books44 Chapter 394 - 25: No Mercy
Chapter 394 - 25: No Mercy
The target of Eilvette’s enmity was none other than the rebel army under the command of the Master of Decay.
Comprised of humans and Elves, these mortals had been lured by a Demon to follow the Celestial God’s Shadow, taking up arms against the Royal Court’s Central Army.
After their great victory, the Royal Court Army had disarmed the rebels and taken the Demon Believers into custody to await judgment.
When Westheid and his group reached the outer court of the City in the Lake, they saw the populace of Lake City driven out by the Royal Court Legions. A dense, dark sea of people, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, stood in terrifying silence.
After Westheid had obliterated the Master of Decay, the Demon’s power of temptation dissipated completely. Everyone came to their senses. Realizing the sacrilegious acts they had committed, they understood their crimes were so grave that even ten thousand deaths would not be enough to atone for them.
Now, they could only tremble, awaiting judgment from the Central Royal Court.
A Tuner approached Eilvette, bowed, and asked:
"Your Excellency, the Grand Law Officer, how should we deal with these Demon Believers?"
Eilvette surveyed the entire crowd and declared in a harsh voice:
"All who participated in activities against the Royal Court are to be executed without exception. As for the rest, even if they committed no hostile acts, they have lingered too long in a Demon’s domain. They need to be cleansed. Decimate them."
The moment he finished speaking, a murderous aura spread through the air. Eilvette hadn’t bothered to lower his voice, and the prisoners’ bodies trembled. Some even began to whimper.
The Royal Court’s Military Officers exchanged glances, clearly surprised by Eilvette’s decision. But after a moment’s hesitation, they ultimately chose to remain silent, saying nothing.
Only the Tuners of the Pure Blood Faction accepted the order, sharpening their blades as they prepared to carry out a great slaughter against the local populace.
Hearing this, Westheid raised an eyebrow and interrupted:
"Wait. Isn’t this a bit too extreme? Executing the hardcore Demon Believers is one thing, but many of the residents of the City in the Lake are just weak mortals. Being deceived by a Demon was beyond their control. Is such a severe punishment really necessary?"
"They are the lingering dissonance."
Eilvette merely spoke slowly, his ice-cold gaze sweeping over the sea of people before him.
"They are poisoned blood, a festering sore. Those who have betrayed once have no loyalty or integrity left to speak of! The Land of Rhythm has never seen such a betrayal, and it absolutely cannot be tolerated. No matter how cruel, no matter how tragic, this is a necessary purification. We cannot be lenient."
Looking at the Grand Law Officer, Westheid suspected that Eilvette wanted to kill every single person who had been under the Demon’s Domain. ’To the leader of the Pure Blood Faction,’ he thought, ’perhaps even Elves outside the Central Royal Court aren’t considered his own people.’
Westheid said grimly, "If you handle it this way, are you planning to slaughter the entire Thousand Laws Royal Court until it’s empty?"
He thought this would make Eilvette reflect, but the latter just frowned in deep thought and nodded.
"If it is for the sake of absolute harmony, it’s not out of the question..."
’Holy shit. I’m at a loss for words.’
Although Westheid himself sometimes made strange remarks like "This is too urbanized" or "Family, we need to kill thirty million," he knew it was all in jest.
Duke Qinghui was, without a doubt, a recognized benevolent Monarch. This was an indisputable fact, acknowledged throughout the Mortal World. Westheid’s goal had always been to harvest faith, so in matters of governance, he employed both carrot and stick, spreading blessings far and wide.
Aside from his ruthless cruelty toward his enemies, everyone else—be they his subjects, allies, or those who surrendered to him—could live and work in peace and contentment under Westheid’s rule.
In stark contrast to the much-discussed private character of the King of the Wheel, Duke Qinghui’s public virtue was exemplary. Even the most conspiracy-minded believers, after learning about the policies of the Qinghui Territory, had to admit—chirp, chirp, chirp—Duke Qinghui is truly virtuous!
"To restore the purity of the Grand Ensemble, your solution is to delete the notes?"
Eilvette admitted frankly, "Dissonant notes have no reason to exist."
’Why is everyone from Emperor Qianlu’s line like this? Just cut away their problems, a clean slice, get rid of anything that’s not beneficial, is that it? I heard the Rune of Music even contains a Divine Separator. Are you its permanent resident or something?’
At this, Westheid knew he had to intervene, or something too horrible to describe might occur.
"Why must you go to such lengths? I urge you not to. In the past, when Emperor Qianlu founded this nation, he adhered to the principles of harmony and tolerance. The current situation is indeed critical, but we have not yet reached a point of life-and-death where we must abandon our principles and bottom lines. Why would you tarnish and prune the Grand Ensemble that the Emperor himself created?"
"You’ll just make us a laughingstock for outsiders!"
’Wait, who the hell are you? How do you sound more like one of the Royal Court People than we do? And who are you calling an outsider? Aren’t *you* the outsider?!’
Westheid’s speech was so full of things to retort that the people around him wanted to speak but stopped themselves.
But the effect was undeniably good. Because Westheid had invoked Emperor Qianlu—playing his trump card, so to speak—and when the Divine Ancestor was involved, everyone had to proceed with caution.
As expected, the Grand Law Officer’s attitude became less resolute. He could act as autocratically as he pleased in any other matter, but the one thing he didn’t want was for an outsider to accuse him of disrespecting the Divine Ancestor.
Eilvette frowned. "But I still don’t trust them. They are unstable elements. Even if they are silent now, there’s a risk they will play a discordant tune and disrupt the Grand Ensemble... If they can be lured by a Demon once, they can be lured a second time!"