"To be honest, I always thought that such a meeting would be held in a more secretive place."
Looking at the hotel lobby, Fangzheng sighed helplessly. Meanwhile, Sukumon Katsuhito stood beside him and looked at him curiously.
"What's wrong? Are you disappointed?"
"More or less. After all, the Ten Teachers Clan is the most influential clan in Japan's magic world. The meeting they hold is enough to influence the entire Japanese magic world. Logically speaking, this kind of meeting shouldn't be held in a place like this. It should be held in some heavily guarded secret underground base."
"That kind of place is the easiest to be attacked."
Sukumon Katsuhito obviously had a different opinion.
"At least we don't have to worry about someone being crazy enough to drop a bomb in the center of Hakone."
"Although that's indeed the case, it's too boring."
Of course, Fangzheng understood Sukumon Katsuhito's meaning. Having a meeting in a vacation spot like Hakone was better than some uninhabited area deep in the mountains. The Four Leaves Tribe was the best example. Almost no one knew about the secret village they lived in. It was far away from the mortal world, and it was extremely secretive. In the end, the entire village was destroyed, and no one else had any reaction.
The Ten Teachers Clan weren't fools. With such a precedent, of course, they wouldn't dare to hold a meeting in a secretive place.
Up until now, the force that attacked the Four-Leaf Tribe was still a mystery. No one knew why they attacked the Four-Leaf Tribe. It was difficult to determine if the other party would also attack the other leaders of the Ten Teachers Clan during the meeting. So, for safety's sake, it was better to hold the meeting in a crowded place.
"Please follow me."
Sukumon Katsuhito gestured and led Fangzheng to the meeting room on the upper floor of the hotel. Then, he pushed the door open and Fangzheng straightened his clothes before walking into the meeting room. At this moment, there were already several people sitting in the meeting room. There were men and women among them, and most of them were in their forties or fifties. Judging from their appearance, they could be said to be from all walks of life.
But for them to appear here meant one thing, and that was that they were all members of the Ten Teachers Clan.
For ordinary people, just the sight of these people was enough to scare them to the point that they could not move, especially mages. When the patriarchs of the Ten Teachers Clan looked at someone at the same time, the pressure brought about was enough to make one collapse.
However, Fangzheng clearly didn't mind that. With a smile on his face, he narrowed his eyes and sized up the people sitting in front of the round table. He walked to the other side of the table where there was no one. Then, he casually pulled a chair and sat down. He nodded at everyone as a greeting.
In the face of Fangzheng's behavior, everyone was a little confused. They were all high-ranking people, and everyone was respectful to them. In fact, they had long been used to this. But now, this teenager who looked like he was only a high school student showed a completely different attitude. It was as if to him, these people in front of him were no different from ordinary people, and there was no need to fear them at all.
"Alright, everyone, hello.... I think we don't need to waste time on unnecessary self-introductions and probing each other. I know why you're looking for me, and you know exactly what you want to know from me, so.... can we get straight to the point and skip the pointless scheming and get straight to the point?"
Everyone fell into silence when they heard this. After a brief moment, a white-haired old man in his fifties or sixties opened his mouth to speak.
"Since you've said so, we won't stand on ceremony. We've heard about the 'Special District for Magic' plan you proposed, so we all have one question, and that is.... why didn't you discuss this plan with the Ten Teachers Clan before proposing it to the government? As far as I know, you seem to have a good relationship with the eldest daughter of the Seven Herbs Clan. "
Having said that, the white-haired old man glanced at the silent middle-aged man wearing a pair of light-colored sunglasses beside him, and retracted his gaze.
"I see."
Although the atmosphere at the scene was a little heavy because of the old man's question, Fangzheng still had a leisurely and lazy look on his face.
"It's normal for you to have such questions, but I'm not afraid to tell you frankly, because this plan of mine is aimed at all the mages in the Japanese magic world. It's that simple."
"You mean, we, the Ten Teachers Clan, can't represent the entire magic world?"
At this moment, another woman who looked younger frowned slightly and stared curiously at Fangzheng. The latter just chuckled.
"How refreshing. You're all people with vested interests. To be honest, when I first proposed this plan, I never thought of convincing you. I know the history of the Ten Teachers Clan and the 28 Families, as well as the numbered families. Your entanglements with the government and the military are too deep. This brings you restrictions, but it also gives you power. But other mages aren't as lucky as you. I think.... I don't need to explain this to you. "
"… It's just as you said."
Hearing this, the old man nodded. Just as Fangzheng said, the numbered families, including the Ten Teachers Clan, Shibu18 Family, Baiqian Family and so on, all had their surnames derived from research institutes. Back then, in order to research magic, Japan built several research institutes, and the first to tenth research institutes were considered outstanding among them. The artificial mages researched and created in these research institutes also had the surname of the institute as their surname, which was how the Ten Teachers Clan came into existence.
For this reason, the Ten Teachers Clan was deeply entangled with the government and the military, be it good or bad. This was also the reason why Fangzheng didn't intend to convince them in the beginning.
"Interesting."
At this moment, a man who looked like a fisherman sneered and stared at Fangzheng.
"Do you think that without the assistance of the Ten Teachers Clan, your plan can be carried out?"
