“What are you planning to do?”
Seeing that everyone had their eyes on him, Arthur disclosed with a flat tone, “You either keep me as the Sages King and maintain things as it is. Or, I will make sure to sign as many non-beneficial contracts to your empires as possible before you can convince my people to replace me.”
“Just to let you know.” King Arthur smirked coldly, “Unlike you guys, I doubt it will be easy to convince them that their beloved king is an outsider, who meant harm to them.”
Everyone’s expression turned for the worst after hearing his conditions.
They knew that Arthur might not have enough authority to negate some serious contract with the alliance, but he could easily make trading for scrolls a living hell!
Naturally, this was going to affect the Sage Race much worse, but since Arthur was already going to be disposed off either ways, he didn’t give a sh*t.
“Arthur, you are really playing with fire.” Emperor Lokhil warned with a solemn tone.
“Am I?” Arthur rested a cheek on his backhand and mentioned casually, “How about this. Whoever approves of me remaining as the Sages King will get 15% discount permanently on epic and legendary scrolls purchases.”
‘15% permanent discount!!’
‘Is he for real?!’
‘I must have this!’
The moment he said so, everyone had a slight change of expression as hints of greed started manifesting in their pupils.
15% discount might not seem like much when buying a single article, but when was it applied on a whole trade and permanent nevertheless? It was priceless!
Especially when it was applied on something as expensive and important as epic/legendary scrolls!
Just one legendary scroll could cost from 10 billion SC to 1 trillion SC depending on its effect…15% discount on such single use scrolls would save billions of coins on each scroll!
“Honestly, I prefer to have Arthur as the Sages King…His true identity might have shocked me a little, but I don’t really mind it that much when we will have an entire race of them joining us soon.” The Spider Kin’s Princess Maeralya shared with a faint smile.
“How nice of you.” Arthur’s eyelids twitched after recalling that she had the nastiest curses thrown at him before.
“I feel the same way…Arthur has been a vital member of the alliance’s leadership, and it will be a shame to replace him with someone unworthy of a ruler’s position.” Shadowborns Ruler Hogan supported with a flat tone, seeming like he was reading from a script.
The other leaders started shimming in their own positive opinions on the matter as well, having a 180 degrees switch.
For such politicians, when given the choice of either receiving benefits or receiving penalties, they would always pick the former!
Still, there were some leaders with a better moral integrity.
“How could you guys even approve of such matter?!” Emperor Lokhil reproached angrily, “Don’t you have any sympathy or respect for the Sage Race? How would you feel if you knew that your king isn’t even from the same race as you?”
“I might be an imitator, but I have been a Sage before some of you were even born.” King Arthur defended himself, “Plus, I am the greatest scrolls inscriptor in this generation with more than twenty legendary scrolls under my name.”
“So, I dare you to bring a sage before me and find a single difference between us.” Arthur challenged expressionlessly.
“Nothing you say will change the fact that you were born as a void creature and not a Sage.” Emperor Lokhil retorted, not swayed in the slightest by his points.
“You are right.” Arthur shrugged his shoulders and looked at everyone…Then, he asked, “If this point annoyed anyone, you are free to vote against me.”
When Emperor Lokhil looked at everyone and noticed that the majority showed absolutely no signs of rejection, his expression couldn’t help but turn green in disgust.
“How can you give them such look, my friend?”
Arthur tensed the term ‘friend’ as he looked at Emperor Lokhil…Then, he assaulted him with numerous heart-squeezing questions!
“Aren’t you fighting this just because your race does not require my scrolls? Isn’t that crystal clear hypocrisy? Or, maybe your moral compass has finally been repaired after you threw the Darkin faction’s to the wolves?”
Emperor Lokhil’s eyes kept turning frigid with each question fired at him.
The worst part? He knew that he couldn’t defend himself against them without turning himself into a laughingstock in front of his peers!
After all, he was indeed one of the first advocates to give up on three alliance’s members when his empire’s safety was threatened!
Now, that his race wasn’t affected negatively too much by Arthur’s threats like the rest, he wanted to use his moral compass?
Arthur wasn’t having it…Clearly, neither were the rest.
