"Does that idiot still think the 'Grand Sage' he's about to meet is the same one from a month ago?"
"That's Idris."
If it were Azar from a month prior, even if the Balladeer went to "solo" Sumeru, Il Dottore wouldn't have blinked. But now? Going alone was the same as hand-delivering the freshly seized Gnosis.
Sensing the risk, Il Dottore snapped, "Find that fool Balladeer now, at any cost! If the Gnosis goes missing while he has it, I'll hold him personally responsible!"
Orders flew. Yet the Balladeer—bloated with confidence after taking the Electro Archon's Gnosis—knew none of this. He'd all but defected and vanished, and even Dottore had lost his trail.
…
Meanwhile, inside the Akademiya.
The main hall was a pot brought to boil—utter chaos at Idris's news. By contrast, Idris lounged at the head seat, cheek on knuckles, voice calm.
"I'll repeat. I killed them. They struck first. I've no interest in humoring people who won't follow my orders."
"Believe it or not, spread it or don't—I don't care."
"What I require is this: each faction will resubmit its nominees."
"If you fail to choose suitable candidates within one week, I'll appoint them myself."
"This is not a discussion. It's an order."
Majesty poured off him like pressure from a stormfront. The hall could only suck in ragged breaths before nodding in unison. At most, many muttered tyrant in their hearts.
Plenty here had ties to the dead elders. But faced with Idris's iron will, revenge never made it to their tongues; even rebuttal died unborn. All they managed was a bit of silent cursing—perfectly audible to the "old master in a ring," Nahida.
"Grand Sage Idris, at least half this hall is calling you a tyrant in their minds," she reported, almost sing-song.
Idris merely dipped his chin. A tyrant is still a king. History remembers some "tyrants" as Eternal Emperors.
To make Sumeru an absolute monarchy—that was his present aim.
When he dismissed the assembly, the system chime rang again in his head:
[Detected: Host is reshaping Sumeru's multi-faction governance through domineering, decisive means, altering the original plotline.]
[Reward: New spell learned — Prison Circle.]
[Effect: Long-term control. Once a target enters the circle, unless their power exceeds yours by more than tenfold, escape is impossible.]
[Duration: Permanent, until broken by force or lifted by you.]
Not bad—a potent control technique, and a permanent one at that. Lock someone in place and they'd spend a lifetime under orders.
In the same span, Idris planned to study two alchemical pills:
[Soul-Loss Pill: The taker immediately loses their three souls and six spirits—memories wiped near-clean, mind left blank like new paper.]
[Soulbind Mother–Child Pill: Two parts—Child and Mother. Those who ingest the Child Pill will, on instinct, obey the bearer of the Mother Pill. One Mother can command many Children.]
Both formulas were tools for dominion. The nuisance: most required herbs grew only in Fontaine. Fortunately, Sumeru still held some stock; otherwise he'd have to send foraging parties abroad. As for who would taste the pills—or be sealed inside the Prison Circle—Idris had candidates in mind.
Ten days passed in a rush.
Sumeru stayed outwardly serene. Aside from whispers that the Grand Sage had "purged traitors" among the elders, nothing else of weight reached the streets.
On the tenth day, at a narrow tunnel linking The Chasm to the rainforest, a blonde girl stepped out with a little white floating companion bobbing beside her. She flung her arms high and whooped:
"Woohoo—Sumeru, at last!"
"Paimon, I wonder what new stories are waiting for us in this country?"
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