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Vol 04 Chapter 129: Secret Diplomacy I

「I’m scared…」

Alice’s voice trembled as she spoke, hugging herself with both arms and looking down.

「What will happen if I defy him…」

「But you’ll get beaten either way, won’t you?」

「If only it would end with just a beating…」

She muttered under her breath.

When training elephants… The trainer ties a thick rope to a thick stake on the leg of the young elephant.

The young elephant desperately tries to escape, but it cannot break free with its strength alone. Eventually, it gives up on resisting.

Even after they become adults, elephants don’t try to escape anymore, even with a small stake and a thin rope.

Alice’s situation seems similar to this. She must have been conditioned from a young age.

For Alice, that stake is Aldo.

But…

「Aldo isn’t here right now. Soon, we’ll have him in custody and he will be executed. Then, you’ll be free.」

Alice remained looking down.

Sigh… That’s it for today, I guess. It’s only been four days, but if I patiently continue, maybe she’ll gradually regain her own will…

I’m not a psychiatrist, so I really don’t know though.

Julia is a magician, but according to what she told me, she doesn’t understand much about the psyche when it doesn’t involve magic.

How many days… or rather, how many years will it take for Alice to become independent?

◇

「Please, have a seat, Merlin-dono.」

Merlin sat down at my urging. It was just Merlin and me in the room.

「May I ask you something?」

「What is it?」

「Didn’t the Anti-Gallia Alliance forbid negotiating peace agreements individually?」

To prevent any side deals, the Anti-Gallia Alliance prohibits its member countries from negotiating peace agreements individually. If each country acts independently, it would undermine the purpose of the alliance.

「Peace agreements are forbidden, but normal negotiations are not. You should read the articles more carefully.」

「…I see. So, what are we talking about then? It’s not like we’re here to casually discuss Japan, right?」

There’s something I can’t understand.

How does she know I’m Japanese?

I realized Merlin was Japanese when I heard her chanting that strange spell in Japanese. But I haven’t spoken any Japanese.

Is there some kind of blessing involved?

「No, it’s about the peace talks… I’m well aware that the Rozel Kingdom cannot accept our proposal as it is.」

Our country’s annual income is about a thousand Talents (26,000 kilograms of silver). Since the Rozel Kingdom has more than ten times the national strength of our country…

The annual income of Rozel Kingdom must be around ten thousand Talents (260,000 kilograms of silver). The demands we presented ask for a total payment of two thousand five hundred Talents from them.

That’s one-fourth of their annual income. If asked whether they can pay it, they could, technically.

But their pride won’t allow it. The Rozel Kingdom is not cornered enough to have to pay such a huge sum.

It would be cheaper to pay the money than to continue the war, but humans are not always rational creatures. Sometimes they act based on emotions.

I doubt King Rozel will agree to such a significant payment.

「However, it’s true that both sides want to stop the war.」

「Oh? Our country could still go on, though?」

「You shouldn’t boast too much. I know about the rebellion.」

Finally, the information reached me. Tribes in the northeastern part of Gallia have rebelled, and the Germanis tribes have crossed the river that marks the border and invaded.

The Germanis tribes are especially dangerous as they number around a hundred thousand or so. According to reports, the Germanis warriors forcibly entered the Rozel Kingdom bringing with them their families and livestock.

They’re like armed immigrants. The Rozel Kingdom would have had to deal with this quickly.

They don’t have time to waste military forces on us in these circumstances.

「Sigh… so it was your stratagem after all. Well, fine. What are the terms?」

「Here they are.」

I lay out the conditions.

• First, our gained territories must be recognized.
• Second, pay one hundred Talents (2,600 kilograms of silver) each to King Faldam’s Country, King Gilbed’s Country, and King Domorgal’s Country, and two hundred Talents (5,200 kilograms of silver) to King Rosais’ Country.
• Third, hand over Prince Aldo to King Domorgal’s Country.
• Fourth, recognize Prince Carlo’s ascension to the throne of King Domorgal’s Country.
• Fifth, release all Adernian prisoners of war captured during the current conflict.
• Sixth, agree to a three-year ceasefire.

*The reason for the higher reparations to King Rosais’ Country is because it did not gain any territory.

「Hmm… five hundred Talents, huh? Well, we can pay that…」

Merlin looked unconvinced. Naturally. The reparations were suddenly reduced to a fifth of its original amount.

It’s suspiciously generous.

「Can you convince the other kings?」

「What? Are you worried about me?」

Of course I can.

I am the leader of the Anti-Gallia Alliance, and my country is the one that would gain the most from making a unilateral move. If our country pushes for an early ceasefire, the other three countries must consider it.

In the first place, the Rosais army was the one with the biggest accomplishments in this war. King Domorgal’s Country owes our country for all the help we gave him, and with their king indebted to us, they cannot strongly object.

King Gilbed’s Country and King Faldam’s Country, the newcomers who joined the war late, have little say in the matter.

In fact, they should be happy to receive the same amount of reparations as King Domorgal’s Country.

Really, they should be satisfied that their territories are being returned. We are only receiving a small portion from King Domorgal’s Country.

