Translator: Wuxia Dog Editor: Wuxia Dog
“Only a few people came today…” A soldier looked at the passing crowd and said downheartedly, “We won’t be able to finish the task.”
“I heard that they didn’t finish the task yesterday either.” Another soldier sighed, “It’s hard to believe that Conrad still has such high prestige even though he has been dead for two years.”
Behind the soldiers was a dilapidated coffin, inside which lay a dry skeleton. Beside the coffin stood a large board, listing all the crimes that Conrad had committed before death; such as abusing soldiers, embezzling military supplies and so on. Anyway, he had died and the dead couldn’t bear the witness.
Under the board were the awarding criteria and some words that posted about how Conrad was a cruel and brutal hypocrite who won popularity by hoodwinking the public. “As an incumbent general, I feel distressed that such a sinner is praised by so many people. To expose all the crimes of Conrad, I hereby set up this board and make the promise that anyone who spits on the coffin or curses Conrad when passing by his coffin will be rewarded accordingly.”
The fact was that anyone with discerning eyes knew what kind of person Conrad was. He had held the military leadership position for ten years and the headquarters of the Riptide Regiment was set in the capital—Beit City. If he really was an ambitious man, he would have already become the owner of Beit City, the fifth castellan, as well as the most powerful man in Beitman. However, Conrad had never got involved in such government affairs, leaving the management rights of Beit City to the four castellans by turn. If such a knight in self-denial who had no ambition at all was a hypocrite, there wouldn’t be any good men left in this world.
However, Rudolph had his own grievances. He had been the commander of the cavalry of the Riptide Regiment for over one year but still felt bound and constrained. This was very vexing for him! According to their explanation, the regiment had no commander at the present time and such, the commander of the cavalry deserved to be the highest leader of the knights. However, the influence of Conrad still existed everywhere. There were so many things that Rudolph could not do and was bounded by so many rules, which had been set by Conrad. As long as he did something wrong, his subordinates would come to persuade him. His patience had been drained dry. As the commander of the cavalry, he was tired of living under the shadow of a dead commander.
During the first year after Conrad’s death, his prestige was still at its peak. No matter how reluctant Rudolph was, he still had to submit to these rules; but now the situation was different. Conrad had already been dead for almost two years and his prestige was declining all the time. Plus, in order to implement his plan, Rudolph had to wipe out all the residual influence of Conrad as soon as possible and turn the cavalry into his private property. Now it was time to probe the bottom line of the soldiers.
“Did they finish it? Were they lashed?” the soldier in front asked.
“What do you think? Would General Rudolph let them go? Ho ho…”
“What about us? Will we be lashed too?”
“We will… we better be prepared.”
“How about…” the soldier looked around and lowered his voice, “we take the money secretly and report to General Rudolph that there were many of them that came to curse and spit on Conrad today?”
“Are you crazy? We will only be lashed if we can’t finish the task, but if we were to cheat General Rudolph, we will be beheaded!”
“But…” The soldier paused for a moment and suddenly showed a sinister smile. He turned around and walked to the coffin, pinched his nose, and spat a mouthful of saliva into it. After doing this, he went to the board and picked up one copper coin. “This isn’t cheating, is it? No one said that we couldn’t spit on Conrad!”
“Good idea!” The rest of the soldiers saw the light. They knew that General Rudolph truly hated the former regiment commander Conrad. If they participated in the cursing, even if Rudolph knew that they were doing fraud, he would not punish them.
The soldiers were overjoyed. They gathered in front of the coffin and kept spitting. They thought that it was a good way to make money but soon felt the consequences; their mouths were parched and tongues were scorched. Money was never easy to be earned.
“Bastard…” a tooth-gnashing reproach came from behind a solider. The voice was trembling, and it was obvious that the speaker was extremely angry.
The soldier turned around hastily only to find a chilly feeling in his lower abdomen. He looked down and saw a dagger stabbed deep into his belly. “You…” He reached out his hand, trying to grab the man in front of him.
“Who are you? What do you want?” The rest of the soldiers all kept their vigilance.
“Your death!” Moxinke replied in short words. The next moment, his giant sword chopped down. One soldier drew out a longsword to block the chop but his efforts were in vain. His body along with his sword was cut into two parts.
“They’re… too fierce!” Han Jin stood on the back of the tortoise, smiling bitterly, “I hope the information that you got is right. Otherwise, we will be in great trouble.”
“Rest assured,” Sunier said lightly. “Most of the soldiers in the cavalry hate Rudolph. All they need now is for one to take the lead.”
“Yes. I heard all of them cursing Rudolph sneakily.” Cessacioun nodded, “If there is someone among them that can get them to admit, ho ho… We will have some fun.
“That someone would be Reg,” Sunier continued.
