An eerie silence spread over all the members of the round table. These were all the high-ranking political figures in Ablauf; some were old, and some were younger, each carrying different expressions on their faces.
It was rare for them to gather in one place. Most of them harbored grudges against one another for various reasons, yet, thanks to the destruction of the largest prison in the world, they had to.
At that moment, countless otherworlders were flooding in Ablauf like a flock of flies attracted to feces. This was a problem, as many of them aimed to be adventurers, and the southern continent had already fallen into the hands of otherworlders.
Rebuilding the Galactic Prison would take over ten years, and the security measures needed improvement to prevent such an incident from happening again. Not to mention, finding the perfect Warden was going to be a challenge.
The military wanted to appoint one of their own, and so did the noble knights.
That being said, it was all about plotting for the future, and they all needed to deal with the current problem at hand: the bounties on the heads of the inmates who had escaped!
The only known survivor among the correction officers was Hein Malvado, who provided a detailed summary of the events without missing a beat, including the fact that he had used Meron and Star Kazuma, and that he had been fooled by Tito over and over again.
Normal people might want to preserve their pride by avoiding the fact that they had been beaten black and blue, but in Hein's eyes, what is pride in the face of revenge?
For the first time in his life, he admitted that someone was stronger than him in both brains and muscles. However, he was very confident that the next time would be different.
His red eyes scanned all the respected figures at the round table with a reluctant gaze before concluding his presentation with a shocking statement.
"The Great Stone liquid injection arrows that Doctor Sysrus created to stop ability users from using their powers in battle can also be used to harm an ability user if injected into someone. Tito Roux Z used this to defeat Warden Raiden, although he would have still won if he hadn't been injected by coincidence. My estimation is that it would take a few weeks for the injection to lose its effectiveness."
Everyone wore stunned expressions at the end of the Noble Knight's words. According to all of Doctor Syrus's research, it hadn't turned out like that, meaning that Tito had something significant within him, whether it was his bloodline or his planet of origin.
Words were exchanged among the gathered members. They knew that if Tito's information were released, many people would want to exploit him, and some of them were even sitting at this round table filled with more than thirty seats.
After about two hours of heated discussion, the round table finally reached an agreement to let the incoming invaders be, and to address the bounties on the people who had recently escaped from the Galactic Prison.
A round of applause was given as Archbishop Bellion, the only person who was both a noble knight and a military general, and also an otherworlder from Earth, stood to speak.
His face was filled with wrinkles like tree bark, and his skin resembled that of an American Indian with an olive hue. He had a hunched back, requiring a walking stick for support. Part of his gray hair was already missing due to old age.
"You fools! Why do you always want to make this old man do all the thinking while you keep your brains in your pants?" he spoke in a mocking tone, expressing great disappointment toward the people at the round table.
Yet, no one could respond to his words. Although he had a foul mouth, he was someone they all respected. It is rare to see a human live to the age of 121, and he possessed the appraisal ability that allowed him to see the details and value of everything he laid his eyes upon. The side effect was that he couldn't switch it off.
His dark eyes scanned the images of all the inmates who had escaped, displayed on a holographic screen floating above the round table.
"Hmm..." The archbishop stroked his chin. "Most of these fellows are worthless and would die from the illusions in Eldritch Mountain. I say they won't make it to the Supreme Road!"
Everyone was slightly stunned by this sudden loud exclamation, but no one took it to heart. They were already accustomed to his mood swings. They knew that trying to feed him mood controllers would be useless, as he would throw a fit like a baby.
Old man Bellion sighed and looked at the floating images again before stating the first bounty:
"Rajah: 1,000,000 callings. His ability with a gun is impressive, but he has a long way to go to become a great sharpshooter. The only valuable thing about him is his immortality. We need to capture him alive if we want to acquire that ability."
Many of the people nodded in agreement with this reasoning, but a few of them had eyes shining with greed. Harvesting Rajah's immortality for themselves was more than just a dream.
"Chen Fan: 1,500,000 callings..." A long list of names was announced, taking over an hour to go through the hit list, which had more than ten million callings.
"Layla Jett: 10,750,000 callings. Although she is young and untrained, she can already use one of the two battle opias."
Almost everyone's mouths dropped open. Battle opia was something that enhanced a person's strength and could damage a person with a zodiac ability. Such a thing wasn't even used in the southern continent; it was considered dangerous for military personnel there.
All this didn't matter to the archbishop; all he wanted now was to sit down; he had been standing for too long. "Bruno Furler: 12,000,000 callings, aka the Chameleon. His ability to turn into anyone is troublesome. He can disguise himself as anyone, even one of us."
The people began exchanging murmurs among themselves, shocked that the 9th strongest ability would reveal itself now of all times. According to legend, the user of that zodiac ability could even copy memories and abilities of others, and could turn into anything he imagined, even a dragon, using real-life animals.
"Encender Tohil: 12,000,000 callings! Just like her two siblings gathered here, and the other two in the Supreme Road, she can already use sensory opia to assist her splendid swordsmanship."
Everyone turned their eyes to look at the golden-eyed siblings sitting next to each other. They could only look down at the ground with sorrowful eyes, letting out a few tears. They didn't need anyone to tell them that their fifth sibling, Max, was long dead. All they could do at that moment was hide their tears behind fake smiles.
Archbishop Bellion took his seat; he was done discussing the bounties of the people who were going to cause an uproar in the southern continent in the coming days. However, someone known for his silence disturbed him with a shout.
"What about Tito Roux Z?!"
Everyone held their breath in shock as they looked over at Russ. He was someone who had always been indifferent to the bounties set on the criminals. It was unheard of to see him with such an inquisitive expression.
"He is right."
"I've also been waiting for that guy's bounty."
"He is the person who killed Raiden, after all."
On the holographic screen, only Tito's image remained, showing him with a small smile and closed eyes. The Tohil siblings were stunned to see someone who resembled Max in every feature.
Old Bellion was puzzled by the details of this young man and couldn't help but shout, "What the hell is this?!"