Liam was still shaking from what just happened.
One second, he was close to losing everything that he had worked so hard for until now, and the next second, these guys were treating him like a big shot.
If anything, this only speaks to what he already knew! Only strength mattered!
He wiped the sweat off his forehead and continued walking. He was a lot calmer now and looked around the palace interior.
Unlike the Gresh Kingdom palace, which was beautiful and dazzling, this palace was made of black stones and dark corridors.
The whole place had an intimidating vibe. But the most interesting part was the portraits on the walls of the palace.
There had to be at least a hundred portraits of the demon king in various poses and expressions. In some he looked smiling, some were terrifying, and some were even nude.
I need to wash my eyes. Liam trembled inwardly. What sort of a character has these many self-portraits?
This was only the second palace he was seeing the inside of, but clearly, this couldn't be normal?
Liam silently observed everything, and soon the group arrived at the main hall.
This was the same hall where Liam had previously been. At that time, he was on the ground, but now he was standing.
The two demons bowed, and Liam as well did the same.
He then looked up to see the same huge throne made of gold and bones, and the huge demon king was sitting atop the throne like a boss.
"Your highness." Liam opened his mouth, and the demon king immediately grunted loudly.
"You have too many accusations lined up against you, Thol city Lord. What do you have to say for yourself?"
And before Liam could answer him, the other parties standing nearby quickly opened their mouth.
"Your highness, you are the fairest, benevolent, and most powerful King in the entire nether realm. Please, you have to seek justice for me. The Thol city Lord kidnapped my two wives!"
"Your highness, the most handsome King in the entire realm, the kindest and the impartial god of our demons, you have to seek justice for me too. The Thol city Lord stole my precious stone tablet!"
As if these two were not enough, another demon stood up and started adding oil to this fire,
"Your highness, my Lord and savior, my handsome God, please smite this demon. The Thol city Lord is a traitor. He possessed information that only a spy from the Xion realm would know!"
Without giving Liam any chance to open his mouth, the three demons started spouting flowery words to the King, at the same time mounting their blame on top of him.
Liam was dumbstruck. Such blatant fawning shouldn't work, right?
He had only just now gone through a huge ordeal and somehow now obtained a chance to stand in front of the King and explain himself.
Of course, he had also prepared satisfactory answers, but now he was no longer sure. He could see the subtle changes on the chubby round moon face of the demon king.
Not wanting to let things once again go out of control, Liam quickly started explaining.
"Your highness, I sincerely apologize to my fellow city lords. But these accusations are unfair. I am innocent."
"Lord Nyaka's wives followed me without my knowledge to my garrison and are still refusing to leave. I have requested them several times, but despite that, they show no intentions of leaving."
"And the stone tablet… As you can see, my knowledge of alchemy is vast. I only paid Lord Ghet a visit to share my knowledge with him and exchange pointers."
"But…" Liam smiled bitterly and continued, "I was unfairly blamed for stealing the stone tablet. I did no such things. I really do not know why Lord Ghet's stone tablet broke."
"I do have a theory though…"
He hesitated and then spoke, "When I was standing next to Lord Ghet, I felt a strange energy entering my body, perhaps that was the essence of the stone tablet?"
"If that were the case, then it would make sense that the stone tablet broke into pieces once I left the city. Without the essence, that treasure might as well be just stone."
"And your highness… please trust me. It was not my intention to absorb this essence. It happened on its own. I am completely helpless."
"To compensate for this, I am willing to supply your highness with a certain number of potions every month along with the rest of the tribute."
"I hope your highness can please accept this." Liam bowed.
"And as for the other accusations on me…Your highness, I implore you. I am not a traitor. My intention was only to help us win."
"I caught a human being in the recent past, and I tortured this information out of him. I even shared this information with all of our garrisons, helping other Lords obtain a win."
"Please, your highness, I am not a traitor. This accusation is a conspiracy planted by the Xion realm dwellers to sow discord among us. Please put an end to these lies."
Liam put on a pitiful expression, shamelessly explaining everything and bending every single fact according to his convenience.
Added to this, he also sounded very convincing. All the demons gathered in the huge hall nodded at his explanation as if agreeing with him.
After all, many of them had obtained sweet victories in the rift battle, so they were not completely against him.
Not just the other demons but the King as well looked quite convinced. Seeing this Ghet and Nyaka started panicking even more.
But then Nyaka's eyes twinkled, and a strange glint flashed past his eyes as he once again started talking.
"Your highness, this Thol city Lord is spouting nonsense! How could my wives admire a weakling like him! They have only always admired you, our strong and powerful King!"
"If they had indeed run away, they would have come here directly to serve as your slaves, your highness. How could they possibly go to the Thol city on their own accord!"
***
Mass Release chapter 4~
Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!
