332: Chapter 44: eting of Seven_1 332: Chapter 44: eting of Seven_1 City of Innocence, Shadow Hand’s third secret chamber.
The chamber was in complete darkness, without a hint of light.
The chamber was quite large, about sixty square ters.
There were no superfluous furnishings inside the chamber, only seven high-back chairs arranged in a circle.
This symbolized the highest power within the Shadow Hand, apart from the three Guild Masters.
Within the Shadow Hand, everyone was referred by their code nas, their real nas were never disclosed.
These code nas were not randomly chosen, but instead were bestowed by a higher rank.
The lower the rank within the organization, the more complex the code na, while higher-ranked people have simpler code nas.
For mbers of the Shadow Hand, having a code na that implied nimble and cunning hands or a bloodthirsty madman was considered a disgrace.
Only simple nas like Passion or Indulgence were worthy to be flaunted.
The Shadow Hand Guild was overseen by three Guild Masters, code-nad Thorn, Stealth, and Shadow respectively.
These nas represented the three main advancent paths of thieving careers.
Below the Guild Masters were the seven Team Leaders who held the main power of the Shadow Hand.
There was no overlap between their authorities and they only reported to the three Guild Masters.
The third secret chamber was the exclusive eting room for the seven Team Leaders, also known as the Chamber of Seven.
Apart from cleaning staff, only team leaders had the privilege to enter.
The code nas: Elegance, Madness, Cruelty, Curiosity, Suspicion, Passion, and Indulgence were inscribed on the seven chairs.
The ntion of any of these nas were enough to haunt the sentient beings of Yarran Continent in their nightmares.
“The eting begins.” It was hard to imagine that a woman with such a gentle and calm voice was represented by the peculiar code na, Madness: “Since it is my turn to preside this month, is Suspicion not yet arrived?”
“Sorry, I was delayed.” The door to the chamber opened but no light entered, even the outside of the chamber was in complete darkness.
Although there was no light, everyone present were top professionals of the thieving profession.
If they couldn’t navigate in darkness, it was better to hide sowhere and save the Shadow Hand from disgrace.
Suspicion casually walked to his chair and sat down in the darkness, “I was held up.”
“Curiosity and Elegance are both out on missions and haven’t returned yet, thus only the five of us will participate.” Madness knocked on the armrest of her chair indicating the start of the eting: “Now that everyone is here, Suspicion, as the convener of this eting, you may begin.”
“I propose,” Suspicion cleared his throat and said in a low voice, “to temporarily relieve Passion from his duty of investigating the Sacrificial Ritual Incident.”
“Rejected.” The current presiding leader, Madness stated without hesitation: “The mission is given by the Guild Master, as per the rules, the Chamber of Seven does not have the authority to relieve it.”
“Proposal for reexamination.” Suspicion, not surprised by Madness’s reaction, calmly stated: “According to the Shadow Rules, the Chamber of Seven holds the right to temporarily halt a mission and submit it to the Guild Master for reconsideration.”
“The invocation of mission termination right?” Madness paused for a mont and asked seriously, “Permission granted for detailed explanation.”
“Three days ago, a minor disturbance suddenly occurred in the vicinity of the underground base.” Judging by the slightly different voice direction, Suspicion was turning his face towards Passion: “The disturbance was shown as traces of battle noises consistently returning from the outer area of the base, indicating that outsiders have entered the underground space.
According to initial judgnts by the intelligence departnt, the intruders entered through the abandoned headquarters’ entrance.
Moreover, a day before the disturbance occurred, soone saw Passion and Indulgence leading strangers into the abandoned headquarters in the Dark Alley District with unclear motives.
In conclusion, there are substantial reasons to suspect that Passion and Indulgence used the convenience of the mission to help outsiders infiltrate our underground base, undermining the interests of the Guild.
Explanation concluded.”
“Requesting opportunity to speak.” Indulgence’s enchanting voice finally arose.
“Passion?” Madness asked, her voice void of emotions.
“I agree to be replaced.” Passion said indifferently.
“Request to speak approved.” As the presiding leader of the eting, Madness had to remain neutral: “You have one minute.”
“The group in question was invited to join the investigation of the Sacrificial Ritual Incident after they were approved by the Guild Master.” Indulgence replied calmly, “They are aiding in the investigation, and hence they’re not outsiders.”
“Requesting opportunity to speak.” Suspicion maintained his calm.
“Request to speak approved.” Madness replied, “You have one minute.”
“The permit granted by the Guild Master for them to assist is limited to investigating within the City of Innocence, and does not include the underground base.
Hence, Passion had no authority to bring non-mbers inside, even if they are assisting.” Suspicion stated: “In summary, I stand by my original proposal and request the invocation of the mission termination right.”
“Requesting opportunity to speak.” Indulgence casually rubbed his lips with his fingers.
