Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King

The assembled Nobles smiled at Janet's lack of political paranoia. She was one of the refugees from Sylvan, the daughter of farmers for two hundred years, and the closest that they got to intrigue was when some shady merchant came through town trying to buy things at a discount. None of the intrigues, murders, or power plays of the big city made it to them, they were just struggling to stay alive out in the rural areas, even before the Mundane Armies invaded.

But for the longer lived among the seniors here in the room, they had seen dozens or hundreds of Nobles die to treachery, and it was only natural to assume that anyone who wasn't in their inner circle was plotting behind their back.

Especially in the Fae Realms. The Demons would hand out more titles without land if you got powerful enough. Then you could marry into a low noble family with lots of land, and they would get all the benefits that came with your higher title.

But the Fae Courts had a set number of members. If you wanted power and recognition, you had to take it from someone who already had it. So, the upper Nobility was less stable than that of the Demons, despite being less bloodthirsty.

Well, marginally less bloodthirsty.

Wolfe went to the storage cabinet where the blank agreements were stored. It was the same one that he had offered all the other nations on the continent, the ones too far away to become part of the Forest Grove Alliance, or directly linked to the Frozen Wastes region's travel and supply network.

"This is the standard document that we offer foreign nations. I am willing to offer those same terms to your world. There are some terms in there about hostile actions, but with the peace treaty in place they shouldn't cause any issues with our business interactions.

It also contains a clause to send aid for natural disasters, which I believe many of your Nobles might be interested in, as it means we will send a limited number of witches to help you recover from pandemics." Wolfe explained.

The Nobles perked up when Wolfe mentioned that. The human nations in this world usually still had some witches in them, and contact with others. But in the Fallen Empire, there were precisely zero now that Wolfe had brought his home again.

If they could get one or two per city during a pandemic, they could cut down on the spread of the illness to the point that it ceased being a major issue.

If it was a Rank Three or higher witch that came to help them out, she would be able to cast area healing spells to heal an entire stadium full of sick people at the same time.

Copies of the agreement were passed around the room for everyone to read themselves, in case there was some misunderstanding about what the terms of the deal would be.

"Is this open to negotiation?" King Petros asked.

"Everything is negotiable, if you have the right counteroffer." Wolfe agreed.

Petros looked around the room and sighed. "Can you all stop giving me that pleading look? We're supposed to be negotiating here, not grovelling."

Wolfe laughed, while the nobles looked embarrassed. There was just too much good stuff in that agreement, and the only restriction that would truly impact them was the prohibition on military grade weapons, which included any ranged weapon over Rank Three, or any technological weapon modified with magic.

They could live with that. In fact, they had no idea what the second half of the clause was referring to, other than the few who had been informed of the details after Wolfe's battle at the Magic King's castle.

"There is a clause in here about no recruiting foreign fighters for wars of aggression. Would that include human armies using non-prohibited weapons for expansion and colonization efforts?" One of the Nobles asked.

"Yes. Unless the world was uninhabited." Wolfe replied simply.

The Noble looked disappointed. He had heard a lot about the humans here, and their technologies. His thought was that just as Wolfe had done, if they could get some of those weapons into the hands of their artificers, they would be able to create a fearsome army combining advanced technology and magic.

They didn't know yet that many high-tech items didn't interact well with spells, but the agreement did include clauses that both sides would not take measures to develop any new prohibited weapons or increase their stockpile.

Of course, Forest Grove didn't have to increase their stockpile, they had plenty, and they exempted themselves from the continued use of existing weapon types, the same as they granted their new allies, in order to prevent cultural issues or excessive costs.

A few of them would realize once the deal was signed that the clause put the armies from Forest Grove at a massive advantage, but nobody was likely to notice that until after the deal was signed.

"We could use a few minutes to discuss this in private, and then the other deal should also be prepared. With some luck, we should be able to sign both at the same time this morning." King Petros requested.

"Everyone, clear the room. King Petros, I will put a double barrier over the room, and you can add your own inside that. When yours comes down, I will take it as a signal that your discussion is over." Wolfe agreed easily.

You couldn't discuss all the details of a proposal right in front of the other party, so it was not a shock that they needed a few hours. But that gave Wolfe and the Representatives a good excuse to go downstairs and have coffee and a snack.

It had been a solid hour since breakfast, surely there was no harm in a little slice of cake and some coffee? Even Cassie and Ella were headed for the selection of cakes and sweets, which was enough of a signal for the Representatives to settle in for a nice long gossip session.