***
In the roads of North-frontier City.
Meanwhile, Minister Joel and his team were quite surprised after looking at the clean organized streets, houses and the bustling commercial places in the North-frontier city.
He asked Plato as they were waiting for John, Taylor and others in the Aelius Palace which was just brought recently by Aelius Royal Family for the important state visits by Aelius. He asked, "What do you think about Sky, Plato?"
Plato was also deep in thought after looking at the Military arrangements of Sky and spoke, "In my view, they are very good at the management of their organizations. Whether it is the army, city, or people. They are really very good at it. To be honest, after looking at some of their private and state-operated companies even I was quite astonished. The most astonishing aspect of Sky seems to be its commercial operations and then there is their Technology. I fear for Aelius the day Sky ascends and influences the region because of its Military and Economic ambitions riding on their Technological Prowess. Well, I shouldn't worry much as other forces will intervene as well. This time we lost because Demons were on our tail and they would have certainly attacked us if we moved the Dragon Knights from Central capital to our Northern borders. This is one of the reasons why I have reorganized the Dragon Knights for better efficiency."
Joel nodded as he quietly looked outside, "What do you think of the Military parade that is going on? And it seems instead of Anak they have made Arlen as the Grand Marshal General of Sky. If my guess is correct then that General Anak is most probably his Majesty John."
Plato too nodded his head and agreed with the assessment, "Yes, I feel the same. Lord John is showing the makings of a Warlord as well as a Wise King. I would wish him to be a Warlord rather than a Wise King as Sky's rule would only be short term and Aelius can certainly subdue Sky in Long term with betrayals and funding people who are unsatisfied. However, see this newspaper here, there is this new research on the long term effects of multiple races in Sky. It seems this news is being published in all the newspapers with the heading of the Social-Cultural path of Sky. This article is most likely being funded by their court as it is in all the newspapers and magazines so that people and scholars can debate on this subject. Now, this is quite an interesting social foresight shown by the researchers of Sky's Rose Institute."
Joel took a look at the newspaper and read the article as he understood and showed a shocked expression, He asked Plato, "Hey, Plato did you really think of these plans?"
Plato smiled and spoke, "Well, In the long term, I did plan out my offensive against Sky for the next generation which includes racial division using the media, infiltration of their institutions in all levels, bribing certain individuals and asymmetric warfare and also using the sympathizers of Radiant Church to keep them distracted, However, this plan will not be implemented for now. In the short term, we will wait for the time until we create those new weapons called Guns and Cannons that can be equipped by our Dragon Knights and probe their defenses. In regards to social research, their intelligentsia seems quite capable in smelling future dangers as a lot of my plans are included in this paper. I wish we had such capable individuals to warn our people. Well, we can always improvise on our plans."
Finance Minister Joel gasped as he read the article and thoughts of Plato which were highlighted by the research. He asked, "Then, won't they use the same warfare against us?"
Plato smiled and spoke, "Certainly they can but not all as our laws are different from theirs. I only fear the Nobles rebelling against Aelius and for this problem, I have given certain proposals to his Majesty which was sadly rejected. Our current problems are also related to Slavery which will be very hard to remove as it is related to Noble interests. Anyway, currently, we are in a partnership with Sky as Radiant Church is the bigger nuisance for us. Just recently, we got the latest report from Lord Norman about the new conspiracy of the Radiant Church where they are researching the unlocking of bondage magic which is used by slave owners. On the surface, they are not speaking anything but behind the scenes, their actions speak something else as they are encouraging commoners to speak against slavery."
Joel smiled as he thought of Plato's problems and suggested, "It is true that we can't ban Slavery outright like Lord John but we can certainly implement it in phases."
Joel continued, "First, lets go to the root cause, Most of the times, slaves come from Mercenaries or from Prisoners of war or from Debt Slaves. We can certainly Ban the mercenary organizations engaged in the slave trade where they enslave the whole villages during war times. And now because of the previous war, I am sure even Lords and nobles with Slave interests will be unable to refute you openly. So we should cut the roots i.e. the Mercenary organizations and Tree will automatically wither away. As for the prisoners of war. we can give them some rights and use them in certain industries where there is a lack of labor. Give those prisoners a hefty prison sentence and then offer them leniency in their sentences if they decide to work there. Give them a normal salary which will more beneficial for us in the long term. As for placating nobles, you can tell them that ones to catch the most amount of prisoners in a war will be given the most awards."
Plato smiled as he heard Joel, "Hey Joel, why are you helping me suddenly? Aren't those Mercenary organizations one of the biggest taxpayers in Aelius. As for as your plan is concerned, some parts are feasible but some aren't. Like the one for placating nobles. Do you think every noble is brave to capture enemy soldiers? Nope, they aren't. In front of capturing unarmed villagers and armed Enemies. Which one will you prefer? Unarmed Villagers, right? As far as Banning Mercenary organizations is concerned, We can certainly make the law but we can't implement it fully as the nobles behind these Mercenary organizations will certainly protect them in their own territories."
Joel heard as he nodded and spoke, "Those mercenary organizations aren't really benefitting us when they slave the full villages because the profits don't outweigh the losses in other areas. When I conducted research, those villages gave more taxes to us than the Mercenary organizations. Not to mention lost lives as well as lost yields in food. And do you think that the commoners in the border areas don't know? They certainly know but always choose to keep quiet as speaking against Mercenary organizations or Nobles will mean certain death. This is also one of the reasons why Lord John got so much support in his previous rebellion. And I am sure this wasn't taken into consideration by scholars for certain reasons as they don't want to stir the pot and become the eye of the storm. Those slaves and Commoners had enough trust in John as they personally knew John and hence joined his rebellion. Many times I wanted to speak on this financial aspect openly to the king in the court but I know there will be severe consequences if I speak on it openly. Well, his majesty also is aware of this when I met him personally in his chambers to discuss the financial losses due to Mercenary Organizations but I understand that he has to take into consideration his own power and Nobles behind those organizations as this topic will certainly create a civil war."
Plato nodded as he understood certain problems and spoke, "It seems this is the same reason why his majesty decided to reject my previous proposal when I proposed to cut the power of Noble Armies as he instead advised me to reorganize the Dragon Knights who were useless in the previous war. Well, I can slowly achieve it. From now on we will openly target the mercenaries to the power of dukes."
Plato then murmured, "Maybe I should make the Radiant Church and those slave-owning nobles to fight against each other. Yup, when I return I will release this news to those nobles that Church is planning to Ban Slavery. It will be quite a show."
Plato smiled cunningly as he decided to scheme against the Slave-owning nobles and the Radiant Church.
At this time Taylor arrived with Luke as they finished the documentation work for the diplomatic immunity of certain individuals.
Meanwhile in the Radiant City's Main Chruch.
Pope David had a chill behind his back as he was having a meeting with other Cardinals.
One of the Cardinals spoke, "Let's start our preparations. Pope David."
Cardinal once again spoke, "Pope David. We need to start.'
Pope David came to his senses as he nodded and left with the Cardinals.
