Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 957 - 74: Battle for Interests

Chapter 957: Chapter 74: Battle for Interests

"Ha, twenty million gold coins worth of goods—clearly the Neville Federation lives up to its reputation as a commercial country, and the Speaker truly does you justice as a descendant of ancient merchant nobility, having such clear grasp of the bottom line," The provocative tone in Prince Nicholas’s voice was unmistakable. Given the history of countless wars erupted between the Neville Federation and the Falar Empire, two pure human nations, and if one were to count the wars of their predecessors, the death toll over millennia would be in the tens of millions. Although four hundred years ago, Fixus had established the Neutral Land forcibly separating the two nations and putting an intermittent stop to their wars, for centuries the elites of both nations still treated each other as hypothetical enemies to instill a sense of urgency in their people, keeping them from growing too complacent and also conveniently diverting attention from domestic strife. Thus, no one was surprised by Prince Nicholas’s sarcastic comments; obviously, he was representing the Emperor of the Falar Empire here, and his attitude reflected the Emperor’s as well. From Nicholas’s demeanor, it was apparent that the Empire was dissatisfied with the proposal made by the Neville Federation. Although Nicholas’s tone and posture were graceful and polite, the underlying message was clear, "However, I wonder if the Speaker would have the courage to suggest to the Undead to exchange gold coins and goods for the preservation of national strength if the Undead Tide were to approach the Neville Federation?"

"Haha, Your Highness is joking, of course we wouldn’t negotiate with the Undead," replied Duke Nelna unfazed by Nicholas’s sarcasm, laughing: "It’s just that our soldiers in Neville aren’t as brave and strong as your Falar knights; for many years, they’ve been indulging in pleasures, and their fighting ability is very low. Apart from the elite troops we promised to dispatch, the rest would merely be marching to their deaths if sent. Our early preparations for joint operations were specifically to reduce casualties. If you insist on sending our troops to their deaths, that would contradict our objective, wouldn’t it? Besides, the troops we are sending are absolutely elite, their combat capability surely won’t be worse than our friends on the plains. Moreover, since our friends on the plains have kept half of their elite forces for maneuvering, it is only right for us to retain some weaker forces for our protection, especially since we have offered compensation. I think that should be sufficient."

"That’s because the followers of the War God border the Sighing Desert; if our defenses were breached, the Undead could directly attack our homeland, so we need to keep a large number of elites," grumbled the Tiger Clan War Shaman from the Hall of War God, thoroughly displeased with Duke Nelna’s evasive attitude. "You don’t border the Sighing Desert. For the Undead to step onto your land, they would first have to sweep across half the plains and decimate the majority of our clan’s fighting force to achieve that. You’re likely sitting here comfortably bargaining with us because of this very reason. If you maintain this attitude, there’s no point in further discussions. The followers of the War God will pull out of this joint operation and focus on our own defenses. Then, should any unplanned breaches occur in our defense line due to poor coordination, letting the Undead into your territory, you will have no right to blame us."

"Hehe, who says War Shamans are all brainless brutes? That’s sheer prejudice," Pannis muttered under his breath to avoid the trouble of social interactions, secretly sitting in a corner on the high platform. As he stuffed dried fruits into his mouth, he smirked, "Look at him, he doesn’t look like a brute at all. Though he presents himself as crude and unreasonable, he actually uses the infamous unreasonableness of Beastmen to intimidate his opponents into conceding more benefits—tch, could a mind filled solely with muscles achieve this? If he really had no brains, he wouldn’t be speaking such words at this moment."

"What are they even discussing?" asked Vivian, a typical Mage and scholar, almost completely oblivious to the unfolding events, puzzled, "What’s there to argue about in this matter?"

"It’s good that you don’t understand, it’s quite distasteful. They argue back and forth but really, they’re just fighting for more benefits," Catherine said, frowning. "Politics is just like that, ultimately pursuing nothing more than maximizing benefits."

Vivian, still confused, said, "That Duke Nelna—no, the entire Neville Federal Parliament decided to reduce the number of soldiers deployed in order to maximize benefits? Shouldn’t they be trying to protect their own country’s soldiers and reduce their casualties?"

"There’s nothing so great about that." Freya scoffed from the side, "You don’t understand the military system of the Neville Federation. Unlike the Falar Empire, Neville employs a conscription system. To attract soldiers, they offer high compensation for those killed in action. Moreover, during military missions, the salaries given to soldiers are much higher than usual. This means, regardless of whether the Second Undead War breaks out, once their troops are deployed, they will face a huge expenditure of gold coins. And if war does actually erupt, the more soldiers that die, the more compensation they have to shell out. Combined, these expenses form a very large number. From the perspective of those merchants, this is even more terrifying than being killed, which is why after deploying a part of their army, they would rather pay a large sum of compensation money to other forces than send out more troops, because the cost of doing so is far less than the losses incurred from deploying their troops."

"It’s really disgusting." Vivian frowned, expressing her repulsion, "At a time like this, are they still considering such things?"

"Actually, as leaders of a nation, considering these matters is something they must do," Catherine defended, "No matter how the war develops, as long as there’s an end to the war one day, the people that remain will have to continue living, and the nation will have to continue developing. Thus, securing the greatest benefit for their own forces is the responsibility of every leader. It’s just that this time, Duke Nelna’s manner of going about it is a bit too unsightly, and it’s become a bit unbearable to everyone."

"I understand now." Vivian revealed a mocking smile and nodded, "So, when several forces put pressure on Duke Nelna simultaneously, they are forcing him to share more of the benefits he wanted to swallow up."

"Exactly," Catherine nodded, "You see..."

"Forty million, that’s the bottom line," Duke Nelna’s smile had disappeared, and he spoke sternly, "If this still isn’t acceptable, then let’s just cancel the joint battle plan." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)

Tip: You can use left, right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.Tap the middle of the screen to reveal Reading Options.

If you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report