"Okay, now that everyone’s here, let’s get started, shall we?" I remarked, as I looked around the table.

Today’s the 27th of Quintilis, 2020, about a week had passed since we freed the last two Demons from their imprisonment in the nations of Onyx and Zircon.

Aratron and Pavorphobus had been resting up while Satan, Izzy and Lucifer explained everything that had happened and what the current situation was.

From what I heard, they took some time to get used to the idea of living alongside humans...they weren’t at all opposed to coexisting with the Demi-Humans, but as far as humans were concerned, they were both more than a little skeptical and conflicted.

But for now, it seems like they’ve agreed to go along with this without putting up a fuss or anything, so that’s good...we’ll just have to work to gain their trust over time, I suppose.

I decided we should hold a meeting and get the Demons more involved...Satan and Lucifer are plenty involved with matters in the nation, so I figured having the other two do the same would help with reducing the friction they feel towards humans.

So, all the Demons were in attendance for this meeting, along with Frielektra, as well as Argent, Ilex and Rosary, plus a few of the Demi-Human Elders. And myself, of course.

"So, what is this about?" Inquired Aratron with a frown.

"Yes, can we wrap this up quickly? I was in the middle of a rather pleasant nap, I want to get back to it," Added Frielektra with an impatient look on her face.

"Well, I thought we should discuss the roles each of you will assume in our nation. For starters, we haven’t yet set up the governing body officially, it’s kinda an interim thing at the moment. I’ve been tweaking a few ideas on how we should structure it, and this is the final result I came up with...Arcadia has eight towns and twelve villages, plus the capital city.

All the villages are within about two kilometers, at most, from the closest town to their location, so I thought we could expand the towns and merge them with the villages neighboring each of them. I’ve circled each set of towns and villages that we can merge and expand, and turn them into larger cities. If we do that, then including the capital, Arcadia will be made up of a total of nine cities.

Then, we divide up the population evenly across all nine cities, as diversely as possible, to avoid any one city from being overly populated by any one race. We then allow each of the cities to vote and elect a representative, and these representatives with form a governing body for the entire nation.

However, we will sort of be rigging the votes...thanks to the civil war that was going on in this nation before we took it over, the human population is pretty low, particularly after we killed all their Knights and Nobles, plus about a third of their Adventurers. As a result, the Demi-Human population is more or less equal to the human population at the moment, so we can get the results we want by planning it out ahead of time," I surmised objectively.

"Hm, I suppose that’s a decent idea. So, who do you suggest we select as the representatives for each of these cities?" Inquired Aratron in response.

"I was thinking we go with the strongest among us. In other words, you four Demons plus Izzy, Frielektra, a couple of the Elders of the Demi-Humans, and a human, maybe Argent or Ilex," I replied, Ilex immediately going pale as he heard his name mentioned.

"Huh? Hold on...are you sure about Izzy? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love the kid and all, but uh, she’s not exactly suited for this kind of thing," Spoke up Lucifer in bemusement.

"Hear me out...each of the representatives will serve two main purposes. The first, is to protect the city they represent, which means they’ll need to be powerful. And the second, is having in a say in the big picture stuff, regarding their city and the nation as a whole. Once each representative is elected, they can choose a bunch of people to help them with their duties, sort of like their own political party kinda, people to handle the more day to day stuff in running the cities," I explained, before adding, "Of course, the representatives can choose people they get along with, but they should also each employ at least one human into their party, a human who’s among the original citizens of this nation."

"Ah, I see now...if some of the representatives recruit one or two of the humans who are former citizens of Hematite and get them involved in the running of the cities, we’re likely to earn their trust more quickly and efficiently," Nodded Oberr thoughtfully.

"Over the course of rebuilding the towns and villages, a handful of the humans have grown rather friendly towards us, so we have plenty of options on that front," Chimed in Tania. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Excuse me, but...I really don’t want to be involved in this. It sounds like a lot of work, and I’d rather not have to put up with that," Spoke up Pavorphobus with a sigh.

"I seem to recall you saying something quite similar when I first asked you to become one of my Generals, Vorph," Chuckled Satan with a wry smile.

"I’d prefer not to shoulder this responsibility either...I don’t mind living in one of these cities and fending off any invaders and the like, but I don’t want to have to do any work beyond that," Added Frielektra with a frown.

"U-uh, I don’t think I should be a representative either...I-I mean, I’m probably going to have to talk to a lot of people if I take on such a position, a-and the thought of that is really terrifying," Remarked Ilex meekly.

"I don’t mind being a representative, but not if Izzy’s one too. If she’s going to be one, then I’d rather join her political party or whatever instead of having to go to a different city than her," Frowned Argent apprehensively.

Oh, right...guess I should’ve thought of that, of course he doesn’t want to be separated from her. Heh, Satan’s kinda giving him a dirty look. Well, Argent is banging his daughter, so I guess that’s understandable.

"Ilex and I probably should be taken out of the running...since we’re constantly going back and forth between Obsidian and Arcadia, we’re probably not the best options since we’re not here all the time," Pointed out Rosary.

Hm, fair point, those two are working hard to spy on and gather information from Obsidian, so we probably shouldn’t put too much responsibility on their shoulders...especially Ilex, he’s not exactly the coolest head under pressure. That said...

"I wouldn’t necessarily rule you two out of the running just yet...you’ll only need to go to Obsidian a few more times, you two won’t need to do that anymore once the situation here in Arcadia grows more stable," I countered objectively.

"Wait, I just realized...you didn’t mention your own name for the potential representatives," Suddenly chimed in Argent.

Shit, I was hoping no one would notice that.

"Ahem, uh...we can discuss the matter of the representatives later. First, we need to focus on the expansion and merging of the towns and villages to create the cities, it’ll be a lot of work and would probably take a fair amount of time, so we’re going to be pretty busy for the foreseeable future. We’ve still got plenty of time before we need to elect the representatives and properly set up the governing body, so let’s table the matter until then," I responded, averting my gaze.

"...hey," Argent uttered dryly, as he narrowed his eyes at me.

"U-uh, meeting adjourned!"

"Oh, no, you don’t."

Damn it...

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