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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Kabur & Silavin
Lucas, still smacking the man smiling in front of him in his mind, said the words without changing his expression.
“So you are saying that there will be no further compromises on your part?”
“That’s what I’m saying. Well, if you want more, we’re willing to talk.”
The man’s expression was so glum that Lucas realized there was nothing more he could ask for.
The man in front of him was a messenger from the Razequa Amamiya Kingdom, not a negotiator.
No matter how much he tried to argue, I would not be able to extract any concessions from him.
As long as Lucas is dealing with messengers, it is useless to talk about anything here.
He decided to let the situation get murky for now and asked the man in front of me to leave.
“We, for our part, cannot give you an immediate reply. We would like to give it our full consideration.”
At these words, the man in front of him nodded one more time, as if he understood what Lucas wanted to say, and then he said the words Lucas wanted to hear.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me… Oh, yes.”
The man who was about to leave the room turned around and looked as if he remembered.
“As for us, our door for dialogue is always open, so please contact us if you need anything.”
With that, the man made a single bow to Lucas before leaving the room completely this time.
After Razequa Amamiya’s messenger had completely left, Lucas again looked over the text the man had brought.
Then, after confirming that the contents were still correct, Lucas made a clenched fist and slammed it down on the desk.
A thud echoed through the room, and the aide at his side shook himself.
“Are you seriously asking us to accept these conditions? Are they insane?”
The aide spoke to the agitated Lucas fearfully.
“Is it that bad?”
“Look at them.”
Lucas said simply, and then tossed the document to his aide.
Normally, since it was a diplomatic document, it should have been handled with some degree of politeness, but he completely lost that mood.
The aide, who was looking over the document, changed his expression in less than a few moments.
The entourage is good at erasing facial expressions, but now that Lucas was the only one present, and because of the content of the document, he apparently neglected to make the effort to erase it.
“Is this… Are you serious?”
One of the aides, who had read through the document to the end, let slip.
“I’m sure they’re serious.”
Lucas replied with an expression as if he too was biting a bitter bug.
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The document in the aide’s possession contained the “conditions” for the northern city to become a part of Razequa Amamiya.
Among them, there was a condition that could not be taken under normal circumstances.
It was still a good thing that they had to give up their rights to the surrounding towns and villages and leave it up to each town and village to deal with its own problems.
It is reported that other towns in the east, west, and southwest had similar conditions.
However, there are two other conditions that are impossible from the northern towns.
One of them is that all tax collection rights shall belong to Razequa Amamiya.
Another condition was also impossible.
The other condition was also impossible: All political appointments in the northern city would be vested in Razequa Amamiya.
If these two conditions are accepted, the northern city will be completely absorbed into Razequa Amamiya.
The other cities in the east, west, and south will be allowed the same rights as before, as long as they pay taxes to the state.
It is safe to say that a certain amount of autonomy is granted.
However, the terms proposed this time call for complete ownership of Razequa Amamiya.
It may or may not be implemented, but it would even allow for the elimination of all the nobles currently running the northern city and the placement of new nobles.
Even if the existing nobles tried to ignore this and wield power, there would be nothing they could do, since even the right to collect taxes, the source of their power, has been taken away.
There was no way they could accept such conditions.
Even if Lucas agreed to them, he would not be able to avoid the opposition of the nobles in this town.
Lucas could not read Razequa Amamiya’s intentions at all.
“Are you going to let these people know about this?”
The “those people” the aide refers to are the aristocrats, who are all about entitlement and stupidity.
“… We will have to show them. No, we can show them after we agree to surprise them.”
Lucas had an extra thought in his head that it would be better to do that to get back at Razequa Amamiya.
Unfortunately, there was no way he could do that.
The document also stipulated that the agreement of the aristocrats must be obtained.
It was impossible to catch the aristocrats by surprise.
“But… From the looks of this, it seems that Razequa Amamiya wants the northern city to collapse once and for all.”
“… What do you mean?”
“Even if we accept these conditions, we will not escape the opposition of the current influential people. Even if we do not accept the conditions and go on as we are now, the northern city will continue to decline.”
The aide said this clearly in front of Lucas, the head of the northern city.
Disrespectful or not, the aide was merely stating a fact.
Lucas did not blame his aide, as he too was of the same perception.
“So it’s the same for his country either way,” he said.
“Considering the damage that will be done, the former might be better.”
Lucas tilted his head at his aide’s words.
“What do you mean?”
“Because if the northern city accepts the conditions and joins the umbrella, hopefully the damage will only be limited to the influential people.”
“… I see.”
Lucas finally understood what Razequa Amamiya was thinking.
At the very least, the upper echelons of Razequa Amamiya seem to think that the current ruling system in the northern city is not good.
Therefore, it is transparent that they think it would be better to impose unreasonable conditions on the city and rule it from a state that is much closer to the present one when it becomes an affiliate of Razequa Amamiya.
To put it bluntly, the current state of the northern cities is the result of the negligence of the rulers.
With an expression of bitterness, Lucas let out a sigh.
“That’s how far I wish those guys could read.”
With an expression that seemed to have no expectations at all, Lucas muttered to himself.
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As expected, the meeting was as chaotic as Lucas thought it would be.
The attendees were all saying whatever they wanted to say, but the one thing they all had in common was “There is no way we can accept these conditions!”.
That’s fine, but Lucas was hoping to hear at least one alternative proposal.
Most of the opinions were devoted to cursing Razequa Amamiya.
Seeing this situation, Lucas was inwardly thinking that it was inevitable that Razequa Amamiya would abandon him.
However, since he was attending this meeting as a representative, Lucas had to somehow organize his opinions.
Lucas was struggling to calm down the noisy room and to organize his opinions.
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