Chapter 124: Betrayal
Cavensyl was sitting in the room, not daring to sit, his heart like burning fire as he looked out the window from above. Through the layer of white glass, he observed the rows of houses far out of sight. Indeed, he did not want war at all; war meant people dying and his power being threatened.
Glancing at the table, there was a folded piece of paper with several creases.
That letter was the one sent from the Varlen side to Cavensyl. Roughly, the content of the letter was that within the next three days, if he did not hand over his two children, Varlen would actively lead troops to attack Tharros City first.
His two hands were behind his hips, clenched tight. It had been several days, but his children had not yet arrived at the city, making him increasingly worried that the upcoming situation would not be in time for his children's return. Naturally, he did not think at all about whether any of his children had been ambushed on the road.
Selena stepped into the room; she looked ready for combat, always wearing short clothes to fight easily.
"Father."
Cavensyl turned back, the worry clearly showing on his face without ceasing.
"How is the situation?"
Selena reported calmly:
"Currently, the riots are no more, partly because we have put new people in charge of guarding the city, not to mention demonstrating strength. For another part, I have also sent many people to propagate more and encourage them not to fear war."
"In general, the situation is temporarily stable."
Cavensyl still stood; he did not even dare to sit in the current situation. Struggles like this frequently occurred among nobles from low to high. Even now, while Tharros and Roam cities were preparing for war, in several other places, similar situations were happening. Higher nobles usually had fewer armed conflicts; usually, they used tricks to reduce the opponent's strength—perhaps forcing a large store of a noble to close was also a part.
The Royal family often did not pay attention, so this happened too frequently, except when too many civilians died. Even if the conflict caused the soldiers of both cities to all die, they did not care, as long as the civilians remained alive. When a winner and a loser were clearly divided, the losing side usually compensated greatly, possibly losing the entire city and everything. Currently, it was still peacetime; the danger was usually monsters, and there were often alliances of many countries supporting each other, so the weakening of a few cities was not a problem.
The people were the consumers of goods, so as long as there were people, there was buying, and as long as there was buying, those at the top had money. Simply put, though there were many loopholes, it was extremely effective. As for soldiers, they were pawns; once joined, either one achieved great merit and escaped the soldier's life, or one reached age fifty to be allowed to leave.
Cavensyl knew that even if they won, casualties would be numerous and it would be hard to recover. Although the law was that when two nobles disputed, it usually took ten years after the dispute for an outsider to have intentions toward either side. But ten years was not enough when a lot of money was poured into the battle.
Currently, the weapon smithies were working at full capacity, producing in large quantities; not to mention, for use in war rather than practice, the price would be quite expensive.
Recalling things during such a long dispute, but actually, it only flashed by. He coughed loudly, "cough."
"So, what about that Takeshi?"
Selena: "He will help us in reinforcing the defense of this place and making stalling steps; he will not participate in the battlefield and killing."
Cavensyl nodded.
"Good, you go out."
Selena withdrew outside, leaving Cavensyl looking into the empty space before him, as if frozen.
Although both sides were currently continuously blocking the opponent's supply routes. That is, sending troops out and blocking weapon delivery teams from outside, newly hired soldier teams, but the current situation certainly led to war. And there might not be enough time to find anything to counterattack.
Cavensyl also guessed that Varlen surely had some trump card to decide on real war. Up until now, Tharros had been more prosperous than Roam; certainly, if simply comparing forces, Tharros would surely win, but it was possible that Varlen had hired many strong individuals or had some good plan that Cavensyl could not guess, or Cavensyl had thought too much—no plan, but the trump card was someone very strong who could destroy this Tharros city.
With all of Varlen's current actions, he did not do much. Therefore, the possibility was a total attack. Cavensyl had also hired many strong individuals, but who knew if the other side had someone stronger?
…
The moment was gradually ticking toward the battle; now it was every way to defend.
Right at the foot of Tharros city was a large trench full of water; this was created by Takeshi's hard work, and the water was filled by several people in the city with the ability to control water.
Below the ground were holes from shallow to deep camouflaged by a layer of green grass, underneath were sharp stakes.
