Chapter 195
Chapter 195
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 195
Chapter Title: The Purification Ritual
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The main assembly hall, occupying nearly the entire second floor, was of a considerable size.
A podium and the chairman's seat stood in the center. Opposite them, five tables were arranged in a radial pattern.
Behind the tables were spectator seats, which quickly filled with invited guests.
Loan stood in line with his seniors from the Responsibility Division, arrayed in the back row of the hall.
The five family heads took their seats according to the nameplates on the tables.
Beside each head sat one of their aides or advisors, and among them was the woman who had caught Loan's eye.
As she, seated next to Head Basini, whispered in his ear, Richa walked to the podium.
“I am Richa, Vice-Commander of the Union’s Responsibility Division, serving as the temporary chairman for the smooth progression of this meeting. I hereby declare the Ferrara Council open.”
After striking the gavel, Richa immediately moved to the next item on the agenda.
“The first agenda is to elect the chairman of the Ferrara Council. I ask the five council members to please nominate candidates you deem suitable for the position.”
Unsurprisingly, Basini was the first candidate, nominated by the head of the Skaral family.
Then, the head of the Pamphili family was nominated by the head of the Borghese family.
A vote by a show of hands was held between the two candidates.
It didn't take long for Basini to be elected chairman and receive the gavel from Richa.
As the murmuring from the audience did not readily subside, the newly elected inaugural chairman struck the gavel several times.
*Bang! Bang-bang-bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Only when the cheerful sound of striking wood became annoyingly loud did everyone fall silent.
Following his rather flippant demeanor, Basini spoke his first words as chairman.
“I am Basini, and I will be serving as the chairman of Ferrara. To commemorate my appointment, I have a motion I would like to propose.”
He then scanned the assembly with a satisfied smile.
“For this, I will first appoint my aide as a special committee member. If you agree, please indicate your opinion with a show of hands.”
The heads of the Skaral and Correr families raised their hands, expressing their consent.
Including himself, that made three.
Reveling in the power of the majority, Basini continued, a broad smile on his face.
“Then, we will hear the details of this matter directly from the special committee member.”
At the chairman's gesture, the woman who had been seated walked to the podium.
Just in time, Richa approached the back row and stood beside Loan.
*—That woman. She feels like a mage.*
*—She’s not in our records. Head Basini brought her in himself and vouched for her, so we had no grounds for further investigation.*
This was the Union's limitation. While its principle was to maintain peace, it could not directly interfere in the internal affairs of other nations.
For now, they had to be content with blockading the city of Felsina.
However, just as they respected the autonomy of others, the Union was free to carry weapons and keep their opponents in check anywhere in the Seven Duchies. Thanks to this, they often drew their swords first and dealt with the consequences later.
So now.
All the Union members were watching the podium as if preparing for a decisive battle.
The woman opened her mouth.
“Thank you, esteemed Chairman Basini. To the beloved representative heads and nobles of Ferrara, it is a great honor for me, Birna, to speak before you.”
The woman named Birna.
She appeared to be in her late twenties to early thirties.
Considering her mana, her achievement was unbecoming of her age.
Loan extended his Convection sideways—an attempt to protect his seniors from any potential magical strike.
Apart from her activating a magic circle, he still didn't know what kind of harm she might inflict here.
“The reason I stand here is less of a proposal and more of a notification to all who have gathered.”
The awkward word was clearly conveyed to everyone.
A choice of words unfitting for the time, the place, and her station.
Her voice was cold, and her gaze seemed even colder. It was almost murderous.
The hands of several Union seniors instinctively went to their waists.
Simultaneously, Richa’s mental message reached all Union members in the assembly hall.
*—Wait. This is a chance to distinguish friend from foe. And to see if Ferrara has the ability to cleanse itself.*
As if she had heard those words.
Just then, the head of the Pamphili family shot up from his seat.
“Notification?”
His short reply was sharp-edged.
In a way, the time allotted to Birna had been interrupted.
Chairman Basini, sitting in his chair, opened his eyes narrowly and nodded.
A nuance that seemed to permit the speech. It only made the Pamphili head more displeased.
“This is worse than the Duke's time. What do you take this council for? When a bill is proposed, you are supposed to explain it, discuss it, and then vote on whether to implement it. Is that not our duty as representatives of the people?”
Birna replied with a smile.
“That’s the problem. It’s only natural for humans to have different opinions, yet you try to force them into one. Instead of resolving conflicts, they just pile up.”
“What absurd nonsense…”
“The current duchies are all a mess. Stumbling around without a proper center. They don't care if the people are starving, and the nobles are only focused on their own interests. Do you really think council politics will change anything?”
“On the very first day the council convenes! Is that what an aide serving the chairman should be saying!”
The Pamphili head’s roar echoed throughout the assembly hall.
A shout imbued with considerable mana. Ordinary onlookers felt their chests tighten.
On the other hand, it acted as a catalyst, prompting opposing reactions from different parties.
The retainers and guards of the Pamphili and Borghese families began to subtly draw out their mana.
They even adjusted their stances, ready to leap into action at any moment.
Loan read their mana and also observed others who, while adopting similar actions and attitudes, had a completely different color of mana.
As he had identified earlier, some were from the Basini family, and others were among the invited guests.
Loan relayed this information to Richa via a mental message, and Richa immediately passed it on to his subordinates.
The Union Runners arrayed in the back row each designated their targets and glared at the back of their heads.
They were ready to sever their necks if need be.
In the meantime.
The verbal sparring between Pamphili and Birna continued.
Unlike Pamphili, whose agitation was intensifying, Birna remained composed throughout.
No. She even seemed at ease.
She finally let out a sneer and uttered a shocking statement.
