"Mother, thank you for your wisdom and broad-mindedness..."
"If you require it, Alcina will certainly provide you with a steady stream of slaves for your experiments."
Seeing Mother Miranda relent, not only Javier, but even Lady Dimitrescu's previously taut nerves relaxed along with him.
She had almost been unable to resist plunging her sickle-claws into Javier's chest just moments ago.
Fortunately, Mother Miranda had agreed. As long as they passed this hurdle... the rest would be easy to handle.
Thinking this,
Dimitrescu released her foot from Javier's back, where her high heel had been pinning him down.
That condescending feeling was something Lady Dimitrescu rather savored; of course, she already possessed the skill of disciplining others.
However, treading upon Father Javier—her newly pledged master—the sense of contrast gave her an extraordinary thrill and excitement.
"Enough..."
"To be brief, I have summoned you four noble lords to the Cave Church for only one reason. From now on, I will begin the ceremony, so I will have little time to appear or manage village affairs."
"At the same time, there may be outsiders invading in the coming days. I need you four noble lords to increase your vigilance; do not allow outsiders to enter the village. This is your task, understood...?"
"Once I successfully complete the ceremony, I will obtain the secret of eternal life. At that time, I will bestow even greater power upon you."
"As my most loyal servants, I expect you to perform your duties responsibly in the time to come."
Facing the noisy Cave Church,
Mother Miranda slowly raised her palm to signal for silence.
Then, her deep eyes hidden behind the plague doctor mask scanned the surrounding four noble lords, and she spoke her orders in a calm but unquestionable tone.
Yes,
Mother Miranda's reason for summoning the four noble lords was simple:
To remind everyone that the ceremony was about to begin and the village needed to enter a state of high alert, because Mother Miranda had realized that the BSAA, the anti-bioweapon organization tracking her from the outside world, was already in motion.
Now she had no leisure time to deal with the BSAA, so Mother Miranda needed the help of the other four noble lords.
But she was also aware that among the four noble lords, Heisenberg, that traitor, was eyeing her greedily.
Mother Miranda feared that at the critical moment of her ceremony, Heisenberg would launch a sneak attack on her.
So she divided Rose's crystallized remains into four parts for the four noble lords to keep, while allowing Ethan, Rose's father, to survive.
She used Ethan as her weapon,
letting Ethan kill the four noble lords one by one, including the traitor Heisenberg. This would buy her time and use Ethan's hand to eliminate the threats the lords posed to her.
Then Mother Miranda would reap the benefits of their conflict,
reclaiming the complete remains of Rose later and using Rose's body as a vessel to successfully resurrect her daughter, Eva.
Finally, she would flee with her daughter Eva,
vanishing from the world entirely, while the village and the four noble lords who once held traces of her existence would all be dead and gone.
This scheme of killing with a borrowed knife and hitting two birds with one stone was indeed played very smoothly, but unfortunately... in the end, Mother Miranda underestimated the power of family and Ethan's fatherly love.
As a mother, she could spend over a hundred years running around to resurrect her daughter Eva with extraordinary perseverance.
Since that was the case,
then Mother Miranda should also have known,
that a father, in order to save his daughter,
would pay an even heavier price and do anything to resurrect his daughter Rose. This was the God of War, Ethan.
At the same time,
this was a true contest between a determined mother and a responsible father—!!!
"..."
"Yes, we shall obey your command, Mother..."
Upon hearing Mother Miranda's orders,
the four noble lords did not say much, instead bowing and answering in unison.
Donna Beneviento and Salvatore Moreau showed no abnormality, whereas Lady Dimitrescu and Heisenberg each harbored their own hidden thoughts.
Especially Heisenberg, that traitor;
on hearing this news, his eyes hidden behind sunglasses couldn't help but glance at Mother Miranda, wanting to see her reaction.
After all, regarding the BSAA investigating the village,
he was the one who had leaked the location.
The risk of confronting Mother Miranda alone was too great; Heisenberg needed allies to help him.
That was why, in the original plot, Heisenberg tried to persuade Ethan to cooperate.
He also planned to use Ethan and the BSAA to oppose Mother Miranda. Unfortunately, in the end, the one who was dealt with was himself, as his thinking was too paranoid!
"Very well..."
"Next is the second matter. This man's name is Ethan, the father of that girl. How do you think we should deal with him? Kill him directly... or keep him alive?"
Mother Miranda raised her hand again for silence. Once the noise in the Cave Church subsided,
she ordered a Lycan to drag up the unconscious Ethan, then turned her gaze to the other four noble lords and asked calmly.
At this moment, Ethan was in a very poor state.
He had just escaped from the freezing snow, only to enter the village and be hunted by Lycans.
The fingers on his hands and the flesh on his shoulders had been bitten off by Lycans, resulting in massive blood loss.
