote, not veto.

Alas, the matter was fated to reach no conclusion. The Sacred Alliance Assembly was just that- a place where the members of the alliance met to discuss affairs. Whether the results of the votes were executed depended on the checks and balances of the various powers behind the scenes. An Earl as tyrannical as Goliath couldn't possibly be sentenced to anything severe just for harming a few noble children.

Besides, even though the public was allowed to sit in at the assemblies, only the fourteen families actually possessed official seats. The members of these families at least knew everything, including inside information about the issue with Faulk. The week spent on making things difficult for Goliath was simply to help the average families feel better about themselves and keep their reputations intact after he hurt their children. Without any major infighting in the Alliance right now, some covering up was necessary.

Still... Not only was Gaton able to find evidence against Warren immediately, he'd also called for an internal trial on the same night and executed Warren in front of the entire family. It was impossible for a trial of such scale to be kept secret, but it wasn't like he wanted it hushed anyway.

The conclusion now would be that, since Gaton had lost a son, Duke Joseph had to as well. However, that son could not be Faulk. On the other hand, he'd also transmitted a clear message to all the nobles of Faust- Richard Archeron was the one person that was completely off limits. Anyone who even wanted to touch him had to be prepared to face a war with all the Archerons.

Valen stood up, responding solemnly, "Young master, the status of Richard in the Archeron family is much greater than we had anticipated. This time around, Gaton even directly declared that he is one of the core members of the family, though he hasn't even made a real rune knight yet. There must be some inside news that we did not get. I think we have to prepare for war."

Raymond sighed, feeling helpless, "The war between us and the Archerons never stopped. However, this means that we can't attack Richard in Faust anymore. If we do something like this again, then that's a provocation not to the Archerons but to Bloodthirsty Philip himself. Master Valen, you need to make some preparations. We need to move to the Mason plane as quickly as possible- the war there needs to be ended quickly so we can free up our elites. We have a troop stationed in the family territory already, but we need to increase our vigour in espionage. I need information on Gaton's privately-owned planes so that we can attack as soon as circumstances permit."