The early morning sunlight penetrated through the twenty-centimeter-thick frosted double-layer glass, casting a slightly heavy morning light into the spacious study.

There were two rows of tall and strong guards standing at the door of the study, six in total, and each of them was a four-ring warrior.

Inside the study, two clerks in charge of recording sat in the left corners respectively. Further ahead, under the left and right columns, stood a four-ring combat master respectively.

On the left is Rosen’s mentor Anna.

On the right is a magic master of common origin named Galad, a native of Dawn City.

He used to be frustrated and had to take advantage of the leaks from noble wizards, but now he is the acting head of the magic department of Dawn City.

Behind the last large desk sat Duke Veran Dawn, wearing azure leather armor with dark gold patterns.

This was a bit of a big ceremony; it was a special ceremony for the new duke to receive foreign envoys on the first day of his accession to the throne, but from then on he could do it more casually.

When Sir Jarak walked into this study room that was both familiar and unfamiliar, he felt as if he was dreaming.

Just nearly a year ago, he was here discussing with a Duke named Reid how to get rid of the little baron who humiliated the king.

A year later, Reid went to Greystone Island to plant potatoes, while the little baron who humiliated the king became the high and mighty duke, looking down on him condescendingly.

The light in the other person's deep black eyes was dim, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking, which made Sir Jarak a little breathless.

He was worried that the other party would suddenly become furious and ask the guards to drag him into the corridor and chop off his head.

After all, the two countries were about to go to war and the duke had a bad temper. Some time ago, he caused Sir Schmidt to break his arm and lose his front teeth.

"Hail to you, Guardian of Veran, Blesser of the Morning Light, Saint of Veran"

He wanted to say the descendants of Saint Weilan, but when the words came to his lips, he realized that the other party was not the descendant of the saint. But now that he had said it, he couldn't take it back.

Fortunately, he was quick-witted and immediately changed his words: "The Saint's son-in-law, the Duke of Dawn."

Rosen smiled faintly, then his expression suddenly became serious: "Sir Yalak, I have always been a man who will avenge my grudges."

Sir Yalak's face turned pale, and he stood there speechless. At the same time, he felt a little urgent to urinate, and even felt like he couldn't hold it anymore.

Rosen's expression relaxed again: "But since His Majesty has apologized to me, the revenge has been taken."

"Sh ...

Sir Jarak breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a sense of luck that he had returned again after a trip to hell.

His brain came to life, and he immediately praised: "Your Excellency the Duke, your kindness is as bright as the morning light."

Rosen continued: "No matter how much hatred there was in the past, Weilan and Aaron are neighbors across the sea. This is an unchangeable fact."

"My idea is very simple. As long as your country is willing to let go of its condescending attitude, then we in Weilan are still willing to continue various trade exchanges with your country."

"Raw materials such as cotton, wool, tobacco, syrup, black stone, seafood, etc. will also continue to be exported."

"Of course, we have to renegotiate the price."

"After all, there are still many buyers in the Natural Alliance, right?"

Sir Yalak was secretly resentful when he heard this, because everyone knew that Aaron had lost an enormous amount of benefits in this process.

If converted into gold coins, it is equivalent to at least 18 million gold Augers or 22 million Lion gold coins less each year.

The loss is so huge that it is enough to make countless people fight for it.

But verbally he had to say: "My Lord Duke, I will convey your words to His Majesty truthfully. I believe that our two countries will be able to resume trade soon."

Of course Rosen knew it was just a show, but who doesn't know how to act?

He nodded in satisfaction, and then added seriously.

"By the way, the envoy of the Glorious Empire is actually in Dawn City. He has already informed me in advance and said that he wants to discuss the possibility of cooperating with me to develop new weapons."

"I am quite tempted by this. After all, the price offered by Her Majesty the Queen is really high. However, as a member of the Natural Alliance, I don't want to hurt the feelings of my allies."

"Sir Jarak, what do you think I should do, huh?"

Sir Yalak was shocked and was about to say something when he saw Rosen waving his hand.

