Chapter 331

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"Tch, it seems I was foolish to expect these people to accomplish anything significant," Abel muttered from the shadows, recognizing that without intervention, the rebel uprising was doomed to fail.

After catching the royal army off guard at the outset, the subsequent battles were completely dominated by the king's forces. The royal army's superior equipment and training gave them an advantage that the rebels, with their only strength in numbers, couldn't match. Before long, Abel, the 'arbiter,' had no choice but to step in himself.

That night, the aging king was assassinated in his bed. With no will to dictate the succession and many children vying for the throne, the kingdom descended into chaos as the potential heirs wrestled for power, paying no heed to the rebel forces that seemed on the brink of defeat.

In the melee that followed, the kingdom weakened from within as soldiers were often betrayed by their own comrades, and the rebels found an unexpected chance to catch their breath. With no way out, their only options were victory or death.

At this critical juncture, the next shipment of arms that Abel had been waiting for finally arrived. Initially, he intended to sell half to the royal army while offering the rest to the rebels on loan, prolonging the war and profiting off the endless demand for weapons.

However, perhaps a shred of conscience prevented him from executing this cruel plan. Instead, he threw his full support behind the rebels. Either way, he would profit handsomely, but there was no need to be overly ruthless.

Abel had specifically requested heavy weaponry, like cannons, which required no training—just hands to operate. With sufficient firepower to blanket an area, precision became irrelevant.

Armed with these new weapons, the rebels transformed overnight and launched an aggressive assault on the royal army, turning the tide with a relentless barrage. Unbeknownst to them, every shell fired would, in time, become a treasure lining someone else's pockets.

As the situation deteriorated for those scrambling for the throne, they considered uniting once more—but it was too late to effectively counter the rebels. Trust had crumbled, not easily restored, and fears of betrayal were rampant. With commanding officers mysteriously ending up dead, the remaining soldiers lacked direction and morale.

Within ten days of switching from defense to offense, the rebels miraculously stormed the palace as though in a dream. On the eve of the royal family's collapse, Abel plundered the palace treasury, extracting a few particular items of interest.

He found a book detailing parts of the Briss Kingdom's history, revealing that the current Briss family wasn't always the ruler. Centuries ago, the reigning monarch offended the Celestial Dragons, plunging the entire royal lineage into slavery.

Later, to curry favor with the Celestial Dragons, the reigning king altered the branding iron mark of slavery given by the Celestial Dragons, known as "Hoof of the Soaring Dragon," which became the symbol of the Briss Kingdom and continues to be used to date.

He even changed the royal family's surname to Briss, signifying their willingness to serve as the Celestial Dragons' servants and manage the country on their behalf.

Of course, the Celestial Dragons never took them seriously and had long since forgotten about them.

But that didn't stop the Briss family from shamelessly using the name of the Celestial Dragons' servants in secret to gain certain benefits, thus maintaining their rule.

Being too far away, and dealing with trivial matters, the Celestial Dragons never heard about it, so the Briss family managed to rule the country for hundreds of years.

"What an incredible case of borrowed power!" Abel couldn't help but admire the Briss forebearers' thick-skinned tactics.

This is the ultimate bootlicking, they got everything they desired at the end.

But who would've thought it would end this way.

After looting part of the royal treasury, Abel left the palace before anyone arrived.

Days later, the country's original government was completely overthrown, and the revolutionaries took charge as the new rulers.

Abel then timely presented himself, contract and IOU in hand, to collect the debt.

However, he was met with various excuses.

The new rulers claimed the country was broke, unsure where the former royalty hid their wealth, and they hoped to make the payment after tax collection the next year.

Although Abel had anticipated such excuses before his arrival, he did not expect to see the scenario where the dragon slayers turned into dragons themselves.

No money?

Hidden somewhere?

If Abel hadn't already visited the royal treasury, perhaps he could've been fooled.

Had he not left some room for negotiation, he could've emptied the treasury entirely, but he considered that the new regime would also need significant wealth to establish itself, so he only took a portion.

But it seems someone took him for a fool.

Left with no choice, Abel had to demonstrate through action what the consequences of not repaying a debt were.

After Abel used bloody means to force the revolutionaries' leaders to reveal all the hidden national treasures they had divided amongst themselves,

the young revolutionaries, who had fought side by side with these leaders, were shocked beyond belief.

Subsequently, the revolutionaries elected a new leader who immediately settled the debt and even placed new orders.

Clearly, this new leader had greater ambitions and saw reality more clearly.

As for the elders who couldn't control their greed, they were executed by burning before everyone on the very day the new regime was established, sparing none.

Watching the fiery ambition in the eyes of this young person, Abel suspected the neighboring island nations might be in trouble.

But what did that have to do with him? He was just an ordinary, unremarkable arms dealer.

As the treasure chests were loaded onto his ship and sailed away, Abel knew it was time to move on and spread chaos elsewhere.

Additionally, he learned from Doflamingo that Diamante and Pica had also started their operations.

Although the volume of arms sold did not match his speed, they had achieved a significant breakthrough from zero to one.

Therefore, he had to quicken his pace.