Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 397 Is everything going as planned?

"How's the situation with the Wallenhild family?" Dickens asked.

Christian knew that he was not asking about the Valenhild family in the Port of Sad Rain, because the latter's every move was under the surveillance of the Holy See, and there was no possibility of any accidents; so he was asking about another Valenhild, or the real Valenhild, the builder and original owner of this city, a vampire.

After the cult launched a brutal suppression campaign against the aliens in Metosh, most of the alien races were wiped out, with a few escaping into the Void Root Swamp to survive. The five major families were the most famous. Lion Fang, Forest Fang, and Wind Fang all suffered heavy losses in the suppression campaign and have not recovered to this day. Only Wolf Fang Neo Ursu and Blood Fang Valenhildr have retained more strength and are now the two most powerful alien races on the peninsula.

Under the unification of the two leaders, Wolf Fang Neo Ursu founded Silver Moon and joined the Thirteen Hermits, fighting against the rule of the united cult; the situation of Blood Fang Valenhild was more complicated, as the vampires had scattered opinions and did not unite together, and naturally could not be unified into a whole.

Although werewolves and vampires hate each other and are hostile to each other, even during the "Dark Purge" period, they still hold each other back and fight each other, greatly weakening each other's power. Otherwise, the association would probably need to spend more energy to uproot their power.

As for now, the situation is different. Faced with the crisis of the survival of the race, who knows if they will suddenly unite together? It depends on whether there are opinion leaders like "Gnawing Fierce Moon" Gundaruf and "Crashing Crazy Moon" Linsas among the vampires.

"As far as I know, there is nothing unusual." Christian flipped open another file and said calmly, "Silver Moon did seek cooperation with the vampires, but was rejected. The vampires claimed that they had to find the 'Silver-eyed Countess' and listen to her opinions before they could come to a conclusion. They did so and have been searching for the Countess in the swamp, but to no avail."

The silver-eyed countess, the last descendant of the Valenhild family, is also the oldest surviving vampire on the Shikilia Peninsula.

The vampire race is very strange. Sometimes they can be crazy to the point of hysteria and irrational, and sometimes they are more elegant and reserved than real human nobles. They also pay more attention to the rules of seniority and the tradition of blood inheritance. It is said that older vampires have unquestionable ruling power over younger vampires, which is a commandment written into the "Blood Law" of the Valenhild family.

At that time, this condition coincided with the wishes of those people. After all, they were originally slaves of alien species and were treated as tools and food. After finally gaining freedom, they naturally wanted to kill their original masters. Only in this way could they vent the hatred in their hearts and enjoy the wealth they had stolen with peace of mind.

"Can't make a decision? I think they don't want to make a decision. In this respect, they are much smarter than their servants." Like a writer who is meticulous about words, Dickens sighed: "Vampires can learn lessons, but humans always repeat the same mistakes."

However, the church union would not allow such an overstepping action. After discovering their small actions, they repeatedly warned and punished them, gradually intensifying the conflict. The most recent one was sixty-five years ago, when an elder of the Senya Ester family secretly studied the so-called black magic and tried to sacrifice hundreds of servants in a manor to help himself step onto the extraordinary level. However, an arbitration team of the Balance of Order broke into the sacrifice site and was shot dead on the spot.

Afterwards, the church acquiesced and the Inquisition led a large-scale manhunt in Falcandia, which was ruled by the Senya clan, creating the "Black Witch Case" that is still talked about by the people of Metosh. More than 5,000 people were arrested, more than two-thirds of whom were related to the Senya clan, and 132 of them were even direct descendants of the Ester clan.

Initially, in order to eliminate the ruling power and influence of the alien races on the country of Metosh, the association chose to take action against the five most representative families, supporting their human dependents who were originally their slaves to replace them. They also generously gave away the wealth, land, and fame accumulated by the five families for generations. The only requirement was that they must use all means to cooperate with the association's power in the secular world to completely eliminate all the alien races on the land of Metosh.

Christian said nothing and did not respond. She knew that this statement was directed at the Valenhild family in the Harbor of Sad Rain.

But time has passed, and many memories have been erased. Today, the five major families have forgotten the humiliating history of their ancestors being slaves under the claws of aliens, and instead have developed resentment and hatred towards another master - the united sect.

Their ambitions grew day by day, and they were no longer satisfied with the mundane things such as money, power and prestige in the secular world. Instead, they pursued a kind of power that transcended the mundane world and was beyond the reach of mortals. They hoped to establish the authority of the five major families in that mysterious realm, and even become gods, to be followed and worshipped.

