Anselm Hydra tightened the wolf cloak draped over him by his butler, Savile.
Magistrates, tax collectors, minor lords... In just a month since arriving in the Scarletfrost territory, he had already hanged eleven bureaucrats and nobles.
Did he have the Empress's decree, any procedural approval, or any permission?
No, of course not, because Hydra didn't need such things. Even before Anselm officially took over the Hydra's power from his father, as long as he had a reason, a sufficient, adequate, and necessary reason, he could kill anyone in the Empire except the royal family, even a duke, if the reason was compelling.
—This is the ultimate malefactor that strikes fear into the hearts of all evildoers in the Empire, Hydra.
Soon, he would set out to meet the great lord of Scarletfrost, the Earl of Scarletfrost, to engage in friendly discussions about various matters concerning Scarletfrost.
As for the reason... That inexplicable reason that suddenly led him to Scarletfrost for a rampage and massacre, a mystery that even the Empire's nobles, including the Earl of Scarletfrost himself, could not understand. Some remained uncertain, while others believed they had discerned the truth.
After all, Hydra was both reasonable, and unreasonable.
And only Anselm knew the truth: this is the first step in his mad plan regarding fate... a mad plan.
"Let us proceed, Savile," the young nobleman said as he took the black snake-headed cane, adorned with crimson gemstones for eyes, from his butler and strolled forward.
"We mustn't keep our Earl waiting."
As Anselm stepped out of the manor gate, the surrounding streets erupted in deafening cheers.
"Lord Hydra! Lord Hydra is heading out!"
"The damned Earl of Scarletfrost is toast, done for! Lord Hydra will hang him at the city gate!"
The chaotic, fervent cheers and roars even drowned out the howling of the wind and snow. In such harsh weather, there were still so many people gathered near Anselm's temporary manor.
Anselm, leaning on his snake-headed cane, smiled and stood by the carriage, raising one hand to signal for silence.
The scene quickly quieted down.
"I hear your voices, citizens of the Empire," the young nobleman proclaimed, his golden locks dancing in the wind and snow, his voice, still retaining a hint of youth, resonated with strength, unwavering against the howling northern gale.
"That is precisely why I have come, and why you can express your anger to me here, while they—"
The righteous Anselm Hydra slightly bowed to the surrounding crowd and pointed to the right, where a wide scaffold was set up.
As Anselm's finger moved upward, the breaths of the commoners grew more rapid, like hunters gathered around a campfire after a hunt, craving for their share of the spoils.
"They, deserve to be there," Anselm declared, pointing to the eleven desiccated corpses hanging there.
"OHHHHHH—!"
The cheers were almost roars, a mix of near-tears ecstasy and a fury that even the winter could not extinguish.
Amidst the sea of cheers, the young nobleman maintained a serene smile, as composed as a lunatic atop a solitary lighthouse, gazing out over the tumultuous sea during a storm.
When the wave of cheers subsided, he raised his head again and said, "Now, I will go to see the Earl of Scarletfrost, your lord."
Anselm looked around: "What message do you wish for me to convey to him?"
The crowd fell silent for two seconds, then erupted in a cacophony of curses that were indistinguishable, the wave instantly turning into a volcano spewing lava.
This time, Anselm did not wait for them to quiet down. His young, powerful voice drowned out the noisy arguments. This noble, representing justice and mercy, laughed and promised the commoners:
"I shall inform him—"
"I have reserved a spot for him here."
Anselm bowed gracefully once more, then boarded the carriage beside him and soon disappeared into the snowstorm.
"HYDRA!"
A few seconds later, someone shouted this name.
"HYDRA!" "HYDRA!" "HYDRA!"
No one would doubt the sincerity and compassion of this young man. A month ago, he arrived in Scarletfrost, from the border villages to here, he executed three magistrates, six tax collectors, and even two minor lords! Every three days, a malefactor would die at the hands of Lord Hydra!
Now, he was going to see the Earl of Scarletfrost.
He would surely fulfill his promise, no one doubted it.
No one doubted the compassionate and just Anselm Hydra.
"Clink!"
The sound of wine glasses clinking echoed in the opulent banquet hall.
"I truly must express my gratitude, Your Excellency," the tall and obese Earl of Scarletfrost said with a deep laugh, "Those unruly commoners haven't been this obedient in a long time. Within merely a month, through the sacrifice of nine inconsequential fools, Scarletfrost has become so tranquil, all due to your efforts."
At this moment, the compassionate and just Lord Hydra was surrounded by beautiful women, his head resting on a woman's abdomen, his feet resting on soft, firm thighs, and the hand not holding the wine glass was deeply buried in a woman kneeling beside him, caressing and stroking.
Anselm partially opened his sea-blue eyes, leisurely swirling the wine in his glass: "It's merely a trifle, Earl."
He yawned, devoid of the passion he had shown during his speech to the commoners: "I will make Scarletfrost easier to manage, but the condition is—"
Clap clap—
Without Anselm needing to elaborate, the Earl of Scarletfrost promptly clapped his hands, and someone immediately brought forth a stack of documents, respectfully presenting them to Anselm.
"All that you requested is contained herein."
The Scarletfrost Earl refrained from casting his gaze upon the documents, not wishing for his distressed expression to be caught by the seemingly harmless young nobleman, lest it incite additional resentment.
Because seated opposite him... was none other than Hydra.
The one with unlimited jurisdiction and hunting rights over the Empire's nobility, accountable only to the royal family... no, only to the Empress herself—Hydra!
Although this generation's Hydra was still young, and before he adorned all eight rings, he was not yet a complete Hydra, and naturally had not taken over the butcher's knife from his father that hung over the neck of every noble in the Empire.
Yet the Scarletfrost Earl still dared not underestimate the young man dallying the beauties by his side.
