Volume 5 Chapter 29: International Negotiations

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Author: 夜州 (Yashu)

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After their two-day rest in Drintor was over, Cain and the others returned to the royal capital.

They got out of the carriages in front of the academy’s main gate, and everyone lined up.

“Quite a lot happened, but I’m glad no-one was hurt and we managed to make it back here safely. You’ll have a break from school this week, but it will be back to normal from next week onwards. So make sure to take it easy at home this week. Then, you may leave.”

The students got in the carriages that had come to pick them up and all went home.

Cain was also about to get in the carriage Koran had come to pick him up with, but then a voice called out to him from behind.

Cain turned around; it was a royal knight.

“Sir Silford, there is a congregation in the royal castle. Please head straight there.”

Cain sighed and looked at Koran, who simply shook his head.

“…Koran, to the royal castle then, please.”

Led by the royal knights, Cain’s carriage headed towards the royal castle.

Having arrived at the royal castle, Cain was led to the usual reception room by a servant, where he then sat down.

“I’ve already explained it to them though… I wonder if something happened afterwards…”

Not long after, Duke Eric, Magna, Dime, and Cain’s father, Garm, entered the room, led by the king.

Cain quickly stood up and bowed to the king.

“Well, sit down. Sorry, Garm, for summoning you here as soon as you arrived.”

“Not at all, if there is a summons from Your Majesty… So… this time was…”

Garm’s mind was filled with worry when he noticed Cain was there, thinking he had definitely done something again.

“It’s only natural to be worried when Cain’s involved. This time, depending on the other party’s moves, there’s the possibility of –– war with the Republic of Ilstin.”

“W-What!? Just what on…”

Magna explained to Garm, who was quite concerned at the fact that Cain was also there.

Listening to the explanation, Garm made a face that said ‘Not again…’

However, once everything was explained, his face stiffened from the above-unexpected events and thinking about what to do from then on.

“……Understood. I will have the soldiers finish preparing soon.”

The Kingdom of Esfort was surrounded by the Baisas Empire, the Republic of Ilstin, and the Holy Country of Marineford, but as only the Baisas Empire was hostile, the only territory whose margrave had his own soldiers and could fight with other countries was the territory of Gracia, governed by Margrave Garm.

If a war really did break out, soldiers would have to rush there from the Gracia territory.

Moreover, there were rumours going around that the Gracia territory’s soldiers were even stronger than the royal knights.

Garm’s face became grim as he nodded.

“Well, to be honest, if Cain’s here we won’t lose a war no matter what, but… But Cain’s still a minor. I can’t allow him to participate in a war yet. It would be best to avoid war altogether…”

Everyone except Cain sighed at the king’s statement.

It was an undeniable fact.

“Eric, I’ll leave the negotiations to you.”

“All right. I’ll take care of them.”

Cain had wanted to attend the negotiations as one of the affected parties, but with the words ‘Leave this to the adults’ from the king, he had been excluded. He was then also reminded that even if a war broke out, he would not take part.

“And now, about domestic things…”

The topic of their discussion changed from the Republic of Ilstin to the Kingdom of Esfort’s domestic affairs.

Corgino was dead and Viscount Baldo had been arrested. A large number of members of Corgino’s faction had also been involved in illegal things, and they had been arrested one after the other as well.

Several deputy governors and inspectors had been urgently dispatched to their towns from the royal capital.

The nobles’ authority had been temporarily frozen, and their territories were treated as ones under direct control of the state.

The first time Garm heard about how many such cases there had been, he crossed his arms, frowning.

As the Kingdom of Esfort was currently right in the middle of a state of emergency, they had to immediately make a decision to keep the governance of the kingdom stable.

Especially among the towns governed by Corgino’s faction, many of them were on the side of the Kingdom near Ilstin, and as the tensions heightened, the need for negotiations also became more pressing.

A special envoy had already been sent to the parliament of the Republic of Ilstin by fast horse.

Initially, dispatching a whole delegation from Esfort to Ilstin for negotiations had been on the agenda, but the Kingdom had been the country to receive harm in the incident, so the correct thing would have been for the attacker, the Republic of Ilstin, to come to Esfort, so a special envoy had been sent to explain.

Then, two weeks later, a delegation for negotiations arrived from Ilstin.

As one of the involved parties, Cain had an opportunity to explain, so he got to meet the delegation in person, but when they saw his face, they started shaking. To the Republic of Ilstin, while Malph had been released from his job as MP, he had still carried out the attack as a citizen of Ilstin, colluding with the Dark Guild.

Moreover, the other students included a princess, duke’s daughter, and an imperial princess from Baisas as well.

It would be natural for the Kingdom of Esfort and the Baisas Empire to view it as a declaration of war.

No matter what impossible demands the two countries might make, the Ilstinean delegation could not refuse.

Their refusal –––––––– would lead to war.

The negotiations between the two countries went on for several weeks.

Once the negotiations had ended, a huge reparation fee, as well as division of territory had been decided upon.

Nevertheless, the Republic of Ilstin had concluded that it was still better than starting a war.

The amount of reparations was so enormous that they couldn’t be paid all at once.

It was decided that it would be paid to the Kingdom of Esfort over the span of the next ten years. Even though the payment would be split up, it would still be a heavy burden for the Republic of Ilstin.

Having been the one who had done most of the negotiations, Duke Eric seemed satisfied as well.

The Ilstinean delegation went home frustrated.

Then, in order to explain what had happened as well as to tighten the country’s grasp on its nobles, Esfort’s nobles were all given urgent summons.

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