"Forget it. An envoy certainly can't make the decision on such an important matter. You should withdraw and pass the news to His Majesty Dange, and let him make the decision."

That's true.

Sir Yalak was indeed anxious to pass the news back home, and after hurriedly paying his respects to Rosen, he left immediately.

After he left the study, he walked along the corridor to the Morning Light Hall and saw many people waiting to be received.

Among them was a female mage with long brown-black hair. She wore an officer's windbreaker with gold edges on a white background. She looked like an envoy of the Glorious Empire.

Before he could take a closer look, the Duke's servant walked towards the female mage, whispered a few words, and the female mage followed the servant to the Duke's study.

Yalak was shocked again: "The second one was received. It seems that the Duke takes this matter very seriously!"

There is an Aaron between Vilan and the Glorious Empire, and there are no Vilan warships on the Storm Ocean, so large-scale maritime trade between the two countries is naturally impossible.

But if new magic techniques were to be shared, Aaron, who was caught in the middle, would be very uncomfortable.

Perhaps some would say the friendship of a natural alliance.

But the two countries are about to go to war. If things go wrong, the newly independent Weilan will be destroyed. Who has time to care about friendship?

Sir Jarak couldn't help but think: "Your Majesty is right, this war cannot be fought at all."

But it seems that not fighting is not an option.

There are six great marquises in Aaron, forming six aristocratic forces, occupying 108 seats in the aristocratic cabinet council, while the total number of cabinet seats is only 128.

Now, the interests of four major forces have been greatly damaged because of Weilan, and they strongly demanded war. They won 88 votes in the cabinet vote, occupying the majority.

As king, he has the final say over the results of cabinet votes.

Even if the pro-war faction currently has the upper hand, it can still be vetoed by force.

But Sir Yalak doubted whether the Lion King had the courage to do so, because three of the four great sages who protected the royal family were from war-oriented nobles.

Only the eye of the storm, Sanchester, is left as a neutral party.

Weilan's independence and the Aaron nobles' rage were so intense that if a plate of ice water were poured on the fire at this time, it would probably not only fail to put out the fire, but make it even more intense.

"But if we take the lead in the battle, Aaron's future will be unpredictable!"

On the other side, in the government study, Rosen received Ms. Irene with formal etiquette.

He looked solemn and serious, completely different from the frivolous and frivolous look he had shown late at night some time ago, making Irene almost think that the person opposite him was a different person.

She secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but somehow, she felt an indescribable feeling in her heart.

It feels like, compared to the mediocre and unremarkable Duke in front of me, the dissolute Duke that night is more impressive.

The two sides had some formal diplomatic dialogue and the routine audience came to an end.

Just as Irene turned to leave, a whisper suddenly sounded in her mind.

"If Miss Irene is free, we can discuss new technology cooperation tonight."

The strange thing is that there was only the whispering of the mind, but no one could detect the fluctuations of mana that triggered the whispering of the mind.

Irene did not respond with a whisper in her mind, because the use of any spells was strictly prohibited in the current situation, but she thought to herself: "You wish, I won't come."

Any fool knew what the Duke wanted to do, and she couldn't let her husband down again and again.

This thought lasted until she returned to the VIP reception room of Dawn Castle, and then something changed.

"The Empire and Weilan are separated by more than 1,500 kilometers. No matter what happens here, it seems that it will not affect the country. And the Duke is quite generous. Perhaps I can get some new information from him."

Without mentioning Irene's various thoughts, Rosen began to receive the third envoy, Prince Lafayette, a master of magic from the royal family of Levender.

After the usual greetings, Rosen smiled and said, "Your Highness Prince Lafayette, I have collected all the evidence of the Levender royal family making fake deposits, including the counterfeiting process of the deposit paper, the magic information left on the magic seal, and some of the people involved in the counterfeiting incident."

"So, the evidence of the fake deposit certificate is irrefutable. What is your country's attitude towards this?"

Lafayette was very embarrassed and annoyed, but of course he couldn't vent his annoyance on Duke Weilan, after all, he was on the other's territory.

