"In any negotiation, you must give and take."
"Ensuring that both of you are satisfied by its results is of utmost importance."
"This builds up a rapport with the other side and can lay the foundations for long-term relationships built upon trust.
"As a result, many do not understand that being known as trustworthy and loyal."
"Can be used as a sword and shield in the world of politics where one's word is worth its weight in gold."
Reginald Coulan, creator and head of House Aurellion in dynasties online.
….
"Tell me why I should not kill you now and send your pretty little head to the emperor for a reward?"
The duke asked his tone indicating that the answer to this question was one of the most important things that would decide whether Ancel would work with Railius, recognising the boy's potential.
"The emperor's reward would look great on the outside. You would help settle the imperial family's suspicions about you while potentially getting land or a powerful position at court. After all, now that 70-odd noble families have been purged, the emperor would lack capable people and would likely welcome you with open arms into his court, giving you a nice semi-powerful position."
"You could also get land and use your court position and newly granted lands and vassals to increase your power and wealth, and there is much to give out, especially after The Great Purge, which can potentially help you in restoring Nadron, which is no doubt your plan."
"Honestly, I am honoured to be worth so much to the imperial family, but I digress."
Railius began by listing out what the duke could get out of killing him.
"But within these rewards will likely be hidden traps, for you would have to kill me immediately after capturing me, and if you ever tried to bargain with the imperial family, they would accuse you of treason, giving the justification they have been waiting for to deal with you. Not that I would surrender anyway. While others may be different, I am not a man who would willingly go to my death without any guarantees for my dynasty's survival, not that I would trust any promises made by the imperial family in the first place after they betrayed my family despite their immense loyalty to them."
"And once I am dead, the emperor will have what he wanted, and so the land you would get is likely to be far away from your current domain, forcing you to split your resources and loyal men, not to mention the spies that he will plant in your new domain a perfect political scheme which will allow him to keep an eye on you more easily."
"It is also likely that the emperor's reward will be imposed upon you, and you will be forced to accept or be guilty of insulting the imperial dignity, which again will get you purged just like my father."
Railius said before turning serious as he recalled a dark part of history in Chavaria.
"Do you remember what happened to the Nadron royal family in the end?"
Railius said with a slightly evil smile while Ancel looked at him coldly. Any warmth in his gaze was extinguished as soon as Railius said that.
How could Ancel, as one of the most loyal dukes of the kingdom, not know what happened to the royal families of the two conquered kingdoms?
"Yes, such a terrible, tragic 'accident'! It is well known that bandits like to roam about and cause trouble when there is instability. The fact that they attacked the exact convoy that happened to be transporting the Nadron royal family and happened to kill the elite soldiers guarding them is such a terrible coincidence. If one had a treasonous mind, they would even suspect the imperial family behind it…."
"But our benevolent emperor would never do such a thing no matter how convenient it was in allowing him to assert his power over the old kingdom. What was it they promised them a nice mansion and position at court, I don't recall. Leon, do you remember? Shame that promise could never be fulfilled due to their timely deaths."
Railius said sarcastically, making large gestures and thoroughly enjoying himself at the expense of the duke, putting significant emphasis on the 'accident' he mentioned, for anyone with a brain would be able to figure out what had happened. It was obviously an assassination aimed at killing the last heirs to The Kingdom of Nadron because if they did not, then in the future, they could be used to raise the banner of rebellion and have many people flock to their cause, both noble and commoner alike.
With them dead, it would be much harder for the Nadron nobles to rebel when there is no legitimate heir to the throne as they would quarrel amongst each other to seat themselves at the helm of the new kingdom, which would help keep them divided and easier for the empire to control them.
Ancel knew of this well, for it was the whole reason he tried to unite as many Nadron nobles into one faction as, over time, he and his family would become their leader. Then, if they rebelled, it would be natural for them to take the throne of the newly restored kingdom, allowing them to unite against their common foes instead of being wracked with division.
