Even if you beat Winnie to death, she would never have known.
Aililan’s sweet dreams weren’t about her, and the person she longed for in her heart would never be her. In fact, her impression of Winnie had become so stereotypical that only the image of her as a grease-covered cook remained.
But without a doubt, Winnie’s unconscious influence had affected Aililan.
During the meeting of the Administrative Council, Aililan was a bit distracted. “Saintess? Saintess?” the person beside her whispered, nudging her out of her daze.
“Huh?”
“Oh, I’m fine.” Aililan took a deep breath and smiled. “I probably just didn’t sleep well last night.”
“The Saintess has indeed been working hard lately.”
Aililan continued, “Let’s start today’s agenda. We are moving on to the topics for today! It mainly concerns the legal clauses for regulating merchants.”
“Regarding the conflict between Secular Law and Religious Law, our principle is to take Religious Law as the standard.”
“However, we must never encourage the arrogance of certain noble merchants. They always claim that the commercial laws we promulgate don’t apply to them as nobles and that nobles can only be judged and punished by Religious Law. This matter requires the concerted effort of everyone in Atester.”
“You must tell them through your actions…”
“If you don’t want to obey, then get out!”
Aililan stopped just short of saying that if they didn’t listen, the administration should harass them and the finance department should make their lives miserable. She refrained from speaking such divisive words openly.
The fact that Religious Law stood above Secular Law had always been an issue for the Church.
One could understand it as Secular Law being a subordinate to Religious Law. Religious Law could interfere with Secular Law, but Secular Law could not touch Religious Law. This gave many nobles a loophole to exploit.
“Hibili.”
“Saintess, I await your instructions.”
“Atester City is a pilot location for judicial reform. Do you understand my meaning?”
“I… I understand—”
“Then go ahead and do it. Don’t be afraid of offending people. I will always stand behind you.”
“I will surely give my all for the Saintess!”
Chief of Justice Hibili couldn’t hide her excitement. She could feel that Aililan intended to separate Secular Law from Religious Law, effectively granting the judicial department real power.
But this path was extremely treacherous.
One wrong move could lead to a bottomless abyss.
Yet, the greater the risk, the greater the opportunity. If this matter succeeded in Atester City, Hibili would become a pioneer of the Church. Looking ahead, becoming the Grand Chief of Justice for the entire territory of the Church was not an impossible dream.
“Very well.”
“Next, we move to the second agenda item.”
“Regarding the construction of barracks and the stationing of troops as agreed with the War Pigs, we will build to high specifications. Besides the regular garrison, the personnel responsible for Bitgel can be selected from the army. We must ensure every soldier is prepared for combat.”
Military Chief Gareyas raised his hand and spoke, “Saintess, will this cause resentment and protest from the War Pigs?”
Aililan slapped the table and said sternly, “What is there for the War Pigs to be resentful about? What right do they have to be resentful? It’s easy to enter a state of luxury but hard to return to poverty. Not a single War Pig who has eaten their fill will ever want to go back to starving.”
“Moreover, under the pretext of protecting Bitgel, they have also built a camp near the border. Don’t think I don’t know what the War Pigs are planning.”
“Everyone knows it in their hearts.”
After a pause, Aililan stood up, paced for a moment, and continued, “Other races can never be trusted. Perhaps one day the War Pigs will suddenly snap, and a fight could break out in an instant.”
“So, Gareyas, you must remain vigilant at all times. Don’t forget how the Porcupine Orcs were wiped out.”
“As the Military Chief, you should learn from that lesson. Don’t let the War Pigs active in Bitgel coordinate from the inside one day and overturn our nest. If that happens, before the enemy even attacks, I will be the first to punish you.”
Gareyas bowed his head and said in a low voice, “I keep the lesson of the Porcupine Orcs in mind at all times. I will always obey your orders, Saintess.”
Aililan nodded in satisfaction.
“Next, we move to the third agenda item.”
“The roads leading from Atester City to various places are too poor. This is not conducive to the merchants’ trade. If we want to get rich, we must first build roads…”
One resolution after another was brought up for discussion.
One administrative order after another was issued from the council.
Aililan was becoming more and more like a true leader, possessing the aura of someone in high authority.
After the meeting ended, Betiliana from the Investigation Office caught up with Aililan and mentioned something. “The spies we planted among the demons suffered a heavy blow when they went to the Snake Gang.”
Aililan was startled. “What?”
The Snake Gang?
Weren’t the Twelve Knights in charge of that?
Arkernard and the others had also reported it. It was likely that because they were gradually taking control of the magical potion smuggling, it had affected the demons’ interests, and they had recently been targeted by them.
But those were twelve burly men. You could think of them as knight lords who were even stronger and more noble than cavalry. Arkernard had simply treated those low-level demons as trash to be cleared from the roadside.
Aililan asked, “Is everyone okay?”
Betiliana shook her head slightly and said, “Everyone is fine for now, but there is one matter I didn’t dare to decide on my own.”
“What is it?”
“Our spies said the demons have dispatched a Succubus with the bloodline of a Succubus Lord. She has already infiltrated your estate, so I’m a bit worried.”
Aililan frowned. “She has already infiltrated my estate?”
Betiliana nodded hurriedly and said, “Yes. So I was wondering if we should conduct an investigation of your estate. But after all, it is your estate… but for your safety…”
This was the helplessness Betiliana was referring to.
Her current position was still too low.
The original Military Police had been split into three parts, and she only controlled one of them. Even in the Administrative Council, she only sat in the back rows.
Aililan fell silent for a moment and then said coldly, “I will handle this matter myself.”
“But, Saintess…”
“Betiliana, I know what you’re worried about. But if word gets out that even the residence of the Saintess has been invaded by a demon, where would my prestige go?”
“I understand. If you have any needs, Saintess, our Investigation Office is ready to respond at any time. We can even strike at the demons’ strongholds in the city in advance.”
“There’s no need. It’s a good thing those demons are gathered together. If we startle them now, it would be like blowing up a hornet’s nest. The vermin would scatter everywhere.”
Aililan walked ahead while Betiliana followed closely behind.
As they spoke, Aililan pondered for a while before adding, “Of course, I’m not saying we won’t move against them. We are waiting for the relationship between the Sky Bear and the demons to deteriorate further. Once they start fighting, we will wipe out all the demons in the city in one fell swoop. Do you understand?”
Betiliana bowed her head in admiration. “The Saintess is truly wise.”
***
Aililan left the council.
She had a sudden realization. No wonder she had felt strange lately and even had sweet dreams about the Saintess of Temperance every night.
Aililan took a deep breath and muttered, ‘You really did let me have a long, “sweet” dream.’
She was thankful in many senses.
“However…”
Aililan then grit her teeth and said furiosly, “That damned succubus… to dare to defile my favorite Saintess of Temperance in my dreams, I will definitely—”
At the same time, she felt frustrated by her own weakness. She hadn’t even realized a succubus had infiltrated her home. If it were one of the other elder Saintesses, they probably would have caught that intruder and hung her up for a beating long ago.
‘I want to…’
‘I really want to become stronger.’