874
The atmosphere in the luxuriously furnished, classical conference hall was oppressive. The devils who had already been kneeling on either side before the person at the head of the room entered still had not been permitted to rise, and clearly would not receive that honor within the next hour.
The family's administrator, the patriarch who had soared from an unremarkable Sequence 7 among the direct descendants to a demigod in a single year, stood respectfully before the figure at the head of the room. As the only person temporarily allowed to stand, he reported in a calm yet still somewhat trembling voice:
"...As you can see, I wanted to seek opportunities amid the chaos and raise the Devil Family's overall strength to another level, but my misjudgment of the situation caused us to miss the opportunity to carry out our plan..."
"The situation on the Northern Continent has now become relatively stable. Feynapotter has officially acknowledged its status as a vassal state to Loen, and hostility between the various social classes within Loen has greatly diminished. The religious atmosphere has grown stronger. Food from Feynapotter comes in great quantities and is of high quality, with demigods participating in its transport. In a very short time, it dispelled the collapse of social order we had been waiting for. With this food, the Church of the Earth Mother has successfully entered a golden age of proselytizing. They promote efficient, inexpensive priests who provide free group treatment, while apothecaries and doctors have squeezed out our room to survive..."
The further Milan Nois went, the more cold sweat gathered on his back.
He felt as though he were explaining from every possible angle that "the Nois Family made poor decisions, is now useless, and has utterly failed your expectations," and in devil society,