Jason watched as the Machina’s face finally soured in irritation. It was obvious that the man did not like the situation, but there was nothing that he could do about it. Another blue hologram rose from the man’s mechanical arm, and he typed in a few things on the screen before he finally nodded once to them and spoke.
"The date of convergence shall be communicated to you soon, and your request to serve as Shieldbearer has been accepted. On that day, I hope you all will comport yourselves in a more befitting manner so you don’t bring shame to your Primordial Domain and the Supreme Overlord. That is all."
The Machina turned and left through the Dimensional Tear, and the nobles in the room all let out tired sighs as they fell back in their seats. But no one noticed the lone shadow that moved away from Jason and followed after the Machina as it stepped through the Dimensional Tear. Jason knew that there was more to this situation than what the Machina was telling them, so he instructed the Phantom to keep its eyes and ears open for anything useful, and the Phantom responded that it understood. Riyala ran a hand over her face in slight annoyance, and Jason frowned as he told the system to immediately explain things to him. What sort of deal did Riyala just strike with the Emmissary to buy them time? The system brought up a prompt.
[Earth and Radagan are being tried by the Supreme Overlord for their actions over the past few days, but Riyala managed to put the punishment on hold by asking for a trial in front of the Council of Nine and One. According to Interdimensional Law, the council can be called on to intervene whenever there are serious issues that arise between the Supreme Overlords and their governed worlds, but only Rank III worlds and above are capable of calling on a council intervention. Normally, Earth should not be able to appear before the council since it is only a Rank II world, but by volunteering to act as Shieldbearer, Riyala vouched for Earth and promised to shoulder any responsibilities or problems that arise from Earth becoming a part of the trial. The user should be grateful to Riyala for her quick thinking. If she did not volunteer, then Earth would have been forced to pay five billion gold coins without a trial.]
Jason read through all this with a frown, and he clicked his tongue in irritation. Jason already knew that he had to be thankful to Riyala, but that doesn’t mean he was happy about any of this bullshit. Jason asked the system to explain what a Black Enigma was. The Machina had said something like that during their conversation, and Jason could only assume it was something horrible. The system brought up another prompt.
[According to system data, an Enigma is a creature or being that possesses power that is far greater than what their world is capable of handling at that moment. For example, most Rank II worlds are filled with multiple creatures that are in the SS Rank and one or two SSS Rank creatures. But if a world does not possess a sufficient number of SS Rank creatures, but it possesses an SSS or higher-ranked creature, that creature would be classified as an Enigma since it far surpasses the power level of every other creature in its world. The severity of an Enigma’s status goes from Orange Enigma, Red Enigma, and finally, Black Enigma. As of now, the user possesses enough power to be classified as an SSS Rank, meanwhile, there are barely up to a hundred S Ranks on Earth, and only five SS Ranks. This difference in power is enough for the user to be classified as a Red Enigma, and if the user gains even more power without there being an increase in the general power level of Earth, then the user will be branded as a Black Enigma and the Machina will investigate the user and might even remove the user from Earth in order to restore the balance.]
’For fuck’s sake. Why the hell didn’t you tell me this earlier?’
Jason’s frown deepened as he pinched the bridge of his nose, and the system responded quickly.
[The system does not take political laws or doctrines into consideration while trying to aid the user. The system’s only task is to make the user as powerful as possible, so the system did not think it was necessary to bring up this law.]
Jason could only sigh tiredly when he read this. He couldn’t even fault the system because he also wanted to grow as quickly as possible, so Jason decided that he would think of a way to deal with this some other time. Jason reached out and held Riyala’s upper arm gently. Riyala looked at him curiously, and Jason nodded to her.
"Thanks for the help back there. I didn’t understand most of it, but I can tell you covered for Earth."
Riyala smiled at him.
"It was nothing. You saved us when we needed your help, so this is the least we can do. I just wish things didn’t have to be so complicated. What could the Supreme Overlord be thinking? Why would he even ask for so much money?"
Jason shook his head.
"No, I don’t think that money is what he’s really after. He has an ulterior motive, something that he’s trying to get his hands on. His timing and the absurd requests are just too convenient, so it can’t be a coincidence. If we can find what he’s trying to accomplish, we can figure out how to handle him."
Riyala felt like laughing when she heard Jason say he wanted to handle the Supreme Overlord. That had to be a joke! The Supreme Overlord was the highest authority in their Primordial Domain! In fact, when it came to this sector of the Primordial Expanse, their Supreme Overlord had the authority to impose whatever laws they had agreed on, even without the authorization of the council! The only reason they were even able to ask for a trial with the rest of the council was because Radagan was a Rank III world. Riyala gained a lot of memories from the past Priestesses of Fire after she took on her mantle, so she remembered one of the Priestesses speaking about a section of the treaty that allowed Rank III worlds and above to contest any decision made by the Supreme Overlord, and that was how she was able to use this loophole to buy time! If the Supreme Overlord had only accused Earth of something and fined them for their actions, then there would have been nothing they could do!
"Priestess, what should we do? The people have already gone through so much; if we announce this to them, there might be a mass revolt. They won’t stand for such injustice."
One of the nobles spoke up in a weary voice, and Riyala turned around to see that a lot of them were looking at her for guidance. Jason saw Riyala’s face even out into a calm expression, and she looked everyone over to make sure that they saw that she was not shaken by what was happening. Riyala then spoke in a calm, confident tone.
"This is an unexpected situation, but it is not unsalvageable. We will go to the council and we will fight for what we believe is our right. But until then, I forbid anyone from bringing this to the attention of the masses. Our people had already suffered enough, so this time we will fight to protect their interests without putting any burden on them. Is that understood?"
Riyala looked over the gathered nobles, and she made sure that they all nodded to tell her that they understood before she finally asked them to excuse her. Riyala turned to Jason and asked him if he would come with her, and Jason nodded and said goodbye to the king and nobles before walking out with Riyala.