System Change

“I believe I have gotten everything out of Gerald Torith that I am going to be able to,” Natalie said. “I have seen most of his dealings, and we have already gathered all his blackmail materials. He has some kind of partnership with Indria, but I don’t think he knows how high up it is. He’s made some assumptions, but I have not been able to find anything pointing to how deep it goes.”

“We are on relatively good terms with the Elves. I don’t think they would risk making us enemies for some slaves.” Edwin sighed. “As for those involved in the kingdom, we have taken care of the majority. Some fled when they got wind of noble families disappearing, but there’s nothing much we can do about those. It’s… been tough.”

The death toll weighed on Edwin. He had ordered the annihilation of multiple noble families, roots and all. It was something no sane man would ever want to do, yet they had forced his hand. He could not have such people living in his kingdom, especially those in high positions.

House Torith was no more, along with a handful of minor noble houses with deep associations with it. The Aarden family was disgraced and had become a low tier family once all those involved were executed, including Cliff Aarden, the now former heir to house Aarden. The nobles in Savannah were almost entirely untouched, which showed how well Natalie ran her city.

It also pained Edwin to no end that there were multiple guards and soldiers whom he trusted involved. It had been an intense few months, and there were more people involved than he would have ever imagined.

“What should we do with Gerald?” Natalie asked. She looked over at Alanah, who had been quiet thus far. “What do you think? Would you like a go at him to make sure there is nothing else? Would he make a good Deathsworn? Death seems too good for him at this point.”

“I will take a run at him… I won’t hold back. He won’t be of any use after that. He’s not worthy of becoming a Deathsworn, anyway,” she replied. “After that, we should execute him. There are also a couple people I would like there for the execution. They are friends of Derek’s.”

Edwin winced at the thought. He almost felt sorry for the man, almost. Alanah was going to break his mind before executing the man. Edwin couldn’t imagine the pain of such a thing. He knew it would be bad, as it was something Alanah shied away from, and wouldn’t do unless absolutely necessary.

He also knew of whom she was talking about. It had been proven by Natalie that Gerald was behind the murder of Jackson Herrett’s wife and the kidnapping of his son, along with many others. Edwin would like the family of the others to attend the execution to obtain some sense of justice, but they were keeping everything secret for now.

He hated to admit it, but the current fear the nobles felt would keep them in line for some time. Eventually, the rumors would spread, as not all noble houses involved were eradicated, some were only crippled, those left over having nothing to do with anything. The leaders of those families were made aware of their members’ atrocities, and they would do their best to keep the embarrassment from spreading, but it would only hold for so long.

“Very well. You have free rein. We will schedule the execution for the day after tomorrow. Is that enough time for you to do what you need?” the King asked Alanah.

“More than enough,” Alanah said.

The King sighed once again. “Alright, then Gerald Torith will be executed in two days.”

“Is there anything else?” Natalie asked. She seemed anxious to get back to her city. She had been pouring a lot of time into interrogation, and was most likely falling behind on her City Lord management.

“There is one more thing,” Edwin said. “I will be stepping down as King once Edgar gets back from the raid dungeon. Edward will be crowned, and Edgar will take control of the armies. I cannot find it in myself to continue to rule after such events.”

Edwin looked at his hands and balled them into fists. His trust had inadvertently caused so much blood and tragedy over the years. Then, with the new blood on his hands, stepping down was the only choice he had.

Neither Natalie nor Alanah objected, showing that they agreed with his decision.

“I hope the two of you will continue to support Cydaria and my son.”

Alanah nodded, and Natalie spoke. “As long as he keeps up on your payments,” she said, both to lighten the mood and in all seriousness.

Edwin let out a chuckle. “You may go now. I’ve a lot to discuss with my son, and he should be getting back from the Academy soon.”

***

The next day, Alanah headed to Savannah to have her final chat with Gerald. She doubted she would gain anything, but it would be good to make sure.

It wasn’t the first time she’d been to Savannah’s dungeon, so she wasn’t surprised as she walked past all the cells, some occupied, but most empty. Finally, she arrived at the cell holding Gerald with Natalie.

The old man’s eyes were bloodshot, and he had a frown on his ragged face when she got there.

“Hello, Gerald.” She spoke from the other side of the cell, emotionless.

The man’s gaze landed on her, unfocused, already under her influence.

“I have come to inform you that Natalie is finished with you. She believes she has gotten everything from you,” Alanah said. “Has she?”

Gerald’s eyes continued unfocused, and he let out a sound that may have been a growl. He wouldn’t stay under such basic compulsion for long.

“I’m sure you’ve seen your contracts disappearing over the last months.”

“Yes…” he said.

“So, is there anything else you haven’t let slip?” she asked one last time.

Again, the man resisted the urge to speak past any of his oaths or contracts.

Alanah sighed. “Stand up,” she commanded, and the man stood. “Now, come over here.”

