Chapter 848: Chapter 847: The Wheels of History

Railway investment and aid construction, cross-national business cooperation plans, settlement area concepts, new ambassador plans...

The Cecil Clan obviously values this exchange with the Sacred Dragon Kingdom very much, and has prepared numerous plans and schemes for it.

Even to the extent that it made Sir Golosh somewhat uneasy.

This Dragonborn realized something — although the Sacred Dragon Kingdom always considered itself as paying attention to the changing situations on the continent, considering itself merely having not opened its gates, rather than being completely self-enclosed, in front of this rapidly rising new Empire, the Dragonborns were still too secluded and slow.

The things brought forth by Gawain Cecil, if placed in front of those councilors and elders of the kingdom, would likely confuse and bewilder more than half of them.

But fortunately, Duke Balogar had always been well-prepared, and at least within this delegation led by Sir Golosh, everyone had done plenty of "homework" in advance, having conducted basic surveys on the new things emerging from Cecil lands, and were not completely ignorant of what Gawain brought out.

The documents were distributed to everyone, and Sir Golosh swiftly browsed through some parts, having a general understanding of their contents, he lifted his head: "This seems to require serious discussion - hope you understand, there are many sensitive issues here."

"Of course," Gawain nodded with a smile, "Today is merely a preliminary meeting, primarily to exchange some ideas, and all those business plans are merely suggestions from the Cecil side. Compared with them, establishing stable diplomatic relations between the Sacred Dragon Kingdom and the Cecil Empire is more important."

Sir Golosh revealed a slight smile upon hearing this: "That is precisely my thought."

...

The closed-door meeting lasted for nearly a whole day, from the morning until the afternoon. During this time, Sir Golosh and several Dragonborn representatives even accepted an invitation to have lunch with Gawain in the Cecil Palace. When the meeting finally ended, the giant sun was gradually sinking near the horizon.

After amicably concluding a discussion that lasted almost all day, even Gawain felt a bit mentally fatigued.

"We need to conduct an internal discussion after we return," Sir Golosh stood up, with a faint smile on his face, "Many of the business proposals you’ve presented seem quite... meaningful, but we cannot respond immediately - we will try to come up with a preliminary result before the meeting tomorrow."

"Understandable," Gawain was not surprised by today’s outcome. Successfully conveying all those business plans and future diplomatic prospects completely was already his goal for today, "Then, I hope everyone has a good rest tonight. Let’s look forward to tomorrow’s meeting."

The Dragonborns left, taking with them a heap of business plans handed to them by the Emperor of Cecil.

Gawain sat back in his high-backed chair and rubbed his brow under the gradually orange twilight.

The window on one side of the room was open, a breeze blew from outside, circled twice around Gawain, and Amber materialized from the air with a mischievous smile beside Gawain.

"I saw those Dragonborn leaving - I thought you were going to drag the meeting into the evening!" The elf of shame said with a smile, "After all, you seemed to have prepared a whole bunch of materials..."

Gawain raised his eyelids to glance at this half-elf: "Spring has arrived, it’s getting warmer, the cold north wind has changed to the east wind, you can enter through the window again, huh?"

Amber immediately folded her arms, proudly tilting her neck upwards without any shame: "Tell you what, I haven’t moved that way all winter, it was quite nostalgic, the feeling of jumping down from the window sill just now..."

Gawain: "..."

Had he not been worried about causing misunderstandings in front of foreign envoys, he should have set mouse traps on every window sill of the Cecil Palace yesterday!!

Seemingly delighted by Gawain’s helpless expression, Amber never got tired of playing the jump-window trick over and over again. After another theatrically executed jump in front of Gawain today, she felt satisfied, then adeptly switched topics: "So, has today’s meeting made any progress? Do you think we can reach any consensus with the Sacred Dragon Kingdom?"

Gawain laughed lightly, fingers gently tapping the chair’s armrest, casually speaking: "If Mr. Godwin were here, he would write something like this: The parties conducted productive discussions, fully exchanged opinions during the meeting, and finally concluded the talks in a friendly atmosphere."

Amber nodded knowingly: "Oh, that means there’s no consensus, huh... sounds like there’s no progress at all."

Having shouldered significant duties in the Administrative Office for a long time now, she’s quite familiar with these "professional terminologies".

"Can’t say it’s no progress," Gawain shook his head, "At least we indeed fully exchanged opinions - I believe those business plans, new technologies, and new commodities have sufficiently sparked their interest, and Duke Balogar’s letter also expressed the Sacred Dragon Kingdom’s willingness to open its gates and establish diplomacy with Cecil. But on the other hand, the Dragonborns are quite cautious. They were not dazzled by the myriad of new things, not even flinching before the railway system, Sir Golosh remained very composed."

"So, the ’prosperous and advanced new world’ is evidently less effective for Dragonborns than for Typhon people, right? Though they’ve emerged from the mountains, they view the human world with proud, reserved eyes," Amber raised an eyebrow, "This time I was right - you owe me five Gold Pounds."

"Accurately judging the psychological inclination and possible actions of the target is a basic skill for you, as the Minister of Intelligence..."

Amber simply extended her hand: "Five Gold Pounds."

Gawain casually smacked away Amber’s paw, "I never said I wouldn’t give it to you."

"That’s good, I remember now, five Gold Pounds," Amber retracted her hand with satisfaction and then suddenly her eyes turned, "By the way, I have something to tell you—I’ve already spoken with Maji, she will meet with Sir Golosh."

