NEC Chapter 72: The "Crow" from Sky Empire

When time rewinds to over a month ago, when the Greenspine Kingdom's marquis, Lord of Zircon Territory, Honorary Insight Divine Officer of the Seven-Eyed God Church, Zircon Valen, hurried back to his territory from the royal capital to begin final war preparations, the territory's clerk reported that several swordsmen and knights who were originally on the recruitment list had disappeared without a trace.

That noon, eldest son Haisen was hung upside down from the large tree in the back courtyard of the marquis's mansion.

Two guards flanked him, swinging whips, spinning the chief heir of Zircon Family like a top, three turns clockwise, three turns counterclockwise...

Although as a Silver Armor tier warrior, he could easily resist this level of beating, Haisen dared not use even a trace of protective skills.

The last time he did that, the marquis personally delivered a spiritually-infused lash that struck directly into the depths of his soul.

That feeling was exactly like being kicked in the crotch when trying to have physiological communication with his wife.

So eldest son Haisen could only let his body be branded with bloody marks one after another, taking advantage of each interval between lashes to let out wails and pleas for mercy.

"Father! Spare me! I know I was wrong!"

"Ah! Please! Stop!"

Although the old man wasn't present and pleading was useless, he still had to plead, otherwise wouldn't these lashes be for nothing?

The eldest son was still clear about this aspect.

He wailed for an entire afternoon, until after a grand dinner banquet was finished, Marquis Valen finally arrived leisurely.

Casually tossing the gorgeous evening dress adorned with various jewelry to a submissive maid standing beside him, the marquis then heavily sat down in a wide ebony rattan chair carved with griffin claw patterns, letting out a weary sigh.

His slightly corpulent body sank deep into the soft cushions as he placed his feet on the shoulders of two kneeling maidservants. Servants respectfully removed his long boots as the marquis slightly narrowed his eyes, enjoying the massage from the girls' soft fingertips, relaxing his tired muscles.

"How many lashes?" The marquis's voice was low, revealing neither joy nor anger.

"Reporting to Lord Marquis, one thousand six hundred and fifty lashes!"

Marquis Valen lightly waved his hand. The two guards stopped their whips, and the eldest son's wails abruptly ceased, turning into painful, low moans.

He knew his father was about to speak.

"Have you figured out where you went wrong?"

"I shouldn't have withheld the mission's reward money, causing the mission to fail!"

The marquis rubbed his fingers, and a long whip "cracked" against Haisen's back, which already looked like he was wearing red fishnet, adding another diagonal bloody mark. The eldest son let out a short but intense cry of pain: "Ah!"

"I, I shouldn't have used city defense personnel to chase that lowly servant, causing losses to the territory... to the territory..."

"Crack!" "Ahhh!"

"I was poor at judging people and using them improperly, disappointing father's trust..."

"Crack!" "Ahhhh!"

"I shouldn't have disturbed my sister without father's knowledge..."

"Crack!" "Ugh ahhhh!"

The cracking sounds of lashes continued endlessly, Haisen's howls echoed through the sky. The other heirs secretly hiding in the front hall turned pale with cold hands and feet.

Maybe, maybe they shouldn't consider this heir position after all. They couldn't take beatings like their eldest brother!

Right, their voices weren't as good as his either. They would have gone mute from all that screaming long ago...

Who knows how long passed, seemingly when Lord Marquis got tired of rubbing his fingers, the scene finally quieted down.

"Let him down!"

The rope was untied, and Haisen fell to the cold ground like a pile of mud. He struggled with hands and feet, crawling to his father's side.

"You must be hungry. Come, eat something first!"

Zircon Haisen finally saw again that father of his who was refined and gentle in the kingdom's court.

Although he always felt that the old guy might be somewhat psychologically twisted, going from stormy weather one second to spring breeze the next, when father resumed his loving tone, it meant this ordeal was over.

