novelhk Chapter 182 Interlude: The Snow Guard Council
Chapter 182 Interlude: The Snow Guard Council
Beatrice remains unchanged throughout the year, a landscape of pure white.
But there's always a unique way of recording time in China—a new year is just around the corner.
For most people in Beatrice, whether a new year has arrived is of no importance. Their daily lives remain unchanged, and the unchanging stability is as uninteresting as a vast expanse of white scenery.
Those of lowly status will always remain lowly.
A person of high status will always be noble.
Life, as it is called, is rarely anything particularly eventful.
But for any Snow Guard in power, this year is a special one. Every ten years, barring any unforeseen circumstances, all Snow Guards, except for those of the first rank (甲字), must report to each other in the Royal Palace Council.
In short, it's a meeting.
Year-end summary meeting.
But most of the time, the so-called meetings are just formalities. All policies and guidelines are already determined in advance. In Beatrice, a special country, if a special matter requires a long meeting to decide, then the country is not far from its demise.
However, tradition is tradition. Even though most people actually felt that the meeting was meaningless, it was still a rare occasion when all the Snow Guards were gathered together. On ordinary days, nobody knows where everyone is.
"You guys are so slow."
As Anna pushed Angela's wheelchair into the conference room, she heard this lukewarm, sarcastic remark.
Anna, who usually preferred to remain silent, naturally chose to ignore this sarcasm.
Besides, with her teacher around, she can just let the teacher retort to whatever she says.
“[Frostflower] Alexia, you still look so young and energetic.” Angela nodded and smiled. “But I think we shouldn’t be the last ones to arrive.”
Six people dressed in silver-white attire were already seated.
The arrival of Angela and Anna means that one more Snow Guard is still needed.
Everyone had already assumed that the [Snow Woman], who was at the top-tier level, wouldn't be attending the meeting. That had always been the case.
“It’s going too far to compare yourself to Silberlein. You live right next to the conference room… and she has to come all this way for this boring party,” Alexia said.
The missing one is [Frostfang], a T-rank officer, and Silberlin, Beatrice's chief military and political officer. It was indeed a difficult task to ask her to come all the way from the front lines—after all, she had to plan many things on the front lines before she could return.
The two's conversation didn't cause any particular stir, as everyone had always known that the two weren't exactly compatible.
To be honest, apart from Anna and Angela getting along well because of their master-disciple relationship, the Snow Guards don't have particularly good relationships with each other.
All relationships, at best, stop at cooperation.
This is also a means of balancing power within the kingdom. No one wants the power of a Snow Guard to go unchecked; the struggle for power and profit is the eternal theme among everyone.
The only male present, Snowguard Slater, was engrossed in adjusting some magical reagent in his seat.
A blue-haired woman with dark circles under her eyes was sleeping on the table, drooling. Her pointed ears were twitching, indicating that she was not in a deep sleep.
Alexia gracefully enjoyed the tea she had brought—the fact that tea could be grown in the snow was enough to demonstrate her skill in the field of life magic.
Angela wasn't very familiar with the remaining three; they probably hadn't even exchanged more than a few words.
Snow protectors are not permanent; under a bottom-ranking elimination mechanism, older snow protectors are replaced by newer ones. This happens frequently.
These three are all new snow guards in the last ten years.
The remaining seven people Angela knew were all Snow Guards ten years ago.
Angela sat down on the empty chair next to the sleeping girl and closed her eyes to rest, patiently waiting for Silberlein's arrival—if she really couldn't come, she would definitely have let her know in advance, so now she just had to wait.
"Little Angela is here." Seemingly sensing that someone had come to the seat next to her, the blue-haired girl, who had been sleeping, immediately woke up and subconsciously stretched.
“I’m actually not that young.” Angela didn’t seem happy with the way she was addressed.
But she didn't want to explain herself. "Is it my fault that my body isn't developing properly due to genetics?"
The blue-haired girl remained noncommittal, then closed her eyes as Angela did: "I've prepared what you need~ When do you plan to pick it up?"
“I thought that with your procrastination problem, it would take several months, so I always told you in advance that it’s not time yet and there’s no rush to pick it up,” Angela replied.
Others may be unfamiliar with this perpetually sleepy girl, but Angela certainly knows that she is the most senior member of the Snow Guard besides those of the A-rank.
After all, she lived a long time...
Countless generations have passed away.
Audrey, a Snow Guard of Rank E [Funeral Song], with the witch title of Traveling Witch.
Her real name is very, very long, so this is just a human name she gave herself for convenience. She is a true elf... perhaps she has lived for thousands of years, and she herself can't remember how old she is.
The reason she didn't become one of the top four Snow Guards was simply because she didn't really want to work...
However, due to her unfathomable strength and seniority, her status as a Snow Guard is irreplaceable.
"Well—well—you know, elves never really have a sense of time. They might sleep for a while and you'll be buried." Audrey didn't seem to mind Angela teasing her at all.
At that moment, the door to the conference room opened.
Needless to say, at this time, the only ones who would come in were the belated Silberg.
She was covered in snow and sat down in her place without regard for etiquette, not even removing her helmet. Her military uniform and sword made one wonder if she was a witch.
All the Snow Guards are witches, except for the one male one.
“Everyone’s here. Let’s begin the meeting.” Angela, as the nominal head of Beatrice, spoke first.
Angela hadn't finished speaking.
“Lady Fool, I’d like to ask how your so-called plan is progressing,” Alexia asked first.
Before the meeting starts, it doesn't matter what you call her; you can even call Angela an idiot and it won't matter. But during the meeting, everyone will tacitly respect each other.
Apart from Audrey, who seemed indifferent to everything, all the Snow Guards present focused their attention on Angela.
“Good question. I don’t know either…” Angela shrugged, her eyes full of innocence.
"I don't know... Hehe, is there anything in this world that you, Miss Fool, don't know?" Alexia smiled. "I wonder if my good-for-nothing can meet your expectations?"
“There is no omniscient and omnipotent God in this world. There are too many things I don’t know,” Angela explained. “But I can say that everything is going in the direction I imagine.”
"Lady Frostfang, how is the front line?" Angela asked after a pause, directly ignoring Alexia's question and steer the meeting towards another topic.
"Not ideal." A cold voice came from inside the helmet. "Within a century, this balance may be broken. If I die unexpectedly, I hope the next heir won't die too soon."
That's a really bad thing.