Chapter 2821: The Prefect Replacement
Date: Unspecified
Time: Unspecified
Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Three Mischief Encampment, Limitless Celestial Blood Fate Rule Domain
"Something wrong with the plan?"
The Field Marshal frowned, catching the flicker of my microexpressions and realizing I wasnât sold on her idea. The Emissary of Light had clearly gotten under her skin. Enough that she wasnât fully thinking through the consequences. Then again, she was a Field Marshal. Sacrifice a few for the many. Endure today to win tomorrow. That was how she operated.
"No," I said, "but the plan needs some tuning. Instead of erasing the Emissary of Light from everyoneâs memories, we replace him with someone else. That way, hundreds of millions wonât be left with gaps they canât explain. Conversations that never happened. Relationships that donât make sense. Pieces of their lives... just missing."
"Wait, Sansa can do that?" the Field Marshal blurted, eyes widening.
When I nodded, she cursed under her breath. "That bitch."
"Language, young lady!" Corey chimed in with a wide grin. After being corrected by the Field Marshal more times than she could count, she seemed more than willing to risk her almond-shaped backside to return the favor. Even Lilâ Baem let out a quiet snicker.
Park was right, Lilâ Baem was growing. Now that she was back with her mother, she was acting more human than monster. I guess children grow into what their surroundings raise them to be. The changes in Lilâ Baem were hard to miss. It also reminded me that Corey might be a screw-up in many ways, but she was a good daughter, a good friend, and a good mother.
"Wyatt, are you sure your rehabilitation program is working?" the Field Marshal asked, ignoring Corey entirely. Her voice simmered with restrained anger, all of it directed at Sansa. She knew exactly what the latter was trying to do. Use her name to permanently tamper with the memories of hundreds of millions of people.
"Well, in her defense, you never asked. Sansa and the others in the rehabilitation program donât know how to be âgoodâ like us. Itâs already a win if they donât fall back on their old instincts. So if you ask something of them, be specific about what you want. They wonât just follow it, theyâll even try to improve on it based on what they think you mean."
I wasnât trying to excuse Sansaâs actions. I was advising them on how to deal with my calamity daughter cores and bloodkin going forward. After all, they would be working closely with them.
"Iâll keep that in mind next time," the Field Marshal said with a nod, forcing her anger down as she refocused on the matter at hand. "But who do we replace the Emissary of Light with in everyoneâs memory?"
It was a simple question on the surface. In reality, it was anything but. What I proposed was easier said than done. If the replacement didnât fit perfectly, if the story couldnât withstand scrutiny, then the very outcome I feared would still unfold. Even in this scenario.
Whoever replaced the Emissary of Light would need to carry both his merits and his sins without contradiction. More importantly, they couldnât have any significant presence during the period when he was active. After all, one person couldnât be in two places at once.
Yes, this world had incarnation runes, clone cards, and all sorts of tricks that blurred that rule. But people werenât fools. There was always that subtle feeling, that quiet dissonance at the back of the mind, where something didnât quite add up. And all it would take was a single thread to snap for the entire fabric to come apart.
"Me. Iâll do it. Iâve always wanted to be a leader with a legion of fanatical followers worshipping me. Especially after seeing how Park and Stuart are admired by their followers."
Corey hurried to volunteer herself as the replacement for the Emissary of Light in everyoneâs memories. She clearly had no grasp of what that actually meantâthe weight of it, the responsibility, the consequences. She was the living embodiment of the saying: ignorance is brave, and often happier for it.
"Corey, you werenât born when they Emissary of Light became a household name."
"Young lady, why do you try so hard to prove youâre a unthinking girl?"
"Heyâ"
"You can stop. We already know you are not the sharpest tool in the shed."
The Field Marshal didnât miss the chance to settle the score with Corey before turning her attention back to the problem. Replacing the Emissary of Light in the memories of hundreds of millions of devoted followers wasnât something you could improvise.
After running through every possible candidate and finding none that fit, she finally turned to her young lord. From the look on his face, she could tell he had already found the answerâand perhaps had already set things in motion.
"So, Wyatt," she asked, narrowing her eyes slightly, "who have you decided on?"
"Yes. Itâs someone we know and can trust. She swore loyalty to me recently. You might know her."
"Wait, let me guessâ"
"Saintess Catherine S. Margaret of the Church of Demigod Michael Angelo Godson."
Ignoring Corey, I revealed the person I had chosen to replace the Emissary of Light in the memories of his hundreds of millions of followers. As far as I could tell, there was no better candidate than Saintess Catherine.
She had credibility and the weight of faith behind her name. For the past millennium, she had remained hidden within the Church of Demigod Michael Angelo Godson, guarding his relics in silence. Very few even knew of her existence, aside from those who coveted the demigod Michael Angeloâs relics. That obscurity made her perfect.
She could step into the role without contradictions, without leaving cracks for doubt to seep through. And above all, she was my bloodkin.
Through her, I could take hold of the entire Empire. And from there, everything between Sky Blossom City and the common border shared by the Empire and the Southern region. Cutting a decent piece of the five regions on my very first step to world domination.
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