Chương 246: Which Is More Dangerous? Evil, Or Idiocy?

"Gentlemen, you are probably wondering why I pushed this meeting forward so suddenly" These were Algo Irmandelt Rootriska's first words as he stepped into the room, a grand, chandelier-adorned meeting room wide enough to accommodate a thousand people comfortably… A relic of a king of the past, whose vision had left behind a palace most grandiose. The current king took a seat at the very end of the lengthy table.

Already there were various prominent nobles from the kingdom, alongside some other notable figures of importance… Algo Irmandelt Rootriska was quite well-known for involving all people of power in governance one way or another…

"It must be indeed quite important, considering that someone whom we usually never see is around today" Lord Felgion Hulx, the noble controlling the greatest army after that of the crown, was the first to speak, directing his gaze toward the odd-one-out of this meeting, a figure robed in fiery orange garments bearing many feathers of the same colouration.

"The Divine Feather is why this meeting was pushed forward, Lord Felgion Hulx" The robed figure responded, their face hidden in the shadows cast by their hood, the direct line of sight on their face obstructed by hanging feathers.

"That's an interesting remark…" The king tapped his fingers against the table.

"We were supposed to only discuss a few things relating to trade deals, and organise a visit from Miss Balayal Azt Mastras, but things have taken a turn in several areas, and I fear that all of these turns happened due to a single source–Lord Bombidour, you may begin" Jorah Bombidour stood up from his seat, slightly bowing in the direction of the king.

"Thank you, Your Majesty–As everyone present surely already knows, we have been enduring a second wave of the Nightmare Plague for a while now. It has been less brutal and highly unusual in the way it has manifested. However, about two days ago, I noticed that things got worse. People already suffering from nightmares had their curse worsen considerably, and the number of those bizarre… Televisions, I believe, are called?

And all else propagating the plague has drastically increased over an extremely short period of time""Additionally, the great protective barrier that Sir Nebulo and I created has been on the receiving end of an abnormal degradation since then as well. It is as though it is being absorbed by something, but we found ourselves unable to find a clear direction where it was being drained to" Lord Hardene Vomhargon scratched his face before speaking up.

"So, the Nightmare Plague is baring its teeth again? What an annoyance, I was hoping that it had been eradicated for good…" However, Jorah Bombidour wasn't done speaking just yet.

"Additionally, ever since this started, several other strange phenomena have taken place. All existence curses within a large area of the continent had been growing weaker, their power sapped, and the same is true for spectral entities or haunted places and items–The word hasn't yet spread far, but people suffering from either of those problems have begun moving into the affected area to 'cure' themselves""...

Well, this is quite a bizarre thing" Alldour Jinimalia rubbed his chin in thought after this short sentence, his face scrunching up as he could only come to one conclusion.

"So, let me resume… The Nightmare Plague, which we know is controlled by a she-monster formerly employed by Beliol Azt Mastras, has been making a comeback, and is now intensifying… This same monster, who we know has a taste for curses and spirits… Damn it, is this about a monster evolution?"

"You would be correct in assuming as such, Lord Jinimalia. The pieces were already painting a clear picture, but this envoy from the Divine Feather confirmed it in full" Algo Irmandelt Rootriska waved his arm in the direction of the robed figure, who stood up from their seat to speak up in response.

"Every year, our great seers detect about a dozen monster evolutions, but most of the time, it is nothing to worry about. Even if a rare event only a select few monsters can go through, it does not mean that an evolved monster will become a threat worthy of attention. Most fall to the blades of adventurers–This time, the situation is different.

The seer who sensed this event nearly had his soul ripped out of his body and was cursed""We were able to cleanse him of the nightmares, but his soul sustained damage, and he has been lying in a coma for the past few days after explaining what he had learned… This is what we usually call a backlash.

He was not considered good enough to peer into the secrets of this monster, and it seemed like the creature instinctively reached out to attack in response to the intrusion""Our seers haven't had to deal with such issues for more than three hundred years. The last time such a thing occurred was when the Monster King had risen, and it had led to countless abnormally powerful entities being born. Now, I do not mean to cause a panic. The backlash our seer suffered was much lesser compared to back then.

The brave seers of the past had to sacrifice senses, sanity, or life to peer for even a fraction of a second" Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"Nonetheless… This is far from a good sign. Whatever this creature is, its continued existence is a great risk. It is far too dangerous to be left alive" The nobles all looked at each other in silence, communicating with nothing but stares and nods. Lord Felgion Hulx, as the most prominent noble, was the one who ended up speaking up.

"We understand what you mean, Envoy, but the simple fact that the people representing the Divine Feather felt the need to come here and ask for help is… Let's say, it says a lot about how difficult you believe it will be to deal with this monster. It might not be a living calamity capable of evaporating entire towns, but if I had to guess, you don't have a single flying clue where it is, do you?"

