Chapter 230 – The Secret Meeting of the Greenvine Family

In the secret chamber of Lord Dolan’s castle in Greenvine City.

Under the dim candlelight, the plump face of Patriarch Dolan was shrouded in an lingering gloom. This clan leader, who usually appeared as an amiable and kind-hearted old man, now sat on a simple rattan chair with an aura of authority that commanded respect. There was not a trace of his usual meek and accommodating demeanor to be seen.

Standing behind Patriarch Dolan was the Green Vine Family’s only Formal-Level powerhouse—the old warrior Beigean. Seated around the circular table before him were a circle of elders dressed in dark attire.

Without exception, all the elders wore the Green Vine Family’s emblem neatly and properly, each badge polished to a spotless shine.

These individuals were the influential elders of the Green Vine Family, each possessing the authority to intervene in the family’s direction. Generally, these frail old men would only gather in the Green Vine Family’s secret chamber when the family faced an existential crisis.

The meeting chamber was now utterly silent, with only the faint, varying depths of everyone’s breathing audible. All were waiting for the person seated at the head of the table—the current Patriarch of the Green Vine Family, Dolan Greenvine—to speak. No one dared to speak out of turn at this moment, for they all knew what decisiveness lay hidden beneath that seemingly timid and compliant mask.

Dolan gravely scanned the assembled elders, then spoke in a hoarse voice:

“As the thirty-second Patriarch of the Green Vine Family, I now convene this secret family meeting under the witness of our ancestors. In this meeting, discussions are restricted to designated topics only, and all accountability will be postponed until after the crisis has concluded.”

Dolan’s tone brooked no doubt, and all the elders perked up upon hearing the word “crisis.”

Facing the elders’ puzzled gazes, Dolan let out a deep sigh and unfolded two pieces of parchment on the table:

“I received two pieces of bad news this afternoon… According to an urgent magical message from our family members in the royal city, the National Guardian Archmage of the Dillon Kingdom, Sangus, and the Archbishop of the Church of Dawn’s Dillon Kingdom branch, Kasparqi, have… perished together in fierce combat at the Dillon Kingdom’s royal capital, ‘Cliffhorn City’!”

“What… this… can this be true?”

“How is it possible? If they perished together, doesn’t that mean Kasparqi also died in Cliffhorn City?”

“It’s over, the Dillon Kingdom is finished… With a Master-Level archbishop dying here… the Church of Dawn will never let this rest…”

“What should we do? The Glory Army has been retreating steadily already…”

“Don’t panic! Princess Trelinka is now the only legitimate member of the royal family. If we announce our surrender, the Church of Dawn, being of the good alignment, must spare us!”

Upon hearing Dolan’s news, the quiet chamber immediately erupted into chaos. The elders began arguing over various solutions, with most leaning toward persuading Princess Trelinka to surrender to the Church of Dawn.

“Silence!!”

Seeing the situation descend into utter confusion, the worried Dolan shouted loudly, his hoarse voice at this moment emitting a force that made the candles flicker unsteadily.Hearing the clan leader’s loud shout, the elders suddenly remembered that Dolan had just mentioned the bad news wasn’t just one… but two.

At this thought, even the most loudmouthed elders looked with fearful expressions at the other parchment in Dolan’s hand. After all, Kasparqi and Archmage Sanggesi perishing together was already bad enough—what kind of news could possibly compare to such terrible tidings?

Under the gaze of more than a dozen astonished eyes, Dolan nearly trembled as he picked up the second parchment. He had to tell these elders—there was no worst news, only worse news:

“According to the scout team dispatched to track the Nightwalkers one day ago… they didn’t find any trace of the Nightwalkers, but instead discovered on the official road of Dillon Kingdom…”

Reading this far, Dolan’s usually firm and resonant voice involuntarily trembled.

“…discovered… the corpse of Kamos Kingdom’s envoy—Kulun!”

“……”

The conference room fell into a breathless silence…

Dolan slowly set down the parchment in his hand, shakily taking a small bottle of medicine from his pocket and drinking it to control his rapidly rising blood pressure.

After hearing this news, the elders fell silent one by one, with many of them also taking out potions to drink to prevent themselves from fainting.

This reaction from the Green Vine Family elders wasn’t exaggerated at all, because the second announcement from Dolan was truly horrifying—horrifying to the point of despair.

Everyone knew that ever since Princess Trelinka launched her uprising, Kamos Kingdom had wanted to take advantage of Dillon Kingdom’s internal turmoil to launch a large-scale invasion. However, they lacked legitimate cause—attacking without reason would earn them the label of “evil.”

Being branded as evil in the Faerûn Plane would draw attacks from the Benevolent God Church and righteous adventurers. It was precisely because Princess Trelinka recognized that Kamos Kingdom couldn’t act without justification that she launched her uprising despite Kamos’ threatening posture.

But now Kamos Kingdom’s special envoy had died on Dillon Kingdom’s soil, and within less than a day after meeting Princess Trelinka. Coincidentally, he had just angered Princess Trelinka before leaving, and theoretically, the only forces near Greenvine City capable of threatening an envoy escorted by a Formal-Level warrior were Greenvine City’s own Formal-Level experts. The wounds on Kulun’s body happened to be physically inflicted.

With so many “coincidences” pointing to Greenvine City and Princess Trelinka, Dillon Kingdom claimed Kulun was killed by a passing thug… Who would believe that! Not to mention divination spells—there were plenty of methods to interfere with divination magic, especially when Dillon Kingdom’s National Guardian Master-Level expert happened to be a spellcaster.

In summary, Kamos Kingdom was eager for war, their special envoy was likely assassinated by Dillon Kingdom, the killed envoy was a noble marquis heir, and now Kamos Kingdom could declare war on Dillon Kingdom under the pretext of “avenging trampled dignity.” Even the Church of Tyr wouldn’t intervene, and the Church of Dawn, which superficially claims “non-interference in internal affairs,” could only choose to observe.And Greenvine City is located on the border between the Dillon Kingdom and the Kamos Kingdom. With Princess Teleilinka still in this city, the raging flames of war are bound to scorch this city first. The Green Vine Family has absolutely no room to retreat.

If it were before the civil strife in the Dillon Kingdom, Greenvine City might have had the strength to fight with the support of the Kingdom. But now… the Kingdom, reduced to a puppet of the Church of Dawn, would be doing well enough not to send pursuers to add insult to injury. The battered Glory Army simply cannot withstand the main force of the Kamos Kingdom, which has been conserving its strength for a long time.

The elders in the secret chamber of the Green Vine Family are all political veterans. Within minutes, everyone understood the stakes involved. But precisely because they saw it clearly, everyone fell into an involuntary silence.

They… simply had no idea what to do, and could not figure out how to save the Green Vine Family from imminent collapse.

Many thanks to His Highness Neville for the 10,000 reward~ Much appreciated

(End of Chapter)