Chapter 19 –– Temple Members Assembly

A few days later, Haru met up with the Holy Monastic at the abbey just as scheduled. It’d been over a week since the two of them had been meeting each other.

“How are you feeling, Haru?”

Haru was surprised. After a whole week, this was the first time the Holy Monastic called him by his name.

“Great, Your Holiness.”

The two of them proceeded their morning routine. First off, they meditated. The Holy Monastic never exactly counted how long they were supposed to meditate, so they just stopped whenever they felt “refreshed.” Next, they prayed to the shrine. After that, they walked around the abbey while having some conversation.

“So, how is the progress going?” the Holy Monastic asked Haru.

“It’s very faint, but I think I see some visions in my dream. I’m not sure what they are, though. I just feel when I wake up, something happened in my dream but I can’t remember any of it.”

This past week, the Holy Monastic had been training Haru with something. Supposedly, it would enhance Haru’s spirituality to the next level.

“That’s alright, take your time.”

The two of them walked around the abbey, with monks and nuns secretly taking glances at them. Some pretended to sweep, some pretended to mow the lawn, while others were hiding behind walls to eavesdrop on them. The Holy Monastic knew what they were doing, but he didn’t pay them any heed.

“By the way, have you prepared for the Day in Memoriam next month?” the Holy Monastic asked.

The Day in Memoriam was a national holiday in Virtue Vault to commemorate the memories of our passed loved ones and ancestors. People celebrated it by having a picnic at the cemetery where their loved ones were buried in, by serving their loved ones’ favourite food and drinks near their grave. Some people also just stopped by to clean the grave, poured some holy water, and scattered flower petals on it. Some others may even just put a bouquet of flower near the grave. There was no right or wrong way in celebrating it, since each state had their own custom and traditions. This holiday was conducted annually on the first day of Neptunia*, around a month after the Lantern Festival.

“Oh, yeah. I’m planning to get some flowers for Premiere Tianming. Probably for some other Premier(e)s as well,” Haru answered.

The Holy Monastic was puzzled.

“Are you not visiting your relatives, Haru?”

“I don’t have any, Your Holiness.”

The Holy Monastic was even more surprised with his answer. Knowing that Haru didn’t have a last name, the Holy Monastic thought he was just a commoner that didn’t have a last name. Turned out, he did not even have any living relatives that he knew.

“I see. Well, you can come with me, if you want. I’m also planning to meet Premiere Tianming. It’s been so long since I visited her.”

“Did you know her personally, Your Holiness?”

“I guess you could say so.”

After walking around the abbey, they returned to the main hall to wrap up their morning routine for the day. Haru then returned to his room and waited until further notice.

A few days after the day they went out together, Meixia went to the Lord Commander’s office to inform him her investigation’s progress.

“Good afternoon, Sir. I’m here to report some progress of the investigation.”

The night they went to the bar, Yara told Meixia something about the attack during the Lantern Festival while she was drunk.

Yara said that when she almost hit the man in shadows with her arrow, she noticed the knife he was holding was coated in fyx. It didn’t seem like it was an ordinary knife, either.

Meixia wrote down Yara's testimony in her note, adding some more info on top of Haneul’s testimony.

When she escorted the Premier and the other two guys back to his palace, Meixia asked one of the staff who worked at the palace. She asked her the conditions of the Advisor after the attack. The staff then told her what she knew.

“He was in an unconscious state ever since he got here. When I came into his room to bring him some food and clean him with some warm towel, he was still unconscious.”

“When did he wake up?” Meixia asked.

“I didn’t notice when he woke up. The next thing I know, he was already walking around in the palace, so I thought he got better already.”

Meixia wrote down what she said. She was trying to gather as much information as possible and would get started on analysing later on.

“However, I did notice something weird about his shadow when he was still unconscious.”

“What do you mean?” Meixia is starting to get anxious.

“His shadow looked like it was......slashed.”

Meixia suddenly understood something. What the staff said somehow add up with what Yara told her. She started to figure out what was happening during the attack.

After that, she went back to her room to analyse and process the information that she just gathered, and reported them to the Lord Commander afterwards.

In the middle of Ouranos**, it was time for Temple Members Assembly. The ministers of each ministry and governors of each state were called to gather in the Assembly Hall. There were also the Lord Commander of the Sacred Guards, the Holy Monastic, the King, and the Premier’s Advisor; all gathered in one room. The Archimage from the Exorcism Regiment and the Military General from the Military Regiment were also present in the meeting who came all the way from other parts of the nation.

There were several agenda to be discussed during the meeting. The first agenda was the biannual ministry report. Each minister presented their reports and development in the sector they were working.

Minister of law was especially concerned with the recent news of the Premier, the Crown Prince, and a Sacred Guard hanging out together in a bar. Turned out, some citizens noticed them and started a rumour about them being there while being wearing a disguise. The Advisor took note of this and would report it to the Premier after the meeting was finished.

After that, each state governor stated their necessities and policy recommendations regarding the state they were governing. The rest of the Temple Members listened to their presentation carefully, trying to come up with a solution for the good of the citizens.

Following that, the Lord Commander discussed the attack during the Lantern Festival. He said that a thorough investigation was being conducted to figure out the perpetrators of the attack and their motive.

Along the way, since the Day in Memoriam was coming up, the Lord Commander asked the Military General and the Archimage for a coordinated collaboration between the three pillars of National Defence–– the Military Regiment, the Exorcism Regiment, and the Sacred Guard Regiment. Because the Day in Memoriam was celebrated in cemeteries, the involvement of Exorcists was crucial due to a high chance that there would be monsters–– and even ghouls–– appearing in such areas.

They then discussed the overall plan of the security during the event, with details coming right after the three heads of the regiments discussed further after the meeting. They were planning a more thorough security defence so that another terror attack wouldn’t happen, like the one during the Lantern Festival.

Next up was the King’s turn to speak.

“As you all know, in the few next months the Crown Prince will have his––”

Suddenly, Meixia forced open the door of the room even though she was being stopped by the guards. She entered the room in such a hurry. Everyone immediately stared at her, shocked by her sudden appearance in the council.

She suddenly aimed a shot at the Advisor with her blaster. Unfortunately, she missed her shot.

Everyone in the room was in shock and started panicking. The Lord Commander demanded Meixia for an explanation.

“Officer Ngai! What’s the meaning of this!?”

“Lord Commander! The Military Police just found.....”

Everyone was listening nervously to her, trying to figure out what was going on in this sudden chaos.

“.....the body of the Advisor.

The Advisor is dead.”

*Neptunia = November.

**Ouranos = October.