Blades of The Fallen Realm

CHPT 8

Lord Vance slammed his heavy fist against the expensive wooden desk with immense fury. His old face turned bright red as he stared at the disastrous reports. The entire family business was crumbling right before his very eyes.

Julian stood shaking in front of his angry father like a frightened child. He did not know what to say to calm down the raging storm. The massive financial losses had broken their family's proud spirit completely.

"Our ships are completely stuck at the northern border!" Lord Vance yelled with a trembling voice. "Every single trade route has been locked tight by an unknown enemy! We have lost millions of silver coins in a single night!"

Julian swallowed hard and rubbed his sweating hands together nervously. "What do we do now to fix this terrible mess, Father?" Julian asked with fear in his tone. "The other noble families are already laughing at us behind our backs!"

Lord Vance glared at his son with cold eyes. "You must make the lost money back right this second," Lord Vance ordered harshly. "Go and buy every single medical supply in the entire city market today!"

Take over all the medicine and force people to pay way too much money! Lord Vance shouted loudly. Julian nodded his head fast because he was too terrified to argue. "Yes, Father, I will do it immediately," Julian promised with a greedy grin.

Julian ran out of the room to start his wicked plan without wasting any time. He used their remaining borrowed gold to buy every single herb in the city. Then he raised the prices by five hundred percent to squeeze every coin from the poor.

The poor people of the city could no longer buy simple fever medicine for their families. Julian smiled a mean and ugly smile inside his big, luxurious office. "Let them cry in the dirt," Julian whispered to himself with pure malice. "We will be rich again very soon."

Meanwhile, Clara sat comfortably in her warm room drinking sweet, expensive tea. She felt very happy because the shipping crisis did not hurt her personal wealth at all. She looked out her tall window and saw Leo walking by in the yard.

"Hey, you worthless trash, come over here right now!" Clara screamed loudly out of the window. Leo stopped walking and looked up slowly with a blank expression. "Go to the Sterling Medical Pavilion immediately and scrub the bloody floors clean!"

"If I see even one tiny dirty spot on the floorboards, I will break your legs!" Clara threatened with a cruel laugh. Leo did not say a single word in response to her harsh insults. He just turned around and walked quietly toward the big city clinic.

His clothes were old, wet, and completely torn from the heavy morning rain. When Leo finally reached the front of the clinic, he saw a very sad sight. Dozens of poor citizens stood outside in the cold mud, weeping softly.

They were holding empty coin purses and begging the guards for mercy. "Please, just a little bit of medicine for my sick daughter!" an old man cried out desperately. The clinic guard pushed the old man hard into the dirt with his heavy boot.

"Get away from the doors, you dirty beggar!" the guard shouted with a hateful sneer. "The prices went up today, so no gold means no medicine!" Leo gripped his wooden mop handle very tight in his bleeding hands.

His eyes turned cold and sharp like blocks of ice in the winter. A tiny earpiece hidden deep inside his ear buzzed with a secure signal. It was Ethan, his loyal shadow guard commander, speaking directly to his mind.

"My lord," Ethan's low and respectful voice whispered in his ear. "I have checked Julian's new medical stock across the city." "He did not just raise the prices outrageously." "He actually bought cheap, expired, and toxic herbs from the dark market."

"He wants to save as much money as possible while poisoning the poor people." Leo’s heart grew heavy with a deep and dark anger. "Greedy fools," Leo thought to himself with absolute disgust. "They truly do not care if innocent people die for their coins."

Suddenly, a loud and frantic scream cut sharply through the air. A desperate mother rushed into the front courtyard of the clinic like a madwoman. She held a small, limp boy tightly in her arms.

The young boy was shaking all over and his skin was turning a scary blue color. "Help my son, please, somebody help him right now!" the mother cried out in absolute agony. She fell hard to her knees in front of the reception desk.

The head doctor looked down at her with a very bored and cold face. "Where is your gold?" the doctor asked in a flat tone. "I only have three copper coins left in the world!" the poor mother wept loudly.

"The medicine used to cost only two copper coins yesterday!" "Why is it so expensive today?" The doctor crossed his arms across his chest and sneered at her tears. "Prices went up today because of the new management," the doctor said coldly.

"Three gold pieces is the exact price now." "If you do not have the gold, take your dying child away from here." "We do not run a free charity clinic for pathetic beggars." The mother cried with a broken heart.

