Chapter 321: 252. Conclusion of talks with Aelius.

John spoke irritatingly as he unconsciously spread his aura when Plato stopped him, "Let me finish it, I want access to your Magic Metal mines or I want access to your magicians and the people you send shouldn't be very disproportionate species wise i.e. if you would send 1 human for 100 demons or 1 demon for 100 humans and so on then, it won't be acceptable. Disproportion is inevitable but deliberate disproportion won't be tolerated. Ratios like 2:9, 3:9, and so on are okay. You get the gist of what I am saying, right?"

Plato calmed down then thought and spoke, "So you want access to our Magicians and while we are selling people, the proportion should at least be 2:9 either way. Okay, that is possible but we can't give you access to our top Magicians, okay? Only the middle-grade magicians will be allowed."

This time it was Rona who spoke as she thought that John would change his mind, "Okay, we agree to this condition. We anyway won't be selling our Magic Metal mines."

Plato thought as soon as Rona spoke and looked at John keenly, 'It seems that Magic Metal mines were never in his agenda. His true purpose was most likely the Magicians. Okay, I will let that slip by and make it seem as if I didn't notice this subtlety.'

Plato nodded and spoke deliberately so as to dig about John's relations.h.i.+p with others, "Princess Sally would be the Queen, right?"

John smiled as he understood his intentions and spoke nonchalantly, "Yes, is there any other preparations you want?"

John thought, 'I guess he is most probably trying to gauge my relations.h.i.+p with Diana, Eva and Josephine for now. Well, he doesn't know that all of them would-be queens and the matter of status don't matter. Hmph... using little tricks against me.'

Plato and Rona were quite shocked as they looked at John suspiciously.

Even Quill was quite shocked but calmed down as he knew that Lord John was going to marry them after hearing from Master Melanie as these days she didn't bother him or others for creating more chances of dates between John and Eva.

He thought, 'I guess this is due to Prince Chad's meeting with Duke Norman today and hence the calm.'

Rona thought suspiciously, 'What is he cooking right now, another scheme? I guess I can't dig into his relations.h.i.+p with others so easily. It doesn't matter as I have completed my mission and he has agreed to his Majesty's bottom line early on and this is what matters the most. His majesty can pacify the n.o.bles and ma.s.ses both by saying that Sky's king is his Son-in-Law and Sky kingdom is just a dowry while other things were anyway developed or expanded by King John himself while keeping a facade of peace for now. A pardonable excuse.'

Plato meanwhile thought as he heard John, 'As far I know, our spies report shouldn't be wrong. I heard that his relations.h.i.+p with Eva and others has improved since the last ball when Duke Fredric arrived and hence the suggestion for a marriage alliance by our strategic experts. Well, Even if he is lying, Princess Sally's fate as a concubine anyway is good enough since she would be marrying someone who she knows for a long time now and is better than marrying into a Duke's house.'

John looked seriously at Plato as bought the important points and spoke, "What about my spies? You still haven't released them."

Plato nodded and spoke, "After we sign the agreement and make a formal announcement, we will release the spies. Don't worry about them. They are not in normal prisons where people are tortured every day, they are living normal lives but are under house arrest. This treatment is enough for your men, right? We can release some of them in good faith for now."

John nodded and spoke, "Okay, you can meet General Endo and others after our signing ceremony today. You can also make an announcement about this later on so don't forget to release my spies before the crowning ceremony."

Both Rona and Plato were shocked as this meant that John was really going to make her a queen.

Plato spoke as he smiled cunningly, "Your Majesty John, I wonder if you are interested in a scheme against Radiant Church and Prince Hector."

Joel muttered slowly, "Here comes the main dish and also the reason why Plato b.u.t.tered up to his Majesty John publicly."

While Rona smiled as she knew that this would happen when she talked with Plato previously.

John thought about the attack which was going to take place today and spoke, "Okay, Continue. What sort of scheme do you have in mind against them."

Plato nodded and spoke, "I wonder if you know about Radiant Church's recent underground activities?"

John signaled to Quill and spoke, "Bring that cla.s.sified report about Radiant Church and hand it over to him."

Quill nodded as he brought out the report and spoke, "Lord Plato, are you talking about the Radiant Church recently promoting against Slavery these days to the commoners? Check this out, you may get more insights."

Plato looked at the report unabashedly and almost cursed, "b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, they have spread so much and are doing it to this much extent? We indeed need to be ruthless to them."

Meanwhile, Quill was quite surprised as he saw that Plato was able to read Sky's new language without any difficulties. He thought, 'No wonder! he is not called the Grand Strategist for anything. He always has his sights on the borders with national interests in mind.'

After reading the report, Plato nodded as he smiled sinisterly and spoke, "I wonder if you are interested in making propaganda about the recent activities of the Radiant Church. You will simply have to make reports about how n.o.bLE they are for only promoting freedom for humans and not other species. This will make them an enemy of both the n.o.bles and Other kingdoms simultaneously. With this, the one who will be affected the most will be Duke Von Longbonder. As far as I know, Duke Von Longbonder is currently in an alliance with Prince Hector and might cause problems for you. Unlike Prince Hector, he is a very tough nut. He has a lot of resources at his disposal whether it is n.o.bles, Bureaucrats, Ministers, Mercenaries or Kings. You see it is his family which has controlled the narratives of Slaves for quite a long time, about 400 years already so they will be affected the most by the actions of Radiant Church. Previously, it was the other families that controlled major slave trade."

