Chapter 299: Origin of the Alliance

Chapter 299: Origin of the Alliance

"Where are the Celadon City defense forces?" Xiu asked, his brow furrowed deeply.

"They have already established defensive lines at the edge of the western district," Director Bao Ba replied, his image on the screen calm, almost too calm. "They are stopping those affected by the disaster, the refugees from the western district, at that border."

"Why would they do that? Those people…" Xiu began, his voice rising in anxious disbelief, but he cut himself off, a dawning, horrified understanding beginning to form. He fell into deep thought.

After a moment, he took a deep breath to steady himself, looked directly at Bao Ba's image, and asked, "What exactly is Celadon City?"

"Heh." Bao Ba actually let out a short, humorless laugh when he heard this. "You also think this city is weird, don't you?"

"Is there an explanation for its… peculiarities?" Xiu pressed, sensing he was on the verge of understanding something crucial.

"If you know about the true establishment of the Kanto League, you will understand that Celadon City holds a very unique position in the Kanto region. Even the League itself cannot fully control that place."

Bao Ba had a strange smile on his face now, a complex expression that was hard to decipher – perhaps disdain, perhaps contempt. Xiu, however, always felt that Bao Ba harbored some deep-seated resentment towards Celadon City.

"You will hardly see this period of history detailed in any official books," Bao Ba continued. "So, you can only learn a little bit from us old guys who have actually experienced some of its echoes."

Xiu listened intently to Bao Ba's words. It was obvious that the Director was about to tell a story, and despite the grim context, Xiu felt a flicker of curiosity.

"Have you heard of the Age of Kingdoms, the Age of Nobility, and the Age of Alliances?" Bao Ba asked. He didn't know much about Xiu's historical knowledge, as there seemed to be no readily available texts that covered these specific political eras in detail.

"Hundreds of years ago," Bao Ba began, "the Kanto region was a unified kingdom.

Some of the cities we see today were originally fiefdoms granted to powerful nobles at that time. In those days, the country was strong, and the entire kingdom prospered under a centralized rule.

But then, the king's authority weakened, and the power of the old noble families expanded. Irreconcilable contradictions arose between the monarchy and the aristocracy, and eventually, a war broke out between the two factions.

The result was obvious: the nobles won, and they subsequently divided the Kanto region amongst themselves."

"This division, this feudal system ruled by disparate noble houses, lasted for hundreds of years. Then, times changed. The emerging industrial development gave birth to a new class, a new group of influential figures – let's call them the new nobles, or perhaps more accurately, the proto-bourgeoisie.

After this new class reached a certain level of wealth and influence, conflicts began to arise between them and the entrenched old noble families. These tensions quickly developed into an irreconcilable situation."

"However, compared to the newly developed and relatively weaker foundation of these new nobles, the old noble families, with their centuries of accumulated wealth and power, still held the upper hand.

So, the new nobles chose to unite, to form a coalition. The result of this was the formation of the Kanto League. The old nobles, caught off guard by this unified front, suffered a serious blow."

Bao Ba paused in his narrative and asked Xiu, "Now, what do you think is the situation in Celadon City, given this history?"

"Uh…" Xiu pondered for a moment before speaking. "It should be related to those old nobles. And, as you said, the League can't fully control Celadon City.

So, it is very likely that some of those defeated, or at least diminished, old noble families retreated to Celadon City and reached some kind of power-sharing agreement with the nascent League."

Bao Ba grinned, a flash of his iconic gold teeth. "You are half right. This is indeed related to the old nobles.

But the specific situation is that even when the new nobles united to form the League, they could only compete with the most powerful of the old noble houses, not crush them entirely.

I have to admit, some things, like deep-rooted power structures, take a long time to truly dislodge, just like it takes time and patience to properly cultivate a Pokémon."

"So, there was a very awkward, tense stalemate at the time. There was constant friction between the two sides, the League and the remaining powerful old noble houses, but nothing major enough to trigger all-out war happened for a while.

This continued until some of the old nobles, who were perhaps offered enticing deals, switched sides and joined the League."

"No one knows the exact details of what happened behind closed doors and what deals were struck. But the result is obvious: the League, with the help of these defecting old nobles, finally won a decisive victory.

Those old noble families who remained defiant were either destroyed or forced to flee Kanto entirely. When we were young, there were many so-called aristocratic treasures and heirlooms circulating in the territories formerly held by those defeated old nobles."

Hearing Bao Ba gradually straying from the main topic with nostalgic anecdotes, Xiu had no choice but to gently remind him. "Then what happened, Director?"

