Chapter 1087 — Closed Loop
Blade of Dawn · Page 3 of 4
After that, the silence in the room persisted for a long while, until several minutes later Royan suddenly spoke, breaking it: "No. He wouldn't do that."
Matilda raised her head in some surprise: "Father, what do you mean?"
"He won't occupy those islands, and he won't demand any free, unrestricted navigation rights," Royan's expression had turned gravely serious at some point. He furrowed his brow in thought and sat in silent contemplation for a long time, but at last his brow smoothed, and the stern look on his face became a faintly complex smile. "And to think I believed I had already determined his intentions when he made his second 'concession'..."
"...We've only signed an internal memorandum now. The real negotiations haven't begun yet," Matilda said at once. "We still have some room..."
"No," Royan cut Matilda off, and the smile on his face seemed even more complex than before. "If he hadn't mentioned Tarronde and the Theocratic Council, I wouldn't have minded losing some face. But now... he has shown me a future that is even harder to refuse. The price he has named is high, but it is worth the challenge."
Then he gradually wiped the complex smile from his face, turned to Matilda, and spoke with unusual severity and speed: "Contact the ambassadors of the Highland Kingdom and the Silver Empire immediately. Nail down those trade and port-opening proposals. If necessary, we can lower our terms. No matter what, before the Circumcontinental Route agreement takes effect, we must preserve as much of our market and voice at the southern end of the continent as possible."
"Is there still time? The Cecilians have probably been preparing for this for ages. Gao Yang Cecil even met with the Silver Empress as early as yesterday afternoon... They have personal ties."
"Ties dating back seven hundred years..." Royan's expression was momentarily complicated. He instinctively glanced at the red fruits on the tea table nearby, once again keenly feeling the helplessness of dealing with a figure who had stepped out of history. But he quickly shook his head and said in a deep voice, "We do what we can—save as much as we can. Cecil may be ahead of us, but they are ultimately too far from the southern continent. Such a vast feast—they can't possibly swallow it all."
......
In the elven-styled town, a lively atmosphere pervaded everywhere. Magic-powered carriages bearing the Cecil emblem drove along the main avenues, and members of various nations' delegations or elven affairs officers responsible for maintaining order and receiving guests could be seen at every turn. Gao Yang and Amber sat in the back of a magic-powered carriage, admiring the architecture and scenery of this foreign land while relaxing their somewhat taut nerves.
In the corners of the carriage's interior walls, some inconspicuous runes glowed, and a small soundproofing barrier screened out the clamor outside quite effectively, making the carriage seem especially quiet and comfortable.
How long the silence lasted, she did not know, but at last Amber suddenly broke it: "You never intended to take those islands from the start?"
"...Not exactly," Gao Rong smiled. "If they were truly being handed over for free, I wouldn't refuse—if Typhon couldn't recognize the value of a foothold on the ocean, why should I fret over their future for them?"
Amber scratched the back of her head. Though an outstanding talent in intelligence, she was clearly not so expert in other fields: "...Is a circumcontinental route really worth that much?"
Gao Yang glanced at the half-elf who was striving to think the problem through: "At least more valuable than those few islands. A circumcontinental route is, in itself, merely a 'route,' but add one precondition and the situation becomes far from simple—at this stage, Cecil is the only nation capable of assembling a large-scale trade fleet and a blue-water combat fleet."
Amber unconsciously repeated Gao Song's words: "The only..."