Guild Wars

The fellow with the bronze skin was in a miserable state, his flesh ruptured all over and his bones broken in various places. He could barely get up from the place he had been sent flying to, and no one made a move to help him.

The finger that pointed at him retracted, its owner once again receding into their seat with an aloof expression as they continued reading their tome.

Misery by the side sneered at the injured fellow.

Trying to attack me? Don’t you know my grandma is a fucking 9th Order Mage? In fact, she was known to be slightly above 9th Order due to her own unique spells and applications, which was why she was called the strongest sorceress.

“So, as I was saying, the punishment of Councilor Damon to be sent into exile is too lenient! As we speak, Walter, Hector and Edward are still in critical condition! The three most talented youths of our next generation were almost slaughtered by that old coot due to arrogance and hubris!” Misery continued strongly.

“Of course, it’s normal for Councilor Meridia and the others not to care. After all, it wasn’t their children who were harmed, so it’s easy to favor your old colleague.” Misery sighed.

The faces of the various councilors changed and Meridia pointed at the young man with anger.

“What kind of malicious claim is that?! The Council has always been impartial in all things!”

Misery simply glanced at her then looked away with an amused expression that clearly showed that he believed her words just as much as he believed that war crimes were real.

“You..!!” Meridia exclaimed angrily, but was stopped by a young Sebastian.

Sebastian crossed his arms and gazed down at Misery with intense eyes. “Your argument is agreeable all around. No one feels good about what that idiot did. When Julian and I arrived we initially wanted to slaughter him on the spot.”

Misery was surprised by this revelation, as he had been out cold at the time. He turned to Councilor Julian and saw that the valiant fellow nodded. Misery hesitated for a bit but trusted the two Councilors due to their personalities.

“Currently, Barton (father of Hector and Councilor of Blackbeard), John (father of Edward and Councilor of Robin Hood) and Percy (father of Walter and Councilor of Cu Chulainn) are not in the Council because they are tending to their sons. This has caused the Council’s decision to be skewed for sure, I agree with you, young Nicholas.” Sebastian continued honestly.

“But the problem you’re failing to consider is precedents and merits. While it is undeniable that Councilor Damon’s actions at the time were beyond foolish, it was also the first time he ever acted out in any such manner. On the battlefield, and at home, he has rendered many great services to the Lineage and has quite the prestige. You know this. How do we dole out the kind of punishment you expect when these merits are breathing down our necks?” Sebastian asked piercingly.

Hearing this, the breath of the Councilors halted because Sebastian had torn all facades down and condensed the matter into its simplest form. Often times, when someone did wrong, people wanted them to suffer the maximum punishment within the category of punishments for that wrong.

The average man, filled with emotion and lacking any form of leadership training or vision, would clamor for the death penalty or other severe punishments on any crime, especially from an upper echelon. They would then be confused and dissatisfied when that upper echelon was given a lesser punishment in the same category.

However, those with vision and leadership abilities, as well as the ability to remain coldly rational, knew that there was more to consider than the crime itself. When doling put punishment, one had to consider the person as well.

This was why, in some cases, they might check if the offender had committed past offenses, especially in the same vein, before deciding to let them go, even if only committed a misdemeanor.

Imagine a kingdom with a valiant general who had defended the borders from enemy attacks for decades, who had kept the people safe. His skills were great and his actions were undeniable to the benefit of everyone. Now, at some point, it was discovered that the man had a dungeon under his manor, in which he had defiled young boys and girls, a truly heinous crime.

The people, infuriated by this revelation, naturally wanted to see his head on a pike for those atrocities. They had forgotten, or were purposefully ignoring the protection he had afforded them all those years, and now demonized him to the lowest layer of hell.

Were they wrong for this? No. In reality, and being honest about it, a slew of previous good deeds could suppress one later bad deed, but it depended on the magnitude both, good deeds and bad deeds.

In this case, the death penalty was even too lenient for such a fellow. Yet all the king did was strip him of his position and put him under house arrest in the capital, ‘forced’ to live out his days in the comfort of his own home.

The people would be unhappy and complain that this was corruption and elitism while the king would stressed about the commoners exhibiting the insight of a dodo bird.

Yes, he could severely punish this general but what about the next one? Why would the successor put his all into the job when one mistake could end him and his life?

It should be obvious that tripping an old man and having an pedophile sex ring were crimes of different magnitudes, but people up there didn’t see it like that. To them, both were mistakes and as long as no one caught them, they were good to go.

So how could they, a dignified upper echelon, lose their life because of a small mistake that was outed? Ignoble!

As such, the next guy who entered that slot would know that even a single mistake could out him, so while his performance would not be bad, it would not have the enthusiasm you’d expect.

Why? Because there would be a shift in mentality.

The first guy had done well because he had been thinking ‘all I need to do is accumulate more merits and become greater!’ and the second guy who came after the trial would be thinking ‘welp, as long as I don’t make any mistakes, the worst they can do is fire me’.

