Equipment Printing School Mage
Page 304
In Halayah, Elder Mustafa's roar was once again heard in the elders' meeting.
In the current capital, the number of participants in the Elders' Council has plummeted - although blood sacrifice is certainly a very serious matter, they are not the first to be affected after all, and there are many people who hope to work hard to restore their strength during this period.
Casting an additional spell level every few days, or even every day, this incredibly rapid advancement is a fantasy that only exists in the dreams of the Halayakh, who have stagnated for decades. Many have been staying in the Mage Tower for days. In truth, Taqi al-Mustafa and Naif al-Musa might have harbored such ambitions—but unfortunately, both of them hold the highest seats in the entire Halruaan Elders' Council. With the Mage King position still vacant, they simply cannot be absent.
Naif snorted coldly, "Indeed. Halayah also needs to reflect on this, to prevent someone from crossing Mount Talas without authorization and only attending the elders' meeting after achieving results."
Mr. Taqi, the instigator and leader of the Mustafa branch, was choked by this remark, but he immediately coughed lightly and tried to change the subject: "...Now that the goddess's messenger has arrived in Harigada, and those fools in the old capital have made another big mistake... Naif, I think this is an opportunity. I will go to Harigada and teach those fools a lesson."
At this time, Nayef stopped his sarcastic remarks and pondered for a moment, then a smile appeared on his face.
Originally, he and Tachi were academic enemies. The most serious conflict before was when he discovered that Tachi had sent students out on an expedition without authorization.
As a result, news came from Haligad that the Mage Tower had already set out ten years ago!
After a few rounds of fighting, the conflict between the two factions was temporarily put on ice - in comparison, the Haligad people were more annoying. Now that they had caught the group of people with something to hold against them, they naturally couldn't miss this opportunity.
Naif nodded: "...Then I will go to Harigade as well."
He was silent for a moment, then smiled meaningfully. "According to Halruaan tradition, at the last moment before the meeting begins, a teleportation spell will be used."
The two looked at each other and laughed out loud.
They hadn't successfully cast a teleportation spell in over eighty years. Now, they were performing it for the first time in front of Haligard's political enemies. Who could resist this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show off?
The Greatest Elders' Meeting of the Twenty-Sixth Session (Part 2)
As mentioned before, the reconstruction work in Haligard has also almost come to a standstill - but there is one place that they have put a lot of effort into maintaining over the past few decades.
Halrua's former elders' meeting hall—even though Haligad is no longer the capital, this tower has not been abandoned. The elders of the Haligad sect still use it as their meeting place.
This was the first time that Emiya and his group had seen a formal meeting of elders held - although strictly speaking, the elders of Haligard were no longer qualified to hold formal meetings.
But in the final analysis, the elders only join the Council of Elders after they have power, and the Council of Elders cannot prohibit the elders from communicating internally.
Thus, the Council of Elders of Halygad continued—its size also represented the power of Halygad.
Emiya and his group would naturally not be late, but after arriving, they found that the top of the tower was almost empty - the waiters had arrived a long time ago, and the conference room was already filled with relevant equipment for the participants. It was obvious that there was indeed a meeting to be held today.
But why were there so few elders? Even if the Haligad meeting was much smaller, and it wasn't even time for the meeting to officially begin, there wouldn't be so few people present, right?
Halffont is a ninth-ringed mage. Although she's suffered repeated setbacks since arriving on the Material Plane, her arcane proficiency likely ranked her among the highest on the Elder Council during Halruaa's heyday. If she hadn't been brutally beaten twice by Emya and her group during the Battle of Candlekeep, she wouldn't even have been willing to serve as a character member of a squad.
In this situation, she was naturally even more dissatisfied with this treatment: "The teacher said that people from Haligad love to be late... Today I saw that it was indeed true."
The elders who had already arrived had already sat down in their seats at the edge of the area, closing their eyes to rest surrounded by their subordinates and students. It was obvious that they had anticipated this.
When Emiya and his party arrived in Haligad, they did not make as much fanfare as they did in Halayach, so many ordinary people did not even know that the magic network had begun to recover, let alone recognize Emiya and his party. They were also wondering why this group of people in strange costumes appeared here.
