Chapter 99 Judgement
Seeing how at ease Kirst's City Lord was, Lilia angrily said, "Then, are you not going to do anything? How much longer do we have to wait?!"
"Not very long," Kirst's City Lord said, "Fang Xingjian is no ordinary person. With his talent, no matter where he goes, he will have friends and enemies as a matter of course, even without doing anything.
"Because there will be those who admire his talent and hope to be his friend, and there will be those who are fearful of his talent and hope to exterminate him before he progresses."
Kirst's City Lord was very clear about the value of a genius like Fang Xingjian. A genius like him, so long as he was given great nurture, would become the Empire's future pillar, a leading militant in the current generation.
And because so, he understood that even if he did not take action, there would be many people stepping forth to save Fang Xingjian.
Moreover, he understood very well who was behind Headmaster Jackson and Huang Lin.
'Hehe, I wonder… After so many years, what level has the one who was so gloriously radiant back then reached now?'
Just as Kirst's City Lord was thinking to himself, Lilia who was at the side smashed his office desk into pieces with a bang.
"Are you going to help or not?!"
"Sigh, Lili, this is made from top quality ancient wood." Kirst's City Lord shook his head. However, he had doted on this youngest daughter the most. Moreover, she had the inborn speciality, 'Monstrous Strength'. Her strength was constantly at its peak, so she would often make damage. He was used to all this.
Looking at Lilia's puffed up face, he helplessly said, "Alright, alright, alright. I'll write a letter right away and send it up to the higher authorities."
...
In a residence in Kirst City, a middle-aged man with a rectangular face, brown-colored hair, and a short skinny build was listening to the reports of the situation in the academy from his subordinate, seated.
The man with a rectangular face seemed to be short and skinny, but even when he was seated, he still gave off an imposing aura, a feeling like the majesty of a great mountain.
When he had heard from his subordinate that the Investigator Charlie had started to interrogate Jack, Anthony, Lilia and the others, a cold light gleamed in his eyes as he mumbled, "These people are truly retrogressing. I personally complimented this Charlie when he passed the Regional Selection, but now, he isn't showing any political sensitivity at all.
"Are matters concerning the royalty something that a small-fry investigator like him can meddle in?"
The one who had spoken was the the Governor, Devitt, a person at the Empire's pinnacle, and a second transition level 29 Conferred Knight.
Furthermore, compared to him, Huang Lin was only a second transition level 25 Conferred Knight.
Do not underestimate a four level gap. At the second transitional phase, each additional level would require one to go through hurdles of hardship; each additional level would be accompanied with a tremendous improvement in powers.
And in fact, there were a total of eight Governors across the Empire's eight regions, each of them in charge of all the Knights of a region. Each of them were all Warriors at the pinnacle of the second transition and the supporting pillars of the Empire as well.
Seated next to Governor Devitt was Huang Lin, who had gone on a search for a master who could forge the Superior Remains Divine Weapon.
Hearing Devitt's words, Huang Lin furrowed his brows and said, "I'd never have thought that the First Prince would be so anxious."
"Of course he is anxious. While the Empire seems very calm now, the whole Imperial Capital is filled with an undercurrent of hostility. He urgently requires new powers and resources, but it's a pity that he is too anxious." Devitt sighed and said, "Being overly unyielding makes one fragile. The First Prince has always been arrogant and domineering. If this goes on, it can not spell good for the Empire."
"That is what important characters like yourself need to consider." Huang Lin asked, "I only want to know when you'll be able to get my disciple out."
Devitt smiled and said, "Don't be anxious. Your disciple will definitely be safe. It's still early. I want to see if there's any other clowns who will be jumping out."
"Your knife is already polished." Huang Lin said.
Devitt shook his head, "You guys look at the problem too biasedly. I see every Knight as a person with great potential, as the Empire's wealth. However, it's impossible for there to be no conflicts between people forever. As long as competitions are kept within a certain limits, I will not kill.
"But... I won't tolerate idiots rising to ranks and undertaking important positions, not even if they are extremely strong.
