Cthulhu Gonfalon

As the sun rose to the zenith at noon, the meeting was held as scheduled.

A white-haired noble aristocrat spoke first; he was a baron nearby. Although the title was not high, he had a scarily old age and high seniority. Including the late Sir Geerteng, even the oldest aristocrat in this area must respectfully call him “uncle.” In addition, he lived in the neighborhood, so he was most familiar with the situation of Geerteng. It was indeed quite appropriate for him to be the host.

The old man stood up quivering, and slowly recounted the glorious history and prosperity of the current situation of Geerteng. His rhetoric was quite sonorous and powerful: Don’t judge by appearance.

However, he was completely talking about nonsense. The viscounts of Geerteng in history were mostly not good at management, so did a glorious history have anything to do with this territory at all?! Could this place be described as prosperous as now that the fields were strewn with corpses of the starved?

“The old man is lying through his teeth! How can a territory be described as prosperous if there are people starving to death?” Sui Xiong was angry. “As he talks nonsense, isn’t this old man afraid of being sent to the hell after death?”

“For the aristocrats, there is prosperity as long as the nobility maintains the decency,” said Ray sneering. “Maybe he doesn’t have to go to the hell thanks to his old age. He is dedicated to retaining the aristocratic glory at such an old age, so most likely he will be taken to the Holy Kingdom of Noble Maids.”

“Accepting such a person? The God of Aristocrats isn’t picky at all!”

“Good gods accept good people, while evil gods accept evil people. Like attracts like,” Ray said lightly. “Is the Noble Maid herself a good one?”

Sui Xiong sighed wordlessly. Until now, he could not understand why people in this world would worship evil gods – evil gods and demons, are they different? Anyway, they seemed to be the same to him…

On the high platform, the old baron slowly introduced the background of the story, and then finally changed the topic into important things.

The former viscount of Geerteng died of an acute illness. The time between him falling ill and his death was very short, and there had been no time to soberly explain his will before the funeral. His succession was vacant because he did not have an heir or appoint an heir before his death. In theory, every descendant of the Geerteng family was eligible to compete for the right of succession.

When the old viscount was alive, Steele was the only one of the younger generation among his close relatives, and people felt that Steele was rightly the heir to the throne. However, when he suddenly died, a b*stard of his appeared from an unknown place, and he also held a set of good evidence that was enough to prove his identity.

Until then, people suddenly realized – it was no wonder that the old viscount had refused to explicitly grant the right of succession to Steeler because he had also hidden a b*stard!

Obviously, the old viscount wanted to pass the title to this b*stard. It was only that he had not yet found a suitable opportunity to let this b*stard appear in broad daylight.

In accordance with the rules, recognized b*stards had the right of succession. The secret document left by the old viscount did acknowledge the identity of this child, and so he had the right of succession. Had it not been too late for him to appear, the title would have been passed directly to Steele in the absence of the recognition from the old viscount.

So now the situation of the territory of Geerteng was awkward. On the one hand, it was a longstanding natural successor, and on the other hand, a more legitimate successor who had never been recognized, and the two sides couldn’t compromise. If the problem couldn’t be properly solved, a civil war was possible.

Of course, if not for Ray, Steele would have died long ago, and no one would end up supporting a stupid woman who could not do anything but seduce men even she was alive. She was, in fact, was not stupid at all, but was quite scheming.

Or the problem could be considered from another angle. If Steele didn’t have such a bad style and notorious fame, there would have long been aristocrats to propose marriage to her and support her. Once winning the support of an aristocrat whose status was no lower than the viscount of Geerteng, she could surely have the right of succession. A b*stard who had not been publicly acknowledged wouldn’t be qualified to compete with her for support.

All in all, it was a coincidence!

Although the old baron spoke slowly, he spoke clearly and explained the cause and effect of the matter in a long-winded way. He also specifically asked the aristocrats and representatives participating in the meeting, and finally ended his statement after making sure he had been understood by all.

Next, it was the fight for the right of succession between the two. This contention of the right of succession came in two forms: one of violence and another of non-violence.

Needless to say, the one of violence was a duel between the two sides, and the winner inherited the title. The loser should immediately get out of the place if they hadn’t died, and they should be deprived of the surname and lose their aristocratic status.

Sui Xiong was looking forward to a fight because the scene would look spectacular. However, the fight over the right of succession must be participated in by the people involved and they should not be replaced by others. Neither Romon nor Steele wanted to risk their lives fighting against each other, so a fight was unlikely.

In view of this, Romon actually also lacked courage. A cheater was also a bard and was an authentic adventurer. He not only had eloquence but also good fighting skills. If he had a one to one fight with others, then a trained and fully armored warrior might not defeat him, let alone an ordinary strongman. In contrast, even if Steele had learned some aristocratic fencing skills, how could she be his opponent?

However, Romon did not think so. In his view, as a person with a high IQ, he should use his wisdom instead of force to win the victory. Just as Liu Bang, a famous Chinese emperor, said, “I would rather engage in a battle of wits than that of force” – it would be a great loss if he died because of his rash choice of participating in a duel!

