Book 15: Chapter 39
Next day. Conference hall.
All of the diplomats faced off against each other. They looked as if they ate flies; they were disgusted with each other, but they couldn’t voice their disdain. The discussions of the unification of the continent were originally estimated to take a year, but the truth was that it only took one night. The human diplomats planned to end their debate with the elves and Freya opposite them but froze upon seeing Elizabeth. They never imagined Elizabeth would say one thing to them. What she said was the command of a ruler.
Elizabeth commanded, “Accept all suggestions, agree to the terms and conditions this time, sign the agreement the next day and unify this entire continent.”
The diplomats instantly looked devastated when Elizabeth announced that. The terms and conditions could only be considered fair to them, not perfect. There was still a lot missing from humanity’s empire’s perspective. For instance, they wanted to occupy over half of the conference hall in the future. The currency system had to be primarily favourable to humanity, and humanity’s military would not except any changes nor was anybody permitted to lead them. Further, the militaries of the North and elves had to obey Empress Elizabeth.
Only Rosvenor Empire could come up with such overbearing terms and conditions. Freya refused all of them. Freya and the elves couldn’t accept those terms and conditions, especially the one pertaining to the military. Humanity’s military caused the elves excruciating suffering when they were in elven lands. Therefore, elves despised humanity’s military. One of the elves conditions for was that humanity’s army had to be restructured, and they had to allow an elven commander into the commander ranks.
As for Freya, she wanted humanity’s military to be commanded by the North’s King, Troy. Additionally, humanity’s military was to be reorganised. If the continent was to be a united kingdom, the military couldn’t continue keeping humanity’s military system exclusively. All three leaders were to command all weapons and forces. The military couldn’t consist of only Elizabeth’s followers. Freya’s concern was that humanity’s military was too single-minded. If everyone in the military was Elizabeth’s fanatical follower, it would mean that the strongest military wouldn’t obey the orders of Vyvyan or Troy. That would spell trouble for the unification of the three regions.
Humanity’s most formidable weapon was their military. Under normal circumstances, Elizabeth would never pass command to any other. If she was serious about a negotiation, she would never make a compromise there. Even if the negotiations went through, it’d become an alliance with ulterior motives brewing, anyway. If every race wanted to hold back for reserve’s sake, then that meant they didn’t trust each other. If you couldn’t trust each other, an alliance couldn’t exist. That was what humanity’s diplomats were thinking about.
If humanity’s conditions were refuted, they wouldn’t trust any other race, either. Humanity was very clear on their stance. Either humanity was the main driver of the alliance or it was, “take a hike, and you can all forget about this alliance.”
That was what the most normal outcome for humanity should’ve been and the most realistic proposal. Humanity was the strongest race on the continent. It, logically, was natural for them to be the leader of the alliance. That applied for Elizabeth, too. Under usual circumstances, she would think the exact same way. Elizabeth’s ambition was to conquer the entire continent; subsequently, she would name the same conditions. Elizabeth, nevertheless, explicitly expressed that she accepted all terms and conditions, which was the equivalent of the leader of the most powerful empire on the continent willingly surrendering her right to rule. As a matter of fact, it was a proclamation that she was willing to give everything she worked so hard for the last decade-plus to the two individuals before her. As humanity’s empire’s strongest weapon and what all of Rosvenor Empire revered, she gave everything to Vyvyan and Troy. Hilles City, The Phoenix’s Nest, may never again be able to chain down the phoenix soaring the sky.