Chapter 28 Intelligence Exchange
After several people received the task of collecting Russell's diary, the gray fog space suddenly fell into an eerie silence.
It was the talkative Hanged Man who broke the atmosphere.
"It seems like there's nothing else to talk about. Why don't we just communicate with each other and chat about what's happening around us? Maybe something that's unimportant to us will be an important clue to others."
Good suggestion!
Angel gave the Hanged Man a thumbs up in her heart, as she had the same intention.
Ever since she "crossed over" to this world, she'd been constantly searching for a way back. Previously, due to the threat from Madam Sharon and her unfamiliarity with the place, she'd been forced to passively respond to various events. But since joining the Nighthawks, Angel has been exposed to a variety of extraordinary events and mystical knowledge.
If we could share information and exchange intelligence at the Tarot Club, we might be able to obtain information from another source outside of the Nighthawks' official channels. We could even conduct an "online transaction" that outsiders couldn't track, just like the Hanged Man and Justice traded potion formulas!
"I think this should be a regular item at every gathering we have." Miss Justice, who is curious about the world of mysticism, agreed.
“Okay.” Even the Fool nodded slightly in agreement.
"Then let me start." The Hanged Man, who proposed the idea, thought for a moment and then said slowly, "The great pirate who calls himself Admiral Ludwell has recently begun his voyage to explore the eastern end of the Sonia Sea."
Who is that?
Angel was bewildered. She knew that the archipelagos off the coast of the Kingdom of Loen were teeming with pirates, their black sails stretching from Pritz Harbor all the way to the northern coast of the Balam Empire. They raided ports, cut off shipping routes, committed plunder, and murdered, inflicting heavy losses on passing merchant ships and even overwhelming the fleets of various nations. But when it came to any specific pirates, she was completely clueless.
"Ludwell, one of the Seven Pirate Generals? The owner of the Black Tulip?"
Miss Justice seemed to have heard something and asked back.
"That's right."
The Hanged Man nodded.
…
No one else picked up the conversation, and it seemed to be stuck there. Just as the situation became awkward again, The Fool stroked the edge of the bronze table and whispered casually:
"From what I understand, the Secret Order has lost a notebook belonging to the Antigonus family."
What is that?
The information exchange was far from what Angel had imagined. He felt sweat on his forehead. After all, Cole Granger was just an Extraordinary who came from a self-taught background. Angel, who inherited his memory, knew little more about the Extraordinary world than an ordinary person. If his knowledge of potions was not counted, he was even worse than Miss Justice, who could exchange a few words with the Hanged Man.
The Hanged Man sitting across from her seemed to laugh, then said, "I'm really curious about the reaction of the Church of the Evernight Goddess after hearing this news."
The Church of the Goddess of Night!
Angel finally heard a familiar word and immediately asked, "Why do you say that? Should the Church of the Evernight Goddess have any special reaction?"
"Because this family was destroyed by the Church of the Evernight Goddess. As to whether it was at the end of the Fourth Epoch or the beginning of the current era, I'm not sure."
The Hanged Man's answer left others with endless imagination.
It's the year 1349 of the Fifth Era, the end of the Fourth Era, over a thousand years ago. An ancient family exterminated a thousand years ago is also connected to the Church of the Evernight Goddess. It seems I should pay attention to matters related to this family... No, this is a secret order, and an ancient family that was destroyed. If I'm not aware of it, I should stay away from it...
Angel analyzed the information he had received, and seeing that no one else responded, he said:
"Then it's my turn," she said, choosing her words carefully, striving to share information with others without exposing herself. "The Witch Cult in the Loen Kingdom has been very active recently. A Sequence 6 Beyonder attacked the Church of the Evernight Goddess's Tingen headquarters."
"Oh my God, Sequence 6! Is there anyone who can stop him?" Miss Justice asked anxiously.
Although the Hanged Man didn't say anything, it was obvious that his attention was also focused on Angel.
Seeing that he had successfully mobilized everyone's emotions, Angel became proud - finally, there is something you don't know.
"Of course he failed. I heard that this Beyonder was besieged by several Nighthawks and couldn't even escape."
"Praise the goddess!"
Miss Justice sighed softly, but perhaps realizing that this would expose her own beliefs, she immediately changed the subject: "Witch Cult? What is that?"
"It's a secret organization that believes in the original witch. According to common sense, it should be classified as a cult."
Angel answered briefly. It was not that she did not want to say more, but that this was only part of her memory. Although she knew that Madam Sharon belonged to the Witch Cult, and that the Witch Cult was one of the cults in official records, her deeper understanding was limited to their belief - the Original Witch.
As for the sect's personnel composition, its purpose, or even its active areas, she knew nothing about it.
"I heard that the top leaders of this sect are all women. As for the reason, many people suspect it is related to the original witch they believe in." The Hanged Man added slowly.
