BXBX NOVEL Chapter 61: 59 The New Elder
However, the reclusive and stubborn silver descendants clan did not invite anyone from the town to mourn, not even the town chief, who tactfully did not attend.
Late at night, the funeral finally concluded, and the prestigious and wealthy old men of the silver descendants gathered in the house, intending to listen to the voice of the Lord of Salvation and the ancestors, to select the new elder of the silver descendants clan.
“Boom!”
Thunder rumbled outside, as if a heavy rain was about to pour down in the dark night, and the expressions of the five old men in the house were solemn, as if they each harbored their own thoughts.
“Let’s begin.”
They placed their arms over the shoulders of the person next to them, one by one closing their eyes, waiting, and then collectively saying aloud the name they “heard.”
Outside the house, including Aaron in their number, the three qualified Extraordinary candidates and their confidants waited, while hundreds of Nasir silver descendants surrounded them, maintaining decorum and silence.
All but Aaron among the other candidates grew increasingly anxious; only he remained extremely calm.
One of the candidates, Emil, walked over and whispered in his ear:
“Aaron, why are you still here? Four of the five people inside are relatives of ours, do you really think you still have a chance?”
Aaron revealed a cold smirk, and said loudly:
“Naive are you, even direct blood relations cannot be fully trusted, let alone so-called relatives!”
His voice was too loud, and in the silent solemnity, it stood out conspicuously; almost everyone looked over, and some even felt that speaking so loudly on such an occasion was indecorous and irksome.
Nevertheless, Aaron did not care about the gazes of the people at all.
He just sneered and lifted his head proudly.
Finally, the old men emerged from within the house, looking at the people outside, ready to announce the result. Candidates other than Aaron all craned their necks in eager anticipation, unable to wait any longer.
Aaron calmly touched the flintlock at his waist; if the elder selection failed, he would kill those bribe-taking old men on the spot, then break out and become a bandit, and the Fischer family would become his sworn enemy as well.
The chief elder stood at the convergence of glances, took a deep breath, and loudly announced the final winner.
“Aaron Yilmaz!”
Many people widened their eyes, while Aaron’s supporters instantly erupted in cheers, which only quieted down once scolded by the elders.
“Unfair! You cheated! You must have cheated!”
Candidate Emil yelled, furiously condemning Aaron and his people, while Aaron’s supporters responded angrily, and the scene instantly descended into chaos.
Aaron, with a forceful hand, pushed through the crowd in front of him, ignoring all the noise, and emotionlessly approached the elder who had announced the name.
The old man smiled at him, and Aaron whispered in his ear.
“You chose the future and wealth, not your incapable nephew; it is undoubtedly the right choice.”
The elder had no choice, they had originally planned to refuse, but who could anticipate that Aaron’s promises were too abundant?
A down payment of three hundred Gold Coins, and a full thousand Gold Coins upon success—who on earth could refuse!
“This is the ring of the elder, wear it! Child! You shall become the spokesperson for the silver descendants clan! The ancestors and the Lord of Salvation bless you!”
The old man chuckled and took out a silver ring intending to place it on Aaron’s hand, but his aged hand was grasped by Aaron, who then astonishingly pulled the ring out of his palm with force and wore it on the index finger of his left hand.
Aaron gazed at the somewhat uneasy elders and began to speak slowly:
“Do not call me child. I am your elder.”
He took the silver ring and went to the Fischer family during the night. Byrne and Madam Irene were waiting in the living room for a long time.
Byrne looked at the silver ring on Aaron’s hand and smiled, “Congratulations, it seems that you have truly succeeded.”
Aaron gazed at the silver ring for a long time, then calmly shook his head and said:
“It’s not just my success, but our joint success, and the success of the future of all silver descendants. Thousands of silver descendants on the East Coast need more unity, they need a new high elder.”
He took off the silver ring and placed it casually on the table, and continued:
“I will need a lot more money in the future, whether it is for improving my strength or going even further, I hope the Fischer family will continue to support me.”
Irene nodded, speaking calmly, “The Fischer family will support you, as long as you can provide sufficient feedback first. We need to see a return within the year.”
