Although Wien was an island nation surrounded by the sea, its climate denied it the warm, languid charm of "sun, sea, and sand."
If the ocean of Dinge Region made one appreciate the beauty of life, then the atmosphere conjured by Wien's waters made it all too easy for a person to contemplate ending theirs.
Still, the beach at the Ankara Hotel possessed a unique artificial landscape. While it could not compare to a miniature world realm and was something of an exercise in self-deception, it at least offered a crack to slip into and pretend one was on vacation.
A large picnic blanket was spread out before Little Kanna, who was currently amusing herself endlessly by stuffing pills into various treats.
Augie lay on her side beside Little Kanna, yawning lazily.
Vic walked over, escorting Derius. The fact that he had brought the man over meant the terms had been settled.
Karen gestured to the empty spot beside him and said to Derius, "Have a seat."
Derius drew a deep breath and sat down.
At this moment, his facial composure had begun to crumble.
Anger, grievance, resentment, and bewildered helplessness showed in his expression.
Karen picked up a demon wolf meat sandwich and took a bite. The flavor was rich and hearty, though unfortunately still a step below lizard-dragon meat.
Karen's deepest impression of the Ankara Hotel remained the lizard-dragon meat beloved by every member of the Hound Squad. Back then, anyone qualified to accompany the protected VIP into the banquet hall not only had to gorge themselves as fast as possible, but also had to remember to sneak out doggy bags for the colleagues handling perimeter security.
Today, however, ordering roast lizard-dragon meat was out of the question—two dragons were sitting right beside him.
Unable to hold back any longer, Derius finally spoke. "Regional Chief Karen, may I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead."
"Does a weak, minor church truly have no right to exist independently?"
It was a rhetorical challenge.
Karen smiled faintly and countered with his own question:
"What gave you the illusion that a weak church ever had the right to exist independently in the first place?"
"You..."
Karen picked up an unidentified beverage in front of him from which Little Kanna had taken a single sip, and tasted it.
It was slightly sharp and pungent, resembling an alcoholic drink. No wonder Little Kanna had stopped after just one sip. Still, on the principle of avoiding waste, Karen kept it in hand, intending to finish it.
"Derius, perhaps everyone has lived too comfortably in this era. When people live in happiness for too long, they lose their sense of crisis, and from there, it is easy to become naive.
"In this era, there was first the standoff between Order and Light, followed by Order implementing the Code of Order. In short, while strife has always existed within the church circle and things have never truly been tranquil, compared to the last era and the one before that, it could genuinely be called a golden age of peace.
"When generation after generation bathes in such peace, they start to believe that this peace is innate, taken for granted, and naturally righteous.
"Yet as the footsteps of the returning gods draw near, the framework built by the Code of Order is peeling away. Out on the desert, the curtain on war has already risen. Do you know what that means?
"It means... the truest, longest-lasting face of this world is about to be laid bare before mankind.
"The peace of all these past years is merely a fleeting breath compared to the endless eras of war.
"By what right should small churches, relying on one or two technical specialties, amass stacks of point coupons and live in luxury?
"By what right should orthodox churches, in formal settings, be required to grant the hierarchs and helmsmen of small churches equal legal standing?
"You clearly possess no capability for self-defense; you can even afford to neglect and slash military spending. You have lived far too comfortably and far too at ease. That in itself is deeply abnormal.
"When the true age of strife arrives, all hypocritical veils of civilization will be ripped away. Only two choices will remain for minor churches:
"Either be swallowed whole by an orthodox god-church;
"Or become a dog to one."
Derius turned to look at Karen and asked, "Is this the Order in your eyes, Regional Chief Karen?"
"No, this is reality in my eyes."
"Regional Chief Karen, I do not accept your view! A person has the freedom to choose and defend their faith!"
"Whether you accept it or not is irrelevant. Furthermore, the fact that you are standing before me right now proves you have already compromised. I will allow you to shout a few slogans in my presence to vent your feelings."
"When we first met, I never imagined you were this kind of man."
