Cthulhu Gonfalon

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

A single suitor didn't have much energy. However, when dozens of suitors worked together to investigate, the energy was amazing.

Even the poorest suitors had at least three or five subordinates. If they didn't have such wealth, could they marry a female baron with a territory? Only in their dreams.

Some powerful suitors such as Connor and Drucker even had dozens of subordinates. If added up, the dozens of suitors at least had 300 or 400 subordinates in total. Many of those subordinates had no ability, so they just ran errands. However, there were also many subordinates who had some abilities. If they really worked together, even a powerful earl couldn't resist it if he was off guard, let alone a baron.

In the past, they had naturally been hostile competitors, so it had been impossible to cooperate. But now, at least for the purpose of "investigation," they cooperated.

All of the people in this group acted, and their generated power was amazing. After just over an hour, Drucker got some actual news first. Then he spread the news in accordance with the established plan. It took less than half an hour, and all the suitors knew the time and place of the wine party.

There was no doubt that when the party began, a lot of uninvited "guests" would appear.

"These people are really amazing!" In the study of the Baron House, Crick smiled after listening to Rafael's report. He said to Romon, "Although we originally intended to leak the news, their actions were much faster than we had expected."

"Since they have the confidence to occupy our possessions, they must have some abilities," Romon answered, sneering. "Unfortunately, they are too greedy! It is necessary for the fakers to know that greed is the biggest taboo. This time, they will be killed by their own greed!"

They talked a little, and then Ryder rushed in with a gloomy face. After entering the door, he immediately said with anger, "My lord, one more died! That hybrid wolf has totally crossed the line!"

The smile on Crick's face disappeared, and his eyes showed a dangerous glare.

After a few seconds of silence, he said to Ryder, sighing, "You, go to the girl's family. Comfort and compensate them well."

Ryder didn't answer but just looked at him.

Crick understood the meaning of this subordinate, so he said, smiling, "Don't worry. Just let them wait a few days. Just a few days later, and I will let them see the dead body of the wolf."

Ryder was relieved. He bowed and hurriedly turned away.

"Your subordinate is really good," praised Romon, who had just been silent. "You don't need to worry about him. Such a person will never betray you."

"I always believe in them," Crick said, smiling. "As for literacy, at best, I can compose some bad operas that will make the audience fall asleep. As for martial arts, probably, I can fight against a group of goblins. As for spells, I can become a magic apprentice, and that's the top. As for acting, you will think I'm too stupid if I work as your assistant. Probably I'm only good at politics, and that's all.

"You see, I'm such a bad person, but I built up the barony. The key is that I am willing to trust them. I give them the positions that suit them best so that they can make the most of their talents."

Crick said, sighing softly, "What I worry most about Anna is that she probably can't continue to do this like me. If she asks Rafael to manage the economy, Shawn to manage the intelligence, Rena to manage the troops, Ryder to manage the diplomacy, and Layton to manage the defense… it will be a nightmare!"

Imagining this situation, Romon couldn't help but smile. He said, "That will be a tragedy!"

"Yes! The most terrible leader in the world is the one who is self-righteous and arranges work at his will," Crick said, sighing. "Qualified leaders should try hard to understand the talents of their subordinates and put them in suitable positions. Then, the rest of the work will be easy."

"It's easy to say, but it's hard to do."

"Yes. It's hard to do!" Crick couldn't help but sigh.

He was able to do this because he had an extraordinary talent after time traveling. He could directly see the attributes of others. However, his sister didn't have such a talent. How could she do this?

Difficult! Too difficult!

Romon realized that Crick was in a low mood, so he found a topic to divert his attention. He said, "Right, Lord Baron, why do you tolerate those guys making trouble in your territory?"

He had wanted to ask him this question for a long time. Crick was obviously a good lord who valued the territory and the people. So, how could he tolerate those bad suitors making trouble in Keane City? Some of those guys used both sticks and carrots to drive the residents out and occupied their houses. Some cheated and bluffed to disturb the order and affected the residents' lives. Some were criminals who simply liked to burn and rob. Even some murderous villains like Connor Griffon, the Beast of Griffon, were here too.

Normally, with Crick's temper, he should have fought with those people. Even a few of them should have been killed. How could those guys still be alive and continue to bring trouble to the residents of Keane City until now?

Hearing that, Crick was silent for a while. Then he said, sighing, "I know. But… if I want to take it, I have to give it first. If they don't let their guards down, I won't be sure to kill them all at once."

Romon suddenly understood why. In his heart, he couldn't help but admire the lord who led Keane Hill to the road of glory.

