Endless Debt Chapter 1450 - 42: Hunt (Part 2)

"So should we agree to Nesanel’s demand?" Fabien probed.

The woman did not answer immediately. She was a bit irritable, then sneered. "He’s already come here in person—do his intentions still need spelling out? Either we agree to his demand, or he’ll suppress us by force."

"Yes, that’s exactly what worries me. Nesanel himself is a deterrent," Fabien said.

"Then what do you think we should do?" The woman tossed the question back to Fabien.

"First of all, that depends on the will of the Ancestral Council."

Fabien did not answer directly. He lowered his head slightly, to show respect toward the Legislators. "What is it that the Legislators want?"

The question was thrown back to the woman again. She chuckled softly. "Are you testing us?"

"I am the Legislators’ Order Officer, the executor of their will. I need to know what you want." Fabien still maintained that exceedingly deferential demeanor.

"Hm?"

The woman crossed one leg over the other, revealing a white thigh. Her arms folded across her chest, one hand propped her head. As she pondered the decision to come, whispers rose within the hive.

"Nesanel is far too arrogant."

As the woman spoke, she stretched out her hand. Under her gaze, that slender arm gradually raised line after line of wrinkles, and age spots bloomed one by one like patches of fungus.

"Does he really think he can intimidate all of us?" The woman’s voice suddenly turned vicious.

Fabien said calmly, "To be realistic, he actually can."

The Legislators were all High Tier Condensers, but only High Tier Condensers, nothing more. They could not remain away from the Nest Core for long. What’s more, they had fallen behind the times. Compared to Nesanel, they were like elders; he, by contrast, was a Warrior in his prime.

These who clung to life had nowhere near the courage to confront Nesanel head-on—and that was precisely what Nesanel relied on.

"Realistically, hm? Truly disappointing."

The woman closed her eyes in thought. When she opened them again, her voice had abruptly sharpened. "This is the Land of Secrets, the territory of the All Secrets Order. We will not allow Nesanel to run rampant here."

Fabien said nothing. He stood there like a statue, listening to the woman’s words.

"Summon the Dukes. Have them ready at all times to bear the Aurora Power."

"The Ancestral Council intends to oppose Nesanel, to oppose the Order Bureau?" Fabien showed a look of astonishment. "That is not a rational choice."

The woman did not answer Fabien’s question. Instead, she questioned him. "Can we trust you, Fabien?"

"Of course. I am the Order Officer you selected, am I not?"

Fabien lowered his head again, maintaining absolute humility.

"But I still remember that you once studied for a time in the Order Bureau, and that you had a good relationship with Nesanel," the woman said.

"That was decades ago. And back then Nesanel was just an ordinary piece of Field Staff." Fabien tried to prove his loyalty.

"Whom do you pledge your allegiance to?"

"The All Secrets Order."

At that answer, the woman’s expression grew complicated. The response satisfied her, yet left her faintly displeased.

Fabien understood the woman’s silence. This time he lifted his head, but did not look at her. Instead he gazed up at the Crystal Beehive. Beyond the curled-up shadows, within the hive’s heart, Fabien saw it.

It was a bizarre aberration: several hearts crudely fused together, pulsing irregularly. With each beat, searing white radiance spilled out from within. From this cluster of hearts extended bundles of blood vessels, seeping through the hive, spreading layer upon layer of capillaries that linked all the Legislators together.

Fabien stared at that heart cluster and answered anew, "I pledge my allegiance to the Ancestral Council."

The woman showed a satisfied smile and issued her orders.

"Very good, Fabien, you may go."

Fabien nodded, then asked, "What about tomorrow?"

"We have other plans."

"Oh. All right."

Fabien knew the Ancestral Council still did not fully trust him. That was only natural. These people had lived far too long; the older one gets, the more timid one becomes, terrified of any risk. A reaction like this was to be expected.

Saying no more, Fabien gave that heart cluster a long, deep look, then left in silence. He stepped back into the elevator. Only when the gate closed, cutting off all light, did Fabien exhale a long breath.

Fabien slipped his hand into his pocket and closed it around a cold metal shard. When he opened his palm, a Whistle lay quietly there.

Recalling the message Nesanel had sent him via the Whistle a few hours earlier, Fabien felt a heavy weight in his chest. He did not know whether his choice was the right one.

Forget it. Don’t dwell on right or wrong. Just follow your own desire.

Fabien recalled that flickering mass of hearts and murmured, "You Fantasy Species..."

The Order Officer vanished within the Nest Core, and once again this space became completely isolated.

"Is he trustworthy?"

"Trustworthy, but flawed."

"No... we cannot tolerate any risk existing."

"Don’t forget, in terms of doctrine Fabien is not the same as we are."

"The Truth Faction."

Murmurs and whispers wheeled endlessly above the woman’s head, like a flock of vexing vultures, chattering without end.

The woman furrowed her brow. She was now unspeakably irritable. She could clearly feel that once she left the hive, her flesh began aging at a speed visible to the naked eye. In the past, she could at most act outside for a few days before she would have to return to the hive for recuperation.

If it weren’t her turn, the woman would never have wanted to step out of the hive. For someone who loved beauty as much as she did, nothing was more brutal than witnessing her own decay with her own eyes.

But now she had no time to fuss over her flesh. More troublesome matters awaited her.

"The Truth Faction?" The woman recalled what Fabien had once adhered to. "Didn’t he leave the Truth Faction long ago?"

"But his daughter, the current Duke of Delirium, still holds to it."

"She is a part of us, though there are disagreements."

"But once the external crisis is resolved, her dissent will mark the beginning of our internal strife."

"Not to be trusted."

"Not to be trusted."

Vague statements followed one after another, quickly pronouncing judgment on Fabien’s purity—the Legislators could not place complete trust in him.

Arriving at such a conclusion did not surprise the woman. In ordinary times, everyone might have turned a blind eye, but now the All Secrets Order had arrived at a crossroads of fate.

The slightest misstep would bring ruin upon them. Yet if they could pass this trial, what awaited the All Secrets Order would be a brand-new future.

"Nesanel? That’s the Deputy Director of the Order Bureau, isn’t it?"

A cold voice drifted out of the darkness. The woman hastily rose from her chair, turned, and peered into the black. A pair of blood-red pupils opened within it.

"Why are you here?" the woman asked.

"What else? We need a new batch of blood citizens."

"We’ve already raided and delivered plenty of people to you. Isn’t that enough?" the woman said.

"Those people were all too ordinary. What I want are The Imperfect—their blood has a richer flavor."

The voice in the darkness continued, "Besides, haven’t you already prepared these people?"

The woman froze for a moment, then snapped, "You’ve been here for some time, secretly investigating us?"

"I had no choice. What if your deal with us was just a façade, and in the shadows you’d joined hands with the Order Bureau?" he went on. "After all, Nesanel is here in person."

This time the woman had no answer. They truly had not anticipated Nesanel’s personal arrival in the Land of Secrets. Not a single Legislator wanted him here, because if he wished, he could destroy the Nest Core at any moment.

If that happened, the Legislators would have nowhere left to exist.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have a proposal."

The voice went on, "Why don’t we... find a way to kill Nesanel?"

No sooner had the words fallen than more blood-red eyes opened in the darkness, like some eldritch monster lurking in everyone’s shadow.

"What do you... all think?"