Kavalburg,

Outside the meeting rooms in the reception area of the Cabinet Residence, two paladins wearing knight's armor and helmets with angry visors were stationed on either side.

In the wide corridors, a convoy of regular knights of the castle patrolled back and forth.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the city of Crewe was still unusually quiet.

But inside and outside these parlors, they had been busy since half an hour before, with servants shuttling back and forth to ensure the cleanliness of the parlors, and the castle officials and ceremonial officers arranged each parlor according to the reception specifications.

In the small lounge next to the third parlor,

A court ceremonial officer of the kingdom is giving Morinda a detailed explanation of the kingdom etiquette that needs to be noted when meeting orc envoys.

Although Morinda thought that these etiquettes would not be needed for the meeting at all, he still paid close attention to every link and took notes. As the only one among the ministers of the kingdom who needed etiquette lessons, he was humble enough, at least his attitude made the etiquette officials who originally looked at him unpleasant have to start taking it seriously.

At nine o'clock, the ceremonial officer finished his mission, Morinda put away his notes, began to think about the issues that needed attention in the upcoming negotiations, and continued to record after the notes.

Half an hour later, at the reminder of the castle officials, the halberd left the lounge and stepped into the third parlor under the watchful eyes of the two guard paladins.

The living room is not big, but it is not small, because of the vigorous fireplace, Morinda feels a special warmth the moment he walks into the room. To Morinda's surprise, there was no one in the room except him, and not even the clerk who recorded the meeting was arranged.

Did you not come? Or was it deliberately testing me? This is Morinda's subconscious thought.

With this in mind, he approached a white sofa in the living room that was placed facing each other, and on the coffee table in the middle of the sofa was brewed coffee and tea, as well as all kinds of desserts and fruits.

He stood next to the sofa on the left, as instructed by the hostess, waiting for the arrival of the person he was talking to.

After about two or three minutes, the handle of the room suddenly sounded, and by the time Morinda looked over, Kesai had already appeared outside the door.

The eyes of the two immediately met...

Appearing a little surprised, but not surprised, he stood in the doorway and was silent for two seconds before he commanded his attendants, "You can wait for me outside." ”

"Bang!" the door closed tightly with the door frame as Kesai's voice landed.

"Just now outside, the envoys of every country were greeted by your Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but I was left cold, and I thought that your king was deliberately embarrassing me. Kesai walked as he spoke, and the 'you' in his words were deliberately heavy, "Unexpectedly, they were going to surprise me here." ”

As they spoke, the two of them were close at hand,

Kesai grinned, "Is your king so relieved of you?"

"Your Majesty has a heart and wisdom that you can't imagine. Morinda pointed to the sofa opposite and invited Kesai to sit down, "The strength of the Krulian Kingdom is obvious to all, we can use the entire continent to use the krona currency in just half a year, and we can also use this half a year to do other things." With confidence in his tone, he completely entered the position of court advisor to the Kawar Castle, "For example..."

"You seem to enjoy what you're doing right now. Kesai leaned back on the sofa and sighed, "Very comfortable seats, is this the life you want?" he pointed to the coffee, tea and various fruit pastries on the coffee table, "The life of the human aristocracy that you once spurned." ”

"Our philosophies are never the same, and I'm not going to try to convince you, and you don't want Stu to convince me. Morinda sat on the sofa on the left, leaning over to pick up the brewed coffee and pour two cups, "I represent the Kingdom of Kruria today, and you represent your Great Chief. He gently pushed one of the cups of coffee in front of Kesai, "Let's stop these boring conversations." ”

"Are you running away?" Kersai brushed aside his steaming coffee, "we have plenty of time, and I don't mind taking a moment out to discuss this topic... I wondered why the cold-blooded Morinda Overseer in the war for the unification of the northern clans had now chosen to be loyal to a human king. ”

"I don't need to explain my actions to anyone, the Great Chief abandoned us during the Expeditionary War three years ago, and according to the laws of the Orcs, from that moment on, our Expeditionary Force had no relationship with the Northern Clan. Morinda stared at Kesai, "So, what I'm doing now, even your Great Chief is not in any position to dictate to me. ”

Kesai also stared at the Morinda Morinda, stared at it for a few seconds, grabbed the coffee next to him and ignored his hot temperature, poured it directly into his stomach, and then said coldly: "Humans will not be so kind to take in our people, you will regret today's decision." ”

"Thank you for the reminder, I know exactly what I'm doing right now!" Morinda kept a calm countenance, leaning over to refill the empty cup of coffee in front of Kesai, "Now can we get down to business?"

