"This incident has brought too much pain to the World Government and to us."
"At the same time, with one of the Five Elders and nearly a thousand of our compatriots martyred, out of the nineteen families, ten families' lineages have been cut off, and the total number of survivors is only ninety-one."
Saint Nusjuro looked at everyone, speaking in a calm voice as he recounted the losses from this disaster.
He did not mention at all the destruction of Mary Geoise, nor the killing of numerous CP members and World Nobles.
Those things were all trivial matters, far less important than the Celestial Dragons themselves.
'Only ten families gone?'
Rosse raised his eyebrows, feeling that number was still a bit too less.
However, after glancing at the others present and noticing that over half of them were from the Shepherd family, and that among the surviving families most had fewer than six members left, he was completely reassured.
With this few people, saying the bloodline was severed might be an exaggeration, but for the Celestial Dragons to continue, many traditions would likely have to be broken.
And with this few people, each family left with just a few sole heirs, who knew when they might disappear.
Who could say?
"But even with only nine families left, we are still the descendants of gods, and this world still belongs to us," Saint Nusjuro lifted his head high, as if completely unaffected by the losses.
But in reality, the Ethanbaron family to which Saint Nusjuro belonged was easily among the third most devastated of the remaining nine families.
The worst hit was the Nerona family, left with only Vanessa as its sole heir.
The second worst was the Jaygarcia family, with only three survivors, and Sora's identity was only recently established.
Strictly speaking, Jaygarcia had only Saint Saturn and Rosse, the grandfather and grandson.
Ethanbaron wasn't much better, with only four survivors.
The bad news was that the survivors were one man and three women, and apart from Saint Nusjuro, all were women, so the future would likely require bringing in husbands.
The good news was that apart from Saint Nusjuro, they were all young people who survived because they had gone out with him to broaden their horizons.
And because the Ethanbaron family was in such bad shape, Saint Nusjuro currently counted as the de facto chief of the Five Elders.
Although the Jaygarcia family had even fewer members, everyone knew Rosse's personality.
The Jaygarcia family's return to prosperity was only a matter of time.
There was also no need to worry about bloodline purity, in the hands of Saint Saturn, every girl could become a Celestial Dragon.
And after this meeting, they might not even need Saint Saturn's intervention.
"The nine remaining families will become the future Celestial Dragon Nine Families, continuing to maintain dominion over the world on the original foundation of the World Government."
"Although many compatriots have died, we are the descendants of gods. Relying on the few remaining people is still enough to suppress the entire world," Saint Nusjuro continued, and no one voiced any objection.
Those Celestial Dragons who had survived were basically all elites. Only Saint Peter had saved a few pigs, making him somewhat out of place with the others.
But no matter who it was, no one questioned the World Government's rule.
As long as even one Celestial Dragon still lived, the world would still be ruled by them, everyone believed this.
"Because of the death of Saint Warcury, there is now one vacant seat among the Five Elders. And because of his mistakes, Saint Peter has willingly chosen to step down, creating another vacancy."
"Today, two new Five Elders will be selected from among you all," Saint Nusjuro paused for a moment as he spoke.
This had been decided long ago, and the candidates were already chosen.
Most of the elite Celestial Dragons below remained silent, waiting to hear Saint Nusjuro announce the expected names.
Rosse also sat in his seat, listening carelessly.
The content of this meeting had little to do with his family.
What they couldn't get from private division of benefits, they certainly wouldn't get openly.
With Saint Saturn as one of the Five Elders, Rosse's chances of becoming one were zero.
However, it was already set in stone that the current Commander-in-Chief, Saint Figarland Garling, would be promoted to the Five Elders.
Rosse had achieved outstanding military merit in this battle, killing three top-tier powerhouses in a row, making him the one with the greatest achievements.
Although he could not become a Five Elder, no one would object to him becoming Commander-in-Chief.
However, he had given up the position himself.
Whether Five Elder or Commander-in-Chief, both were just empty titles.
Being a Five Elder might seem glamorous, but the work was all petty affairs, and with Saint Saturn there, that was enough.
The Commander-in-Chief position was even more useless. While a stronger Commander-in-Chief could ignore Five Elder orders and mobilize the God's Knights, if someone's strength and status surpassed the Commander-in-Chief's, even an ordinary God's Knight could do the same.
In the end, to earn the respect of other Celestial Dragons, it still came down to one's own strength.
Since that was the case, better to give the opportunity to others and take the most practical benefits for himself.
Although the Holy Land had been buried, those treasures would not have been destroyed.
With ten families gone, the extra treasures had all gone to his family.
In addition, there were larger shares of the Heavenly Tribute, and more actual authority from the Five Elders.
Compared to empty titles, these were what Rosse valued most.
"The new Five Elder, Saint Figarland Garling!", When Saint Nusjuro read out the name, all eyes turned to Saint Garling.
Some looked on with envy, some with hatred, some with mockery, it varied from person to person.
There were rumors that the incident this time had been orchestrated by Figarland.
After all, it was an undeniable fact that Shanks had stopped Rosse in public, delaying Rosse by several hours.
Moreover, over a dozen of the Figarland family's elites had been involved in the siege of Whitebeard's fleet.
There couldn't be that many coincidences in the world.
Not to mention, now that Saint Garling had become a Five Elder, it practically confirmed the rumors.
"This incident has nothing to do with the Figarland family. Shanks has already been expelled from the Figarland family," Saint Nusjuro explained calmly.
In truth, he also had doubts.
But the losses to the Celestial Dragons were too great this timw. The Figarland family was a force that had to be won over, and this was a compromise.
"Thank you all for your support," Saint Garling forced a stiff smile, stood, and walked to the Five Elders' seats to sit down.
In his heart, he felt no joy at all.
He had only wanted to take advantage of the incident to see if there was a chance to rise in rank.
But who could have expected the price of rising to be so high?
Most of the Figarland family was gone, had he not taken the elites out earlier to see the world, they would have been wiped out in one blow.
And because of Shanks's interference, the Figarland family had fallen into a pit.
It might look like he was glorious now, but once the Celestial Dragons recovered, the Figarland family would definitely be the first target.
When that time came, he would surely be made the scapegoat for some incident.
'So… it will have to be all or nothing…', Sitting in the seat of Five Elder, a crazy thought gradually took over Saint Garling's mind.
'Nine families? Still too many.'
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