Because he was... the most peculiar Hydra.
The Hydra family, the Emperor's mad dogs, harbored blood that defied their own control. Across the millennium of the Empire's history, while the Hydras exhibited diverse personalities, none were devoid of madness; some were merely more overtly deranged, while others concealed it more deeply.
But Anselm Hydra, he seemed like... truly an anomaly among the inheritors of the blood of madness.
He began to frequently appear in the sight of the Empire's nobility at the age of ten, without warning, attending various banquets and events, and no one could associate that well-behaved and adorable child with Hydra.
As the years passed, the well-behaved child grew into a courteous young man, and during these years, his seemingly upright father had exposed his true nature countless times—the massacre at the Blacksea Marquis's manor, the tragedy at Kankaflan, the great silence at Deepblue Port City... while the current Hydra rampaged and slaughtered wherever he went like a mad dog, young Anselm Hydra was actually... actually running around cleaning up after his father!
Thus, the nobility of the Empire gradually came to believe that this young man was indeed a mutant of the blood of madness, elegant and kind, amiable and approachable, a nobleman among nobles!
After all, who could maintain a facade from the age of ten to sixteen without ever slipping? Could it be that he knew how to interact with people from his mother's womb?
This was also why the Scarletfrost Earl was willing to deal with Anselm, although he did not know how he had been caught by Hydra, at least dear Lord Anselm was willing to engage in friendly negotiations, rather than immediately decapitating him.
"Lord Earl might consider my demands excessive."
Anselm, amidst the reproachful gazes of the beauties, smiled and flexed his fingers, speaking in a relaxed tone: "But if it were my father here, you might already be, um... I'm not issuing a threat, merely stating a reality."
Under the slightly terrified gaze of the Scarletfrost Earl, the young nobleman with a curled lip casually scanned the documents on the table.
Smuggling routes, raiding pathways, human trafficking networks, black market distributions... all the detailed information on the gray-zone profit chains within and beyond the Scarletfrost territory was here.
"Truly..." Anselm murmured softly, his eyes showing a fascination, "an extraordinary treasure."
As he said this, he also easily caught the joy that flashed across the Scarletfrost Earl's face.
Anselm knew these nobles too well; when you knock on their door with a butcher's knife, they will be hysterical, panicked, and make reckless decisions that are irresponsible to their own lives.
But if you hold a bloody butcher's knife in one hand and a hollow money bag in the other, they will instead greet you with a respectful smile, the bigger the bag, the more at ease they feel.
The Scarletfrost Earl knew that if his long-established network was exposed, the aging and muddled monarch on the throne, who still scorned the world, would not spare him a single chance at survival—in short, she would let the mad dog named Hydra tear him to pieces, so even though Anselm demanded to swallow his vast profit network that he had painstakingly built over the years, he actually breathed a sigh of relief.
Anselm taking over the black scepter was tantamount to protecting him who had offered the scepter.
This was the tacit rule among the nobles.
After all, the kind and innocent Lord Anselm was an ordinary person! Who could resist one of the largest black profit areas in the entire northern region, especially someone who loved wine and even more so, beautiful women?
At that moment, someone suddenly burst into the banquet hall. Before the much more at ease Scarletfrost Earl could get angry and question him, the man hurriedly whispered into the Earl's ear, while nervously glancing at Anselm, who appeared to be in a drunken stupor.
The Scarletfrost Earl, standing at two meters tall and weighing four hundred pounds, twitched his eyelids, while some of the fat on his face drooped.
He tried to maintain a smile and tentatively asked, "May I ask... Your Excellency."
"Hmm?"
Anselm, who was teasing a concubine's chin like playing with a cat, causing her eyes to turn pink and her breath to become ragged, turned his head: "What is it, Earl?"
"Euclid and Nakisai..."
"Oh, your two sons, they were just hanged yesterday, forgot to inform you, my apologies."
The yellow candlelight and faint feminine fragrance seemed to freeze in an instant.
Even the beauties selected by the Scarletfrost Earl, whose temperaments had been rigorously trained, instantly stiffened.
"Truly a pity, your neck is exceptionally beautiful, reminding me of a treasured pottery piece belonging to Her Majesty." Anselm sighed tenderly, his palm slowly sliding to the snow-white and slender neck of the woman he had just been touching.
The beauty, chosen from thousands, trembled uncontrollably, feeling something slippery and cold wrap around her neck, slowly wriggling and tightening.
"Beautiful lady, am I truly so terrifying?"
The young nobleman who could easily charm a beautiful lady he had only met once at a banquet two years ago, spoke in a very gentle tone.
The woman sobbed and shook her head, not knowing what she was afraid of. The way the young man touched her neck was a million times sweeter and gentler than those cold-hearted trainers. If it were any other time, she would have already collapsed into his arms, gasping for breath.
But now, she only felt darkness, the pitch-black, cold and wet, viscous things surrounding her, binding her, pulling her into deeper unknowns.
"Your, Your Excellency!" Seeing Anselm brush it off casually, the Scarletfrost Earl spoke somewhat tremblingly, "If those two imbeciles have offended you, then death is death , but... but before you came, it seems..."
"It seems I made some unfavorable remarks about the Earl?"
"This, haha... I understand you must harbor more profound motives—"
"Of course! How could I possibly betray my friend!"
Anselm released his hand from the beauty, spread his arms, and laughed heartily: "That was merely a joke to appease the commoners; doesn't it amuse you to see them all riled up, pinning their hopes on me?"
The Scarletfrost Earl was stunned for a moment, then also burst into laughter: "Indeed, you're correct! That spectacle would have been quite intriguing; a pity I missed it, hahaha! Haha... ha..."
"...ha."
The laughter in the banquet hall gradually subsided.
Anselm smiled without speaking.
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