Before Lucas could repeat himself or explain any further, Supre Elder Elizabeth Carlson regained control of her emotions, a testant to her years of self-discipline and experience, and asked while wiping the tea from her hands, "From the fact that you’re both sitting here so calmly before , I take it you sohow managed to escape this beast, yes?"
"No," Lucas shook his head gloomily.
Seeing this look, several possibilities flashed across the old woman’s mind, most of which she imdiately dismissed, eventually narrowing it down to one, "It retreated on its own after... satisfying itself?"
To Elizabeth’s surprise, however, Lucas again shook his head and replied, "I’m afraid the situation is even worse than you imagine, Senior Carlson."
"Worse than a Mid-Rank Seventh Order Beast appearing?" Supre Elder Carlson’s frown deepened as she leaned forward slightly in her chair.
Instead of answering the question directly, Lucas turned to Allina and nodded, prompting her to take out a familiar looking wooden case.
Upon seeing and feeling what was inside this case, Elizabeth Carlson’s expression turned incredibly grave.
After stowing away the fresh Seventh Order Beast Core, silence fell over the dining room for a ti as Lucas and Allina gave their conversation partner a mont to digest this new reality.
The visage of the slightly aloof yet polite noblewoman was now gone, replaced with the face of a warrior and leader faced with a terrible decision.
It wasn’t until about a minute later that Elizabeth lifted her head again, staring straight into Lucas’ eyes as she asked, "How extensive is the evacuation going to be, and what do you require of my Carlson Family?"
Was she curious about how the Seventh Order Beast perished?
Absolutely.
Did she wonder how much damage had been caused in the south by this beast and whatever killed it?
Undoubtedly.
But did any of that matter right now?
No.
Which is why the Supre Elder didn’t bother inquiring about any of that.
There would be ti for her to satisfy her curiosity later; right now, what mattered most was protecting the interests of her Family and the Rockwell Kingdom as a whole.
Elizabeth Carlson had reached the peak her family’s Stormcaller Art Cultivation Technique could bring her to many years ago. Since reaching that peak, she had tried many different thods to continue strengthening herself, but the bottleneck had proven to be too much, leading to her cultivation stagnating.
The old woman had long ago concluded she would never break through to the Adept Realm, which frustrated her greatly, but so things in life couldn’t be changed.
With enough ti, resources, and effort, was it still possible for her to push herself forward and take that last step? Possibly, but the investnt would severely deplete the Carlson Family’s coffers and only improve Elizabeth’s chances by 10% or 20%.
In other words, it wasn’t worth it.
Having reluctantly co to accept her fate, the only thing that mattered to Elizabeth now was the continued existence and prosperity of her descendants, so now that an existential threat had presented itself, she decisively made the decision do whatever was necessary to confront it.
Ordinarily, such a decision would have to be made by her grandson, the current Count, and the Family’s Elder Council, but when it ca to matters where the very future of the Family was at stake, Elizabeth, as the only Supre Elder, still had the authority to make unilateral decisions if she deed there to be no other path to survival.
Needless to say, this crisis counted.
On the other side of the table, both Lucas and Allina were more than happy to be dealing with soone who understood the gravity of the situation and could make appropriate decisions in a tily manner. Thus, the two of them began laying out the evacuation plan in its entirety.
.....
Roughly an hour after they had landed in Iron Rock, Lucas and Allina were finally ushered into the local Count’s office where they were greeted by Mathias Carlson.
"Forgive for keeping you waiting," Count Carlson offered an apology as he motioned for the pair to sit before turning to his grandmother and bowing, "Thank you for attending to our guests in my absence, Supre Elder."
In response, Elizabeth only ordered firmly, "Sit down, Mathias."
Count Carlson, who had just recently broken through to the Mid-Rank Spirit Initiate Realm, was completely taken aback by his grandmother’s harsh tone and firm command.
This was, without a doubt, the first ti he had ever seen the Supre Elder acting so forcefully towards him, even going so far as to ignore protocol and embarrass him, the current Patriarch of the Carlson Family, in front of outsiders.
There were only 2 possibly reasons for this. Either he had done sothing that crossed so red line for her, or the situation was so dire that she didn’t have ti to waste on formalities.
Given the ongoing crisis, Mathias heavily leaned towards the latter possibility.
