The Runic Alchemist

Finally, it happened. The House of Lords was about to vote against the partnership with Eldoris. They could not wait any longer.

All sanctum heads entered the hall, and all heated voices quieted down. They observed as Damian and others took their places, their representatives standing up to indicate that the heads were now in control of their position.

The Chamber-Lord drew everyone's attention back to the matter at hand with a fake cough. He started reciting the document containing details of the new bill,

"..and effectively end the deal made between Eldoris and Sanctuary. Does anyone have any objections before we proceed to the voting?"

A hand rose from the noble side of the house seats. It belonged to an ex-baron who was often seen with Leon and his rebellious group.

At the very back of the hall stood a crowd of sanctum officials who were not part of the House of Lords but had just come to observe. Among them, the guests of the Sanctum were present as well. Leon and Ashborn brat, Hellstorm and Alex, several merchants and foreign nobles, and others.

Vidalia, standing alone at the entrance, away from others, was a point of note for many as well.

The hall was filled with multiple mana threads connecting the heads of people and going through the ceiling. Red, gold, blue, and even black. Some spies of the chaos god Damian had no reason to kill or remove, even if he wanted to. He could only keep an eye on them and catch them doing something that gave him an excuse to fire them.

The red priests were gone due to Damian's strict warning, another thing the people were not a fan of.

The Sun God faith was bigger than one country. Already opening dungeons was going against it, which most people ignored because of the profit it made them. But his outright rejection of red priests meant he cared nothing for the Sun God faith at all. The hardcore believers found that hard to swallow.

"The decision to make this partnership was never brought before us. Clearly, the promises were made in private, and now the whole country is being given to people we never swore allegiance to. All our hard work? All the struggles the first keeper, Einar, Lady Souldealer, The Demon Hunter Couple, and Lady Grace went through will be for nothing."

After a dramatic pause, the man continued,

"I know this bill will not be accepted behind the closed doors of our sanctum heads. But that doesn't mean we won't do nothing. We all have to play our part and let the sanctuary know their voices are heard. Members of the House of Lords will always bring a common man's voice inside these halls. For that is our duty."

Over 60% nobles were murmuring, 'Yeah' and 'That's right'. Even half of the commoner side seats were nodding along their heads.

Several Lords stood up after that and spoke in the sanctuary's favor. Sir Gilroy Windforce, the one-legged knight. Lady Ghislain, the woman who came too close to becoming the seventh head. Austen Colt, the Bandit Hunter Knight. Kael Longboat, a runesmith, Damian barely knew.

Lord Silas and Baron Marcus Goldilocks, the words of whom should have more weight than they did, but the first guy's speech had used the fears of people so well that words did not mean much now.

At last, the voting happened, and with 317 votes, the bill passed.

Now it was up to the sanctum heads. The hall filled with hundreds of people collectively eyed the chairs where the eight sanctum heads were seated.

Damian stood up and walked up to the little stage where the Chamber Lord had just announced the results. He glanced at his fellow sanctum heads, and they followed behind. They stood on the stage together. Damian turned his head, registering all the faces that were fixed on them.

"You want to see what happens behind closed doors? How do the sanctum heads do their jobs? Then be my guest."

Damian waved his hand, and eight chairs grew out of the steel stage floor. They were not wooden chairs but made out of the same Blazur metal the floor was made out of. His Essence Sight skill had reached the point that, combined with Dust to Iron, he could bend metals to his will. Of course, it was just manipulation and not true creation.

The mana cost made the skill unusable in any efficient way other than in the lab. Though it made for a good trick.

The eight sanctum heads took their seats. A sanctum official handed Damian the new bill. Velen read it aloud for everyone to hear.

It basically said the sanctum will not share its dungeons with Eldoris just because the Keeper said so. They will not fight Eldoris's battles, and Vidalia will not be considered for any official sanctum positions. Vidalia and Ilvanya should leave the sanctum, and if not, they should leave the capital city and never be part of sanctum proceedings.

In short, it's the keeper who married, so why should we give Sanctum resources for that?

The mana contract was irreversible. The partnership was the price for the three gods to leave Sanctuary alone. But people did not know that. They had no explanation as to why they were doing all this other than his shotgun marriage.

"Before we begin," Damian said once Velen finished, "Keep your duties in mind as you have always done. Ignore all details that are not necessary for the discussion of this matter. Speak as a leader and a proud citizen of Sanctuary. Let's start. What do you all think of this bill?"

Lucian started, "The deal is not a bad one. Nothing that we agreed upon is completely in Eldoris's favor. Fifty percent dungeons for six months means we have full access to all Eldoris dungeons, even the royal dungeon. As for the united front against wars, whether it be of Sanctuary or Eldoris, it benefits us greatly. We have advanced technology, but not enough manpower. In times of need, Eldoris can provide that manpower. No matter how much individual freedom we aspire for, no country on the mainland can survive on its own."

Souldealer added, "Eldoris as an ally is not an issue; we always had that kind of relationship. But the issue is presumed favoring of one country when we have three neighbors. It does look like we have made a first move towards a possible future of violence."

The past table of seven never made a decision by just respecting each other's words. It was a place where all sanctum heads could say anything at all as long as they believed in those words even 10%. At times, it became a really heated discussion. But it was all for the Sanctuary.

As long as the decision still needed to be made, all opinions had to be weighed. All seven of them understood that they must speak out about their fears here, or it might become something more. They were not representing just themselves but all of their people. They must think of everyone who called them a leader.

Which was why Souldealer's opinion was not surprising to any of them. But now they were a table of eight, and Ilvanya was the newest member. She was not used to this, and it showed in her eyes. She looked towards Evrin and confirmed that it was not an act. This was indeed how the table of sanctum heads operated.

"The bill serves no real purpose," Einar stated to the shock of the entire hall.