Chapter 288: King of Swindler!

"What are you looking for Brother Duan Li?" Lu Bu and Zhang Liao raised their head to look at the sky.

They were now very respectful towards Duan Li despite being older than him after witnessing his power and capabilities during the Battle Royale before. Although they knew that Duan Li was not a Child of Tian as the rumors said he was, they were definitely sure that this person in front of them does not pale in comparison at all!

In fact, they felt as though Duan Li was even more powerful than the Child of Tian at his age!

"You guys are not able to see him?" Duan Li was surprised to see their reaction.

"See who?" they craned their necks and squinted their eyes to look further.

We couldn't even see any bird flying around..

"... Ah, it's nothing. I must've been seeing things!" Duan Li smiled as he shook his head and then looked around his surroundings, only to realized that no one noticed the figure floating above them except him.

"Not even Fei Jin Fang could see that haughty old fellow above them?" Duan Li scratched his head.

Eh well, maybe its a hidden expert of the Jiu Empire tasked to protect the Emperor..

...

"So, no one confessed to their wrong doings?" The Emperor said as he furrowed his brows, feeling mystified.

Then it means the perpetrator is definitely not someone from the Jiu Empire..

But we have investigated every foreign envoys that came here and no one was acting suspicious..

Just what is going on here?

After this final attempt of trying to rat out the culprit failed, the Emperor sighed.

"Regardless, the people responsible will not be able to escape me for long. You have been warned and I have showed mercy, let my mercy be no more from henceforth!" The Emperor spoke with a cold and overbearing tone.

He then continued, "As for the matter today, the reason as to why I decided to crown an Imperial Overseer for the Jiu Empire, was because I am indebted to him."

This sentence from the Emperor had the crowd gasped before they whispered to each other.

"The Emperor is indebted to him?"

"What sort of man was able to make an Emperor indebted to the point of making him the Imperial Overseer?"

"Perhaps his teacher that taught him cultivation? Or maybe at one point in his life, someone saved him from a life threatening situation?"

"You fool, his teacher is his father himself! Are you saying that the late Emperor raised himself from his own grave? Impudent!"

"This is why I hate plebians, their assumptions are too outlandish! How dare you say that our Emperor had his life threatened before?!"

"I-I was just trying to come up with some possibilities.."

Seeing the crowd slowly becoming noisy, Fei Jin Fang was about to bellow like their grandfather when the Emperor sent him a telepathy to just let the crowd be for a while.

"I know that every one of you are confused with this decision of mine, and some of you might even think that from now on, we will be under the rule of someone else.. let me be clear, that assumption is far away from the truth!" the Emperor spoke once more.

He then continued, "Imperial Overseer are often portrayed as someone who stood above even the Emperor, leaning towards negative connotations more than the positive, but that is only a partial fact! Do you guys know the reason why this title existed in the first place?"

This question had the crowd sunk into deep contemplation.

"It is because an Imperial Overseer is a Guardian that guards over the whole Empire! Otherwise, if strong experts were to come knocking on our doors one day to enslave us all, and I chose to agree in exchange for keeping my life instead, who would protect the common people against such an abuse? No one!!" the Emperor raised his deep voice to the point that every pebble on the ground seemed to tremble!

"An Imperial Overseer is both a contingency and a Guardian of the Empire. If I were to be led astray in my duty as an Emperor, then the Imperial Overseer will have my head! Similarly, if the Imperial Overseer abandons the people, then I will personally wage war against him myself!"

Hisss!

The crowd sucked in cold breath as this realization dawned upon them!

In other words, their Emperor was basically saying that an Imperial Overseer was needed as a deterrent to himself if he were to shirk his duties as an Emperor of the people!

What a noble cause! To dare point a blade to the back of his own neck in case he were to retreat in his responsibilities...

Now that is a true Emperor! Our Emperor!

Some of the people among the crowd could not help but to shed tears as they cried emotionally. They felt the warmth behind their Emperor's words and felt extremely guilty for doubting him!

We had wronged him!

"However, before this, I am aware that some of you thought that I was too powerless or even spineless to the point that I had willingly appoint an Imperial Overseer! Am I right?!" He bellowed with a saddened expression as his presence became heavier for the crowd.

Hearing this, the crowd immediately turned pale before they kowtowed to the ground, "We dare not your Majesty!!"

"Please relieve your anger your Majesty!" the crowd cried out at the top of their lungs.

"We are foolish peasants your Majesty! Forgive us for our short-sightedness!"

They were very afraid because some of them had previously talked about it albeit only between themselves.

However, now that the Emperor brought the matter out himself, they were scared that the Emperor actually knew the people who said such things!

After all, being the Emperor, there should be plenty of ways and resources for him to have his ears planted all over the Jiu Empire, not to mention in this capital city!

Thus, they kneeled on the ground with their body trembling! As if a spouse that was caught cheating!

"Rise. I do not blame my people, for this decision of mine was too sudden, and for that, I hope everyone will forgive me." the Emperor said with his face showing a slightly perturbed emotions, as if a grandfather that had accidentally made their grandchildren cry.

"Please do not apologize to us your Majesty, it is us that was wrong!"

"We deserve death your Majesty!"

"Aaahhh! Forgive us!"

"Forgive us!"

Almost everyone in the square cried frantically, their sense of guilt overwhelming their rational mind to the point that some even began to punish themselves by slapping their own faces repeatedly!

Holy Moly!

Duan Li that witnessed this bizarre scene suddenly happening out of nowhere swallowed a mouthful of saliva, his face astonished, extremely impressed with the Emperor!

That is a completely game-changer speech!

To think that the Emperor was able to swindle the public and make them slap their own face to become swollen like a pig...

As expected, the voice of the Emperor was indeed able to induce miracles!

He is the King of Swindler!

One has to know that while the Emperor's speech was eloquent enough, to the extent that everyone now believes that his decision of crowning the Imperial Overseer was the most correct thing to do, because it was all for the sake of the Jiu Empire..

The fact still remains that an Imperial Overseer still holds authority that was higher than the Emperor!

Only a few people realized this crucial factor that made the Emperor no less than a lackey starting from now on, but even if they were to try to convince the crowd otherwise, they might find themselves being hacked to their deaths instead!

Thus, the intelligent people could only remain silent.

It was only after a long while that the crowd began to settle down once more.

"Since everyone now knows the reason behind my decision, let us invite the Imperial Overseer!"

The people now showed an expression of anticipation, their eyes bright.

After all was said and done, the Emperor felt that the most trickiest part of the ceremony was letting the people accept who the Imperial Overseer was!

As soon as Duan Li was revealed to be the Imperial Overseer for the Jiu Empire, most of his citizens would definitely break apart mentally, and the trance he casted onto them previously would be dispelled!

After all, not many could accept a young person with the appearance of a noob fellow to become their Guardian?

In fact, the people might even think that he was playing prank with them!

In order to combat this, he did prepared a few things to swindle his people further, but now that he was actually about to do it, he could not help but swallow his saliva nervously!

Gulp!

"Please come forward, Duan-"

However, before he could even finish his sentence, someone suddenly laughed out loud.

"Hahahahahaha! Emperor of Jiu Empire, you foolish ant."

...