Chapter 1133: Ends Just Like That
In particular, Bradlor had already fully shown how much he valued the Breezy Plains’ envoys by holding such a grand welcome ceremony for them previously. Delano’s behavior was a disrespect to him, the king, and to put it more seriously, he had deliberately sabotaged the plans of the Gilded Kingdom, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was a sinner of the kingdom.
Upon hearing Bradlor’s words, High Priest Poer immediately tensed up, and thought to himself, Is Bradlor really planning to put my son’s life on the line to please this country bumpkin named Felic!?
High Priest Poer was getting all worried and anxious. Fortunately, Elder Zumar frantically chimed in, “Yeah, Poer, you do need to take your son in hand and discipline him when you go back.”
High Priest Poer was about to argue with Bradlor about it, but he immediately figured everything out after hearing Elder Zumar’s words. Logically speaking, Delano had committed a huge sin that would warrant him a few years of jail time. However, King Bradlor and Elder Zumar told Poer to just take Delano home and discipline him, which meant that it was not a punishment.
“If the three of you don’t have any other questions, I will announce the conclusion of the matter.” King Bradlor glanced at the three Sanctuary powerhouses who were seated at the sides, and said, “This time, the cause of the incident was Delano’s willfulness and presumptuous behavior, which caused such a huge loss to the Fifth Fleet. Hence, he is no longer suitable to continue serving as the commander of the Fifth Fleet. From today onwards, Delano will be stripped of all his positions and reflect on himself behind closed doors at home[1]. I’ll only let him out after he has changed his nature. As for the damage to your reputation, President Felic, we will next compensate you to your satisfaction in the cooperation negotiations. Do any of you have an opinion about this?”
He had to admit that Bradlor was really worthy of being the king of a nation as he could tolerate what ordinary people could not. The Fifth Fleet was almost destroyed, but he still said he’d give Lin Li compensation for the damage done to his reputation. In fact, he was just buying Delano’s life from Lin Li in hopes that Lin Li would not pursue the matter against Delano.
Lin Li did not care if Delano was going to be dead or alive. After all, Delano was just an insignificant nobody to him. In fact, the matter was that Delano had caused the Gilded Kingdom to suffer a great loss, while Lin Li did not lose anything. On the other hand, exchanging the life of a nobody for the sake of the Gilded Kingdom’s future was not too bad of a deal.
Hence, Lin Li nodded with a smile, and said, “Fine, since His Majesty Bradlor said so, I won’t pursue this matter any further. I just hope that nothing like this will happen again.”
“Don’t worry, President Felic, this will definitely not happen again in the future,” Elder Zumar hurriedly assured. What a joke, Delano had already caused a huge trouble and ruined the Fifth Fleet. If not for the fact that his father was High Priest Poer, he would have probably been executed. With this experience, even a fool would know what to do and what not to do.
No matter what, there was at least a conclusion for the matter. Although King Bradlor was obviously biased toward the other side, Lin Li would not be bothered to hold it against them, as long as he did not suffer a disadvantage.
Of course, King Bradlor was the one who was the most dejected. Not only had the Fifth Fleet been destroyed, Lin Li even got a hold against him which made it difficult for him to have the upper hand in future negotiations. However, there was nothing that could be done, because Delano was the son of High Priest Poer, and Lin Li’s attitude would affect the future development of the Gilded Kingdom.
High Priest Poer also felt a little sorry towards Bradlor as his son was too incompetent, and ended up ruining the Fifth Fleet. Besides, he also made Bradlor pay a huge price. However, Poer did not blame everything on his own son; deep down, he still felt that the one who was truly responsible for this matter was the Tower of Dusk’s President Felic and the country bumpkins of the Breezy Plains.
However, High Priest Poer also knew that the attitude of President Felic of the Tower of Dusk was very important to the development of the Gilded Kingdom in the Breezy Plains. It was probably going to be very difficult to regain their pride.
By the time High Priest Poer returned to his home, Delano, who had been knocked out by his slap, had also been sent back earlier on.
Delano had been waiting for his father to return in a bid to find out how things had turned out since he regained consciousness. He did not care what happened to the Fifth Fleet, but the loss of his prestige was infuriating for him. He had merely detained their ship, and yet Lin Li destroyed his entire fleet and his subordinates. It was akin to receiving a harsh beating for hurling an insult.
“Father, how did it go? Is His Majesty going to war with the Breezy Plains!?” Delano could not imagine what kind of consequences there would be if the Gilded Kingdom and the Breezy Plains went to war, but he hoped that he could teach those country bumpkins a hard lesson.
Upon hearing Delano’s words, High Priest Poer was so furious that he raised his arm in a bid to hit him, but after doing so, he didn’t commit to the slap. Retracting his hand after a long time, he exclaimed in exasperation, “How dare you have the cheek to ask about this? Aren’t we already in enough trouble?”
Initially, Delano was truly frightened by his father’s intention to slap him, but after seeing that his father did not really hit him, he got a little braver, and said, “Father, I know I was at fault, but I didn’t expect him to have that stuff on his ship. Moreover, that Felic really went overboard, if he had informed me earlier that he had those things, I would have just released his ship right away. However, he chose to send a monster to snatch his ship back without even giving me the time to react. I bet he did it on purpose because he wanted to use this chance to assert his dominance.”
“So what? Can you use your brains and think twice before acting in the future? The Fifth Fleet is in a jeopardy because of you, and I ended up embarrassing myself in front of His Majesty too. Don’t bring this up again and stay at home for a while. If you dare to go out again, I will break your legs.” Although High Priest Poer was aware that he had indeed spoiled his son rotten, it was only normal for fathers to spoil their children. Hence, although he was angry on the surface, and even thought about how he should deal with Delano, he ended up just lecturing him.
