Ch 22

Uncle Hermes sighed deeply and asked, "What’re you doing?"

I glanced at the flushed middle-aged man behind my uncle. According to the information obtained from the president of the service company, this man who looked like he had a nasty personality was Representative Cheldeg, a powerful candidate for the next party leader and consul. The Republic was also an important ally of the Crow tribe, although this was different from the relationship with the Empire for many reasons.

No, the Republic was more important; as much as it needed the Crow tribe, the Crow tribe could take a lot of benefits from the Republic, unlike the Empire, which had a more stable relationship. However, I, who had been appointed as the small chief of the Crow tribe, tried to kill someone from the Republic. Whether or not I knew who he was beforehand, this was enough to lead to diplomatic problems. I smiled bitterly at Cheldeg. Seeing this, he flushed and shouted, with the nasty temper that I had heard of.

"What are you doing, Sir Hermes? Attack him!"

Uncle Hermes' expression was distorted in response to Cheldeg's cry. On the other hand, I laughed cheerfully, "Hahahaha! This is what happened."

Uncle Hermes sighed deeply at my words. Uncle Hermes was the type of person who found everything to be a bother, so he usually wouldn’t step forward to do anything. So people wouldn’t guess it, but he was actually pretty smart. Otherwise, he would not have been given the ambassador's post in charge of diplomacy over dozens of other ministers.

"Are you saying you were attacked first?" asked Uncle Hermes.

He was trying to figure out the order of the troubled situation. Diplomacy, like politics, was a fight for justification. As I said earlier, it didn't matter whether I knew or didn't know beforehand. It was only important who attacked first.

I nodded as if it was a matter of course. In this conversation between me and Uncle Hermes, Cheldeg looked at Uncle Hermes as if he didn't understand the current situation.

"What are you doing? That person is...!"

"Ah, shut up! I have a headache now!"

My uncle's roar made Cheldeg flinch. Uncle Hermes glanced at Cheldeg with an irritated look and said to me, "Cheldeg said you were suspected of being a demon king worshipper."

He seemed to want to prevent the current situation from being exposed to the public and developing into a problem. A problem wasn’t a problem unless someone considered it a problem. It was common to cover up a case by blaming both sides. When the situation was chaotic like now, one couldn’t say whether it was right or wrong. Especially for Uncle Hermes, who had to catch me.

"That's an interesting claim. So what is the basis for the suspicion?” I asked.

But I had no intentions of covering this up. I hoped this would turn into a chaotic and hectic mess. That way, Hestia noona's plans to catch me would be messed up as much as possible. When I asked, Uncle Hermes looked at me, questioning if I really needed to go that far. I shrugged and looked at Cheldeg.

"What evidence do you have to think he is a demon king worshipper?"

When Uncle Hermes asked, as if he had no choice, Cheldeg was flustered.

"Is that important right now?! He just tried to kill me!"

At Cheldeg's cry, Uncle Hermes put down his hammer, Caduceus, on the floor and pulled out his sword and put it on Cheldeg's neck.

"Be careful what you say from now on. An all-out war between the Crow tribe and the Republic hangs on your snake tongue."

Surprisingly and unfortunately, unless my father's appointment of me as the successor was withdrawn, my neck had that much worth. I just never wanted it that way. I wanted to politely decline because having that much value meant I had to bear that much obligation. If a war between the Republic and the Crow tribe broke out, the results were obvious. Unlike the Empire, there was no way that the Butterfly tribe and the Dragon tribe would come forward to help the Republic. Just a few guerrilla skirmishes would destroy major facilities and end the Republic’s prosperity.

"W-what does that…?"

Cheldeg didn't seem to understand the situation in which he was suddenly being threatened. I told him with a kind smile, “I don't think you understand what's going on, so to help you understand, my father's name is Doomstone Blade."

Cheldeg looked at me as if I said some kind of nonsense, but gradually turned pale when Uncle Hermes nodded. He seemed to finally understand what he had done.

"S-son of the Crow tribe chief...?”

"He's also the son who was appointed as the next chief."

Cheldeg's complexion turned from white to blue when he heard this.

"Now, then, give me a valid proof as to why you suspected me of being a demon king worshipper. If you don't explain it properly, you'll die at not my hands, but my uncle’s. Ah, you’ve been elected four times, but you’re not thinking that the Republic will protect you, are you?"

Even if you were a consul of the Republic, they’d throw you away like trash, not protect you. Rather than fighting an all-out war with the Crow tribe, it was easier and cheaper to kill a single unsightly and greedy representative. Cheldeg knew that best out of everyone here.

Hermes spoke to the trembling Cheldeg to calm him. "Don't worry. If you provide reasonable grounds, this incident will be buried appropriately."

The other way around, it was the same as threatening that if he didn't give evidence, he would pay dearly. Uncle Hermes also had a very mischievous side.

"What are you doing not presenting the evidence? Even if it’s not physical, you can try bringing up circumstantial evidence."

As I jabbed, Cheldeg's breath became rough, his eyes became bloodshot, and his pupils slightly dilated. He seemed to be panicking.

