Hmm....

　King Gilbed looked down at the man in front of him, who called himself Ial Claudius.
　He was the representative of an envoy sent by King Rosais.

　According to the information King Gilbed had gathered, he was originally from a commoner.

　However, during the battle for the throne between King Almus and Rigal Dibel, who was powerful in King Losais' country at the time, he played a role in helping to unite Rigal Dibel's camp and help King Almus succeed to the throne.

　Later, when King Rosais' country was diplomatically besieged by the nations, he negotiated with King Zoldias to help break the siege.

　With this opportunity, he rose to power and is now in charge of the diplomatic affairs of King Rosais' kingdom.

　Along with Raimondo Rosais in domestic affairs and Bartolo Pompeius in military affairs, he is the chief vassal of King Rosais's kingdom.

　The man uses a tongue that spins well and has been trying to bond himself together.

　He wants you to join him in invading the kingdom of King Zoldias.
　As far as this man Ial is concerned, there is nothing for King Gilbed's kingdom to gain.

　Only King Rosais' country is the only one that will directly attack King Zoldias' country.
　He said that King Gilbed's country should stop trading with King Zoldias' country and put pressure on its neighboring countries.

　King Zoldias's country can't send out an army because they are wary of King Rosais's country.　
　Meanwhile, King Gilbed's country can invade all the allies of King Zoldias' country as much as they want.

　It's a real bargain.
　That's why it's suspicious.

　Two years after the League against Gaul was signed and the war between the four main countries of the Adelian peninsula-Gilbed, Fardham, Domorgal, and Rosais-was banned, King Rosais' country continues to silkworm the surrounding countries.

　Southern Cilician countries.
　Rezad and Nemeth, the great economic powers of the South.
　And the western countries that were allied with the country of King Zoldiers.

　King Almus' territorial ambitions are unceasing.
　That greedy king has an eye on further territorial expansion.

　Suppose that Lossies and Gilbed form an alliance.
　Then, as both countries expand their territories, Rosais and Gilbet will share a border with each other.

　Where will the next King Loseys' ambitions turn?
　No need to think about it.

　-I don't like it.

　King Gilbed's gut was churning.

　Why should his country, the king of the greatest power on the Adelian peninsula, be afraid of a small, insignificant country that was, until a few years ago, so insignificant?
　Why should his country, the greatest power on the Adelian peninsula, be afraid of a small, insignificant country that was, until a few years ago, so small and insignificant?
　Why is he afraid of a young man no older than his own son, the king of a great country, who is only twenty-one years old?

　At any rate, I don't like King Rosais' country and King Almus.

　"Sorry, but I don't have time to entertain your territorial ambitions.
　His Majesty King Gilbeth. To tell you the truth, I have a gift for you from King Almus. I would like you to receive it....
　...a gift?

　King Gilbeth listened attentively.
　A free gift from the king to the king a tribute.

　It would mean, diplomatically, that the king would descend to the king's subjects.
　It's not an act that can be done casually.

　At least, King Gilbed would never do it.
　His pride would not allow such a thing.

　Besides, the great families in the country would not obey a king who would bow to another king.
　It's a subterfuge in both domestic politics and diplomacy.

　

　I don't care about pride when it comes to making a profit.
　I'll bow and lick your boots as much as I can.

　That's the way a merchant thinks.
　That's not the way the king thinks.

　Perhaps King Almus himself thinks it's a good idea.
　But later on, King Almus will pay the price.

　"May I bring them in here?
　I don't mind.

　When King Gilbed gave his permission, Ial ordered the servants he brought with him to take a large amount of tribute out of the carriage that was parked outside the palace.

　''This........''

　King Gilbed gulped.
　When he heard of tribute, he had thought it was only slaves and grain at best.

　But the tribute that King Almus had presented to him was.....
　Jewelry, silk, spices, spices, perfumes, goldsmithing, pottery, and the most wonderful fabrics I've ever seen....

　It was a treasure beyond anything I could have imagined.

　King Gilbed is stunned.


　Ial chuckles inwardly and takes a step forward.

　''Your Majesty, I personally recommend that you form an alliance with Almus-sama.

　Ial spoke to the Gilbed King who was overwhelmed by the treasure.
　As if to wear on his wavering, momentarily favorably inclined heart....

　"Your Majesty, King Gilbet, you may consider Lord Almus to be a threat. But Lord Almus' victories to date have depended largely on luck. Lord Almus is very afraid of His Majesty King Gilbed. For if Gilbed, a true great power, attacked him, there would not be a drop in King Rosais' kingdom.

