Chapter 3: MASTERMIND

In an undisclosed location within the castle, chained to the wall was Aron von Dyruth, Chancellor of Acadria. He was beaten and tortured for the scheme of summoning a hero to enslave thereby progressing into a crime of treason not only against the kingdom but against humanity and the world.

Heroes were to be revered, not because they were filled with justice and righteousness because they are champions of God, but because of their power and potential to either do incredible good or sinister evil. And Aron von Dyruth's actions have put Acadria in great danger by provoking the anger of one. Heroes, even when they were Level 1, could decimate entire city-states without dropping a sweat. That was the extent of their legend written in the archives of the Kingdom privy only to the royalty and some obscure groups who extensively research on the subject of Heroes.

Soon, footsteps rang inside the dungeon which jolted Aron von Dyruth awake and greatly alarmed. Sunshine, the Kingdom's protector from the shadows appeared inside the locked cell. He extended his hand towards the back of the Chancellor's neck as he whispered words.

"Are you ready for the next round of torture? At this point, I very much enjoy the fact that you are hard to break. This means I get to enrich my experience in torture and the methods I came up with to try on you. By all means, don't break until I am satisfied."

The voice of Sunshine that was ice-cold, chilled Aron von Dyruth intensively such that he started from a slight tremble to a shiver. If he was not controlled, he would start convulsing soon after. Seeing this, Sunshine's expression remained ice-cold. He was emotionless as he enacted the next round of torture. There were no questions asked, only torture. Blood and bodily fluids flowed from the chained legs of the barely recognizable Chancellor. He was breathing laboriously as if he was about to die, however, at this juncture an application of healing magic that never gets explored in terms of torture was put in the limelight.

"Before healing magic was discovered there were countless physicians that raced to becoming number 1 in treating diseases and injuries. Whether it was caused by trauma some other means, they all competed in 'curing' and 'healing' their patients. However, the truth came out a few centuries after that they were in fact simply competing in experimentation to produce academic papers to publish and thus get ahead of others in the field."

Sunshine grabbed his tool and wiped the blood off it with a clean cloth. He then continued his monologue with Aron von Dyruth's laborious breathing as his background music.

"Today, healing magic has become popular because of its positive image brought about by the application of treating injurie through magical means, not some experimentation. However, as I always found, healing magic was even more terrifying when used in other fields, but with the same effect."

After putting down one tool, he picked up another. And even when Aron von Dyruth was already defecating as he stood, mixing his stool with his overflowing bodily fluids, he was never allowed to talk. In a way, Sunshine was venting all his frustrations on this treasonous bastard who almost caused the kingdom and their whole race to be implicated.

"Let me enjoy this as much as I can and then, we can talk, dear Chancellor, who the one behind you is, and who gave you the guts to execute such a treasonous plan. Yeah?"

Aron von Dyruth was tortured for only 3 hours in fact, but to him, he felt as if he was kept in there for years! Such was the psychological effect of being deprived of freedom and the ability to resist. He wanted to die. He wanted to be unborn. He wanted to kill the ones who instigated him into this. He was furious not towards Sunshine who tortured him but towards the ones he wished he could kill with his thoughts.

"How ugly."

Suddenly, the voice of someone neither of the two inside the cell noticed was there with them and this startled them both. One of them, seeing the man, was relived, while the other was even more terrified. Obviously, it was Clay.

After getting bored with Giselle and Gracius' reunion of sorts, he used his Divine Sight to search for the Chancellor and found them immediately, he had been observing Sunshine torture the Chancellor and monologuing for three whole hours and it was already painful for him to watch, not Aron von Dyruth's torture but Sunshine's monologuing that felt like he was practicing his lines before a play at school.

"Enough, Sunshine. I already have what we need. Heal him properly this time. He looks too far gone to be considered human anymore. Meet me in Giselle's chambers after you clean up a little. And Sunshine…? Do clean up well. I have sensitive nose."

Sunshine was about to ask how he already had what he needed when he had gagged the man all this time to punish him severely, but he stopped himself from asking and just nodded silently. He then sighed after Clay's figure disappeared from the cell.

"You're lucky the Hero came and stopped your torture himself. That means the kingdom is probably safe, and that further means, that he must have forgiven you slightly. You better be grateful, Chancellor."

Aron von Dyruth stared blankly at the already vanished figure of Clay. Only fear was registered in his eyes. He was done. There was no going back for this foolish Chancellor. A pawn that was thrown away the moment it was useless.

…

Soon, Sunshine knocked on the door to Giselle's chambers. The owner herself was still with the King, his majesty, 'protecting' him.

Knock. Knock.

"It's open. Come on in, Sunshine. You sure took your time."

It was already evening when he arrived in front of Giselle's chambers' door. Clay had waited for him the whole time. If not for the fact that the palace treated him even more than they did the king in serving him food and entertainment, he would have had some resentment towards Sunshine. After all, Clay was not a patient man. He was a man in his mid-20s, characterized by their age-group's lack of patience and self-control.

