Chapter 152 - Puzzled

Seeing that everyone was in attendance, Kaiser stood up. He slowly walked towards the middle of the room and onto the stage. He stood at the stage, looked at everyone, and with a sinking voice, said, "Clan Lord, fellow elders. Our Purcell clan has been struck by a string of troubles recently. Those shameless merchants, looking for a chance to pressure our clan due to the Ica plain incidence, have taken this opportunity to increase the price of food. Fortunately, under everyone's efforts, our clan hadn't taken significant losses. But now, someone dares to challenge the dignity of the Purcell clan. This absolutely cannot be permitted."

He paused for a while, looked at some of the people in the room. He felt like he were the master of the world. This feeling fascinated him. As some said, power was the best elixir of life. These words were truly accurate. Kaiser felt as if his body was full of vitality as he stood upon the stage. He felt that he could live for a hundred years. Since he felt so young, then he could still do better.

The people in the room soon began to whisper to each other. They didn't know what had happened that would make Kaiser be this serious. Kaiser looked at the crowd and continued, "Just a moment ago, the Buda clan member Green came to the Grand Duke's Mansion to break off the engagement. Some time ago, the Black Wastes had experienced a magic beast attack. For fear that a disaster would befall the Buda clan, our Purcell clan sent members to go observe and search for them, but they are now already dead. They were killed by Green. This time, they came with a desire to break off the engagement. It simply seems like they are looking at my Purcell clan as if it was nothing. Such as thing as this, he cannot be left alive."

Everyone in the conference room was surprised for a moment and looked puzzledly towards Kaiser. Kaiser saying this had confused them, but the elders understood how and what had happened. They wanted to look for the Buda clan so they had sent people to observe and even lend a hand. But the Buda clan member had killed them, which wasn't good. Now that person had even come to the Grand Duke's Mansion?

Only the Second Elder and the Third Elder, these old men, had understood why Kaiser had sent the men to the Buda clan. What they didn't understand was why Kaiser was speaking so highly of the Buda clan. Thus, the two didn't say anything and just watched Kaiser, puzzled.

Kaiser knew that what he said wasn't enough to impress these people. Although he was powerful within the Purcell clan, it was impossible to cover the skies with his hand1. Furthermore, the Second and Third Elders also kept him in check.

Kaiser continued, "Green is now a Peak Rank Eight expert. Everyone knows that we initiated the engagement with the Buda clan, but now with the Buda clan's status, they are simply not a match for our Purcell clan. Although this time they offered to break off the engagement, haven't you all thought about the effects this would have towards us? Seemingly, this Green bears a grudge against us. Once he reaches Rank Nine, what will happen then?"

After saying this long speech, everyone understood the point within the sentences Kaiser had spoken and they were of the same mind with Kaiser.

They all knew that the Buda clan was suffering and had even added insult to the injury, thus making the Buda clan have a great hatred towards them. If Green really does become a Rank Nine one day, it definitely wouldn't be a good thing for the Purcell clan.

"No wonder the First Elder wants to deal with the Buda clan." After Kaiser said his reasons for wanting to deal with the Buda clan, everyone agreed to the idea. Evan could only sit at his station. He said no words as he knew they would be useless.

Second Elder said, "The First Elder's words are justifiable. However, now that the Buda clan has a Peak Rank Eight master, wanting to deal him won't be easy. Even if we can kill him, our losses wouldn't be small. I wonder what are the First Elder's thoughts about this?"

Kaiser knew that the Second Elder wouldn't be so easily swayed by his words, but he was well prepared. He nodded and said, "Naturally, I had thought of something beforehand. The carriage is now prepared and ready to go and ask a Rank Nine deity to extend his hands2. First is to kill Green, avoiding any future troubles. Then, to deter those profiteers, letting them know that our Purcell clan is capable of extinguishing them."

The quiet conference room suddenly broke out in a huge burst of applause. As Laura had said, these aristocrats had large aristocratic pride; they wouldn't allow anybody to encroach on their dignity.

Kaiser's words naturally aroused the sympathy of the people in the room. Even the Second Elder, the Third Elder, and Evan didn't say anything about it.

The Second and Third Elders had been struggling for power against the First Elder. Looking at the now popular First Elder, they were naturally not in a good mood. Even now, Evan's heart was complex.

He was nominally the Lord of the Purcell clan, and the Grand Duke of the Purcell Duchy. But here in the Elders Assembly, he didn't have any right to speak. In fact, him sitting there was just him being a decoration. This was something all the elders knew. On the surface however, they were still respectful towards him. This matter was what Evan was most angry of.

Unfortunately, he didn't have any other way to change this situation. In fact, this matter was a Purcell clan secret. He had no way of telling other people. While outside and in front of other people, the elders were still very respectful towards him. This made outsiders think that the Purcell Grand Duke was still respected.

Before, there had been no reason for the Purcell clan to deal with the Buda clan. Furthermore, Evan was a friend of Adam's3 father, which naturally made him wish for the Buda clan to not disappear.

