The Romantic Trials Of A Transmigrated Empress
Chapter 330: Alliances are made.

Chapter 330: Alliances are made.

Alexander picked up a berry tart but he made no move to eat it. "You want an incentive?"

Roland leaned back conspiratorially. "Please, don’t put words in my mouth. I wouldn’t want anyone claiming that our red knights are for sale or putting a price tag for them. Let us speak in hypotheticals. If I were to send my army and mages to assist you. What would would you give me?"

"It depends." Lord Alexander drummed his fingers on the table. "Do you want territory? To expand your boarder, access to our trade routes, gold, silver, magic mines. A royal marriage, hostages, do you wish for us to take on your religion, name a city after you. Horses, cattle, elephants...." he shrugged. The list was long so he had just mentioned some of the things that Medoris had taken from the smaller kingdoms they conquered.

"Beware, your highness, sometimes when one eats more than what their stomach can handle, they fall ill." Ethan Ridley pitched in.

His cryptic warning was clear, Roland could not demand for too much. Just enough to fill his belly or quench his thirst.

Alexander said, "I would also like to mention the fact that the church of Erythis is trying to expand into our empires. They don’t simply want to set up camp and spread the good word of their goddess, they want hold all power and it begins with holding the highest office in the emperor or controlling whoever does.

An alliance between our empires will safeguard us from outside enemies. To accomplish this, we can have a marriage alliance between our children. My grandchildren, male or female you can choose a few that can get married into your royal family or houses of your trusted nobles.

Of course I expect the same treatment from you. Your daughters, sons, or even nieces and nephews. They can marry into my royal house. We can begin with East, my son. He is not wed and if our alliance is successful, he can be the first Ridley to fulfill this agreement."

"I will be making my own choice of wife despite this." East decreed. If it is not a lady from the royal family, them I would like to marry one from the Thorin family. Like the cousin of the crown princess that I met yesterday. The one that resembles her and....."

"She is spoken for." Duke Thorin shared. "Prince Eron of Solandor intends to wed her this summer."

In the mean time, Roland was scowling. This kid was just like prince Eron. Their first crush was Sigrid and when they could not get her, their eyes turned to her cousin that bore a striking resemblance to her.

"I knew this kid was not honest." he muttered.

Lord Alexander closed his eyes for a second. He wanted to kick his son for making his crush on the crown princess a little too obvious. Did he have to bring it into the conversation they were having?

"Say less East." Ethan whispered to his brother.

They needed the help of the crown prince. East letting slip his admiration for the crown princess was not favorable to them.

Duke Thorin cleared his throat. "The final decision for this alliance rests on the sole shoulders of the crown prince. The rest of us are here in an advisory capacity. In that light, if we are to enter into an alliance with you, we would like to have three royal titles of our choosing. Our people that sit in your council and make sure that you don’t turn against us someday and ally with another.

We would also need exclusive access to the underwater passage leading to Lord Glen Christianson’s territory, The Thousand Peaks. There are some magical stones there which are of interest to us."

He cleared his throat again and retrieved a paper from his pocket, unfolding it slowly.

In the meantime, everyone else was wondering how he knew the the underwater passage. Even the Ridley’s did not know about it.

Roland was the only one that was not wondering about the how as he had a suspicion about the who. As in who had provided the information. Who else could it be but his wife that often knew things she ought not to know.

"We need a list of the mages in your empire and their ranks." Duke Alexander said, "This is not because we plan to use the information against you but because we know that Akia Nithercott will not sit idly by and allow us to unite.

The Starhold heir is only three years old. We would like to reserve the right to choose his future bride. She must come from Eldoria."

Lord Alexander frowned. "Why?"

"It is not enough to marry into your royal family. We need Eldorian’s and Medorian’s to intermarry. That is the best way to ensure that we don’t turn against each other. Families are our strength and they are also our weakness." Duke Thorin said, in a deep voice that sounded like that of a professor that had lived a thousand years and carried otherworldly knowledge. "A husband whose wife is Eldorian will not be too quick to pick up an axe and kill his father-in-law."

Everyone at the table was looking at the list in the duke’s hands, wondering when he had compiled it. He had come into the meeting more prepared than a woman who was soon to give birth but unsure if the baby would be a boy or girl.

"Between the boarder of our two empires we would like to construct a neutral army university. Knights from both empires can attend. These men and women will not serve one nation but all nations, they will be peace keepers. The presence of this army serves a check and balance to ensure that...."

"Hold on." Galen jumped in. "Who came up with this idea? There is no such thing as a neutral army. People will always side with their homeland when it comes down to it."

"And all those ideas will be abandoned when they enter the university. If one wishes to go home and serve their empire then by all means, they can retire from the United Imperial Army. But, as long as they serve under it, their duty is to every empire in our alliance. Every kingdom that is under us. They report where they are told." Duke Thorin cleared his throat again. He gave the list to Roland. "Your highness, please take over for me and share your thoughts and ideas."

The negotiations continued, taking up four hours of their time. By the time they ended, the men had eaten a second lunch and drunk at least ten pots of tea.

But, success had been achieved, they had a deal and they had signed an agreement.

When they emerged from the observatory, Lord Alexander was walking with a straight back and confident air and so was Duke Thorin, the new foreign affairs minister who would be overseeing affairs of the United Imperial Army.

He wondered what King Raff would think of it when he opened his eyes. He had worked hard to strip the Thorin’s of their military power and now, they would have military power of two empires.

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