"Forgive me, my Lord. I made triply sure that I had cleaned up well before presenting myself to you."

Clay waved his hand and threw a piece of paper towards Sunshine. On that piece of paper, there were names of associates who conspired with Aron von Dyruth within the kingdom and outside. The ringleader being the neighboring empire's ambassador who promised Aron von Dyruth a ruling position after their invasion when the king died. It was alluring, of course, and he was a wealthy and influential man. He knew he could accomplish something so simple with his resources. However, everything after that was not simple. From Giselle's suspicions to the Hero's summoning. It all went downhill rapidly.

"Find these men, extract information normally, and bring them to whatever brand of justice you want. I don't want anything to do with it any more than this. What I want isn't to spill blood but to exact karma between me and others."

"This servant shall arrange for the people on the list to be brought to justice immediately. Thank you, my Lord."

"Sigh, stop calling me 'Lord'. I'm no lord. Whatever, just get it done, okay?"

"Will do! By your leave."

"You may leave."

"Hah!"

Clay was enjoying his rest inside the room. The Chancellor was actually persuaded to defect because of his ambition. However, ambition is good, but if not reined properly, it can lead to destruction in one fell swoop. Clay thought.

"Since the empire was bold enough to scheme like this for their own ambitions, they must already be well-prepared to launch an attack as soon as word of the king's death is announced. Maybe I should play some game of thrones a little?"

With a decision spontaneously appearing in his mind, Clay decided to indulge in it just as well.

"Let's play a little before everything settles. Now, where's the king at?"

Clay used his Divine Sight's Clairvoyance to peer into where the king, Gracius was. He saw him still talking to Giselle happily and hesitated to interrupt them but since he had already given them ample of time to catch up all morning, Clay decisively went to interrupt them. The world turned gray as he willed to move at 70% his full speed. One had to know, Clay, before he was summoned encountered a being immensely more powerful than the God who gave him a blessing before sending him to Alleucanth. And this immensely powerful being was powerful enough to stuff his soul with powers and perfected bloodlines that he could think of.

Clay would never choose to remind himself of what happened after as that was a traumatic memory for him, but before that, he was given the chance to choose what powers to acquire and stuff his soul with.

To use 70% of his full speed and already exceed the speed of light, turning everything gray around him, one had to assume he chose an insane power or bloodline. And the result of this was a change in his body's physique. He grew to about 2.9 hulking meters. That's why the Chancellor thought he was a buffoon when they first met, a muscle-bound fool. However, he was deadly wrong.

His body grew because of the bloodline ability he gained from his choice. And this choice was one from a childhood romance, transformation! The real power he got his soul stuffed with was something else that completely negated the downside to his bloodline choice which was its high but limited potential.

Clay stepped into the void and moved faster than light could before reaching Giselle and Gracius' location. They couldn't even notice him as all phenomena that should have happened when he moved at such speeds couldn't keep up thereby creating the illusion that he could appear and disappear without notice.

"Ahem."

Clay made his presence known to the two of them by coughing once. To which, Giselle and Gracius' reactions were of great surprise at first before adapting rapidly and heaving a sigh when they saw that it was Clay.

"M-My Lord, forgive us for neglecting you! I have sinned! Please punish me!"

Gracius, King of Acadria kneeled in front of Clay to apologize. If this were seen by common people, they would certainly flip over in shock.

"Stop. Rise up. I need your help with exacting your vengeance and satisfying my own vendetta against the mastermind behind the trouble you and I have been put through. Are you up to this task?"

"Certainly, my Lord!"

"It's like this…"

Clay explained to them what he thought of and planned to do. And after such detailed plan, Gracius and Giselle looked at Clay incredulously. What he proposed was a plan to take over an empire after crippling their military by allowing them to advance into the kingdom and then going over to assassinate their leaders after digging up enough dirt against the movers of the empire. For this plan to work, Clay's initial help was needed. And that was, to transport the troops needed for the intel gathering and assassinations.

"I don't want my hands to be personally stained by their blood, so I'll let you and your men handle the killing part."

"My Lord! How about the soldiers who will face the imperial army here in our own backyard?"

"Don't worry about that, I can handle a legion of 20 thousand or even more easily and by myself."

"This is highly incredible but also risky, my Lord. Have you truly thought this through?"

"Of course! I'm even willing to gift you the empire and its territories as dowry for Giselle's hand in marriage. That was our deal before of which I have already accomplished my end of the bargain. Once this is over, we'll talk more. However, as I said, I can give you the empire and its territories without a fuss as dowry."

"This… This is… why don't we ask my daughter, my Lord?"

"Oh, she has no right to refuse this, and she knows it. Don't worry, feelings can be nurtured."

Clay was dominating the conversation even to this point. It just shows how much his status 'normally' should be valued. After some thought and a simple meeting with her daughter, as Clay agreed to give them time to process privately, Gracius decided to acquiesce to Clay's demand and his promised dowry. Who could refuse an empire being gifted on a silver platter? Not the ambitious kings!

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