Kesai was a little angry at Morinda's stubbornness, and after staring at the coffee dangling in his cup for a few seconds, he said in an extremely indifferent voice: "We need the alliance circle to support our campaign against the Klan Territory, and for this we can cede some of our interests in the Klan Territory, including land cession." ”

"Well," Morinda nodded calmly, "what kind of support do you need?"

Kesai stared at the appearance of Morinda turning out the yellow paper and preparing to write, and after two seconds of silence, he said: "Military supplies worth two million crowns, and the coalition troops stationed in Lacnivi City to assist us in attacking Crane City. ”

"Two million crowns," Morinda whispered, writing quickly on the paper, "how are you going to pay it back?"

"We can divide part of the interests of the Clan, even the land..."

"Are you kidding?" Morinda said, "Do you know what two million crowns worth of supplies are, we can use this money to form more than fifty regular regiments and keep them fighting for more than a year!" he made a quick calculation on paper, "and according to the orc war consumption, this money will allow you to arm a huge army of more than 300,000 warriors and continue to fight for more than half a year." ”

"A single city of Crane is not worth the price, let alone cede any other place. Morinda leaned back on the sofa, "You just said that we should send you two million crowns, maybe it would be a little more pleasant." ”

Kesai shrugged, perhaps seeing Morinda's embarrassed expression, a slight smile appeared on his face, and he said like a scoundrel: "This is the condition given by the Great Chief, I just brought it as it was." ”

"Half a million crowns of materiel, as a reimbursement... Twenty years of operating rights in the port of Nustry!"

"Do you think it's possible?" the smile on Kesai's face froze, and he subconsciously leaned back to sink his whole body into the cushions of the sofa, "You don't have to think about the port of Nustry, and the supplies of 500,000 kroner are simply not enough for us to fight this war... We need to arm an army capable of sweeping through the entire Crane Territory in one fell swoop. ”

"But we have no interest in Crane at all. Morinda no longer mentioned the matter of support, and he pretended to be very straightforward and said, "We need to have our own port transit station in the Western Continent... Don't be too busy refusing first!" he interrupted Kesai's refusal with a silver spoon as he tapped the coffee cup lightly, "With your current conditions, you can't complete the construction of the port city at all, and the port of Nustry is simply the biggest waste in your hands, so you might as well let us run it." ”

"In addition, we have a strong interest in the rich mineral resources of the Western Continent. Morinda didn't give Kesai a chance to speak, and he continued at an extremely fast pace: "The Naimis Snow Mountain at the southern end of the Northern Clan, we need it. ”

"Hmm...," Kesai let out a sullen breath, "I have to say, Pedy Reagan is really smart, he sent you to talk to me, and you know the orcs even better than I do...", a hideous smile appeared on his face, "But I am the person you are negotiating with, and I can refuse all your requests." ”

"It's your right. Morinda smiled indifferently and took the coffee and tasted it slowly.

"I'm still asking for two million kroner and..."

"Since you insist on your opinion... So, let's talk about the war in Klan City. Morinda knew how to grasp the rhythm of the language better, and he spoke again, "Why did your Great Chief choose to start a war against the Klan Territory at this time, instead of waiting for him to consolidate the internal affairs of the clan?"

