The council has a more important matter to address, which is the upcoming election day.

During this period, the council members always become overwhelmed.

They must secure more votes, and even within their districts, there are challengers aiming to unseat them. They need to give public speeches, make promises to the people in their districts, and show the achievements of the past few years.

Of course, more often than not, it's just empty promises.

Except for a few districts, most of them don't have much to show the residents.

The power struggle within the council has become increasingly turbulent.

They spend half their time forming alliances, and the other half indulging in the luxurious life of high society. As long as they put in some effort at critical times, it would mean another three years of good times.

Richard arrived at the council early, seeing along the way many well-dressed council members with speech scripts in hand, their secretaries grooming them to appear as approachable as possible.

This is a staple program in Ophira. In Richard's view, politicians are the best actors. Their ability to convey emotions surpasses opera house performers, especially when one knows their everyday lives, making the contrast even more striking.

The Deep Sea Council itself is a fixed stage play.

Just like now, he is about to gather some members of the diplomatic department to hold a meeting in the council's conference room that has, in fact, nothing to do with anything.

The theme of this meeting is only one thing—dispatch the empire's envoys.

Lately, the chaos in the Imperial Capital has reached the Western Continent. Three out of the seven-member council were publicly executed, and their allies are undergoing rigorous inspections and being convicted one by one. The reshuffling of power means absolute chaos, and they do not look favorably on the empire's prospects.

Richard had made preparations that regardless of what the empire's envoys propose during the meeting, they will maintain an ambiguous stance, neither offending them nor making any commitments. This is the art of diplomacy.

He heard that this time, the empire's diplomat is a very young girl, the niece of Queen Margaret and the heir to the family.

She is probably just trying to make an appearance.

With Henry VI dead and Pope Julius failed in the coup, the Margaret Family is likely to replace the Church's position.

With such thoughts, Richard walked into the conference room.

However, when he saw Ave-Margaret, all preconceived notions were dismissed. He felt as if he had been electrified and immediately adopted a more serious attitude.

This young girl is a strong diplomat, and the octopus-faced figure beside her likely brought an important message that would decide the future of the Western Continent...

Huh?

Why did he have such a thought?

Richard was somewhat puzzled, as if he realized the importance of this meeting even before the imperial diplomat spoke.

He secretly observed the others in the diplomatic department, all of whom showed the same seriousness, quickly entering a rigorous working state.

They sat upright, carefully perusing all the meeting materials, waiting for the meeting to begin.

Richard suddenly understood.

This is a sense of mission.

He had read about this wonderful feeling in some books. It signifies that from this moment, they have taken on an important mission, one significant enough to change the destiny of the people of the Western Continent.

The meeting lasted for two hours. Just as it was about to end, Richard stood up, solemnly bowed to Ave, and expressed his hope that they could stay in Ophirado for a few days. They hoped to hold further discussions because it was important, and he would try to persuade the chairman to attend the meeting in person.

After confirming the next meeting time with Ave, Richard gathered his materials and hurriedly left the conference room.

Everyone expressed solemn thanks to Ave and Uerta. The meeting materials had long been scribbled with dense notes, and it wasn't until everyone left that Ave furrowed her brow in the empty conference room, her gold hair looking around puzzledly.

The meeting went too smoothly, completely different from what she had envisioned.

Even when Uerta mentioned Aelium, spoke about the prophecy of the Deep Sea Race, and the awakening of the Evil God and doomsday prophecy that the Western Continent people detested, Richard and the diplomats in the conference room listened very carefully, with no one showing contempt or discomfort.

This actually rendered many of the explanations Ave had prepared in advance unnecessary.

She had never experienced such a seamless discussion, smooth to the extent that both sides only needed to say a few words to understand each other's opinions, which often coincided.

Could it be...

Had she overthought it before?

In fact, the Deep Sea Council never intended to brush them off from the start, and Richard was an experienced and conscientious diplomat?

Ave packed up the materials. As she stepped out of the council hall with full of doubts, she saw Catwoman Rebecca talking to Ethan.

Upon seeing Ave approaching, Rebecca nodded in greeting and walked away lightly, with none of the temper she had when she called Ave "little radish" yesterday.

This left Ave slightly bewildered, "What were you talking about?"

When things go too smoothly, it often leads to a feeling of unreality.

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