As for Steele, she certainly did not want to fight. Actually, she practiced martial arts and had a gorgeous aristocratic fencing skill. She would absolutely amaze all the guests at a banquet by showing a sword dance, and hunting was also easy for her. But forget having a duel with Romon, a tough man who was gallant enough to scheme to seek nobility, because in that way she seemed to be courting death…

Since both sides refused to fight, then, of course, they could only launch a fight of non-violence.

The fight of non-violence was similar to the debates on earth. First, both parties should make their own statements in turns and make sure to make clear their own advantages and the shortcomings of the other side. Then they should debate and expose each other’s faults and then attack one another. They were expected to pour out a current of comments and rebuttals at full blast. It was best for them to be able to scold the opponents so that the opponents directly suffered myocarditis because of their scolding. If it was hard to tell which side was better in the debate, it should be the present aristocrats’ and representatives’ turn to make an appraisal and select the winner to inherit the noble title. The loser should still leave and be deprived of their aristocratic status.

Since the participants dared to fight for the right of succession, they must be ready to lose all their things. Failure applied to all parts of their life after the game.

The first one to make a statement was Romon. He deserved the title of a senior cheater: he talked with eloquence and vividness about his status as a b*stard who couldn’t have been known publicly due to his bad origin. His explanation for his striving for the right of succession was that he did not want a sl*tty woman insulting the reputation of the Geerteng family. It was not out of selfishness.

This reason really seemed marvelous, and he spoke out sternly from a sense of justice which especially enhanced his persuasion. He greatly moved many aristocrats who had a good relationship with the late Viscount through his handsome appearance after makeup and his temperament that was similar to the late Viscount.

The fact that the late Viscount had a b*stard was not a secret. Although few people knew in the territory, some of his best friends probably knew it. Perhaps he was the last resort of the late Viscount because some old friend could still support his own son if he accidentally died.

However, it had never occurred to him that Romon had blunderingly killed his son. Romon also posed as his b*stard in order to seize his territory.

Those aristocrats had always been ready to support the old friend’s son. Now seeing that this b*stard was not only imposing but also rather had the old friend’s temperament, they could not help but be moved for unknown reasons. An old man with strong sentiments could not help but burst into tears and muttered to himself, “They are too alike!

Uh, it was for sure that they were alike, for Romon was professional. Even if the real b*stard of the late Viscount had been here, Romon would likely be more genuine!

Of course, the more important reason was that the “respectable” old aristocrat had already gained advantages from Romon and ensured him of the position of viscount.

There were a lot of similar situations. Anyway, a total of at least 1/3 of the people present at the meeting were either bought off by Romon or had reached an agreement with Romon in secret. This is what had been discovered these days by Sui Xiong.

The one wiping tears with his handkerchief was good at acting, and that one separated by a few seats from the former was especially strong. Those two marquises from the capital of the Commonwealth of Gold Coins, who were also representatives of this meeting, perhaps provided a strong external assistance. Also, there were a few people who had many commercial exchanges with the territory of Geerteng…

Sui Xiong found after a careful calculation that it was no wonder that Romon was so confident. The highly respectable predecessors supported him; the masters with good fighting skills supported him; the marquises of the highest rank of the whole commonwealth supported him, and the business partners who had a close relationship with the territory of Geerteng supported him… If not for the necessary process of the fight for the aristocratic succession and for the inviolable sacredness of the fight on the high platform, Sui Xiong thought there would be no need to hold a meeting, and it sufficed for him to directly declare who was the successor.

Master! Romon was indeed a master!

In contrast, Steele’s performance was much worse. Although she also spoke well and emphasized that she was the only heir to the title for a long time, she said that the title being inherited by her not only accorded with aristocratic practices but would also maintain the peace and stability of the territory better than having an outside leader. But it could be seen that she did not have much confidence because when she was talking her eyes flashed a bit, and she looked to Ray’s side from time to time as if only by seeing the strong figure of the knight wearing black armor could she maintain her courage.

It was even worse that she had only won the support of few of these aristocrats and representatives. Almost no one showed their support to her in advance, except for a few Geerteng locals or someone who had an unknown relationship with her. And even those who supported her in advance felt themselves more or less wavering in their support of her when seeing her performance.

But there was no solution because comparison hurt. There was a really big gap between the two sides in view of their comparison!

Honestly, if there was no choice, Steele could also be a successor who was not bad, and a bad style of conduct was nothing for the nobility. When her Majesty the Noble Maid was still an ordinary person, she had a style of conduct no better than Steele’s. At most, she hadn’t had sex with demon beasts– Steele was really admirable since she even dared have sex with demon beasts…

However, given the fact that Romon was apparently a far better candidate, Steele, as an eccentric person, would be better to not have shame on record as a viscount. She should just be herself secretly and silently so that she wouldn’t irritate others who had a fragile heart.

As a result, even when the debate had not yet begun, most aristocrats and representatives had already secretly made a decision.

Seeing two guests coming onto the stage, Sui Xiong felt like he was sitting in the audience of the Chinese show If You Are The One. Romon came onto the stage, and by saying a few words he made those female guests, who stared at him firmly like hungry wolves, focus their eyes and leap out of joy as if they wanted to tear and devour Romon. And Steele… when she came onto the stage, male guests started to put their hands on the button that would turn off their light, looking around at each other and waiting for the first one to press the button to turn off his light.

The gap was so obvious!