"Please save him, he is hardly breathing now!" she screamed until her voice broke. The little boy's eyes began to show discoloration. His body went completely stiff as he started to choke on his own saliva.

The crowd were there watching helplessly and covered their mouths in deep horror. Not a single person in the waiting room moved to help the dying child. The wicked doctors turned their backs completely and walked away into the back rooms.

Leo could not stand by and watch an innocent child die for nothing. He picked up his heavy mop bucket filled with dirty water. He walked slowly toward the crying mother on the floor.

"Get out of the way, you dirty servant!" one of the clinic guards yelled angrily and pushed Leo. Leo looked up from his bucket and asked, "Why did you push me?" The guard did not say anything back and just looked at Leo awkwardly.

His body lunged forward toward the seizing little boy on the ground. His hand moved like a flash of invisible lightning through the air. His fingers tapped three hidden pressure points on the boy's spine with absolute precision.

It was the lost and deadly technique known as the "Dragon-Pulse Restraint". This secret movement forced the boy's blocked airways wide open in an instant. The boy coughed loudly and spat a dark lump of phlegm onto the floor.

The bright color rushed back into his small, pale face immediately. The boy took a deep, clean breath of fresh air into his lungs. He opened his wide eyes and looked up at his worried mother.

"Mommy..." the boy whispered softly with a weak smile. The mother stared down in total and complete shock at the sudden miracle. She hugged her son tightly to her chest and cried tears of pure joy.

"He is breathing, my son is actually breathing again!" she shouted happily to the crowd. The people standing around them gasped out loud in absolute amazement. "How did that happen so fast?" an old man whispered in disbelief.

"He did not even use any medicine or pills!" a woman said with wide eyes. Just then, heavy and arrogant footsteps echoed loudly through the grand entrance hall. Julian walked into the room wearing his fine and expensive blue silk robes.

He looked around the crowded clinic with a proud and arrogant smile on his face. Clara walked right behind him, holding her chin high in the air. Clara rushed forward through the crowd and saw the mother smiling and cheering with joy.

"Why are you so happy?" Clara asked with a sharp tone. "My sick boy was just healed by this servant, Leo!" the mother answered happily. Clara's eyes widened in great surprise for a brief second.

Then she smiled a wide and wicked smile because she wanted all the glory. She wanted to steal the credit so people would praise her husband. Clara pointed a long finger dramatically at the little boy on the floor.

"Look!" Clara shouted so everyone in the room could hear her clearly. "Lord Julian just walked into the room!" "His noble, holy aura was so powerful and pure!"

"It scared the sickness right out of the dying boy's body!" The crowd turned their heads to look at Julian with wonder. They blinked their eyes in absolute amazement at the fake story.

"Is that really true?" a wealthy lady asked in a soft whisper. "Lord Julian saved the child just by walking past him?" another person asked. Julian puffed out his broad chest like a very proud rooster.He absolutely loved hearing poor people praise his name and status. He forgot all about his lost ships and failing money problems instantly.

He believed Clara's foolish lie without questioning it for even a second. "Yes," Julian said with a fake and humble voice to trick the crowd. "My pure noble blood heals all things in this city." "It is a sacred gift given directly from the heavens above."

The gullible crowd fell quickly to their knees in the dirty mud. They bowed their heads down low until their foreheads touched the floor. "Thank you, Lord Julian!" the people chanted in unison. "You are our great and merciful savior!"

Julian smirked proudly and looked down at Leo with intense disgust. He saw Leo kneeling on the floor next to the dirty mop bucket. Julian walked over and kicked the wooden bucket hard with his foot.

Dirty water splashed everywhere, soaking Leo’s torn and worn-out shoes. "Get back to work, you useless trash!" Julian spat with cruel hatred. "Do not stand near my noble feet with your filthy beggar smell."

Leo kept his head facing down and did not say a single word. His face stayed completely calm, cold, and emotionless in the dirt. Inside his hidden ear, the tiny earpiece buzzed gently once more.

Ethan's calm and steady voice spoke clearly straight into his mind. "My lord," Ethan said quietly from the shadows outside. "The evidence against them is fully ready." "I just anonymously mailed the absolute proof of Julian's toxic herb smuggling..."

"...straight to the hands of the Imperial Medical Guild leaders."