Secret: The years I served as a foreign aid for the Aurora Club

Chapter 300 Nobles of the Two Countries
612
Irena stood alone in her dressing room, reaching out to adjust the position of her hairpins and hairnet for the last time.

The people of the Aurora Society—it will be called that before it is officially renamed the Church—certainly would not care what their future saint would wear today to attend the promotion ceremony. She herself did not care either, but she just needed such an action to relieve her tension.

After the War of Gods, the Intis Council remained silent on the issue of replacing gods until yesterday when it started working again.

The parliament, which was controlled by church leaders and business oligarchs, completely exposed its nature as a theocratic parliament.

The war between gods and the change of the main god came and went quickly, and with the help of himself and others hidden in the Church of the Eternal Sun, this small-scale religious war was over before most believers could react to what happened.

She looked up at the jeweled clock on the wall of the dressing room. The hour hand pointed to 9 o'clock. It was time for her to go to the church for the ceremony.

Irena took a deep breath, then restrained her expression and walked out with her chest held high.

The mansion that used to be noisy was very quiet today. The servants along the way all bowed to the young lady, creating a rare moment of peace and quiet.

There was no extravagant banquet that lasted from last night to the morning, no lingering smell of wine and spices, no annoying guests who harassed the maids and servants when they were drunk, no drunken strangers, no parents and brothers who stayed out with their lovers until the early morning before returning home... Except for a very small number of rebellious lunatics, most of the Intis nobles have been trying to figure out God's will in the past week and have reduced their spending on banquets, dances and social events. All of this made Irena feel relaxed physically and mentally. She raised her chin a few points higher and couldn't help but walk in an elegant straight line in the corridor.

She maintained her relaxed mood until her eldest brother appeared at the corner ahead. The eldest son of the Marquis had golden brown hair and sharp eyes, which reminded her of a Marquis and a certain bird. He was holding a glass of light sparkling wine for breakfast, as if he was waiting for his sister here.

"What's the matter?" Irena stopped two meters in front of her brother, "Respected Lord Viscount Clovis?"

"Have you really decided to serve as an altar boy at the Cathedral of Light?"

Taking advantage of the height difference, Clovis asked his sister condescendingly: "Your behavior is equivalent to announcing that the noble Montemar family has a traitor who believes in evil gods. In addition, this position is now being watched by many eyes at the same time, and you will be hated beyond imagination."

After hearing the first half of the sentence, Irena rolled her eyes rudely and Clovis shrugged.

Clovis smiled. "I have to say, sister, because of you, our family has received some boring impeachments and rumors. Those idiots who don't understand the situation always like to show off their scattered brains. Speaking of which, yesterday a duke expressed his intention to intervene in your engagement. He is willing to let you be the engagement partner of his eldest son."

Irena narrowed her golden eyes and asked back with an elegant and sharp smile:

"Do you think I will stop at being an altar boy or a celebrant?"

Clovis knew his smart and ambitious sister very well, and laughed without surprise:
"of course not."

"This is an act of kindness for the Duke, but it is not enough. Our marriage must be used for more valuable things. I am glad that you don't really believe in the Great Creator, oh, now you should call Him, praise the Lord."

Clovis spoke slowly in an aristocratic tone. Compared to brother and sister, their conversation style was more like that of a partner. "He wants to interfere with the marriage now, which is nothing more than a blank check for you to inherit the other party's family property and title through marriage. But in fact, with your existence, the Montemar family has the possibility of becoming a duke's family. I no longer need to exchange your marriage with the duke for status."

Irena's smile became gentle again:

"What does Father mean?"

Clovis couldn't help but laugh.

"The old marquis has a beautiful dream of becoming a member of the royal family." He leisurely shook the sparkling wine in his hand and took a sip. "Haha, old people always have similar obsessions. But the Creator Church has gradually expanded the scope of popularizing extraordinary knowledge. The trial run of the Extraordinary Management Regulations went smoothly. Anyone with a discerning eye can see the intentions of the Lord and the Church - they obviously want to impact the current order and expand the influence of the Extraordinary. Once the Extraordinary knowledge is no longer in the hands of a few people, more and more people will join the church. Since the secular power has weakened, what is the use of the royal family? We might as well go to the parliament to fight for military power, or become a crucial archbishop."

He made his point clear and looked his sister in the eyes.

"I am glad that I have a wise brother."

When the waitress passed by her, Irena took a bottle of sparkling wine from the tray in her hand and shook it gently and leisurely like her brother: "The church is God's sheepdog. The royal family is just a tool of the church. The royal family can be replaced at any time. The demise of the Soran family has proved this. At the beginning, the Eternal Sun probably thought that it was nothing more than the royal family or the lifelong ruler changing their surname to Gustav."

Clovis pushed the glass forward, and Irena clinked glasses with him.

