Chapter 1037: Boasting
Fortunately, Cantory was not angered to the point of losing his sanity, and he still remembered to include the entire Breezy Plains when berating the members of the Tower of Dusk. He even wanted to make the other forces of the Breezy Plains to turn against the Tower of Dusk. They were trying to make it seem like they were sincere about negotiating with them, but the Tower of Dusk’s actions were getting in the way.
Cantory thought that the representatives of various powers would definitely stand up and accuse the members of the Tower of Dusk for failing to spare a thought for others and looking at things from the bigger picture, but to his surprise, the truth was far from what he imagined. After hearing his words, the representatives of those forces not only did not glare at the Tower of Dusk, they even looked at them with contempt.
I knew it. That president of the Tower of Dusk definitely won’t just leave so simply. It’s the Gilded Kingdom’s turn to be doomed this time!
In the conference hall, almost all of the representatives of the various forces developed the same thought at the same time. They understood Lin Li’s means very well, and had even had firsthand experience with him. They knew that although the young president of the Tower of Dusk was not too vengeful, those who offended him and the Tower of Dusk would all face a terrible end.
Of course, on the other hand, these forces also hoped that the relationship between the Gilded Kingdom and the Tower of Dusk would be strained further. Although they would not really start a war, they should at least be opposing each other. Only then could forces like them reap more benefits. After all, they were not too pleased with having to bow down to others.
Faced with Cantory’s questioning, Lin Li nonchalantly returned to his seat before calmly saying, “Is it that difficult to understand? We’ve been negotiating for such a long time, but there hasn’t been an outcome, so that makes us foes. Isn’t it normal to attack your enemy’s battleship? Envoy, you’re making a mountain out of a molehill.”
“What!? Making a mountain out of a molehill?”
Upon hearing Lin Li’s answer, Cantory was almost infuriated to the point of vomiting blood. To the Gilded Kingdom, the losses that they incurred this time could not be measured in gold coins at all. Putting aside the value of the battleship that had been captured, the resources that were transported on the battleship were all rare magical metals and other resources that they had spent a lot of effort to collect, and were all very important to the Gilded Kingdom.
“President Felic, we originally came with sincere intentions, but your behavior is beyond the threshold of our tolerance. I hope that you can formally apologize to us and compensate us for our losses. Perhaps we might be able to continue with the negotiation if you do. Otherwise…” Seeing that Cantory was so infuriated that he had begun to be in a disarray, Nasry decided to step out and request the Tower of Dusk to apologize and compensate them.
Lin Li remained seated, and simply glanced at Nasry before disdainfully saying, “You’re being ridiculous. Since we’re enemies, it’s natural for each of us to use our own means. Since you are not satisfied with the fact that we attacked your battleship, you can deploy your men to attack the Tower of Dusk. As long as you can capture the Tower of Dusk, trust me, you’ll definitely gain more than what you’ve lost.”
Why would there be someone like that in this world? He actually encouraged his enemies to attack his base camp! Lin Li’s reply instantly caused the several people from the Gilded Kingdom to be stunned. No one expected the representative of the Tower of Dusk to be so obstinate and unreasonable.
Did they really have to go and attack the Tower of Dusk? Elder Jorre could not help but smile bitterly. The people from the Illuminati had coveted the Tower of Dusk before, and they were the ones who instigated the people from Geresco City to attack the Tower of Dusk previously. However, even when the president of the Tower of Dusk had yet to return and the Sky Castle had not appeared yet, the other forces were not able to invade them because of the inconspicuous power of the Tower of Dusk. Hence, it was obvious how strong the Tower of Dusk’s defensive power was. Not to mention, they now had a Sky Castle and a Sanctuary powerhouse for a president!
The Tower of Dusk’s attitude was very clear. They openly admitted to attacking the Gilded Kingdom, and even taunted them to beat them up if they were displeased with it. Clearly, the Gilded Kingdom wanted to use this matter to make the Tower of Dusk give in, but that was already impossible. Hence, when the exasperated Cantory was thinking of saying something ruthless, Elder Jorre pulled him back in time, and said to Lin Li, “Master Felic, you’re right, we haven’t reached a consensus after an entire day of negotiations, so that puts us in a hostile relationship with each other. In this case, I hope that we can reach a satisfactory agreement lest something terrible happens again in the future.”
Damn it, did I hear wrong? Are the people of the Gilded Kingdom so timid? You’re a mighty envoy of a large nation in the sea. Why did you become such a coward after some rebuttal!?
Elder Jorre’s words made the people in the conference hall find it hard to believe their ears. They’re the Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati! Why would they do something so embarrassing!?
The people of the Gilded Kingdom pretended not to see the bizarre gazes that were cast on them, and temporarily put aside the matters regarding the Tower of Dusk. They then officially began the negotiation. However, although the Tower of Dusk had humiliated them, the Gilded Kingdom did not compromise on the negotiation terms. The terms they offered this time were still as harsh as before as they wanted to acquire the resources of the various forces at extremely low prices.
Although the terms that the Gilded Kingdom offered were rather harsh, the representatives of various forces did not react as intensely as before. Instead, they proceeded with the heated negotiation as if they took the terms seriously. In particular, with the matters between the Tower of Dusk and the Gilded Kingdom, the representatives of the various forces also knew that the Gilded Kingdom indeed did not want to start a battle, and so offered terms that were so harsh that a negotiation was mandatory.
