Chapter 583: Negotiation and Methods
The next day, Shea met the 2 envoys of the Dark Shadow Empire in the council hall.
Yesterday was the last day of the 7-day period given by Catherine. It was also the day when Shea and Crawford agreed to start negotiations. However, after seeing the newspapers and magic television, Crawford spontaneously changed his strategy. He used the excuse that Celine needed a day’s rest as she had not recovered from the shock of the incident at the Princess Villa to delay the negotiation time.
In fact, Crawford used the communication talisman to get in touch with Catherine. After accepting the new instructions, he brought the “recovered” Celine to the palace.
There was a long white table in the council hall. Shea was sitting on the throne seat directly in front of the table. There were several chairs on each side. On the left side were Disjaro, Stiller and others. There was no one on the right which was obviously reserved for the 2 envoys.
Crawford and Celine bowed and saluted to Shea. Shea raised her hand to indicate that they were seated on the right side, and she spoke up, “Ms. Celine, what happened the day before yesterday has shocked you. It was verified that the kidnapping incident was planned by the elder family, Mishan Family, who is a spy of the b.l.o.o.d.y Empire. The true ident.i.ty of Patriarch Angley is the b.l.o.o.d.y Empire’s Marquis. He has been lurking in the Fallen Angel Empire for many years. He was not discovered because of Obsidian’s incompetence previously. The purpose of Angley planning the kidnapping was obvious. He wanted to disrupt the peace talks and provoke the relations.h.i.+p between both empires so that the b.l.o.o.d.y Empire could benefit from it. I have cleaned up the Mishan Family as quickly as possible. Lawson. Boll who offended Ms. Celine last time was also crippled. He will accept life imprisonment that is worse than death. I hope General Crawford and Ms. Celine can be satisfied with this kind of punishment.”
The entire elder family was executed, and the heirs of another elder family (on the surface) became crippled and imprisoned for a lifetime which was a living death was indeed a very heavy punishment.
However, everyone in the Fallen Angel Empire understood the nuances inside, especially Stiller. They were very grateful that Her Majesty Empress put all the blames on the Mishan Family. Lawson’s handling seemed very tragic on the surface, but it was Stiller who crippled him at that time in order to let Zola spare his life. It was totally unrelated to the envoy.
This was the advantage of standing as a team. If she didn’t submit to the empress, perhaps not only Lawson, even the entire Boll Family wouldn’t escape the catastrophe this time.
Crawford glanced at Celine. Then Celine immediately stood up and smiled cheerfully, “As I said, Your Majesty is the host and I’m just a guest. No matter what Your Majesty does, I have no objection. I would like to thank Your Majesty for your concern and help.”
Shea nodded, “Now that we have insight into the conspiracy of the b.l.o.o.d.y Empire, we should unite as one and truly show the sincerity of cooperation to establish a mutually beneficial friendly relations.h.i.+p so that we can and jointly move toward prosperity.”
Crawford said, “Your Majesty is right. We are ordered by Catherine the Great to travel far and wide to the Fallen Angel Capital with a sincere friends.h.i.+p in order to further promote bilateral relations and development.”
The pleasantries of both parties were very well-said, but they all knew that the so-called friends.h.i.+p was just a nice sh.e.l.l. There was only a relations.h.i.+p of sheer interest deep inside between the empires.
There could only be 1 dominant party. Without the powerful b.l.o.o.d.y Empire, the Dark Shadow Empire would have conquered the Fallen Angel Empire long ago. The Fallen Angel Empire was also using this most important point to deal with it. It was like when the Lord of Midnight Sun was in power, Catherine struggled to survive in the gap between the b.l.o.o.d.y Empire and the Fallen Angel Empire.
The game relations.h.i.+p between the 3 empires was a bit similar to Chen Rui’s memory of the 3 Kingdoms era in the last years of the Middle Eastern Han Dynasty which was quite subtle.
Among the strong and the weak, one’s loss is another’s gain, but they had always stood firm over the years. It was still unknown which of the 3 empires would be eliminated first and which would claim victory at the end.
After exchanging the pleasantries, all that was left was to throw away the sh.e.l.l of hypocrisy and negotiate for the sheer interest.
At present, Shea used a surprising move to employ both kindness and majesty to deter the elder families and the royal families, which had greatly strengthened her control of the empire. Catherine’s original plan had failed, but Crawford’s att.i.tude was still very tough and proposed a series of harsh conditions such as letting the Dark Shadow Empire Army station in the Dark Moon, sharing the secret formula for land improvement, and “talent exchange” including the Dark Moon Financial Officer Chen Rui.
