Rhodes Island's Internal Affairs [6K Two-in-One]

"I know I can't hide it from her, and I know I can't hide it for long. But... I, and many others on Rhodes Island, want to know an answer."

"What does she want to do?" Closure's gaze sharpened, becoming focused. "Doctor. Persephone, the current secondary authority and de facto controller of Rhodes Island. What does she want to do now?"

Warfarin raised an eyebrow.

"I remember that you didn't abstain from voting at the meeting to discuss whether to awaken Doctor. Persephone," the white-haired Sanguinarch replied slowly. "Awakening the Doctor was a decision made unanimously by many, including you. And the Doctor has always had the authority to guide and deploy Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals, or rather, to us old-timers of the Sarkaz Babel Tower."

"...She does have it." Closure lowered her eyes slightly, but when she raised them a few seconds later, her gaze was even more solemn than before. "However, she wasn't like this in the past."

"In the past, even when she had access to PRTS's computing power, she could only... or rather, only intervene in one battle, one war, one campaign—she never cared about anything outside of war. She also never displayed any particularly strong power... Back in Sarkaz Babel Tower, even a slightly trained Sarkaz warrior could easily take her down. And she never showed any inclination because of it."

"She is a top-tier strategist. But she is also just an ordinary strategist... She is invincible in battle. But she also makes small mistakes and occasionally suffers setbacks in the overall planning and confrontation... She can win against Theresis many times in a row. But she will lose once or twice occasionally. She looks like a machine, but we all know that she is just a calm, disciplined, and powerful [human] like a machine."

Closure a soft breath.

"I was mentally prepared. I thought the worst-case scenario was that she would refuse to support Rhodes Island and watch us go bankrupt due to mismanagement, leaving us with no choice but to beg her. In a more optimistic scenario, she would use 'amnesia' or something similar to give both sides a way out—her style of doing things might change. She might become more optimistic, or she might become lazy. She might become naive, mischievous, and lacking in awareness, like a child. But in any case, she would ultimately help Rhodes Island and give us a direction to move forward."

"I was mentally prepared. Or rather, not just me, but many people on Rhodes Island were prepared for what happened to Her Highness back then. Whatever the truth is, the responsibility doesn't lie entirely with her—everyone on that ship back then was guilty of dereliction of duty. And her entering the Sarcophagus was simply a way for many people who were unwilling to admit their mistakes to try to shift the blame onto her, and she agreed without resistance."

"I was willing to make amends to her, to help her, to stay by her side—and many others on the ship shared this sentiment. We all believed that as long as her heart was no longer empty, as long as she had support, she would surely be able to lead the newly formed Rhodes Island out of its predicament, just like the Sarkaz Babel Tower had been. But when I arrived in Chernobog, I, we realized...we were wrong."

"You are wrong." Miss Warfarin took a second sip of her black tea. "You have discovered that she is far more powerful and terrifying than you imagined."

"Yes." Closure sighed a second time. "We thought she was just a wise woman who was slightly more intelligent than ordinary mortals. We thought she was only omnipotent on the battlefield but lacked in many other areas. We thought the Sarkaz Babel Tower collapsed because the favor of the heavens had run out and human strength was finite. But we were wrong."

She left the stool and walked along the edge of the table to the enclosed window. Her gaze pierced through the one-way porthole. The entire bustling and vibrant Chernobog came into view.

Closure's throat trembled.

"Rhodes Island arrived at noon. After that, I, along with many others, spent three hours observing the city that she had taken control of after the Doctor awoke—we thought she had taken control of Chernobog's bureaucracy. I thought she had cleverly seized some power within the city and reached cooperation with some influential figures."

"We thought she would at least need Rhodes Island to help her through her troubles, to become her ally, and to extend her will. But... we were wrong."

"She doesn't need any agents. No administrators, no guards, no soldiers—she can control an entire Mobile City and manage every tiny task all by herself. And the only tools she needs to accomplish this inhuman feat are an extension of her arm and a swarm of drones."

She shook her head vigorously.

"I've seen the best warlocks. She can control a thousand spells to be cast simultaneously. I've seen the best engineers. Yet even I, in my own hands, can only control a swarm of a hundred drones at a time, and even then, I can't achieve the precision required. But what about her? How many drones are coordinating their operations across different areas of this city?"

