Published: July 3, 2025
The day after the delegation arrived at the Holy Capital Marromar, a meeting of civil servants was held.
However, consider this.
The Central Nations and the Western Nations are remarkably distant from each other.
It takes more than a month to travel one way, and there are many difficult paths along the way.
What kind of meeting could possibly be held between these two regions?
In fact, this topic had been a subject of discussion among the various governments of the Central Nations.
In the Kingdom, in the Confederation, and even in the Empire that led the delegation.
However, the letter that first reached the Empire from France specifically stated, "We would like to conduct trade negotiations, so we would like to send civil servants as well."
What does this mean?
"Connecting the Central Nations and the Western Nations by sea...?"
The Kingdom's chief negotiator, Ignis, muttered upon hearing the content proposed by the civil servant from France.
This was during the first trade negotiation meeting, where each nation—the Empire, the Confederation, and the Kingdom—had sent ten of their top civil servants to participate.
It seemed that not only the Kingdom, but also the civil servants from the Empire and the Confederation were hearing this for the first time.
The entire Central Nations delegation was buzzing with excitement.
This was understandable.
Even by sea, it is said that there is quite a distance between the Central Nations and the Western Nations.
Indeed, it is "said."
No one has accurately measured how far apart they are.
At the very least, the data does not exist within the various government bodies.
Of course, the exact sea route is also unknown.
And, as if it were obvious, there are sea monsters in the ocean...
The more Ignis thought, the more problems sprang up.
He literally held his head in his hands.
At the moment, he couldn't see how things would go well...
Even someone as experienced as he was could not have any clear outlook on the negotiations that would last for the next three months.
For the civil servants, this was the real deal.
As for the guards, they were basically free.
Each was stretching their wings as they liked.
The first and most proactive person to move was probably the Kingdom's water attribute mage.
He had gone to the "Kingdom Delegation Welcome Team," which served as the contact point for the Kingdom delegation, and had made a certain proposal.
The welcome team, located at the front desk on the first floor of the Kingdom delegation's accommodation...
"Permission to observe the golems...?"
They were taken aback by Ryo's request.
The request was simply for "permission to see the golems."
Yes, just to "see."
Not something hidden in the back of a warehouse, but to see golems standing like guards at the gate.
It was to be expected that if he had asked to fiddle with them or to see their magic formulas, it would have been immediately rejected.
After all, unless it was an unusual situation like when they were in Kyushi Duchy, it was understood that they would not show parts related to the golems' secrets to foreigners, even Ryo knew that.
Thus, he had applied for permission to observe.
It seemed that the welcome team had not anticipated this either, and discussions were held.
After a lengthy discussion of ten minutes, the request was granted.
Ryo, like a tennis player, repeatedly made small victory gestures and walked around in front of the desk, a sight that everyone witnessed.
And some people breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness Ryo didn't start talking about freezing the Holy Capital.
Those who were relieved were the ones from Room 10 and Room 11.
The three from Room 10 decided to go out into the city for a bit.
They invited the three from Room 11 along, but Harold, Zeek, and Gowan politely declined.
That was because they were not in the mood to venture into the city yet...
This was, of course, due to Harold’s spirit curse of explosion.
Tomorrow, their leader Hugh McGrath was scheduled to negotiate with the Western Church regarding that, so they weren't in the mood.