Chương 390: Chapter : 390

Lord Voss raised his hand. The simple gesture silenced the room. The men stopped yelling. They waited for their leader to speak.

"We must orchestrate a daring extraction," Lord Voss proposed. He looked at the map on the table.

"We know the layout of the Imperial prison. We have guards on our payroll. We can send a strike team inside the walls. We can break Dr. Raven out of his cell before the trial begins." The nobles debated the idea. They argued about the risks.

"A rescue mission is incredibly dangerous," Minister Thorne pointed out. He adjusted his collar.

"The prison is strictly guarded right now. The Emperor knows Dr. Raven is a high-value target. The 1st Prince might have his elite soldiers watching the cell."

"We have to try," the military commander insisted.

"We can use stealth magic. We can bypass the outer walls. We can grab him and smuggle him out of the capital city. We can send him to a rival nation." They spent the next ten minutes discussing the exact details of the extraction plan. They calculated the cost of bribing the wardens. They planned the escape routes. They tried to find a flawless way to rescue the broken politician. But the more they talked, the more they realized the truth. The plan was totally flawed. The risk was simply too high.

If the rescue team failed, the Emperor would capture their mercenaries. The mercenaries would lead the Imperial guards straight back to this subterranean vault. Lord Voss let out a quiet sigh. He picked up his wine glass. He took a slow sip. He looked at the desperate faces of his partners.

"The extraction plan has a very low probability of success," Lord Voss concluded coldly.

"The security is too tight. The risk outweighs the reward. We cannot afford to lose more men."

"Then what do we do?" the military commander asked. He looked incredibly frustrated. Lord Voss set his glass down. His eyes turned completely merciless. He looked around the table. He offered a very simple, very brutal solution.

"If we cannot rescue him, we must silence him," Lord Voss stated. The words were flat and chilling.

"We cannot allow him to step inside a courtroom. We must permanently assassinate Dr. Raven inside his jail cell." The wealthy politicians stared at him. They did not look shocked. They did not feel any pity for their former partner. They only cared about their own survival. They only cared about protecting their money and their status.

"Assassination," Minister Thorne repeated slowly. He nodded his head.

"It is the only logical choice. A dead man cannot testify. A dead man cannot expose our syndicate."

"I agree," the military commander said firmly.

"I will contact our sleeper agents inside the prison. They can slip a tasteless poison into his food. He will die quietly in his sleep. The guards will think it was a sudden medical failure." This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Lord Voss looked at each man in the room. He wanted absolute agreement.

"We are voting on this right now. Do we agree to permanently eliminate Dr. Raven?" Every single man around the mahogany table raised his hand. The vote was completely unanimous. They coldly agreed to murder their ally. They felt no remorse. They felt no guilt. It was just a necessary business transaction to them.

"The decision is final," Lord Voss announced. He pushed the map away.

"The sleeper agents will execute the order tonight. The problem of Dr. Raven is officially handled." The men lowered their hands. They let out a collective breath of relief. They had solved the immediate threat. But their faces did not relax. A dark, ugly frustration still lingered in the room. The conversation quickly pivoted. They moved away from Dr. Raven. They focused on a much more immediate, highly irritating threat.

"We handled Raven," Minister Thorne grumbled. He crossed his arms tightly.

"But we still have a massive issue. We are still losing ground in the capital. Our operations are crumbling. And it is all because of one specific group."

"The 13th Unit," the military commander sneered. He said the name with pure, unfiltered disgust.

"That pathetic, unorganized group of girls. They are completely ruining everything we build." Lord Voss nodded. His jaw clenched. He felt incredibly annoyed. The 13th Unit had destroyed the drug operation in the slums. They had ruined the secret laboratory. They had won the tournament match. They were climbing the Royal leaderboard at an impossible speed.

"Princess Iris is becoming a massive problem," a nobleman complained.

"She is too stubborn. She refuses to give up."

"It is not Princess Iris," Lord Voss interrupted. He leaned forward. He pressed a button on the table.

"Princess Iris is smart, yes. Her elite girls are strong. But they have always been strong. They never won like this before. Something changed recently. Something shifted the balance of power." A large magical screen appeared on the stone wall. The screen glowed with a bright blue light. It displayed recorded video footage. It was footage from the recent arena battles and the city fights.

"I want you all to look very closely at this footage," Lord Voss instructed. He pointed a finger at the screen.

"We need to analyze their recent victories. We need to find the anomaly." The corrupt nobles turned their chairs. They stared at the magical screen. They were about to make the most hilarious, completely incorrect deduction in the history of the Belmontia Empire.

The video played silently. The screen showed Naomi dashing across the grass. It showed Laxmi throwing massive orange fireballs. It showed Sayma casting glowing golden barriers. The elite girls looked incredibly fierce. They moved with absolute precision. But Lord Voss paused the video. He did not care about the girls. He zoomed the image in. He focused the picture on the far back corner of the battlefield.

"Look right there," Lord Voss demanded. The screen showed Ken Eliot. He stood by a stone pillar. He wore a wrinkled navy blue suit. His white shirt hung completely untucked over his belt. He was not holding a weapon. He was not casting a massive spell. He was holding a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips. He was currently tossing a chip into the air and catching it in his mouth. He looked incredibly bored.

"Him?" Minister Thorne asked. The Minister looked deeply confused.

"You are pointing at the commoner servant. The messy boy. Ken Eliot. He is completely useless."

"Is he?" Lord Voss asked coldly. He pressed another button. The video played again. The corrupt politicians watched the screen. They watched Ken Eliot very closely. And what they saw made them incredibly, deeply annoyed. The magical screen played a new clip. The footage showed the recent tournament match. The 15th Unit charged across the field. They aimed their magical weapons directly at Naomi. Naomi stood her ground. She spun her twin silver daggers. She smiled a warm, friendly smile. She did not look strict.

She did not look stressed. She looked perfectly confident. She glanced back at Ken for a fraction of a second. Ken gave her a goofy, lazy thumbs-up.