After dragging the captain for around a good hundred metres or so, Aziz was finally able to convince Marie that he wouldn’t run away the moment she released him, so the captain was able to present himself in a rather respectable state by the time they got to the State Council’s current location.

“Chief of Air, long time no see.” Campmaster Pauline, who was rifling through a stack of papers, looked up as the two stepped in. Aziz wasn’t too sure about what new post she had in the Republic, but from the fact that she was sitting at the head of the table, it was probably really high.

He looked at the people assembled here, but other than Warmaster Eventide, the others were people he mostly knew by sight and not name. After all, he didn’t have much contact with the people who ran the state — if the colonel hadn’t dragged him along to suffer the woes of briefings, he would never know who these people were in the first place.

“You’re just in time too,” a man, dressed in black from head to toe, spoke. “The War Minister was just talking about the excellent jobs that Thunderbolt Battalion keeps doing.”

The colonel shifted her gaze to Warmaster Eventide and inclined her head. “Thank you for your compliments, sir.”

“It is what you deserve, but I think we have more in store for you, Chief of Air,” Eventide replied. “It has come to our attention that a colonel rank isn’t really enough for someone holding the position of the Chief of Air, so Manpower has decided to make your rank more suitable.”

The black-robed man produced a small box. “Congratulations, Air Marshal Marie. You now hold a rank equivalent to the generals of our ground troops. You’re one of the few generals who have attained such a position as a Knight, so we’ll be expecting great things from you.”

He opened the box to reveal epaulettes, each adorned with three glittering stars. “From my understanding of your character, you dislike ceremony, so we have regretfully done away with a full parade. You are, of course, free to suggest otherwise.”

“No, I’m good.” The colonel — no, marshal — let out a sigh of relief. “That said, there won’t be any changes to my current deployment, yes?”

“Unfortunately, there are some changes. Traditionally, your current rank, makes you more than qualified to lead a regiment. Of course, we only have two battalions of air troops, so you’ll have to make do with that for now,” said the man in black. “Stardust and Thunderbolt will be under your oversight from now on, and you’ll be expected to increase the number of airborne troops under your jurisdiction henceforth.”

“T-thank you, Minister Remus.”

By now, however, the captain had understood enough of Marie’s character to understand that she was cursing at the man inwardly. The marshal had wanted to just stay in command of Thunderbolt, but even that was taxing on her. Aziz’s lips twitched madly, but the man managed to prevent himself from gloating under the eyes of everyone present.

“Is there anything else about your current job scope that you want to clarify?” Minister Remus asked.

“Do I have the freedom to promote people that I deem fit?” The marshal asked.

“Promotions and appointments are still the prerogative of us in Manpower, Marshal Marie, but I really doubt anyone’s going to contest you if you send in an application or two,” he replied.

A small smile appeared on Marie’s face, and alarm bells began to ring in Aziz’s head. His mind churned, and it didn’t take much for him to realise that the marshal was definitely intending on getting some people into high enough positions so she could dump some work on them.

“Excellent. I have a few people in mind,” Marie replied. “After all, I’ll need people to help with the day to day running of Thunderbolt and Stardust, but I don’t want to mess up the command structure either.”

“Well, so long as you know what you’re doing, we won’t interfere,” Remus replied. “Just remember to send in the paperwork first.”

“Consider it done.” A chill ran down Aziz’s spine when Marie smiled, and the man began to seriously consider resigning from the military.

“Excellent,” said Pauline. “Now that we’re all set, we’ll begin to move on to our second agenda in this meeting — the Human God. Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think about his words? Especially regarding the Second Extermination.”

Aziz narrowed his eyes. From her words, the captain somehow got the feeling that she too knew that something was wrong with how the others reacted. But the problem was that he was quite sure that she didn’t enter the Worldshaper’s Divine Kingdom.

The small crowd mulled on their words for a moment.

“I feel that the Human God was justified, but my mind keeps telling me that it wasn’t,” said someone. “I feel…odd?”

“That’s the kind of feeling I’m getting too,” said another. “After a while, however, I had doubts about the Human God’s words. I cannot believe that my family and friends died for something as…far-fetched as this.”

Similar words of assent went around the room. Most of the others had the same sentiment, which only appeared a while after the Human God’s words were over. Aziz frowned. What does this mean?

“I’m glad most of you feel this way,” Pauline stated quietly. “But I would like to draw your attention to the words that Scorpio said — he claimed that the Human God was capable of affecting one’s mind. It is entirely possible that this speech of his was intended to alter our minds somewhat. Most of us here are Knights or beyond, which means that we already have our vows and restrictions in place, which probably offers some protection.”

She took a deep breath. “However, this may not apply to the common soldiers and civilians. Our main objective right now is to therefore think up of methods to subtly influence the more vulnerable segments of our nation, and to implement them throughout the South.”

“We can start by including public information campaigns,” someone began. “Our aim should be to establish ourselves as an authority on news and information, before any effects from this declaration begins to spread.”

“The Information Brokers should be of good use too; we can enlist their help for this.”

Pauline nodded her head. “That’s a good suggestion. We can draft up a plan for this.”

People began to speak their minds, offering solutions and ideas, and the captain watched quietly as the top brass of the Republic began to think up of countermeasures against the Human God’s newly-revealed ability. To his side, Marie was watching and listening to the proceedings intently, her eyes clouded by a host of thoughts.