Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1943 1915. Bribery?

Grek looked at the faded figures who had set up a table in front of him and were blocking the city gate, his eyes revealing both disgust and relief.

He was a member of the pure-blooded Golden Clan and a nobleman who understood the rules of the current Golden Dynasty.

In his view, Lan En put this table here simply to extort and demand bribes!
As expected, they are unblessed faded ones. Even if they are promoted by two fingers and placed under their direct command, they are nothing more than a bunch of greedy and despicable villains!

After all, Rodel letting people escape the war was a perfectly normal thing to do in Greke's eyes.

It's abnormal that Lan En would check and register people before letting them go.

Since it's not normal, there must be a reason.

Sure enough, the behavior of the nobleman in front of him made Greck realize that he understood everything immediately.

This faded person is taking advantage of the opportunity to release people out of the city to extort money!

As a demigod of the Golden Dynasty, he had never actually seen anything like this before.

After all, in the Golden Age of Law, who would do something like this if they had nothing better to do?
Why seek endless life and abundant wealth?

You have to use your brain to figure out how to extort money or bribes.

However, humans are social beings after all. Although Grek had never seen the social phenomena happening before his eyes, he understood them almost immediately after witnessing them.

Although the Golden Age was infinitely prosperous and orderly, society also stagnated.

Now that the Golden Law has just collapsed, new social phenomena and understandings of it are beginning to continuously challenge the mindset of the people of the Golden Tree.

Ultimately, while the Golden Age was wonderful, it was not a form that a normal world or normal society could take.

In any world that Lan En had ever seen, it would be described as 'beautiful to the point of being abnormal'.

Grek is a demigod of the Golden Dynasty, and needless to say, his father is now leading an army outside of Rodel.

Although this put him in a dangerous situation and filled him with panic and fear, at the same time... a small hope and ambition also appeared in Grek's heart.

—What if! I mean, what if…my father actually wins?

He also possesses fragments of the Center of Gravity Ring! He is also an undisputed member of the Golden Clan!
Why can't he become the King of Rodel?

Why can't he go to the Golden Tree to meet the imprisoned queen, become her partner, and then naturally become the King of Elden?
And after that... wasn't I, Grek, essentially the former "Golden" Greven?!
The thought of that golden prince who had taken care of her not so long ago—strong, handsome, admired and loved, almost perfect—made her unforgettable.

Besides sadness and regret, Greck was also somewhat eager to try.

He has the potential to become a figure like the Golden Prince!

This expectation and pre-existing sense of status and identity gave Greke a sense of ownership over the Golden Dynasty.

Therefore, seeing Lann, this faded one, extorting money and favors in the gate of Rodel's city, he was naturally disgusted and furious.

These people will all be my subjects in the future!

But at the same time, he felt somewhat relieved.

After all, if this shameless scoundrel is extorting money and demanding bribes, it means he won't be fulfilling his job responsibilities.

Instead of worrying that he'll notice something during the work process, it's better to leave things as they are: I offer him something good, so what if he won't let me go?
So, with great confidence, he tossed a small bag onto the table next to Lan En.

It contained a golden seed.

It was one of the golden tree trunks that Grek collected when it mutated and the trunk burst outwards.

These are golden seeds, something that only bursts out when the golden tree faces a major crisis and, driven by its life instinct, desperately seeks to continue its life!
Its preciousness goes without saying, so there's no doubt that this despicable and greedy fading person won't be tempted!

that's the truth.

Lan En, quite unscrupulously, opened and glanced at the "bribe" as soon as it arrived in his hands.

Normally, how the hell should bribery and accepting bribes be made public?
But Lan En opened it on the spot.

Not only did it open, but it also directly beckoned to the velvet ball, took out the red dewdrop chalice from its hand, and stuffed the golden seed into it in front of the bribe-giver.

The kitten pressed the bottle opening and shook it habitually, as if mixing medicine.

Lan En then pushed the empty bag forward.

Immediately, the graceful noblewoman standing in front of the table froze for a moment, then seemed to understand something, and her expression turned cold again.

“Your Excellency the Faded One,” she said, as if gritting her teeth, “what do you mean by this?”

In the other party's eyes, this was clearly a case of taking the goods but not intending to do anything about it.

