Intimidation

Fanxing had not waited outside Anbaixiu's castle for the two brothers' return. To his mind, so long as the two survived their entry into the castle, they would inevitably return to demand their final payment. Thus, they only needed to confirm that the pair had made it inside Anbaixiu's castle; there was no need whatsoever to wait outside like fools. Fanxing had more important matters to attend to. Fanxing led his teammates to the domain of the Porcupine Knight, Aldrich Giles. The paladins wore silver-white armor and rode celestial warhorses, cutting a stark contrast against the tattered serfs lining the way. When these impoverished peasants saw the paladins appear, they involuntarily knelt upon the ground, kowtowing to these unfamiliar noble lords. Fanxing raised his hands high. A platinum halo unfurled, bathing the nearby serfs in holy radiance. At once, the serfs felt their strength redouble, while the aches and hunger throughout their bodies swiftly melted away. Enveloped in the dazzling light, Fanxing seemed like a deity descending to the mortal realm, engraving his name deep into the hearts of these serfs. This was also the Ryan Empire's most common missionary tactic—a single Aura of Vitality allowed the lower classes to experience the power of the Holy Light firsthand. If he were to preach to them now while seizing the moment, converting them into nominal believers of the Lord of the Dawn would be child's play. When the Ryan Empire's armies eventually reclaimed this land, resistance would be diminished by more than half. Except Fanxing had not come today to proselytize. "Praise be to the Lord of the Dawn, and may the Holy Light dispel your suffering. I am Paladin Fanxing of the Ryan Empire. I have come today to visit your lord. Who can lead the way for me?" Prompted by Fanxing's inquiry, a decently dressed middle-aged man soon stepped forward, bowing respectfully as he addressed Fanxing, "Noble lord paladin, I am the constable of this region. I can guide you." Taking one look at the man's plump figure and the leather whip in his hand, Fanxing immediately understood that this was a sinner who went by the title of constable, but was in truth a slave master. Though the people of the Ryan Empire were detested by other races as extreme human supremacists, they genuinely treated their own kin well. Across the Ryan Empire's population of hundreds of millions, outside of newly reclaimed territories, human slavery had ceased to exist in any city that had fully submitted. Well, slaves of other races did not count. Suppressing the urge to teach this slaver a harsh lesson, Fanxing said in a low voice, "Then please lead the way." The constable hastily mounted his pony and led the way for Fanxing and his company with an obsequious smile. The Porcupine Knight's territory was not large. After crossing the vast stretch of farmland, they soon came within sight of the lord's manor. Compared to Anbaixiu's castle, the Porcupine Knight's manor was rather small and looked decidedly shabby. Such was the reality of a petty lord's life: devoid of grand luxury and extravagance, and under certain circumstances, even fraught with worries of going hungry. However, in the wake of the last major battle, the food crisis had temporarily abated—chiefly because quite a few people had died in battle, saving a considerable amount of grain. Moreover, after the battle, the Porcupine Knight had pursued a righteous reckoning against the "neighbors" who had lost their lords. His pretext was that those deceased lords had rashly advanced through complacency, causing the total defeat of the campaign, and therefore bore primary responsibility. The other surviving lords concurred with the charge, uniting to thoroughly plunder those three domains. In this way, they recouped their wartime losses. As for how the people of those three domains were supposed to survive... they could simply flee; weren't the neighboring lords enthusiastically recruiting outsiders anyway? Although this maneuver had somewhat delayed his territory's financial crisis, the Porcupine Knight had completely abandoned any notion of waging war against Anbaixiu. He had been far too full of himself back then, believing the so-called undead were merely shivering skeletons he could shatter by the dozens in a mounted charge. Yet Anbaixiu had shown him what true magic was. It was not the kind where lighting a pipe took half the day chanting incantations, but a terrifying force that blanketed the sky the moment it was unleashed, raining down like a storm of meteors. Countless soldiers had been reduced straight to bone, entirely powerless to resist. Peasant levies who had never undergone rigorous training broke immediately upon witnessing such horrific carnage. After returning, many were driven mad with terror and had to be hanged. Now, the Porcupine Knight merely hoped Anbaixiu would not hold him accountable; he certainly did not dare provoke the lich again. Hence, when Fanxing and his paladins showed up, the Porcupine Knight grew exceedingly uneasy. He wanted no part in any further conflict between paladins and undead. Yet to the Porcupine Knight's surprise, the paladin's opening words were: "May the Holy Light protect you, Sir Giles. My apologies for the intrusion. I am Paladin Fanxing of the Ryan Empire. I have come to the City of Alchemy to rescue our fellow paladin, Alan Watson. I hear he was once in your employ to attack a lich's domain, is that correct?" "Th-there... there's actually a misunderstanding here..." The Porcupine Knight did not know whether he should answer. In name, Alan Watson had indeed been hired by him to attack the lich's territory, and the paladin had seemingly been captured by said lich. The arrival of these Ryan men boded nothing good. The Porcupine Knight had not withheld Alan Watson's hiring fee either. When a battle was lost and a mercenary taken prisoner, reasonably speaking, blame could hardly fall upon the employer. But the Ryan Empire was notoriously unreasonable. If these paladins were truly bent on causing trouble, any flimsy excuse would suffice to ruin him and destroy his house. They were not people of the City of Alchemy. Once they finished causing a scene, they could simply flee, and the City of Alchemy would hardly lift a finger against a group of paladins on behalf of a petty lord like him. His worst fears were coming true. Before the Porcupine Knight could even muster an excuse, Fanxing cut him off directly. "Sir Giles, I hear you hired Alan Watson for an extraordinarily low price—a sum entirely beneath the stature of a paladin and cleric of light, correct?" "The price was agreed upon back then..." The Porcupine Knight felt wronged. Of course he had paid very little—that paladin harbored a personal vendetta against the lich and had joined the fray practically pro bono! Back then, the Porcupine Knight had congratulated himself on getting a bargain. Little did he expect it would become their pretext for picking a fight. Pressing his advantage, Fanxing said, "Because you hired my companion for a pittance, I have reason to believe you employed underhanded methods—perhaps intimidation, perhaps deception. In short, you bear a certain responsibility for Alan Watson's capture. Wouldn't you agree?" As he spoke, a hazy phantom of light materialized behind Fanxing, resembling an imposing deity glaring wrathfully at the Porcupine Knight. Intimidation Thaumaturgy—a spell capable of magnifying one's menacing aura and wearing down an opponent's willpower. The Porcupine Knight felt his knees buckle; he had not felt this terrified even when facing down the griffin all those years ago. The Porcupine Knight stammered, "Y-you... I... I didn't mean to... Please give me a chance to make amends..." Only then did Fanxing break into a smile. He said to the Porcupine Knight, "Rest assured, we have not come to make trouble for our fellow human. We are here to eradicate that lich once and for all. We merely require a bit of help from you."