Chapter 189 : Chapter 189
Chapter 189. Patricide, Fratricide, and William’s Plan
The wind at the top of the Totem Pillar carried a chill. As Agula walked down the stone steps, each footfall landed on flagstones carved with ancient runes, producing dull, heavy thuds.
He did not look back at the pillar that symbolized the tribe’s authority. In his mind, the vague promise made by the Royal Court’s envoy kept echoing over and over.
“The Dragon Rider Legion is already on its way.”
But those three words, “on its way,” hung over his head like a massive boulder. No one could say when it would fall, or whether it might suddenly come crashing down on him instead.
If the Radiant Sun Empire reneged on its promise, the Barbarians’ fate was easy to imagine.
But Agula did not care about any of that.
Those old fossils in the Royal Court should have been swept into their graves long ago. The only thing he cared about was whether he could sit firmly upon the power now beneath his feet, whether his name could be carved into the tribe’s annals, even if it was under the name of a kinslayer.
The execution ground was on the eastern side of the altar. The stench of blood mixed with the smoke of bonfires and hit him full in the face.
When the five figures kneeling before the wooden stakes saw him, the rattle of chains was drowned out by curses pelting toward him like hail.
“Agula, you beast. You used poison to kill Father and schemed to get rid of your elder brothers.”
“The Father God is watching you from the heavens. Your soul will be thrown into the magma pool, and you will never be reborn for all eternity.”
“Even if we become vengeful spirits, we will never let you go...”
Agula stood five paces away, listening to their hysterical howls without the slightest ripple crossing his face.
These so-called “brothers” and “younger brothers” had still been plotting only days earlier to reclaim power and offer up his head as a sacrifice to the “Father God.”
Now that they had become prisoners, they suddenly remembered the Father God’s laws.
When the last curse dissipated into the wind, he slowly raised a hand and gave the executioner a slight tilt of his head.
A flash of cold light swept past, and five heads fell at once. Scalding blood splashed across the stone slabs and ran into winding little streams.
All around, the Barbarian warriors lowered their heads one after another. Some tightened their grips on their spears until their knuckles turned white.
Some shut their eyes, unable to look at the severed heads rolling on the ground. They had once belonged to the tribe’s bravest warriors, the sons of the chieftain whom they had feared and revered since childhood.
But now, they could only watch it all in silence. No one dared make a sound.
Agula kicked aside the blood at his feet and turned toward the depths of the altar.
He knew there was resentment in the hearts of those warriors, but what of it? In the game of power, there had never been any place for mercy.
“Drag the bodies away and feed them to the wolves.”
He left behind those words, his voice cold as ice.
The wind swept up the blood foam on the ground and blew across the wooden stakes of the execution ground.
Those former heirs of the tribe were now nothing more than headless corpses, casting long, twisted shadows beneath the setting sun.
Agula’s figure disappeared into the altar’s shadows, leaving behind only deathly silence and the warriors’ suppressed breathing, so strained it seemed on the verge of snapping.
He did not care how others saw him, nor did he care whether the Father God would accept him.
As long as he could seize power, as long as he could wait for the “reinforcements” of the Radiant Sun Empire, then even if his hands had to be stained with the blood of his own kin, it would all be worth it.
Meanwhile, at Despair Fortress.
William’s fingertip traced across the area marked “Barbarian Tribes,” leaving a shallow dent in the parchment.
On the map, that land was only a vague patch of green, yet it was like a magnet, firmly drawing his gaze.
As a buffer zone between continents, if he took it, he could push the defensive line three hundred miles farther east and establish a sufficient buffer zone.
More importantly, legend said that the land was rich in mineral deposits, and that even the rivers could be panned for gold, as though the earth itself were pouring forth wealth without end.
“The severed remains of a god...”
He murmured to himself, his fingertip pausing over the note at the edge of the map.
Ancient texts claimed that the remains of a fallen god, which had crashed down centuries ago, had polluted that land, but had also given rise to abnormally abundant resources.
The claim sounded absurd, yet it stirred something in his heart. If it truly was the power of divine remains, then the value of that land went far beyond mere “resources.”
Kru was sorting through military reports at the side. Seeing William remain silent for so long, he could not help speaking.
“Your Highness, the scouts have sent back word. The Savage Wolf Tribe among the Barbarians has just gone through internal strife. Agula executed all of his rivals, and now the tribe is unstable from within.”
William looked up, a sharp gleam flashing through his eyes.
“When hearts are unstable, that is a weakness.”
“But the Radiant Sun Empire...”
Kru looked troubled.
“It is said that their Dragon Rider Legion has already reached the waters of the Eastern Continent. They claim they are there to ‘protect’ the Barbarians, but who knows what they are really planning. If we make a move now and provoke them...”
“Provoke them?”
William let out a cold laugh, turned, and walked to the window, gazing at the chain of beacon towers outside the fortress.
“You and I both know what the Radiant Sun Empire is after. There is nothing especially valuable about the Barbarians themselves. The only thing they want is fragments of the divine remains.”
He paused, lightly tapping the windowsill with his fingers.
“The Dragon-Lion Knight Order has delayed entering Barbarian territory because they are watching and waiting. They are waiting for an opportunity, one that lets them seize the benefits and still walk away unharmed.”
Kru frowned.
“Then what do we do...?”
“We give them that opportunity.”
William turned back around, his gaze falling once more upon the map.
“Pass down my order. Have the Gold Legion move toward the border of the Barbarian tribes and assume a posture of intimidation, but they are not to launch an attack on their own.”
“In addition, send a secret envoy to meet the commander of the Radiant Sun Empire. Tell him... Despair Fortress is willing to ‘cooperate’ with them and jointly ‘develop’ the resources of the Barbarian tribes. The profits will be split seventy-thirty.”
“Seventy-thirty?”
Kru froze.
“We get seventy and they get thirty?”
“No.”
William shook his head, and a meaningful smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
“They get seventy. We get thirty.”
Kru was even more baffled.
“Your Highness, this...”
“What we want is not a share of the resources.”
William cut him off and jabbed his finger hard at the buffer zone marked on the map.
“What we want is this land, and a reason to keep the Radiant Sun Empire’s influence out of the Eastern Continent.”
“If they are greedy for profit, they will naturally agree. If they refuse, that changes nothing. I doubt the Orc Alliance will simply let this matter go. Their reinforcements may already be on the way.”
The torchlight danced across his face, illuminating the calculations hidden deep in his eyes.
An attack on the Barbarian tribes was inevitable. But when to move and how to move would depend entirely on the Radiant Sun Empire’s response.
What he intended was not to bargain with a tiger for its skin, but to borrow the tiger’s strength and use it to achieve his own goal.
“Tell the secret envoy to act respectfully. Make them think we only want a small share of the profits.”
William gave one final instruction.
“Do not take the other side for fools, and do not take yourself for a clever man.”
Kru nodded.
“Yes, Your Highness. I understand.”