Herald of Steel

Chapter 743 Lapitus Moves (Part-2)

Lapitus was ultimately unable to wait for the seven to ten days he had promised himself.

Circumstances such as pressure from his subordinates had forced him otherwise.

Also, he himself found to be much more eager to carry this out than originally anticipated.

It seemed that be it the atmosphere, be it the realization that even those additional 10,000 men might not be enough to defend the city, be it the desire to again see those smiling faces of his wife and child, or even be it that alluring prospect of ruling this city, all seemed to have pushed Lapitus into making the decision he did.

He would initiate the coup at the most opportune time, either opening the gates to Alexander waiting outside or die trying.

And thus, as Lapitus firmly declared his intention, the soldiers let out a hushed bout of euphoric cheers and then began to quietly but quickly prepare themselves for the fated day.

That fateful day soon came- the 10th of August.

On that day, starting at almost dawn, a grand funeral was held at the city’s square, commemorating Lord Ponticus and all the other deceased.

Here all the complex rites of the dead Tibians followed were conducted by a host of priests, something that lasted for hours, while an ocean of people from all walks of life, gathered for the event.

They came here wearing their best dresses, paying their best respects to the known and unknown men sacrificed in this war.

Most of the attendee’s faces were pale from fatigue and weariness, and they walked with shuffled steps like they lacked the energy to lift their feet. To an outsider, this might have been looked at if the dead were being accompanied by the half dead, zombies with one foot already in the ground.

Prolonged stress, sleep deprivation from Alexander’s fiery balls, natural exhaustion, and lastly starvation had all driven these people to near their limit. A few more months of this and Alexander might be able to just take the city with any effort.

But it was not the cadaverous faces of these people that drew Lapitus’s attention.

‘Damn, if I had known the crowd would be so large, I would have started a riot here and now. Opening the gates then would have been easy!’ As Lapitus laid witness to the sheer volume of people present, he somewhat regretted that he missed this obvious chance.

It was just that he had never thought the crowd would be so huge.

But even if Lapitus had thought about it, it was unlikely he would have attempted it here.

Creating a riot was too dangerous as people were unpredictable.

Who knew if they would suddenly turn on him in the chaos?

And besides, even if Lapitus did manage to open the city gates, there was still the job of killing the nobles and PP. as requested by Alexander.

And unfortunately, though almost the entire city came here for the prayers, as well as the free meal, PP and the nobles were not among them.

They only showed themselves at the very beginning, protected on all sides by trusted men, not giving Lapitus even the slightest chance to off them, where on a raised stage, a gaudily dressed PP gave a speech where he explained to the people the worth of the losses they suffered, the reason why they were fighting, and how they were ultimately going to inevitably win.

This kind of public address was a surprisingly brilliant move for the usually pig headed PP, which was also why it was not really him who did it. The entire thing was heavily scripted, written by a competent noble among his ranks, a very rare variety in that group indeed, and it was filled with everything a crowd wanted to hear.

There was mention of the gross enmity between the two sides, the battle of their faiths and the struggle of the gods, the prestige and history of Thesalie- ‘the fortress of the fortress’, and lastly hope for salvation in the form of an illusory reinforcement.

The speech of course did not reveal their promised 10,000 as that was a military secret.

But the crowd was simply told that the king was on his way with ‘an army the likes of which the world has never seen,’ as per the exact words of the speech. Of course, all this was fluff with no real matter.

But it did do its intended job.

Many in the crowd who had come here with aggrieved hearts felt their restlessness to be smothered upon listening to PP’s sincere promises And any thoughts of rioting temporarily subsided.

So from the noble’s view, the event could already be called a success. After the funeral was conducted, the event soon moved to its next and most anticipated part- the food!

Here the entire city was given a thin gruel of sliced vegetables like carrots and onions and a tiny, inch-sized meat, to be eaten with some high-quality black bread. It was nothing fancy, but it was not bad either, since there was at least meat.

Hence, although not everyone eating it might be praising PP and his father to the heavens, given the meal was filling, they were not cursing them either.

And during this entire time all these things were going on, Lapitus was mostly occupied keeping watch at a part of the city, organizing his men, and making sure to keep order in that huge gathering.

It was a hot and humid day to be performing these tedious tasks.

But it was ultimately a very important job.

It was not until around late afternoon, with the sky already giving off a gentle orange hue that the crowd fully dispersed and he could breathe a sigh of relief.

And as most of the guards returned to their quarters at the end of the festivities, Lapitus by a very strange ‘coincidence’ met Kallidus in the officer’s room, where these higher ups would gather to deposit their weapons and armor at the end of the day, talk and chat and sometimes even have a couple of drinks before retiring home.

Now, of course this meeting was no coincidence as Lapitus was determined to eliminate this dangerous man before starting anything.

He was too dangerous to be felt alive.

The reason being myriad.

Kallidus was Lord Ponticus’s former right-hand man, who only left the post because his age was unable to keep up with the physically demanding tasks the job entitled.

And for his lifetime services, back then, Lord Ponticus had even offered the man a very cushy job as a logistician in the rear lines, which not only paid well but also would have provided him with ample opportunities to swindle some stuff from the huge inventory.

Everyone who worked there did that.

It was an open secret.

And so it was also every soldier’s career wet dream.

But Kallidus had rejected all of it, instead choosing to stay in the military as an ordinary captain.

‘These walls guarded me during my birth. I shall guard it till my death’ The old man used to say about his oath to defend Thesalie.

He was that dedicated to the military and to the city.

And for his efforts, after Lord Ponticus’s death, PP made Kallidus the head of his forces, sidelining Lapitus who should have been next in line, for the new lord did not like or trust him, which was actually a good move.

And to add to PP’s boon, Kallidus was one of the staunchest supporters of the ‘fighting to the group’ faction, being almost their spiritual leader.

In fact, it was Kallidus who had killed those nobles who dared to ask PP to consider surrender.

And seeing this, Lapitus was convinced there was no possibility of turning the man.

So if Lapitus wanted to kill PP, he would have to go through Kallidus first.

But of course that was easier said than done.

For as it could be imagined, Kallidus being around the former city lord for so long had managed to become extremely influential among the general soldiers and commanded great respect.

So killing him openly was very dangerous.

Not to mention the horrible mistake it would be if they tried to kill him but failed.

That would give the man time to rally his forces and if that happened, it was unknown which side the regular, neutral soldiers would choose Lapitus or him.

Because of course, not every soldier was part of either Lapitus or Kallidus group.

In fact, only a small group were, with most being only hapless sheep obeying whatever their superior told them. So if Lapitus wanted to do a coup, he needed to eliminate these superiors and replace them with his own men.

And Kallidus was the biggest superior.

So with his fangs borne bare towards the nape of his first prey, Lapitus approached the old man, a poisonous smile hanging on his face, “Uncle Kallidus! It’s been truly a hot day! Here,” And upon reaching his destination, he very gently presented the man with a cup of ice-cold wine.

“*Sip*” And as if to tempt, he took a sip from his own cup that he was holding.

“Haha, thanks kid,” And not suspecting the barest of malice, the old man was very glad to have this cold refreshing drinking.

It had been truly a scorching day, and his body was no longer what it once was.

*Thud*!

But only a few moments later, his body was on the ground, ice cold and dead.