Chapter 160: An Exercise In Democracy

"I'm going to state this before anything else. I only need nine of you alive and the other six are going to die. I've had a look through your logs and assets and it is possible to distribute your estates among the nine that will live and everything will still work as well as before. I'll give you five minutes to decide who lives and who dies,"

The silence that filled the room could have easily rivaled a graveyard. Everyone just stared at Floid like he grew two heads in less than a minute. Did he just say that he would kill half of us? This has to be a joke. Where the hell is the king? Shouldn't the king be the one here instead?

One of the stakeholders, the short woman that had a fox scarf wrapped around her neck, immediately stood up with an irritated expression. She was one of the oldest stakeholders in this kingdom and she has seen some of the craziest people to ever walk this planet in her time as a trader, but this man has to be the craziest out of all of them. There is no point in sitting here and listening to this madness! What gives him the right to decide who dies and who lives?

"Since it is obvious that you all have lost your minds, I will be the first to excuse myself. I have a lot of business to handle and I don't have time to waste on such stupidity - Urk!!"

Before the woman could even finish what she was saying, an [Earth Lance] shot out of the ground behind her and stabbed her in the back! The lance burst out from her chest and splattered blood all over the meeting table! It took a few seconds for everyone to realize that Floid just killed her and someone screamed at the top of her lungs!

"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!"

The heir of the old woman that was just killed was a girl with white hair and a ponytail tied to one side. She was the one that shouted out in shock as she saw her grandmother hanging from the lance like a glorified chicken! What in the world is going on!? S-She is really dead!

The entire table of stakeholders stood up and stepped back from the table while looking towards Floid in shock! They were suddenly realizing that things were more dangerous than they thought. This man was actually thinking about killing all of them like it was nothing! What the hell did we walk into!?

The girl that was still screaming stumbled away from her seat and she fell back to the ground and splashed into some of her grandmother's blood! She could only stare at the dead body hanging on the lance with wide eyes and she just continued screaming like a mad person!

Squelch!!

Another Lance shot out from the ground and stabbed the girl in the back of the head and the head of the lance buret out from her mouth! Floid frowned in annoyance and rubbed his ear as he leaned back in his seat. She was screaming too much. Floid had sensitive hearing so her screaming sounded like a banshee right in his ear. Floid tapped his hand on the table softly as he watched all the stakeholders looking at him and he wondered what they were trying to do. Are they thinking of running?

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"Take a seat, you only have four minutes and thirty seconds left thanks to the idiot that tried to leave. Anyone who stands up again will forfeit their position and they will be killed as well. Try to exercise caution,"

This was the last thing that Floid said and he then stayed silent and just watched them. Raven immediately stepped forward once Floid was finished talking and he spoke to everyone calmly.

"Please take your seat,"

Everyone turned to Raven in shock. They were wondering why he was so calm. Didn't he just see Floid kill that woman!? The woman didn't even do anything wrong and Floid killed her! How can someone with a conscience kill an old woman!?

Raven ignored their complaints and just told them to take their seat again.

"Stakeholder number nine forfeited her position the moment she decided to leave the room. There is no one to blame but herself. So please, take your seat. Any stakeholder here that is killed will also seal the fate of their heir and their heir would be killed as well. Like Master Floid said; Exercise caution,"

This was what made all the stakeholders stop and think. They looked from Floid back to the dead girl that had a lance sticking out from her mouth. None of them wanted their heirs to be killed because their heir is usually their child or grandchild. No parent wants their child to die like that. The stakeholders gently started to go back to their seats and they all sat down.

Raven nodded and then he produced a bowl from behind him. The bowl had exactly nine balls inside it and everyone came to the same conclusion at the same time. They could remember what Floid said before and they knew that only nine of them would leave this place alive. That means that six of the stakeholders were going to die. One of them was already dead, so that means that five stakeholders were still going to die.

The stakeholders all shifted in their seats nervously. How in the world were they going to get out of this alive?

Raven spoke after a few seconds.

"I am sure that most of you already came to the same conclusion. These balls will decide who lives and dies in the next four minutes. After the time is up, whoever is holding a ball will live and whoever is not holding a ball, both them and their heir will be killed and their estate will be shared among the other nine survivors. In order to make things fair, we shall exercise the same practice that we have always used. Your fate will be decided by how good of a trader you have been. We will have a round of votes for each person. You cannot vote for yourself, you can only vote twice and you cannot vote two times in a row. That is the way it has always been so that is how we will do things. If you have good relations with other traders then you will receive more votes and if you do not have good relations, then you will receive fewer votes."

The entire room started to look from one person to the other and they all wondered who they could trust to vote for them. Each person here only had two votes so there is no way you can hope to get someone's vote unless that person is indebted to you.

All the heirs that came along with their parents were just watching in surprise. They didn't know that this was the normal way that the kingdom chooses their king. This intensity and uncertainty were always present in this moment. Although usually, the stakeholders would have time to foster relations and make plans before these votes because they would know that the votes are going to be held soon. Most of the time, they would already know who is going to win before they even vote because all the preparation happens outside the room and everyone will know who the most likely winner is based on their preparations.

