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Chapter 125: The Town Council’s Decision

  Eics – to oversimplify drastically – is nothing more than the bance of supply and demand made liquid by the application of currency.

  Dungeons, by their very nature, break this.

  I am well aware of how the Silver Cog Trading pany has wrought its substantial successes due to the timely and skillful log-down of important durading tracts, but objectively, dungeons are a disaster for a stable ey. At the core of the problem is the dungeon respawn. Every few hours – or days, depending on the dungeon – most dungeons respawn their monsters, along with all their harvestable monster parts, ons, armor, or whatever. This creates a potentially infinite supply problem that drive the value of important items and resources to zero.

  When a new dungeon appears, spawning an easy boss with a desirable bronze-ranked sword, not only does the value of that specific sword plummet, but the value of all swords of simir rank and purpose will crater because cash-strapped adventurers will purchase the vastly cheaper one even if it isly ideal.

  sider, for a moment, the problem of s. Most item dungeons learn to create s – presumably from ing the many corpses of adventurers, delvers, and opportunists that die in their caves or hallways. Easy bosses that spawn with s bee rapidly sought after, sparking a gold rush that crater aire kingdom’s currency.

  It is fortunate for us that such a rush on a duypically causes it to be wiped out immediately or forces the dungeon into such a rapid growth cycle that the risk grows to overshadow the value of a few s.

  The problem of s is far trickier than most would believe. I draw your attention to the fate of the Marakian Kingdom which, just a few turies ago, piohe idea of imbuing their s with mana signatures, making them impossible to duplicate or respawly. The kingdom, as you may recall, colpsed when their neighbors assassihe head of their gover’s mint and his mana signature vanished ht, taking out half the kingdom’s curren a single blow.

  Besides, even if a dungeon ot copy a mana signature, the s still have signifit value as gold, ptinum, or electrum.

  - Internal Manual on Dungeon Eics by Bixi Bargainhunter, Silver Cog Trading Co.

  Aliandra

  It was one of those bright and clear ms with not a single cloud in the sky. The breeze carried the crisp cool st of freshness, blowing away the usual odors of the town. Ali stepped down onto the street in front of the Adventurers Guild and gazed about, taking in the sparse early m traffic. Stretched across the sky, her sensitive mana-sight picked out the almost invisible tendrils of mana f the vast formation that must have been the spatial suppression spell bing the town. It was a agic, reminding Ali of the old etric mage that had teleported her to Volle, but she didn’t have the time to study it further.

  “Ok, I’m off,” Vivian announced abruptly. “Wait a few minutes and then e to the Town Hall.”

  Ali heir entrance would be a carefully orchestrated py, directed by Lira, and every part of it had been sidered for maximum impact, value, or strategy. Ali had not even followed half of the subtle interpy, but Mieriel, Ryn, and Lira had agonized over every detail.

  As Vivian disappeared dowreet, Ali opened her Grimoire and began to summon her monsters. All her friends were already there, but she would not be going alone. Lira stood beside her looking serene, of course, emanating a soft, peaceful aura of nature magic. Malika and looked exactly as nervous as she felt in their brand-new, exquisitely tailored suits. At first, Malika had strenuously objected to ‘dressing like a noble’ and seemed quite unfortable in such expensive clothing, but Lira insisted, g it was the proper ‘armor’ for this kind of battle. ’s squirming and tugging at his colr earned him a severe gnce from the Dryad.

  She made two Forest Guardians to round out her small retinue of minions. They appeared, taking up a huge amount of spa the street, shiftilessly as if refleg her mood. Besides the two giant elementals, she had made a single Kobold Acolyte and Fire Mage. Both had been dressed by Lydia too, sparing ail on their entrance, and it was a good thing too – Ali would need every ounce of enhanced intelligence she could eke out of her Empowered Summoner buff for the trial itself.

  I hope the Guardians fit through the door. The Town Hall dooride, but she had fotten to check if it was wide enough. The Guardians would certainly be able to enter but redug the building to rubble and ruin was not quite the entrance she needed.

  “I’m ready.” It was a simple statement of fact, but it had the significe of a rge boulder pced in precarious ba the top of a cliff. What was to e was an avanche, and it was uain if the events set in motion would crush her into dust or carry her on to safety.

