Parallel Memory

Chapter 717: The Second Day

The second day of the assembly began before the sun had fully risen.

The people outside the hall had already gathered.

Unlike the previous day, however, the crowd was much larger.

The news had spread throughout the capital.

The representatives of the Church, the Authority, and the War Council were meeting again to decide the future of the Human Domain.

And this time, everyone knew the meeting would not be limited to the three powers.

The Authority had invited guests.

So had the Church.

That alone was enough to make the atmosphere tense before the doors of the assembly hall had even opened.

The previous day’s meeting had ended without a decision.

The three powers had argued.

They had debated.

They had nearly reached agreements several times, only to return to the same disagreements from a different direction.

But at least the first day had remained relatively controlled.

The second day would be different.

Because now, people with influence had arrived.

People who did not need to sit at the highest table to affect the future of the Human Domain.

The Authority had invited five guild masters.

Not ordinary guild masters.

Each of them represented a Triple-Star Diamond Guild.

The highest rank an adventurer guild could achieve.

They were among the most powerful organizations in the Human Domain.

Their influence extended beyond adventurers.

They controlled trade routes.

They managed dungeon expeditions.

They supplied weapons and magical materials.

They employed thousands of adventurers.

And, more importantly, they possessed the military power to influence wars.

The five guild masters had also come personally.

That alone made their presence impossible to ignore.

All five were S+ Rank.

Just below the SS Rank.

They were not weak individuals.

Even among the strongest combatants in the Human Domain, people of their level were rare.

The moment they entered the assembly hall, the atmosphere changed.

They were not priests.

They were not politicians.

They were not soldiers.

They were adventurers.

And adventurers had always possessed a particular kind of arrogance.

They had survived places where ordinary people could not even breathe.

They had fought monsters in dungeons.

They had entered forbidden territories.

They had built their organizations through blood, money, and reputation.

The Church had always possessed influence over the adventurer guilds.

That was one of the reasons the guild masters disliked them.

The Church often attempted to interfere with guild operations.

They questioned expeditions.

They demanded restrictions on certain dungeons.

They attempted to control the distribution of rare magical materials.

And sometimes, they attempted to use religious authority to influence the decisions of guilds.

The guild masters hated it.

They had tolerated it for years.

But tolerance had limits.

And the peace treaty had given them an opportunity to finally push back.

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The first guild master to enter was a broad-shouldered man with a long gray beard.

He looked old enough to have retired years ago.

But his body still carried the strength of a warrior.

The moment he stepped into the hall, the pressure of his mana spread through the room.

Not enough to threaten anyone.

Just enough to remind everyone that he could.

"Guild Master Branik," a clerk announced.

The man ignored the introduction.

He looked toward the seats reserved for the Church.

Then he snorted.

"Still here."

One of the priests frowned.

Branik continued walking.

The second guild master was a woman with short black hair and a scar across her left eyebrow.

She wore no jewelry.

No ceremonial clothing.

Only a dark coat with the insignia of her guild.

"Guild Master Selene."

She nodded once to the room.

Her expression was calm.

But her eyes were sharp.

She had the look of someone who had spent decades making decisions that could kill hundreds of people.

The third was a thin man named Darius.

Unlike the others, he smiled constantly.

It was not a friendly smile.

It was the smile of someone who had already decided how the conversation would end.

The fourth guild master was a tall man named Garrick.

He was the youngest of the five.

Although he had already crossed into the S+ Rank, he was barely in his forties.

His presence was different from the others.

He was less patient.

More direct.

And clearly disliked the Church.

The fifth was an elderly woman named Maera.

She walked with a cane.

But no one in the room mistook her weakness for helplessness.

She was the oldest of the five guild masters.

And according to rumors, she had killed an S+ Rank monster while already suffering from a serious injury.

The five of them took their seats.

The Church representatives watched them carefully.

The Authority, on the other hand, looked considerably more confident.

That confidence was not accidental.

The Authority had invited them for a reason.

The previous day had not gone according to their expectations.

The Church had managed to resist every attempt to push the treaty forward.

The War Council had prevented both sides from completely dominating the discussion.

