At night, a noble mansion in the royal capital was brightly lit, and the burning whale oil lamp almost made it impossible to find a dark corner in the entire house at night.
Such extravagant use of expensive whale oil lamps can only be done by the top nobles in the kingdom.
And this mansion is more like a weakened version of the castle, with the same high walls and turrets, but the height is not that exaggerated.
Groups of guards wearing heavy armor are constantly patrolling, and there is no possibility of sneaking in except by forcefully breaking in.
Although the orcs did not invade, with the encouragement of the kingdom, many nobles expanded their weapons.
In the past, the nobles who relied on infiltrating the royal capital's garrison to control the armed forces simply expanded a group of professional soldiers in an honest and open manner, or in other words, directly put up the weapons that were originally placed under the table.
The lights in this house were actually a little unusual for being on late at night, but it didn't arouse any suspicion.
After hundreds of years of peace, the upper-class nobles of the royal capital have long been thinking of having fun and showing off.
For example, Marquis Dominic, who greeted Richard at the city gate before, although his attitude towards Richard was respectful, was actually famous in the royal capital for being extravagant and arrogant.
The Dominic family is most famous for dressing all their servants in the most fashionable and luxurious clothes.
A white skirt made of finely woven cashmere and down. This kind of luxurious clothing that even the northern nobles could not afford, is the daily uniform of Dominic's maid.
The fire-colored brocade coat embroidered with gold is the daily attire of the Dominic family's male servant.
If you walk into the residence of Marquis Dominic, you will see a group of people dressed as nobles doing the things of servants. There are even cases where guests and Dominic's servants wear matching clothes, which makes Marquis Dominic very proud.
There are also some perverts who like to have sex and even take pleasure in torturing people. It is not uncommon to see them.
In comparison, the money-burning behavior of just lighting up whale oil lamps and turning the night into day in the mansion seems completely normal.
But compared to the brightness on the surface, there are unspeakable evils hidden deep in the bunker of the mansion.
A huge underground space was dug out more than ten meters underground in the mansion. The place was damp and oppressive, and even the torches hung on both sides of the corridor could not dispel the coldness of the underground space.
As soon as you enter this underground space, you can smell a strong smell of blood.
In the middle of this underground space, there is a strange symbol painted. The bright red mark is dipped in some dark green paint. Just looking at this appearance is indescribably scary.
And surrounding this scary pattern stood a row of soldiers with armor and hooded faces. Only a pair of eyes were exposed on their faces, and there was indescribable fanaticism in their eyes.
"Your Majesty, the preparations are complete."
Among the group of people, the only person wearing a cloth robe was the Marquis of the Kingdom who had previously planned the attack on Richard.
"Well, let's get started!"
"Yes! Sir!"
"Who are you!"
"Damn it!"
"How dare you kidnap a knight!"
"Let me out! Our family is rich, as long as you let me out, you can have as much gold as you want!"
"I am the leader of the Thousand People of the Volunteer Team. If I disappear, someone will definitely come looking for me. You'd better let me go!"
The old man standing in front gave an order, and soldiers escorted people wearing white prison uniforms into the hall one after another. The prisoners were wearing heavy iron chains on their hands and feet, and there were terrifying marks on their wrists and ankles.
He was basically unable to move due to his wounds. He was basically dragged away by the soldiers, and he obviously suffered a lot of torture.
However, some of the prisoners who were brought in were in good spirits. Although there were only about twenty people, the noisy noise made this depressing space a little more lively.
Some of them were yelling at the people around them, some still had a glimmer of hope, thinking about the chance of being redeemed, and some were pale and heartbroken. Although they had their eyes open, they had no hope at all.
The only thing these people have in common is that they were all knight-level masters.
No matter how much these people shouted, they were unable to resist, and their threats were not taken seriously by those present.
The Marquis is basically the top noble in the kingdom. With the power of this old man, he can kill a few knights silently without causing any waves.
It took some time to capture more than 20 knights, leaving basically no trace.
Moreover, they are also very cautious in doing things. None of the captured knights have a deep background. They are basically landless knights from outside. They have few acquaintances and roots in the capital and no one will care too much if they are missing.
The so-called volunteer team leader of a thousand people is just a temporary cannon fodder position. Now that the orc crisis is over, who cares about the volunteer team that was organized before? Most of the so-called volunteer teams are young people from all walks of life in the capital.
It is impossible to maintain an organization organized by the common people for a long time. Most of them were disbanded under Ren's order not long ago. If they are officers of the Guards, they may still make these top nobles a little scrupulous. At least if something goes wrong, someone will be held accountable.
.
In front of common people, even these knights with no background are still aloof beings. In front of top nobles such as the Marquis, they are not as noble as all living beings.
"It's time to start."
These knights either cursed or begged for mercy, but it did not affect the movements of the sergeant escorting them at all. When they were dragged to the strange symbol in the center, the old Marquis gave the order, and the sergeant escorting them took something from his waist.
He pulled out a dagger and cut their throats easily.
Some people struggled to resist, and some even had a glimmer of fighting spirit on their bodies and twisted their waists a few times. However, their limbs were completely disabled and they were tightly tied up with ropes. At this time, even an ordinary person could
It was easy to kill them, not to mention that the people who did it were all well-trained sergeants.
Blood flowed from the severed throat to the ground. The man who was originally cursing could only make intermittent whimpers and was pinned to the ground by the sergeants, unable to move.
Twenty knights could form the framework of a flag regiment. They did not die in the battle with the orcs, but died quietly in this secret underground space.
