After hearing the announcement, everybody in the square started talking amongst themselves.

Liu Xuan frowned and spoke, “This is just another one of his schemes, isn’t it? Just allow me to investigate him, commander!”

“Calm down Liu Xuan. We cannot investigate him until we have evidence of any wrongdoings. We should continue observing.” Commander Yue replied.

Er Hong walked up on stage and looked at the crowd of people. “Commander Yue, Lieutenant Liu Xuan thank you for coming to observe this trial!” He bowed towards them in thanks.

“We are here to judge the actions of Charles and his squad members! Just today witnesses spoke of squad leader Charles discussing with bandits that have been roaming around the town lately and has even brought them inside this very town! Many have claimed to have seen him meeting these bandits out in the streets! But today, when seen talking to these very bandits, he slaughters all of them ruthlessly in cold blood! Not even giving them the chance to face court! And why is this? To eliminate any evidence of his wrongdoings!”

“We are to believe a hero makes these actions? Are we to let a snake-like this poison our communities?! The law has stated that we must only kill when necessary, innocent or not! Every life is precious, we cannot tolerate actions like these! With these multiple offenses he has done under the law of the emperor; I believe that he is a traitorous snake! Not only that but a traitorous foreign snake! I have made a grave mistake in allowing such a foreigner such as him to sneak into our ranks! Commander Yue, I humbly ask that you take this matter into deep consideration!”

“That bastard, I swear, if anything happens to Charles I’ll snap that bastard’s neck!” Andreas shouted, but only the guard captain heard him with all the noise.

“Keep your voice down Andreas! Charles is not up there so we can assume his somewhere else!” The guard captain said.

“Fine, but Charles better show up! We can’t let that bastard get away with this!” Andreas grumbled as he stared hatefully at the smiling Er Hong.

“So, this is his plan, to shift the blame to an easier target. He must be happy that he had such good luck in finding someone to blame on.” Liu Xuan spoke as he examined Er Hong’s plan.

“Er Hong had always been good with his sweet talk. If his heart was honorable, he would have been a great minister.” Commander Yue thought to herself as she tried to think about Er Hong's speech.

“Commander Yue, both of us know that Er Hong is twisting his words. The man is corrupted beyond measure!” Liu Xuan whispered to Commander Yue.

“Er Hong, son of Er Kong and a 100-man commander under my command.” Commander Yue spoke with a chilling voice, making everyone freeze in fear. No one dared to move, afraid that they’ll occur her wrath.

“Y-yes, commander!” Er Hong replied with fear in his heart. But to live, he must finish what he started.

“This allegation you have made against a soldier, your own soldier no less. If the evidence you have is unsubstantial, then there will be consequences.” Commander Yue said.

“… Of course, Commander Yue.” Er Hong took a breath to calm himself before replying. “I have evidence that this foreigner has been corroborating with the bandits!”

Er Hong gestured to a guard and received a pile of paper with a foreign seal on them.

“Commander Yue! When I had hired this foreigner into my ranks, I did it in faith with an arena master known as Ferdinand of the west who has helped us in the past before!” Er Hong said as Commander Yue gave a nod to continue.

“He was to be a great warrior, but just a few days ago I had received word from the head guard of many deaths of peasants towards the west! It was on the same road as this foreigner, and his band took to travel here! And based on our patrols over the area, the only party that has passed through that area was the dead peasants and this foreigner! I had thought this might have been an accident, but from the recent events I am certain that this foreign boy is a true villain!”

The commander frowned as she thought about the evidence. “Liu Xuan, take those reports and look at them.”

Liu Xuan nodded and walked up to the stage to receive the papers from Er Hong. “I will check them thoroughly now, Er Hong.” He said with a frown, not believing that these papers are genuine.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Er Hong smiled, “Lieutenant, I have great respect for you and the commander. It would be unwise for me to lie, wouldn’t it?”

Liu Xuan started flipping through the papers, analyzing them for any issues but he couldn’t find anything out of place. The patrols did not spot anybody in the area for the past few days. The head guard’s report was true and had even an extra copy to be addressed to him when he had visited. If he was to believe the evidence shown to him, from the scene of these villagers' deaths to the town, it would have taken about a day travel to reach.

Liu Xuan looked at Commander Yue and said while clenching his free left hand “From the evidence, I agree with Er Hong. The incident was a day away from the gates, and no one from the patrols had shown that there were no other movements in that area during that time other than this soldier’s traveling party. If we were to doubt this evidence, then we would have to investigate the head guard and the whole patrol team. Which to me does not seem right.”

