Chapter 92
The two Lords stepped out of the lecture hall, leaving the murmuring students behind.
Waiting for them at the curb was a phantom carriage, its ethereal frame shimmering with dozens of layered concealment and reinforcement wards.
It's worth noting that the Department of Spiritual Evocation wasn't just a single classroom. Much like a mundane university's biology department houses specialized fields like genetics and botany, Evocation was a massive umbrella. It oversaw Summoning, Necromancy, Familiar Magecraft, and even highly controversial studies on enslaving Phantasmal Species, a subject that constantly sparked bitter turf wars with the Zoology Department.
The Grand Resolution was convening at the absolute apex of the British Library, in a highly restricted, heavily fortified wing controlled by the Department of Law. It was quite a distance from the Evocation faculty's Academic City, but Lord Rufleus despised modern automobiles.
Kayneth held the carriage door open for his mentor. As he stepped in after the older Lord, a thought seemingly crossed his mind.
"I heard there was a tragedy regarding the Sophia-Ri family."
"Ah. Yes. A few days ago," Rufleus rasped, his cloudy eyes half-closing as the carriage lurched into motion. "The Head of the family fell. Even their Magic Crest had to be forcefully recovered and sent back."
"Does that mean... the position of Department Head for Spiritual Evocation is currently vacant?"
"Do you have ambitions for the seat, Kayneth?" Rufleus slowly shook his head. "The El-Melloi faction already controls Mineralogy. If you attempt to seize Evocation as well, the Gaiusling and Archelot factions will violently oppose you. With a Grand Resolution looming, it is extremely unwise to trigger an internal civil war."
Before Kayneth could argue, Rufleus continued. "The Dean's office has already made its decision. I will personally step in to fill the vacancy as Department Head. It neatly bypasses the need to convene a Lords' Council for a vote."
"I see. A logical outcome," Kayneth smiled smoothly, entirely unbothered. "I wouldn't call it an ambition, Professor. Simply a tactical proposition. I was going to suggest that, if permitted, the El-Melloi family would gladly surrender control of Mineralogy in exchange for the Evocation seat…"
"...You certainly know how to calculate a profit, Kayneth."
Rufleus closed his eyes, hiding a cold glint. The El-Melloi faction was aggressively deepening their ties with Rimuru Tempest and Riddell Archelot, while simultaneously trying to monopolize Rufleus's own Evocation department.
He's playing both sides of the board. He wants the entire pie.
"Still... it is not entirely out of the question." Rufleus suddenly opened his eyes.
He couldn't just hand the Evocation department over to the El-Melloi faction. But the late Lord Sophia-Ri... didn't he leave behind a daughter?
If I betroth her to Kayneth…
….
Meanwhile, in Cornwall.
The White Knight finally received an anonymous piece of mail.
The envelope was completely blank. Inside was a single piece of stationary, bearing one sentence written in fresh blood, in flawless German:
The Grand Resolution has begun.
So, it starts.
Rimuru smiled. A spark of pure thermal mana ignited at his fingertips, incinerating the envelope and the letter into a handful of gray ash.
Sitting across from him, elegantly sipping a cup of black tea laced with Rimuru's blood, Altrouge tilted her head. "Who was that from?"
"Pack your bags, Princess. We're going to Germany," Rimuru chuckled. "It seems our old friend is far more impatient than I anticipated."
Altrouge froze. Her crimson eyes instantly narrowed into vicious slits.
"Ortenrosse?! I am not going!" she snarled, slamming her teacup down. "If that overgrown bat wants to talk, he can crawl his way to Cornwall! I guarantee he won't leave with his head attached!"
"Stop throwing a tantrum..." Rimuru sighed, pointing at her teacup. "I'll brew you two cups of Blood Tea."
Altrouge's fierce scowl instantly wavered. Her little face scrunched up in profound agony.
Ever since Rimuru had genuinely pissed her off, he had resorted to bribing her with tea infused with his own Phantasmal blood to smooth things over. It had completely ruined her palate. As the Queen of Dead Apostles with True Ancestor blood, she didn't actually need to drink blood to survive.