Although the forces of the Breezy Plains had always been xenophobic, they were not very resistant towards the Gilded Kingdom entering the Breezy Plains. Most importantly, it was because of the existence of the Tower of Dusk, a powerful rising force that only the Gilded Kingdom could contend with. The forces of the Breezy Plains did not want to live subservient to the Tower of Dusk again.
Hence, in this negotiation, the representatives of the various forces also showed a certain amount of sincerity, but because the conditions offered by the Gilded Kingdom were truly unacceptable, they had not been able to reach a consensus. If the conditions offered by the Gilded Kingdom were acceptable by their standards, there would probably be an outcome soon.
However, the Gilded Kingdom did not want to pay too high of a price. In their opinion, they were showing the country bumpkins of the Breezy Plains enough respect by chatting with them calmly. Others were all coveting a chance to suck up to the Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati. Hence, in terms of the acquisition price, the Gilded Kingdom refused to give in, and only agreed to offer them some benefits in sea trade.
However, only a small number of forces of the Breezy Plains were situated along the sea. Those resources the kingdom demanded were the foundation of everyone, and sea trade had nothing much to do with them at all. Even the forces near the sea had never relied on sea trade as their main source of income. The benefits that the Gilded Kingdom offered basically didn’t matter much.
Of course, the forces of the Breezy Plains did not really want gold coins. If they really wanted gold coins, they would not need to let go of their resources at all. As long as they had the mines, they would be able to earn a massive number of gold coins. Since the Gilded Kingdom was not willing to pay them the amount of gold coins that those resources were worth, the various forces would naturally have to make up for the discrepancy in other aspects.
Although the forces of the Breezy Plains did not need the sea trade benefits that the Gilded Kingdom had offered, the Gilded Kingdom had more than just those resources. For example, they had commercial contracts in other aspects and a high demand for manufacturing, all of which were more attractive than the gold coins.
However, the attitude of the envoys of the Gilded Kingdom was very vehement, and they kept giving excuses by saying that the technology was a top secret of the kingdom, or that it would harm the interests of the country’s merchants, and so on. In short, they rejected all of the requests of the forces of the Breezy Plains.
Negotiations had always involved several exchanges of offers and bargaining before reaching a consensus that both parties could accept. However, the Gilded Kingdom refused to give out a single gold coin at all. While the forces of Breezy Plains continuously compromised and lowered their demands, they could not put their foundation at risk.
After some meaningless bickering, the focus of the negotiations was once again placed on the Gilded Kingdom and the Tower of Dusk. The various forces of the Breezy Plains wanted to see what the Tower of Dusk would do to help them achieve more benefits. The Gilded Kingdom could also tell that the forces were waiting to see the Tower of Dusk’s attitude. As long as they could subdue the Tower of Dusk, it would be easy to deal with the other forces.
“President Felic, I can understand that the Tower of Dusk attacked our battleship because we were enemies, but now that we’re sitting together for a negotiation, shouldn’t you show some sincerity too?” At this moment, Cantory had calmed down quite a bit, and although he was still thinking about how he should settle scores with the Tower of Dusk, he did not reveal any emotions on his face.
Lin Li looked at the other party calmly, amused, and asked, “Oh? What does sincerity mean to you?”
“Firstly, regarding the damage caused by your attack on our battleship, I hope that you can make up for it by returning our goods to us and compensating us. Also, you still have one of our benefits, and no matter who gave that battleship to you, I hope you can return it to us too.” At this moment, Cantory finally said all the words that he had prepared long ago after the discussion yesterday.
It would be fine if they did not apologize. Since they were enemies, it was inevitable for them to attack each other. However, since they were sitting down for a negotiation, they had to express some sincerity, and it was inevitable to discuss compensation. The representatives of the Gilded Kingdom were still hoping to get some compensation and take the Tera Mines from the Tower of Dusk. Naturally, they would not forget it just because of Lin Li’s words.
“Of course, we can discuss the compensation. As long as you transfer both your mines according to our conditions…”
Cantory’s tone was very confident because he knew that the members of the Tower of Dusk would not have sat down to negotiate if they had been really inconvincible. Clearly, they would not be willing to start a war with the Gilded Kingdom. The Tower of Dusk was supported by the Ashen Warlock, but the Gilded Kingdom was supported by the Illuminati. No matter how brutal the Ashen Warlock was, would he really fight the powerful Illuminati for the Tower of Dusk?
However, just when Cantory got to the point, Lin Li stood up and left with his people without bidding anyone goodbye.
“Hey…” Before Cantory even finished speaking, they unexpectedly left. He was suddenly at a loss for what to do, and his face turned beet red.
Lin Li and the others walked away very simply, while the people who remained in the conference hall were really dumbfounded. Even a fool could see that the young president of the Tower of Dusk did not take the negotiation to heart. They simply did not care if it was going to be a peaceful coexistence or an intense war. However, be it the Gilded Kingdom or the forces in the Breezy Plains, none of them dared to negotiate without the Tower of Dusk.
Cantory sat there awkwardly for a long time before coming to his senses, wanting to curse but not knowing what to say. The behavior of the members of the Tower of Dusk made him feel really infuriated and dejected as he didn’t know how he should go about dealing with them.
Although the Gilded Kingdom had a strong deterrence force, they were well aware that they could not really start a war with the Breezy Plains. Putting aside the Ashen Warlock, even the Ledin Kingdom and the Felan Kingdom would not sit back and watch the Gilded Kingdom invade the Breezy Plains.