Chapter 189 : Chapter 189
Chapter 189 - Envoy Selection
The First Son's proposal to strike first.
It was centered on the fact that the family's owned dragons did not end with the Bone Dragon.
The family's other dragon had been seen by everyone in the Pantheon before, and everyone had also seen the Fifth Son riding on it.
The First Son picked up the gray sword he had leaned against his side.
“They say Wisdom was installing a teleportation magic circle in the Eastern neutral zone. But it couldn't have stopped at just a teleportation circle.”
Elder Graham below stood up.
“Are you saying you will cut off the movement route that Wisdom may have created?”
“Not just the movement route. It could be a supply route or a trap, and it's best to remove them as soon as possible.”
“Then how about entrusting that to the soldiers on the frontmost line of defense, rather than a blood relative?”
The First Son frowned.
He just wanted to receive a separate mission with his youngest brother and fight alone with him, so why did that old man keep butting in?
“The soldiers on the frontmost line of defense are focused on defense. Sending them outside the walls will only result in a loss of strength.”
“Well~. I don't think the youngest will want to go with just you and him?”
Another voice echoed from the floor of the blood relatives.
If the First Son's voice was low and serious, the Fourth Son's was full of mischief.
The First Son's gaze was sharp like a hawk before its prey, but the Fourth Son didn't care.
“I kept thinking on my way here. Whether the answer I came up with was right. I was going to ask when I arrived, but the person himself wasn't here~.”
“Get to the point.”
Fourth Son Jamie smiled.
“You received them too, right? The thirty bottles of 2nd process Dark Elixir that the youngest sent.”
It was a hot topic circulating within Millesdusk.
The 2nd process Dark Elixir. Promoted for its much better quality and effect than before, it was pre-released only to the blood relatives.
Rumor had it that even the 1st process was like dirty water compared to the 2nd.
Whether it was luck or intention, the new power had come right before the war and extended a hand to the sorcerers.
Jamie, one of the direct blood relatives who had grabbed that hand first, looked around at his siblings and said.
“You all must have been curious and tried one bottle each. I did too? And the feeling I got after that, it was beyond words.”
“……”
“……”
The First Son and the ghost sisters all replied with silence.
To this damn family, this was a strong affirmation, and the Fourth Son continued.
“Though it's a family war, in the end, the main factor is the difference in combat power between the blood relatives. Considering that aspect, we are the most superior among all the great families.”
The family sorcerers didn't know if those words were true or not.
Even the elders and the heads of the institutions weren't sure. They could only guess that it was probably so.
“The youngest wants to use only the hands of us direct blood relatives from the beginning to the end of the war.”
The First Son wanted to deny it, but he couldn't. What the Fourth Son said was the best and finest move in this war.
The reason this was the best move was in the reward that would follow if it succeeded.
“We can preserve most of our forces, and therefore we can quickly return to the large battles that may follow….”
The First Son's muttering spread like a whisper for everyone to hear. It was also everyone's thought.
“A strategy worthy of the youngest.”
Among the ghost sisters, Second Daughter Melisende defined her younger brother's opinion.
“Extracting the maximum benefit with the minimum resources. It's something the youngest would think of, and the 2nd process seems to have been prepared for that.”
“Do you agree with me~?”
“I'm not agreeing with you, I'm agreeing with the youngest's opinion. If your prediction is right about the youngest's opinion.”
The meeting had already begun to revolve around the absent Youngest Son as its subject.
He was not present, but he was here, and he was the first to come to everyone's mind.
As the one who had caused the most trouble and brought about the most change.
However, the youngest was not here, and only his proxy was present. Ransis called that proxy.
“Marquis of the demon world, Amon. As the Fifth Son's proxy, please state your opinion.”
Since he was not a blood relative, he could not sit in the seat that symbolized authority, but the proxy who was guarding the rear said.
“The Young Master told me to relay his words, so I came all this way, but it seems I didn't need to come after all!”
The Head Butler laughed heartily and even clapped. It was applause for the Fourth Son.
“That's right! The Young Master wants to carry out the war with only the direct blood relatives! He says it would be much more efficient?”
“So that's how it is? First Son.”
“……”
He stroked the hilt of his gray sword.
“What is the reason for the youngest's absence?”
The answer to that question was given by Ransis.
“He said he was unwell, so I checked myself, and the Family Head also gave his permission. It would be difficult to reveal more than this.”
Since the messenger had confirmed it and the Family Head had permitted it, the First Son could not ask further.
However, he had no more worries and had made his decision.
“I will agree to the youngest's plan. Even if we win the war with Wisdom, there's no guarantee that we'll get along peacefully with the other great families. Besides.”
He paused and briefly raised his gaze to the ceiling. Looking at his father, who must be in the darkness above, he voiced the concern that everyone held.
“The Imperial Family will not stand by idly during a war with the West.”
The members of Millesdusk swallowed their groans. The Imperial Family was a big shot in the middle of the road to Wisdom.
They could absolutely not be ignored, and if they were ignored, it would be the perfect time to be stabbed in the back.
“We either get a promise from the Imperial Family that they won't interfere in the East-West war, or we get a promise that they will be our ally. The Imperial Family is a variable that must be eliminated.”
All of the First Son's words were methods, but the latter had a low probability. Just looking at how Wisdom was caught in the neutral zone showed that.
Millesdusk had difficulty guarding up to the neutral zone because of the followers' monsters, but the Imperial Family was different.
If enough personnel to create a teleportation magic circle were to be stationed there, it would have caught the Imperial Family's eye.
But they had stood by, and this meant that some sort of agreement had been exchanged between Wisdom and the Imperial Family.
