The Archmetamagician: The Weave Collapses Again

More than two hours passed.

At last, everyone finished inventorying everything, sorting it into categories, packing it away, and recording it all in the ledger.

Anser's estimate had been remarkably accurate. The money alone came to more than 169,000 gold pieces. Once the gems, ores, miscellaneous goods, and other items were included, the total value easily exceeded 200,000.

The magic items were worth even more. The lower-quality ones could be sold through the Union's commercial channels, while the good stuff would naturally be kept for internal use first.

With the Commercial Community's headquarters on the Rock of Bral about to open for business, they could put out a batch of magic items to make a strong showing.

At that moment, Bratt also brought over a ledger containing the larger stockpiles of armor, weapons, firearms, ammunition, and similar equipment, all of which had already been placed in storage.

Most of it was still in fairly good condition, with no serious damage. It could be resold to the Union authorities, then repaired and modified to equip the army.

It might amount to moving money from one pocket to another, but the necessary procedures still had to be followed. The proceeds weren't all his, either; Stoll and the others deserved their shares.

"Time to split the money!"

With a grand wave of his hand, Anser gave Makaria, Giant Tail, and Adolf 20,000 gold pieces each for taking part in the battle, while Stoll received 50,000.

On top of that, each of them could choose two magic items. Stoll would pick first, followed by Makaria.

"That much?" Stoll immediately perked up. After thinking for a moment, he shook the Chronopact Orb in his hand. "I'll just take this."

By now, whatever regret he had felt over losing Durlag was already long gone.

Back then, taking even twenty or thirty thousand gold pieces would earn him a year's worth of nagging from the councilors. How could that compare to this? Follow Anser into one fight, and he came away with everything he could want.

Makaria glanced over the list, picked up the Living Armor, and examined it for a while. After hesitating several times, she ultimately put it back down.

At the side, Adolf quietly breathed a sigh of relief. He turned his head and happened to meet Stoll's faintly amused gaze.

He gave an awkward smile and said nothing.

Makaria chose two Rare magic items that required no Attunement. Giant Tail did the same.

As a result, Adolf successfully got his hands on the Living Armor. He was single, and with a powerful spellcaster like Anser around, he wasn't afraid of its minor drawbacks.

"Come collect your money. Everyone else gets a share too," Anser called out.

The more than twenty people who had helped count the money received something as well: 200 gold pieces each. Any more than that would have been a little inappropriate, and they would have felt embarrassed accepting it anyway.

All the remaining wealth went to Anser. No one objected. Reconnaissance, teleportation, magical buffs, clearing out enemies—none of it could have been done without him.

A spellcaster's value wasn't limited to combat.

With the spoils dealt with, everyone walked away happy.

Anser, however, had no time to rest. He needed to hurry and relocate the tiefling tribe to White Stone Island today. They had already been waiting for an entire day.

While he was at it, he also needed to speak with Quentin about the new regulations for the Union.

Tomorrow was the coronation ceremony for the Rock of Bral's new king, and he had to attend. That Chosen of Bane still hadn't shown himself, which left Anser somewhat uneasy.

He really didn't think of himself as someone who went looking for trouble. He just couldn't understand why every place he visited seemed to land him with a whole pile of problems and enemies.

'It's just that I happened to run into them. In the places I can't see, evil is still rampant.'

That wasn't merely something he told himself for comfort. Good-aligned gods had always been fewer in number than evil-aligned ones, while neutral deities made up the majority.

The ordinary world was much the same. Good people were hardly rare, but good and powerful people in positions of authority were few and far between.

'If magic didn't exist, perhaps understanding and exploiting the weaknesses of human nature would be a necessary step on the way to the top.'

He shook his head, collected himself, and called Makaria over alone.

After listening carefully to her description of the tiefling tribe, he compared it against the map and cast Teleport.

Light and shadow flashed, and the two appeared on a vast open plain carpeted in green.

"It's here. Just through those woods up ahead." Makaria immediately recognized the place where she had once lived.

"Let's go." Anser raised a hand and cast Fly on her.

The two flew for several kilometers and soon spotted a moderately sized settlement with around four hundred people, relatively few of them elderly.

