There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 370

Chapter 370: Chapter 362. Protocol Ficus

If Protocol Aspen called for every important personnel in the Eastern Federation, Protocol Ficus referred to the summoning of the representatives from the twelve, now thirteen, prominent Houses in the Eastern Federation--six of which were part of the Old Houses.

These thirteen Houses had certain authority within the Eastern Federation, something that put a check and balance to the government’s policies. It was an authority of respect, from the great service these Houses made in preserving the civilization and developing the nation.

That being said, the President still retained a right to do a summon, when a great emergency in which the fate of the nation was in the balance. The meeting had to receive an endorsement of at least five Houses, of which two must be from Old Houses. And once the meeting was approved, these Houses were obliged to attend, without exception.

Even then, the meeting this time was drafted very abruptly. The invitations only came during lunch, and yet the meeting had to be attended in that same evening. If it wasn’t for the existence of teleportation portals, it wouldn’t have been possible.

Immediately after they arrived, the representatives--most of whom were the current patriarch and matriarch, unless they felt too ill and therefore sent their successor instead--were politely led to the deepest part of the tower, where security was the tightest.

It was a very comfortable lounge, with plush armchairs surrounding several coffee tables in which refreshments were being served. If it wasn’t for the urgency of the meeting, it would almost feel like they were in a party. Especially because most of them had no idea what was this meeting about, except that it had something to do with the recent incident inside the military’s eternal dungeon.

But the large double door of the lounge opened at one point, and as their eyes caught upon the figure of three people, they stood up. After all, even among the Houses, there was a hierarchy; and the four--now five--Old Houses were above everyone else. And the three people who just entered were the representatives of these Old Houses.

Ludya Mallarc hadn’t been seen in public for a long time, for her role was often being fulfilled by her son and grandson, instead. But everyone in that room knew her; the memory of her soft yet stern demeanor played out in their hand like their once scary Headmasters.

Escorting her, piquing everyone’s interest, was the new patriarch of the recently revived House of Ishtera. A beautiful young man in his late twenties, with expressionless blue eyes that didn’t show he wanted to be there. He was, undoubtedly, the youngest among the participants. Coming with Ludya Mallarc was a good move on his part, because no one would dare to question his eligibility with her as his guarantor.

Behind them was an unassuming man from House Asporo, who calmly led Ludya Mallarc and Luzein Ishtera to the table where the ’patriarch’ of House Apsoro was. It was them; the Old Houses who endorsed today’s emergency meeting.

With the arrival of those three, there was only one left on the list. They had only needed to wait for another five minutes, however, before the patriarch of House Horin, the eldest among the representatives, arrived along with three escorts. With the complete formation, the staff wasted no time ushering the representatives inside the rather large, but closed-off meeting hall.

Inside, the President had been waiting, sitting at the head of the table with his staff behind him. The patriarch of House Caishen, naturally, took a seat on his left side. Following the name card on the table, Ludya Mallarc took a seat on the right side, followed by the young patriarch of House Ishtera, and the ’patriarch’ of House Apsoro.

On the left side, right after House Caishen, was where Torodeo Horin took his place. The heir of House Kamui, representing his clan all the way from Shiroin, was seated beside the old man. The rest of the Houses--the more recent ones--took a seat on the farther side of the table.

Li Caishen swept his gaze across the table, at each of the Houses’ representatives, as well as their escorts and bodyguards. Once everyone was seated, he nodded at the staff standing by the door, who proceeded to close the door and stand guard in front of it.

"My apologies for the sudden invitation, and thank you for attending it faithfully," the President started, with a calm voice and solemn gaze. "It’s already late, so I’m not going to waste too much of your time with useless glib."

He gave a signal to his staff who immediately pulled up a few pictures on the screen behind him as he continued. "As you were already informed, the meeting today is caused by the accident happening in the Nabberi district military base’s eternal dungeon--which took the life of Major General Han Gyeong."

They were informed about that along with the invitation, but still, they stirred in their seat at the mention of the accident. Certainly, if the accident warranted the use of Protocol Ficus, then it wasn’t just an ’accident’.

"Please look at these pictures," the President signaled at the screen, where various images that looked like the rubble of a previously huge building could be seen. "This is the condition of the dungeon, and, as you can see, there’s something peculiar," he paused for a bit, sweeping his gaze across the table to check on their reaction, before continuing. "A modern building, built only at the latest a hundred years ago, inside this eternal dungeon." _{fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm}

If the table had only stirred slightly before, now there was a clear uneasiness between the representatives. They were not dumb, and they were not ignorant about dungeons--even if some of them weren’t an esper, like Ludya Mallarc.

Of all the dungeons that humans had ever explored, there had been no ruin or building that wasn’t as old as the Celestial War itself. Not to mention, most of these buildings were fashioned in an otherworldly style. An Earthling architecture that was not more than a hundred years old meant it was built by humans.

"Couldn’t it be just a military project?" one of the ’new’ Houses, from a conglomerate family in Rexon, tried to reason.

How sly--Zein almost couldn’t control his facial expression. It was clear that this old man was ready to throw the military under the bus. And the military, in turn, would blame it on the dead man, Major General Han Gyeong, and washed their hands.

It seemed like cutting away the tail had always been their modus operandi. This was probably why Radia had been so pissed at Li Caishen for announcing it to the world, creating a perfect dirty man for them; the scapegoat.

"My, my--don’t be so hasty," Ludya said softly, with a gaze that contained every bit of mockery. "You said it yourself, Sir Horin, that it would need so many materials and tools. Where do you think this comes from? What is used to purchase this?"