Without showing any of his previous aggressiveness, Plato elegantly came near Taylor and greeted him as he judged the man in front of him. He thought as he looked at Taylor, 'A Loyal retainer, huh. He seems quite calm in my presence. I guess he has gone through quite a lot and is quite confident in his security team or he is confident that I won't sully my hands and honor, well quite an obvious guess.'
Meanwhile, Taylor too tried to judge him as he looked at Plato and all the individuals around him.
Taylor came straight to the point and spoke after looking at Joel and Plato, "I hope you had a safe journey. Defense Minister Plato, your meeting with his majesty has been arranged at the Floating castle. Please come with your team. All the officials of Sky are present there. We will be conducting our important talks over there. The Security of your men over here will be handled by our National Security Bureau so you don't need to be worried about assassinations from other countries and let your men be at ease."
Plato deliberately nodded to Joel as Joel took over and spoke, "We thank Lord Prime Minister to personally receive us as it is quite an important occasion. We heard that you and a lot of your colleagues were promoted just today. Please accept this small token as a gift from our side. I have heard that Lord Prime Minister is a man of integrity and never accepts gaudy gifts and hence we prepared something that would certainly satisfy you and not be gaudy."
Luke was quite shocked after hearing of Taylor's promotion to Prime Ministerial position but didn't let it show on the outside and decided to instead watch the show.
Luke thought as he watched the show, 'Fortunately, I had cultivated my ties with Lord Taylor and this would certainly play a key role in the future. It seems Lord Plato is up with his usual antics to gauge the adversary. It seems Lord Plato has a deep set of spies who only provide general information and won't do anything that is flashy like stealing technology. I too better cultivate some people to be updated about the important Political news of Sky.'
4 soldiers carried a big chest and opened it after getting a signal from Joel. Inside the Chest were the heads of 2 men which was recognized by Taylor.
One was the head of the baron from Radiant City while the other was the chief of the local church of Radiant City.
Some of the officials flinched at such a gory site but quite a lot of officials were accustomed to it due to the previous war.
Trevor Snake and Carl Morgan sighed as they watched the scene from the sidelines.
Trevor murmured as he watched the play, "That's why I hate attending these Political parties."
Carl smiled as he heard Trevor and spoke in a very low tone, "We still have to network with them or else you know the fates of businesses who don't have political support. Not to mention they become our backers in times of crisis. Didn't you give 6% shares of your company to Duke Howard from Centre just to tie him up with your pirate ship?"
hearing this, Trevor spoke in an irritated manner, "That's why I hate them. Their greed has no limit. While I work my ass off they get easy money due to their authority. And today I will have to bear the arrogance of that kid, Jack. God, I am so pissed off today."
Carl too agreed as he sighed and spoke, "Well that's true but it keeps the pests off from your backyard. People don't easily provoke businesses when they hear of Political Backers when it comes to business. Just recently one of the Second Generation Marquis thought that he can crap over my businesses not knowing the depths of our influence. Anyway, more political backers are anyway good for business as even the Royal Court would think twice before crapping over them." Carl smiled as he bragged out.
Trevor too nodded as he understood the importance of Political backers when it came to businesses and sighed as he continued to watch the show that was taking place in Floating Castle.
Meanwhile, Angered by the gory scene, 1 of the low-level official was about to roar at Joel but was stopped by his superior. The superior murmured to him, "Calm down, this is how power play at diplomacy works. Most of the officials of Sky over here know who these two heads belong to so don't get agitated unnecessarily."
He then murmured, 'It seems they are intending to remind Lord Taylor where he previously belonged to and as well pressurize Sky. I guess Lord Taylor will have to inevitably accept this gift. From the looks, Lord Plato thinks that the Prime minister is some pushover. Let's see how Lord Prime minister deals with them.'
Taylor laughed a bit as he watched these cheap tricks from Aelius and thought, 'Do I need their help if I needed help in killing these two worthless men. It seems they want to gauge me.'
Keeping his composure, Taylor called his men as he signaled them to take the chest and spoke to Joel showing his aura full of Dignity, "Minister Joel, you must understand that I would rather have a whole dish rather than having a small bite when it comes to certain things. I appreciate your efforts, anyway, we should prepare and get going since a lot of officials on both sides are waiting."
Plato smiled as he evaluated Taylor, 'Quite a rational and cunning man. Hmm… He is not the type to be affected by emotions or humiliated by his past identity. A good choice as a Prime Minister's candidate.'
To some people, In this showdown, it looked like Taylor had accepted the gift when his men took the chest but to the officials, they understood what Taylor meant when he spoke of dishes.
