Chapter 527: Feces
Translator: Yukidaruma Translations Editor: Yukidaruma Translations
"The tax collection from the western district isn't here yet?"
"Sir, with the sudden increment of ten tax points, most commoners would find it hard to pay the amount!"
"Increasing tax collections is the national policy set by the First Prince. In the past, the reason why our country's tax rate was far too low was so that the people could live stable lives and recover. However, right now, there are great changes within our sights. The Steel Lion Kingdom in the north, the Papal State, and the various tribes in Manjaar are all getting ready for war and are increasing their armaments.
"As the greatest region on the Western Sea's shores, the Great Western Region has an extremely well-developed sea trade, and it’s also the region with the strongest trade activities amongst the eight regions. This is all the more the reason why the Great Western Region should take up the responsibility."
In the study, a few members of the Great Western Region's upper echelon and an elderly man with white hair and brows were gathered together for a meeting.
The elderly man with white hair and brows appeared to be quite old, but he still seemed very lively, as if he had gained vigor with age. This elderly man was Benjamin, the person the First Prince had sent over to prepare to take over the position of Great Western Region's Governor.
"Oh, right. Did you guys hear? Manjaar's King Manjaar and his two Divine level subjects have all died."
"What?! Although Manjaar has a tribal structure, the tribe which King Manjaar belongs to had dominated over half of the influences across the ice plains. To think that he has been killed? By who?"
"I don't know. I only know that Manjaar immediately appointed a new King Manjaar. There hasn't been any internal conflict at all."
"There are four great tribes in the ice plains—no, it should be three great tribes now... There are three great tribes and seven great factions across the ice plains... To think that a new King Manjaar has been chosen without any signs of internal conflict?"
"Alright," Benjamin let out a cough and said, "Manjaar is too far away from us. There's no need for us to pay them any heed. Let's move on to discuss the amount of investments for each of the academies. We need to increase the amount of investments to a large extent in this area. That's not all. From now onward, the number of recruited Knights must increase as well.
"We'll also need to be more strict with the management of Conferred Knights now."
Benjamin then continued to discuss various issues with his subordinates. Judging from the content of their discussions, they seemed to have quite a large control over the entire Great Western Region.
Right now, what Benjamin was seated on was Tyrant, who had turned himself into a chair.
'The First Prince's influence is really great. Just by sending two Demigod experts, he managed to take over most of the power in Great Western Region. Everyone submitted just from hearing their names, and the First Prince managed to take over the Great Western Region with great ease. His way of doing things is good... It's very good.'
Tyrant thought, 'But based on what I've seen and heard, as well as what Fang Xingjian said... the Second Prince has reached at least the tenth level of the mystical prints, the Fourth Prince is a representative of the Church of Universal Truth, and as for the Third Prince, I saw him more than once in the Terrene Shrine. That Fifth Prince also has special rumors going on about him.
'None of these five people are to be underestimated. Although things seem to be going well for the First Prince, the other four people probably still have tricks up their sleeves. Before the seventh onslaught comes, there'll definitely be a fierce battle.'
Just as Tyrant was thinking about these, Benjamin, who had white hair and brows and was sitting on him, said, "Oh, right. Where's Asto? Didn't he head to persuade Fang Xingjian to give in? Why isn't he back yet?"
One of the subordinates replied, "I don't know. I didn't see him."
Benjamin frowned and said, "Fang Xingjian is a talent, but it's just that he has a bad character." Benjamin thought, 'To think that Fang Xingjian managed to pick up the Astral Obscurity Sword in battle. He really can be said to be a great talent in sword arts.
'It's just that he is too rash and arrogant. To think that he would attack the base in the Eastern Sand Region directly, and even take away the test subject. A person with such a character will probably be unwilling to submit to others, yet His Highness still wants to subjugate him. Although His Highness is benevolent, chances of Fang Xingjian giving in is probably very low.'
Thinking of this, a hint of killing intent appeared in Benjamin's heart. 'A mere barbarian from uncivilized territory acting so arrogantly after picking up the paths of Knights, paying no regard to the country's laws and regulations. He really is rapacious.
'It's fine if he gives in to Asto this time around. If he doesn't, it's best for the two of us to join forces and get rid of him as soon as possible.'
