Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

CH712 Divine Trap

***

Udara turned towards Alex, giving him a meaningful glance.

Alex immediately understood her intention and nodded.

”Thanks to my recent research into divine energy,” Alex said thoughtfully, ”I should be able to rig the formation so that it malfunctions—or even completely breaks down—if it is used by a clergyperson, or within an environment saturated with ambient divine energy, such as a Temple.”

”If you do that, the patient will die,” Eleanore cautioned.

”Unfortunately,” Alex replied with a grim nod.

”Does it truly have to come to that?” Eleanore frowned deeply.

”We cannot allow the Temples to gain control over the method,” Alex said sternly. ”Do not overthink this, Eleanore. This is not you—or any of us, for that matter—killing people. Without your treatment, Berserk Humans are already classified as monsters to be executed on sight.”

He paused briefly before continuing in a cautioning tone.

”In this state, until they are successfully treated, they are not regarded as patients... but as monsters.”

Everyone in the room understood that this was little more than semantics. Even so, Eleanore still nodded quietly.

She was a princess raised within the vast Virellian Empire’s Imperial Palace—a place overflowing with court politics, where seemingly cruel decisions were made every single day in the name of preserving the Empire and protecting the Imperial Family.

She was not naïve. She understood what needed to be prioritised. And as cruel as it might sound, those priorities were her family... and her people.

No matter how some might describe her, she was far from some selfless saint. Like anyone else, there were things she would choose to be selfish for—and selfish over.

”Since we are proceeding with this regardless, then we may as well maximise the opportunity before us. We should take advantage of the situation to shatter the halo surrounding Navi and further discredit the Temples,” Zora suddenly said.

”What exactly do you have in mind?” Alex asked.

”Propaganda,” Zora replied solemnly. ”We can safely assume that once the treatment method begins spreading, the Temples will do everything within their power to acquire it and claim that it originated from their deity—or from the Pantheon itself.

”If the safeguard built into the formation functions as intended, then many subjects will inevitably die in their hands. When that happens, the Syndicate can discreetly circulate the information through its intelligence and information networks.”

”Ah... I see.” Alex’s eyes flashed with understanding. ”That would completely undermine the Temples’ claims of divine favour. They would be cornered into an impossible position.

”They would either have to admit that the treatment was never truly divine favour to begin with... or explain why the Temples somehow lost Navi’s blessing and can no longer wield the grace supposedly bestowed upon them.

”No matter which option they choose, the authority and standing of the Temples will suffer severe damage.”

”The Temples will not be foolish enough to make such claims without first testing the method themselves, will they?” Eleanore questioned.

”A single internal trial would be enough for them to realise there is a problem with the method. They might even identify the formation as the source of the issue. All they would need to do is remove the formation entirely and have a Class 5 Priest oversee the healing process instead. Problem solved.”

Alex smiled faintly.

”This is ultimately a race,” he said. ”The Temples will each be racing to acquire the method and claim ownership over it before other Temples can.

”Whichever Temple moves first would gain access to an enormous, untapped share of undecided believers and influence. Because of that, they will rush to publicly claim the method before properly testing it. This urgency will become their downfall.”

He continued calmly,

”And as you said, once they eventually conduct more thorough testing and possibly discover the flaw within the formation, they could theoretically dispatch a Saint-ranked priest to manage the process manually. However... how long could they realistically sustain that?”

Alex leaned back slightly as his smile widened.

”The moment the treatment is validated by the Temples, there will be a significant surge of people bringing transformed family members and loved ones to them for healing. At that point, it would be impossible for Saint-ranked clergy to personally oversee every treatment.

”After all, Saint-ranked clergy are effectively Archbishop-level figures.”

He sneered slightly.

”An Archbishop personally moving to treat lowborn, low ranked people? You would have a better chance wishing for the Wildlands to transform into an actual forest overnight. The illusion would collapse almost immediately.”

As he spoke, another thought suddenly crossed his mind.

A smile appeared on his face once more.

”They also cannot rely on their usual tactic of claiming the treatment is reserved only for the devout while demanding exorbitant fees. If they attempt to turn people away like that, those same people would simply seek treatment from other organisations capable of using the method instead. Eventually, the Temples would face severe backlash over their pricing and restrictions.

”At the same time, they cannot justify the high costs by claiming the process requires the involvement of an Archbishop-level figure. After all, other organisations would be able to achieve identical results without relying on such high-ranking individuals.

”And more importantly, doing so would expose the fact that ordinary clergy cannot safely use the method because of the safeguard embedded within the formation—which would inevitably draw attention back to their claims of divine favour in the first place.”

”Their remaining option would be to fight commercially,” Zora spoke. She cautioned, ”The Temples possess enough wealth and influence to buy out the required raw materials entirely, preventing the method from spreading on a meaningful scale. And if matters escalate far enough, do not doubt for a second that they would resort to such tactics.”

”That will be the Syndicate’s responsibility to prevent,” Alex replied with a shrug. ”If they cannot even manage something on this scale, then they can forget about ever standing against Navi and the Temples.”

The husband and his wives fell silent for a brief moment, each quietly reflecting upon the implications of their discussion.

”So, to summarise,” Alex eventually said, ”the plan is to hand the method over to the Black Scar Syndicate, along with a consistent supply of formation scrolls, allowing them to popularise and distribute the treatment widely enough for us to utilise it ourselves without drawing scrutiny.

”At the same time, there is a secondary objective— disrupting the plane’s faith economy by stripping away one of the Temples’ most important products while simultaneously allowing the Syndicate—our ally—to quietly accumulate soft power throughout the continent instead.”

Alex looked towards his wives.

”Anything else?” he asked with a smile.

He found himself genuinely pleased watching his wives work together, combining the knowledge, perspectives, and expertise from their individual fields into a unified strategy for the benefit of his House and its future interests.

’Looks like I truly lucked out with the fantasy marriage category,’ Alex chuckled inwardly.

None of the women answered his question, causing him to nod slightly.

”Then it seems we have a workable plan,” Alex said with a smile. ”In that case, I’ll leave the details to the three of you. Discuss the specifics with Raven Horn, and if necessary, with the Elder Council behind him as well.”

”In other words, you intend to dump all the work onto us and run away? And you think we would allow that?” Zora raised an eyebrow sharply.

”Alright, alright... if it comes to dealing with the Elder Council, I’ll handle that part personally. You three can deal with Raven Horn instead. Fair?” Alex quickly conceded.

He had merely been trying his luck.

Considering Fortuna’s relationship with Raven Horn, it would not be considered inappropriate for Alex to send his wives to negotiate with him on his behalf. However, the same could not be said when dealing with the Elder Council.

This had nothing to do with the fact that they were women. Rather, sending retainers in place of personally meeting the Council to discuss a project of such significance could easily be interpreted as a sign of contempt—or, at the very least, disregard—for the Council and its members.

Even if the Elder Council chose not to view the matter too harshly, it would still leave them with a poorer impression of him.

There was little to gain from leaving a negative impression upon powerful individuals such as them. Conversely, there was always much to gain from leaving a favourable one.

And even beyond immediate gain, it was simply good practice to leave positive impressions wherever possible. One never knew when such things might prove useful in the future.

”Can I leave the meeting with Raven Horn to the two of you?” Eleanore suddenly asked.

”Hm? Why?” Alex blinked in surprise. ”This is your work. Wouldn’t you want to personally ensure it is represented properly?”

”I do,” Eleanore replied with a nod, ”but I am needed elsewhere.”

”More urgently than overseeing the implementation of your own project?” Alex asked curiously.

”Yes,” Eleanore nodded.

***