Several days later, in the conference room—now filled with councilors from various major families compared to the previously empty small room where three had met privately—Lu Tianming sat beside Uzumi, silently enduring the curious gazes of every entering attendee.
"Is that the legendary 'Child of Divine Blessing'? To think he managed to lure two of ZAFT's new-model MS solely through personal charm... Uzumi really struck gold."
"Divine Blessing... You've heard that term too?"
"It's spread widely among the populace. They say that sun-like MS is something like ORB's guardian deity... But how could there possibly be such things as gods in this world?"
"Yet the absurd performance in the recent battle defies scientific explanation, doesn't it?"
"Who knows what's going on... Perhaps it's some exclusive black technology belonging to that 'Child of Divine Blessing'?"
"...What a pity Uzumi got lucky. To think his foolish daughter managed to attract such a prodigy, and even she's matured politically through exposure."
"Damn it, I should've thrown my daughter onto the battlefield too!"
Before the meeting even began, Lu Tianming could sense—the councilors beneath the table were discussing him from all angles.
The subtle glances cast his way held curiosity, skepticism, admiration, and even... envy?
Lu Tianming smiled wryly. In recent days, all information about him had been disseminated unreservedly for promotional purposes—initially, some doubted whether his astonishing record was exaggerated. However, with Lacus Clyne herself as witness and the pile of MS in the Dawn Organization serving as ironclad evidence, skepticism vanished almost instantly, replaced by sentiments like "If only I had a son like Lu Tianming."
As for the title "Divinely Blessed One"... it originated largely from ORB's civilian population. The Freedom Gundam's dazzling display during the defense operation—visible even to residents in residential areas—combined with the leakage of Lu Tianming's legendary experiences, led media outlets to capitalize on the public's fondness for heroic narratives. They blended elements like "Machine Spirit," "ORB's Guardian Deity," and "ORB's Destined One" to extravagantly praise Lu Tianming.
"Divinely Blessed One" became the most prominent among these titles. As for which deity this referred to, opinions varied—though within the Dawn Organization, it was unanimously believed to be the God of Machine Spirit.
Thus, Xia Chuan quite smugly used this as a pretext to provoke Lu Tianming, employing hit-and-run tactics—agitating him then fleeing, returning when emotions stabilized, thoroughly enjoying teasing Lu Tianming. Even when being kicked around like a ball as Haro, he seemed to relish the pain.
Regarding Xia Chuan's shameless and irritating behavior, Lu Tianming had now resigned himself—letting him have his fun however he wanted, embracing resignation.
"...The Sahaku family's representative has arrived too. Seems they've switched to a younger generation."
Uzumi's quiet reminder pulled Lu Tianming from his recollections. Following Uzumi's gaze, he saw a woman in black military uniform entering the venue slowly alongside several others.
Though female, her overall appearance carried a distinctly androgynous quality.
The imposing military uniform, simple shoulder-length black hair, and decisive sharp eyes... Were it not for her figure's subtle curves and the lipstick hinting at femininity, one might need closer inspection to determine her gender.
This person was Rondo Mina Sahaku - the current representative of the younger generation in the Sahaku family.
Like other attendees, after taking her seat, her eyes swept across the venue before finally settling on Lu Tianming.
But unlike others' simple curiosity, her gaze held a complex emotion that Tianming couldn't immediately decipher.
Perhaps realizing Tianming had noticed her scrutiny, Mina quickly withdrew her observing gaze.
After all attendees had arrived, Uzumi cleared his throat and began presiding over the meeting.
The meeting structure was straightforward: Uzumi would deliver opening remarks, summarize the ORB defense operations, conduct a vote, and after approval, Lu Tianming would give a brief speech. Everything concluded quickly.
After all, this was merely an internal formality... The truly elaborate ceremonies - the presidential inauguration, public addresses - would come later.
When the symbolic voting concluded, other Councilors departed one by one. Only Mina remained quietly in her seat, whether to avoid the crowd or by design, unmoved even by the urging of the elder beside her.
Only when nearly everyone had left did she finally make to rise and depart.
"Rondo Mina Sahaku, I need you to stay for a moment."
Lu Tianming raised his hand with a pressing gesture - indicating Mina needn't hurry off, as he had important matters to discuss.
The Sahaku elder looked bewildered by this decision, while Mina seemed to have anticipated it, smiling as she waved her hand - signaling the elder beside her not to worry and to leave.
The accompanying elder glanced strangely between Mina and Tianming, as if unable to comprehend when these two had established contact.
Nor could he guess whether this involved political dealings or... something else.
But it mattered not - as long as the Sahaku family could establish connections with the new 'person in power', whatever the relationship might be...
Only after the other Sahaku Councilors had departed, leaving just Tianming and Mina in the venue, did Tianming smile slightly and open the conversation:
"You guessed I would keep you behind?"
"Not difficult to deduce... At the very least, you would detain one representative from the Sahaku family. Given our family's recent actions, the probability of you taking no action was quite small."
"And considering relevance to involved parties, I naturally would be the most likely candidate among the Councilors to be selected as the interlocutor."
Mina nodded, her confident smile suggesting this was no challenge for her.
She seemed to deliberately maintain that faint smile, intentionally crafting an aura of having long since controlled everything, seeking to seize the initiative in this conversation through sheer presence.
Lu Tianming offered no response to her micro-expressions, merely speaking with calm inquiry:
"Then you must also be aware... that the previous actions of the Sahaku family, even at their mildest interpretation, amount to treason."
"Although the severity of this matter... isn't enough to immediately expel the Sahaku family from the council, if made public, it would at least deal a heavy blow to you."
"And by then... whether other families would take advantage of your misfortune would be hard to say."
Lu Tianming calmly watched Minerva, observing the smile vanish from her face while his own lips curled involuntarily.
"What I've said... actually carries a simple meaning."
"I want to know how your Sahaku family plans to atone for these so-called 'transgressions'."
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