Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 225: I have come I

There was a brief pause as if they weren’t expecting it to be true, and now they did not know how to act. The lieutenants were at a loss for words, and the soldiers looked to them for what to do next.

After what seemed like a full minute of pause, the lieutenants bowed and saluted. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"How may we help you, Young Master?" one of them asked.

Vale smiled. "Let’s go into the tent."

And then, without waiting for their response, he turned and walked toward the tent, disappearing inside. The lieutenants shared looks and then followed him.

The inside was bigger than Vale thought, cozier too. A table with five chairs dominated the center of the room. The table was filled with neatly packed papers.

Vale moved toward the table immediately and poured himself some wine. The jug was an enchanted tool, and it cooled the drink.

"So this is what being a commander means? I’m impressed..."

He drank two more cups of wine and ate some hard, sweetened bread as well. Then he sat on the commander’s seat. He smiled at the faces of the lieutenants, who looked as if they wanted to do nothing more than tear him off the seat.

"I don’t remember your names," Vale said.

It was the only woman among them who answered. "I am Lieutenant Patel. This is Gray, Hall, and Martin."

The barrel-chested man was called Martin.

Vale gestured to the seat in front of him as if he were the one inviting them into his room. "I will go straight to the point. I know the spies in the camp are already aware of me, but this place is enchanted against spying, right?"

He didn’t wait for an answer. "Thrain has declared himself the Clan leader. He is not one. He can’t be one. He killed the previous Clan leader."

He watched for their reaction, and he was glad to see them flinch.

"Your oath is to the previous Clan leader, and he was killed. Do what you want with that. But I’ll tell you this—I will drag Thrain out of that seat."

They didn’t speak immediately. Then Martin said, "What proof do you have against... your brother? We do not know what happened with the Clan leader, but we know of your brother. He was... well in line to be the Clan leader. Why would he have to kill his father for something that would be his in a few years anyway?"

Vale nodded. "You make a good point, Lieutenant Martin. But he wasn’t officially named an heir. Anyway, if you must know, it was because of me that he had to be hasty. Father exiled me to the Borderland, and I was forgotten. But these past few months, what have you heard about the one called Vale Athrimir?"

Lieutenant Patel answered, "We received different intelligence before it was connected to you. At first, you appeared like an outlaw, but then you turned part of the Borderland upside down before going deeper and calling yourself Vale."

"And the latest one, just a few days ago, was that you died in an assassination, and your body is on its way to the capital. That is, after you cleared the Rift," Lieutenant Gray said. He was the very thin man.

Vale spread his hands. "I am not dead."

Lieutenant Hall narrowed his eyes. "No, you are not. You are only trying to commit treason!"

Vale grinned, finally getting to what he wanted. He asked, almost gently, "And what treason is that, Lieutenant Hall?"

"To the Clan! To the leadership of the Clan! It is an offense that is punishable by beheading!"

Vale poured himself another cup of wine and took a sip, letting the liquid wash over his mouth as he leaned back. "The leadership of the Clan... I wonder what leadership you are talking about?"

Lieutenant Hall opened his mouth but then slowly closed it with an audible click.

Vale hardened his face and turned to the four of them, meeting their eyes. "I know you don’t want to serve under Thrain. He killed your commander, who, by the way, deserved death for raising his hand against his lord."

The air tightened as the four of them let their pressure seep out a little, but Vale didn’t care. It was like a splash of water against him. "I will raise my hand against Thrain. But I need the army. Join forces with me."

They were silent again. Martin grunted. "You are not going to promise anything?"

"Is there a need? By joining me, you will achieve what you want. But isn’t it ironic in a way? You guys would have been traitors if your commander had not taken the fall."

Eight glares met him, but Vale just shrugged.

He smiled at them and raised his cup, drinking while he talked loudly, idly. "I wonder which one of you guys is a spy? You know, the first part of all this should have been you killing me when I landed here. You should have killed me immediately instead of validating my name.

"Now the army knows who I am without the intelligence you guys have. And you know, they have nothing to do but gossip."

"What are you getting at?" Lieutenant Hall snapped.

"Your army already suspects something fishy about the commander’s incident. It will be easier for them to accept that Thrain took the seat wrongly, and I am only doing what any good son would do."

Vale laughed out loud, and then he brought out his tower. The small, gleaming tower floated around him as he declared, "No lies are acceptable here!"

The law pulsed through the room, digging into the air and weaving around everyone.

Vale raised his cup. "I like this wine."

Nothing happened, and he drank the wine easily enough, nodding his head in satisfaction.

The four lieutenants were baffled. Vale had rambled on and on about things that apparently made little sense, and then he brought out a small tower to declare something—all while talking about how much he liked the wine?

After a while, when it became obvious that Vale was comfortable with the silence, Patel cleared her throat. "I like the wine too, Young Master. But what do you want from us now?"

"Tell me you are not spies and that you are not working for Thrain. Each and every one of you."