Chapter 2031: Chapter 2031
Princess Sophia pretended not to understand the Sage Pontiff's meaning. She kept her head down, flipping through the documents before her, silently wishing for the meeting to end soon. Anathasia had invited her to the opera that evening—and Jenkins, of course, was footing the bill.
Seeing Miss Fabry with her head bowed, feigning immersion in sorrow, Miss Bevanna, the resident demigod of the Sage Church in the Nolan diocese, stepped up to speak. She once again thanked and acknowledged the contributions of the Believers of Lies.
She spoke at length, her words flowing not like a rehearsed speech but an impromptu address. Her praise for the Believers of Lies, using descriptions like "brave and fearless," was so effusive it even made Jenkins blush slightly.
After Miss Bevanna concluded her speech, Pontiff IV finally declared the official start of the negotiations. This summit, he announced, must result in an accord between the Church and the Believers of Lies, between the Orthodox Churches and the pseudo-god cults, and between the religious and the secular. Until a resolution was reached, the talks would continue indefinitely, with the Church providing all necessary food, lodging, and amenities.
Time was running out.
Among the many topics for negotiation, few directly involved the Believers of Lies. However, the relationship between the Church and their faction was the linchpin that would determine the entire course of the talks.
Therefore, the first item on the agenda concerned the Believers of Lies. This was all part of Jenkins's script, so as soon as Pontiff IV finished reading the relevant document through his spectacles, Princess Sophia immediately rose to her feet.
As she stood, an instinct prompted her to glance upward, where she happened to see a silver-haired girl lying on the edge of the transparent ceiling, peering down at them.
A flash of complex emotions crossed the princess's mind, and she had the sudden urge to reach up and rap the silver dragon on the head.
"We must select the final Savior as quickly as possible. Whether we enter the nine-story tower after it appears or seek out the Difference Engine for a final confrontation before then, we must first confirm our chosen candidate."
She looked at Jenkins, her acting so superb that no one could detect the slightest flaw in her performance.
"Now, we are the only candidates left."
"Yes," Jenkins echoed. "Only us."
Jenkins affirmed, and a brief silence fell between them. Then, following the script, Princess Sophia addressed Pontiff IV once more.
"The truth is, our leader has always been Mr. Candle. Although he was... although he has made the ultimate sacrifice, I must still conduct these negotiations according to his original decisions. Before we begin the discussion about the Savior, we must first address the relationship between the pseudo-god cults and the Orthodox Churches."
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"Because that was Mr. Candle's directive."
Since "Miss Fabry" had entered the hall, she had remained silent, save for a few remarks on the "sacrifice" of her comrades. It was as if she were feigning a state of shock and grief, wishing to temporarily withdraw from the world.
Her first proactive demand, however, put the Church in an awkward position. The selection and order of topics for negotiation were meticulously planned; changing the sequence was not impossible, but such changes were meant to be made before the talks began.
It was only now that people realized this woman was a true Believer of Lies. The two great deceptions she had orchestrated had profoundly impacted the world. Her earlier pretense of indifference was just that—an act designed to elicit sympathy and make the Church lower its guard.
After all, the late Mr. Candle had admitted more than once that the relationships among the Believers of Lies were loose, with no deep emotional bonds between them. Now, with the deaths of the others, Miss Fabry had inherited the entire legacy of the "Believers of Lies." Under such circumstances, it was difficult to say whether she should be happy or sad.
"Let me be clear," she declared. "We must first discuss the relationship between the followers of the Righteous Gods and the followers of the pseudo-gods. Otherwise, I will refuse to participate in any further proceedings."
As she spoke, Princess Sophia straightened her posture, fighting the urge to look up. She knew with certainty that the silver dragon was still above, watching her with an amused smile.
Jenkins had also noticed the dragon above; Chocolate had pointed her out to him. Anathasia was sprawled in a most undignified manner, peeking down, so engrossed that she didn't even notice Jenkins repeatedly glancing in her direction.
"Madam, are you certain you wish to discuss this first?"
"Of course. Moreover, my friends must be allowed to participate and express their views. If the purpose of these negotiations is unification, then we cannot let any party remain relegated to the audience. That would be unfair."
With that, she pointed to the members of the Music Cult in the high gallery. Seeing the gesture, Miss Stevel immediately stood up, along with the others.
