The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess

Chapter 324: Chapter 322: How Has This Empire Not Collapsed?

After returning from the slums, it was already close to noon. Hilia grabbed lunch outside before heading back to the inn.

As soon as she entered, she saw Nikodemos walking in from outside with a dark, gloomy face.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Nikodemos," Hilia greeted him.

Nikodemos looked up at her and nodded. "Good afternoon, Hilia. Don’t run around these next couple of days. Go to the park behind the inn later—I have some things to explain to everyone."

Hilia was taken aback for a moment, then nodded obediently, "Alright, Mr. Nikodemos."

She hadn’t been back in her room long before a group message from Nikodemos showed up on her wristband.

"Important notice: All tournament participants, gather at the park plaza behind the inn. No matter where you are, you must arrive within 30 minutes. If there are special circumstances, contact me with an explanation."

There was only Benovia in the room at this time. She received the notification as well, looked up at Hilia, and laughed, "Seems like something big just happened."

Hilia nodded. "Probably has to do with what happened yesterday."

"It must be. Shall we go?"

"Let’s."

The two got up, tidied themselves up a bit, and headed to the park together.

There were already a few classmates there, though most hadn’t arrived yet—most of them would probably show up right at the deadline.

So the two of them managed to snag a bench and sat down to wait.

Soon after, Doris, Phil, and Encore arrived as well.

"Do you guys know what happened?" Encore asked.

Benovia replied with a smile, "It might be an announcement related to yesterday’s match, but since all participants have been called, it’s probably more serious than that."

Doris frowned. "If all participants have been gathered, did they find out something?"

"Could be."

"..."

After a bit of small talk, Nikodemos and the other accompanying instructors appeared at the edge of the small park.

His voice, amplified with magic power, reached everyone: "I called you all here because there is a very serious security threat to the tournament. The Northern Alliance is unable to resolve this issue. We can only rely on ourselves."

"As for this security threat, I’m sure you all know—it’s the two incidents that have seriously affected the tournament recently: the ’Temporary Member Schedulement Mix-up’ and the ’Mass Zoning Out by Solo Competitors.’ The difference between the two is, the first incident didn’t affect us; the second, the Northern Alliance was the one unaffected."

"After two days of investigation, the league committee and the Northern Alliance managed to... find nothing. What a shame. They’re just that useless."

Everyone could tell Nikodemos’ voice was tinged with anger: "Even now, they’re still just going through the motions, waiting for signatures!"

"And, upon realizing the situation, the league committee decided to continue the tournament tomorrow. If something else happens, then we’ll deal with it then. This utterly irresponsible move has triggered protests from all the delegations. But they’re worried that continual delays would bring worldwide ridicule, so tomorrow they’ll just pretend everything’s been resolved. When, in reality, they haven’t fixed anything at all."

"Therefore, we have to rely on ourselves from now on. After discussion with the instructors, during the next rounds, everyone must follow these rules to avoid getting caught up in that unknown danger."

"First, every time you go out, you must give notice—state your reason and destination."

"Second, don’t venture far from the inn; don’t leave the central district; come back before 8 p.m. every night."

"Third, between 8 and 9 p.m. every night, the instructors and I will conduct checks on all of you to ensure you aren’t carrying any curses or unknown potions."

"Fourth, when heading to the competition venue, do so one hour early. If you don’t check in with me an hour ahead, I’ll personally go check on you. If you delay check-in for no reason, we’ll have a talk."

"Fifth..."

Nikodemos went on to list ten rules, all intended to deal with this unknown threat.

After reading them out, he said, "You must remember these. The instructors will send you a copy soon. Don’t take this lightly. Though the Northern Alliance hasn’t found anything, I have a hunch this is tied to some sect, possibly more than one. You’re from Divine Magic Academy, already prime targets for sects. If it’s not necessary, don’t leave the inn outside matches."

When he finished, he looked at all the participants and continued, "Any questions, or if you know something, say it. If it’s inconvenient, find me afterwards. From today on, I’ll be in the inn at all times to prevent something like this from happening again."

He paused, looking at the students chatting among themselves.

After a bit, Pascal stepped forward. "Mr. Nikodemos, what about yesterday’s match? Are we redoing it?"

Nikodemos replied coolly, "Yes, we’re redoing it. But the Northern Alliance participants will have their wins counted."

Everyone looked at each other. Pascal said indignantly, "That’s just bullying!"

Nikodemos shook his head, "It’s just one more win; it barely matters. If they want it, let them have it. If you don’t make it to the Top 32 in solo matches, you’ll only get the 10 silver coins consolation prize anyway. No difference."

"And what if something like this happens again?" Pascal pressed.

"We’ll judge by total wins, nothing else. That’s why I just went through all those rules and precautions—to prevent this. Understood?"

Pascal nodded and stepped back.

"Could it be there’s a sect pulling strings behind the Northern Alliance, which is why they haven’t figured out anything?" someone asked.

Nikodemos replied flatly, "Who knows. But the Northern Alliance has always been like this: every copper coin they spend needs piles of signatures. For investigations, every location needs sign-off, all must be reviewed by higher-ups."

The group exchanged glances again.

"Aren’t delegations allowed to investigate on their own?" someone else asked.

"Travel mages from other countries, if they’re Tier Four or above, have to check in daily with the Northern Alliance, get a Star Badge, and private investigations require a formal order. Do you really think a delegation can get that order?"

Everyone fell silent.

That order—maybe it’s possible, but you’d need signatures at every level.

By then, the food would be cold and the flowers wilted.

When there’s no trouble, you don’t notice; but when something happens, only then do you realize after all these years, the Northern Alliance’s system has just gone backwards.

No wonder they’re so arrogant and brazen—no fear at all of being caught while attacking tournament participants.

Turns out, they’d already figured it out.

The useless Northern Alliance—there’s no way they’ll ever catch them.

Everyone had the same thought—

How has such an overcomplicated, bloated bureaucracy not made the Northern Alliance collapse?