Chapter 7 The Tyrannical City Lord

"You're back?" Kaveh had lost all his strength. He wanted to leave the mine to work but couldn't move a step. He had to slump against the wall. When he saw the figure coming back from the entrance, he couldn't help but look shocked. Although he didn't want this person to die, he had never thought that this person would be able to come back. "Yeah." Atar walked up to Kaveh, handed the medicine bottle and bandage in his hand to the old man on the ground, then sat down on the ground beside the old man, staring at the dark cave wall and thinking about what had just happened. Kaveh rubbed the medicine bottle in his hand, and couldn't help but think of things from his youth. His voice was a bit choked. "A long time ago, I had a friend." Atar stared at the cave wall, listening to Kaveh's story about the past. It was a story of a slave trying to lead other slaves to escape from the mining area, a story of resistance. But unfortunately, it ended in tragedy. In the end, only Kaveh survived. "What kind of person is the city lord of Zaravash, the one who suppressed the slaves' rebellion?" Atar asked. Tirdad completely distrusted the city lord. He even wanted Atar to help overthrow the rule of City Lord Ardashir. Was this out of genuine intention, or did he have other motives? "Ardashir," The old and cloudy eyes of Kaveh blazed with fierce anger when they touched upon the word 'city lord', but this anger vanished in the next second, as if it had never existed. "The city lord's word is final. No one can go against what he says. His greatest pleasure is to punish those he deems 'guilty'." Even if those people are not actually guilty, if he says they are, then they are. "Has Ardashir ever achieved anything in repelling foreign enemies?" "When he first took office decades ago, the army was powerful. But recently, he can't even defeat the bandits outside the city. All he does is offer up the gold and women in the city." Atar's eyes narrowed slightly. Was the city lord of Zaravash really that incompetent? He had never paid attention to this before, nor had he thought of gathering any information. Perhaps he should take a look. So he brushed the dust off his clothes and stood up. Kaveh beside him looked up, the wrinkles on his forehead bunching up. "Where are you going?" Facing the light shining against him, Atar turned his head. The wind blew his brown-gold hair that reached just below his shoulders. "I'm going to see for myself if the master of this city is really tyrannical." Only in this way could he cooperate with Tirdad with a clear conscience and choose to overthrow the rule of City Lord Ardashir in order to help everyone. Atar's nimble figure had evaded several patrolling guard teams, and he hid in the central guard command post. Of course, he had changed back into the guard uniform that Tirdad had provided him. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps came from outside the door. Atar grasped the oak wood at the top edge of the wooden window and leaped into the air. With a soft 'tap', his long boots landed on the wooden roof. He pressed his whole body close to the roof, concealed in the quiet night. He quietly pried open the gap between two wooden boards with an iron sheet and peeked into the room. "Dad!" The noble girl that Atar had seen before said coquettishly to the thin and short middle-aged man, "Why do you treat our slaves like that? It's not good to let them die in vain, is it?" The thin and short middle-aged man was Ardashir, the city lord of Zaravash. At this moment, he seemed to be earnestly advising, and there was no sign of the ferocity and brutality described by Kaveh. "Elythia, you're just too kind." When the topic didn't involve his daughter, his tone turned a bit cold. "Those slaves were born to be driven and enslaved by us. Their lives are simply worthless." "Dad!" Elythia shouted again, then with a huff, "Since you treat slaves like that, every time you beat one, I'll go and help one!" With that, she angrily broke free from Ardashir's hand and stormed out of the wooden command post. "Elythia!" Ardashir looked rather helpless. He seemed no different from the most ordinary father in the world. He was about to chase after her, but had only taken half a step when... "Bang! Bang!" A knocking sound came from a box in the corner of the wooden house. Ardashir immediately looked over, an exaggerated and excited smile spreading across his face. His hunched figure, illuminated by the candlelight, cast a menacing shadow on the