The defeated saint is also on the way to tame the evil god today

"It wasn't until they started attacking the North City, until the two council members died, until the Nefera Beta School of Magic was invaded, that you finally took the Steam People issue seriously and started giving the money you'd used to buy wine to the Bell Guardians, hoping they'd clean up your mess in a few days."

"While you were sleeping soundly on your velvet pillows, my students and I were busy with this endeavor. We even personally broke the chains that held Sir Derek Larsen, the one closest to the truth—" Lucius pointed at Xingmo. "She was a first-year student, yet she faced an Immortal in a whale oil factory. What about you?"

"That doesn't mean she's qualified..." Councillor Martin began.

"Shut up, or sit in my seat and talk." Lucius growled.

Congressman Martin's face suddenly turned purple like a sweet potato, as if fire was about to burst out of his mouth, but he finally swallowed it down.

Everyone present was a little surprised. In their eyes, Lucius Phillips had always been an honest and simple scientific research professor who never caused trouble. When faced with malice, he would just swallow his anger and not say much.

But now, he sat under the goddess's sword, his posture still carrying the decadence unique to middle-aged men, but his aura seemed to hide a lion.

No one could question what he said. Those who sat under the Sword of Dawn could only tell the truth, so everything Lucius said must be true.

If they questioned Lucius's description of the first-year, they would be questioning the Goddess.

At this time, Lucius signaled again, and Xingmo finally sat down in the seat.

She could feel some of the council members casting disapproving glances at her, but she didn't care.

At this time, the palace maid brought hot tea and distributed it to everyone who was seated.

Lucius took the tea, took a sip, and continued:

"Now, we can only be considered to have barely kept up with Prince Austin's pace and know what he is going to do and what the Imperials are going to do."

"As for the rest, we are completely unaware. The long period of peace has damaged our reaction nerves and made us lose our sense of danger."

Having said that, Lucius closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

"If our criminal investigation system was stronger, my daughter would have been relieved long ago. She has been dead for so long, and we still don't know who the murderer is."

The conference hall fell silent for a moment. Everyone knew how great Lucius Phillips was as a contributor to the "Steam Revolution", and they also knew how much he had lost because of it.

Xing Mo looked at her mentor, this tired but dignified man, and seemed to understand all of a sudden why this usually honest and simple man took the initiative to sit under the "Sword of Dawn".

"..."

Lucius didn't say anything else. He nodded at Alice, signaling her to speak.

Then Alice stood up and said:

"We learned from the captured 'Immortal' Argus that the 'Humpback Whale' was not a whaling ship, but an ironclad warship."

"The core of that ironclad ship was the 'prototype' Prince Austin stole from Mentor Lucius' office. It was an experimental engine that was later confirmed to be used on the 'Steam Man'."

Upon hearing the reputation of the ironclad ship, the atmosphere in the conference hall suddenly became tense.

Everyone knew what that meant—it was a naval force far more powerful than a three-masted sailing ship, a product of the steam age. It not only possessed extremely high defensive capabilities and speed, but could even use cannons driven by string magic to flatten a small island.

After the prototype was stolen, the Academy has not yet built a large-scale ironclad fleet, but now it seems that Prince Austin has obtained one.

It was the Humpback Whale.

Alice continued:

"Sir Derek Larsen said that Prince Austin didn't reveal any further details after purchasing the whaling ship from him, only occasionally docking it. Now, we can be sure that if a war breaks out, the situation will be very difficult."

A genuine ironclad ship, coupled with the evil god's follower named "Song of Death", and in the midst of a storm in the sea, the whole situation will become difficult to control.

No matter how powerful the wizards are, they will die if they are hit by the ironclad ship's cannons.

At this time, Pastor Haichao, who was sitting at the bottom of the long table, spoke:

"So, what do you two have to say?"

"Fight artillery with artillery."

Lucius smiled slightly and continued:

"The Pushet family's steamship, the Star, can bring the wizards directly above the Humpback Whale. We will first use air-to-ground firepower to destroy its combat capability, and then airdrop onto the deck."

"We go in, take out Prince Austin, find out what he's up to, and then get out."

After Lucius finished speaking, the entire conference hall fell into complete silence.

Is this... a battle between wizards?

"I doubt it," Councilman Martin said.

"So what do you want to do? Sail into the storm on a three-masted sailing ship, and then be sunk by an ironclad ship?" Lucius smiled.

Councilman Martin did not respond; apparently, this was the best he could think of.

Lucius looked around again, and after confirming that no one had any objections, he raised his hand and looked up at the Sword of Dawn.

"Under the witness of the goddess, I will bear all consequences of this action and personally participate in it."

"If anything goes wrong, I will take full responsibility."

After saying this, Lucius stared at the long table quietly without saying anything else.

After a long time, there was a sound of clapping from the other end of the long table:

"Crack, snap, snap."

Xingmo looked towards the end of the long table, where a woman wearing a white hat and a white dress stood up and clapped gracefully.

"That's just the courage we need, Lucius."

Xing Mo recognized the woman at a glance—Isabella Disep, the hostess of Maple Leaf Palace.

PS: Starting today, I will resume the two-update split. The update time is 0:30 and 6:30 every day. If there is a third update, it will be at 17:30. The senior year is quite busy, so I may have to wait until things stabilize before updating the third time. Sorry everyone 555

9) Storm, Whale Song (Part 3)

When the Citadel was still part of the Kingdom of Messina, it was ruled by a nobleman named Decep.

During the Citadel's War of Independence, it was the Decep family that rebelled against the Kingdom of Messina, and together with Machiavelli and Fallu, they overthrew the rule, making Academi an autonomous territory.

