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"Master Ars, are you really going to wrap this up?"

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"Yes, that's right, Payne. You're in charge of the negotiations. Under the current circumstances, there's a good chance we can work something out.

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"...... Okay. We will make it work. You can count on me, Mr. Ars.

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"You're on, Payne."

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　Leon, who survived the attack, did an excellent job of summarizing the story of the alliance between the great noble families of the south, the Risortes and the Fontanas.

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　When the information was solid, and the other nobles had been informed, I decided to make another move.

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　This time, I will send Payne as an emissary to make this plan a reality.

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　My next move was not so special, to be frank.

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　It was to negotiate with the Memento family, one of the three noble families of the alliance.

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　In other words, I decided to make peace with Memento's army, which is currently staring each other down in the southern part of Fort Einrad.

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　The Memento family sent a large army to Fontana with the goal of securing the king's custody.

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　But it failed.

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　I burned the food and Kyle stirred up the battlefield with his telekinesis, and even the head of the family was killed.

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　And then, in half disregard of the subsequent order to halt the army, further misfortune befell Memento's forces who had stayed.

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　A night attack by Barka's cavalry once again killed one of the headmen.

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　If only on the strength of momentum, Fontana's side might have won the battle by some mistake.

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　It is true that such an atmosphere existed for a moment.

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　However, such a feeling faded away in no time at all.

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　The death of Carlos, who was escorting the king.

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　The faraway incident forced me to separate a part of the army of Barca.

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　What happened to the three original positions was that they were completely arranged.

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　The Barca side, thanks to Kyle's telepathic communication, was able to transmit information at an unusually high speed, and based on the information of Carlos' death, they immediately pulled out a part of their army from the camp and went elsewhere.

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　But this was not the case with the opposing forces of Memento.

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　Suddenly the breakdown of the forces in the three positions changed, and he had no idea why.

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　But then again, Memento's army had just lost two of its leaders.

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　The hardliners who wanted to fight the most were gone.

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　As a result, Memento's army chose the passive strategy of dropping their position and seeing what the other side would do.

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　This left me in the position of acting head of the House of Fontana, and with time enough for Vargas to acquire the Arbalest territory, there was little fighting between the standoff between Fontana and Memento's forces.

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　And now, information from afar has come to Memento's army, which is staying here.

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　That is, they learned that the king who was on his way to the capital was dead.

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　This is of great significance.

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　After all, the initial goal of Memento's army was to secure the king, not to defeat Fontana or to gain Fontana's territory.

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　In short, Memento's army was now in a state of limbo, having lost sight of its objective.

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　This moment was an opportunity.

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　I decided to take immediate action.

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　I set out to negotiate with Memento's army.

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　The Memento and Fontana families were temporarily at odds with each other, but this was not a battle that was absolutely necessary.

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　The Memento family's goal was to acquire the king's person in order to rise to the hegemony of the nobility, and they sent their troops to Fontana to achieve this goal.

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　On the other hand, the Fontana side does not want to fight any more.

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　In any case, there is nothing to be gained by winning against Memento's army that has attacked us.

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　They only moved to repel the attackers because they were attacked, and it would be best if the battle was over.

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　However, Memento's army will not listen to us when we say, "There is no point in fighting each other, so let's just stop fighting.

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　No one would want to return to Memento Territory only because of the fact that they failed to achieve their main goal and lost two of their own leaders.

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　Therefore, they needed something to take credit for.

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"But isn't that too much of a concession, boy?　In the current state of affairs, Payne is really going to talk to Memento's army on those terms, isn't he?"

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"I don't care, old man. If it'll end the war.

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"...... I ask you again, are you sure about this?　We're going to be selling wheat at a discount for the next few years just to get a cease-fire agreement with the Mementos. Do we really need to go that far?"

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"Of course there is. We will make a truce with the Memento family even if it means making a deal that will cost us. Otherwise, there will be no future for Fontana."

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"But we are dealing with a family from the League of Three Noblemen, you know?　They could have attacked the king or Carlos. I don't know what the boy is thinking, selling wheat to such an opponent for a very low price."

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　As I was seeing Payne off as a messenger, an old man who was standing beside me started talking to me.

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　Apparently, he was not very satisfied with what had happened.

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　I thought that now was the right time to negotiate with the Memento family, and I had offered some concessions to Payne in order to bring things to a conclusion.

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　That is, the sale of wheat at a reasonable price, which the old man is worried about.

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　If the terms included in the concession were to be signed, Fontana would have to sell wheat to the Memento family at a price far below the market rate for the next several years.

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　Wheat is a tax.

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　For many nobles, the meaning of owning an estate is to have the right to collect taxes from those who live there, which means to collect the harvested wheat.

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　In other words, the concession I have prepared means that the taxes from Fontana will be passed on to the Memento family at a terribly low price.

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　Some people may think that this is like submitting to the Memento family.

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"But it's also a necessary part of the deal. If we don't do this, Fontana will dry up."

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"Drying up?　Fontana?　What do you mean, kid?"

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"...... So far, we have not been able to determine who or what attacked Mr. Carlos. But it was probably one of the three noble families. But not the Memento family. The Memento family demanded the custody of the king. The fact that the whole Carlos family killed the king without hesitation makes it difficult to believe that the Memento family attacked the king.

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"...... So you think the boy was one of the other two of the three remaining noble families that attacked?"

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"Yes. And there is one more thing we have to consider. Do you know what it is, old man?

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"Fontana dries up: ....... Oh, yeah, trade issues."

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Yes. Fontana, and by extension Barca, is a territory that has grown through trade. Merchants bring goods made in Fontana to the south and sell them, and from the profits earned there, they in turn purchase goods from the royal city area and other areas and transport them to the north for profit. In other words, even if the three noble alliances do not attack in concert, Fontana could fall into an economic crisis just by stopping the movement of merchants heading north."

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"So you're worried that the three noble alliances will try to economically blockade Fontana, which is located in the northernmost part of the country?"

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"That's right. As acting head of Fontana, I have no ties to the other nobles. There is a possibility that I will be ostracized among the nobles for this. That's why I want to establish economic ties with the Memento family in order to get ahead of them and break the economic blockade."

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"But can the Memento family be that trustworthy?　If they attacked us with food they bought from Fontana, it wouldn't even be funny, would it?"

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"Probably not. The Memento family's goal is to become a hegemonic aristocrat. We have to look at the two noble houses in the alliance rather than Fontana itself. And perhaps the Memento family will not be able to gain hegemony at the meeting of the League of the Three Noble Houses. Then, there will surely come a time when the three noble houses will fight each other. For the House of Memento, the offer to buy a large amount of food at a low price is an attractive proposition. I think it will be an achievement that we can report to the lands as a result of the war we have waged with our armies."

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　This is the most important thing for Fontana right now.

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　The most important thing for Fontana now is that the three noble alliances are united in their will to deal with Fontana.

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　If the three noble alliances work together and send their armies to the north to attack us, we will be out of luck.

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　Against that, we can reduce the risk by joining hands with the former high lords of the south, the Risortes.

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　And we have to consider that the alliance of the three noble families will tighten economic pressure against Fontana instead of fighting.

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　It would be a serious problem if goods are not brought to Fontana as before.

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　That is why we wanted to make sure that the business with the Memento family would continue, even if we had to take some losses in order to prevent this from happening.

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　Besides, if it is wheat, the harvest can be increased by using the magic of [Land preparation] and [Improvement of farmland].

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　The damage should not be so catastrophic.

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　Thus, I decided to make peace with Memento's army, while working with the Risortes to maintain economic ties with the Memento family as a strategy for Fontana's survival.

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