Equipment Printing School Mage
Page 209
Redefine responsibility.
Emiya sighed.
Now he feels tired just watching the two sides quarreling.
It would be fine if he could use his brain occasionally to help mediate, but he didn't want to be involved in intrigues with others day and night.
Mediation is about resolving misunderstandings and calming emotions. How can we resolve actual conflicts of interest and losses?
The world darkened for him when he imagined that such trivial conflicts might become a part of his daily life.
He should just be a wizard or consultant.
Not to mention, after the Battle of Eltoril, it's easy to imagine that his name has probably been put on the table of all the leaders of evil forces.
From now on, he will either stay in a heavily guarded place and hide there forever, so that all those with bad intentions will be deterred, or he will live a life of hiding from home.
Otherwise, you are playing with your life and soul.
At this moment, Emiya's body suddenly paused.
A somewhat familiar voice suddenly echoed in his mind: "Is my greeting a little too late? I must congratulate you on your successful escape from this perilous night."
[What I came to discuss was just an idea, but you guys managed to turn it into reality—this is entirely due to you.]
Yin suddenly narrowed his eyes: "Someone is contacting you now?"
"...Yes." Emiya took a deep breath and lowered her voice, "It's Bayer."
"Which Bayer?" Sig blinked, then froze in place, then said, "Fuck, why is he looking for you now?"
"I don't know," Emilia replied. "He said a lot of nice things. I haven't replied yet."
“-Oh.” Now the topic turned to the area that Sig was familiar with.
She thought for a moment, then gave a gloating smile. "This great devil must have something to ask of us. Either he wants to establish a good relationship with us now and use us as leverage later, or this incident has caused some mess in Hell and he wants us to help fix it. Did he tell him his purpose?"
"No."
"That means the request is quite significant!" Sig's eyes suddenly gleamed with gold. "Now we can extort a fortune! No, a huge, huge, huge fortune!"
"Then how do I respond?"
Sig gave a very commonplace answer: "What answer? Leave him alone! If he doesn't get to the point, let him keep saying polite words. After all, he's the one asking us, not us, so we'll wait until he can't help but get to the point or give us a gift.
At this point, Sig hesitated for a moment and asked, "By the way, what level of devil is Bayer?"
Mars said expressionlessly, "According to legend, Bayer is the most experienced and orthodox devil. He began his life on the banks of the River Styx and ascended step by step to the position of Grand Duke of Avernus. To exaggerate, Bayer's demonic experience is a model for all devils still striving for advancement. Therefore, Bayer almost certainly possesses all the characteristics of a devil."
Obey the rules, have evil thoughts in mind, but are smart and cunning enough.
"Generally speaking, none of us are worthy of seeing him," Mars said bluntly. "To be frank, the number of souls who have fallen into hell due to his influence must be greater than the number of living people we have ever seen."
Sig blinked. "So he's actually a big shot?"
She clapped her hands. "Then we'll just have to leave him alone! We don't need anything from him anyway, and we're already sworn enemies with the devil. So, why bother asking for anything? Aren't we going to give them a good payout before we leave? Did he say what he was going to do?"
"No. Still rambling on." Emilia replied.
"Then let it hang. You copy your books, and we'll continue watching a bunch of old guys, whose average age is over fifty, quarrel."
Yin replied, "Besides, the spell cost of Short Message isn't that low. I'd like to know how long he can keep talking nonsense."
Finally, after reading many messages without replying, Bayer could no longer hold it in.
The most important thing is that this matter was not led by him at all.
If Bayer wanted to do something, he wouldn't mind stretching it out over a period of ten years to slowly wear down the other party's patience.
The reason why demons are always invincible in legends is that they only fight battles they can win.
Now he is under someone else's roof, and what's even more terrible is that the person pointing at him from behind is his boss.
Bayer sighed deeply and continued, "Then let's get straight to the point."
"You were destined to win this Rite of Truth, but unfortunately, the opponent you defeated is the offspring of one of Candlekeep's leaders, and a highly regarded future star within Candlekeep. Mr. Norwich has probably given up on himself and returned to Candlekeep early, right?"
If you do nothing, you are almost destined to encounter countless difficulties in Candlekeep.
But the good news is that Mr. Norwich and I have signed a contract—I can give this contract to you. With this bargaining chip, I believe your journey to Candlekeep will be much smoother.
*********************
"Just this little fucking thing to give to beggars?!" Sig shouted.
"I have the exact opposite opinion," Alestria whispered. "He's unwilling to reveal his cards right away... so perhaps he really wants to discuss something."
