"Who do you think you are!"
With a sharp cry, a surging battle qi suddenly erupted from Buffy Marshall, enveloping him in a silver flame.
He slammed his palm onto the table, causing the entire hall to tremble slightly, and glared with bloodshot eyes at the laughing orange-haired girl: "You want to ruin me? Me, one of the nine Grand Lords of the Violet Empire, the noble Grand Duke Buffy Marshall, ruined? Just with your fabricated lies and slanders? I warn you, little girl, if I wanted to kill you right now—"
"If you can kill me in front of the Emperor and all the Grand Dukes—" Miss Shuangye retreated half a step under the invisible pressure.
Her face was a bit pale, but the smile on her lips grew even more audacious: "Then this Empire truly deserves to rot!"
Grand Duke Baloka suddenly rose, letting out a low roar: "Marshall, do you want all of us to be shamed because of you!"
With that, he raised his thick arm, bent his knees slightly, and was about to pounce on Buffy Marshall.
But someone was faster than him…
Two figures in dark purple tight-fitting clothes appeared like ghosts beside Marshall, instantly restraining his hands.
Two black-hooded figures also stood in front of Miss Shuangye and Emperor Kleivore respectively, holding up two emblem shields composed of at least three mixed elements.
In addition, a purple-robed Mage holding a long staff appeared in each of the four corners of the Purple Juniper Hall, with numerous complex and profound elemental magic formations rapidly forming around them.
Two figures with longbows and leather armor also appeared on the chandeliers hanging high from the dome.
They all wore smooth, bright, mirror-like face masks, and in an instant, they controlled everything.
"This is Violet." Clayvo Bracern's somewhat frail body stood ramrod straight, his artistic temperament completely gone.
A chilling anger burned in the old man's eyes, and his slightly cold yet still gentle voice caused everyone to gasp, even Vernon Baloka, who in his youth could tear tigers apart with his bare hands and possessed the strength of a Grand Knight, felt a shiver and reluctantly sat back in his seat.
Buffy Marshall also quickly calmed down, immediately dispelling the illusory silver flame around him.
Only Miss Shuangye continued to laugh unrestrainedly, leaning her body to reveal half of her small head from beside the mirror-faced person in front of her, her eyes full of playfulness as she looked at Buffy: "That's right, that's right, this isn't your backyard, oh~ Noble Grand Duke Buffy Marshall, pfft, ha, ha ha ha ha ha~~"
"Buffy, I will, of course, forgive your unintentional mistake, but please control your emotions from now on." Kleivore said lightly, then waved his hand gently, and the two mirror-faced people beside Grand Duke Marshall immediately released their restraint on him.
"And Miss Shuangye."
Kleivore looked at the girl behind the other mirror-faced person, frowning slightly: "I also hope you restrain your words.
You should know that you are only representing Fireclaw Duke at this meeting.
Although our topic seems to have changed, this does not mean that your previous deception and lies will be written off, nor does it mean that you can withstand the wrath of a Grand Lord.
If I do not receive a satisfactory explanation, then you will also have an Emperor to contend with."
Miss Shuangye raised her eyebrows, pursing her small lips and blinking cutely: "Did I offend you?"
"Not yet." Kleivore shook his head, then whispered: "But only 'not yet'."
Miss Shuangye pitifully lowered her head, extending her index finger to touch it at her chest (then quickly switched to her middle finger, pointing it at Buffy), and asked with great grievance: "Have I lost your trust?"
"You have lost a part of it." Kleivore nodded slightly, sitting back in his chair (the mirror-faced people vanished quickly at the same time, as if melting into the hall), crossing his hands tiredly: "But if you cannot give us a strong explanation next, not only you, but also Fireclaw Duke, may lose my… and everyone present's trust~"
Miss Shuangye immediately nodded happily, pointing at Grand Duke Marshall with a beaming smile: "So I just need to prove he's a scumbag, right?"
Kleivore did not answer her, but merely asked indifferently: "Why did Fire Claw Territory propose this Supreme Meeting to me under the pretext of the Misha County Plague?"
The girl answered without hesitation: "For safety."
Kleivore lowered his eyes and began to read the 'Slave Capture Investigation Log' that Miss Shuangye had distributed earlier for the fourth time, saying without lifting his head: "Explain."
