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?"

maintain political power over longer periods of time. The appearance of the Shionel Dungeon must have completely ruined each and every single one of

growth that Chairman Deacon was getting thanks to the Shionel Dungeon. The Shionel Dungeon empowered

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

risks, without willing to bleed for the sake of simply not

even then, it most likely would not be enough in and of itself. The reason for that 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 Guildmaster Bradt, with his ability to steal Chairman Deacon's dominance in the Shionel Dungeon, and his ability to create

the deal with the man. What he hadn't expected was how

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

were likelier to support Guildmaster Bradt, and that's just the way

the Guildmaster that was dominating all of them, Chairman Deacon had managed to win over his previous rivals and competitors with a common enemy,

all out with it as he aggressively bought over foreign stakeholders to his side by uniting the many foreign and international elements

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

even one bit. He had employed his massive economic capital to gather as much of an advantage as

appeared to have