And as planned, two days later George, Nina, and Doris who they met up with in Margrave were in a meeting room in the Royal Palace of Margrave awaiting the presence of the King.
Then the door adjacent to them opened.
The King, the Crown Prince, General Varrion and two guards entered the room.
The three merchants immediately stood up and now to the King.
King Tristan sat down first and signalled for them to take their sits.
"Thank you for agreeing to meet, Your majesty." George started.
"Of course." The King replied. "The Five Guilds have always been good allies with Margrave. And Lady Doris here is a respectable Noble of Margrave. There was no way I would deny a request from her. So, what brings the Merchant Guild all the way to the Royal Palace?"
"Two days ago, Nina and I went to the Northern Region to meet with the monsters."
"Oh! Is that a fact? And? What news did you bring for me from the North."
"The monsters are ready to negotiate peace with Margrave. That is, if Margrave is willing."
"Peace!" Prince Tyler exclaimed. "The monsters were the ones who broke the unwritten rules and stole our lands. And now they want peace?"
"Yes Your highness. But I don't believe the monsters ever wanted was in the first place. The monsters weren't uncivilized like we thought. They had completely unified their race under one banner and King. Their kingdom was already completed. And I can tell you from the little I saw, they maybe new, but they are an extremely powerful kingdom."
"Extremely powerful you say. Then why after seeing all that do you believe they want peace. Shouldn't their preparedness have made you suspicious of their intentions?" King Tristan countered.
"No. Their preparedness is exactly why I believe they want peace. If their intention was war, then I believe they would have attacked months ago when they still had the element of surprise. If they had attacked then, I am certain they would have captured two or three cities of Margrave already."
George's declaration turned the room silent. A sudden tension filled the room.
Even though George was now a guildmaster, he was once a well known adventurer with many accomplishments. His words were not one to be taken lightly.
"You really believe that?" King Tristan asked.
"Yes Your majesty. I do. That is not all, I believe that it is possible that the north has many untapped riches and potential. It would be very advantageous if Margrave were to Ally itself with such a young nation rather than to make enemies with them. Have a sit down with them. See for yourself if peace is possible or not."
King Tristan sighed then stayed quiet for some seconds before continuing. "General Varrion!"
"Yes Your majesty."
"Prepare for a meeting with the north. We will meet with the monsters. Then we will decide."
"Father. There is no need for you to attend yourself. Let me go in your stead."
"No! You stay here and watch over the kingdom. I will attend and decide myself."
The King immediately stood up and was about to take his leave but stopped and turned and asked George. "By the way, did you happen to meet the one the monsters call King?"
"No Your majesty. I didn't get to meet him. They said he was not in the kingdom at the moment. So I assumed he was in the Tower."
"Hmm." King Tristan grunted then left the room.
The merchants were left alone in the room.
"So?" Nina said to George. "Do you think he will opt for peace?"
"No, probably not. But we've done our part. Anything that happens next. Is not on us." George answered. But now that I have hunted to him about the untapped riches of the north. There's no way he will give up. He'll go to war for sure.
*
That same day, after their discussion with the King, the Merchants left for the Green Pass to prepare for the parley. They were the neutral party in charge of security for the heads of the two kingdoms.
They secured the location out in the open and made sure there were no threats around the site. And placed guards up to a hundred meter around the site.
*
*
Then, the next day came.
It was noon of a bright spring day. The wind blew from the west and the trees fluttered under their influence. This was the perfect day and weather for such an event.
Both parties agreed to meet at the location by noon. But the Margrave party arrived first. The party was made of nine. The King, the General Varrion, the Second Prince Theo, and six of the strongest knights from the King's Guard excluding their head, General Mace.
They came out of their carriages to see George, Nina, Doris and Ronnie at the site. The Merchants paid their respects and led the three representatives to the table they had prepared.
It was a long table with three chairs on opposite sides on the longer side of the table and two chairs on opposite sides of the shorter side.
The King, Crown Prince and General we're about to sit, but that was when they heard the sounds of horses. The sound of nine Dark Horses running at full speed. The monsters had arrived. The horses slowly came into view and gradually slowed down.
The riders came down one by one and headed towards the table.
"Now that both parties have arrived, I believe an introduction is in order." George turned to his left and continued. "The three representatives from the Margrave Empire. King Tristan Margrave. Prince Theo Margrave. And General Varrion." Then he turned to his right. "And from the Northern Empire. The Lord Regent, Ash. The Blue Lord, Roger. And the Green Lord, Lucy. Please, take your seats."
