341: [Bonus chapter]272. Discussions in Radiant City.

[Bonus chapter]272. Discussions in Radiant City.

***1

After two days at the Imperial Capital of Aelius.

Plato hurried to the Imperial capital after completing his appointment with Prince Hector. In Lionheart's Chamber, there was Plato alone while Lionheart was reading a report that he got from the Imperial guards that escorted Plato for the safety of Plato and Hector both.

Lionheart asked Plato with a severe look, "So what do you think? How should we deal with this? Do you have any suggestions?"

Plato nodded and spoke, "I got the general gist of the events that took place in the last war. It seems Prince Hector was manipulated by both Internal forces as well as external forces. At the same time, he would have thought that he was the master of the game but that was certainly not the case as John completed his goals, and the same went for Prince Charlie as he had a minimal role in the last war while at the same time influence of both Felix and Hector was bought down by a notch."

"I do have a way to solve this but it will require a carrot-and-stick policy and we can't ask this directly from his Majesty John since this is grey area and the prestige of a king cannot be touched."

Lionheart nodded as he understood the meaning behind his words and asked, "What will you be using as a stick against Sky, and do you think it will have enough leverage to move John?"

Plato smiled and spoke, "Yes, we do, the stick this time will be the mid-level and low-level magicians. As far as I have observed, Sky's government companies are hiring a lot of magicians with good pay and dedicating a lot of resources to recruiting them. If we stop the flow of the magicians forcefully, then we will certainly disrupt their plans. Of course, we are not reneging on the contract, we are simply delaying it. The carrot this time can be Antonio's and Baron Mendez's domain which can become a medium of trade between Sky and Aelius. Here as well we will profit as Dolores comes under our jurisdiction and commercial activity taxed will go to us. As for other carrots, we can allow their investment into certain irrelevant sectors of our economy."

"Though we will give them benefits, but at the same time it can become a slow poison for them as merchants by their nature chase profits and money. Some can certainly do our bidding in spying and collecting relevant information for the crown but this will be a double-edged sword as they too may try the same tactics against us but there are more benefits for us. As for the deal with the sky, we will need someone with enough authority and someone who deals in grey areas so Taylor is out of the question as he is now a prime minister and there are a lot of eyes watching him. Most likely choice should be Grey or their secretary of the state Mr. Quill, here Lord John too would understand our intentions."

Lionheart was stunned as he heard such a sophisticated plan, He laughed and spoke, "Indeed, it is a good plan. Who knows what they have hidden from us? It is better to be passive for at least 10 years. We can only make our moves when they let their guard down in the name of married in-laws. This country too was unified via various diplomatic and militaristic means so we should take lessons from our history of diplomatic maneuvers. Now that we are weak and facing enemies from all sides we should bide our time and suppress the Radiant Church as it is the source of Internal chaos in this kingdom for a long time as they always challenge the authority of the crown for their own agendas. Ok, you can implement your plans. You can also provide Sky with the information on the Greenwoods massacre as they most likely will get it but with time, with this, we can at least gain some leverage and trust. It would have been hassle-free if there were no witnesses but alas they should have known before taking action. And how is your progress with escorting Concubine Anna?"

Plato smiled and nodded, "Vice Captain of the Imperial guards has already taken the matter of Concubine's protection under him and is at Redwood City. I reckon, from now on no one internally will try to sabotage this matter. We should only be wary of Radiant Church and Foreign powers who don't wish for a stabilized Aelius."

****

Meanwhile at the headquarters of Radiant Chruch in Radiant City. Pope David and Angel Leo had grim faces as they read the reports coming in every day after the defeat of their raid on Sky and John in particular.

In the meeting room, Pope David presented a report about the new taxation rules to everyone including Lord Leo and other Cardinals.

The Cardinals this time around didn't have any opinion in front of Lord Leo lest they lose their lives.

Angel Leo looked at the report and said to everyone present, "It looks like that Sinner has quite the leverage over Aelius this time around. And it seems that Aelius Royalty too has chosen to make Sky and Nobles their shield in this matter. Our incomes would reduce by 40% if we are to abide by the kingdom's laws just due to these taxes. Can we maneuver these taxes? Or else we will have to start using our coffers to improve our operations. Well in the first place we obtained these tax subsidies centuries ago when we helped a princess take the crown of Aelius. So we were always prepared for this matter. And now that we are in a war against that sinner (John) it will only get worse. The first thing we have to set is the narrative against that sinner in this kingdom among the masses. Our public perception is very important for the power of the top hierarchy."

