Cthulhu Gonfalon Chapter 59

A white-haired prestigious old nobleman was the first to speak up. He was a baron from the neighborhood. Although his position was not high, his age and seniority were scarily high. Included the deceased Gerton’s viscounts, even the oldest noblemen in this region addressed him as Uncle. Not to mention he was the neighbor, toward the situation of the Gerton’s dominion, he was the most appropriate person to be the host.

The old man was trembling while standing up. He slowly discussed the glorious history and the current prosperous situation of the Gerton’s dominion once again. His words at that time were resounding and vigorous. One indeed could not judge a person by appearance.

Still, what he said was a complete nonsense.

All the previous Gerton’s viscounts generally were not familiar with business. This region didn’t have any glorious history that was worth mentioning! Not to mention there were also ‘starved-to-death’ people, what on earth was prosperous?

"This old man talks such drivel! There are still people who were starved to death. How can he call it prosperous?" Sui Xiong angrily said, "At such an old age like this, he is still babbling nonsense. Isn’t he scared of going to hell after death?"

"To the nobility, as long as the nobility can keep their dignity, that is prosperity." Lei coldly smiled then said, "What the hell is this, I am afraid he still doesn’t need to go to hell. At such an old age, he still devotes himself to maintain the glory of the nobility. After dying, he might be accepted into the God’s Kingdom of the Honorable Court Lady."

"This kind of person can also be accepted? The God of Nobility is indeed not very picky!"

"The Virtuous God accepts kindhearted people, the Evil God accepts evil people. Birds of a feather flock together." Lei coldly said, "Is the Honorable Court Lady herself a kind of virtuous person?"

Sui Xiong sighed, deeply felt that he didn’t know what to say.

Until now, he couldn’t understand why this group of people worshiped the Evil-God----Was there perhaps a difference between an Evil God and a Devil? From his point of view, they were not that different...

On the high platform, the old baron in exasperatingly slow rhythm introduced all the "story background", changed the subject, then finally mentioned about the main event.

The former Gerton’s viscount died from illness. The time when he got sick until he died was very short. He didn’t even have a chance to clear-headedly hand over everything. Not to mention he didn’t have a son. When he was still alive, he didn’t appoint the heir. Therefore, the inheritance right was left empty. On the theory, each descendant from the Gerton family would equally have the right to compete for the inheritance right.

When the late viscount was still alive, among the close relatives, Stelle was the only descendant. Hence, everyone felt that Stelle was certainly the heir for the viscount position. No one had expected that when he just died, an illegitimate child suddenly showed up out of nowhere. Moreover, he had adequate solid evidences, which were enough to prove his identity.

Until this moment, everyone was suddenly enlightened, no wonder the late viscount insisted on not giving his inheritance right to Stelle. The reason was that he had still hidden an illegitimate child!

Really obviously, this old viscount wanted to pass on the viscount inheritance right to his illegitimate child. It was just that he still didn’t find the right chance to bring out this child, who he sneakily had outside, in broad daylight.

According to the rule, as long as the illegitimate child was accepted, he could have the inheritance right. The secret document that this late viscount had left behind had indeed confirmed the identity of this child. Therefore, he could have the inheritance right. If he hadn’t shown up too late with the verbal confirmation from the late viscount, this inheritance right would have been passed on to him.

Therefore, the current situation about the viscount of the Gerton’s dominion was also very awkward. One side was the inevitable and right heir since long time ago. Other side was the heir with the adequate and solid legal principle but didn’t get the recognition. Both sides, no one gave in to other. If it wasn’t settled properly, a civil war might happen.

Of course, if Lei hadn’t appeared, Stelle would have soon died. Even if she were immortal, no one would support a dumb girl who didn’t have any strength except for luring men out. Despite the fact that she wasn’t dumb at all, not to mention quite witty.

Or if we changed the angle to consider the issue. if Stelle’s behavior had not been that terrible and her reputation had not been that disgusting, some noblemen would have soon asked to marry her, to support her. Once she had a nobleman whose status was not lower than the Gerton’s viscount support, her inheritance right would be as solid as a mountain. Even if this unknown illegitimate child had more documents to support him, he basically wouldn’t have the qualification to compete with her!

In short, this matter was coincidently like this!

Although the old baron spoke very slowly, his words were very clear. He prattled the entire matter clearly from the beginning till the end. He especially asked the noblemen and representatives once again to confirm that everyone was clear before ending his narration.

Next, the two characters who fought for the inheritance right would come on stage to wrestle.

This kind of fight over the inheritance right generally had two methods, literature and martial art.

The martial arts’ method didn’t require talking. As both sides would fight, the winner would take the inheritance right, and the loser, although not being dead, would also have to pack and leave right away, have his surname noble identity taken away.

To Siu Xiong, he hoped that both sides would compete in martial arts, because the scene would be pretty good-looking. But the one fighting for the inheritance right had to take responsibility for their own results, they couldn’t find others to replace. No matter it was Luo Meng or Stelle, they didn’t want to risk their lives fighting. Hence, this option was completely hopeless.

As for this option, Luo Meng indeed somewhat lacked courage. This swindler was also one kind of bard, a true adventurer. He was not only good at his words, but his martial arts skills were also not weak. If fighting one by one, not to mention an ordinary robust man, even a fully-armed soldier, who had been through training, might not be certain to beat him. As compared to that, even though Stelle also had learned some noble sword arts, how could she be his opponent?

But Luo Meng didn’t think so. From his point of view, as a person with high IQ, he should use his brain but not his force to win, which was just like what Liu Bang had said "I prefer the battle of wits not the one of force", he then directly dived into the fight, carelessly submitted his life. What a luck!

