Chapter 235: | 235 | TIMESKIP: Part Twenty Three - Conspiracy
The former settlers of the slums were successfully relocated into newly built districts, reintegrating back to the society of the United World Government. Though, the dragoness wasn\'t satisfied as she was barely able to keep herself from getting disappointed.
The spell that the gang leader had managed to conjure was a complicated one. But it was a psychic spell, in simpler terms, a mind control spell. How the gang leader managed to acquire such spells was a principial question, and most importantly, how did all of the gang leaders manage to acquire these spells.
Laplace was confident by her thoughts. A conspiracy was residing within Dawn City, and it threatened the dominion of the United World Government who seems ignorant of it. Because of this, she quickly made her way to the Citadel to meet with her husband.
After all, the two of them needed to have a talk about the current circumstance.
Arriving in the elevator, the dragoness calmly waited as it rose up into the apex of the Citadel. Laplace lightly tap the floor with her black heels thinking about the past regarding her former organization becoming a monstrous version of itself.
The Revolting Tide, an organization that was supposed to liberate the Frontier from the tendrils of humanity. It became despicable through time, becoming something that she herself couldn\'t tolerate. She should have destroyed it when she had a chance.
But she hesitated, after all, within were decades long of memories, reminding her of where she stood in the vast world filled to the brim with peril.
The metallic door of the elevator soon opened, revealing the house of the executive, or Abraham\'s home for short. Sitting on the table was Little Tiamat, dangling her feet and gazing at the boundless lines of the endless horizon.
Beside the little dragon was her husband, Abraham, who was currently going through some paperwork regarding a particularly big project that would advanced the military capabilities of the United Navy by leap and bounds.
When the elevator door completely opened, the middle-aged man raised his eyebrows and looked forward. There, standing in the elevator, was his beautiful dragon wife, Laplace. The edges of his lips rose as he remarked. "Tired of the job, My Love?"
"Here I thought you would have an energy capacity lasting several months at minimum." Laplace being exhausted was rare, so Abraham didn\'t hesitate to state his opinion about it. However, Laplace\'s calm expression made him furrow his eyebrows.
"Is there something wrong, Laplace? Did something happen in the operation?" Abraham questioned, wanting to know about what might have happened to bring such an expression to his lovely wife.
Laplace walked forward, leaning onto the desk and not forgetting to pinch the cheeks of her little lizard. She turned her gaze towards her husband and muttered. "Dawn City is falling apart, My Love." Her words resounded, confusing the middle-aged man.
"Falling apart? I don\'t see any wrong with the metropolis. To be honest, it seems to be greater than ever before with its large economy." Abraham couldn\'t understand her words, speaking about what he thought about the city of Dawn. There was nothing wrong about it as it was working as intended.
"It is getting richer, and much more powerful amongst the states of the United World Government. However, its insides and roots are beginning to rot. The metropolis is degrading, turning into a mush of what it once was."
"I was confused about how it happened. It has been mere months yet the city had changed. It might look grander, but to me, it felt sad. It wasn\'t the metropolis that I have given my oath to protect. It was something else."
"Anyhow, I now understand why the city had transformed into something else. It confirmed many of my confusions and suspicion regarding the current state of the metropolis." Laplace continued, her calm-spoken words echoing throughout his office.
Instead of questioning her thoughts, Abraham decided to scrap that idea and wanted to ask how she had managed to arrive in that conclusion. After all, he might be able to receive some of her views regarding the current state of the city.
"How did you conclude that thought process, Laplace?"
"Well, this view of mind had been around since my return. The current state of the Special Response Division, and the fact that Espada had become a fool was something my mind couldn\'t comprehend. My subordinates were idiots."
"But they weren\'t foolish people. They understood what must be done, yet they have become but a husk of their former selves. I can\'t even look at them without the urge to express my disappointment." Laplace shook her head as her golden irises glowed.
"The final nail in the coffin was during the operation to which I face one of the gang leaders within the slums. After disposing of his men, he conjured a psyche-spell and directed it at me. It was this that made me confident."
"Confident of what?" Abraham asked as a serious expression covered his face. He had finally realized that the country that he had thrown to become independent without much of his interference was undergoing a significant change. And it was a dangerous one.
"A conspiracy, My Love. The City of Dawn has become tainted with a conspiracy. A psyche-spell is a mind control spell with the ability to affect the minds of those cursed by it. It doesn\'t even have to be total control, you could make your opponent a coward, a maniac, or a bastard."
"You could simply watch from the back as they destroy themselves from the inside. It is a terrifying spell, not even humanity dared to dwell in such branch of magicraft. It was too dangerous, especially for the Magus Tower who valued its authority above all else."
"The fact that it had made its landfall into the City of Dawn means that they have set their sights towards our country, My Love." Laplace\'s golden irises glimmered as her emotions were becoming intense by the moment.
"Who are they, Laplace? And mind control?..." Abraham understood what mind control meant and the danger it represented. It was at this moment that he had realized something crucial. When was the last time had he seen the loyalty of his men towards him?
According to Systema, their loyalty was absolute. It was impossible for a mind control spell to make them betray him. However, according to his wife, it doesn\'t even need to be total dominion over the mind. Controlling their emotions, and a tinge of their thoughts were enough.
An answered of Abraham\'s question followed, and it didn\'t come from Laplace\'s supple lips.
"They are the Revolting Tide, Father. The former organization that was created by Mother. The one that resides in the Frontier, the overlord of beastfolks." Tiamat\'s soft voice resounded in the office as Laplace merely gaze at her before nodding in agreement.
Tiamat had both the memories of Laplace and Abraham combined within her mind like a library of memories. It was through these libraries that she remained knowledgeable about her surroundings despite not being a month old.
"The Revolting Tide, huh? I see... They must have penetrated through the immigrants of the Frontier that the City of Dawn took in. I didn\'t think we would invite a monster in our country." Abraham had a wry smile on his face, realizing that peace wasn\'t the lack of conflict, but the preparation for the next one instead.
\'Systema, is there any way for you to get the statistics about the current status of the United World Government?\' The middle-aged man questioned inside his mind. A mechanical bell then rang followed by a monotone voice.
| 9.56% of the population has been infected by some mind-afflicted phenomenon. |
It was immediate as Systema gave the numbers regarding the current psyche of the populace. The 9.56 percentage must have come from the City of Dawn as it was amongst the largest population centers in the United World Government.
Nevertheless, he didn\'t think that it would be so high.
"Is there any way to solve this problem?" Abraham questioned as it was a troublesome issue that must be solved as fast as possible. Laplace narrowed her eyes and thought about it. Psyche-related spells were problematic, not because of their dominion over the mind but instead how they could affect it by itself.
"The knowledge of psyche-spells are dangerous as it was easy for them to spread and for others to learn. It was practically forbidden knowledge that its mere presence would destroy a country and make it collapse into itself. The moment mortals gain power, it makes them uncontrollable."
"It would also be difficult for them to forget such power. When I first discovered its existence. A village had already fallen into the deepest abyss. I burned it all into the ground leaving nothing behind as to save the remaining villages of that island." Laplace\'s words implied one thing.
Luckily, Tiamat was there to continue.
"But there is one way to solve it, Father. You must capture the one that brought the spell into the city and make them dispel it. The reason why Mother had to burn the village was because the one that brought it into the settlement was already dead when she arrived."
"It meant that once the original caster was dead, there would be no saving them." Tiamat expounded, earning the proud smile of Laplace.