The fall of the tyrant Sylvester Williams in the palace square was nothing more than the announcement of the end of a single battle, perhaps the easiest one, because the enemy in it had been visible, embodied, and standing face to face. But the true war to save the city of Seiron had only just begun.
Seiron was like a sick body ravaged by fever for years. Sylvester had been merely the malignant tumor visible on the surface, but the true cancer had extended its poisoned roots deep into every joint of the city. Corruption, bribery, nepotism, and complex spy networks had spread through the government offices, the markets, and even among certain ranks of the guard.
That night, while the streets of Seiron were buzzing with the noise of raucous celebrations and torchfires illuminating the cold autumn sky in honor of Duke Marcus's return and young Dex's victory, there was one place in the palace that knew no taste of rest. In the deep and fortified Map Room, Dex did not sleep for a single minute.
He stood before a massive oak table spread with detailed maps of the city's districts and commercial networks. Beside him stood Commander Okon, whose armor still bore the blood of battle, and Lord Marcus, who watched his son with eyes filled simultaneously with pride and concern.
They were drawing up the plan for the Great Purge.
With the first thread of dawn, before the city awoke from the stupor of its celebrations, the Lion Knights units moved. Reorganized and assembled through the night from the most loyal elements, Dex personally led the main unit, mounted on a massive black warhorse, wearing light leather armor reflecting his readiness for rapid movement, his fire sword resting in its scabbard at his hip.
Dex stopped his horse before the rows of knights lined up in the training courtyard, their breaths rising like steam in the cold dawn air. He looked at them with a piercing gaze and said in a firm voice that echoed through the silent courtyard:
"Remember well what I am about to say. We are not highway brigands, and we are not a gang of blind avengers intoxicated with victory. We are the law, we are Seiron's sword and its shield. During your raids today, do not wrong a single innocent person, do not terrify a child or a woman.
But, do not leave a single traitor breathing in a public position. Whoever has betrayed once will betray a thousand times. Excise the rotten roots so that our tree may grow anew!"
With these words, the knights' units launched like arrows loosed from fully drawn bows.
The first and largest target was the Merchants' Quarter, the city's most prestigious district of marble palaces and hanging gardens. A decisive strike was directed at the members of the Gold Guild. These were no mere traders, they were a gang of corrupt nobles and monopolists who had formed the secret alliance to support Sylvester.
They had financed the mercenary army that suppressed the people, in exchange for receiving exclusive rights to monopolize the trade in grain, weapons, and even mana crystals, starving the commoners while enriching their own pockets.
The palaces were simultaneously stormed with military precision. The knights found these merchants in a state of absolute terror. Some were hysterically attempting to burn incriminating documents and double-ledger account books in their fireplaces, others were stuffing gold into bags in preparation to flee through secret tunnels.
But Okon and his men, supported by Dex's precise intelligence, were faster by several steps.
These pampered, lavish men were dragged from their silken, soft beds. They screamed, wept, and offered the knights unimaginable bribes exceeding their salaries for decades, but the knights, who had lost brothers in the battle because of these merchants' betrayal, paid no attention to their pleas.
They bound them in thick iron chains and marched them barefoot through the streets.
The second target was the government offices and administrative headquarters. The bribed tax officials who had falsified government records to steal the money of impoverished farmers were arrested, and the corrupt judges were hauled from their homes: those who had sold verdicts of justice for gold and covered up Sylvester's crimes.
They were gathered together in the palace courtyard, bound, awaiting public and fair trials.
At midday, while the arrests were proceeding smoothly, Dex led a small and private group, comprising Lumia, Commander Okon, and a small number of trusted magical engineers, toward the deepest underground point in Seiron's palace: the ancient vault.
The place was cold, dark, and reeking of dampness and ancient stone. They walked at length until they reached the end of a tunnel blocked by a solid stone wall that showed no door or crack.
