Birth Of The Crafts-God

"What the hell is that old bastard Russell up to now?"

Fredor Bergs, the head of the Bergs family, frowned as he stared at the news articles from this morning's papers.

There were many publications, but they all focused on the same thing. To surmise, the articles claimed that Lucas had been framed by an underground vestige dealer who supplied vestiges to the terrorists. There was significant proof to back these reports as made known by Russell.

The first and most important was that the real vestige dealer who sold those vestiges had been uncovered. The Mertens family had apparently been carrying out an investigation into the matter ever since and they found out the real culprit. According to Russell, the culprit had already been handed over to the Baylands City Patrol Corps (BCPC) just the previous night right before the press conference.

The second supporting claim to Lucas' innocence was an important document he returned with; the Eretrean Vestige-smith League's temporary licence for vestige-smiths.

The temporary licence was something that could only be gained with the backing of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith or the support of a very powerful and influential vestige-smith company. Regardless of which it was, it showed that the holder of the licence could not be calumniated.

Finally, the licence was only handed by high level branches of the EVL, the majority of which were in Belfargos territory. Such branches wouldn't give it to anyone without doing their due diligence into investigation, and the same goes for a Tier 1 Grandmaster.

With such figures seemingly backing Lucas and the arrest of the true perpetrator, clearing his name was no longer a troublesome task. On the contrary, those who had charged after him and framed him became targets of scorn.

As one of them, Fredor Bergs' mood at the moment was definitely not the best.

The news broadcasters were guilty of pushing Lucas to the gallows, but they had simply done so since their paymasters required it of them. However, with the revelation of "the truth" by Russell Mertens, none of them could avoid turning back from their previous narrative. Even the news agencies and media outlets who didn't attend the press conference had to begin preparing articles to wipe their hands clean from the situation.

Some of these media outlets were indirectly or directly owned by the top four families, and so, they were also affected by this, even though the populace wouldn't target them.

"Have our agencies focus on the Cabinet's meeting instead. We need to have this topic buried under as quickly as possible, otherwise, our losses would be huge."

Fredor gave an order to Calhner Bergs, the head of the Bergs family's external affairs. Having received his orders, Calhner bowed and departed right away.

'This old rut is still as scheming as before.'

Even after devising a plan to counter the current situation, Fredor was still not pleased. This was because Russell's goal had been achieved.

One might wonder why Russell made this announcement during this period where the city lord's position was the major focus, but that was exactly what he wanted.

With the focus of all the top factions being the city lord's position, they wouldn't have the time nor energy to spare on this matter. This was because doing so would be detrimental to their attempts at the city lord's position. At best, these powerful forces would respond just like Fredor and have the news outlets under their command to push the focus back towards the city lord's position. However, that was exactly what Russell wanted.

The current goal of both Russell and Lucas was to change the public's opinion of what happened over four months ago, and if there was no rebuttal, they would be one step closer towards their goal. As long as the publications by the agencies who had attended the press conference was left unchallenged, it would be too late to do anything about it later on as they would have proceeded onto the next step.

Fredor could guess this and so could the other top four family heads, but there was nothing they could do about it. Today was the day for the Cabinet's final meeting on the discussion of the city lord's position. All their focus and efforts were reserved for this. One could only say that Russell and Lucas were lucky, but they were also smart to have utilised this opportunity.

'Whatever. It doesn't matter as long as I can become the city lord. Once that happens, I can undo all their efforts.' Fredor thought.

In truth, it didn't even matter whether today was the Cabinet's meeting or not. Based solely on Lucas' new identity as the apprentice of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith, all the family heads and leaders of top forces would need to think carefully on how to approach the matter.

But if Fredor became city lord, he wouldn't need to be as cautious.

The city lord was the sole recognised authority by the Oklo Dynasty, granted permission to rule on its behalf in a region. Due to this authority, even a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith could not do as they pleased when it came to a city lord.

However, this didn't apply to all Tier 1 Grandmasters. High and peak Tier 1 Grandmasters were excluded from this, as even city lords had to be respectable in their presence.

Whether it was the fact that such vestige-smiths were usually at the tenth or eleventh stage of the Apertures Opening stage —much stronger than the average tenth level for most city lords— or the fact that such Grandmasters were very skilled and rare even in Belfargos territory, there was more than enough reason why they were placed on a higher pedestal than even city lords.

'But it is unlikely for such an individual to be backing that runt.' Fredor erased the possibility.

Getting in contact with a low Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith was already miraculous for Lucas. As for a high or peak rank Grandmaster? That was impossible. Most of them associated only with the Oklo Dynasty's royalty or the other top factions who reigned over the planet, only below the Dynasty.

Fredor believed that even if Lucas accumulated the luck and grace of his past ten lives and his ancestors from seven generations ago, he still wouldn't be fortunate enough to be apprenticed under such a figure.