As the twenty knights gradually lost their vitality, the blood seeped into the strange symbols, and the blood on the ground became thicker and thicker, and finally there was a faint light.
"continue!"
The old man frowned at the scene in front of him, seemingly dissatisfied, and ordered in the direction of the deep corridor.
Soon, more people were escorted over.
"let me out!"
"Who are you!"
"Chi!"
"ah!"
This time, the sergeants brought in ordinary people, but there were more of them, hundreds of them. Most of them were wearing shabby linen clothes. They were just civilians trying to survive at the bottom, and these people didn't have any background.
, the sergeants brought them into the bloody light and slashed them with their swords.
The strange symbols on the ground seemed to have been activated by the blood of the previous twenty knights, and began to actively extract blood from the human body. The blood of hundreds of people was drained in a short period of time.
At the same time, the previously faint red light also became brighter, and there were many shadows in the light and shadow, as if something was about to appear.
At this time, some changes finally appeared on the face of the old man Furui Mubo.
"Everyone, get back!"
After ordering the sergeants to retreat, the old man took a few steps forward excitedly, stopped in front of the bloody shadow, and crawled to the ground with his whole body.
"Great Lord Diabo, your bloodline favored ones have presented you with fresh sacrifices!"
"Who is calling the great demon lord Diabo?"
The sudden sound was like deep thunder, making everyone around him a little scared.
The shadow in the red light gradually solidified, and although the other party's skin color could not be clearly seen, one could vaguely see what appeared to be a pair of thick horns on the other party's head.
"A Buchan family?"
The Bakken family is a large human family that has been inherited for thousands of years. It is one of the families that has been prosperous since the end of the Elf Empire. It has existed longer than the Golden Dragon Kingdom.
Everyone knows that the ancestors of the Buchan family followed Aragorn and gained the position of marquis due to their meritorious service, but they do not know that the Buchan family was once one of the bloodline nobles who dominated mankind.
Before the rise of the Golden Dragon Kingdom, the rulers of mankind were bloodline nobles like the Bakken family.
The so-called bloodline aristocrats are a group of human beings with special bloodlines flowing in their bodies. Their bloodlines are not the aristocratic bloodlines blown up in modern society, but real people with special abilities.
The bloodline nobles in the early years of mankind were basically the descendants of demons.
Demons were still relatively active during the heyday of the Elf Empire, and often came to the continent from special abyss. Some demons had similar aesthetics to humans and elves. They could not afford to offend the elves in their heyday, but humans suffered, and many mixed-bloods
This is how humans came into being.
These humans with demonic blood inherited some of the demon's abilities, and also inherited the demon's violent, cruel and chaotic temperament.
Because of the powerful bloodline of demons, these humans with demon blood in their bodies have many times more power than ordinary humans. They can even more easily get in touch with the demons of the abyss to make deals, and can borrow the demon's power at every turn.
With the support of powerful force, after the demise of the Elf Empire, the bloodline nobles gradually became the early rulers of mankind.
However, although the blood of demons can bring powerful power, it can also make people more violent. The rule of human beings by the bloodline nobles can basically be described as dissolute and immoral, which is very unpopular.
As the depletion of magic power intensified, the bloodline nobles first lost contact with the abyss demons, and then it became extremely difficult to activate their own bloodline power. They were quickly overthrown after the Aragorn uprising.
The Bakken family saw the opportunity early and took the initiative to seek refuge in Aragon, only to obtain the position of marquis in the Golden Dragon Kingdom.
The ancestors of the Bakken family didn't say how loyal they were to Aragorn, but on the surface they didn't have any second thoughts. Later, with the little strength and training bonus of the demon blood, they made a lot of contributions in the war and stabilized their position.
But this generation of Marquis Bakken happened to encounter a revival of magic power. Not only did he reactivate his own demon blood, he also found a way to contact the demons of the abyss from the family's classics.
The blood of demons amplified the greed, cruelty, and yearning for chaos deep in Marquis Buchan's heart.
Restoring the rule of the bloodline aristocracy became one of his goals.
"Great Lord Diabo, please give your descendants greater power."
"The breath of reality, fresh blood, and soul."
The red demon sucked hard, and the blood around it was quickly consumed, and in an instant, only mummies were left on the ground.
Then, the devil seemed to become more solid. He looked at Marquis Buchan and said:
"The Abyss emphasizes exchange of equal value. The sacrifice you contributed is not enough to exchange for powerful power."
After saying that, the devil looked like he was about to leave.
"Great Lord Diabo, give me some more power, and I can open the passage to reality for you."
"oh?"
Hearing that he could enter reality, the devil immediately became interested.
"Sir, there are various signs that the magic power is recovering and the magic circle connecting to the abyss can be opened."
"Do you have a way to activate the Abyss Array?"
"As long as there is enough blood, and this opportunity is coming soon, I will be able to provoke an internal strife among humans. I hope the great Lord Diabo can give me more power."
The tone of Marquis Buchan's words clearly meant that he did not regard himself as a human being, but had already assumed the role of defeating the devil.
"boom!"
"ah!"
Suddenly, the red shadow raised his hand and pointed, and a blood droplet broke open the skin of Marquis Buchan, and then Marquis Buchan screamed with a red face.
His skin began to turn red, and the lines on his face became heavier. Especially on his hands, scaly skin appeared, and his demonic features became somewhat obvious.
"Thank you to the great Lord Diabo..."
Marquis Bakken, who was delighted to feel his change, ignored the pain on his body and bowed respectfully to the ground again, while the shadow of the demon Diabo gradually disappeared.
"If you disappoint a demon lord, you know what will happen."