"There's no way he can present it. He probably just made it up."

Of course, if he had time, he would have likely produced some reasonable circumstantial evidence. But it hadn't been a day since I came into this city. There was no time to create such a thing. Uncle Hermes looked at me, asking what I meant. I explained the conclusion I acquired after torturing the president of the service company and combining the information.

"Your aim was to eliminate your competitor, Representative Zubian, from the competition. So you even sent an assassin to prevent his son from attending the emergency congress as a proxy. But you mistook me, who happened to be with him, for his escort."

"Then what about saying you are a demon king worshipper?"

"Since the assassin was blocked by me, he probably wanted to use Uncle to kill me, then deal with Zubian's son."

At my guess, Uncle Hermes's gaze at Cheldeg turned cold.

"That's plausible considering the circumstances. The proof?"

I smirked at my uncle's question. "How do you think I found out the client was here?"

"You got the information from the assassins. Assassins were sent after you…” said Uncle Hermes.

The assassins knew my skills and planned to separate me from Cain. But what if they didn't know my skills because I didn't run into Uncle Hermes during the day? Of course, they would have killed me and my party and tried to silence us.

When I nodded, Cheldeg shouted, protesting that it was nonsense. "No way! He definitely said he was protecting his mind with magic...!”

Cheldeg gasped and belatedly blocked his mouth at his mistake, which was tantamount to a confession, but it was too late. Uncle Hermes withdrew his sword and kicked Cheldeg in the leg with all his might.

"Ahhhhhh!”

Falling, Cheldeg's leg was bent in a direction that shouldn’t be possible.

Uncle stabbed a blade into the floor near Cheldeg's neck as he struggled on the floor, and said, "It's okay that you tried to deceive me and use me. I was willing to be deceived because we both wanted something from each other. However, daring to kill our small chief is too far!"

Uncle Hermes's killing intent began to spread out in all directions and covered this area. Wasn't this stronger than Aunt Talaria or Uncle Bloody?

"It's war. The Republic will have to pay the price."

It was very rare for Uncle Hermes to be genuinely angry.

I sighed and said, "War is going too far. Wouldn't it be good for both sides to have this end with his execution and compensation?"

"Don't you understand how important you are in our village?"

When Uncle Hermes asked this, I shrugged, "I know, even if I don't want to. But unlike my father, it's not impossible to replace me. It’s just that if I died, Father's choice to have selected me would have been wrong, and besides, First Brother can succeed Father."

Personally, I wanted Hestia noona to succeed my father, but in reality, that was impossible. After all, it was a village where strength had the highest worth.

"And this is not just my personal judgment. If the Republic were to disappear, it’d be troublesome for the village too."

From the standpoint of the closed-off Crow tribe, it would be bad to be narrowed down to the Empire alone. Uncle Hermes sighed at my words, pulled out his sword from the floor, then put it back into the scabbard.

"Does a guy who thinks about his hometown that much run away from home?"

"It’s not running away, but becoming independent. And Uncle, your son ran away from home, so are you in a position to nag me?"

My uncle looked at me with a start. "How do you...? No way."

I replied triumphantly to his confusion. “He is with me. Therefore, if you care about the safety of the hostage, simply hand me the documents in your hand."

Tristan cheered when I pointed to a document that read ‘Sea Blockade Agreement'.

"As expected of Master! Casually taking your cousin hostage! It makes me shudder! I admire it!"

At Tristan's cheers, Uncle Hermes looked at me as if to ask if that was true. As expected, it seemed I had been too loose with Tristan. If I have time, I'll have resurrect Gwalhavad and tell on him.

"How about you hand over the documents?"

My uncle smirked at my advice, "Sorry, but this document has the same effect as the emergency mobilization order, so it takes effect from the moment all the stamps are stamped. Or if you inject mana into it like this."

When Uncle Hermes injected mana into the sea blockade agreement, the magic circle hidden in the documents were activated.

Ding ding ding ding-!

At the same time, a loud bell began to ring from the far shore.

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

"The navy is beginning the blockade. Lifting the blockade requires the consent of at least two consuls."

I was flustered. This situation was out of my expectations.

"Are you saying Perseus' safety doesn't matter!?" I cried.

However, Uncle Hermes smirked, "You know, you act cold, but are surprisingly weak to family. Even if you hurt my son, at best, you would train him to the limit like your father did to you."

There was nothing to say against this point.

"If you train Perseus, it would be a welcome thing for me."

I don't think Perseus would welcome it.

"So."

Uncle Hermes swung the hammer he had put down over his head and tore down half of the mansion. Then he threw a small ball into the sky.

Bang-!

The ball thrown by my uncle exploded, spreading colorful fireworks everywhere.

"Go back to the village and train Perseus."

At the same time, I felt fierce martial auras that seemed to surround this place from the outer part of the city.

"Master, are we f**ked?" asked Tristan.

I frowned. "Yea, we’re f**ked."

The number was estimated at thirty, and based on the quality of the martial auras, they were at least at the level of elders. They’re going this far just to catch me!? That's too much!