In the spacious meeting room, the dignitaries were gathered.
The people gathered in the meeting room were all those who held positions supporting the nation.
It was rare for so many members to be present at once.
The dignitaries were seated around the table, but the central seat remained empty.
The members gathered here were waiting for the owner of that chair to arrive.
Since they understood the purpose of gathering this many members, active information exchange was taking place.
It was probably a good aspect of this nation that the top leaders were not pointlessly engaging in vertical disputes.
Of course, there were times they clashed over vested interests.
Soon after, the owner of the central seat entered the room.
It was none other than King Philip Doria Florece of the Florece Kingdom.
“My apologies for the wait.”
As the King took his seat, the meeting began.
The agenda that brought such a group together was concerning Amamiya Tower.
More precisely, it was a discussion about an organization called Crown, established within the tower, and the town built inside it.
Regarding the town within the tower, there were no significant changes from the previous report.
Well, since the report was of rapid development, the internal details had changed considerably, but its momentum showed no signs of waning.
The town was a past matter, in a sense.
After all, on continents other than the Central Continent, the emergence and rapid development of new towns was not an unheard-of phenomenon.
While building a town within a tower might be a historical first, from a national perspective, it was merely another city that had sprung up on another continent.
As it was an event on another continent, it was not currently a matter that required great concern.
Of course, if it were to lead to the unification of the continent and an invasion of other continents, the situation would be different, but there were no such signs at present.
Rather, there was almost no benefit for the Central Continent to attack other continents.
If they had the military strength to do so, it would be better to focus on development within the continent.
Ultimately, aiming for a unified nation on the same continent would bring far more benefits than engaging in intercontinental warfare.
Apart from invasions of the Central Continent, intercontinental wars had rarely occurred in the past.
Therefore, regarding the town within the tower, most of the members present felt a sense of “let’s wait and see.”
King Philip himself was one of the few who were carefully observing the town’s development.
This was understandable, as the governor of that town was his own son.
Only a very limited number of people knew that Alec, the former third prince, was serving as the governor of the tower town.
So thorough was the concealment of information regarding Alec’s defection.
Moreover, the act of defecting was Alec’s own wish.
Philip had thought it unnecessary, but he had forcefully persuaded those around him that even a slight connection would become a weakness for their country, and then promptly departed.
As the King pondered these thoughts, he suddenly realized his mind had strayed from the original purpose.
The dignitaries before him were still engaged in discussion about the town.
However, the conversation leaned more towards the Crown organization than the administrative bodies.
This was also natural.
After all, he had never heard of an organization comprising an Adventurer Division, a Merchant Division, and a Crafting Division.
Furthermore, there was the existence of the Crown Card.
Admittedly, on a global scale, the number of Crown Cards was not yet large.
However, on the Central Continent, the birthplace of the Crown, their numbers were rapidly increasing.
The ownership rate among adventurers, in particular, was astonishingly high.
This indicated that the skills and levels recorded on the Crown Card were extremely useful to adventurers.
Frankly, the Florece Kingdom, and indeed any kingdom, would desperately desire the technology to produce these Crown Cards.
It wasn’t just adventurers who could benefit from displaying skills.
Unfortunately, the Crown Card itself was only manufactured within the tower, and it had been confirmed that it was not produced in other continents, nor even in other cities on the same continent.
An inquiry was made to see if the Crown held a monopoly on its production, but it seemed that was not the case; rather, a highly specialized technology was used, making replication itself almost impossible.
This information was likely known to every nation.
This was information that had been circulated for some time, and it was probably being deliberately released by the Crown.
In fact, it was being used as a reason in response to requests to increase the pace of card production.
Kousuke could create a second Divine Power Engraver if he worked diligently, but even if it were built, there was no one to manage it.
There was no one who could handle divine power, so it was a dead end.
The intention was to eventually make it operable by magic power or holy power instead of divine power, but the development in that area was not going well at present.
The discussion about the Crown organization continued, but that was not the main topic for today.
In the first place, there was no intention to do anything about the Crown.
“Regarding the Crown, that is all for now. Its future is uncertain, but it will likely not affect this continent for some time.”
As Philip said this, the dignitaries who had been debating fell silent.
Their gazes shifted to the King, Philip.
“Of course, we will need to monitor its movements in the future. More importantly, I have received significant news.”
Philip paused for a moment before delivering the news.
“It appears the ruler of Amamiya Tower has succeeded in Divine Power Summon in front of honored guests.”
The King’s words caused a stir in the room for a moment.
There were two main reactions: one of disbelief, and another of “so the rumors were true after all.”
Those who had obtained some information had not been able to confirm whether the rumored story was true.
However, the King’s assertion here meant that the rumor was indeed true.
Incidentally, Philip’s source of information was Alec.
Of course, given that Alec was officially in exile, direct communication was not possible.
He was using an informal channel, so to speak, and only a very few among the dignitaries present were aware of this.
Alec’s relaying the story of the Divine Power Summon to Philip was, of course, intentional.
That intention soon became apparent in the room.
The two distinct reactions turned into three.
The first was simple surprise, which was the most common reaction.
The second was a sense of awe, from those who were devout in their faith.
The third group consisted of those who thought, “This has become troublesome.”
Those who felt it was troublesome were considering the impact if this news spread to the general populace.
Even words from someone blessed by a god could have considerable influence.
When it came to directly summoning a god, the consequences were unknown due to the lack of precedent.
One of those expressing concern spoke to Philip.
“…How is the Church reacting?”
“It seems they are in dispute over personnel dispatch because the temple within the tower became a Divine Gift as a result of the Divine Power Summon.”
“And what about dealing with the populace?”
“They are doing nothing.”
A sigh was heard from several places at that remark.
“…Is it foolish to expect anything from the Church?”
“Then tell me, what can we do? Shall we attempt to control the information?”
At Philip’s words, everyone fell silent.
Ultimately, there was nothing they could do to deal with the situation.
The only thing they could do was to block the information, but complete blockage was impossible.
“I called this meeting today simply to ensure everyone has a common understanding. Our country has no intention of taking any action. Doing so might make things even more troublesome.”
“Then what?”
“For now, we will not interfere. Unless riots occur, of course.”
With the King’s single word, the future course of action was decided.
This decision was not exclusive to the Florece Kingdom; other nations would also make similar decisions.
I’ve tried to make it feel natural, but I wonder if there’s anything we can actually do about this situation? lol
June 29, 2014 – Typo correction
