Birth Of The Crafts-God
Chapter 348 - 348: The Cabinet

"It's indeed more complicated than I thought." Lucas sighed after going through the report Damian left with him.

Damian wasn't present as he had left earlier after handing over the report to Lucas. The latter claimed he was busy with work but whether that was true or not didn't matter. This was because Lucas' attention was on the details of the report.

According to the investigative report, the political situation in Baylands City had been showing signs of instability ever since Lucas' departure. Whether it was the attack on students by terrorists, or the invasion of Baylands City's Central Prefecture leading to the death of some councillors, those were all topics brought up during protests organised a bit after Lucas' departure.

It should be known that the attack by the Stygian Abyss was the very first in Baylands City's Central Prefecture in decades. There were also cabinet members who ended up as victims of the attack.

It drew suspicion to the capability of the city lord to ensure the safety of the city as well as his attempts at battling the terrorists. Many began to question his ability, with some even claiming that the city lord, Noah Berg, was a terrorist implant. While the latter was a ridiculous comment, it still served to harm his reputation in the city.

However, Noah wasn't a pushover and this was obvious from the fact that he faced off against his stepbrother, Fredor —who had the majority support of the Bergs family— and seized the rights to the city lord title. He managed to regain control of the city, quell the complaints and appease the people. Despite that, those who had started the fire weren't satisfied. But without reason nor justification, they couldn't achieve their goal and could only bid their time.

That was until recently.

Apparently, a bit more than a week ago, there had been sightings of an eighth level desolate beast close by. Such a monster was no different from an agent of chaos in the region, but it was also a moving mountain of wealth. For some reason, the city lord, Noah, had decided to personally subjugate this beast. However, it was surprising that in the course of doing so, the tenth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner got injured.

It was only two days later that the truth of the matter was released; the city lord had clashed with some terrorists at the hunting site.

This news turned the city, once again, into a heated environment. Having not just failed to prevent terrorists from invading and even losing to them, calls for the city lord's impeachment rose again.

The city lord was unwell and couldn't handle the matter, so the noise was louder than before. The opposition felt this was the best opportunity and did all they could to ensure it.

This was roughly the summary of the report from Damian.

The question now was, did Lucas need to return back to Baylands City or not?

. . .

"We need a new leader in these dire times. The people are already losing their patience and intend on revolting." A black-haired man declared while standing.

"Don't think we don't know what you guys are planning. The people revolting? Cut that shit off and just admit you've been sponsoring those protests." Another man yelled.

"Watch your tongue!" The black-haired man retorted.

On Earth, democracy and the presidential system were the most popular forms of government. It usually consisted of three arms of government. The executive arm, which was made of the officials and executives like the president or prime minister. It was also the leading faction in this system.

The legislative arm, which was either called a Congress, Assembly or House (of Senate/Representatives/Lords). It handled the formation of laws and also checked the executive arm.

The judiciary arm upheld the honour of the law by persecuting those who broke it.

While this was the major system on Earth, it was different in Eretre. Unlike Earth, Eretre had an indisputable ruler which was a monarchy. However, the city-states operated various systems of governments they saw fit.

In Baylands city-state, the system of government was a combination of both the presidential and parliamentary system.

The city lord would be nominated by the Cabinet —Baylands city-state's legislature— and the nominees would compete with each other for the title. The winner would then become the city lord upon approval by the Oklo Dynasty.

Despite being nominated by the Cabinet, the city lord had more power than them just like a president on Earth. However, he/she could be impeached by the Cabinet with a valid reason.

Such events were very rare throughout all of Baylands city-state's history, but today, that was the situation being played out.

"Quiet." The Cabinet premier interfered in the ensuing argument, bringing it to a halt.

Deep down, he was already getting tired of the argument.

The Cabinet was made of sixty representatives, with twenty of them coming from the top four families. Another twenty came from the other top factions in the city-state, while the remaining twenty were voted in to represent the twenty districts of Baylands city-state. For fairness sake, the Cabinet premier was selected from one of the democratically elected representatives.

Having worked alongside the representatives for years now, the premier could already tell what was going on in their heads.

Originally, the city lord's injury wasn't known to the public and very few among the top powers knew. But two days after the incident, which happened to be a week ago, the news got leaked.

Truthfully, the city lord being injured wasn't a reason for violence or protests, instead, it was the cause of the injury. He was ambushed by terrorist from the Stygian Abyss in a desolate beast domain close to Baylands City.

Even though it was more than four months ago, the terrorist attack in Baylands City's Central Prefecture district was still present in the minds of the people. At least three hundred were reported dead, five hundred had heavy injuries, with some losing a limb or two, while over a thousand were lightly injured. That was the largest terrorist attack in the city in years.

After the event, security had been bolstered and the next four months were peaceful, making many think that the situation had settled down. But the news of the ambush on the city lord, which led to the latter being heavily injured, brought back fear into the hearts of the people.

If even the city lord, the city's purported strongest warrior and leader, was injured to such an extent, who would protect the citizens?

Calls for the city lord's impeachment rose up as many believed that he was unsuited to lead and protect the people, especially in his current state. Some even suggested that assistance from the Oklo Dynasty be requested as the situation was getting out of hand.

While this seemed like a valid reaction, those in the Cabinet knew better. Whether it was the news of the city lord's injury being leaked or the reaction of the people, there were clear signs of subterfuge and schemes. And the source of all these was surely from here, the Cabinet.