Tianjin people will never lose SAN

Chapter 475: Let Him Back Down
In the governor's room of the city of Tirmsi, Tariq was reviewing the documents on the table while drinking mint tea. He was nearly 50 years old, but his back was still straight. In the hot and humid air, sweat dripped down his temples from time to time.

A man of his station could have simply sat back in an armchair, had his maids fan him, and had his literate slaves read him documents, while he simply enjoyed it all and gave a few instructions.

But he insisted on doing so. This was a habit formed from decades of work and also a requirement he placed on himself. He could not relax at all. Many servants were secretly talking about it behind his back, saying that Lord Tariq might not be able to close his eyes until he had finished reviewing official documents on the day he died.

"Dong dong dong."

There were regular knocks at the door. Tariq didn't even raise his head. He knew who was at the door. He hadn't finished reading half of a document. He spent another ten minutes reading it carefully and making comments before shouting, "Come in."

The person waiting outside the house was a tall and thin young man in his twenties. He had an ordinary appearance and was dressed like a civilian. The only impressive thing about him was that he had no beard, which was not common in Kurt.

"Ismael, how are the preparations for welcoming the distinguished guest from Mosesad going?"

Ismail was his adopted son, born a slave. Tariq didn't wait for him to speak and started asking questions right away.

"Everything is arranged."

Tariq buried his head in the pile of papyrus and waved his hand. But after waiting for three minutes, he still didn't hear the door close. After reading the documents at hand, Tariq raised his head and looked at his adopted son.

"What do you have to say?"

"Father, according to the time given by Mr. Balkan a few days ago, Mr. Ricky Baldwin from Mosesad will enter Tirmsi City this afternoon to discuss Miss Soraya's marriage with us."

Tariq didn't say anything. He didn't like to talk nonsense. What Ismail had just reported were things he already knew.

"But... Father, do you really want Miss Soraya to marry the noble son of Moses Sadeh?"

Tariq still didn't say anything, and the stuffy air in the room seemed to be stagnant. After more than ten seconds, Tariq suddenly picked up the ebony ornament on the table and threw it over, hitting Ismail on the forehead. After a dull "bang", blood flowed out.

"Haven't you always wanted Miss Soraya to marry Aziz? You must have been planning this for a long time."

Ismail looked straight at his adoptive father without any dodging in his eyes. He did not move even when blood flowed from his forehead into his left eye.

Aziz was Tariq's favorite child, and Tariq was the most trusted governor of Grand Duke Zahir of Upper Kurt.

If Aziz marries Soraya, Tariq will become the most powerful person in Upper Kurt, and besides... most of Zaheer's other children died young, and now only Miss Soraya is an adult.

If Tariq uses his brain and some tricks, it won't be a fantasy that he can replace the previous boss in the future.

But at the critical moment, Prince Herama spoke. Grand Duke Zahir, who had been squeezed out of Kurt's power center and returned to Tirmusi City in despair, was waiting for just such an opportunity. He agreed to Prince Herama's request without any hesitation.

Decades of planning came to nothing, and only Ismail knew how painful his adoptive father's heart was.

"But what can I do now? Do you want me to ride my camel to Oia and hug Prince Herama's thigh to make him take back what he said?"

Tariq shook his head with a sneer, thinking that Herama would only give him a chance to speak, and then he would be thrown into the Colosseum to fight to the death with an unknown cruel beast.

“Of course not. It is said that Prince Herama had privately finalized the marriage with Prince Andrew of Mosesad. If he goes back on his word now, Prince Herama will surely lose face.

Besides, it was Prince Herama’s original intention to seek an alliance with the powerful countries in the Western Continent.”

"Then what are you talking about? Get out of here!"

If someone else had wasted his time like this, Tariq would have tied him to a wooden pole in the desert and left him exposed to the sun to death. Now, looking at his adopted son with blood all over his face, Tariq just glared at him viciously.

"Although we cannot make Prince Herama change his mind, we can make the Mosesad people retreat when they see difficulties."

"Next time you talk to me, don't talk about irrelevant things, just get to the point."

Tariq picked up the teacup and took a sip. Ismail's words obviously touched his heart.

"The Mosesad people have just held a continental exposition and launched a plan to explore the Lost Sea. This shows how arrogant they are. Mr. Carroll, who will inherit the title of lord in the future, must only regard it as a political marriage.

