A few minutes earlier, at a location that was known only to a handful in the continent of Angaria.
A man with a sharp goatee and long, brown hair that fell to his shoulders was sitting in front of a table, on which a display trinket could be seen.
A cup filled with steaming liquid was in front of him, and he occasionally took sips from it before dabbing his mouth with the kerchief he held in his other hand, each and every time.
He was the very image of an elite personage whose habits and mannerisms were above and beyond those of the normal people who couldn't even comprehend his prestige, but when an unseen, but detectable being suddenly appeared in the room he was in, he stood up and gave a deep bow.
With his eyes on the ground, he said, "The Family Head of the Leoinia family greets you, Overseer."
"Welcome, Family Head. Take your seat."
It was only after an unemotional voice said these words that the man let out the breath he was holding and sat on the seat that he had gotten up from.
He was one of the strongest Heroes of the continent, part of the hidden force of elders who had never shown their power even once, but still, in front of this being, he would only show the utmost respect.
Was it because the being held his life, and those of his family within its palms? Or was it the unfathomable feeling that he always got whenever he used his senses to probe it, even though he was never supposed to do so?
Perhaps it was both, in equal parts, but as the Overseer began to speak again, all these thoughts flew out of the Family Head's mind.
"Your son is in position?"
"Yes. I have replaced the one who handled things until now with someone who is much more reliable. He has never failed our family or the Order, and he will not do so now. I expect there to be a very fruitful massacre. He has also come up with many ideas to make it much more effective than it would have been normally, and I trust that you will appreciate his zeal and enthusiasm."
As always, there was no response, so the Family Head continued.
It was actually worse because usually, there would at least be that body filled with faces which he could look at while speaking. Right now, though, there was nothing but the voice, so the Family Head could only look straight ahead, even though there was nothing but the wall there.
"As you have commanded, we took time to survey the Kingdom and locate a place where the majority of individuals leave their homes to take care of work either outside their place of residence, or in neighboring villages and towns. As you said, the goal was to find a general area where the explosions would result in the majority of casualties being children and elderly individuals, who are both useless to our cause at the present, because the past and the future of the Central Continent is irrelevant in front of the War which will devastate it anyway, and necessary in case we want to bring out the most emotions in those who will be absent when the event occurs. We have timed it so that the explosions will take place at around darkness begins to fall over the continent, which is the typically the time when all those have headed out to work start to head back home. The objective is also to make sure that they return to a scene where their families have died, whereas those who have been 'lucky' enough to survive will be hunted, tortured and killed by the 'agents of the Church', who have been imitated quite accurately. Any time now, my son will arrive at the scene and activate the communication eye so that we can see all of this happen."
"Good."
'A single word. Dammit, would it kill you to appreciate us just a little bit? We're killing hundreds of thousands for YOU! Without telling anyone else! If there was such a thing as karma, our family will be tainted for generations! But all we get is a 'good'?!'
These thoughts appeared in the Family Head's mind, but he spoke none of them out loud. In fact, he even put on a fake smile as if he was pleased, but looking at himself in the mirror in the room and seeing how unpleasant it looked, he removed it and took another sip of the liquid that was still steaming in the cup in front of him.
They waited in silence, for the Overseer had never been a chatty person. He could still feel him nearby- like an invisible vulture bending over his shoulder, waiting for the time to come so that it could feast on the death and destruction that was going to be caused.
After a minute, the Family Head frowned because his son should have activated the communication eye by now.
A strange feeling creeping up his spine, he contacted the kid and was greeted by a message that made him stand up abruptly.
"Father, it failed! Something made all the citizens who were supposed to be in their homes vacate them and go somewhere else! What should we do now? I can just start killing with magic! Give me the word, I know where they are! I'll go over there and begin!"
The Family Head got a dazed expression on his face, unable to believe what he was hearing.
What the f*ck? Could anyone really be that lucky?
No! That was impossible!
After further thought, he directly picked up the fear in his son's voice, which told him what the kid had been trying to hide.
He…had failed.
"What is it?", came the question, and with a sigh, the Family Head spoke.
"Apologies, Overseer. My son has failed. I shall punish him severely when he returns. A lot of blood…shall be rent. The explosions were ineffective. The places of impact were empty. He awaits your orders. Should he commence the attack on the people who have been gathered elsewhere?"
The silence that fell over the room after the Family Head said these words was stifling, to say the least.
He, a man who had lived for over a century and had killed hundreds to reach where he stood, felt sweat dripping down his back as he waited there, with his head lowered, burdened by the first major failure that had been caused by his family in a long time.
It didn't matter that they might not have had any method to stop it. It didn't matter that it might turn out that it might not be their fault.
And it didn't even matter that they had given so much until now.
They had failed, and the Overseer…didn't like failure.
As if he had placed in the nook of a guillotine, the Family Head waited for the scythe to fall.
However, to his amazement…it didn't.
"Abort the mission. The directives were that no surveillance should occur in the place where this was going to happen before the mission was carried out, so that the Big Four would not find any evidence that might point to someone else carrying out the attack. Hence, it is plausible that there was no way to find out that the place of attack had been emptied. Your son might not be responsible for the failure. If he continues now, he will have to fight with the Big Four, and that must not happen. Tell him to find out if anyone is responsible for this- perhaps he has failed elsewhere. Even if he has, he must not be punished- each and every individual like him is needed for the war. You may leave. Give me the report as soon as possible."
With that, the overbearing pressure that was a sign of the Overseer's presence faded into nothingness, and the Family Head suddenly gasped and started breathing in deeply, as if someone had been suffocating him until now.
