Birth Of The Crafts-God

"Let us proceed with the penultimate meeting for the resolution of the status of the city lord, Noah Bergs."

Earlier that day, by 9 am, under the regulation of the cabinet premier, the meeting everyone was looking forward to had begun.

The cabinet meeting was held in Assembly of the People, a large conference building built by the government specifically for such activities. Similar to large arenas and conference halls, the hall inside of the building was wide and large. The seats were arranged in a semicircular pattern facing a rostrum where the cabinet premier and the secretary sat. Unlike the premier, the secretary wasn't one of the representatives but was appointed by the premier and approved by the other representatives.

As soon as the meeting began, a representative abruptly stood up.

The others glanced in his direction, wondering who it was that was in such a haste.

Of the sixty representatives, twenty came from the top four families, another twenty came from Baylands city-state's top forces, while the remaining twenty were voted in to represent each of the city-state's twenty districts. Since this meeting would be one to decide the status of the city lord position, many believed that those directly involved —the top four families— would finally speak up and be the first to have their voices heard; rather than maintaining the silence they had kept in the past.

Unexpectedly however, the representative who spoke up was from neither of the top four families.

The representative who currently remained standing was representing the North Wave district, one of the five districts that made up Baylands City.

Due to the related importance of the districts, the representatives from the five major districts weren't treated the same as with the fifteen other districts. On the contrary, they were rated a bit higher.

"My fellow representatives, today, we decide on the status of the city lord. However, I stand on this stage today to ask you, is there a reason why we must do so? His Excellency, Noah, had spent a good number of his prime years in office, ensuring the safety of the people. He stabilised the economy and improved security. Despite all of that, this is how we reward him? By ousting him from the seat of power that he truly deserves?"

"Sit down, you fucking retard!"

A representative shouted from the other end of the hall.

Incensed, the representative of the North Wave district glared at the direction of the speaker to identify the audacious fellow. However, there was no need for that as the man stood up.

"Ensuring the safety of the people? Improved security?" The discourteous fellow snickered.

He was representing the West Wing district, and so, had enough rank to rebut the representative of the North Wave district.

"In the last eight months alone, there has been three major terrorist attacks and five minor ones. That's averaging one per month. Compared to the past where such events were as rare as a quadra-star system [1], this is absurd. Mr representative, is this what improved security looks like to you?"

The North Wave district's representative didn't step back either. If it was an average individual in his place, they would have gone mute. But as an experienced politician, a battle with words and reason was his forte.

"How can you summarise the entire 7 years of his excellency's reign with just the recent eight months? Have you forgotten that Lord Noah is the one responsible for taking down the Coalition of Foreign species four years ago?!"

"The past is the past. If we keep looking at it, we can never progress forward. What next? Should we reinstate the founding fathers because they fought back against the Great Desolate Tide?" The West Wing district representative sneered at his colleague.

The North Wave district's representative immediately flared up.

"You...!"

The founding fathers were those who founded the city of Baylands and went on to expand it into the Baylands city-state. They had fought in an unimaginably brutal war known as the Great Desolate Tide, forcing back the desolate beasts in the Groeten continent to the edge of Baylands City's West Wing district —the region now known as the Wastelands.

Naturally, as this was over five hundred years ago, the founding fathers had already been proclaimed dead long ago. Even a one source Origin stage practitioner, the stage above the twelfth level of the Apertures Opening stage, could only live for two to three hundred years at best.

The representative's comment was simply to deride his opponent.

"Order." The cabinet premier interrupted this farce as he was getting tired of it.

However, it didn't seem like they were done just yet.

With the final meeting closely approaching, the rank of those who would begin engaging in arguments rose. Even with the title of premier of the cabinet, it was next to impossible to quell all arguments.

After two hours, the sides became obvious.

For the five major districts, the Central Prefecture district's representative was neutral. However, this was only based on his outward behaviour. No one could say for sure whether he would remain neutral once it was time to vote or not.

West Wing district was a commercial district as it was close to the Wastelands. Due to that, it was easily influenced by the top forces of the city. Most of these forces were in favour of having a new city lord although there was still a sizable number in support of Noah. Hence, the representative was on the side of changing the city lord.

The North Wave and Eastern Crown districts were residential districts, and so, the concerns of their representatives were more legitimate and about the people. They understood that an abrupt change of the city lord could unsettle the population. Most of all, Noah, despite being a Bergs, was a more neutral city lord. If he was forced to step down, the incoming city lord would most likely be from one of the top four families, and that would create an unfair system for the people.

As such, the two representatives from these districts were against the ousting of Noah.

The South Mountains district representative happened to be on the same side as the West Wing district representative.

With the Central Prefecture district's neutrality, this resulted in the two sides being equal.

As for the other fifteen districts, after each side took their stand, the results weren't absurdly skewed, and could even be termed as 'even'. However, those in favour of the city lord's stay were more by one representative.

In the end, the major determining factor became the top four families' representatives and those of the top factions in the city.

Of the top four families, the Bergs and the Dufours led the charge to have Noah resign. Their subordinates and allies were also of the same opinion. After that, a new election would take place. Although the Bergs intended to field Fredor for the position, it was also possible for the Dufours to have a candidate of their own which would then break their alliance. But that is left to be seen in the future.

The Ross family seemed to be neutral in this situation while the Mertens family was surprisingly split. The main family had yet to release any news so the family maintained a neutral standpoint. However, due to the obvious knowledge about the relationship of Noah and Russell in the society of elites, some of the allies of the Mertens family sides with Noah. This was especially so for those whose interests were tied with Noah.

The forces just below the top four families also took similar routes, either joining one side or maintaining neutrality.

After the third hour, a recess was observed. This time around, everyone gathered together in camps with those against Noah at one side and those for him at another side to communicate their plans.

Of the Mertens family's five representatives, two were sent to gathering of Noah's supporters while the remaining three steered clear from any gathering and instead linked up with the Ross. This once again confused everyone of the Mertens family's standpoint in this debate. But it gave hope to those supporting Noah, especially the allies of the Mertens family.

Twenty minutes later, the recess was over and the penultimate session continued.

Similar to before, there was a lot of yelling, shouting and cursing amongst the representatives —mostly between the pro-Noah and anti-Noah camps. The whole point of this was to try and convince the neutrals to stand on their side, so they didn't hesitate to spit out harsh words.

Nonetheless, it was quite possible that even the neutrals had already come to a decision. The two days prior to this meeting, many of them had been paid visits to either by members of the Bergs and Dufour families, or reputable characters from the pro-Noah camp.

As it stood, some in the neutral faction might have already settled on a decision. Despite, they didn't publicly expose themselves so as to maintain cordial relations with both sides after this event.

By the fifth hour mark, even the representatives from the top four families began to speak up. It started with the Dufours at first, who were then surprisingly countered by two of the representatives from the Ross family. Then the Bergs family's representatives came to their defence, but they ended up clashing with the other two from the Mertens family.

By this point, the cabinet premier couldn't interrupt even if he wanted to, so he let them have a go at each other with words.

Once the sixth hour arrived, the penultimate cabinet session was finally brought to a close. The next session would be the following day and unlike the penultimate one, there would be no speeches or talks. Instead, they would simply vote on a decision.

This was the final session on the topic of the city lord's position. A vote to determine Noah's status.