New Dynasty Calendar year 1637, 30th day of the Seventh Month1. This day, with regards to the commoners of the Purcell Duchy, was not a calm day. The commoners had thought that the food crisis that occurred some time ago would have already pa.s.sed. They were wrong. Perhaps, instead, the food crisis had just began.

On this day, all of the food stores within the Purcell Duchy suddenly began to increase their prices. The Higanbana and the Purcell Duchy public stores were the only ones who didn’t immediately raise their prices. Over the past few days, however, their shops had also slowly sold out all of their stocks, which resulted in the current break out of the food crisis.

Those pseudo-aristocrats or full aristocrats were more fortunate as they had food of their own in storage. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for the poor commoners. Since they didn't have enough money to buy food beforehand, they were now at risk of starvation This was especially true with the rapid rise of food prices.

As the price of food increased, aside from the poor commoners, even those who had stored food began to worry. They were afraid that the prices would rise even more. If that were the case, they would also be starving soon.

Although the Higanbana and Purcell clan stores had put out word that they would soon have more s.h.i.+pments of food, the prices still continued to rise, and the crisis hadn’t gone away. Commoners who had money to buy food had started to buy them now. They were stocking up and prepared for the oncoming famine.

This crisis that Casa City was currently experiencing was actually a larger version of the storm that was happening within the Purcell clan. Now that the Purcell clan was in such a mess, the Second and the Third Elders were ready to move to abdicate the First Elder. The First Elder didn’t want to abdicate. Only, he didn’t have any means to resolve the situation. Now, both sides were in a deadlock.

Both of these factions weren't aware that around this time, the centrist elders had begun to move. They reached out to each other and jointly united to increase their authority. Also, their actions were very covert. They evaded the detection of both of the other factions that were currently in a deadlock.

Kaiser, in particular, had seen that the results of their battle had finally come into play. Both factions had pulled in a large number of people into their sides. Inside the conference room of the Purcell clan, scenes full of deceit and political ploys were being done on the spot.

Finally, both factions in the conference room decided to set up votes to decide who would serve as the elders of which posts. They also knew that whatever the result would be, the Purcell clan would incur losses overall.

Both sides were confident and believed that they had the best chances for victory. The First Elder’s forces were the largest; with one vote from each elder, he was a.s.sured of getting more than half the votes. An absolutely overwhelming superiority.

However, the Second and the Third Elders had also pulled a number of elders to their side these past few days. They had the confidence to defeat the First Elder, and both factions agreed on solving the problem by convening the Elders Court. Evan, the Clan Lord, was forgotten by them.

4th of the Eighth Month2, the Elders Court was convened. After the elections in the Elders Court, Kaiser abdicated his position as the Purcell clan’s First Elder. Now, not only were the greater elders able to do so, but even the ordinary elders were eligible to win his position and became someone to be wors.h.i.+pped within the clan.

Originally, after the first round of elections, the Second Elder should’ve been the one to take the post of the First Elder and temporarily resolve the current food crisis.

However, a problem emerged. The Third Elder refused to accept the decision, resulting in a confrontation between the two factions. They decided to convene the Elders Court again on the 6th day of the Eighth Month in order to elect someone for the First Elder’s post. This time, however, knowing the significance of the next a.s.sembly, they decided to allow the Universal Origin Sword Saint, a Guardian Deity of the clan and a Rank Nine expert, to preside.

The Universal Origin Sword Saint was an existence on the level of a G.o.d for the Purcell clan. This was truly the case. No one dared to disturb him, so no one had been able to ask for him before. His fearfulness was way above Buffy’s.

The Universal Origin Sword Saint had been a Rank Nine expert for nearly sixty years. Fifty years ago, the Purcell clan encountered a major catastrophe. The juniors of the clan who were outside to gain experience had met a black magician. These juniors of the clan then killed the black magician.

It turned out that this black magician was a disciple of the continent’s infamously evil and wicked black magician, Bone Saint Anto3. Anto was a Rank nine expert, justifying his t.i.tle. The next thing that happened was straightforward. Anto began hunting and killing the juniors of the Purcell clan, which made these juniors unable to leave Casa City.

Finally, the Purcell clan decided to invite one of the two Guardian Deities of the clan during that time. A Rank Nine water magician, Blue Waves Law Saint4, came forward to kill Anto. What they hadn’t thought was that Anto would kill the Blue Wave Law Saint on the spot, placing the entire Purcell clan on the verge of life and death.

Around this time, an expert who had just become Rank Nine a few years ago, the Universal Origin Sword Saint, moved. Alone and with a single sword, he travelled thousands of kilometers to kill Anto. Finally, Anto’s head was taken back to be displayed in Casa City. Thus, the Purcell clan averted the crisis safely.

This battle made the Universal Origin Sword Saint famous, making him one of the Rank Nine experts on the continent with a high prestige. Anto became a Rank Nine thirty years before, and adding to the fact that he was a black magician, he was a strong and renowned Rank Nine magician. The Universal Origin Sword Saint had just became a Rank Nine a few years ago, yet had taken his head off on the spot. This showed that his strength was a lot higher than Anto’s.

Then for twenty years, the Universal Origin Sword Saint hadn’t been seen since. After thirty years since the Universal Origin Sword Saint became a Rank Nine, another large clan’s Guardian Deity issued forth a challenged to him. They met at Jade Belt River5, and the battle was earthshaking. For three days, there was no flow of water in Jade Belt River due to their battle. That place later became known as Sword Saint Lake6 due to the damage the two of them made, and especially because of the winner, the Universal Origin Sword Saint.

Since then, there had been no challenges made against a Rank Nine on the continent.

