"Unfortunately, our meeting time is coming to an end. But possibly, tomorrow we will have new information and with it we will be able to enter the game for good. I just want to see their faces when we turn it around. Hahaha"
Babel has a whole plan for this trial, this is not a surprise to anyone in the know. They also know that only Babel will have the final decision on the sentence, after all, this trial is a theater and everything has already been decided. Or, at least, that's how Babel hopes it will happen.
Emmanuel knows how much pleasure it is to destroy other people's carefully laid plans. Every little unforeseen event becomes a catastrophe.
This is the main flaw of a complex plan. If something doesn't come out as intuitive and you don't have a countermeasure, all the effort put in will be wasted. A smile appears whenever Emmanuel thinks about how they can screw up Babel's plans.
But not all problems have been resolved. It all depends on how much they can find out, if they don't get relevant information they won't be able to go ahead with the plan.
And Daehyun knows that time will be of the essence. With less than 7 days to go, they need to make it before the trial enters the final stretch. So he began to speak in his methodical and restrained voice:
"We have a big problem of lack of time. Every day that passes without news will be a loss for us, we can't waste time investigating useless information. Therefore, our priority will be to study the collected information first and then we will decide which lead to follow."
Trying to get his point across, Daehyun warns everyone about the lack of time. But Helena, with a tone of doubt, also raises an interesting question:
"Shouldn't we have more than one route to follow?"
As if expecting this question, Daehyun goes back to defending his point of view. He answered the question in a lower and slightly dejected voice:
"Yes, I also thought about it at first and I also think it's a good idea, but I doubt we can invest time in several routes at the same time."
Everyone understood that they were seriously short of time. But even so, the question remains as to how much efficiency would be on just one route. This is an extremely foolish decision under normal circumstances, but due to lack of time and risks of exposure, no one has directly refuted his point of view.
"I think we have to wait until the first wave of information comes into our hands. It's hard to decide anything for now. What we have to do now is think and define how and who will seek the information for each of us."
Fianna decided to put the matter on hold for the time being. She also shifted everyone's focus to another need. They had to decide how they would carry out their tasks.
The first to expose his ideas was Annabel. She began to speak in a cheerful and slightly too loud voice:
"Okay, I'll check out how the grandads are behaving and what they've been up to back in Astanium. They love to wander around and pretend they don't care, but they're a bunch of gossips, surely they must know something. Hehehe."
Ending with a giggle, Annabel explained her plan of action. She should be able to get in direct contact with the Elders of Astanium as she has a good reputation among them.
After she finished, it was Daehyun's turn to talk about her plan of action. And he spoke confidently:
"I'm going to get in touch with my wives and trusted people to try to find out what movements are happening there in Bordium. I know that Lord Akachi was not happy to hear that Lord Apollo was imprisoned in the Abyss. I doubt that he has not. moved your pieces on this board. But we'll use this information in another way, I'd rather try to find something more relevant."
Since he already had a vague idea of where to look for information, Daehyun decided to contact several different people to investigate other points of interest.
As soon as Daehyun finished speaking, Celeste began to speak in her slow and sleepy voice:
"I'll try... talk to Queen Aurora... As Crown Princess of Svalbard... I have certain privileges... that might be useful in this situation... As Emmanuel said... Helena and I are the people... most likely to get... level 4 information in this room."
As he spoke, his voice became more and more sleepy. Fortunately, she wasn't sitting comfortably in the chair like last time and didn't fall asleep until she was done. Then everyone patiently waited until she finished speaking.
After Celeste explained her plan, it was Helena's turn. And she spoke in a hesitant and unconfident manner, as if she had doubts about the effectiveness of her plan's results:
"I'll also engage my friends and contacts at Babel Headquarters in Thanax. I have favors to call in and can afford to owe a few favors in order to get a level 4 intel. I'll also try to find out some N HQ -Force close to Redsnow so we can try to get more information."
From everything she said, she didn't convey confidence in her voice at all. In a way, it felt like she'd already tried to do that and had failed to get any results.
Daehyun and Fianna didn't like her lack of confidence. They furrowed their brows heavily, but didn't speak up. Emmanuel and Annabel pretended not to notice, but they didn't like it either.
Celeste was the only one who understood where the lack of confidence in Helena's voice came from. She and Helena tried to do the same thing before, which didn't work out and they tried it empty-handed. Only Helena has no other options but to try again.
The atmosphere was strange for a few moments, but soon Emmanuel decided to divert everyone's focus to the ongoing issue. In a more serious tone he said:
"I will also be contacting my friends and my wife in Sinnabur. I think Lady Klaus must be somewhere in Wallbur, she is very careless in her personal life so I believe it will be easy to find her. If we can manage it By discovering his whereabouts we might find some clue as to what Babel's next move is."
Everyone agreed with his statement about his former teacher. But they understood that this task will not be easy. Perhaps because of the difficulty of carrying out this task, Emmanuel decided to put all his resources into it.
It is a risky decision to try to track, find and monitor someone like Lady Ivana Klaus. But as the reward is high, it more than compensates for the risks.
After Emmanuel expounded his idea, it was Fianna's turn to expound his. And she began to speak in a worried but confident manner:
"As Crete is more concerned about the recent beast stampedes east of Thanax, it will be more difficult to reach my people there. But I believe my contacts further west will have news of the capital and recent movements behind the scenes. It's going to cost me a lot, but it's something I'll gladly pay for."
Finally, everyone disclosed their investigation plans. Some more confident than others in how to execute, but all had their basic plan.
Once everyone understood this, it was Fianna's turn to put an end to the discussion of the plan. But she also shifted everyone's focus to the other outstanding matter they still hadn't discussed.
"Okay, now we must decide what our verdict is on Pietro's change of crimes. I have to remind you that we are almost out of time so we cannot articulately discuss a denial of the request."
As soon as she brought up the subject, everyone started thinking about how to proceed. Changing the crimes in the complaint according to Pietro's proposal would be a significant loss in their morale. But given the evidence that Pietro has prepared and presented, it would be foolish to try to deny or refute it.
So, being pretty sure of how to proceed, Daehyun started talking about his suggestion:
"I think we should give in without putting too much effort into resisting the decision. Pietro has presented evidence and facts that we don't have time or enough evidence to dispute. Besides, if Lady Ivanov is handling the case, she won't want anything less than a perfect victory. We will make a fool of ourselves by trying to resist. Therefore, we must give up without much resistance so that today's trial ends as soon as possible."
Once Daehyun finished speaking, Emmanuel decided to present his opinion in a lively and confident voice:
"I agree with Daehyun, we have no way of refuting the evidence that Pietro has presented. Besides, the more time we save, the more time we have to put our plan into action. But I don't think we can appear resigned and calm to the people out there. the less suspicious they are, the less chance of discovering our true intentions. We should try to appear reluctant when announcing our decision."
As representatives of delegations from each of the 5 continents, they must appear willing to fight for their goals. And that's what they must show the rest of the people in the audience hall. Even if they know that the focus is not on winning the debate against Babel, they cannot let their intentions be seen.
The plan to collect information depends on exactly 2 factors: Time and secrecy. If they don't buy enough time for their contacts to collect information, the plan fails. And if somehow Babel becomes suspicious of his actions and finds out about his movements, the plan also fails.
It may seem simple to avoid failures, but it is much easier for the plan to fail than the opposite to happen. Therefore, they cannot leave loopholes in their actions, everyone in the room understood this point. But not everyone completely agreed with the suggestion made.