The council-men were divided, a certain group from amongst them came forward to testify against their counterparts. Quintel and his last few loyalists were petrified at this peculiar development.

  "It takes a lot of courage to step forward when your fellow men are known to be a curel and ruthless bunch. Do know, you are safe right now, so speak freely." Viyetral assured with a slight grin.

  "My fellow council-men, rather my former associates were, infact, involved in horrendous crimes against our race as well as the town itself. The council-leader, Quintel, blackmailed and threatened us to perform his dirty work whilst him and his few accomplices enjoyed luxeries attained by leaching off the blood of the people of this—" The witness was inturrupted by Quintel who could not hold back anymore:

  "HOW DARE YOU—"

  Of course, this was not a place where the old man held any power. With the signal from Viyetral, Swven placed his great-axe at the neck of Quintel who immediately sealed his lips while turning pale from fear.

  "Do continue." Viyetral ordered the witness.

  "These younglings are not wrong at all, they have been brainwashed, some threatened, to raise their hands on the representatives of the sword-saint. The poor girls have been subjugated to torture and horrible, horrible cruelities that I can not even describe. Many of these poor ladies had been abducted by the council-leader and his men whilst some were captured because their familes could not pay back, what was unjustly owed to in the first place. I and my fellow men, are guilty, but of not the same crimes as Quintel, rather of keeping quiet. I shall throw myself at the decisions of the judges, no matter what they are."

  "Very courageous and noble of you to step forward. Well, of course, you did not speak when it mattered the most, but your trials will be held later on under a more appropriate manner." Viyetral reassured. He then signalled the younglings to take these council-men — turned witnesses — away.

  Now all that was left was to decide the punishment of Quintel and his last few accomplices who had went pale now — not arguing anymore.

  "So council-leader, do you still have anything to say?" The judge, Viyetral, asked with a smug expression.

  "Fabrications! Fabrications of the worst sort is what I said before and will say again! I do not know what you scoundrels did, but I am innocent. Those men are lying!" Quintel spoke in denial yet none of his words held any weight in-front of the small-folk anymore.

  The residents of the First town were now certain of what the truth was. But how was Harwin and his group able to convince the witnesses to betray their own friends and associates?

  It was right before the interrogation was held by Swven that Harwin presented his ideas to the acting commander:

  "Commander, we do not need to get rid of these spies, rather, we need to break them to sing to us whatever goes in the council. Right now, we have no idea what is the agenda discussed in the great-halls, but if we can plant one of their own trusted men in there, then we can control everything that goes on this place. I am against torture or blackmailing, but we have to be stern in our methods if we want to win."

  Harwin, the ever peaceful individual, came up with a rather devious plan. His words were twisted but Swven understood the meaning of it all. As discussed, the commander broke the spies to act as his own. More importantly, he was able to extract the identities of all of the other loyal younglings of the council and then subjugated them to the same transition.

  In just a week, the halls of the council-men were occupied by the men of Swven without even the slighest of doubt amongst their former masters. These new pawns gave reports regarding the next moves of the council along with rather crucial information about the private lives of its members.

  After Viyetral finally got involved, Harwin came up with an even more cunning strategy:

  "We have to divide up the council and for that matter, men with families are the best targets. I am not saying to hurt the innocent, but we can detain them somewhere else so their fathers or brothers or husbands have to abide by our commands. Of course, some of the council folks would be ready to sacrifice their own family to maintain their status, so we would have to target the weakest links."

  His words were heard carefully and implemented so as well. Soon enough, a secret meeting was held with the supposed 'weak links'.

  "Do you know the agenda of this meeting, gentlemen?" Viyetral asked the room.

  "You want to buy our loyalty, what else could their be? What can you really offer that we do not already possess?" One of the men spoke up.

  "Hmm, that is true. You are surrounded by material possessions yet your fate seems grim at the moment. Tell me, oh esteemed council-men, how many of you are sure that Quintel will be able to come out on top?" Viyetral questioned whilst looking around the room.

  "So what? Should we abandon him for your promises and assurances? Do you really think that we are so naive?" One of them argued.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  "It is in your best interest to work with us. Besides, do you really think that Quintel would even bat an eye if he has to sacrifice one of you to win?" Surprisingly, Harwin was the one who replied.

  "SHUT IT! FILTHY HUMAN—" The same person tried to shout but was inturrupted by Viyetral.

  "Now now, he is not some back-alley thug. You better respect the lad, as he is quite the favorite of the sword-saint." Viyetral's smile had turned into a scowl which terrified the council-men. He then continued:

  "No need to be terrified, well, maybe a little. Anyways, you have much to gain if you side with us and everything to lose if you remain the way you are."

  "What are your guarantees? What rewards do you offer?" The question was pretty much asked by everyone in the room.

  "You have to take my word for it. As for your rewards, you will be exiled from this town instead of being charged with capital punishment." Viyetral offered.

  The council-men looked at eachother and then began to laugh at the proposition. Viyetral smiled at their reaction.

