Chapter 437 (1/2)
Chapter 437: A Silent Farewell
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
After Otto Luoxi left the office, Nightingale stood by Roland. “What he’s said isn’t completely true, especially the part about his experience before he came to Border Town.”
“No surprise. He must have negotiated with Timothy in King’s City before coming to the Western Region.” Roland smiled. “It would be very strange if he came directly to me first. A diplomat always hedges his bets. If I were him, I wouldn’t put all my eggs in one basket either.”
“You mean… they might not stand on our side?”
“At least, they won’t hurry to make a decision.” He picked up the kettle to refill his tea cup. “When the King of Dawn receives this news, how much of it do you think he will believe?”
Nightingale searched for an answer for quite a while until she finally said, “I… don’t know.”
“Me neither.” At these words, Nightingale pinched Roland’s shoulder. He was not telling the truth. “One thing is obvious though. The King of Dawn is probably not going to swing to us because of this news. It sounds terrifying but it’s something that will only happen several years from now. Besides, we can’t even give him an exact date. The threat of the church, however, is right under his nose. Given that the church may launch the attack in the coming spring, he’s most likely to stand by watching battles between Timothy and me until either of us wins. If he’s clever enough, he’ll probably be on good terms with both of us for future returns.”
Politicians often handled these kinds of issues this way. They preferred smooth gains to risky investments, especially in the case of wars which were normally highly profitable. If there had been no threat from demons, Roland would have been happy to join this game, setting a trap for his opponent and then reaping some profits. But he was not in the mood for this diplomatic game now. In the following year, Border Town would have to launch an attack and stabilize the situation. A storm was brewing, and the ones who had a narrow vision and concentrated on immediate interests would have no future.
“Is it… good for us to tell them the news?” Nightingale asked in doubt.
“The Kingdom of Dawn isn’t our real enemy, after all. I’m not sure how much the nobles there will believe the story about demons, but they’ll definitely spread the word about the church’s ambition. It’ll weaken the ruling of the church,” Roland explained. “Without people’s support, the church won’t be able to use the kingdom’s resources that easily.”
When he broke the news to Otto, he only mentioned the part about demons, but not the part about the witches’ empire and the two Battles of Divine Will.
The former was even more unbelievable than the existence of demons and might cause unwanted effects. It could be purposely distorted into a “witches’ scheme” because of people’s general hostility towards them.
The latter might shake people’s confidence in fighting against the demons. They had failed twice before. What were their chances of winning this time?
Anyhow, he had already hinted that the two kingdoms should fight the demons together. As to the result, it would depend on the reply from the Kingdom of Dawn.
…
Three days later, Roland met Otto Luoxi again,
He could guess the answer from the disappointment in Otto’s eyes.
“Personally, I’m more inclined to the alliance, but the priority now is to send the news to the Kingdom of Dawn as soon as possible instead of talking about the agreement details.” Otto bowed and said, “so I’m here to bid you farewell.”
“Hope to hear good news from you then.” Roland nodded.
“Besides… Your Highness,” Otto hesitated for a moment and said, “I would like to ask you a personal favor.”
“What is it?”