These conditions sounded unbearable at first which gave an urge to beat Crawford up. Nevertheless, Disjaro, Stiller and others were also experienced in negotiation, and they were patient. They adopt a slow and careful strategy to tackle Crawford’s offense bit by bit.
In fact, both parties in the negotiation had a bottom line. On this basis, the seller asked for a sky-high price, and the buyer could make a down-to-earth offer. After intense negotiations, Crawford finally loosened up. The stationing of the army in the Dark Moon could be negotiated again, and an alternative for the land improvement and battle ball formulas could also be considered… But they were persistent on the “talent exchange”; they were determined to get Chen Rui.
Judging from the current situation, the Dark Shadow Empire’s att.i.tude had greatly eased which was a good start. Since the Fallen Angel Empire’s strength was weaker than that of the other party, certain concessions must be made and it was inevitable to sacrifice some people or benefits. If handing over Chen Rui could promote the key to reaching an agreement between the 2 empires, then it would definitely be worth it.
The negotiators, Disjaro and Stiller, turned their attention to Her Majesty Empress. However, Her Majesty Empress’s expression remained the same as if she was not interested at all. They had to avoid the important issues and did not give a formal answer. Crawford was naturally very dissatisfied. He began to stress on some of the originally relaxed aspects again. After a few hours of verbal battle, both sides did not reach any substantive treaty.
It was noon, and Shea arranged for Crawford and Celine to have a meal and rest, and the negotiation team of the Fallen Angel Empire stayed here.
Disjaro spoke up, “Your Majesty, forgive my straightforwardness. I think we can consider agreeing to the talent exchange requirement of the Dark Shadow Empire. Although Chen Rui is a rare internal affairs talent, and he has made great contributions to the prosperity of the Dark Moon, but now Your Majesty has been enthroned, so the focus should be on the overall situation, not a Dark Moon Estate. It is necessary to make some sacrifice.”
Stiller and others also echoed the proposal, but Shea rejected this proposal in 1 sentence, “We can use a lot of soil crystals to replace the soil improvement formula, we can also provide the battle ball formula and share the magic television technology. However, we cannot make the slightest concession on Chen Rui’s matter!”
This resolute att.i.tude made Disjaro and the others look at each other: A mere human actually has such weight in Her Majesty Empress’ mind? Is it more important than the secret formulas of the battle ball and magic television?
In the past, some representatives of the elder families would have jumped out and debated fiercely, but now they dared not say much, but Stiller tentatively asked, “Your Majesty, are you concerned about the Dark Moon’s representative lord, Athena…”
“It’s not Athena’s problem.” Shea looked at the puzzled people, “As there are no outsiders here, I will tell you a little. Has the battle ball, magic water conservancy system, aromatic millet wine…including newspapers and magic television appeared in the Demon Realm before?”
Everyone shook their heads. These were unprecedented new things. Several quick-thinking people had already reacted. Their faces were full of shock. Disjaro couldn’t help but ask, “Your Majesty means these are…”
“Yes,” Shea nodded, “He has contributed to each of these new things. Creative ideas such as magic television, battle ball, and magic water conservancy systems were developed at the Dark Moon. The newspapers created by Master Fonsaq and Xingxing were inspired by a plan he proposed some time ago, and the recipe for the aromatic millet wine was also provided by Chen Rui!”
Everyone was shocked at the same time. Unexpectedly, this human’s talents have reached this level. They finally understood why Shea did not give in on this matter at all.
Giving a man to fish is a completely different concept from teaching a man to fish. How can such a remarkable and talented person be lost to another empire!
Shea said with a solemn expression, “Everyone, remember that the matter about Chen Rui is a top secret that must not be divulged!”
Everyone nodded. In fact, Her Majesty Empress still did not reveal one of the biggest secrets. This human was the future Royal Highness Prince Consort who was the only man Her Majesty Empress had fallen in love with since she was a Princess Royal. How could she give him to others?
Chen Rui didn’t know that he had become a “highly demanded commodity” in the negotiation. At this time, he was taking Isabella to discuss with Zola in the Rainbow Valley about the [Light Annihilation Seal].