Had he really heard correctly? But the foremost daughter of the Orwehan family, which was another one that had sworn themselves to the Overseer, had had herself tortured for days because she had failed due to something she could not have foreseen! And that had only been a few months ago!
Well, there was no reason to question a boon that had been granted abruptly. Perhaps the War was about to erupt soon, or perhaps his son was more valuable than he had thought.
Either way, the Family Head decided that he would get to the bottom of all this right away. Deciding that he would do it himself, he headed out.
Barely a half-hour later, he had returned to the Order, and right away, he requested an audience with the Overseer.
This time, he went to the dark area where the body of the Overseer was visible, in all its glory.
The faces of his sons, daughters, and wives were flashing in and out of existence on that dark ball that seemed to swallow all the light in the world, but ignoring the effect it had on everyone that gazed at it, the Family Head once again bowed and gave his report.
"It was just a hoax generated by someone who wanted to make a profit from the tension-filled atmosphere of the continent, sir. However, he used magic in an innovative way, and that was why he was lent the credibility that kickstarted everything. I tried to interrogate him, but he was lynched to death when it was found that it was all false, so I could not do so. His claims led to a wild rush of people who wanted to benefit from the limited-time magical phenomenon that was very similar to an object regarding which many bards tell fictional stories. I have checked these stories, too: they actually have some truth to them. They originated from a village where a rock used to grant wishes, but in reality, it was the Divine Cockroach which is now in the Order. All in all, a series of coincidences resulted in the citizens being saved. However, I have already made another plan for the same. Shall I-"
"Your report is false, Family Head."
Being suddenly cut off in this way, the Family Head stuttered for a bit.
Just as he was about to state that he didn't understand, the Overseer spoke again, and right away, an understanding gleam appeared in his eyes.
"Your report is false. This is the official report that you shall file in the records. In the Kingdom of Lanthanor-"
…
The Sovereigns of Angaria who were still present on the continent all had ecstatic smiles on their faces as they celebrated in the same balcony where they had been 'awakened'.
Their thoughts were completely different from what they were saying, but their happiness was real.
The one beaming the most was Eloise, who had gotten the seed of this idea when she had tried to imagine what the King would do.
What they needed was an excuse to empty a place randomly, and she had hit upon this right away: something that would lead people to leave in a rush and be unaffected by the plan of the Order.
After getting all the details of the Order's plan from Percy, the plan had been perfected to target the young and the old, who were mostly the ones who would have died if they had stayed.
It would seem like a coincidence, and there would be no way to prove that they had been the ones to carry it out.
Right now, the open reason for their celebration was that they were feeling relief that so many had been 'luckily' saved from an attack by the Church.
The Big Four had also come, and Kellor had spoken to them and assisted them in their investigation. They had seemed clueless about the entire thing, so it had even been amusing to see them trying to figure out just what the heck had happened.
At the end of the day, they were successful, and they had all already pledged that they would keep trying to save everyone until the King returned.
Standing up, Eloise raised the glass in her hand and said, "A toast. In the absence of our King, we have done well. I definitely think that he will be proud of us. Let us drink to his return, and his success in whatever he is pursuing."
Knowing smiles appeared on the faces of all the Sovereigns present, and they raised the cups in their hands to sip and wish their King well.
However, right before the moment when this was going to happen, the entire scene…froze.
Kellor, Eloise, Luther, Aran, and Cassandra all felt themselves losing control of their bodies. They couldn't even blink their eyes, and it was as if they had become trapped within their own mind.
A flood of terror began to inundate even the seasoned commanders who had seen so much, but it was interrupted by the voice which suddenly echoed over the area.
"By the decree of the Overseer, the individuals known as Eloise, Kellor, Luther, Aran, and Cassandra are hereby being taken into detention due to the crime of causing a crucial plan of the Order to fail. According to the ancient rules, they will be bound forcefully by oaths and made to repay the Order for the harm they have caused. Over this tenure, they will not be killed, but apart from this, they will have to follow all the orders given to them. Thus ends the decree."
As the last word echoed in their ears, a deluge of darkness poured into their vision, and all of their bodies crumpled to the floor, before being whisked away by an invisible hand that seemed to blot out the sky, itself.
...........
Note for former privilege members:
First of all, thank you for loving my book enough to want to read ahead, and a heartfelt apology for what you have had to endure this past month. Mainly due to the sickness which was prolonged even after I was discharged, there were many more delays than I imagined. Normally, my plan was to keep privilege as-is, and replace those dummies before the end of the month so that you could read them. Sadly, due to a few fainting spells, I could not stick to that.
Now, even though I am in a position to release them, I have been told(and I have also been thinking the same thing) that it is unfair for those chapters to only be visible in the privelege area, while the regular chapters are around 30 behind what they should be.
Hence, I have taken the decision that I shall be dissolving(removing) prestige for this month so that I can catch up to the regular chapters without further confusion and delays, after which I can give you the experience you deserve.
WN is either processing or has processed the refunds, and once more, I am very, very apologetic for what has happened. I promise to never let anything similar happen ever again, especially for all of you distinguished individuals who have graced my humble work with your precious attention and adoration.(If there are any problems with refunds, contact me on discord using the link in the synopsis)
All in all, this is a month for WDS to get back on its feet properly, and the arc coming up is AMAZING for that. I really, really hope you stay tuned, and I will always appreciate the support you have shown me in this very, very deep low in my life.
This is your author, signing off. Thank you!