Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 833 Is the choice of fate more important?

The date was June 1856, 6, and the location was the Round Table Hall of the Cathedral of the Holy Glory of the Gospel of the Lord in the city of Renweiting.

The most important mid-year meeting for the Witch Association was held here as scheduled. It will summarize the association's work over the past year and formulate development plans and expected goals for the next year to achieve the goal of more efficient resource integration. For a behemoth that spans the East and West continents and radiates across multiple fields such as politics, economy, culture, military, and technology, if it lacks such effective planning and supervision, it will inevitably be dragged down by its own size and become as slow and dull as a hibernating turtle.

The Witch Society is certainly the most powerful organization in the Mirror Star World, and its existence has even surpassed the civilization and history of some races. However, this does not mean that the members of the society can sit back and relax, basking in the glory of the past and not making progress. Because there is an eternal truth: the weak are always good at uniting, and the strong are the reason for them to unite.

The believers of animism, the Thirteen Hermits, the Holy Alliance of the East Continent, the Assyrian Paradise, and even the reclusive dragons in Platinum Mountain... all oppose the great cause of the Society for their own reasons. Their individual strength is so weak that it is laughable, but when they unite, they can barely touch the back of the mountain and have the qualifications to be the enemy of the Society.

Tiantis was not surprised by this and never worried, because she knew that the road to a great ideal would never be smooth sailing. All enemies were both obstacles and steps under her feet. The more enemies she had, the closer she was to her goal.

In the solemn and silent palace, only the sound of footsteps echoed. People from different countries, industries, and fields, but with the same identity, walked into the round table hall one after another and sat down at their respective seats. No one whispered to each other, and no one was distracted. After sitting down, they tacitly cast their eyes on the black-haired girl standing in the center of the venue, waiting for her to announce the start of the meeting, or to convey a clear signal to guide their next ideal direction.

Long white candles burned on gorgeous crystal lamp holders, illuminating every serious face under the floating flames. The seats arranged in a circle were raised in a stepped manner, and Tiantis, the convener and host of the meeting, was located in the center of the circle. When the footsteps gradually stopped and disappeared completely, and it seemed that only the sound of her own breathing remained in the round table hall, she raised her head and looked around, gazing at the familiar faces on the stage with a calm gaze. She was obviously at a low point, but she gave people a feeling of being superior.

But this is not an illusion, but a fact, because the leader of the Witch Society, Tiantis, is always the one looked up to by others no matter when or where.

Dark Witch Caraboss, Strife Witch Favrona, Fear Witch Fei... Chief of the Magical Research Institute Fei, Chief of the First Research Department Bailong, Chief of the Structure Maintenance Agency Otto... Deputy Chief of the Judgement of the Balance of Order Melquiades, General Commander of the Holy Purification Force Kamin, Chief of the Prehistoric Heritage Research Institute Heinrich Schliemann... Head of the Hospital Knights Theresa, Head of the Dragoon Regiment Yelena, Commander of the Wing Suit Mobile Force Shin...

"We just experienced a failed operation that night two weeks ago." She began to speak, her voice echoing under the towering and empty dome, echoing like thunder, as if the round table hall itself was responding solemnly: "A group of outsiders broke into Professor Heinrich's party and disturbed his elegant talk. I hope you will not lose your enthusiasm for archaeology because I heard that a lot of research materials were lost in your study. Of course, that's nothing, just a few pieces of paper. Losing you is the biggest loss for us."

The adjutant Caesar, who was sitting behind Favrona, twitched his face and thought that this was not a joke, but rather a straightforward statement. The difference between you and His Majesty Fei Er is probably that the latter occasionally listens to the advice of adjutant Melquiades, while you always do your own thing and never take my words to heart.

Tiantis teased, and Professor Heinrich, who was sitting in the 32nd seat in the 6th row, responded with an awkward and somewhat helpless smile. That incident was also a shame for him. After all, the enemy used his personal hobby to try to spy on the confidential information of the association. Although it did not succeed in the end, it also sounded a warning to him. It is foreseeable that when Professor Heinrich holds a party in the future, he should be more cautious in inviting guests, and perhaps he will not choose the Xiaoliang Palace as the venue.

But before that, no one could understand their meaning, perhaps not even some people attending this meeting.

