World Development System

***

Early in the morning,

At this time in the Sky Times office, Ealdron was having a headache even though it was good news for the new publishing houses that were going to use the Illusion camera, engravers and Illusion Ink.

Ealdron sighed as he thought and muttered slowly, "For the first time I wanted to actually censor something and this got published under my name as being the chief interviewer."

Randolph had a smirk on his face when he saw Ealdron who had a troubled face. Randolph smiled and spoke, "So even you have days where you want to censor something disregarding your values and ideals?"

Ealdron thought as he heard Randolph, 'He is deliberately poking me with this question since I always complain about the censorship. Why do I always feel that this brat is always hiding something.'

Ealdron furrowed his brows and spoke, "Of course, why won't I if it concerns the honor of his Majesty Sky."

Randolph then sighed and spoke, "You shouldn't worry too much as this news report was certainly approved by Lord John or else it wouldn't have been published in the first place. From this, it can be seen that we are displaying our intentions in public for the nobility of Aelius to see. This is most likely the face-saving solution for Lionheart and he must be overjoyed right now as he can suppress the nobles who question him in secret for the previous war. However, Plato is quite cunning in the sense that he gained the most due to the deal and this interview."

Ealdron too nodded as he couldn't refute the analysis provided by Randolph.

***

At this time, Fredric and Melanie too looked at the newspaper and sighed.

Fredric smiled bitterly and spoke, "This guy is quite cunning as he was able to get most benefits out of this re-negotiation. What do you think?"

Melanie looked at the illusion on the newspaper where Plato had a face as if he was mocking Ealdron. Calming herself down, she muttered slowly, "Looking at the results of his schemes and negotiations, I should had rather hired him."

Fredric laughed a bit spoke, "It's ok, it is the same result anyway so it shouldn't bother us much apart from feeling a little bit defeated."

Fredric then seriously looked at Melanie and spoke, "What do you think about yesterday's attack?"

Melanie nodded and spoke, "The Radiant Church attacked with at least 50% of the firepower yesterday. Usually, it is only 20%, so it seemed quite desperate from their side. After watching that John had quite the resistance to Soul Magic against Irmela himself, Leo and others didn't even bother to use Soul Binding Ice-fire chains like they did last time against Xylo or others who defied their trends."

Fredric smiled and replied after hearing Melanie, "Yes, this is most likely due to the distorted fate lines of John and hence they tried with more firepower. Their next goal most likely would be the protection and growth of their Oracle Ronoah. Those Oracle's have always been a pain in the ass for the Demon kings of yesteryears 1000's of years ago. Angel Leo too was once an Oracle according to our historical records."

Melanie had a serious face as soon as she heard of Oracle, "Yes, they will be a problem if they mature properly. That Oracle needs to be killed before Irmela's soul descends using his body and creates havoc. Or it will be a battle of attrition where Radiant Church will most likely use their coffers."

Fredric smiled and spoke, "Irmela won't recklessly descend using his soul as his soul might get injured if Demon gods take this chance to pounce on him. He will most likely use a clone of 10% unlike the soul form yesterday (3%-5%). And looking at how John is progressing I think that he will be able to manage the Gods and Arch Demons."

Fredric looked at Dwight who was holding the newspapers and leaving the pharmacy, he spoke to Melanie, "You were quite generous on Dwight yesterday. I always thought you hated him."

Melanie shook her head as she sighed and spoke, "He is just a naive kid so it is ok to reward him a little. Sins of his Grandfather can't be blamed on him or his father. His father was too much into politics so I don't entertain those brats. As for this kid?" She smiled and continued, "I have no worry since he will inevitably become a person of Sky."

Melanie then thought about the incense sticks she had given to him and spoke a bit angrily, "On certain matters, he is quite a scaredly cat. He hasn't even touched the fake advanced poison manual and the fake advance medical manual in the pharmacy which he watches every day."

Both Fredric and Melanie laughed as they continued their chat.

***

In Plato's chamber, one of the chief spies in Sky came and bought a set of documents, The Spy spoke to Plato who was alone in his chambers, "Lord, from my information, it seems Radiant Church's High executives just 3 days back got extremely angry at Sky and Lord John for some reason. It was quite fishy as I believe Radiant Church didn't have any sort of conflict or connection with Sky these days."

