Chapter 196: New Officer Takes Office! The Carrot and the Stick
The next morning, the guards received a summoning order, which must have been issued by the new sheriff Chen Rui.
It was inevitable that when the new sheriff takes office, he would want to show off his authority, but that also required other people’s cooperation. The summoning order was issued for a long time, but only 200 or so people came spa.r.s.ely. Not even one tenth was here.
It was clear that they were trying to teach the new sheriff a lesson. Who asked you to be a human with no powers at all?
Of course, most people were not sleeping peacefully at home, but they were watching the development of the situation. After all, teaching him a lesson was one thing, rebellion was another thing.
Soon, the observers received shocking news. The guards were divided into five brigades. Besides the captains of the two brigades who came forward after hearing the summons, the captains of the other three teams were dragged out and beheaded. The vice-captain a.s.sumed the role of captain.
Within one hour, if the current captains could not summon their subordinates, then all of them would be beheaded. The first small captain to gather would a.s.sume the role of big captain and so on. Don’t doubt the new sheriff’s sinister measures because the city’s largest organization, the Cloak Gang had already publicly expressed support for human sheriff. The original “negative saboteur” big captain was killed by Arux personally. Now the Cloak Gang had taken control of every corner of the city, they could not even escape.
An hour later, all the guards appeared at the field in the barracks. Many people were impatiently brought out here by the new small captain. If the time was delayed, the captains could not even keep their position and life, and it would even benefit others!
A b.l.o.o.d.y demon head hung on the flagpole on the high platform. The new sheriff Chen Rui stood on the platform casually, secretly observing the guards below. Most of the guards were lazy. Even standing in formation was a problem. There were also some whose powers were not bad that were showing looks of contempt.
“Eh hem…” Chen Rui cleared his throat using the magical loudspeaker. “Let me introduce myself. I’m the new sheriff appointed by the Princess Royal Highness, Chen Rui…”
“Incompetent human!” Someone had already begun to stir trouble. Laughter came from below.
Chen Rui did not get angry. “The sixth row of the second big team, the minotaur wearing the red s.h.i.+rt who started the uproar, you come to the stage now. If you can survive in my hands for a minute, you can go back and sleep every day. You can still receive soldier’s pay every month as usual.”
The minotaur didn’t expect the human’s eyes to be sharp enough to spot him. When he heard Chen Rui’s words, he shouted, “Really?”
Chen Rui nodded. “This is the barracks. Every sentence I say here is valid. All the guards are your witnesses.”
Once the audience saw a good show, they all made way for the minotaur to hastily walk up the stage. Before he could speak, he saw Chen Rui waving his hand at him. The minotaur suddenly slowed, and his body began to corrode at a speed detectable by the naked eye. He instantly became a skeleton. The liquid with the combination of venom and blood spread on the ground.
The noisy voices immediately reduced, watching this scene in horror. That minotaur was a small captain. The strength of the later stage Intermediate Demon was considered good among the guards, but he actually ended up turning into bones immediately. They had known that this human was an apprentice to Master Aldas, but they had never imagined that he would have learned such a terrifying poison skill so quickly.
“Don’t say that I am depraved; I am just a potioneer.” Chen Rui shamelessly elevated his incompetent apprentice ident.i.ty to potioneer. “To tell you the truth, I have obtained Master Aldas’ teachings. If there is anyone else who is dissatisfied, please come out one by one. I will ask you to go to me and my teacher’s laboratory to become an experimental subject for a few days. As long as you can survive, I will promote you.”
Master Aldas’ Lab!
The field was silent now. Everyone knew that the laboratory in the outer court of the Royal Palace was the most terrifying place in the entire Dark Moon City. There were often screams coming from there in the past. Even the strongest imperial guards did not dare to approach it, let alone going in to become an “experimental subject”? Recently there were no more screams, but the rumors were even more frightening, such as fresh corpse experiments. It madepeople terrified…
A potioneer was not the combat type, but he had a series of poisoning methods for self-protection. Chen Rui learned a lot from Aldas. Matched with his sophisticated control of his own power, he could use his fake potioneer name to scare people even without exposing his powers.
At this time, the commander from the barracks gate came to report. “The Mellon Family and Ca.s.s sent people over. They are currently asking for you outside the barracks.”
The guards began to whisper. The two captains who were beheaded were people from the Mellon Family and the Ca.s.s Family. There is going to be a good show, but why are they “asking to see” him?
Chen Rui nodded. “Let them come in.”
The representatives of the two families came to the high stage and saluted respectfully. They said nothing about the big captains that were killed. They only brought a lot of gifts to express their congratulations to the new sheriff on behalf of the family patriarch.
People came one after another to congratulate him. Besides the Saiful Family, almost all the families in Dark Moon came. It was the first time for many of the guards to see this kind of scene. They were dumbfounded. It seemed that the power of human sheriff was far beyond imagination.