If there weren't so many people in their group dressed as mages, who were naturally superior to others in Halrua, someone might have come up and attacked them.
Just when they were puzzled, one after another, the elder mages came out of the arbitrary door with their students and subordinates and came to the door of the conference hall. They were not surprised by the empty scene inside and outside the conference hall. Instead, they walked into the hall one by one and found their seats very naturally.
Some elders even began to act collectively and sit down together.
This went on for several minutes, and then Sig clapped his hands lightly. "...I've discovered! The later someone arrives, the more extravagantly they dress, and likely their status in Halrua!"
Mars frowned slightly: "...So, the people with the highest status arrive last? Then if we arrive early, maybe these Haligard people will look down on us."
Even Naif and Giles hadn't warned them, which had made them look quite embarrassed. And Aenata, who had come with them, wasn't high up in Halrua either, so he clearly wasn't aware of the situation.
At that moment, Giles finally arrived at the conference hall with his witness, the elegantly dressed Miss Nancy. He was startled when he saw Emya and her group, then suddenly realized something. With a look of regret on his face, he stopped walking, walked aside with them, and whispered, "I forgot. You're not from Haligad, but from Halayach. This is a Haligad custom. Zarason immediately adjusted many of these old habits after moving the capital to Halayach, but we've gotten used to it. Haligad hasn't had any guests in so long that I forgot to remind you."
Emilia gave him a cold look and stopped discussing the subject.
Perhaps they forgot, or perhaps it was due to the usual arrogance of the people of Halicard.
"Who is this...?" Emilia looked at Nancy, stunned for a moment, and frowned. "Wait a minute, we just met the day before yesterday, right?"
Emiya's group was quite recognizable in Halruaa—almost all of them wore Archmage robes, a combination considered extremely luxurious even in Halruaa. Even though Nancy didn't understand the value of the Archmage robes or the meaning behind them, she recognized their uniqueness. A hint of awe crossed her face, and she nodded repeatedly.
"She is the whistleblower of the blood sacrifice incident," Giles said. "She will testify in person at the meeting."
"...Oh!" Now Emilia and the others perked up.
The blood sacrifice case was full of mysteries from beginning to end, and could even be described as a joke - inexplicable reports, the inexplicable collective escape from the Mage Tower and their disappearance. In the midst of this joke, what was left behind was ironclad evidence that could not be forged.
Nancy is the beginning of everything. If she can testify, many things may be answered.
But no matter what, Giles didn't seem to want them to wait outside the door. After Giles arrived, he immediately pulled them into the conference hall and had them sit behind him.
Giles held a high position in Halegaard, and after him, the flow of people became increasingly sparse. In the circular hall that had been inherited from Halrua, only the innermost rows were empty.
Giles turned and whispered, "Originally, the first row was reserved for the Mage King. After the capital was moved, although we didn't want to obey Mage King Zarathon in everything, we weren't shameless enough to take his rightful place."
Soon, another elder arrived alone.
His appearance startled Giles: "...Theodore?! You're actually here for the meeting?"
The person present was naturally the owner of Theodore's Mage Tower. As he took his seat, he said to his old friend, "Stop being shameless! I'm here to restore the Magic Net! How can those things compare to my Lord's stars returning to the sky? Without the Magic Net, my Mage Tower has become a street hustler in Central Land these past few years! Even drinking tea on a daily basis requires me to guess whether the tea leaves are a special omen!"
As he spoke, before taking his seat, the elder of the prophecy department spotted Emiya and his group almost at a glance and bowed to them respectfully.
After all, asking an almost 300-year-old man to salute was a bit outrageous for most of their colleagues who had just reached adulthood or were even minors, so several members quickly stood up to return the greeting.
Then came the final stage of the meeting.
The largest group yet arrived.
He was the oldest wizard Emilia had seen since arriving. His face was full of wrinkles and he wore a gray archmage robe. He looked as if he was about to report to the kingdom of the god of death at any second.
