Khenal
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Chapter Four-Hundred Six
🕑 Added 2025-10-27 01:25:35 +0000 UTC__________
Rezlar
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He looks down at his father, in more than one sense. Some small part of him had hoped he had somehow not been involved. But the look of shock is all the proof he needs. It’s not a happy shock, of seeing a tragedy avoided. It’s the shock of a tragedy to come.
“You look surprised, father, but not pleasantly so,” he comments, his words echoing through the cathedral. It seems to finally be enough to spur his father to action.
He stands and glares up at Rezlar. “Why should I be happy to see my son made into an undead?!” he accuses, only for Rezlar to shake his head.
“Scry me. I’m perfectly healthy and alive,” he counters, quickly feeling a few probes at his being. Gasps and whispers ripple through the cathedral like waves on the sea, and his father scowls as he discovers he’ll find no wind in his sails with that tack.
“Preposterous!” he insists. “The dungeon dropped you! I have a dozen adventurers who saw or heard you!”
Rezlar shakes his head with a rueful smile at his father’s performance. “They saw and heard exactly what we wanted them to. We didn’t expect you to try to get Lord Thediem declared murderous, which is why we went with your plan to assassinate me.” He smirks at the gasps, though his eyes stay on his father.
“It would have been a lot simpler for us if we knew you’d try that. We went through a lot of effort to make it believable for Tupul to kill me.”
His father narrows his eyes at that, and quickly verbally pivots. “Then it was the thieves guild, and not the dungeon that tried to kill you?”
“No,” objects Rezlar. “They would have been the weapon, but you tried to kill me, father. Lord Thedeim was unknowingly applying pressure to you, so you came here to eliminate the threat. But when I didn’t simply let you take over my duties, I became just another obstacle to you.”
“I would never see my own son as an obstacle!”
Rezlar snorts and holds out his hand, where Teemo briefly shortcuts to it to drop off the contract from the thieves guild safe. “This would say very different. You agreed to work with the thieves, in exchange for clemency on their part, as well as other compensation.”
His father sneers with disdain. “An obvious forgery. It looks like a contract, but such things have the weight of Order behind them. All you have is a bit of dirtied parchment!”
Rezlar unrolls the contract to show the seal on it, and doesn’t miss his father’s smirk. He doesn’t even allow Rezlar to speak before he continues.
“See, clearly a forgery! If that were my seal, there would be weight behind it. There isn’t. I’d say it appears to be you, my son, who is working with the thieves.” His father’s triumphant grin freezes in place as Teemo once again creates a shortcut and leaves something in Rezlar’s hand.
“Bilge Management,” Rezlar speaks simply, much to the confusion of most of those gathered. He doesn’t miss the look in the eyes of his father’s maid, but a hand in a white glove moves to rest on her shoulder, causing her to pale. She doesn’t even turn her head as Miller speaks.
“There are some messes that cannot be cleaned up, miss Felicia.” He gives Rezlar a small smile and nod to continue.
“I admit, it was a strange thing, to find this contract with no weight to it. It seemed impossible for a master thief to miss something like that, especially when so many other documents were clearly still binding. And if it was a forgery as you claim, the lack of weight would give it away immediately, so why even bother?”
He smiles without humor at his father. “Lord Thedeim understood. He’s dealt with Order, with a contract of much more simple phrasing. This one has more words, more room to slip through the cracks. The signer swears by the power invested in the ring, which truly was a forgery, as you yourself pointed out.
“But who’s to say a noble can’t put on a fake ring for a shady deal? Especially one worded to pivot on that very ring. And if that ring were to be destroyed, the contract would lose its power.”
Though Felicia looks pale, Rezlar’s father looks unconvinced. “Even if I were to entertain your ludicrous theory, if there was such a ring, it has been destroyed by now, by your own reasoning. If I were clever enough to come up with some loophole like that, I’d hardly keep the ring around.”
Rezlar nods. “No, you wouldn’t. You probably melted it and sold a small ingot of gold to a local jeweler… or rather, you’d have Felicia do it. But that brings me to the matter of this book. It contains things far more interesting than the details of how to keep a clean bilge.”