“Request to speak approved.” Madness said, “You have one minute.”
“According to our investigation, the perpetrator of the Sacrificial Ritual Incident is suspected to be hiding in the underground space.” Indulgence stated, “Having them enter the base is essential for the investigation and there are no wrongdoings in doing so.”
“Both parties have presented their explanations.” After waiting for a few seconds and seeing that no one requested for the opportunity to speak, Madness tapped her chair armrest, thought for a mont and said, “Both explanations hold a possible validity, thus the Chamber of Seven is unable to determine the outco, therefore, I am preparing for a eting vote.”
“The eting begins.” Madness once again struck the chair armrest and said, “Start voting.”
“I oppose.” “I oppose too.” Evidently, both Passion and Indulgence voted against.
According to Shadow Hand’s rule, the right to terminate a mission must be approved by more than half of the team leaders present, which ans if one more person opposes, the motion will fail.”
“I agree.” Suspicion’s own proposal is obviously going to be agreed upon, leaving only Madness and Brutality in the eting room.
“I agree too.” The first to express an opinion is Madness as the rotating chairman.
Although a chairman should remain neutral, they can still express their views during the ballot: “I also believe that it is improper to allow outsiders.”
“I…” Brutality hesitated for a while before saying, “I oppose.”
“Voting ends.” Disappointnt could not be heard in Madness’s voice: “The authorisation to use the task termination right is not granted.
As the convener of the eting, does Suspicion have any other proposals?”
“No,” Suspicion said, sowhat disappointed.
“Request to speak.” Indulgence unexpectedly said.
“Permission to speak is granted,” Madness said, “Ti limit, one minute.”
“Because Suspicion’s proposal failed, it might lead to prejudices,” Indulgence charged proactively, “I propose that Suspicion abstain from the tasks related to the Evil God’s Sacrifice for three days.”
“Request justified.” Madness banged the armrest of his high-backed chair, “Application approved, eting adjourned.”
“Catherine, Vivian, you both must push forward.
We don’t have much ti left to delay.” Indulgence and Passion sat in their seats in silence, silently hoping.
——————————————
“Miss Catherine!” Pansy cried out in despair, watching as the giant puppet’s fist began to fall towards Catherine’s head, seeing that if this blow from above connected, it wouldn’t be like the previous knockdown blow, but instead Catherine would be directly smashed to a pulp.
However, the severely injured Catherine was utterly incapable of any effective evasion or defense, her consciousness was even sowhat hazy, and all she could see was a white void.
The grating tal friction sound emitted from the puppet’s arm seed to co from a distant horizon to Catherine, this friction sound, a signifier of the arrival of death, ultimately unable to call back Catherine’s consciousness as she was about to plunge into chaos.
“Catch.” The sudden voice from behind almost terrified the already highly-strung maid sisters into collapsing, a bright card flew out from behind them, spinning in mid-air, flying towards the bewildered Catherine, “Quick, catch it.”
“Such a familiar voice, am I dreaming?” The hazy Catherine raised her head, trying to focus her vision so that her dimd sight could recover.
Catherine’s muddled brain didn’t seem to know what she was doing anymore, nor could she understand why an unexpected card suddenly appeared in front of her: “What a strange card, what is this?”
“Catch it, you fool.” The owner of the sudden voice was almost driven crazy by Catherine’s unconscious reaction, and shouted angrily, “That’s a coin, catch it.”
“A coin?” Catherine’s eyes, lost in the haze, lit up, and her movents, which had been slowed due to the severe injuries, suddenly beca agile.
Her right hand, which had been hanging weakly at her side, quickly rose, catching the card that had flown straight to her: “What a strange coin, why is it silver?
And, whose voice is it?
Why can’t I rember it all of a sudden?”
In theory, a tiny card couldn’t change anything, it couldn’t block the giant puppet’s hamr attack, nor could it save Catherine’s life.
But miracles often happen unexpectedly, like right now.
The instant Catherine grabbed the card, the giant puppet behind her suddenly made a beeping warning sound again.
After the warning sound ended, a set of complex goblin language ca from the speaker.
Attracted by the sound behind her, Catherine turned around in bewildernt.
Only then did she see the giant puppet behind her, still raising its arm, maintaining the attack stance of a hamr blow, but the attack never ca.
It stopped at a position less than fifty centiters above her head, as if ti had stopped at this mont, and this posture was frozen.
Catherine blinked her eyes, her mind dazed from the severe injury was not able to comprehend the aning of everything before her.
She curiously raised her hand, like a child, touched the icy fist of the giant puppet, and then inexplicably laughed.
“What an interesting sculpture, why is it here?
It should be placed outside the garden.” Catherine’s body started to sway and finally she fell straight back.
Just before completely falling unconscious, she murmured these nonsensical words.
(To be continued.
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