Arcane Academy, Great Hall.
Night has quietly fallen, and the banquet to celebrate the new term of parliamentarians has also begun in the evening.
The high-ranking wizards of the parliament and the teachers of the academy arrived at the auditorium one after another. Everyone was looking around. After the ceremony in the daytime, their attitude towards Lear had changed a lot.
The gift of the Arcane Goddess was enough to make them change their previous attitudes, even those who were prejudiced against Lear's identity as a member of the War Church or those who admired Larena.
In comparison, the expressions of Joseph and others were not very good.
Joseph and Ian stood together, feeling unbelievable about Lear receiving the gift of the goddess of arcane.
Why would the goddess give a gift to a barbarian who believed in war? This made them have to be cautious. If Li'er publicly supported Lareina, the outcome of this election would be hard to predict.
The mages of the council and the teachers of the academy have absolute faith in the goddess and show respect to those who have received her blessings.
In addition to Lear, Mea is also a wizard who has been blessed by the goddess. With the support of two beneficiaries, the balance will be broken.
Moreover, even the previous support rate was actually somewhat false. Joseph's support rate was not 60% at all. It was only around 50%, the same as Lareina. The public support rate was the result of fraud.
Lareina had never managed the election voting process before, but now it was obviously different.
While the two were talking, there were bursts of commotion coming from not far away. Lareina led Li Er slowly into the auditorium, and the originally noisy auditorium suddenly became quiet.
"Everyone, don't be shy. This banquet is held to celebrate Li'er becoming a new member of parliament and to celebrate the parliament becoming more powerful." Lareina walked to the main seat in the center and picked up a glass of red wine on the table.
"Let's drink!" She raised her glass high.
The mages around showed expressions of reverence.
Lareina has always been like this. She doesn't have the arrogance of being the Speaker of the Parliament. She doesn't discriminate against anyone, nor does she use her position to oppress others.
Although she is lazy and doesn't pay much attention to the general affairs of the parliament, Lareina still has the responsibility as the speaker at the critical moment!
So even though Lareina doesn't often appear in front of the mages in the parliament, there are still a large number of mages in the parliament who love her.
Many mages who had supported Lareina since she took office as speaker smiled. How long had it been since Lareina officially appeared in front of the mages of the parliament? The last time seemed to be half a year ago, when the alien descended and the goddess sent down the oracle.
An old wizard wearing a monocle in the crowd looked at Lareina with a hint of fondness in his eyes.
Lareina is indeed a lazy Speaker, but she is undoubtedly a good Speaker.
Lareina has been the Speaker for more than ten years. During these ten years, the parliament has developed steadily and every mage has been treated fairly. Lareina rarely interferes in the affairs of the parliament, but that is because every mage in the parliament can get what he deserves.
Every mage will also spontaneously abide by such rules.
But this smooth development ended after Joseph took office as a member of parliament. The parliament began to become utilitarian, and corrupt policies were proposed one after another.
The old wizard looked at Joseph and Ian not far away.
These two MPs are the real black sheep.
After Joseph became a member of parliament, he teamed up with Ian to deceive Lareina and implemented these corrupt policies. At that time, Elvin was still opening the Arcane Academy in the Kingdom of Brefield, and Princess Maya only became a member of parliament later.
These two are the only ones who have the final say.
By the time these old wizards who were indifferent to worldly affairs found out about it, the policy had already been implemented and could no longer be stopped.
And now these bad apples want to completely take away Lareina's power, thinking that a woman who does not interfere in parliamentary affairs is not worthy of being the Speaker of the Parliament.
The old wizard's eyes became sharp, if he had not retired, he would have even thought about intervening in the affairs of the parliament again, but he still wanted to see Lareina be able to deal with these black sheep in her own way!
Lareina is very good. If she can overcome her lazy personality, she will definitely become an excellent speaker, just like Lareina's father!
The old wizard retracted his gaze and looked at Lareina again, or to be more precise, at the young man beside Lareina.