But... but his blood was just so incredibly delicious!!
"Didn't you promise me you'd attend the summit? Surely Her Highness, the Black Princess, wouldn't go back on her royal word?" Rimuru pressed, seeing her resolve crumbling.
"I agreed to meet him in Austria!" Altrouge protested, crossing her arms defensively. "I never agreed to walk straight into Germany! That's the heart of his territory! What if it's a trap? It's too dangerous..."
"...Then what the hell were you doing running around Germany by yourself two weeks ago?!" Rimuru deadpanned, his face darkening. "Fine. Five cups. Deal?"
"You're so stingy... Fine. Deal." Altrouge huffed, immediately leaning back over her teacup to savor the rest of her current bribe. "Just let me finish this one first…"
Suddenly, the floor vanished from beneath her. The mahogany table zoomed away.
"Eh?!"
Altrouge blinked, utterly bewildered. She looked down at her dangling legs, then up.
Rimuru had literally picked her up by the scruff of her collar like a stray kitten.
"AAAAAAH! Put me down! I am going to murder you!!"
"We need to leave now, do you understand?!"
"I don't care! I'm going to kill you!!" she shrieked, thrashing her limbs and baring her fangs.
"..." Rimuru stared deadpan at the wildly flailing Vampire Queen. Then, he blinked. "You know, you're actually kind of adorable when you throw a fit."
"I'll kill ...eh?"
Altrouge completely short-circuited. A furious, bright red flush exploded across her pale cheeks. Miraculously, she stopped thrashing and went perfectly, terrifyingly quiet, hanging limply from his grip.
Well then, Rimuru thought, looking at the suddenly docile Princess. I guess anime tropes are universal. You really just have to compliment them, huh?
….
For Professor Rimuru Tempest, the official commencement of the Grand Resolution was little more than a blip on his radar.
It was the absolute highest-tier, top-secret summit in the magus world. While every magus knew of the Grand Resolution, practically no one was actually authorized to attend it. Most of the Clock Tower's population only cared about the political fallout after the fact; they didn't even notice the summit had begun.
If Rimuru hadn't possessed a highly tuned tactical awareness, even he wouldn't have noticed the sudden, dense influx of Burial Agency Executors prowling the streets of London, or the strange, erratic mana signatures of wandering Alchemists from the Atlas Institute.
At the summit's highly secure venue, several high-ranking Church Bishops nodded curtly to one another as they took their designated seats.
And sitting directly across from them, casually crossing her long legs with an arrogant, cynical smirk plastered on her face, was the ultimate rebel.
She watched the "VIPs" file into the room like cattle. But when Lord Inolai Valualeta Atroholm walked through the heavy doors, her smirk widened into a genuine grin.
"Yo. Long time no see, Sensei."
"Aozaki... Touko."
The elderly woman paused, leaning slightly on her cane. A warm, maternal smile spread across Inolai's weathered face. "I honestly didn't expect you to show up."
Aozaki Touko was currently slapped with a lethal Sealing Designation. If any enforcer caught her on the street, they were legally obligated to bag her in formaldehyde.
However, as an immortal puppet master who had achieved the pinnacle of her craft, Touko possessed a Grand rank. And because this specific Grand Resolution was convened to address a potential apocalyptic war between humanity and the Dead Apostles, the Association had essentially sent out a desperate mass-invite to every single top-tier, heavy-hitting magus on the planet.
But as expected, out of all the criminal magi and sealed heretics invited, Touko was the only one insane enough to actually walk through the front door.
Because she was unkillable, she was one of the very few entities who could stroll into a room full of Lords and Inquisitors without breaking a sweat.
"Ah, well. They sent an invite, so I came. I figured it would be a fun show," Touko laughed, taking a drag from her cigarette. She narrowed her eyes playfully. "I heard they actually sent an invite to my idiot little sister, too... but she rejected it because of me?"
….
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