The soldier guarding the door opened the door for us while giving a report.
"Greetings, Your Majesty, Lord Whisperwood has arrived!"
With that greeting, we immediately entered. There, stood four people. Three women and one man.
My eyes were only on the woman in front of me.
Her golden hair was as bright as wheat at dusk. Her oval face and flushed lips added to her attractiveness. The most important thing was her graceful but firm appearance.
If in this world elves were the most beautiful, then this woman could also rival the beauty of the elves.
Perhaps in appearance, she was on par with the flora. It's just that the impression that the two of them display is in stark contrast. One is graceful the other is a tomboy.
As I was stunned, I was startled by the woman's voice.
"Hello, Lord Whisperwood. I am the queen of this kingdom, Christine Luminara. Next to me is the Duke who supports me, Duke Irvine with his wife and children, Lady Isabella and Lady Irene."
She turned out to be the queen of this country!!! I didn't realize she was so young. I then stepped forward while returning her greeting.
"Hello, Your Majesty the Queen. I am Rio, Lord of the Whisperwood Forest. Behind me are my niece Rika and my secretary Flora. Next are the division heads of our region, Lord Vincent and Lord Baren. As for Mali, I'm sure Her Majesty the Queen already knows him."
I can't introduce myself as just the village chief. Although this is a little embarrassing, it doesn't matter. If I denied my people's summons, I'm sure it would take away other people's trust in them.
As I introduced myself, Rika kept looking at the boy in front of her who was the same age as her. She seemed to be interested.
"Hello, Mr. Rio. It seems we have something in common as we have small children. Hello Rika, this is uncle's daughter, her name is Irene. Can you two be friends?"
It was Isabella, the Duke's wife, who spoke.
Irene is a shy girl, she was hiding near Duke Irvine's feet while glancing constantly at Rika.
Rika saw me and I just winked at her with a smile. Rika understood what I meant and immediately greeted Irene.
"Umu, Rika wants to be friends with Irene. Hello, Irene?"
Rika greeted her with a smile. Irene who had been scared, after she saw Rika's warm smile, she finally ventured forward.
"He-Hello, Rika. My name is Irene. ...."
Irene who was a little shy could only say that. But Rika immediately grasped her hand.
"Irene, you're very pretty.... Did Irene want to play with Rika? Rika has a lot of toys in her bag."
Hou, so the contents of her bag turned out to be toys. I didn't expect her to bring toys here. I don't seem to pay enough attention to things like that.
"Really? Can I see it?"
Irene said that with a surprised face. She didn't seem to have brought any toys here. Perhaps this was because they were going to welcome guests. They didn't want Irene to ruin the meeting.
Rika then invited Irene to play in the corner.
I quickly whispered something into Flora's ear and she immediately followed the children.
"Excuse me, Your Majesty the Queen, Mr. and Mrs. Duke, I asked Flora to keep an eye on the two of them playing."
I said that with a wry smile.
"Forgive us, Irene is very playful. Since this is the first meeting, we all want to give the best welcome"
Duke then replied to that.
"No problem Mr. Duke. For me, formalities are not that important. Forgive Rika too for immediately inviting Irene to play."
After that, we were all seated by the queen and began the negotiations.
"Lord Rio, according to your subordinates, you are capable of providing us with stable food stocks and also weapons to stabilize our territory. Is that true?"
Hmm, she seems to be a strict queen. I could see from her first question that she didn't talk nonsense and went straight to the point. It might as well be something urgent for them. I knew that they had just finished a war and were short of both food and weapons.
"That's right. We can prepare all of that. But before that, I would like to hear about the current condition of the continent or the Luminara Empire after the war. It's also important for us to assess the current conditions and situation because the kingdom of Nemorosa is the last stronghold before entering the whisperwood forest."
That was the most important thing I wanted to know right now. The condition of the Continent will also determine how we should react. Plus, information from the queen would be more credible than that of a spy.
"I understand. I will tell you the current condition of the Luminara Continent"
The Queen then recounted the early to current conditions of the Luminara continent as well as how their power map looked like.
The bottom line was, Nemorosa controlled 20 percent with the support of the merchants and Duke Irvine.
The Luminara Empire had the support of the church, the military chief, and Duke Sebastian. I seem to need more information about this church.
Finally, the kingdom of Rimegate in the North. it was supported by Duke William, an old official of the Luminara empire and a viking who had recently come to the Luminara continent. They are the great rulers of the neighboring continent called the Nordisk kingdom.
From this information, I can say the most unstable condition is the Nemorosa region. This means that the free trade policy is actually to attract the forces of the demi-humans.
I'm starting to understand all of this. The whisperwood forest is the most mysterious place on the Luminara continent. If they can blend in with the forest dwellers, they might be able to defend themselves from a possible war.
If I were a leader like Christine, I would definitely do the same. This is the best way to survive.
"I see, the short of it is that stable supplies and good weaponry will contribute to the prosperity of the kingdom. I can support you for that but I also have some requests."
I said that to the queen and she looked very happy. It's like they found an oasis after walking in the wilderness for days.