strictlysupreme Chapter 47 Meeting
Chapter 47 Meeting
"We've had four attacks on employees in our Third Free County too. The Sheriff is at his wits' end..."
"How are things over there... By the way, we have a knight in our Free Territory who, the day after the attack, cut off the head of an employee he didn't like. What a madman!"
They even claimed it was to prevent further attacks, which sparked protests from all the employees of Nunns in the territory…
"...You guys are too good to those Nunns people. I heard that some of your employees have become masters, haha..."
"It's alright. I also have two Nunns employees at home, and they seem like nice people..."
Bishop Victor, representing the territory of Lorraine, attended the temporary meeting of the Eastern Region of the Holy Kingdom of the Elves. He sat in the second row, with Bishop Andrei sitting in the row in front of him.
Victor glanced around the room; the opulent conference room was almost full.
Several elven nobles dressed in magnificent attire sat in the opposite area, their family crests and sacred tree patterns pinned to their chests. The vast majority of nobles in the Holy Kingdom revered only the sacred tree "Eldrasil".
The bishop of the god of death, the bishop of the god of war, the bishop of the god of nature; the governor of the Free County, the speaker of the Free Territory…
Victor saw many familiar faces, but he hadn't had much contact with most of them.
"Alright, dear colleagues... please quiet down... quiet down!"
"Now, in light of the recent spate of attacks in the Eastern Region of the Holy Kingdom, this temporary meeting is officially beginning."
On the platform in the very center of the conference hall, Speaker Hobury struck the base of the gavel several times, and the noisy hall gradually quieted down.
"Let me first give a brief introduction. The Holy Kingdom and the Narns Empire Treaty of 841 introduced many Narns laborers to various regions."
According to statistics, less than 2% of the employees brought in from the Nunns Empire were gentlemen such as teachers, doctors, or accountants, and less than 20% were craftsmen or artisans.
The remaining nearly 80% of employees are manual laborers, farmers...
Regarding the gender ratio...
In terms of crime rates, domestic workers make up a relatively small percentage of the total population, yet they account for over 60% of the crime rate…
"Alright, can you hurry up..." "Get to the point..." "Speaker Hobre, we all have things to do, please hurry!"
Some people in the room were clearly getting impatient and started shouting.
Speaker Hobre struck the gavel twice more, waiting for the sound to subside slightly before continuing, "In the past month, there have been nineteen attacks in seven territories, three free counties, and one free territory in the Eastern Region. The attacks took place in places including markets, churches, school gates... all densely populated public places."
He paused, his gaze sweeping across the entire room.
"All the perpetrators were either killed or captured on the spot. Of the twelve whose identities have been confirmed, eleven were employees of the Nunns Empire, and the identity of the third is still being verified."
The room fell silent for a moment, then a buzz of discussion arose again.
Victor counted a few numbers in his mind.
Lorraine had two incidents, one in Port Ryan and the other at Grammar School—last week, several men in grey robes suddenly attacked passing students with wind blades in the school. Fortunately, he arrived in time and narrowly escaped injuring two younger children.
The incident in Ryan Harbor was more serious. Someone obtained spiritual materials from somewhere and detonated them, causing an explosion that killed two people and injured more than a dozen.
Victor participated in the latter's on-site investigation. The residual traces of those spiritual materials were very similar to the characteristics of the spiritual amber found in the wool before. At the entrance of the grammar school, unused spiritual amber was also found on the perpetrator's body. He reported this discovery to Bishop Andrei.
"Now, representatives from each leader will speak." Speaker Hobre put down his gavel and sat back down in his chair.
The first to stand up was the representative of the Church of the God of War, a robust pure-blooded elf with a golden longsword embroidered on his chest.
Victor remembered his name as Aldrich, and he was the assistant bishop of the Church of the God of War in the Eastern Region.
"There's nothing to say," Aldrich's voice was rough, like sandpaper rubbing against a wooden board.
"The Nunns are restless, so we should tighten control over them."
I propose suspending the freedom of movement of all Nunns employees, prohibiting them from leaving their homes after 8 PM, with severe penalties for violators.