Under Benjamin, Tyrant thought, 'Fang Xingjian told me to come and teach Benjamin a lesson so that he will step out from the conflicts in the Great Western Region completely. Yet, he doesn't allow me to kill him.’
Thinking of this, waves of greed soared in Tyrant's heart. Ever since he had eaten two Divine level experts consecutively, his craving to engulf the bodies of experts had risen.
According to what Fang Qian had said, Benjamin was at least a Demigod with three tiers of perfection. This made Tyrant develop a great yearning to engulf him.
However, upon thinking of the people backing this guy up, including the First Prince, the Ancient Path of Hell's current Sect Master—the Abyss Lord, and the country's ruler who was the First Prince's father... Thinking of these three Divine level experts, Tyrant suppressed the greed in his heart.
'I better forget about it. Both Fang Xingjian and I are improving at a rapid rate during this period of time. With there being so much gold we can use, along with Fang Xingjian's plan to reveal the first five levels of mystical prints to all of his subordinates, it's better for us not to offend the royal family for now.
'I'll wait for a few months. By then, we will have improved tremendously and I'll have plenty of chances to eat them up.’
Thinking of this, Tyrant eventually decided to act according to his initial plan.
'Hehe, Fang Xingjian didn't place any restrictions on how I can teach you a lesson. You only have your poor luck to blame.'
Tyrant felt extremely proud of his own plan.
At the next moment, the chair transformed, and a tentacle rose from the surface of the chair, darting out toward Benjamin's body.
However, Benjamin was a Demigod with three tiers of perfection, just like Asto. His reaction was very quick, and in the same instant that Tyrant had transformed, Benjamin had already dashed up into the air.
With a loud boom, the roof of the entire luxurious manor was thrown off. Benjamin dashed up over 100 meters into the air, but he was still a step too slow.
It was because Tyrant had not just purely entered his body. Rather, he had seeped into Benjamin’s body on the cellular level.
Sensing the changes to the cells in his body, Benjamin instantly condensed his martial will and sent it attacking toward the flesh and blood Tyrant had taken over.
In void space, there seemed to be the sounds of intense clashes and collisions. Tyrant let out an agonizing cry.
'What a terrifying will! This old guy has neither relied on lucky encounters nor heavenly and earthly treasures. Instead, he trained himself up to this level, climbing up one step at a time.'
With just this collision, the flesh and blood which Tyrant had taken over was reduced by 30%.
Although Tyrant had trained up his martial will, he had started off from being a Mage to begin with, so a fight of wills was not what he excelled in.
Benjamin let out a cold snort and was just about to continue sending out willpower impacts when his countenance suddenly changed.
'Hehehehe, although my will is a far cry from yours, you're too indecisive and reserved. If you had abandoned the parts of your body, which I took over, right from the very start...
'Or if you had decided to go all out right from the beginning and changed the battle location, you might still have been able to make it.
'But now, it's too late.'
As thoughts ran through each of their minds, Tyrant, who had taken up a part of Benjamin's stomach walls, made his move. In that instant, the Gates of the Netherworld was opened fully, and the stuff inside gushed in wildly into Benjamin's stomach.
Simultaneously, the auras of 1,440 specialty seeds rose. The physical attributes Tyrant had obtained after engulfing two Divine level experts were unleashed explosively to their full potential, temporarily stopping Benjamin's movements.
When Benjamin sensed the things which were filling up his stomach, his eyes seemed like they were spewing flames and he felt as if he was going crazy.
The things which Tyrant had filled up Benjamin's stomach with was actually feces. Tyrant had taken out the gold stored in the Gates of the Netherworld and replaced them with feces.
Right now, his entire Gates of the Netherworld was filled to the brim with feces. The feces, which was no less than 100 meters in height, width, and length, was filling up Benjamin's stomach.
Benjamin felt like he was going to go crazy. To think that someone would use a dimensional storage equipment to store something like that! Moreover, to use that for attacking! Was this guy an idiot?
Although Benjamin was raging, he had no idea why he could not help but think... After storing something like this into the dimensional storage equipment, would the other party still dare to store things inside it in the future?