The Church officials finally understood. Miss Fabry feared being isolated in the negotiations, so she had thrown out the topic of "followers of the Righteous Gods versus followers of the pseudo-gods" first. Her goal was to bring the pseudo-god believers, who otherwise had no voice here, onto the main floor. That way, they could lend their support during the subsequent debate over the Savior.
But this move was precisely what the Church had been hoping for. After all, they believed they had long since seen through the intentions of the Believers of Lies. Their "undercover agent," Miss Stevel, was already prepared.
Her mission, of course, was not to turn the supporters of the Believers of Lies against them at the last minute; Miss Stevel never deluded herself into thinking she could outwit that band of frauds.
Her and the Church's plan was simple. Since the Believers of Lies had entrusted her with contacting the other cults, she could choose which ones were brought into the fold. As long as she could ensure that the number of cults sympathetic to the Church outnumbered those allied with the Believers of Lies...
"...then what would all the preparations of the Believers of Lies amount to? Since they want to secure a voting majority, why not simply expand the voting pool?"
A smile spread across Miss Stevel's face.
Allowing the pseudo-god believers to join the proceedings seemed like a scheme by the Believers of Lies, but it was actually a trap set by the Church, who had seen through their plot.
Precisely for this reason—to ensure the trap would work and to let Miss Fabry temporarily believe she had the upper hand—the order of the agenda was changed as requested after a brief discussion. At the same time, the Church followed Miss Fabry's recommendation and allowed the attending pseudo-god cults to truly participate in the negotiations.
However, due to limited space, each cult could only send one to three representatives to sit at the long table.
"Miss Fabry" had no objection to this arrangement. The script Jenkins had given Princess Sophia did not include instructions to raise any opposition at this point.
The representatives of the secular kingdoms also offered no opinion. From a certain perspective, the kingdoms didn't mind the pseudo-god believers gaining more influence. While it might lead to more incidents arising from conflicts of faith, it would also weaken the political sway of the Twelve Orthodox Churches, forcing them to focus more on dealing with heretics than meddling in secular power.
Thus, neither Salhir II, Queen Isabella, nor the young king of Cheslan who owed the Church a great debt, expressed an opinion on the matter. In any case, this was a struggle between the churches, and concessions from either side would ultimately benefit the three great kingdoms.
The number of people seated around the table grew. Documents were stacked high, and fountain pens of all designs were either clutched in hands or laid on the tabletop. Ladies and gentlemen voiced their opinions, and amidst the scraping of chairs, their words wove together into a continuous thread of discourse.
Princess Sophia kept her head down, poring over the document in her hands. She was actually quite interested in the matter.
The High Tower Accord of the previous Epoch was incredibly complex, and formulating a complete set of articles for this one couldn't possibly be done through on-the-spot debate—otherwise, they wouldn't reach a conclusion even in a month.
Therefore, before the negotiations even began, the Church had already drafted the broad strokes of the articles for each topic, and every church had its bottom line. Most of the pseudo-god cults, having known before their arrival that the "relationship between the Orthodox Churches and the pseudo-god churches" would be discussed, had also come with their own ideas and didn't need to formulate them on the spot.
As a result, once the discussion began and they started debating the Church's proposed document clause by clause, things progressed remarkably well.
The Orthodox Churches were willing to compromise here to temporarily lull the Believers of Lies, so they didn't haggle over minor wording. The pseudo-god followers, united against a common foe, presented a solid front in pursuit of their shared demands, showing no internal disarray. Meanwhile, the Believers of Lies remained silent; at least, Princess Sophia had no intention of speaking until she received instructions from Jenkins.
The session lasted from three o'clock until five in the afternoon. Though the pace was slow, the negotiations were, strangely enough, extremely efficient. Even so, it was clear the talks would not conclude before midnight. The Sage's Church was arranging for dinner, and the meeting took a brief recess, giving the weary participants a chance to catch their breath or visit the lavatories.
Jenkins wanted to find out what news was arriving from around the world. He understood perfectly well that in the two hours he had been sitting in his chair, the material world had surely descended into an age of cataclysm. Still, he needed to know the details—at the very least, to gauge just how urgent the situation had become.
Just as he had determined, if the situation was dire, he would storm the black tower with hundreds, even thousands, of Graces after the negotiations and play the Difference Engine's game of "climb to the ninth floor" on its home turf. If the disaster was still within a manageable scope, he would wait for the Church to pinpoint the Difference Engine's location. Then, he would join the Church's forces for a final battle in the material world and give the machine a big surprise with that last drop of his divinity.