  “Let’s get this started, then,” Malika said, turning angrily and stalking dowreet toward the Town Hall, the tension held in her body broadcasting just how upset she still was.

  I’m sorry, Malika, Ali thought. She had tried every way she could think of to expin or apologize to her, but she would not hear it. Still, she refused to abandon Ali to face this alone, ging to her trite ‘we’ll do it together’ like it was the bedrock of her soul. Ali stared sadly at Malika’s back, but she felt a f hand reag down to grab hers.

  “She will uand, give her time,” Lira said, her voice soft ale. But Ali was not so fident, and she worried about her friend the whole way.

  When they reached the Town Hall, Malika pushed the doors wide aered with . Ali directed her Forest Guardians to follow, o a time, and to her relief, they made it through, leaving just minor scrape marks on the protruding steel hinges. She had them fan out into a fnking formation behind Malika and before she floated through, sitting cross-legged upon her barrier, with her two Kobolds walking along behind like retainers. Lira had even purchased an impressive-looking gaff for the mage and ser styled like a dragon’s head for the Acolyte at Weldin’s store, details that Ali wouldn’t even have sidered.

  We look like a funeral procession, she thought, hoping fervently that it would not be her funeral.

  The rea to their entrance was a stunned silehe kind of shock that caught the breath in surprise. Her enormous Guardia pace with her barrier, their slow, heavy steps shaking the foundations of the Town Hall. A quiet undercurrent of whispers rippled through the crowd of spectators arranged around the tral dais. There were rows of important or curious townsfolk and Ali reized quite a few of them – Eliyen and Basil to the one side, Lydia dressed in a beautiful creation, and Mato’s parents were clearly visible by the sheer bulk of his father. Off he back, she caught the gruff tenance of Thuli, sitting beside a hooded figure she knew was Kavé. Quite a few of the novice adventurers were also present.

  Spectators for the mai. No, supporters – I hope.

  Vivian had made sure that the trial en to the publid although she felt the weight of all those eyes upon her, Lira had insisted this would be better for their case. Winning over the publitiment would not directly ge the vote, but some of the cil members cared about the opinion of the townsfolk and would be influenced. But Ali had her doubts – for ohing, she was the terror of a dungeon, ma in the flesh before them – and for another, she was about to make a deal with the crime boss who oppressed the town.

  In the ter of the room, the richly dressed, impressive group of cil members occupied seven of the eight seats upon the raised dais, presumably so they could look down upon the accused. Lira had spent an incredible amount of energy impressing ohe importance of a strorance, and how setting the tone by how she arrived would help her argue her case as an equal rather than a supplit at the mercy of the cil’s whims. Every detail had been pnned out, including just how high Ali sat upon her barrier so that even with her smaller stature, she was the one looking slightly down ohe Guardians had nothing to do with her safety, they had beeed to vey solid weight and size.

  Ali’s attention was drawn to the tall, opulently dressed man rising to his feet at the ter of the dais, his face flushed red with anger. With a dark scowl, he thrust a fi her in accusation.

  Here it es.

  “What is the meaning of this!” he shouted. Even though she expected it, her heart pounded ihroat at the sheer aggression he leveled at her. Her mind jured images of Roderik’s violence, and more than anything she wao run and hide behind her Guardians, but she forced herself to face him as outwardly calm as she could ma was only then that she suddenly appreciated the wisdom of Lira who had insisted on makeup – she could tell her face had bnched, but nobody would ever see it.

  Bastian Asterford. She easily identified the executor by his extremely expensive crimson robes and the descriptions she had been given. Their analysis predicted he would vote against her.

  “Since when are criminals allowed t monsters before the cil?” This voice was sharp and cutting – and oozed with power and trol.

  Ali turned her attention to the new speaker, a stocky man with a powerful-looking frame, dressed in an exquisitely tailored suit. He stared ftly at her with hard eyes, clearly a mao people jumping when he spoke.

  Jax Hawkhurst. cil member of Myrin’s Keep, and the owner of the highly successful Hawkhurst Trading pany, both positions serving to cover his illicit smuggling, thievery, aortion rackets. Behind his harsh fa?ade, Ali could deteothing about his ihoughts, other than an instinctive sehat this man was ing.

