The gatekeeper muttered, "Sorry!"
"But these were orders from the higher-ups!"
"The higher-ups told us to give you the runaround."
"If you want someone to blame, blame the higher-ups!"
The crowd erupted into an uproar.
Fuck me!
The higher-ups had approved the requisition slips and told them to collect resources.
And yet—
they had emptied the treasury and were still giving them the runaround?
One regiment roared, "What they're doing is treason!"
The many regiment commanders were furious.
Then, they alarmed many higher-ups.
Before long, some higher-ups came over to persuade them, but it was useless.
In the end, they went to find the top brass.
A few top brass arrived and immediately tried to soothe them.
"This is all a misunderstanding!"
Yet no one listened.
They wanted only resources.
But the resources had all been stolen by the earlier envoys and that bunch of gatekeepers.
The top brass had plenty of resources in their own hands, but those belonged to them, not to the Heavenly Court.
They would never take them out to fill this hole.
The two sides argued, their tempers flaring higher and higher. "If you don't give us resources, we'll rebel! We'll betray the Heavenly Court too!"
The moment those words came out, the entire scene fell silent.
The top brass looked grim.
"Betray the Heavenly Court too?"
"Listen to yourselves! Listen to what you're saying!"
"If you defect to the other side, do you think they'll even want you?"
"Without the Heavenly Court, what the hell are you?"
"Without the Heavenly Court, what do you amount to?"
"What right do you have to betray the Heavenly Court?"
The top brass were furious.
The people below wanted to rebel?
Even saying it was a crime as vast as the sky.
It had to be curbed. It