The Martial Unity

"I thought you didn't care about the elections," Kane asked one day when the fateful day was arriving sooner, raising an eyebrow as he watched Rui reading one of the campaigning ads of Chairman Deacon.

"I didn't before, but…" Rui's eyes narrowed. "That was because I thought Guildmaster Bradt had it in the bag without any shadow of a doubt."

"You're telling me he doesn't?" Kane raised an eyebrow. "I thought Guildmaster Bradt was the most kick-ass merchant in the Shionel confederation and no one could possibly trounce him head-on."

"These things don't work like a Martial Art fight, you know," Rui replied, amused. "Political and economic competitions are such that their personal capabilities matter less than you think. Yes, Guildmaster Bradt is extremely competent as a merchant, but the same can be said for Chairman Deacon. They have their own strengths in the way that they operate. The differences in their personal capacities as merchants and political leaders are not going to be tie-breakers. There are other variables that are arguably far more important."

Kane glanced at him. "Like…?"

"Circumstances," Rui replied shortly. "Opportunities. Even plain old luck."

"Circumstances like the Shionel Dungeon?"

Rui nodded. "I bet Guildmaster Bradt hates the Shionel Dungeon ever appearing, given his nature, he had probably constructed an extremely elaborate long-term strategy to maintain political power over longer periods of time. The appearance of the Shionel Dungeon must have completely ruined

and one of them was the sheer amount of unfathomable growth that Chairman Deacon was getting thanks to the Shionel Dungeon. The Shionel Dungeon empowered the man's field and industries to a level that it did not boost other fields and sectors, especially not Guildmaster Bradt's

faced with such a titanic disadvantage, when his opponent was highly competent and would certainly exploit and abuse it to

being willing to take extraordinarily bold risks, without willing to bleed for the sake of simply not

was that Guildmaster Bradt's opponent was known to be a relentless bloodhound that never let go. He possessed the trait that Guildmaster Bradt needed to exhibit to

godsend to Guildmaster Bradt, with his ability to steal Chairman Deacon's dominance in the Shionel Dungeon, and his ability to create a dungeon map that allowed

with the man. What he hadn't expected was how well Chairman Deacon would be able to cope

Deacon had not simply let the loss push him down, but instead, used the opportunity to gather support from merchants that he previously competed with. Previously, these merchants were raw esoteric ore deposits suppliers like he was, they were fierce competitors and he was unlikely to have ever been able to gain their political support. After all, he dominated them in

support Guildmaster Bradt, and

a common obnoxious enemy that was obviously partnering up with the Guildmaster that was dominating all of them, Chairman Deacon had managed to win over his previous

bought over

these parties could not directly vote in the Shionel Dungeon, their cooperation could be used to buy off voters inside the Shionel

had employed his massive economic capital

efforts appeared to have paid