  The person most likely responsible for orchestrating the Town Watch raid on me. He was also the person whose vote she o buy, over Malika’s vehement objes. And Mieriel’s sure he’s the one responsible for putting out the hit on us. Again, she felt the knot twisting in her gut at the wrongness of c this man for his vote.

  “Brand, get her in s already,” Jax tinued with a shat seemed to be hoo the status of a deadly political on.

  Ali said nothing. She simply sat, trying to trol the roiliions within. If she hadn’t known what to expect, she would probably have been just as shocked as the rest of the room.

  Nature-affinity mana crested like a tidal wave behind her.

  “Watch out!” the Gnomish cil member yelled, levitating herself behind an arg shield of lightning magic.

  Donel Novaspark.

  Vines writhed their way through the open doorway, the windows, and eveone floor, crag and bug it in the process. A soft breeze blew through the hall, bringing with it a rapidly expanding carpet of moss and delicate wildflowers, and as the mana crashed through the room, nature wisps spontaneously materialized, darting bad forth on the heavy currents of mana.

  Lira. Despite expeg something spectacur, Ali was awed at the power of the Dryad’s magiow restored by the forest she had made. By the startled looks from the crowd, so were most of the spectators – including the wide-eyed Gnome mage hiding behind her potent magic. She fot sometimes that her aunt was an a magical being of extraordinary power. Ali waited, enjoying the way the shocked shouts faded to total silence as Lira approached, striding elegantly and unhurriedly along her mossy carpet to join Ali before the dais.

  Many among the spectators – Elves, Druids, and other nature magic users – rose to their feet, bowed, or made signs of respect.

  That’s my cue.

  In the silence created by Lira’s magnifit entrance, Ali raised her void addressed the cil.

  “There appears to have been a misuanding. I do not e to throw myself upon the dubious mercy of a cil that seems to have already decided my guilt,” she decred. As the cil collected themselves, Ali took a deep breath to settle her nerves.

  The silehat greeted her statement oozed hostility.

  “My name is Aliandra Amariel. I am the duhat lives under Myrin’s Keep and I e with a proposal for peaceful coexistence.” Lira had insisted on leading with fidence. Arguing about her css was not going to help her case. By putting it out there at the start, she would circumvent many arguments.

  “Why are you here? Myrin’s Keep has stood here for a hundred years. It’s our town – you’re an interloper and not wele,” Bastian decred. He was still standing, but much of his bluster and anger had evaporated at Lira’s entrance.

  “I was born three thousand two hundred ay-seven years ago iy of Dal’mohra, the ruins of whiow lie below Myrin’s Keep. I have remained here all those years, so I think you’ll find that it is you all who are the interlopers in my home.” Most of those years had bee locked away behind her mother’s legendary Time Stasis spell, but Ali didn’t feel he o know that.

  “That’s preposterous,” Bastian scoffed.

  “I have the results of her Advanced Identify on record in the Adventurers Guild,” Vivian said calmly from her seat. “Her age, at least, is accurate. So is that Title she bears.”

  Ali had expected them to derail on Lira’s presence, but it seemed Bastian was more ied in sparring with Vivian.

  “That’s not proof of anything,” Bastian decred. “She’s g the legendary city is below our feet, has anyone seen it?”

  “I have,” answered. Beside him, Malika nodded her agreement but chose not to speak.

  “Anyone who is not accused.”

  “I have been in the Grand Library Ara.” Ali’s heart jumped to hear the sound of Ryn’s voice raised in her defense from the back of the audience. “My css is proof of that.”

  Bastian just stared her down in frustration, and Ali took the opportunity to direct the flow of versation, just as Lira had coached her.

  “Before we get to the business of the Town Watch’s unprovoked attae, my friends, and the Adventurers Guild, I have something far more urgent for the cil’s sideration.” Ali summohe seven copies of ’s report onto seven small disks of her barrier magic. She had practiced for a long time to perfect splitting her focus so many ways, and it was only with the enhao her are trol from Are Recall and the intelligence boost she was getting from Empowered Summohat she had been able to pull it off while still sitting on her barrier seat.

  Each disk floated smoothly across the dais, depositing a copy in front of each cil member.

  “What is this?” Bastian asked, not moving to touch it, but he was immediately interrupted.

  “Is there any proof of this?” The new voice souern and crisp as he tapped the report.

  Gerald Brand, ander of the Garrison. Ali identified him by his iron-gray hair and pierg blue eyes.