The official who was angered previously was quite surprised and showed a smile as he heard Taylor, he thought, 'I was quite carried by my emotions I should keep this in check for my future development. It seems Lord Taylor rejected them quite ruthlessly. Rather than worrying about worthless pawns and brood over his past, he would rather have the head of these people and the system which is responsible for the cruel fates of numerous people.'
His superior smiled as he heard Taylor as well as watching the reaction of his junior who understood the meaning behind Taylor's words. he smiled and spoke, "It seems you have understood. Always keep your emotions in check and never get swayed by it as it might create an embarrassment for us."
The junior official nodded and spoke enthusiastically, "Yes Sir. I will reflect on my actions and improve on them."
Joel gave a dry laugh and thought, 'I thought this man was quite inexperienced and new to Politics. I guess we can't even give these rebels a small payback. You want a Whole dish, Bullshit! You mean you want us to present you with the head of Dukes, Bishops and Mercenary Heads! Fat chance. Go get it yourself if you want it so much. I would fight at the demonic borders rather than antagonizing these big families and create an internal issue. Even my threat of Tax raids would be nothing in front of these families if I order the killing of their chief.'
At this time, Ealdron and Randolph who were present here took several pictures of this confrontation between Joel and Taylor as he wrote a report with a satisfied smile. He quietly murmured which was heard by Randolph and others nearby, "The tone and narrative of this meeting are set. I hope Glenn doesn't squash this report. Or I swear I will go to North-frontier times for sure and drop the sales of Sky Times. Nope, that won't work, I heard that he was promoted to the position of Minister of Information and Broadcasting. Hey, doesn't that mean I have a shot at becoming the Chief Editor of Sky Times? I guess I will still be controlled a bit by Glenn when I became the Chief Editor. Well, I can still resist him as I will have enough authority to publish all the rightful stories."
The new Projector handler/ Cameraman, Randolph spoke to Ealdron as he recorded the whole scene, "Sir, you should stop murmuring, people are giving you weird stares as if they are looking at an idiot. Please consider your status as a Chief Journalist of Sky Times. Even I have to keep a distance from you."
Randolph sighed as he murmured, "With the opening of Private Media and Entertainment houses. I am sure those unscrupulous businessmen would use the private media to target each other's businesses as there are a lot of loopholes when it comes to laws. For the greater good, not everything can be controlled. I just hope Ealdron doesn't get swayed by them. Already a lot of journalists at Private media are moved by enormous money provided by the businessman to slander or sensationalize minor news of their competitors."
Ealdron was quite pissed after listening to Randolph as he broke his fantasy dream to teach Glenn a lesson. He spoke with a sharp tone, "You don't understand anything brat. That Glenn purposely suppresses the good reports and political scandals of Aelius that I bring every week. But I still do this to keep those diplomatic teams from other countries in check. Do you want them to run around like mad dogs here in the sky not caring about anything? And, by the way, are you on Glenn's side or my side? By any chance you aren't giving any information to Glenn behind my back, are you?"
Randolph squinted his eyes and spoke, "I don't know which side I am on but I certainly am not on your idiotic side. What will happen to my reputation if word gets out that I am participating in stalking incidents with you."
Ealron fumed as he sighed and murmured, "This brat just pisses me off. How can this brat ever become a Chief reporter unless he stalks for such scandals?"
Meanwhile, Randolph too nodded when he heard Ealdron as he thought, 'True, one can't become a good reporter unless he has good stalking skills or a good network and sources of Information. I guess I will have to strengthen other areas to become a good on-field reporter.'
At this time it was Plato who calmed the awkward atmosphere, He spoke to Taylor and everyone present, "Indeed, Lord Taylor is right, We should hurry. Joel, you should prepare the men to depart."
Plato then looked at Taylor and spoke, "I heard that today there is a military parade of Sky's Military. I wonder if General Anak will be present as I heard some rumors these days."
Taylor smiled as heard Plato and spoke, "I wonder, he may be present or may not. You know Lord Anak is quite a moody person. He has anyway returned to his original position in Ghosts so there shouldn't be any worries."
Plato then purposely bought Blue paradise's today's magazine and read a certain gossip. This gossip was sourced from a maid of John's Imperial Palace.
Plato smiled as he tried to get awkward answers from Taylor which he can use later on.
Taylor sighed as he thought, 'Anyway, people would know about it sooner or later.'