What Railius wanted the most was to erode any trust the emperor's benevolent policies had subconsciously put in him by slandering the imperial family. The biggest issue is that slander is most effective when it is true, as it suddenly does not become baseless slander but instead a grave mistake. This bit of slander just happened to be true, and even if it weren't, an intelligent person like the duke would assume it was the imperial family who killed them anyway because they had the most to gain out of it.
'Ahh, how nice it is to have such convenient scapegoats and work with intelligent people!'
Railius thought deciding that he needed to build up a spy network when the game started, as having this sort of information was far too valuable for negotiations like this.
Leon looked at his young lord, who was gazing at him expectantly, though the loyal grandmaster was unsure what his young master wanted to get out of this, but all the same decided to go along with the boy's stunt.
"They were promised to be allowed to be vassal kings who lived in the imperial capital and have high-ranking places at court; however, they died before they could be given either the title or position. How unfortunate."
Leon said in a firm voice before Railius decided to get to the point before going through the limits of the duke's immense patience. After all, if the duke attacked, there was a 90% chance of death, and Railius really did not like those odds.
"See, and there is the point! Look at what happened to people who put their trust and loyalty in the royal family assassinated or falsely accused of crimes at their leisure."
"Can you trust such dishonourable people who have betrayed even the trust of their most loyal subjects for convenience?"
Railius said, watching the cogs turn in the duke's mind, deciding to go all in with the final part of his pitch.
"Let's ignore the land for a second and go to the potential court position you could get for turning my head in."
"The first issue you have is the Chavarian Minister of War, Amulius Lunaris, who has an almost tyrannical control over the imperial court and who would keep you busy and under constant surveillance, which is not possible when you are in your own territory and is fanatically loyal to the emperor."
"Do you really think you can become that influential with him there watching your every move?"
Railius asked, insinuating that he wouldn't gain anything even if he could get into the imperial court. He even explained why being in the imperial court would be one of the stupidest decisions the cunning duke could make.
"Ahh, that's right, you will also have to live in the imperial capital to attend court, right? Under the thumb of the imperial family, who would be able to exterminate you at their leisure."
"After all, your duchy is what?
"Three weeks' ride away from the capital?"
"More?"
"It took three weeks for us to get here, but even considering that we were keeping a low profile, it is irrelevant and does not change that you would be isolated in the capital where the imperial family could kill or assassinate you at their leisure."
"Here, though, in your duchy, you have a powerful army and vassals at your beck and call, which would make even the emperor hesitate to move against you. After all, a civil war is the last thing the emperor wants right now."
While listening to Railius's reasons, the duke decided to push back a bit.
"The emperor would never dare make a move against me, or Nadron will rise up against him."
The duke said for that this was the biggest shield for any noble against a ruler as a civil war usually had no winners as the lands and armies of the nations would decimate each other, severely lowering the nation's strength, which then invites other countries to attack it.
If this were not true, why was it so common for other stable nations to take advantage of those in a civil war in history?
"Without you, would they?"
"Would the Nadron nobles really rebel?"
"Think about it…. the leader of them dies, then there will be infighting to take your spot, and there is one thing you must consider and account for."
"Do you know that even without Drusus and my father, the emperor still has one grandmaster strategist left?"
Railius said, enjoying the widening of the duke's eyes, whose brain went into overdrive.
'If I were the emperor…. would I take the risk of rebellion if I had someone who could easily crush it?'
The duke thought, but the realisation he came to frightened him.
'Yes, I would! Even if the empire were unstable for a few years, I would definitely make a move as it would allow me to deal with any remaining Nadron loyalists in one fell swoop, not to mention that some of his faction members may defect if they are facing the hundreds of thousands strong imperial army led by a grandmaster strategist.'
'In the long term, it would be worth it as he has already dealt with the problematic and opportunistic nobles and if the emperor can deal with those who dream of restoring Nadron too….'