"When we first met, I realized you weren't very clever."
"Because you discovered that my true faith lies with the God Pamires?"
"No, because you actually let me discover that your true faith lies with the God Pamires."
Derius: "..."
"Go back and prepare. See to it that the first batch of funds and supplies arrives as soon as possible."
"I will certainly fulfill what I promised, but I also hope that you, Regional Chief Karen, will honor your word as well."
"Put your mind at ease on that matter. I have already reached an understanding with your father. It wasn't easy for you to make this trip back; go have a meeting and share a meal with him. Your father is growing old. He needs you right now."
Derius lowered his head, somewhat dejected. "I know."
This meeting had in fact been arranged through his father's facilitation.
"I have quite a lot on my plate lately. Your hierarch's health should hold out for a while longer, yes? Once I finish handling my immediate affairs, or whenever you have need, I will accept your invitation and personally visit the Church of Pamires. On behalf of Order, I will convey support for you to your congregants and rivals. To be honest, I've always been rather interested in the Messenger Space and truly wish to see it."
"I will make preparations to welcome an expensive guest such as yourself."
Derius stood up, preparing to take his leave.
Karen spoke up. "Let me give you one more piece of advice."
"Please speak."
"I understand your desire to preserve the Church of Pamires and maintain its independence. But the problem now is that the more devout your faith in Pamires, the more easily the Church of Pamires will perish in your hands.
"Believe in Order. Even if you are faking it, please rein in your emotions properly and polish your acting skills.
"Only if you are Order's Hierarch of Pamires will Order show a little more tolerance toward the Church of Pamires."
"Thank you for the reminder. I have always done so."
"Yet as I said just now, you've always done a terrible job of it. Do not underestimate Order's eyes. The people at the top are no fools. If you couldn't even fool me back then, don't dream of fooling them."
"I understand."
Derius departed.
Karen instructed Vic, "Remember to press for the payment."
"I'll keep it in mind, Chief."
Augie chimed in with a chuckle. "Your Order people's style of bullying really never changes. Doesn't even skip a beat. Could that be considered another of your inheritance sequences?"
By this point, Little Kanna, having swallowed the pills, had slipped into a deep slumber, resting peacefully across Karen's lap.
Karen ignored Augie and said to Vic:
"Instruct the hotel kitchen to bring up two portions of roast lizard-dragon meat. That's this hotel's specialty; you ought to try some."
Vic immediately answered, "Understood, Chief. I'm already looking forward to it."
Augie's expression darkened. Propping herself forward on both hands, she leaned directly in front of Karen and glared daggers at him.
Karen paid her no attention whatsoever. Raising the cup, he took another sip of Little Kanna's foul-tasting leftover drink.
"Karen, have you forgotten? Miguel isn't the only one close to the Whip-Wielder. I am too!"
Karen kept his head lowered, gently smoothing Little Kanna's hair.
Augie continued, "Don't force me to speak ill of you before the Whip-Wielder."
Karen looked at Augie with a calm gaze. That look caused the fury in Augie's chest to surge again, only to be extinguished in an instant—because she remembered the two former secretaries she had swallowed.
She knew full well that if she dared attempt such a thing before the Whip-Wielder, with his keen wisdom, she would never be able to hide it from him. And the fate awaiting her would be...
Augie sat back down and lowered her head. Her mouth opened, then pressed shut into a tight line.
A plump female dragon over two meters tall was bullied to the point of nearly crying.
Yet Karen had no intention of comforting her. He had never actively sought to bully her; every single time, this dragon had brought it upon herself.
Before Vic could bring over the lizard-dragon meat, the tide came surging in ahead of schedule.
At first, Karen merely found it slightly strange. It was barely noon, which hardly aligned with the natural rhythm of the tides. Was this an effect deliberately staged by the Ankara Hotel's artificial landscape?
Soon, however, further anomalies emerged. From deep within the waters ahead, a powerful force was rapidly surging toward them.
Karen remained seated without moving, while Little Kanna, asleep in his arms, lifted her head and rubbed her eyes.
