Chapter 567 Council Summit [Pt 3]
"Greetings, esteemed Otherworlders!"
Conrad stood to his feet and moved towards the edge of the barricaded platform, all so he could get as close to the four who stood before him.
He had a bright smile on his face, and as his blonde hair swayed, his neatly trimmed beard seemed to twitch slightly. His eyes reflected joy—no, relief—at the presence of the Otherworlders, especially the one who was the center of attention.
"We welcome you to our summit." He continued, ensuring his tone was both audacious and respectful.
Going as far as bowing his head before them, he concluded his opening greeting. "Thank you for coming."
Vida was also standing in front of her seat, and she followed his cue and bowed the moment he did so. Once the other nobles saw this, they knew they had to follow suit.
'Arrogant fools. They have no idea who they're dealing with…' Conrad sighed, nearly shaking his head as he spotted many among the nobles who displayed reluctance when lowering their heads.
'Still, incompetent ones like them have their uses.'
Sadly, the Alliance still had much use for the contributions of nobles, hence the reason why the entire system hadn't yet been abolished. It was a way to incentivize rich and powerful people to contribute to the Alliance's cause.
That way, even merchants could become nobles if they paid the appropriate price.
'We expended a lot of resources on the rebuilding and compensation efforts, so their influence is needed now more than ever.' Conrad took in a deep breath, letting his thoughts sink in.
Thanks to their growing importance, they even had the gall to refuse coming to the Capital despite the Council inviting them. They gave several excuses, but Conrad knew the primary reason was due to their safety.
'The Capital has been attacked by Dragons twice now. They didn't want to take the risk, so they were going to remain in the South.'
Normally, Conrad would have threatened to strip them of their Noble Status for refusing a direct invitation, acting treasonously against the Alliance, but the current circumstances couldn't allow such a brash action.
'For one, their fears aren't particularly unfounded. The safety of the Capital is indeed questionable. Plus, with their resources being relevant to us now more than ever, it's not really a decision I'm willing to make so hastily.'
The invitation was merely to commemorate the nearly complete reconstruction of the Capital, after all. It was a monumental occasion, after all, considering how quickly they were able to move.
'But, I suppose it's not important enough for them to risk their lives over.'
Despite their refusal to come, here they were—at least ninety percent of them were present, and the remaining ten percent had sent messages prior to this summit that they were simply delayed, but were on their way.
From the way things looked, the Capital Recovery Gala would have full attendance of all the influential figures in the Alliance—nobles included.
'I am still unsure why they had a sudden change of heart, but this is good.' Conrad thought to himself, slowly raising his head.
This was the first time the Otherworlders would be meeting the nobles, and the same also applied vice versa. There were a lot of things that could happen as a result of this interaction, but it all depended on the reaction of the Otherworlders.
'Now then… I can only pray for the best of results.' Conrad thought to himself, waiting for a response from the parties he just addressed.
"What's with the formality, Conrad." Rey suddenly said with an audacious voice. "I thought we were already past that."
'H-huh? Rey, you…!'
Conrad's eyes widened the moment he heard the response from the most important figure among the Otherworlders at the moment.
'I would have gone to see him yesterday, but Vida and I were too swamped dealing with all of these nobles and time passed before we both realized it.'
He hadn't had proper sleep for so long now, and the only reason he looked so fresh was due to Magic. He had to look his best in such a gathering, and it was the same for Vida.
It was the least they could do, after all they were very useless when it came to actually protecting the Capital—or the entire Alliance.
'The Council is no better than the nobles who hide away in the South. While Calamity befell the Capital, we were tucked away into the secret bunker underground.'
Since their only use was the administrative affairs and decisions regarding the United Human Alliance, they had to perform their duties to the maximum.
If that meant groveling before their saviors, he would gladly do that.
There was no room in his heart to be angry at Rey for hiding his power, considering how much help he had rendered to the Alliance on a much larger scale.
'And that servant of his as well… attitude aside, he's beyond phenomenal in his execution.'
It was only due to Ater that they were able to make so much progress in barely three months. His power and insight were otherworldly, to say the least.
The rest of the Otherworlders helped too. Instead of giving up on saving the humans and simply saving their own skin, they all decided to double down and work harder for the sake of helping the Alliance.
'I still have no idea what got into the Hero, or where he went, but I believe he is also doing what he can for us.'
Despite them losing members of their group, their resolve was much stronger than ever.
'Honestly… they are more than deserving of all respect and honor.'
These were Conrad's thoughts, so it caught him by surprise when Rey suddenly acted so familiar with him despite having no reason to.
That said, Conrad was not oblivious to his intentions. As such, he decided to play along.
"W-well, I need to thank you for your services, do I not?" He responded, trying his hardest to sound as casual as possible.
"You know that isn't needed between the two of us. It seems you're doing well, though. You too, Vida. You both look great despite the amount of stress you must be under."
Conrad and Vida chuckled, staring at each other while exchanging meaningful glances.
They both understood what Rey was trying to do.
"Thanks, Rey. You also look pretty neat.."
"Of course! I've been asleep for so long, it's only to be expected." Rey replied with a casual smile.
"You seem to have grown taller too. I almost didn't recognize you."
"Haha! I've been getting that a lot." It was Rey's turn to chuckle, now taking an extra step forward. "Still, I must say… it's good to be back."
'Thank you for this, Rey!' Conrad's eyes beamed with gratitude as he looked at the boy's charismatic approach to their introduction.
'The nobles might have their own hidden intentions and agendas, but now that they've seen the very man who single-
handedly killed such a disaster being so casual with us, their regard for the Otherworlders will also extend to us.'
Conrad had his sources who told him of a group of nobles who had already gotten their hands on people who claimed to be Otherworlders. That wasn't impossible to consider, since there still had to be a bunch of them roaming the land.
'Their goals for gathering them must be to have some leverage against us as the Royal Council.'
Most likely, they would also try to bring Rey and the rest of the Otherworlders present to their side.
But now, thanks to Rey's performance, the chances of that were very unlikely.
'He really is the amazing person I remember.'
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[A/N]
Thanks for reading!
It seems, no matter the era and situation, human nature remains the same…