In the Stern Council Hall.
Many consuls turned their gazes toward Aililan, who sat at the upper side.
The presence of the Saint of Temperance, Aililan, at the council did not affect today’s agenda, nor would it sway any decisions, so the attendees were even more focused on the council’s outcome.
The Chairman, Rolans, shook the bronze bell atop his desk and called out in a loud voice, “Order!”
The clear sound of the bell brought immediate silence to the previously noisy chamber, and Chairman Rolans once again reiterated today’s state affairs topic.
The representative from the Fourth Feather Legion, Deputy Commander Gareyas, began to speak.
Starting from the necessity of increasing the Fourth Feather Legion’s budget, he expanded into the rationale, his argument sound and reasonable—even Aililan couldn’t help but nod in agreement.
[……As everyone can see, the Northern Beastkin are growing ever stronger. It would take only a natural disaster, or perhaps a plague, for them to march south. When that happens, Atester City will bear the brunt and be set aflame by war once more. Our army has grown complacent for too long—we need to rebuild our forces, we need armor and weapons, and most importantly, we need this hard-won military budget.]
Gareyas, the Deputy Commander, had barely finished his words.
When a consul from the internal affairs side immediately stood up.
[Objection! Increasing military spending sounds easy enough, but do you realize that for every extra soldier, at least five civilian families must shoulder a heavy tax burden? For every new set of full armor, a noble’s household will have to buy another box of indulgence certificates to subsidize your army’s expenses?]
[Utter *** nonsense! Without our army, when the foreign races attack, you all won’t even have a chance to fart.]
‘Dang dang dang——’
Chairman Rolans rang the bronze bell.
Signaling both sides to mind their manners.
[Gareyas, you **, even if you talk until you’re blue in the face today, don’t think you’ll get a single copper from us.]
‘Dang dang dang——’
The bell rang again.
Aililan’s beautiful brows arched again and again.
Wilma, at her side, could only smile bitterly and whispered, “Really, you can’t blame anyone for not being… uh, gentlemanly enough. In a place like this, if your voice is even a little weaker, you’ll get trampled all over.”
Aililan nodded, replying softly, “Mm, I can understand. The Fourth Feather Legion must prepare for powerful enemies, and the internal affairs consuls also have to be responsible for countless families.”
Wilma approved, “It’s good that you can understand. They say that the Mild Saintess Liweiya, when she attended her first council session, almost lost her temper and chopped someone up!”
“The Mild Saintess, with a bad temper?”
“No, you don’t know?”
“Nobody ever mentioned this in the Holy Land!”
“Damn…” Wilma wanted to slap herself, then shook her head. “No, never mind, just pretend I never said anything.”
“Bishop Wilma, out with it!”
“Don’t ask, please, I beg you, don’t ask.”
“Why not?”
“This is one of those things that spells doom for whoever asks. But considering your age, not knowing is normal. Otherwise, with your status, it’s impossible you wouldn’t have heard about your older sisters’ dark pasts—ah, oops… Light God above, I said nothing, I know nothing.”
Aililan’s curiosity only grew.
But no matter what, Bishop Wilma wouldn’t say another word, even if it killed her.
Still, Aililan could more or less guess the gist. Every Saintess has an opposing trait; wouldn’t the opposite of mildness be wrath?
As for why no one mentioned it in the Holy Land—wasn’t that obvious? With them about to become one of the Seven Regents, who the heck would dare bring up a Saintess’s dark history?
But now Aililan was really curious—just what dark past did the Saint of Temperance have?
Suddenly.
‘Hiss——’
Aililan thought of her own virtue.
“Chastity.”
“Chastity!!”
“In other words, if I can’t keep my pants on, won’t my dark past be turning into a **?”
Becoming a **—absolutely not!
If that ever happened, for Aililan, it really would be a case of ‘whoever brings it up dies.’
The Stern Council was still locked in endless squabbling. Perhaps they’d only stop once a compromise acceptable to all could be reached!
At noon.
The council session paused for a break.
Aililan figured that just the matter of military spending alone would be dragged out for quite some time yet!
With Wilma making introductions, Aililan met many more people.
Among them, regarding the Deputy Commander of the Fourth Feather Legion, Gareyas, Aililan inevitably chatted with him a bit more.
“Saintess, do you take an interest in military affairs?”
Wilma shot him a warning glance. For a Saintess to appear close to any side in such a situation was never a good thing.
Aililan just smiled and said,
“Military and political matters have never been separate. Without an army, there’s no political stability; without governance, how can one support a powerful army?”
This answer made many people look over in surprise.
At the very least, it was a thoroughly appropriate response.
Gareyas sighed, “Sigh~”
Aililan smiled again and spoke softly, “Deputy Commander Gareyas, why do you sigh? I know what worries you, but even if the military budget is increased, in the end, isn’t it all just going into city defenses?”
Gareyas gave her a long look, speaking with deeper meaning, “You’re opposed as well, then?”
Aililan shook her head, also responding with layered meaning, “Deputy Commander Gareyas, have you never heard the saying—the best defense is a good offense?”
Gareyas: ——?
If not for his basic sense of decorum, he’d probably have cursed the Saintess out loud on the spot.
Aililan’s words sounded like those of a short-sighted fool. Atester City stood at the crossroads of war, always focused on defense—how could they possibly think of attacking?
But on closer thought, the hawkish flavor in Aililan’s words was unmistakable.
With that, Aililan gave a slight bow, graceful and composed, “That concludes my schedule for today; if you’ll excuse me, I shall take my leave now.”
Gareyas hurriedly returned the salute with gravity, “Please take care, Saintess.”
On the way back.
Aililan thought back over the military’s organization.
The military structure of the Transmission Church was divided into Six Wings Army Groups, each Wing guarding one region and jointly protecting the Holy Land at the center.
Each Wing’s subordinate City Guard unit was named after a ‘Feather’—Atester City was in the fifth Wing, fourth in the city sequence, so it was called the Fourth Feather Legion.
The current Fourth Feather Legion: 15,000 strong.
Gareyas and his peers were requesting: expansion to at least 20,000.
Aililan recalled another thing: “Six Wings Army Groups, but there are seven Saintesses… Hmm, one of them will become Pope in the future.”
“If I serve as the Saint of Temperance for the Fifth Wing Army Group, wouldn’t I become the wings of one of the other Saintesses in the future?”
“Or, if I become Pope, then including the Saint of Temperance Lizberu, wouldn’t all of them become my wings?”
“Ha!”
She couldn’t help but laugh, but regardless of who becomes whose wings—
Aililan felt it didn’t matter either way.