"Your Excellency, Cardinal."
Sailesi, who was meditating, heard his attendants calling from outside the door.
What's the matter?
"Your Excellency, as you previously arranged, it is now time to meet with the Messenger..."
"What letter...?"
Sailesi rubbed his temples, about to ask a question, when he recalled memories from earlier that day.
He raised his voice slightly and said towards the door:
Go tell him to prepare for the meeting.
Two minutes later, a figure completely shrouded in a black robe appeared in Sailesi's office.
Sailesi looked at the black-robed man sitting across the table from him, and resumed his usual stern and unsmiling demeanor:
"What's the rush? Aren't you going to follow the rules? Is this a proper place to meet?"
"Your Grace, we weren't the ones who broke the rules first."
A sharp, piercing sound came from under the hood, accompanied by a faint, guttural sound of teeth chattering.
Sailesi sighed, his tone becoming very serious:
"I already attached a handwritten letter with the specific reasons last time -- a small group of rebels has appeared within the territory of the Tree Worship Church, cutting off our transportation channels. After dealing with these rebels, the previous shortages will be made up."
"I believe I have shown sufficient sincerity, so were you sent here because your master thinks I lack sincerity, or is he simply illiterate?"
The voice coming from beneath the black robe also became serious:
"The dignity of the empire cannot tolerate..."
Sailesi raised his right hand slightly:
"Save your breath. If the empire truly had any dignity left, it would have already taken back the half that had seceded."
The man in black robes sighed upon seeing this:
" The Bone Alliance is indeed a major threat to the Empire, but our master said that if his esteemed ally encounters any difficulties, we can certainly send a contingent of elite troops into the Theocracy to assist you..."
"As for expenses, the host has always been very generous..."
Sailesi frowned and asked softly:
"Is this a provocation?"
The figure in black robes showed no fear.
"You provoked us first!"
With that, a sharp claw ripped off the black robe covering his entire body, revealing exotic clothing to Sailesi.
Along with it appeared a creature roughly the size of a normal human, but with strikingly distinct animal features... a rat-man.
The rat-man's long tail, which had been wrapped around its leg, suddenly lashed out and grabbed the coat rack in Sailesi's study, then hurled it at him.
Under the cover of the coat rack, the foreign visitor exerted force with his feet and extended both claws, seemingly aiming to stab Sailesi in the chest.
"Bang!"
As expected, Cardinal Sailesi dodged the attack, but he still looked somewhat disheveled. He didn't seem to be good at close combat. The rat-man assassin noticed this and not only made his claw attacks more ferocious, but even planned to bite open Cyrus's throat with his huge incisors.
The two engaged in a chase, one fleeing and the other fleeing, and thus the battle began in the spacious study...
A series of impacts came from a guest room behind them, leaving Sailesi's entourage waiting at the door puzzled.
Having just arrived, I informed the black-robed visitor of Lord Sailesi's request for a meeting. The visitor said he would tidy himself up and then come out to accompany me to the Cardinal's office and study.
Several minutes have passed, and he hasn't appeared at the door. Instead, it seems like he's fighting with someone inside the room.
He slightly pushed open the door a crack, and heard shouts of "Hey!" "Ha!" "Die, you old man!" "Let me tell you, our empire has recently..." and so on.
Upon closer inspection, one could see a gray, furry rat, roughly the size of a person, frantically beating the single bed beneath them.
No wonder he was so excited, it turns out he'd already met the Cardinal...
The official muttered something under his breath, a smirk playing on his lips as he began to watch the rare spectacle unfold.
Stop looking, come back to me, I need you to do something.
Sailesi's voice echoed in the mind of the attendant.
"Yes, Your Grace, and this envoy..."
"Just leave it alone. I know what I need to know. He'll get tired and rest on his own. He'll leave when he wakes up."
"Yes."
The official gently closed the wooden door to the guest room. After taking a couple of steps, feeling uneasy, he turned back and used his Directed Alienation to add two bolts to the outside of the door, fearing that the envoy inside might wake up early and wander around.
Taking two steps back and nodding, the attendant, who was staying at a small inn outside the heart of the Holy City, strode off toward Sailesi's study.
Inside the guest room, the rat-man's vision began to blur. Sailesi, who was being brutally beaten beneath him, had been riddled with hundreds of bloody holes, yet he was still smiling at him.
Around him, everything seemed to be constantly twisting and turning, shifting back and forth between illusion and reality, making it difficult to discern which side was illusion and which side was reality.
Sailesi had long since left his dream world, and all the major events that had recently occurred in the empire that this rat-man knew were now known to Sailesi.
Without his guidance, the illusions seen by the rat-man began to crumble.
One second he held the cardinal he had defeated, the next he was a mangled mess of bed boards and bedding...
The rat-man's brain was somewhat Overload, and the scene before him felt very familiar.
Did he do something similar when he last visited the Holy City of the Tree Worship Church?
It seems so, but it also seems so...
The rat-man felt his vision blurring and his head spinning; the more he thought about it, the more he felt breathless.
His eyes rolled back, and after emitting a piercing gasp like that of a broken accordion inhaling, his head lolled to the side and he passed out.
Meanwhile, in Sailesi's study.
The cardinal returned to normal from his meditative state.
His body, his breath, and his emotions all became very stable.
This is thanks to his strong ability to adjust himself, and of course, it is also related to the performance just given by a clown from the Empire.
Although I am not a nobleman from before the Demonic Tide, I still can't help but want to give something as a reward to such a classic court clown.
Then let him have a beautiful dream, a dream in which he can fully vent his dissatisfaction and repression.
While dreaming, a subtle suggestion is planted. When the rat-man wakes up, he will only feel that he has personally met Sailesi and completed all the tasks assigned by his master, and then happily embark on his return journey.
Sailesi was not at all surprised by the arrival of the rat-men.
His cooperative relationship with the Empire was never very strong to begin with, and in addition, he needed to avoid the ubiquitous spies under Luxiusi and Geliwusi, so meeting them directly was a major taboo.