Birth Of The Crafts-God

"So after today, we can finally rest."

One of the representatives in the Assembly of the People sighed with relief towards his colleague by the side.

"Indeed. Throughout this week, I've been getting way too many visits from these guys and it's pretty unsettling." The other representative sighed as he recalled the events of the last few days.

The two representatives belonged to the democratic faction, the camp made up of representatives elected to represent the districts by their people.

The cabinet didn't hold much influence in government as the city lord was the designated sole power of the city-state. The cabinet's only jurisdiction, as approved by the Oklo Dynasty, was to represent the people, appoint a city lord, and formally impeach the city lord if his reign was negatively affecting the citizens of the city-state. While this might look like much, it wasn't exactly so as the cabinet couldn't abuse this power or they risked the ire of the Oklo Dynasty.

Apart from this, the cabinet could only make suggestions on governance to the city lord. This was because, once a city lord had been voted, all real power went towards him or her.

From this, one could see that when compared to the legislative arms in a democratic government, the cabinet didn't truly hold much authority.

Due to this fact, there weren't as many gatherings each month in the Assembly of the People. At best, the representatives might appear thrice a month to raise a suggestion to the city lord. But even such meetings typically didn't exceed two times per month.

However, because of the recent topic, the representatives of the cabinet had gathered six times in two weeks; an act that was previously unheard of in over a decade.

While this wasn't necessarily a problem for them, the issue was for the representatives of the democratic faction. They had been getting visits from the other representatives or envoys from the top four families and their forces. These visitors tried to convince them to either vote for or against the impeachment of Noah while offering gifts to lobby their support.

For some of the representatives of the democratic faction, this attention was gratifying and they could even profit from it by making my demands. For others however, they understood that once they stood with one side and the news got leaked, they would automatically be forced to ally with that side in future situations.

For these men —who were ordinary when compared to the city-state's true rulers— and preferred to remain neutral, this experience was daunting.

"Good day everyone." The cabinet premier rose from his seat on the rostrum and walked towards the podium where he then faced the crowd of representatives.

"There is a lot I have to say, but not much I have to say at the same time. Due to the importance of the day's session, I'll keep my speech short."

The cabinet premier then stared at the representatives, seemingly looking inside their soul. His gaze lingered longer whenever he met the eyes of representative from the democratic faction.

After this brief activity, with a voice filled with sincerity and pleading, the cabinet premier spoke up once again.

"Please, make your decision with the interest of the city-state and its people in mind."

The cabinet premier didn't loiter around on the podium as he returned to his seat.

The secretary stood up soon after and walked to the podium. He proceeded to announce the regulations of the voting and the format with which it would be carried out.

After this, there was a one hour interlude before the voting, where delegates from each camp could try to convince the other representatives to side with them. However, everyone already made their decision before coming today so this speech interlude was basically just a performance.

Once the one hour was up, ten men and women walked in with five ballot boxes and a bunch of ballot papers. On the papers were printed three options —for, against, abstain— with a header right before the options that read, "Impeachment of city lord Noah Bergs".

Five ballot boxes were used to prevent a scenario where one camp would seize a ballot box.

Take for instance, if there were three ballot boxes, the Bergs and Dufours representatives could simply cast their votes in one box alone. This would give the impression that the box stood for the impeachment. To avoid friction, those who were against or abstaining would avoid that box.

But if another box was occupied by Noah's allies, only one would be free, making that box naturally stand for those abstaining from the voting.

A simpler method would have been to use one ballot box, but considering the population of sixty representatives, that choice was voided. Two ballot boxes could also cause the same chaos, leaving the numbers four and five, with the latter being decided upon.

After the ballot boxes were setup at one corner of the hall, the voting started right away. The representatives would approach the male enforcers and receive a ballot paper from them. After that, they would select their choice with a thumbprint and place the paper inside the boxes watched over by the women. To maintain anonymity, each representative was given a maximum of twenty seconds to conclude with the process before the representative behind followed up.

With five queues in place, it didn't take long for the population of sixty representatives —including the premier— to cast their votes.

Within just five minutes, the entire process was completed. It was then time to collate the results.

The atmosphere became tense almost immediately. Despite the recent campaign and lobbying attempts by the two major parties, no one could say for certain who would come out on top. Although Fredor's camp felt that they were in the lead, due to Russell's somewhat neutral behaviour, even Fredor wasn't one hundred percent sure of victory.

Counting the papers had to be done with caution and transparency in the presence of the representatives. As such, it was what followed next.

"Now, we will begin the count."

Being the only influential figure without a say in this matter, the secretary of the cabinet was the most suited individual to oversee the count.

Just as he brought forward the first ballot box and was about to begin the count, the doors of the Assembly of the People were flung wide open.

"Who!"

One of the representatives from the Bergs family who had been feeling the pressure of the event, suddenly lost it and roared.

However, when he saw who the intruder was, the man was struck speechless.

"Y, you...it can't be!"

The representative wasn't the only one dumbfounded by the appearance and identity of the intruder. In fact, every individual present inside of the hall of the Assembly of the People were flabbergasted.

This was because the intruder was none other than the man said to be in a coma right at this moment; the centre of attention and this entire struggle, Noah Bergs.

The man, who could very well be said to be the start of it all, began making his way towards the opposite end of the hall —the rostrum where the premier sat.

"City lord..." Someone said with a low voice. The speaker sounded somewhat afraid yet determined.

It was an unwritten rule that the city lord not interfere directly in the matters of the cabinet. Unless permitted, the city lord couldn't even attend the cabinet's meetings. This was to allow the cabinet posses their ability to check the city lord, and at the same time, a sort of acknowledgement that both powers played different roles. But today, Noah has appeared to break this rule, which naturally promoted some to try and stop him.

However, Noah simply ignored the former until he reached his destination.

After walking into the rostrum, Noah nodded at the premier and faced the crowd of representatives who had gathered to decide his fate.

"What an interesting view." Noah suddenly said.

"City lord, what is the meaning of this?" An old man frowned.

The old man was from the Bergs family and led the representatives within the cabinet. He was related of the direct family; to be specific, he was Fredor's uncle. Even though Noah wasn't from the direct line of the family, the old man was still his senior.

"I should also ask you the same. Why is it that when the situation should be stabilised within the city, there is a pack of Blue wolves lusting after the Cantiger's flesh?"

Noah's intimidating aura burst out of his body. This aura wasn't the aura of his tenth level stellar refinement strength, but purely from his experience and position as a figure of power.

Even for this old man who had been in a position of power within the Bergs family for so long, he had to admit that the dignity and awe he possessed couldn't even compare to Noah's.

As for the city lord's statement, the meaning was clear. The Blue wolves and Cantiger were two desolate beast species in Eretre. However, the former was a low level species that could only reach a maximum of sixty level. On the other hand, the Cantiger would reach eighth level at maturity and had a chance at tenth level, if it was lucky enough.

Noah was basically criticising some parties in the cabinet for focusing on the wrong points; instead of stabilising the situation in the city, they aimed for his seat.

Naturally, he couldn't just sit back and watch.