*
As all the parties from Margrave and the Northern Empire had been introduced, silence filled the air for some time.
"As this meeting was initiated by the Merchant Guild of the Five Guilds, I believe it's only right we begin the meeting as we represent the rest of the continent. From our perspective, both parties are found to have been at fault in the cause of the war."
"What?!" King Tristan exclaimed. How can you say that. We are nothing but victims of the North. They were the ones who committed not one but two offences. First they create a kingdom without the approval of the Six Nation Alliance. Then they also stole part of our lands when building their kingdom. So how can you say we are also at fault?"
"That is because the Information Guild was sent to investigate all they could about this issue before this meeting was even approved. And that means we know everything. As I was saying before. The first issue that arose from the Northern Empire. They created a kingdom without notifying the Six Nation Alliance therefore going against the treaty. But, the Margrave Empire also has a fault in this issue."
George paused and turned his gaze to King Tristan. "Margrave took advantage of the fact that the North did not inform other nations and fabricated reasons for war."
"Fabricate?! What do you mean by that?!" Prince Theo interrupted.
"According to the investigations of the Information Guild, we discovered that the Northern Empire did not take any of Margrave's lands when they fenced their kingdom. That makes their reasons for war invalid. Do you still have anything to say about this matter? King Tristan?"
"No! I do not." King Tristan answered. He had predicted this turn of events as soon as the Merchant Guild got involved in the matter. He could tell that the Five Guilds had began to move to prevent the war from happening. But King Tristan was a man who never changed his mind once deciding something. This parlay was never a chance for peace for him. But only a way to for him to find out what stance the Five Guilds will take once the war began and to gauge the strength of his opponents.
"What about you, Lord Ash? Do you have anything to say?"
"I do." Ash replied. "As George mentioned earlier, my name is Ash. I am not the King of the Northern Empire, but only a Lord. Out King is currently absent from the Empire and I was elected as the regent. So I currently hold the authority of the King. So I will say this on his behalf. The North had always been self sustaining. We stayed on our own for many, many years and we did not change. We did not evolve, we did not advance. There was no change. That was until 'he' came and changed us. He gave us hope."
"It was a long standing wish of the Monster race to be finally unified under one flag, but that never happened because as much as we wanted unification, we were also scared of change. So no one came forward to even mention it. But he did. He united us in just one day! And he united us with the intent of peace, not one of war. He gave us a chance to evolve, a chance to finally change. And so we did. But, we did not inform any of the other races of our intention, and they all took it as a sign of our hostility."
"We all know that no kingdom existing now ever asked for permission from anyone to exist. The North have created our kingdom, declared it and our intention for peace. Any kingdom who says otherwise will be the one with war in mind. We are not here to apologize for creating our kingdom without telling you! We are here to tell you, that we are not pushovers! And we are not going anywhere! We do not want war, but if it comes, we will fight, and we will WIN! That is all."
Ash's declaration was bold and surprising. George had originally thought that Ash might have had the intention to apologize when he started talking but then, no nation's leader would ever publicly apologize for something like this. He had the makings of a king also. The North may not be as simple as it looks. I really wonder who their king is now. George thought.
Tristan had simply listened to Ash unfazed. "Ho?! That was a bold declaration!" Tristan said. "Then I assume the you will take responsibility for your statement. The rest of the continent may have ignored or accepted the existence of your kingdom, but Margrave will not! The existence of your kingdom is one that threatens ours and anything that threatens Margrave will be eradicated. I applaud your strength. I would have probably done the exact same thing in your position. But now you will have to pay the price. I do not care who is right or who is wrong in this matter. Because in war, only the winner gets to decide that. We will see you on the battlefield."
"King Tristan!" George called. "I ask you to reconsider. I believe in a long run, peace will be more profitable for both kingdoms. Please. Reconsider."
"Margrave is only taking a decision it seems fit. We will not endanger the people of other nations and races. This war is one we will fight without assistance from any other power but ours."
King Tristan and his party stood up and headed to their carriage. Then they left, heading towards Margrave.
Meanwhile Ash, Lucy and Roger had simply remain seated. The situation was exactly as they predicted. The war will proceed as planned, bit now, the North had an ally among the Five Guilds. This was the optimum outcome.