"Whether he wants to or not is his business. Who's going to talk to him if he doesn't have something to say?" the poet said bluntly. "My suggestion is, we should just ignore him for a day and see when he's willing to throw down some serious leverage. Then, after leaving him alone for two hours, we can talk to him again!"
The Most Luxurious Negotiation Table (Part 2)
Emiya had only heard about it in various strange legends. Those evil demons with ulterior motives would chatter endlessly in the victim's ears, and the continuous gossip would eventually cause the victim to have a mental breakdown.
And now, it was Mr. Emia of Lunya's turn to understand.
"His first proposal actually has limited impact on us." Mars said bluntly, "He may not understand the ecology of Candlekeep well enough. The two leaders of Candlekeep are responsible for internal and external affairs respectively. This Ritual of Truth is a typical external activity, so as long as we enter Candlekeep, or even reach the gate of Candlekeep, Norwich's father, Chief Reader Stutin, will be helpless against us—"
As if anticipating Mars's opinion, Bayer said, "Perhaps your teammates believe that the Rite of Truth has gradually fallen outside the Chief Reader's purview, and that they underestimate the significance of so-called 'external affairs.'"
Not everyone born in Candlekeep stays there. Not everyone who stays there has no friends outside. Both of these vast groups are essentially influenced by the Chief Reader. Perhaps the Chief Reader cannot directly confront the Keepers within Candlekeep, but as long as that doesn't happen, the Chief Reader's power is far greater than the Keepers'. And this power will soon be fully vested in you—
The only way to overcome this potential obstacle is to seize Norwich's greatest leverage. His contract is simple: it requires the devil to do everything in his power to help him seize the Ritual of Truth. In exchange, he will become the devil's guide to Candlekeep. If this contract were to be exposed, Norwich's future at Candlekeep, and even his father's reputation, would be completely destroyed.
Please think carefully. This condition, first of all, is to ensure that the Rite of Truth champion prize you already have in hand doesn't slip away. You don't want to find out after arriving at Candlekeep that a sneak thief has read all six of these magic books, do you?
[Second, I simply handed the contract to you. How you use it is up to you—even if you want to use it to hold Norwich hostage for life, it has nothing to do with us. Please do as you please.]
This last sentence is completely an occupational disease!
However, up to this point, Bayer was only discussing the benefits of the conditions and still did not mention his purpose.
No, this purpose is actually very easy to guess.
Bayer was a renowned demon in the material plane. Such a high-ranking official diligently sent message after message to Emiya, surely not intending to corrupt her.
Emiya had already fought two consecutive battles with the devil, so his vigilance must be extremely high. How could he be corrupted by a distant whisper? Emiya didn't believe Bayer would be so idle.
Even so, he still came, and he was determined to persuade her until he got what he wanted.
—He came for Zariel.
Moreover, he came on behalf of the devil, even Asmodeus. Bayer himself would definitely prefer that Zariel never come back, and it is impossible for him to take the initiative to redeem her.
The reason why the Demon King sent Bayer here might be because Bayer was the one who understood human nature the best among those demons below the Grand Duke who were still able to humble themselves.
The more likely possibility is that Bayer's tricks to defeat Zariel have been discovered, so he was kicked out by his immediate superior to do this hard job that is destined to be looked down upon and ignored as a way to atone for his evil intentions.
However, the arrival of the devil forced them to bring one thing to the table.
How should they deal with Zariel?
Simply imprison Zariel and make him the fallen angel's jailer for life?
It can be imagined that a few decades of pursuit and interception are not an unacceptable task for the devil - so, in this case, the next few decades of Emilia and her group's lives can be seen at a glance.
Transfer it to other kind churches?
At the very least, the Church of Lathander must be very interested in taking back their former Seraphim. Honor is one thing, but at least bringing her back to the Kingdom of God is better than leaving her in Hell to be commanded by the devil.
Meanwhile, Zariel's plan had dealt a heavy blow to Torm. This one of the Three Pillars of Justice was probably also interested in letting her be exposed to the elements for centuries.
In comparison, there really wasn't any obvious benefit for Emiya and the others in capturing Zariel.
"I don't think there's anything to talk to the devil about," Mars said bluntly. "Whether we have the ability to negotiate is one thing, but more importantly, we can't find a strong third party to act as notarized witnesses. Who can guarantee that the devil won't play dirty tricks during the negotiations? Who can guarantee that the final outcome of the negotiations will come true?"
If even the basic premise of the negotiations cannot be guaranteed, then the so-called conditions themselves are a joke - not to mention that the devil has not yet come up with any heavyweight exchange conditions.
Norwich's devil's contract was not even a gift in terms of its value - the one who could really benefit from this transaction was Norwich himself.
