Early Evening - Mid Summer : Montijo | Pal

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  - Oliver more ~

  "Tea, please."

  Quickly nodding, the young maid scurried out of the mostly empty meeting hall to retrieve my drink.

  -Looks like they got aff...- Crossing my legs and interlog my fingers, I turned my attention toward the series of folk sitting around the table. -I hope the tea is the same...-

  As silence overtook the room, the younger man sitting across the table from me broke the ice. "Where is everyone?"

  His name was Ahaan, India's representative in the ISO. "The meeting was rather st minute, ign that it wasn't mandatory for most people, I doubt many besides Kazzaer will e."

  Ahaan immediately snickered. "A destroyer appears and the global mana levels skyrocket, yet people think they stand by and watch?"

  "The meeting on the mana levels is tomorrow." Turning our heads toward the voice, we found azes on Aki Bastet, an yptian woman. "Today we are discussing the matters around the destroyer and the Queen of the Elves. Nothing more." Waving Ahaan away with a smoking pipe between her fingers, she motioned over a maid. "But since Kazzaer still isn't here, bring me some karkade."

  -She's antsy today... I wonder why...- Tossing a cube of sugar into my tea as a maid set it down in front of me, I goward the door. -He is running a bit te though...-

  *k-k-k* But just as I looked away to stir my tea, the air in the room ged. *Vwoom*

  Everyone instantly turo the door. -Speak of the devil...-

  *Click-Woosh* Throwing open the door, Kazzaer walked in without breaking stride, with Brazil, France, and Sweden's representatives following closely behind him, and the greatest shock to us at the table, Ptitsa Tsvetok ing in behind them all.

  She was a snow owl avian, and was Russia's representative. -What is she doing here... Behind Kazzaer, no less...- Going wide-eyed, I felt the air in the room suddenly turn cold.

  "Apologies for the dey, everyone," Speaking firmly Kazzaer walked up to his seat and smmed down a massive stack of papers. *Thud* "But I believe everyone is here now."

  Giving everyone a ce to find their seats, he began handing out thick packets of paper, but I couldn't move my eyes away from Miss Tsvetok. -What the...-

  For the first time in my career at the ISO, she sat down and ordered a drink without saying a word to a a maid.

  "Did you hit your head on your flight?" Aki gave her an awkward look as she spoke only half joking.

  But Miss Tsvetok's response made everyone freeze. "This is an importaing." Sitting down and crossing her legs, she looked out over the table with an uncharacteristically cold gaze. "Today's topic will require everyone's attention. It's not a time for jokes."

  Feeling like the air had suddenly bee heavy, I looked back toward Kazzaer, but he seemed anxious more than shocked like the rest of us. -Did they talk before the meeting?-

  Everyone else was thinking the same thing, but as silence filled the room, her usual firey personality peeked out for a moment. "If we could get this moving though, that'd be great."

  "R-Right." Somewhat flustered, Kazzaer walked up to the front of the room, dimmed the lights, and turned on the s behind him. "Today we are discussing the matters involving the woman named Evreir, 'the destroyer' acc to many of the rgemouths in the media." Speaking with some ferocity, he shed his anxious look. "To start, I have handed out papers detailing the situation. If you could all read the first few pages, I will walk you through her situation."

  Finally looking down at the paper, I began reading, listening to Kazzaer as he walked us through it.

  But I could only read so much before I had to ask for him to slow down. -W..What is all this...-

  The first few pages of the packet alone had so muformation that the public hadn't heard a peep about that I felt almost shell-shocked.

  -She killed a monster estimated to be over level 1000, killed an apostle, and was the target of the regional bounty until she left the city...- I holy didn't even know where to start.

  Ahaan was quick to pick apart the story though. "Before we tinue, do you have the study reports of the monster's remains? I don't believe that such a monster would appear without a global quest being made."

  In his mind, the odds of something that high level appearing without the administrators creating a global quest reted to it were slim to none. -Plus, when her system panel was read it said she was around level 600...- A far cry from being able to single-handedly kill a level 1000.

  But Kazzaer simply waved his hand and had a se of bone fall out of his iory and onto the table. *ch* "The monster was of unknown in, ignored a direct hit from a nuclear warhead, and has a boy twice that of lead." Pausing as he looked at the piece of bone embedded iable, he spoke somewhat coldly. "Level 1000 is servative."

  Going wide-eyed, everyone's eyes bounced bad forth between Kazzaer and the bone.

  But Miss Tsvetok was quick to break the silence. "If she killed that, then she is clearly above level 600, as this paper states... If that is true, why should we trust anything you're telling us?"

  "Because I believe she has administrators defending her. It is a discrepancy that ot be overlooked, as you will see me mention if you turn the page."

  Quickly turning the page as he instructed, I read through the piece detailing how the bounty on her suddenly disappeared when she was seen inside Rid's airport, and how the ISO's identification artifacts showed her at level 600 while clearly dispying strength beyond that.