Damn it, how could those who fade away be so shameless?!
How could the once orderly Golden Dynasty have fallen into such a state?!
But the faded man sitting behind the table showed no embarrassment whatsoever; on the contrary, he was quite self-righteous. It was as if he wasn't the one who had taken the bribe and done nothing!
“I had another question for you,” Lann said, his fingers tapping lightly on the table. Smaug’s sharp gauntlets, like knives, clattered against the wooden surface, sending a shiver down one’s spine. “What do you mean by this, Lord Grik?”

In that instant, Lan En could see the noble lady in front of his table, and the pupils of her eyes, hidden behind a black veil, suddenly contracted!
But, before the changes in her pupils could even finish,...

"Oh!"

Just a moment ago, he was sitting calmly behind the table, like an honest and hardworking witcher.

The wooden table beneath his hands was suddenly overturned and smashed towards the noblewoman in front of him!
"Crack!"

The noblewoman, who appeared to be graceful but had no violent traits, simply raised her hand, and the tabletop, accompanied by a whooshing sound, was smashed to pieces right in front of her arm!

She herself didn't even sway!
Although the wooden table carried Lan En's power, its material seemed utterly inadequate in the face of this man's arm.

But a wooden table is still just a wooden table; what's truly terrifying... is the people who follow right behind it!

A sharp silver light, like a bolt of lightning, shot straight out from the flying fragments of the shattered wooden table!

The clear, silvery light flowed upwards, as smoothly as a stream of water. Wherever it passed, the sharp sensation sent a chill down the noblewoman's spine!
Her superior lineage ultimately endowed her with powerful instincts.

In this sudden attack that caught her completely off guard, the muscles in the back of her neck contracted violently as if they had cramped up! This caused her head to tilt back at an angle in that instant!
The longsword, which flashed with a silvery light, failed to cut through her chin.

But it touched the exquisite veil on her head.

The moment the sharp blade touched the light gauze, the force on the blade transformed from hard to soft through superb skill.

The force of the slash tore the veil off.

A veil hung on the tip of Aaron Det's knife. After missing with his first strike, the person wielding the knife behind him immediately spun around and kicked!
"Bang!!!"

A dull thud!

Lann's powerful kick sent the noblewoman flying across the vast archway of Rodel! She only stopped after crashing into the wall!

The muffled, explosive sound echoed in the doorway.

A series of 'crackling' sounds rang out as weapons were drawn; these were the guards brought by the noble lady.

But before Lan En could even look over, the velvet ball was already engulfed in light red battle aura and charged straight at him!

"Get out of my way, meow!"

The Witcher landed firmly, his dragonhide skirt swaying and patting against his leg armor twice.

The longsword came to a steady stop in front of him, and Lan En reached out and removed the veil that had been protected by a gentle force.

The veil changed its appearance after it was pulled off the other person's head; the originally pure black veil turned into a light brown color.

The noblewoman who had been wearing a veil had just pulled herself out of the wall on the other side of the doorway.

She was no longer of average height, and she was no longer even a woman.

It's the golden demigod, Grik!
As soon as he revealed his true form, the two tree guards who were originally watching over the city gate immediately tensed up.

His tall body and golden armor swayed together, and the golden halberd that had been supporting him on the ground was lifted up with both hands, facing the golden demigod who clearly shouldn't be there.

The bystanders, who hadn't realized what had just happened, belatedly began to scream in terror.

They pushed and shoved, trying to get as far away as possible from the battlefield where the warriors were killing each other.

In an instant, the already busy city gates were thrown into chaos!
And this chaos was about to escalate further, and the noise might eventually reach the army outside the city through the towering walls of Rodel.

“Ignore this,” Lan En’s decisive and unquestionable command had a calming effect in this chaotic moment. Without turning his head, he said to the two tree guards, “Take care of his guards and isolate the civilians.”

The chaos was escalating, and Lann's tone was so confident that no leader, no matter how professional, could be more composed.

It was as if the situation before him was completely under his control.

So the two tree guards, who were not on horseback, exchanged a brief glance to confirm each other's intentions, and immediately responded to the witcher's command.

The golden armor clanged as the Tree Guards, originally heavy cavalry, passed behind Lann and, together with the nimble and agile Fluffball, began to suppress the guards brought by Grik and isolate the ordinary civilians.

On the other side of Lan En, the golden demigod's face twitched as if he were about to grind his teeth to dust. His eyes were bloodshot with resentment as he stared intently at the demon hunter who had just twirled his sword.

“You shouldn’t be here right now, Lord Grek.”

Lan En spoke calmly to him, and then carefully put the veil away from his hands.

(End of this chapter)