But right now, the stakeholders didn't have any of that. They didn't have the time to foster any relations and they also don't have any plans set up. They can only rely on their past actions to determine their fates. Anyone can betray anyone else and anyone can decide not to support you anymore.

Things like:

"He owes me a debt from that last trade we did"

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"I'm sure she won't forget that I helped her get those customers"

"They're all under me so they won't dare forget it."

"I'm holding the funds for three of them so they don't have a choice but to let me get out of here alive,"

They didn't fucking matter. None of it fucking mattered in this place where anyone can become your enemy. No one gives a fuck about what you did for them and people are only looking for ways to survive. If this was a regular voting for the next king, then it might have mattered, but this isn't a regular election! In this game, you die if you lose. There is no chance for retribution or revenge against those that don't vote for you. You simply die.

Raven brought out the first ball and calmly looked at everyone.

"Shall we begin?"

The game began and although the whole game didn't last more than three minutes, it felt like the longest three minutes of anyone's life! The stakeholders voted for each other one after the other and Floid could see how they were looking from one person to the other while trying to gain support.

Floid never said they couldn't talk to each other but for some reason, none of them even tried to talk. They felt like they would die if they spoke up. Well, Floid didn't mind the silence and he was sure that they had their ways of gaining support without talking.

The person that surprised Floid the most out of all the stakeholders was Katherine's father. The man was as silent as a graveyard and his face was so stoic that he could have been carved from stone! But he was able to get ten votes all to himself for some reason! He never made any promises and he never even looked at anyone! They just voted for him!

There were only twenty-eight votes to go around, so the fact that Katherine's father got ten of those votes to himself was extremely impressive!

But when you look into the records, you'll understand exactly why he got those kinds of numbers. Katherine's father was a banker. And his bank was the equivalent of the swiss banks that the rich members of society use back on earth.

He handles the funds and transactions of all the other businesses in Trad and his family was in charge of making sure their debt and expenses were properly recorded and balanced. That wasn't too big of a deal because anyone can handle finances. But the finances that Katherine's father handled were the finances of rich people who tend to do stupid things when they get greedy. Things like embezzlement and theft. Cheating and murder. Things that would ruin their reputation if it was ever discovered.

With enough knowledge of the numbers and where the money was going, a banker can dig up dirt on any person that they want. Katherine's father was able to get dirt on a lot of the stakeholders a long time ago to use as collateral for any issue that may come up in the future. Usually, it would be a good thing to let him die. That would make sure their secret was never revealed.

But Katherine's father wasn't stupid. He knew that rich idiots would try to assassinate him if they ever find out that he knew their secret. So he decided that he wouldn't hide the knowledge he had. Katherine's father sends a package every year to the stakeholders under his watchlist containing the secrets he knows about them as well as the magic broadcast system that would reveal these secrets to the entire kingdom the moment his heart stops beating. Basically, he is saying that the moment he dies, then every fucking person was going down with him.

This was a threat not just to them, but also to their reputation and their business. The secrets they had could ruin them if it was ever discovered. And that is why they needed him alive. If Katherine's father dies in this game, then their secrets would be released to the public and it won't even matter anymore if they survive in this game because their reputation would be ruined. And to them, that is a fate far worse than death! they would become poor! How disgusting.

All the stakeholders that he had dirt on couldn't take the risk that they might end up getting exposed so they had to use one of their votes for him and that was how he ended up with ten votes at once. As the popular saying goes, 'It pays to be prepared'.

The votes kept on going but as things were winding down, people started to become more and more stingy with their votes and things started to look bleak for those who would be next. There were three people with only two votes and there was one man who had only one vote. The man with only one vote was already biting his fingernail and glaring at everyone in anger because he knew that there is no way he would be getting out of this alive! These bastards all planned this to kill me off! How dare they!?

Seven of the balls in the bowl were already gone and there were only two balls left. The next person to be voted for was a dark-skinned woman that looked terrified out of her mind. She knew that there was only a small chance that she would survive but she held onto the hope that she would make it.

The votes were called and surprisingly, four people rose their hands and voted for her. She was shocked and then she breathed a sigh of absolute relief! With the way things were going, she would surely survive! She couldn't believe she managed to get one of the balls! She grabbed the ball and held it in both hands and she smiled when her heir tapped her shoulder with a smile. Her heir was her son who was also dark-skinned and she was happy that they would both live.

The amount of time remaining now was less than twenty seconds and there was only one ball left in the bowl. The last person to be voted for was a man sitting at the far end of the table and he was already smiling because he knew that there should be more than enough votes left for him to survive. He waited for Raven to call for the vote but he was shocked when he didn't hear anything. Instead of calling for a vote, Raven slowly took the ball and held it tight in his own fist.

The man blinked in surprise and he looked up at Raven's stoic face.

"Hey... Raven. What the hell are you doing? Call for the vote."

Raven didn't answer and the man shot to his feet and slammed his hand on the table!

"I told you to call for the vote, Raven!!!"

Raven stayed silent and only tightened his hold on the ball even more. From the other end of the table, Floid spoke.

"Five seconds left,"

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