117 As easy as taking candy from a child

"Heh-heh... Ha-ha-ha! Well, that was impressive. Yes, very surprising... Quite beyond my expectations. Young Enfield really is something."

Mediath's uncontrolled laughter reverberated throughout his office as he offered her unfeigned applause.

In front of him was an air window showing the live broadcast of Tamazuki's interview, where Tamazuki told everyone that he was going to give the right to ask a wish to Claudia, yet, unexpectedly, Claudia asked something outrageous, so outrageous that Mediath wanted to laugh happily.

"It looks like getting rid of the broadcast delay was the right decision after all."

In the past, live broadcasts of the Festa and related events have been subject to delays to give the tournament administrator enough time to prevent unacceptable content from reaching the public. The fans, however, had been vehemently opposed to this arrangement from the very beginning, abolishing the practice and becoming one of Mediath's first acts as Executive Committee chairman.

"...what's the meaning of this, Mediath?" A disinterested voice asked from the corner of the room.

The figure of the young woman, all but dissolving into the wall like a shadow and sporting a mechanical necklace-like object wrapped around her throat.

"Why does she want to see Ladislav?"

"Oh? Are you worried about your dear father?"

From how Mediath talked to this woman, the identity of this woman didn't seem like a normal human; instead, she might be something else entirely.

"...he might have created me, but we don't have that kind of relationship."

"It was a joke. But as for why young Enfield wants to meet the professor, even I don't... Hmm"

At that moment, his mobile began to ring.

As he opened the air -the window, the face of a fuming, redheaded young man appeared in front of him.

"What's the meaning of this, Madiath?!"

Madiath couldn't help but grin at the words, exactly the same as the woman beside him. "I am afraid I am just as shocked as you are. Why don't you try asking her directly? I'd like to know myself."

"Don't play dumb with me! If you know something, spit it out!"

Dirk didn't change his expression even though he had a relationship with Tamazuki. For him, his relationship with Tamazuki was a secret, and even if Madiath might be his accomplice, there were many things that they hid from each other. More importantly, he didn't want Madiath to know about Tamazuki.

Still, even so, Dirk asked Madiath this question to this person as he knew how much hatred Madiath felt toward IEFs.

"Believe me, I have no idea what she's trying to achieve," Madiath answered honestly. "All I know is that she's been looking into the professor for some time now, which seems to have upset Galaxy quite a bit."

Dirk glared back at him as if he found that difficult to believe.

The two didn't end their conversation and kept talking to each other as the woman stood near Madiath, listening to their conversation.

The three of them were members of a certain organization.

The Golden Bough Alliance.

This was the name of their organization.

As for their purpose? Was it important? After all, the protagonist, without a doubt, would try his best to stop this evil organization.

Meanwhile, similarly, while members of the Golden Bought Alliance talked about the aftereffects of Claudia's stunt, Galaxy, the IEF, which would be affected the most by Claudia's stunt, quickly held a meeting among the higher executive.

Among those executives, one person had a similar feature to Claudia but was a little older. Her graceful blonde hair, tied up in a bun, and her well-tailored black suit both served to emphasize her rare beauty and all of it completely belied her true age.

Yes, she was Claudia's mother.

Iseballa Enflied.

Even if the meeting was talking about the future of her daughter, Isabella's expression was calm, as if the thought of losing her daughter was something that could be faced calmly.

Along with her, all the executives of the Galaxy gathered in the special conference room at Galaxy's headquarters, which was completely devoid of ostentation.

It was filled only with a long table, surrounded by a neat row of chairs on either side. Anyone entering it for the first time would no doubt be struck by how utterly uninspiring it was.

In this room, anything that did not exist to benefit the Galaxy was unnecessary.

That rule applies equally to both objects and people.

All the people presented emanated the same machinelike iciness as they talked about Claudia's stunt, as without a doubt, her action would cause a lot of disadvantages to the Galaxy.

"This meeting concerns how to deal with Seidoukan Academy's student council president, Claudia Enfield," Isabella said plainly and dispassionately. "Please give us all your unsevered opinions." It was her own daughter whom she was talking about, but there wasn't so much as a shred of emotion in her voice.

Nor did any of the other executives mention that fact. That was to be expected. No one clinging to selfish desires, such as content for one's family, would have been able to react to their kind of position within the integrated enterprise foundations.

Yet, this wasn't surprising as every executive of IEFs would be adjusted, and their personalities would almost be erased as they could serve the IEFs wholeheartedly.

"We have already received requests from EP, Solange, and Frauenlob to come to a fair decision under the pretext of the Festa. W&W and Jie Long seem prepared to do the same."

"What a nuisance."

"This will make any open method of dealing with her difficult."

"But we cannot let her be."

"There is no guarantee that Inugamigyoubu Tamazuki will win. Perhaps we should continue to monitor the situation?"

"Did you forget how powerful he was when he wielded Ser-Veresta? This Festa is as good as his."

"..."

Everyone had seen how powerful Tamazuki was, and this was also what made them a little helpless since this guy's mind couldn't be predicted as he could give the reward of the Festa so easily to Claudia.

"Then, we should make our preparations."

All of them agreed.

"Given that it relates to Festa, we should use Madiath Mesa. If we were to give him a valid reason to disqualify Inugamigyoubu..."

"No, he can't be trusted."

"Moreover, there will be a backlash if we are seen to have had a hand in it."

The executives, in turn, raised their voices. There was no interruption, and yet, no sooner had one person finished peaking than the next would begin without pause. Each had been stripped of personality to the extent that it was impossible to tell who had said what.

There was no need to distinguish between them here. They never exchanged opinions, only logical evaluations of information and possibilities.

One could even say that the huge corporate entity that was Galaxy was engaging in dialogue with itself.

"What if we disposed of Bartosik?"

"That would violate the agreement with Varda-Vaos."

"Is there any need to honor it?"

"We will lose everything if its existence leaks out. Therefore, it would be unwise to antagonize it."

"What is its present status?"

"According to the report from Yabuki's group, it seems to have been identified in Rikka at the beginning of spring..."

"It will be quicker to deal with Claudia Enflied directly than to try to do something with Bartosik."

"What if we used Yabuki's group?"

"Agree, but we should add more insurance."

As they continued to talk, they had made up their minds, and it was to eliminate Claudia Enfield.

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