Rezlar idly opens it, noting his father’s hand moving to the hilt of his sword, but he doesn’t stop. “I must admit, father, that it’s a good hiding place. Hollowing out a book to hide something is a very old trick, but I’ve never seen someone hollow out a single page. Even Teemo was impressed with how subtle the spatial expansion was.”
He savors the glare in his father’s eyes as he reaches the page, and pauses for effect. “You’re correct that we didn’t find the ring you used for the contract, but we did find a conspicuous absence of a ring.” He turns the book for all to see the three rings, with clear room for a fourth. “Not to mention three other counterfeits. Tell me, father: why would you have something like this in your personal chambers?”
“Convenient that you would find something that should be so easy to overlook. Perhaps you didn’t find it in my chambers at all,” he accuses through clenched teeth, gripping his sword without drawing it.
Rezlar smirks. “Ah, you think I fabricated it? It’d probably be possible. Teemo has spatial affinity, and there’s no way for me to prove the contract is inert because of you destroying the ring, rather than it being a fake from the start.”
A weight descends on the cathedral before Rezlar continues. “But that’s not to say it can’t be proven at all. You’ve swam into dangerous waters, father, and you are not nearly as large a fish as you believe yourself to be.”
The weight increases for a moment before vanishing as Aranya speaks, her eyes glowing orange and her voice reverberating through the cathedral. “I hereby sanctify this place in the name of Lord Thedeim. May His Change lead all who come here to brighter futures.”
The cathedral stands silent for a few moments before Rezlar’s father speaks, disdain in his voice. “I hope you don’t mean to call this hole a bigger fish than I, boy. If you think some backwater dungeon can do anything to me, you are sorely mistaken. It is a simpleton, and you all the more if you actually follow it!”
Rezlar laughs at his father. “Lord Thedeim is a much greater fish than you, father, but He’s not who I was speaking of. You have angered him, endangered those He cares for, tried to impede the Change He embodies… but He’s not the one I was talking about.”
The weight returns, making his father… making Paulte stumble as it settles on his shoulders. “Lord Thedeim is more than happy to settle His own issues, but He recognizes He is not the only one you have wronged. In fact, His umbrage with you is a puddle compared to the ocean of Order's.”
Paulte finally pales as he realizes what Rezlar must mean. “Lord Thedeim spoke to Order, told him about the powerless contract with the thieves. I’m not privy to Order’s workings, but it’s not difficult to imagine he’s discovered other deals you’ve broken. How many have you swindled, Paulte? How many have you convinced to sign some contract or another, only for the guarantee to vanish like smoke after you got what you wanted?”
“Soon, all will know,” answers a voice from near the center of the cathedral. Kennith, the Priest of Order makes his way down the aisles, walking to the front as he speaks. “Lord Order has audited you, Earl Paulte Heindarl Bulifinor Magnamtir if'Gofnar. He has examined your dealings that you thought were erased. Order is not bound by the letter of a contract, but rather binds signatories by the spirit of the agreement. On rare occasions, some charlatan or another will forget this truth, will think they’re more clever than Order Himself, and think they can create loopholes to slip through.”
Rezlar steps to the side as Kennith stands on the dais, his own eyes glowing with a soft brass glint. “The gears of Order do not slip. They do not miss a tick. The pendulum swings away and gives you room, but it always returns to crush those who think they can turn Order against Himself.”
Kennith’s finger falls, pointing square at Paulte, landing like the final stroke of midnight. “Oathbreaker.”
And Paulte screams.
Comments
Aaron Mcmaster
Order also manages the system. I feel like this new title the earl has recived may have much more dire consequences. Perhaps even denying him all benefits of the system.
Carl Gherardi
I like that Rezlar goes from calling him father to Paulte as he explains who will be judging him. It's a nice final touch.
Lord-Siver
Oathbreaking usually implies losing all benifits gotten through the oath. Considering that Order himself (or in proxy the high priest) who oversees and legitimises all oaths declaring an oathbreaker would probably rid them of all benifits of all oaths they swore. This would include the oath done when becoming an earl (as they normally swear an oath to the crown). This basically strips him of his rights as an earl and would make him a commoner.
MattUDFells
I say all the contracts have him marked as an oath breaker and all the contracts he broke and passed off as forgeries are now marked as broken contracts. That way he can face legal repercussions and be forced to pay reparations to innocent people he screwed over.
