Chapter 105: Execution Ground
Translator: Wuxia Dog Editor: Wuxia Dog
Execution Ground
“In conclusion, Ronning has committed the most heinous crime and cannot be forgiven. I, the mayor of the Tenth Town, hereby sentence him to death and to be executed immediately!” A lanky and solemn middle-aged man in a red robe stood up, “What else do you want to say, Ronning?”
On the scaffold was a handsome young man, looking totally different from what Han Jin had imagined. It was said that Ronning was the youngest general in Beitman. He had joined the army when he was only thirteen and was promoted to the captain of a small force when he was fifteen. At the age of seventeen, he earned the favor of Knight Conrad and was promoted to the position of Captain of the First Cavalry Regiment. It was at that time that Conrad publicly declared that Ronning was his best successor.
Such experiences were rare even in the standards of legendary figures on the continent. Ronning became famous so young that after Conrad passed away due to illness, the castellans very easily prevented him from succeeding Conrad. Their excuse seemed very reasonable. They said Ronning was only twenty-one years old and was too young to convince the public!
Han Jin had been told many legendary stories about Ronning these past few days, and in each, Ronning was described as a persistent and dauntless young man. Thus Han Jin thought he must have looked very mature. But the truth astonished him. In Moxinke’s words, Ronning was only a little bit inferior to Raphael in terms of appearances, except for his over-rigid expression. In that aspect, Raphael was much more kind-looking.
What Moxinke had said was in fact nonsense. Who would still smile happily and warmly while being tied up and sentenced to death?
“Do you have anything else to say, Ronning?” the solemn middle-aged man repeated.
Ronning only let out a cold snort and closed his eyes slightly. The two warriors behind him let out sighs of relief. In order to prevent him from saying something adverse, the execution team had put a circular wire on his neck, one end of which hung on his back. Two warriors would only need to give it a little tug to stop his breathing, let alone his words.
Ronning knew the situation he was in very well. He knew it was useless to struggle or cry, thus he only closed his eyes and waited to die.
Just at this moment, waves of marching sounds came from outside the town. All the nobles and officers on the bench were slightly stunned. The spectators below started to whisper.
“My lord, we have a problem!” A ragged-armed soldier rushed into the execution grounds on his battle steed in a hurry, “The first and second cavalry regiments are coming!”
“The Riptide Regiment?” The solemn middle-aged man paused for a moment, “Execute him immediately! What are you waiting for?!” he shouted all of a sudden.
Several warriors pushed Ronning to the center of the scaffold. One of them grabbed the rope and placed it around Ronning’s neck. It would’ve been much easier if Ronning was a civilian. A simple decapitation would be over in an instant. However, Ronning was the son of the former vice regimental commander of the Riptide Regiment. As a son of a military family, he was sentenced to a public hanging. This was to leave him a complete body; a more decent death than decapitation…
But the moment the warrior put the rope on Ronning’s neck, the upper end of it hung down softly. The surface of the cross-section was very neat. The rope must have been cut by someone. But before the warrior could shout out, the sounds of two men chatting floated into his ears.
“See? I was right” a good-looking young man said.
“So? This is trivial. Can you guess how many pieces of bread I will eat tonight?” a tall and sturdy man was unconvinced and shouted.
“None!” The young man’s expression suddenly turned cold, “How dare you, Thomas!” he snapped, “You know Reg now controls the entire Riptide Regiment and is coming with his knights, yet you still dare to kill his best friend? Aren’t you afraid of him flattening the entirety of the Tenth Town?!”
A group of warriors had rushed up to Han Jin and Moxinke with weapons in hand. On the bench opposite to the scaffold, two magicians also started to chant their incantations. But Han Jin’s words stunned them all.
“Reg?” Thomas’ face turned livid, but soon he sneered, “How dare he?! The commander of the Riptide Regiment’s cavalry regiment is General Rudolph, not Reg! Guards! Kill these criminals!”
Warriors on and off the scaffold all started shouting, but none dared to actually charge Han Jin and Moxinke. Even the magicians were trying to stall time. They might be lying, but the approaching sounds of marching were definitely real!
“Idiot. Do you think Reg is like his father?” this said, Han Jin made a gesture. Moxinke took Ronning away from the scaffold immediately, “Knight Conrad was a righteous man throughout his life, but what end did he meet? Even his grave was defiled and dug up. Do you think Reg will repeat the mistakes of his father after seeing all these!?”
