Chapter 2009: The Red Banquet -Part 4
"Now that you have suffered the punishment dished out by me, do you think you should be speaking the truth now?" Jin asked as he stared at the remaining \'broken\' ministers who were seeking redemption.
Unfortunately, some still lied and Jin left them at the side. It showed how deep rooted the problem was and also how fractured the entire society of ministers had been. There was no way such a group would be able to run the Kingdom of Ress effectively. And to change, some things must go.
Gara who was watching from above had never seen such a display of ...truth telling before and the lackeys who were with the ministers told as much information as they could to Jin, allowing him to understand the whole situation that the Kingdom of Ress was in. A lot of them pitched in almost immediately because they were afraid of the repercussions and the pressure that they were facing.
After all, in this half an hour, Jin had yet to let go of his suppression aura and people were already feeling extremely weary. The only time they were able to experience relief from this pressure was when Jin interrogated them. And any lie would result in broken arms and limbs so the need to say the truth was more than sufficient.
The lackeys also suspected that once the ministers were done, they were next and most of them had volunteered to give out the information needed.
"Looks like you were lucky to earn the King\'s grace," Gara said to Linus and he nodded his head with guilt. "If one is well versed with magic, one will be able to see that the drink does not contain any magical powers at all. It\'s probably a drink King Jin had brought from his other world."
"You mean... he can gaze into the souls of someone and see whether they lie or not? I thought truth seeking spells were complicated and sometimes ineffective?" Linus asked which made Gara snort a bit.
"Have you forgotten he is an outsider? Such rules do not apply to him. You can already see the amount of magic power he had been emitting out. He is no ordinary magic user and perhaps he might have been a formidable person that so happened to transport here. If so, he might really be the Moon King\'s successor."
"So, there\'s a chance he will clear the rot and move the Kingdom of Ress to the next stage of development?"
"There\'s a high chance but one person cannot do much. That is also why he had decided to rule by fear right now, knowing that people do not comply. But right now, I look forward to what he is going to do with the rest of the wrongdoers." Gara said as he himself was already taking mental notes on who were the major culprits in this confession event.
Not to his surprise, most in the War Department under the War Minister had been thrown to the side. It seems like their loyalty for him was immense compared to the supposed tyrant who was now on the throne and who ruled the place by fear.
But after all the confessions, Jin stood up and used his stone hands which were now numbered in the tens to hold onto those who had been \'tossed\' aside after the confession event. The magical aura suppression had stopped for the entire place and Jin looked at the group who had their limbs broken.
"Do you know it\'s a death sentence crime to mistreat a minister? You have no power to do this in the first place."
"Sorry, no one briefed me on the rules when I first came. Besides, my impression of being a king meant that I can do whatever the hell I want," Jin said as he once again did the same method by using the stone hands to immobilise them and forcefully open their mouths.
This time it was not soda that Jin poured into their mouth, but rather the healing potion that the System and the rest had manufactured for him previously.
He hardly needed the elixirs mainly due to the fact that his body was able to regenerate fast enough to prevent the use of it. (Or rather, he did not want to waste it so that the stock of potions could be sold to the customer rather than to him during their dungeon instances.)
But instead of giving the whole bottle and forcing it into each and every single person\'s throat, he merely gave each of them a drop while also infusing it with his Maqi to accelerate the healing process. After all, he knew that all the stone hands that were used to break their limbs did a clean break so healing would be quick too.
And with that act, people already thought he was some miracle worker as much as he was a demon. All of the limbs were healed and the War Minister thought the new King was foolish or perhaps he was acting when he was actually kind.
"This guy, the moment he let me out of this bullshit, I am going to slaughter him with all my authority. He does not know that the Royal Mage General and the rest of the troops were aligned to me and me alone." The War Minister said as he tried to let out several groans but Jin was merely ignoring him.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Everyone had already confessed to what they had done, I had forgiven a few of them while the main culprits were apprehended at the side of the room. Consensus had shown that the War Ministry was in the wrong with a few pockets of resistance from various ministries and their ministers too." Jin reiterated.
"Looks like we have done quite a lot, we should get the banquet going. Am I right? There was a banquet that needed to be served if I did not hear wrongly and I am paying for it, correct?" Jin looked at the servants who were timid to leave the scene and those who tried realised they could not leave at all.
Now what they can do is to listen to their new King and serve the food as the cooks did not stop once the order had been given.
Tables were rashly placed and several of the minister\'s lackeys even came to help while the main culprits were still being held by the stonehands. The moment someone had decided to resist the stone hands that were immobilising them, a suppressive aura came to hover around them, forcing them to have abolished any thoughts of resisting.
In less than 20 minutes, the tables were ready and the servants were already serving food to the various groups. Jin even beckoned Linus and Gara to come down and have their food too but when the servants brought food for Jin, he refused to eat.
"Sorry, no thanks. I am still working." Jin said and the servants acknowledged their new king\'s orders and told him that his food would be cooked again if he wished to eat. "What? No need. Just reheat them with some fire magic. It\'s fine.
I am not picky with food. Do not waste it." The servants quickly acknowledged and walked away to prevent him from doing his job.
"So? What are you waiting for? Eat! Everyone eat! Do not mind me." Jin said and no one dared to do so until Gara became the first to break the silence. Linus followed suit and the rest started to eat.
"Great. Now that everyone has at least a bite. We need some entertainment too, right?" Jin stared at the audience and they looked at each other suspiciously until they simultaneously nodded their heads slowly.
"What do you want to do?" Gara was the only person who was brave enough to speak out after all the mess that had happened.
"Erm, what\'s the usual loadout for soldiers going into dungeon expeditions?"
"We have a basic adventuring list for the soldiers going in," Gara said and Linus nodded his head to provide affirmation. "Unless they are veteran soldiers clearing, they have a customised list since they know what dungeon to go into."
"So...how many do we have here?" Jin asked as he turned his head towards the War Minister and his lackeys. A total of 16 people if I did not count wrongly, including the Finance Minister as well as the Foreign Relations Minister." Jin then looked at the servants that were waiting at the side of the room. "Servants, go get 16 backpacks filled with the adventuring list as well as their known weapons.
But the basic ones will be fine. If you have no idea what weapons they used, try to decipher it from them or their friends."
"Oh, but you only have 5 minutes to ask and get back here within 30 minutes, or else I will be bored and the rest would have cleared the plates. As long as the plates are not cleared... you get my drift. Gara, I am sorry but please assist with the armoury part." Jin smiled and the servants instantly bowed their heads and ran off.