307 They Acted Without Proper Consideration
After the envoy handed over the Senate decree to the clerk, he took a step back but then halted in his tracks, his hidden intentions apparent.

“Is there something else?” Floral asked, accepting the scroll from the clerk.

“I’ll be sticking around in Holy Tree City with the two witnesses to assist you with the mission, until the hunt for Remides commences.”

He sure is making himself at home… Floral thought.

Staying in Holy Tree City meant that they could keep an eye on her from a certain perspective. And with the kind of mission they were undertaking, she couldn’t afford to underestimate the strength of the two people who were accompanying her. These powerhouses should have been stationed at Swan Port or Greenwater Port to avoid unnecessary suspicion.

!!
High-level powerhouses possessed transcendent powers that could unleash destructive power that wasn’t inferior to a small army alone. No ruler was willing to let such unstable factors stay in their core ruling area. Past experience had shown that whenever someone of this stature showed up, it was never without commotion. And they would almost never request to stay for a long time, without giving any chance for negotiation.

Lowering oneself to use guerrilla tactics for a Divine Realm or Legendary magic chanter? It could cause some serious damage. And it didn’t mean just any kind of damage, It was city-level damage. The Doomsday Watchers had come up with a tactic to resist the Void Sovereigns’ domains, but it had been upgraded and used by many factions during the Kings Era and the Unification War. And they used it on a large scale.

On the battlefield, it was only after the magic chanters from both sides had finished their infiltration battle that the armies would engage in a head-on battle. But often, the weaker side would lose due to the destruction of their supply lines and logistics. It was chaos, and it was effective.

It wasn’t until the Astral Laws were established that the magic chanters had to follow specific terms, which forced their spell battles to turn into modern knight duels. And that was when the empire firmly monopolized the right of transcendents to infiltrate and fight.

But still, the empire would send high-level magic chanters to the core cities of their vassals with strong political intentions. It was a direct, aggressive method of keeping them on a leash, and it worked.

As her thoughts raced, Floral said without changing her tone, “Garet, I need you to arrange for a team of Wild Hunt guards to escort our esteemed guests to the empire’s embassy. Make sure they have everything they need while they are here.”

“There’s no need for Your Grace to trouble yourself.”

The envoy, who had been listening to their conversation, interrupted, his head slightly bowed, “I’ve already contacted the embassy before coming here,” said the envoy, without waiting for the clerk to reply. He lowered his head slightly and continued, “I believe the ambassadors here have done their preparations. Speaker York instructed us to inquire about Mr. Elaire’s work progress. We won’t disturb you.”

But Elaire is still tied up in the room behind the palace…

Watching the three of them leave, Floral resisted the urge to sigh.

…

The sound of shattering glass echoed through the empty hall. Cracks formed and then spread, inch by inch. The delicate façade, fueled by magic, was beginning to dissipate, revealing William Kane’s steady figure on the left. It was as if he had been all along.

“The requests made by these people are interesting.”

He brandished his magical medium at the heavy door, which slammed shut with a resounding bang. Turning to face the throne, he continued, “They seem to know Ava State’s next goal, but I don’t think they know everything.”

Floral sprang up from her throne, but before she could even think to bow, an invisible force lifted her up.

“No need for formalities unless it’s a formal event, not with the Doomsday Watchers, at least…” Kane said, raising his magical medium.

Floral nodded and asked anxiously, “So tell me, what’s this Ava State military operation you were talking about?”

“With regards to the military operation at Greenwater Port, we need to take control of Greenwater Port in order to open up trade between Ava State and Blackwater Swamp. It’s the consensus between the Ava State governor and me.”

War was also the last thing Remides wanted in Ava State.

Floral suddenly remembered the only condition William had proposed to her before revealing his identity—to close the large portals at Swan Port and Greenwater Port.

So he was gearing up for this battle?

She found herself on the same warship as the Eighth Holy Spirit, but Floral wasn’t overly concerned about who controlled Greenwater Port. Renting it out to the empire’s Legion was all she could do, it didn’t matter if she later lent it to the Eighth Holy Spirit’s faction. The benefits of keeping the port for the Forest Elf’s civilization were simply not worth the investment until they could fully emerge from the forest.

However…

“You were telling me that the empire’s got a clue about what Ava State is aiming for?”

“It’s simple. It’s not exactly a secret that the High Elves are planning to strike. With that massive fleet gathered in Isu City, it’s pretty hard to keep a lid on things. But what’s got them so damn sure that our target is Greenwater Port?”

William drummed his fingers impatiently on the magical medium in his hand.

“But didn’t the empire just withdraw the Seventh Legion stationed at Greenwater Port?” Floral asked in confusion.

If the empire knew that Ava State was heading for Greenwater, why would they withdraw their ace, the Seventh Legion, to protect Platinum Province??”

William looked up at Floral and said, “This is the key. Do you remember what that fellow wanted you to do?”

“Hunt Remides with them?” Floral asked with a frown.

William nodded and said, “Exactly. And yet, they chose to stay in Holy Tree City and not have you head to the front lines with them. Don’t you see what this means?”

Floral shook her head. “I… don’t understand.”

William sighed and said, “I’ve already talked to the ruler of Ava State. She’s heading straight for Holy Tree City once she takes down Greenwater Port,” William said.

If possible, she would even delegate the command of the army to the Lord of Phoenix Fire City and come alone.

This was because Remides and her weapon—Judgment 3, a weapon that could deal substantial damage to the Lord of Starvation and Rot—were the key to taking down the Lady of Starvation in Holy Tree City.

Floral grasped the implications.
“In other words… they set the stage for the governor of Ava State to be hunted in Holy Tree City from the very beginning?”

The Senate had deliberately withdrawn their troops from Greenwater Port, aimed at preventing any losses to their ace. This move would allow Remides to march towards Holy Tree City unopposed, only to fall into a trap.

However…

Floral stared at the stern Presiding Judge, her mind racing with possibilities.

“Presiding Judge, is it possible that the Senate acted without proper consideration?”

If they had intentionally made such a move, they would have been aware of the Presiding Judge’s plans in Ravenwood, as well as the Lady of Starvation’s plans to create chaos here.

It didn’t make sense to make all of Ravenwood be the price just to kill Remides.

And if their opponents were truly as cunning as they appeared, why would they have entrusted the mission of besieging Remides to the untrustworthy Holy Tree Duke?

Floral couldn’t shake the feeling that the other side wasn’t as brilliant as claimed.

William fell silent, wondering if he was losing his grip on reality.

Were the members of the empire’s Senate, who had suffered defeat at the hands of the Damon Continent’s expeditionary army, really be equipped with foresight?

Could it be that I’m just too sensitive like Floral said?

After a while, he sighed and said, “How about this? Send someone you trust to the Astral Lighthouses in Emerald Province. Monitor them closely and let me know immediately if there’s any disturbance. Scratch that, I’ll have Blake send his best man. And while you’re at it, persuade Elaire to head back to the embassy and later spill what he knows about the envoy and the two witnesses. We need every bit of information we can get. Also, we can’t let the Seventh Legion retreat at full speed from the Greenwater Port portal. We need to slow them down…”

After making these arrangements, William took a deep breath and changed the subject, his eyes meeting Floral’s.

“I have a plan to stop the Lady of Starvation from altering the timeline. But it’s incomplete, and I need your help to make it work.”

“What kind of help?” Floral asked.

“To put it simply, I need your assistance with an experiment… I want to bring the other ‘you’ from a parallel timeline to our world.”