"That you haven't been beaten to death or banished by today," Marquis Valen watched his wretched eating manner, speaking methodically with a trace of barely perceptible mockery in his tone, "you should thank two people."

"If not for your mother's powerful family, and the even more powerful marriage arranged for you early on, your inheritance rank should be the same as that dead one... what rank was he?"

"Nineteenth rank..." Haisen answered quietly.

"Right, at most you'd be at his level. I might not even remember your name."

Pushing the plate toward his son, Marquis Valen continued, "Of course, just your mother alone couldn't protect a fool like you. You just happen to have a good son."

"Really, if not for the high priest of the divine church verifying the bloodline, I always thought he wasn't your offspring!"

"The only possibility is that when you were born, you left your talent and brains together in your pants, then passed them all to little Dimo. Among the family's nineteenth generation, he's the child who satisfies me most."

"That's why I tolerate your foolishness again and again!"

Extremely hungry and tired from wailing, Haisen wolfed down a roasted pig and gulped down several large bowls of thick soup, then honestly left his chair to crouch beside and listen to his father's teachings.

Although his words were utterly humiliating, Marquis Valen couldn't help but instill his inner calculations and analysis into this "disappointing" eldest son in the most direct way.

He was just like an old father who hated that iron wouldn't become steel.

"I and several mages and advisors of the territory have carefully studied this matter from beginning to end. Everyone unanimously believes this is definitely not an isolated accident, and can almost be viewed as part of the continental war!"

"When we conducted our review, there were several suspicious points we couldn't get around!"

Marquis Valen tapped the armrest of his chair with his fingers unhurriedly. "A preparatory apprentice with no skills who suddenly appeared from nowhere could kill an entire squad, including an entry-level warrior assigned by the family to that... that little thing of the teens rank."

"Then, he coincidentally caught a ride on Cloudmist Domain's airship through this opportunity."

"He inexplicably gained amazing wealth and strange magical weapons."

"Several batches of pursuing warriors sent consecutively all disappeared without a trace, even causing considerable trouble for our Zircon Family!"

"Finally, this guy made a round in the Crescent Moon Federation, then got together with Cloudmist Domain people again, and information from various channels indicates that Cloudmist Domain relies heavily on him!"

The marquis's voice suddenly paused, then he emphasized, "One accident might be an accident, but a series of accidents linked together cannot possibly be just accidents!"

"Do you understand?"

Haisen nodded, then shook his head, his eyes full of confusion.

"Fool!" Marquis Zircon Valen couldn't help cursing again and personally revealed the answer.

"If you could just move that brain of yours rotted by wine and women a little, the answer is almost carved right there. This is a 'crow,' and if I'm not mistaken, a crow from Sky Empire!"

Haisen could still understand the word "crow" - it meant a great nation's secret agent or spy.

And Sky Empire! A behemoth lurking in the historical shadows of the southern nations! A power that once trampled the Emerald Plains under iron hooves, and even after being forced to retreat in the "Mistmoon Independence War," never truly took its gaze away from this fertile land!

Many, many years ago, most areas of the Emerald Plains had been occupied territory of Sky Empire. Sky Empire's oppression of this land meant it never found peace.

Later, taking advantage of Sky Empire's life-and-death battles with foreign races and continuous warfare, local resisters cooperated with generation after generation of pioneering knights from the Resting Moon Dynasty to gradually erode this area, making it a vassal state under Resting Moon's loose control.

Then, descendants of the pioneering knights raised banners of independence under the instigation and support of the Mistmoon Divine Court, won against Resting Moon's punitive army, and finally formed these independent kingdoms and duchies.

After a hundred years of peace, due to the rivalry between Resting Moon Dynasty and Mistmoon Divine Court, the four southern nations once again fell into warfare.

To say that Sky Empire sent some "crows" over to stir things up at this time would indeed be most reasonable.

The eldest son was dumbfounded, yet enlightened as if by divine revelation.

That's right, it all connected, everything connected!

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