Thinking so, he set aside any questions he had and sat, a serious expression filling his face.
Once everyone was seated, Elizabeth Carlson began with what was essentially an edict, "I have heard what Marquess Balfour’s special envoy has to say, and judged that the only course of action for the Carlson Family is to fully cooperate."
Staring into her grandson’s eyes, the Supre Elder declared in a tone that brokered no argunt, "Support the Marquess’ representatives and their efforts. Is that clear?"
Under the intimidating glare of his elder, Mathias unconsciously gulped, suddenly feeling like he was a child again being scolded for skipping out of his lessons to play hooky in the city. It was a feeling he had not experienced in over 100 years and one that made him extrely uncomfortable.
Had it been anyone else, under any other circumstances, Mathias would have imdiately rebuked the other party, if for no other reason than to maintain his authority.
This wasn’t just a matter of pride, it was about the majesty of his title. If others were free to disrespect him in his own house, how could a Count like Mathias ever hope to retain the respect of the Carlson Family and his subordinates?
However, facing the Supre Elder, who had been largely responsible for raising him after his parents perished in the last major war between the Rockwell and Darr Kingdoms, and had many tis whipped his backside when he misbehaved, the normally stalwart Count simply couldn’t bring himself to argue back.
Lucas and Allina were also a bit surprised by how this ’eting’ was proceeding.
During their discussion with Supre Elder Carlson earlier, she had promised to assist them in securing her grandson’s cooperation, but nothing about their interactions so far even hinted that she might act so overbearingly.
Just as Lucas was wondering what was going on and how he should react, he caught a subtle wink from the old woman sitting across from him and suddenly, everything made sense.
Thinking fast, Lucas seized the opening Elizabeth had provided him to appear both deferential yet firm, "Count Carlson, we are not here to take over your city, or tell you how to handle your family’s internal affairs, but we will require your cooperation in order to preserve the lives of everyone currently being threatened by the ongoing crisis."
"Huh?" Count Carlson unconsciously gawked, his eyes darting back and forth between Allina and Lucas, taking a mont to realize that the ’special envoy’ his grandmother was referring to was not the Peak-Rank Spirit Initiate, but the young boy sitting beside her.
However, Mathias Carlson didn’t let his initial confusion persist for long, quickly schooling his expression as he replied, "Ahem, pardon my surprise, Young Master..."
"Lucas. Just Lucas," the young boy answered.
"I see," Mathias, now fully composed once more, first offered his gratitude, "Thank you for your consideration, Young Master Lucas."
"Not at all, Lord Count," Lucas waved the platitudes off, "We are guests in your house, so it is only natural we show you an appropriate amount of respect."
Nodding in approval, Mathias leaned forward onto his desk and interlaced his fingers as he returned to the subject at hand, "Since the Supre Elder has already pledged our support, I, as the current Patriarch, will not raise any objections. However, I will need you to answer a few of my questions so I have a better idea of what will be required of my Carlson Family in the coming days."
"Fair enough," Lucas nodded before proceeding to explain the evacuation plan to the Count.
When Mathias Carlson heard that his County would need to host nearly 200,000 refugees temporarily, and perhaps as many of 50,000 permanently, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets while his blood pressure spiked.
This was far beyond what he had been anticipating and would surely cost an enormous fortune, especially considering that he was also being asked to give up all his family’s territory west of the Belton River.
One had to know that at least a third of Iron Rock was also on the western shores of the river, aning the living space inside the city was about to be reduced by over 30%.
To make matters worse, while most of the Carlson County’s industries were focused on the eastern side of the Belton, including all of their mining operations and most of their smithies, the western territories were where they grew almost all of their crops.
The Carlson County had never been completely self-sufficient when it ca to food, instead using the money they earned from selling talwork to import large quantities of grain from the neighbouring territories, but their western farms had still been able to produce roughly 60% of their basic needs.
Suddenly cutting off these farms would lead to a flood of refugees, a dramatic decrease in tax revenue, and a looming food crisis.
Just imagining the impact this proposed evacuation plan would have on his family’s vault made Mathias want to faint.
His first thought, after Lucas was finished speaking, was to reject the entire enterprise outright, but with Elizabeth still glaring at him, Mathias knew that even that option had been cut off.
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