Chapter 2426: Fighting with what you have

Sector 500—Dream Galaxy

KnockKnock

"Hmm?" Morval raised his head toward the door the moment he heard the knocking and briefly checked who was standing behind it. A trace of surprise appeared on his face when he recognized the visitor, prompting him to set down whatever he had been holding on the cloud table positioned directly in front of him before leaning his back comfortably against his seat once again. "Come in."

Humm

In the very next moment, the door opened smoothly and a girl stepped through it... or, more accurately, something that could only approximately be described as a girl.

She was undeniably beautiful, with exactly half of her hair pale with a big red bow, and she wore a short skirt together with a tight-fitting shirt... but as she continued walking forward, her entire figure repeatedly flickered and wavered in a strange manner, making her look far more like a moving image being projected before him than an actual, tangible person standing there in reality.

"What happened, Temari? Did Lord Robin contact you about something new?" Morval asked in order to begin the conversation naturally, although he already knew perfectly well before even asking that nothing of that sort had actually happened.

In this era, Lord Robin merely entering the Soul Society would be enough by itself to immediately draw Morval’s utmost attention and make him aware of the matter... and Lord Robin hadn’t entered the Soul Society even once for decades!

"There’s one thing I want to understand." Temari quickly moved forward without wasting any time until she sat down tensely in front of Morval, her posture making her agitation obvious even before she spoke. "Who exactly are we siding with?!"

"..." Morval’s eyebrows immediately drew together as a hint of genuine anger appeared across his expression. "Your question is both provocative and demeaning to us. Since when has the Soul Society ever needed to side with anyone in the first place? We are who we are."

"That’s exactly the problem!!" Temari immediately raised her voice in response, clearly unwilling to accept that answer. "The new universe is taking shape rapidly right before our eyes, so why aren’t we changing with it and keeping pace with what’s happening?"

Then she raised a hand and pointed somewhere into the distance as she continued, "The war that’s about to break out in Mid Sector 89 very soon will change everything. That’s where Lord Robin will indirectly fight against three Cosmic Pillars at the same time." Then she turned her attention back toward Morval and stared directly into his eyes. "But at least the hostility over there exists openly, the confrontation has already been brought into the light, and the different sides are clearly defined. Those three don’t want Lord Robin to advance any farther than he already has, and more importantly than anything else, Lord Robin himself knows this."

"Do you want us to join them?" Morval asked with a slight smile on his face, even though he already knew exactly what her answer would be before the words had left his mouth.

"Aren’t you doing exactly that right now?!" Temari raised her voice slightly as she immediately challenged his question. "I actually admired the way you handled this matter before. You remained at a safe distance from everything, simply watching developments and sending envoys to attend Lord Robin’s major celebrations whenever the situation required it. That was the logical choice and the sensible way to think about our position, because he’s unquestionably our most important client and we have absolutely no reason whatsoever to antagonize him. Even though he hasn’t been giving us any new projects lately, the profits we earn merely from transferring his money to his followers through the Soul Society are enough by themselves to bring us enormous sums!"

"Then what’s your problem, Temari?" Morval furrowed his brows slightly as he listened to her argument, apparently seeing nothing in what she had said that contradicted his current approach. "We’re still maintaining our policy of neutrality toward everyone."

"What about the deals involving imaging devices, sensing devices, surveillance equipment, and concealment technology that we’re directly selling to people right now?!" Temari finally stopped circling around the issue and went directly to the heart of the matter that had brought her here.

"What about them?" Morval laughed lightly at the accusation. "Has selling imaging devices suddenly become an act of hostility toward someone now?" Then he casually waved one hand, dismissing the implication behind her words. "I refuse to allow anyone to impose guardianship over what we choose to do."

"Big Brother, what exactly is wrong with you?!" Temari raised her voice slightly again, her frustration becoming increasingly difficult to conceal. "If the surveillance and constant harassment Lord Robin is being subjected to on Donara, at his current residence, eventually reaches a level he can no longer tolerate, do you seriously believe he’ll simply ignore the fact that we’re selling equipment specifically suited for those purposes at precisely this time? And if he eventually turns against us because of it, are you planning to stand in front of him and tell him that you refuse to accept anyone’s guardianship over what we do, and then expect him to simply reply, ’All right, you have a point’?!"

Then Temari raised her voice even further as she brought up the most outrageous example she had seen. "One of the leaked recordings actually managed to capture Lord Robin inside his own Glass House while he was writing something!!"

"Didn’t we prevent that particular recording from spreading?" Morval waved his hand again, refusing to treat that incident as proof that they had crossed the boundary she was describing. "I know perfectly well where the line separating hostility from ordinary business lies, Temari. Don’t bother me with matters like this."

Morval’s expression at that moment was genuinely irritated, and unlike his earlier casual reactions, there was no mistaking the annoyance that had settled across his face...

Temari’s words were striking directly at something that Morval himself thought about practically every single day, touching upon the very issue occupying his mind, but despite that, she was still looking at the entire matter from only one perspective and therefore couldn’t see everything that he himself had to consider.