You can just imagine the performance difference between two fellows with these separate mindsets.

It was the same here.

Councilor Damon had made one mistake and should be killed? No way, jose!

Then which Councilor who came after would work in their position seriously? After all, Damon’s mistake was quite small objectively. Yeah, he did try to kill Walter and co, but he ultimately didn’t. The only one he HAD killed was Juno and who was she from the Merlin Lineage’s perspective?

Misery processed all this in seconds as he understood what Sebastian was getting at. He glanced over to his Nanna to see that she had actually closed her tome and was watching him silently, waiting to see how her grandson would handle this thorny issue.

To Misery, this now became a test, a test of his maturity and ability to lead from his Nanna. He would not tolerate failure just as she did not, so he carefully parsed everything through his mind and then spoke.

“You are right, we cannot ignore the Councilor’s past deeds and focus only on the current one. We need to take into account everything at once. I agree to the councilor being exiled.”

The various Councilors sighed with relief and seemed to think it was over, while Scathach simply continued watching Misery. Sebastian also knew this was far too simple for this brat and was proven right the next second.

“Instead, rather than that, we also have to account for the feelings of the wronged party. Walter, Edward and Hector are all future Councilors given their talent and sub-Lineage. Upon hearing such a verdict, they might logically understand, but emotionally? You and I know it wouldn’t be that simple.”

Hearing this, the relieved Councilors were dumbfounded once more, but they nodded. Nothing Misery had said so far went against common sense, and that was also what they were worried about. Forget the next generation of Councilors, they were more worried about the current generation!

Those fellows were currently distracted by the current states of their sons, but once everything was sorted, they would be out for blood! The Merlin Lineage couldn’t tolerate any disharmony right now, especially after thoroughly offending the Buddha Lineage!

“So I suggest that we exile the ex-Councilor, but the terms of the exile and his treatment should be decided by Walter. That way, he would be partially mollified in thinking that he had a part in punishing his aggressor.”

The Councilors hesitated, but felt that this was a good idea. The worst Walter could do was make Damon very uncomfortable in his exile, but that would be about it. It would also be worth it if it quelled Walter’s fury as Misery suggested.

Just as the Council were about to speak, a snide voice sounded.

“If you dare make that decision, expect my Pangu Lineage to pay you guys a visit!”

The fellow who had been beaten into a corner had propped himself up and set his broke bones forcefully. He then healed himself and walked over to the side of the council room opposite Scathach and didn’t dare to look her way.

However, that didn’t stop his mouth from running.

Once he spoke, the Councilors who were about to agree with Misery snapped their jaws shut so fast many of them cringed in pain. Their countenance became pale and they didn’t dare interfere in the matter anymore.

Misery glared at the fellow fearlessly and questioned. “Seriously, who the FUCK are you?!”

The Pangu fellow sneered and was about to reply ‘your father’, but remembered the woman in the purple seat was his grandmother and changed his words.

“Your Lineage’s ambassador.  I am Ao Jiantian, and you’d better remember it, boy.”

Misery poked his ear. “What? Your first name is ow? Why, who hurt you? Or is it what your mother screamed when she pushed out a fat turd like you from her ass?”

Ao Jiantian flew into a rage and barely kept himself from attacking. “We Chinese say our last name first and then our given name!”

Misery looked shocked. “So your entire clan is called ow? I guess it makes sense if everyone is just like. We’ve just met and you feel like a great pain in the ass.”

“Enough! Your presence is no longer necessary here as I have made the decision for your Lineage. Failure to comply will warrant severe consequences!” Ao Jiantian roared as he swing his arm and flourished his robe.

Misery’s eyes flashed as he looked to the now silent Council, then Scathach who shook her head at him. Misery finally understood why his Nanna had separated herself from them and why the Lineage was declining so badly despite their quality of youths becoming slightly better.

Everything finally made sense. His home, his family, had been turned into dogs following the machinations of their master. This master was also very strong, otherwise his domineering grandma would not bow her head as well.

Misery’s expression was dark and he stormed out of the council room. This was one of the first events that eventually led to his self-imposed exile.

……….

Walter’s eyes focused once more as his memories flashed by. After talking to Misery back then, he understood that he would never get justice and that he was destined to be a dog for the Pangu Lineage.

He, Hector and Edward decided to bear with it and infiltrate the Council and wait for the right time to stir shit up. Misery had rather decided to leave, but the day he left, he had said something unforgettable to his three remaining cousins.

“When I return, its likely going to be because of something that will cause chaos. That is my signal for us to stir shit up. Wait for me, brothers.”

And now, the Council was in an uproar due to the presence of Kiran while Misery was casually drinking by the side, but his eyes were on his three cousins.

Hector grinned.

Edward’s eyes flashed.

Walter took in a deep and liberating breath before rising to his feet.

It was finally time!