There was a certain murmur in the hall, especially behind the visible crowd, hints of dissatisfaction and mistrust wafted through the air and the shared look of the sated, all of it made it obviously painful to anyone watching that the Yuki tribe have been betrayed one too many times.
Yunan waited patiently while Catelyn could barely close her eyes, the crystal-like structure of the hall made it look like it trapped rainbows in the pillars and exuded light from the walls, she did feel a bit uncomfortable under the scrutinising eyes of the present crowd after her dad spoke, but eventually, she just walked away to a pillar and seriously asked one snow woman beside her in an excited hushed voice "is this made of rainbows?"
"Terms?" was the answer Yunan received while Cat was touring the hall and spreading her charming innocence all over the place, as for Yunan he answered almost immediately " you only need to be our representatives in the awakened island, we have some items produced in the twilight pearl, all of it is mortal industry, and we would like you to be our trading partner, we expect a certain revenue from our products, as for the amount you profit by selling it on the island is your own concern, we would also like to extend the same invitation we have issued to the lizardmen tribe, you may like to work as instructors in or dungeon guides for our kingdom's army, our army is very new and is currently climbing the dungeon slowly, we are in need of capable instructors and guides, we in return offer ample compensation and protection"
"Sounds too good to be true!" the answer of the seated was to be expected, the awakened did not enjoy a good standing with the sentient races, even the limited trade is considered by most sentient races as piracy or treason, and Yunan was not going to make excuses he only proceeded to make a simple promise " in the twilight pearl, we have a very peaceful and stable atmosphere, we are sure that sudden introduction of the awakened races may result in some form of isolation but we are very certain, that if we start working with each other slowly we can remove most of the prejudice and otherwise unsavoury feelings between our two nations"
"We assume you want to say that at most the interaction will start with trade and tourism? That is commendable but we have to say that we have heard it all before, and it was all lies, the awakened, including us, have been bitten by such lies too many times before, what makes you different? Why would we trust you?"
Yunan was not prepared for such an issue, he was truly unaware of the bloody history between the sentient and the awakened, so he stood there silent for a few moments, then took out one of his battle mechs, it was compressed due to the small size of the hall. "This is the weapon that only our family has, it is one of our secrets and has only been employed in true battle once, this is my guarantee to your tribe, it is functional and can be used immediately, you may have it to defend yourselves if anything goes awry, it works simply by injecting mana into it, it is much bigger, this size is the result of compression due to lack of space" that led to huge exclamation in the hall from both the seated and the audience.
It was beyond trust to offer a war machine that was exclusive to Yunan and his closest family, it was certainly beyond what the Yuki thought Yunan was willing to do. Yunan did not have any ulterior motives, he just thought that if his allies were able to protect themselves from exterior threats, it would bode well for their relations further down the line. The Yuki tribe certainly were not weak, they could ensure their own safety in the world if it was not for some ambushes or predetermined actions.
"At least there is enough sincerity from you" muttered the seated, they took a moment to confer among each other then asked with clear anticipation, "will you grant our wishes if we agree to join your little kingdom?", "I and my family will not treat this tribe with anything less than satisfactory, we, after all, do not accept very many people among us, let alone seek them out for anything"
The hall turned silent, the words were strong and convincing, it was not like the Yuki tribe did not research and understand this man the moment he was called king by the newcomers some years ago, they knew about him enough to know how exclusive he can be, these latest words of his was him declaring that if the Yuki joined his little kingdom, they were immediately part of his family.
"Full citizenship and complete rights, access to the governing body and communication pathways, complete autonomy over our internal structure and ruling, we only answer to you alone, we decided how to trade and who to trade with, and finally, our own patch of land must be a privet property solely for the use of us, the snow-daughters, and can never be removed from us not even by you as long as you and your posterity rule the Twilight Pearl, those are our initial demands, if you agree we can iron out the rest later on with your governing body"
Yunan had an odd look on his face, he really did not know how to reply, seeing the weird look in his face, the seated almost thought he was pondering whether to refuse or accept, they were about to just tell him to just leave when he said "that is the bare minimum, you also get to be included in all policy and development, current or future, you gain the right to a representative in the parliament and anything that is granted to all my citizens, that includes the right to purchase property and trade, I am literally inviting you to be part of my kingdom, I would not skimp on the basics"
Again deafening silence, it was so awkward that Yunan had to blabber a bit more in hopes to change the atmosphere.