Although Claire could already imagine the scene of Lilith being attacked by public opinion, the corners of her mouth had even begun to twitch.
Claire knew that she couldn’t laugh yet; she had to continue playing the role of a concerned princess for the country and the people, and a good friend for Lilith.
So when she welcomed Lilith, Claire suppressed her feelings and said dejectedly, “Your Majesty, it seems we don’t know who has stirred this up in the Royal Capital recently, but there are rumors outside that the Northern Border is going to cooperate with us.”
After all, Claire had received information that the negotiations were not going smoothly.
However, Lilith smiled and said, “It’s alright. We will indeed engage in some cooperation with the Northern Border in the future. The people are happy, and we should support it. Later, I will make the details of the treaty public to all citizens.”
Claire was taken aback, her expression a bit flustered, mainly because she didn’t know what Lilith was really thinking. She asked, “Your Majesty, isn’t this inappropriate? Such an important matter as the treaty talks shouldn’t be made public like that. It could cause chaos.”
Originally, Claire thought that Lilith would cover up and conceal the real treaty, but unexpectedly, Lilith openly declared it.
Lilith waved her hand and said to the nobles who had come to welcome her, “Since everyone is here, let’s take this opportunity to head to the Royal Palace and start the round table meeting.”
Lilith had already guessed that someone was pulling strings behind the scenes, so she decided to catch all the nobles off guard while they still hadn’t reacted.
As soon as they heard that Her Majesty the Queen was going to hold a meeting, both the new and old party nobles exchanged glances, eager to know the specifics of the Northern Border situation, so they did not object and followed Lilith into the Royal Palace in a daze.
The Royal Capital already had many noble representatives who were part of the interests of the central region, and now some nobles from the central region had basically been physically stuck between the Royal Capital and the Northern Border, so these nobles were indeed very eager to confirm the latest policies between the Royal Capital and the Northern Border.
As the convoy moved, Claire immediately noticed something was off; the knights beside Lilith were all wearing Northern Border’s equipment, and many of the pieces still bore the Northern Wind Bear insignia, which had not yet been replaced.
A sense of foreboding suddenly rose in Claire’s heart.
Amidst the nobles’ unease, Lilith sat on the familiar throne.
Once the other nobles took their seats, Lilith, unusually, spoke first:
“This time we head to the Northern Border, we conducted friendly and in-depth exchanges with the Northern Border Governor and reached significant consensus regarding the kingdom’s border security and resource sharing.”
“First, let’s discuss the military assistance that everyone is most concerned about.”
“Sir Judith, could you please demonstrate the Northern Border’s cutting-edge weapon?”
At Lilith’s command, Judith stood up, drew her sword from her waist, activated it, and the blade began to emit a faint glow, followed by an orange-red light gradually enveloping the blade.
Judith slowly walked to a relatively spacious area of the conference room and performed a flourish with the cutting weapon, asking, “Is there anyone who would like to give it a try?”
Scott immediately stood up and said, “I’ll do it!”
Scott and Judith were among the most interested in this batch of equipment, so he eagerly drew a regular weapon from an escort’s waist and aimed it at Judith.
With just one strike, the escort’s sword was cut in half, steam rising from the broken edge.
Scott’s eyes lit up; the cutting spear mentioned in the treaty was probably as powerful as the cutting sword. For knights equipped with such weapons, as long as they charged into the enemy’s formation, it could be said they had won.
Since the ray guns were too dangerous, Lilith didn’t plan to demonstrate them in the conference room, but Judith gave Scott a look, and Scott immediately understood the importance of the ray guns.
The Palace Guards’ weapons were all personally procured by Claire, and there was no question of cutting corners; although she had already received intelligence regarding the cutting sword’s power, seeing it with her own eyes left Claire greatly shocked. No wonder Lantern Dream advised her not to be enemies with them.
The nobles present also swallowed; although they were aware of the reports from the Northern Border and the Demon Clan’s decisive battle, it was only when they witnessed these weapons that they truly realized how formidable the Northern Border was.
With such powerful weapons, how would the Northern Border be willing to sell them to the Royal Capital?
They must have to pay a substantial price, right?
Nora looked at the nobles and slowly started reciting the modified weapons assistance treaty by Lind.
When they heard that it involved trading population, many people frowned, especially the old party leader Marcel.
A significant part of the old party was made up of those land-holding noble lords from the central region. Surely Her Majesty wouldn’t consider relocating the population from those nobles’ territories?
That wouldn’t do; having land without people would leave those nobles as commandants with empty titles.
Seeing that more and more people in the old party were hinting at this, Marcel quickly interrupted, “Your Majesty, the population should come from the Southwest Borders. After all, these weapons are to be sent to the southwestern border, and it is reasonable for the two princes from the Southwest to take responsibility.”
Scott immediately opposed, saying, “That’s not right, Sir Marcel. Our Southwest Borders already lack population due to the war, and when the An Zhu came through, were you asking the central nobles to defend against them? Moreover, the cost of relocating populations from the Southwest to the Northern Border is even higher; it simply doesn’t make sense.”
Scott glanced at Judith, but Judith was unfazed, showing no intention of helping.
Marcel initially didn’t genuinely plan to relocate people from the Southwest border but thought that if Her Majesty really planned to do so, he must gain more benefits or compensation from the Southwest.
“Regarding this,”
Nora interrupted the argument between Marcel and Scott and said, “The Northern Border Governor has already considered this; relocating the population to the Northern Border’s territory can earn trade certificates with the Northern Border.”
Then, Nora began to slowly detail the functions and specifics of the trade certificate, and the nobles present opened their mouths wider as they listened. No way, the Northern Border Governor really plans to cooperate with the Royal Capital? Would they actually share in the profits?
These nobles were not concerned with any concept of productivity; they didn’t want the population on their territories to be moved away but knew that these people could produce food and resources. If they sent these people away, how could they obtain more wealth? These lower-class populations would instead soon become a burden for them.
Farming doesn’t earn money as quickly as doing business, and trade with the Northern Border is entirely a no-lose deal. Northern Border goods had already skyrocketed in value in the Royal Capital; not only in the Royal Capital, if someone could take these goods further away from the Northern Border, the price could increase once again.
Claire’s eyes widened; what kind of potion had her best friend fed the Northern Border Governor? Such generous conditions aside, the treaty also explicitly stated that the population could come from any region the Northern Border Governor wouldn’t care about, and the number of trade certificates was limited; which nobles received them was entirely at Her Majesty the Queen’s discretion.
Could it be that the Governor’s head was truly kicked by a donkey?
The meeting gradually began to spiral out of control.
