(Heartfelt thanks to 'Star Academy,' 'Zhun Dong Man Zhai Yi Zhi,' 'Hong Chen Meng,' 'Only Me no Alone,' 'Yakumo Maki,' and 'You Bi Ji Yue' for their rewards!)
Re-Estize Kingdom, Royal Capital.
In one corner of the vast Royal Capital stood a building.
From the outside, there was almost nothing remarkable about it.
Yet within this building, the greatest darkness in the entire kingdom had gathered.
Inside a room resembling a conference chamber, eight people sat around a round table.
Some were girls in the bloom of youth.
Some were men in their prime.
Some were weathered old men.
Some were neither young nor old, middle-aged.
Among this group, all eight of them were busy with their own affairs.
Some were reading documents in their hands.
Some were speaking with subordinates standing by behind them.
Some had a finger pressed to their temples, clearly using message magic to contact someone far away.
Others were fiddling with what appeared to be extremely precious magic items, thoroughly engrossed in playing with them.
Though they sat at the same table, none of them so much as glanced at the others. Every one of them was occupied with their own business.
To the subordinates standing around on standby, this strange atmosphere and scene seemed entirely unremarkable, as though it were only natural.
And if one had to call it natural, then it truly was.
Although these people nominally and publicly belonged to the same organization and had cooperative relations with one another, in reality, they often fought over profits and only cooperated occasionally.
After all, they had originally belonged to different organizations.
Even after being brought together, they had yet to establish any genuine trust.
The only reason they attended the collective meeting held in the Royal Capital on fixed dates was that failing