Chapter 1361: 19.20 Second Red Star - The Zerg King is Impartial.
Rescue operations are still in progress. There is another crisis in the Hive in the meanwhile. As King Augustus Kaiser was keeping an eye on the Zerg Queen's predicament, a few female zergs unexpectedly approached his chamber and begged for assistance. It appears that without Marquess Conrad Silver watching over them, the nobles, or male zergs, began acting out once more.
Suddenly, King Augustus saw some female zergs kneeling in front of his chamber. Since most of the guards manning the King chambers were females as well, they sympathized with them and pleaded for the Zerg King within.
"Your Majesty, please save us."
"Your majesty, please help us."
"The male Zergs are doing it again. They are bullying us. and telling us that we aren't needed."
"Please listen to our pleas. We plead with his majesty to save us."
Normally, King Augustus Kaiser would not give these issues much thought. He is merely here to find his wife, after all. Unless it was absolutely essential, he would stay out of the world's troubles. However, I believed that he was the one who sent the two wardens away, which is what brought about this predicament. With a sigh, he rose from where he was standing.
He once left his room with an unidentified glass crystal in his hand. The closest royal guard received it from him.
"Follow me. Conrad and Cyril are not around. You and your group shall run errands for me today. Let's first resolve the situation." King Augustus walked with confident strides as he headed to the exit of his palace.
A horde of female zergs was bowing, some even kowtowing, in the front yard of his palace. When these female zergs noticed King Augustus emerging, they were ecstatic. The monarch himself gave them hardly more than a sidelong glance before turning to leave.
"Follow."
With King Augustus Kaiser on the lead, everyone in the Imperial Palace noticed the sudden appearance of King Augustus, who had locked himself up in his chamber. The news about this scene immediately spread to those noble clans as their spy saw that the Zerg King was once again heading to the throne hall.
As expected, not long after, all the noble heads, including the military leaders, were summoned to the hall.
Seated on his throne, King Augustus Kaiser wore an expression of disinterest. The people in front of him were clearly divided into two groups. The male zergs are leading the noble faction, and the female zergs are leading the military. As for the ones that made him come out of his palace, they are right in front him.
A small group of female zergs who beg him to come out, and a few royal guards stationed near the king are waiting to run errands.
The evening in the royal hall was serene. Nobody is brave enough to breathe heavily without attempting to strike up a discussion. Ultimately, their hearts were instilled with an innate fear after seeing what transpired during the few previous court sessions. Those who attempt to oppose this diminutive monarch will inevitably meet their demise.
"I want one representative from the victim's side and one representative from the male master's side. You have three minutes to give me the people. Failure to fulfill this requirement, both sides shall receive punishment. Let's see, for the punishment, how about being crippled? You won't be able to cultivate the technique I had given.
This will involve everyone, including your families and friends," King Augustus Kaiser said. The people in the hall couldn't help but shiver at such cruel punishment.
Silence descended in the throne hall.
King Augustus' words broke the silence: "Royal Guards, time out the three minutes; if no one steps out, capture all those involved. I don't care if there are male and female zergs. All involved shall be captured. This is a royal decree."
Everyone concerned about this issue had gone into a panic. After all, the male zergs were the ones causing the panic. They are the ones at fault here. The female zergs were agitated as well, but their main concern was with their representative.
The Zerg Queen's deputy is Lieutenant General Yves Nokto. The main crew left him to tend to their troops after Queen Titania departed the hive for a mission. While the queen was away, he was instructed to keep an eye on the hive. After hearing the story, he assumed the representative role of the female zergs in light of the current issue and gathered evidence of abuse from the male zergs.
"I will represent you guys. Leave the rest to me," Lieutenant General Yves said.
The female zergs' side collectively said, "Thank you, Lieutenant General Yves!"
A female zerg who was not from the palace and instead came from the military still didn't hear the news about King Zerg's changes and suddenly asked, "Lieutenant, what should we do if the King sides with the male zergs again? The general is not with us right now?"
When he asked this, the female zergs from the palace all looked at him with a slightly unfriendly expression. It's been a while since they heard another female zerg speak in such a way towards their king.
Lieutenant General Yves patted his subordinates shoulder and said, "He changed. Watch, and you shall understand."
Moving on, he introduced himself as the Zergs' female emissary. The three minutes the King of Zergs had specified were not yet up, so he merely asked him to wait for a little while longer. Finally, in the final half-second of his allotted time, his bored gaze shifted to the side where the male Zergs are located. His expression is blank right now, but it is not a friendly one.
King Augustus said, "Last 30 minutes. If there is no representative from the male zerg side, then..."
Suddenly, at the tip of his left hand index finger, there was a black flame. The tiny black flame flicked onto one of the throne hall's pillars and vanished into thin air. Everyone had seen how the enormous, heavy wooden pillar was burned down by a tiny, black flame. What they had seen had left everyone in disbelief.
Ignoring the terror of those in the hall beside him, King Augustus Kaiser looked to the side where the male zergs were stationed.
