Chapter 178: Chapter 161 – Resolution

"To date, The Bounty Hunter has the record of having ended the reign of no less than one empire, two kingdoms, and at least ten smaller nations, all of which devolved into civil war or rebellions on the death of their leaders. It is by far, an achievement unlikely to ever be matched, for a single individual to have toppled so many reigns by their own efforts." - Shaqwal ibn Ordun, Historian and researcher of historical figures.

When Cal walked out from the basement dungeon of the palace, all the slaves locked up there streaming out behind her with disbelief and joy warring on their features, she learned that Kino had left ahead of them a while ago.

 

What they did find waiting for them, was the "Desert Gale", as the mercenary had stood in the foyer, shaking his head at the carnage all around him. Many of the slaves tensed upon seeing him, and Cal had her halberd in her hands as well.

 

"Peace, lady," said the mercenary as he noticed their presence, his hands raised, open and empty, a universal gesture to show that they were not a threat. "I have no intention to fight."

 

"Aren't you the sultan's bodyguard?" Cal asked the man, her halberd lowered but still ready to use. She could hear some of the slaves and especially the other kidnapped people murmuring behind her. "Or are you saying you got nothing to do with the shit going on here?"

 

"I was hired to safeguard the sultan's life," admitted the mercenary with a depressed sigh. "Not his interests, and neither did he pay anywhere near enough to die for him. As for the slavery ring he runs here as a side business, I honestly find it as distasteful as you probably did, but needs must, and beggars can't be choosers."

 

Cal looked at the gathered slaves and kidnapped people behind her, and quirked an eyebrow in question. To her surprise, two of the kidnapped women, both adventurers, vouched for the mercenary, that he had never done anything bad to them, which the others agreed on. On the other hand, the orc woman had apparently helped kidnap some of them, while the sultan's brother… was none other than the corpulent man Ying Xiao killed in the cell. She had caught him by surprise and never gave him a chance to defend himself.

 

It was thus that they left the palace together in a group, escorting the freed slaves and captives behind them. What few guards were around didn't dare to stop them or do anything, while those who did were already long dead.

 

Similarly, none of the city guards dared to halt the procession, and they reached the guild hall unimpeded. There they left both the slaves and the captives for the guild to administer. Several parties had recognized some of the captives as their missing members, and soon regrouped with them, while others were distributing some warm food to the former slaves.

 

Cal noticed how many of the adventurers had packed up and prepared themselves for departure shortly after hearing the news the "Desert Gale" brought over, as he too collected the last of his payout before he left. None of them seemed keen to be involved in the chaos that was sure to follow now that the Sultan was dead and there was no clear successor.

 

She herself thought it was a wise path of action to take, and brought her group to their rooms to pack up, before they too decided to make themselves scarce. She paid the fees for the rooms on her way out, and brought her group to leave the city altogether, headed east to Assadun.

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Already some scuffles and smaller riots had broken out, as the news of the Sultan's death had spread. More than once, Cal saw groups of women, their veils long discarded, lynching a man together, but she paid those no heed. Instead, in those times she took the chance to lecture Ying Xiao and the other girls about how oppressing people through "traditions" could only go so far, and that going too far with it would just result in a violent end.

 

She thought it would be a very relevant topic for Ying Xiao after she returned to Al-Shan, since from what Layla had told her, these days the court faction that was most troublesome were old traditionalists, who would surely find Ying Xiao's mere presence to offend their decrepit and outdated sensibilities.

 

The problem with those old traditionalists was that they had never accepted the usurper's reign either, and had remained entirely neutral during the civil war, only returning to court after the rebels had won. Outwardly, that gave Xain no good reason to remove them from power, and they had formed the biggest opposition block since.

 

While many of the smaller nobles merely followed the lead of their faction head, the true trouble were how the current patriarchs of the leading noble clans stubbornly adhered to their old, long outdated traditions, and how they vehemently opposed anything that would go against it.

 

To date, Xain had forcefully pushed through his reforms by force, earning some measure of enmity with the traditionalist faction, yet things remained outwardly civil still, as the old coots were not incensed enough to go into hostilities with the emperor so far, while Xain deemed that the country had still needed more time to rebuild first, nor did he have a "good" reason to remove them.

 

If he were to give Ying Xiao a high status however, that was certain to rile the traditionalists up fiercely. She was a woman, a Huan, and her background and past just makes her utterly unpalatable for them, so Cal wondered if that might be what Xain had in mind.

 

Layla had hinted at some plans related to her, but had also assured Cal that they would never force Ying Xiao to do things against her will, or treat her wrong, and knowing them as well as she did, she trusted them and their plan.

 

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