Plato nodded as he smiled and spoke, "It's ok, they are most likely irritated that their influence among the Humans of Sky is deteriorating at a rapid pace and hence their reduced capability to scheme against them, this reduction of influence might be due to the upcoming crowning ceremony and rising prestige of Lord John. You can continue your report on other things which are related to Sky."

The Spy nodded and continued to speak, "Lord, one of the Barons of Aelius i.e. Lord Vince just recently hired an assassin group to assassinate Lord Ealrdron. The Assassin group originates from Aelius. It seems he wanted to teach Lord Ealdron a lesson for one of his reports which has made him a laughing stock among the nobles at Imperial city. He is currently at North-frontier city as a part of the mission with Lord Luke. According to my information, they will strike at Lord Ealdron after we fully complete the deal with Sky."

Plato squinted his eyebrows as he nodded and asked, "Are there nobles of any other countries who tried to assassinate that Elf? If yes, what happened to them?"

The Spy nodded and spoke, "Yes, there were 3 nobles, 2 from the Fireabyss Kingdom and 1 from Bryndyll kingdom. From what we know all 3 of them are dead after their return to their respective kingdoms via various means. 1 was sentenced to death by the scheme of Bluesea Duchy at Fireabyss court, 1 from Bryndyll was killed by some unknown Vigilante bandit brigade, this is most likely the work of Philip their ambassador and 1 Noble related to Fireabyss family was killed overnight without any notice however according to my information, this assassination of the noble was done by Dearil of the Ghosts. This matter was suppressed because the Noble apparently secretly visited his mistress the night he was killed which was unknown to everyone. As far as the Nobles of Aelius who are visiting Sky are concerned, Lord Luke controls them for quite a while via making various checks and other means, including intimidation. As far as the security of Ealdron is concerned, he is protected by Ghosts in secret. Even his assistant Randolph is a part of Ghosts who was trained specifically due to the 3 assassinations and also for unexpected events. The fact that he was a ghost was confirmed after an attempt on his life was made in the last assassination when he was away from Ealdron but was still ok without a sweat while the one assassinating was dead in cold blood. He was spotted by one of our scouts. As far as his history is concerned, he has 6 months of blank history where he claims that he was unemployed in his certificates of Job application but his neighbors claim that he wasn't even present at his home during that time."

Plato nodded as he sighed and muttered, "Bloody Baron doesn't even know how to scheme and hide the traces if he is going to kill someone big compared to his status. Anyway, contact the Assassin Organization and tell them to withdraw from this assassination. Tell them to instead kill Baron Vince and clean up his family. It seems even Luke may sometimes miss his subordinate's recklessness. Anyway, make it seem like Sky kingdom killed him and his family off."

Plato smiled as he thought, 'As far as I know, Baron Vince is of Prince Hector's faction so he has multiple motivations to create chaos at Sky. but he has to be discreet until he is back at the Imperial palace under the protection of Prince Hector. No one would doubt us since first doubts would be raised against Sky kingdom as people in the interior circles of Imperial Palace would certainly know about this assassination plan of Ealdron to kick Sky's face and make them tear the peace deal. Now, let's see how the events unfold.'

Meanwhile, the spy had a chill and thought, 'I guess someone has bad luck today for crossing Lord Plato. Anyway that pawn Vince is dead but I wonder who will be more in pain. Prince Hector or the Sky Kingdom. Prince Hector, I guess.'

Plato then asked the Spy, "Why wasn't there any report about the development of Lights which we saw yesterday?"

The Spy shook his head and spoke, "Our men have no prior information about them. This was most likely researched in a secret facility. We only knew that the Light posts were installed all over the city about 20 days ago. The citizens were strictly told to not touch them until the Crowning ceremony so no one dared to ruin the decorations if it was related to the Crowning ceremony."

Plato thought, 'Knowing John's nature, it is quite plausible that they made this in secret. The spies can't be blamed.'

Plato asked another question, "How is the progress on joining their Defense Manufacturing factories."

The Spy took out the report and spoke after giving it to Plato, "All of them were caught in a month after joining. Their Defense Factories does a thorough check on the background of the people who want to join the defense manufacturing industry. I think that we can only try bribing the unsatisfied and it will also be a long process."

Plato sighed and spoke, "Ok, you are dismissed. Sky most probably knows that you are our spy since you met me so you have to register yourself at our embassy here in case you get stuck in a sticky situation. If you have an identity as a diplomat they won't kill you here in Sky. I will tell Luke to register you as well."

The Spy nodded and took his leave after taking an authority letter.

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