SON OF THE HERO KING

As the sun rose in the skies above, illuminating the world with its incandescent light, a mournful air seemed to have washed over Greed Dike.

The usually boisterous council room was inordinately silent at the moment. Nearly half of the seats were empty and the remainder that were filled were seated by dwarves giving each other uneasy glances. It was as if a dangerous grip was tightened around them, ready to crush them at a moment’s notice.

Meanwhile, one knee on the ground, the current Crown Prince was recounting the harrowing events of dawn today to the current King of Greed Dike and the present council members. The more information the prince recounted, the worse all of their expressions became.

In one morning, fifteen high-ranked dwarves were found dead.

Death was nothing strange in Greed Dike. It was a country where parents killed their children and children killed their parents as long as it aligned with their interests or threatened them.

Assassinations were a common occurrence in this god-forsaken country, combats to the death as well.

This time though. Things were beyond their comprehension.

One councilman had his body age up so quickly that he died in his sleep. The autopsy conducted on him revealed that his body age had gotten nearly 400 years old, making him die of natural causes.

This was impossible. After all, that councilman was only eighty this year.

One noble died during a banquet. An autopsy conducted on the nobleman revealed that his body was riddled with a deadly disease for several years, ultimately causing his untimely death. Even traces of treatment had been found on him. His body was also considerably aged.

Another occurrence that could only be impossible. The noble was a strapping young man who never had to visit the doctor in his entire life.

The prince personally witnessed the horrifying death of a second councilman. The man's body seemed to crumble and twist in front of the prince's very own eyes. The body twisted and inflated, then burst out loud, splattering blood everywhere. Even now, the prince was riddled with the blood of said councilman.

Another autopsy conducted on the man revealed that the cause of his death was a road accident. This ludicrous statement was so incredulous that even a toddler would have a hard time believing it. Very much so if they directly witnessed his demise like the prince. But as more and more reports came to their attention, they were all forced to accept the reality.

The final nail in the coffin was the death of a minister. The autopsy revealed poisoning and his wife was the culprit. She had fed him a slow-acting poison that took ten years to completely fill the body, slowly weakening it.

If the incident just stopped there, they would have been relieved. At least this type of death was quite natural in this ill-begotten country.

However, things took a turn for the bizarre when the wife pleaded non-guilty. She had indeed brought the poison. But she had not even yet administered it to him. She had planned to only administer the poison to him if she caught him cheating on her.

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The poison was found and records proved she had only brought the poison two days prior.

A dozen people died all at the same time, right where they stood. However, all the causes of death were completely different and incomprehensible without question.

Some thought that perhaps the royal family was messing with the autopsy results but their own agents reported the exact same information. That left no room for any doubts.

It was as if… the cause of the death for all of them, irrespective of time and space, was brought to the present.

They were unable to understand the means that were used to cause such an incomprehensible and incredulous phenomenon. And the unknown caused fear to ravage their soul and minds.

This was definitely a man-made event. So what would happen if the culprit or culprits decided to kill them as well?

The prince seemed to have seen better days. His forehead was sweating and his eyes were darting around.

“What is the common ground between all the dead?” The King asked his son.

He had also concluded that someone was behind this act. It was simply too precise to be a natural curse or accident. The How did not matter. But they needed to know the Who and more importantly the Why.

The prince gritted his teeth, as dim-witted as he was, he had been able to make the connections almost immediately.

“They are all enemies of Lady Theresa.”

Everyone started mumbling to themselves, livening up the council room. It might be a coincidence but it was too precise to be a coincidence.

The King’s eyebrows arched for a moment before he spoke in a nonchalant voice, “Theresa is in Lustburg. Let’s say she has the means to enact such an incomprehensible event or knows someone who can do it for her. The question is, why now?”

The prince closed his mouth, refusing to answer but that action alone was more than enough for all the councilmen to come to a conclusion.

One way or another, the prince had provoked Theresa, and now she was clearly retaliating. They looked at each other, utterly lost regarding this situation. They just could not decide on what they could even do.

Theresa was in Lustburg and while they weren’t her enemies, they were certainly competitors.

As if that wasn’t enough already, Lustburg and Greed Dike were currently in a bad relationship because of all the decisions they made until now.

“I will contact Theresa.” The King spoke in the end, causing all their eyes to light up. How could they have forgotten that the King and Theresa had a relatively amicable relationship compared to just about everyone else?

“Your majesty!” They all stood and bowed. The influence of the King had been waning as of late. Even more so as more people decided to follow the Crown Prince.

Now though, the majority of those who followed the prince were dead and the few who were alive would not risk their lives to follow the downward trend for no reason.

“The council is dismissed. I need to talk to my son. Nothing else should happen now, but if it does, do not hesitate to warn me.”

They all shared uneasy glances but did as they were told. The King held the power of salvation at the moment. There was no way they would antagonize him now when they needed him the most.

“Additionally, call the Supreme Daughter. I have to talk to her as well.”

Like sheep in a herd, they all trudged on, leaving the room empty save for the last two individuals.

A father and his son.