Timis, who was sitting in the sixth seat in the first row, had a look of shame on her face. Queen Victoria, who was sitting in the eleventh seat in the second row, smiled but said nothing. Favrona, who was also sitting in the first row, scratched her flaming red hair and muttered quietly, "I was just joking. Is it necessary to say it in front of everyone?"

"From the perspective of confidentiality, this is certainly a serious mistake, but looking at it from a positive perspective, it is actually a warning to us, letting us know that the current situation is not stable enough, the enemies are always increasing, and this time the enemies are different from the past. We are more familiar with them because we have defeated them several times in the past. But their difference lies precisely in this: no matter how many times they are knocked down, they will come back again. Such tenacious belief and will are different from those cowardly Thirteen Hermits or Animists. They are more worthy of being taken seriously, and it is more worthy of us to do our best to defeat them."

Every familiar face that flashed past her eyes gave Tiantis a familiar feeling, as if she could see the shadows of more people in them. In this solemn and somewhat dignified atmosphere, the corners of her lips suddenly curled up, revealing a slightly unexpected smile.

"In fact, I can understand every idea. People's thoughts are sometimes based on emotions and sometimes on positions, but generally speaking, they are the sum of the two. I can only say this after I understand your emotions and positions. But sometimes you might as well put aside the shackles for a while and imagine what kind of choice you would make based on your emotions and positions if you were in my position at this moment? What is the deep meaning behind each choice? Friends, enemies, ideals, beliefs, careers, aspirations, wishes... can you distinguish them one by one? This is something I hope everyone will try their best to think about before the meeting begins."

Under the chairmanship of Tiantis, the mid-year meeting of the Witch Society was carried out in an orderly manner. The door of the round table hall was closed tightly, isolating all sounds. All decisions that would change the entire universe and that were unknown to ordinary people living in the ordinary world would be proposed and implemented here.

"Well then, the Witch Association's mid-year meeting for this year will begin now."

……

Tiantis slowly sat down and flipped open a thick document in front of her. As she moved, the whole round table hall was filled with the sound of flipping papers: "Before entering the first agenda, the heads of various departments will first report on the work situation in the first half of the year. Now, please allow Fei, the head of the Magic Research Institute, to speak. For the several projects that the association has invested heavily in, please provide detailed data..."

Whether it is the most serious and earnest Majesty Carabosse, the most cheerful and lively Majesty Lilithi, or even the taciturn and unarticulate Majesty Eve... they are all so profound that they make people a little disturbed.

However, no one noticed the looks of the seven witch queens at the front row of the round table.

Tiantis' opening speech caused the atmosphere in the round table hall to fall into silence for a moment. In this silence where one could hear a pin drop, some people looked thoughtful, some frowned slightly, and some understood these words as the association's action program for the next year and tried to explore more profound meanings from them.

"Knowing the answer is of course the best, which proves that you are clear enough about the path you want to take or will take, and you will not have any hesitation or regret; if you don't know the answer yet, don't worry about it, and don't worry about making mistakes, because each of us learns lessons from mistakes and grows up. It is because we know our mistakes that we yearn for the right one more. From the past to the present, and to the more distant future, the association's philosophy, purpose and pursuit are based on this sentence."

"It is worth mentioning that during that operation, we had several opportunities to keep the enemy, but I made the opposite decision, which led to their final escape. In this matter, I do not deny that I also have selfish motives. Of course, such selfishness is not based on any emotion or interest. It happens to be what I hope you understand. How do you understand it? Times thinks I am too careless, Victoria thinks I am soft-hearted, and of course, your beloved Crusader General Commander Favrona's thoughts are more direct: she thinks I am crazy."

Outside the city of Lunweiting, in the ancient Three Mountains, a little fairy with long hair as beautiful as silk sat in the pavilion of the garden, supporting her chin with both hands, looking at the distant sky with a sense of loss. The sound of someone talking was faintly heard in the wind, but those voices were all unfamiliar. They were not the aliens in the Gospel Convent, but the True Spirit Sect believers from the Cross Church of St. Anvil. Since that night, they stayed in this shelter that originally belonged to the aliens, and quickly integrated into the place.