"Bishop Aldrich, this is not in accordance with the Treaty between the Holy Kingdom and the Narns Empire," a dark-colored elven nobleman stood up, a sacred tree emblem pinned to his chest.
"The treaty clearly stipulates that employees enjoy the same freedoms as citizens of the Holy Land."
"Unilaterally tightening controls will provoke a reaction from the Nunns Empire."
"Reaction? What reaction?" Aldrich turned to look at him:
"Don't you know how many troops the Narns Empire has increased on the border in recent years? They talk about peace, but how many people have they secretly sent here?"
"That's two different things."
"How can they be two different things?" Aldrich's voice grew louder:
"The magic used in this attack is clearly of the Nunns system. Our intelligence department has confirmed that the spiritual materials used in at least seven attacks were purified using techniques from the Nunns Empire."
The buzzing in the meeting room started again.
Victor noticed that Bishop Andrei was sitting in the first row, motionless, his gray eyes staring at the platform in front of him, seemingly lost in thought.
Another nobleman stood up. This was the Speaker of the Free Territory, an elf with gray hair. His voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear:
"Tightening controls can be discussed, but a one-size-fits-all approach is not acceptable. There are over two hundred Nunns employees in my territory, mostly miners and farm workers. There haven't been any incidents in all these years. Suddenly saying that freedom will be restricted will cause panic."
"Panic?" Aldrich scoffed. "Nineteen attacks, over thirty dead, and you're telling me there's panic?"
"I'm not saying we won't take any measures," the Liberty Territory Speaker said calmly.
"I mean the measures should be targeted; we can't punish everyone because of the actions of a few."
Victor heard someone behind him whisper, "People from the Freedom Territory are just too soft-hearted."
He didn't turn around.
Next to speak was a representative of the Church of the God of Nature, a middle-aged woman wearing a light green robe, whose voice was soft:
"Our position as the Church of the God of Nature is to first figure out why these employees suddenly had the ability to launch an attack."
As far as I know, most of the Nunns employees do not possess magical abilities. Where do they obtain their spiritual materials? Who is supporting them behind the scenes?
This question silenced the room for a few seconds.
Victor mentally gave her a thumbs up; she had asked the right question.
"We've already identified part of the source of the materials," Aldrich continued. "Earlier this year, the Ryan Harbor inspection team seized a shipment of smuggled spirit amber, hidden inside raw wool and smuggled from the Nunns Empire. The quantity was considerable, and—"
He paused for a moment: "That's just what was seized; we don't know how many more haven't been seized."
"The amber seized in Ryan Harbor was handled by our Church of the God of Death," Bishop Andrei finally spoke, his voice not loud, but the entire hall fell silent to listen to him.
"A total of twenty pieces, second-tier spiritual materials. Later, we intercepted an even larger batch, sixty boxes, on the high seas."
He paused, his gray eyes scanning the room.
"The purification techniques used for those materials did indeed originate from the Nunns Empire, but the spiritual characteristics of the materials—"
He paused.
"I personally conducted the tests. Before those spirit amber pieces were purified, they underwent some kind of special treatment. The treatment method does not belong to the technical system of the Narns Empire, nor does it belong to our Holy Kingdom."
"What does that belong to?" someone asked.
Andrei did not answer immediately.
Victor knew what he was hesitating about. They had discussed this issue more than once in the basement of the grammar school, but Andrei had never reached a conclusion because the conclusion was too serious.
“Deep in the spirit world,” Andrei finally said, “there is a kind of fluctuation characteristic that we are not very familiar with. I detected similar characteristics on those spirit amber pieces.”
"What do you mean?" Aldridge frowned.
"What I mean is," Andrei said, emphasizing each word, "that the source of these materials may not be the Nunns Empire. The Nunns Empire is just an intermediary."
The venue fell completely silent.
Victor felt the air become heavy.
"You mean..." the Speaker of the Free Territory began, his voice slightly tense.
“I haven’t drawn a conclusion,” Bishop Andrei interrupted him. “I’m just saying it’s possible.”
But his expression told everyone that he had already made up his mind.
Victor recalled what Bishop Andrei had said in the grammar school's basement:
The frequency of fluctuations deep within the spirit realm is accelerating, and the period of feather shedding from the sacred tree is approaching. The characteristics of those fluctuations do not belong to any known race.