  "You really think that we will accept such an absurd offer, captain? How dense do you think we are? This is a waste of time, so we will now show ourselves out." One of them replied with a smug look.

  As all of them got up, Viyetral addressed one of them:

  "Your name is Elforiul, am I right?"

  The man nodded, clearly annoyed at having to continue the conversation.

  "When was the last time you recieved a letter from your family?" Viyetral asked whilst maintaining his smile.

  The man, Elforiul, gulped at this remark. His eyes were filled with anticipation. Viyetral continued without any care:

  "You have one son and two daughters, but you also have two more sons from a mistress, although, they remain at a separate villa. Noble of you to give them quite the comfortable life. What of your wife, does she know of this? Well, does not really matter now."

  "What do you mean!?" Elforiul demanded.

  "They might have got to know each other better now that they are in the same place. Now, you are not dense, as stated earlier by yourself, so I do not need to elaborate further." Viyetral replied.

  "BASTARD—" He tried to shout but was interrupted by the captain:

  "You understand your position, right? I hold something quite precious of yours, so is that really the way to talk to me."

  Elforiul was quiet now. He looked down, not moving an inch from his place. The others looked anxiously towards Viyetral.

  "It should already be clear that all you are in the same position as your fellow associate. Shall we now move forward with my demands?" Viyetral asked the room, all of them had sat back down now.

  The council-men nodded as they had no other choice. Viyetral looked towards Harwin to take the lead now:

  "Do not worry, your families will remain safe as they have not wronged anyone. As for yourselves, you will be testifying to the crimes of Quintel and his loyalists in due time. If you meet our demands, you will be allowed to take exile with as many belongings as you can carry with yourself. Do we have your word for compliance?" Harwin inquired. The room did not reply.

  "Do we have your word, gentlemen!?" Viyetral repeated at which all of them nodded without delay.

  "Good. Finally, you have to get a declaration passed from the main council. It will be handed over to you by next week. All of you may leave now." Viyetral relieved them.

  It was the same declaration that had been used to make Jarel's claim stronger — the increment of all sorts of taxes on the small folk.

  As everyone had left, the captain turned towards Harwin and said with a rather pitiful expression:

  "The sword-saint never liked my method, you know. He would have never approved of my plans from the start, infact, none of my comrades would have, either. Your suggestion made me feel a bit guilty, I feel that my influence has corrupted you a little."

  "I—" Harwin was interrupted.

  "No need to justify, lad. Just remember, whatever schemes and plans that have been played by us would never have been thought by the honourable bunch. When one lets go of morals, he can go to any lengths to achieve his targets, but I do not wish for you to go on that path. Just remember my words, you can go now."

  Harwin understood what the captain meant, but this part of him could never have been changed now.

  Quintel and his men awaited their punishments, they had accepted their defeat, having been betrayed by their own men.

  "Your crimes are numerous, but most importantly, they are: assassination attempts on the representatives of the sword-saint, misuse of power, abduction, unjust punishments declared on the captains of this town and corruption of all sorts. All of you are to be executed in the town-square as an example for anyone who tries to follow your path in the future. Justice should be served immediately, so we shall conduct th execution by the evening. Guards take them!" Viyetral ordered the younglings who immediately adhered.

  "Wait! Wait!" Quintel shouted, his voice shaky and filled with desperation.

  "What is it?" The captain asked sternly.

  "You do remember the consequences, right? The messengers will be on their way without our presence!" Quintel threatened.

  "Neither I nor you need to worry about that anymore. All of that has already been taken care of." Viyetral replied with sly smile.

  Quintel gave up at that moment, the old man understood that he had been defeated. His fellow council-men cried for mercy, but they were taken away anyways. The trial was adjourned, and the populace was quite satisfied with the results, though, some considered it to be extreme.

  Unfortunately for Quintel, no miracles happened, they were taken to the town-square at the designated time. Swven took charge as the executioner with his senior's mighty axe. He was already infuriated with the council for the execution of commander Neilzen, but with the recent attack on Captain Farelen, he was at his limit. Now, the opportunity had finally arose for vengeance and he took delight in it.

  Swven made sure to execute every single accomplice of Quintel before chopping his head off. The latter was forced to look at the demise of his associates whilst praying for any sort of external intervention but none such fantasies came true and finally it was his turn. Quintel looked towards the executioner one last time and cried:

  "Mercy—" his rolled down before he could have finished his plea.

  With this execution, the rebillion of the First town had officially been extinguished. Everyone in Harwin's party rejoiced. Just before dusk, the previously hidden captains were finally shifted back to the main building. Harwin and Alisa finally met after a whole month, so the two of them had a lot to talk about. Viyetral was busy discussing matters of importance with Jarel.

  However, there was something a miss, the conservative council-men, the ones who were loyal to the sword-saint had never arrived to the main-building. Torvin — leader of the conservatives — was there, alongside his son, by the late evening but none of his counterparts had arrived, even though, they had left at the same time.