Unfortunately, he had helped the Buda clan in the past which greatly diminished his power. Now, he had no ability to help the Buda clan. Even if he wanted the support of the First Elder, it would be impossible.

Evan was a warrior and one could say he was not made for political plays. It was precisely because of this that he could be the patriarch of the Purcell clan; since he didn't understand politics, he was easily controlled.

Even though these three didn't take their stand, it wouldn't matter much as the other elders had already approved of the words of the First Elder which had made their blood boil.

Kaiser satisfyingly watched the result and said, "Please raise your hand if you share my opinion."

More than half of the people in the conference room raised their hands, which ultimately decided the outcome. Those whom hadn't raised their hands were the diehard supporters of both the Second and Third elders.

Kaiser nodded his head and said, "More than fifty percent of the votes approve." He then turned his head and bowed to Evan, saying "Clan Lord, Sir, may I ask the exalted deity now?"

Evan looked at Kaiser with a calm face and nodded without saying anything. As Kaiser saw Evan nod, he also didn't say anything. He bowed once more to Evan and turned around, proclaiming, "This meeting is adjourned." He headed outside after saying that.

The elders in the conference room had also left one after the other. The Second and the Third Elders sighed, then exited the room.

Although they had grabbed several elders under Kaiser's these past few days, obtaining a better position to speak up, when compared to Kaiser's power they were just almost there. But this time, this matter had made Kaiser more attractive. His popularity would surely reach a new height. When that happened, they wouldn't be able to put up a fight against Kaiser anymore.

To be honest, their moods were quite complex right now. They wanted Kaiser to be victorious in order to make the Purcell clan maintain their dignity, frightening this generation of hoodlums.

However, in their hearts, they hoped Kaiser's plan would go wrong. They hoped that the Buda clan could resist, thus making Kaiser's move void. When that happens, they could attack Kaiser, bringing down his prestige. They could then take the opportunity to deal with Kaiser.

Sadly, they knew this was impossible. This time, in order to succeed, Kaiser was willing to go please and request the Guardian Deity. The Guardian Deity was a Rank Nine expert, synonymous to invincible. It was easy for them to get rid of others, yet hard to be defeated.

* * * * *

What they didn't know was that when the Purcell clan rang the bell, Zhao Hai had also received the message. Zhao Hai had previously instructed the Night Shades to observe the Purcell clan. These Night Shades were high ranked undead. In addition to being undead, they could also restrain their auras. The Purcell clan didn't have any high ranking light magicians, thus making the Night Shades even harder to detect.

The average person might not know what the sound of this bell meant, but these Night Shades knew. Don't forget, these Night Shades were high ranked undead made by Zhao Hai that also had their memories retained. Their prior organization had a certain understanding of the large clans within the continent. Since the Purcell clan had its own Duchy, then of course they were also investigated. This naturally made them understand what the bell represented for the Purcell clan.

When the Purcell clan sounded the bell, the Night Shades immediately informed Zhao Hai about the situation and what this matter meant.

Around this time, Zhao Hai was lying in his bedroom, afraid of going out. He feared Meirin would insist on continuing the discussion of the issue of marriage to him. Upon receiving the message however, Zhao Hai immediately stood up and went out.

Green was sitting in the living room and staring at the screen. He had to pay attention to his room in the hotel while in the living room. If he let others enter his room and they found out that he disappeared, then there would be trouble.

Zhao Hai also saw Green in the living room and immediately said, "Grandpa Green, there's been changes in the Purcell clan. They had just rung the emergency bell."

Green also knew a little about the emergency bell. After hearing Zhao Hai, his face couldn't help but change as he said, "Really? Did the Night Shades send the message?"

Zhao Hai nodded. "Yes, the Night Shades had sent the message. Since the Night Shades weren't detected by the Purcell clan, after the emergency bell rang they immediately notified me."

Green stood up, raised his brow, and said, "Why do they have to pull the emergency bell? We only went to break the engagement, which was what they also wanted to do. So, they shouldn't be planning anything against us, right?"

Notes:

- This chapter was MTL'ed. Please leave a comment for constructive criticisms and advice. Thanks.

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- Please check out the Editor's footnotes, thanks.

1 A Chinese saying. If a person acts more powerful than they are, people may think they were so arrogant that they imagined they could cover the skies (heaven). In this case, he's aware he couldn't do so.↩

2 As these last two chapters had stated, the Rank Eight and Rank Nine experts were basically living in the Consecration Hall. It thus made the word Enshrined more usable as it can also mean something enclosed within or living in a shrine (place of worship). Thus the Rank Nines could be called Enshrined Deities.↩

3 More on names. 亚当 - Yàdāng. If we ever did follow people's opinion of sticking to the author's raw intention for names, then Adam wouldn't have been used. While meige, laola, gelin, and ni'er all seem like fine names, Kun Zheng or Ya Dang do not... Anyways, Yadang is converted to Adam.↩