Li'er Stuart, after Lareina announced Li'er as a senator half a year ago, he had investigated Li'er's identity. He was a dual-law professional, an extraordinary war knight, a special executive of the War Church, and he had even fought head-on with the incarnation of the Golden Law Goddess!
And he didn't lose! He didn't expect Lalena to bring such a mysterious person to the Arcane Council. In terms of strength alone, the old wizard's intuition told him that no one in the council could compete with Li'l Stuart.
Including Lareina herself.
This is a powerful and dangerous person, but if it can help Lareina become a truly competent Speaker, it is okay to take some risks.
The old wizard thought so before, but after seeing Lear receive the gift from the goddess of arcane, his opinion of Lear changed.
How can this be considered a risk? He is clearly someone who can become a pillar of the parliament!
It would be such a waste to give such an outstanding talent to that kid Duval!
In the center of the auditorium, Lear, who was also holding a wine glass, seemed to feel the gaze. He looked to the side and saw the old man with a white beard and a monocle.
The old man also looked at him and adjusted his glasses with his hand, feeling... quite fashionable.
Lareina didn't notice what Lear and the old man were doing and drank the wine in her glass.
There were cheers all around, as if a party was being held. Joseph was a little stunned watching this scene. In his opinion, Lalena's behavior was too degrading, as she was the Speaker! Ian, who was standing next to Joseph, was also stunned, but unlike Joseph, Ian's expression was a little complicated.
After finishing the wine in the glass, Lalena put it down, as if she was a little drunk. She said, "I know I may not be a good speaker. I am too lazy, but from today on, I will change!"
Lalena's voice was loud enough for everyone to hear. "I know there are many things in the current parliament that make everyone unhappy. These things should have been avoided, but due to my mistakes, those unreasonable policies were implemented."
"At that time, I will reorganize the policies of the entire parliament. The allocation of parliamentary mages will be re-evaluated, and the parliament will open a new evaluation department to ensure absolute fairness and justice!"
Lareina continued to speak, glancing at Lier as she spoke. These were some of the decisions she had thought of. Since Joseph's previous policies had made many civilian mages in the parliament dissatisfied, then they would start from here!
Feeling Lareina's gaze, Li Er just looked at his wine glass without looking away. He did not interfere with Lareina's decision, also to allow Lareina to think of countermeasures on her own.
The old wizard in the crowd looked at Laleina with some admiration. If it was the old Laleina, she would never do such a troublesome thing. She was so lazy that she wanted to just be a hands-off person.
Is this the policy that Lear gave to Lareina? The old wizard's eyes lit up.
After hearing this, Joseph also felt that something was wrong. Is this something Lareina could say?
"I will also set up an office where suggestions can be delivered directly to the Speaker. If there are any suggestions, they can be sent directly to the office once a month." Lareina continued to talk about her policies.
“…”
In addition, Lareina also talked about some other policies, which made Joseph break out in cold sweat.
"Finally, I hope you can support me. If I am re-elected as Speaker, I will do my best to contribute to the development of the parliament!" Lareina said the last words with a sincere tone.
Now even the most dull-witted mage could understand that Lareina was actually trying to get support for him!
Joseph couldn't sit still anymore and walked out of the crowd, "Mr. Speaker, you are..."
"Oh, by the way, there is also the matter of voting. I plan to create special ballots. Each person will only have one. They will be distributed to all wizards at that time. In order to prevent cheating, they can only be activated by inputting one's own magic power." Lareina ignored Joseph and continued.
Joseph finally couldn't help it, and said with a sullen face: "Chairman Lalena, we are in charge of the ballot matters, there is no need to do this, right?"
"No need?" Lalena looked at Joseph sharply, "It is because the current votes are presided over by you that we need to change it!"
"You and I are both electors of the Speaker. How can we maintain fairness if you are the one counting the votes?"
"Of course I believe that you, Congressman Joseph, will not cheat, but many of my other supporters will also express doubts!"
