Negotiations (2)
"…If that's true, then it's actually the Count who's afraid of war."
The carriage raced on through the night. Inside it, Ren and Erika were holding a preliminary conference on how to steer the negotiations—more precisely, on how, drawing on the intelligence Erika had obtained, to craft terms that would satisfy both sides without stripping either of its honor. It looked difficult, and yet at the same time it was simple.
According to Erika, the spirits did not lie. They merely spoke in riddles, or said far more than was necessary. Erika listened to them, sorted what they told her, and handed the result straight to Ren.
Her handwriting was rather beautiful. Neatly ordered, continuous prose that still flowed cleanly from line to line—simply pretty.
The substance was roughly this: Countess Antanau had once slipped alone into the forest in secret and wept from fear of war, whereas Duke Ranel did not fear war at all. Among the things the spirits had said, Erika reported that every person with skin like iron had been carrying a banner marked with the three-headed eagle—the crest of House Ranel.
If that was so, then Duke Ranel truly did not much fear war. His words had been no empty bluster. Since Countess Antanau was the one who dreaded it, it seemed acceptable to draft the proposal a little in the Duke's favor.
The trade-route dispute had been the real problem from the start. Once they heard the details of the quarrel, it only grew more absurd. Ren had assumed it concerned the import of necessities like salt—but no. It was about a luxury good: tea leaves.
The Duchy of Ranel had regularly imported tea directly from the dwarf territory and sold it on to the County of Antanau. Countess Antanau had loved it so much that when the Duchy was in conflict with other lords, she had even offered to join the fighting herself.
Then, on a previous trade route, tea leaves had begun to be imported more cheaply. The County of Antanau no longer felt any need to buy, and had simply notified the Duchy. In retaliation, the Duchy had carved out an entirely new trade route that bypassed the County and ran through the south instead.
The County of Antanau was a state whose economy ran on selling the surplus of its agriculture. Its dependence on the trade route was therefore quite high. When the Duchy blocked that route as revenge—
Of course she'd be furious…
Thinking about it, Countess Antanau was a rather young woman. At most she looked to be in her mid-twenties. Perhaps she had let her emotions spill into politics… Of course, buying tea more cheaply was good trade practice, so the measure was only natural—but did she not know that trade was heavily influenced by diplomacy?
"Erika."
"Mm."
At Ren's call, Erika answered. Inside the carriage tent, a wooden table stood in the center. On it lay a lamp and a single sheet of paper. Ren had written nothing on the paper. He could not simply scribble something down and decide the contents on his own. Roughing it out in words ought to be enough.
"…I have a rough idea. Would you hear me out…"
Duke Ranel trimmed his mustache. It was not simply a fine, well-grown mustache—it was the symbol of House Ranel.
The Midgard Kingdom now chose its kings by hereditary succession, but in the imperial era of the past the emperor had been elected. House Ranel itself had once produced an emperor, and was a family of no small honor. His mustache was the very style that emperor of his house had worn. Ever since that emperor, House Ranel had grown that mustache generation after generation, regarding it with pride.
In the past they had vigorously raised armies, but after a dispute with the central imperial court the size of their forces had been reduced until the standing army numbered only about a hundred. Of course, if they instituted conscription in preparation for war they could field not hundreds but thousands—but a war with Countess Antanau would hardly warrant that.
"Your Grace, the two from Ewaz have returned."
"Show them in."
Ranel nodded as he spoke. Immediately after, Ren and Erika entered the tent holding a sheet of paper. It did not look much like a negotiation proposal.
"Sit, the both of you."
When Ren and Erika took their seats, the Duke regarded them. His gaze looked extremely cold. That was all, however; he would never throw them out. He did not want war, after all.
"What did Countess Antanau say?"
Ren first took out the paper. It was a blank sheet with nothing written on it—prepared in advance for drafting the proposal. He could not afford to leave here without results either. Of course, from his conversation with Countess Antanau he had learned what she feared, but that was only secondary.
