The Martial Unity

Rui felt a weight wearing down on his shoulders.

He knew the stake of the meeting.

The Kandrian Empire needed to secure the Shionel Confederation at any cost.

Not that defeat was absolutely written in stone with no recourse if they didn’t, of course. However, it would mean that the Kandrian Empire could potentially fall into a losing spiral as the enemy alliance would gain more momentum toward their goal of securing the Martial capital needed to avoid a pyrrhic victory.

He needed to succeed, no matter what.

He had spent the previous day thinking about what he could say that could undermine the Britannian prime minister’s case to the guildmaster. However, it wasn’t easy to predict a man as able as him. If anything, he wasn’t sure whether the man was predicting his strategy and tactics instead. The prime minister certainly had far more experience in this domain than Rui did, and it was possible that he could estimate exactly where Rui was going to go with this approach.

This made Rui a little paranoid on whether he should go with what seemed like the best option to him if it was indeed predictable by the Britannian prime minister.

“Calm down; don’t let the importance of the meeting impede your composure,” Emperor Rael remarked from the screen of the comm artifact. “You did quite well in the first meeting, from the looks of it. You have hammered in several reasons to ally with us. In fact, if not for the fact that the prime minister had significantly improved his offer, you most likely would have been able to secure an alliance.”

Rui nodded. “It is rather unexpected that he added upon his offer this late into the negotiations. It complicates things, but it still ultimately falls into our favor. I don’t think a free-trade agreement alone is enough to beat out all the incentives that we have set out.”

His father was not surprised when he heard about the incentives that the Britannian prime minister had presented. “I knew that sooner or later, he would need to play ball and make offers instead of merely making threats. I suspect that the trigger for the decision this time was my decision to make you the ambassador of the Kandrian Empire.”

“Any advice for the joint meeting?” Rui turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “I’m not as familiar with him as you are.”

“Focus on Bradt, not the prime minister,” his father calmly told him. “You may face the prime minister and even direct your words at him, but remember, what he thinks does not matter. The only person whose opinion matters is the guildmaster. Show him what he needs to see in order to believe that the Kandrian Empire’s future is prosperous. You have already earned his trust with your past partnership and your willingness to keep your word and do him a precious favor as a repayment of your debt.”

Rui nodded. “Our strengths are the trust and credibility that we have built, which make our juicy incentives even more alluring. Meanwhile, the only thing the prime minister has going for him is fear, which I can dismantle with our track record. His only incentive is shit compared to ours.”

Emperor Rael nodded. “Naturally, but do not dismiss the power of fear. Merchants like Bradt especially hate getting into conflict if they can avoid it. However, he is experienced and pragmatic enough to understand that it cannot always be avoided. The whole purpose of the joint meeting is to evaluate which side’s offers are able to hold up to hostile scrutiny better. He isn’t expecting new information since both sides have already played all their cards. Now he wants to see how those cards fair when pitted against each other in the same room, and that will be the final bit of information he needs to finalize his decision.”

“… What if Prime Minister Edward makes new offers?” Rui asked as his eyes wandered around, lost in thought. “That could potentially derail the entire game plan I have set.”

Emperor Rael shook his head. “He cannot make more offers than he already has. A free-trade agreement works because it is relatively simple. However, he does not have the credibility to make more sophisticated and powerful offers that will excite the guildmaster the way our incentives do. Remember this, Rui. The more credibility you have, the more you can offer and be taken seriously. The prime minister cannot make more offers because he has already reached the end of the trust that the guildmaster has in him. He has also run out of threats to make.”

Rui understood his father’s broader message. “He has nothing left to offer, and he has nothing left to threaten with.”

The prime minister had already threatened total destruction or imperial dominance at best.

What more could he say to threaten the guildmaster?

If that didn’t work, then the alliance was in deep trouble.

“He will instead focus on tearing your position down,” Emperor Rael explained astutely. “You need to ensure that you don’t allow him to do that. You cannot allow him to make the entire conversation about the flaws of our position. You cannot allow yourself to be on the defensive. If he attacks our position, then defend by attacking his position. The shortcomings and flaws of his position must not be allowed to escape the spotlight.”

Emperor Rael gave him several more tips on how to handle the conversation.

“Be open-minded,” Emperor Rael advised. “I cannot instruct you on what to say and do in each and every situation, so you will need to remember that the end outcome is to secure the Shionel Confederation’s alliance. Nothing else matters; it doesn’t matter what you have to say as long as it helps in the direction of that outcome. You can rest assured that Edward is of this mindset as well.”

Rui nodded. “Understood. I will keep that in mind.”

Rui prepped for the discussion as well as he could as he solidified his diplomatic approach to the joint meeting.