"We cannot keep mooning over the fact that we have lost a gateway to greatness. Instead, I propose that we make the best out of what we have left: this continent."
The statement was led by snorts and other sounds made from people scoffing at what he was saying, and of course, these were mainly from the 15 or so elders who had the right to do anything they wanted.
"Hear me out. I have a hunch… And I think that it has a very high possibility of coming true. The king, or I should say, the Godking, is no normal man. We all know of his history, and how far he has reached. Who can say that he's done? He might well lead this continent to great heights, so when that happens, I wish for our house to be as close to him as possible, so that we can reap the benefits."
For a moment after he declared this, there was silence, and then, outright laughter burst out from the mouths of almost all the elders.
The others also looked like they were humored by what he was saying, but they did not dare to make a single sound.
The high seat patiently waited for it to die down.
Right before it completely disappeared, he spoke, and his words cut through the room like a knife and made silence reappear.
"I think you're forgetting that the alternative is to stay as we are, with no hope of lengthening the lifespans of our dear elders, who are close to death…"
The way he let his sentence hang made all the elders gulp. After a few seconds, one of them motioned at him to continue.
"Thank you. The Church is completely cut off from us, as they will definitely suspect the reason behind our act of not responding. When we were swearing oaths to them, I made a thorough investigation of all the charges that would be laid on those deemed by the Church as criminals: among them, deserters had one of the worst punishments. I do not wish to sully this room by mentioning it, so I will give the short form - we would be stripped of power, and made to live out our lives as animals to be kicked around and shown as an example to those who might even think of leaving once they have thrown their lot in. So, the Godking is our only option. It is good that no one knows the truth - but we must act now, if we want to ensure our position beside him. I have a few solutions for this. First, we can pledge over all of our resources to the cause."
This was met by an uproar, but this time, the high seat shouted, "I have word that he's going to do this to all Heroes on the continent anyway. If we want to rise, we must make sacrifices. We -"
His shouting made the rest fall silent, but the high seat suddenly stopped speaking midsentence.
It looked like someone was contacting him, and the others knew that it must be important if he was being interrupted after explicitly stating that this was a meeting that should not be disturbed.
A second later, fury covered his face, and seeing this, one of the elders asked, "What is the matter?"
For a moment, it looked like he would set out to kill whatever the problem was, but on further thought, he stopped himself and spoke through gritted teeth.
"My son, the useless dolt that he is, brought some friends over from the Order. He claims that they are powerful Heroes who want to swear themselves to our house, as they want to fight beside an organized group. I seriously doubt those words - I bet they're just a bunch of Amateur Heroes who are scared. Please allow me to go chase them away."
Everyone knew about the wayward son of the high seat - he was a flirt who spent his days sleeping around, and it was said that even if he was given any kind of responsibility, he would only shrug it off and act as if the world was ending, so he had to do as much as possible now, instead of lamenting later.
In a way, this was true, but the fact that doing so severely dishonored his father did not seem to bother him, at all.
A few among the group waited for a good show, but surprisingly, the elder who asked the question said, "Like my dear brother just said, we need all hands on deck. So why not get some more? Ask your son to get them here - let us examine them all, together. With the intimidation from so many Heroes, they will certainly speak the truth. At worst, we can use them as cannon fodder, or at best, we can use them for your plan - maybe we can have them swear oaths to follow us, and then make it seem as if they were rebels who were going to stand against the Godking. In one stroke, we would be in his good graces! Get them here."
This elder had always been one of the schemers of the house, so when he spoke, supportive nods could be seen all around.
Even the high seat got a thoughtful look on his face, after which he nodded and said, "Very well."
A moment later, six individuals were standing at the edge of the long table.
Shocked and even fearful expressions came on their faces as they saw all the Heroes congregated in front of them.
The same was visible on Mark's face, too, so knowing that it was best to strike when the metal was hot, the same elder who had proposed the plan spoke.
"Welcome! The prestigious house Eskilon-"
He had no choice but to stop midsentence when a startling thing happened.
In the middle of the long table, an orb suddenly rose.
It was dim, at first, before filling with light and then causing an image of the unmistakable Saint of Rectitude to appear in the middle of the room.
As soon as the members of the house saw this, they all began to panic.
This was the official messaging mechanism given by the Church to all those sworn to them, and it was supposed to be deactivated.
Putting the matter of its activation aside, though, he turned to the six who had newly appeared, knowing that they would now have to be killed as they had seen something that they should not have.
However… The scene that was waiting for him when he did so made him fall to his seat, tongue-tied.
In the room, there was not just one image of the Saint.
There were six… and five of them could be seen shining in front of the five newly arrived Heroes, who looked just as frightfully alarmed as the rest of individuals in the room.