By the time the councilors voted, the original hundred-plus candidates had dwindled to just over thirty. First came a round of secret ballots to eliminate most of them, leaving only five. Then the five took turns giving speeches to make their final pitches.
Strange had assumed the other four were merely sacrificial pawns, but their speeches were actually fairly convincing—not entirely empty rhetoric. Some spoke of strengthening interstellar security, some of reviving the economy around the Great Portal, and others of supporting weaker civilizations. At least on the surface, they all sounded reasonable.
Strange had not prepared a speech at all, nor did he know what to say. He figured that, as the Sorcerer Supreme, there was nothing wrong with talking about magic. So he spoke about the joint development of magic and science, raising standards in magical education, and other such matters—essentially adapting Earth's approach to building magical academies.
To his surprise, after he finished, the entire conference hall fell silent. Strange was not flustered. The Three Great Empires were clearly trying to give him the cold shoulder, determined to make a fool of him today. He could not be bothered with such petty people. Once he was done, he flicked his Cloak and stepped down.
"Damn it!" General Skrull, watching the election unfold from the rear hall, gritted his teeth. "Humans really are cunning. They actually came up with a way to break the deadlock! This is definitely going to stir people's hearts."
"Humanity's advantage in magic really is enormous. Aside from a few naturally magical races and races that wield divine power, there probably aren't even a hundred races capable of using magic. Most can barely manage it, while races as proficient as humans are exceedingly rare. Tell me, who wouldn't covet their portals?"
"But the Sorcerer