In a rather simple but luxurious conference room, eight individuals were seated at quite the large round table; these eight individuals were made up of three women and five men. All eight of these people bore solemn looks on their faces, not one of them, seemed to be enjoying their present situation. The look present on their faces isn't a surprising one considering the fact that these people are the ones who make up the great Council of Grayleon, a council who is now one member short of their previous nine. The missing member was assassinated in his own home within the capital city of Grayleon around two weeks ago. This event sent the entire country into an uproar, that still hasn't died down, after all, one of the individuals that made up the ruling body of the country was assassinated within the capital, and the one responsible has yet to be found.
This is the current situation that is facing the council as they sat silently in the conference room, it wasn't until a short but seemingly long length of two minutes passed before someone finally spoke.
"That ends the moment of silence for the deceased Ron Campbell, former head of the Campbell family and forever a member of the prestigious Council of Grayleon", solemnly said the council amanuensis, the only other individual present in the room apart from the council members and not seated at the round table, but at a small desk, where he was tasked with recording everything of importance said in the council meeting, an arduous but necessary task, especially since almost everything said by council members was considered important.
The man continued by saying the saying has now officially started, followed by him sitting down at his desk with a determined expression on his face as he prepared to write down almost everything he heard.
"Now that we've gotten that out the way, it's time to make a decision on what to do with Leonel, who is no longer in the capital by the way. All the groups that Ron had enmity with, have all been investigated thoroughly and we have determined that the chances of them being behind the murder of Ron to be extremely low. That leaves one option, Leonel Williams, we all know how he feels about all of us here, and especially how he felt about Ron. With the citizens constantly asking for answers and losing patience with each passing day, we need to quickly name someone publicly for them to direct their displeasure to. With no other avenue open, I say we name Leonel the murderer, bring him and his servants in for questioning, and eventually sentence them to death for the crime of killing a councilman of Grayleon. Let's hear your responses?"This was said by one of the more straightforward members of the council, Tasha Rhule.
Tasha, just like the rest of the council members, was the head of the Rhule family that descended from a group of survivors who helped create the first footholds for humanity following The Great Reset. A tall woman with fair white skin and long brown hair, she is someone who is widely known to be stern and direct in everything she did, taking no for an answer was not one of her strong suits, especially when it came to matters regarding the council.
"Can't the matter be investigated a bit more before we jump to rash conclusions?" Said Daryl Alan in an almost exasperated tone, his comment was then quickly followed up by another council member.
"I agree with Daryl. This is too serious to just blindly accuse someone of something when the real criminal who managed to sneak into a council member's home by the way! could still be out there!"Added Douglass Rennel in support of Daryl.
Two of the people who were probably the closest to each other were Daryl Alan and Douglass Renner. After spending almost their entire lives together, starting from their childhood till now, these two were usually always in agreement on any topic discussed within the council. With both of them having similarly composed yet sometimes emotional personalities, one would think they were brothers if not for the fact that Douglass was tall and black, while Daryl was short and white. It's no surprise that these two didn't necessarily get along well with Tasha, her displeasure was visibly noticeable.
"Aren't we all forgetting something? That boy doesn't have the ability to break into one of our mansions while incapacitating various guards. It's almost impossible for him to be the killer," said Ken McCallum, a tall blonde haired man who is also the youngest member of the council with him being only twenty-five years of age. He is widely recognized as a compassionate individual, which makes him the opposite of the man who grumbled back at him.
"Who cares if he's the killer or not? The brat can be a decent enough scapegoat" grumbled Edwin Romilly, one of the oldest and longest-tenured members of the council, with a head devoid of hair and a face that only knows the emotion of anger, this old man is as ruthless as they come.
Before Ken could form a retort, a sweet-sounding voice could be heard interjecting.
"Why fight it, Ken? Maybe he wasn't the one that killed Ron, but he could be behind it, right? Don't you agree Sebastian? Responding to Ken whilst bringing Sebastian Ness into the conversation was a woman who isn't that much older than Ken, Alicia McCreery. A woman with caramel-like skin and jet-black hair, she is probably the most well-known of all the council members, contrary to her looks though, Alicia is as merciless as they come.
"I agree, it doesn't matter if he is or isn't, as long as the people's rage can be pointed at something else, using him can give us time to find the real culprit if it's not him." Said almost lazily by Sebastian, a middle-aged man with long hair, who more times than not could be found sleeping.
After he spoke, it seemed like a dam kind of broke as everyone who remained silent before started going back and forth with each, stressing their points while trying to persuade their fellow council members. With Daryl, Ken, and Douglass going up against Tasha, Edwin, Alicia, and Sebastian, it was a constant back and forth for a few minutes until the eighth and final council member spoke.
"That's enough bickering"
The words weren't spoken very loud, nor were they spoken in a threatening way, and although all of the council members were on equal footing everyone quieted down and waited for further instructions, such is the respect that is shown to the oldest member of the council, Gena Hudson. A woman old enough to be the grandparent of many of her fellow council members, she looked every bit of her age, but she was just as wise as she appeared to be, if not more so.
"Majority has always been the deciding factor in all council meetings, meaning we already have our answer, grab the boy and his servants." She spoke with a certain finality in her words, as if any other option or opinion opposite to hers erased as she spoke, and just like that the meeting was over, and each council member paid their respects to the old woman before they left to begin giving the appropriate orders to apprehend Leonel and his servants.