BXBX NOVEL 220 Chapter 220
The Galos region quickly became aware of the Aethelians' collaboration with the other races for Pesia's benefit.
Although it was unexpected, no fuss was made because the now-dead Sayiva was held responsible for all of the Aethelians' destruction.
Aron came across as a kind and upright man when Celes described how he listened to her remarks and gave her people an opportunity to atone.
However, the common people took it to heart and saw him as a sort of hero who brought all races together for the benefit of Pesia. The pillars and higher ups didn't buy this one bit.
Even Victoria Vonstein, who had been held captive, could only be stunned by what had happened.
Some even went so far as to claim that a new era, with Aron as its leading figure, was upon them.
The collecting of mana crystals and mana creatures was at an all-time high thanks to the Aethelians.
It got to the point where the Galos region now held the majority of the resources on Drotzi.
Even more could have been gotten if others after them had been permitted to depart the continent, but given the prevailing situation, such a course of action was no better than suicide.
They had to stay close by because it would take too long to get elsewhere.
….
Aron, along with the other main heads, spent the majority of his time at the academy rather than at his home.
Despite the fact that their main worry was no longer a concern, most of them still hadn't slept a wink in the three days since Celes passed away.
Why? because they didn't have faith in Aron.
They couldn't trust his techniques because they were so unpredictable. He first invites a significant threat to negotiate, then kills her and claims it was preplanned with a previous threat whose lover he killed. This is blasphemous.
It made no sense; he had to be keeping something secret! No, there are several things, not just one.
Aron could no longer influence the leaders of any race because they were now wary of him, therefore this was unavoidable. However, it was too late; they had already performed the part he had assigned to them.
Even though he was impatient to start the third and last stage, he restrained himself since he still needed one more thing to happen.
He was fortunate because it happened on that day.
Bam!
The conference room door that all the major heads were meeting in suddenly burst open.
Everyone in the room turned to confront a human being with a severe expression.
He wore armor with the Vonstein emblem adorning the chest plate to signify whose subordinate he was.
"What is it?"
Victoria Vonstein, who was occupying one of the several empty seats in attendance, regarded her subordinate with arched eyebrows.
Nobody reprimanded him for entering in such a disrespectful manner; after all, what use was manners in such a situation?
"Informing Milady! The horde is currently moving in this direction. Recently, one of our airships that is gathering supplies close to the capital reported this via messaging scroll." A chilly perspiration could even be seen streaming down the man's forehead as he reported, who had a look of intense stress on his face.
People like him would have to make the ultimate sacrifice for the populace if the preparations weren't made. The poor man was scared by such an idea.
"I see…"
Aron was seated in one of the upper seats at the front of the room when Victoria stood up and turned to face him.
As it was his intention, the heads of the other races followed her gaze as well as those of the other pillars; they needed to know what action to do next.
"Time is running out. All of us must be inside the formation or that device will attack us as well. Quickly gather up all humans and mana beasts outside the city and bring them inside."
The situation did appear to be dire, as Aron hastily revealed, drawing several frowns.
"Wait… We can't even start because many airships haven't returned yet, including our children." Ezra's face became serious.
Since they were unable to go, they had sent their own kids.
To prevent theft, the wealth-storing vaults in their lands required a direct descendant to be present.
Normally, they would have left themselves, but they decided that leaving Aron alone was more risky.
"Tell them to avoid the Galos region and to flee away from the horde because this cannot be postponed. Nearly the entire Galos region will be under attack, but areas outside of that will be out of range."
Bam!
"Do you believe I'm a fool, do you? Why did you have us all assemble here if it was secure? You don't really care that much for us, in my opinion."
With obvious cynicism in her voice, Ezra posed questions of uncertainty to Aron. Aron's answer did seem like a terrible deception, so most people could understand where she was coming from.
"Easy," he said, "I couldn't draw the horde to come within attack range while preventing them from moving to other areas if I didn't gather the strongest individuals in Pesia, together with mana creatures and crystals.
"!!"
Was the entire claim that the device requires mana to be powered—which shocked several people visibly—a lie? All for the purpose of using them as assault bait?
None of them could have predicted the multiple lies Aron would tell to cover up the biggest deception. His comments made sense based on what was demonstrated to them, and this revelation was understandable.
"Why not tell us then?"
Isaac Lovitz questioned aggressively, but Aron merely laughed at him.
"Would you agree if I asked you nicely to serve as bait? Would the populace? No, you would all still naively separate from one another and try to profit from one another's death. Naturally, I wouldn't be honest with you."
As he described the reasoning for his alleged conduct, Aron made fun of it. Many people at this point no longer questioned whether it was a fake and instead were more interested in how effectively he had orchestrated things.
Even Lady Rose believed his remarks to be real at the time since the circumstances supported the falsehood he said.
Aron had simply created a scenario to explain his actions up to this point without letting anybody believe otherwise; the deception was so logical and consistent with his ways that no one could really object.
"I comprehend his perspective."
Lady Uva abruptly spoke in favor of Aron's admission.
"I agree, because if he had told the truth earlier, the races wouldn't have come together. By doing this, Aron has not only reduced the number of casualties but also preserved Ettenheim's riches and foundation; after all, if you look around, most of the best that Drotzi has to offer is already there in the Galos region. We wouldn't suffer even if we had to start over on an other continent."
Victoria Vonstein stood up for Aron this time, and even though she hated him for the embarrassment he had already caused her family, she couldn't help but respect his remarkable way of thinking.
She believed that he set aside all of his wealth, power, and expertise in order to save as much of Pesia as possible, regardless of race.
Even an opponent like her was spared, which made her feel inept and embarrassed of her acts thus far.
No one objected further because doing so would only increase the embarrassment they already felt at this point, and similar sentiments were running through the minds of the others.
"Hurry up if you're done whining."
After finishing his sentence, Aron stole a glimpse at Belle. She caught his attention and, as if on cue, came forward to clear her throat.
"That's correct! We don't have time to waste, thus each race should concentrate on putting their own order in place for better stability. Let's see…"
While Belle spoke wonderfully and appeared in character, many people currently perceived her as an opportunistic lady who was attempting to get close to Aron now that he was the emperor.
Aron, however, chose to ignore her as he did with most other individuals because he realized that nobody seemed to fully understand how the two could function together. They simply felt that she was attempting to steal the show at this time.
"This unruly thing has no shame at all."
Ezra, in particular, detested seeing her pleasant face the most. Belle didn't pay attention to the look directed at her and carried on.
"I got it! Galos City resembles a big, imperfect but almost perfect circle; hence, if it is divided into four sections, each race can organize its members into a certain segment. Five, hold on, we'll need another one for the mana beasts."
Belle uttered words as if they had simply come to her right then and there.
She did an excellent job of convincing the audience, and Aron couldn't fault her for acting.
"That much is clear; let's go on, Ara!"
Ezra exhaled angrily and got up from her chair since continuing to listen to Belle speak was too much of a burden for her.
Everyone soon followed to start actively implementing Aron's huge scheme. Their own concern and regard for him had both increased significantly.
Elise, his grandma, paused as she passed by him and grinned at him.
"You truly are your mother's son," she said.
After murmuring this with a touch of pride, she turned around and left, leaving Aron and Rose standing next to him, now just reaching his waist.