I can explain this, because once you drink a Sequence 7 potion, you can't even be a woman...
Angel resisted the urge to say these words, but still looked down at her body - she, or rather Cole Granger who drank the potion herself, was also one of the victims of the potion.
"Finally it's me."
Seeing that everyone else had already shared their information, Miss Justice also spoke up.
"Ever since the Kingdom's defeat in the war on the east coast of Balam, the King, Prime Minister, and all officials have felt immense pressure and an urgent desire for change. They believe the current government structure is too chaotic and inefficient. Every time there's an election and a change of party, a new wave of leadership is replaced from top to bottom, making things chaotic and extremely inefficient. This not only contributed to the Kingdom's defeat in the war, but also caused great inconvenience to the people."
She paused and continued.
"Unfortunately, they haven't found a good way to replace this system yet."
After listening to Zhengyi's narration, Angel quickly grasped the core of the problem. She wasn't familiar with the political structure of the Kingdom of Loen, but comparing it to Earth's history, it was clear that the chaotic political situation stemmed from the lack of a stable group of officials.
“So why not keep the normal staff when the party changes?”
Angel tried to steer the question in a more specific direction.
"But this is the predetermined benefit of the winning faction. Every change of factions is a process of redistributing the pie," Miss Justice retorted. "Any proposal that changes this will never pass."
"Wouldn't it be enough to retain the administrative officials? Political officials can be allocated within the party, allowing administrative officials who need more work experience and stability to remain neutral."
"Political officer... administrative officer..."
Zhengyi's eyes lit up, as if he had found the crux of the matter.
Angel also gradually used his memory of the modern administrative system to organize his language, and his speech became more and more fluent.
"Civil servants, such as ministers and mayors, are responsible for government affairs, and these positions are the fruit of the winning party's cake. Their positions do not involve specific affairs, and frequent changes will not affect the daily work of the government. However, various more specific and complex positions, from senior cabinet secretaries to county government clerks, can be selected from the public through examinations that select the most suitable elites, just like college entrance exams. Once they pass the examinations, they can serve in the position for a long time, regardless of party changes."
"This kind of exam can be held regularly to slowly fill administrative positions within the kingdom, and then increased according to plan based on the kingdom's expansion and vacancies. Once a stable team of officials is formed, these outstanding individuals from the masses will enable the kingdom to maintain basic and relatively effective operations, regardless of which party is elected or who the political officials above them are."
Of course, there will certainly be various difficulties in the specific implementation, such as the fairness of the exam, the bureaucratic style caused by job stability, the gradual redundancy and the government employees who are difficult to get rid of, etc. But what does this have to do with a few people who talk about it on paper?
Is it true that anyone here in the Tarot Club can influence the upper echelons of the kingdom and create a civil service system for this world?
Looking at Miss Justice who was lost in thought, Angel thought secretly.
Perhaps only the mysterious Mr. Fool possesses such energy, but he doesn't look like someone who would be disturbed by mundane matters.
The diary of Emperor Roselle, the feud between the Goddess of Night and the ancient family, these are the things that the big men should care about. He doesn't even bother to answer such simple questions!
————————
Oh no, I was a step slow in organizing my words, and I didn’t expect someone else to get there first.
Klein the Fool, sitting upright in a high-backed chair, was stunned as he stared at Angel, the Queen, who had answered Miss Justice's question before him.
He believed that his long experience in surfing the Internet and speaking at length could help him answer this question more completely, and that he could even keenly point out the many loopholes in the Queen's answer just now. But would it be a loss of his status as a "fool" to interrupt now?
He pursed his lips and remained silent.
————————
"It sounds like a simple but very effective solution!"
Miss Justice chewed over Angel's words carefully, her eyes gradually lighting up. Based on the elite education she received and the political science knowledge she learned from her father and brothers, she could realize the superiority of this method with just a little analysis.
"Thank you, Miss Queen. Your advice has been of great help to me."
Of course, this is the essence of the British Empire's hundreds of years of political experience, which was learned from the thousands of years of civil service system inherited by that Eastern country...
Angel felt that the gap caused by his limited knowledge of the occult had finally recovered a lot.
But why was Miss Justice so happy, even as joyful as when she'd received the "audience" potion? Judging by her conversation and lively personality, she was probably around 18, right around college age. Could this be an assignment from her professor?
Angel was thinking when he heard the Fool's deep voice.
"Let's end today's party here."
Angel hurriedly stood up, and Justice and the Hanged Man followed suit.
The three of them answered in unison: "Your will is followed."
The next moment, Angel's eyes lit up, and he returned from the huge palace shrouded in gray fog to the sunny study.
She clenched her right hand, and the pen she had secretly held just now disappeared.
"It's still so magical... I can't even bring anything out. Could it be that that space is actually..."
Angel frowned, thinking back to the details of the Tarot meeting just now.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com