"The reason is simple: if we held this meeting on the grounds that the Marshall Family was extensively capturing commoners and selling them as slaves, it would give him enough time to react." Miss Shuangye winked at Buffy Marshall, who had re-seated himself, then looked around and said leisurely: "He has plenty of reasons to delay, and not even Emperor Kleivore can forcibly order a Grand Lord to rush to the capital immediately upon receiving a command.
Or, to take a step back, even if His Majesty were to send a messenger to Marshall Territory and immediately bring him to Saramun, his confidants would have enough time to erase the evidence of his crimes.
If the situation devolved into that, even if we were to reach some conclusion in this meeting, the subsequent investigation would undoubtedly be fruitless.
Of course, I personally believe that as long as we convene this meeting using any words related to 'slaves,' it's a foregone conclusion that Duke Marshall would arrive on the last day, or even ten days to half a month late.
It's a no-brainer~"
Grand Duke Baloka nodded with a serious expression.
Grand Duke Crystal Wolf awkwardly pursed her lips; she was the one who arrived on the last day.
Duke Hussein snorted disdainfully.
Fernan, Dengtis, and Simon, the three Grand Dukes, were expressionless.
"Oh, right, Duke Aimilin, please don't be shy.
I know very well that you were busy ensuring the safety of your people after learning about the Plague, which caused you to delay until the last minute." Miss Shuangye smiled sweetly at Grand Duke Crystal Wolf, revealing her pearly white teeth: "I admire you very much, little sister~"
Aimilin's face flushed slightly.
She secretly resolved that after this meeting, she would protect this young lady from Fire Claw Territory no matter what, and even wanted old Butler Deke to plan a romantic date for her.
"You're really overthinking it." Buffy Marshall gave Miss Shuangye a cold look, enunciating each word: "Marshall Territory has absolutely nothing to hide.
I have nothing to conceal and I don't mind any form of investigation."
Miss Shuangye immediately clapped her hands (she even happily retracted her middle finger) and said with a laugh: "That's wonderful!
So, shall we immediately organize an investigation team to go and take a look around your territory?"
Buffy instantly felt as if he had been hit in the head with a sledgehammer: "You—!"
"Calm down." Kleivore raised his hand to interrupt Miss Shuangye's attempt to press her advantage, and said in a deep voice: "We will not investigate a Grand Lord without reason.
What you just said is not enough to prove Buffy's guilt.
The Supreme Meeting is not a place where one can conjure storms with a single word."
Miss Shuangye nodded in understanding: "No worries, no worries, I still have plenty of bombshells~"
Kleivore's gaze swept over each Grand Lord, finally resting on Buffy Marshall's face: "Then, everyone may begin to ask Miss Shuangye questions.
During this process, Buffy, please forgive me… I hope you can remain silent for now.
Don't worry, I will, of course, give you time to explain."
The latter smiled bitterly and nodded, his expression as innocent as could be.
"Little sister Shuang Ye."
Aimilin immediately spoke to Miss Shuangye (Buffy shot her a displeased glance): "You just said you would mention three points.
The first two were that you have a large amount of evidence beyond the information we have, and that Grand Duke Marshall utilized… well, allegedly utilized methods such as retirement and faked deaths to transfer loyal warriors from the three major legions underground, making them slave catchers.
So, what is the third point?"
Miss Shuangye chuckled, conjuring a harmless light-elemental hand out of thin air, and made it raise its middle finger towards Buffy Marshall, then extended her own two middle fingers, saying: "The third point I wanted to say at the time was that he is indeed an idiot."
Aimilin: "…"
"Watch your language." Grand Duke Xi Mu Simon turned to look at Miss Shuangye, and said in his flat tone: "If this continues, I will propose to revoke your right to speak and suggest that His Majesty punish you according to the Imperial Code."
Kleivore smiled: "Agreed."
"Hm, I know!" Miss Shuangye pouted and made a face at Grand Duke Simon: "Stingy!
"Then Baloka picked up his parchment and stood up, asking Miss Shuangye: "This document states that to prevent leaks, the Marshall Family's slave-catching team would kill all the old, weak, sick, and disabled outside their hunting range during their operations.
Is that true? Do you have evidence?"
"Of course it's true." Miss Shuangye put her hands on her hips and nodded vigorously until she almost shook off her glasses before stopping, and seriously told Baloka: "The evidence is in the Scarlet Garden where we are currently staying, and I also made a backup at the Saramun branch of the Mage Guild.
