The First Magic World War-Chapter 588 - 554, Peace Conference

Chapter 588: 554, Peace Conference Chapter 588: 554, Peace Conference Charles’s feat of cleansing Strasbourg quickly spread throughout the Old Continent.

His handling of the Axels was routine, yet his treatment of rebellious nobility opened the eyes of monarchs everywhere, nearly everyone showing interest in Charles’s novel invention of Indulgence Certificates.

Whether it was Inglima, Byron, or the monarch of the Lionheart Dynasty, the bizarre thought “Why doesn’t anyone rebel against me?” emerged.

Almost every monarch on the Old Continent envied the Emperor of Brittany, for being able to extensively clean up noble territories.

After all, taxation from noble territories was almost entirely collected by the local nobles, with the Emperor struggling to levy taxes, and having to provide pensions and knights for them.

To all monarchs of the Old Continent, the fewer the nobles within the lands, the better, with purely titular nobles without territories being ideal, unable to tax privately.

The most admirable aspect of Charles’s achievement was not the removal of a large number of nobles, but rather, his doing so without alienating the nobility.

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The Axel family was almost entirely grateful to Charles, for by “law” they should have been put to the gallows; it was Charles who had acquitted them.

Nobles who purchased Indulgence Certificates were even more grateful, for the certificates allowed them to remain in Fars and spared them banishment to the Agres Archipelago.

The unaffected nobility gained from this disturbance, with those who spoke on behalf of the Axels rising in prestige and even those who did nothing benefiting from the rebel nobles disposing of their properties, lands, and titles at cheap prices.

Being able to handle rebellion so effortlessly and secure the greatest interests for the Empire, without offending any parties…

Compared to these feats, quelling rebellion in a month seemed hardly surprising.

Even this one-month pacification merely served as the backdrop for the old Emperor’s concerns over rebellion, his generous offer of Princess Anne’s hand in marriage to Charles, in a bid to win over the beauty with his boundless wisdom…

Love triumphed, rendering war insignificant.

Charles’s reputation once again soared across the Old Continent.

This even prompted the fifteenth Red Dragon Emperor of Inglima, His Majesty Alfred Guillaume, to issue a decree, hoping the other three Great Empires would send envoys to negotiate in Mecklenburg.

After sorting out the rebellion in Strasbourg, Charles left Anne Brittany behind.

Anne Brittany was the legitimate princess of the Fars Empire.

In the absence of her father and brothers, she rightfully oversaw the state affairs.

Charles also left Mama Karen, Krel Brittany, and Ebner Sumei to assist Anne with government affairs, while he himself returned to Arcadia Port with Andreas.

During this time, Charles was very concerned about the New World Conference’s movements, wary they might suddenly attack his fleet.

But the New World Conference remained quiet during this period, aware of Charles’s stirrings in Strasbourg yet not initiating war.

Once Charles returned to Arcadia Port, he invited Romios to meet aboard the Holy Light Divine State Title.

Romios, confident in his martial strength, readily agreed.

Upon embarking on the Holy Light Divine State Title, and seeing various Great Act Devils, he could not help but exclaim despite his broad experience, “They say the Holy Light Divine State Title is a paradise on Earth!

Seeing it now, its reputation is indeed well-deserved.”

Charles thought to himself, “Your home is the paradise on Earth!

Your whole family is the paradise on Earth.”

“Have you ever seen a paradise swarming with Evil Gods?”

Nevertheless, Charles had matters to discuss and was not about to fall out over such trivialities.

He showed Romios around the Holy Light Divine State Title, and whenever an entertainment feature was presented, Romios couldn’t help but marvel.

In the New World, he was constantly faced with crisis; survival was his only concern, leaving no time or mood for entertainment.

That was not Romios’s issue but that of the entire New World.

After a tour around the Holy Light Divine State Title, Charles led Romios to a small parlor with floor-to-ceiling windows, where he could step into the Mirror World at any time and summon Isemeren without fear of Romios’s sudden aggression, yet still demonstrate sincerity and open-heartedness.

Romios admired Charles’s boldness, seeing that he was willing to meet alone.

He took out two tobacco sticks and handed one to Charles, saying, “This is a special product from the New World, chew it in your mouth, and you’ll taste a faint sweetness.”

Charles was greatly surprised.

Since crossing over, he had not encountered tobacco; there were no cigarettes, no pipes, and no cigars in the Old Continent.

He had thought that having tea and coffee was good enough and didn’t expect more, yet here was tobacco in the hands of Romios.

