Chapter 27: The Palace War

  "That's not right! He hasn't even said why our kid had to go looking for trouble with you, when it was clearly your three wolves that started the fight!" Ishihara Yuji said.

  "Why beat him? Let him speak for himself!" I said disdainfully

  "Isn't it just because you liked that little girl in your class? Not even a family member! What right do you have to hit me?" said Ishihara Mitsuru with a logical tone.

  What a commotion! Everyone is in an uproar! Forcibly taking a civilian woman may not be a big deal, and even if it's someone like Ishihara, a high-ranking noble, it's still unacceptable. But what's more, it goes against the law, and just because no one usually interferes doesn't mean you can do it in the palace, right in front of the king and all the court officials!

  "What a fool!" Ishihara Yuji cursed inwardly, now he was almost out of breath. He glared at Sanlang and said, "You damned beast, what nonsense are you talking about?"

  The queen sneered: "The Ishihara family is really good at being domineering!"

  At this time, the archbishop stood up and said: "Although he is wrong, it's just a warning. Is it necessary to beat him so badly that he can't get out of bed for several days?"

  "Right! When did it come to the point where the Ryujin family is taking care of my child for me?" Ishihara Yuji said harshly.

  "We don't want to bother with your family's beast! On the contrary, what right does your family have to bring more than 50 people and beat us up until we're covered in injuries?"

  "This is all your own words! Is there any evidence? Do you see them having any injuries?" Ishihara Yuji didn't give up.

  "Take off your clothes!" I said to my brother: "Let him see the evidence!"

  Four brothers took off their shirts, revealing bodies covered in scars, with wounds of various shades of purple and blue, some still bleeding. The purple dye was a special kind that couldn't be washed off without a special detergent, and the red was animal blood mixed with oil, which hadn't dried yet and seemed to be oozing out threads of blood, accompanied by a strong smell of blood.

  I began to deliver a passionate speech according to the pre-prepared script!

  "Your Majesty! We, the noble youths, have been educated in chivalry since childhood and take pride in becoming knights! The eight virtues of a knight are justice, strength, courage, mercy, compassion, humility, fairness, and sacrifice. These trash on the ground, they rob civilians, and shamelessly show off in front of Your Majesty, without any sense of justice, let alone mercy, compassion, or humility. They only dare to use 50 people to beat 5 people, and use adults to beat children, and even more ridiculously, they were beaten back and ran naked on the street! How can this be called strength, courage? Even if one of them had a sacrificial spirit, would they all run away naked?! After losing, instead of reflecting on their own shortcomings, they incite their elders to come here and falsely accuse! This is truly despicable, shameless, and ignoble. It's the shame of the nobility! The shame of knights! Compare them with my brothers, who stood up for the weak and bullied nobles, this is justice, mercy, and compassion. Facing ten times stronger enemies without retreating, fighting bravely and winning! This is strength, courage, and sacrifice! They are the true nobles among nobles, the pride of knights! Your Majesty, do you want to punish these just knights for the sake of these trash?"

  A passionate and stirring speech, the audience was shocked on the spot. Even several major families who originally wanted to remain neutral changed their minds and supported us! His Majesty also smiled and nodded in approval, everything seemed perfect! However, he had to consider the face of the Ishihara family and couldn't directly refute them. Even Ishihara Takeji had to force himself to apologize for this time, probably thinking he got beaten up for nothing and lost face again! He stood there with a pale face, trembling nonstop! Unexpectedly, the cunning and sly archbishop actually doubted my brother's injury.

  "No, how did this injury get like this?" he said, walking over and wiping his hand on my brother's shoulder. He meant to wipe off the purple and red dye, but only got the red off, making it look like he had touched blood! At first, my brother didn't react, probably because it didn't hurt. I silently cursed him as an idiot and pinched him hard. He immediately shouted: "Ah! It hurts!"

  "What are you doing?!" Mom was shocked and angry, originally holding back a belly full of anger, just looking for an outlet. Without thinking, she cast the 6th-level magic "Wooden Gun", a three-meter-long wooden spear with a diameter as thick as an arm, flashing out from the green light in her palm, fiercely stabbing Archbishop Ishihara Yasuo. This naturally formed spear had extremely strong penetration power, capable of breaking through heavy shields, and was the strongest single-target attack among 6th-level magic. Originally, Mom couldn't cast such high-level magic smoothly, thanks to her super equipment, all made from the best magical crystals that could be found, worth hundreds of millions, not counting the space ring. Even the great wizard Carah looked at Mother's magnificent magic effect and felt a sense of admiration. As the chief wizard of the palace, provided with the best materials by the kingdom, his belongings compared to Mom's were like those of a beggar versus a noble. The gap was too big!

