1747 Hateful Change

Yes!

Queen Abigail believed in her heart that her precious son, Balthazar, had a strong life and would not be dying anytime soon.

Hiding her tears away, she regained her calm and warm demeanor, massaging his damp forehead softly.

The boy had screamed so much, he passed out again.

But with the healers by his side, everyone knew his breathing was steady and surprisingly, he was out of danger for the time being.

Wooooh~

Many released collective signs, staring at each other tactfully before slowly exiting the room while the healers took him out of the heated waters, wiping him clean and transporting him to his bed chambers.

The Heir will live!

It was amazing how he, who was almost pronounced dead, suddenly had a boost that would keep his life longer for the time being.

Emphasis on 'the time being' since he was still critically ill.

From this morning when he began shaking crazily till now, everyone has gone through a rollercoaster of emotions that made their poor little hearts jerk crazily from time to time.

In the Holy Sanctuary of the Wind Gods, Tacholla was on his knees, looking up in prayer with true tears falling down his cheeks.

Never has anyone ever seen him cry... And they WON'T ever see that side of him because as a ruler, he could never show weakness.

The long-time injury to his knees still hurt that hell whenever he put pressure on them, but Tacholla didn't care, kneeling with trembling knees while begging the heavens for a way out.

"Please... please... save my heir. Save my heir, Wind Gods. I beg to trade my life for his. Please, just let him love, long and strong as he always did."

There in the Holy Sanctuary, the once proud and tall Tacholla, now looked withered and low... his heart was pounding with pain and his eyes blurred from the salty waters flowing out.

Tacholla was desperate.

But while he was praying for mercy from the heavens, Tacholla didn't notice a mysterious ruse of wind swirling around the lit candles before him.

A miracle was on its way, and he didn't even know it.

The waters around the island suddenly began fiercer, with winds crazily blowing, and even the massive boggles and sea creatures separated from the island by the winds, quickly fled from the scene, sending the bizarreness of it all.

------

Just like that, the heavens heard the cry of a pained father and his subjects. But while they were in a hurry for a miracle, far, far away, several people hid on top rooftops with expressionless faces.

It was late evening, and the city curfew was still a few hours away before closing time.

Snow accompanied by terrible winds blew in swirling motions across the land.

People on the streets moved with caution, and vehicles drove slower than usual.

The city was coated in white and the darkness had long taken over since 6 PM today.

The newly designed street lamp posts were now lit by diligent government workers, who went corner to corner, lamppost to lamppost, switching on the lights.

In Winter, the city chose to switch from solar to Battery power to power up the street lights.

If one looks at the poles, one will see several solar panels attached at the very top though enclosed in a ridiculously thick and powerful glass box designed by Baymard.

You could throw chairs, knives and several objects at the box and it wouldn't break.

It was well fortified against thieves.

The poles were designed like popsicles on a stick.

The upper parts are the circular glass popsicle with the solar panels on the inner ceiling of the popsicle, facing the sun.

As for the light source itself, of course, it was at the center of the Glass globe. It was like a light bulb standing on a cube black box. The black box allows them to switch between Solar energy and battery power.

Of course, they still couldn't see the cables, since when one opens the box, all you see are 3 separate switches, as well as a place to insert the particular batteries needed for illumination.

One switch was to power the device on or off, another switch was to have Solar energy on or off, and the last one was for Battery power.

Well, the whole setup was particularly designed by Baymard for street light purposes, a way for many UN nations to light up their streets at night.

Each of these devices can last 15~25 years before one needs to be changed or replaced.

Many don't know exactly how well this simple invention has helped the police forces belonging to other UN empires to catch criminals, thieves and thugs late at night.

The crime rate had gone down tremendously, with the emergence of street lights.

But stopping crime isn't the only reason the street lights exist.

There are far fewer accidents because of these lights.

Now one can guage the roads late at night, knowing there wasn't anyone they were going to crash into.

Understanding that better street lights became a thing, people only relied on the lights of many establishments and homes to get a good look at the roads.

Some places were deserted and other places had establishments built a little too far from the roads for these establishments to light up the path.

So these areas were more accident-prone.

Even with traffic police, it was still a little troublesome.

Now, with street lights… problem solved.

No longer do they need to munch off the light of other buildings like thieves in the night.

Again, to create a third option... after each black-painted Baymardian Light Post, one will find an Ash-toned light post with overly large torches in it.

These torches would be lit up for emergency cases, like if one of the Baymardian street light posts between them has to be out for maintenance or needs light bulb changes like during festivals when they wanted more colorful street lights in some places.

Yes...

Change had come to the world, making many feel safer and secure in their empires, no longer getting mugged in dark corners like they usually did back then.

But for criminals, assassins, killers and scouts, this damn technology was truly a hassle, one they wished they could destroy all together!

On the rooftops, many people moved more carefully than they usually did, looking at the hateful streetlights from time to time.

Dammit!

"It's that damn Baymard again!

Why can't they ever keep their damn technology to themselves?

(*-*)

Very stealthily, the group of masked men traversed the scene with annoyed expressions but still did so effortlessly.

Hmph!

Just this puny Arcadina wants to pose a threat to them?... Keep Dreaming!

Through the rooftop of a particular Tavern, the men took out a few loose tiles and jumped in with some keeping a lookout... only jumping in when the coast was clear.

Immediately, they landed like cats, positioning their hands and feet on the floors in ways that barely any noises from the squeaky floors.

Hmmm...

The lead man cleanly rotated his wrists before acting his hands behind his back and leading the men down the secret passageway to a massive underground space filled with 3 giant halls, 2 massive, luxurious bathing pools and several grand resting chambers.

Once below, the men turned lax, throwing part of their vigilance away as they calmly headed toward the largest hall.

"Leader!"

In the hall, several others went on bended knee, while staring at the slender but tall man leading the group in.

It might be hard for anyone to tell who their leader is when they are all dressed the same.

But apart from their leader's slender figure, he also had a faint darkish blue threaded line on his black leather hand wrappings that was easy to overlook.

No one knows why the thin piece of fabric is important to him...

Who will dare ask?

Their leader oversaw all matters concerning Arcadina's Central territory.

He was stationed here like the Grand Puba, ensuring all tasks given by the higher-ups were met without fail.

And any TOEP member who enters the central regions must send word or report to him.

Failure to do so... there will be consequences.

Taking his seat at the High Table, Lord Isaac, Lord and overseer of the TOEP central plains, quickly scanned the many people gathered.

"Something is wrong."

His icy voice caused a chill to spread within the hall.

"Ghost, young master Sebastien's right-hand man... He is supposed to report back now, is he not?"

"He is, Leader." One of the men stepped forward and replied without waste.

"Leader, according to plans he should have been back 4 days ago to begin phase 2 of our plans."