　Ial disgraces his Lord and lifts up King Gilbed.

　'King Gilbed's country was once boiled by King Zoldias' country. The nations of the world believe that King Gilbed's country has failed to conquer the South. Wouldn't this be a good opportunity to dispel that?

　The failure to conquer the South had a major impact on the internal and foreign affairs of King Gilbed's country.
　He was defeated by a small southern nation.
　This fact diplomatically damaged the national prestige of King Gilbed's country, and domestically it led to the separation of the country's great families.

　It's still reverberating in their tails to this day.

　

　''........Fine. If I refuse after being pleaded to this extent, my capacity to do so will be questioned. Let's accept the alliance.

　After this, the kingdom of Gilbed proclaimed to the world its favourable neutrality towards the kingdom of King Rosais.
　And it made a secret pact with the country of King Losais regarding the sphere of influence.






　'Hey, Almus. Were you happy to give them all that tribute?
　What do you mean?　Julia.
　'I said to your father, 'The king must not bow easily!　Because if you bow your head, you'll be licked by the great families of the country!'' I was taught that.

　So Julia is questioning my down-to-earth diplomacy...
　All right.

　'Julia, what's my support base?'　
　...a commoner, right?
　'Yes. And for many commoners, all that matters is the life of the day and the wealth of the country. How it looks doesn't matter to them.

　The commoners don't care how much tribute I give to King Gilbed.
　This is because the scheme of 'giving gifts' = 'submitting to subjects' does not exist in the minds of commoners.

　The tribute was a special custom among the royalty and the great families.

　"And for the big families, it is usually explained to them. I don't care about the support of the other small and medium-sized tycoons.

　A politically immature country and a politically inexperienced country that doubts the complexion of a powerful family....
　We have long since achieved military centralization, but not in our country.

　That's why.
　I see!

　Julia seemed to agree with me.
　Well, I can understand a little of Julia's concern. Still, it's not much of a problem. In my country.

　And besides.....

　'If we can negotiate with Persis, the fact that we bowed to King Gilbed will be erased.







　Every day, ambassadors from all over the world come to visit Xerxes, the Emperor of Persis.
　They come to pay tribute, to show their loyalty to Xerxes, and to have their status recognized.

　Granted, there is nothing in the Persis Empire, the most culturally advanced empire in the world, that doesn't have it.
　That's why it's been decided since ancient times that the gifts the barbarian tribes of the world give to the Persis Empire are slaves.

　If you are a slave, it is because you have a use for it.

　However, the tribute brought by an envoy from a certain country was different.

　It looks like silk, but it's not silk. What kind of fibre is that?

　Xerxes fingers the gifted fabric.
　It's not silk, flax or cotton.

　It's a strange ... but it's more beautiful and pleasant to the touch than silk.

　'What country is this cloth from?'
　It's in the land of King Rosais of Adelunia.

　The Foreign Minister of the Persian Empire replied.　
　Even the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who remembered the names of all the major countries in the world and all the countries with close ties to Persis, had never heard of a country such as Rosais, a country in the countryside, such as the Adelian peninsula.

　But Xerxes was different.

　'I see, I see ... well ... good. After a year, you will be granted an audience. Tell the envoy.
　Are you sure?

　The Minister of Foreign Affairs is amazed.
　Every year, Xerxes is visited by more than a hundred countries' envoys.

　Xerxes didn't have time to have an audience with all of them, so he basically left everything to the Minister of Foreign Affairs when it came to small and medium-sized countries.
　Even if the other party was a large country of its own, it would take two or three years after the application to be allowed an audience in person.

　That was a year later........
　No wonder the Foreign Minister was surprised.

　'But come the first time, King Almus himself. Tell him so.
　'King Almus - you don't mean the name of the King of Rosyth!

　The Foreign Minister's eyes widened.
　The emperor knows the name of the king of a country he's never heard of either.

　It's impossible.

　"Let's see if he can be a worthy opponent for Pofenia. Well it will be interesting to see what he looks like.

　Emperor Xerxes smiled happily.





　On the one hand, he was the emperor who brought forth the heyday of an unprecedented empire that straddled the West and the Orient.
　I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not.

　Is this chance encounter inevitable or a coincidence...

________.

　''There have been two emperors in this world historically.

　One of them is the emperor who is the son of Heaven in the Scarlet Empire, the ruler of Tianhua in the Far East.
　The other is the emperor of the great empire of the Orient, the Shahanshah of the Persian Empire.

　No one else is allowed to call himself an emperor except the successor of these two.

　-Benito Julius Cross Gnaeus