Central Sixty-Four Chambers

The Babylon Temple -- Council Hall.

Ever since the Lord God used supreme divine might a year ago to merge Birka Island, Angel Island, and Upper Yard Island, thereby establishing Heavenly Babylon, the Central Sixty-Four Chambers had been specifically established to facilitate administrative management and resolve the four-hundred-year conflict between the Shandians and Angel Island.

The council was formed jointly by representatives from Birka, Angel Island, and Shandia, totaling sixty-four seats that jointly administered Babylon.

Naturally, the god ranked as the supreme chief, able to decide matters with a single word. The other representatives mostly discussed details and execution levels.

Located beneath him and known as the Three Pillars under God, three special permanent seats were held by the leaders of the three major factions: the Birka Pope, the Angel Island Governor, and the Shandia Elder.

If any given affair was not the will of God, the Three Pillars held veto power.

The remaining sixty seats were divided equally among the three major factions as non-permanent seats, usually recommended internally by themselves.

This administrative structure would certainly be considered nonsense on Blue Star, but in a world where personal martial might could disregard human-sea tactics, it instead appeared overly mild.

-- When someone with an absolute, un-resistible power is willing to reason with you, you had better listen.

Angel Island and Shandia were very sensible, and coupled with the fact that over the past year, the Birkans, despite wearing the expression of "we are the direct lineage," had never truly oppressed them. Upper Yard Island was also equally open to all three parties, jointly developed and utilized.

Babylon's cohesion was gradually forming, and even the Shandians, who had initially obeyed without being convinced, truly surrendered after seeing the High God find the Golden Bell and even place them directly in charge of managing it.

-- Today was simply work meetings as usual.

It should have been a routine meeting no different from any other... if one did not consider the Lord sitting in the chief seat.

The representatives from Angel Island and Shandia both looked slightly nervous as Sephiroth himself sat there. The holy men of Birka origin, however, displayed expressions of mild fanaticism.

Naturally, the god could not attend every meeting. The chief of the Central Sixty-Four Chambers was usually acted on behalf of by Her Grace Isabella, God's Right Hand · Heavenly Regent.

If a deadlock occurred in the meeting, Her Grace Lilith, God's Left Hand · Divine Arbiter, would also appear to execute the will of the Upper God and render judgments.

Moreover, what was even stranger today was that even when the High God attended in the past, Her Grace Isabella would usually stand at his side. Today, only Lord God attended alone...

Even though Sephiroth did not broadcast to the world that he was "omniscient (wide-area Mantra)" the way Enel did in the original story, the representatives who could enter the Central Sixty-Four Chambers more or less knew that the Lord God possessed this ability.

Thus, not a single one dared to whisper among themselves; even if they made eye contact with one another, they all wore the expression of -- I don't know a thing, and I wouldn't dare ask anyway.

"High God... do you have... any instructions today?"

The old Pontiff had seemed to have lived a fulfilled life ever since Sephiroth became a god, and chose to retire. The newly appointed Pontiff had been promoted from among the bishops, and was none other than Isabella's grandfather...

His feelings toward Sephiroth were very complex, given that his granddaughter's husband was the High God. Whenever he thought about how he had once wanted the other man to marry into his family, he felt utterly uncomfortable all over.

"Don't be so stiff. Bella has other matters to attend to today; you may continue."

-- That still wasn't right, though.

The halo atop Sephiroth's head brightened slightly, causing the Pontiff to involuntarily look away... What could he say? The old fellow's ghost fire either burning or not, followed by "your granddaughter is so smooth," was an instant kill...

"-- We respectfully obey the holy will."

The meeting finally proceeded normally.

The agenda to be pushed forward today was the monetary system, a new agricultural model based on land development, the systematic aquaculture of Sky Island characteristic dial species, and the construction progress of the Wide-Area Silent Ship.

The monetary system was the responsibility of the Church. Although gold was not considered particularly valuable stuff on this Sky Island, in order to establish a reliable financial system, Sephiroth personally scanned the entire Sky Island and collected almost all the gold.

"Your Majesty, regarding the issuance of currency, the preliminary preparations and promotional work have already been completed. The relevant materials can be found in..."

The speaker was Gan Fall. After his surrender, he was not completely stripped of his power; instead, he was appointed as the Angel Island Governor. As for calling the "god" "Your Majesty," that was also at Sephiroth's personal instigation.

The main consideration was that they would establish diplomatic relations with the Blue Sea in the future, and calling oneself a god would cause a lot of unnecessary trouble. It was just that people within the Birka Church system still called him "High God." They generally didn't go to the Blue Sea, so there was no need to insist on correcting them.

The Sky Island currency unit was the Extol, with one Beli equaling 10,000 Extols. (Original setting)

The currency value of things like the Beli was already low enough, with 100 Belis buying a newspaper (around 140 yen for a newspaper in reality). Even if the Extol couldn't compare to the Zimbabwean dollar, it could still be considered a master of inflation.

Thus, Sephiroth gave the minting rights to the Birka Church, gave the issuance rights to Angel Island, and Shandia was responsible for supervision and cooperation in establishing Babylon's own monetary system.

It was not without precedent; for instance, the currency unit of Amazon Lily, where the Kuja resided, was the "Snake Hair," which was their own domestic currency.

The currencies minted by the Birka Church were collectively called Babylon gold coins and came in five types, with their weight and face value halving successively.

