The most shameless alchemist in history

"Dure? That name sounds familiar."

"Huh? Do you guys know this young man? He looks so unfamiliar."

"You don't know that? He's Lord Durley. I saw him hanging out with Councilor Winry before."

"What? He's the young man who's been getting close to Councilor Winnie? I've heard quite a few rumors about him..."

The officials were also whispering among themselves; some didn't recognize Dure, while others had met him once before.

But what surrounds this young man is indeed a variety of rumors, which gives him a legendary aura.

"Lord Du...Lord Du Lei? Are you Lord Du Lei?" The official, who had been so arrogant just moments before, was suddenly stunned and asked in a low voice.

"Please forgive me for disturbing you gentlemen." Du Lei's words were tantamount to an admission of guilt.

"Um... no, no, absolutely not. I thought it was someone else visiting. It turns out it's you, Lord Dure. Please forgive me for not greeting you properly!" After a brief moment of surprise, Popp immediately went up to him and warmly shook Dure's hand.

"Oh my, oh my, I've long heard of Lord Dure's great name. I'm so glad to finally see you today. You are indeed radiant!" The official immediately flattered him with a smile, having completely forgotten about what had just happened.

826 Abandoning darkness and embracing light

“I do not hold any official position, so I really do not deserve the title of ‘Sir’. However, I just heard at the station that someone is impersonating you, Lord Pop, and openly soliciting bribes and making a fortune. I wonder if you have heard about this, Lord Pop?” Dure asked softly.

"What? Using my name to solicit bribes? How come I didn't know about this? Who has the audacity?" Popper was stunned at first, then flew into a rage, immediately questioning me forcefully. His righteous and awe-inspiring demeanor was truly admirable.

“I think I’ve heard someone mention this before. It was done by Lord Pop’s brother-in-law, Seru.” Zamp, who had been observing the situation the whole time, stood up and said softly.

"What? Seru? Is that true?" Pop was stunned. He turned his head and stared intently at Zamp, pretending not to know and asked.

“Of course there is. This has been going on for a long time. It’s not just about openly soliciting bribes. Seru has also opened several casinos in the city and amassed a fortune. I thought it was all at your behest, Lord Pop,” Zanpu said abruptly.

"This... I would instruct someone to do such a thing? How could that be? Your Majesty, you must be joking. Although I have already resigned, I have always been law-abiding and would never do anything illegal. Even if Seru were my brother-in-law, I would not forgive him!"

Popp knew that Zamp was trying to smear him, and he tried his best to defend himself.

"Oh? So, from what you're saying, Lord Pop, are you going to put aside your own family for the greater good?" Zanpu asked with great interest.

"Of course! That brat Seru dared to do bad things under my name! He's unforgivable! Hey, what are you all standing there for? Hurry up and bring Seru up here!" Pope immediately shouted at his men, ordering them to do their job.

“Seru… what a coincidence.” Dure said after pondering the name for a moment.

"Huh? I don't know what you mean, Lord Dure..." Popp asked cautiously, unsure of Dure's meaning.

"On my way here, I happened to run into a man named Seru. He's currently at your residence, Lord Pope, sitting outside having tea," Dure said, pointing to the door.

"What? That guy, Seru..." Pope was stunned. He had originally sent his men to look for Seru, the subtext of which was that he wanted his men to make a show of it and that Seru should stay as far away as possible. But he didn't expect Seru to be in his house. Of all times, this guy had to come at this moment and run right into the line of fire!

"What's wrong, Lord Pop? Just now, you sounded like you were going to put the greater good before family, but now you seem to be having second thoughts?" Zanpu said calmly, his words carrying a hint of mockery.

Everyone in Frost City knows that he and Pope are mortal enemies, so his arrival at Pope's mansion has surprised many.

Many officials present thought that the king had changed his ways and was going to reconcile with Pope.

But it seems that this is not the case at all.

"Your Majesty, you jest! I, Pop, will never tolerate Seru's misdeeds. What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and bring that idiot up here!" Pop had originally intended to handle the matter discreetly, but now that Zanpu had said this, he had effectively cut off all his escape route.

His subordinates looked at each other in bewilderment and could only hurriedly go down to bring Seru over.

