King Vex says “Please, just call me Vex. Traditionally we execute nobles with poison. It is painless and less messy than other methods.”

  “That doesn’t seem like much of a deterrent. Would you be opposed to these nobles suffering something more fitting?”

  King Vex says “For nobles who sold off the people they are supposed to protect? I would love to see them suffer! The problem is that breaking tradition could have unexpected consequences.”

  “Do you think that your nobles would be more concerned with you breaking tradition, or that they might be the next one to die screaming in agony?”

  King Vex says “Screaming in agony? I am already starting to have second thoughts about letting you execute them.”

  “It is what they deserve. Not only will they die screaming, but their souls will be sent to continue suffering until they have paid their karmic debt.”

  ??? says “That sounds like you plan to send their souls to the underworld. What god or goddess do you serve?”

  “I serve a pantheon that resides far from here. Who might you be?”

  ??? says “I am the high priestess of the goddesses Melomarc. I am here to cast a truth spell for a trial. You may call me Sadarah.”

  “I am Emperor Ash of Britannia. It is a pleasure to meet you. I was not expecting to meet a priestess of Melomarc here. How is it that you have a truth spell? That doesn’t seem to align with her domains.”

  High Priestess Sadarah says “Do people not tell the truth more easily when they are drunk? How is it that you speak so familiarly of my goddess?”

  “Oh, I’ve met her. I even completed a quest for her. She gave me this goblet as a reward. She was quite friendly with me, even if we did meet under less than ideal circumstances.”

  High Priestess Sadarah says “That goblet bears her mark, so I will accept your words as truth, no matter how unbelievable they are.”

  “Well, I didn’t meet her exactly, I met her avatar, but I assume that is a rare occurrence?”

  High Priestess Sadarah says “No one in my temple has seen her avatar in our generation. So, yes, I would say that you meeting her is a special event.”

  “Well, whatever that may imply, it should have no bearing on why you are here tonight. Vex, shall we start the entertainment?”

  King Vex says “First I need to decide if I am going to let you deal with them. I am still unsure what kind of message it would send.”

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  High Priestess Sadarah says “May I speak, Your Majesty?”

  King Vex says “Of course. It would be rude of me to invite you here to help and then not listen to your council.”

  High Priestess Sadarah says “No matter how they die, they will eventually face punishment. It sounds like Ash has a way to expedite that. The only thing you need to decide is if them dying in pain is what you want.”

  King Vex says “Yes, it is what I want. If guilty, they definitely deserve that much. I just don’t know if it is the best choice to make as a king.”

  “Another thing to consider is that you are about to leave for a time. A little fear might help keep things calm while you are gone. Speaking of that, do you have someone to rule while you are gone?”

  King Vex says “My prime minister will be in charge while I am gone, but you do make a good point. Scaring the nobles into behaving right before I leave might be a good idea. Alright, you can do the executions.”

  King Vex doesn’t wait for a reply, he stands up and punches the table to get everyone’s attention. I notice that as he is doing that, his guards are closing all of the doors to the room. There won’t be any chance for the guilty nobles to run, not that they would have much chance anyway.

  King Vex calls up the first noble and has High Priestess Sadarah cast the truth spell on him. Under Vex’s questioning he admits to not only selling his people, but raping them first. Vex looks ready to strangle the noble himself, but instead nods to me and I cast Dark Mark on him.

  The reactions of the other nobles when the guilty one starts screaming are hilarious. It only gets worse when the next noble is called up and the process repeats. If anything, his crimes are even worse than the first noble, but Sadarah’s spell forces the truth out of him.

  The rest of the nobles are more disturbed by the truth spell than by the noble’s crimes. I imagine that all of them have something to hide and the idea of being forced to confess terrifies them. I am half tempted to suggest to Vex that he question all of his nobles, not just the ones on his list.

  However, as amusing as that would be, it would also likely delay things quite a bit. Vex won’t be able to leave if he throws his own kingdom into chaos by killing too many nobles. Killing a few will scare the rest, but killing too many would make them revolt.

  In the end, King Vex only tries the worst five of the offending nobles and has me execute them. The last one called actually does try to run, but the guards grab him easily. That is when the rest of the nobles realize that the room is sealed and several of them look nervous.

  Based on the reactions I am seeing, Vex really needs to take a closer look at his nobles. If they are that worried, then they are definitely guilty of something serious. Still, he is going to have to worry about that after he returns from the Magic Kingdom.

  After the last noble is dead, the guards drag the bodies out and the feast resumes. The lower tables are much more subdued, but the main table is about the same as before. An extra chair is brought over and the high priestess is invited to join the feast.

  Unfortunately, she is placed at the end of the table and is out of range for us to talk. I wanted to continue our conversation and find out more about Melomarc, but that might not be the best idea. Especially not if Seronia is the one keeping an eye on me right now, she would get jealous.

  That is something I don’t really want to deal with right now, I have enough on my plate. Although, I wonder if she is going to be jealous of Victoria now that I have summoned her. That would definitely be a problem, but maybe she won’t be as jealous of an angel.

  Like with so many other things, I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens. It should be fine for now since Victoria looks like a child, but she won’t stay a child. Hopefully, it won’t be an issue and Seronia only got jealous because it was another goddess.