32 The Misfortunes of Wealth Part 1 (1/2)
Following her transformation into a hellhound, Lena's human form experienced drastic changes. On top of flawless six-packs, a perfectly toned body, larger breasts, and a more luscious figure, her body now emitted a feral scent able to trigger the arousal of the feeble-minded.
At first, Kilian didn't pay her much attention, giving her the same treatment as every single one of his nanobot-controlled fehl shifters. But after producing the serum, and returning the 3,000 shifters to sanity, a hierarchy soon rose from their ranks. Although in terms of pure destructive strength, the fehl monsters stood on similar levels, their intelligence ultimately differed. And while the transformation sharpened their senses, it also deepened their initial disparities.
Of the batch of 3,000 shifters, Lena soon proved herself as one of the most competent, with devious cunning and leadership skills enabling her to subdue most of her peers. She also excelled at the fehl magic classes Kilian had Jezebel provide to strengthen the faction, and already was a top-level Lesser Emissary. Of course, such progress didn't have a significant impact on her overall strength—yet.
Better, her bellicose tendencies seemed to have grown more focused, only appearing in specific circumstances. For all those factors, Kilian made her Sheriff of Ostria, the highest position of the knyaz, his secret police composed uniquely of fehl shifters.
If the venandi and the boyars represented Kilian's main army and mightiest destructive forces, with the power to arbitrarily investigate and sentence any threat to Ostria, noble or not, the knyaz handled the more subtle side of Ostria's law enforcement. Across those past 3.5 months, more than one belligerent noble found himself vanishing from the face of Ostria, never to be found again.
But while Lena theoretically reported to him, Kilian often had Olaf act as the intermediary while he focused on other matters.
”Gr-greetings, lord justiciar. We have a situation I'm afraid cannot be solved by pure violence.” Though startled by Jezebel's ambiguous position on top of Kilian, Lena didn't lose decorum and spoke with a polite bow.
One of the first things Kilian had Olaf do was to publically take him as his twilight child, and create him Lord Justiciar—the supreme administrator of justice across Ostria. Although the methods differed, the move was very similar to how six years ago, Klaus forced King Erik to surrender him half his judiciary powers. In fact, in recent years, Klaus fully took control of the justice department.
”Oh? You mean the gathering of dukes and marquises?” Kilian nonchalantly asked. From his goddesses, saintesses and other information channels, he'd already gained an accurate picture of the brewing resentment within Orloth's high nobility. And seeing that Kilian was already aware of the situation, Lena didn't delay.
”Indeed, as your excellency knows, for the past three months, the resentment of Orloth's high nobility has been skyrocketing. Though at first, they managed to keep a semblance of composure, the months spent in the company of the angels, saintesses, and goddesses, made them increasingly more restless,” Lena pursued. Even before the Celestial Garden officially opened its doors, Kilian had no doubt in its success. But for the same reason, he didn't attempt to scale up to the Arcadian Empire. The reason was beauty.
Exotic drugs, beverages, and mind-blowing games aside, the true appeal of the Celestial Garden lay in the otherworldly beauty of its girls. Even for those noblemen that'd seen all kinds of beauties, they simply were irresistible. The goddesses, in particular, could snatch the souls of any one of those conceited aristocrats with a single smile.
In fact, although they still fell a bit short, Kilian used Jezebel as the template for the goddesses. However, too much was as bad as not enough, and it wouldn't take a genius to realize that those girls had been remodeled into their current images of celestial perfection. Naturally bred humans simply couldn't possess such appeal. Even the best Flesh Sculptors of the empire couldn't individually accomplish this.
And naturally, those high ranking nobles couldn't believe that a mere Olaf possessed the resources to accomplish such a project—unless of course he obtained the assistance of some extraordinary biomancer backed by hundreds of Flesh Sculptors. This was the only explanation they could come up with, a thought that filled them all with envy.
At the end of the day, though decades of tyrannical rule enabled him to amass wealth surpassing the average count, as a viscount, Olaf still was lesser nobility. Worse, his own strength was limited to low-level Core Emissary.
How could those high-ranking nobles endure the thought of losing themselves in the arms of his possession? Of becoming the whales he made millions of? No, either they took the Celestial Garden from him, or they seized the means to create their own!
”Now, with the stance of an admonishing elder, the Duke of Verden is leading a coalition of five dukes and 12 marquises, demanding the appearance of the viscount. Undoubtedly, they plan to force the secrets out of his lips.” Ralph von Verden, the Duke of Verden, was the head of house von Verden, an 82 years old top-level High Emissary, and Olaf's uncle.
In Orloth's ducal circles, he ranked at the very top, and even King Erik would treat him with courtesy. After reaching the limits of the High Emissary rank at the age of 65, he realized he could never take another step forward in this life, and like many others, chose to abandon himself to the pursuit of sensual pleasures.
While the number of counts and below varied, Orloth possessed a fixed land division of 18 dukedoms and 36 marquisates with their rulers directly under the authority of the king. Counts, viscounts, and barons, however, tended to be subordinate to a higher-ranked noble. Ralph was not merely head of the house, but Olaf's direct superior. For him to personally lead the coalition clearly showed their intent to strip Olaf of the Celestial Garden and his gains.