  “I am the proof,” Lira answered, her voice resonating more than usual, seeming to hang indefinitely in the air, still running rich with her mana. “My name is Lirasia. The forest that was my home for the st three thousand years, the Lirasian Forest, is no more, undone by the blight of the Neancer, Alexander Gray. It was utterly destroyed.”

  At her words, Gerald Brand’s aide left the room at a sprint, carrying the report.

  “You’re not taking this nonsense seriously, Brand?” The voice was gravelly and strong.

  Hadrik Goldbeard. He was the only dwarf on the cil. His hair and beard were an unon blond and were worn in thick braids that were festooned with heavy, ornate gold jewelry.

  “That group warned us of the Goblin siege. Yes, I am taking their report seriously,” the ander answered. “Besides, that is a three-mark Dryad bearing the title: Grand Mother of the Deep Woods. There be no question she is the one from the legends.”

  So Mieriel was right. The ander had remembered them, and more importantly, credited them with providing crucial information in support of the town’s defense – and Lira’s presence had lent an enormous weight of credibility.

  “The seatter of business for this cil is reted to the first,” Ali announced, pitg her voice to carry as best it could. ander Brand had accepted the report as worth sideration, which was her purpose. She just hoped it was enough to sway his vote in their favor as Mieriel had predicted.

  “With a Neancer closing in on town, many outlying farms have beeroyed, and I’ve been informed that the town is struggling to find food. I want to offer the magiy domain to feed the town while the Garrison ander defends us.” This was her bid for the sed vote, and she studied the mayor carefully – but, by using the eyes of her Acolyte, so that she didn’t give away her i.

  “ you really feed everyone?” William Turner asked. He seemed rather tense, and by the gasps and murmurs from the audie seemed that the food she was more desperate than she had imagined.

  “Lirasia has agreed to share her magid with the help of a few of the town’s farmers and nature mages, it should not be a problem,” Ali firmed, happy that she had caught his attention.

  “Was it you that advahe Elder Tree yesterday?”

  Ali’s eyes caught the pierg gaze of the Gnomish mage. Donel, it seemed, was intensely curious about magic. “It was Lirasia,” Ali firmed, filing the tidbit of information about her away just in case it might prove useful.

  The room erupted into a chaotic explosion of versations as the news and the proposal were processed. Ali simply waited for it to calm down suffitly.

  “For our final business, my friends are on trial for self-defense against the Town Watch, but I am a dungeon, and I ask that the cil vote to explicitly reize me as a person.” This was the most crucial moment. If she had done her job well, Vivian would bring her proposal before the cil formally, and one of the other cil members would sed it, f the vote to be on her personhood, rather than oher to cull a dungeon.

  “You want us tnize a dungeon as a person? So that you have legal prote? Nobody will support that nonsense,” Bastian scoffed.

  Ali saw Vivian sit forward out of the er of her eye, but surprisingly, it was not her voice that she heard first.

  “I will put the motion oable.” It was ander Brand’s voice.

  We got one.

  “Very well, who will sed it?” William Turner asked, sounding unsurprised. The excitement of seg Gerald Brand’s vote was quenched by William’s response. Ali had been hoping that her proposal for feeding the town would sway him to their side, but if it had worked, he wouldn’t have called for a sed, he would have do himself.

  “I sed the motion,” Vivian called out, after waiting long enough for William to do it if he wao.

  One of two, she realized, rag her brain to figure out what else she could do to vihe mayor.

  “If we’re proposing motions, I propose we elevate Kieran Mori to take Roderik Ice’s seat, and I propose we do it before we vote so that we vote with a full cil.” Jax’s cold voiterrupted Ali’s thoughts, and she snapped her head around, finding his hard eyes b into her.

  “Absolutely not! I object!” William Turner shouted. “You will not stack the cil with your Town Watch ckey.”

  “The Town Watch are the heroes here; they bravely frohe dungeon at the cost of many of their lives. Yet you insist on hearing this dungeon speak. This is a travesty,” Jax answered, raising his voice.

  “Your so-called heroes tried to kill my son!” William yelled, on his feet in an instant, gring down at Jax, amid the gasps and excmations from the crowd. “As mayor, I will cast Roderik’s vote in this matter.”

