The City Lord's mansion, which had been destroyed in the war, had been rebuilt after a few days.
At this moment, in the main hall of the Chengdu Prefecture, a knight in an armor or Light sat high on the main seat.
Both sides were lined with armored soldiers.
In the middle of the hall stood a tall and straight figure.
"Honored Judge of the Holy Light, Lord Andrew! I am First Knight Anthony Davis of Kaidi! On behalf of the people of Kaidi, I thank you for your support!"
With that, Anthony gave Andrew a perfect knight's bow.
The Holy Light Adjudicator was a high-level military post in the Holy Empire.
It was an existence above the knights.
They did not expect the Empire to send a Holy Light Adjudicator to support them in this chaos in the city.
This was something Anthony had not expected.
Every Holy Light Judge was at the Eighth Realm.
This was an existence Anthony could only look up to.
He didn't know Lucian's exact strength, but it definitely hadn't reached the level of Eighth Realm.
So now he couldn't help but worry about Lucian and the others.
The Holy Light Adjudicator named Andrew glanced coldly at Anthony.
Although Anthony didn't look up, he shivered involuntarily as those cold eyes raked him.
Then Andrew spoke slowly.
"Anthony Davis, as the First Knight of the Empire, you actually allowed the Kaidi you were guarding to be destroyed by demons! Even the City Lord was killed by demons, and none of the nobles in the city were spared! But only you survived!"
"I need a reasonable explanation from you!"
Anthony gave a quick reply to Andrew's question without the slightest hesitation.
Actually, these were all lines he'd thought of earlier.
"Reporting to the Great Adjudicator of the Holy Light, this is what has happened. Our City Lord, the Baron, has betrayed the Holy Empire and the citizens of Kaidi!"
"He colluded with those demonic creatures, which caused the gates of the city to be easily breached! It caused the nobles to be killed, and the people suffered fear!"
"That night, the City Lord suddenly summoned all the nobles in the city to a cocktail party. In this hall. He locked the doors and windows and forbade anyone to leave midway."
"And at the cocktail party, not only are there all kinds of strong wines, but there are also some hallucinogenic drugs and countless beautiful women!"
"It was all so intoxicating to the nobles that they forgot their vigilance and the threat that was so close!"
"So that night, at the climax of the banquet, the demon army successfully broke through the city gate. It was almost effortless for them!"
When Anthony had finished, he looked stricken.
After a sigh, he continued.
"As the First Knight, I did not participate in the revelry that night. I was standing guard dutifully! When I realized that the demon soldiers had already invaded the city, I threw myself into the war without hesitation!"
"But after losing the initiative, we were no match for those demonic creatures at all, so we were scattered! We could only hide in every corner of the city and conserve our energy! And wait for the moment when the demonic creatures relax!"
"Finally, when they had plundered all the wealth, they began to party! And at that moment, I led my remaining soldiers to fight back!"
"God help us, we've finally driven these demons out of the city!"
When the report was complete, Anthony bowed his head and stood aside.
He had said all he needed to say. Now it was Andrew's turn to judge.
After a long pause, Andrew spoke again, slowly.
"That was a brilliant speech, Knight! But it's just your word against mine. I'll verify it myself!"
With that, Andrew rose from his seat and led the soldiers out of the mansion.
The method Andrew mentioned was to go to the city and ask the people.
Because he knew that the people would not lie, and would not shield anyone who had done them harm.
And after asking around, the answer he got was that Anthony was a hero.
When the people spoke of Anthony, their faces were full of admiration.
Even if he asked for some details, the commoners could answer in unison.
Anthony was not the least surprised by any of this.
Because he and Lucian had rehearsed all of this.
They had already planted seeds in the hearts of the people in advance.
No matter who asked, the image of Anthony would always stand.
And it was only then that Andrew finally believed Anthony completely.
Andrew led the soldiers on another tour of Kaidi City.
He discovered that Anthony had not only won the unanimous love of the people, but had done a perfect job of postwar rescue.
All the damaged buildings were repaired, and all the citizens who had died were provided proper funeral rites.
Everything in Kaidi City had calmed down.
"Anthony, you've done well! When we get back, I'll show the Empire your achievements and guarantee that you'll become the new City Lord of Kaidi City!"
Andrew clapped Anthony on the shoulder.
Anthony immediately replied in a neither servile nor overbearing manner, "Thank you for your kindness, Lord Judge! This is what I should do!"
Andrew glanced at Anthony, satisfaction in his eyes.
"Very well! Be neither arrogant nor hasty. You are well suited to be a leader! I am relieved to leave the City to you, and so will the Empire!"
'Now that everything's settled down here. Then there's no need for us to stay, and tomorrow we set off back to the Empire.'
"What? Lord Judge is leaving now?"
Anthony was overjoyed to hear that Andrew was leaving tomorrow.
But there was a wistful look on his face.
Andrew nodded. "That's right," he said. "Our main task as reinforcements is to help the city drive out the monsters and rebuild its home! But you've already done that, so there's no need for us to stay!"
Anthony nodded and was about to say something, but then he remembered an exclamation.
When the citizens heard that the Imperial reinforcements were preparing to leave without doing anything, they were immediately unhappy.
"Great Judge, I hope I heard wrongly. You said that you're leaving tomorrow? I don't want that to be true! You haven't killed all those demons. Aren't you going to avenge us?"
"Those monsters destroyed our home and killed our loved ones! You can't just let them go!"
"Lord Judge, please eliminate the demonic creatures!"
"Lord Judge, please eliminate the demonic creatures!"
… .
Andrew looked momentarily troubled by the sudden petition from the people.