Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Among the different countries, they were some that agreed with the methods of the Republic of Northwest.

  The Dhaka Commercial Association’s Chief Mage and Great Governor, for example, exclaimed happily upon hearing the news, “Good! Good! Marvelous! This is really a good plan; why did I not think of it before? Props to the Void Mask Lord; he is indeed wise and future-ready!” He had laughed and had been as hyper as when he had first become a leader in his youth.

  Another Great Governor was puzzled and asked, “Your Excellency of Dragon, where’s the good in this plan?”

  “Yes, in this case, what would differentiate royalty and common folk?”

  “I feel like there are issues with this plan……”

  “Me too……”

  The Chief Mage sighed and looked at his fellow governors. “You all really find fault with this plan?”

  He smiled in a passive-aggressive way, and in a cunning tone, he said, “We’re all peers here. There’s no need for pretense. If you have a problem, you can bring it up.”

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  The others were all stunned, and they glanced at each other before slowing recalling their negative expressions and words fearfully.

  “Actually…… there’s no issue.”

  “Yes…… If only this was applicable to me……”

  “Yes, it’s too late for us now, unfortunately……”

  These exclamations all came from the older governors who had climbed their way to this circle of highest rule through hard work and time.

  The Dhaka Commercial Association was a pure merchant country and did not have a strong aristocratic force like the Commonwealth of Golden Coins. It was also almost fully in line with the business route. This was due to the defeat of the Mifata Federation during the early stages of the country’s development. This country was somewhat underdeveloped and was not able to come up with a traditional ruling method. All the regions were ruled by small aristocrats and merchants, hand in hand. As for the bigger aristocracies…… the Mifata Federation had its own Marquis, which was the only one who had reached the Dhaka Commercial Association.

  Originally, the one who had used cunning schemes to become a Marquis wanted to take control over the entire country like the past Thunder Lord. However, he lost his life in a “small accident” and this “death” included his daughter-in-law’s illicit child.

  The massacre of the Marquis involved his entire family and social circle, which was not small. Afterward, there were other subsequent Marquis in Dhaka, but they all met with similar fates after they attained the position. To date, whoever had plans to lead Dhaka or create their own legacy lived no more than a year.

  Eventually, the country’s aristocrats gave up their plans for further development and turned to partnerships with merchants. The merchants did not require powerful control and respected the aristocrats’ special privileges. There was a balance that arose out of each individual controlling their own sphere, or rather, a balance based on two powerful external forces.

  One of the two forces was, of course, the Mifata Federation. As the sovereign state of Dhaka, they backed all the aristocrats. Whenever any aristocrat met with a crisis, the Mifata Federation would help them out.

  The other external force came from someone or a group of unidentified people from a few hundred years ago. They had a strong and deep-rooted hatred towards the aristocratic rule and attacked those who wanted to become big aristocrats or gain control mercilessly.

  Under these two forces’ influence, the Dhaka Commercial Association arose.

  This was the country that the aristocrats deemed to be the weakest—that is, before the Republic of Northwest was formed.

  When the Republic was formed, the leaders of Dhaka were inspired. They realized for the first time that countries could work on republicanism, and one could even gain full control from the aristocrats to establish a fully merchant-based country. However, Dhaka’s aristocrats were chosen by the Mifata Federation, and no one dared to risk going against or provoking the Mifata Federation.

  However, in the past few years, the Mifata Federation had its own internal issues, and Dhaka’s Great Governors found an opportunity.

  The Mifata Federation’s strongest originated from three areas. Firstly, they were the Master of Mystery’s core gods. In this world, those who had daxies at the top of their rule were considered the most powerful. If not, no matter how powerful an individual was, when facing those of a higher level, they would just be as negligible as an ant.

  Next would be those the Legendary Masters who followed “Supreme Mage” Master Ymirjar Le-Peyroux. They were almost the highest level forces in this world and were comparable to the Orc Empire’s holy churches; one south, one north and both had a hegemonic status.

  Lastly, it was the Mifata Organization of Magicians, which comprised of 28 magic towers. This organization had strong leadership and activism, and they steadily developed and produced many skilled magicians year by year. To them, even if one could temporarily get the upper hand, it would not last.

  Towards this strong Mifata Federation, Dhaka’s Great Governors never really dared to raise the idea of protests or overthrowing. However…… the Master of Mystery’s system had crumpled, Master Lamperus had died, and the Organization of Magicians was also falling apart with their alienation of legendary magicians. Not long ago, even several of the twenty-eight magic towers had declared their independence away from the organization or had separated subtly.

  Located at the edge, the four-city alliance was based on the God of Scholar’s church. The capital of the main city was in the middle, and the commercial cities in the central and north flanked it. Although the two commercial cities were not extremely important, they had two legendary magic towers and three legendary mages of Mill City.

  These three places were listed in increasing importance, but all had separated from the rule system of the Federation. Furthermore, even if the Mifata Federation pretended to be arrogant or indifferent, it had not been able to gain the results they wanted.

  The hegemony of the South was now weakened. Just as these obvious weaknesses of Mifata were shown, its dependent countries, the Duchy of Thunder and the Dhaka Commercial Association, started having nationalistic ideals. The Duchy of Thunder’s governors felt they were not as pertinent at the moment, while for Dhaka, they had already started discussing the issue. However, they concluded that unless they could convince the Goddess of Fortune to move her headquarters from the Commonwealth of Gold Coins to Dhaka, going independent would not be possible.

  The Dhaka Commercial Association naturally had its own Legendary Masters, but not many. As compared to the Mifata Federation, they were definitely disadvantaged. Even if they could defeat the Federation, they could not fight this battle. The merchants would be losing sight of their main goal of wealth if they were to engage in bloodshed and the destruction of men and resources. What would be the point of being independent then?

  Yet…… the governors were now re-inspired by the Republic’s act of allowing common folk to pick their surnames. With such a plan, they could test the Federation’s current level of support for the aristocrats. After a round of discussions, the cunning and smart merchant leaders eventually came to a unanimous decision. They would wait slyly and follow the lead of any other country which took action. In any case, being the main two instigators was not as worthwhile as being the third follower.

  If Sui Xiong’s university professor had heard this discussion, he probably would have commented coldly that this was a classic case of doing a big thing and forgetting the little things in the process.