Gerald then walked to the edge of his cell. Only the bars separated him from Alanah and Natalie. Alanah looked at Natalie and nodded. With the palm of her hand, Natalie reached out and placed it on a rune, deactivating the security measures on the cell, then, she opened the cell door.

“You may want to move away,” Alanah warned the City Lord, who took her words into consideration before backing away some distance. “Come closer,” Alanah commanded Gerald. He took the two steps that were left between them and was soon face to face with the half-elf siren.

Alanah reached out and placed a hand on each side of the man’s face while looking deep into his eyes. For the first time in what seemed like forever, she channeled her hated aura. A silver-gray glow fell over her body and her eyes glowed. Visible ripples appeared around her as she activated her skill.

“You will answer every question I ask, no matter the consequences,” she said.

“I will answer every question,” Gerald repeated.

“Has Natalie learned of all nefarious connections with you?” she asked.

“No.”

“Has she learned of all the important ones, all the nobles?”

“Yes.”

Alanah nodded. There were bound to be lower-level people with ties to him, ones that he never met personally, or even may not have known their name. It was something they couldn’t do anything about.

“Is there anything you know that hasn’t been revealed that will have a detrimental effect on the Kingdom of Cydaria?” she asked.

Gerald paused before answering. Blood began to drip down his eyes and ears. “Not that I can think of,” he finally answered.

His answers were coming slower. The longer her skill was in use, the more severe the damage, and it wasn’t something that could just be healed, even with the system. There would be permanent memory loss and other side effect.

“How likely do you believe Indria is to attack Cydaria?” she asked the question that she was most concerned about. Ever since she heard about it from Natalie, she had wondered.

“I think there is a small chance they will attack,” he answered after another long pause.

Alanah frowned.

“When do you believe the attack will occur? Soon?”

“I have no idea,” he answered.

“What makes you believe there will be an attack?” she asked. He could only give direct answers, and wouldn’t offer any extra information with the use of her skill.

“If they accepted the human trafficking like they did, and the higher ups in their kingdom did nothing to stop it, then they must not be scared of making an enemy out of Cydaria. Therefore, they may try to attack.”

“So, it’s nothing but conjecture? You have no proof? Just theories?”

“Yes.”

“What was your ultimate plan? What did you expect to gain from your dealings?” she asked her last question.

“I was going to become King.”

“So that was it…” Alanah muttered. One thing Natalie couldn’t get through her method was his thoughts and reasoning. With all the blackmail material, and the amount of noble houses he had in his pocket, it wasn’t a stretch to say he would have been able to take over the kingdom after some time.

He probably had years to go to get to that point without doing anything drastic, but it would have come. Especially considering the house heirs who served him, those like Cliff Aarden.

Finally, Alanah released Gerald from her skill. The man fell to his knees, then forward. Alanah took a step to the side to avoid getting blood on her shoes as he began to fall face first. He hit the ground and lay there, unconscious.

“That’s a rough skill,” Natalie said as she approached. “Even I could feel the influence from that far away. I had to move back even further to acclimate to it.”

Alanah looked at the petite woman and nodded. “Did you hear everything?”

“I did. To think he just wanted to overthrow the kingdom. There’s no profit in running a kingdom.”

Alanah snorted.

“It seemed like he didn’t know anything else. What do you think about Indria?” the City Lord asked.

“I don’t know, but I can’t shake a bad feeling. I’m going to send a few Deathsworn to the borders to patrol, just in case. Losing a few won’t hurt for now, especially with so many fewer nobles around to… investigate.”

“You mean to spy on, right?” Natalie smiled.

“Same thing,” Alanah said. “Do you have this? I need to get back to the capital.”

“Go ahead. You know the way.”

With that, Alanah left Savannah.

***

The next day, the King held a private execution of Gerald Torith in the throne room of the palace. There were only a handful of people in attendance, including Jackson Herrett and his son Jake.

When they marched Gerald out, he hadn’t even began to recover from Alanah’s skill. His eyes were vacant and drool dripped from his mouth as he kneeled on the ground.

“Gerald Torith, for the murder of countless civilians, human trafficking, and betraying your kingdom, I sentence you to death.” The King announced in a sad, deep voice.

The King wasn’t one to shy away from things. He was the one who ordered the execution of his once believed friend, and he would be the one doing the deed.

He stood before taking the steps down from his throne. Before long, he was standing in front of the kneeling man.

Edwin placed his hand on the man’s head. An overbearing aura poured out and sparks flew as he channeled his lightning from his body and into the man before him. After a short while, the aura disappeared, and the man fell forward.

The crowd stood in silence as they all looked down at the smoking corpse of Gerald Torith.

Edwin finally looked up, then turned to his personal guard. “Burn the body.”

With Gerald Torith dead, the Torith line was completely eradicated. There would no longer be a House Torith in Cydaria.