Upon hearing Amber’s words, Gawain was silent for a moment before speaking softly, "I don’t actually like using familial ties as a card, nor do I hope Maji and Sir Golosh’s relationship becomes a part of this diplomatic mission..."

"Of course I know, but sometimes the card isn’t in your hand—it’s been on the table from the start," Amber pouted, "Your arrangement has already been exceptionally considerate, that Sir should be aware of this. Honestly, after talking to Maji, I could sense her conflicted feelings—she doesn’t resist her father, she just resists her past living environment. If she can meet Sir Golosh outside the Sacred Dragon Kingdom, she’s quite happy."

"That’s good," Gawain breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly shook his head with a smile, "I was honestly shocked when initially I learned from Victoria’s letter about Maji’s connection with the ’Dragonborn ambassador’... None of us expected that the usually low-key Maji would have such an identity..."

"Anyway, I just have one feeling, whatever those Dragonborn do always seems... what’s the word you used, ’hardcore,’" Amber rummaged through her mind for the "Holy Gibberish of Emperor Gawain Cecil," her expression slightly odd, "Jumping off Dragon Leap Cliff and gliding all the way to the northern parts simply to ’run away from home’, and using a barrel to roll from the mountain top to the base as a ’childhood game’...

"Oh, and I also gathered information, supposedly that Lady Asharena among the Dragonborn delegation also ran away from home when she traveled the human world, and her journey to the southern borders was even more astonishing than Maji’s journey to the north: Lady Asharena sold herself to bandits, tricked them into ’free transportation’ to the southern borders, then turned around and subdued the bandits to sell them to the leader of Viscount Carol at the time, exchanged for money to buy a Longsword and worked as a mercenary for five years... Andon’s been dumbfounded when he collected all the data."

Gawain stared wide-eyed at Amber, "...You even investigated this?"

"My monthly salary isn’t paid for nothing," Amber spread her hands, "I even uncovered more astonishing things, that Lady Asharena was mercenary under Byron’s command back then..." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Gawain: "..."

He looked Amber up and down; despite having witnessed her intelligence skills many times, he couldn’t help but marvel at his Minister of Intelligence once again at that moment.

Some investigations truly don’t need to be so in-depth—he thought about reminding Amber.

But this matter sounded far too intriguing.

He leaned closer, "Tell me more..."

...

After returning to the Autumn Palace, Sir Golosh summoned a few advisors from the delegation—naturally, they included the Dragonmarked Witch Asharena.

In the spacious room with a style completely different from the north, the light from the magic crystals lamps dispelled the dimness, and the cool night wind blew in from outside the window. The red-haired Asharena walked slowly around the corners of the room; as she stepped, the invisible magical power gathered into a barrier, with the flickering "Dragonbrand Runes" flashing through the air.

"The ’security’ of this room is complete." She returned to Sir Golosh and the other advisors, nodding slightly.

The Dragonborn believe in the sincerity and enthusiasm of the Cecil Clan for this "diplomatic mission," but they also believe that humans who have stood on this continent for so many years rely on more than sincerity and enthusiasm—being cautious is never unnecessary when traveling abroad.

"The Cecil Clan presented many interesting things," Sir Golosh sat on a chair wrapped in leather, looking at the advisors who were also seated, "I’d like to hear everyone’s opinion on these things."

"Each of these things holds value, there’s no doubt about it," a middle-aged man with short brown hair pondered slightly, "for us, and even more so for the Cecil Clan—they must be seeking certain interests in dealing with us, but as long as the interest is within a reasonable scope, we can consider accepting it. After all, whether magic guide technology or alchemical potions, they are good things. And commercial flow... in the long run, is a step the kingdom must take after opening its doors."

"Since His Majesty Balogar has decided to open the doors to the human world, it means he is prepared for these exchanges; I think none of you have an opinion against this," Asharena spoke while looking around at her fellow companions, "But I’d like to remind you—when dealing with transactions, humans often don’t reveal their expected profit goals completely. When you deal with a human, if they express wanting to earn a copper coin from you, you should be prepared for them eyeing all the copper coins in your pocket."

Sir Golosh frowned slightly, "You mean the Cecil Clan’s commercial plans want more than just money from us?"

"That’s evident—these investment plans all have the shadow of long-term ambition," Asharena shrugged, "Their money, manpower, and technology used to open a factory on our land means they are ready to earn back for ten factories. I’ve dealt with human ’merchants,’ Sir Golosh—the magic guide technology and investment firms are new things, but humans are not. But that being said, who would deal with a country always covered in snow and mountains without a profit drive? We only need to determine one thing: whether these plans from the Cecil Clan are worth it for the Dragonborn.

"Personally, I feel very uneasy about all projects involving resource development and engineering construction."

Sir Golosh and Asharena had known each other for a while; he heard the implications in her words, rubbed his chin, and pondered, "You’re saying..."

"The relationship the Cecil Clan wants to establish has already exceeded our initial expectations; we’re merely here to discuss setting up diplomatic ties and opening regular commercial channels, but they clearly want more—the details aren’t something we can’t discuss, but I believe we must report these specifics to Duke Balogar first. Sir Golosh, trust me, Duke Balogar will be quite grateful for our timely report."

Sir Golosh frowned slightly, but soon his expression relaxed.

He looked at the red-haired witch before him, nodded slightly, "Then let’s proceed as you suggested—use your capabilities as a ’Dragonbranded Witch’ to contact Dragonwatch Keep."