  Ali stared dumbfounded as the heated argumeed. She had of course beeo see Aiden and Havok beien up, and she uood William Turner’s rage. But she had no idea they could use the empty seat to vote.

  “Silence. You’re both out of line,” Bastian’s voice cut through the boiling anger with a calm authority. “I am the executor of the . I veto Mori on at of the fact that he has no noble blood. The will not stand for that. Iter of the ’s is, I outrank you, William. I will cast Roderik’s vote until we find a legal rept.”

  Oh, fuck. Ali watched helplessly as all their careful pnning came down in tatters. Bastian Asterford was definitely not going to vote for her – she had killed Roderik. And Roderik was a noble, just like Bastian. With him wielding two votes and the tiebreaker, she could not win, even if she somehow swayed William Turner and mao buy Jax’s vote.

  What I do? Ali wasn’t eveain she could buy Jax’s vote. Based oburst she had just withey had critically misjudged him as motivated by personal wealth; he seemed to care far more about influend power. In fact, if he had any i ih, he would have most likely been more ameo her case from the start, but instead, he had been hostile at every step.

  “I thank you for your scouti, and your proposal of food, but none of it is necessary. Gerald Brand will defend the town, and we will simply teleport in supplies from Southport to feed the people,” Bastian tinued. “Now let’s get this trial finished.”

  “How will you teleport food ihere is a spatial suppression field bing the town?” Ali asked. She had no idea what to do, it was simply the first thing that sprang to her mind. Bastian had to know about it, and he was simply lying to her.

  “How dare you share military secrets in public!” Jax called out.

  Aah, that’s what it is. Several things clicked in her mind in rapid succession. Bastian was not lying to her; he was lying to the spectators. The townsfolk did not know how dire the situation was, but it was clear that Jax did. Her sharing the information in public must have hurt him somehow. She also khat she no longer had any reason to pao him, given that winning his vote would not sway the oute at all. And Jax had just demonstrated he had two enemies on the cil, not one as they had thought. The Banker, and the Mayor. Maybe…

  Ali g Lira, wishing she could ask Mieriel for firmation – but Lira nodded imperceptibly, and it was enough. Plug up her ce, she gred at Jax. “Perhaps you should have sidered that I might tell the truth before inviting all the townsfolk you’ve been lying to, you two-faced ass,” Ali stated, delivering the insult with a deep sense of satisfa. For the st part, she used a Dwarven word she had heard Morwynne use to great effect – the Dwarven nguage was crude and crass, but it was an exquisite tool for delivering an insult. The word she had used pared his face to his ass, while simultaneously calling him out for being two-faced.

  There was a loud snort from Hadrik as he doubled over, letting out a belly ugh that filled the room, “Good one, ssie!”

  Ali opted to smile at him mostly to cover her fear, ign Jax’s infuriated scowl. She expected that most of the people present would not uand the Dwarven nguage, but just the sound of the word and Hadrik’s rea told everyone all they o know. Ali was still using her Kobold’s vision, so she saw Malika staring at her in shock, followed by a tentative smile.

  She was way off script, and she had clearly just lost Jax’s vote, but Malika’s small smile had kindled a warmth in her heart, and she suddenly felt a lot less dirty, somehow. But her brief respite was short-lived as the wreckage of a trial tinued unabated.

  “Before I call this matter to vote, there is a formal piered by Eliyen Mistwood against the Town Watch. She cims to have ied over two hundred gold in a joiure with Aliandra to procure mana-purified water. She cims that the iment was maliciously destroyed ia her business partner, and furthermore, members of the Town Watch were found selling the stolen produ the market without a lise.”

  “Pay her the damages, and I will fihe individuals selling without a market lise,” Hadrik decred brusquely. “Mana-purified water is expensive and rare, and we ot allow them to circumvent the ’s taxes.”

  William Turner cleared his throat awkwardly. “We ’t afford the damages, Hadrik,” he said.

  “What?” Hadrik rounded on William, his phenomenal, gilded beard quivering in shock.

  “She cims that Aliandra made aire ke of mana-purified water, and the survivors of the raid were trying to sell it by the bucketful.”

  Hadrik choked, his face going red. “A ke… that’s worth…” he trailed off, uo finish the thought.

  “More thaown, probably,” William Turner finished bluntly, as if relishing the implication or merely the ce to twist the verbal dagger.

