Six hours earlier, London.
In the afternoon, beneath a parasol at the edge of the square, under the gentle sunlight...
Yegor tipped back his head and poured the espresso down his throat. Some color returned to his slightly pale face.
But looking at the person across the table still gave him a headache.
"To be honest, this has become a huge mess, and it'll be a pain to handle. Mr. Russell, you should know the consequences."
He sighed. "In broad daylight, the leader of the Heavenly Kingdom Lineage and a branch minister of the Unified Bureau came to blows in London. Especially when you and your student took turns stabbing a branch minister in the throat. Fine, he may have been at fault first, but this isn't how problems are solved.
There's fierce disagreement within the Decision Room over how to deal with this. Even though Minister Hanyuu hasn't filed a complaint or demanded an investigation, plenty of people still want severe punishment."
"Doesn't sound too serious. At least it wasn't as bad as the time the Egyptian branch minister and Roman branch minister went at each other. I have to say, that scene really opened my eyes."
Russell stirred his black tea with a teaspoon, looking utterly unconcerned.
Yegor shook his head. "This is different."
"Of course it's different."
Russell smiled. "At the very least, you can't treat this as a simple conflict, can you? Or is the nerve for power in some people's heads always stretched taut, never allowed to relax?
You and I both know whether this is a major incident depends entirely on how big people want to make it."
He said, "If you call it a major incident, then it becomes one."
But was it really such a major incident?
The Astronomical Society was, after