The God of Jesters
Chapter 673 - 10.05.5 The Duke is annoying.

Chapter 673: 10.05.5 The Duke is annoying.

"No, you won’t go there, no one shall go there." After hearing the whole story, Duke Wortham came to a simple decision. He can’t allow them to go there.

His relationship with Jester still remains a mystery. Knowing the reason why Jester couldn’t fulfill his promise before, Wortham knew how much Jester needed this win. He needs to succeed; that’s the only possible way for him to learn more about the Dream or nightmare realm.

The world where illusion becomes reality, and thoughts are given forms. It’s his only escape and Jester is his gateway to that world. Not to mention, the amount of Nightmare’s essence he collected last time had been able to Dirty his essence enough that "those" people kept their distance from him. But it won’t be long before he loses that, so he needs not the resource, but the method to access that resource.

’It’s good that they told me.’ Wortham looked at the woman called Kassandra, who claimed to be one of the Orphans who grew up under Jester’s influence, she was the one who knew the most and was also the one who had too much to prove. And now, from the way the Church of Red Sun acted by giving her those visions, their intentions were clear as well.

They freed Kassandra not because they wanted to test her or free her out of their goodwill due to how dangerous this mission might be. No, it was their way of informing him, the Duke about this small event and checking how he might react to it.

Only when Kassandra is free of the mark would she dare to speak out about it to the one she worked under currently. And she acted as they wanted her to, letting the news of Jester’s movements reach him.

’So in a way, it’s not her test, but mine.’ Someone was testing him, someone from the Church of Red Sun. Their intentions were for all to see, how devious.

But why would they do it? Why this test?

His meeting with Jester had remained a mystery with few that were even aware that the puppet that was Crow’s body was nothing more than a mortal vessel that connected Jester to the material plane. To most, he was still just an enforcer of Jester’s will and nothing more.

’Have the Church gone so insightful?’ It was scary to think about considering the amount of strength that the Church of Red Sun held.

With the amount of experts and strength, they even exceeded the ranks of Radiant Order. But due to the power dynamics of the world, they rarely acted unless one of their so-called "rules" were broken.

If they were, they would come to hunt the perpetrator no matter the cost. Which makes one wonder, if they had been aware of his affiliation with Jester, were they also aware of him consuming the Nightmares? A crime in the eyes of the church.

So why not come for him? Something didn’t make sense no matter how one looks at it. Unless it’s not the church, to begin with.

"Show me your burned mark." After a bit of thought, Wortham asked to look at the scar on Kassandra’s arm again. Though he didn’t just look at it this time, his body appeared next to her the moment she exposed her arm and then he held that arm in his hand, much to Kassandra’s scare.

Who suddenly felt suffocated under the might of Wortham, but she never dared to speak out of fear. Anna wanted to speak out for her friend but stopped herself after noticing the concentration of the Duke, who after a thought spoke.

"This might hurt a bit." He spoke such words before ripping Kassandra’s arms right out of her shoulders and using some of his powers to stabilize her injury and pain. Not like this level of pain caused her issue, only some discomfort. She had endured worse in her youth.

But Anna, seeing this scene activated her magic, not caring about the Duke and asking. "Sir, what are you doing?" Her hands were ready to fight, not knowing what might happen. But the Duke looked at her to suppress her energy, causing her to fall to the ground on her knees.

"Calm down, this hand, something is not right here," Wortham spoke, looking toward the corner of the gate where a Fairy gently brought forth a high-quality regenerating potion. "Drink this later, it will regrow your limbs without an issue." Wortham was not cruel, he knew his limits and what he could and not do to his people.

This potion was of higher quality, which Amir had been fighting for in hopes of saving his Knight Hemant, which to the Duke was nothing.

"But this is too cruel sir, at least warn us."

"I apologize for this, lost in thoughts. I would provide Archmage Kassandra and Anna appropriate compensation after this is over." Worhtam’s mind was too active at this point, he had no interest in these two ladies after hearing the story and finding the oddity in the arm a bit familiar.

’These means.’ There was a certain group in his mind, a group considered a myth even among people of his ranks. But the Duke knew that they really existed, he had even seen a few figures that worked under those people, doing their bidding and bringing their will to the different parts of the world.

As for their name, intention, and methods? Everything has always been shrouded in mystery. Even the ones that the Duke had captured and researched had never spoken a word about them, only knowing what to do, but never why they were doing it and who they were doing it for.

But one thing was clear from the actions of these individuals hidden in the dark. ’They had been helping me all this while... for a reason.’ For the Duke to come so far after losing his only Family, was not possible on his own.

Strength makes right, but this is only true when your strength is at the very peak of this world, which the Duke obviously wasn’t in his youth. ’They protected me one way or another... till I got strong.’ Their existence had always been a mystery to him, and there was a time when they had helped him multiple times, but those times were long gone. The Duke hadn’t felt their influence for the last century.

Well, that was, only until very recently. ’There was that youngster before... and now this.’ He might not be in their attention anymore, they might have gotten what they wanted out of him, or they might have put his issues on the back end and focused on something far more interesting and chaotic.

Something like Jester. ’They had been after him.’ This hand, with a bit of dissection and burnt lines found in the flesh of Kassandra’s arm, Wortham can conclude one thing. ’It’s not naturally removed, but was burnt by a third party.’

The means and the methods felt too horrific, something capable of burning off the branding of the Church of Red Sun from a distance and even using it to convene your own false information. One might wonder what kind of understanding of the rules and the price one had to pay to pull this off.

But those people did it, all in an effort to test him. ’The church might not be aware of this... for now, that is.’ If the church of Red Sun were to learn that Kassandra burnt off her mark, they wouldn’t listen for any reason, they would come for her head and even the Duke wouldn’t be able to stop them. "What a wonderful game you people are playing." The Duke was curious about the moves, and he even wondered just how much trouble Jester might cause for them to use such underhanded means to end his life.

Well whatever the reason was, Duke Wortham understood one thing. ’Coming under their attention means Jester has the potential to be a danger to the world... like me.’ They feared Jester, which in turn showed Jester’s future potential, as long as he doesn’t fail due to their little games, he might become someone greater.

Someone who can help him with what he wants.

"I apologize, but you people just told me what I wanted to know the most." With those thoughts, the Duke destroys Kassandra’s arm, or what remained of it, before asking his men to keep an eye on her.

The Duke was on no one’s side but himself. Because only by doing that can he ensure that the corrupted bastards of this continent will remain in their seats with their butts clenched. It’s his only way to ensure some sanity back in this world.

Which can be seen as something narcissistic, but that’s just who the Duke was. A man who thought of himself greater than the nation, and the only wall between the nobles going complete mask off against the mortals of this world.

So he needed to survive.

He needed to be stronger.

He needed to be more scared than anyone else.

It’s why the old men loved him.

Well, that was the case until he chose to deny their push into battling Jester.

"Foolish... he is not the one then."

One of them spoke in the dark, their eyes pale white before he spoke of another name. "Choose the other one, Amir... " With that name, the people in the room started to tap their table in agreement, deeming the Duke a wasted product while hoping to mold Amir in the way they couldn’t do with the Duke.