Even without the participation of Han Jin and the others in the fight, Moxinke and Reg had already wiped out all of the low-grade warriors. Now, Reg was kneeling down respectfully in front of the coffin after examining the remains inside and closing its lid.
The street was in a mess as pedestrians were fleeing and shouting. Soon, a group of well-armed knights arrived. However, all of them stopped when they saw Reg, who was still kneeling down before the coffin.
Han Jin watched the reaction of the knights nervously and uneasily. Sunier had suggested making use of the support of the people. Although Rudolph had exchanged all the lower-ranked officers with his own trusted followers, it was impossible for him to change all the soldiers. He could control the whole situation because the soldiers had no other ways of communicating with each other and didn’t know the thoughts of their peers from the other groups. As long as one with a higher position took the lead to arouse disturbances, the whole situation would be reversed.
However, Han Jin had no such experience. They were raising a rebellion! Unlike him, Sunier was very interested in this. If Reg could regain control of the Riptide Regiment, the most powerful regiment in Beitman, she could rely on him to bring bright prospects in Wild Willow City! As for Cessacioun… He must have read too many biographies of heroes and thought that a coup was something simple. As long as a hero, the main character, raised a call, all the problems could easily be solved.
Han Jin concentrated on the expressions of the knights. As the saying goes, one can know the whole situation from just one detail. Now, Han Jin was estimating the result of this coup by watching the attitudes of the knights towards Reg.
The knights paused for a moment and dismounted one by one, kneeling down on one knee, “Young marshal!”
“Tell me, where is Rudolph?” Reg said expressionlessly.
“Let us show you, young marshal!” Several knights exchanged eye contact and continued in a loud voice, “We have put up with his brutality and perversity for a long time!”
“Then lead me towards him!” Reg made a wave of his hand.
Sunier looked at Han Jin and smiled, “A noble hiding in a village like you will never understand how much respect and support a real knight can receive!”
“Oh…” Han Jin forced a smile. He had never expected that such a scene would really occur, for he had always thought that Sunier’s assumption was too hard to achieve even though he agreed to her plan orally.
But the things that happened later blew Han Jin’s mind again and again. He could barely believe it when he saw more and more groups of knights come from all directions. Some knelt down on one knee before Reg while some just followed him wordlessly. Within the short distance of two miles, there were hundreds of soldiers following Reg.
Han Jin suddenly realized that he was actually the shallow one who had described Reg’s father as dull and incapable. How ridiculous.
It’s indeed so that Conrad has left no legacy for Reg, but at this moment, a single figure and voice was able to destroy the entire newly formed order in an instant. What could be more valuable than this heritage?
Reg held the bloody dagger tightly and walked in front while Moxinke was beside him, carrying a giant sword on his back. The knights followed closely behind them. The Ninth Town was a military town, where the first and second group of cavalry were both stationed. More and more knights came; some even blocked Han Jin and the others outside the queue.
Some of the officers on the road dodged aside and acted as if they didn’t see anything. Those who were not clever enough or didn’t know who Reg was and wanted to question him were cut down in the blink of an eye by the knights. They knew that the hatred between Reg and Rudolph was mortal since Rudolph adopted such despicable means to insult the remains of Conrad. There was no possibility of conciliation between the two. Thus, whatever they saw was not a surprise to them. There was no need for them to think about the future. As long as their young marshal was with them, brothers from around the city would come and everything would be the same as when Regiment Commander Conrad was still alive.
In fact, Rudolph was not a lucky guy. Reg came back exactly when the soldiers were in their most agitated moods. Even if all the other leaders of the Riptide Regiment were in the Ninth Town, they would be unable to put down this coup, let alone Rudolph himself.
Further on was the military camp. The guards felt nervous at first when they noticed the dark crowd marching towards them, but when they saw clearly that Reg was the leader of the crowd, they opened the fence immediately without uttering a single word.
Han Jin stopped the giant tortoise and waited outside the camp. The tortoise was too eye-catching and some knights looked at them with impolite expressions. Now that Reg and Moxinke had come into the camp, no one would be able to explain for him. To avoid making any trouble, he had to wait there.
“I hope that Reg can finish this quickly. We need to move on,” Sunier said in a low voice. “Are you alright, Raphael? If it is delayed, Reg will not forgive us for all his life! How about… we tell him right now?”
“Rest assured.” Han Jin smiled.
It was the right time for Reg to come back, for that his best friend, Ronning, the leader of the first cavalry in the Ninth Town, had been sentenced to death by Rudolph and some other nobles a few days ago for the feigned crime of raping the daughter of an aristocratic family. To eliminate the influence of Conrad, the first person Rudolph wanted to kill was Ronning. In order to avoid arousing trouble, Rudolph had imprisoned Ronning in the Tenth Town. The time of execution was scheduled at noon the next day. This piece of information was gotten from the talks of the soldiers when Sunier and Cessacioun were inquiring about the news.
