Chapter 54.4- And so the Dragons Danced

“So I’ll give you one chance to give me the information I need before I begin to extract it from you in means that you will find most unpleasant” He said, taking out a set of tweezers made from wrought iron and a rusted hammer from his little bag of tools. Natsu didn’t have the best regard for more brutal means of information extraction, preferring his water trick, but Toji was a simple, traditional man, and he knew what would make a bird like this one sing.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Do you know who I am? I am the Senior Aide and Advisor to Lord—“

“I don’t care.” Toji said with a chuckle.

“You will tell me what I want to know before you suffer, or you will tell me after you suffer. Either way, I’m not leaving here without what I want” He said before snatching one of the man’s hands, holding it steady and then ripping the nail from his index finger with a single harsh movement.

The man’s screams were music to his ears.

“Now, first question. Who told you to hire assassins to go after the Fire Lord?” Toji,, it turned out, did not need to bother preparing himself for a long session or even involving Toph. After the first fingernail was ripped off, the man sung like a canary. He never even attempted to lie and answered each question fully and completely.

At some point, he had needed to invite a scribe to take note of the vast amounts of information being dumped on his lap. When he was through, he stood up with a scowl. The plot was far reaching one. So far reaching that it had involved virtually half the nobility and that was the problem. Natsu’s rule was too fragile to just off half of court. But half of court has tried to kill the Fire Lord, and if he didn’t do something now, then there would be no telling how else they would strike our when they would do so.

“Convene the following Lords at the throne room to await my presence” He said, turning to the scribe before reading out the names of the guilty parties. Impressively enough, his father’s name had somehow managed to make it off the list. When he had asked the Aide, the man had said the others did not hold Lord Zenin in high enough regard to help them with their Regicide. The only thing that would save his father and blood family from sure ruin would end up being the fact that the others didn’t care enough about them to involve them in their ill-thought plan.

—

He walked into the throne room with head held high and Toph at his back. Zhufu would wait in her rooms for the time being, being in a state too fragile to risk with men that could turn hostile at any moment.