"Congratulations."
In the brief silence, Russell suddenly heard Yegor's voice.
The seated Secretary-General said, "It hasn't been easy after all these years."
Russell answered calmly, "Not at all. It was merely my duty."
The rise of the Heavenly Kingdom Lineage was beyond doubt, and with Golden Dawn's destruction, the reorganization of Utopia was practically a foregone conclusion.
Besides, even if that possibility did not exist, Russell would never give up.
It was simply that Yegor had not expected something projected to happen ten years later to be brought so close...
If Utopia wanted to rebuild, it would inevitably have to take food from the Unified Bureau's plate in the future. It was only a matter of sooner or later.
The sovereignty of the Present Realm.
It sounded intangible, yet it involved every aspect of reality. Something worthy of being called a "divine artifact" could never be said to belong to any one person or organization.
Even Utopia was no exception.
The Unified Bureau had governed for seventy years, developed for seventy years, and created the Present Realm as it stood today with its own hands. It was only right that it should claim it. Even if they all belonged to the Astronomical Society, why should they hand it back just because someone opened their mouths and asked?
Besides, even if they gave it to them, could they handle it?
This was bound to be a long, long tug-of-war.
Even if the two sides had yet to clash, what if Russell wanted to go further? What if... Russell wanted to restart Heaven?
Without the pressure of the abyss, the two of them could never have sat here so calmly.
Yet at the same time, both sides exercised the utmost restraint. Whether out of their own hopes or the realities before them,