Among the heads of the institutions sitting in the same row as the elders, one, the General Manager of Intelligence, opened his mouth.
“How about we send an envoy from our side as well?”
Everyone's gaze focused on the opinion of the most shadowy figure from the most shadowy of families.
Even the First Son gave a glance, but the General Manager of Intelligence continued smoothly.
“It is true that the Imperial Family favors Wisdom over Millesdusk, but this is because we do not know how to bow our heads.”
“So~? Are you saying we should crawl in like those foolish Westerners?”
“It is to hide the sword hidden in our bellies by bowing our heads.”
The General Manager of Intelligence, who had received the Fourth Son's words, even recited the results of a recent secret struggle.
“We have already dispatched our personnel to the empire. The envoy has sufficient personnel to cooperate with, and they are all elites.”
Melisende, who had been listening quietly, asked sharply.
“You say they're elites, but you haven't brought any information now, have you?”
“Of course I have.”
It was the institution considered the most sinister among the great families, which were considered the most sinister of all families.
The ears of the intelligence department were scattered everywhere, and they listened to anything that could be helpful, without distinction.
Hundreds, thousands of pieces of information poured in, and among them, a big fish was caught.
“They say the Crown Prince is gravely ill.”
The words made of language struck the conference room harder than a bomb made of gunpowder.
The usual monotone voice spewed out information that would shock anyone who heard it.
And that wasn't the end.
“This information was obtained in top secret, but it has not yet been verified.”
But what if this was true?
“The old emperor will do anything to prevent his only heir, the Crown Prince, from dying. And according to the intelligence department's prediction─”
“Wisdom used that to make the Imperial Family an ally. Isn't that what you're saying?”
The General Manager of Intelligence nodded at the First Son's words.
“It is also believed that the Imperial Family first presented the Elixir as a condition to Wisdom.”
“So we should use this as a pretext to create a new contract and win over the Imperial Family~?”
“That's right.”
“Alright, alright~. Then what are you going to do? Do we have a better healing method than the Elixir?”
“……”
This time, even the General Manager of Intelligence could not answer. Even if there was, the emperor would choose the Elixir, whose effects were certain.
The General Manager of Intelligence opened his mouth again.
“That is why the role of the envoy is important. Wisdom will only hand over the Elixir if the Imperial Family provides some sort of help during the war.”
“So there's still time, right~?”
“That's right. In the meantime, the envoy must present something more attractive than Wisdom's Elixir.”
“So what is that attractive thing! And where is the envoy supposed to fall from the sky?”
The Fourth Son jumped up from his seat.
“The envoy has to communicate with the intelligence agents on site, and with the emperor. And persuasion is a must?”
“That's right.”
“Not to mention procuring that ‘attractive’ proposal on site, one slip of the tongue and the Imperial Family will completely turn to Wisdom's side.”
In a word, the envoy could determine the outcome of the war. It was an extremely burdensome position.
Everyone who knew that lowered their eyes and bowed their heads low, lest they be chosen as the envoy. The elders were not much different.
“It's just digging your own grave, so who would volunteer, and even if someone is chosen, would they work hard?”
“Here!”
A boy's voice peeked out from the Fifth Son's seat.
The proxy Head Butler relayed the master's words that had just come in to everyone.
“The Young Master says he wants to do it!”
The General Manager of Intelligence was not surprised, but the Fourth Son blinked. The First Son's eyes had already become sharp.
“Proxy. Is that truly the youngest's will?”
“Yep! He just told me? And I relayed all the conversations here to him!”
And he still volunteered to be the envoy?
The phrase ‘knowingly walking into one's own grave’ suited the Fifth Son best, but this was on a different level.
Messenger Ransis approached the General Manager of Intelligence with an unreadable expression.
“General Manager of Intelligence. The Family Head is summoning you.”
“…Understood.”
As Ransis took his hand, the General Manager's body also floated up.
The messenger and the General Manager of Intelligence disappeared, and the meeting reached a temporary lull.
***
I lay in bed for the first time in a long while.
The problem was that the reason I was lying down was a stomachache so bad I could barely breathe.
“The intelligence department says the pain of putting a potent poison in a dokdan is comparable to the pain of childbirth.”
“I haven't done that and never will be able to, but it feels much more painful than childbirth.”
“You poured the Elixir in from the start without taming it with weak poisons, so it's understandable. It's a miracle you haven't lost consciousness like this.”
“I have to endure it. Everyone's having a party in the Pantheon except me.”
“…A party.”
The Head Maid wanted to say something but held it in and chose other words.
“Why did you volunteer for the envoy position?”
“Because I didn't see anyone else qualified. The General Manager of Intelligence must have thought so too. He must have had me in mind from the moment he thought of the envoy plan.”
The ploy was so obvious that I laughed even as cold sweat ran down my face from the stomachache.
The move that was obvious to me was also obvious to the messenger and the Family Head, and that was why the General Manager was called.
However, the result of the meeting would not be the cancellation of the envoy plan.
If this plan worked, it would at least eliminate the Imperial Family, and even make them an ally.
And the General Manager of Intelligence had even planted his own subordinates for this plan.
In fact, the General Manager of Intelligence had proceeded with the beginning of the plan on his own and then announced it after making it inevitable that it would be confirmed.
I didn't know for sure, but the Family Head he met wouldn't have had warm words for him.
“I'm going to get some shut-eye. If the Head Butler says I've been chosen as the envoy, tell him to have me return.”
I fell asleep just like that.
As soon as I let go of the consciousness I had been barely holding onto, my body fainted.
An hour or so passed. The latest news from the conference hall reached the Dark Moon Grand Castle.
It was the Fifth Son's selection as the envoy.