Beneath the magnificent dome of the Firmament of Mercury Cathedral, the echoes of the inauguration ceremony seemed to still reverberate, but the barely maintained veil of solemnity had already been ruthlessly torn to shreds by reality.
Phoebe sat behind the massive Supreme Priest's desk. Spread out before her were not official documents awaiting approval, but a Draft on the Transparent Reform of Public Affairs of the Hidden Sea Convent that she had personally written.
Her eyes were filled with a yearning for the future and the light of idealism.
"I believe this is the key to rebuilding the public trust of the Hidden Sea Convent!" she said to the several auxiliary officials in the office. Her tone was firm but could not hide its immaturity. "What happened in the past cannot happen again. Those acts that violated our faith in the shadows require material support, so we will cut off all their supplies."
"Only by exposing the flow of every sum of money and every batch of supplies to the sunlight can we prevent the Convent from repeating the same mistakes."
The morning light filtered through the stained-glass windows, plating her in a halo, but it could not dispel the gloom between the brows of the auxiliary officials before her desk.
The several auxiliary officials—dispatched by the two major families and personally appointed by Phoebe—looked at each other in dismay. A leading official, Erwin, spoke cautiously: "Supreme Priest Phoebe, your original intentions are beyond reproach, and we fully understand and support you. However... this matter has far-reaching implications..."
"Should we perhaps be more prudent? We could first select one or two inconsequential areas for a pilot program, accumulate some experience, and then..."
"No!" Phoebe interrupted him, an unquestionable light flashing in her eyes. Imitating Rover's decisiveness from her memories, she said, "Sin will not give us a moment to breathe, and the people of Laguna are watching and waiting for us to show our attitude of breaking away from the past! We must act immediately!"
Driven both by a sense of responsibility to make the Convent better and a desire not to let down Rover's expectations, Phoebe was incredibly eager to enact some kind of change.
Her gaze swept over the list, finally landing on one spot: "We will start with... the pigment procurement of the Icon Workshop! Conduct a phased, comprehensive audit!"
"I have noticed that the procurement price there is perennially twenty percent higher than the market average, and the amount is massive. We must find out if there are any parasites violating our faith hidden within it!"
Although some harbored doubts, she was the Supreme Priest after all, and the order was quickly carried out.
But very quickly, a storm quietly descended.
The special audit team dispatched by the Convent met with unprecedented resistance.
The head of the workshop beat his chest and stomped his feet in tearful complaint, claiming that the pigments used were extracted from special minerals, the craftsmanship was complex, and the costs were astronomical. He swore upon the Sentinel Imperator that he had absolutely not lined his own pockets.
When the audit team went to the procurement department to investigate, the lead priest in charge of purchasing simply claimed illness and took a leave of absence, disappearing for several consecutive days. All inquiries were shirked by his subordinates with excuses of "I don't know" or "We must wait for His Lordship to decide."
What caught Phoebe even more off guard was that several originally neutral priests also tactfully offered their advice. They hinted that this move was too radical, that it would chill the hearts of the "many law-abiding old fellows who have diligently served the Convent for years," and that it was detrimental to the overall stability.
The internal resistance within the Convent had already made the audit struggle to move forward, but the external impacts were even more vicious.
A supplier that had long cooperated with the workshop to provide special, high-quality pigments had its massive payments "logically" delayed by the Convent due to the audit. Its capital chain suddenly broke, pushing it to the brink of bankruptcy.
The angry workers with unpaid wages first blockaded the pigment workshop. Later, some bold individuals actually spread their protests to the plaza in front of the Firmament of Mercury Cathedral.
The Arbitrators of the Preceptory naturally wouldn't indulge them. Still harboring the lingering style of the Finlay era, they skillfully performed their "six strikes a second" on the rioting workers, dispersing all the onlookers.
The few ringleaders were beaten black and blue and thrown into prison.
However, such heavy-handed methods were like pouring oil on a fire, further inciting the indignation of a portion of the public.
Rumors, like the thick fog over the seaport, rapidly permeated every street and alley of Laguna. After being cleverly woven together, they became extremely deceptive and lethal:
"Look! A new official applies strict measures, but what's burning are the rice bowls of us common folk!"
"Cutting off a man's livelihood is like murdering his parents. Is this Supreme Priest trying to force us to death?"
"I heard... that supplier is a distant relative of the Fesale family. Tell me, is this really Her Lordship the Supreme Priest's intention, or is it the Mortari family borrowing her hand to strike at an old rival?"
"Who knows... is this truly the intention of our pure and kind Supreme Priest herself, or is she merely acting as a 'rubber stamp'?"
Phoebe sat in the Supreme Priest's office, listening to the clamor outside and the reports of her subordinates, her face deathly pale.
Why? She didn't understand.
She was only doing the right thing, practicing justice, clearing away the filth...
Why were so many people opposing her? Why was the resistance so massive?
Why was it that she was clearly pursuing the light, yet the result seemed to trigger even more chaos and darkness?
An immense sense of powerlessness and inexplicable grievance almost drowned her.
She felt like a child desperately trying to push open a rusted gate, only to be swept up and choked to the point of suffocation by the viscous darkness surging out from behind it.
She faintly realized that she seemed to have poked a massive hornet's nest. With just a slight touch, she had drawn countless frenzied attacks that stung her all over, yet she couldn't even see the true structure of the nest clearly.
In the upper echelons of the Convent, although Grand Priests Antonio and Marco—representatives of the "reformist faction"—didn't say anything, they were also dissatisfied with her rash actions. Furthermore, since the two were already unhappy with her ascension to power, they did not step forward to support her.
Grand Priest Alex, on the other hand, lamented with deep sorrow to several distressed mid-level priests during a closed-door Convent meeting: "Supreme Priest Phoebe... is ultimately too young and too idealistic. Having such a heart is a good thing, a blessing for the Convent... but..."
He changed the subject, speaking with profound earnestness, "To govern the Convent, merely having a good heart is not enough; one must also consider reality and pay attention to methods and approaches. If she continues on like this regardless of the consequences, I'm afraid the Convent will fall apart before it even welcomes its new life..."
The matters concerning the Hidden Sea Convent and Laguna City quickly spread from the Supreme Priest's office to Coletta of the Mortari family.
"Phoebe's intentions are good, but her actions are still a bit impulsive..."
Regarding this sudden farce caused by idealism, Coletta fell into deep thought in her study, her exquisite face tinged with a hint of worry. "However, this matter shouldn't have blown up so largely in such a short time. There must be someone fanning the flames from behind the scenes..."
Saying so, Coletta looked at Zanni, who was reporting the matter to her in front of the desk. "Zanni, go investigate this thoroughly and report back to me. Also, have the family's media suppress the public opinion in the city first."
"Yes, Second Young Miss." Zanni took the order but hesitated for a moment. "But... what about Supreme Priest Phoebe...?"
Coletta pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration: "I know... it's useless if we only handle the external troubles while she can't stand on her own two feet..."
She recalled that figure in her heart who was always incredibly reliable. "Regardless, I should contact Rover first."
_____
+50 advanced chapters monthly on my patreon, join now and read...
Patreon.com/IndifferentVillain
Ur support keeps me motivated thanks in advance.
Chapter 290 is out on my patreon!!!!!
________