  The archbishop was stunned by the sudden change, until his mother's 'Teng Wood Gun' was about to hit his face before he reacted, hastily activating the defensive magic on his ring and the bishop's robe. Two layers of 'Light Shield' blocked in front of him. The 'Light Shield' is a fifth-level spell that can normally block two sixth-level 'Teng Wood Gun' attacks, but it also depends on the size of the magic contained within these spells. His mother's 'Teng Wood Gun' was enhanced by equipment, making its power greater than usual, while the 'Light Shield' was self-contained on the equipment and slightly weaker than usual. As a result, his mother's 'Teng Wood Gun' broke through the first layer of shield but was blocked by the second layer. However, the powerful impact force was not something that could be withstood by the shield alone. The archbishop retreated continuously like he had been hit by a galloping horse, finally falling to the ground after retreating over a dozen steps. His disheveled appearance triggered a burst of laughter! Enraged by the laughter in the hall, the archbishop completely lost his composure and attacked his mother without considering the consequences, casting the fifth-level light spell 'Holy Light Spear' at her.

  This spell shouldn't have been able to hurt Mother, but after she beat the Archbishop to a pulp, it seemed like her anger had dissipated. Judging from her expression, Mom seems to want to make peace with him after catching this 'Holy Light Spear'. This won't do; if they stop fighting and start negotiating, my plan will be easily exposed! So I've decided to take action!

  I jumped up in advance and blocked my mother, secretly putting the Buddha's Golden Lotus on my chest, and casting a defensive spell 'Earth Shield' that I can use now. The 'Earth Shield' is a thick three-inch earth element shield, which is a third-level spell, almost instantly broken by the 'Holy Light Spear', then the 'Holy Light Spear' hit the Golden Lotus. I was only hit in the chest and felt a sharp pain, but I wasn't injured. However, my body was blown away and caught by my mother.

  Mom was frightened, "Child, what's wrong with you?"

  "I'm fine, it's just a minor injury, don't you believe me?" I didn't dare pretend to be seriously injured anymore.

  Mom carefully checked and felt relieved, "How silly you are, Mom can block it!"

  I don't want to drag family matters in now. Pretending to be weak, I said: "Mom! Why did Dad watch as the two of us were beaten up?"

  Right away! Mom glared at Dad with anger in her eyes! Seeing his mother's gaze, the 2-meter-40-tall father, who looked like a bear, shuddered! Then, like an enraged lion, he let out a loud roar and burst forth with golden aura all over his body. He charged towards the High Priest who had just stood up. Since no weapons were allowed inside, Dad concentrated his aura on his right fist. The golden aura wrapped around his fist sparkled like a shooting star, containing infinite energy that would strike the High Priest's chest and turn him into minced meat! Ishihara Yuji quickly brought two formidable members of his household to block the attack. Three black aura-wrapped fists clashed with Dad's fist at once. Unfortunately, Dad was an experienced Sword Saint after all, and he didn't clash with the three of them together, but rather one by one.

  The showdown of aura didn't have any tricks, the stronger one wins. The three of them combined were still a bit weaker than their father's aura, let alone going head-to-head with him individually! In an instant, they too were beaten to the ground by their father. His right fist showed no signs of stopping, heavily smashing into the bishop's shield, which shattered on impact! Then his fist struck the bishop's chest. Amidst the sound of shattering bones, the bishop became a human projectile, flying through the air while spitting blood, with small pieces of internal organs visible in the blood. After crashing to the ground like a dead dog, a faint white glow emanated from his body, which was the healing magic on his robes. He struggled to sit up, giving his father a venomous glare and saying: "You just wait! I'll make you regret this!" Then he activated the teleportation scroll in his hand and returned to the church to recover and tattle.

  What's going on here? Suddenly, they charged at Ishihara Yuji. Ishihara Yuji is not a good person either, and with many people present, he bluntly ordered them to surround my father. There are about 30 adult males in the Ishihara family, each of whom has returned twice, and at least one is a white silver-level warrior who excels at coordination. How can they not take down a sword saint? Most of the women are also not good people, either knowing some magic or martial arts, including two high-level mages. They can't beat the sword saint, but they have the guts to bully women, so more than 50 women started surrounding my mother! The little rabbits on the ground got up one after another, their injuries were not serious, mainly because they were exhausted from being chased, and now that they had been lying down for so long, they had recovered through the treatment of light magic. The adults started fighting, but they didn't dare to intervene, however, I and my four "heavily injured" brothers became their targets to vent their anger!

  The unrelated crowd retreated to the outside of the hall, and Foreign Minister Wick, the head of the Wick family, Nadir Wick said: "It's a rare noble family showdown!"

  "Not bad, I propose a wager!" said Lord Bluesteel, Minister of Works.

  "I bet 1,000 gold coins on the Ishihara family winning!" said Nandor the Relentless.

  "Not bad, they have too many family members, I'm stuck with 1000!" Blue Steller laughed.

  "Is it necessarily going to work just because there are many people? I bet the Dragon House will win 2000!" The commander of the White Tiger Legion, Rick Kross, said skeptically.

  "I'll bet 1,000 gold coins on the Dragon House!" said Klaiche Aedwyr, the commander of the King's Guard and a distant relative of the royal family. The other ministers also placed their bets one after another.

  "Haha, what are you saying? Is His Majesty going to mediate?" Blue Carter laughed.

  "Absolutely not, I'm sure he's gone back to the palace for tea!" said Klaatu*Lovecraft