Chapter 540: The Yellow-faced Servant
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
There were ten lords in Norland. In the ranking of succession, King Dari was on top, but it did not mean his status was secured.
According to the tradition of Norland, succession ranking could only come into use if the last Khan did not directly designate a successor. Khan could choose anyone to inherit the throne, including descendants other than the ten lords. His words were above everything else.
The heir had become a sensitive topic for the current Khan. With the aggravation of his illness, he became reluctant to talk about this issue. Anyone who dared to rashly mention this matter in front of him would bear the risk of losing his head.
That should be a good thing for King Dari. As long as Khan did not designate anyone, King Dari would be the next Khan for sure. But in recent years, his self-confidence had dwindled, and his anxiety and fear had grown.
n.o.bles usually judged a person’s favor in the simplest way: the number of times he receives a private call from King Khan.
Fortunately, it must be face to face. This was an irrefutable truth. It did not require profound knowledge, and Norland n.o.bles could find its accuracy.
The number of calls for King Dari had not decreased. What scared him was that the number of summons for King Kuari increased steadily. Especially in the last one year or two, it had a trend of surpa.s.sing.
More than one n.o.ble had reminded King Dari to pay attention to this matter, and more than one n.o.ble, once on the fence, had tilted his center of gravity towards King Kuari.
This was a life-and-death compet.i.tion. The loser would die with Khan or leave home, disappear in the vast barren land, and could no longer partic.i.p.ate in any affairs of Norland.
This was also a hand-to-hand fight, and no one could back down. They had to do their best in every inch of territory and every trivial matter until complete occupation. The victor could barely take a breath before immediately jumping into the next battle.
Dragon King was their battlefield at this moment.
Gu Shenwei was aware of this. He wanted to find out the reason but soon found that King Dari, exactly like King Rizhu, was hiding the truth.
Although King Dari had always been the most important supporter of Golden Roc Fort, Gu Shenwei did not discriminate against him. Before he found out the true baseline of the all-powerful figures, he would not pick a side by his impression alone.
Loyalty and betrayal only existed in the inferior towards the superior. The dignitaries were always rightfully confident when they abandoned their slaves and followers. King Dari showed up in slums and his first sentence to Dragon King was, “I hope Golden Roc Fort will not be a barrier between you and me. Every decision I make depends on whether it can bring benefits to Norland. As for my personal preference, it does not matter at all.”
“I also hope that I didn’t let you down when I asked to see King Kuari first. It’s my principle to do easier things first and harder things later. The difficulty to meet King Dari is a little high for me,” said Gu Shenwei.
“Ha ha!” King Dari had a hearty laugh characteristic of Norland people. “After this meeting, you will no longer feel that meeting me is difficult.”
Words were straightforward, but topics were circuitous. Both sides were still testing each other in order to quickly form an impression.
In Gu Shenwei’s eyes, King Dari was a slim old man of medium height, about 50 years old. Beneath his generous and approachable appearance, there was the stateliness which could only be possessed by a dignitary that had held power for many years. It had become a part of King Dari, and would not vanish even if he became a prisoner.
However, Gu Shenwei noticed that King Dari’s speech was somewhat incoherent with occasional pauses as if he suddenly lost his language ability and returned to normal in a blink of an eye. He did not seem to notice it.
In the eyes of King Dari, Dragon King was confusing. With King Dari’s status and his history of supporting Golden Roc Fort, his appearance in slums and greetings to his former enemy should be very surprising and impressive to Dragon King. But this young man had a calm demeanor and did not regard him as the first king of Norland.
“I’m getting old.” King Dari’s enthusiasm weakened considerably after finding that his unexpected visit did not achieve the desired effect. “Standing is burdensome for me. Would you like to have a drink in my tent?”
“My pleasure.” Gu Shenwei accepted the invitation, but his tone was still insipid, without the feeling of “pleasure.”
A group of guards was waiting outside the tent. So were Senior Shou and his subordinate Bo Sang.
Gu Shenwei stopped in front of Senior Shou and said, “I will come again the day after tomorrow. ”
Senior Shou was embarra.s.sed and did not know how to reply in the presence of King Dari.
King Dari did not care, “Tell Fourth King that I have invited Dragon King. Let him wait for two days.”
“Yes,” Senior Shou replied respectfully, knowing that his business was about to be finished. Since the battle for the throne had become fierce, he had to pick a side. This was a secret bet. After exposure, it would greatly damage his reputation. From then on, no one would believe his impartiality, not to mention the anger of King Kuari.