It does not belong to any known race.
Demon race,
The word swirled in Victor's mind, but he didn't say it aloud.
Aldrich was the first to break the silence: "If that's the case, then is the Nunns Empire colluding with the demons?"
"They might be using this to their advantage," Bishop Andrei said.
"The Narns Empire may not be unaware of the source of these materials; they may simply be cooperating with some force with the aim of disrupting the Holy Kingdom."
"Then what should we do?" An elven nobleman stood up, his voice hurried, having lost his composure.
Andrei did not answer the question, but turned to Speaker Hobri: "I would like to hear about the situation in other territories."
Speaker Hobury nodded.
One by one, the representatives stood up to speak, and Victor listened attentively, mentally organizing the information point by point.
The attacks were concentrated in the eastern region.
Victor thought it might be due to the Sacred Tree's sensory blind spot. The Sacred Tree's roots covered the entire Holy Kingdom, but the Featherfall period would cause a temporary blind spot in its perception.
The eastern region has the sparsest root system of the sacred tree, and is greatly affected by the molting period.
The Nunns Empire was aware of this blind spot, so they chose the eastern route for smuggling materials.
"Representative of the Lorraine Territory, Bishop Zaitsev." Speaker Hobri's voice brought Victor back to reality.
Victor stood up, bowed slightly to the podium, and then turned to face the hall.
"Two attacks have occurred in Lorraine, one at Port Ryan and one at the grammar school. The spiritual materials used by the perpetrators in both attacks match the characteristics of the spiritual amber we previously seized," Victor said.
"In addition, we apprehended five agents from the Narns Empire Intelligence Agency on the smuggling ship we seized in Ryan Harbor."
The venue became noisy again.
"The intelligence agency?" Aldrich's voice rose. "Are you sure?"
"Confirmed. They have intelligence badges on them, and their identities have been confirmed during interrogation."
However, they are stubborn and haven't given us any useful information so far, not even with spells or incantations. Perhaps they genuinely don't know any deeper details.
After Victor finished speaking, he sat down.
Some people frowned, while others whispered something to the person next to them.
"It seems this is no ordinary smuggling operation," Speaker Hobre said.
"The Narns Empire's intelligence agency has been mobilized, so their purpose is not just as simple as smuggling spiritual materials."
"They might be testing our reaction time," said a bishop of the Church of the God of Death, dressed in a black robe.
"By creating these attacks, we can see how we respond, the extent of our spiritual monitoring network, and the size of the blind spots created by the shedding of the sacred tree's feathers."
"It could also be to create panic," the representative of the Church of the God of Nature chimed in.
"When news of employees attacking civilians spreads, it will create hostility towards the Nunns and cast doubt on our governance. Once society is torn apart, their opportunities will increase."
Victor nodded to himself; he had thought of that angle too.
"There's another possibility," Bishop Andrei said again.
Everyone looked at him.
"These attacks themselves may not be the goal," Bishop Andrei said.
"These may be a cover. The real operation is elsewhere."
"What do you mean?"
"The nineteen attacks we are discussing now may just be the prelude."
Whether it's the Nunns Empire or some other force, they are testing where our attention lies.
"Once we distribute our resources across various regions to deal with these attacks, the real target will be revealed."
"What is the real goal?"
Andrei remained silent for a few seconds.
"The Sacred Tree".
"Bishop Andrei, do you know what you're saying?" Aldrich's voice was very low:
"The Sacred Tree is the foundation of the entire Holy Kingdom. If the Narns Empire or the Demon Race dares to touch the Sacred Tree..."
"I told you, this is only a possibility," Andrei interrupted him:
"But our contingency plans cannot only target attacks on employees."
If those fluctuations deep within the spirit realm truly belong to demons, then their targets couldn't be a few markets or schools; those places are meaningless to them.
A representative from the Church of the God of Nature stated, "Perhaps... it makes sense. Creating panic itself is meaningful; panic weakens the stability of spiritual networks because spirituality is linked to a person's mental state."
When a person is fearful, their spirituality becomes disordered, affecting the spiritual network of the entire area. If a large enough number of people are affected, the sacred tree's perception will be further weakened.