Chapter 392 - Day MDCCXCVI, Part I
I didn’t sleep at all on that day. Most people didn’t. Everybody was just too nervous. When I got to the city center from my walk, it was filled with people. I noticed Ki’rai and around twenty to thirty lizards standing on the roofs of nearby buildings, observing as the people crowded around tables set up by Hatta and Will.
The vote was not anonymous. Everybody hat co tome with a piece of paper and write the name of a country they want the gate to lead to. Bushido, Bratstvo, and Blue’s werewolf gang were leading those who voted to the side, while simultaneously Aisha and her girls were noting the names of voters and comparing with the list of our population.
Any shenanigans were very unlikely.
It took few hours, and the results were… funny. There were so many countries that the difference between them was minimal, and nobody would agree with the results, so they took the most voted ones, and made list with them. The list was read out loud, and we took a second vote between the USA, Russia, Japan, Germany, Sweden, China, Ethiopia, India, and Brazil.
The second vote was still not good enough to determine the result. Although the USA got the most votes, the crowd wouldn’t agree when the difference between the second Sweeden was just four votes. So it was decided that the country with the least votes will be removed, and we will vote yet again.
Russia got scratched down, and the third voting started. Japan won, with India being the second, and the difference yet again wasn’t big enough. So Ethiopia got scratched out, and the fourth vote proceeded.
For me, it was a bit annoying, but for everybody else, it was a very important thing, so all I could do, was vote with them.
The fourth vote led to the USA winning again, with China being the second, and Brazil got scratched out. Some people called to go with this decision, but there was big opposition from Blue. For a moment I thought this might end badly, but it ended with the fifth vote.
This time India won, with China climbing the second spot. Germany was last, and this vote didn’t pass again. Blue was heavily against, and he found support in the crowd. For me, it was just ridiculous. I started suspecting it might take a whole day, and even then people will be unhappy about the results. When I thought about this, it was kinda obvious with such a multicultural society we had.
India won again with China in second place and Sweden in the last spot. People still were upset by the results, but Hatta decided to step out and talk.
– We might not a whole day long, and this will never end! India won two times in a row, which will not change!
– Who let you decide!
– Shut up!
– Fuck India!
People just started yelling, and it quickly turned on a full-on brawl. I had to step in, with my two thousand shadows to make them stop. My soldiers charged in between people, grabbing, subduing people, and sometimes getting beaten up, but I could just keep them coming, so the situation quickly calmed down. When everybody got quiet, I just informed them:
– I’m opening the gate to India whether you like it or not. That’s the final result, so deal with it – with those words I left, unsummoning the shadows.
With those words, I left to put my hand on the device and started the process. I picked earth as my destination and was presented with a map of the whole planet. I went to India and picked the city named Dwarka. I didn’t want to make this just pop out in the middle of a major population, so I tied to aim outside of the conglomeration. I found a lake nearby and just opened it there. Later I found that the name of that lake was Mayasar.
Then I rushed towards the hall we build up, to check. A crowd followed me, with some people wanting to get there before me. Blue among them, but he was no match for my speed when I could just shadow walk consecutively, and ignore the buildings.
I got inside in front of the gate large circle made out of stone had a nice view of a lake presented with the overall darkness as the background. The early morning light was slipping inside illuminating the interior of the hall.
I passed through to see how it looks from the other side. A similar gate was there, looking so strange with the surrounding nature. I immediately created a barrier, suspecting people might want to rush outside, especially Blue. I had no idea what was going on in his head, but I knew that nobody is living until the barrier is ready. We just couldn’t allow that.
So I pumped all my mana into a barrier that was to stop everybody. A translucent dome was created over the gate. Then I used the remaining bits of mana to overcharge it.
Meanwhile, people came running inside. Some stopped seeing the pathway open, to just admire it, but a few just passed and crashed into my barrier.
[0)ᴠʟ – Nobody is going anywhere until the protection is ready – I said to them.
Since I was on the other side, all they could do was yell, and try to break my magic, but it was just too strong. Even Blue in his werewolf form couldn’t do anything.
I ignored the screams and curses, whole slowly setting up everything that needed to be set up. It took hours but the first layers got assembled, and all I needed to do from that point, was to just pump mana. As much as I possibly could, to make this as strong as I could before first locals noticed the presence of a strange object and came to investigate.
Jayadeva was with me the whole time, even when everybody else left. He wanted to be there when the first contact will happen. He brought himself a chair, and just sat there, admiring the nature of his country.. We didn’t talk much at first, since I was busy, but things changed with time.