"... We are indeed unaware of its location. We only know that it should be located somewhere in Rootriska, Heldinot, or Malkazert""How precise, somewhere inside of three enormous countries with a variety of different terrains, ranging from flooded underground depths to floating islands. The funds required for a proper search will be enormous, and there is seemingly no guarantee that we'll even get a clue where it is hiding""We have done our best to locate it, but there is a powerful interference.

It probably possesses an innate ability protecting it from being located" Lord Felgion Hulx sighed.

"Listen, let's all be honest with each other, alright? We all pray to the Divine Feather in this room, don't we? But apart from you, Envoy, no one else is fond of the Divine Feather's representatives. You guys do nothing but hole yourselves in your atrociously large temple, come out to preach every so often, but when we need assistance, you always deny us, if you don't stay silent" The robed figure did not say anything.

"So for you to come asking for our help now… Don't you think that's a bit insulting?" The envoy glanced at the king, but he clearly wasn't going to be saying anything, just nodding his head to show that he agreed with what Hulx was expressing.

"... I understand your frustrations, but this is a topic of importance, and besides…" The envoy pulled up their hood.

"... I don't have any freaking pull on decisions made at the temple! I am just a lowly cleric being used as a messenger! If you have grievances with how the temple makes its decisions, then go there and talk to the pontiff and his archbishops!" Felgion Hulx blinked a few times.

"This one's got some spunk…"

"Aherm, sorry for the outburst, Good Sirs… With how long it had been since a seer received a backlash, the temple has been somewhat restless. A bit too many people are jumping to conclusions, as you know, we have several prophecies, and every time something unusual happens, there is unrest as we go through the prophecies to check if one is beginning.

I myself have been studying them since I was a child, so I can tell you that this creature has nothing to do with any prophecy, but the pontiff does not like what happened, and wants this monster eliminated" Hardene Vomhargon casually cracked his neck.

"I understand fully the desire to eliminate a threat, but if your seers can not locate it, in what world does he think we will be able to find it? As stated previously, we would need to look everywhere, and that would be costly. We can't just get so many people to look around for days or weeks without compensation… Besides, if that monster is evolving, it definitely is in a hiding spot" Jorah Bombidour picked up where his fellow noble left off.

"Indeed, who's to say that it didn't bury itself underground? Or hid in a place inaccessible to most? Without a clear indication of where to look, I strongly doubt we'll be able to even find a faint trace" The envoy sat back down, a small smile forming on his face.

"It isn't just about the Divine Feather and Rootriska. All countries have their seers, and with how great this monster's evolution is, it is guaranteed that all nations nearby and perhaps even beyond have been alerted. Not all of them are robust enough to not fear such a creature, and some of them have long been destabilised, and might use this threat to push for certain things in an attempt to resolidify their power… At least, that's what the pontiff spoke of" Algo Irmandelt Rootriska chuckled lightly.

"The pontiff is still as shrewd as ever, isn't she? This is most likely correct. In fact, if you might be willing to take a gamble, I am willing to bet that Aesther will soon be doing something incredibly idiotic by using this monster's existence as an excuse in an attempt to calm down their population" The Rootriskan King always kept a close eye on other nations, and in recent times, the Aestherian Republic had been in a less than favourable position.

The deeply ingrained corruption, mismanagement, and hostility of their leaders towards their own populations had been coming to light, and it seemed like heads would be stabbed upon pikes soon enough… A threat from somewhere else was a great diversion that Algo Irmandelt Rootriska was certain his Aestherian counterpart would jump onto without a second thought to justify doing something that had long been proven to be a terrible idea ninety-nine times out of a hundred.

The nobles present took a second to think, and all quickly threw their hands up in the air, sighed as loudly as humanly possible, or straight up hit the table with their fist as they realised what their monarch was talking about.

"Didn't those fools try it already about ten years ago?"

"You give them too much credit if you think they can actually learn from their mistakes. That's the problem with a republic like theirs: It is ruled by a thousand bureaucrats and headed by an incompetent who just happens to speak well! When they make a bad decision, it doesn't actually affect them directly, and they can just pass the blame to each other in an endless loop!"

"Allowing Aesther to do its own thing and become a republic was a mistake. We should have invaded them–For their own good!" The reactions were quite severe once everyone understood what was likely to happen soon. Nearly all countries had experience with what they believed Aesther was going to do, and it had basically never worked out well, or at least, it had always ended up coming back to bite them.

The only way it could work was through a firm usage of the carrot and the stick, and even then, it didn't seem worth the hassle. Only desperation or sheer stupidity could lead a nation to use such a thing in the modern day.

"I am afraid that the Aestherian Republic's reaction to the monster will be a bigger problem than the monster, Envoy""... Is it that bad?"

"It's far worse"