"That's for sure."
Fangzheng nodded again.
"I'll say it again. Everyone, you know very well that regardless of whether the Ten Teachers Clan assists me or not, there will be no problem with my plan for the special magic district. Of course, if you're willing to assist me, that's naturally better. If you're not, that's fine too.... But if you're looking for trouble, don't blame me for being rude. "
Hearing this, Sukumon Katsuhito looked at Fangzheng in surprise. Although he already knew about Fangzheng's character, he didn't expect him to actually dare to threaten them so blatantly in front of the Ten Teachers Clan!
"You're really courageous."
However, the Ten Teachers Clan obviously didn't get angry because of this. Obviously, they had investigated Fangzheng's character before meeting him. In addition, it wasn't the first time Fangzheng had displayed such an arrogant personality. Since he dared to point at the Americans and scold them in front of the media, and even mercilessly annihilated the team from the International Association of Sorcerers and burned their representatives, it was only natural that he wouldn't be polite to them.
"So, I think you should know that society has a lot of opinions about your plan. In fact, in the Congress and the army, there are people who are worried that this will increase the independence of mages, which will threaten national security. What do you have to say about this?"
"I have nothing to explain."
Fangzheng once again said something shocking.
"Actually, they're right. Yes, to put it bluntly, I want to build a country within a country where only mages live in Japan."
"..."
This time, when they heard Fangzheng openly admit his idea, the expressions of the Ten Teachers Clan changed slightly. The white-haired old man who spoke first frowned.
"Are you really going to do this?"
"Of course."
Fangzheng shrugged and reached for the tea beside him to take a sip.
"I think all of you are very clear that the trend of anti-mages is very popular in society now. There are many reasons, but to put it bluntly, it's racial discrimination against mages. Since it's racial discrimination, any change is meaningless. The best way is to never interact with each other. Since those foolish mortals are afraid of us and eagerly want us to disappear from their lives, why don't we do what they want? "
With that said, Fangzheng stood up and sneered at the Ten Masters Clan's family heads.
"This is also the second reason why I'm not willing to look for the Ten Teachers Clan. You guys are too deeply involved with the government and the military, and it's difficult to break away. You guys have vested interests and won't suffer like other mages. Naturally, you won't respond to this proposal so fervently. "
"We have our reasons too."
Hearing this, another old woman who looked about the same age as the white-haired old man spoke up.
"The government has always been wary of mages. It's not a good thing to completely centralize mages like this and break away from the control of the government and the military. They're very worried that in the long run, their control over mages will weaken and lead to unnecessary disasters. "
"That's right."
Fangzheng raised his eyebrows.
"If they agree to my request, there's a possibility that something will happen in the future. But if they don't agree to my request, I'm certain that something will happen now …. So, madam, what's your choice? "
"Are you threatening the parliament?"
"I'm just mentioning the possibility."
Fangzheng chuckled and spread his hands.
"I told them that if this goes on, the anti-mages trend will fall on my head. But I'm not that good-tempered. If they look down on mages, I don't mind letting other species other than humans educate them on how to communicate and communicate with other races."
"…. This …."
Faced with Fangzheng's cold reply, everyone was truly stunned. They finally understood why the government had passed the bill despite their complaints. They did not expect Fangzheng to be so bold as to threaten those politicians!
Indeed, from the standpoint of those politicians, for whatever reason, they did not want to see a black dragon wandering around their country. And Fangzheng had proved with his strength that no one in this world could beat him. Coupled with Fangzheng's aggressive personality and the fact that he was a man of his words, he even dared to go against the United States ….
The Japanese bureaucrats obviously did not have the guts to go against him.
"But your plan is to build the artificial island off the coast of Japan, right?"
The young woman spoke again, but this time, she directly asked about the content of the plan. Obviously, she wanted to divert the awkward atmosphere first.
"I don't know much about engineering, and I don't know if this method of building an artificial island is suitable, but in any case, won't the fresh water, food, and various materials on the artificial island have to be transported from our country? Will this really be okay? "
Fangzheng, of course, understood what the woman meant. Even if the island was built overseas, as long as the supplies still came from the country, it could be said that the entire artificial island was still under the control of the government. If the government wanted to take the opportunity to cause trouble, they could totally make things difficult for them in the supply chain. What should they do then?
"We have to give them the illusion that we can control so that these idiots won't care about other things."
With regards to this, Fangzheng gave his own answer.
Meanwhile, the meaning behind his reply, everyone present was well aware of it. They looked at each other. Even though no one said anything, it was very clear that in this Shi Clan meeting where undercurrents were surging, they were currently carrying out some kind of invisible negotiation.
After a while, the white-haired old man raised his head and nodded at Fangzheng.
"Thank you, Haruhino-kun. We have no more questions."
After saying that, the old man looked at the others again.
"Next, let's discuss the issue of the Four Leaves Clan being removed from the Ten Teachers Clan …."
Boom!!
However, before the old man could finish his sentence, a loud bang was heard, followed by an explosion that caused the entire hotel to shake.
"What's this ….?"
Hearing this sound, everyone raised their heads in surprise and looked around. Suumonji's expression was even more solemn.
"We seem to have been attacked!"
"… Attack?"
(End of this chapter)
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