Chapter 90 Blackout Annual Meeting

After five minutes of walking, Reina and her bodyguards are out of the market area.

There, her personal carriage is waiting for her. A combination of a white-painted body with a gold-plated frame couldn't escape the eyes of people walking back and forth in the market area. The coat of arms affixed to the carriage door gives away its owner's identity.

Soon, a prominent figure well-known to everyone in Thyrate approaches the carriage. A beautiful and breathtaking Princess of Barlia. Nobody is reckless enough to rush toward her with so many bodyguards guarding her.

Everyone ended up swallowing their excitement. They stood silently, carving this rare moment into their brain.

It will without a doubt become a talk among the commoner later that night and in days to come.

Reina pays no attention to them. She has spent more time in the market than she initially planned to.

"Let's return," Reina gave a simple order to her coachman.

The coachman nods and four white horses start pulling the carriage.

Five minutes is all it takes for her to arrive at the palace. Officially, the name of the palace is Blueriver Palace.

Upon arriving, she walked straight to her son's bedroom. Although her son was born out of love, she doesn't hate his existence despite the uncanny resemblance her son has with Baldwin. Perhaps, her motherly instinct simply kicked off.

On her way, Reina notices the palace today has more people lingering around than usual which makes a displease look appear on her face.

'These people must be here for a meeting.' She thought.

Bad memories keep surfacing in her mind about a vicious organisation lurking around in the shadows.

To the common people of the continent, they're completely ignorant of its existence.

To the lower-rank noble, only rumours reach them.

To the ruler of the nation, its existence sends chills down their spine.

The meeting she is referring to is the Blackout Annual Meeting.

Since Baldwin comes to power, he organizes it every year to keep everyone up to date with the latest development on Jozia. It is his way to ensure everyone is moving as one unit.

Today is the day for the most powerful information organisation in Jozia to hold its annual meeting.

Reina proceeds with her original purposes. This meeting has nothing to do with her.

....

West Hall Area, Blueriver Palace.

The west garden of the palace is particularly noisy today. Tens of people are chattering and catching up with each other while enjoying their meals. Maids go into the garden bringing food and drinks then out of the garden with empty trays.

As far as the maids' are concerned, these people are not nobles yet they exert an aura of authority around them. The maids dare not to cause any transgression to these people. Prince Baldwin personally orders the kitchen to prepare food for these people.

This means they are Prince Baldwin's guests. And his guests are by no means ordinary.

Harford Harper's arrival to the west garden stops these people from chattering. Instead, everyone put down their tableware and turned around in his direction.

Maids quickly fled the garden as they see the atmosphere getting tenser.

His authoritative voice broke the silence there, "Enter the meeting room in ten minutes. Don't make the prince wait."

''''Yes, sir!!'''' They simultaneously replied. Then, the people there gobble up the remaining food on their plates. Taking this once-a-year chance to savour the taste of palace food.

"Sigh, this will be a very long meeting." said one of them.

"Judging by the fact we were invited into the meeting room earlier than the previous year, it must be true."

An empty meeting hall with U-shape desks gradually filled with people. Their eyes darted around looking for their seats which had been determined based on their rank. The higher the rank, the closer their seating to the [Root].

The ranking system for Blackout starts from [Leaf], [Twig], [Branch], [Trunk] and finally [Root]

[Leaf] is an agent who infiltrates various places.

[Twig] is an agent who leads a group of agents, usually five to six agents in a certain community.

[Branch] is a head agent in a certain region. Aside from monitoring the several [Twig] under them, they are responsible for passing the information from one region to another.

[Trunk] is a head agent in a country. Their number can be more than one depending on the size of the country they're assigned to. They communicate directly with the headquarters.

[Root] is a higher-up at Thyrate. There are only 3 [Root] as for now; Prince Baldwin, Mark Donald and Harford Harper.

Blackout agents can raise their rank up to the level of [Trunk] by providing the organisation with information, stealing technology, conducting assassinations and completing miscellaneous mission issues by Blackout. All the jobs they've done will be converted to points, which can then be used to apply for the rank-up exam.

For this annual meeting, only [Branch], [Trunk] and [Root] are allowed to attend. A total of 58 people excluding the [Root].

- 6 [Branch] and 1 [Trunk] from Bagyarosia

- 2 [Branch] and 1 [Trunk] from Ryntum

- 4 [Branch] and 1 [Trunk] from Cerdeauxia

- 4 [Branch] and 1 [Trunk] from Turtevekesia

- 6 [Branch] and 2 [Trunk] from Inver

- 9 [Branch] and 2 [Trunk] from Ingnynes

- 7 [Branch] and 3 [Trunk] from Inverloch

- 7 [Branch] and 2 [Trunk] from Blandge

"Welcome back to Barlia, everyone. I hope all of you are doing well in the past year." Prince Baldwin greets them.

A man named Aldo Willis stood up and gave an energetic reply, "Thank you, Your Highness. Congratulations on getting a son. The future of Barlia is secure now."

"Yawn...Sit down, Aldo. You're too tense." the woman in her mid-twenties lazily said to him.

Her name is Eunice Sofia, West Trunk of Ingnynes.

"Hahaha...Thank you for your kind words, South Trunk of Inverloch. Now, without further ado, let us begin the meeting. Harford..."

Harford stood up, "Ladies and gentlemen, today's meeting consists of many topics we need to urgently discuss. To start with, a new kingdom has emerged in the mid-mainland of Jozia called the Kingdom of Ryntum. It is established by Rizieri Ryntum, the younger brother of our princess. They have a total population of 250,000 people. Nothing impressive about it. But, their military strength is outstanding. Our [Leaf] and [Twig] reported the sightings of a unique weapon."

"Do we get a hold of it, Irene?" asked Eunice.

"Only one. The [Leaf] in Bideford successfully obtained it. Fortunately, he manages to send it to me before meeting his demise at the hand of SIN." Irene Julianos, the Trunk of Bagyarosia replies.

She snapped her fingers to her subordinate, Branch of Vofors, Jack Cooper to bring her the matchlock arquebus.

The people in the meeting rooms had their eyes brightened with curiosity. Jack begins to explain to them its usage, range, advantage and disadvantage. The prospect of this new weapon is promising for their soldiers.

"Can we manufacture it on our own?" asked Prince Baldwin who has been silent all this time.

Irene gives further explanation to the prince. "We are capable of producing the weapon but the powder is still a mystery to us. Our agent in Bideford has been completely eradicated by SIN, Ryntum's newly established intelligence network."

"Blackout agent also has met them in Vofors. One of our [Twig] there has been eliminated," added Jack.

"Sounds like they're quite capable of fighting us," Aldo commented.

"Not really. But, they know what they're doing. Not to mention their government plaza is an impenetrable fortress. Countless of our [Leaf] died trying to break into it. Should we dispatch another group of agents to their capital? " asked Irene.

She considered Bideford like a treasure trove of information. Having no agent at Bideford means that she could only obtain current information from secondary sources.

Prince Baldwin doesn't agree with Irene's suggestion. "Let's not send any agent there. Our focus should be Bagyarosia which is in turmoil right now."