"Then I'll look forward to seeing how you, Lord Pop, uphold justice even at the cost of your own family, setting an example for us." Zanpu sat down with great interest, awaiting the follow-up to the Seru incident.

Before long, Seru hurried over.

He had previously requested an audience with Pope to report some matters, but Pope was in a meeting and he didn't want to disturb him, so he waited outside.

The servants are now confused about the situation and don't know what kind of situation Pope meant by bringing Cerule up.

Everyone knows that Pope is afraid of his wife, and his wife dotes on her younger brother, Cel, so she wouldn't dare to be rough with him.

Therefore, when Seru walked up, he still swaggered around, looking quite smug.

"Brother-in-law, brother-in-law, are you finally done with your work? Let me tell you..." Seru said repeatedly as he entered.

"Ahem, Seru, when did you become so presumptuous? Don't you know who's standing here?" Pope coughed lightly, solemnly reminding Seru, and winked at Dure, indicating that this was an important person and that Seru should be careful with his words.

"Here... Oh, greetings, esteemed sirs. We're all old acquaintances, no need for such formalities... Hey, Zanpu, what are you doing here? Aren't you always at odds with my brother-in-law? Have you finally come to your senses today and decided to join his ranks?" Seru's gaze swept over the seated sirs, but what puzzled him was that those sirs who usually addressed him as brothers all avoided his eyes, not daring to look him in the eye.

This left Seru feeling somewhat bewildered, but he didn't dwell on it too much, because he soon spotted Zanpu in the crowd.

As Pop's brother-in-law, he was well aware of the feud between Pop and Zamp, and was quite surprised by Zamp's arrival.

“Of course, everyone knows that Lord Pop is currently the leading figure of the old faction in our Snow Kingdom. How could I dare to oppose Lord Pop? Isn’t it the best choice to obediently submit to Lord Pop? I hope you will take good care of me in the future, Seru. Remember to give me a hand if there are any profitable deals.” Zamp said with a smile. As soon as he said this, Pop’s face immediately fell.

Because Pop immediately realized that Zamp was clearly trying to lead Seru astray!

"It's good that you, Zanpu, are sensible. Why did you always have to go against my brother-in-law before? If you had realized this earlier, you would have been rich long ago. Let me tell you, our family business is booming now. Which of you gentlemen here hasn't gotten a share of the profits? We should all make money together. Fine, as long as you turn over a new leaf, you'll get a share of what we make," Seru said, patting his chest.

He didn't have Pope's discernment. In his view, if even someone like Zamp had joined his brother-in-law's ranks, then Pope's status in Frost City must have risen accordingly.

Even if Pope is temporarily resigned and staying at home, given this momentum, it won't be long before he's definitely going to be a high-ranking official!

"Ceru, you bastard, shut up! Don't you even know who's next to you?!" Pope kept giving his brother-in-law meaningful glances, but Seru was oblivious and continued to chatter on and on, which made Pope both anxious and angry.

Finally, he smashed a cup and shouted angrily.

827 Sir Selu

Seru didn't take it too seriously at first. After all, he had been spoiled by his sister since childhood and was a notorious playboy in Frost City. One thing to note is that Pop's current status is largely due to the strong support provided by his wife's family, which is Seru's family.

After all, Cel's father was the previous Minister of Finance, and Pope was just taking over his father-in-law's position.

With this relationship involved, Seru was practically lawless from a young age. His father couldn't control him when he was alive, and after his father passed away, he became even more reckless.

Over the years in the capital, Seru has caused countless troubles, but no one dares to do anything to him. Sometimes, when Pop hears some bad rumors, he will try to persuade Seru.

But no sooner had he finished reprimanding Cerule than his wife confronted him, making a huge scene. She said that their father had passed away and that Pop had promised to take care of her and her brother, but now he had forgotten his promise. She brought up old grievances at the slightest disagreement, which put Pop in a very awkward position. In the end, he had no choice but to let the matter drop.

Most of the time, Popper knew that this was something he owed to his siblings, so he could only turn a blind eye and pretend he didn't see anything.

However, these are extraordinary times, and cannot be compared with the past.

If the cabinet hadn't been dissolved, and he was a member of the cabinet with real power, no matter how much trouble Celu caused below, he could still keep him in check. People would give Pope some face, and even if they had a lot of opinions about Celu, they would swallow them.

