"This meeting is quite boring."
After finally leaving the meeting room, Rorschach complained to Lori. He had wasted his time without knowing why. It was practically a crime.
The entire meeting was basically Rorschach reporting the recent happenings. The other side politely asked a few questions that were neither light nor heavy. Then, the Councilors announced (revealed) the latest arrangements.
It was procedural and bureaucratic. Neither side had much enthusiasm. Rorschach noticed that some of the Inner Circle Councilors were playing with their phones or online games under the table.
As for why Rorschach noticed …
"That familiar background music of the game, pui! Trash game ruined my youth! It was the game that cheated Isabella (me) of her annual bonus. "
However, the Councilors didn't mind that Rorschach, who was the subject of their interrogation, was distracted. Those who were reading continued reading, and those who were snoring continued snoring. This interrogation meeting was extremely formal.
This wasn't surprising. In many people's eyes, this was also the truth. Other than a few exceptions, Mages were the job class that was the furthest away from bureaucracy.
The spellcasters who pursued the truth and the truth by chance were always full of curiosity and the ability to explore the unknown and uncertainty. They lacked interest in the things they knew and were familiar with, and they lacked the most basic patience when it came to the bureaucratic process of going through the formalities.
Now, the Councilors were all present. They were all patiently going through the process just to … not be blamed.
Yes, not to be blamed. This was the essence of this meeting.
The first smuggling attempt had cost a lot. The Councilors and magic organizations had invested a lot of resources and manpower. Then, the results … were infinitely close to zero.
The first batch of spellcasters that went to the Lower Plane had a total of two thousand people. Currently, there were about six hundred to seven hundred wizard apprentices that were still alive. The reason why there was no accurate number was because too many of them had been abducted to the lower planes, and had gone missing in the mountains and wilderness.
There were about three hundred and sixty people who were confirmed to be alive and safe. Among them, more than a hundred suffered from various types of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). There were many specific reactions. It had become a research topic for prophets and psychology Mages.
Some trembled when they heard the footsteps of giant beasts. Some were so terrified that they couldn't move. Some were so terrified that they charged to their deaths. (Survivors of the Dragon Mountain Range). Some were dizzy when they saw seawater, ditches, or bathtubs. (Survivors of the Savi Gulf)
Some screamed when the sky turned dark. They shouted, "They're coming!", "They're coming to eat us!", "I'm not tasty at all. Go find the XX next door. He's fat is delicious."
Most of them were "I won't go out even if you beat me to death", "Is there any job that I can earn money from at home?", "I have a job, I have to guard my house", and "Otaku (female) conversion disorder".
Although Isabella kept complaining, "Are they even worthy of being called otakus? They're just a bunch of cowards who were scared by real life. We … "… Cough, cough. Isabella's complaints were too long so I didn't continue. At the very least, the archmages had accepted this new term. Now, they were having a headache over how to treat otaku.
"We can consider electrotherapy. I remember reading on the internet that electrotherapy is a special treatment for otaku. There's electrotherapy every year in the Harlet Wastelands. It's incredibly cheap to produce. Just tie a person to a lightning rod. As long as they don't die, it's said that regular lightning strikes can even increase the growth of magic power. They're all second-level Mages, so they shouldn't have to worry about being electrocuted to death … Yep, they probably won't die, probably not."
Rorschach sincerely suggested this to the various archmages. However, he was surprisingly rejected (only he was surprised). Not only that, they even said things like "As expected, all your pink hair is black once you cut it open" and "As expected of that person's XX". This made him depressed for quite a while. Even though he clearly wasn't a pink hair (?), there was no need to mention it.
These were all typical examples that showed just how much of a failure the first wave of illegal immigration was. Only a few magic spells were currently being researched. However, everyone knew that they wouldn't be able to produce any results in a short period of time.
Even if they didn't invest in the first wave of large-scale research, they would still be able to safely retrieve these mutated samples in the future. In the long run, the return on investment was far too low.
Unfortunately, this fact was pointed out by some independent archmages in public and on the newspapers. They even criticized the archmages for not treating their apprentices as humans, and for wasting their experimental apprentices without any benefits … This was far too typical of an archmage's accusation, which put a lot of pressure on the Mage Parliament.
"Sure, there can be sacrifices. How could there be no sacrifices on the path of truth? However, sacrifices still have value and returns. Otherwise, wouldn't it be no different from throwing money into the toilet? Wouldn't it make the Mage Parliament seem like a bunch of idiots with no sense of investment?"
The truth was right in front of everyone. The first wave of illegal immigration had already failed. All of the investment had been wasted. Only the Harlet Wastelands still had a few hundred talents that could be used. They could still form two squadrons or something.
It would be impossible to make a profit on the first wave of illegal immigration. The Truth Symposium's archmages didn't care about this loss at all. However, they had a headache because certain mage factions were using this as an excuse to pressure the Truth Symposium.
The reason? Most of the archmages were fringe members, lone wolves, and small or medium guilds. Previously, the large guilds had been the ones in charge of these matters. These archmages hadn't been able to make it in time for the first wave of illegal immigration. Now, they wanted to get on the ship and even get a good position as a helmsman or boatswain. Naturally, the Truth Symposium's archmages had no choice but to drag them off the ship.
The Truth Symposium also knew that it would be impossible to completely restrict access to the Ansorenne to ordinary mages and independent guilds. However, the Truth Symposium still wanted to control the first wave of illegal immigration. There were too many people and too many ideas, which made development uncontrollable.
The pressure from the outside world was tremendous. The small and medium-sized guilds and unaffiliated mages who couldn't obtain any benefits were also quite frightening when they worked together. This second wave of illegal immigration had been hastily created in order to quickly recover their reputation.
"A total of 12,000 people? That's six times more than the first wave of illegal immigration? That's ridiculous. That's an astronomical amount of resources. "
This was a matter of great importance, and the Truth Symposium didn't want to give the opposition parties any more reasons to attack. That was why the Truth Symposium had held a series of meetings and discussions. Numerous hypnotic documents had been released, forcefully turning the second wave of illegal immigration into a collective decision.
Was there a difference between a collective decision and an individual decision? Ha, of course there was a huge difference. If the collective decision succeeded, the leader would get the credit, and everyone else would also get credit. But if the collective decision failed, as long as there were no mistakes in the procedures, no violations of the rules, and every step of the plan had been recorded, it would still be considered an "acceptable accidental loss, an understandable error in judgment, and an inhumane sin."
The archmages who hated bureaucratic systems the most were forced to become bureaucrats. Rorschach also understood just how much pressure they were under.
"Ha, so you're saying that since it's a collective decision, even if I screw it up, I'll be fine?"
[Nonsense. Is a leader the same as an employee? Collective decisions are made by them. You do the work, and they have a meeting. What does that have to do with you?]
Rorschach almost cried on the spot. This was too much of a bully.
"Cough, the greater the power, the greater the blame … The greater the power, the greater the responsibility, but the greater the credit. We believe in your power. You'll definitely be able to give us a perfect return. "
"Yep, do your best. We'll be depending on you to fill in the report. Pushing the blame to you definitely isn't because I have a personal grudge with your father … Among us old people, how many of us don't have a grudge with your father? Don't worry, none of us are the type to hold grudges. "
In an instant, Rorschach's face turned gloomy. He recalled that there were all super powerful individuals here. Telepathy and conversations weren't safe at all.
"No, no, no. We didn't read minds. That's too immoral. Only your adoptive mother liked to do that back then. We know that it's because of you … You said it again."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