Soon, another important figure came. It was Royce, who represented the finance officer Joseph. Royce was also very respectful. He expressed apology for Joseph who could not come in person, and sponsored two hundred sets of high-quality leather armor and weapons.
The arrival of the Royce and the Mellon Family was authorized by Joseph. The purpose was to help Chen Rui build momentum to exacerbate the confrontation between him and the Saiful Family and to incite Shea’s suspicion to cause further division.
Immediately after, the Cloak Gang’s new deputy leader, Arux and director, Didi represented the Cloak Gang’s leader, Aguile. They expressed their greatest support for Chen Rui in public. There were many guards, who were also members of the Cloak Gang, were in awe of this human sheriff.
After thanking all the guests, Chen Rui continued to speak, “I admit that I am not the combat type, so I have hired two instructors to train everyone. The instructors have the right to take full responsibility for all matters in the army. I give you one chance, if you can defeat the instructor in a challenge, you can take over the instructor’s position and receive a generous reward…”
Chen Rui talked about all the benefits to tempt everyone, then introduced the instructors. “The first instructor is my friend Aguile’s most powerful subordinate, deputy leader of the Cloak Gang, Arux.”
Arux who was below stage suddenly flashed and appeared next to Chen Rui. He bowed slightly. When facing the guards, he suddenly had a double-headed scythe in his hand. The sound of golden iron resounded loudly in the field without a magic loudspeaker.
“Anyone who is dissatisfied can take a step forward.”
Although Arux lost to Aguile, he had already demonstrated his power in that battle. Even if he was inferior to Aguile, he was still one of Dark Moon’s greatest Higher Demons. With his fierce reputation, who would dare to challenge him?
As soon as he said that, almost all the guards took a step back. The guy who “stepped forward” was so scared he almost wet his pants.
Arux didn’t care about it and sneered. “Cowards, in the days to come, I will make you strong! Everyone who stepped back just now, stay behind later. Anyone who dares to escape; dies!”
At that moment, the ones wetting their pants were those who stepped backward. No one dared to doubt the truthfulness of Arux’s last sentence. In the arena, the escapees who died in Arux’s hands were uncountable.
Hearing Chen Rui’s tone, he and the most powerful Aguile turned out to be good friends. No wonder Aguile publicly expressed his maximum support, and he even “lent” Arux to Chen Rui to be an instructor.
“The second instructor is Dark Moon’s best female swordsman, the daughter of the empire’s First General George Wells, Miss Athena!”
Athena wore leather armor and walked up to the stage carrying a big sword. The Dark Moon’s best female swordsman was obviously more popular than Arux. Her beautiful appearance and s.e.xy body made many people clap their hands with s.h.i.+ning eyes. Many people had only heard of Athena’s name, but they had never seen her strength. Some people already wanted to attempt to challenge her.
However, Athena’s next move shocked the audience. The crowd felt their vision blur. Athena had pulled out her large sword like lighting and struck it to one side. There was a tremor on the ground. The entire high stage that was made of stone collapsed in half. Not just that, a terrifying gully that was more than ten meters long and several meters deep extended behind her.
Athena’s cold voice sounded. “The challenger should be prepared for death.”
The field was quiet. Even the coughs caused by dust were suppressed. The people below took a deep breath. The power of this sword was not much weaker than Arux. It was as expected of the First General’s Daughter.
In fact, these people still underestimated Athena. Arux himself knew that Athena definitely did not use her true powers. If she really struck the sword with full force, even he definitely could not take it. No wonder the master once said that the “mistress’” powers were close to the later stage Demon King level now.
“What a waste…” Chen Rui looked at the half-collapsed platform and shook his head secretly. He then said, “There is another good news to tell everyone. I have received the Princess Royal’s special approval. As long as your training results meet the requirements of the two instructors, then you may receive the military supplies and munitions that are as the imperial guards in the future, and there will be additional bonuses every month.”
The carrot at the end of the stick made everyone’s eyes light up. What were the imperial guards? The Princess Royal’s strongest guards. Whether it was the equipment or the pay, they were always more than a few grades higher than the guards. The guards were already salivating. Now they could enjoy this treatment, how could they not be excited?
As long as the treatment could get better, it didn’t matter who was in charge. Don’t forget that the previous sheriff Alan was just an Intermediate Demon. Wasn’t he just relying on the Karon Family’s strength?
“If everyone has no comments, then from tomorrow, closed training will officially begin,” Chen Rui then asked aloud, “Do you understand?”
“Understood!”
Although the answer was still not in unison, it had vitality for the first time.
Chen Rui looked at the looks of these guys and smiled a little. The imperial guards’ treatment was not wrong, but the key was the previous sentence ‘As long as the training results meet the requirements of the two instructors.’ These guys would probably train until they cry for their parents tomorrow.
The remaining matters would be left for the two instructors, Athena and Arux. However, Chen Rui could not relax even for a while. As the leader of the Cloak Gang, the largest force in the city, there was something even more important for “Aguile”.
With Athena’s and Arux’s training, Chen Rui would have a powerful army.