"Everyone has different ideas. Some people are willing to be tools and enjoy the increasingly illusory worldly wealth and splendor, while others are willing to be ignorant sheep. But to be honest, being a sheepdog for God doesn't feel good, but it should be the best."

"Yes."

"Once your promotion ceremony is over, head to the cathedral immediately and continue to act like you are at odds with me because of your engagement."

Clovis drank a small amount of the sparkling wine in his hand, squinting his eyes and looking 80% similar to his sister: "This way it will be easier for me to operate."

Irena agreed with her brother's words, and then asked: "The military power of the parliament will inevitably fall into the hands of the Iron Cross. How are you going to fight with them?"

"Join them." Clovis shrugged disapprovingly. "They will need a great noble to lead the way in submission."

"...You are really willing to take risks."

After the failure of the restoration of the Solon royal family, the nobles of Intis realized that they could be abandoned at the whim of God, so they were enthusiastic and pious beyond imagination in the next two hundred years. Although it was related to interests, it was not so easy to convert. Irena could almost imagine how much impact the eldest son of the Marquis would have on the noble circle of Intis if he took the lead in surrendering.

"Only by joining them can I legitimately contact the military and train subordinates without having to avoid suspicion and not join the national army."

Clovis snorted. "It's a pity that my talent is not that good. I have only just reached the threshold of Sequence 5. Fortunately, I have a smart and talented sister who can help me. It's worth it that I have been covering up and supporting you all this time."

"It might not be a bad thing to be able to stop at the level of a demigod."

"I understand. Let the old marquis and his useless brother stay in chaos. I will delay your engagement with the Duke's family. You should concentrate on your work. While the Creator Church is short of talent, quickly build up your reputation and power."

Irena nodded gently: "I know what to do."

Clovis toasts:
"The Montemar family will be glorious again in our hands."

They clinked their glasses again and downed the sparkling wine.

"Oh, sister, maybe there will be a time this year when you will be needed." Clovis suddenly remembered something, "The scale of the battle between Feysac and Loen in the Amanda Mountains has been expanding. It is estimated that Feysac will soon open up a second war route from the Inter-Sea."

"Some of our distant relatives in Loen have already written to us and asked how much it would cost to take them in."

Irena couldn't help but raise her eyebrows: "Are you already looking for a way out?"

Although secular nobles are also quite insignificant in war, such behavior is a bit too spineless.

"Yes. You can contact their female relatives in a more tactful way and ask them carefully to find out how much property they have..."

……

Backlund, Loen Veteran Officers Club.

Senator Macht took Dawn to a larger room. The exquisitely carved mahogany door showed that the user was wealthy.

Before entering the door, Congressman Macht took a deep breath and said to Dawn in a low voice: "I must apologize to you again."

"And, those who didn't come here are all families with survivors."

The mahogany door blocked out the breathing and heartbeats of the guests inside, making it impossible for Klein to judge the number of people inside. He calmed down a little, nodded to Senator Macht, and opened the door to enter.

Fewer people came than expected.

This was Klein's first reaction.

The second reaction was that almost everyone was dressed in black, like a dark cloud. The gentlemen were dressed in formal suits, and some wore white flowers in front of their faces; the ladies covered their faces with embroidered fine tulle, and the atmosphere was so heavy that it felt like entering a large-scale collective mourning meeting.

In fact, it is not far from a collective mourning meeting.

Klein's eyes swept over the men and women who looked heavy, serious, or sad, and he matched each person with their name and identity with his extraordinary ability and memory. In a sense, a parent losing their child, so many young people dying, or the outbreak of war were all events worth mourning.

But every time Klein had similar thoughts, he couldn't help but think of the little girl with big, bright eyes he met in the southern continent, and the disabled man who begged him to buy the teenage girl and even take her away as his mistress.

As a result, his sympathy for the nobles who lost their family members would decrease, and in the end, he would be left with almost only mourning for the loss of life itself.

At least you still have dignity, money, a noble status, a wealthy life, and other relatives... But it is wrong to compare the pain, Klein thought silently, suppressing such emotions.

He simply greeted them and sat down on the empty sofa, which should have been reserved for him. Facing all the clients, Klein felt as if he had arrived at a briefing session and should say something, or become the target of public criticism, waiting for everyone's judgment.

Councillor Macht sat down on another sofa at his side.

The closest person to Dawn was Colonel Galvin, the officer who had brought together the commission. His expression looked a little inconsistent, not as heavy as the others, and he even winked at Dawn. Compared to the people around him, he seemed to be deliberately keeping a straight face.

It seems his younger generation is still alive...

"Mr. Dwayne Dantes, first of all I need to thank you for your efforts in the Southern Continent." Calvin seemed to have some affection for Dwayne, so he emphasized Dwayne's risks and efforts. "During the chaotic war period, you took the risk to go out to sea with your bodyguards, not only successfully brought our goods to the Southern Continent, but also successfully crossed the war zone and the plains and delivered them to Berens."