  Hadrik turo stare at Ali, so she just shrugged flippantly and said, “Dungeon. It’s what we do.” But her mind was far from jokes, or more accurately, her earlier joke and Hadrik’s ughter had pnted a small seed of hope in her – hope that their cause was not lost.

  If I just figure out how to win him over.

  Mieriel had said it was impossible, but now Ali was not so sure he was that unassaible. Not that I have any other choice. She had burned Jax – her only option now was to win Hadrik, William, and Donel; if she failed with even one of them, she would again face a tie that was not in her favor or an ht loss.

  “Even though I made a ke of mana-purified water, I still worked through the guild mert to sell it to Eliyen. Everything was legal and all the required taxes were paid,” Ali offered the fbbergasted Dwarf. Her mind raced as she struggled to get ahead of the game, trying to figure out what else she might use to vince him, and then it came to her – she had been pnning to icite as ait to buy Jax’s vote. She couldn’t buy Hadrik’s because he seemed too ho and w-abiding.

  Or I?

  “Retly, I discovered how to make Magicite, and that too was sold to the Novaspark Academy of Magic via the guild mert, Weldin Thriftpenny. As you imagine, a reliable supply of Magicite could be a signifit boost for the ey of the town – and Weldin Thriftpenny is properly lised.” In the front row of the spectators, she saw the dapper Gnome mert nodding to her.

  Her statement caused a ripple of excited voices through the spectators, and Donel sat up with sudden i as she expihe source of the couple of ks of raw Magicite she had been sold.

  While she wasn’t explicitly trying to buy the town’s tax collector, she guessed that the huge potential influx of money would result in vastly more taxes for the . Hopefully, that’s enough to vince him. If Hadrik thought she was trusted to work within the w, she might be able to snag him.

  “She’s trying to buy your vote, you idiot,” Jax interjected angrily. Mieriel’s observation that he and Hadrik despised each other enough to fight during the cil meetings roving remarkably accurate.

  “Shut it, ya twit. I wasn’t borerday,” Hadrik retorted, his giant gold-braided beard bristling with anger, before he rounded on Ali.

  “I know what you’re trying to do. Entig me with the promises of riches from a dungeon. You paint a rosy picture of prosperity, but once you are strong enough, what’s to stop you from finding an unscrupulous mert and circumventing the w?” He gnced signifitly at Jax before turning back to her. “The lure of profit and the color of gold is a powerful foro, if you want to vince me, you must prove you be trolled.” His voice was clear, and his ughter and anger had both vanished, repced with a stern, focused businesslike attitude.

  With his dramatic shift in attitude, Ali realized she had never even been close to winning him over. The ughter at her joke, his a Jax, underh it all the stocky Dwarf had a mind as solid and firm as granite, and a sharp intellect too. He had unerringly identified the potential e between her as a dungeon and Jax with his smuggling ring – the very pn they had decided to use before Bastian cimed the extra vote.

  The color of gold…

  “You want trol?” she asked, drifting her barrier closer to the Dwarf, taking in the color of his golden jewelry. She retrieved the pouch of Dal’mold s from her ring into her pocket, slipping her fingers in to touch the s. trol was something she would not submit to, but she o vince him that her is and his were alighere was only one way she could think of. She pulsed her magic, destrug as many s as she could.

  “She’s using magic!” Donel’s shield lighting snapped into pce as Ali’s barrier reached the dais.

  A few more seds. Before Donel could un attack, she had to distract her. Buy just a little time. “I merely wish to demonstrate why my respect for the town’s trade w is relevant, and why I believe you trust me to adhere to it iure,” Ali announced. Several more s vanished, creating puffs of mana that Donel clearly could see. Several of the cil members activated defensive entments.

  Imprint: Dal’mold pleted.

  Close enough, she thought. It would have to do; Donel was already trying to cast something as she stared at Ali’s Grimoire that had suddenly appeared in respoo the new imprint. She activated Are Recall, and the entire cil froze in the suddenly gray room. Ali anxiously checked everything she could see, but, to her intense relief, no terrifying blue glowing monsters leapt out from ahis time.

