Chapter 447: The Seventon Council

Facing the Arcane Union Headquarters across the street, the Seven Cities Council, situated exactly at the center of the New City District and the Old City District of Seventon, was currently ushering in its annual New Year's regular meeting.

Inside the magnificent and grand council hall, Niya gripped the Lord's Scepter tightly in her hand, sitting down nervously in an inconspicuous spot below the dais; however, no sooner had she sat down than a young man in the neighboring seat struck up a conversation: "Are you also here on behalf of your father?"

Hearing the other party mention "father," Niya couldn't help but feel a sting in her nose, thinking of her father who was still being kept in the Stasis Chamber of the Tower of Time; she felt quite miserable, and consequently, she was filled with resentment toward the person who had come to talk to her.

Yet this misery slightly diluted the nervousness she felt attending the Lord's Conference for the first time; seeing that the young man next to her was still staring at her intently, and considering the occasion, Niya could only nod.

Unexpectedly, the young man did not shut up and continued to chatter incessantly, "Do you know? I heard that this meeting was delayed because of the Elves, though I don't know what it's actually about!"

Of course, Niya did not know what it was about; although she had many conveniences as the Princess's student, she had been staying at Giles Tower recently and had seen almost no one, so how could she know any current events?

If it weren't for her teacher asking her to come to the meeting, she might not have even remembered that such a meeting existed; in the past, her father had always been the one to attend, and it was basically just going through the motions.

As more and more lords or lord representatives arrived, the noise in the council hall grew somewhat chaotic, but the voice in her ear was the most annoying, and Niya gradually became somewhat agitated.

She suddenly turned her head to look at this young man, and the deep blue Arcane Energy glow, mixed with feelings of dissatisfaction, seeped out from her pupils, "Shut your mouth!"

When the young man saw the Arcane Energy glow in Niya's eyes, he was already stunned; after being spoken to by Niya like that, he hurriedly stood up and vacated a seat—he could not afford to provoke such a young Arcanist.

Seeing the other party back down, the dissatisfaction in Niya's eyes gradually turned to calm, and even the initial nervousness had mostly vanished; just as she was pondering the purpose of this meeting, she heard a familiar voice calling her, and upon turning her head to look, she hurriedly stood up and stepped forward to greet him: "Master Bailun!"

The other party was not only a Great Arcanist who possessed powerful strength but was also her teacher's teacher; Niya dared not show the slightest disrespect, but Bailun did not care for these worldly formalities and waved his hand, saying casually:

"You! Don't learn from your teacher; you're not even that old, yet you're more rigid than this old man! Come sit! Our seats are over here."

Only then did Niya notice that while there were certainly no specifically assigned seats in the hall, the attendees had naturally formed several circles; some circles even glared at each other, while others were colluding, seemingly having had connections in the past.

Following Bailun to change seats, Niya also received the attention of everyone in the hall; she even heard someone whisper "Saville" and "from the countryside," but Niya's expression remained unchanged as she sat quietly in her current position.

As for Bailun, after bringing her over and asking a few questions about her difficulties in learning, he said nothing more, instead closing his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking about.

No one would be so tactless as to disturb a Great Arcanist, especially those from the same camp, but Niya became the object of everyone's scrutiny; now that she had changed places and knew that those around her were considered "her own people," she could only handle it carefully.

Before long, almost everyone had arrived; Niya counted roughly and found there were fewer than 60 people in total, including herself—could these be all the lords of Netheril? It was the first time Niya had understood the current situation of Netheril so intuitively; thinking of the dozens of "Pioneers" newly granted last year, she also realized for the first time just how significant this pioneering movement led by her teacher really was.

Suddenly, the council hall went quiet all at once, and Niya's attention returned to the hall, only to see the magic arrays on both sides of the front of the hall flashing one after another.

The representatives of the Seven Towers had arrived! Among these seven people, Niya saw her teacher; at this moment, her teacher was dressed in full regalia, holding a scepter, with sharp eyes and an extraordinary, heroic temperament, and upon arrival, she sat directly in the center of the seven seats at the very top.

However, after sitting down, the Princess did not speak, but merely sat upright there, leaving another Seven Towers representative to speak, "The 836th year of the Netheril Calendar, the New Year's regular meeting now begins!"

After a simple opening, the floor was silent for a moment, followed by an eruption of arguments, which almost left Niya dumbfounded—was this what the Lord's Conference was like?

The representative of Gustav Tower who was presiding over the meeting, the Great Arcanist Badigal, had a calm face, but he was already cursing inside; if it weren't for the tradition of the Seven Towers, he would have long since stopped wanting to attend this meeting.

Watching the argument below about to escalate further, Badigal pointed at someone at random; he vaguely recognized that person, who seemed to be a minor lord enfeoffed from Gustav Tower, passed down for three generations, each generation worse than the last, but seeing that his ancestors came from Gustav Tower, Badigal signaled for him to speak first.

The Great Arcanist had designated a candidate, and the hall immediately went quiet again; this was a tradition of the Lord's Conference, and among those attending, there was probably no one who didn't know it, except for Niya.

"Lord Badigal, I wish to accuse Danas of encroaching on the territory of Ferdinand Territory!" The Lord of Ferdinand loudly recounted the origins of the Ferdinand Territory, accusing the Danas Territory of being shameless, his words even having a touch of a Bard's flair.

After finishing, he looked around at the crowd triumphantly, but upon seeing the Great Arcanists in the crowd and the seven Great Arcanists on the dais, he immediately changed back to a respectful appearance.

I knew it! Badigal had presided over the Lord Council many times and participated even more, having long guessed what this guy would say; according to procedure, he let the Lord of Ferdinand sit down and then pointed to the target of the accusation: "Lord of Danas, do you have any explanation?"

The Lord of Danas stood up immediately, "He's talking nonsense! Danas Forest has always been the inherent territory of our Danas Territory; it's just that it hadn't been developed, which is why he took advantage of it. I now demand that Ferdinand Territory withdraw from Danas Forest immediately!"

The Lord of Ferdinand had just sat down, and upon hearing the rude language of the Lord of Danas, he immediately stood up again, "You're the one talking nonsense! That place has always been a lamb farm for Ferdinand Territory! I demand that Danas Territory withdraw from our territory immediately and compensate us for our losses!"

Then, both sides began to argue back and forth; Niya listened and listened, feeling a bit confused, but as she listened, she gradually began to understand.

It turned out that this piece of land did not belong to either side at all; it was just that nowadays the population in the Inner Land exceeded the land, and this forest, which had originally been difficult to develop, had become a piece of fat meat for them to fight over.

It was just that Ferdinand Territory had seized the opportunity first and built a farm, and later Danas Territory was not to be outdone, but the problem was that this was the only ownerless land in the vicinity, so the conflict arose.

Both sides had already fought several times before coming to Seventon, but their strengths were similar and both had suffered significant losses, yet neither side could gain a decisive advantage; dragging it out further might attract the covetousness of other territories, so they simply brought it to the Lord's Conference.

And their fundamental goal was not to crush the other side or monopolize this land, but to solidify the fact of their current occupation.

(End of chapter)