"You have played a great role in this commission. No matter what, I..."

But before Calvin could finish his words, an angry voice suddenly spoke from the gloomy black cloud:
"No matter the result? How can I not care about the result?"

The person who spoke was a middle-aged man with brown hair and a white flower on his chest. His hair and beard were trembling slightly with anger.

"Your Excellency the Baron!" Calvin spoke with difficulty.

"Mr. Dantes, why were you able to come back intact? You have the connections to enter the wartime Berens, but you couldn't bring even one more person out?" The elderly baron stood up and questioned Klein with almost out-of-control emotions, without caring about the colonel's face. "You! I asked you to look after my child, but you didn't even stay in Berens for a little while, and didn't even bring back my child's letters or messages! I don't even know if he has seen the letters we sent him!"

His first words were almost what everyone present was thinking, and more than a dozen pairs of eyes were looking at Dawn, waiting for his answer.

"…I have already explained this matter…"

Dwayne Dantes's face was expressionless: "Colonel Alfred Hall accepted your belongings and asked me to leave immediately on the grounds that it was dangerous. I believe your son must have seen your letter." Otherwise, you are questioning Alfred Hall's character.

The Conservative baron was extremely angry, but he was unwilling to step into this blatant trap, and even more so did not want to arouse the resentment of Earl Hall, an important supporter of the New Party. He closed his mouth tightly and sat down indignantly.

Another person in the crowd immediately spoke up with a hint of sarcasm:
"Even Major General Constantine, the most likely successor to Lord Amyrius of the Levitt family, is missing. What are you compared to the Levitt family? How could your child be alive?"

These words immediately opened up everyone's mouths. The old baron's face turned red, but he didn't dare to refute it.

"Major General Constantine is still missing. What if he is still alive?"

Another sharp laugh exploded from the crowd: "Maybe they were just captured. Maybe the major general is hiding with his men. Their whereabouts are unknown, which is hope. But your child is really dead!"

Low voices of laughter and curses rang out from the gloomy black clouds. Those who had lost their children mercilessly mocked each other, trying to hurt others with sarcasm, and building their own meager comfort on the pain of others.

Amidst all the noise, Dwayne Dantès became the least important one again.

Colonel Galvin exhaled softly and whispered to Klein, "Dawn, I am very grateful to you for delivering the message, which allowed my second son to be captured and returned to us alive."

Go out through the gap that the Iron Cross deliberately opened? Klein was not surprised, or rather, he was surprised that only a few people escaped and were captured from that place. Someone must have leaked the news. It seemed that the enemy's leniency was no match for the internal conflicts of the army. When only the children of the nobles and the rich could survive, the hatred of the civilian soldiers towards the high-ranking people would reach its peak.

After that, he paused, looked at the bigwigs who were mocking each other in an elegant tone with a little fear, and spoke again:
"There are more than a dozen families who have received your help and would like to thank you privately. I will try my best to maintain your network."

Klein looked at everything in front of him, turned his head towards Colonel Calvin, and nodded slightly:

"Thank you."

After saying this, he turned his head again and stared at the nobles in front of him with a serious gaze.

He had thought about what to write in the intelligence for the Dark Saint this week, and wrote: Some people in the aristocracy lost their crucial heirs, and some lost their wealth and dignity. The overall strength of the aristocracy has not been significantly weakened, but their cohesion and loyalty to the country have declined rapidly. They will treat the next war with a more negative attitude, which may even lead to the loss of the war directly...

In addition, internal conflicts in Rune are intensifying.

Klein looked at his hands. He had been traveling frequently to the Loen Student Aid Foundation in the past two days and saw more unemployed people on the road.

They should have been middle-class people with relatively decent jobs and savings, and other people in their family also had jobs, so they did not go to the East District immediately after losing their jobs, and were able to stay in Backlund to continue looking for work.

Food prices were rising slightly, and cotton fabrics were also rising in price, most notably the cakes and breads from the Fetus Food Processing Factory, each of which rose by half a penny. Although buyers were still coming in droves, the obvious economic downturn was already visible to even an outsider like Klein, from the massive layoffs of textile workers in the East District to the middle class that was gradually beginning to experience a wave of unemployment.

The lives of the nobles would not be affected in the short term, but Klein had already started stockpiling food, and had asked his butler and servants to also start stockpiling food.

The next step seems to be wartime economic policy, but the country does not seem to have a more effective regulation.

After he finished thinking about it in his mind, Klein suddenly felt that this period of history was strangely familiar. After a moment, he frowned slightly, leaned back slightly, and took a breath.

"This is a war..."

TBC
------

Well, airship bombing...

(End of this chapter)