"Bring me your representative, or the culprit itself. You do wish to become like that pillar. Only ashes shall be left of you when I am done with you guys."
The male zergs shudder at those scornful looks. The noble who instigated this scene is met with a glare by the male zergs across the room. It would not have ended this way if he had not abused his female zergs with his newly acquired capacity to augment his physical strength. The party forced this haughty noble to appoint zergs as their representative by threatening to kill him.
The nobleman had no choice but to stand alone in front, his whole body trembling.
Pretending not to see the male zergs on the other side was King Augustus Kaiser. He could begin the meeting now that the two sides had picked their representatives. He motioned for the guard to take a position in front of him while holding a crystal ball.
"This is a crystal ball that can detect lies. It would emit electricity to electrocute the one who spoke a lie. You wouldn't die if you lied; it's just a bit painful. Both representatives shall touch the crystal. If you don't... Snort!"
Such a marvelous gadget astounded Lieutenant General Yves. In the military, this is a need. In order to determine whether or not the spies they had apprehended were telling the truth, this thing is the most helpful tool. He wanted to request a copy from the monarch, but it would have to wait after this pretense of deceit.
After some time, two men stood next to the crystal and touched its exterior as they waited for the king to pose questions that they could respond to. Beside the king, a different guard carried a little stack of reports concerning the circumstances. This is just another instance of the hive's common practice of domestic abuse.
King Augustus Kaiser said, "Let's begin. Do the two of you remember the new laws and laws I have removed and changed?"
"Yes, I remember everything," Lieutenant General Yves said.
The noble man answered while sweating, "I also remember your majesty."
Since the two told the truth, none of them had received any punishment. King Augustus turned his attention from the data in front of him to the persons enthroned before him. The two of them, along with everyone else in the hall, were astonished when they met the Zerg King's obsidian gaze. Gazing into their monarch's gaze is akin to gazing into an unending chasm. He is perfect and unreadable.
King Augustus asked, "Do you know the reason why you are called here?"
"Of course, your majesty," Yves replied.
Conversely, the nobleman standing next to him appeared somewhat frustrated and defenseless. He found it hard to believe that his slight abuse of his wife would lead to this kind of issue, and that even the terrifying monarch was made aware of it.
He couldn't understand; he could always do as he wished, as he is a male zerg, but just because the king had a change of heart, everything they were taught and used to had changed.
A lot of the noble male Zergs couldn't accept this change, but they were so afraid of King Zerg's authority that they didn't choose to complain. But doing something behind the king's back, there are so many ways to do it. Though he didn't expect that his wife, whom he had thought he had dominance over, would cause this, he beat him up a bit and spoke some nasty words.
The noble man said, "Yes, esteemed majesty, but don't you think it's a bit strange for your majesty to get involved in the problem of someone's home?"
"Who are you to question me? Hm?" King Augustus Kaiser's voice had a casual tone, yet the man who caused these words to be asked felt that the air he breathes is choking him badly.
Cough! Cough!
Lieutenant General Yves, upon seeing that this stupid fool had overstepped his boundaries and that the king was about to kill the foolish insect, spoke out.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. Married females who lost their pair in death cannot get married again. I hope his Majesty will listen to our pleas."
"Fine. Let's remove that law as well. It's indeed unfair for the female zergs to not get married after being widowed." King Augustus' response to Lieutenant General Yves was neutral. As for the one that pissed him off, his sharp gaze landed on his body. "Speak more nonsense and I will behead you. You want to change the law of the Hive?
There is a way. Change the one who currently sits on the throne. If you can cause me to abdicate, you should be able to remove the laws I placed and make your own rules. By the way, the moment I abdicate, the cultivation technique I've given away will fade from your mind. You do know it can't be written or recorded, right?"
Even though King Augustus spoke in a casual manner, the individuals in the audience were shocked by what they had just heard. They had no idea that the man who had been before them was the reason they were unable to write down the cultivation method for their mental power they had been taught. Not to mention going back to the period before they did not know it.
The remarks made by King Augustus Kaiser were less of a reminder and more of a menace.
"Let's continue the hearing."
With the female zerg's victory, the domestic abuse case had come to a close. The Zerg King had stood by while the foolish nobleman's wife battered his male master in the same manner that had been done to him for years. The female zerg is free to beat the noble man however she pleases, provided he is still alive. This the punishment for the male zerg and a reward for the female zerg.
Augustus Kaiser penalized the male zergs who breached the law directly and questioned the other female zergs if their circumstances were comparable in order to prevent them from being called in for the same issue. Though he did not kill them, he destroyed their spiritual realm. They gradually deteriorate into common insects with no spiritual power, making them the weakest members of the hive.
There are also some female zergs who wanted to make sure of the situation to get dominance over their male masters, which in the end got busted and received the same punishment as the first case. King Augustus lends strength to the male zerg who was schemed at and beats up his wife. The hive's belief that King Zerg will never show favoritism to either side was cemented by this scene.