Power, longevity, and forbidden knowledge are what they desire most.

In order to protect the traditional culture of Metosh, the Senya clan asked the Inquisition to release these people and to use the ancient law "Forest Book" passed down from generation to generation to convict and judge them. However, the Inquisition rejected this unreasonable request and sentenced all 512 main criminals involved in the case to death by hanging, including the 132 descendants of Esther.

After this case, the alliance between the five major families and the United Church was in name only. They began to try other methods to get rid of the control of the United Church, but the secular methods did not work. After all, the secular influence of the five major families was limited to the country of Motosh, while the secular influence of the United Church was like the tentacles of a monster, penetrating into every aspect of the political, economic, military, religious and cultural fields of the Western Continent.

After many attempts ended in failure, the five major families realized that they were facing an invincible behemoth, and fighting alone would undoubtedly lead to their own death. So they not only united, but also attracted the lingering alien races on the Shiqilia Peninsula to join this alliance - even if the latter once regarded the former as slaves, and the former also regarded the latter as enemies, but time is such a magical thing that it can always change the originally opposing things. In front of a common enemy, hatred does not exist, humiliating history does not exist, and contradictory positions naturally do not exist.

The attack of Silver Moon on the Temple of Judgment and the theft of the files related to "The Fang of Immortality" from the archives were coordinated by the Bloodfang Family Valenhild in the Port of Desolate Rain. They not only leaked the specific location of the files, but also leaked important information such as the security deployment of Port of Desolate Rain, the city map, and even the energy hub. Otherwise, how could the werewolves of Silver Moon easily sneak into the city and easily blow up several key steam towers, causing the "Ether Release Stand" to temporarily stop working?

However, they were able to obtain so much important information not only because the Valenhild family had been operating in Stormy Harbor for a long time and had a solid foundation, but also because all this information was deliberately leaked to them by the Inquisition.

Just like fishing, if you want to catch fish, you always have to put fresh bait on it.

Dickens thought that this deal was a good deal, exchanging temporary chaos for eternal peace on the Sikilia Peninsula. As for the prestige lost due to the attack on the headquarters... it would be returned in multiples after the plan was completed.

"Speaking of which, I learned this method from the newly recruited fourth ship officer on the Scarlet Night Gate." Dickens did not shy away from learning from others: "He used this method to catch the big fish Blood Red Banquet and Celestial Feast in Linville City, and our target is bigger than his, so naturally we need to put out more bait. Before that, let the people of Silver Moon stir up the swamp. The more chaotic they stir up the whirlpool, the better it will be for us to finish it off later."

He had already started thinking about how to end it, and had not considered the process and the results, because that was a certainty.

"Oh, right," he suddenly remembered something and added, "Mr. Christian, please send a message to Her Majesty Fei Er and ask her to come back for support."

Christian frowned slightly when he heard this: "I'll send it over. This is the normal procedure. But to be honest, I don't think it's necessary."

"Oh why?"

"Because theoretically, there is no need for Lord Fei'er and the Feiyemente to rush back for support in this operation."

"That's true, but it doesn't matter. The Feiyemente may not come back, but His Majesty Fei'er will come back."

Now it was Christian's turn to ask, "Why?"

"Because although you have worked here for seven years, you have not had much contact with Her Majesty, so naturally you don't know her character." Dickens smiled delicately, "You will know when she comes back."

Seeing that Christian was still frowning, he added, "Just treat it as preparation for the mid-year performance review. You know, with Her Majesty Fei'er's personality, it's not easy to get her to sit in the office and prepare all kinds of materials for the mid-year performance review. Or do you decide to help Her Majesty complete this task? I think she will be very grateful to you."

At the end, he chuckled and recalled what happened when he first took office. He was still very young and inexperienced at the time. During the mid-year report, His Majesty Fei Er found an excuse to slip away and pushed all the materials needed for the report to him, leaving him with a deep memory.

Of course, Her Majesty Fei Er must have had a deeper impression. After all, after the incident was exposed, Her Majesty Carabosse locked her in the conference room and criticized her for three hours. It is said that everyone at the headquarters saw Her Majesty Fei Er, who was always optimistic and cheerful, looking dejected that day.

After hearing this, Christian's frown gradually relaxed. She replied word by word very seriously: "Then let His Majesty come back."

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)