John nodded and spoke, "True, I saw that Prince Hector has recently been running a lot after being abandoned by Queen Cecelia and her family. Anyway, that guy is just a petty runt. But making Radiant Church fight with Prince Hector and those n.o.bles will be quite interesting."

John made a decision and spoke, "Ok, I will be targeting Radiant church economically, politically and if necessary Militarily. I will also be actively making medicines for a lot of incurable diseases so as to attack the services of radiant Church. I suggest that you guys too attack the Radiant Church by propaganda i.e. the only thing you have to do is target the local head and bring up his scandals. Of course, it must be the truth. Same for the Dukes who will be buying the Printing presses along with the Royal family."

John continued as he thought with skepticism and asked Plato, "Hey Plato, do you really think that the n.o.bles will believe anything that we write on our newspapers?"

Plato thought deeply as he smiled and spoke, "You might not know but two of your newspapers have gained a lot of reputation due to their excellent reporting of news. One is Sky times and the other one is North-frontier times. This is because most of the articles written by you guys have been verified by the various sources of the n.o.bles as well. And in case even if they didn't believe it, this will sow the seeds of doubts in their mind which will make them take action and investigate Radiant Church privately which will improve the authenticity of your report. So what do you say?"

John nodded and as he thought, 'It seems that pursuing the truth will inevitably give good results even in the face of the enemy.'

John nodded and spoke, "Ok, so it is decided that we will go with this plan. You guys have no problems, right?"

It was Rona who spoke now, "Your Majesty, I wonder if you can help us contact the people of our faction."

John sighed and understood what she wanted, "It can be possible, I will arrange Admiral Blake to bring General Endo to Golden Spring city. As for the prisoners, Most of them are in Aurora currently. Ok, I will arrange for them to be transported to Eastern port city. But you will have to wait for a few days."

Rona immediately nodded and spoke, "That won't be a problem, we will be in Sky until your Crowning ceremony 1 month later at Golden Spring City. I will be conducting business for this 1 month so time shouldn't be a problem."

Although Joel didn't speak one word during this meeting he still breathed a sigh of relief as all the talks were decided and both the sides lowered down their auras.

Even though Plato didn't show it on his face but he was the one who was most relieved as he had made a big political bet this time around which could decide his downfall or let him stay at his place.

***

In Duke Fjord's domain, there was an atmosphere that was full of doom and gloom because none of the ministers were willing to speak as it would only mean to get themselves killed.

In his court, Duke Fjord roared irritatingly, "Is there any other information related to Sky?"

This time, it was Jonas who spoke, "There is one good news and one bad news."

Duke Fjord who looked like a zombie these days immediately jolted and spoke, "Okay, lets hear the good news."

Jonas looked at Duke Fjord carefully and spoke, "According to our sources, Baron Mendez's son Antonio was almost a.s.sa.s.sinated by the Radiant Church. According to some guards under Lord Plato, they said that this a.s.sa.s.sination was funded by Prince Hector and planned by the Top cardinals as the head of the templar knights, Neo was also killed in the skirmish inside the prison."

Duke Fjord furrowed his brows as soon as heard about templar knights and spoke, "Neo? Is it that Neo? The one trained by cardinals personally."

Jonas nodded and spoke, "Yes. It is the same Neo. According to them, there were 2 factions fighting in the prison in which the Templar Knights lost. They say that the 2nd faction was supported by his Majesty John. They say this due to the nature of weapons and the bodies which had bullets, the same as the ones faced during the war by Aelius. Currently, Lord Antonio is in Dolores under house arrest. You can see the report about his house arrest in one of the new newspaper publishers of Sky. Knowing the Imperial Court, I don't think they would do this if it is in their will. I think some sort of deal took place as this was also the time when Sky reduced its aggression against Castles Bordering Dolores."

Fjord smiled as he looked at the newspaper and spoke, "Good, now we can dump all the s.h.i.+t of this war on Hector if anyone from Royal Family's faction targets us. Okay, what is the bad news."

Jonas sighed and spoke, "In the North-South peace talks, we were not invited. Lord Plato cited that it was due to the hostile relations.h.i.+p between Lord John and us due to the death of Lord Evan. Currently, the talks are most likely taking place. Some of our people are in the business group so the transfer of information may only delay a little."

Fjord gritted his teeth as he took down his humiliation and spoke, "These are the tricks by the Royal family. Anyway, as a Duke, I will have the same rights as other Dukes so we don't need to worry. Any other news?"

Jonas sighed and spoke, "People from Darius's army are still getting killed on a frequent basis. At least the ones who were officers and had a close relations.h.i.+p with Darius. I think it is most likely Henry. I am sure he is supported by other powers currently to create turmoil in our duchy."

Fjord calmed down after a series of setbacks and took a decision firmly, "Ok, Since Darius's previous division is reducing the morale of other divisions. We will disband Darius's division and build 3 other new decisions. As for the officer-level veterans, we will make special corps that will be hidden from public eyes. Now we will see how they attack them. And from now on, keep a keen look on the movements of all the n.o.bles."

Jonas nodded and spoke, "Okay, I will make the preparations."

Everyone in the court sighed after a long time since this was the first time after the war that a normal conversation took place.

***