Inside a large room within one of the aristocracy's hidden fortresses,

Mathilda stood in the corner of the room with the Eirwens' siblings, while in the center of the room, a man in his sixties was chained and a tall man stood behind him.

Though the chained man was doing his best to keep a semblance of composure, to everyone in the room, it was obvious that he was in distress.

Even though the chained man was doing his best to maintain a calm demeanor, it was clear to everyone in the room that his heart was in distress.

"I have arrived," A woman announced, arrogance in her voice, appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the room along with a young man.

Having dropped off the woman, the young man wordlessly greeted everyone in the room, even the man chained, kneeling in the middle of the room, before departing the same way he appeared.

The woman, on the other hand, immediately made her way toward a throne, upon which she sat, overlooking the entire room with her golden eyes.

"We may begin." She announced, before setting her eyes on the chained man in the middle of the room.

Everyone but the restrained man was unsurprised by the woman's appearance. He could not believe what he saw, but the fact that she went to sit upon that throne suggested that she was the one truly in charge of the aristocracy, which is why the chained man felt utterly confused by her youthful appearance.

For her to so unhingedly sit on this throne suggested that she was rank-wise both above that man, Shlain of the Eirwens Brotherhood, and that woman, Mathilda of the Douglas conglomerate, who publicly introduced herself as the leader of the aristocrats, she could be no one else but the one known by most aristocrats as the "Mother".

"Having neither the heart nor the time, I’ll ask you directly, Lord Edmund, why did you betray us?" Did you betray us because you thought you could somehow escape us, or because it was your project since the beginning? Tell me, because I cannot understand. "

The restrained man looked up at her and retorted, " After all, how could you? For two years! For two entire years, all you and your aristocracy did was hole yourselves here between these four walls. What would you know about us?" Raising the voice.

Raziel, standing up behind the man, was about to calm the restrained man down, but "the Mother" motioned to him to let the man be and move aside, which he did.

"Please, do continue." Mother suggested

"Do you know how it is out there? I joined your aristocracy’s cause because I knew that with how much our family name was tied to the conglomerate, I was bound to one day be assumed to be part of all of this, even if I wasn't. "

"I am not alone like that. Many of us whose families depended on the conglomerate after Douglas betrayed us are now under the church's scrutiny and nobility social trial."

"I see, so you thought that by selling us out you would buy back your innocence from the church."

The man didn’t even bother to deny it.

"Two years,... What’s the point of all that two years ago? " The man looked at a corner of the room, where Mathilda was standing, and said, "What was the point of that public speech? In two years, what-"

"-What have we accomplished?" Mother interrupted, "I have heard enough. Seeing this, I realize I did right to keep your kind away from what we were up to."

The woman stood up and approached the restrained man.

"What ?" "

In a sense, those who represent the entire aristocracy can be divided into two distinct groups: inner members and outer members.

The former being majoritarily members of the scavengers and the brotherhood, those who acted under the Mother’s direct order, while the latter were made up of nobles who swore allegiance to the cause, and yet didn’t take direct part in the conflict behind the curtain.

The man currently on trial belonged to the first category—a noble who, behind the church’s and the nobility's back, swore allegiance to the Aristocracy.

" We have given your family the opportunity to join us as full-fledged aristocrats, here in our fortress amidst other aristocrats, yet you refused. We have given you the opportunity to lead a normal life, yet you dare, after having betrayed us, in front of me, complain about your petty grievance." Mother said, standing right in front of the man.

"I know you neither believe in our cause, nor do you intend to take part in this conflict. Like a leech, you exist solely to feed upon its victim, whomever might be."

The man’s completion darkened.

"You believed yourself smart by joining us, for you thought there was still the option to ditch and sell us to the Church."

"What..."

"You asked me what we were up to during these past two years, yet you failed to realize "you" were instead up to..."

"Don't... don’t tell me."

"Mercy is one thing," she said, reaching out her hand, "but you and arrogance have outlived your usefulness."

"Wait... wait-AARRGHH–"

The man screamed, but the Mother’s reaching onto his face suddenly stopped from any further words, “When I returned to this age, I discovered that you nobles had learned to embrace death as a form of virtuous duty. yet you all have forgotten.”

“I was the one who gave you life; from nothing I sprang you forth. I loved, blessed, and healed. Yet tarnished you made my name, corrupt you made my memories. I was brought forth at the dawn of this corrupt and unchanging world to take what is mine; I will no longer love. Bless, I no longer will. Heal, I no longer do. Ill, I will reap upon you. You who dared to forget my warmth, I will take back from you that which belongs to me."

The mother retracted her clenched fist from the man, as if she had extracted something from him, and as she did, his body from within burst into a cluster of blue crystals as a whole.

"I am no one for you to play with, child. Allow me to relieve you of the burden that is this blasphemous quest. " With these words, "the Mother" clenched that which she extracted from the man and, with a firm grasp, shattered it to nothingness.

