Chapter 153: The Count

"Are you... joking?"

"My dear younger brother."

Li Ju, who had been watching the scene unfold from the sidelines, finally smiled happily when he heard Sarc mention his name.

"Trenir, as a commoner now, please mind your tone when speaking to a count."

Sarc looked at Li Ju expressionlessly.

"I expect you to voluntarily surrender your lair. This is the greatest mercy I, as the Crystal Count, can grant you."

Sarc slowly stood up.

"For our father's sake, I do not want to kill you."

"Once you relinquish everything, I will provide you with enough wealth to live comfortably for the rest of your days."

"Do not resent what I am doing; this is simply how nobles treat one another," Sarc said slowly.

"Such pathetic mercy."

"I think to ensure your position remains secure, you should kill him."

Tule, standing beside Sarc, sneered upon hearing those words.

"Or, if you feel you cannot bring yourself to do it, I can do it for you."

Tule slowly elongated the nails on both hands, transforming them into razor-sharp blades.

"Little Sarc, you must remember, there is never any mercy among nobles."

Tule raised his palm and licked his sharp nails.

Swish!

Tule vanished abruptly, leaving only a lingering afterimage behind.

"Although this is our first meeting, I still must say..."

Tule's figure materialized right in front of Li Ju, a morbid, flushed excitement washing over his face.

"Farewell, little one."

Tule raised one of his sharp claws high and slashed fiercely down toward Li Ju.

Thud!

A severed hand flew high into the air, and blood splattered everywhere.

"Although this is our first meeting, I still must say..."

Li Ju held a sword in his right hand and grasped Tule's neck with his left.

"You are truly noisy."

Splat!

A longsword embedded with a ruby pierced straight through Tule's body.

Hiss.

After piercing through Tule, the ruby on the sword flashed incessantly, and wisps of pale smoke rose from Tule's wounds.

"You..."

The pupils in Tule's eyes vibrated frantically as he stared at Li Ju.

Thump.

Tule's body was casually tossed aside by Li Ju.

"Though I would very much like to kill you, it is rare to encounter someone who has cultivated themselves to the count rank independently, so I intend to spare your life."

"Consider it a contribution to my upcoming experiments."

Li Ju said softly, looking down at Tule, who lay on the ground, wailing and struggling to crawl to his feet.

Hum.

Suddenly, rune after rune emerged from the void, intertwining into chains that bound Tule's body and completely immobilizing him.

"Just who on earth are you!"

Sarc slammed his hand down onto the table, staring at Li Ju in disbelief.

To easily inflict severe injuries on Tule in the blink of an eye—this required at least the strength of a marquis-tier powerhouse! This could never be his useless older brother!

It was utterly impossible!

"Sarc, do you not remember me? I am your older brother, Trenir."

The corners of Li Ju's mouth stretched high upward into a wide grin as he carried his sword and walked toward Sarc step by step.

"How dare you impersonate Trenir and trespass into the castle of my Crystal Family! Even if you are a marquis-tier powerhouse, my Crystal Family shall keep you here today!"

"Direct vassals of the family, join me in eliminating this intruder!"

Sarc drew the longsword from his waist, and the aura of a count-tier powerhouse instantly erupted from his body.

However,

the moment he drew his sword, Sarc felt something was amiss.

"Sarc, Trenir is clearly a member of our family. Why should we kill him together?"

This was spoken by Viscount Thunder Tiger.

"Could it be that in order to secure your position as count, you deliberately fabricated a reason because you want to murder your older brother?"

This was spoken by Viscount Poisonous Rattan Snake.

"Sarc, you ruthlessly harm your own kin. I feel you are no longer fit to hold the title of count."

This was spoken by a baron.

"You should cede your position to Trenir, to your older brother."

This was spoken by another baron.

"Sarc..."

"Sarc..."

Every single noble in the grand hall stared fixedly at Sarc, chanting continuously.

"You... you all..."

Sarc felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at the bizarrely behaving direct vassals of the family.

Sarc took a step back.

The crowd of family nobles took a step forward.

"Sarc... Sarc..."

The family nobles chanted his name over and over.

"Sarc."

Every single one of the family nobles flashed a smile at Sarc.

...

Sarc felt his hands and feet turn ice cold, a frigid draft rising from the soles of his feet straight to his skull. He turned around, desperate to flee the place.

"Where are you planning to go, Sarc?"

Before he knew it, Li Ju was already standing directly behind him, wearing the exact same smile as the other family nobles.

Sarc looked at Li Ju with terror in his eyes, struggling fiercely to swing his sword at him, only to find that his body refused to move.

"I need to correct a mistake of yours..."

Li Ju whispered right beside Sarc's ear.

"Our family name is not Crystal. It is Iron-Gold."

While speaking softly into Sarc's ear, Li Ju reached out with one hand and gripped Sarc's head.

"If you call our family name Crystal, our departed ancestors will be quite sad."

Boom!

The skull shattered into pieces.

"When you reach the netherworld, make sure you do not get the name wrong again..."

"Sarc."

Thud.

The headless corpse collapsed to the ground, motionless.

"Ah, taking the life of one's own kin is not something I wish to do."

Li Ju looked down at Sarc's headless corpse, letting out a long, sorrowful sigh.

"My friends, can you understand the sorrow in my heart right now?"

Li Ju raised his head and looked toward the assembled family nobles in the hall.

"Hail, Count Iron-Gold."

The family nobles knelt in unison before Li Ju, their faces filled with fervent devotion.

"..."

Tule, bound tightly by the rune chains, felt his mind reel violently at this sight.

"You..."

Suddenly, a hand pulled his head upward.

The person was Li Ju, yet precisely where Sarc had stood moments before, another Li Ju also stood.

"Can you understand my sorrowful feelings right now?"

"Li Ju" gently stroked Tule's face with his hand.

...

On November 15th in the 675th year of the Sea Snake Kingdom's calendar, Count Crystal Sarc died after accidentally ingesting poisonous mushrooms. Sarc's older brother, Trenir, succeeded to the title of count and restored the name of Crystal Count back to its original designation: Count Iron-Gold.

On the same day, Sarc's mother, the Ice Spirit Count's only daughter, was sentenced to death by Count Iron-Gold Trenir for the crime of treason against the family.

Count Iron-Gold Trenir simultaneously announced that the Ice Spirit Count had meddled in the internal affairs of the Iron-Gold family; therefore, the Iron-Gold family was completely severing all diplomatic ties with the Ice Spirit Count, expelling all personnel belonging to the Ice Spirit Count from their territory, and confiscating all of the Ice Spirit Count's assets within the Iron-Gold County.

On November 16th, the Ice Spirit Count announced an alliance with the Whirlwind Eagle Count and the Rhinoceros Count, combining the military forces of the three counts to launch an expeditionary campaign against the Iron-Gold County.