No wonder he had been able to come back from the horrible battlefield where even the gods had fallen. Although he felt bad and reluctant, he wasn't soft-hearted.

Usually, Crick looked harmless and gentle, which was obviously not acting. However, at the key moments, he could be cruel and cold. The contrast made people fear him.

The Keane family had originally been unremarkable, even to be occupied by others. Perhaps, only such a person as Crick could lead this family to overcome the difficulties step by step. He could make the territory more and more prosperous and finally led it to be famous in the world.

Unfortunately, he was dying. If he could live another 20 or 30 years, the achievements of the Keane family would definitely not be restricted to a baron, a viscount, and an earl. He could even do what the Grand Duke of Griffon had done. It was quite possible to split a piece from the Duchy of Thunder and build his own country!

What a pity!

Romon couldn't help but sigh again; then he asked, "What are you going do with them? Borrow power from my lord? Summon a demon or something else?"

It was definitely not an easy task to kill hundreds of people at a time, and there were many masters among those people. If some legendary strongmen did the task, they might not be able to do it neatly.

In this world, if someone wanted to do such things so efficiently that people wouldn't have an opportunity to find faults in the future, there could be only two ways: one was borrowing the Divine Power, and the other was to use the power of demons.

If he wanted to borrow Divine Power, the power of the Void Mask was naturally the most reliable. However, to be honest, Romon was not sure that he could convince his lord and ask him to lend his power to create a massacre. In his impression, His Majesty, the Void Mask, was brave and bellicose, but he was not a murderous god. Among those hundreds of people, some didn't commit capital crimes. With the Void Mask's temper, he might only kill the chief villains. At that time, facing those who were not killed, Romon's position might be a bit embarrassing.

Kill them? He would definitely violate the will of his god, which might make His Majesty unhappy.

Not kill them? He would definitely leave the Keane family with hidden danger. If the danger broke out, the entire Keane family might die.

In contrast, although it was dangerous and horrible to borrow power from demons, it was much simpler to deal with the aftermath. They just needed to try to get rid of those summoned demons, fighting them back into the abyss.

With his own skills and the power to summon His Majesty at the key moment, Romon believed that it should easy to do that.

However, the problem was that it was evil to summon demons. He didn't know whether Crick was willing or not to do it.

Hearing those words, Crick smiled slightly. He said, shaking his head, "Both the Divine Power and the demons will leave too obvious of a trace. I am not going to use those methods."

"What's your solution?" Romon asked curiously.

"An explosion," Crick answered.

"An explosion? Detonating magic crystals?" Romon thought for a while, then he advised, "The cost is too high, and the explosion speed of magic crystals is slow. Maybe some people will run away."

"Magic crystals? I won't use such mild things!" Crick said, smiling mysteriously. "I have prepared a super powerful explosive, and the power is definitely strong enough!"

"What?" Romon was stunned. He didn't understand what could explode so quickly and violently.

"This thing… I also spent a lot of time making it," Crick said. He looked up at the window and sighed deeply with a sad expression.

It had been really difficult.

It took him a lot of time and energy to make concentrated nitric acid and then glycerin, which he had also spent a lot of time on. When the two had combined at last, good luck had been really important during the process!

Fortunately, it was kind of simple. He had read the detailed manufacturing method in a novel that had been forbidden. With the fragmented information in his memory, he and Mage Damwade had secretly studied it for a long time. Finally, they had successfully made that thing whose name was inappropriate to mention.

The danger of that thing could be proven by Mr. Nobel. Crick had sealed the finished product in a man-made cold environment, and then he had stored it in a very reliable space pocket that was specially ordered. He had been very careful during the whole process to avoid detonating it.

He hadn't had any special plans to make that thing, and he really hadn't thought about using it to deal with someone. He had just felt that that thing might be useful someday. In fact, he had discovered that that thing had really been useless in this world. As for the power, it was no more powerful than the explosion of magic crystals. Moreover, it was more troublesome to detonate, and it was more difficult to store and produce. Therefore, it was no wonder that the world used magic crystals to explode stones. No one ever thought of inventing what Crick and Mage Damwade did.

However, that thing was the most suitable item to use in this occasion!

The explosion of this item was fast and powerful, and there was no magic reaction at all, so he didn't need to worry about being discovered.

Most importantly, in this world, he was the only one who truly understood its principles. Even Mage Damwade only knew "how" instead of "why." If he used it this time, and after his death, Mage Damwade went to live in the Void Mask Land, then no one could track it down no matter how great their abilities were!

That great invention had promoted the development of an era on the earth. However, in this world, it was only a flash in the pan. What a pity.

It would be a very beautiful flash, a triumph flash that would annihilate evilness!