Chapter 543: Returned Victorious, a Threat Once More
"He did it!!! Lord Minamoto has slain the Giant Yōkai!!!"
A samurai came running through the Son of Heaven's palace, burst into the throne hall, and slid to his knees with a thud.
"Son of Heaven!! Lord Minamoto has just slain the Giant Yōkai!! There's peace across the realm!!"
When the Son of Heaven heard this, his face lit up with wild joy.
"Slain!! Slain!! Hei really slew the Giant Yōkai!!
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Heaven protects Our Eastrise Dynasty! Heaven protects Our Eastrise Dynasty!!"
The Son of Heaven laughed like a madman, and the ministers around him looked like they were about to weep for joy.
The whole time the Big Yōkai had been around, everyone had felt as if a cloud of smog hung over their hearts. Now that the Big Yōkai had been put down, the pressure lifted all at once, and everything looked rose-tinted.
The Son of Heaven kept slapping his thighs, beside himself with excitement.
"Reward him, reward him, reward him!! Hei must be rewarded!
"Someone! Bring Our finest horse, Our finest sword, Our finest armour, and give them all to Hei! And the great general. Give him the post of great general too, and lands, and give him..."
At that moment, the Son of Heaven wanted to give Hei everything he owned. But the instant his excited words trailed off, the throne hall, which had been ringing with voices a moment ago, went so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
The joy vanished from every minister's face, and they all looked at the Son of Heaven strangely.
The Son of Heaven, who'd been overjoyed a moment ago, saw his ministers looking at him like that and didn't understand.
"Our dear ministers, why are you looking at Us like that?"
The ministers looked uncomfortable. One of them said carefully:
"Son of Heaven, have you forgotten? Earlier you gave Lord Minamoto, you gave Lord Minamoto..."
The minister couldn't bring himself to finish, but the Son of Heaven understood him. It felt as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head, chilling him to the bone.
Right. He'd sent Hei poisoned wine. Hei wasn't going to hold a grudge over that, was he?
And this Hei was so ferocious, practically a god come down from heaven!
He'd drunk poisoned wine and was weak all over, and he'd still slain the Giant Yōkai. Was this guy even human?
The Son of Heaven didn't know what to do and looked to his ministers for help.
The ministers didn't know what to do either. If they were in Hei's shoes, with the damn Son of Heaven sending them poisoned wine and then ordering them to go risk their lives against a demon? Hell, if it were them, they'd rebel too!
That's right. Now that the demon threat was over, these political creatures' political brains had switched back on, and they'd started working out how to eliminate the next damn threat.
The joy slowly faded from the Son of Heaven's face, replaced by worry.
"Our dear ministers, this Hei is so fierce he hardly seems mortal. We may have handled things a bit improperly before. He wouldn't hold a grudge against Us, would he?"
None of the ministers said anything. Who the hell could have guessed that a mortal could drink poisoned wine, still go toe-to-toe with the Giant Yōkai, and come out victorious? Was this guy even human?!
Just then, a military officer stepped forward and said quietly:
"Son of Heaven, why don't we prepare some axemen? When Hei isn't expecting it, they burst out and hack him to pieces, and the threat is gone!"
When he proposed this, everyone looked at him like he was an idiot.
A civil official sneered:
"General, never mind that we don't have any troops left. Even if we did, would you dare send soldiers to fight Hei to the death?
"This is a man who slew the Giant Yōkai single-handed. A warrior like that, how many axemen would it take to bring him down?"
Then another minister spoke up:
"Why not send him more poisoned wine? Make him drink it, with a bigger dose this time, and maybe it'll kill him!"
As they argued back and forth about how to get rid of Hei, a eunuch's shout suddenly rang out from outside the throne hall:
"Lord Minamoto has returned victorious and requests an audience with the Son of Heaven!!"
When the people in the throne hall heard that Hei had come for an audience, they panicked. They still hadn't agreed on how to deal with him.
The Son of Heaven said hurriedly:
"No, no, no! We won't see him, We won't see him! Have Hei go rest first. Once he's well rested, We'll see him!"
Damn it, he didn't dare see Hei right now. For one thing, Hei was too fearsome. For another, he had a guilty conscience and couldn't face the man.
But before his order could even be passed out of the hall by a eunuch, there came the clank of armour.
A towering, mighty black-armoured samurai, wreathed in killing intent and drenched in blood, strode into the throne hall.
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