Council.

Lee had to admit. The emperor was a genius. Or maybe, it was his architect.

The bright sunlight directly shone on the throne, lighting up the gold along with the gemstones and when the mighty man finally arrived and sat, it was as if an otherworldly being decided to bless the puny mortals with his presence.

To reinforce the impression, the emperor wore a white robe embroidered with gold, but sadly the ugly redhead at his side, dressed similarly to her father, instantly shattered the beautiful illusion.

During the past years Lee had heard countless people praise her looks, claiming she was the most beautiful woman in the world, but every time he saw her, he felt nauseated.

True, her face was nice and oval, and had the right proportions, but the pale white skin and the creepy red eyes made it hard to resist the impulse to run away in the opposite direction while loudly screaming and waving hands in panic.

Fortunately, during the meeting she didn't stand next to her father and everyone didn't have to see her when looking at the emperor. The problem was, or rather, Lee's problem was – she sat across the prime minister and basically no matter how Lee turned his head, as long as his eyes were open, he had to look at her damned face.

"Welcome! It's rare for all of you to gather here at the same time!" The Emperor started the meeting, but Lee was amused by the subtle usage of you instead of us.

"First things first. Apart from the tragic incident, once again, my condolences to the minister of agriculture, the expedition to Elsdon was a great success. Not only we weeded out an established rebel branch, turns out they had some kind of strategic meeting at the time, and we were lucky to eliminate twelve of their elemental warriors."

Lee glanced at Minister Farcry and was surprised to see an unfamiliar youth next to him. Apparently the man had another son who after Dale's death was promoted to the position of an heir. But only then Lee realized that in Pine Village there were twelve youths, but besides Prime Minister Bates, there were three generals and five ministers present.

Obviously each had a young person next to them which meant they were Lee's targets, but that only made up eight people.

It would be silly to assume that everyone sitting at the table had a single child, but for some reason Lee never considered this problem before. He kind of had to somehow locate the rest of his targets, but the world was small and sooner or later he would be able to do that, thus he was not worried.

"… unfortunately, the sparks they had became useless after we killed them, but it was expected." The Emperor continued, and interrupted Lee's thoughts, "Prime Minister Bates, did you have the chance to inspect them?"

Lee already witnessed it in Elsdon, and, similar to back then, the one who replied wasn't the prime minister, but his heir.

"Your Imperial Majesty!" Edward stood up and slightly bowed, "Our experts analyzed the items and came to the conclusion that they most likely were from fire lytraxes, a lizard type beasts that live in a volcanic region in the far west. We already had a suspicion that it might be a foothold for rebels, but now we have a reason to send an investigation squad there. In fact, they departed yesterday."

"Mhm." The Emperor gave a nod, and asked, "What about the wind spark?"

"Unfortunately it was too much damaged during the incident." Edward said, "I might suggest Your Imperial Majesty to be more gentle during the next encounter, and slightly overpower your opponents instead of destroying them."

Most of the people giggled in amusement and even the emperor smiled at the joke, but his daughter didn't. Lee's jaw almost dropped when he noticed how Victoria hardly managed to hide the disgust in her eyes and, after throwing a quick glance around, he realized no one else noticed it.

But according to what he knew they were supposed to get married! And Edward seemed to be a smart and rather good looking guy. If met on a street one could take him for a young doctor or a scholar, of course, if he wasn't wearing the silly robes at the time. By all accounts he was the perfect match even though this was an arranged marriage.

Lee felt for the guy, but then realized that he was about to help Edward out, and the thought amused him greatly. Of course, it will take time till he got his hands on Victoria, but he was certain the time will inevitably arrive.

"Noted!" The Emperor said, and with a wave of his hand indicated for Edward to sit, "Ministers of works and agriculture already informed me that they had not finished their reports on Elsdon, but considering the circumstances we can return to this question during the next meeting. Minister of justice, your turn!"

"Reporting to Your Imperial Majesty!" An incredibly tall and thin young woman, seven feet or maybe even taller, stood up and bowed.

While her voice was deep, like that of a man, she looked like her mother's exact copy, except younger and much thinner. It seemed that if she stood still at a random street corner, one could take her for a street lamp, of course, if she didn't wear the funny looking dark blue robe. Well, wear was an overstatement because it more hung on her as if she was a hanger.

Lee remembered her from Pine Village well. Back then he took her for a dried tree until she suddenly moved and startled him. She, similar to the rest of the youths, with a couple exceptions that is, was so wasted at the time her movement resembled that of marionette.

Now though this daughter of the Minister of Justice, Kris Ironfist, was in a completely different role. The noble Ironfist family have been ministers of justice for centuries and Claire Ironfist, the current minister, continued to proudly carry their legacy as the most feared person in the capital. Indeed, people dreaded her even more than the emperor.

"Tomorrow is the day when Governor Owen will finally pay for his crimes." Kris Ironfist continued, "Besides the obvious – negligence, irresponsibility and corruption, we can add treason. In his home we found a secret stash of documents belonging to the Hand of God! You guessed, they had those marks – the triangle with an imprint of a palm inside. Unfortunately we were not able to decipher the documents yet, but we will. Regarding Owen, the hearing will start at noon and the public execution of his family will conclude the event."

Lee's feet grew cold. Back in the day he was trialed once, but at the time could already afford the best lawyer in Hong Kong, and left the courthouse with a smile on his face. The former governor of the town Elsdon, though, had no chance. Obviously, it was silly to expect a trial that fit the modern standards, but it was scary no one was interested in the man's side of the story … and to kill the whole family ...

At this point Lee almost blanked out. Right! These people were executing the families of evildoers alongside of them! And obviously they were entitled to the same treatment! The last bits of remorse for killing Dale disappeared in an instant, and he even began to look forward to the next kill.

He glanced around the hall. The three generals, Strongheart, Foxson and Harwood, ministers of works and agriculture, Powel and Farcry, minister of justice, Ironfist, and the other two – Minister of Finance Bishop, and Maritime Minister Newman, suddenly all, together with their children, became targets in Lee's eyes.

He was genuinely surprised as he had never in his lives felt this way before. It was like all of the sudden he became a hunter in the middle of the wilderness filled with ferocious beasts.

'Who's next?' Lee smiled to himself, and focused back on Kris Ironfist, but she finished her report at the same time.

"Your Majesty! May I say a word!" Up until now only the heirs of the ministers reported, and when General Strongheart stood up, it felt out of place.

"Of course!" The Emperor said, "Any suggestions?"

"Yes, or rather – a request." General said in a grave tone, "While technically the last expedition was a success, it was my personal failure."

Seeing the emperor furrow brows, intending to object, he continued, "Please, Your Majesty, let me finish. There are several areas I failed. First and foremost – the sneak attack. I, with my lengthy experience, must have gone senile to let the head of the empire unguarded behind in a spot that wasn't secured. Yes, you swiftly killed the attackers and yes, if needed, you could single-handedly defeat half of cavalry regiment, but that's no excuse. What if a rebel blew up their spark right when you stood on top of a hidden trapdoor? What if you weren't there, but the expedition was led by the crown princess? As I said, there is no excuse."

Victoria's expression turned icy, but the emperor sunk deeper in his chair and held his chin, apparently thinking. What general said was not that revolutionary and everyone knew that – clearly something else was on the emperor's mind.