Chapter 647 – 125. Bird
“Have you really gotten everything you want?”
“Can you really accept him being around other women?”
“You know, one day in the future he will escape again.”
“…”
“Buzz, buzz, buzz.”
Elizabeth’s golden eyes suddenly flickered, and the scene before her began to refocus, as if everything just now had been a figment of her daydreaming.
However, those thoughts silently sank deeper into her heart, leaving her still unable to recover from her stunned state.
“Empress Elizabeth?”
“Cough, Your Majesty? What do you think about this?”
At the negotiating table, several prominent figures from the World Magic Association who had traveled from Cardu noticed Elizabeth’s distraction. Their expressions turned awkward, followed by a few light coughs, reminding the Empress that she was currently being disrespectful to them.
Elizabeth’s gaze slowly moved upward. On both sides of the negotiation table were experts from the World Magic Association and the Nali Magic Association, negotiating the future rights of the Nali Magic Association. In fact, rather than Elizabeth negotiating directly, she was more like a host, expressing Nali’s stance.
In fact, the document she held in her hand was not related to the current negotiations; rather, it was a book about “Royal Marriage Ceremonies” recorded by the Godlin Royal Family.
But this did not mean she was completely ignorant of the content of the ongoing negotiations. On the contrary, she had already noted everything down that morning.
Her photographic memory was merely a basic function for the artificial eye in her socket. If she wanted, she could silently give hints to this group of elders from the World Magic Association and easily win this negotiation.
But Elizabeth did not do so. Over the years, she had been quite restrained in her use of the artificial eye. She also firmly believed that governance must be done through the righteous path, with no shortcuts.
She could make the people who personally saw her submit under the brilliance of her eyes, but throughout the world, there were always people and matters she could not see or control. There would always be those beyond her reach, and she could not use her artificial eye’s power too freely.
Having relied on external means of power, she knew the dangers of such paths better than anyone and certainly had deeper insights into it than Dexter. Her artificial eye had clear usage standards.
So, she lightly closed the book on marriage ceremonies that she had taken many notes in and softly spoke.
“I cannot interrupt the negotiations; after all, this is a matter between Nali and the World Magic Association. But from my personal point of view, Nali cannot accept the first, third, seventh, and twenty-first clauses of your proposed new cooperation treaty. For the mages of Nali, these are humiliating and a tremendous blow.”
“Your Majesty, we also need to consider the efficiency of academic resource allocation. Once Mr. Heilson departs, and there are no more recognized magical scholars within Nali, if we continue to provide the degree roster and academic resources based on prior configurations, it may lead to actual waste. As members of the World Magic Association, for the further development of human magic, changing these terms is evidently necessary.”
“What constitutes actual waste? From that perspective, aren’t those charlatans from Cardu wasting academic resources? They spend all day in prayer and serving the Mother. When could a ninth-circle spell ever be used for an annual academic report?”
At the mention of this, the mages from Nali were immediately displeased.
What kind of state had the Cardu magical community decayed into? They had seen the severe inefficiencies of the academic factions, yet no reduction in academic resource allocation had been made for them. Now, it was Nali’s turn to receive cuts, and it came at this sensitive time shortly after Master Heilson’s departure. The targeting was simply too obvious.
Moreover, they claimed it was for the sake of human magic. Puh, anyone with eyes could see that this was a political pressure from the Western Continent aimed at the increasingly powerful Nali, disguised with an attack on the academic field. This was truly embarrassing to witness.
“Everyone, do not be so hasty. Cardu has its own national conditions, and in fact, the previous year’s Cardu Annual Magic had already rivaled the twelfth-circle old magic in the mining of ores. The efficiency is evident to all.”
“I’ll be damned!”
“Alright!”
Just as the mages from Nali were about to convey their heartfelt greetings, Elizabeth had already lifted her hand in boredom, stopping the behavior of these mages who had been far from politics for too long.
After all, they had seen too little of such shameless acts. At this moment, the Golden Palace had to step in, or else the entire Nali magical community would be cursing.
Under Elizabeth’s increasing emphasis on mechanisms while neglecting magic, the departure of Master Heilson completely eliminated Nali’s possibility of reestablishing an independent magical academic structure in a short time. Yet, she could not abandon the interests of her domestic mages, so she could only continue playing this unfair game of persecution to some extent.
“Earlier, several of you mentioned that after Master Heilson’s departure, the magical community of Nali is no longer deserving of the previously allocated academic resources?”
Several mages from afar carefully glanced at the seated Elizabeth, seemingly afraid that she would suddenly stand up and knock them out. After hearing her words, they cautiously adjusted their wording to respond.
“Based on the evaluation from the association’s expert team, that is indeed the case.”
“Then, what if Master Heilson’s direct disciple is willing to return to Nali?”
“Direct disciple… are you referring to…”
Several mages exchanged glances, and images of a certain expressionless black-haired Nali gentleman who had once followed Master Heilson surfaced in their minds.
A disciple of an extraordinary Archmage, the favored one of the Eldest Princess of Nali; such a young man with both academic and royal backgrounds was hard not to notice. The truth was indeed as they realized when he first stood out in the World Magic Association; that was why Heilson had taken him as a disciple.
Even when they heard that Master Heilson’s disciple had turned into a wanted criminal of Nali, they felt relieved.
However, with the cancellation of the warrant for that person four and a half years ago, that ominous feeling surged again, culminating in the present.
“Are you referring to that Fisher Benavides?”
“Could it be that he has secretly returned to Nali and back to Master Heilson’s side all these years?”