Taylor sighed and spoke to Plato, "You see I rather refrain from indulging in fantasies and useless Gossip of maids which might even be made up by private publishers to push up their sales. Her Highness Diana can't control everything which goes on in all of her companies so you shouldn't bother much to sensationalize insignificant matters."
At this time Joel laughed with a grin as he saw an irritated look on Taylor's face as well as Plato's face. He thought as he looked at both of them, 'I guess both of them hate each other's guts but are just managing to control themselves. Anyway, from this conversation I can confirm that Lord John is indeed Anak and hence plan similarly.'
Taylor, Luke, Plato and Joel's team soon departed for the Floating Palace while other officials and journalists soon followed the carriages of all the ministers to the Floating Palace and Purple Palace to finish their work.
***
Very soon Taylor and others arrived at the Floating Palace.
At this time, Maeen too was watching the show from the sidelines as she tried to understand the situation.
Maeen asked Cain, "What do you think?"
Cain meanwhile spoke his conjectures to Maeen, "I think they have quite a complicated relationship i.e. Aelius and Sky."
Maeen shook her head and gave her own conjectures, "The only thing complicated is the fact that both are trying to one-up each other while not tearing each other's face so as to complete this deal. Both are also biding their time and hence the pleasantries currently. I am sure that Aelius will go to war with Sky in the range of 5 to 10 years when they research these new weapons and subdue the Radiant Church fully or even partially. Currently, their interests align due to their need to suppress the Radiant Church on the continent. And I am sure that they will scheme something in this meeting against the Radiant Church. Our current goal is the Interests of the Amon family first and the Lemuria republic second. My only worry is that Demons don't scheme behind our backs and try to create a wedge between the Amon family and The Sky Kingdom. So this is one of the reasons I am following the meetings closely."
***
In the Capital of Ayananore Kingdom, Queen Kaylin furrowed her brows as she was reading the letter from Mist which had defined the scope of war that took place and the current Politics which was going around in the region.
She thought, 'I never imagined that the North-south war was on such a large scale that destroyed both Aelius and Bryndyll by 1/10th in terms of Military powers of the whole Kingdom. It will be very hard for them to recoup these losses but I guess they benefitted a lot as well in terms of Civilian and Military research to calm other borders.'
She spoke to Eden immediately after reading the letter, "Eden, I need to visit the Sky Kingdom. Read this, how do you view it and how should we react?"
Eden furrowed his brows as he looked at the letter and spoke, "It seems quite serious. Since Mist has also come to this conclusion then we need to strengthen this alliance with Sky by all means. We can't remain aloof in this era as said by Mist or we will bear the brunt of the next era when we become isolated. Remaining isolated would only mean our doom as our border countries would advance technologically as well as magically meanwhile we would remain in the past when our enemies come knocking at our borders and this would mean a disaster for us. As spoken by Mist we can provide them some reserves of our ancient magic knowledge in exchange for their technologically advanced weapons. Maybe we can combine both of them and gain something new. The very fact that they were successfully able to tackle Black Death Employed by Aelius and Radiant Church means that they have a sturdy foundation in terms of technology if not magic. If you can't go then I will go and represent Ayananore."
Kaylin keenly looked at Eden and thought, 'This guy usually isn't this talkative and energetic. Something is fishy. Going by logic I would reject his offer but I am sure this cunning guy has taken this into consideration. I better send a minister to keep a check on him and accept his offer. No, I should follow in case something big happens.'
Kaylin keenly looked at Eden's expression as she nodded as she spoke, "Quite a rarity, moved by your diligence, I will let you visit Sky to form an alliance. Prepare to leave immediately. I anyway need to handle our navy in the east. I suppose you don't need my help in preparations to leave. One of the ministers also will be traveling with you."
"Tch…"
Eden was stunned as he thought, 'What the Fu… I only offered to go as a lipservice so she doesn't doubt me and she is taking this offer of mine seriously. How would I buy that Magic Staff from Stonewood Forest Makers if she is present here all the time guarding the treasury? She won't even let me buzz around our treasury nor let me improve my network with the finance minister.'
Some officials smiled as they saw the expression of Elf King, Eden and then Kaylin who was quite suspicious of Eden.
She thought as she looked at Eden, 'As I guessed this bastard was only offering lip service. I better follow him or he will mess up this alliance which can be detrimental for our future.'
Eden dropped his head as he grumpily accepted Kaylin's order to visit Sky.
'Damn how do I answer Master Toby for the next payment of Magic Staff that I promised. Maybe I can strike some deal with the King of Sky. I heard that he is quite rich. He will certainly loan me for certain transactions. It is anyway better than nothing.'