Presten
Oh, I do hope that was him experiencing an eternity of his soul being ripped to shreds in a single moment.
Nomadtheus
I think Kenneth and the leader of the shield will have to explain it nice and slowly for it to maybe sink in.
Hugo23
Personal guess is that all contracts he signed were voided... All of them, even the ones that weren't illegal.
Moon Winchester
I also have a weird feeling that he is currently experiencing every single consequence that was put into every single contract if it was broken. So that could be hundreds, maybe thousands of different consequences hitting him at once.
Moon Winchester
Yay
PickledTink
---- You’ve swam ---- You want either "You've swum" or "you swam". I'd go with the first.
King Jerkera
Oath breaker two words forever damning a noble of any sort. That is the sort of title that ruins kingdoms let alone a mere Earl and all of his allies just watched this happen. And they no doubt wonder if they’ve been betrayed or if the Earl will have anything left to pay his debts!
Pete Magnuson
Hmm, stripped of access to the system or something more magical, what'll the judgment be 🤔
Art Dragon
Very interested to see what exactly the anger of order looks like. Also dum dum still hasn’t figured out that Thediem is another freaking god that he’s been poking a pointy stick at.
RedFaux
I think angering a god is going to have something more permanent
RedFaux
Oof, wrath of a god gotta hurt
LinaBoeckwurm
So good to have Order be the one to deliver the final blow!
Ethan B.
TFTC!! I am just so glad to see some them get what's deserved, the maid being put in place by Miller was so good too.
Daniel Popov
I wanna know what the thieves guild master thinks of The DM looking through and taking her documents and being swindled
Kenneth Welever
That is Order's smite. I do think Thediem should smite him with a personal dose of Murphy's Law just to make sure he is well and truly boned.
Kenneth Welever
Bet it isn't just a title. Imagine having all your broken oaths visible for all to see.
Kenneth Welever
Each god has their own type of smite. Order's is "Oathbreaker". Thediem's is "Murphy's law". Imagine pissing off both order and chaos.... Where do you run from there?
Khenal
fixed, thanks :)
Herakilla
Thanks for the chapter! Oh man can't wait to see the change that this brings :D
Nomadtheus
Going of historical precedent oath breakers were usually stripped of the inheritance, family name, and then banished.
Bradley Roope
I see two possibilities here. The more magical option is the Earl will face the punishments that he dealt to those who he betrayed and considering claimed to give amnesty for capital offences I don't think he survives, or all contracts made by him must be fulfilled and people know they don't have to uphold their end of the deals.
Black Esper
That's a good way for Rezlar to end this scheme. And an audit from Order to find false contracts? Very good 👍
jeffh4
compared to ocean of Order's.” Should be “the ocean”
William Anderson
TYFTC!!!! Finally!!! I've longed and ached to read this!
architectural engineer
its going to be so hard to wait til thursday!
Juno Tubolino
Paulte the Oathbreaker finally gets his deserved justice!! Well, the start of it anyways, I bet Teemo had already practiced for a 10 hour Earl-roasting session lol
Ben Bass
TYFTC! Oof, that was a great and brutal confrontation! I love how Rezlar talks to the Earl, and is able to show that he is alive, and shows some additional evidence, and then comes Kennith, and now Order is the one whom the Earl is dealing with. I have a strong feeling that being branded an Oathbreaker is NOT something that is taken lightly here.
Rick Delallata
Wonder just how much damage the Oathbreaker title is. Looking forward to the reaction of the rest of the kingdom
Demonlord
What an amazing chapter 😊 Can't wait for the next one
Samuel
that was a great chapter thank you, and I hope you enjoy your mom's birthday and your mom dose too again thank you
Samuel
wow
Marianamystery
The Oathbreaker has finally faced the consequences of his actions. Good.
Matthew Frasier
I shall savor his screams! For not mess with gods!
BrokenLord321
Oh so that's the plan... Well a holy smiting will do just the same!
Jennifer Leigh
This one isn't much better
Speedsaber
Glad its here today because of the last cliffhanger. Edit, spoke too soon. I leave one cliff face to find another even steeper......
Vorquel
Woah
