" Give me one good reason to believe you, I've known these men for decades, while you are an outsider, why should I trust your words over theirs and insult their pride by having them investigated?
Their years of service MEAN something to me.
I don't consider the warnings of the monarch of the won knight clan to be empty words.
But I don't have it in me to question the integrity of my own people.
If there were really dark faction loyalists in my camp, there would be some honest member to have reported it to me over all these years.
But I have not received one such report and that is what bothers me the most.
Because the only way this is true, is if more than 90% of my council is infected which is a scary outcome for me to swallow.
I take these men's advice to run my country, to form my policies and to enforce my laws.
If what you say is true God Shakuni, then I have failed as a monarch ". Thor said as his voice sounded empty when he spoke these words.
The question that Thor posed before shakuni today was a diplomatic nightmare for any Individual to approach, as there was no right answer to his question as either way the answer was going to hurt Thor.
Rudra felt a bit for the muscle man, in the end his faith towards his subordinates was admirable and something Rudra could relate with.
Should there be a day when someone informed him that his Elites were no longer loyal to him and that his best friend Karna was betraying him, he would be disturbed by that as well and probably dismiss it as a bogus claim no matter how credible the source of the information was, because he had been through thick and thin with Karna.
Shaking his head, Rudra said " The angels have these truth orbs, I'm sure you know about them.
For beings below tier 6 they are impossible to be fooled while if one uses divine essence to influence the decision the orb turns murky white indicating interference.
I can most likely convince them to lend us one, and you can use it to question the council.
If they are loyal to you and the thunder nation they will not mind being questioned over their integrity, especially knowing that as a result of this round of questioning they get to free up the planets occupied by me and force me to pay war indemnity should I be wrong.
I will leave the decision up to them now ".
CHECKMATE!
Rudra had woven a beautiful trap with words that the ministers could no longer escape.
The conditions Rudra offered for going through a simple round of questioning were much greater than what the Thunder Nation obtained in return as anyone who declined the proposal would automatically seem guilty.
The dark faction loyalists began to panic as a few who had nothing to hide accepted the plan and voiced their public acceptance of it, while the majority of the crowd remained silent and in thought just as Rudra knew that they would.
" I don't think this is the best idea my lord, I mean how can we know if the orb is working properly? How can we trust the outsider?
I mean surely there is no need for this round of questioning, he has killed a councilman in this very chamber before your very eyes!
He doesn't deserve to live lord, don't you agree? " A man spoke while visibly sweating as he rubbed his hands in nervousness
" Ohhh, a mentally retarded councilman how rare " Rudra commented as he chuckled at his own joke
" Every concern that he raised is common sense, monarch Thor.
The orbs' authenticity is not an issue when monarch Augustus Won Knight and monarch Micheal sign a system document guaranteeing its authenticity.
As for the device calibration, you can test it yourself and for the questioning you can do it yourself.
I will not give you the questions, I will not interfere and I will not influence the outcome.
You be the judge, you do the questioning and you do the analysis.
I don't think there can be foul play involved if these conditions are met ". Rudra said with authority as every mumbling council member was silenced after listening to his proposal.
Rudra had really not left any way out for the dark faction supporters for today it felt like a through and through checkmate for them.
Thor waited for a good 5 minutes for any objections to be raised, but there were none.
So in the end he decided to accept Rudra's proposal and made him sign a system contract that stated that should his accusations turn out to be false he would be forced to return the territories he had captured and pay a war indemnity of 5 trillion gold coins as well as serve as the northern commander with an unpaid salary for next 100 years.
Thor sighed in relief when Rudra did sign the contract as that made it clear to him that he indeed did not have malicious reasons to attack his territory hence he could let go of his anger towards him.
Before leaving the council chamber, Rudra scanned the pale faces of many council members in the room as he went upto Thor and whispered in his ears to monitor all teleportation and escape attempts from the planet tonight.
Rudra's intuition told him that many cowards were going to flee the planet before the questioning ever began and that his theory would start to be proven true before the orb was ever secured.
Thor gave Rudra a silent nod, acknowledging the private advice as Rudra walked back out of the thunder nation council on his own two feet before disappearing from the planet.
If Rudra's analysis was to come true, Lucifer was in for a sleepless night tonight.
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/// This bonus chapter is sponsored by top patron Cervantez91, please thank him in the comments for this one ///