"People who are not even able to see through Fang Xingjian's value, I will not get rid of them. But obviously, they are more cut out for battle and are not of leadership material. If such people are given leadership roles, they would only cause havoc in the Empire.
"Therefore, I'll pick them all out, and send them to be on the frontline or assign them duties as instructors."
After saying that, Devitt's face broke into an unfathomable smile, "Your disciple will come out safe and sound from the association's investigation and wait for me to forge the Superior Remains Divine Weapon for him.
"By then, there would probably be no one in Kirst who would be able to hold him down.
"But this time around, the association's interrogation will be able to keep his temper in check."
Huang Lin flatly said, "He isn't one who would cause trouble."
"We'll see," Governor Devitt said, "It's undisputable that he is a talent, but most talents are only skilled in combat and are the top-notch combat prowess of the Empire.
"Therefore, if he is also qualified to take up important positions, it will be even better."
The Great Western Region's Governor Devitt was not only a top-notch Warrior amongst the Conferred Knights, he was also a great master in forging Divine Weapons. This time around, the person Huang Lin was looking for to help forge Fang Xingjian's Divine Weapon was this top-notch character from the Great Western Region.
In the end, Devitt once again smiled coldly and said, "Moreover, I've just written a letter to the Imperial Capital. After all, it's still better for the matters of the association to be solved internally."
...
Many days passed by. Charlie sent people to take turns interrogating Fang Xingjian, regardless of whether it was day or night. Each day, he only gave Fang Xingjian two cups of water and two bowls of porridge, hoping that by continuously exerting pressure, the latter would give in.
Most of the time, no matter how firm an ordinary Knight's determination was, one that had been cut off from connections with the outside world for such an extended period of time and constantly depleted of his physical strength and mental energy would gradually give up on resisting in the end, or even start to suspect that their allies outside had given up on them.
But Fang Xingjian was totally fine. He continued to cultivate his sword arts daily, bringing his Nurturing techniques to the maximum level one by one. His blurred speciality was turning increasingly clear, and he could now see the first part, 'Un'.
He seemed to be very calm and reserved, doing what he usually did without the slightest care for what was happening around him. Charlie and the others had no concrete evidence, and judging from how they had been acting throughout this time, he was very certain that Charlie and the others could not do anything to him.
Compared to Fang Xingjian's calm, Charlie was anxious like ants on a hot pan.
An assistant reported, "Kirst's City Lord has reported to the Regional Chief that we have falsely accused an official Knight, persecuted Kirst's civilians, and caused all of Kirst's aristocrats to be extremely jittery."
If the Governor was said to be the number one person in the whole region, in charge of governing all the Knights in a region, then the Regional Chief was the Regional Office's person in authority. He was in charge of overseeing the civilians and was the number two character in the whole region. However, the Regional Chief would only slightly lose out to the Governor in comparison.
Hearing Kirst's City Lord's actions, Charlie cursed in his heart as his assistant continued, "Headmaster Jackson had also reported to the Governor saying that we are freely framing and torturing students, destroying the tranquility in Kirst Royal Academy and affecting the order of their education system."
"Those two old, ignorant fools." Fury flashed past Charlie's face. The other party's report sounded simple, but it basically meant that they were waving a blade towards him at point-blank, determined go against him to the end. However, he had failed to find out anything yet. If this were to go on, he would be labelled as an incompetent fool who was unable to see the bigger picture.
This would mean that, implicitly, there would no longer be a spot for him in the association, and even his future political path would turn extremely grim.
Before he coming here, he had only known that this fellow was a rare Windstorm Sword Hero, but one that was a commoner with no powers backing him up. On the other hand, he himself was supported by the First Prince!
Who would have thought that only after coming did he then discover that this was a great trouble.
Thinking of this, a tinge of viciousness appeared on Charlie's face, "Immediately bring Fang Xingjian for questioning. This time around, I'll take action myself."
"Take action?"
Charlie said coldly, "It's the last day. It'll be fine if we can make him spew it out. If not, we'll end it." After saying that, he shut his eyes, feeling a bit tired.
'The respective powers in the Empire are overly protective. It's too hard for the association to do our work.'