Chapter 2463: Procedural Issues, Principles of the Covenant

Yinaole's words temporarily had a certain effect, and the venue quickly quieted down. After all, this Council of Great Arcanists was convened in his name, but if the Seven Towers kept not showing up, even the best patience would eventually be worn thin.

Regarding this situation, Xia Duo saw it in his eyes and felt anxious in his heart, but he also trusted Yinaole; since he had convened the meeting, he surely had a way to make the people from the Seven Towers come.

Even if only one person came, they could represent the Seven Towers in "reluctantly" accepting the meeting's resolution. If nothing unexpected happened, that person who would break the deadlock should be Lander.

As Xia Duo thought this, his heart gradually calmed down. Although no one in the venue was speaking at the moment, the Magic Net fluctuations triggered by the Sending spells were becoming increasingly frequent; even Xia Duo himself was in frequent contact with others.

About a quarter of an hour later, Lander, dressed in a plain Mage Robe, appeared at the venue, which caused a stir in the hall, but it soon subsided.

Everyone knew that Lander's appearance meant at least that today's meeting would not end without result; now it remained to be seen whether the others from the Seven Towers would come.

After arriving, Lander only nodded to everyone in greeting, then sat quietly in his seat without speaking to those on either side, but many people, including Xia Duo, were guessing what Lander's solo arrival portended.

Xia Duo felt it would be best if the Seven Towers split up right then and there, as this would greatly reduce resistance when renegotiating the Seville Covenant later. Of course, such things were fine to think about, but actually achieving them was very difficult; the interests of the Seven Towers were so intertwined that it was hard to say they could just split.

At least they wouldn't suddenly separate today or tomorrow.

……

After waiting quietly like this for a while, Xia Duo saw that Yinaole had not yet announced the start of the meeting and guessed that the others from the Seven Towers might also come.

The result was as he had thought; about half an hour after Lander arrived, the second Great Arcanist of the Seven Towers appeared. Unsurprisingly, the second one to come was Badijiaer.

"Apologies everyone, I'm a bit late."

After Badijiaer finished speaking, the remaining five Great Arcanists of the Seven Towers also arrived and took their seats. Only then did Yinaole finally announce the start of the meeting.

As for those Arcane Union Councilors belonging to the Seven Towers who hadn't come yet, that had no impact. Yinaole's calm voice echoed in the venue—

"Everyone, since everyone has arrived, let us begin. I believe you all received the news before today; what we are to discuss today is whether to accept the return of the descendants of the Netherese Other Plane Pioneers to the Main Plane."

"I object."

Before Yinaole could even introduce the specific background of the event, Sikumu was the first to jump out and express his objection. However, he was not objecting to the matter of whether the descendants of the Other Plane Pioneers should return itself, but rather objecting to this matter being discussed here.

"In the past, the Netherese pioneering of Other Planes was, strictly speaking, the Seven Towers' pioneering of Other Planes. Whether to accept the return of Other Plane pioneers to the Main Plane should be handled internally by the Seven Towers, rather than being placed here for everyone's amusement."

Although Xia Duo had a very low opinion of Sikumu, he had to admit that the other party had found a very good entry point. The question he raised was actually targeting the procedural issues of the Council of Great Arcanists.

In principle, the Council of Great Arcanists served as a supplement to the Seven Cities Council, and the principle upheld by the Seven Cities Council was territorial independence.

Although the Seven Towers was not one or seven territories, it was a combination of multiple territories and should enjoy the right to internal autonomy.

And most crucially, the discovery and pioneering of the Other Planes were indeed handled by the Seven Towers themselves. The current Seven Towers and the Seven Towers of that time were merely different in their combination of territories, but it was not as if there were no territories from that time that had remained within the Seven Towers Group and been passed down to the present.

In other words, there was no need to bring this issue to the Council of Great Arcanists for discussion; it didn't even reach the level of the Seven Cities Council. The Seven Towers had every right to handle it themselves.

Of course, regarding the procedural issue raised by Sikumu, Xia Duo already had a plan in mind and had thought of a countermeasure. He glanced at Yinaole and, seeing that the other party's expression remained calm, knew that this had not exceeded the scope of his preparations.

"Everyone, Sikumu has raised an objection. Before answering this question, considering that there are still many who do not fully understand the history of Netherese Other Plane pioneering, I find it necessary to introduce it to everyone first."

Yinaole then began to recount history, starting from the discovery of the Nether Scroll, to the decision of the Netherese Mages at the time to abandon Elven Magic, to the various pressures faced by the Netheril of that time.

Afterwards, he spoke of the discovery of habitable planes, emphasizing that the pioneering of Other Planes at the time was unanimously agreed upon by all Netherese Mages and received the support of almost all Netherese, whether intentional or unintentional.

In addition, Yinaole specifically introduced the situation of the Seven Towers at that time, noting that it was not composed of some Netherese Spellcasters as it is now, but that all Mages of Netheril were in the Seven Towers at that time.

"Therefore, to the objection raised by Sikumu, my answer is—the Seven Towers of that time represented the entirety of Netheril, or rather, everyone sitting here today, tracing their ancestry, can find their source in the Seven Towers of that time."

Yinaole's meaning was very clear; he did not deny that the Seven Towers had the right to decide whether to accept the return of the descendants of the Other Plane pioneers, but other territories outside the Seven Towers also possessed that right.

In other words, there was absolutely no problem with discussing this issue at the Council of Great Arcanists or the Seven Cities Council.

……

Of course, the Seven Towers was certainly unwilling to concede so easily. Next, Sikumu started from the basic fact that those pioneered planes had been under the management and aid of the Seven Towers for hundreds of years, arguing that the other territories that had successively become independent over these hundreds of years had already voluntarily abandoned their right to control those pioneered planes.

This was actually a basic principle mentioned in the Seville Covenant: that for a piece of land, as long as someone actually occupies it and reaches a certain duration, it can be considered that the person has legally possessed it.

Previously, when Rodney Lord established a stronghold in the Green Pearl Forest in Nan Jing under Weide's control, he relied on this clause in the Seville Covenant.

Although under the generally accepted unwritten rules, the Green Pearl Forest, which had been cleared for a long time, should have belonged to the Savile Territory, because there was no actual occupation, it remained just an unwritten rule. Once someone actually pioneered it and brought it to the table, the Savile Territory was actually not in the right.

Xia Duo had actually had such concerns before, but fortunately, the reason unwritten rules exist is because there is a reason for them. After he became a Great Arcanist, subsequent pioneers tacitly agreed not to pioneer south of Maihete Lake.

Of course, if someone really did that, it would be difficult for Xia Duo to refuse on legal grounds.

The point Sikumu raised now was to refute the historical origin argument put forward by Yinaole, pointing out that an actual state of occupation without conflict is more representative of ownership and jurisdiction.

In layman's terms—it's been hundreds of years; if you wanted to manage this matter, you would have done so long ago. Doesn't not managing it imply tacit consent for the Seven Towers to manage it?