30 The King of Vorbei (Part 2)

Before they were scheduled to meet with the King, there was a scheduled meeting of the thirteen national ministers in the throne room of the Royal Palace, with the King presiding over the meeting and nobles allowed to sit in on it, but only the King and national ministers were allowed to speak during this meeting. The meeting followed something very similar to parliamentary procedure on Earth, with a motions and second required to get an agenda item open for debate and a vote, and with the king acting to moderate the meeting. The national ministers were expected to have some level of decorum with their speech by staying calm, addressing the other members as 'Honourable', not outright insulting each other (although they could still find ways to speak negatively about each other if they were clever about how they went about it), and not speaking out of turn or interrupting each other. During this meeting, the King referred to himself as 'The Crown' (others referred to him as 'your majesty', or 'his majesty') and did not get directly involved in the debate between members unless if one of the members were out of line in reference to the rules of the meeting, and even then, the King would only verbally correct such behavior in order to keep the meeting on track. Ethan and the Sun Knights sat in on the meeting, given that they were all noble. Otto Von Geld, the Minister of the Treasury was visibly disturbed and surprised to see the Sun Knights alive here. He was short, in his early thirties and balding, as well as sweating profusely and glancing over his shoulder at Mia who was sitting behind him.

[Great! This is where my plans come to fruition. This is what happens to Von Geld for plotting to have me killed] Thought Mia.

"I call this meeting to order. Before we begin with your respective weekly reports, are there any motions?" Said the young King Karl X.

"Yes, your majesty, I move to remove the Honourable Otto Von Geld from his position as Treasury Minister." Said Gerhard Von Heer, the Minister of War as he stood up.

This was met with gasps from the noble onlookers, and outrage from Von Geld. Gerhard Von Heer sat back down.

"Preposterous! I am the best Treasury Minister this Kingdom has ever had! No one else could keep revenue coming in at stable levels even during times of-" Otto Von Geld started to say.

"Silence! There is no debate allowed at this time, and the Crown does not recognize the honourable Otto Von Geld's right to speak until the floor is open for debate. Only once the motion gets a second will the floor be open for debate. Is there a second to this motion to remove the Honourable Otto Von Geld from his position?" Said the King.

"I second the motion to remove the Honorable Otto Von Geld from his position as Treasury Minister." Said the Minister of Transportation, Ernst Von Weg, another member of the Royalist Faction.

"The motion to remove the Honorable Otto Von Geld from his position as Treasury Minister has been seconded. Is there any debate at this time?" Said the King.

"Yes, your Majesty! I would like to take part in the debate at this time!" Said Otto Von Geld while standing up.

"The Crown recognizes the Honorable Otto Von Geld's right to speak at this time." Said the King.

"Thank you, your Majesty. I challenge any of the 'Honorable' members here to name one time when I have not brought in at least as much revenue for the glorious Vorbei Kingdom as was asked of me! I further challenge anyone here to name a single time when I have embezzled any funds, or tolerated any unethical behavior from any member of my ministry! I dare say that I have fulfilled all the duties of my office at least as well as the 'Honourable' Minister of War has fulfilled the duties of his, or the 'Honourable' Minister of Transportation fulfilled his!" Said Von Geld desperately.

"Does anyone else have anything that they would like to say?" Asked the Karl X after a few moments of silence.

No one else said anything. The Members of the Royalist Faction trusted Mia and knew that they had the votes that they needed anyway so any debate was unnecessary and a waste of time. Likewise, the other members of the Nobles' Faction knew that the Royalist Faction wouldn't have brought this motion forward if they didn't have the votes necessary, so, although they disliked it, they didn't see the point of struggling uselessly. Josef Von Buch and Frank Von Weizen didn't say anything because they didn't care about the vote and were just planning on voting 'aye' to remove Von Geld because Mia made them promise to do so.

After a short time of silence the King said "Hearing no further debate, I now call for a vote. Vote 'Aye' for the affirmative or 'Nay' for the negative. Because the question is about removing a minister from office, the minister in question will not be permitted to vote, and a two-thirds majority of the remaining ministers will be needed for the motion to pass."

The King then called upon the remaining twelve ministers one by one:

"Aye"

"Nay"

"Aye"

"Aye"

"Aye"

"Nay"

"Nay"

"Aye"

"Aye"

"Aye"

"Nay"

"Aye"

"The final vote is eight votes in favor of the motion and four votes against. The Crown recognises that the motion passes with a two-thirds majority and the Honourable Otto Von Geld is removed from office. Thank you for your service to the Vorbei Kingdom Otto, but you are dismissed. You are free to stay for the meeting, but you may only do so as an observer, not as a member of this meeting." Said the King.

Otto Von Geld was seething with anger, but he said nothing further. He got up and left with a look of silent rage on his face.

[ Serves him right!] Mia thought.