Chapter 223: Larken Clan’s Narrow-Minded Fool
Although that last step was rather quick, he couldn’t do it while waiting for Herken to call everyone, so he stopped thinking about that and left the tent.
He didn’t collect anything from those corpses because it would be too disrespectful towards the Larken Clan. After all, for those young geniuses, almost all their belongings were obtained thanks to the Larken Clan, so it was normal that they wanted them back because although Yale killed them, it was with the permission of the Larken Clan. It was different than when he killed a random bandit in his travels outside Sword City.
Once Yale went outside, almost everyone was already there, and a minute later, Herken started to explain the situation.
“After their betrayal, it has also been confirmed that their three factions are implicated in the betrayal. You must avoid anyone from those factions from now on, or you might be marked as traitors.”
Those were Herken’s last words for his explanation.
The members of the Larken Clan were having difficulties in assimilating the whole explanation; they couldn’t believe that three of their companions betrayed the clan trying to kill Lar at night and that their entire factions were implicated.
“I don’t believe that they are traitors. They probably just entered into the tent to ask something, and that criminal killed them. Everyone knows that he is a wanted criminal from the Zhan Clan, our Larken Clan helped him because he is Lar’s fiancé, but it is obvious that he is the true culprit and our members all are innocent. It is impossible that a traitor appears on our clan. This is a complot to harm our Larken Clan!”
A member of the Zhan Clan who was at the 3-star Practitioner Rank pointed out at Yale while saying those words. He was even more strict with the rules than the usual in the Larken Clan; he thought that everyone inside the clan was righteous and any outsider under the slightest suspicion of being the culprit of any crime was a criminal.
He didn’t like the fact Yale was be traveling with them, nor that he was engaged to the Larken Clan, but he didn’t dare to contradict the higher-ups. However, after the death of three members of the Larken Clan, he was sure that Yale was the true culprit and they died due to Yale’s plot.
“Are you also a traitor? So, even your faction betrayed us…”
Herken looked at that guy with a deadly glare; since he couldn’t use the method to recognize the marks on the soul anyone who was on the side of those three was a traitor for him.
“I am not a traitor. You are just blind! That bastard is a wanted criminal, and he is the true culprit who wants to destroy our Larken Clan! We should capture him and gave him to the Zhan Clan for a trial and execution.”
Yale sighed because he knew that the one who spoke wasn’t a traitor just someone blind by the reputation of the Larken Clan who had turned an extremist. Sometimes being extremely rightful could turn people into narrow-minded fools.
He asked for a trial, but also for an execution; he had determined that Yale should die because he was the culprit before investigating anything just because the Zhan Clan had put a bounty for his head.
“Try to touch him, and I swear that you will have a painful death at my hands.”
Before Yale could reply, Lar jumped into the front of that guy and pointed her sword toward the guy who wanted to sell Yale to the Zhan Clan. However, that just worsened the situation.
“See! Even Lar had been corrupted by him! Those three tried to kill Lar because she is the true traitor to the clan, and they knew it! Senior Herken, please hear me, we need to capture those two and kill them after a trial; they are criminals.”
Herken was seriously thinking in beating that guy; he had been together with Yale the whole time, and he had agreed to everything that happened that night; Yale couldn’t be blamed for anything, and calling Yale a criminal who plotted against the Larken Clan was the same as saying that Herken betrayed the Larken Clan.
Moreover, Herken had heard how vicious those three were, and everything was recorded, even in a trial Yale would be considered innocent as long the one doing the trial wasn’t as foolish as that guy who considered someone culprit without investigating anything.
“You decided that the punishment is execution before the trial. That is corruption, you know? A result of a trial can’t be decided before the trial; you asking for it is the same as being a corrupt member of a noble clan, something that is punished by death by your Larken Clan, are you sure that you don’t want to rectify now?”
The guy was frozen after Yale spoke because Yale told the truth about that topic. Moreover, there Yale’s voice was neutral, there wasn’t anger or hatred on it, but that only made him scarier to that guy because he felt like if Yale didn’t mind about anything and was speaking about the problem like if it was of another person.
Yale truly didn’t mind about that topic, there were a lot of proofs of his innocence, and there was no way others could capture him, it didn’t matter if the trial were fair or not.
“Even a criminal knows some rules. I am sure that the result would be execution, but just now you need to go to a trial. I was too rash speaking before. I apologize.”
After hearing that reply, a cold smile appeared in Yale’s face as he found a good method to punish that guy a bit while benefitting himself.
“Those three are traitors, and Herken had confirmed it himself. However, since you are that sure that I am the culprit of everything no matter what, I will propose a deal to you.”
The guy was surprised by Yale’s words, but he had no chance to reply before Yale continued.
“We will a have a duel. You can use whatever you want, and I will just use pure swordsmanship and my right hand to battle. I won’t use any type of flying weapons nor kick you with my legs; I will only attack you with the sword in my right hand. If you win, you can kill me or offer me for a trial; that will be your decision. However, if I win, you will come with me to see Revgen, the emperor, and hear his opinion about this matter. What do you think? You have nothing to lose in this deal. Of course, I can’t kill you in the battle, but you can kill me if you want.”
Everyone was shocked by Yale’s offer because it benefitted his opponent completely and he would still need to hear the decision of the emperor about the topic even if he won the battle.
Lar smiled and retreated because she understood Yale’s intention. Rejecting that deal and forcing Yale to go to the trial couldn’t be considered righteous in their situation, so Yale was sure that his opponent would accept. To create the Sword Bloodline he needed a difficult battle relying mainly on swordsmanship, so he put those restrictions towards himself to be able to meet those requirements.
Even in the strange case that he would lose the battle, the Larken Clan wouldn’t do anything to him because he was innocent and Herken had more than enough proofs; proofs that the complaining guy didn’t even try to see before starting speaking nonsense. However, given his narrow-mindedness, he wouldn’t think that they were fake before accepting that he was wrong.
The best part for Yale was that if he won he would be able to see the emperor. Revgen had been in seclusion for a lot of time, but he believed that the members of the noble clans still had methods to contact him in emergency times and given the current situation of the Revgen Empire, Yale believed that he would be able to meet him because he was the one who had most information about the situation.
Revgen was someone who knew very well his past life and was still alive, so Yale was eager to meet him.
“Of course I accept. If you were hoping to make me retreat with that deal, try something better. Don’t worry I won’t kill you. Maybe I will cripple you to avoid problems before reaching Imperial City, but in the almost impossible case that you are innocent after the trial, I will cripple myself in compensation.”
Yale had demonstrated to be far too monstrous, so he wouldn’t be at ease without crippling him. Of course, if he was wrong, he was ready to pay the price for it.
Moreover, he felt that Yale’s main strength was controlling swords remotely to attack, but in physical strength, he shouldn’t have anything to do against him who was at a superior rank and had the Sword Bloodline to strengthen his swordsmanship.
“You are really the one the biggest narrow-minded fools I have seen on my life. I also hope that you are the last narrow-minded member of the Larken Clan or collaborating will be difficult.”
Yale took out one of the swords crafted by Aiwai and put his left hand behind his back. He was ready to humiliate that narrow-minded fool while increasing his strength.