Chapter Fifty-Six: Hatred Etched in the Bones

Monday—don’t forget to cast your recommendation votes for Pighead! Tomorrow is the Qidian Annual Meeting; as long as there’s broadband, Pighead promises to keep the updates coming!

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Once again, they were at the Emerald Rose Hotel, inside that same lavishly appointed suite.

In the resplendent dining room, an oak table stood draped in a crisp white cloth, pure silver cutlery glinting under the lights. Several tall candles, crafted from expensive whale oil, cast a warm, steady glow and infused the room with a gentle fragrance, leaving everything shrouded in a delicate haze.

A few serving girls in snowy white robes stood silently by, each wearing a small emblem on her chest—a holy cross entwined with delicate rose vines, pale green against the milky white—a mark identifying them as lower-ranking clergy of the church.

Arthur and Elham sat at opposite ends of the table, partaking heartily of a sumptuous dinner. Arthur was wholly engaged in tackling a thick, medium-rare steak, the pale pink flesh occasionally leaking a trickle of blood beneath his knife. Elham, by contrast, was idly sampling a serving of aloe and lily tuber, delicately dressed with a hint of white truffle—his tastes, clearly, much lighter than Arthur’s.

Suspended above the table, a water orb nearly a foot in diameter displayed the events unfolding in the Golden Rose Lounge.

As Ya and Ling, with lavish bribes, forced Lin Qi into a corner, Elham dabbed at his lips with a napkin and asked curiously, “I truly don’t understand. If necessary, I could call upon the local church to eliminate Blackbeard and his most loyal men entirely. You could then take over everything by right—so why have you always stopped me from doing so?”

Arthur’s hand paused mid-motion. Then he speared a piece of meat, chewed, swallowed, and took a sip of tequila from across the sea, relishing the burning liquid as it slid smoothly down his throat. Gloomily, he said, “I’ve explained this before. First, Blackbeard and his circle aren’t so easily dealt with. Second, if they’re all dead, how am I supposed to take control of the family’s power?”

He sighed heavily, narrowed his eyes at Elham, and sneered, “Lord Elham, this is the last time I’ll answer this question—you simply have no idea how vast the Black Tiger family’s influence truly is, or how deeply they are rooted along the northern coast. Without Blackbeard’s control, the North Shore would descend into chaos, and I would be powerless to take command.”

Elham forked a slice of pungent white truffle, inhaled its scent, and stretched out his crimson tongue to slowly draw it into his mouth. Savoring it for a moment, he picked up a glass of scarlet, fiery liquor—smuggled from the Five Isles, brewed by savage orcs from bloodgrass—and took a fierce swig.

This bloodgrass spirit, nearly devoid of water, was so potent that only the strongest orc warriors dared drink it; for ordinary people, it was tantamount to poison. Yet Elham downed it in great gulps, unperturbed, his complexion unchanged—proof that his body was formidable beyond imagining, and such almost pure alcohol had no effect on him.

“So—this is my last time asking! Tell me the real reason: why not let me act against Blackbeard and his men?” Elham’s gaze flickered across Arthur’s face. He said in a low tone, “Tell me the true reason—why not just get rid of Blackbeard? Is it that you really can’t succeed him, or do you have other motives?”

A heavy tension settled over the dining room. Arthur tore into his steak in silence; only after a long while did he nod slowly.

Pouring himself a small measure of War God’s Blood, he added a full mug of pale beer to the same glass, then shook the cup vigorously until white foam frothed up. Tilting his head back, he drained the concoction in one go, then looked solemnly at Elham. “Very well. I’ll be honest—I don’t wish for any misunderstanding between us over this.”

He paused, then shook his head and continued, “My father was once Blackbeard’s staunchest ally. My father—the Red-Haired Fiend, pirate lord of the northern seas, a name to make children weep at night. He led ten pirate ships on a raid, only to run into a fleet from the Five Isles—fifty warships in all. Worse yet, among them were seven Frost Titans, five hundred Odin berserkers, and five hundred frenzied orc warriors!”

Elham raised an eyebrow. “So, your father was completely wiped out?”

Spreading his hands, Arthur gave a bitter smile. “Yes, annihilated. Only my father managed to escape, grievously wounded, and entrusted me to Blackbeard’s care.”

He sighed, his voice lowering. “To me, he was as a true father. I could feel it—he treated me and Lin Qi with perfect fairness. What Lin Qi had, I had too, and mine was even better.”

Elham laughed in surprise. “Oh? You came to see him as your real father?”

Arthur nodded forcefully. “That’s why I can’t harm him. I won’t do anything that might damage his interests, because once Lin Qi is dealt with, his interests become my own. Once Lin Qi disappears from this world, everything of Blackbeard’s will be mine!”

“And Lin Qi?” Elham sneered. “The only son of the man you regard as your father!”

Arthur’s face twisted in loathing. He gritted his teeth. “That scoundrel, that bastard, that demon-possessed fiend! I admit, I’m no saint—I wanted a little fun with his personal maid. But he... he responded with such cruelty. Smiling, slowly, he took a full quarter of an hour to gouge out my left eye.”

The bronze goblet in his hand was crushed to pieces. Arthur bared his teeth. “Can you imagine it? A cold finger stirring in your eye socket, for a full quarter hour—you feel the agony, the terror, that demon’s-claw of a finger slowly twisting, slowly pulling your eye out, whole and intact!”

Elham said nothing—he simply could not fathom such horror.

Hurling the ruined goblet to the floor, Arthur’s tone grew darker. “So Lin Qi must disappear—but only after suffering every conceivable torment. He cannot die so easily; he must taste all the pain this world holds, and perish slowly, in utter despair!”

Gesturing to the water orb floating above the table, Arthur grinned viciously. “So, the way Ya and Ling are gambling with Lin Qi’s friends as stakes—I must say, I rather appreciate their style!”

Elham clapped softly, chuckling under his breath. “As do I.”

“Heh—let the game begin!”