Chapter 2183: Discrepancies and Opposition

After the agenda initiators, Netheril and Yierlan, had both spoken, it was the turn of the remaining nations. Enjier followed the principle of "proactive first, then rotating" to ensure that every member nation of the Alliance had a representative to speak.

Listening to the statements of those representatives, it was not difficult for Xia Duo to discern the degree of understanding those representatives' countries had regarding the situation in the Northland and the development of Magic.

For example, the representative of Yilusiqi could not even distinguish between Demon Descendants and Orcs, thinking that as long as they hid within the Mythallar Boundary, they could avoid the threat of the Demon Descendants.

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Or, there were Dwarf representatives who believed that as long as they hid in the Underdark, they would not need to worry about the threat of the Demon Descendants, and so on, ad infinitum.

But Xia Duo also understood that the small nations were not necessarily unaware of the threat of the Demon Descendants, but because the Northland Alliance system had become sound, it was increasingly difficult for them to shake off the control of the great powers.

This is the paradox of "fairness is not necessarily fair," meaning that when the strong and the weak participate in the same thing together, even if the rules do not favor the strong, in actual development, the strong will see their development speed far exceed that of the weak due to their own scale.

Resources within the Northland Alliance are limited, whether tangible or intangible; the more the great powers obtain, the less the small nations can obtain now and in the future.

Therefore, although the various small nations did not explicitly oppose the establishment of a dialogue and cooperation mechanism against the threat of the Demon Descendants, they expressed their concerns in their own ways between the lines.

Xia Duo highly approved of the Daoist principle of "diminishing the surplus to supplement the deficiency," but the reality is that great powers also have the right to develop, and because their scale is large, it is only natural that their incremental growth is also large; it is impossible to forcibly make the incremental growth of both equal.

In this situation, one can only look from the perspective of the overall development of the Northland Alliance and place limits on development increments above a certain scale, using them to strengthen the development of the weaker side.

But unfortunately, at the current stage, the concept of the Northland Alliance has not yet deepened to that extent, and the order of the Northland Alliance is not yet strong enough to that degree.

At the current stage, the only thing that can be guaranteed is probably the fairness of the procedure itself.

With such a realistic understanding concerning their own existence, the small nations naturally would not fail to understand; it is just that the weight of reality is too heavy, and they simply have no way to make choices that go against the wishes of the great powers. If they were not tactful, they might cease to exist.

Therefore, although the small nation representatives made all sorts of bizarre remarks during the speaking phase, once it came to the critical moment of voting, one by one they still very flexibly followed the votes of the great powers in their respective regions.

And this included Evereska!

The Small Nations Alliance certainly has a future, but because it is an alliance, it is impossible for them to be indistinguishable from one another when dealing with the outside world like true great powers. The Small Nations Alliance is scattered across different regions, and there will always be their own unique national conditions.

Once they encounter a decision that is beneficial to other small nations in the alliance but harmful only to themselves, failing to handle it well could be the end of the Small Nations Alliance.

This point greatly tests the political ability of the relevant leaders of Evereska, who currently serves as the leader of the Small Nations Alliance.

In the early stages of the Small Nations Alliance's development, being as conservative as possible and not touching the sensitive mindset of the great powers is likely one of the few choices the Small Nations Alliance has.

In the end, the agenda regarding the establishment of a dialogue and cooperation mechanism for the Demon Descendant issue was passed by a unanimous vote of "fourteen in favor, zero against, zero abstentions."

As for how to establish this dialogue and cooperation mechanism, it would be led by the agenda initiators, Netheril and Illefarn, with Eaerlann, Keman, and Dan Zuo responding, and the remaining small nations would simply accept it.

When the temporary Speaker of the Assembly, Enjier, announced this result, all the representatives in the Covenant Hall had neither joy nor sorrow on their faces; after all, before this assembly, the various countries had already reached a general consensus, and now it was more just going through the motions.

But the second agenda item of this assembly was different. A large number of rumors about Yierlan had already spread in Evereska before the meeting. Not all the representatives present had heard them all, but at least they had heard one or two.

But even if it were only one or two, one could glimpse the intense scenes during the assembly's discussions from them.

"Next, we begin the discussion on the second agenda item of this assembly—proposed by Netheril—regarding the completion of border demarcation between all countries as soon as possible."

After speaking, Enjier even grinned with some hidden meaning, and then called on Badijiaer to speak.

The issue of border demarcation was actually not initiated by Xia Duo. As early as the beginning of the establishment of the Northland Alliance, this agenda item had become a regular at the Alliance Assembly, but before today, the various countries had mostly discussed the accurate definition of territorial borders.

And had not entered the practical stage of determining the borders.

If not for the subsequent agenda item on restricting War Spells, the agenda item to complete border demarcation as soon as possible would never have been brought up for discussion. It is likely that as soon as Badijiaer finished speaking, other representatives would have immediately moved to cancel the subsequent discussion.

Or rather, if not for Xia Duo, the Netheril side would never have submitted such an agenda item.

But in reality, there are no "ifs." After Badijiaer's cliché-ridden speech about the benefits of border demarcation, Enjier, not fearing trouble, directly called on the eager Yierlan representative, Solzamis, to speak.

And as soon as Solzamis stood up, he "lived up to expectations" by stating that the issue of border demarcation involved a wide range of matters and that now was not the best time to discuss it, requesting the assembly to cancel the discussion on this issue.

"Now the Yierlan representative requests to cancel this agenda item. Do other representatives have any opinions?"

Enjier called them out one by one to ask. Except for the newly established Elan Kingdom, which voted in favor, the other countries either opposed or abstained.

Or more specifically, only Shaerwen, which is close to Yierlan, and Sluwende, which had lost part of its territory not long ago, cast abstention votes; the other ten countries, without exception, all clearly expressed their opposition.

Of course, they were not opposing Netheril's proposal, but opposing Yierlan's "proposal to cancel Netheril's proposal."

"The Yierlan side's proposal is invalid. We will continue the discussion. If Representative Solzamis has nothing else to say, then I will ask the next representative to speak!"

Enjier asked according to the assembly procedure, but received only a cold snort from Solzamis. However, Enjier was not angry; he could fully understand the other party's mood.

Come to think of it, among the Northland nations, the one with the best relationship with Yierlan is probably Dan Zuo. The two sides have almost no disputes or conflicts, only a great deal of cooperation.

But unfortunately, the one with the best relationship with Dan Zuo is not necessarily Yierlan, or rather, Dan Zuo has a relatively good relationship with all the countries in the Northland.

Of course, even if it were, Enjier could not act in favor of Yierlan at the Alliance Assembly; otherwise, a single motion from other countries could get him removed.

And if some of his actions were in fact beneficial to Yierlan, it could only be said that this action was recognized by the Northland countries, and it could not be called bias.

Solzamis gave up his turn to speak. Next, Enjier randomly pointed to a representative who had signaled to him that they wanted to speak: "Crown King Luoruian, please speak!"

Luoruian is the Crown King of Eaerlann, but he is also the official representative of Eaerlann at this assembly. He had already spoken earlier on the cooperation agenda regarding the Demon Descendants.

At this moment, Enjier called on him first, not without the idea of using Luoruian's status to dampen the tense atmosphere of the assembly. Although those watching the excitement don't mind the trouble, if it might touch upon themselves, they still have to try their best to protect themselves.