“However, Father, the Fifth Fleet is already in such a sorry state. As the commander, I ought to go in and take a look.” Refusing to be kept at home, Delano was just using the Fifth Fleet as an excuse to go out. His main motive was to go look for a few friends to vent his anger.
“Fifth Fleet?” Hearing this, High Priest Poer flew into a rage, and pointed at Delano’s nose while lecturing, “How dare you mention the Fifth Fleet? His Majesty has already removed you from all your positions, so you’d better stay at home and reflect.”
“What!? Why? What about that fellow named Felic? What compensation did His Majesty demand from him?” Although he didn’t care what happened to the Fifth Fleet, the position of fleet commander was still very enticing to Delano.
Delano asked again and again before he finally found out from his father about the final outcome of the matter. He didn’t expect to be stripped of his title and that the king would even want to compensate Lin Li. He felt that there was no ground for that at all, as there was no reason for them to have to compensate the culprit who had caused such heavy damages to his fleet.
Delano would’ve been able to accept the outcome if he had merely been stripped of his position as the commander of the Fifth Fleet as it would be pointless given how ruined the Fifth Fleet was. However, after hearing that Lin Li had not only failed to compensate for the loss of the Fifth Fleet, but even asked the Gilded Kingdom to compensate him, Delano found it intolerable.
Delano wasn’t being patriotic. After all, he also knew that he was the one who’d caused the trouble, and if the news of the kingdom having to compensate others for that matter spread, he would not be able to hold his head high in the circle in the future.
After thinking for a long time, Delano still couldn’t come up with any solutions. However, he thought of someone, and that was Cantory who’d given him the advice to seek help from his father. Initially, High Priest Poer felt rather embarrassed by that matter, but Delano could not afford to think so much. He only thought that since his father intervened and made them stop attacking the Fifth Fleet, Cantory’s idea was obviously very useful. Hence, Delano thought of Cantory this time again, and wanted to ask him for some ideas to vent his anger.
The so-called reflection was actually just an excuse. Lin Li would not really send his people to keep a close eye on Delano to see if he was really reflecting at home. Hence, there wasn’t any difference between Delano’s situation now and in the past. He left home freely, and headed to the chancellor’s residence to seek help from Cantory.
Soon, Delano left the residence in high spirits, as if he had already gotten some amazing idea from Cantory. After returning home, he did not delay at all, and simply asked the servant before scurrying away to look for his father.
“Didn’t I tell you to lock yourself up and reflect on yourself? How dare you have the courage to wander about?” High Priest Poer was reading a magic book, and his face turned sullen when he saw his son Delano barging in.
However, Delano was not frightened by his father’s scolding, and instead went forth with a sheepish smile. “Father, I’ve already thought of a solution.”
“You’ve thought of a solution? What solution? What kind of trouble are you trying to get me into again!?” High Priest Poer couldn’t help but feel a headache as he thought, Why can’t my son just be quiet for a few days?
“Father, simmer down, I have thought of a way to make that Felic bow down to us.” Delano did not mention that Cantory was the one who told him about it, and instead took all the credit for it.
“Okay, the matter will end here. Stop creating trouble for me. I’m warning you, you’d better stay at home during this period of time and not go out to provoke that group of people from the Breezy Plains.” Of course, High Priest Poer did not believe that his incompetent son would be able to think of any solution. He would probably just create a mess again like he had before. If the same thing happened again, even Poer would not have the cheek to continue being the High Priest.
“No, Father, we don’t have to intervene this time,” Deputy Chairman hurriedly explained. Before his father said anything, he hurriedly added, “Father, I’ve already heard about it. The Tower of Dusk belonging to Felic is actually supposed to be called the Breezy Plains Guild of Magic, which is under the sanction of the Supreme Council. Aren’t you very close to Chairman Rosen of the Supreme Council? As long as you write a letter to him, I believe that Felic will have to apologize to us once Chairman Rosen intervenes.”
High Priest Poer could not help but frown, and he chided in annoyance, “Enough, stop getting involved in this matter and go back to your room immediately. This time, if you don’t reach level-19, don’t even think about stepping out of your room again!”
“Ah!” Upon hearing his father’s words, Delano’s face instantly turned sullen, and he wanted to say something, but didn’t have the guts to. He had no choice but to leave his father’s study while turning his head to look with every step he took.
However, after Delano left, a smile graced High Priest Poer’s face. Although he acted as if he had already let the matter go, he could not really let it go, and he was well aware of it himself.
He might have already become a Sanctuary powerhouse, but Sanctuary powerhouses were still humans who were inherently competitive. Even the gods in the myths and legends would fight brutally over trivial matters. Although High Priest Poer had already accepted the conclusion given by King Bradlor, he had been overwhelmed with fury.
They were all Sanctuary powerhouses, but why did he have to suffer such a huge loss? Not only was the Fifth Fleet destroyed for nothing, they even had to compensate Lin Li! Although the compensation was the decision of King Bradlor, High Priest Poer could not take it that he wasn’t involved. His son was the one who’d caused the trouble, but did not have enough power to suppress the man named Felic. In the end, King Bradlor had to compensate Lin Li, and that was an utter embarrassment to High Priest Poer!
Although Poer did not care about what Delano said, he also felt that it was a good idea. Felic might be a Sanctuary powerhouse, but he was also the president of the Guild of Magic under the Supreme Council. Hence, he probably could not reject the orders of the deputy chairman of the Supreme Council!
[1] Basically house arrest.