Chapter 255 : Chapter 255
Chapter 255. Uproar in the Council
The enormous crystal chandelier cast down a cold, glacial light, illuminating the grim faces seated on either side of the long round table. The mechanical clock on the wall gave off a monotonous click, click. Every tick sounded like a heavy hammer striking the nerves of everyone present.
But beneath that silence, undercurrents surged.
The eyes of several ministers crossed soundlessly in the air, a clash of probing and maneuvering between different factions.
“It’s already been a full day and night!”
The first to attack was the Minister of Finance. As a steadfast supporter of the First Prince, Dorg, he wore an expression of anxious concern, but deep in his eyes was a trace of satisfaction too faint to easily detect. He slammed a report down onto the table and spoke in a sharp voice:
“One hundred and twenty astrologers from the Court Mage Corps have been taking turns casting spells, burning through tens of thousands of Golden Lion Coins’ worth of materials from the treasury. And what do we have to show for it? Nothing but ‘mist’ after ‘mist’! How are we supposed to answer to His Majesty? Are we to say that His Highness the Second Prince, commander of the southeastern front, evaporated like a drop of water?”
The court mage seated opposite him had gone deathly pale. His forehead was slick with cold sweat as he wiped at it with a trembling hand.
“My lord... it is not that we are incompetent. The enemy appears to have used some extraordinarily advanced anti-divination technique. The moment any of our detection spells drew near, they were distorted.”
At that moment, a cold laugh cut through the Finance Minister’s outburst.
“Heh. What exactly pains you, sir? The cost of those materials, or the fact that His Highness the First Prince has one fewer powerful rival to contend with?”
The speaker was a woman seated at the far end of the long table.
She looked to be just over thirty, dressed in a sharply tailored dark blue velvet suit, with a silver badge at her collar marking her as one of the rising new nobles. She was Viscountess Eleanor, born in the Eastern Territory, a member of the Lower House, and one of Princess Sylvia’s staunchest allies in the Royal Capital.
Faced with the furious glare the Finance Minister threw at her, Eleanor slowly twirled the feather pen in her hand, her tone cool and cutting.
“His Highness the Second Prince commands fifty thousand troops and swallows up thirty percent of the military budget every year, yet the moment the beast tide arrived, he vanished, and now the defensive line has to be located by diviners? That is the real waste, isn’t it?”
“Watch your tongue.” The Finance Minister arched a brow. “This is the Privy Council, not a tea party for upstarts.”
“That’s enough.”
The Minister of Military Affairs cut off their barbed exchange in a deep voice. As one of the king’s most loyal supporters, the only things he cared about at the moment were the security of the border and the dignity of the royal house. His fingers tapped impatiently against the table.
“The priority right now is not bickering. Has anything come from His Holiness the Pope?”
The Grand Court Mage swallowed, his voice so low it was almost inaudible.
“His Holiness... His Holiness also failed. While projecting his spirit into the void, he saw only a vague figure standing deep within the mist... That figure was extremely terrifying and radiated a presence that inspired dread. His Holiness said... it was likely a ‘demon.’”
“A demon?! Aren’t those things only found in legends?” The ministers erupted in shock.
Yet after that brief moment of astonishment, the expressions in the eyes of several seasoned political operators shifted almost at once.
“A demon... then that explains it.”
The Finance Minister was the first to react. He immediately withdrew his earlier aggressiveness and replaced it with a solemn expression.
“If it truly was a demon from the legends, then the failure of the Court Mage Corps constitutes force majeure. After all, even His Holiness the Pope could not see through it.”
“Exactly.”
A count who had long attached himself to the Second Prince suddenly looked as though he had seized a lifeline. But there was not much grief on his face. What showed more clearly was panicked desperation to absolve himself.
“This absolutely cannot be blamed on us. In the face of a legendary ‘demon,’ mortal strength is insignificant... This falls under force majeure! Yes, force majeure!”
He looked anxiously around at the others, his eyes full of pleading, trying to make the leading ministers present accept that characterization.
Viscountess Eleanor watched their clumsy performance with cold eyes, the corner of her mouth lifting into a mocking curve.
She did not speak again.
She knew that in a situation like this, nothing mattered more to these decaying old nobles than shifting responsibility.
As long as they could keep their positions, they would probably be willing to believe that a goblin had eaten the Second Prince alive.
“In that case, this was likely a conspiracy long in the making.”
The Prime Minister spoke slowly, setting the tone and tacitly allowing the count to shirk responsibility.
“The demon obscured the heavenly workings, leaving the defensive line leaderless. That was how the beast tide found its opportunity.”
Just as the room was busy reaching a political balance under the shelter of that excuse, the Communication Crystal at the center of the table, which had been flashing with a red emergency light the entire time, suddenly burst into a piercing buzz.
The Minister of Military Affairs drew in a deep breath and activated the message.
【Emergency Military Dispatch: The beast tide has been repelled. The unknown sixth-tier lord-class magical beast has been confirmed dead. The purple mist has dispersed.】
【Northern Territory reinforcements arrived. During the period in which the Second Prince was missing and the chain of command had collapsed, the Northern Territory representative, Logaris West, forcibly assumed supreme command of Scream Fortress. The fortress’s defenses are currently under the full control of the Northern Legion.】
【At present, the fortress defenses, logistical warehouses, and Magitech Central Hub are all under the full control of the Northern Legion.】
A deathly silence fell.
Every gaze in the room instantly turned toward that count from the Second Prince’s faction.
Ordinarily, upon hearing that his master’s military authority had been seized, a loyal subordinate ought to have flown into a rage and denounced the Northern Territory for harboring wolfish ambition.
And yet that count sat frozen in his chair, his face pale as paper, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.
He was shaking.
“Oh my, well this is quite something...”
The Finance Minister pushed up his glasses. As one of the First Prince’s men, he naturally had no intention of letting such a golden chance to beat a drowning dog slip away. He glanced at the count, who was pretending to be dead, and asked in a deliberately mocking tone:
“My lord count, that professor from the Northern Territory seized the Second Prince’s military authority without the royal family’s authorization. Legally speaking... doesn’t that seem a bit difficult to justify? Don’t you intend to say a few words on the Second Prince’s behalf?”
“Difficult to justify?”
Before the count could open his mouth, Viscountess Eleanor arched a brow.
Her gaze was sharp as she fixed it on the Finance Minister.
“The Second Prince vanished. The line collapsed. Tens of thousands of soldiers were left leaderless. If command had not been taken over at that moment, were they supposed to wait for those magical beasts to break into Silverglow City and trample flat every estate belonging to the noble lords present? Professor Logaris was putting out a fire, while certain people seem concerned only with whether the procedure for extinguishing it was properly stamped and filed.”
“That’s an entirely different matter!” The Finance Minister choked on the rebuke, then fired back, “This is usurpation! This is contempt for royal authority!”
“This is competence!”
Eleanor did not yield an inch, her voice clear and ringing through the chamber.
“The Northern Legion was able to march a thousand miles through snow-blocked mountains to provide aid, and in an incredibly short time repel a beast tide that even His Highness the Second Prince failed to hold back. What does that prove? It proves that Her Highness Sylvia’s governance has been highly effective! It proves that Professor Logaris commands brilliantly!”
“What? Does admitting someone else is exceptional pain you that much?”