After that, the Decep family gave up their ruling rights and became members of the "White Tower Council", but retained the right to use the Maple Leaf Palace.

Although they nominally had equal rights, the Disep family was still considered the aristocracy among aristocrats in the eyes of most people - after all, they owned a genuine ancient palace.

Isabella Decep, the current mistress of the Decep family, is secretly known as the "Queen of Maple Palace" by the people of the Academy.

She stood up to support Lucius, and almost all the councilors lowered their heads, as if surrendering to the current result.

"..."

The Queen has spoken, so it seems the mentor is in a safe position...Xingmo muttered secretly.

In fact, she had heard Alice describe the proposals put forward by other members of the parliament: for example, sailing a three-masted sailing ship into the storm, and then negotiating with the "Humpback Whale" and having friendly exchanges between the two sides.

Things have developed to this point, and they are still thinking about resolving it peacefully.

No wonder, after all, those who died at Prince Austin’s birthday party were not them.

If Prince Austin were captured by the Citadel, the empire across the sea would almost certainly intervene, and it would probably escalate into war.

The MPs don't want a war.

"..."

Seeing that no one objected, Isabella smiled gracefully and said:

"Well, let's clarify all the details up to today as a foundation for our next steps, so that no one is confused. Okay?"

"Please, ma'am." Lucius nodded.

"No, I'm afraid I don't understand this as clearly as a professional, so why not..."

Isabella's eyes swept across the long table and finally landed on Xingmo.

She extended her hand and nodded to Xingmo in a friendly manner:

"Can we let this assistant tell us about the 'Curse' and the 'Steam Man'?"

"Huh? Let me tell you?" Xingmo was stunned when she was suddenly called out.

Looking at the eyes of the entire conference room cast towards him, Xingmo felt as if the entire conference room was stretched out in front of his eyes.

Let me talk? I have social anxiety!

What does social anxiety mean? It means your legs tremble when you speak on stage!

A normal investigation would be fine, but this is the White Tower Conference! All present are councilors and bishops!

Xing Mo looked at her instructor for help, but she only saw a gentle smile and encouraging eyes on her instructor's face.

Don't encourage me! Help me out!

Xing Mo sighed. To be honest, she knew that she might not be able to avoid it.

So she cleared her throat, stood up, and took a deep breath.

At the long table, a smile appeared on Councillor Martin's face - he naturally thought that Miss Isabella asked the first-year student to speak in order to embarrass her and embarrass Lucius as well.

After all, he is just a freshman. No matter how strong he is, he is only a three-stringed one. His understanding of string magic is limited, not to mention the mysterious field of mysticism.

If it were on a real battlefield, Senator Martin, a fourth-stringer, could easily defeat her like a hungry wolf biting down a lamb.

It is nothing but humiliation to let a lamb speak among wolves.

Councilman Martin was ready—after the first-year made a fool of himself, he would push Lucius out of the head chair and take it himself.

Using steam-powered airships to fight against ironclad warships? A crazy idea that's out of this world.

Only naive young people think about war. True wise men always resolve conflicts through communication.

Prince Austin brought so many important industries to the Citadel, and just a few unknown people died. Why should we quarrel with him?

As Martin was thinking this, he saw Xingmo writing something in the small notebook he carried with him.

You want to tell us a story without even taking notes? There's no point cramming now... Martin sneered in his heart.

The next second, Xing Mo spoke:

"'Curse', whose real name is 'Anti-Life Element', is a dark energy transformed from the negative energy within the soul through the string array in the 'Life' realm. It possesses powerful diffusion and infectious properties."

"'Anti-life elements' are difficult to store in the outside world and usually attach themselves to certain objects, making their spread difficult to prevent."

"Once the 'anti-life element' lodges within a living organism, it will directly absorb the negative energy of that organism and begin to multiply until it reaches a level sufficient to form a 'curse cloud' around it."

"Through the high concentration of 'Cursed Cloud', dark creations like 'Steam Man' and 'Death Song' can be shaped in the real world, thus achieving the effect of appearing anywhere in the Citadel."

"These two followers are under the control of Prince Austin. At that birthday party, they appeared simultaneously and fought against the 'Bell Guardian'."

"It is currently known that the medium controlling the 'Steam Man' and the 'Song of Death' is a product of black magic called the 'Black Heart'. It is a cluster of highly concentrated 'anti-life elements'. It is currently speculated that each group of 'Black Hearts' is a pair, each controlling a dark follower."

"To defeat the Steam Man, we must seize the Black Heart from Prince Austin, force it to appear somewhere in reality, and then utterly destroy it."

"If Prince Austin's actions are not stopped, the unstable alchemical string array on the 'Steam Man' will one day release a high concentration of alchemical vapor. By then, no one in the entire Citadel will be able to survive."

Xing Mo's eyes swept over everyone present and she couldn't help but smile:

"Including you."

"..."

For a moment, the entire parliament hall fell into silence.

All the MPs were dumbfounded. The theory this freshman presented was not only comprehensive, but also fluent, concise, and clear. He even explained at the end of his sentence how the MPs' interests were affected by the capture of Prince Austin.

——When the "Steam Man" explodes, everyone will die.

"..."

Seeing the freshman speaking seriously, Congressman Martin was dumbfounded.

Is this first grade?

You tell me this is the logical reasoning and understanding that a first grader can have?

She could give such a fluent explanation without even taking notes, which shows that the entire knowledge system is in her mind.

What is this first grade??

Aren’t we still learning myths and making friends with nature spirits in first grade?

Councilman Martin was stunned for a moment. Lucius looked at him and smiled politely.

"Well said, Xingsheng, please sit down."

Xingmo bowed slightly to everyone present, then took a seat and let out a long sigh.