You are welcome to investigate anytime."
Grand Duke Baloka's sharp gaze swept over Marshall, then he nodded at Miss Shuangye and sat down.
"I'm very curious." The high-pitched voice of Grand Duke Fernan, supporting himself on the table, struggled to stand on his chair, and he loudly asked Miss Shuangye: "Since everyone was either killed or abducted, where did you get your 'evidence' from?
Did a Necromancer just happen to pass by and tell you?"
Miss Shuangye blinked in confusion, and Buffy Marshall let out a silent sneer.
Then…
'NI~ YE~ SHA~ X~ A?'
The girl mouthed a series of words to Grand Duke Fernan.
Grand Duke Fernan: "???"
"Nothing." Miss Shuangye shook her head solemnly, first giving Grand Duke Simon a look that said, 'I'm very serious, very proper, and very well-behaved, you know,' then told Grand Duke Fernan: "Even unavoidable natural disasters have survivors; human-made disasters are even more so.
Over the past decade or so, there have still been ten or eight people who survived the Marshall slave-catching team.
Of course, none of them know the true identity of their enemies, but it's not a big problem to glean some useful information from these people."
The Dwarf Grand Duke nodded noncommittally, then sat down.
Next was Duke Scorpi Hussein.
He pointed to a line in the parchment in front of him, and angrily questioned Miss Shuangye: "Can you explain to me what it means that the Marshall Family secretly sold a batch of slaves to Hussein Territory three years ago, as written here?"
"It means exactly what it says." Miss Shuangye didn't even turn to look at him, just yawned lazily: "But you don't need to worry too much; merely secretly buying some slaves isn't enough to shake your position as Grand Duke, especially since you just donated so much money to our Emperor, uh, to the walls of Saramun~ Here's a suggestion, after the meeting, donate some gold coins to everyone present, and you probably won't have any more responsibility.
And also~ if you secretly slip me some money, it's not impossible for me to remove the part about Hussein Territory from the evidence, you know!"
Grand Duke Simon shot another sideways glance: "Miss Shuangye, please watch your language."
"So you're playing the Grand Judge, huh, you're awesome." Miss Shuangye muttered under her breath, then smiled very politely, very cutely, and very shyly at Duke Hussein: "Anything else?"
The latter hesitated, then finally shook his head slowly, saying no more.
"Then, I have two questions that I hope Miss Shuangye can help answer." The courteous Grand Duke Dengtis chuckled, then asked in the unhurried tone characteristic of an older person: "You mentioned earlier that you have a large amount of evidence regarding Grand Duke Marshall's crimes, but 'evidence' can often be forged.
Can you and Fireclaw Duke truly guarantee the persuasiveness of that 'evidence'?"
"Of course not."
Miss Shuangye immediately said something that surprised everyone, then replied in the same unhurried tone as Grand Duke Dengtis: "I can say my evidence is guaranteed in quality, quantity, and authenticity, but others can also say it's 'made in Fire Claw' or 'by the clever, innocent, kind, lovely, cheerful, generous, lively, virtuous, and beautiful Miss Shuangye.'
So the authenticity itself has no discussion value; the key is how to make our evidence 'persuasive'~"
Grand Duke Dengtis, of course, would ask: "Then how can it be made persuasive?"
"It's simple." Miss Shuangye snapped her fingers with a cheerful laugh, and lifted her chin in the direction of Buffy Marshall: "Send people to his territory to verify it.
If some things there, like account books~ strongholds~ relevant personnel~ match up, wouldn't that prove I wasn't just spouting nonsense?"
Grand Duke Dengtis nodded: "That seems plausible.
Then, please allow me to present my second question."
Miss Shuangye performed an exaggerated curtsy, lifting her skirt: "I'm all ears."
Grand Duke Dengtis smiled sweetly: "Where did you obtain the evidence you hold?"
"I'm very glad that someone finally asked this question."
The half-smile on Miss Shuangye's face slowly disappeared.
She raised her head, her eyes, as if suddenly veiled by a thin mist, seemed to pierce through the dome of the Purple Juniper Hall, reaching a place no one could see…
"In a small place in Marshall Territory, within the Autonomous Army, there is a squad leader named Ned, and a squad called Fenrir…"
Chapter 256: The End