Swallowing the pills made her drowsy, but she had never forgotten Sister Purr's instructions before leaving home.
Augie stood up, looking ahead with a solemn expression.
Karen continued sipping his drink, not even lowering his cup.
"There's a dangerous aura," Little Kanna warned. "Assassins?"
"Don't worry, we are within the hotel's protective barrier."
Karen had confidence in the Ankara Hotel's defensive capabilities. While assassins could sometimes infiltrate undetected, they certainly had nothing to fear from someone arriving with such brazen bluster. Karen figured this was unlikely to be an assassination attempt.
*Boom!*
A massive column of water erupted from the sea. When the spray subsided, a giant, pitch-black python appeared on the water's surface. Standing atop its head were three young people—two women and one man.
The girl on the far left was the youngest and shortest, but her hands were continually weaving hand seals—the gestures of a summoner.
The near-corporeal giant python was her summoned creature.
The summoner prowess she displayed was, without exaggeration, enough to completely overwhelm Ashley.
The girl on the far right was tall and slender with dark green hair, carrying a longbow on her back. Her ears were longer and sat higher than an ordinary human's, strikingly nimble, and her eyes were a vivid emerald green. She clearly carried elven blood, and judging from the mark between her brows, her bloodline rank was exceptionally high.
The status of elves in this world was rather polarized. Those of high bloodlines were eagerly sought after for strategic marriages, while those of low bloodlines were permanent fixtures in exotic confectionery parlors across the land.
Standing in the middle was a young man.
A wicked, conceited smirk played on his lips—resembling one of those trendy rebellious music creators popular nowadays, fancying himself avant-garde and untamed, though his actual demeanor bore a striking resemblance to a street thug extorting protection money from pastry shops.
All three of them wore Order clerical robes.
"Open the gates!" the young man shouted. Feeling his voice lacked volume, he rested his right hand on the short girl's shoulder and called out again. This time, the giant python beneath their feet spoke in human tongue simultaneously:
"Open the gates!"
A resounding, piercing voice slammed against the beach, causing the drink in Karen's hand to ripple and tremble.
The hotel's security personnel rallied toward the area swiftly. Far from dropping the defensive array, they reinforced it.
A flying beast soared upward, carrying the chief of hotel security, who intended to step forward and negotiate.
Yet the young man atop the serpent seemed deeply annoyed by the delay. He gave a nod to the short girl beside him, and an eerie sheen radiated from her body. The flying beast immediately spiraled downward as though drunk, crashing into the sea along with the man riding it.
The giant python spoke again in unison:
"Open the gates! I'm tired and want to rest!"
The Ankara Hotel was the Yorktown Region's premier venue for external hospitality. In a sense, it represented the prestige of the entire region. Making a scene here was tantamount to spitting in the region's face.
Perhaps because Karen had spent so much time trading subtleties with high-ranking figures and had grown accustomed to political maneuvering, watching these three arrogant young people behave so crudely left him genuinely unaccustomed to it.
Even Derius, whom he had just called not very clever, at least operated within the rules of the game. But these three had breached the lower limit of Karen's expectations for basic sense.
"Does the High Priest have other adopted sons and daughters?" Karen asked with slight amusement.
Augie shook her head. "Miss Dena would never act like this."
Indeed. Although Miss Dena was willful and petulant to the bone, she held reverence in her heart, and she would never stoop to something so utterly devoid of class.
"Then are they newly appointed Children of God?"
Augie shook her head once more. "The aura on a Child of God doesn't feel like this."
Besides, not even Mavaglio would pull a stunt this ridiculous.
Karen had met plenty of young people of noble birth, but he had truly never encountered any this brainless.
The hotel security personnel began preparing defenses. The reason they hadn't launched an outright assault or locked onto the targets with the array was out of deference to the Order robes the intruders wore.
Yet when the second group of personnel attempting to negotiate was flipped over by a wave stirred up by the giant python, the hotel's array finally began its targeting lock.
