Chapter 454: Ch
Seeing that, Kallus stood up from his chair, and with that, the others did as well.
"Then this is it for today. We have discussed what we could and what we should have. Anything further will have to wait for the gathering ahead in the future."
Kallus, along with Red Empress, shook hands with everyone as they all exited the conference room.
They talked politely with one another, and a few parties even decided on several matters among themselves, agreeing to wait until the Federation’s basic structure was in place. Only then could their various requests and demands be fulfilled directly.
Hearing this, those parties could only nod their heads before walking away.
At one particular moment, when only a few of the human faction leaders came up to him, Kallus spoke with them briefly on his own initiative, without letting the other parties notice or spread anything about it themselves.
He didn’t speak much. After some brief and seemingly random conversation about the struggles of their race and other ordinary matters, he told them not to leave for their homes immediately afterward. Instead, he asked them to wait for his notice. Even then, Kallus didn’t say it directly, but rather hinted at it vaguely.
A faint gleam flashed through the eyes of the human faction leaders, but they simply nodded before saying, on their own initiative, that they wished to discuss a few matters with him regarding their race’s internal situation and the difficulties they were currently facing.
They all tried to act as naturally as possible so as not to attract the attention of the other parties, especially toward Kallus.
Which left Kallus not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
For by doing so, they only made it more obvious.
But it wasn’t that Kallus was actually trying to hide all of this. He had the intention to, yet at the same time, he didn’t truly have the will to do so.
Through his actions, he wanted to give others the impression that he was trying to keep it hidden, while in reality, he had no real intention of concealing it. These matters were never meant to remain secret forever, nor were they important enough to warrant such secrecy.
What he truly wanted was to create a certain impression.
As for why?
Well... that was something for the future to discover, not for the present to speak about.
This was but a small interlude.
One after another, every leader was patiently seen off from the conference room. Only the Tier 3 lords and leaders remained standing. They didn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave and clearly still had something they wished to speak about, or so their expressions suggested.
There were a few whom Kallus could understand. They had every reason to stay, and even he would have asked them to remain had they intended to leave.
There were still many matters left to discuss with them, such as Lord Lucifer of the Legion of Dark Angels, the Emperor of the White Moon Wolf Empire, and the Council President of the Dark Sun Empire. These powers were crucial to his plans for bringing down the two Tier 3 Empires, and there were many other things that needed to be discussed as well.
So their staying behind made perfect sense.
As for the others, however, he truly had no idea.
Well... he did have an idea, but he preferred to believe they weren’t that desperate.
"Lords and ladies, I see something is on your minds."
Kallus tilted his head slightly before continuing.
"If there is anything you wish to say, then please do so. If I can help, I’ll gladly do so."
"Then excuse us, Lord Kallus," said one of the Tier 3 leaders, Matriarch T’Kala of the Hegemony. "I don’t speak for the others, only for myself, my lord. What I wish is to make a request. Could you allow us to advance the purchase of superior weapon systems? Specifically, those of the Peak Tier 3 grade. I don’t expect much, but could you at least let us have the same number as..."
Before she could finish, Kallus frowned slightly. He didn’t interrupt with words. Instead, he simply raised his hand.
T’Kala immediately fell silent and looked at him, frowning herself—not out of displeasure, but because she thought she might have been a little too forward and extreme with her request.
The others, who secretly held similar thoughts as T’Kala, also became solemn. Some even cursed her inwardly for being too greedy and asking such a bold question.
Meanwhile, Lucifer and the Emperor of the White Moon Wolf Empire smiled from ear to ear, secretly hoping Kallus would refuse the request.
But Kallus was Kallus.
"First, there are no restrictions on placing orders and procuring weapon systems from us. We are in business, and even with the Federation in place, that will remain the case—much less now.
"However, Peak Tier 3 weapon systems are something we simply cannot provide in huge numbers.
"As for receiving the same amount as the Legion of Dark Angels and the White Moon Wolf Empire... let’s forget about that. Doing so would not be appropriate.
"After all, our collaboration with those two happened because of a unique opportunity. The same cannot be said for everyone."
Kallus looked around at everyone before continuing.
"Please don’t feel that I’m showing some kind of favoritism, because I’m not.
"You all can purchase these weapon systems. However, the quantity will be limited to 60 percent of the total units supplied to those two Empires.
"As for lower-tier weapon systems, you may purchase as many as the companies within my Empire are capable of producing. You are all welcome to do so."
Everyone did feel a bit bitter that they couldn’t receive the same quantity as the other two powers.
But they weren’t idiots who couldn’t understand something this simple.
As Kallus had said, the situation when he first collaborated with them was completely different, and their own alliance with the Celestial Void Empire at this point was also different.
Even though each alliance was born from mutual interests and profits, the timeline still mattered.
Back then, Lucifer and the Wolf Emperor had no idea about the true strength of the Celestial Void Empire. Yet, taking a leap of faith, they still chose to ally with it.
If a similar situation had happened to them, they might not have accepted it at all. And even if they had, they probably would have reacted no differently than the Dark Sun Empire did, thus losing a huge portion of the favor they could have earned.
Thinking about this, they couldn’t help but look at the Council President of the Dark Sun Empire and saw him shaking his head with a red face.
At that moment, they couldn’t help but feel a little pity for him. After all, having an Emperor and a royal family with such poor judgment was hardly his fault.
Then they turned their gazes toward the other two leaders, who were grinning from ear to ear with their chests puffed out proudly.
They couldn’t help but curse them inwardly.
But what could they do about it other than accept it?
Alas... this was simply their fate.
However, upon hearing that they could purchase every other kind of lower-tier weapon system without any limits, with the only restriction being the production capacity of the companies within the Celestial Void Empire, their disappointment instantly disappeared.
While they couldn’t have the big daddy of Peak Tier 3 weapon systems in unlimited numbers, they were more than happy to obtain plenty of the small and medium Tier 3 daddies instead.
And as many as they wanted.
The mere thought of it made them excited beyond measure.
But while they were excited, they were all quite thoughtful about the words that Kallus himself hadn’t placed much emphasis on, whereas they had.
The weapon systems they wanted were produced by only a handful of privately owned companies within the Celestial Void Empire.
And those companies weren’t even a year old.
That alone meant their production capabilities were still extremely limited.
Previously, it was only because they had been allowed to borrow the production hubs of the Celestial Void Empire’s military industry that they were able to complete the Azura Imperium’s massive order on time.
But from their conversations with several high-ranking members of the Empire, they had learned that such an arrangement was no longer possible. The borrowing period had already ended.
Instead, those private companies were now rapidly expanding and constructing production hubs of their own.
However, such expansion would take time.
It would take more than a year before they could double, triple, or even increase tenfold the production they had supplied to the Azura Imperium.
If they remembered correctly, that was exactly what they had been told.
Only then did they truly realize just how limited the production capacity of those companies currently was.
Seeing that so many people here were interested in placing orders, they couldn’t help but frown.
Before anyone could even think of saying anything— Lady Alex rushed. Yes, rushed.