The largest denomination was the Holy Gold Coin. The obverse featured a swirling Three Tomoe surrounded by large double wings, while the reverse depicted a large bell surrounded by vines. Considering the price of gold on the Blue Sea, it was designed to weigh 36 grams and have a face value of one million Beli.

Large Gold Coin: The front featured intersecting large double wings and a floating halo, with a large bell on the back.

Gold Coin: Small double wings on the front, and a chestnut on the back.

Half Gold Coin: A small single wing open on the side for the front, and a totem on the back.

Small Gold Coin: A harp on the front, and clouds on the back.

Paper money was not abolished and remained in normal use. These gold coins were mainly used as standard coins and for large-scale currency, and were also considered a kind of cultural symbol. The exchange with paper money had corresponding restrictions depending on the circumstances. Primarily, once they reached the Blue Sea, there were certain things that paper money could not buy, but gold coins could.

One matter after another was implemented. On Sky Island, the value of land was unquestionably high. As for agricultural techniques, even though Sephiroth didn't understand them very well, he could still offer a few ideas, since he hadn't done farm work on Blue Star in his previous life. Aquaculture of Sky Island dials was designated as a characteristic industry.

Among them, the largest project was the construction of the Wide-Area Silent Ship. It could be said that the progress was gratifying, and it was estimated to be completed next year. Aside from Sephiroth himself participating in the guidance, his massive use of lightning metallurgy to solve material problems was also a crucial link.

The reason why the Ark in the original work took a full six years to build, besides the fact that this fellow Enel was semi-literate, probably had to do with him thinking he was a god and avoiding physical labor whenever possible. Relying solely on enslaving ordinary people to build it meant slow manufacturing progress was only natural.

Bringing up Enel, this person died from an accident at the construction site.

Sephiroth stated that he knew absolutely nothing about it -- it wasn't me, I didn't do it, don't talk nonsense.

The meeting gradually entered the new proposal submission segment, and the Shandia Elder had a somewhat conflicted and embarrassed expression as he raised his hand.

"Your Majesty, we Shandians have an unfilial request, and we hope you will grant it."

Sephiroth's gaze swept toward the Shandia representatives.

Among the sixty seats present, leaving aside the holy men on Birka's side, which included Shura, Ohm, Gedatsu, and the three Satori brothers, there were indeed some "acquaintances" in another sense on Shandia's side.

Originally, Shandia's population was not large, so among these twenty seats, compared to the other two factions, their average age was lower. Several members of the Shandia guerrilla force from the Sky Island arc, such as Wyper, were also conspicuously listed.

As far as he knew, Wyper and his gang were around eighteen or nineteen years old this year. (In the original work, Wyper was twenty-four when he appeared; now he was precisely eighteen).

Judging from Mantra's assessment, the auras of these teenagers were slightly unstable, carrying minor negative emotions.

When Sephiroth actively used Mantra, he could indeed read minds, but such behavior would be very obviously perceived by the other party; passive Mantra could only sense emotions.

"Permission to speak granted."

Ever since the Golden Bell was given to them, the Shandians had basically surrendered, and over the past year, there had been no sign of any dissatisfaction. Just how unfilial could their so-called unfilial request possibly be...

"Please grant us permission to offer you our most outstanding female warrior as your attendant..."

The Elder lowered his head respectfully, dropping a massive bombshell on Sephiroth...

Gan Fall -- Good grief, what an absolute good grief!

As the Governor of Angel Island, Fall really wanted to say that the young girl named Conis was not offered by him privately! Things like this could even be rolled out!

The problem was that Fall didn't dare say it was all the Lord God's arbitrary decision either; it was truly like falling into a pit of yellow mud...

He could only stare with eyes like goldfish. Too vicious, glaring fiercely, wishing he could glare the Shandia Elder to death.

-- Over sixty people, in a place as sacred as the Central Sixty-Four Chambers, you aren't discussing affairs of state, and you pull this! Bah, disgusting, I only ever secretly had ideological discussions with Conis. You guys could talk about this kind of matter privately! Privately, or even submit a written application; it wouldn't take much time...

"This person is our most outstanding female warrior -- Laki."

Indeed, she was a fair-skinned, beautiful young girl wearing traditional Shandia attire.

Since things had reached this point, Sephiroth naturally had no objections. He simply hadn't planned to go after those who already had owners "at this time." For example, situations like Koala and Kaya. If there were opportunities, he did have thoughts on the Empress, Yamato, Uta, and others.

(Regarding the issue of taking people in, the declaration is "multiple women." A slave-holding world, a feudal divine nation, fitting the environment. It has nothing to do with gender either. The Celestial Dragons in the original work said they had over a dozen wives. The fiancée of Sai from Flower Country said he had over a dozen men. And there's the situation with Big Mom. Besides, ask yourself honestly: if you came to this world and gained power, what would you do?)

"... Well then."

Suddenly, a sound like a crisp bell breaking the tranquil air echoed through the palace.

"Your Majesty --"

Suddenly appearing before everyone was God's Left Hand, the Black-Winged Arbiter -- Her Grace Lilith.

Her flowing long silver hair fluttered gently like silk amid her distinct black wings, and the black silk Gothic attire she wore set off her porcelain-like skin.

If Her Grace Lilith sat and maintained a smile, she could be said to possess an incomparable, artwork-like appearance. However, her sharp words could cause even a cowardly male to faint, making her quite famous on Sky Island as well.

After sweeping her gaze around, Lilith flashed an extremely cute smile at Sephiroth.

"... Am I interrupting at a bad time?"