CHAPTER 421: CHAPTER 258: AN OLD-TIMER WANTS TO SEE HIS GRANDSON_2

"A group of evildoers, daring to impersonate the Royal Family, confess your crimes immediately!"

The Paladin leader showed a stern expression on his face, looking indifferently at the group of Royal Family members before him, some ashen-faced, others excited and hysterical, cursing loudly, and announced on the spot that they were impersonators of the Royal Family.

This has been a tacit understanding reached among various forces during the course of punishing evil and promoting good since the profession of Paladin came into being.

Those identified as evil by the Paladins would no longer be recognized by their own families, or else they would be deemed accomplices and be hunted down by the Paladins together.

It seems that Paladins are quite domineering, able to ignore noble status and trample on the powerful, but in reality, in many noble-ruled territories, Paladins can’t even enter the city gates, and even if they do, they face numerous hardships and cannot stay long.

"Take them away for interrogation and judge them based on the crimes they’ve committed!"

Detecting lies has also come into play at this moment. The Royal Family members couldn’t even fabricate lies, as the power that sheltered them in their misdeeds had been isolated.

The Royal Family members exuding a bloody aura, once stripped of the immunity their Royal Family status provided, faced an inevitable outcome—hanging, beheading, slicing in half, there’s always a form of execution suitable for them.

Batch after batch was taken out, each batch undergoing trial, and eventually executed, the number of prisoners in the local jail began to decrease, and the remaining Royal Family members soon sensed danger from the increasingly bloody aura of the Paladins.

"What did you do to the people before us?"

Faced with the inquiry, a young-faced Paladin glanced at the Royal Family, with a stern look that carried an undisguised murderous intent.

He had already witnessed and heard too many crimes committed by the Royal Family, and he had no sympathy for these powerful figures who hurt the innocent and kind, wishing only to slaughter them to his satisfaction.

At this moment, silence spoke louder than words.

"No, I don’t want to go out, I don’t want to leave here."

"I don’t want to see the Holy Dragon, I want to go home, let me go."

"I am a member of the Royal Family, who dares to offend me?"

The members of the Augustus family, who originally thought they could leave after perceiving danger, began to resist, but their resistance seemed weak and powerless at this moment.

"Behave yourselves!"

"What Royal Family, just a bunch of impostors."

The Paladins who had witnessed multiple rounds of trials were not at all polite, wielding sheathed longswords, shields, or flails, and directly smashed them onto the resisting Royal Family members who didn’t want to move, shackling them with chains if needed, dragging them out if they must.

From this moment on, the scene in the dungeon became bloody, and the Royal Family members could no longer maintain their so-called decorum, let alone the dignity and honor they should have had.

"Paladins, dare you trample on the Royal Family, do you know what you are doing?"

"This is the Atlas Kingdom, we are the Royal Family of Atlas!"

Faced with the struggling Royal Family members who continued to spew foul language and even dared to threaten, none of the Paladins were polite at the moment, as their gentle side was not for these pests.

"Shut up!"

An iron-coated fist smashed down directly, bloodied teeth flying through the air, and before the Royal Family members, hammered into a daze, could react, a blood-stained chain was looped over them.

The lavishly dressed Royal Family members were dragged out of the dungeon like stray dogs, and when they were dragged out into the light of day, the gentle sunlight shining on them was accompanied by the radiant glow representing the identification spell.

Identification, interrogation, judgment, execution

A seamless process that the Paladins were becoming increasingly adept with, even starting to mentor newcomers... as more Paladins heard they could judge the Royal Family and came rushing over.

Even though one of the charges in the final judgment of these Royal Family members would definitely be impersonation, everyone knew their true identity, including those onlookers gathered around the execution field.

Indeed, Noah himself ordered the Paladins to cleanse the Augustus Royal Family power, and it had become a grand spectacle in Elisium City.

Although in this city, it was not uncommon to hear of high-ranking officials and nobles being interrogated, and every few days, one could personally witness prominent figures executed for seemingly minor charges, no one had seen a collective execution of Royal Family members.

Not to mention that the phenomenon of streets emptying in Elisium City due to the phased execution of Royal Family members was also sensational when this matter reached the Atlas Kingdom.

From the incident alone, it was a massacre targeted at the Augustus family, a direct challenge to Royal Authority.

Strangely, however, while the Kingdom was abuzz with this matter, known to all, the Second Monarch Uranos remained silent, making no comments as if the executed criminals were indeed a bunch of outlaw bandits who offended the Royal Family.

This clearly wasn’t possible, the only explanation being that King Atlas had reached an agreement with the Holy Dragon, executing a bloody cleanse of the family through the Paladins.

Uranos’s reputation as a Tyrant became more stable; however, it was precisely because of his brutal and cold-hearted displays that the new policies he implemented within the family were quickly enacted.

A large number of Royal Family members were stripped of the Augustus family surname, only a few who had followed him onto the battlefield and earned war merits were spared.

During this period, most of the Augustus members who did not meet the requirements yet could still retain their surname felt grateful to this harsh and unforgiving King, for although it was a surname they were born with, being able to keep it was an unparalleled blessing from the Monarch.

After all, the vast Kingdom now had fewer than two hundred who could still bear the Augustus name, and those whose surname had not been stripped saw their status incomparable to before, thus exhibiting a sense of dignity.

Unlike the name of the Augustus Tyrant, Noah, who executed nearly thirty thousand Royal Family members in just two months, only made his name as a Holy Dragon more dazzling and radiant.

Organized groups of Paladins gathered in Elisium City, extolling the Holy Dragon’s wisdom and zero tolerance towards injustice against evil, all praising this wise Dragon Lord to the utmost.

"Tsk, your actions were quite ruthless!"

"Aunt, I don’t think you have the standing to say such words, you watched all this happen under your nose without stopping it, if you had spoken up, I would definitely have let them go."

"I had nothing to do with this, why should I stop it?"

Sitting on Iliad’s shoulders with her slender long legs crossed, her little feet dangling, Selena said nonchalantly.

"But you are the matriarch of the Augustus family."

"That is long past, now I’m just an ordinary little Mage."

Selena didn’t want to discuss this topic with Noah, she considered the matter settled, so she changed the subject,

"By the way, I want to take my little grandson out for a stroll."

"Where do you want to take him?"

Noah narrowed his dragon eyes.

"Of course, to a nice place, an old friend also wants to see his grandson."

Selena was already hinting.

"He can go now?"

Noah was taken aback and then retorted unwillingly,

"Why can’t I go?"

"I’ll bring him back in a while, it’s different with you!"

"What’s the difference?"

"You might not come back if you go."

"What reasoning is this?"

"Don’t think too much, it’s not the right time for you, just wait patiently."

Selena was unwilling to elaborate,

"Just say if you agree or not."

"How many days will the trip be?"

"Up to seven days."