While Han Jin was shouting at them, Moxinke was untying Ronning hurriedly. Ronning was going to say something, but Moxinke winked at him, indicating that he should hold his tongue.
Just then, hundreds of knights rushed into the execution ground like a tornado. At the forefront was Reg. Several hundreds of the knights left the main road and ran to the other streets.
The crowd around the scaffold dispersed in a flurry. Reg looked up at Ronning, and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly. He moved forward on his steed. Ronning was also looking at Reg, excitement filling his face and eyes.
“Stop! This… this is the execution ground, you cannot approach!” The executioner braced himself and stood in the way of Reg.
Reg looked down at him, his smile becoming even wider. He waved his hand and a knight beside him dashed out on a steed, “You can fuck right off!” Before the sound of the curse died away, the head of the executioner flew into the sky. The one to be executed was still alive, but the executioner met his death first. How ironic it was!
Both Thomas and Ronning were dumbstruck. They couldn’t believe their own eyes.
“Are you mad, Reg?!” an officer sitting next to Thomas jumped to his feet and growled.
“No. I am not mad at all. On the contrary, my mind is very clear right now.” Reg was still smiling, “But when I found out there is a certain group of people scheming to murder my brother, I might have acted a little dramatically. That is… understandable, don’t you think?”
“Reg, start talking normally! Who do you think is scheming against your brother?!” Thomas shouted. He knew he should not admit his mistake at this time, otherwise, things would become even more out of control. “Ronning deserves the death penalty! He…”
“My ass! In our Ninth Town, I can’t even count how many ladies are chasing our captain! Rape? I’ll show your mother what’s rape!”
“Bullshit! I say the woman in your Tenth Town raped our captain! Call her up and clear this whole mess! Let’s see who the real rapist is!”
“Our captain was with us all those days. How would’ve it been possible for him to come to the Tenth Town and rape a woman? Fuck you! Besides, do you think our captain would resort to rape to get a woman?”
“Young marshal, don’t listen to them. It was a trap! Kill them…”
The knights’ shouts started to get louder and louder, and all their complaints turned into two words eventually, “Kill them!”
The nobles and officers present all paled drastically. Reg made a gesture, and the knights’ howling suddenly stopped. A strange expression flashed across Ronning’s eyes. He knew instantly that Reg had gained a very strong command of the soldiers.
“Framing my brother for rape is… simply absurd,” Reg laughed. His tone was mild, as if he was just putting forward some well-meaning criticism, “I grew up with him, and know clearly that he has never been short of women. On the contrary, he has been having headaches about women trying to seduce him since ten! Rape… haha. May I ask who plotted this? Don’t worry. I am just so curious about this. I mean no harm.”
The faces of those sitting on the bench all turned dreadfully pale. They knew that it was General Rudolph’s idea to frame Ronning, and they knew even better that Ronning was completely innocent.
“You have no right to talk to me like this! Where is Rudolph? Tell him to see me!” Thomas yelled.
“You want to see him?” Reg’s expression turned strange, “Honestly, talking to me is the same.”
“Talking to you? Who do you think you are?” Thomas cast a scornful glance at Reg. Now that he had already offended Reg, it made no difference to offend him more. In his mind, Reg and Ronning could at most trick the soldiers from the first and second cavalry regiments to start a scuffle, while Rudolph was the commander of the whole cavalry force. He must be able to put down these two rowdy bastards. Even if he could not, there were other commanders. Conrad had been dead for years, what power could Reg have at this point?!
Reg let out a slight sigh and dismounted. He walked straight towards the bench. His smile was still kind, but Ronning could sense his murderous intent. He knew Reg seldom showed any emotion on his face, but today, he had smiled too much.
An officer next to Thomas stepped forward hurriedly and blocked Reg’s way. His hand rested on his sword hilt.
The knights around all unsheathed their swords and pressed on towards the bench. The officer was frightened and moved a few steps back immediately. The two magicians were sitting there timidly like two obedient lambs.
“What… what are you doing?” Thomas stepped back and asked nervously.
“To send you to General Rudolph. You wanted to talk to him, didn’t you? I know where he is.”
“What?! You killed him?!” Thomas was so shocked it looked as if he had been struck by lightning.
“I had no other choice. He colluded with Zaganide. Tell me… did he deserve to die?” Reg clenched his teeth. This was one of his father’s supposed crimes that had caused his grave to be defiled.
The other officers wanted to say something, but they all turned as mute as statues when they heard that Rudolph had been killed. If Reg even dared to kill Rudolph, what else wouldn’t he do?!