  Donel must have seen something because her expression seemed twisted into one of surprise, her hand outstretched, brimming with mana. Ali chose a chapter with her mind, allowing the Grimoire to inscribe the new imprint upon the pages. As soon as it was done, she eled her mana, using the ization to create as much as she could all at once, like growing a wall full of ivy or a carpet of moss. She fed it almost her entire mana pool, saving just enough for her Barrier, in case she o defend herself from whatever Donel nning.

  Her spell pleted and, as the room snapped back to normal, it was filled with the distinctive sound of a tinuing cascade of gold striking wood and stone as the rge mound of Dal’mold s she had summoned crashed across the table and spilled onto the stone floor.

  Hadrik’s jaw dropped, and he just stood there staring. Donel’s magic fizzled as she let it fade.

  “As you see, I have no need of smugglers to sell Magicite. Nor do I o wait till I’m strong enough. I already just make a ke-full of gold if I wanted – and buy the eown.” It was not strictly true, the pile of s she had made looked impressive, but it was hardly more than a couple of hundred s, and it had taken almost her entire mana pool to make. A ke would take ages. But she was going for hammering the impression home, so she didn’t mind stretg the truth just a little.

  “And just what is your little stunt supposed to prove?” Hadrik asked, colleg his jaw from the floor.

  “If I already do this, but still choose to work with the town, I think you use that as a strong indication of my future behavior. There are people in this town I care about – and wreg the ey would put them all out of business, damage their livelihood, and likely drive everyone from the town. I meant what I said: I seek a peaceful coexistend mutual cooperation with the town.”

  “Ok, that’s just about enough for theatrics,” William announced. “I call the cil to vote. A vote of yes will accord Aliandra Amariel with the rights and prote of a town citizen uhe w. A vote of no will dehis right.”

  Wait, I need more time… He was calling for the vote early, and she hadn’t had time to finish making her case to Hadrik. Nor was she certain of William’s vote, and she hadn’t even started to figure out how to win Doo their side.

  “I vote no,” Jax decred. “Obviously.”

  “I vote yes,” Vivian said, sounding like she was tering Jax’s statement.

  “The votes no,” Bastian announced firmly. “Both my vote and Roderik’s.”

  Three no votes, and one yes. It wasn’t looking good already, but these were the votes that she had beeain of from the start.

  “I vote yes,” ander Brand announced, giving Ali a tiny thrill of achievement.

  “I will abstain,” Hadrik announced, stroking his beard with his fiips as if ihought.

  I didn’t vince him? she thought, a sudden chill settling i of her stomach. She hadn’t had enough time to vihe Dwarf, but she had hoped he would at least see her value to the , and Myrin’s Keep.

  The rapid voting ceased as William Turner pted his choices. Ali’s ay spiked as his face showed the fli his heart.

  “What are you waiting for, William? This is an obvious decision,” Jax prodded him.

  “That’s right, this should be an easy decision for you,” Vivian answered, inexplicably agreeing with Jax.

  What’s she doing? Is she betraying us? The whipsh of Vivian throwing in support with Jax left her reeling and hurt inside. But Vivian tinued.

  “Aliandra saved your boy’s life.”

  William’s head snapped around a Vivian’s eyes.

  “If you would put aside your differences and had actually talked to him, you would know this,” Vivian finished. William turo the crowd of spectators, and Ali saw Aiden nodding.

  “I vote yes,” William announced, his voice thick with difficult emotions.

  “Are you mad?” Jax excimed.

  “Be quiet,” Bastian shouted, rapping his knuckles on rich wood of the tabletop for emphasis. “Donel, how do you vote?”

  Where Vivian had pulled this trump card from, Ali couldn’t fathom. She had expected betrayal, but instead, she found an upwelling of gratitude toward the Guildmaster. But it wouldn’t be enough, Ali had dohing to vince Donel.

  The Gnome mage was simply sitting in her seat, studying Ali, her expression perfectly trolled.

  “Your daughter Brena is up for css adva soon,” Vivian said casually, drawing a sharp look from Donel.

  “And what of it?”

  “Aliandra has an advanced dungeon shrine, and I’m certain you uand what that means.”

  “Are y to buy my vote with a css for my daughter?” Donel’s trolled expression faltered, leaking flid anger onto her face.