Although the wounds on his fingers and shoulders were now slowly healing due to the power of the mold,
the situation was still not optimistic; his body was extremely weak.
In such a difficult environment, for an ordinary father to carve out a path of survival was truly not easy. In a sense, it was indeed entirely his unyielding will that helped him break through...
However,
this time, unfortunately,
because of Javier's defection, Lady Dimitrescu did not speak up first to fight for the prisoner.
This resulted in a dead silence within the church.
No one was the first to offer an opinion.
After all, after consuming Javier's premium virus-laden blood, Lady Dimitrescu had lost interest in the blood of ordinary humans.
"It would be a pity to simply kill him..."
"Hand him over to me. Let's play a game—hide and seek. Give him another chance: wake him up and release him to let the Lycans hunt him down."
"If he is unfortunately caught again, he'll be executed on the spot. If he successfully escapes the encirclement, then we can enjoy the spectacle of a cornered beast's struggle. How about it?"
The first to speak was still Heisenberg. He didn't want to watch his potential ally die, so he presumptuously proposed this game.
But in reality, even if Heisenberg hadn't spoken,
Mother Miranda would not have let Ethan die, because she was waiting for Ethan to help her eliminate all four noble lords of the village.
Ethan was Heisenberg's potential ally, but he was also Mother Miranda's potential ally—and her executioner!
Volume 10 Resident Evil Village, Revenge: Chapter 17 Harboring Malice
"Very well, in that case..."
"The right to dispose of him is yours, Heisenberg. I hope you do not disappoint me..."
Faced with Heisenberg's initiative,
Mother Miranda scanned the other three noble lords and, seeing no objections, did not refuse.
She raised her hand and granted Heisenberg's request in a deep voice, but while speaking, Mother Miranda's deep eyes remained fixed intently on Heisenberg.
As if she were issuing some kind of warning.
Facing those eyes that seemed like an abyss, Heisenberg also quickly lowered his gaze,
not daring to meet Mother Miranda's eyes.
Because he was truly afraid his scheme would be seen through; coupled with the fact that both harbored their own designs, the atmosphere became quite strange.
"Yes, Mother."
"This show will definitely be very interesting...!"
However, very quickly,
Heisenberg hurriedly replied, stating he would definitely not fail Mother Miranda's expectations.
Then, to hide his flustered mood,
Heisenberg took the initiative to shoulder his massive gear-part hammer and walk toward the unconscious Ethan on the ground.
*Clatter...*
Then a string of chains suddenly fell from his body. Utilizing his ability to control magnetic forces,
Heisenberg instantly locked Ethan's hands and dragged him toward his feet, intending to wake the unconscious Ethan right there.
And Ethan had truly suffered enough; he could be said to be the most miserable protagonist in the history of Resident Evil. Chris, Leon, and the others all had some ability to resist and wouldn't be passively beaten like this.
But when it came to Ethan, he became an unkillable cockroach, relying purely on the mold's regenerative power while constantly taking beatings. No matter where he went, injury was inevitable.
And once injured, he would just use First Aid Med to patch himself up. Even if his clothes were in tatters, it didn't matter; they could always be fixed.
"Very well, the council is concluded..."
"Now, disperse. But remember my words: you must immediately increase the vigilance in your respective territories. No other outsiders are allowed into the village, understood?"
Seeing this, Mother Miranda did not hesitate, once again raising her hand to issue orders in a deep voice. The eight raven wings on her back suddenly unfurled and caught the light, looking exceptionally divine under the faint glow at the top of the Cave Church.
Having done all this, Mother Miranda waved her arm, driving the other Lycans in the Cave Church to follow her as she left.
In the village, the Lycans were her personal army, serving as her eyes and ears to monitor every move within the village.
Should any of the other four noble lords attempt to rebel, she would know immediately. With so many Lycans wandering the village, there was no way to evade their surveillance.
Furthermore, to overthrow Mother Miranda's rule, one would inevitably have to battle these Lycans. Except for Heisenberg, the other three lords had almost no servants they could command.
Thus, the village's rule appeared quite harmonious and stable.
Only Heisenberg, possessed an Iron Factory, and the large number of Iron Zombie Soldiers within it were his only capital for raising a rebellion against Mother Miranda...!
"Is she leaving...?"
Javier watched Mother Miranda, looking like a black Victoria's Secret angel, turn and leave without hesitation, and then looked at Ethan about to be dragged away on the ground, murmuring to himself with a slight frown.
To be honest, he found it somewhat hard to believe that he had been overlooked by Mother Miranda so easily.
But this was also a good thing, as it saved Javier from exposing his identity on the spot.
Since Mother Miranda was so relaxed, he would begin his plan of subversion next.
Soon, the remaining noble lords within the Cave Church began to depart separately.