Chapter 300 Discussion To Solve The Kingdom's Crisis
When the king noticed that the sons and daughters of his as well as the nobles in the room were paying attention to him, the king immediately spoke of the problem that the kingdom was facing.
After all, the people that attended the Monthly Royal Gathering were the backbone of the kingdom so they needed to know about the problems that the kingdom was facing as well as provide solutions to that problems.
"The Zeus Kingdom is harassing the borders of our territories while provoking a war with us. With both the Supreme Mage and Ultimate Knight in our kingdom, we can afford a war with the Zeus Kingdom but that would result in our kingdom being weakened, leading to the surrounding kingdoms taking advantage of that situation."
The king informed them of the current situation that the kingdom had against the Zeus Kingdom as well as the surrounding kingdoms. He sighed at the helplessness of their current problem.
The king wasn't afraid that they would lose a war against the Zeus Kingdom. After all, the Ultimate Knight alone was enough to defend the kingdom but with the appearance of the Supreme Mage in their kingdom, it was double assurance that their kingdom wouldn't be colonized by the Zeus Kingdom.
But all of them were aware that if a war broke out with the Zeus Kingdom, there would be economic and other losses for the kingdom which would weaken the kingdom.
Thus, the weakening of the Gaia Kingdom would lead to the surrounding kingdoms taking advantage of the situation so that they could deal with the Gaia Kingdom with lesser manpower but better results.
Even if the kingdom had the support of the Supreme Mage and Ultimate Knight, even the king wasn't optimistic about defending a siege from the surrounding kingdoms while they block the Gaia Kingdom's trading route.
So it was no wonder even the king felt helpless about the problems of the kingdom. Even if he had the solution to those problems, he decided to inquire about the opinions of the princes, princesses, and nobles in the royal ballroom.
"How about we sign a peace treaty with the Zeus Kingdom?"
A young noble suggested to the king as his tone was filled with confidence. It could be noticed that he was confident with his answer to the point that he felt that he solved the crisis of the kingdom.
"Do you really think that a peace treaty will work? The Zeus Kingdom wanted to start a war for our fertile lands. They will only agree to a peace treaty if we give them a portion of our lands or at least a percentage of our crops. If we did that, the Zeus Kingdom will think of us as pushovers that they can easily take advantage of. When that happens, our dignity and reputation will collapse and the other kingdoms might repeat what the Zeus Kingdom did to take advantage of us."
An older noble refute the young noble's suggestion. One could notice that the old noble wasn't old and senile but he was experienced in politics.
He was well aware that if they show weakness to the Zeus Kingdom, the Zeus Kingdom would take advantage of that weakness and would use it to weaken their kingdom until the Gaia Kingdom would become too weak to defend itself from the assault of the surrounding kingdoms.
Such an outcome wasn't desirable for the Gaia Kingdom since it was tantamount to shaming the goddess that backed them. If they lost to the Zeus Kingdom, that would be the same as Zeus winning against Gaia.
For the nobles who were pious believers of the Goddess of Earth, such an outcome was unacceptable! They wouldn't forgive themselves if they ruin their Goddess' reputation!
Now that signing a peace treaty with the Zeus Kingdom was out of the equation, the nobles and royalties racked their brains in finding a solution to their kingdom's crisis.
"How about we form an alliance with the other kingdoms? It's better than lowering ourselves to those barbarians of the Zeus Kingdom!"
A noble with the rank of a baron suggested to the nobles and royalties. From his perspective, it was better to give benefits to the other kingdoms rather than the Zeus Kingdom which was hostile to them from the start.
"Then what? What difference will that make? In the end, we are on the losing end. What if the kingdom we allied with decided to play with both sides? Wouldn't we be the one being played with?"
The viscount shook his head as he didn't agree with the baron's suggestion.
"And besides, even if we form an alliance with another kingdom, that would only delay the Zeus Kingdom's aggressions. From what we have already known, the Zeus Kingdom wouldn't give up when it came to taking something that they have an interest in. Assuming the alliance went well, the Zeus Kingdom would still attack us even with the alliance and after they win, they might offer our allied kingdom a better offer than what we had given them."
"If we lost against the Zeus Kingdom, our allied kingdom would immediately switch sides."
The viscount added as he had already foreseen the grim future of the Gaia Kingdom when the kingdom would form an alliance with another kingdom.
The Gaia Kingdom traded with the other kingdoms but never formed an alliance with them. So although the Gaia Kingdom was on neutral terms with the neighboring kingdoms, who knew if that would last long, especially with the high-quality crops and fertile lands that the Gaia Kingdom had?
Under that temptation, even the surrounding kingdoms might ally with the Zeus Kingdom to wage war with the Gaia Kingdom for the sake of obtaining a portion of the fertile lands.
Even the surrounding kingdoms would lower their heads and forget the past grievances they had with the Zeus Kingdom just to get what they want. In the world of politics, there aren't any allies nor enemies, but eternal interests. As long as both parties have the same interest, then they would form an alliance for the sake of that interest.
"Are you under the impression that our military forces are weak? We have the geographical advantage so what if the Zeus Kingdom dares to wage war with us? Let them come! We will let them know that us Gaia Kingdom people aren't easy to bully!"
The marquess ridiculed the viscount's cowardice. From his overbearing aura, one could notice that he came from a lineage of swordsmen. Not only that, his power was that of a 7th Star Knight.
The marquess' ancestors were swordsmen who obtained their titles through war. So it was ingrained in his blood the unyielding will that was fearless towards his opponents especially if they came from another kingdom.
He wasn't like those nobles who believed in the goddess but he was someone who believed in his hard work. Rather than believing an indifferent higher entity, his efforts and hard work were more worthy of his trust as they wouldn't betray him!
Although the marquess' will was admirable, it was a pity that he was narrow-minded. He knew about the consequences of having a war but he only cared about the fact that the Zeus Kingdom would also suffer from the war. He only cared that the kingdom wouldn't yield to the likes of the Zeus Kingdom.
The marquis cared more about the kingdom's reputation and dignity rather than the lives of the commoners and the soldiers who would be affected by the war.
From his perspective, the lives of those commoners who didn't contribute to the kingdom were nothing but parasites who would leech off their kingdom's prosperity. Those commoners should better be dead than take advantage of the kingdom's prosperity.
Of course, he valued those commoners who contributed to the kingdoms such as the farmers and craftsmen who contributed to the economy of the kingdom. As for the soldiers, even if he knew they would die, for him, it was an honor to die for the sake of the kingdom. So although he doesn't care about the life and death of those soldiers, he was willing to attend their funerals to honor their noble deeds.
The nobles and royalties were already aware of the marquis' unyielding personality so they didn't comment much about his sudden outburst towards the viscount.
On the other hand, the viscount wasn't offended by the marquis' ridicule. Even if he was offended, he couldn't afford to offend the marquis who was not only higher in rank than him but also stronger than him.
And besides, offending the marquis would only bring him more loss than benefits, and rather than fighting with someone who was with the same kingdom as him, it was better to fight against the Zeus Kingdom.
The viscount didn't want to be the one who would start an internal conflict. An internal conflict would only make their kingdom fall apart during a war with the Zeus Kingdom.
After the marquis' ridicule of the viscount, the nobles and royalties started discussing with each about the solution to the kingdom's crisis. A discussion led to an argument and the king was forced to interfere.
"Sigh, do any of you doesn't have a better solution?"
Read 𝓁atest chapters at fr(e)ewebnov𝒆l.com Only