With the innate trust in her own soldiers compared to a foreign boy who was a combat slave, she had no other choice but to agree with Er Hong. If she were to doubt her own soldiers, then would they follow her orders when she needed them the most? Or would they doubt her, like how she would have doubted them for some foreigner?

“I’ve decided, Er Hong. You may carry out the punishment. By my orders, you are to find this foreigner and his party and execute them all. Report to me by the end of the day.”

“Thank you! The guards had already captured 2 of the 3 who were following him. So I shall instead carry out their executions here and now! This is the punishment of those that defy the emperor’s will! As punishment for killing so many innocent civilians, I will cut each of their fingers one by one!” Er Hong shouted while smiling.

“What is he trying to do? Didn’t you say to just execute them? Why is he trying to torture them as well?” Liu Xuan couldn’t understand the disgusting thoughts of a man such as Er Hong.

“That foreigner must be rash if he had killed so many people in a span of a few days. If the foreigner cares at all about his party, then he would come out and attack him. This is what I’ve been trying to teach you, an angry enemy is much easier than a cold and calculating one.” Commander Yue replied.

“But this is entirely the opposite of the empire’s teachings...” Liu Xuan commented with a frown.

“You will see more of these types of people on the battlefield, Liu Xuan.” Commander Yue told Liu Xuan. “The battlefield does not care about whether you are righteous, only the winner gets to decide that.”

“The first finger! Now the Second!” Er Hong shouted as chops off each finger. The screams of the boys were horrifying, but to the crowd, these cries were the sound of guilt.

“No please! We are innocent! Help us!” Dong Jian screamed as Luo Cheng’s fingers kept flying off one by one.

“P..p…please…noo……” Luo Cheng cried in pain.

“Oh god… help up… anyone… please!” Dong Jian screamed again, but the crowd just watched them without a look of pity in their eyes. Hearing the words of Er Hong, that their fellow townsmen were killed they could only feel hate for the two boys up on the stage.

“7! No one will save you! 8! Your kind sow the seed of deceit in this country! 9!” but before Er Hong could finish a loud voice shouted

“Don’t you dare touch them anymore you sick fuck!” Suddenly a bunch of soldiers flew back creating a path from the middle of the army to the stage. Andreas was overflowing with rage as a dark red aura swirled around his body!

“Since Charles isn’t here to beat the shit out of your sorry ass. I will!” Andreas shouted as he walked down the path.

His shirt had been ripped apart from the aura of his Emperor’s Spirit showing a muscular upper body while holding an iron staff.

“You are one of the foreign bastards traveling with that snake! I will carry out the commander’s orders and execute you as well!” Er Hong replied as he jumped off the stage and walked towards Andreas.

“So he found another one of them, is he the boy who slaughtered those bandits in the town?” Liu Xuan asked.

“He might be, he shows signs of a martial spirit that I do not know of. Though it seems to have been influenced by his anger.” Commander Yue replied.

“A martial spirit?! A young boy with that? It’ll kill him!” Liu Xuan said in surprise.

“Shit Andreas what in the world are you doing! You’ll die if you do this!” The guard captain shouted

“Fuck off Orson! I am here to put an end to this bastard’s lies! I won’t let my rival’s name get slandered by this fuck!” Andreas shouted not thinking straight as anger overwhelmed his sanity.

“Hmph, you’re just an angry foreign dog who can’t keep his mouth shut! Allow me to put you down and end your miserable life! Be grateful for I, Er Hong, has allowed you to die before my sword!” Suddenly a strong gust of wind blew around the square.

Er Hong had released his martial spirit, full of authority and power! All the soldiers and civilians quickly moved back, afraid they might be caught in Er Hong’s attacks.

“Alright, you fuck face! Stand there as I break every bone in your fucking body!” Andreas shouted and rushed at Er Hong.

“You dare to rush at me at such a slow pace?! You are a fool! Fine! It will make it easier for me to kill you!” Er Hong shouted as he swung his one-handed sword down onto Andreas.

Andreas quickly blocks the quick sword! But the sword doesn’t bounce off and Er Hong kept putting more force into the sword and Andreas is slowly getting pushed back as he tries to endure the attack!

“What’s the matter, foreign dog?! Where is that confidence?! Do you know what I see now?! A dead dog that I will feed to the crows!” Er Hong taunted Andreas as he puts more and more pressure into the sword.

He was already pressuring Andreas massively with just one hand on his sword! “Shit Andreas hang it there! Don’t die!” Orson shouted!

“I already know that you fuck!” Andreas shouted as he gets out of the attack by rolling to the side.

“At least you have some brains foreign dog. Now taste my blade!” Er Hong shouted as he swung his blade down again!