Herald of Steel

Chapter 746 Lapitus Moves (Part-5)

With Petrino's permission, Lapitus managed to quickly take over the mansion guards.

The numerous small squads scattered all around the huge building that were once led by captains loyal to Kalidus were quickly dismissed and told to go home for the day, as Lapitus's men took effective control of the men under them.

While the guards that were originally assigned to protect the main hall room, the place where all the events would take place, were all dismissed or relocated to other parts of the mansion, their places filled by Lapitus's own, trustworthy men.

These men were trained veterans who were going to be the ones who were going to do the butchering. 

As for the higher level posts that had become empty, particularly those held by those ten officers, such as the gate controls, well Lapitus's co-conspirators were able to take control of them too, usually saying something along the lines of this, 

"Your captain is attending a drinking feast with Senior Kalidus, commemorating Lord Ponticus."

"He will be late. In the meantime, by the order of the Lord of the city, His Lordship Petrino, I will be in command of you. Understood!"

The last word was a loud bark, not a question.

And as the order was directly from Petrino, as well as the fact that Lord Ponticus's funeral was just this morning, it all sounded very plausible.

So these soldiers who were trained to be obedient, not inquisitive, or question their superior showed no resistance to yielding to this new figure of authority.

These men were unlikely to pose any problem for at least the next few hours, only possibly becoming suspicious of why their captains were not returning after the night had long drawn deep into its recesses.

That was ample time for Lapitus to do what he needed to do.

As for the other nobles becoming alert at this sudden change in security, well, luckily, Lapitus had chosen this day to launch his rebellion.

Many of them were distracted by the upcoming feast, while many of their leftover personal guards who survived the battle against Alexander were deployed either to the streets to keep order or the walls to keep watch.

After all, with the gates in the first wall open, if they were careless, Alexander might launch a surprise wall rush trying to try and take advantage of the temporary lull in defenses.

Losing the city that way could truly be a tragedy upon tragedy.

Hence when the nobles learned that Kalidus was feeling a bit unwell and drinking with his men in remembrance of his beloved master they thought nothing of it.

There were numerous examples of Lord Ponticus relieving Kalidus ahead of this shift or entirely excusing the man for half a day when he noticed Kalidus was unable to keep up with his years.

Thus, as dusk fell, the feast began in its full revelry, undampened even by an iota of the recent circumstances.

In fact, looking at the scale of the arrangement, Lapitus found it actually to be comparable to only a few grand parties ever held in the past.

One was when Perseus, the king of Tibias was first coronated.

The second time was when His Majesty came to visit Thesalie.

And a third time was when The Crown Prince was here to see his granduncle, Lord Ponticus.

So for this party to be comparable to those occasions where it was attended by such members, the grandeur in display could be imagined.

The centerpiece of the party, the huge banquet table that was placed smack in the middle of the room, was several tens of meters in length and covered in its entirety with food.

For the meat lovers, there were roasted hares, doves, snails marinated in honey, and pheasants glazed in fish sauce to name only a few, along with some other more dubious-looking items even Petrino was unsure of.

Though curiously there was no sign of meat of the common variety, like chicken, beef, or mutton.

 But this was of course to be expected for serving such 'peasant' food to the honorable tongues of the nobility would be too disgraceful.

Only rare and exotic meats were fit for them, and the chefs prepared them in various ways.

This was almost the modern equivalent of how billionaires would eat things like alligator meat and even exotic insects.

Not because they necessarily taste good, but because the amount of money they spend to eat these foods suddenly makes them taste good.

Money too can be a very potent seasoning.

Along with meat, there were various fruits too, such as pears, pomegranates, dates, oranges, and lemons.

They were either baked like baked apples, or cut open and displayed decoratively, or just shown off in fine glass bowls.

And yes, those glass bowls were made by Alexander.

As for the most luxurious item there, well it was undoubtedly door mice, with goose eggs coming at a close second.

As Lapitus silently observed this… this enormous amount of wasteful expenditure during a siege, he naturally was disgusted.

In fact, the feeling was so strong that even the overwhelming aroma of such alluring food and drinks was unable to stimulate his appetite.

And if not for the fact that he knew the siege was going to be lifted tonight, he would have dreaded to think what the state of their stocks would be following after this.

'Heh, enjoy it well. This will be your last meal.' 

So while looking at the nobles gorge themselves on these expensive delicacies, Lapitus ominously said this in his heart, thinking as far as last meals went, this was really as good as one could get.

Lapitus passed the following few hours occupied by such thoughts, patrolling the grounds as well as occasionally mingling with some of the more familiar nobles.

And once the nobles had filled with stomachs to a degree with solid food and finished with their pleasantries, then came the main event- the drinking.

And it was here the courtesans, dressed in scantily clan clothes made their debut.

Dressed in low cut Vs that showed not only deep into their cleavage but half their milky flesh as well, they flitted around the room like sinful fairies, carrying pitchers filled with fine wine to sate thirsty throats.

But once they would reach their destination, they would find the men there to be much more than only perched, for like their throats, their souls too hungered for sweet dews and soft touches.

Hence, once they were loosened up after a couple of drinks, soon strong, manly hands could be seen roaming over these ladies, some going over their breasts, some inside their clothes, some copping a feel of their butts, while Petrino, the most brazen one, was actually seen pouring wine over one of the heavily endowed girls's chest and licking and sucking it off them, eliciting unrestrained moan from the working girl.

Something which made Lapitus's heart burn with fury.

This was no funeral commemorating the dead.

This was a simple feast and party.

'Fine food, wine, and women. These scoundrels' deaths will be a lot better than they deserve.'

If Lapitus had even the slightest scruples before, then seeing the current debauchery completely removed even the tiniest shed of doubt in him.

If this was how the dead who sacrificed themselves for their country were being remembered, including the father of the one who was the current lord of the city, then Lapitus did not want to call the man his lord.

And this was a sentiment that was unsurprisingly shared by many of his men who were present there as well.

Hence, each man having their resolve strengthed patiently waited for the wine and merriments to do their job.

And thankfully they did not need to wait long, for the men seemed to turn inebriated and sluggish faster than any other time.

Perhaps it was the siege or the looming threat of Alexander's promise, but the nobles were seen gulping down the red liquid like there was no tomorrow.

Some were in fact so inundated with alcohol that they lost their sense senses and started to take the girls serving them then and there, in front of everybody, forgetting all shame.

And it was seeing this that Lapitus finally felt his patience break.

He greatly respected Lord Ponticus and seeing this memory be tarnished like this was too much.

Also, given some of the men were actually doing such things and no one was even coming to stop them, it was clear they had lost all ability to resist. 

So these defenseless sheep were in prime condition to slaughter.

"Start!" Hence Lapitus's command at last rang out.

It was not particularly a loud or hushed order, and all the people around him could clearly hear it.

But most did not care.

'Start? Start what?'

They were not really interested in what this commoner was saying, not when there was this fair lady to enjoy.

But the soldiers who were in the know of what this meant reacted instantly.

They rushed to the nearest group of nobles, hands grasping the hilt of their sword, before, 

*Clang*, the steel blade was suddenly unsheathed and *plunge*, it was driven using both hands deep with the clueless noble's defenseless back, the entire thing going all the way through.

The slaughter had begun.

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