That’s why no one spoke in favor of Emperor Lokhil’s outburst and merely watched him without a change of expression.
“I am voting in favor of keeping Arthur. I have been comfortable with him for a very long time, and I am certain that the Sage race will keep prospering under his rulership.” Queen Allura interjected before the atmosphere could turn much worse.
“I am in favor as well.” Empress Emily reasoned expressionlessly, “The Sage race will be replaced in the next great reset by the Void Nation as one of the ten rulers. Hence, the Void Nation will not have two votes in the alliance and impact the decision-making process…In conclusion, keeping him as the leader has more benefits to the alliance than negatives.”
Empress Emily could barely care about the scrolls discount since the metal race never utilize scrolls, potions, or even artifacts.
Yet still, she agreed to keep Arthur, which played a considerable part in pushing the majority to commit to their decision.
So, one by one they voted in favor of Arthur, leaving only Emperor Lokhil to vote against it…The rest not participating in this meeting had their votes voided.
This signified that Arthur’s identity was saved!
Well, at least for a while.
“I already drafted the contract.” Arthur said while forwarding everyone the contract.
After reading it they found out that it merely stated the Arthur’s identity must be kept a secret at all cost and in return, the parties in favor would be getting 15% discount on epic/legendary scrolls.
Anyone breaking the terms would suffer from grave punishments imposed by the alliance.
“Do we have any disagreement about the contract?” Queen Alfreda inquired.
“No.”
“All good.”
“It’s satisfactory.”
All the Kings and Queens approved of the contract besides Emperor Lokhil.
Unfortunately, the majority made decisions in the alliance, and he could only forcefully sign the contract.
As for the leaders unavailable in this meeting? Queen Ai delivered the contract to them for reading even when they weren’t part of the discussion.
After all, no one stopped them from attending this assembly or sending someone to decide on their behalf, which meant that any decision made in their absence would take place whether they liked it or not…Unless, the contract was directly related to their race.
In this case, the contract was related to the Sages.
“Those bastards! How could they allow him to keep his position for a mere 15% discount bribe!” Duchess Alina cursed as she read the contract amidst a meeting with the rest of the upper nobility.
“Having the Sages in their side means that they will have an endless supply of scrolls.” Marquise Sebastian frowned, “Can’t we expose Arthur with other methods?”
“How can you expose him for being an imitator without having the backing of the entire alliance or ironclad evidence?” Duchess Alina replied with an irritated tone, “He is too popular with his own citizens and anything you accuse him off will merely be seen as an attack against their king.”
The only evidence available was the recording of the inner circle assembly…Unfortunately, this couldn’t be used since such assemblies’ discussions were highly classified, making it against the rules to share it.
Just as Marquise Sebastian was about to suggest another method, Duchess Alina warned, “I have just signed the contract, don’t involve me in this anymore.”
“Also, that bastard is the last concern in my mind right now.” Duchess Alina narrowed her eyes in focus at a holographic screen, showing her beloved capital planet on the verge of being devoured.
“Have you found any method to save it?”
“I have spoken with Commander Robinkett, and he told me that the only way to cause serious damage to the World Eater is by using our planet destroyer weapon.” Marquise Sebastian shook his head, “Unfortunately, it has spawned too close to our planet. So, if we used it, our planet will perish in the process…”
“I see.” Duchess Alina rubbed her eyelids thoughtfully, ‘We only have one planet destroyer weapon, and we have been keeping it hidden inside our third blood moon for emergencies. If using it is going to end up destroying the planet, I might as well keep it hidden.’
Duchess Alina understood that dealing with the Void Nation was extremely tricky due to their abilities to spy on everything from the void realm.
So, if they dared to use their planet destroyer weapon, she was certain that they would get rid of it instantly no matter how much protection she provided.
So, it was best to keep it hidden for another opportunity.
As for Liniliv? She could only give it one last look and order Marquise Sebastian to prioritize the evacuation process…
“Why don’t we exit the alliance and target the human race? That f*cker won’t feel anything, no matter how many voidlings we kill…But, if we targeted his Federation, we will have more negotiation power over him.” Marquise Arthur suggested with a hateful tone.
