"Shit! So, this is what you were planning! Hans, he has to be lying about Princess Vera’s words! Don’t trust him!" the Baron roared.
Hans shivered under his father’s shout.
However, inwardly Hans was calm. His mind was piecing together the situation to find the best way to deal with it. He understood that Isaac could be lying to them to get the truth about the land acquisition. He should not fold under the pressure.
However, anyone could tell that Isaac intended to crush the Barony. Hans had heard about the crazy things Isaac did to the nobles in the capital. If he wanted something, he would get it.
The Barony was finished. It didn’t matter if Princess Vera really wanted to destroy them. Isaac was enough. After all, the Barony was under the wing of the Wright Ducal House, to which Isaac was heir.
Hans would definitely fall if he stuck to the Barony, but he might survive if he joined Isaac.
"The Baron threatened and killed the farmers’ families to acquire the lands, Sir Isaac," Hans said.
"Hans!" the Baron roared, shocked.
"Can you prove it?" Isaac asked.
"Yes, I have been collecting proof of the Baron’s actions since the beginning," Hans nodded.
The Baron was stunned. His son had been what...?
"Don’t blame me, Father. You were too stupid for your own good. I tried to tell you from the beginning that Strider could spell trouble for us, since she is originally from the Silk Plains. But you never listened, saying that she would not care about a place that expelled her. Unlike you, I was prepared in case things went wrong," Hans answered. Gone was Hans’ carefully crafted anxious and obedient persona.
"Bastard! How dare you bite the hand that fed you!" the Baron fired his spells at Hans.
Hans’ face morphed. He was weak, unlike his father. But the flame lances were split before they could reach him.
Isaac had swung his sword.
"Go and bring the documents of proof. I will deal with the Baron," Isaac said.
Hans nodded, leaving. The Baron didn’t stop him. Isaac might attack him from behind while he was dealing with Hans.
The fight that ensued was over in a split second.
The Baron fired ten Ignis Spears. Isaac dodged them while walking towards the Baron. His feet never stopped. It was as if he could predict the Baron’s every move. But that should have been impossible. Isaac could predict his moves only if the gap in combat experience between them was as large as a chasm.
The shock delayed the Baron’s reaction, and a punch landed on his face. His nose and teeth broke. Blood and saliva flew around.
The Baron lost consciousness momentarily. When he woke up, he was lying on the ground.
"Sh-Shtop!" the Baron tried to back away. "The King won’t let you live! Harming a noble without an official hearing ith a crime! Even Duke Wright won’t be able to protect you from thith crime!"
The Baron’s back hit the wall. He couldn’t retreat anymore.
Isaac stopped before him and asked, "How many children have you killed?"
"I havnen’t kill any farmer’s chi—"
"I’m asking about your children. How many have you thrown away because they didn’t possess talent?"
The Baron froze.
Isaac continued, "Your previous children and wives disappeared mysteriously, like the farmers. Let me guess, you disposed of them after the children had no talent. You disposed of Hans’ mother too after he was born. Hans had no talent, and he knew he would be disposed of as soon as you got a new wife and a new child. That’s why he acted obedient while sharpening a knife to stab you in the back."
"Lieth! Do you have any proof?!" the Baron shouted, spraying blood through the gaps where his teeth had once been.
"You officially married five times. Who knows how many more women you’ve kept in secret? Strangely enough, they all ’disappeared,’ just like the farmers. That is proof enough," Isaac replied with a freezing tone.
He had never planned to interfere in the Baron’s personal affairs. That was why he had left him alone despite suspecting that the Baron had been killing his wives.
This sort of thing happened all across the kingdom.
The nobles believed in bloodline superiority. They believed that a pure bloodline would produce talented children.
That was why nobles—both male and female—often disposed of their spouses after they failed to produce a "proper heir." They convinced themselves that the fault lay in their partner’s bloodline.
This was also why Isaac and Zara had been betrothed.
Both possessed the Weapon Element, and the Wright Family had produced at least one Weapon Element user in every generation. Duke Wright believed that if Isaac and Zara had a child together, the child would inherit the Weapon Element and possess extraordinary talent for it.
"Shtop spouting bullthit—"
Isaac knocked him out. He grabbed the Baron by the hair and dragged him outside. The servants were stunned. They tried to stop Isaac, but he knocked them out with ease.
He brought the Baron before the hut of Nathaniel. Dawn broke around the same time, and the farmers were leaving their huts.
They froze, seeing Isaac holding the Baron by the hair. They could tell the Baron had been beaten.
They surrounded Isaac, whispering to each other. Isaac remained calm and waited.
Nathaniel woke up soon after, hearing the commotion. He left the hut and stiffened.
Isaac met his gaze, and spoke,
"Farmers of Yilla Barony, the Baron’s crimes against you all have been proven! He has brought shame to the name of the Wright Ducal House! As per the Protection of Noble Standing Act, I, Isaac von Wright, son of the First Blade, hereby strip Baron Romeo Yilla of his noble title! From here on, he will not be protected by any Noble Protection Laws!" Isaac roared.
He threw the Baron towards Nathaniel’s feet. The old farmer flinched and backed away. He knew the Baron was a powerful mage.
However, Isaac had destroyed the Baron’s Magic Core. The backlash of its destruction had made him weaker than a child.
The farmers stared at the Baron’s broken state in fear. Their gazes then turned to Isaac.
"He is now a commoner like all of you. You can do whatever you want to him," Isaac said.
He turned around, and left. It was a sign that he would turn a blind eye to whatever happened to the Baron. They could kill him if they wanted.
After Isaac left, the farmers stayed around the Baron. They didn’t dare attack him. Even if Isaac had said they could do whatever they wanted, a lifetime of oppression was not something they could cast aside in an instant.
At that moment, a woman stepped out. She was trembling, holding a sickle, but her eyes remained fixed on the Baron.
"What are you doing, Ella?" a farmer asked, reaching out to stop her.
"Don’t stop me!" she shouted, pointing the sickle at the farmer, making him flinch and let her go. "He is already dying! If I can’t take this chance to avenge my husband, then I would rather die!"
She was the wife of Tress, the farmer who was imprisoned and eliminated under the Draconic Domain Act.
She shivered as she took steps towards the Baron. Trying to go against the person who had ruled over their lives for decades was not easy. Yet, a sense of defiance and desperation drove her.
Fear appeared in the eyes of the Baron.
"Sh-Shtop! I will not forgive you if—"
"Ahhh!"
Ella shouted and hacked at his leg. She kept shouting, hacking again and again. Blood pooled beneath them. The Baron tried to kill her in anger and pain, but his mana wouldn’t respond.
Ella started to cry. Tears fell from her eyes as the blood of the bastard who killed her beloved splashed against her.
Another farmer walked forward. His lips were trembling, yet he held a hoe firmly in his hands.
He raised it above the Baron.
"T-This is for my daughter, you monster!" he half-shouted, half-sobbed, as he closed his eyes and swung the hoe. A scream erupted. He didn’t know if it was from his mouth or the Baron.
More and more farmers followed.