The best solution is of course to pay back your debts, but there are a lot of things to say about this.

So, Lafayette said, "Duke, the main responsibility for this incident does lie with our country, but after the incident, your country also seized a large amount of goods from our merchants. The total amount of these goods is probably not small, right?"

Rosen nodded. "Indeed, there was a batch. After experiencing the chaos in the south, there were some losses, but we have kept most of them intact."

"And I want to point out that the main responsibility for the huge chaos in the south lies with your country, so this unexpected loss should be borne by your country."

"We are a country that values ​​fair trade, so you can take all the goods that originally belonged to the merchants of Levender back to Levender."

"But we also hope that you will return the profits you have defrauded from our country by using fake certificates of deposit."

These words were well-reasoned and logical, leaving Lafayette speechless, but more than five million gold Oggs were too much.

Of course Levinder could take it out, but who would be willing to take out more money that has already been pocketed?

After all, there is no higher law enforcer above the country, and the morality between countries is almost non-existent. It is difficult to get people to pay money voluntarily with just a few words.

Unless the warship forces its way to the door with its gun barrels aimed at it.

But morality is of some use.

If Levinder really insists on being shameless and the news gets out, Levinder merchants will be at the bottom of the contempt chain in international trade, and will therefore incur a lot of extra hidden transaction costs.

Even pirates who rob merchant ships of Levender merchants would find this as an excuse to comfort themselves and become more ruthless towards Levender.

Prince Lafayette used the tactic of "delaying". "We, Levender, will pay the money back, but we can't just rely on Vilan's instructions. We have to investigate carefully to confirm it."

Rosen saw through the other party's thoughts at a glance, tapped the table with his finger, and said with a smile: "Then Your Highness should go back and check it carefully."

The money must be taken back, but based on his understanding of the young King Shila, the other party would most likely not return the money.

But it doesn’t matter. If the little king doesn’t pay it back, he will ask the little king’s political enemies to pay it back.

Once he helps the little king's domestic political enemies to overthrow the little king, his domestic political enemies will definitely give him an extremely generous commission.

He also reminded: "I hope this little thing will not affect our commercial trade on the new route."

"No~ This will never happen!"

Business and trade are about making money. Who can go against money?

More importantly, now that Weilan has developed deep-sea routes, no one can completely block Weilan's maritime trade routes in the Golden Ocean.

Because the deep-sea route is free, you can go any way as long as you don’t get lost.

If Levinder refuses to trade, Vilan can still turn to the khal or other coastal duchies.

After the Levender envoy left, Rosen continued to receive the Kaa envoy.

While Rosen was communicating with envoys from various countries one by one, Sir Yarak had already returned to Aaron's exclusive diplomatic residence in Dawn City.

It is an ironclad fact that the bilateral relationship between Aaron and Veran is so important that the diplomatic residence has been maintained.

As soon as Yalak arrived at the mansion, he immediately found the newly appointed leader of the kingdom's night guards, Shadow Master Sir Lycent.

It was originally Schmidt, but Schmidt not only had his hand broken by Duke Weilan, but also his courage was broken, so he could not be used.

"Master, keep a close eye on the Glorious Empire's envoys. If there is any unusual movement, notify me immediately."

Lesent hesitated a little: "Sir, the envoy of the Glorious Empire is staying in the VIP room of the Morning Castle, so it's not easy to get in recently."

Of course, Yalak knew this: "We don't need specific inside information, just simple trends."

Lessent nodded: "Understood."

Yalak immediately found the telepathic mage and reported the latest situation back home.

Late at night, there was indeed an important piece of information.

"Sir, there is news from Dawn Castle that the Duke summoned the envoy of the Glorious Empire alone at night. The two sides had a secret conversation in the study for three hours, until one o'clock in the morning."

Sir Jarak's eyebrows jumped when he heard this: "What kind of serious situation could be discussed for three hours?"

Could it be that in order to protect herself, Weilan completely turned to the Glorious Empire and planned to attack Aaron from both sides?

He decisively reported the news back to the country.

(End of this chapter)