Chapter 2273: Much Better

The silence was palpable, no one knew what to say.

How correct were Leonel's words? 100%. How much did saying it aloud change? Practically next to nothing. In fact, they could take their chances by using the fact that Leonel had "exposed" them as a method he was trying to use to absolve himself and his father of wrongdoing.

But something about Leonel's smile made them feel uneasy, uncomfortable and shaken. And it only became worse when his smile vanished.

Tommie suddenly stepped forward and his glare looked down on them all. "Didn't you hear what Patriarch Morales said?-SCRAM!"

His words, as though they carried mysterious powers of their own, blew the envoys out of the large double doors. They rolled along the ground, their clothing being wrinkled and dust kicking up in their wakes.

Interesting enough, the smaller families were spared the same fate. However, they got the message well enough as they rushed out, not wanting to be implicated in the same way.

Micarth's expression was black as a pot as he rose to his feet as quickly as he could while pretending not to be in a sorry state, but even this wouldn't last for very long as he looked up into the skies.

Their ships. They were gone!

He wanted to roar out and demand an explanation, but he noticed that no matter how he strained his voice, no sound seemed to come out at all. It was as though the laws of the world were restricting him, suffocating his voice and muting him for all to see.

It was just them. The Sixth Dimensional families still had their warships very much intact and they rushed away.

Inwardly, they understood that this was Leonel giving them a chance to turn to his side, and they even had the "offerings" prepared for their youth, but now they didn't dare to complete the exchange. The implications were very much different now and soon they might be forced to pick a side... but they preferred to sit on the fence for as long as possible.

As for the loss of their youths... the honest truth was that if it gave their families a chance to survive this coming storm, the cost of a single genius or even many was a worthy price for these small families to pay.

That was the harsh reality. A single genius would have never changed their fates. Their best couldn't compare to the likes of Amery, or Simona, or Armand, or any number of the other members of the Cataclysm Zone. It wasn't worth it to risk the whole family for them...

At least not without the consent of their own upper echelon.

The Seventh Dimensional families that had come to pressure Leonel grit their teeth. They had been robbed in broad daylight and they couldn't even voice their complaints. They tried to send messages to their families, but they realized that even this was blocked. It seemed that without Morales territory, there would be absolutely nothing they could do.

They could only go the long way, leaving by foot and through air under their own power.

The laughter and jeers of the Morales citizens echoed through the skies as they rushed away. Their faces burned and their anger was palpable, but they didn't dare to attack. Even if they had the balls to, they felt like an all-seeing eye was bearing down on them from above, observing each and every one of their actions. And even if it wasn't there, what chance did the small handful of them stand against so many Morales? The elders wouldn't even have to take action, they would be drowned by Sixth Dimensional experts.

This seemed like a great victory, but after the doors of the Morales Palace closed, the elders seemed to boil over with all of the emotions that they had kept bottled up, the leader of which was Elder Aria. Leonel could already read her impression of him from a mile away, and right now she couldn't seem to control herself at all as she exploded.

"Patriarch! This was highly inappropriate! You've put the entire family on the brink of destruction!"

Tommie and Nora Morales, who had just been in exceptionally high spirits, looked around in confusion. Wasn't this a great thing? What was happening?

Elder Aria realized that there were still third parties here and that she had exploded too soon. She made a move to dismiss the two children, but before she could Leonel held up a hand. His smile had returned and she met her eyes.

"What would you suggest we do?"

Aria took a breath and regained her composure, her eyes becoming more piercing.

"They were just messengers. Since things have come this far, we'll catch them, detain them, accuse them of disrespecting the Morales family name and jail them. We'll send a message to their families and organizations, demanding compensation. This compensation will be less than what you asked for their geniuses.

"When they come forward with this compensation, we will return both their messenger and their genius as a sign of good will. To the public we will appear both strong and magnanimous, while politically, we will sow more relationships than enemies. It will fix all of this."

The elders fell into silence and Leonel even saw many of them visibly relax. This was an excellent plan, and a win in all directions. It was the kind of plan their Patriarch should have been the one to come up with, but there was a reason they were a council. Their Patriarchs were often young and needed guidance, their help would fix everything.

Even Leonel's brows rose up, and in the end, he happily laughed and even clapped.

"That is very much not the response I expected," Leonel said cheerily. "I thought that your solution would be to have me step down and give the excuse of grieving to deal with this situation, but I must admit that I was wrong. I apologize, Elder Aria."

Elder Aria snorted. What a joke. Even if she wanted to do that, it would make the Morales look weak to have their Patriarch step down due to the pressure of other families. She would never allow that.

"However, I still like my plan better."