"To be honest, I recently learned that the elders even sent assassins after you two..."
Phainon's expression was grave.
"Please be careful."
"Assassins?" Yan Huan scratched his head, turned, and called out:
"Assassin, I'm hungry. Get me some strawberry cake."
"Okay." The maid, who had been sitting with her legs crossed, closed her book, rose slowly, and headed out the door.
Phainon: "..."
"There's something else."
Phainon looked at the two of them.
"I came to help you both understand Okhema a little better."
"If anything's unclear, I can explain it right now."
"What's there to explain?" Yan Huan sounded unimpressed. "The only trouble in the city right now is those elders attacking their own people."
"That's one way to put it, but there's more to it."
Phainon's voice grew serious.
"The Elder Council is a governing body made up of representatives from Amphoreus's city-states. It holds legislative authority over the Holy City and convenes the Citizen Assembly every few years."
"In other words, the Citizen Assembly is the elders' home ground. They have plenty of room to maneuver."
"It's Okhema's most important civic event. Its influence is so great... it can even change the course of the Journey of the Spark."
"But Aglaea still calls the shots in the Holy City, doesn't she?" Yan Huan recalled what he had seen so far.
The elders were obnoxious, but they only caused trouble behind the scenes.
They spread claims that Aglaea was a power-hungry madwoman, for instance, using public opinion to make life difficult for the Chrysos Heirs.
As Yan Huan saw it, they were small fry with no hope of facing the Chrysos Heirs head-on.
So they exploited the Chrysos Heirs' conscience instead, forcing those heroes to fight on two fronts.
"Even Aglaea can't win everyone over, despite her thousand