  “I’m just pointing it out because it’s relevant,” came the smooth reply. “William’s son unlocked an ice mana affinity and got an Ice Swordsman css from her shrine. He told me it was the fourth css choice he was offered.” It was a surprisingly well-sidered pitch. Malika had expihat the town’s crafted shrine could only offer a siernate choice. Vivian retty btantly emphasizing the superior abilities of using her Shrine of the A Grove. “I have personally verified the shrine’s authenticity – it’s the real deal.”

  “You do this?” Donel asked, her gaze returning to Ali.

  Ali’s heart leapt as she saw the Gnomish mage wavering. She desperately wanted Ali’s shrine for her daughter, it inly written on her face.

  “I ,” she answered. But the pained expression on Donel’s face brought her to a sudden crity.

  In that moment, she pced herself in the shoes of the powerful mage, trying to decide between her family and her principles. Her iruggle was obvious as soon as Ali uood it. The warriions were pyed out across her face pin for ah eyes to see. If she chose her daughter, she would be publicly demonstratiism, and her position as an impartial cil member would be ruined. If she didn’t, her daughter might be fio a mediocre css for life. It rofound a flict of i as Ali could imagine.

  “But I won’t,” Ali said, itting to her course. Her answer was met with a sudden silence as everyone in the room stared at her in shock.

  Ali swallowed, trying to ighe stares of fusion from her friends and allies. “I will not buy your vote. This shrine assed down to me upon my father’s death and it has always been offered freely. I would honor his memory by doing the same. If your daughter wishes to use my shrine, all she o do is ask. Your vote here will not influence my decision on this in any way.” Her words caused a loud otion to erupt from the spectator seats.

  “That, of course, requires that you be alive,” Donel tered.

  “Yes, it does.” She couldn’t deny what Donel said, and it certainly stole a lot of the wind out of her sails, but she felt the rightness of her argument and refused to back down, simply meeting the Gnome’s gaze as steadily as she could ma was the best she could do uhe circumstances.

  “You are throwing away your ce, your only leverage,” Donel said, speaking like the words were a bitter pill in her mouth.

  Why am I throwing it away? The risk was clear to her – without Donel’s vote, she would lose. She would probably be killed, imprisoned, or forced to flee, dying to domain withdrawal ter. But she was done bending over backward to win votes at the cost of her values. She suddenly uood Malika’s view – standing up for what she believed was right aing the cards fall where they may. She wouldn’t make someone choose between their family and their principles simply because it was ve for her.

  “I stand here asking to be treated fairly by the cil. To be sidered on my ows. I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t treat your daughter with the fairness I seek. Please vote your s this matter.”

  “You are certainly brave, standing up for your principles like that,” Donel said, her face returning to its former posure, clearly having e to some sort of decision behind her imperable fa?ade.

  But Ali felt anything but brave and principled. She had ehe trial pnning on selling out to Jax. At every turn, she had simply been afraid of ning her friends to death. Now, in the end, she had thrown all of it away on some silly pride in her father’s memory. She felt sick.

  Would you be proud of me?

  “I vote yes.”

  Donel’s words entered her mind, but she didn’t quite prehend.

  Yes?

  She had been braced for failure dreading all that came with that, but the word that touched her ears was not the one she had expected. Her thoughts tumbled chaotically as the room erupted into shouting and she saw Malika’s white-knuckled fist un the er of her eye. – the rascal – had the cheek to nod, once, as if he had expected this all along.

  “Silence!” Bastian roared, rest some order once more.

  Ali’s eyes sought Lira standing regal and impassive, like a romoved by the winds and waves, but as their eyes met, Lira smiled and nodded approvingly. Is it really…

  In the ensuing quiet, William Turner collected himself, straightening up in his chair. “The vote is cluded. Iter of Aliandra Amariel, the cil has voted four in favor, three against with one abstaining. Aliandra is hereby granted reition as a person in the eyes of the w. As such, her as in defending herself against Roderik Ice are sidered to be self-defense and she is acquitted of the charge of murdering a noble. Simirly, Avery, Malika, and Mato Bahr are acquitted of the charge of attag the Town Watch, as their as are now legally self-defehis cil session is cluded.”

  “You’re not going to just accept this, Bastian?” Jax seemed livid.

  “It is a legal vote, and we are bound to abide by it. Obviously, I will report this to Southport, where I expect it to eventually be overturned as the does not abide dungeons. But, until then, it is w.”

  Jax turned on his heels and stalked out of the hall without another word.

  We won?

  timewalk

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