Chapter 1125: First Vote

"What options will we vote on?" the man asked. "Do we have any suggestions?"

"Death," Kyle said evenly.

Fox's expression didn't change, but when she heard Kyle's words, she started to feel a bit nervous.

"Death," the man said as the word "Death" appeared in the middle of the table.

"Freedom," Fox said.

Kyle just rolled his eyes.

"Freedom," the man said as the word appeared in the middle of the table. "Any other suggestions?"

"Why don't you make your suggestion?" Kyle asked with a flat voice. "I know you have one."

The man chuckled a bit. "I believe Fox has committed unforgivable atrocities, but I also believe that she can do a lot of good... with enough guidance and restrictions."

"And what are these restrictions?" Kyle asked.

"She will share her true name with us," the man said.

Fox took a deep breath, but she didn't seem surprised. Apparently, she had already known that this would happen.

"What does that even do?" Kyle asked. "I've heard again and again that knowing someone's true name is bad, but I still don't know why."

"You're at someone else's complete mercy," Swamp Dragon interjected. "By projecting someone's true name, you can do multiple things. You can sense their location. You can pull them towards your location. You can attack them via Karma. Of course, to do any of these things, you need to know a lot about the Karmic Laws. As long as we know her true name, any of our Lords or Demigods can teleport her existence towards them. They can even analyze her Karmic Luck without seeing her."

Kyle took a deep breath.

"That really is brutal. No wonder everyone says that I'm not supposed to share my true name with anyone. Well, Fox has seen my true name, but I doubt that she can remember or pronounce it. You need two Perfected Refined Laws and the Major Law of Death. Even more, these Refined Laws are made by me. Even if someone else creates a Perfected Law of Hammer, it won't be the same as mine.'

"Will she be under protection?" Kyle asked.

Fox narrowed her eyes. She had already expected that Kyle would ask something like that.

The man smiled.

"No."

Kyle's eyes narrowed.

"We will be giving her many different missions that will force her to help the weak. She will not be rewarded for completing these missions. However, if there is no hope, this fate wouldn't be any different from death. Because of that, we are promising her that she will regain her freedom if she manages to become a Demigod."

Kyle remained silent for a bit. He wasn't exactly happy about this, but it also wasn't as bad as he had expected. The most important part was that she wouldn't be under any protection.

"Just to make sure," Kyle said after a bit, "if I find her, I may kill her without offending your Organization, correct?"

"That is part of the deal, yes," the man answered.

"Good," Kyle said.

Then, the word "restriction" appeared in the middle of the table.

"Any other suggestions?" the man asked.

Nobody said a thing.

"Then, we will vote," he announced. "You will have a primary vote and a secondary vote. Your primary vote will be worth two points, while your secondary vote is worth one point. We will make our votes before we see each other's votes."

Then, the man explained how everyone should prepare their votes so that the requirements were fulfilled.

Kyle was lost in thought for a moment. 'These primary and secondary votes make things a bit more complex. With these, there's even a chance that she might be sentenced to death.'

Kyle looked at the empty spot at the table. 'I don't know how the world will vote. How can the world even vote?'

'I shouldn't try to take advantage of the rules. I'm just going to vote for what I want to happen.'

Kyle put his primary vote on death and his secondary vote on restriction.

"Everyone has cast their votes," the man said. "Then, let's unveil the result."

In the next moment, two words appeared in front of everyone, except for the empty spot. Since the world had two votes, there were four words in front of it.

In total, there were 21 points. Five people could vote two + one points, and the world could vote four + two points.

Kyle's vote: +2 for death, +1 for restriction, 0 for freedom.

Swamp Dragon's vote: +1 for death, +2 for restriction, 0 for freedom.

Sebastian's and Melanie's votes: +2 for death, +1 for restriction, 0 for freedom.

The man's vote: 0 for death, +2 for restriction, +1 for freedom.

The world's vote: +4 for death, +2 for restriction, 0 for freedom.

When Kyle saw Fox's vote, his eyes narrowed.

Fox's vote: 0 for death, +2 for restriction, +1 for freedom.

When Kyle realized what had happened, he slammed the table and stood up.

"Is that what you call making the right decision?!" he shouted, pointing at the man.

Kyle had expected that the restriction vote would win, but the way it had won infuriated him.

"According to you!" Kyle shouted. "According to your morals! According to your thoughts! According to what you believe is right!"

"You say that she's more deserving of freedom than death?!"

Nine points for death, ten points for restriction, two points for freedom. If the man had chosen death as his secondary vote, it would be ten-ten-one! There would be a tie! In the case of a tie, the number of primary votes would have decided the result!

"No, I don't believe that," the man said calmly. "I believe the right thing to do is to restrict her freedom and force her to make amends. I have kept to the rules and used my given votes to reach the result that I believe is right. I did not vote according to what I want to happen, but I got what I wanted by following the rules."

Kyle's fists clenched as he glared at Fox, who just looked back with a neutral expression. Even though her expression remained blank, Kyle could feel the smugness behind it.

Swamp Dragon just looked forward without an expression.

Sebastian grimaced, and Melanie sighed.

If the world were split into two people due to it having two votes, four out of seven people in total would have given their primary votes to death. The majority had made it clear that their preferred outcome was her death!

If there had just been one vote instead of two different kinds of votes, she would have been sentenced to death!

57% of the people had put their most valuable vote on death! Yet, instead of the majority getting what they wanted, they had to accept something that everyone was okay with.

A moment later, Kyle sat back down again, and he just looked at the man with a cold gaze, not saying anything.

'I could have manipulated the vote! I could have put my secondary vote on her freedom. I knew that the freedom vote wouldn't get any traction. Like that, I could have forced a tie.'

'But noooooooo, I had to be honest! I had to be upfront and honest!'

Kyle took a frustrated breath.

'But I don't want to do that! Yes, I could've done it, but I just don't want to do it. Others might believe I'm stupid and nave, but I still want to vote according to what I believe is right.'

Kyle snorted as he imagined a bunch of people telling him that he was dumb for not manipulating the vote. Was he putting trust in other people? Why? Abusing the rules was the norm. Not abusing the rules was playing with a handicap.

The man noticed that Kyle had somewhat calmed down and turned to the table again.

"Fox will be taken into custody, as agreed," the man said.

Nobody said anything.

"Next vote..."

"What happens to Swamp Dragon?"

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