Watching Plato's movement, John spoke, "Ok, that can be possible but we want Greenwoods Village in return. Also, you might not know the intricate details of the deal with Bryndyll so you don't need to be downhearted. Anin might just be instigating you by hiding many facts as this may be related to Tornwall and others."
Plato furrowed his brows as he heard John, "That is not up to me your Majesty, it is the domain of Baron Mendez."
John smiled as he spoke and Quill bought the contract, "Well, you don't need to worry about him, I had briefed him on the details and he has agreed to sell it to me. Here is the contract. Anyways, There is nothing in Greenwoods village right now apart from some broken homes."
Plato looked at John and thought, 'Since there is nothing, that is why it bothers me. It seems this was his target all along. However, Mana-restoring pills are more important right now. However, he will certainly make a show at Greenwoods village in the future from the historical perspective. Argh, if I reject it now then King will certainly blame me for rejecting such a juicy deal as the elders are already dancing on his head. Even If I explain him he won't look at the long-term perspective as mana-restoring pills are more important and all the blame will fall on me.'
Princess Rona and Joel too remained quiet as this was a sensitive matter.
Plato gritted his teeth and spoke, "Okay, We will accept it. However, we have another request."
John was quite surprised as he looked at Plato and spoke, "Go on. What is your request."
Plato signaled as Rona spoke, "We hope that we can redeem General Endo and people of our factions. For this, we are willing to completely lose face against Prince Hector."
John thought of his conversation with Dwayne a bit as he nodded and spoke, "Ok, But I have another request, you have to be hostile politically to Prince Charlie as well. After signing this agreement we will not be able to report on the scandals and actions of King, Queen, other concubines, the Duke and the Princes apart from Prince Hector. But if I sell you the Printing press then you are free to attack your political opponents so including your political opponents you have to just release some scandals of Prince Charlie. Previously I heard from Taylor that you had a meeting with Mr. Donovan and it seems you were interested in Media companies for development in Aelius so this will be a win-win situation for us."
Plato heard John and spoke, "Prince Charlie? isn't he just a nobody in the race to the throne? Why are you interested in him."
Rona too nodded as she found it difficult on why Prince Charlie would attract his attention.
John nodded and spoke, "I guess it is natural that I shouldn't be concerned by a nobody but it seems that this attack has some relation to Prince Charlie as well. When our interrogators talked to Antionio, He told that after Prince Hector's conversation with Prince Charlie, he started ignoring the instructions and opinions of his counselor Alistair. He thinks that this whole scheme was the work of Prince Charlie so I want to see his next set of moves."
Plato too noted down about Prince Charlie as he got angrier about the events which lead to this war. He thought, 'Okay, I have 1 more target now on my hitlist to take down politically. I should make an appointment with Prince Hector even if he is hostile.'
This time, it was Princess Rona who spoke, "Hmm… if he is as sinister as you claim then it might be difficult. Plus you buying people is already absurd enough."
John slanted his eyes a bit as he looked at Princess Rona who raised the topic about buying people and spoke, "Okay, continue. What are your requests."
Princess Rona smiled and spoke, "We want access to your educational institutions for our people when it comes to higher studies especially medicine. I heard that your educational institutions are open to all the general public of Sky. I also heard that you were quite close to Princess Sally. So we would like to propose an alliance via marriage."
John thought a bit as he thought about his conversation with Sally, He spoke in a dispassionate voice so as not to get found out, "Though we are close, it would be problematic if her Mother is in hostage at Aelius. So it won't be good if we are allied by marriage. It will be a loss of face for me politically if people say that I am controlled via Aelius. So it is better if…."
Looking at John's dispassionate answer, it was Plato who spoke immediately as if he was already prepared for an answer, "That won't be a problem, How about this, you get married to Sally and I will personally escort Princess Sally's mother from her exiled palace in Redwood city. And this will give King Lionheart the reason to pacify the masses for a sudden reduction in aggression from both sides. This way both sides will have enough reason to back down for a peace deal and pacify the masses who want bloodshed."
John smiled as he thought, 'It seems, Lionheart just wants to save face so as to not be seen as a loser and doesn't want to use her mother as a hostage. I guess they were probing me if I was too close to Sally or not. It is good that I already discussed this with Sally. I can also guess that Princess Rona deliberately specified about buying citizens or else they would certainly slow down the pace of sending citizens even if they were benefited. My most likely guess is that they won't budge and keep on dragging about this unless I agree. And We have a big shortage of people which can only be solved by Immigration or Invasion of Aelius and other countries. Invasion is impossible for now, maybe I can add some terms since Lionheart cares about-face so much.'
Rona didn't speak as she seriously looked at John's expression.
After looking at Rona's face which was serious, John spoke, "But I have some conditions if you guys want to save the face of your Kingdom in this Peace-deal."
Rona sighed as she thought, 'I guess brother-in-law will be satisfied with his bottom line of keeping face being met or else I could have only dragged this on forever. However, we could not drag forever officially because a lot of nobles are keen to sell the unproductive slaves to recoup their losses and this is also one of the reasons why they are in agreement for a peace deal.'
Rona nodded and spoke, "Please say. Since you have agreed to our bottom line then we may try to meet your demands."
John thought deeply and spoke deliberately, "I want access to your Magic Metal mines since there weren't many in here at Sky."
Plato immediately roared, "NO! How can this be possible."
Rona too was of the same opinion as this was a national strategic asset. She thought, 'He is quite a tough nut to crack.'