The old chieftain, Ekmond, had been waiting anxiously. Only when he saw Anser arrive did he finally relax. For a while, he had even thought Anser might have changed his mind.

After some brief preparations, Anser began relocating everyone. It took eleven consecutive castings of 「Teleportation Circle」 before he successfully transported all the people, supplies, and livestock to White Stone Island.

Even with his abilities, he could only keep each portal open for a few dozen seconds.

Fortunately, his reserves of Magic Power were immense. Anyone else would have exhausted their Magic Power and collapsed long ago.

White Stone Keep wasn't particularly large, and right now it was bustling with noise, people everywhere as far as the eye could see. Even so, there was no disorder.

Quentin had been notified early that morning and was already assigning people to lead the newcomers away in an orderly fashion.

White Stone Island had plenty of land and few inhabitants. A settlement site had already been chosen for the tiefling tribe, and a substantial amount of timber had been prepared for construction. Once they arrived, they could immediately start building homes of their own.

It was September, and the weather was still pleasant. They could live in tents for the next two months.

Anser teleported Giant Tail, Lin Qiancheng, and the others out. They all had their own work to do and couldn't remain in Holrewen.

After handing off his responsibilities, Quentin went straight to Anser, afraid he might disappear again.

Getting a chance to see him wasn't easy.

"White Stone Island really is a great place. There just aren't enough people. I think we could relocate some people here from Durlag." He handed Anser a thick document, looking somewhat tired.

"Don't work yourself too hard. Just take things one step at a time." Anser accepted the document. The cover read New Union Regulations.

"Time is too important. Everywhere is in chaos right now. Over the past few days, ships have occasionally been lurking offshore. Whenever we send people toward them, they flee..." Quentin said worriedly.

"Could be pirates." Anser still remembered the minotaurs who had attacked White Stone Keep before.

Their leader was the captain of the Horn of Imuk pirate band, a peak-level Barbarian whose combat strength might be no weaker than Stoll's.

"Durlag's forces already number more than a thousand. I'll transfer another three hundred soldiers here."

It wasn't yet time to actively go after the pirates. West of White Stone Island lay the Pirate Isles, which had existed for centuries and were not to be trifled with.

Once they had enough soldiers stationed here, the pirates wouldn't go looking for trouble.

"A navy costs a fortune. I'm afraid we don't have enough money." Quentin knew Anser was wealthy, but a healthy organization couldn't rely on its leader to bankroll it. If anything, the organization should be supporting its leader so he could advance even further.

"We'll have money soon." Anser patted the document in his hand.

Once they reached the meeting room, he carefully went through the new Union regulations, the product of contributions from dozens of people.

They covered the organization's charter, council system, organizational structure, laws, military and civil administration, and more. He could even see traces of the Lords of Waterdeep in it, though this system was nowhere near as democratic.

The new Union was an unabashed dictatorship. Anser was the President, and the regulations didn't even specify a presidential term or a system for electing a successor.

Quentin understood perfectly well why the Union existed, so he had simply left all of that out. Unless Anser himself no longer wanted to be President, there was no possibility of anyone replacing him.

"The taxes on commercial trade channels are too high. Divide them by category and try to keep them between ten and twenty percent..."

The two discussed the new system while refining it. Partway through, Anser also called Iris, Lin Qiancheng, and several others over to join the discussion.

The power formed by Durlag, White Stone Island, and Holrewen was officially renamed the Holrewen Federation, with its headquarters in Holrewen.

Though the Federation was small, it had all the essential components. Its various military and administrative departments would gradually have to be filled out, and their names adjusted accordingly.

Its highest governing body was the Holrewen Federal Council, with Anser as President and currently nine councilors:

Stoll, Iris, Quentin, Graham, Diero Pisaka, Lachman, Evanwood, and Osborn.

Lachman and Evanwood had both been councilors in the former Union. They were ordinary 4th-level professionals without much presence, and their positions as councilors were simply carried over from the previous organization.

From this point onward, however, the threshold for becoming a councilor would be much higher. Being a high-level professional was only the starting requirement, with various other conditions on top of that.

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