Herald of Steel

Chapter 744  Lapitus Moves (Part-3)

When Lapitus was trying to plan out how to actually go about carrying out his coup, he found that his first and perhaps biggest roadblock was Kalidus, for he led all of Petrino's men.

But the problem here was that although he managed to accurately find the target, trying to think of a feasible way to take the man out without arousing a huge commotion in the process proved surprisingly difficult. The man was a great commander with an almost fanatical zeal when it came to defending the city. A fact that was shown by how he had reacted upon learning of Lord Ponticus's death.

Like many others, the old man had broken down and bawled his eyes out.

But not out of the sadness of the loss of his former master.

He only lamented how he could not have died beside him.

In that battle, Kalidus was not actually with Lord Ponticus's group.

Instead, he was left with Lord Theony to help him better coordinate between the local Thesalie garrison and the reinforcements that had come.

Hence spurred on by that death, this time, the old man was filled with almost a martyr-like zeal, meaning he would fight to his last breath.

And to add to his formidable reputation, he was also a fierce fighter.

So unless Lapitus could surround him and attack from all sides, he was not sure even four or five of them could win in a head-to-head duel with him.

Never mind, Kalidus was almost accompanied by a bunch of his lieutenants

So if Lapitus were to attack them in the open, even if Lapitus managed to kill all of them, there was no way the others were not going to be alerted to such a large-scale brawl.

The move was deemed too dangerous and unpredictable.

And so Lapitus for a few days was stumped on how to actually lure Kalidus and all his top officers in a single place, one that was hidden from the public eyes and secluded enough, and then take them out without any commotion.

It seemed too hard.

Initially, Lapitus had thought of inviting them to his home for some kind of feast or event.

But such celebrations in the middle of a siege did not seem appropriate.

And even if the busy Kalidus accepted, it would likely be him and only a few of the lieutenants, whereas Lapitus needed to kill all of the high-ranking officers at once to avoid alerting Petrino.

And lastly, inviting them to his house would reveal the fact that it was empty, with his wife and daughter nowhere to be found.

All that would bring only needless questioning.

Many such similar problems were encountered with his other plans too, and it was to the point that Lapitus even began to wonder if trapping Kalidus was even possible.

The ideal circumstances where Petrino and all his trusted men simultaneously disappeared but did not raise any suspicion appeared to be too incongruent with reality.

So for a while Lapitus was stumped, at one point, even thinking of giving up on the entire coup thing.

But then, as if the gods were smiling upon him, it happened.

The arranged funeral event gave Lapitus exactly that chance he was looking for Kalidus and all his lieutenants would almost certainly be at the officer's quarters after the day ended to target together and refresh themselves.

And so in the days prior to the program, Lapitus arranged for his men to go and occupy the premises, specifically instructing them to take control of the catering.

Something that was fairly easy to do given Lapitus was still of very high military rank and could transfer almost anyone he liked to any other unit.

So with the excuse that this funeral event would require extra security, many of the neutral and those loyal to Kalidus were sent on street patrols or even to the walls to bolster its defenses. While the vacancies were taken up by Lapitus's trusted men.

And once everything was done, the soldiers quietly made sure to mix the wine that was to be served that day with a dose of slow but lethal poison.

The substance was tasteless and nearly odorless.

But it took around five to fifteen minutes to kick in.

So it was not instant like cyanide.

And Lapitus chose this intentionally, as it would take some time to serve the drink to everyone and he did not want people falling like flies in front of everybody the moment they took a sip.

That would be too revealing.

So he chose this one, which also had many other desirable traits as well.

For instance, once the required time had passed, death would be instantaneous, with no troublesome symptoms surfacing prior to the collapse.

So nothing like headache, dizziness, nausea, etc. topping up suddenly that might give the subterfuge away.

Hence, as Kalidus and all his men entered the quartes as usual and refreshed themselves, they were served cold, iced wine by Lapitus's men.

"*Gulg*, *glug*, *glug! Ahhhh! A cold drink in this fucking heat ….ahhh, so fucking nice!" And the men were ecstatic to get them, chugging the refreshing drinks down with nary a thought, their parched throats rejoicing as if the summer rains had come. "Hahaha, Lapitus, what's the occasion? Did something good happen?" As they drank, some men also posed this, for serving such copious amounts of drink was certainly not a regular practice.

Not to forget it was even chilled which surely added much more to the cost,

Thesalie would have never been able to afford to be so generous, even just to her officers.

"Haha, well I was thinking of celebrating a bit when we can. Soon the noble lords will start drinking and we will have to just stand and watch,... hehe. *Chug*, *Chug*,"

Lapitus very convincingly gave his reason for this unusual display of generosity, producing a small chuckle before downing the contents of his own cup, which was of course served separately and safe to drink from.

It was little surprise that it would be only the nobles tonight that would drink themselves silly, while all the soldiers would be made to stand guard.

That was the norm in almost all other parties too.

Something that was not always easy to follow given the opulent display of food, drinks, and even women that would be in front of these, frankly poor men.

"Hoooohhhhoooo, Captain Lapitus, that's why we follow you!" And so hearing that Lapitus was treating them to this fine wine as a form of compensation, the men let out loud cheers of praise, very pleased by this gesture.

Even Kalidus joined in this praise, taking a few sips of the liquid and commenting with a slightly exaggerated shock, "This wine ….is it that new wine …Sweet Uvula?"

Sweet Uvula was the name of the wine recipe that Alexander gave to Camius went by in Tibias, distributed by his partner's son who lived here.

And it was an extremely sought-after wine due to its limited availability, and almost exclusively consumed by only the nobility.

Hence Kalidus's surprise at how Lapitus was able to get his hands on such an expensive product and so much at that.

Even he got to taste it occasionally, only when Lord Ponticus would invite his old subordinate to chat about the good old times.

At the inquiry, Lapitus nodded lightly to confirm Kalidus's suspicion, before producing a forlore face and then recounting in a mournful tone, "Just a few days ago, father-in-law had sent us a few large jars. We did not have the time to drink then."

"So I thought today would be the perfect day to have it."

Lapitus said this by alluding to the funeral and the drinking culture, and when taking a sip, he mournfully hummed, "*Sigh*, I still cannot believe he is gone. There are even times I think can hear his steps coming from the stairs here, pacing up and down like he used to *gulg*."

Lapitus said so as a way to induce nostalgia in Kalidus and distract his attention from the wine in case he found anything weird.

And Kalidus bought everything Lapitus said without batting an eye.

He, like everyone else of course, knew that Lapitus was married to Lord Ponticus's daughter, and thus receiving such gifts was natural.

So understanding it, he patted Lapitus on the shoulders and even praised him for his generosity.

To which Lapitus responded in a low, mirthless chortle, "Haha, well if the enemy breaks though, at least he won't get to have this."

He had very intentionally kept his voice low, only letting Kalidus hear so.

And at this, the old man's face did not go dark with anger or call Lapitus names like a defeatist.

Instead, aware of their predicament, his wizened face seemed to lose a bit of luster at their helpless situation.

"Do not lose hope. Believe in the gods. They will not let us down, " before he claimed so in a low, but very strong voice.

This was Lapitus's last chance to see if Kalidus would be bought over.

And Kalidus's answer undoubtedly revealed he would not. They talked like this for a while, until, *Thud*, *Thud*, *Thud*

Finally, at all around the ten minute mark, the bodies started to fall,

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