Aaron stared at Irene, who had just spoken, for a long time, stood up, and then knelt down on the ground, apologizing with extreme sincerity and exaggeration:
“Madam Irene, I originally looked down on you because you are a woman. Now, I offer you my sincere apologies. From now on, Byrne, you, and the entire Fischer family will all be my best friends!”
“…”
Irene was stunned for a moment, then forced a slight smile, finding it odd why her “Listening for Malice” Extraordinary trait hadn’t triggered.
Even if gender discrimination exists in ordinary social groups, it is increasingly rare at higher levels among Extraordinary Exponents. More common were discriminations based on strength, lineage, and talent.
It wasn’t unusual at all for powerful female Extraordinary Exponents to have many male lovers in service to them. Indeed, someone once said, “Extraordinary Exponents are a third gender, beyond male and female.”
She really hadn’t expected that Aaron’s initial provocation was due to gender.
Moreover, this guy was too straightforward in both speech and action, and in a sense, it was somewhat uncomfortable. No, it was very uncomfortable.
Byrne broke the awkwardness, speaking immediately to the kneeling Aaron:
“Let’s discuss the details of our future cooperation. The content discussed before wasn’t sufficient, but the collateral you ultimately put forth has given us great confidence.”
The original voting result was that Irene was in favor, while Byrne was against.
Initially, Aaron did not want to offer anything as collateral, but having been burnt by his “good friend” Robert before, Byrne firmly opposed “verbal agreements,” unwilling to try for benefits promised by the empty promises of a white wolf.
In the end, Aaron had no choice but to offer something extremely valuable as collateral to the Fischer family—a Class 3 Extraordinary Material worth more than two hundred Gold Coins.
So the Byrne siblings weren’t afraid of him running away and suffering too much loss in case of failure, and ultimately they all agreed to invest.
He had realized that often times, one needed to be sufficiently greedy. It wasn’t that the other party couldn’t provide collateral; they just didn’t want to offer anything valuable as collateral.
After Aaron stood up, he remained silent for a long while before speaking directly, “I need your help to kill someone.”
“Who?” Byrne’s eyebrows rose.
Aaron recalled the man who was full of confidence, who had convinced him to leave the selection, and afterward led the accusation of his cheating, Emil.
“Emil, a failed candidate, a high-level Beginning Spellcaster, a pathetic clown. He will never listen to me and his status is not low, I must act before this guy does anything!”
After he finished speaking, his expression became sorrowful. Byrne and Irene, who thought they could accept his strangeness, hadn’t anticipated that he would turn out even more abnormal.
Byrne could not help but ask, “Why do you look so sad?”
“Of course, it’s because I can’t help but have to eliminate a fellow silver descendant who possesses extraordinary power. Emil should have contributed to all silver descendants.”
Aaron shed genuine tears, his voice filled with sorrow as he continued.
“I loathe stupid people. However, even a stupid silver descendant is still my precious kin. He should have been working for me and the silver descendants under the watchful eyes of our ancestors, but I know his arrogant nature of overconfidence, and I simply must erase him.”
Irene keenly noticed something—that he had just mentioned “under the watchful eyes of our ancestors” without saying “the Lord of Salvation.”
Aaron kept talking, obviously very adept at coveting grand things:
“The silver descendants have made too many sacrifices. Now we must make new ones, but all for the sake of a powerful future!”
To be honest, Byrne occasionally felt that Irene was a bit abnormal, but deep inside, he could understand. After all, the extraordinary power of the Lord of the Lost indeed inspired awe.
But the man in front of them appeared to be genuinely mentally unstable, seemingly positioning himself in a very peculiar place.
The Fischer family had invested in a madman, a madman with capability and status.
They had concluded from their investigation that Aaron was very capable and, though somewhat paranoid, he often achieved success and had considerable hidden influence among the younger silver descendants.
Those young people who yearned for change, who did not want to forever remain complacent, silently supported Aaron.
But Byrne hadn’t expected him to be so paranoid, and couldn’t help but ask:
“Aaron, who do you think you are for the silver descendants clan and all the silver descendants on the East Coast?”
The sorrowful Aaron finally revealed a smile he had never shown before and declared confidently:
“The Savior.”