…
The sound of iron chains clinking "leng keng" in the darkness. An elderly man, clad in luxurious clothes. He was one of the nobles of Tharros.
Walking closer to Wafta, who was sitting on the ground, two hands and two feet locked by iron shackles, along with iron chains wrapped around the body. With Wafta's current ability, it was indeed difficult to escape from these solid chains forged and compressed many times.
The noble spoke with utter contempt, arrogance, and a bit of mockery:
"Vice-General Wafta, I will give you a chance to live if you tell me Cavensyl's calculations; otherwise, say goodbye to this world."
Wafta, in the dark space, only discerned the silhouette of the noble, not yet able to see the face. He tried to move, but the iron chains were too tight; not to mention, in the room below, there were stones causing energy interference; Wafta's strength was indeed hard to struggle with.
Gritting his teeth in anger at the traitor in front, but helpless. Wafta stood firm, not fearing death, and laughed lightly, letting the noble hear clearly:
"Haha, keep dreaming."
The noble remained calm; it seemed he had other means already, he just liked to ask.
Currently, Cavensyl acted without informing anyone; from the previous argumentative meeting until now, there had been no other meeting. Cavensyl was careful, knowing there would surely be traitorous nobles, so he did not hold meetings. And he only spoke with Wafta and Selena, so catching Wafta was easier.
"So if you don't want to talk, it's truly too regrettable; losing your life here is a bit of a waste."
Wafta laughed coldly; he was unable to escape, the current situation was either to overcome or to die. Thus, Wafta did not fear death much.
"Right, my death is a waste. A type like you is truly free haha."
The noble frowned unpleasantly, raising his voice loudly as if giving an order:
"Bring it up here."
From behind, a servant brought up a small wooden box. The noble waved his hand and grabbed the red box. He opened the box; his right hand had been wearing a glove for some time.
He took out a creature like an insect, black body, it had many legs, very many legs; this insect was less than a finger wide and as long as a pinky finger, looking roughly like it had over a hundred legs.
The noble used two fingers to pinch the insect tightly and brought it in front of his face to observe once. Sitting right next to Wafta, he laughed.
"Haha, if you want to die, then I will grant your wish."
"But before I let you die, do you know the Memory Worm?"
Wafta seemed to realize, eyes opening wide with some agitation. This worm could eat the memories of others and bring them to its owner to view. This insect was extremely rare; digging deep 3 tharn (6m) into the earth might not find one; even an entire mountain might only have two. This Memory Worm was extremely useful, and almost every city must have one; although one could contract with it, it was very weak—if used wrongly, it would die—so it was also extremely rare.
The noble curled his lips into a smile, a delighted smile and eyes full of ambition. He brought the worm and let it crawl into Wafta's ear.
Wafta felt it crawling in; he struggled in pain. Knowing something bad would happen and he would die, but he did not expect to die this way.
Wafta screamed loudly in pain and struggled on the ground. The iron chains clattered loudly on the floor following Wafta's rolling body. He wailed piteously until his throat gradually went hoarse, but he still screamed. The Memory Worm was entering his brain, destroying everything on its way, causing ear blood to flow incessantly. It wanted to crawl up to his brain.
When it crawled onto the brain, it would pin its tiny fangs on its mouth into the brain, then continuously eat memories until it was full, then crawl out to return to its owner.
Survival was impossible when the worm entered the ear and destroyed everything inside along the way, causing the body to bleed internally without stopping, and it also bit into the brain—usually eating a few pieces; it didn't like it, but didn't hate it either, so it usually ate a few pieces.
Wafta currently was having his energy interfered with by the stones below the prison; controlling energy to stop the internal bleeding was impossible, only letting the inside bleed and die away.
At this time, Wafta was getting weak and no longer rolled; his face was pathetic in pain and anger. His body weakened as his ear bled non-stop, then he gradually weakened and lay on the ground. Vision in the darkness was fading, his eyes half-closed weakly. Weak breaths took in air repeatedly, but then his eyes gradually closed, leaving regret.
The Memory Worm crawled out from Wafta's ear and crawled toward the noble.