***
The next day Minister Plato and Minister Joel's team of officials and businessman had just arrived in a rush at North-frontier City. There was quite a hubbub among the travelers as they saw the city and discipline of the army exuded by the soldiers of Sky.
Jack's Grandfather, Trevor Snake who was quite skeptical about this visit but was quite surprised after watching the Majestic North-frontier city walls and then the city as they passed through it and then Sky first hand.
He murmured as he watched the surroundings, "Quite a different site from what I expected. I thought all those stories from our spies and traders were merely exaggerated to help that Grandson of mine. I should have trusted my spies and not think of them merely looking out for Jack and them expecting me to help that good for nothing."
Carl Morgan who was quite grumpy for this first visit but had to come here because of Joseph's Political connections at Sky was nevertheless unsurprised as he usually checked the situation of Joseph from time to time by his men. He murmured in a low tone as the carriage moved on, "I guess I need to resolve the familial feud between Max and Joseph. However, I never expected that brats friend to create a Kingdom and rebel against the Royal Family. I guess it was inevitable as his highness Hector wouldn't have left him alive unless John bowed to him or at least accepted his defeat. And this would have only added more fuel to the fire and become a long-standing hatred. As far as I know, Joseph's father i.e. my son too had to bow for his offense to his highness about 10 years back. And this is one of the reasons why I didn't want Joseph to have close relations with John as he already stirred trouble. Guess it turned out well so it's good for the family at least. I guess that incident 10 years ago was one of the reasons why Joseph allied so strongly with John as his ideals matched with his ideals. But this success of Joseph will certainly create jealousy and animosity among all other grandchildren of mine, especially Max who is under Lord Duke Blackwolf as he was just recently fighting with Joseph. These days Joseph has clearly indicated that he is quite happy being independent of the family while doing business from Sky. Maybe I can negotiate a deal with Joseph. but the most worrisome thing would be his smugness and arrogance as I wouldn't be able to do anything since Aelius is a defeated party this time around. Well, I can always use my age and status of grandfather to corner him."
At this time another head of the family named Dan who owned many mines asked Carl in a worried manner, "Hey Carl, What do you think? This meet won't get bloody as the rumors suggest, right?"
Carl furrowed his brows and spoke, "Are you an idiot believing those rumors? Since we were officially called by Sky you shouldn't worry needlessly as both Aelius and Sky would be protecting this group from Aelius. And if it was going to be bloody then Minister Plato wouldn't have called us in the first place. Currently, no other nation would needlessly start provoking Sky so as get banned from buying Mana Restoring Pills. You should rather be happy that you were called at this event as this would be a good opportunity to do some business with Sky. It is rather a headache for me and that Cold Guy Trevor sitting in the corner to deal with our Grandsons. Anyway, you can also make a deal with Sky Authorities to get those children and retainers of your family who participated in the previous war."
As his name got mentioned, Trevor looked at Carl coldly as he understood why Carl made that remark,
Trevor nodded as he thought while looking the old duo of Carl and Dan, 'It seems, even he was forcibly called by Plato on short notice. It seems Lord Plato intends to use our connections with our Grandchildren to cultivate ties with Sky. Carl will most likely speak later with me so I better not start a conversation and show weakness. Previously, As far as I heard, even Carl had officially disowned Joseph from his family register as he didn't want to get entangled when the war started previously. I presume, like us he also paid a hefty price to the authorities to convince them. The very fact that Sky was able to deal with Aelius and Bryndyll at the same time is good news for us as this will reduce the influence of Radiant Church and make space for our families in Aelius. Previously we never got into medicine business because of the influence of Radiant Church and hence were only making and selling Poisons to mercenaries, nobles and countries or the other business that were related to clothes and food. As the ones dealing in poison for years, how can we not know about medicines unless we were suppressed by that group of Light magicians and the Radiant Church? The tricky part in this meet is to satisfy the ego of that brat Jack and to meet his demands so that I can expand our family business. I am sure that brat is fully in Sky's camp meanwhile our family will have to re-align a bit to get maximum benefits from both Sky and Aelius.'
As expected Carl finally but reluctantly approached Trevor as he gave his greetings and asked him straightforwardly, "I heard that Prince Hector's Aunt and General Endo's Sister too is present for negotiations this time around and is in another Royal Carriage. Do you have any intel on it?"
Trevor Snake focused his eyes a bit on Carl and nodded in agreement, "It looks like your family has also paid a great amount of attention on this visit. This time her visit is for the release of General Endo as well as other nobles who are affiliated in their camp so it is understandable that she is present. As far as I know, currently, their family has cultivated ties with Lord Ambassador Luke's father i.e. The Mayor of Imperial City, Lord Mayor Andrew Greenwald so that they can get the latest information on the local politics of Sky via Luke. I guess their family has contacted you as well after the previous defeat both on land as well as sea. Meanwhile, they might also have other deals so as to improve the relations for now and get the maximum benefits. If you don't know, according to my sources the Right-hand man of Prince Jabal's is also here pretending to be a low-level bureaucrat. It seems Prince Jabal will finally reveal his cards and make his moves. Last I heard that your Grandson Joseph got a great opportunity and struck gold as he decided to join his Majesty John at much earlier time than that grandson of mine. It was good that they took their own decisions and became independent of the family."
Carl was quite surprised when he heard of Jabal's right-hand man and thought, 'I guess Prince Jabal never revealed his right-hand man to others or at least one of his important retainers who deals with his shady stuff. As far as the tone of Trevor is concerned, looks like he intends to cooperate with Sky this time around and diversify his interests. And looks like he knows more about Joseph's work at Sky than our family. It seems Queen Cecilia's family has taken the road to decouple themselves from Prince Hector as they don't want to miss the opportunity in Sky and are going to support other children of Cecilia, most likely the 7th Prince. Most likely they had taken this decision after reading the letter from General Endo who might have told them of the Military power as well as other developments of Sky. Most of the countries are keeping a mum on the real firepower of Sky from the civilians. The most we know about is the canons and ships which wrecked the armies of Aelius and Bryndyll however there is a lot of mystery that is being hidden from the civilians. Even that brat Joseph didn't reveal anything to his father or mother when they asked him in his letters. This meet will most likely demonstrate the firepower of Sky as they will be rewarding their Military for the previous feats.'
Carl nodded gratefully and spoke, "Thank you for the confirmation. We will talk later as there are a lot of eyes. I will anyway have a longer stay than the bureaucrats themselves as I don't want to lose an opportunity for business in Sky. If you too are intending for a longer stay then let's meet later on." Carl nodded and left as he saw that Trevor didn't intend to reveal anything.
Trevor nodded coldly as he too didn't intend to disclose anything sensitive in the carriage. He thought as he saw the border town and Lord Plato discussing with the border patrols, 'It looks like we will be escorted by the border police and only some military men will be escorting us. This border town looks quite developed as seen from the roads and the way that people are using a lot of new accessories and tools. Hmm… cohesion between various species looks quite good. Apart from Minister Joel and Princess Cecilia's sister, all the other ministers are in control of Lord Plato so as not to create conflicts and misunderstandings with Sky. It seems there will be a boring Treaty.'