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
Without giving Joseph a chance to speak, Lalena spoke sharply, "So in order for everyone to see fairness, it is necessary to make the ballot public and prevent fraud!"
At this point, Joseph stood there with his mouth open, and could only swallow the words in his mouth.
His right hand unconsciously clenched under his robe. He knew very well what was going on with his current support rate. It was a false result. If the election was really open to the public, he would have almost no chance of winning!
"Senator Joseph, you should have no objection, right?" Lalena looked at Joseph with a smile.
Joseph took a deep breath and could only answer, "Of course not, elections should be open and fair!"
Joseph was in a bad mood as Lalena had been dragging him around the banquet.
Lareina nodded in satisfaction, then said a few polite words, and the party began to move freely.
Li'er had been standing by, looking at Lareina with a strange expression. This was supposed to be a parliament to celebrate him becoming a member of parliament, but now it had turned into a podium for Lareina to canvass for votes.
But Lear didn't care. He shook his head, picked up the wine glass filled by the maid and started drinking again.
In the crowd, the old wizard wearing a monocle nodded with satisfaction. He was about to go and say hello to Lareina when suddenly a loud explosion was heard outside the auditorium!
The entire auditorium shook and some of the glass on the windows was shattered!
"What happened?"
"It was an explosion? Where?"
“…”
The mages in the hall started talking after a brief silence, and the old mage who was originally planning to go and say hello to Laleina also stopped.
He turned around and looked at the night sky outside the window.
To the west of the royal city, under the inky night, flames soared across the sky like soaring eagles.
"What is that?"
"flame?"
"Isn't that the direction of the Flaming Hand Mage Tower?"
The mages who saw this scene started discussing again, and one of them mentioned the name of the Flame Hand Mage Tower.
Everyone's eyes turned to Joseph in the crowd. That was Joseph's magic tower! Joseph also reacted, as if he had thought of something, and his face changed instantly.
Without hesitation, he put down his glass and rushed out.
Everyone looked at each other. Li'er and Lareina looked at each other, and they both thought of a possibility at the same time.
The flaming hand emblem during the day! "Everyone, there may be some problems with Councillor Joseph's Mage Tower. I need to go check on the security of the royal city." Lalena also put down the wine glass in her hand, "Let's end the banquet here today."
With that, Lareina walked out of the auditorium, and Li Er put down his glass and followed behind her.
As soon as the two of them went out, they used the flying spell and flew directly towards the Flame Hand Mage Tower.
Seeing this, many mages in the auditorium put down their glasses and hurriedly followed.
Joseph, who had gone ahead, also arrived at his own wizard tower first. When he saw the scene in front of him clearly, his face suddenly turned red.
His wizard tower had been completely engulfed in flames, and it seemed that it was not just an ordinary flame. The space folding array inside the wizard tower had been completely destroyed, which caused the wizard tower to be directly crushed by the objects inside, and the entire wizard tower collapsed.
Coupled with the burning of fire, it will probably become a ruin in no time.
After a brief silence, Joseph was not blinded by anger. He fell from the air, grabbed a fleeing Flame Legion mage and shouted, "What happened?"
When the wizard saw Joseph, it was as if he had seen his backbone, "Master Joseph, there is a devil rushing out from the sixth floor! It's a devil!"
"Everything has been burned! Nothing is left!" The wizard spoke incoherently, as if he had seen something horrible.
When Joseph heard this, his face became even gloomier.
The sixth floor is the top floor of the Wizard Tower and also his residence. Usually, only he and his son Freddy are there. And there is a secret on the sixth floor.
A secret that allowed an ordinary fire mage like him to ascend to the extraordinary level! "Damn it!" Joseph shouted angrily, forgetting for a moment that his son was also on the sixth floor and was confined by him yesterday.
The flames burned more and more, but Joseph was powerless. He was a wizard of extraordinary level, but all the spells he practiced were fire spells, and he had no means to put out the fire.
Just when Joseph was helpless and furious, Lalena and other mages finally arrived. (End of this chapter)