Dragon Genesis: I Can Create Dragons - Chapter 415: I advise you to stay silent.
Chapter 415: I advise you to stay silent.
“Report.”
An hour after the Public Punishment, a voice was heard in the Elders Hall, where the Matriarch, the Elders, Kael and Lavinia sat with solemn looks on their faces.
“Come in.”
Hearing the voice, Tarevian called in and very quickly, a young subordinate hurried in, his eyes instantly falling on everyone inside the hall.
The Hall was silent, it was almost suffocating.
The Matriarch sat at the head, her fur cloak draped loosely across her shoulders. Around her, the Elders sat stiff, their faces pale with fatigue. Dragon Rider Kael seemed distracted too, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed. Lady Lavinia sat beside him, her expression, similar to the Matriarch’s, was unreadable.
“What is it?”
Tarevian’s question brought the young subordinate out of his reverie. He flinched for a moment and—
“The last batch of provisioners has been assigned to the forge. Orders have been carried out. All one hundred are now dispersed to their new posts.”
He reported.
“Good.
You may leave.”
Morvain gave a single nod, excusing the man, something that he appreciated, and left quickly. He didn’t wish to bear the heavy atmosphere inside and hurried out.
“…”
“…”
The moment he rushed out, silence fell over the hall as everyone stared at each other, especially the Elders; they all stared at Kael.
After all, even though Kael and Morvain had a brief conversation before, the Elders still hadn’t forgotten what Kael said. Kael too couldn’t just forget about how cruel these people were, so he seemed a little wary as well.
With more time, the atmosphere in the room became tenser and tenser until finally—
“We have scarred their backs, sent them to break their bodies in the snow, and halved their food. They were a few of our most valuable men, each exceptional in what they did, but our actions might break them…
Are we… truly going to follow through with it?”
Tarevian questioned with an uncertain look on his face.
“We will not.”
And very quickly, Morvain shook her head.
“I promised to aid them if they cooperated, and they did.
They took the lashes in silence and apologized to the people; yes, they won’t be forgiven, but this is why I punished them to be away from people for three months.
These three months, in the eyes of the people, they will be serving their sentence, but we will make sure they are well fed.
They will still need to work much more than normal people, but I believe they will be able to survive three months.”
The Matriarch explained her plan.
“But keeping them away from their families for three months—won’t it cause… problems in the future…?”
Aelindra questioned; she was still worried that these people might go back on their word and reveal the truth.
“It is the Warden of Vigilance’s duty to prevent that from happening.”
Morvain answered and the Elders turned towards Kael, who stared back into their eyes in silence.
It seemed like there was a lot the Elders wanted to say, but in the end, they decided it was wiser to remain silent.
“We also need to ensure that people feel secure. The Velmourn unity cannot break down; we need to ease the doubts people have about the provisioners.”
Nymeris muttered, changing the topic.
“We have already made arrangements for that.”
Aelindra answered responsibly.
“From this day forth,
We will strengthen the watch on the ration stalls, replace the corrupt provisioners with younger hands.
We will show the people order has returned.”
Morvain nodded at those words; this was exactly what they wanted right now. The rest of the Elders, and even Kael and Lavinia, nodded.
“Then that is it.
There will be no further discussions on this matter.”
The Matriarch declared.
“We have a more pressing matter to deal with.”
Solemn looks appeared on the Elders’ faces when she said those words.
“The Emergency Rations.”
Aelindra commented out loud.
“That is correct.”
The Matriarch nodded with a solemn look on her face.
“With the provisioners caught, we no longer have a way to secure Emergency Rations, and while we have enough for the next three months, the winter has begun.
And this winter seems—”
The Matriarch then turned towards the window, staring at the falling snow that still hadn’t stopped and—
“—much harsher than last year’s.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the farm doesn’t produce any more food for a while.
If this continues, then without the Emergency Rations…
We might not survive.”
“…”
“…”
Once again, heavy silence fell over the place.
The Elders all stared at Kael with accusatory looks; they all blamed him for what happened.
