Chapter 59 War Effort Negotiations

"You really have the guts to come see me after your people kidnapped my assistant, don't you?" Two men sat in opposing positions on either side of a heavy, rectangular office desk. Jeffery, who rushed over and after who knew how much wasted time, finally got to meet with Julian, a representative of House Regalia's interests.

Jeffery's face was wrought by fatigue and anxiety as he slammed the desk with his large fist and exhaled his next few words through gritted teeth, "Instead of worrying about a ticking time bomb that you keep to your waist, you should worry about your base inland! Leonardo just dispatched an army of one thousand soldiers and a minimum of two saints to charge through your borders!"

Crack!

The fountain pen in Julian's hand was crushed to pieces from shock. Was that Leonardo mad?

"What did you just say?" Julian, the representative of House Regalia, stared in disbelief at Jeffery, "He's leading an army of one thousand men to my Regalia Kingdom in the name of conquest? Is he mad?"

There was nothing he could accomplish by sending an army of a thousand, and two saints? The border fortress alone has at least eight of those, let alone the experts of the entire kingdom. To dare declare war with so little ability, he was either mad or just a mad idiot.

Jeffery was astonished at how obstinate this imbecile is, to dare look down on Leonardo's forces even at this time.

Jeffrey's complexion went dark as he said, "You fucking idiot, do you want your cities to become one ravine of demise after the next?! And do you think your kingdom's only issue will be Leonardo's advancements? Have you forgotten about what we have coming our way in this forsaken land?"

"And what about the other six kingdoms? Do you think they would lift a hand to help you in your crisis or simply strike you when you're down? Even though Leonardo should be the top priority on your list of problems, you have the time to look at me with that dumb astonished expression of yours?!"

Just who was the mad person here? Jeffery truly felt like the so-called representatives of their kingdom's interests were foolish puppets, not putting into consideration that the temperament of Queen Adeline was a special case, causing him to develop his mind on a path towards caution and hype-intelligence.

As for the other rulers, they wouldn't entrust their crucial decisions in the hands of a mere representative, so they weren't used to thinking that far ahead or on the scale of diplomatic affairs of two nations, let alone the aftermath of making a decision when involved with the potential war on three fronts.

That's right, House Regalia will have to put up with three fronts from now onwards. First, the conflict in the forbidden domain. Second, the conflict of interest with the other vassal kingdoms. Third, the possible repercussions from Leonardo's army.

Jeffery shook his head, " Our saints stationed in House Grace reported that Leonardo isn't leading the army, but someone called Bloodthirsty, his cultivation is heavily reliant on absorbing the blood and or blood essence of the dead, especially cultivators."

"If my guess isn't wrong, the whole army behind that man is just a pretense, a formality to start an official war. It's impossible to officially declare war if you don't have land, population, and an organized army. If that man started butchering people without the pretext of a war, his actions would be intolerable."

"My guess is that he doesn't care for the lives of the one thousand slaves, they're just rounded up for the numbers." Jeffery estimated, and he wasn't far off from the truth.

In fact, Leonardo wanted to wait for a while and groom these troops for a while more. However, he no longer could afford to waste time and resources on people with such weak potential. Except for Misaka, Sitri, and Lucas, everyone else was conscripted into the army for this war.

He had no hopes for any of them to make it back alive, while the other three were currently undergoing a secluded cultivation session to attempt their chances of ascending to sainthood.

Jeffery's comments were like a rude awakening to Julian who was yet to realize how grave the situation is. He almost forgot the current political climate between the kingdoms, the three races, and the unidentified saints. He was simply that stifled because he lost a capable assistant, Azalea.

It was so much that he was subconsciously looking down on Jeffery for being too much of an alarmist, and perhaps he was cautious that this man Jeffery was targeting him for some reason. However true or false this information may be, he needed to split some of the troops dispatched to the forbidden domain and have them travel back to the Regalia Kingdom just to be safe.

As for Leonardo, currently disguised as Bloodthirsty, he was in one of the war rooms in the border fortress with Pandora at his side, and an army of one thousand waiting outside the defensive lines of the fortress. Before the war started, he was meant to schedule a diplomatic meeting with the commander of Regalia's Border Forces, who was also a saint.

To the side was a representative who would bear witness and record the meeting for diplomatic measures, making sure both parties come to an agreement concerning the laws of the upcoming war, and the stakes offered by both parties.

Although the man was feeling uncomfortable about the dense, unconcealed bloodlust pulsating from Leonardo, he still gathered up his courage to keep on his two feet while enduring the incredible momentum.

The representative on the side finally spoke up, "You two need to come to an agreement on a few points."

"These points are, for exactly, the duration of the war, terms of surrender, and the period of truce that may follow after either party raised the white flag."

Leonardo was the first to open his mouth as he already had his needs in mind, he said, "The war will continue until one party surrenders, I have no intentions of recalling my troops before that outcome. Why bother with a specific duration? This war might end sooner than expected."

"As for terms of surrender, whatever lands that I, Bloodthirsty, cut my way through, will be ceded to House Grace, including the rights to their general population, trade routes, and collecting taxes."

"Agree to those terms, and you can freely determine the grace period of our truce in the aftermath of this war."

Leonardo could see the hesitation in the other man's eyes, and he could understand why. This wasn't a war between kingdoms, it could be considered as a war of conquest between vassal lords, with the exception that Leonardo wasn't technically a vassal lord.

Nonetheless, since his territory was granted to him by Queen Adeline, at least on paper, both House Grace and House Regalia were vassals to the same Queen, regardless of the difference in attitude.

Leonardo wasn't declaring war on the kingdom as a whole, as he could simply target the counties on the fringes of the kingdom, or the independent feudal states. The Regalia Kingdom has at least seventeen provinces under feudal rule, and these provinces are spread across its borders.

The rainforest, wilderness, and grand canyon that Leonardo and company traveled through were one of these many provinces.

Leonardo gestured for Pandora and she proceeded to place a map of the Regalia Kingdom on the table, highlighting a dozen or so feudal provinces ruled by descendants of former Dukes that served under the crown.

All of them were territories on the borders between the Regalia Kingdom and the two ruling kingdoms of Venus and Exodia. If the campaign was a success, Leonardo would directly cut the trade routes between the three kingdoms, forcing them to go the roundabout way and trade through neighboring kingdoms, suppressing their economy with heavy tax rates and strained diplomatic relations.

The other kingdoms would also see through this possibility for future profits and refrain from interfering directly in the war, cutting the feudal lords from seeking allies through connections to their former crowns.

This despicable move is something that no matter how nervous the general was, he would not accept at all. He immediately prepared himself to negotiate.