But even so, there was still a gleam in his eyes, and it was obvious that his brain had not stopped working.
At the same time, there were actually several elders following behind him.
The last elder to arrive walked straight to the center of the hall with an almost arrogant attitude, while several elders sat in a row behind him.
Emiya narrowed her eyes slightly.
From the moment the elder entered the door, all the elders who were already seated stood up immediately and kept their eyes on him until he entered his seats.
Eliser, who had come with them, whispered in the telepathic connection: "This is our... great-grandfather? Grandpa Tachi's cousin, but to me, we're actually quite distantly related. He's fifth in the Halruaan Council of Elders, the highest in Haligad. Grandpa Tachi is third, and Naif is seventh."
The first person in the Elder Council is the Mage King.
The third one is a person who is almost at the forefront of the country and has the final say in Haligad.
This is an honor that only the most senior elders in the entire Halrua Elders Church can enjoy.
The Mustafa family holds a very important position in Halrua, as evidenced by the fact that two elders from the same family hold the most important elder positions in the two largest cities.
As for the vacant position in the middle... its original owner has been taken away by time.
Unfortunately, the Mustafa family had already split after the relocation of the capital. Although Halayah Mustafa was equally prosperous, it had almost parted ways with its branch back home. Although relatives still kept in touch, their business dealings had ceased.
After Zlachi sat down, he looked at Emiya and others expressionlessly.
Except for Mars who stood up due to etiquette, no one else moved.
And in Haligad, Zlaj was actually close to breaking the border.
Faced with this situation, he said in a muffled voice: "...I heard. The goddess's messenger has arrived in Haligard. Can you repair the magic network? Who among you is the chosen one?"
The tone was somewhat filled with anger and embarrassment.
But Emilia had no choice - what a joke, no matter how high this Zlachi's status was, he could never compare to Elminster. This team dared to slap Larok in the face!
When an elder saluted them, Emilia had to return the greeting, but other than that, Emilia was completely unresponsive.
Even if he took a step back, his teacher Metatron was far superior to Zlaj in every way, so there was no reason for him to bow to him. Strictly speaking, they should have been in the center of the hall from the beginning—not to mention that this meeting hall was not even a formal meeting hall for elders.
Even though Emiya and his group sat quietly among the group of elders who stood up, they stood out a little.
Metatron stood up slowly and replied, "Is this the capital of Halrua? Is this the Halruaan Elders' Council? Are we going to discuss the magical breakthrough that the Halgard people have just made?"
Halayah is the capital, and the elders there have unanimously agreed with Emiya and his party - Emiya and his party came here to try to eliminate the division.
Making them sincerely convinced can eliminate divisions, and directly defeating these rebellious guys can also be done.
Zlaqi did not speak, but just sat in his seat, closed his eyes and said nothing. Zlaqi was the host of the meeting.
There were still a few minutes until the official meeting began. Normally, once everyone had arrived, Zlaj would prepare his speech. But right now, he was clearly in a bad mood.
However, he did not speak, because there was no one present who was of similar rank to him and qualified to deal with this person who had put the audience in a cold place.
Giles, as the half-culprit who caused this result, was on pins and needles at the moment.
At this moment, a magic storm that was much clearer than the magic door roared outside the conference hall. Two old wizards appeared near the hall. After observing for a while, they used the magic door to teleport directly to the outside of the conference hall.
The two old magicians were named Naif Al Musa and Taqi Al Mustafa.
The sudden appearance of these two shocked the entire conference hall, not to mention that these two elders were truly important in Halrua, and Tachi was almost the one who had the final say.
Whether they support Halayah's decisions is one thing, but their attitude in person is another.
Surrounded by the elders who had collectively stood up, the two of them walked inside, took a look around the hall, and couldn't help but sigh, "...After so long, there are fewer familiar faces, but not many new ones."
Then they saw Emiya and others.
Naif took a step forward, walked in front of them and bowed slightly, saying, "Your Excellency Metatron, Your Excellency Emiya..."