Yes, they all understood that Kael only did this out of a sense of justice, for the betterment of the people; it was their fault that they didn’t tell him this beforehand.
They all understood that this wasn’t the time to blame him…
But…
They couldn’t help it.
They were frustrated.
Every single one of them had been thinking about this problem for hours now, but none of them managed to come up with anything.
They felt… helpless.
They felt like they were losing control over the situation and, at a desperate time like this…
Their minds, instead of trying to find a solution, started blaming Kael instead.
Kael, however, didn’t react to their gazes; he already had a conversation with Lavinia about this before, the two of them already expected something similar.
He just slowly glanced at Lavinia, who nodded lightly, and then—
“Leave the Emergency Rations to me.”
He spoke, looking directly at the Matriarch, ignoring all the Elders.
Morvain tilted her head, clearly taken aback, but the Elders weren’t as calm as her.
“Leave it to you? Do you even know what you are talking about, boy?”
Draksis spat in disdain and anger.
Kael, however, remained calm and—
“I do.”
He answered.
“You think you can be left with a matter as important as this? That too, after everything you did?
I am in awe of your bravery to even dare to say those words!”
The Leader of the Forge huffed, his voice full of complete dismissal.
Kael remained silent, not wanting to antagonize these people more than he already had, but then—
“I do not think you of all people should be using such words, Elder Draksis.”
Lavinia spoke up.
“What…?”
The Leader of the Forge narrowed his eyes and Lavinia just tilted her head—
“Kael cannot be left with a matter as responsible as this? Is that so? Then who, if not Kael, should be left in charge of this matter, eh?
You?
I apologize for saying this out loud, but I highly doubt choosing someone whose first thought was blaming someone instead of figuring out the solution to the problem is a wise choice.”
“This wouldn’t have happened if the two of you hadn’t overstepped your bounds!”
Draksis didn’t back down.
“We never overstepped our bounds, Elder Draksis.
We acted well within our powers.
A Warden of Vigilance has all the power to move the Watch and take action if he suspects crimes like corruption and thievery—unless, of course, you refuse to recognize the powers given to us by the Matriarch herself.”
Draksis’s body flinched at those words, his mouth began to twitch in anger, but he knew better than anyone that he couldn’t say anything here, else he would be going against the Matriarch herself.
“…the Warden of Vigilance doesn’t have any power to procure the Emergency Rations either.”
He spoke in a low voice.
“The last I checked, the Leader of the Forge shouldn’t have any authority over this matter either. Or is there a hidden connection between the Forge and Rations that I do not know about? Please enlighten me if that is the case.”
Lavinia smiled lightly, turning towards Nymeris, the High Chronicler.
“…even if the Leader of the Forge has no authority, he still has the right to give his opinion during the Council Meeting.”
The High Chronicler spoke in a low voice.
“Oh? And the Warden of Vigilance does not?”
The Mage tilted her head, curious.
“As the Matriarch said, the Warden of Vigilance holds all the power an Elder has; he too has the right to participate in the Council Meeting and give his input.”
“And does the Leader of the Forge have the power to belittle the Warden of Vigilance when he does it?”
Lavinia questioned with a smile and Nymeris…
She stared at Draksis and, in an extremely low voice,
“No.”
She shook her head.
With those words, Lavinia slowly turned towards Draksis again and—
“Now look at that~
It seems you overstepped your bounds there, Elder Draksis.”
She spoke with a friendly smile, soon, however, a cold, frosty look appeared on her face and then—
“I would appreciate it if that does not happen again, Elder.
Be mindful of your words the next time you speak, and if you cannot do that,
I advise you to stay silent.”
She spoke coldly; her words instantly made the entirety of the hall turn silent, even the Matriarch felt like she was losing control over the conversation—something she hadn’t experienced before ever since she became the Matriarch.
This…
The Matriarch narrowed her eyes as she realized something while staring at Lavinia—
Lavinia Dragonborn…
She…
She might be a more dangerous element than she initially expected.
Source: Webnovel.com, updated by novlove.com