“s.p.a.ce magic is not as simple as you think.” Zola shook her head after asking Chen Rui’s intention to go to the human world, “The human magicians should have gone through countless experiments to create a fixed facility to detect the materials with the s.p.a.ce coordinate attribute in the Demon Realm. Then, they use the approximate position coordinates of this coordinate to initiate a random teleportation across the s.p.a.ce. This teleportation is quite dangerous. One may be annihilated upon falling into the s.p.a.ce turbulence. I don’t have this kind of facility now. Even if I do, it will take several months to detect and experiment with the s.p.a.ce coordinates of the human world, plus the testing of machines and teleportation… it will take at least a few years…”
Chen Rui’s enthusiasm seemed to be dampened and he suddenly felt discouraged, “Then what else can I do to go to the human world?”
“The human world has a summoning technique that uses a special magic circle to summon creatures in different s.p.a.ces. If both parties sign the contract on a voluntary basis, they should be able to achieve the safe transmission of s.p.a.ce, but generally, only lower-strength demon creatures are summoned. Furthermore, there is considerable luck involved, so it is difficult to achieve. Obviously, this method is not suitable for the current situation.
“Do you have a way to suppress [Light Annihilation Seal]?”
“If it’s the early stage of the curse, I might be able to neutralize or strip it with dark elements, but the curse has gone deep into her soul after 200 years. If it is removed by force, it will be annihilated together with the host’s soul.” Zola thought over and over again, “Now I can only properly relieve the pain of this kind of curse, but I can’t extend the time of the final outbreak. Let Yini stay here for a few tests, okay?”
Zola’s answer made Chen Rui’s mood heavy, “Isabella, you stay here. I will go to the Dark Moon now. The Earth Elemental King should already be on the way to the Dark Moon.”
Isabella smiled slightly and nodded, “Okay.”
The 2 women watched Chen Rui disappear into the [Teleportation Portal] of the Rainbow Valley. Zola pondered for a moment and asked, “Why don’t you let me tell him that there is another way to reach the human world?”
Isabella asked her back, “That method… are you sure of it?”
Zola shook her head, “No, if he breaks through the s.p.a.ce directly, the danger is much greater than that of the human’s teleportation. Even I may fall into the s.p.a.ce turbulence. I believe that even a Demi-G.o.d powerhouse dare not try it lightly.”
“You should know him. If there is no other way, he will definitely try.” Isabella shrugged, “So, as a woman, would you like to watch your beloved man risk his life for another woman?”
Isabella met Zola when she came to the Dark Moon to “save” her best friend, Krobelus. Both of them got along very well. Before coming to the Rainbow Valley with Chen Rui this time, Isabella deliberately rushed to ask Zola about the way to go to the human world before Chen Rui, and she asked Zola to keep the last method secret.
“Of course not.”
Zola answered without hesitation. After a moment of thought, she added, “However, if he is not a responsible man, he will not be my man.”
Isabella was slightly stunned as she looked at Zola’s eyes with an odd expression, “Really? I suddenly thought about something he said which I can’t understand previously. When the n.a.z.is came to arrest the Communists, I remained silent because I’m not a Communist; when they come to catch the Jews, I remained silent because I’m not a Jew; when they come to catch trade unionists, I remained silent because I’m not a trade unionist; when they come to catch the Catholics, I remained silent because I was a Protestant; when they came to arrest me, no one spoke for me. Is that what… you mean?”
“What?” Zola frowned. She was not pretending to be stupid, “Why haven’t I heard this?”
“Is he saying different things to every woman? My Sister Zola, it seems that you have to take some time to give this guy some lessons.” Isabella smiled and said, “But before that, help me think of ways to deal with that [Light Annihilation Seal]. I’m afraid of pain to death.”
“Oh.” Zola replied blankly, “I suddenly wanted to listen to a piece of music that Shea said. What is it called… “The End of the World”?”
Isabella was startled as it was the first time she encountered Ms. Fake Daze’s blackhearted attribute, “No problem.”
“By the way, I heard Olypheus said that… he often drinks a kind of drink at your place for a few hours.”
“Drink?”
“What?”
“It’s called tea. It tastes a bit bitter, so you may not be used to it.
“What?”
“Okay… I’ll make it for you to drink…”
“Oh.”
TL: No need to make a concession, Chen Rui will acquire Catherine sooner or later, right?? Seems like he is destined to have a trip to the Dead Sea. What can he get from there? Will the Dark Elemental King help?