A few days later.

Night.

Chamber.

It's an eerie and oppressive chamber, buried deep underground to avoid detection. In the middle of the secret room, there was a long black table, on which was placed a silver candlestick, and a few candles were inserted in the candlestick. The candle was lit, and the flame faltered and burned, like a dying person who was dying, and the whole dark room looked bleak.

In the dim light, around the table in the middle of the secret room, there were more than a dozen high-backed leather chairs, and less than half of them were sitting on them. One of them sat at one end of the long table, and five others sat on either side, each wearing a heavy tube and hiding his face in a hood, looking extremely cautious and engaged in some kind of discussion.

The person sitting at one end of the long table, who seemed to have a slightly higher status, spoke up as the first speaker, and said to the rest of the people with a somewhat calm voice: "Everyone, tell me about the recent situation." ”

The first speaker spoke, followed by a long silence—an eerie, suffocating silence, as if all the people in the chamber had disappeared in an instant.

It was a long time before the second speaker broke the silence and coughed lightly, and said in a slightly hoarse voice: "Let me say it first." Well, the situation on my side is okay, one member has died, but three new people have been accepted, and one of them is very good and has the potential to be cultivated. Well, that's all. ”

After the second speaker finished speaking, the chamber fell silent again.

After waiting for a long time, the third speaker spoke up, and his voice was a little sharp: "The situation on my side is very bad, and I have lost four members, one of which is a backbone that has been cultivated for many years. There are new seeds, but they are all under investigation, and it has not yet been determined whether they should be absorbed or not. ”

Silent.

The fourth speaker said: "My side is neither good nor bad. A new member was absorbed, and an old member died. Finish. ”

Silent.

The fifth speaker said: "There are no dead people and no new people in my place, as before. ”

After the fifth speaker had finished speaking, the silence reappeared, this time for a long time.

In the end, the five people who had spoken looked at the last person who insisted on not speaking.

The first speaker asked, in a distinctively calm voice, "Aren't you going to say anything about it, Katrin?"

"Huh. The sixth speaker finally spoke, a woman's voice, with a bit of meanness in it, "Do I still need to speak?

I don't want to talk about the loss, anyway, if you don't support me, I can retire after that.

Speaking of which, in fact, there is nothing wrong with this, after all, what we have been doing is not to provide for the elderly. Hiding underground like a mole, trembling and hiding itself, not daring to expose it, lest it be detected. Make an impossible thing a goal and hope that a miracle will happen that day. Scold. ”

After the woman finished speaking, she was silent for a while, and the first speaker spoke, and said slowly, "Katrin, it seems that you have a lot of complaints." ”

"Is it just me who has complaints?" the sixth speaker woman asked rhetorically, "I want to ask everyone here, after so long, I have been enforcing the so-called escapist rules, and have waited hopelessly, and I don't feel anything wrong?"

This traitor incident has made it clear to me that if it continues like this, it will definitely be a dead end. Even if you don't get killed by people outside, you have to be killed by people inside yourself. ”

"Katrin, I know you're annoyed by this traitor. The first speaker said, his voice remained calm, without much emotional fluctuation, "But some things can't be changed casually." The reason why we made the rules of escapism in the first place is because we are weak, and if the rest of the wizarding organizations find out, it is very likely that we will join forces to destroy us, and then we have no hope at all.

And now, although our strength has become stronger than before with the development of the world, it is still a little unbearable compared to the rest of the wizarding organizations. If nothing else, the Wizards of the White Rock Tower alone are no match for us.

So we need to continue to forbear, continue to accumulate strength, and when the time is right, when we unlock the secret left to us by that great being and get his treasure, we will have enough strength to tell the rest of us about our existence. At that time, he will be able to appear in this world in the open and restore the original glory of the great being who was before. ”

"I understand the reasoning. A mean female voice sounded, "But the question is, how long will it take?"

"For a long, long time. The first speaker said, "It is so long that none of us will ever see the day when we will not be able to realize it in our lifetime." It is for this reason that, in addition to the rules of escapism, the second rule of our council is patience and strict prohibition of exposing oneself, so that our council can continue for a long time. It is for this reason that we will severely punish any traitor who tries to expose our parliament. ”

"How harsh is the punishment?, kill him?" the female voice asked, as if she didn't believe it, "this traitor is different, he is a student of the master." Really kill him, the master will not agree. ”

"You're thinking wrong. "We treat all traitors equally, even the master's students. ”

"Even?"

"If you don't believe me, we can go to trial now. The first speaker said.

"It's for the best. The female voice said.

"Let's get started. The first speaker said, and suddenly the candle flame on the table brightened, dispelling the darkness in the chamber and illuminating the corners of the chamber.

In the corner, I saw a man tied to a chair, unable to move. Several silver needles engraved with magic patterns pierced into the body, disrupting any mana and preventing the release of spells.

The face of the person tied to the chair was bloodstained, and the real face could not be seen, but it gave people a very young feeling, and at this time, he was staring at the six people sitting around the long table with wide eyes, his eyes were full of anger and hatred, and he tried to open his mouth to say something, but his mouth seemed to be sewn by an invisible force, and he couldn't open it.

The woman of the sixth speaker looked at it and exclaimed, "Did you use a silence spell?"

"Well, he's too noisy after all. The first speaker said, "But now he is judged, according to the rules, he has the right to defend himself." ”

As the first speaker spoke, he waved his hand, and the air surged slightly, and the person tied to the chair suddenly opened his mouth, and then shouted loudly: "Damn, you bastards, let me go! Otherwise, when my teacher finds out what you have done to me, you will all die!"

The first speaker looked at the person tied to the chair and said slowly: "Klee, you still don't know, what you are doing, even your teacher, can't save you." ”

"What did I do?"

"Leaks, exposing the existence of the parliament. ”

"Nonsense, I didn't!" the man tied to the chair defended loudly, "you all framed me, I didn't do it at all!"

"Smack, bastard, if you didn't, how did my men die?" said the sixth speaker, slamming the table angrily.

"I ......" The tone of the man tied to the chair weakened, but the next moment he returned to normal, shouting, "I don't know! The death of your subordinates has nothing to do with me! You are framing me, you just want to attack my teacher! I warn you, if you dare to hurt me, my teacher will know and will not spare you! Let me go, let me see the teacher!"

"Shut up, Klee!" Suddenly a majestic voice sounded, and an old man in a black robe stepped into the secret room, holding a black cat with smooth hair in his arms.