He announced the names of the entire team one by one. "Thanks to everyone's help, Halayah is now gradually resuming operations. I can finally spare some time to participate in the internal meetings of my colleagues. Despite your busy schedules, you are still willing to take the time to help Halrua with internal affairs. On behalf of Halrua, I am deeply grateful."
Tachi looked at the awkward atmosphere in the hall with some astonishment: "...Zlachi? We haven't seen each other for nearly a hundred years. What happened? The meeting should start now. If you are too old to speak, can I preside over the meeting in your place?"
The Greatest Elders' Meeting (Part 3)
Naturally, the meeting did not go smoothly.
Perhaps not every Haligardian harbors resentment, but abandoning their thousand-year-old hometown to start over with the new Mage King...
Even though their struggles were meaningless to the most powerful prophecy mage, they still had the courage to resist.
By now, Zarason had passed away, but the rise and fall of power between the two sides had only continued to expand.
Even though the two Halayach leaders didn't say anything, everyone present could see the two ivory statues on them shining with magical light.
A single trigger spell didn't mean much—even after the Arcane Calamity, these two elders retained sixth-level spellcasting abilities. All the elders at the forefront possessed this level of strength.
However, the chain triggering technique represented by the second statue indicated that they had returned to the Nine Rings.
Maybe they still haven't fully returned to their heyday, but this recovery speed is terrifying enough.
However, it is not the first day that Haligad is weaker than Halayah - and it is not the first day that they have been resisting passively and secretly.
Although this meeting was actually held for the purpose of blood sacrifice, it would not be uncommon to add additional topics if there were unexpected circumstances.
Theoretically speaking, the most important thing for Haligad right now is...
Certainly not the blood sacrifice found in the Serabi Mage Tower.
The most important thing is the arrival of the goddess's messenger, and the magic network and even the entire Halrua will be restored soon!
Halayach has the Knights of the Secret Fire traveling all over Halrua, while Haligad, with only one branch, is of course relatively isolated from news. Among the mages present, or even those who are not present, there may be some unlucky ones who still haven't received the news.
This meeting should at least inform everyone of this most important news first.
However, even after being cornered by the two Halayach elders, Zlaj still chose not to directly negotiate a soft settlement with the capital. Instead, he stood up, looked directly at Giles, and said, "Today, I will not waste too much of your time. We have one and only one topic: in Haligad, the thousand-year-old capital of Halrua, an extremely rare and vicious incident has occurred. Members of the Council of Elders have openly abandoned the arcane path to pursue bloody and cruel sacrificial rituals."
"Next, Elder Giles Al Arafat, head of the inspection department, will give his report."
Giles was stunned for a moment, then stood up awkwardly.
It is common for a large group of elders to gather together and have a wide range of topics to discuss.
But bringing up the only topic of a presbytery meeting and forcing it to become the absolute focus? This was completely not his original intention.
Giles shook his head. He was one of the elders who cared less about the dispute between the northern and southern capitals, but it was obvious that many things were beyond his control.
He could only bite the bullet and complete his duties. "Ten days ago, we received a report from Miss Nancy, who lives next to me. She claimed that in her neighborhood, someone was found trying to dig up the graves of mothers and babies who died in childbirth in the middle of the night."
"What?!" Many elders present at the meeting really did not know the details of the matter. When these words were spoken, most of the elders in the hall were shocked and angry.
The theft of corpses is a matter of great sensitivity in the arcane world, often considered only by the most depraved and unhappy necromancers.
In Halruaa, the status of the necromancy school is the lowest among the eight major schools. Even those who still study necromancy are forbidden to use humanoid corpses for experiments.
Stealing the bodies of mothers and babies who died in childbirth? This phenomenon may not cause direct material harm to the living, but the potential behind it makes them shudder.
No one wants to be dug up after death and used as a spellcasting material to make a dead spirit - because the bones of the great wizard are really suitable as materials.
What’s more, the mother and baby died in childbirth?
Giles breathed a sigh of relief. "In short, we divided our forces, quietly expanded our manpower, and scared the criminal away before he could successfully excavate the area. Eventually, a secret sentry discovered that he had entered the Serabi Mage Tower."
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