'Then he, as ruler of the empire, would have 2 of the 3 kingdoms that were conquered under his thumb filled with men loyal to him and his family.'
The duke had to forcefully calm his mind down while thinking about this fact as a grandmaster strategist was no joke, for it was because of one that Chavaria could found an empire in the first place.
"Who is the grandmaster?"
The duke quickly asked, livid that the gods would bless Chavaria with three loyal grandmaster strategists in quick succession. THREE NO LESS! THREE! Even one can allow someone to conquer kingdoms, but Chavaria made three within 20 years.
'Do the gods really bless Chavaria that much?'
'Was my beloved kingdom destined to fall no matter what I do?"
The duke wondered to himself, doubting himself and his cause, needing to know who this grandmaster strategist was to plan around it. He was happy now that he never tried to rebel, for any rebellion would be crushed under the boots of this mysterious grandmaster strategist and the iron hooves of the imperial army.
"It is the minister of war, Amulius Lunaris. He retired from the military 30 years ago to help the emperor control the imperial court but worked with Drusus to devise strategies to conquer your kingdom, and he is not someone to be underestimated. Just ask how many nobles have lost their heads thanks to his political manoeuvring, and you will find out just how terrifying he is as an opponent or why else would the prime minister of the empire be helpless when confronted with this man."
"He is also the one who personally taught my father and Drusus military strategy."
"You could even say that the reason that two talented commoners like Lucius and Drusus became grandmaster strategists in the first place was because of his diligent teaching."
"Did it not occur to you how, in a short 10 years, 3 kingdoms who were equal in strength were suddenly united under one banner?"
"Did you think that one grandmaster was enough to do it?"
"It was 2 grandmaster strategists working together that allowed the empire to come to where it is today."
Railius said as what he finally dawned on the duke, who finally seemed to understand many things, for Amuilius Lunaris was well known to be a cunning and shrewd politician, and if he was also skilled in military strategy, a lot made sense.
How all their supply lines in war seemed to get cut off. How a kingdom once renowned for its stability suddenly fell victim to rebellions that slowly destroyed its national power, all of it was done through this man's scheming trying to fight a political battle with him in the imperial capital would only lead to one thing.
Ancel's overwhelming defeat.
The only reason that Railius knew about this was that often Lucius, his father, talked to his son about such things as he was one of the main perpetrators who helped these schemes come to fruition, and so by accessing the boy's memories he could find these pieces of information and use them, failing that because Leon was always by Lucius' side during his early days confirming these things was easy.
"Honestly, thinking about it now as a former loyal subject of Chavaria…. "Why don't you kill me now?"
"Kill me and allow the emperor to ensure his grip on the empire and fall for his plans."
Railius said, putting his neck on the table like it was a chopping block.
"What are you waiting for? Chop my head off and fall into the emperor's trap!"
The young boy shouted, shocking everyone present, but Ancel did not move as he already knew why he should not go to court and had no desire to take the 10-year-old's head. He knew that the moment he entered the imperial capital, he would not leave it, not if the emperor could help it anyway.
"So, if killing you only leads me into traps and dead ends apart from getting rid of suspicious…."
"What do I get out of working with you, Lord Aurellion?"
The duke asked, wanting to know what Railius could bring to the table currently. He was still in the best negotiating position, for without him, the chances of House Aurellion escaping the empire went down dramatically.
As a result, he wanted to get as much as he could out of this bargain because if worst came to worst, he could continue being a loyal subject until the end, allowing his son to take up his cause on his death. But if he were caught carrying out treason like now, then not only him but his family would also pay the price.
Down to the last child, whether born or not, whether just or not, all would die under the ruthless sword of the Chavarian emperor.
"Have you heard of my Pelican Guards?"
"Don't you want some for your own?"
Railius said after sitting back in his chair relaxedly, interlocking his fingers, looking like a mastermind spinning a web of schemes.