Afterwards, the Universal Origin Sword Saint wasn’t seen again. One could say that although no one could dare offend and be unreasonable towards Wind Saint Buffy in the Purcell clan, in reality, the Universal Origin Sword Saint held more respect from the elders. Precisely because of his rare appearances, no one knew of the real name of the Universal Origin Sword Saint. Now, his t.i.tle of Universal Origin Sword Saint was regarded as his name.

This time around, the issue of the Universal Origin Sword Saint presiding over the Elders Court hadn’t been met with any resistance. Everyone clearly understood that these were troubled times. But no matter where you went though, even if you withdrew, there would still be the fear of being killed by Sir Sword Saint.

The Elders Court was scheduled to elect a First Elder within the conference room. When these elders arrived, they found that the Second and Third Elders, along with Evan, were already in the conference room. On the seat that was originally for the Clan Lord sat an upright old man.

This old man was tall, the same height as Clan Lord Evan. His hair was white, as if it were dyed with snow without a trace of variation. Surprisingly though, his beard was yellow.

The old man sat with his eyes closed, seemingly asleep. Everyone saw this and couldn’t help but slow their pace as they carefully walked to their seats and sat down.

Evan hadn’t sat down, but instead stood beside the old man. Below the Clan Lord’s seat were the three seats for the greater elders, wherein only two people sat down, the Second and the Third Elders. However, they both looked restless.

As soon as all of the elders arrived, Evan whispered something into the old man’s ears. The old man then responded with a slight nod. Evan stood up and held the scepter in his right hand that symbolized the power of the Head of the Clan. He went towards the middle of the stage, looked around, and said, “The a.s.sembly of the Elders Court this time is witnessed by Sir Guardian Deity, and has now formally started. The election will now proceed. In this election, we will decide to relieve the Second Elder through an election.“

After Evan said this, the elders of the Elders Court were surprised for a moment before giving an outcry. They had forgotten the existence of the Universal Origin Sword Saint. Right at this moment, they only had one thing in their mind: ‘Evan was crazy’.

However, before Evan could speak, a cold snort was loudly heard. Everyone on the scene felt as though their heads were hit by a hammer and suddenly saw stars. Then they remembered that the Universal Origin Sword Saint was still sitting there; being loud was like asking for death.

Everyone calmed down while Evan stood on the stage with his unchanged expression and said, “The voting now begins.”

The people in the conference room looked at each other. They didn’t know what to do when suddenly, someone actually raised a hand.

The people in the conference room were surprised for a moment. They looked at the person that had raised a hand, and it was a centrist elder, Juan7. Along with Juan, the other centrist elders also raised their hands. Then the loyal members of the First Elder’s faction as well as the Third Elder’s faction. Only the few loyal members of the Second Elder’s faction didn’t raise their hands.

Evan swept his eyes across the conference room, showing his gratefulness to the elders. With a cold voice, he said “Over seventy percent have voted. The Second Elder will now be relieved from his duties starting tomorrow. The next poll will decide if the Third Elder should be relieved from his duties. Those who agree, please raise your hand.”

The people in the conference room weren’t silly. Even a fool would know what Evan was doing. In one fell swoop, Evan had moved to relieve the Second and the Third Elders of their duties. This was equivalent to pulling out the entire root of the forces of the greater elders. As long as he controlled the Elders Court, his position as the Clan Lord would be held firmly.

If it were during normal times, the loyal elders of the Second and the Third Elders might have started trouble with him. Instead, as this a.s.sembly was presided over by the Universal Origin Sword Saint, should the Elders Court really dare to make trouble then death was the only thing that awaited them in the end!

The original members of the First Elder’s faction were happy to see this development. In any case, the First Elder had now fallen. Whether it was the Second or the Third Elder, they wouldn’t gain any benefits. If they supported Evan, however, then they might be able to rely on him to gain some benefits.

This time, undoubtedly, the results of the poll was a high number of votes. Starting today, the Second and Third Elders who were wors.h.i.+pped in the clan, lost their authority, be it within the Elders Court or in the entire clan.

Evan continued the elections. This time, for the position of the First Elder. Evan proposed Juan and the proposal was agreed upon immediately. Juan became the Purcell clan’s First Elder. Evan proposed Wind Sue8, a representative of the centrist elders, to be the Second Elder. The election for the Third Elder was very dramatic. Evan had unexpectedly proposed someone who had been a member of the First Elder’s faction. He was the clan’s Elder of Foreign Affairs, Stern. No one had ever thought of this, but the proposal was pa.s.sed.

Notes:

- This chapter was MTL'ed. Please leave a comment for constructive criticisms and advice.

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- Please check out the Editor's footnotes, thanks.

1 七年 - Qī nián. Basically, Seventh Month. Of course, it can also mean July, but that doesn’t fit in a fantasy world. July would have roots in Roman history for being named after Julius Caesar. If you were wondering, January was named after ianua (Latin) which means “door” with January being the door to the new year. So, yea. Decided to name months by numbers. January = First Month… July = Seventh Month.↩

2 八月 - Bā yuè. Basically, Eighth Month. Or August. August is named after Augustus. More Roman ties.↩

3 骨聖安託 - Gǔ shèng ān tuō. Bone Saint Anto. Antoine would be 安託萬↩

4 碧波法聖 - Bìbō fǎ shèng. Blue Waves Law Saint. I guess an alternative would be Bibo Law Saint, but there’s no context for that being a name, and the translation actually fit since he/she was a water magician.↩

5 玉帶河 - Yùdài hé. Jade (玉) Belt (帶) River (河).↩

6 劍聖湖 - Jiàn shèng hú. Sword (劍) Saint (聖) Lake.(湖).↩

7 胡安 - Hú ān. You don’t say it as Joo Un, but with a silent ‘J’. Juan.↩

8 風蘇 - Fēng sū. Basically, Wind Sue.