“`

He didn’t chew the thing in his mouth, instead, he stirred his Stellar Battle Qi, rolled the tobacco into a rough stick, flicked a spark casually, and lit the substance, then took a deep, satisfying draw.

It was indeed the flavor he had been craving.

Romios was extremely curious and followed suit in rolling the tobacco, lighting it with his Special Ability, and took a puff, only to start coughing immediately.

Despite that, he found the experience to be truly novel.

Charles casually took a small box out of the Magic Mirror to tap the ash and said, “His Majesty Brittany could end the war at any moment.

I am about to have strong support from Fars, but suddenly I feel that Mister Romios is a man full of wisdom.

We might solve our problems in a peaceful manner.”

“There’s no need for war.”

“Southseraph is my territory.

That is beyond doubt.”

“Mister Romios, can you represent the New World Conference?

If so, I hope we can reach a preliminary arrangement today.”

Learning from Charles, Romios took a deep draw of the tobacco, exhaling slowly, and found the sensation rather interesting.

He said, “Our attack on the Mecklen Duchy was indeed wrong to begin with.

We are willing to apologize for the matter.

But with over a million immigrants in the New World, we do need a place to settle.”

“Mr.

Charles, what do you think could satisfy both parties?”

Charles smiled slightly and replied, “I had thought there was no way to compromise, but after I handled the rebellion in Strasbourg, an acceptable plan for all parties came to mind.”

“Firstly, Southseraph is my land, and it is my first fief in Fars.

It is absolutely impossible to give it to anyone.”

“However, if the New World Conference wishes to settle in Southseraph, I can turn it into an autonomous territory, governed by the New World Conference itself, but you must recognize me as your lord.

Nevertheless, I cannot lose a direct jurisdiction for nothing.

Since you have already left the New Continent, take the lands from there in exchange.”

After careful consideration, Romios felt this proposition to be acceptable.

Both parties did not desire war, but the New World immigrants needed land and would not back down.

Charles’s proposal to turn Southseraph into an autonomous territory, allowing the New World Conference to govern itself, demanding only nominal lordship, was an acceptable solution.

Romios pondered for a while and asked, “I wonder how Duke Mecklen plans to levy taxes?”

The financial burden of an autonomous territory all depends on taxation.

The officials sent from the Old Continent to the New World imposed such heavy taxes that it led to widespread resistance to the Old Continent, with significant tax resistance movements in many overseas territories, and some areas outright overthrew the Old Continent’s rule.

Naturally, Romios was very concerned about the issue of taxation; he could not make concessions in this area.

Yet Charles dismissed the concern, saying, “My Mecklen Duchy never levies taxes, and I will not tax the Southseraph Free Zone either.

However, I also demand that the Free Zone not tax any tradesmen, farmers, craftsmen, intellectuals, or artists from the Mecklen Duchy.”

Romios was initially overjoyed but also unable to grasp the concept.

He, of course, hoped that Charles would not tax, but he could not comprehend: without taxes, how would funds for governance be raised?

Charles, having come from Earth, knew all too well that without taxation, many multinational corporations wouldn’t know how much money they could make.

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He has never managed his jurisdictions as a country, city, or region.

The biggest problem with a government is that it does not produce and cannot generate profit of its own.

Of course, if a government were to engage in commerce, that would be a frightful matter.

Charles managed every city he occupied as if running a corporation.

Charles also eliminated most government agencies.

Not needing to tax meant not having to support tax collectors.

He didn’t need bureaucracy, local law enforcement, courts, offices, or departments of cultural affairs, education, or even diplomacy.

All of these were handled by the Westwind Knights, leading to extremely low administrative expenses.

He had his own merchant caravans, vast tracts of land, countless shops, fleets of ships, and a large workforce paid by the government…

Such a colossal “company” without governmental taxation!

The profits were beyond windfall.

Romios stood up and said, “I need to go back and convene the presiding officers of the New World Conference to discuss this matter.”

Charles gave a slight smile and replied, “I can wait patiently.

If the New World Conference does not wish to continue the war, I suggest you organize a negotiation team.

We can envisage peace aboard the Holy Light Divine State Title, and I will cover all the conference expenses.”

Romios reflected on everything he had seen aboard the Holy Light Divine State Title and realized that Charles intended to use these entertainments to “corrupt” the immigrants from the New World.

But he didn’t mind, as it could also reduce some of the resistance in the negotiations.

After Romios returned to Arcadia Port, in just three days’ time, he organized a negotiation team of more than twenty members.

The two sides held a total of twenty-seven rounds of talks aboard the Holy Light Divine State Title…

Charles gained nominal ownership over the vast majority of the new twenty-seven districts of the New World!