"Pardon for the wait nobles of Hedia, their majesties have arrived." the chancellor greeted as he made his entrance, following him was the Elf King, Queen, and their children who looked like within the same age of Jouzu and his friends, after them was the royal council and most elite royal guards including Kloy himself.
"Greetings your majesty," Varix said as he bowed and knelt, his actions followed by the others around, "It is in our deepest gratitude to have your presence. I am Varix Olgran, the standing leader of the Hedia Expedition Force."
The king chuckled, "Oh no, no, no, it is our pleasure to have you here. Its been quite a long time since one of the Edean race have come to visit us, please feel like at home." he said, "Ah, now I'm starting to have flashbacks of my friend back then, I wish he could've lived longer like us" A short pause, "Oh, where are my manners, I am King Xander Markien Geunnard IV, beside me is my beautiful wife Iris."
"It is a pleasure to meet you madam." Varix said, still kneeling on the ground.
"It is a pleasure to meet all of you as well." The queen replied.
Varix then signals the others to make their introductions where they kept it short and simple. The King and Queen's sons and daughters made their introduction in chronological order. The first prince and also the eldest, Felix followed by his brother Ardel and the princesses Aryanna, Rica, and Alicia with Crystal being the youngest. They then had a seat and so began the talkings.
Given that they were the visitors, Varix and the others had the first word to say and used it to address and tell their story from the beginning until the present time. This would correct the impression that they are Edeans but instead people from another world, once everything was cleared up and layed out they began the real formal talks. Right off the bat, Varix said that they would want access to knowledge or any information regarding the world they stepped in which to in their luck, they are in the City of Scholars. They asked permission and access to the thousands -or even millions- of books in the libraries and academies of the city. Second, Varix asked them if they could establish a temporary base that will be home for the rest of the Expedition Force to settle in.
It was at this point the king asked, "Why build a base if you could just stay within our walls? it benefits both of our parties as we will also have the chance of studying your own culture, how you run politics, and perhaps even the way you fight."
"It is because we also plan to expand it into a city as well as we did in the norths of Hedia," Disgyr answered, "there were millions of us when we were sent into this lands and we can't afford to be in your care always. We do appreciate your offer but not all Adventurers are like us, we are still of human nature or in your language Edean, after all."
"I understand what you mean, even we cannot deny such nature in ourselves. We're beings of greed and power after all and as history dictates, these Edean nature have caused too much troubles."
After this they talked more on where and when will be that settlement established and once a location was selected they then tackled on to the next thing, economy and trade, Haff starting it off with a speech, "Despite us being people of a different world, we are also beings who lives with the concept of economy and trades, just like you and most of the races here in Pristonia. If our speculations were to be true and that there won't be any route to send us back in our world, then we will be living here as another race and that means we must establish a permanent, stable, and a healthy economy. If such things were to happen, we have planned possible trade routes between our cities which will liven our own economy while diversifying your products, armory, and of course, weaponry. We will offer things from our world that even the smartest races wouldn't even think of as possible," Haff paused and took a little breather before he continued, "Next, would be technology. In our world, countries who have state-of-the-art technology sits high atop the world economic rankings which I can safely say that a technology-driven nation results to a great economic powerhouse. As beings of other world we can assure that we have much to offer that is probably hundreds or thousands of years more advanced than the technology here has, it is just an estimate however but it we could give results once we were to go in the Dwarves' turfs and confirm. If everything is accurate however, we can assure you that works would be easier and faster than ever, travel time between cities or even nations would be greatly decreased. The downside to this is that, we don't know if this world has the same materials with ours and until we do confirm, everything would just be fantasy." he finished and then whispered to Varix's ears, "I can't believe I just said all of that."
With Haff's speech, claims, and words, the royal council couldn't help but to murmur and widen their eyes if things such as that would be true. Things quickly started popping in their head and they could already imagine how large the benefit/s they would receive, some could also smell the tremendous amount of income that their beloved city will receive. Though some of them doubted, they just can't shrug off the fact that these people were entities of a world they don't know of and what they're saying might be true, they also lack knowledge of them which whether they like or not is the truth.
One of the council stood up and said, "How can we know that your words are true and not just claims?"
"If I may speak, please refer to Haff-san's words. We cannot show proof unless we can confirm that materials here work the same as the one's in our words, if we do manage to get the grasp of things however, we would be more than glad to show it to you." Mischa answered, inserting herself between the conversations.
"Then it should be discussed when the time is ripe," the king interferred, "but I do trust your words and I believe you have the abilities to make that possible. What I fear is how much it would affect everything, if it were to layed out. If it is true that it is far, more advanced than the Dwarves technology had been then we can conclude that many would want it in their hands." he said, a short pause, "Then, is there any other things you'd like to discuss?"
"Yes, your majesty" Disgyr answered, stepping forward, "I am Disgyr Haxlash, and I am here to talk about military and alliance. There's no need for a long speech or explanation for this one because I'll make it short, if possible we want you to send a tiny portion of your guards to Kelgar, a small village that lies over the mountains, also if its workable I'd like that tiny portion to train the villagers. Next is as much as possible, we don't want to bring any of the parties' forces to any war related events, it will be up to the King if he would lend a hand if such occurence would happen."
