Chapter 887: A lis (2/2)
It was at the former Han Residence that they started scheming against Han Shuo. But unfortunately for them, as none of the three were aware of Han Shuo’s current condition, the discussion did not result in anything meaningful. The three agreed that they would join forces to kill Han Shuo and the House of Han if they ever return to the Darkness Dominion.
After the discussion was over, Larikson and Hofs left Fort Lasberg. Wallace, however, did not immediately leave. After hearing Larikson and Hofs’ recount of their attack towards the Han Residence, Wallace became greatly interested in those bizarre but deadly demonic formations in the Han Residence.
Wallace stayed in Fort Lasberg for more than a month in an attempt to study how those seemingly ordinary trees and stone pillars would have such miraculous uses. But unfortunately for Wallace, he had absolutely no understanding of the profound demonic arts. It was comparable to a caveman trying to decipher the workings of a rocket engine without any understanding of thermodynamics. Needless to say, his attempt was totally fruitless.
After more than a month, Wallace had no choice but to give up on trying to study the demonic formations. He had his men destroy every bit of the Han Residence and the demonic formations. He had also retaken control over Fort Lasberg and it no longer belonged to the House of Han.
Wallace told the public that the Hushveil City was fully responsible for the attack on Fort Lasberg. He publicly announced that he strongly condemned their actions and will hold those attackers accountable. However, it seemed as though it was just empty talks and Wallace had not taken any actions against Hushveil City.
Some of the City of Shadows citizens who knew the truth denounced Wallace and the House of Sainte for their actions. They made it known to everyone that Wallace conspired to force the House of Han out of the City of Shadows, decreasing the overall strength of the City.
After returning to the City of Shadows and learning what happened to the House of Han, Aobashi and Erebus were downhearted. It was clear to the two that Wallace was part of it. However, as subordinates of Wallace, there wasn’t much that they could do. They would only complain about their exasperation to each other.
Andre and Carmelita, however, did not react so calmly after finding out the truth. They had a lengthy quarrel with Wallace in the Sainte Residence that lasted for days.
Even to his own family members, Wallace denied having any role in the attack and shifted all responsibility on Hofs and Larikson, claiming that he was innocent. But Andre and Carmelita were no fools. As core members of the House of Sainte, it was easy for them to deduce Wallace’s role in the attack by pulling a few strings.
But no matter how significant an event, as time went by, it would eventually fade in memory. Gradually, the citizens of the City of Shadows stopped discussing it. Other than the Celestial Pearl disappearing from the City, everything seemed to have returned to business as usual.
But Wallace knew clearly that there was now another invisible barrier between him and Andre, Carmelita, Aobashi, and Erebus because of Han Shuo and the House of Han. He knew that this barrier will not fade with the passing of time.
*** At the center of the Land of Chaos, the Omphalos.
Han Shuo had no idea what happened in the City of Shadows billions of miles away. He was focused on solving a big challenge put up by Sovereign Tyre, Logue, and Wasir.
Tyre, Logue, and Wasir stated that they would accept Han Shuo to join their ranks as one of the managers of the Omphalos. However, the three Sovereigns also stated that they must take the view of the hundreds of thousands of merchants into consideration. As long as most of the merchants would accept having Han Shuo as one of the Omphalos’ owners, they would immediately hand those Sovereign Shops that formerly belonged to Salas to Han Shuo.
Han Shuo knew what those Sovereigns were up to. The three Sovereigns were infamous in the Fringe. Few, if any Omphalos merchants would dare offend the three. With the three pulling the strings behind the scene, most of the merchants bowed to their orders and voted against installing Han Shuo as one of the Omphalos’ owners.
Han Shuo had his men to conduct a survey. He discovered that there was just twenty percent of the merchants who agreed to him joining the management board, and all these people were swayed by Ossora. Twenty percent approval rating was far below the Tyre, Logue, and Wasir’s standard and Ossora could only do so much. Han Shuo must still solve the problem himself.
It was until this time that Han Shuo realized that Tyre, Logue, and Wasir were not called Sovereigns in the Fringe for nothing. A great majority of the merchants feared Tyre, Logue, and Wasir more than Han Shuo, and they dared not disobey the secret orders of the three Sovereigns to stand against Han Shuo.
Han Shuo spent a few days thinking for a solution inside the Omphalos. Then, he went to a cliff wall outside the Omphalos and left some messages.
A day later, a callous looking man came to the same spot where Han Shuo was. After noting down the message left by Han Shuo, he silently left.
Seven days later, inside an enormous cave thousands of miles from the Omphalos, Han Hao received the message from that man.
After reading the message, Han Hao thought silently for a moment before calmly instructing one of his followers, “Assemble all my Captains.”
“As you bid, Chief,” the follower respectfully dismissed himself and brought the company leaders from every region to Han Hao.
A few days later, all of Han Hao’s captains were assembled in the cave. Han Hao took out a scroll and pinned it on a wall before instructing, “This is a list of Omphalos merchants. Intercept all the goods of those in this list before they could send their supplies into the Omphalos. But remember, you are not to kill them. If you have to, kill one or two people to intimidate them.”
Polo put on an astounded expression and asked, “Just looting? Why not kill them?”
Han Hao glanced at Polo and replied in an indifferent voice, “If they are all dead, things won’t end well.” Han Hao did not explain much at all before he impatiently gestured at his captains and said, “Go and carry out my order.”
Polo did not ask any more questions. He nodded and left with his group. The other godhunter captains also noted down the names from the list and left.
Following that, the godhunters that used to spread out in various regions of the Fringe suddenly gathered near the Omphalos and secretly surrounded it.
As the Omphalos was just a valley, many of the goods sold there needed to be imported. Even poisons needed sufficient magical beast organs and other raw materials to be produced. There were tons and tons of supplies delivered to the Omphalos every day.
Outside the Omphalos, the merchants had their own ways to protect their goods. They would spend an extraordinary amount of resources to hire a large number of guards, or perhaps sought the experts close to the Sovereigns to protect their caravans.
Even with all these security measures, their caravans were still not a hundred percent safe and looting still happens from time to time. However, usually, the looting was not too rampant as the Fringedwellers also needed to purchase goods from those merchants in the Omphalos. They knew that if they crossed the line and caused a lack of supplies in the Omphalos, the Sovereigns might intervene.
But things seemed to have changed!
For an entire month, a large number of merchant caravans delivering goods to the Omphalos were looted by an unknown powerhouse. Almost no merchant could get their goods into the Omphalos. In addition, the looters seemed extremely determined. No matter how many guards they hired or if they were protected by the Sovereigns’ experts, they will still loot the caravans the same!
The bandits were relatively nice in attitude. As long as the victims don't try to fight, the bandits wouldn’t be too violent. But if they tried to resist, the bandits will not show the slightest mercy.
After two merchant caravans were annihilated, the merchants had all learned to behave. When they ran into those ferocious bandits, they would consider themselves unlucky and hand over all their goods without resistance.
The merchants thought that the unknown power must have gone mad because they were too poor, and the rampant looting wouldn’t last for too long. Without sufficient resupplies to the Omphalos, it would simply be disastrous to the Fringe.
But they soon discovered that they were wrong!
One month passed, then two months, then three months… Yet, the unknown power was still present in every region that the merchant caravans must take to enter the Omphalos, disrupting the order in the Fringe.
After a while, they noticed a commonality - none of those merchants that supported Han Shuo’s installment in the Omphalos had their caravans raided!