Faced with this, far from showing panic or fear, the three young people looked as if they had found something amusing. The elf-blooded girl unslung the longbow from her back, drew it, and loosed an arrow.
The arrow struck the defensive barrier. The ward in that section was actually frozen solid, and with a crisp, shattering rattle, part of the array flaked away like shattered glass.
Just as the giant python prepared to enter, a new layer of defenses surged into view. Lightning flickered across the sky, driving the serpent back.
The hotel's offensive array began operating. First to emerge were dark red lances, darting forward with blinding speed to thrust directly at the giant python.
The young man raised both arms. A sheet of the Flame of Order appeared before him, utterly dissolving the array's assault in an instant.
Just then, a colossal dharma body manifested high above the Yorktown Region. The Regional Guardian had been disturbed. The consciousness of the dharma body swept across the area, a rift opened in the firmament, and a massive hand reached through.
Rather than showing fear, the three young people broke into delighted expressions. The young man in the center called out loudly:
"Uncle Puyuesen, it's us! We came to see you! Hahaha, this hotel refused to open its doors to let us in!"
The Ankara Hotel was open for business. Had they entered through the front doors and registered their identities, then unless they were wanted fugitives in the church circle, even members of foreign churches were free to lodge here. The young man's complaint was a blatant attempt to deflect blame and trivialize their conduct.
The colossal hand in the sky came to a halt, and a majestic voice rang out: "They are our own."
The Guardian spoke concisely, but the meaning was clear. Since he had classified them as their own people, the Ankara Hotel could no longer treat them as enemies.
In the past, the hotel would likely have taken the opportunity to back down gracefully—lowering the barrier to let them check in, swallowing any grievance whole. At the end of the day, no matter how prestigious the Ankara Hotel appeared, it remained part of the church's service sector.
This time, however, the person in charge of the hotel did not give the order to drop the barrier, because they knew who was present today.
Soon, a group of people hurried toward Karen, seeking the Regional Chief's orders.
"Regional Chief, what do you think...?"
"Lower it," Karen said.
"Yes, Regional Chief."
It seemed the Regional Chief had also chosen to let the matter rest peacefully.
With clear instructions received, the hotel's defensive array was deactivated at this section. The giant python slithered forward, heading straight for the beach.
Carrying Little Kanna with one arm, Karen walked over to Augie's side and rested his other hand on her shoulder.
Augie said, "I knew you wouldn't just sit by and watch."
"Oh?"
"This is your region, your turf. You're a man who cares about his dignity."
"That is shallow of you. I simply dislike how they fail to follow the rules."
"Are you going to bring out the Code of Order again?"
"No need for that. Teaching them doesn't even require following procedure. Weren't you stewing with suppressed anger? Look, a suitable target to vent it on has arrived."
"Karen, thank you ever so much."
"You're welcome."
"Still, are you truly planning to give your Regional Guardian no face at all?"
"I've never even met him. He holds no face with me."
*Roar!*
A dragon's roar tore through the air as the true form of the frost dragon materialized. Augie's mission this time had been to protect Dena, so her restrictions had been lifted in advance, granting her the freedom to transform whenever and wherever she chose.
Her massive dragon body coiled upward, the proud, noble dragon head radiating an utterly terrifying pressure. Before her, the giant python that had seemed so imposing moments ago shrank instantly into a tiny snake.
Standing atop the frost dragon's head with Little Kanna in his arms, Karen felt her gently push against his chest. "I want to join too! Rawr!"
The little bone dragon emerged. Her frame was far too small compared to Augie's, so as she circled Karen standing on the dragon's head, she looked like a white bone crown resting atop the frost dragon.
The appearance of two high-bloodline dragons left all three young people on the python's head stunned. Then, appearing to recognize Augie's identity, sheer terror washed over their faces.
At that moment, a voice sounded from the giant hand in the sky, which had yet to withdraw: "Regional Chief, they are our own."
Karen nodded. Reaching out, he patted the dragon horn before him and spoke:
"It is precisely out of respect for them being our own that I am willing to teach them... what rules really mean."
Chapter 770