King Xander chuckled in amusement, "This is the first time i've heard about not needing any of an ally's forces in times of war, you must be confident in your people's skills and abilities. But I do feel that you guys are men and women of peace and you don't want to drag others in your problems and for that you earn my respect in your philosophy, but please do accept any help my kingdom will offer for I will be more than glad to give it" he paused and closed his eyes, took a quick breath and then sighed, "So, how about the young ones you brought? Have they anything to say? Especially that lady who answered one of my councils, not only she's beautiful but something within me tells that she's also smart."
"I'm pleased to have you compliments, your highness" Mischa replied, slightly bowing her head, "We have not much to say aside from two wishes, one is for someone to teach us how magic works in this world and the other is to have a copy of the world map."
"Ho ho, I could give you a copy of the world map but why do you want to learn magic?"
"Because magic didn't exist in our world, and since this is different from our world we theorized the possibility of magic's presence here. Monsters also didn't exist in our world and most of them were just from myths and legends yet they do exist here, meaning magic should also exist." Jouzu answered.
"Olgran-san, you sure brought some interesting company," the king chuckled, a heartful one, "your group keeps surprising me and I'm sure there's more that you guys will make everything interesting. Sure, I'll accept your proposals, from this day on consider us your friend and ally."
"We'll be more than glad to be your comrades your highness but, I assume that you also have certain interests that you'd like to tell us won't you?"
The king replied with a short chuckle as if he is expecting for someone to say that from the beginning, "I'm impressed you could tell it young lad, its pretty rare for a man as young as you to perceive things such as within this conversation's degree. Of course we do have some interests, every political party does, though we do have some gains on your offers, it would be very one-sided if we were to only accept your propositions it am I wrong?"
"Then, we'll hear what their majesty wants. It is our obligation to accept the other party's proposals, a deal cannot be written unless both of the parties have a mutual agreement after all." Varix intervened.
"I suppose I should get things going then" the king replied calmly, "first things first, economically we have no problems of dealing with problems or anomalies but there's always, let's say bad guys who always gets unapprehended. If any of you can at least one of their high ranks, then I should then return my gratitude and accept one of your requests."
"So a request for a request huh?" Nimbus mumbled, caressing his chin gently.
"Ho ho ho, you seem to get the point. But of course that's not all, you've already seen Kash'Nir am I correct?"
"Yes, we only managed to get here because we ran away. That monster is strong, even our best fighters had to withdraw against him." Varix replied, covering the lie behind his words with his usual calm, and strong demeanor. He knew to himself that he can't afford to reveal Jouzu and his friends' identity or else, they'd be bounded by political interests. He knew that those six could beat that demon with their Unique Items but he must conceal it at all costs to prevent the obvious possibility of them to be used as political materials.
"There come's our second request, we need Kash'Nir to be either weakened or slain. We've been dealing with the problems he caused us for hudnreds of years and I believe that with your cooperation, we will send that demon back to hell. For now that is all I want from you and your people, it may be more for our benefit but it must be done so we can call this a deal."
"We understand your highness and we do respect your decisions" Disgyr replied, "we will surely do our best to meet your expectations."
"Then, everything is now set. The pact has been made, and so we must celebrate it."
The king was about to stand up and give his blessing for the others to leave but Kloy interrupted him, "Wait, my lord."
"Hm? What is it Kloy?"
"If you'll allow me, may I also have a request for them?"
"You needn't ask me for that Kloy, you are here because you're also a part of this meeting."
"Thank you, my lord" Kloy replied as he knelt down on his knees. The king then sent him a short nod, signaling him to stand up before he began to speak, "Sir Olgran, I wish to see the Adventurers' strength and I also wish to see the two Edeans you have brought here."
"I was also about to say that because I forgot to mention it" Varix said as he slighty chuckled, "of course Sir Kloy, if we must show you our strength then we must, just give us a notice on where or when would you like it to happen and we are assuring you that we'll come."
"I shall then give you a notice within the following days," Kloy said with a smile, "Thank you for granting it Sir Olgran."
"Then I can safely assume now that everything has been said and done" The king once again said, "I hope that both parties will grant each of the parties' demands. The pacts have been made and so both should do their best to do it, this meeting is now adjourned."
Everyone stood up after the king gave his final speech, once again giving a bow and then shook each of their hands. It was nothing but success for them, and everyone was glad that they've once again took a step towards achieving their goals in the new world.
"Before you leave, I'd like to invite you for a celebration that will happen this coming night. It will be a celebration for this particular event and its success, I'm hoping that everyone present here will attend it. That's all and we'll see you again tonight." The king announced before leaving.
After that, they found themselves once again into the carriage they took from the inn. Jouzu and his friends felt relieved after that long meeting, the pressure was finally off their shoulders and they can now have a good rest. They've now done something, it was a small thing but it will surely have an effect not just for them but also for the others who were trapped within Pristonia, something that would help them in the meantime or even in the long run.
Once they're back, they quickly went back into their rooms and slept to give themselves rest and to prepare for the next event later that day, the celebration of establishing a relationship between the Adventurers and the Elves.
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[A/N]: Yo! Its me again hehehe, I hope you guys are still enjoying the story so far. I had a hard time thinking of this chapter since I don't really know much about politics and sh*t but I can't really believe I did write something related to it.
Oh, I've also been watching some swordfighting anime's lately and I'm trying to expand my horizons in writing fight scenes which I hope I'll be able to do in the later chapters. Ideas keep popping on my mind whenever I see a good fight scene and I keep saying to myself that it needs to be on this story, which I can really hope to do because I don't have a wide range of vocabulary.
Anyways, that's all for this chapter. I hope you guys had a good read and as always, thank you and see you on the next chapter! (/ ^_^)/