Bao Ba collected himself for a moment and continued with the previous topic. "But the new nobles, the founders of the League, were not entirely confident about the loyalty or long-term intentions of the old nobles who had defected to their side.

After they had solved the biggest external threat – the defiant noble houses – they would naturally begin to consolidate their own power and look towards potential internal rivals…"

Bao Ba gave Xiu a weird, knowing smile, as if to say, "You understand what I mean."

Xiu did— a few classic historical idioms popped into his mind: When the birds are gone, the bows are put away. When the cunning rabbits are dead, the loyal hounds are cooked. When the donkeys are done with the mill, they are killed.

A cup of wine to dismiss military power… There was no way around it; this pattern was just too classic in the annals of power struggles.

"But the League had won its ultimate victory with their help, after all," Bao Ba continued. "So, they couldn't be too overt or harsh in dealing with these 'allied' old nobles. Thus, a compromise was reached.

The League designated a specific area, Celadon City and its immediate environs, and granted these families a great deal of autonomy and power within that territory. They were given all the resources they should rightfully have as prominent families.

At the same time, however, the League also effectively restricted them to this place. And that place, Xiu, is Celadon City."

Xiu finally understood the peculiar situation in Celadon City. He had originally thought the city's leadership might be remnants of some previous, fallen dynasty, but he hadn't expected this complex internal compromise within the League's own history.

"For some reason," Bao Ba elaborated, "although the League, the Joys, and the Jennys all have a presence in Celadon City, their authority is configured as it would be for any large, independent city.

They do not have much direct power to command those ruling families or their private forces. The main fighting force of Celadon City, their City Guard, was originally cultivated and remains largely controlled by those families.

They had objections to the League dispatching their forces to the forest for general defense from the very beginning, preferring to keep their strength close to home.

So, when things truly broke out, they found an excuse to withdraw their primary forces, ostensibly to go back and guard their own territories within the city, which directly led to the tragedy in the West District."

Xiu was speechless when he heard this. Why was there so much damned chaos in this world? The relationships between key figures were complicated, and various factions with competing interests were involved at every turn.

Why was it so different from the straightforward, idealized worlds he'd read about?

He was supposed to have transmigrated to become a protagonist, so why wasn't he being treated like the protagonist of a power-fantasy novel, where things were simpler?

"Fuck it," Xiu habitually cursed in his native language, Mandarin, under his breath. This attracted a sidelong glance from Bao Ba on the screen.

"What did you say?" Bao Ba asked.

"Nothing, Director. Does that mean the League doesn't care about what happens in Celadon City?" Xiu quickly changed the subject.

"We still have overall control, to an extent," Bao Ba clarified. "At least in name, Celadon City is still a part of the Kanto League, and the League is also very wary of those families overstepping their bounds or raising their voices too loudly on the regional stage."

"So, they don't have to bear any responsibility, even if so many people died due to their negligence and self-interest?" Xiu pressed, his voice tight.

"What do you think?" Bao Ba replied, a contemptuous smile revealing his iconic big gold teeth. The implication was clear.

Xiu pursed his lips, closed his eyes, and took another deep, steadying breath. "Let's talk about the current situation in the West District, then."

The two chatted for a while longer about the relief efforts and the grim realities in the West District. Xiu could also see that Bao Ba was indeed profoundly tired, both physically and emotionally, so he took the initiative to disconnect the call.

After ending the communication, Xiu slumped in his seat.

At first, it was clear that Bao Ba had wanted to conceal the real, shameful facts about Celadon's internal politics and had tried to gloss over the matter.

But later, he realized that Xiu was not so easily fooled and had then reluctantly told the true story of Celadon City's dysfunctional power structure.

Fortunately, Officer Jenny had a team present at the time, and with the assistance of the local Nurse Joy, they had shared the immense responsibility of rescuing and evacuating people from the West District.

Otherwise, it would have been nearly impossible for them to both rescue civilians and deal with the infected Pokémon simultaneously.

Xiu sighed and slowly closed his eyes again, the weight of it all pressing down on him.

He didn't know how much time had passed before a soft knock on the study door woke him up.

He was so startled that he jumped to his feet suddenly, looking around in momentary disorientation. It took him several seconds to react, to remember where he was.

"Xiu! What's wrong?"

As if hearing the noise inside, Rinko pushed the door open and saw Xiu, looking a little dazed and disheveled.

She quickly approached, her voice tinged with nervousness, "Are you okay?"