5 Falling, and the Impact

"It's been five years already!"

He banged his fist on the table. Despite the weight of the impact, he would never have enough strength to break it. Kasiel was only in charge of overseeing the management of human labor, after all, and wasn't physically involved at all. Across from him were the seven other members of the board, and while they were supposed to be United in the name of keeping Genkai functional, recent events had created rifts between them.

"Now now, Kasiel. This is a sensitive subject, of which the wrong approach could bring the wrath of the goddess upon us."

Spoke Archbishop Revin. In charge of the church and management of religious matters, he could be considered one of the most valuable men in this room. Even the strongest of men had a belief, so many were under Revin's rule. Even without considering his following, his magical abilities were unrivaled in many places. His main weakness, though, was listening to the very words he spoke.

"For one who never fails to bring the divine into every matter, it is a bit strange how often you seem to be noticed in whore houses."

Huffed a masked woman. Her name was Cevelle. While publicly, she was named the one that oversaw the imports and exports between other continents, really she was the one who fed drugs and women into the hidden parts of the region. Known as the leader of Black Ibis, whatever religion couldn't control, she did.

"Shut up, already! Have you really become corrupt enough, to where you rather argue about meaningless matters like this?! Those kids, do you understand what they must be going through?! To have seen their parents... to still see their parents, suffering as they are now?!"

A young voice stuck out from the chatter, breathing heavily. With a heart as golden as her hair, and the money that lined her pockets, Evigt was a rare sight. From her age to her ideals, she stuck out like a thumb when compared to the rest of the oligarchs. While many would like nothing more than to hold her in a powerless position, her skills with management gave her the job of overseeing the treasury. In truth, she had bought this position, aiming to root out the corruption in the board.

"... you old rotten men and women, thinking of them as nothing more than numbers in your favor...!"

"Evigt Valial Von Ciadil, you speak out of turn! With how much riches you own, it seems you lack a silver tongue."

Clucked a bird-looking man, a loose slab of flesh hanging from his neck giving him a similarity to a turkey.

"No! It's been too long! I agree with Kaisel and Evigt, we need to decide!"

Voices rose, each trying to chip in with an opinion, an opposition, or an agreement.

The matter that caused such chaos? Well, there were three matters, to be exact. Beginning five years ago, when every citizen older than twenty vanished from Sunshade, and then reappeared two weeks later. The first matter was how to deal with the reappeared citizens, who, while having fatal injuries, still lived. The second, was that the forest surrounding sunshade, which provided valuable lumber and hunting grounds, was dying without available reason. The third, and the most concerning, was that every citizen that survived, had identical reports on the cause. A girl with pure white hair, a half-rotted face, a having an iris akin to the darkest night, and an eye that didn't belong.

In other words, a girl with an identical description to the Rotted Queen, albeit younger, had caused injuries similar to the ones described in legend.

Multiple issues came with these matters. Firstly, if it was ethical to keep alive the victims of her attack. Their injuries were severe enough to the point where they couldn't be completely healed, and the mental scars were even worse. Secondly, if the public should be alerted to the possibility that the cause was a monster from fairy tales. There was a high possibility such news would cause a panic. And third, if the identity of this girl was even the same as the Rotted Queen at all. If she was truly five hundred years old, then why would she have aged backward? Shouldn't she be all but a skeleton by this time? The number of trusted reports on what could be the cause of her immortality can be counted on a single hand, and even that is generous. Due to poor maintenance of old writings, only word of mouth was available.

It wasn't a good situation.

"Did either of the Shin or Akarui monarchs reply to our request of assistance?"

Brought up Kasiel. As far as this problem had progressed, they had only recently decided to ask for help. But there was a reason they didn't ask earlier.

"... no, of course not. Pardon my language, but those two old fucks only care about fighting each other. The only reason they even talk to us is if they need funding!"

"What about the kingdoms from outside Diotla?"

"They didn't even reply yet. As they are unfamiliar with the issue, I doubt they can understand the severity of our problem . I'd bet they would pay more attention if we placed an embargo, but that would harm us as well."

Kasiel flopped back into his seat, and buried his face into his hands. This was a constant headache. A headache that lasted five years.

".... Cevelle. Do you have any skilled warriors under your name now? How about Revin? It might be best to only tell those you trust most about this."

"We already agreed to not alert anyone outside of this room, didn't we?"

Cevelle tilted her head.

"But yes, I did recently acquire a few good items that could be of use."

"Well, yes we did say that, but..."

Revin sighed. It HAD been five years.

"At this point, we might have to risk a panic."

"I'm sure if we press the fact that it could cause such problems, and give a hefty sum for their silence, I believe this should be the approach taken. At this point, it couldn't be any more of a loss than what we risk keeping it to ourselves."

Spoke Evigt.

"... so, is it agreed? From each side, we will choose a trusted group to investigate the matter?"

"... yes. We have no other choice, we exhausted every option excepting this at this point."

"Understood. In a month's time, we will begin."