It was Cardinal Richard who spoke to these questions posed by Angel Leo, "These taxes can't be evaded, at least not in domains where we have an antagonistic relationship with the nobles due to conflict of interest in terms of prestige and influence. The only places where we can evade taxes or make the nobles pay our bills is via nobles that are true believers. When it comes to this, we have around 12% influence only and we cannot be sure about the next generation due to fighting for power among siblings. And many times we have to choose a side which creates a problem. The same is the case for Crown in the current settings."

This time it was Cardinal Rene who spoke with a grave expression, "There is one more problem. That sinner has accelerated the speed of disease research and also its cures. The most problematic thing about this is that those cures are cheap and this is affecting our business. Whether it is the normal Premium business where we provide healthcare services or our Missionary business where we convert people for cheap cures. I have noticed this only now at Marquis Steve Ray's Pearl Port where they might be smuggling medicine from Sky. But it can't be considered Smuggling anymore as Aelius has already made a Peace-trade deal with Sky."

Angel Leo nodded with a sharp expression, "Situation is indeed dire. It looks like this was the start of a conflict of interest with that sinner. What is the situation of our candidate for Aelius Throne."

It was Saint Paul who spoke this time around, "It should be neutral, neither good nor bad. Just that we aren't able to move forward currently after we started our feud with that Sinner. Crown Prince Felix just recently escaped an attack from his brother Lukav in the north-western domain in Aelius. While Duke Blackwolf is neither cooperative nor is he antagonistic. It's like he fears Prince Lukav and hence wants to keep a distance from both sides."

Angel Leo sighed as he heard disheartening reports one after another and thought, 'It seems we got conceited in our strength when I first arrived here. Here, the conceit was present on both sides i.e. Me and the higher-ups in the church who believed in my strength and that of the Lord's Clone. I guess I need to plan for the future since I can live here for max 6 months. Rather than fighting head-on with that sinner, we should have dug deeper and understood our enemy. Well, I guess we didn't get a worthy opponent for centuries. This time we have 1, No.. 2 to be precise. I guess the last one was Xylo who always sneaked around like a mouse."

***

Lukavv meanwhile was gnashing his teeth as he heard of Felix's escape from the Radiant Church's stronghold.

Liam and Duncan sighed as they reported, "Yes, he was more cautious than we believed. But there is some gain indeed, almost all of the strongholds of Prince Felix and Radiant Church have been uprooted in the Western domain of Aelius. They can only move like rats over here. Duke Blackwolf has not intervened as long as we don't touch his interests. As far as our attack on Imperial Capital is concerned, it will take a long-term planning Milord."

Lukavv sighed as he heard the report, "Bloody cockroaches, always hiding and running. Very well, we will need a long-term approach now to face our problems. how is our relationship with the sky for now."

To this question, Duncan nodded and spoke, "Yes, they have agreed to the alliance in exchange for a route to Fire-abyss and unhindered market access to the underground market. So it was pretty much manageable. "

Lukavv thought and spoke, "I wonder why John didn't pounce on Aelius and destroyed them when had a chance. What do you guys think?"

Liam spoke after hearing Lukavv, "If my thinking is correct then it seems John didn't want to make enemies on all the sides. And he didn't have an appetite i.e. power to gobble everything up without resistance. Not to mention he has the biggest headache in the form of Radiant church. And I think Lord John has bigger plans for this whole domain."

Duncan smiled and agreed as he said, "Yes, from the way he has assimilated his whole country with a different yet similar language and from the way he is taking in as many people as possible, I think he has bigger plans, much bigger than what we have already planned."

Hearing this, Lukavv smiled and spoke, "I guess I worried for nothing. Now it will be interesting to watch John's kingdom and his fight. As far as history is concerned, most of the time the Light Irmela successfully purged or managed to convert the rebels. If not now then into the next generation, maybe 4 or 5 generations later. But this time there is a big variable called John, he has already evolved and gained a higher lifespan as compared to humans. Maybe this is one of the reasons why demon gods have little control in this domain. Also, the reason why Irmela doesn't like this variable."

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