wall. "Click." The box lock was opened, and the lid was lifted. On the wooden roof, Atar's pupils were suddenly constricted. The lid of the wooden box was wide open. The emaciated slave had his hands bound by heavy chains, and a thick shackle was around his neck. Ardashir grabbed the chain on the collar around the slave's neck and gave it a yank. The slave immediately tumbled out of the wooden box, his whole body trembling violently. Ardashir looked down at the slave kneeling in front of him with a gaze full of enjoyment, feeling a great sense of pleasure both physically and mentally. He tugged gently on the chain, creating a silent clattering sound. Ardashir asked, "In this past week, have you realized your mistake?" "Y - yes, I have, Lord Ardashir." The slave's voice was hoarse. His fear of light made him instinctively curl up. "But you don't seem like you've realized your mistake to me." Ardashir shook his head. His eagerness to torture was clearly written on his face. The smile that curved his lips caused the wrinkles on his face to bunch together, making him look like a vicious demon. The slender silver needle pinched between his fingers glistened with a cold, menacing light. "Ah ——" Atar bit his lip, his eyes fixed intently on the two people in the room. The hoarse screams filled his ears. "The city lord's word is final. No one can go against what he says. His greatest pleasure is to punish those he deems 'guilty'. What Kaveh said was true. Atar let go of the iron sheet that was prying open the wooden roof boards. His forehead pressed against the cold roof as he calculated the events that had happened today in his mind. The moon rose behind him, hanging obliquely in the eastern sky. He had clearly seen the person inside. If he left it alone, that person would be tortured to death, right? Listening to the screams in the room, Atar suddenly lifted his leg and nimbly leaped to the ground. The sound of his footsteps when he landed overlapped exactly with the screams, hiding the risk of being exposed. Elythia sat by the lake, fuming. Her delicate eyebrows were knitted together. She picked up a stone and threw it onto the lake surface. The stone sank quickly upon hitting the water, creating a series of ripples. She just couldn't understand why her father couldn't get along well with everyone. A small stone was hit by an incline and bounced several times on the lake surface. Elythia, who had been looking gloomy, was quickly attracted. She turned around and saw the hem of a garment hidden behind a tree. She asked sharply, "Who are you?" "Miss Elythia," the guard behind the tree didn't come out. Only a short section of dark-blond hair showed from behind the tree trunk. "I'm just an ordinary soldier." "A soldier?" Realizing the identity revealed by the person opposite, Elythia asked eagerly, "Are you a soldier guarding the slaves? Can you tell me some information about the slaves?" Having grown up in the royal city and just returned to the city of Zaravash not long ago, she wanted to know more and more stories about the slaves. "Slaves? They're born to be inferior. They carry unforgivable original sins —Isn't that what you think, Miss Elythia?" Atar's dark blue eyes are hidden in the darkness. He wanted to figure out the thoughts in the heart of Ardashir's beloved daughter to see if he could make use of them. "That's not true!" Elythia retorted instinctively. Then she silently pulled back her upper body that had leaned forward. "Although everyone says so, I... I at least want to treat the slaves well." "If I inherit my father's position as the city lord in the future, I definitely won't beat or scold the slaves —as long as they behave themselves!" A falling leaf landed right in front of Atar. Atar's gaze followed it from top to bottom, and his voice carried a perfunctory tone that others couldn't detect. "Then you're really kind, Miss Elythia." "This is just my personal opinion." Elythia didn't catch the irony in Atar's words. She smiled shyly, then stood up and walked towards the tree where Atar was hiding. "Thank you. I feel a bit better after chatting with you. May I know your name?" "Of course. It's my pleasure." After getting an affirmative answer, Elythia took one more step forward. Just as her gaze was about to shift behind the tree, she suddenly felt a sharp pain at the back of her neck and immediately plunged into darkness. "Sorry, Miss Elythia." Atar caught the fainted Elythia. Although he said 'sorry', he didn't really mean it. "The city of Zaravash won't be inherited by you."