King Dari’s personal visit to the slums did not surprise Dragon King but dealt Senior Shou a lethal blow. He did not even dare to give a hint to his lord, because that would make him die faster.
Bo Sang looked at Dragon King excitedly. His round face was full of admiration. Because he was so nervous, the blue veins bulged from his neck. Any outsider would consider it as a sign of hatred.
To his regret, Dragon King did not speak to him or look at him again.
Compared with the humble tent of King Rizhu, the residence of King Dari could be called a palace. It was s.p.a.cious enough to be divided into ten rooms. Stepping on the thick carpet was like stepping on the clouds. Pretty female slaves delivered corresponding utensils and food before the master thought of them.
The liaison between the lord and slaves was a yellow-faced young man of around twenty. He seemed to be malnourished from childhood, causing him not only to be slim in figure but also slightly r.e.t.a.r.ded. But this humble man had an amazing skill: he could foresee every single thought of King Dari.
It took Gu Shenwei a while to realize the importance of this person. All the female slaves were staring at the yellow-faced servant and immediately performed their duties through observing his eyes and subtle movements.
The yellow-faced servant joined the conversation when it had already been going on for a while, which was both abrupt and natural. He said, “Our lord loves talented people. He often can’t sleep for several nights when he sees young talents like Dragon King. He always wants all the world’s outstanding talents to be used by Norland.”
King Dari nodded with a smile and accepted the servant’s compliment. But then something weird happened. King Dari fell back on a thick pillow that had already been put in place. From then on, he rarely said a complete sentence, “I think…”, “this matter…” and “in my opinion…” All the words after that were added by the yellow-faced servant. The connection between them was very natural, and the situation of sudden pause was thus not seen.
Gu Shenwei’s eyes remained on King Dari, and he never asked the name and ident.i.ty of the yellow-faced servant.
“Dragon King must be wondering why our lord invited you to come here, right?”
“A little bit.”
“Well, I want to do a little explanation for my lord first. Our lord is selfless and devoted to the overall situation of Norland. Everyone says that he supports Golden Roc Fort, which is actually a misunderstanding. Our lord only supports Norland. As for the situation in Western Region, he will lend a helping hand if it is beneficial for Norland.”
“Makes sense…” Dragon King replied.
“So, Dragon King is willing to come to Norland to negotiate and our lord is very glad…”
Gu Shenwei now understood the origin of King Dari’s speech in Senior Shou’s store. The yellow-faced servant said it again, more smoothly and reasonably.
Slowly, the yellow-faced servant got to the point and his att.i.tude became a little disdainful. “You should have long vision. Our lord will be the Khan of Norland. Western Region is only a small pond. You can do whatever you want in it, but you must get the approval of Norland, that is, the approval of our lord.”
Gu Shenwei said less and less. In the end, he remained completely silent and did not even make a sound.
“Our lord said that Dragon King is a wise man and a wise man should do smart things.” The yellow-faced servant apparently saw silence as yielding, “You seized a good opportunity and chose to accept the shelter of Norland. It was very wise. But it is unwise to place your hope on King Kuari. Do you need an ally for a couple of years or an ally for the rest of your life? In Norland, our lord is the only person who can shelter you forever…”
Gu Shenwei’s only purpose in accepting the invitation was to find out what happened to royal court. The lords were eager to meet him but were hiding something. He did not expect to meet such a talkative yellow-faced servant.
King Dari would never be the successor if Khan still had any sanity.
Gu Shenwei stood up and walked up to King Dari.
The yellow-faced servant was speaking excitedly and did not expect Dragon King’s action. He paused for a moment and said, “Please stop, our lord–”
“King Dari, if you don’t wake up, no one will ever talk to you.”
King Dari was apparently more surprised. He glanced at the yellow-faced servant uneasily and sat up straight, “I’ve been awake the whole time.”
Gu Shenwei looked at the decrepit and muddleheaded lord, “Ask someone to escort me out.”
“You can stay here, we…can…” King Dari seemed to forget what to say.
“Dragon King, you are challenging our lord.” The yellow-faced servant finally reacted by jumping in front of King Dari. “You have made a huge mistake. If you apologize immediately, you may be forgiven. Otherwise, our lord will raze the whole Western Region, let alone a small Dragon King.”
Gu Shenwei finally moved his eyes to the yellow-faced servant, “I’m very concerned about whether King Dari will ever be able to speak his own mind.”
After offending the second Norland lord, Gu Shenwei headed out, leaving behind a bewildered King Dari, a pale yellow-faced servant, and stunned slaves in the tent.
No one escorted him. Gu Shenwei went into the night looking for Maid Lotus who was hiding in the shadows.