Lumia stopped, closed her eyes, and raised her slender hand to feel the cold wall. Thanks to her superior sensitivity to energy, she said in her customary calm voice, yet with a tone carrying a touch of astonishment: "I sense a tremendous and very anomalous concentration of mana in this place, and there is a dense echo of gold. Directly behind this wall, there is a grade-five magical concealment array. It is very complex and designed to absorb any attempt to break it by brute force."
Dex nodded. He drew his personal silver dagger from his belt and concentrated white purifying phoenix energy in its blade until it glowed like a small sun.
He did not attempt to shatter the wall, instead he drove the dagger slowly and carefully into a specific point Lumia had identified: the point representing the array's central node. The moment the purifying flames touched the node, a high buzzing sound was heard, and the magical illusion collapsed.
The solid stone wall split very slowly, producing a terrifying creak, to reveal a massive circular steel door that swung open automatically the moment the lock was broken.
What they found behind that door made seasoned soldiers, and even Commander Okon himself, gasp in shock with arrested breath.
It was an enormous room, its area exceeding that of the throne hall, stacked from floor to high ceiling with wealth that the human mind could not imagine. Mountains of pure gold ingots bearing the seals of different nations and empires, wooden crates overflowing with jewels and diamonds, rare artifacts and works of art looted from neighboring noble families.
And most important of all: isolated glass boxes containing thousands of high-purity Mana Stones, considered the most valuable currency and the primary driver of wars in this world.
This vault contained a fantastical fortune literally sufficient to build the city of Seiron from scratch, or finance a complete imperial army for years.
This was everything Sylvester had looted with supreme care from the family's old treasury, from the pockets of the laboring people, and through dubious dealings over years of his long rule in the shadows.
"My God..." Okon whispered, walking slowly between the mountains of gold, his eyes barely able to believe what they were seeing. "This, this is insane. This is far too much. He was starving the city while sitting on a throne of gold in the darkness."
Dex turned to Okon, and on the young man's face there was no trace of greed or dazzlement. The only expression was cold anger and a heavy sense of responsibility.
He said with cutting sternness: "Exactly, Okon. This is far too much, and it belongs neither to the Williams family nor to Sylvester. It is the blood and sweat of this people. And for this very reason, it will return to its rightful owners."
In that moment, amid the vault filled with wealth, Dex issued an immediate, revolutionary, and unprecedented order in the history of Seiron or the entire Empire:
"This treasury will be divided immediately into three equal portions. The first third will be allocated as immediate, direct compensation to every family in Seiron that lost a member because of the mercenaries or the starvation policies, and for the repair of every home and shop damaged in the recent fighting. I want the compensation delivered hand-to-hand to the victims' families before sunset.
The second third will be pumped immediately into the local markets under the supervision of honest judges, to support the farmers, purchase the overdue harvests, and compel the merchants to lower the prices of bread and basic goods that doubled unjustly under the Gold Guild. As for the final third, it returns to the family treasury to rearm our army, build new walls, and secure the province's future against any external threat."
This astounding decision spread through the city's districts like wildfire. The people had barely absorbed the news when they saw with their own eyes heavy wagons, loaded with boxes of gold and silver coins, emerging from the palace gates under heavy guard, with Dex personally riding his horse and accompanying the convoys himself.
The process of distributing compensation and restitution began in the public squares and poor neighborhoods. The scene was unforgettable. The people who had been trembling in fear of the mercenaries' brutality in the early morning were now weeping in the streets, but these were tears of joy, gratitude, and long-awaited justice.
The mothers who had lost their sons embraced the knights, and the bakers who had been forced to close their shops received enough to start again. They had never in their lives seen a ruler win a war, and rather than appropriating its spoils, open his coffers to return the stolen money to its owners with this speed and transparency.
By evening, under the cold stars, Seiron had changed both spiritually and physically. The air became cleaner and lighter after the removal of the traitors.
The fear and despair that had nested in people's eyes dissolved completely, replaced by a hope as radiant as the sun. And the name "Dex Williams", once considered merely a pampered heir or a lucky young man, was that no longer.
His name had been carved in the hearts of every man, woman, and child, and had become synonymous with absolute justice. He was given the title "The Savior", the young man who had restored the soul to a city that had nearly died.