Chapter 5: The Oracle (8)
Janet, as the Dean, had thought about all this before.
But the story of the Four Warriors banding together to form a nation was already deeply ingrained in people’s hearts. Their glorious deeds had been passed down through generations, and they were almost viewed as divine beings in the minds of the populace.
So even if there were doubts, she didn’t dare believe that it was all true.
She attributed it to the bad habits that had subconsciously formed during the long peace of the Empire, along with the noble’s nature of seeking fame and profit.
No one had ever been as brazen as Lord Messenger in laying everything bare, taking the propaganda that people had ingested like a baby pulling a carrot from the mud—it was a painful sight to behold.
Yes, it should have been like this.
To consolidate the imperial authority, the royal family had been doing the same thing for thousands of years.
First, they found an excuse to wipe out the descendants of the assassin Hardy, since assassins had special hidden skills and could k*ll without a trace.
This was undoubtedly the biggest threat to the empire.
Therefore, the descendants of assassin Hardy were the first targets to be eliminated by the imperial family.
As for the descendants of the armored warrior Cliff and the harpist Casey, at least they posed no direct threat to the royal family, so they were spared—at least for now.
But the Empire never forgot to gradually weaken them.
The Harpist Academy was the best example.
Since the academy was founded by Casey, one of the Four Warriors, its legitimacy and continuity had even been written into the empire’s constitution. No emperor could simply disregard the will of their ancestors and crudely shut down the Harpist Academy.
After all, that would probably anger the supportive populace and lead to riots—a loss that outweighed the gains.
So, they came up with another plan: just let these harpists be delicate flowers in a greenhouse.
After all, harpists are women, and being a woman means marrying and having kids.
As long as they could be tied down by family, preventing them from ever setting foot on the battlefield, a hundred years down the line, the so-called talents cultivated by the Harpist Academy would likely just be a bunch of paper generals, easily disposed of when the day came.
As for the nobles who inherited the armored warrior’s abilities? Well, they were much easier to deal with.
The Empire’s Northern and Southern Lines had been in a perpetual state of war. Anyone with a bit of bl**d in them was sent off to fight. The dead were dead, the injured were injured, and soon there would be no one left to follow.
The ones who were too chicken to step onto the frontline would inevitably turn into useless gluttons, knowing only to eat and wait to d*e.
Thus, no one would pose a threat to the royal family anymore, and the descendants of mages would remain in power in the Empire forever.
When Lin Nan mercilessly laid bare the harsh realities of the Empire before Janet, it felt like skinning and bleeding her alive.
This Dean, who once held on to that last shred of hope for the Empire, slumped down on her chair, even shedding a tear.
After a long pause, Janet finally said, “Thank you, Lord Messenger, for your guidance. Though the royal family is unkind to the academy, without the Empire’s financial support over the years, it wouldn’t have lasted this long. So we at the academy cannot ignore the lives of the Empire’s people.
Please, guide us to find a clear path so we can avoid disaster.”
Lin Nan replied, “Your patriotism is noted. But before I answer that, I want to understand something.
After all, you’ve been in the imperial capital for so long, and your intel-gathering abilities might be better than our spies.
Why has the Church of Light developed so rapidly in just a few years?
They say it’s because of the royal family’s support. So who exactly is the Pope of the Church of Light?
I believe that if we can figure out everything related to the Church, we might find a way to prevent the Empire from collapsing from within before disaster strikes.
I’ve said it before: only when all the Empire’s people unite can we possibly have a chance.
As it stands now, with everyone acting independently and in collusion with the royal family’s tacit approval, the outcome is evident.”
“I understand, Lord Messenger. I’ll get on it right away.”
Janet stepped back.
Once the hall’s doors closed and Lin Nan was left alone in the room, a tall, skinny figure slowly appeared before her.
“Greetings, My Lord.”
Xi half-knelt on the ground, lifting his face, powdered white with lips painted red.
“Stand up.”
“Thank you, My Lord.”
Xi looked toward the door where Janet had left.
“My Lord, you’ve entrusted such an important task to her. I’m afraid she isn’t familiar with intel-gathering work and could jeopardize your plans.”
Lin Nan smiled, “No need to worry. You see, in the high-society circles of the capital, about seventy to eighty percent of the noblewomen are graduates of the Harpist Academy. Even if they can’t abandon their current status to report back to the academy, I’m sure they won’t be stingy with some information.
On the contrary, they’ll be quite cooperative to compensate for any guilty conscience from disobeying the Dean’s orders.”
Xi suddenly realized, “Ah, so when you gave the order for the harpists to report, you had already considered this.
Whether they come back to the academy or not, they can’t escape your arrangement.”
Lin Nan, “…”
You got it right; that’s exactly what I was thinking.
“Oh, by the way, what’s the update on the exploration of the mines outside the city?”
Xi’s expression turned serious, “So far, we still haven’t found the location of the mines where the humans are imprisoned.”
“Alright, focus all your energy on finding their location. You need to pick up the pace.”
“Yes, I’ll head to meet with the bl**d Moon Team right away.”
As Xi disappeared from the room, Lin Nan’s slightly open mouth closed again.
She had intended to ask him about the time they stormed the Sky Tower with the Four Warriors, but considering there must be some hidden details in it that couldn’t be covered in just a few words, and that even clarifying that time didn’t seem to directly help with the current situation in the imperial capital,
Lin Nan decided to postpone that inquiry for now.
Outside, the snow was falling thickly, while the inside was as warm as spring.
There was a heater in each corner of the living room, the flames roaring, making it quite cozy.
She wouldn’t take action against the imperial family directly until she got a clearer understanding of the true nature of the Church of Light.
For some reason, ever since she stepped into the capital, she felt an odd sense of foreboding everywhere.
A religious group preaching doomsday and recruiting cultists, an imperial family that knowingly ignored the growing tensions among the populace, and even the fanatics of the Church seeking to topple the goddess statue representing the foundations of the Empire, with no one in the government taking notice.
What exactly was the imperial family plotting?
…
Lin Nan logged onto the long-lost text forum.
This was the last legacy left by the System for players, designed for those scattered across various places to gather information.
She thought, maybe she could find clues about the missing humans in the demon territories from the forum.