So the Authority had changed its strategy.

If political arguments were not enough, they would bring people whose opinions carried weight among the adventurer population.

People who could publicly support the treaty.

People who could remind the Church that the future of humanity could not be decided only by priests.

The Authority had brought power into the room.

The Church had done the same.

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The doors opened again.

This time, the atmosphere changed completely.

Five old men entered the assembly hall.

They were not wearing armor.

They did not carry weapons.

They did not need to.

The pressure surrounding them was enough.

Even after more than a century, their mana remained terrifying.

The room became quiet.

The five retired SS Rankers walked slowly toward their seats.

Some of the younger representatives stared at them.

They had heard stories.

Everyone had.

They were legends from another generation.

People who had fought when the Devil Kingdom was still considered an active threat.

People who had faced monsters that had never been recorded in modern history.

People who had stood on battlefields where entire armies had disappeared.

The five men had once been among the strongest humans alive.

They had all been active SS Rankers.

And they had all once fought against the Devil King.

The previous Devil King.

Lilith’s father.

The king who had always attempted to establish peaceful relations with the humans. But learned the cruelty of humans.

But before that had happened, there had been a confrontation.

A battle that had become a shameful memory for the five retired SS Rankers.

They had entered the battle as five of humanity’s strongest warriors.

They had left alive.

That was the problem.

The Devil King had spared them.

Not because he had been unable to kill them.

Because he had chosen not to.

The five had survived.

But their pride had not.

For more than a century, they had carried that humiliation.

And unlike most humans, they understood something the younger generation did not.

They understood what a Devil King truly was.

One of the five, an old man with white hair that reached his shoulders, slowly took his seat.

His name was Valther.

The second was an old woman named Serah.

The third was a man named Oren.

The fourth was a large man named Haldor.

The fifth was a thin, sharp-eyed man named Fenric.

Their bodies were old.

Their faces were wrinkled.

But their eyes were still sharp.

And their mana was still powerful enough to make even the five S+ Rank guild masters unconsciously pay attention.

Branik glanced at them.

Then looked toward the Authority.

"You brought them?"

The Authority representative smiled slightly.

"They were invited."

Branik looked toward the retired SS Rankers.

"That is not what I asked."

One of the old men slowly turned toward him.

"Careful, young man."

Branik’s expression hardened.

Young man.

The guild master was over seventy years old.

But compared to the retired SS Ranker, he was indeed young.

Branik leaned back in his chair.

"How young are you?"

"One hundred and forty-three."

The room became silent.

Branik’s eyes narrowed.

"Then you have lived long enough to know that the Church cannot be trusted to control everything."

Valther’s expression did not change.

"Perhaps."

The guild master smiled.

"Good. Then we can agree on something."

The Church representatives immediately noticed the tension.

This was exactly why the Authority had invited the guild masters.

And why the Church had invited the retired veterans.

The two sides had brought people who already disliked each other.

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The senior bishop entered shortly afterward.

He immediately noticed the changes.

Five powerful guild masters sat on one side.

Five retired SS Rankers sat on the other.

The bishop looked toward the Authority representative.

"You have been busy."

The representative smiled.

"As have you."

The bishop looked toward the retired veterans.

For a moment, his expression softened.

These men were not simply political tools.

They were heroes of an older generation.

And the Church had stood beside them during their darkest years.

The Church had supported their families.

Provided healing.

Provided resources.

Provided magical equipment.

And, most importantly, provided blessings.

That relationship had become stronger after the battle with the previous Devil King.

The five SS Rankers had survived.

But they had returned from the confrontation humiliated.

The Church had helped them recover.

It had given them a reason to continue fighting.

Over time, their loyalty had become something deeper.

They believed the Church’s blessings had been the reason humanity had survived the age of the Devil King.

And they believed that humans had become too arrogant in the present.

The younger generation no longer feared the devils.

They saw them as an enemy that could be defeated.

The retired veterans saw something else.

They saw a power that had once stood above five SS Rankers.

And had chosen to let them live.

That memory had never left them. It stemmed into hatred for devils.