Fifty thousand? One hundred thousand? Or more?

"This means one thing. It means that whether it's Her Highness, the Twin Empresses of Lateran, or those hermits in the deep mountains and the priests deep within the court—they are no better than an insect when facing Persephone. And it also means that at the moment Her Highness was assassinated, if she wanted, she could completely freeze the entire Rhodes Island with pure telekinesis, just like sealing an insect in amber!"

"But she didn't do that." Warfarin's voice was quiet and indifferent. "So now you're wary of her. You suspect she orchestrated that assassination."

"No." Closure shook her head. "I wouldn't say I understand her, but I do understand Her Highness... There's no need to dwell on the past. After all, she never pledged allegiance to Her Highness, and no law or precept can judge her. What I can be sure of is that, in her eyes... or rather, in her past eyes, the Sarkaz Babel Tower wasn't important. We, the old inhabitants of the Sarkaz Babel Tower, those who weren't particularly close to her in the past, were also insignificant to her."

"She is an evil spirit. A chess player on Terra —as Sarkaz. I don't actually object to being seen as a tool and used. But I, and many others on Rhodes Island, want to know—"

She stared intently at Warfarin.

"—What does she want? What is she fighting for? What is it that makes her willing to unleash her power? And where does she intend to lead us, and Rhodes Island?"

"Tell me, Warfarin. Tell me what you have seen, known, and heard!"

Her gaze was like that of a drowning person staring at a passing straw.

However, the straw in her eyes was burning fiercely the next moment!

She saw a fire ignite in the air, and a figure appear within the flames, placing a hand on Warfarin's shoulder.

And that familiar figure had a silhouette that made her almost instinctively want to run away and crash into the wall!

"Surtr!" "Surtr!?"—One after the other, one startled.

"I'm sorry, I overheard your conversation." Miss Surtr's form emerged from the void. Her pretty face was filled with melancholy and embarrassment.

The embarrassment came from hearing things I shouldn't have heard.

The melancholy stemmed from the fact that a certain pink and white Princess was currently floating around within her sight, acting all cute and pleading with her as if to say, "I'm counting on you for everything!"

"Let me answer that question," she said helplessly.

Ah... I've got a post. Tomorrow I'll be alive again _(:з"∠)_

Chapter 168: Rhodes Island's Internal Affairs [6k Two-in-One]

Time silently jumped back a small space.

Warfarin blinked, her thoughts seemingly caught in a lapse. Inside the sealed room, she was still inside.

What happened?

Oh... I remember now. Just Closure was questioning me—her righteous indignation masking a fierce but cowardly exterior. She wanted to know Persephone's thoughts.

How ridiculous! Why not ask her directly? Why not ask Persephone instead of asking someone who shares your blood, your colleague, and your companion?

She dared not; she was afraid.

But deep down, she still harbored a faint hope and longing.

The thought flashed through my mind. The sudden, almost unsettling feeling of losing a dozen seconds of memory was easily banished. As if a cool breeze had entered, my mind became clearer than ever before, and this clear thinking could provide an answer to the terrible situation that was currently unfolding.

So she raised her head and gave her colleague a warm but unforgiving look.

"You want to escape, is that it?" Her tone was firm, her expression relaxed yet confident. "Closure, you're afraid, you want to flee Rhodes Island, is that it?"

"I didn't—!" Her colleague, as expected, slammed her hand on the table, a blush rising on the Sanguinarch's pale face. "I just want to know—"

However, Warfarin simply watched her quietly.

"If you want to know, why ask me?" The white-haired Sanguinarch stared unblinkingly. "You can ask Amiya, you can ask Ace, you can ask Touch, you can even ask Gavial... You can ask many people about this. But why are you asking me here, at this time?"

"I just..."

"You've already asked them, haven't you?"

"..."

"You asked them, but their answers didn't satisfy you. On the contrary, their behavior frightened you and many others on Rhodes Island —they weren't worried about Persephone at all, and they never even considered where Persephone would take them, were they?"

"I..." Closure, her face stiff. Then, the strength and determination she had shown earlier crumbled little by little, like a wall being washed away by water.

"Yes, I'm terrified." The black-haired Sanguinarch lowered his eyes. "I'm afraid of this city, afraid of everyone and everything in it... Do you know what my first feeling was when I stepped into this Mobile City?"