But things are different now; he has resigned from his official post, which is, of course, a tactic of retreating to advance.

As for the current situation in Frost City, no matter how turbulent the times are, a large number of old noble forces are causing trouble there.

Parliament could not possibly wipe out the old aristocratic forces. It could only properly settle them and try its best to meet their demands. Pope had every reason to believe that within a week at most, Parliament would invite the leading figures of the old aristocracy to assume important positions.

With Kraft having made it clear that he was staying away from politics, Pope was naturally a strong candidate!

Pope had made many preparations in secret for this. The large number of officials gathered here today, inviting him to take charge of the situation, was a well-orchestrated show by himself.

Once he can perform this act well, his status in the Snow Kingdom will only be higher, much higher than before!

That is the ideal and ambition he should have!

But it was precisely under such favorable circumstances that he heard a lot about Seru. He learned that Seru was not restrained and was still using his name to make money. In fact, Seru was not short of money. However, when he was drinking with his group of cronies, his friends told him that the capital was not what it used to be.

The capital city has a new look now; the old ways no longer work. Officials dare not accept bribes, for fear of being caught red-handed by those southerners.

But Seru was displeased upon hearing this. Who was Seru? He was the son of the former finance minister and the brother-in-law of the current finance minister.

This status is beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Furthermore, before this, no one dared to refuse to pay him money in the capital; for him, it was a symbol of status.

Only someone of his status and position would dare to openly accept money.

Now that he's suddenly not charging money anymore, seeing his friends looking so anxious and timid, it drew a sneer from Seru.

He was different from these rats; he wanted to prove that he was much stronger than them, that he was not of the same status or position as them.

Therefore, Seru became the only person in the capital who still dared to openly accept money.

The amount of money received is not important; what matters is Lord Seru's reputation!

Pope knew something about Cel's misdeeds, but he was busy getting back to his original position and taking charge of the overall situation, so he didn't have time to pay attention to Cel. But at this critical juncture, Cel caused trouble again.

However, Seru was completely unaware of this and acted as if it were perfectly normal, which infuriated Pope to no end!

"Huh? You...aren't you that country bumpkin who was outside the hall begging to see my brother-in-law, and couldn't get a lookout for ages? Why haven't you left yet? And what are you doing here? Are you trying to freeload a meal before you leave? I'm warning you, do you even know where you are, who I am, or who my brother-in-law is? I advise you to get out of here right now, understand?"

Seru was initially confused as to why his brother-in-law was so angry with him.

It wasn't until he saw the young man next to him that he finally understood!

His brother-in-law was angry because this uninvited guest suddenly barged in and interrupted their serious meeting.

He himself was kept outside and had to wait, but while he went to take a piss, the kid disappeared.

Upon closer inspection, I realized he had slipped away here.

His brother-in-law must have done it because he didn't handle things well, didn't keep an eye on the kid, and didn't get rid of him in time.

It made him lose face in front of so many adults!

What's most important when you're out in the world? It's your reputation, isn't it?

Upon realizing this, Cerru immediately became smug, because he recognized this as an opportunity.

A chance to show off your skills in front of many high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital!

Because Seru knew that although he was usually very powerful in the capital, there were always many people talking behind his back, saying that he could act recklessly in the capital because of his brother-in-law, and that he was a good-for-nothing who couldn't do anything right.

Today he wants to prove that he, Seru, can also get things done, and that he is not a good-for-nothing.

He is also capable of being entrusted with important responsibilities!

“I know this is Lord Pop’s residence, and I know you are Lord Seru.” The young man opposite Seru nodded and said softly.

“Du…” Pope, who was sitting in the main seat, stood up and said in a fearful tone.

But Dure waved his hand slightly and winked at Pope, signaling him to be quiet.

This left Pope in a panic, not knowing what to do. He even wanted to rush forward and slap Cel twice across the face.

But he couldn't do it in front of Dure, because such a move would be too suspicious.

He's already in the eye of the storm; if he gets involved in Seru's affairs, he'll be in real trouble.

"You little brat, I didn't realize you had some sense. So, what exactly are you doing here?" Seru said, his nostrils flaring upwards, speaking in a condescending manner.

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