No one other than the current Director of the Soul Society knew about the existence of the Giver, the matter concerning the Transcendents, the truth about the Seer, and the reality behind all those other difficult matters connected to them...

He knew why the other powers had begun surrounding Robin Burton and placing him under increasing pressure... because two Unbound had appeared.

And that was entirely expected, something Morval could understand perfectly well, and from the perspective of the greater game being played across the universe, those powers had every right to act as they were acting. As long as the Seer had already begun creating Unbound and placing such pieces upon the board, then he naturally had to accept the consequences of playing the game openly rather than expecting everyone else to remain silent and simply watch.

Morval himself should logically be joining those powers and helping them restrain the Candidate, restraining Robin Burton along with the two Unbound currently working on his behalf, because if Robin were simply left alone to continue advancing without sufficient opposition, then once those two Unbound fully matured, he would eventually gain control over the entire universe. And if things truly reached that point, what exactly was Morval supposed to do afterward?

His Lady, the Giver, didn’t want a direct confrontation with the other side. What she wanted instead was interference, delays, and distant manipulation, constantly disrupting matters from afar without personally stepping into an open conflict, which was precisely why she didn’t want Morval himself to intervene directly. But if he obediently remained silent and simply waited until Robin Burton eventually took control of the universe, then what was he supposed to do at that point? The Giver would undoubtedly abandon him once matters reached such a stage, so was he then expected to simply hand everything over to Robin Burton and willingly become one of his subordinates?!

Or perhaps the Giver herself would personally destroy everything that belonged to her before leaving, ensuring that none of it could ever fall into the Seer’s hands?

No matter which possibility Morval considered and no matter how he looked at the situation... some form of disaster was inevitably waiting for him at the end.

What awaited him, if matters continued in that direction without him doing anything to influence them, was either subordination or death.

Therefore, from his perspective, it was entirely logical that he should do something capable of helping bring Robin Burton down, or at the very least something that could slow down his relentless advance and prevent him from reaching his goal too quickly... while simultaneously making sure that whatever he did wouldn’t anger the Giver or earn him direct and unmistakable hostility from Robin Burton himself.

...And when he considered all those requirements together, what better method could there possibly be to accomplish exactly that than quietly contributing to the ongoing war of rumors simply by selling a few devices to those who wanted them?

After all, who could possibly blame the Soul Society for doing something like that? Their business had been based upon buying and selling since time immemorial, long before any of these current conflicts had begun.

"When Lord Robin is finally pushed all the way to the edge and can no longer tolerate what’s happening, he won’t be able to find any more excuses to stop himself from attacking us!" Temari shouted, refusing to let the matter end with Morval’s dismissive attitude. "Can’t you see that? Preparations for the war in Mid Sector 89 are still continuing even with all the different parties already involved in that conflict, so what exactly would the problem be for them if we suddenly became regarded as just one additional enemy among all the others? Why are we deliberately putting ourselves in such a dangerous position in the first place? For what?!"

"You wouldn’t understand..." Morval merely waved his hand at her, showing no intention of explaining the complicated considerations occupying his mind.

KnockKnock

At that exact moment, before their argument could continue any further, a voice suddenly came from outside the room. "Big Brother, there’s something urgent that requires your personal approval."

"Is there anything left that isn’t urgent these days?!" Morval raised his voice in obvious irritation at yet another interruption demanding his immediate attention. "Come in!!"

Following his shout, the door opened and a mature woman entered the room. She cast a quick but noticeably sharp glance in Temari’s direction upon seeing her there, then approached Morval and handed him a luminous disc. "Please review this footage. Full-scale promotion for it has already been paid for."

Morval nearly shouted at her to simply have someone else examine the clip instead, since in his mind it was most likely nothing more than another recording similar to the countless recordings he had been forced to deal with practically every day lately, but one particular phrase in what she had just said immediately caught his attention and stopped the words before they left his mouth, causing him instead to mutter in a much lower voice, "...Full-scale promotion paid in advance?"

The price required to purchase something of that scale wasn’t an amount that ordinary spies or observers could possibly afford to pay casually, and even Behemoths themselves would have to think twice before deciding to spend such an enormous amount!

Morval then reached out, took the luminous disc, and began carefully examining the footage contained within it... but almost immediately after seeing what had been recorded, his eyebrows slowly began rising while several small drops of sweat gradually appeared across his forehead. "Oh... This will undoubtedly change quite a few things."

"Let me see that!" Temari immediately extended her spiritual sense toward the disc with great speed and began examining the footage herself, unwilling to wait for Morval to explain what he had seen, but the instant she understood what the recording contained, her face rapidly turned pale and she shouted, "You cannot allow this to be published under any circumstances!!"

"..." Morval remained silent as he continued staring at the luminous disc in his hand for several long moments, then slowly shifted his gaze toward Temari...

Then, after that brief silence and with a noticeable trace of hesitation still present in his movements, he extended his hand and returned the luminous disc to the mature woman. "Publish it."