And Ricky Baldwin came all the way to our Tilmusi City to discuss the marriage contract. These lackeys around the nobles are the most servile and bully the weak and fear the strong.

Give him a hard time. He will probably flee back to Oia in disgrace before tomorrow. When he sees Carol, do you think he will say anything nice? "

Ismail's tone was steady, but every word he said was heart-piercing.

"Humph, if you do this, Prince Herama will blame us, and our whole family will lose their heads."

After a long while, Tariq shook his head, obviously somewhat moved.

"Don't worry, father. Everything I did was in line with tradition. In our Upper Kurt's house, there are many rules for marrying a bride.

These outsiders from the Western Continent certainly don't know anything. What's rude about us asking them to follow our usual marriage rules?

If you are still worried, you can still promote this with humility after Ricky Baldwin leaves:
"If we had known that these Mosesad people could not meet our conditions, we should have relaxed a bit. Hey, why didn't the people from Oiya tell us in advance?"

Of course, the method I mentioned is not foolproof and still has risks. Please think carefully about the specific decision, father."

This time, Tariq thought about it for a full hour. He paced back and forth in the room, and finally stamped his feet and ordered:
"Then let's do as you say, but remember, everything must conform to our Upper Kurt marriage traditions, and we can't let Oiya find any faults."

"Don't worry, father."

After answering, Ismail turned and walked out of the room. His eyes flickered as if he was thinking about something. The waiter in the corridor saw Ismail walking out with blood on his head but did not dare to ask more questions.

When he returned to his room, Ismail locked the door, drew the curtains, and took out a box from under the bed. Inside were bottles and jars wrapped with thin linen ropes, as well as a number of small linen bags.

He first took out a stone candlestick from the cloth bag, then wiped the blood on his forehead with a cloth and lit it. Ismail's hands were steady, and it was obviously not the first time he had cast this forbidden spell.

The originally orange-yellow candle flame gradually turned into bluish-white after burning the blood-stained cloth, emitting wisps of smoke.

He unscrewed several bottles of potion one by one. The first few bottles dripped around the candlestick. He frowned, took a deep breath, and drank the last bottle in one gulp.

"Cough cough cough..."

Ishmael quickly covered his mouth. He felt his tongue begin to fork, and they turned into two sticky tentacles that crawled down his throat towards his stomach.

Reality had been distorted, and Ismail trembled as he pulled out a sackcloth bag with a beast pattern painted on it from the bottom of the box and put it over his head.

The feeling of my body being infiltrated and replaced slowly settled down. When I looked out through the holes in the sack, I realized that it was no longer my room, but a hotel lobby.

Under the gray light, there were several people sitting in the hall. They were men, women, old and young. The only thing they had in common was that they were all black, including the whites of their eyes and nails.

"The Black Tower has arrived, the false world has been broken, the plan has begun, and I hope that the lurking chaos will reshape me."

Ismail spoke slowly, and several people in the hall looked at him expressionlessly. Although Ismail was still standing in the hall, his consciousness had risen lightly and floated above the hotel.

He saw white smoke rising from the inn. The space and time around him were distorted. Intermittent afterimages appeared and disappeared around the inn. A strong feeling of vomiting made him feel so painful that he fainted.

When he opened his eyes again, Ismail was lying on his bed, the door and windows were still closed, and the sacrificial materials in the box had mysteriously returned to their original places.

Ismail quickly opened his mouth, reached in and touched his tongue and teeth. The feeling of experiencing real flesh again made his whole body tremble and shake.

He slandered his adoptive father Tariq in order to satisfy his ambition, and all this was also to satisfy his own desires. If Helama and the Mosesads formed an alliance, the Brotherhood would not be able to replace Helama's family, and that adult would not be able to come to Kurt.

All of this is for Lord Chaos Fuxing.

It was time to take care of those boring things. Ishmael stood up and poured himself a glass of water, then poured it over his head to calm himself down. The most urgent thing was to use Kurt's marriage conditions to stump Ricky Baldwin and completely ruin the marriage.

What he didn't know was that at this moment, on the bank of the Upper Kurt River, a large convoy consisting of ten carriages and twenty camels was heading towards the city of Tilmsi.

The person sitting in the first carriage was Liu Yonglu!

(End of this chapter)