"…They do not want war."
"Indeed. What would that little girl know of war…"
Duke Ranel smiled. He laughed as if he found it absurd, and seemed to have realized his position was the more advantageous.
Looking at how he had gone so far as to blockade the trade route, one might have thought he was prepared to endure war. Was that why he had said he would not care about collateral damage?
"You two were hired to help us, were you not?"
Ranel looked at Ren as he asked. Erika almost spoke first at his manner, then recalled that Ren's eloquence was superior to her own and closed her mouth. This was not a matter for pride.
"We are prepared to help if necessary."
"I hired you to provide assistance. Why do you refuse?"
"We will assist with the negotiations—but nothing beyond that."
Duke Ranel laughed lightly at Ren's words. But right after, he looked at him coldly and spoke. He glanced once at Erika, and his eyes grew even more subtly scornful. Perhaps because she was someone to be wary of—but Ren did not think it greatly important just now.
"This may only complicate the kingdom's situation further."
"We came precisely to mediate a proposal and prevent that."
Whether he liked Ren's refusal to back down to the end, Ranel smiled and began to speak about the proposal. Yet his eyes still fixed sharply on Erika. Perhaps her three-white eyes irritated him.
The substance was roughly as follows: that all tea leaves would be imported from the Duchy, and in return the Duchy would sell them at a reduced price. They would lift the trade-route blockade, but demanded a written guarantee that the County would not refuse to purchase the tea.
It did not seem an overly harsh set of terms. Countess Antanau had already yielded a little; this much might be acceptable.
…Or was it not?
The only gain for Countess Antanau was obtaining tea more cheaply. But that was no gain at all. It was not that she had been buying cheaply before—they were simply offering to sell something more expensive a little less expensively.
Erika seemed to feel the proposal was odd as well; she tapped Ren's thigh under the table to signal that her opinion was negative.
"Isn't that a little too harsh?"
"If those are the conditions they accept, so be it. We are considering every option available to us."
Considering every option—that likely meant they were also contemplating hard measures. In other words: negotiate, or face war. Perhaps the exaggeration Ren had used on Antanau would become the truth. How firm his resolve was.
"…Let us ease it a little. You know that honor is not preserved on one side alone."
Ren requested a modest softening. At this rate Countess Antanau would refuse as well, and the dispute would swell into war. He did not want that—which was why he had dragged Antanau to the negotiating table by force, even mixing in a degree of threat.
Antanau had stepped back out of fear, so drafting the proposal a little unfavorably for her would have been fine. But the current proposal was nothing of the sort. It was tantamount to making the County of Antanau economically subordinate to the Duchy of Ranel.
"…I shall respect your decision."
His gaze was far from welcoming. But there was no help for it. This was their first mission; it had to succeed no matter what. Perhaps the cause was that Erika had woken up late. The thought almost made him laugh.
"What if the Ewaz Merchant Group helped with price mediation?"
At those words the Duke's brows rose subtly. Did he dislike it? Well, extreme wariness of outside interference was only natural. If commoners meddled in a dispute between nobles—and if those commoners actually resolved it—what would become of both parties' faces?
Ren turned the matter over in his head again. Rather than open mediation, what if they took an indirect approach—dispatching personnel and mediating prices through a merchant group?
Failing that, perhaps he should appeal to the Duke's emotions. Tell him the information that Antanau wept from fear of war, and approach it in a spirit of magnanimity.
"Of course, the interference of commoners would not be welcome. I have heard that both of your realms place great importance on commerce."
"…Do you mean to set yourselves up as a shadow government?"
The Duke spoke as if openly displeased. Perhaps the displeasure was natural. Ren did not bother to refute it.
"…I have heard that the tea leaves once distributed to the County through the trade route were of rather poor quality. A noble cannot drink tea of such low grade, can they?"
"What is it you wish to say?"
"Your Grace is already importing tea of the highest quality… What if we assisted with your trade with the dwarf territory—to guarantee that quality?"