Chapter 26: The VIPs

"Reed, I'm confident she will succeed. Don't worry!" 

Elara seemed very confident and didn't care much about the doubts, just casually waving her hand.

"You're right! I've seen that self-created magic before. If used properly, it can be very useful against magical creatures, especially high-level ones. And for a newborn angel to use magic like that, it shows the requirements are low and it can be equipped to the whole army."

The other 10-winged angel sitting on the right also held a positive view, but I think if she knew the conditions to learn this magic, she definitely wouldn't say that.

"I believe you all must be wondering who these few sitting here are?"

After all the dishes were served, Elara suddenly said to me and Cyra. Then she pointed to the right and to the angel who was unhappy earlier. 

"Before the banquet starts, let me introduce you, this is Councillor Yvonne from the Angel Council, and also one of the three angel elders..."

"...Nice to meet you!" 

Suddenly, Cyra stood up and pulled me along too. I had no choice but to bow slightly to her and politely greet her.

In contrast, the other party just sat there and nodded at us impassively, and that was it.

Oh well, she's a VIP after all! I suddenly felt a little envious of Nicola. Although the food looks decent, greeting like this is so tiring!

"This is Council Member Meg, also one of the three elders..."

Next was the 10-winged angel who spoke positively earlier. Although she didn't stand up either, at least she smiled at us.

"And finally this is Council Member Pauline." 

She's not an elder finally. She even stood up and smiled at us. I felt a little flattered.

After introducing the right side, Elara turned her eyes to the left where two other 10-winged angels and one 8-winged angel sat. 

"Those here are the Commanders of the 2nd, 4th and 5th Angel Legions."

Since those on the left were not councillors and had lower status, Elara's introduction was much briefer.

"They are Commander Josie, Commander Janet and Commander Cheryl respectively."

As expected, the Commanders were not pretentious at all. When their names were called, they politely returned the gesture.

"I know you all have a question - why are there so many people at this welcome banquet?"

After the introductions, Elara continued speaking, "The main purpose of the elders and councillors coming is because they heard two newborn angels reached 6 wings in just a month. So they came specifically to confirm..."

She suddenly turned her head and smiled at Yvonne next to her, "What do you think, Elder Yvonne? Although the other newborn angel Nicola is not here, Fellow 6-winger Feliciana should be able to clear your doubts right?"

"Hmm..." 

Yvonne closed her eyes for a while, thought for a bit, then looked up and asked me, "You are Feliciana right? Can you guarantee that you are a newborn angel of this batch and not an older angel impersonating?"

"Huh? I just arrived at Edenmere yesterday right?"

I was shocked. Didn't expect she would ask me this.

Could it be that this Councillor recognizes my angel body? A thought crossed my mind. I couldn't help but start imagining...

"You must be joking! How can this be impersonated!" Elara probably didn't expect her to ask such a direct question either, she responded with an awkward laugh. 

"Hmph! Who knows..."

Since she couldn't pick any fault, Yvonne could only grunt twice and stop saying more. 

"Elder Yvonne, isn't that an overreaction?"

Others may not dare object, but Councillor Meg who was sitting next to her suddenly spoke up, "Whether Feliciana is a newborn angel or not, everyone present should know clearly. After all, the total number of angels is limited, and even fewer reach 6 wings. Those present, the Legion Commanders each lead most of the 6-winged angels. If there was an impersonator, I believe we would have noticed right?"

"Er..."

Originally, the Legion Commanders sat with indifferent expressions. Being suddenly involved by Councillor Meg, they could only respond awkwardly. 

"Yes, yes, yes! We have never seen this Feliciana before, she must be part of the new batch of angels, no doubt about it!"

So it was infighting huh... 

I finally understood what was going on. Suddenly felt a little helpless. Edenmere has only tens of thousands of population, yet the higher-ups fight quite fiercely.

"Meg, seems you are quite unhappy with me?" Yvonne was not one to be trifled with in the first place. 

Seeing she was being overridden, she naturally retorted, "No! I was just speaking fairly to avoid leaving any bad impressions on the new angels."

"The two elders please calm down!" Seeing the two 10-winged angels about to argue at the table, the most insignificant Councilor Pauline couldn't stand it and quickly stood up to make peace, "Don't forget this is the welcome banquet organized by Lady Elara for the new angels. We all understand your hard work for the angels, but too much distraction is in bad taste. So let's end Feliciana's identity issue here. After all, everyone has seen those wings right? They can't be glued on!"

"Pfft--!"

Hearing this, Cyra couldn't help laughing softly. She even reached behind and pulled my wings, whispering, "See I told you! How could you have advanced so much faster than me! Could they be glued on? Let me check..."

"You dare to laugh!"

I glared at her. Although Councilor Pauline intended to ease the atmosphere, having my identity questioned was unpleasant. 

The other angels naturally didn't care how I felt. They politely laughed along to give the elders some face.

"Fine. Since everyone agrees, I shall not doubt any further." 

Yvonne probably didn't want to make things embarrassing further, taking the opportunity to step down. However, she wasn't done and turned to Cyra and me again, "Since you have such potential, I hope you can continue your efforts and contribute to the prosperity of the angels. You should understand not every batch gets such a welcome banquet. It's the first time in thousands of years we have hosted newly-borns so grandly. Can you understand the deeper meaning?"

What deeper meaning? It's obviously to pull us over! 

I'm no fool. I naturally understand the implication. Although I don't feel so strongly about it, a verbal agreement was still necessary.

"Don't worry! No Problem! Leave it to us!"

Cyra was the quickest to agree. Before I could even open my mouth, she was already sprouting nonsense. 

But her attitude made Yvonne very satisfied. Seeing her nod slightly and finally quiet down saved us a lot of trouble.

"Since there are no more doubts, let me continue where I left off..."

Seeing the commotion finally settled down, Elara continued speaking, "As for why the Legion Commanders are here, their purpose is a bit different. The angel legions and Astralrealm Kingdom armies these days are preparing for a major decapitation operation against Michelle you all mentioned earlier." 

"Michelle?"

I was shocked to hear this. 

"Don't tell me you all plan to..."

"That's right! We have confirmed. This Michelle is indeed the mastermind behind the invasion of the Astralream Kingdom as you said. If we are to end the war, this is the best opportunity to strike her while injured."

Before I could finish, Commander Cheryl of the Fifth Legion explained first.

They had heard Serena's report already, so details like Michelle being transferred through time manipulation by the "Mystery Figure" were very clear to them.

Although the "Mystery Figure" did not state specifically which time Michelle was sent to, it wasn't difficult to guess—almost definitely the future!

If she were sent to the past, not only would there be issues with time paradoxes, but there could also result in two Michelles, which have too many uncertain factors. So as long as the spatial position remains unchanged, the injured Michelle most likely would appear there in the future. This is the basis for this operation.

Of course, all these remain as our verbal accounts. For the joint armies to have such faith in our intel to launch a major operation, Sir Alfreed and the others must have played a role from inside the Astral Kingdom armies as well.

"But how can you be sure Michelle will appear soon? What if it's many years or decades later, wouldn't it be a wasted effort?" 

I hope they succeed in eliminating the threat too, but there are still many details I don't quite understand.

"That you don't know..." 

It wasn't the Legion Commander who answered me. It was Elara. Smiling, she explained, "The longer the time traversed in temporal transfers, the greater the cost required, and that also depends closely on the strength of the transferred target. This is an unchanging truth! From your descriptions of Michelle's abilities and the traces left at the scene, the Mystery Figure couldn't do the transfer too far into the future. At most, just a few days would be considered incredible already."