「Well, alright. I agree.」

「That’s good to hear. Now, about the prisoners we’ve secured…」

「We’ll give you all soldiers but the centurion-ranked officers and above, and the magicians. Ordinary soldiers aren’t worth paying ransom for. How much do you want?」

「We want two thousand Talents (52,000 kilograms of silver).」

「What!?!」

The chair made a loud noise. The expression on her face was one of pure dissatisfaction.

「That’s outrageous!!」

「What are you talking about? It’s a fair amount.」

That’s a lie. It’s not fair at all.

Typically, one Talent can buy about ten slaves. Considering it’s a ransom, we could estimate that an ordinary soldier is worth about a fifth of a Talent (0.2 Talents).

Even if a legate’s value is a thousand times that of a normal soldier, it would still be only two hundred Talents.

「This is unreasonable.」

「Come on, calm down.」

The allied forces jointly captured two legates, five tribunes, and several centurions after the battle, before the pursuit.

During the pursuit, another three tribunes were captured. If you add the common soldiers, we captured sixteen thousand prisoners.

Now, what’s important is how the spoils will be divided. The ransom of prisoners is one of the main sources of income from any war.

Right now, the ownership of the sixteen thousand soldiers ranked centurion and below has not been decided yet. We plan to hold a discussion with King Domorgal’s Country in the future to determine this.

The ownership of the tribunes and above is determined by the country that captured them. Luckily our country was able to capture two legates and four tribunes.

I’m grateful for the efforts of our soldiers.

I’m demanding two thousand Talents as the total for the two legates and the five tribunes captured. One of those legates was even a member of the Rozel Kingdom’s royal family.

The market rate is probably around five hundred Talents at most.

So essentially, I’m asking for more than four times the market rate…

「This is to compensate for reducing the reparations to a quarter.」

「…You’re a dirty player.」

「Think of it as labor costs for convincing the other Adernian kings.」

Our country needs as much money as we can get. However, if we ask for too much, it makes it difficult to conclude the peace treaty.

That’s when I had an idea. Could we reduce the reparations for the other countries and increase our own?

This is the method I came up with at the end. Since ransom negotiation is not part of the peace treaty, it does not violate any regulations.

It’s a brilliant strategy using a loophole in the Anti-Gallia Alliance chart. In fact, the loophole was created for this reason.

The downside is that if this gets out to other countries, it could sour our relations with them, but we’ll be in a ceasefire for a while, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Or rather, if our country and the Rozel Kingdom ally and flank them they are finished so they probably won’t point it out intentionally.

「Still… even if the reparations are reduced to a fifth, the ransom being this high…」

「…What will the King of Rozel think of you if he learns you had a way to save them, and you didn’t use it?」

As I said this, Merlin’s expression contorted. If handled poorly, she might get executed.

I’m exploiting their desperation. That’s why I’m asking for two thousand Talents.

「Well, I understand that two thousand Talents might seem too high. So, I’m willing to go down to one thousand Talents. But, there’s a condition.」

I’m willing to reduce the demand to one thousand Talents. Naturally, it won’t be for free.

「I want information on all the magicians you have hiding as spies in our country. All of them will be captured. We won’t torture them. But if you want them released, you’ll pay a separate ransom for each. And this secret agreement stays confidential. The exchange will be conducted in secret.」

「…」

Merlin closed her eyes, likely deep in thought.

She was weighing whether to accept the thousand Talents ransom and face criticism, or reject it and still face criticism… Whether to provide the information on the magicians or to withhold it.

「The total amount you would need to pay is one thousand five hundred Talents. This is probably where we’ll land if you decide to pay reparations. On top of that, normally you would have to pay a ransom too, but with my proposal, the ransom and reparations are combined, so it should come out cheaper than expected. It’s better for both of us to agree here. Also, thanks to Lydia-san spilling everything, we have a good handle on the whereabouts of most of the spies inside our country. So, offering up the spies’ information now is somewhat redundant.」

I think it’s a pretty good deal. The Rozel Kingdom gets off cheaper than expected, and our country secures a substantial sum.

And the peace treaty can be concluded sooner. They are free to reject this offer and continue with peace negotiations… But that will likely drag on. And the situation in Rozel Kingdom is becoming more tense. They would end up having to make significant concessions.

If Merlin were the ruler of Rozel Kingdom, she’d surely reject such terms outright. But the ruler is King Rozel, not Merlin.

King Rozel probably wants to end the war soon. However, he likely doesn’t want to pay large reparations. Paying a large sum would essentially broadcast the Rozel kingdom’s defeat both domestically and internationally.

The amount of the reparations directly reflects the scale of the Rozel Kingdom’s defeat. However, a ransom doesn’t necessarily correlate with the scale of defeat—it’s not made public.

Rozel Kingdom’s prestige will remain unscathed.

「…I must decline your offer.」

Merlin looked at me squarely and declined clearly.

「Indeed, it’s not a bad deal… no, it’s actually a very good one if we only consider the present moment. However, if I think about the risk of your country becoming more powerful with the reparations our country pays, it’s utterly unacceptable.」

「I see… that’s unfortunate.」

I sighed deeply and stood up.

「Please leave. Our discussion is over. Sigh, what a pity. I thought you were a bit smarter.」

「Say whatever you like.」

Merlin stood up with a look of displeasure and left.

「Raymond.」

「I understand. I’ll start preparing Plan B.」

Now, for the main event.