“The council is merely an opportunity. To gather the nation’s trash in one place. To incinerate them and use them as fuel for the birth of a new nation.”
“…”
To call the gathered representative noble families trash in their own assembly. It was a statement for which one could be beheaded on the spot.
On top of that, she had spouted the outrageous claim of building a new nation.
The Pamphili head was so shocked that his mouth hung open, unable to even retort.
But not everyone in the audience was the same.
‘What did you just say?’ would have been a very polite response. Most were shouts and curses.
“That wicked woman!”
Even while being pointed at, Birna remained composed, and the chairman looked down with an arrogant smile.
What was interesting was that even the heads of the Skaral and Correr families began to stir.
The Skaral head stood up.
“Chairman Basini! What is that woman saying! Didn't we agree to discuss how to handle the Ferrara family's territory as the first item on the agenda?”
The Correr head also stood up.
“Shouldn't we be discussing the joint ownership of the Duke's land and the seizure of assets? What is all this bizarre talk!”
At that, Birna gave a sly smile.
“See? Even in appointing a chairman, there were such dark intentions. It seems there's no choice but to clean everything up and start anew from nothing. You should consider it an honor, really. To become a sacrifice for the new era, sustenance for the carnival.”
With this, it was certain.
The conversation Loan had witnessed through the black box was unfolding exactly as he had seen.
The only slight difference was that Grave had incited the greed of the Skaral and Correr heads rather than their sense of loss to bring them in.
The flow of events also did not stray far from Loan's predictions.
Grave had declared, as they had publicly stated, that they would hold a ‘carnival’.
The nobles of the four families, greatly agitated by Birna's words, could no longer bear it and tried to leave, at which point their retainers and guards drew their swords.
Individuals, undoubtedly from Nostra, rose from various places in the guest seating, drew their swords, and aimed them at the nobles and their guards.
And the Union, which had at some point positioned themselves behind them, aimed their own weapons at their necks, gaining the upper hand among the three groups.
It was truly the chaos he had expected.
Even amidst such turmoil, Loan stood still, staring only at Birna.
He was still curious.
He wondered why he couldn't feel any darkness from Birna, even as she spouted such terrible things.
He focused his senses on the words she was muttering.
“Not even pitiful. Humans are truly…”
With a sigh, she continued.
“May the vile remnants, the old blood, the forgotten tales all be washed away in the sewer, to be reborn anew…”
It was a spell.
She was reciting an incantation to activate a constructed magic circle.
Suddenly, a subtle storm of mana began to swirl around her.
Those who sensed the strangeness of this power tore their eyes away from their opponents, one by one.
Head Basini shot up from his seat and applauded.
From the moment he heard the words ‘a new nation,’ he must have been half-mad.
“Continue! Quickly! Quickly!”
In the midst of chaos, a new chaos was budding.
With great interest, Loan focused his senses on the spell Birna was chanting.
Birna’s voice, riding the verses, grew louder and spread.
It was imbued with mana.
“…From the five pillars, the power of purification will rise to open the gate of desire. The past will be erased, and the scattered fragments will lead to the future.”
The vortex of mana carried the sound.
A powerful vibration struck the building, and the reflected sound resonated with her again, amplifying it once more.
The walls, having absorbed some of the sound, spat some of it back out, outside and below.
Loan, admiring Birna's unsparing release of mana in her incantation, suddenly glanced down at his feet.
He saw with his eyes that could read the flow of mana.
He saw Birna’s will finally reach the magic circle in the basement.
He saw the magic circle emit light.
He saw the emitted light swirl around the tower, turning into a greater light, and then shoot out in four directions along grooves carved into the sewer floor at an incredible speed.
And at the same time, Birna concluded her incantation.
“…The newly born will feed on those of the past! I, Birna, declare! The world will thus be purified!”
A momentary silence fell.
No one spoke.
Not the nobles, not the Union, not Nostra.
They all perceived it at the same time.
They reflexively turned their heads here and there towards some sign that had begun far away.
From the east, west, south, and north, and from deep within the parliamentary building where they stood, they all felt a certain ‘premonition.’
*Wooooong—*
As if that were the answer.
With a tremor in the atmosphere, the world suddenly darkened, and the air began to feel incredibly damp.
It wasn't just a feeling.
The crisp late-autumn air that had been streaming clearly through the windows had transformed into the atmosphere of a tropical region in the rainy season.
As a humid fog seemed to emanate from all directions, friend and foe alike were bewildered.
But the one most surprised of all was Birna.
She couldn't even continue her sentence properly.
“What… is this…”
The magic she had manifested was proceeding in a completely different direction.
It was now beyond her control, in the time after its implementation.
The moisture, carried by the subtle storm of mana, touched everyone in the assembly hall.
Their skin and clothes all grew damp.
Then, once all the moisture in the air was absorbed by the fabric, a warm, dry wind began to swirl around them.
How could a spell meant to harm someone feel so pleasant?
The question, which crossed all faction lines, soon led to an unexpected and bizarre result.
“Uh…”
“Uh…”
As if they had all lost their intelligence, everyone was staring at their own bodies, stammering.
Stained clothes had become clean, wrinkles in their garments had all been neatly smoothed out, and cuffs were stiffly starched.
While everyone was bewildered.
The only one wearing a satisfied expression was Loan.
Thinking how happy Oliver from the Tower of Concepts, who researched household magic, would have been to see this upgraded, large-scale version of the ‘wrinkle-removing spell’—Loan spoke.
“You said you’d purify everything, and it really did get clean. Even the wrinkles are perfectly pressed.”
The person to whom those words were directed knew it all too well.
Birna stared at Loan, her face completely dazed.