The old orc's fingers tapped rhythmically on the armrest of the couch, "You have just experienced a civil war, the whole tribe is exhausted, many of the tribe are even hungry, and your great chief is going to start a more powerful war at this time. ”

"We don't need any reason to start a war. "In the orc civilization, almost every moment is accompanied by war, we have fought with our own people, with humans, with dwarves, with werewolves, trolls, minotaurs, and all other known intelligent races, and we enjoy the thrill of conquest. ”

"You don't represent all the people, not all of them like war, and more people prefer a peaceful and prosperous life. Morinda shook his head, "Over the past thousand years, the wars we have waged have brought many intelligent races on this continent to an end to their reproduction once and for all... I never felt that era was our honor. ”

"You're stupid!" Kersai straightened up suddenly, his eyes blood-red, "don't use your mind to guess the entire clan. ”

Morinda looked at him without fear, "Don't use your thoughts to hinder your people from taking a step they should have taken. ”

The conversation between the two unconsciously returned to the topic that had been debated within the orc tribe for hundreds of years... However, this is destined to be a fruitless argument.

However, Morinda got the answer he wanted from Kesai's current reaction.

...

At twelve o'clock in the afternoon, the office of the inner hall of the Kaval Castle.

During the noon break, the king's ministers who were talking to the various nations were summoned to his office.

With limited time to rest, Pedi turned this austere office into a dining room for the ministers. All the members of the kingdom's cabinet and court advisers were huddled in this small office for lunch.

Pedi's staple dish for lunch today was a neatly sliced roast leg of lamb brushed with a layer of sauce specially prepared for him by Erin Fil to whet his appetite. When half a roast leg of lamb was served, Pedi took out his cigar, and everyone else in the office was still eating, except for the Morinda.

"How's the conversation with the messenger of the Stone-Silver Axe?" said Pedi as he tossed a cigar to the old orc.

Morinda shook his head, "The Overseers didn't intend to talk to us at all. ”

"Oh?" Pedy's eyes flashed, glancing at Morinda as he stared at the sparks that the cigar was slowly igniting by him, and then said in a very light tone, "Let's be specific..."

Morinda bit the cigar butt with his mouth and said, "Kesai is not the person sent by Shikan-Silver Axe to talk to us, he sent Kesai to tell us that not everyone within the orcs is willing to cooperate with us, and the 'main battle faction' still occupies a certain amount of power. ”

"Is there anyone within the orcs who wants to have an expeditionary war with us?" Pedi lit his cigar and leaned back in his huge armchair to stare at Morinda, "Are these people so stupid that they can't even tell the difference between allies and enemies?"

"It's a tricky thing to explain, but if we want to deepen our cooperation with the orcs, we'll have to face it. Morinda spoke slowly, changing his language as he spoke, "A hundred years ago, the Tower of Dawn split, and twenty years ago there was a great bloody conflict, and many of the high-ranking descendants of Shikan-Silveraxe's men are descendants of the victors in that conflict twenty years ago, these people have been brainwashed and indoctrinated with a terrible idea since childhood..."

"From the bottom of their hearts, they believe that the orc army is the most powerful existence in the entire continent, and war is the most effective means to solve all affairs. Morinda frowned and said, "Especially after they defeated the Imperial Army three years ago, this statement suddenly became the entire orc tribe. ”

"The Empire was not defeated by orcs, it disintegrated and failed because of its internal infighting, as well as a succession of rebellions. Sira Marne put down her knife and fork and couldn't help but interrupt Morinda's words.

"But there are people within the orc tribe who don't think so. Morinda looked helpless.

"So," said Pedy, "Shikan-Silveraxe sent Kesai to talk to us, just to disgust us?"

Hearing this, Morinda didn't even care about lighting a cigar and quickly explained: "In addition to disgusting us, he also wants to know our attitude... Most of the reign of Shikan-Silveraxe was based on war, but he also knew that war alone would not work to maintain his dominance, and now that the orcs were united..."

Finance Minister Edwin Fellin suddenly burst into words, "To achieve internal unity of the orc clans, there will be no need for more wars, so the existence of the 'main war faction' will not be necessary!"

Morinda nodded and said, "Kesai is now the leader of the 'main battle faction' within the orcs!"

Prime Minister Daisily Pombo whispered softly, "An orc tribe that is unified from the inside out is going to be terrifying. ”