"Raziel!" she called.

"Yes, Mother." The man named Raziel replied, dragging away what was left of Lord Edmund out of the room.

"May this be a lesson for us from now on. They may have sworn allegiance to us, but it will take little for them to betray us, for that has always been an option in their heart. From now on, inner members, unless given permission, are not allowed to leave the fortress. "

Two of those present nodded, but then a voice raised,

"So that’s it?"

Mother looked at the one speaking, and saw, approaching her, Shlain, the elder of the Eirweins' brothers.

"What do you mean, Shlain?"

"That’s going to be all? You killed him and that’s all?!"

"Yes, that’s all. This matter is settled."

"Then what about the other one? You want me to stand here and do nothing?!"

"By the mess you’ve provoked by capturing that man, we’ve already brought too much unwanted attention to ourselves. Now, it’s not one but three Archbishops that are waiting for you out there. The choice to leave this fortress to get out and kill yourself is up to you, but do not drag anyone else into this. "

"Two of my men didn’t return because of what they'd done. Will he just be allowed to live freely after what he has done?"

'The Mother' simply looked at the Shlain this time, affirming her position without saying a word.

It was only a moment after when Shlain slightly backed away that she stated to everyone to hear, "This matter is settled."

With a glance at his brother, Shlain made his way to the exit, followed by his brother.

"Shlain, let us not ruin everything for petty vengeance."

At the mention of revenge, he froze up, then, after a while

"I just hope you have not forgotten the terms of our contract when our brotherhood joined your Aristocracy."

"I have not forgotten. I have promised you his death. You will have it. What I am asking you, my child, is patience."

"I am not your child. It’s creepy coming from someone with that appearance. " Shlain said, throwing a last glance before leaving along with his brother.

A moment after the door closed behind the brothers, "He’s starting to lose patience." 'the Mother' said to Mathilda, who so far has not said a word.

"I know. I tried to make him hear reason, but lately with the death of these two and the stiff rhythm things are going-"

"Yet, we must remain patient. I, accordingly to your wish to see no further bloodshed gave up my first project for this one, I will not let anyone squanders my years of hard work, I am thousands of years past the age to put up with the whining of spoilt manchild, even if he is one of them."

"Understood, Mother. I’ll try to talk sense to him and his brother. "

***

They were inside a closed room with a table in the middle, upon which was laid a very large map. The map was that of the entire human continent, and put on top of that map, on several corners of that said map, were several rocks of different sizes and colors.

Size-wise, they varied in three sizes, the biggest being the size of a box that would fit in an adult palm, and the smallest being the size of a nail.

Color-wise, they went in three colors: blue, black, and golden.

On the map, the rocks in blue were the most numerous, varying in size only at a very few corners, followed by the ones in gold, leaving the black rock as the last one, whether it was number-wise or size-wise.

"This morning, I received letters from Paul and from Serana?"

"Oh, and how are they doing?"

"Nothing. Matthias deems that it is not the right time to make any move."

"Not the right time, huh?"

"He said he needed a momentum to hop on to take action. The moment he would be provided with what he'd asked for, he promised he'd make great use of it. "

"So, he needed some momentum," looking at her hand, The Mother reached out for the large golden rock situated in the Middle-Western part of the kingdom and mumbled, "Maybe I should myself provide them with this needed momentum." reducing the poor to nothing but dust.

Mathilda looked at her, clearly unsure whether or not that person was serious about taking the matter into her own hands.

"You can’t do tha-"

"I know," The Mother immediately interrupted, "I know I can’t reveal myself. I, more than anyone else, am unable to leave this fortress, for I know the moment I would, he would sense my presence. And that would be a problem beyond the one we already have on our back. " Sighing, the mother, changing subject, asked, "Anything else?"

"I have received another from our envoy to Lilith," Handing a letter, Mathilda added, "The Devan is currently considering our request for a meeting,"

"Oh, this could be, if handled well, the momentum your brother is hoping for."

"Yes, but if they do grant our request, the one they would like to talk to-"

"-would be 'you' personally?"

Nodding Mathilda confirmed.

"They would certainly not accept envoys and would certainly only agree to talk to me personally."

"How do you feel about this?"

"Are you asking if I’m afraid?"

"Not at all." I was asking if you felt this to be a trap or not?"

Mathilda remained silent for a moment before saying, "I don’t know. The Archbishop Durant Sullivahn and Karen Caelus's movements lately have become erratically difficult to ascertain, so whether or not this would be a trap, I cannot tell. In any case, considering the Devan and the duchy’s current situation, if there were to ever be a meeting, I’m certain it would take several months to be organized."

"Another dead-end," she sighed.

"Yes, I’m afraid, unless something significant happens that would make them accelerate, I fear it would take months before any significant move can be made in that corner of the map."

"I see... So what we need to speed up the process is for something to happen. " She said, caressing a large black rock in her hand.