  His reasoning was that if she really was a destroyer, the bounty never would have gone away, and her system panel would've appeared more accurate

  "So you believe the bounty anicked response by the gods, and that her level is being hidden by them?" Ahaan spoke with haste.

  "Precisely. And the appearance of the Queen of the Elves with the Eye of Odin only proves that."

  -Huh?!- Jolting along with everyone else in the room, I flipped through pages in a panic before finding a cssified se detailing Kazzaer's discussions with both the US military and those at the Archive. "You mean to tell me, that hermit broke into the Archive, stole one of the most powerful artifacts Earth possesses, broke it.. and no one said a word about it?!" Simply using su artifact without any permissireement was terms for war, let alone breaking it.

  And everyone khat, but while the atmosphere quickly became tense, Kazzaer was quick to settle it. "She was givehority to take things from the Archive a long time ago. Saying she stole it is.. inaccurate."

  tinuing to read through the paper, it detailed the reas the Queen had after using the artifact, going ih with studying her expressions and behaviors after it happeo deduce what she saw.

  "The use of the artifact is evidehat things were hidden from us by the administrators, and her rea is evidehat Miss Lestir is, at the very least, not a threat."

  It was an almost perfect case. -The fact she ran from the capital to Rid so abruptly is also a sign that she was likely given a quest of some kind...-

  "But how do we know the Queen isn't following her own whim?" Miss Tsvetok quickly interjected. "I'm not buying that her rea was genuine." *Fwip* Closing the stack of papers, she tossed it up oable.

  Being the only person in the room to have met the Queen personally, her words carried weight. "But I think that is quite a rash clusion..." -If her rea is indeed gehen we might be misuanding something about this 'destroyer's' identity...-

  As my eyes drifted down to the analysis of her expressions, an image of the Queeatic smile made my stomach with unease. -Her rea is like that of a child reuniting with their mother...- It was an expression that made me question if they hadn't met before.

  But while Miss Tsvetok's expression slowly turned calcutive, an unfamiliar aura swept through the office, and everyone's gaze so the door.

  *DIIING* Sending out a loud bell-like ring, the metal door caved in, shearing the deadbolts, aing the door swing open to reveal a single elven maid in a traditional maid outfit standing with her head held high.

  "I apologize for my rather rude entrance," Gently brushing off her chest, she tinued with a desding tohe door was sturdier than expected."

  -What the...- I didn't reize her at all. -But she's to to be some unknown person...- pared to the people in the room, only Miss Tsvetok could potentially rival her.

  Yet she appeared to be nothing but a maid. "My master has seo clear misuandings with regards to the woman named Evreir."

  "Master..." Ahaan spoke cautiously, "Is your master perhaps the Queen of the Elves?"

  And the air only became heavier when she nodded. "She has advised you all to cease your discussions about Lady Lestir immediately."

  -Lady?- *Vwoop* Watg her pull out a gold pque a oable, I felt my breathing stop.

  It was the Queen's royal token. "Lady Lestir is to be revered in the same light as her majesty, if not greater. She is more than a guest of the Queen, and as such, a against the Lady will be sidered a against not just the Queen, but the entire elven race." Specifically looking at Miss Tsvetok and Sten, Sweden's representative, the air turned cold. "She has wished to add that should the ISO as a whole make a move against the Lady, she will accept it as a betrayal of the agreement made in 2570."

  Sten and Miss Tsvetok's expressions darkened instantly.

  "Are her majesty's words uood?" Looking around at everyone, she tinued coldly. "Good. Then I will take my leave." *Cck* Swiping the Golden Pque off the table, she quickly turo the door. "Ah, but o thing, not from the Queen, but from me..." *VWOOM* Gravity seemed to multiply as she looked over her shoulder with a heavy bloodlust seeping from her eyes. "If anyone disturbs the Queen's happiness, I will personally ehat their bloodline ceases. If you have a , bring it up with me."

  With a wave of her hand, a System Panel popped up in front of us all. *Ding!*

  taformation added to Directory:--------------------------------------------------------------Eir Igna (High-Elf)

  Age: 196 Years

  System Directory Number: 235...

  And by the time we could look up from it, she was gone, leaving us to sit in silence as her System tacts floated in front of us.

  "Uh..." Eventually breaking the silence, Ahaan spoke with a slight quiver in his voice. "Let's end the meeting there, shall we?"

  Relutly nodding, I looked toward Aki to make sure she didn't have any dumb ideas.

  But she was just as taken aback as the rest of us. "Y..Yes... I believe this matter is settled..."

  As we all stood up with an ay so deep it made it hard to walk though, Tvestok remained seated, hastily typing into her system.

  "Is.. something the matter?" Even Aki was anxious.

  But as her typing stopped and she got up from her seat, she spoke without the slightest waver. "We will have this meeting again in two weeks... I trust that everyone will attend?" Quickly looking around, she o herself a.

  But not long after, Aki and Sten simultaneously looked down at their systems as if they received a message.

  -Why.. do I have a bad feeling about this...-

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