As for Stelle, she, of course, didn’t want to fight with martial arts. She had actually practiced martial arts. Her sword arts skills of the nobility were quite gorgeous. Her sword dance in the banquet was absolutely stunning. Hunting a beast was also a cinch. But to fight with this kind of ruthless man, who had guts to seize the viscount position, Luo Meng? Forget it, it would probably be like courting death...

If both sides didn’t want to compete martial arts, of course, there would be only competing literature.

Competing literature here was very similar to a debate on earth. First, both sides took turns to speak clearly about the strengths and weaknesses of one’s self and the opponent’s. They then debated, attacked each other, and gave each other torrent of abuse. It would be the best if they could directly curse till the point that the opponent got a heart attack. If they could not find the winner through the debate, all the noblemen and representatives attending the conference would have the right to choose the heir for the viscount position. And about the loser, still had to pack and get lost. Their noble status would be taken as well.

On the contrary, no matter what, if one dared to fight for the inheritance right, he would have to prepare their mentality well. You paid what you bet. This kind of principle applied everywhere.

The first one coming on stage to speak was Luo Meng. He was indeed a veteran swindler. His mouth constantly made the crackling sounds. Because he couldn’t let his no-good background come to light, he all along acted his role of an illegitimate child very vividly. Toward the behavior of stepping in and fighting over his inheritance right, his words didn’t insult this lowly woman who tarnished the name of the Gerton family and this was not because he was not selfish.

The reason for this generosity, especially those words and attitude, was to enhance his persuasion. In accordance with his handsome appearance, after disguising, his momentum looked sixty to seventy percent of the dead viscount’s, which moved many noblemen who had a close relationship with the late viscount.

The fact that the late viscount had an illegitimate child was in reality not a mystery as well. Although not many people presenting here knew, some of his good friends roughly had known about this. Or this could be an ambush move of the late viscount to prepare the unexpected accidents, finding some old friends to be the support for his son.

It was just that he could not even think about this in his dream that his own son vaguely died under the hands of Luo Meng’s subordinate. Not to mention that Luo Meng faked the identity. He was like a turtledove taking up a magpie’s nest.

Those noblemen had originally prepared supports for the son of their old friends. At this moment, when they saw this kid didn’t only have an imposing appearance, but also the disposition of their old friend that year; they could not help but have an unknown moving feeling. A sentimental old man even couldn’t bear, shedding tears and muttering to himself, "Too alike! Too alike!"

Uhm, it was certain that Luo Meng was a professional. Even the biological son of the late viscount was here, and without his acting, more than half of supporters would have significant changes!

Without a doubt, the more important thing was that this "respectable" old nobleman had soon received the benefits from Luo Meng, a guarantee for his top position.

Such similar situation was many. On the contrary, these past few days, Sui Xiong only discovered the ones that were bought, or had sneakily finished discussing with Luo Meng were countless when combined. The number would at least take up one-third.

This one, who used a handkerchief to wipe his tears, belonged to the acting school. Several seats away from that, the one that was as robust as a bear belonged to the strength school. In addition, two marquis representatives from the Gold Coin Federation belonged to the external reinforcement. Not to mention the ones who did business with the Gerton’s dominion were pretty many...

After a careful calculation, there was no wonder that Luo Meng’s power was ample like this. A highly respected senior supported him, a powerful fighter supported him, supreme marquises in the entire Federation supported him, business partners of the Gerton’s dominion supported him... If the fight for noble inheritance right didn’t have a proper process and the holy competition high platform could be violated, Sui Xiong felt that they would not need to hold this conference, he could have directly announced to take over the position.

Expert, indeed an expert!

As compared to that, Stelle’s performance was a lot far behind. Although her words were also very polished as she emphasized her long time being the only one heir, and that she was not only suitable for the noble rule but also far better than an airborne Lord to keep the peace and stability of the territory. But with a careful observation, one could see that she, in fact, didn’t have much power. After talking for a while, her eyes flickered a little bit, sometimes turned to look at Lei. It was as if that only seeing the Black Knight who was as firm as a mountain could she maintain her momentum.

Let alone, she didn’t have many supports from the true noblemen. Except for some Gerton’s dominion natives, or some men that she had shady relationships with, there were almost no human resources supporting her.

Nonetheless, even if those human resources backed her, at this moment, when they saw her appearance, their attitudes would also shake a little bit.

One couldn’t do anything about it, comparing her to others would only make one angry to death. There was such a huge difference between both sides!

To be honest, if there were no other choice, Stelle would be reluctantly considered as a so-so heir as well. A depraved manner was still nothing to the nobility. On the contrary, when Highness Honorable Court Lady was still a mortal that year, her manner was not much better than Stelle’s. At most, the Honorable Court Lady didn’t lay her hands on a devil beast, While Stelle even dared to put her hand on the devil beast. If carefully thinking, she really made everyone admire...

Yet, since there was Luo Meng, a much better candidate, this exotic flower, Stelle, had better not embarrass the viscount position, should silently find some remote places to bloom, saving the fragile heart of everyone.

Hence, the debate still had not started yet, the majority of the noblemen and representatives had also silently decided on the inside.

Sui Xiong felt like he was sitting in a surreal non-disturbed room to watch those two esteemed guests going on stage. When Luo Meng was on stage, with just a few words, the eyes of the female esteemed guests lit up as they danced and gesticulated for joy. They were like hungry wolves staring at him, wanting to catch and tear him into pieces. And Stelle... As soon as she came up on stage, the male esteemed guests put their hands on the lamp’s button in succession, looked at each other like waiting for some eldest brother to make the first move.

The gap was so obvious!

Chapter end