“If that’s the case…”
Elizabeth fell silent but suddenly threw the book on “Royal Marriage Ceremonies” onto the table.
She said nothing, yet it was as deafening as thunder, causing all the mages present to fall silent.
Meanwhile, the so-called “Heilson’s disciple,” who had been coveted by the World Magic Association, was still enjoying breakfast in the room. The things he had seen previously in the wooden box lingered in his mind, prompting a helpless sigh.
As he ate his meal, he pondered about the mysterious Diane and her origins. Just then, a faint conversation drifted in from outside.
“Hey, you wait here for a moment; I’ll go in and check things out.”
“Hey, but Mister Book…”
“Ah, you don’t understand. Elizabeth definitely won’t let Fisher go last night; it’s probably way past noon now, and she’s still doing bad things inside. If you see it, it won’t be good.”
“Bad things?”
“Stay put!”
Fisher raised an eyebrow but stood up and walked toward the door. Just as Emhart was sneakily preparing to slip in from the window, he quickly opened the door, startling the peeking Emhart.
“Ah! A ghost! Oh, it’s Fisher! Wait, something’s off; you look like nothing has happened, not like you nor like Elizabeth.”
Fisher looked speechlessly at Emhart outside the door, and at the still bewildered Alicia who hadn’t noticed him.
For her, everything she did had a certain delay. Even though Fisher had now opened the door, due to the effect of the secret blessing, she still had to wait a while before noticing that the door was indeed open.
“Mister Book, has the big brother come out?”
“Ah, he’s right here; nothing much going on.”
Outside Elizabeth’s residence was the estate of the Golden Palace’s inner court, a sizable grassy patch where dogs could be seen running around happily in the distance.
Fisher glanced at Alicia, and since he had no plans to leave yet, he needed to take the opportunity to resolve the “Treasure” issue while Elizabeth was absent.
He needed the treasure to read and complete the third part of the manual, but he couldn’t directly consume her and had to activate the blessing to prevent the life chaos that had already shown interest in her.
“Are you sure we’ll stay here after this?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan for now. Plus, as you can see, Elizabeth won’t do anything else to me for the time being.”
As Emhart invited Alicia, who couldn’t see Fisher, to follow him into the palace, he seemed somewhat exasperated.
“Fortunately, you’re in this undetectable state. This way, Elizabeth won’t publicly declare that you’ve returned and then naturally take you as her husband. My gosh, I can’t even imagine the shock it would bring to Raphael and Jasmine in the Southern Continent and Valentina in the Northern Region if they knew you were getting married… oh, getting married again.”
“Yeah, thank goodness.”
But he couldn’t be too optimistic. Fisher mentioned the matter of Elizabeth’s golden artificial eye and the mysterious Diane to Emhart, reminding him that it incited some anger.
“Speaking of which, you don’t know, Fisher, that Elizabeth’s eye definitely has consciousness! The other day when we were taken back to Saint Nali, I was a bit worried about your condition, so I tried to contact her to communicate. At first, she didn’t speak, until I called her many times, and she actually… actually called me trash, and an ugly creature! It infuriated me!”
“…”
It felt as if Pandora’s artificial eye was completely annoyed by Emhart’s incessant prompting. Fisher really couldn’t understand how this guy managed to converse with Pandora’s artificial eye back then.
However, Emhart’s words did prompt Fisher to consider a question: If Elizabeth’s artificial eye was conscious, was it a brand new consciousness like Emhart’s, or was the consciousness within it the very Archangel Pandora from eons ago?
The answer to this question was directly linked to the formation process of this teardrop holy artifact, and Fisher was uncertain. But if it were the latter, things could become very troublesome.
From Elizabeth’s reaction, it was clear that the artificial eye was no mere harmless accessory.
“For now, I can’t assist with Elizabeth’s artificial eye anymore. She won’t respond to me when I try to speak to her. However, about Diane that you mentioned, she just brought us in, saying she would come back to pick us up before nightfall, and on the way, she shared some court etiquette with Alicia, completely unaware of my presence. If you’re suspicious, should I quietly follow her tonight?”
“No, forget it, I’ll handle this matter.”
If that Diane is up to something, Emhart wouldn’t just be unable to discover her oddities; he might directly be killed by Diane.
For now, it was better not to stir up trouble. He was currently enveloped by the secret blessing. Since he couldn’t use his own rank’s power, he ought to maximize the potential of the blessing. She served beside Elizabeth, and now he was together with Elizabeth; there would surely be an opportunity.
Now, it was time to research what sort of treasure was attached to Alicia.
Fisher had Emhart relay his intentions, preparing to have Alicia cooperate with his research. But just as Alicia obediently extended her hand toward Fisher, he suddenly seemed to realize something and became dumbfounded.
No, if he was wrapped in a secret blessing and unable to use any extraordinary powers, even the effect of completing the manual was ineffective, then the question arose: how could a mere mortal body study the treasure that Erwind had painstakingly created?
“…”
“Mister Book, has the big brother already started?”
“Uh, just a moment, he…”
“Knock, knock, knock!”
At that moment, just as Fisher was contemplating how to approach Alicia’s little hand, a series of crisp knocks suddenly came from the window of their room.
Everyone in the room turned to look out the window and saw, at some point, a purplish-black lark standing outside, pecking at the glass with its not-so-large beak, tilting its head curiously at the man inside the room.
“Hey, why does this bird seem a bit familiar?”
Emhart was slightly taken aback, while Fisher had already uncontrollably stood up first, exclaiming in surprise, “Renee?”
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(End of this chapter)
