Theus arranged the work in hand, then shut himself in his office.
His thoughts were in turmoil.
Every day, he had to approve countless documents—some concerning war, some planning, some research directions.
What Castel would become in the future was something he needed to oversee from beginning to end.
All kinds of ideological currents—whether personal worship of him, blind reverence for yield, or industrialism above all else—needed to be kept in balance.
But... was Castel truly incapable of doing without him?
It was not.
From the very beginning, Theus had been trying to build a system, one capable of optimizing itself. It needed every human to fulfill their responsibilities in order to progress, but it did not depend on any single individual.
Even he could not explain why he had wanted to do this. He had simply instinctively yearned for efficiency and reliability.
And now, Theus suddenly realized that the time had come to put that system to use.
After a brief hesitation, Theus stirred the threads and pulled Castel's upper echelons into the link.
Theus: "Today, let's hold a meeting."
Theus: "You all know about the ignition failure, right?"
Everyone in the link nodded, and the atmosphere grew heavy for a moment.
Having lost the Stellar Furnace, their means of countering the gods, they did not know what they should do in the future.
Theus: "Mm, first, report on the front lines. Erwin, how is the battle going?"
Erwin: "Lady Angelita suffered a severe impact. After every effort to save her, she is now dead."
Theus: "It's good that she's fine. The allied forces can continue holding the line. What I'm about to discuss is Castel...
Wait, what did you just say?!"
Erwin: "She is already dead, but it is not a major problem. She is a Dream Walker,