"Yes, truly…….as for me, I am thinking to further expand those exchanges and deepen the relationship."

"That is a magnificent thought…….however, do you already have a concrete plan for that?"

"I have an idea…….however, while it may be obvious, these discussions between us are imperative for an agreement, but they are ultimately just the foundation for it. Honestly speaking, we have not yet decided……whether or not we should make an agreement with your country as a whole, or if we should do it with the individual territories within your country."

"I see, I see…….around when do you intend on disclosing that?"

"While I do want to say that it can be disclosed whenever……as I have been so busy going around visiting everyone on this visit, while it is embarra.s.sing to admit I did not bring that doc.u.ment with me. That is why I would like to offer an invitation to everyone to visit our country."

Kurtis faintly furrowed his eyebrows.

However, I acted as though I had completely failed to notice that and continued speaking. 

"In addition to this being just about the time for your high society to enter its off-season, our country is about to have its National Foundation Day, so there will be all sorts of exhibits available. It is an excellent opportunity for all of you to see our country, and above all else, it will be faster to discuss matters in a conference with all the top-ranking government officials under our country"s king together with the five of you at once…….I have already proposed this to everyone else and obtained their acceptance. All that"s left is you."

"Hou……so Baskar and Kuroitsu both accepted?"

"I don"t quite understand why you only asked about those two houses but……by [All], I mean [All] of the Four Houses other than yours."

I had not met directly with the Baskar Ducal House, so the written invitation was given to them by Earl Talbot.

If we had sent the invitation by post, it wouldn"t be possible to deem them as "attending" without a reply, but in handing it to them directly, that restriction did not apply.

Rather, since it was right after the funds were returned to them, the report said that he had cheerfully a.s.sented.

As one of Alf"s subordinates who had managed to slip in amongst Earl Talbot"s messengers had reported the same thing, I was confident that it was not a false report.

Hearing my reply, Kurtis, who was before me, clenched his jaw slightly.

"……or, is there some problem with inviting those two houses?"

I instead made an expression as though I were worried while asking that.

Seeing me pretend as though I were a good-willed third party, Kurtis" jaw clenched even harder.

You really shouldn"t let it appear on your face so easily……, I laughed internally at the changes that appeared on his face. Rather, it was precisely because it was a time like this that one shouldn"t allow their opponent to perceive their inner thoughts, and should even instead laugh to appear as though you had plenty of composure. 

"No…….it is just that those two houses are rather lacking in the motivation to interact with other countries, so I was surprised you managed to bring them into the discussions."

"The Baskar Ducal House lacks motivation? Ahh……normally, that"s how it is. If that"s the case, then my country will have to thank the merchants employed by the Baskar Ducal House. Thanks to them, Earl Talbot possessed a connection to the Baskar Ducal House, and likely as a result of that, they accepted the invitation to this conference."

Kurtis" expression finally warped.

"We"ve gone off topic but……since you will be taking such trouble to come visit, ideally it would be best if we were able to make an agreement at that time. Until then, I will work on refining the framework of the agreement a little more."

For a moment Kurtis laughed scornfully at those words, as if to say, "wWhat sort of stupid thing are you saying?". 

Even if Dukes Grindal and Ferring from the moderate factions visited Tasmeria Kingdom, as long as the Baskar and Crow Ducal Houses didn"t want to, they could avoid visiting of their own accord……if they did that, then it would become impossible to make the agreement – is probably what he was thinking when he laughed.

However, in the next instant, Kurtis stiffened.

That reaction……did he realize it? -I suspected so. 

Earlier, I had said: [Honestly speaking, we have not yet decided……whether or not we should make an agreement with your country as a whole, or if we should do it with the individual territories within your country."]. 

At that point, he likely took my words at face value understanding it as, [Internally, Tasmeria Kingdom still hasn"t decided whether to make the treaty with the Rinmel Princ.i.p.ality as a whole, or with the individual territories in the Rinmel Princ.i.p.ality] or, [We still don"t know whether it would be more advantageous to make the treaty with all of the individual territories of the Rinmel Princ.i.p.ality, or if it would be better to make it with the Rinmel Princ.i.p.ality as a country.].

However, having come here, those two statements could be thought of with entirely different meanings.

If we were to make a treaty between our two countries on the international level, then naturally we would require the consent of all of the heads from the Five Archduke Houses or it could not be executed.

However, if we made the treaty so that it applied only to the jurisdictions of the individual lords, then things were different.

To begin with, the Rinmel Princ.i.p.ality is a country made from a gathering of what used to be five different countries. Naturally, the authority of each lord was great.

 As such, it was possible for Tasmeria Kingdom to enter into a treaty with the lords of each individual territory.

In other words, it meant that [whether we make the treaty on a national level or on an individual level depends entirely upon the att.i.tude of Rinmel Princ.i.p.ality. Either way, those who come to Tasmeria Kingdom will enter into a treaty with us…….even if there are other territories missing in it.]. 

If all of the other Ducal Houses were against it, then it"d be another matter entirely. However, of the Five Archduke Houses, four of them have already declared their partic.i.p.ation, so even if Kurtis were to oppose it, it would be difficult for him to stop them from making a treaty as individual lords.

And for the same reason, it should be difficult for him to stop the other houses from visiting Tasmeria Kingdom.

As long as it was profitable, generally speaking the country could not put limits on the actions of the individual lords, and Kurtis also could not do that. On top of that, he was lacking in any basis to do so.

If he forcefully tried to stop them, it would be the same as giving the Grindal and Ferring Ducal Houses an opportunity to take advantage of him.

"Do you have a seat for me?"

At last, Kurtis made a decision.

He probably felt chagrined, but even then, Kurtis smiled.

"Yes, of course. I was hoping that I could gather everyone after all."

"Is that so? ……well then, I shall consider it positively."

"My my…….I am truly thankful for that. I will be greatly antic.i.p.ating the day that everyone comes to visit."

Then, Kurtis and I exchanged farewells, and I exited the room.

Translator Comments:

Political talk is so hard to grasp sometimes……I hope the meaning was properly conveyed. I tried! >w