Not to mention, literally selling Zariel would be like letting the tiger go back to the mountain. Aimiya didn't want to do such a thing.
At this moment, an idea flashed in his mind: "Everyone, I suddenly thought of a possibility."
This sentence attracted everyone's attention.
Emiya's eyes lit up slightly: "...We suggest to these people in Eltoril that we take all the issues together and solve them.
"What I mean is that we should use this negotiation to resolve all the issues, including Zariel's ownership, the devil's request for negotiation, and Eltoril's future."
Sig blinked and exclaimed, "Things like this can actually be brought to light?!"
Mars thought for a moment, his brows relaxed. "...It sounds crazy, but it seems feasible. The question is, who is qualified to ensure the smooth operation of this negotiation?"
Zariel couldn't be killed, as that would be the same as releasing him. So they had no choice but to seal him or imprison him.
This proposal may seem crazy, but it is actually quite reasonable - because neither side can solve the problem by simply killing.
"Ah." At this time, Yin was the first to react, "...You want the gods to be witnesses of the negotiations?"
She thought for a moment, then nodded decisively. "—Zariel is the fallen Servant of the Seraphim and the current Grand Duke of Avernus. This position is exceptional for any god. I think they're very likely to come."
Elastrid sighed. "...At least, the Lord of the Morning will definitely come. But I don't want to know what his attitude will be towards the Cult of the Rising Sun. Just thinking about it makes me think I should stay away from Eltoril now."
Sig narrowed his eyes and said, "Mr. Emia of Lunya, I've finally figured it out. In this team full of evildoers, you appear to be the calmest, but you're actually the one who likes to blow things out of proportion."
"Okay, so what are your specific opinions?" Emilia said, "Agree, Disagree, or Abstain?"
Four people agreed in unison.
"Let me correct that," Mars said, "right now it seems like the five of us all like to make things bigger than they actually are."
Sig immediately retorted: "—I just like to see everyone busy and exhausted about one thing!"
Elaster coughed lightly. "I think that the desire for a more intense life shouldn't be expressed in derogatory terms here... The only thing I can't say is 'stab.'"
Yin blinked: "Is this a big deal?"
The Most Luxurious Negotiation Table (Part 3)
"...The devil wants to redeem Zariel!?"
The conference hall, which was originally bustling with noise, suddenly became silent because of Emilia's words.
This matter should be considered reasonable, or even expected.
If the devil does not intend to rob, then he naturally intends to redeem.
"Are you sure this isn't some kind of diversionary tactic?" Archbishop Bolias of the Church of Tyr had been pessimistic about this from the start. "For example, pretending to negotiate while actually holding you hostage and trading you for Zariel? Or perhaps pretending to negotiate while actually attacking Miss Forsaken and seizing the opportunity to free Zariel?"
"It's not impossible. More importantly, although Zariel is my teacher's captive, her situation affects everyone in Faerun. So this matter isn't just ours."
"So, you want to ask for our opinion?" asked Dregos, Archbishop of the Rising Sun.
Aimiya was silent for a moment, then said, "To be more precise, it's not just your opinion—how to deal with Zariel is probably no longer just a matter for mortals."
He pointed upwards and downwards with one hand: "Please don't forget, this also involves the dead."
Zariel is the Seraph of Lathander.
It is reasonable and necessary to ask Lathander's opinion on how to deal with Zariel.
They are all used for transactions, and the right thing to do is to quickly give away this extremely important but also extremely hot potato.
Moreover, according to the currently known information...
All those who had been deeply involved with Eltoril, especially those who had sworn an oath under the sun, were probably suffering in hell at this moment.
This capture of Zariel may be the only chance to redeem Zariel.
“……?……!”
Draigos didn't even react at first. It was only when young Orndell approached him and pointed stealthily at the sky that Draigos finally realized what was going on. He stood up so quickly that he nearly knocked over his desk and chair. "Of course! Of course! We're going back to the Cathedral of Twin Suns now!"
This group of Cult of the Rising Sun probably truly believed they were worshipping Amaunator, and were less familiar with Lathander's past. So much so that they didn't immediately realize the significance of Zariel's origins to them.
Asul also stood up immediately and sighed, "Fortunately, the statue of our Lord is also preserved in the administrative district. Let's go there and pray."
However, just before leaving, Dregos suddenly turned around and said something extremely heartbreaking.
"Last time, Craig prayed, and the only person who heard his words was Zariel. I hope you can truly hear the oracle this time."
***********************
The Cathedral of the Twin Suns lay far outside of Eltoril, crossing half the city from the administrative district. The administrative district was nearby, so Emya and his group naturally followed behind Asur and Bolias.
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