The aliens in the Gospel Academy were quite critical at first, but they didn't show it too obviously because of Lord Pancras. However, the True Spirit believers were also very friendly and restrained, and never had any conflicts with the natives of the shelter. So both sides quickly got used to each other's existence, and the Gospel Academy changed from a pure shelter for aliens to a hiding place for aliens and True Spirit believers to avoid joint raids by the church.

However, Lord Pancras was originally a believer of the True Spirit Sect, so the Gospel Convent had the dual attributes of a church and a shelter from the beginning. Even many aliens converted to the belief that all things have spirits under his influence, so everyone adapted very quickly. Except for Beimin.

She didn't like humans in the first place, and would never actively approach them, so when others were trying to adapt to the new pace of life, she was the only one who stayed away from them, preferring to stay alone rather than make any changes.

However, Beimin herself doesn't know how long this persistence can last.

Maybe it had been broken a long time ago, since she offered to help those humans, and now she was just stubbornly unwilling to admit her mistakes.

By the way, what happened to those guys later?
Directly breaking into the cult's territory to rescue people is a very reckless and risky move.

In fact, I don't really care about them. I just think that the proprietress of the Fairy Sleep Inn, Shesta, is a pretty good person. She once saved their lives and is a good friend of my eldest and second sisters. If something happens to her, my sisters will definitely be very sad, right? Speaking of which, why does she work so hard to help humans? Although traveler fairies are naturally friendly spirits, there is no need for them to be so friendly to humans, right? Especially that guy named Lingge, he is just a nuisance. Well, his sister is not bad...

"Bemin," a familiar old voice suddenly came to the little fairy's ears: "Why are you here?"

She subconsciously raised her head and saw the founder of the shelter, the old man who was almost comparable to a saint in the eyes of the aliens, standing in front of her. Her eyes immediately widened: "Lord Pan, Lord Pancras? I, I didn't do anything, I was just here, uh, to enjoy the cool air!"

She suddenly came up with this excuse, but old man Pancras saw through her true thoughts at a glance. It was not surprising, after all, Beimin's prejudice against humans was deep, ranking first in the entire Gospel Conservatory. Her sisters Best and Belfi had mentioned this issue to old man Pancras many times, and they were a little worried, but they didn't know how to solve it.

However, her last initiative to offer to help those outsiders made old man Pancras feel that there seemed to be some hope for change.

This is often the case with things in the world. The next path has already been determined long before the person involved realizes it.

I guess she feels the same way.

Old man Pancras also raised his head, looking past the spire of the Evangelical Convent's bell tower and gazing at the azure sky. His eyes were inexplicably deep, and no one knew what he was thinking.

Seeing this, Beimin was stunned for a moment, because she felt that Lord Pancras now was very similar to herself just now, so she asked hesitantly: "Lord Pancras, are you thinking about those people too?"

Pancras was stunned for a moment before he realized that she was talking about those travelers from foreign lands, so he nodded slightly: "I guess so."

So, is it? Is it really true?

Beimin didn't understand. She just suddenly remembered something: "Miss Livia, she should have gone with those people, right? Lord Pancras, you already knew that Miss Livia was on Yunjingkong Island, why didn't you leave her in the Gospel Academy?"

Beimin asked this not because she had a good impression of Sister Livia, but because she vaguely knew that the nun was of great significance to the True Spirit Sect, and Lord Pancras happened to be a member of the True Spirit Sect. Why didn't he do something that was beneficial to the True Spirit Sect?
Old man Pancras was silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head: "It is best not to leave her here, because she will have a more suitable place to go."

"Is it better to be with those outsiders?"

Beimin couldn't understand, and old man Pancras couldn't explain it either. He just laughed lowly and said in a hoarse voice: "How can I explain it? But maybe there is no need to explain it. One day you will understand it, Beimin. Not everything that must be done in this world is good, and not everything that is good must be done."

When the little goblin heard this, he tilted his head with a confused look on his face.

Such profound words, and so hard to understand.

But in fact, she only needs to know one thing: sometimes, the choice of fate is more important than one's own choice.

……

At the same time, in the distant and vast sky, in the direction that the little photon elf and the elderly and wise bell-ringing spirit were looking at together, on the back of the whale island, in an ordinary-looking church, a blonde and blue-eyed nun knelt in front of the statue of the goddess, put her left index and middle fingers together, touched her brow, nose tip and lips, and whispered a pious prayer -

"We are the people of this world."

"With the goddess."

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)