Buriek Royal Hall

0900, 3 Sept 2025

Over the past few days, King Buriek XII seemed to have aged ten years. The failure of invasion in Sandhur Region truly shook his heart until its deepest part.

Also, he was still having trouble accepting the explanation regarding TF Amethyst's military strength which was beyond reason.

After taking a deep breath, King Buriek XII turned towards Grand Commander Keraz. "Uncle Keraz, how big is Buriek Guard's element left in Sandhur Region?"

With a heavy tone, Grand Commander Keraz replied, "50,000 at the base on the beach, 80,000 at Railev Pass, and 170 thousand at the border with Sviek and Rivek Region.

They only have enough supplies for the next three days and they don't have any air defense. Meanwhile, we can't send additional supplies or make a quick retreat. Apart from the carrier ships and supply ships, TF Amethyst destroyed 90% of our landing ships."

King Buriek XII took another deep breath before saying, "So, in short TF Amethyst has 300 thousand prisoners of war."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

King Buriek XII immediately massaged his forehead, while silence enveloped all corners of Buriek Royal Hall.

- - - - -

Buriek Royal Hall

1135, 3 Sept 2025

When Duke Phelite entered Buriek Royal Hall, King Makai XII and all Kingdom of Buriek's higher-ups were sitting in silence. It could be said that the Royal Hall was as quiet as a haunted tomb on a full moon night.

Without delay, Duke Phelite bowed slightly to King Makai XII. "Your Majesty."

On other days, King Makai XII would rise to greet Duke Phelite like an old friend regardless of formality. But for now he only nodded slightly, then waited for the Duke to take his seat before asking, "Uncle Phelite, please share your review on the economic scheme proposed by TF Amethyst."

Calmly, Duke Phelite started his explanation, "On paper their proposed scheme is quite lucrative and worth the compensation they are asking for. However, as they suggested in their letter, more detailed talks from both sides are needed to arrive at a more concrete conclusion."

Duke Phelite then turned to Marshal Keraz before asking, "What about the request for deployment of our forces in Sandhur Region? I need to know the details before I can draw up the operational budget to submit to TF Amethyst?"

Marshal Keraz immediately handed a document to Duke Phelite. "The details are in this document, but in short we will deploy 400,000 Buriek Guard personnel, 20.000 workers, 400 Riders, and a combination of the 3rd Fleet and the remnants of the 2nd Fleet."

Duke Phelite then gave a small nod before turning towards King Makai XII. "Your Majesty, if Royal Blacksmith and Royal Chef's assessment of Amethyst Merchant's commodities is positive, then I dare to conclude that siding with TF Amethyst is a wise choice."

"They both conclude that Amethyst Merchant's level of metallurgy and culinary, are far above Kingdom of Buriek's level." King Makai XII tapped his fingers before continuing, "So, I decided that we will have talks with TF Amethyst to establish cooperation.

And, because Prince Meriek will succeed me in five years, he will represent me in this talk. The contingent will set sail tomorrow morning before sunrise. So for today we will discuss the details of the negotiations."

As soon as the mandate was given by King Makai XII, all Kingdom of Buriek's higher-ups at the Royal Hall immediately responded in unison.

""""We are ready to carry out Your Majesty's wish with all of our hearts.""""

- - - - -

As the potential for conflict with Kingdom of Buriek increases, TF Amethyst didn't just gather intel about Kingdom of Buriek's military power. In Magwurt City, Lt. Col. Slane formed a team of analysts to explore Kingdom of Buriek's economic potential.

Understanding Kingdom of Buriek's economic potential would be vital once the conflict with the kingdom ends, where the possibility of TF Amethyst coming out as a winner was quite large.

The problem was, the Kingdom of Buriek's economic aspects could only be obtained from third parties, such as merchants and noble families in Makai Royal City. That's why the assessment was not free from bias and personal sentiment. Meanwhile, aerial reconnaissance did not provide adequate information.

Then, before Lt. Col. Slane managed to gather solid data to form an economic scheme, the conflict with Kingdom of Buriek had ended and peace talks would soon be held. Fortunately, Lt. Col. Slane was a veteran in trade negotiations. So reflexively he came up with a solution to overcome the lack of information.

When Nate asked for the economic scheme to offer to Kingdom of Buriek, Lt. Col. only sent the half-done outline, but he added pre-note that more solid data and input from Kingdom of Buriek's expert was needed to complete the economic scheme.

Lt. Col. Slane also emphasized that a feasibility study for each project was a must and would be fully financed by Amethyst Merchant.

Once the raw economic schemes were sent to Davy Jones along with information about major trade in Makai Royal City, Lt. Col. Slane then issued a daily order and delegated various powers to his aide. Then, the next morning he left Magwurt City with ease.

- - - - -

As soon as he came out from the Osprey, Lt. Col. Slane was immediately greeted by Nate. "Welcome to Davy Jones."

"Yeah, I hope I'm not late. I tried my best to get here as soon as possible, but I can't leave Magwurt City without making sure everything will run normally when I'm gone."

"Don't worry, Kingdom Buriek's delegation is still two hours away from Bluefin."

Lt. Col. Slane immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "In that case, thank God."

"Yup, and we should go to see Viscount Issel before peace talks start."

"Okay."

Without delay, Nate then took Lt. Col. Slane to the Main Building.

- - - - -

At first, Prince Meriek thought the peace talks with TF Amethyst would be tense or filled with one-sided mocking. But unexpectedly, it was running in a casual atmosphere.

The Sandhur Region's contingent indeed did not hide their hateful gaze towards Kingdom of Buriek's contingent, but they did not say anything and chose to let TF Amethyst do the talking.

At the end of the talks, it was agreed that Kingdom of Buriek and Sandhur Region would send representatives to conduct a comparative development study in Magwurt City. Meanwhile, Amethyst Merchant would send a feasibility team to assess the economic potential in Sandhur Region and Kingdom of Buriek.

The peace talk then continued with a casual lunch. Nate cheerfully accompanied Sandhur Region's contingent. While Lt. Col. Slane accompanied Kingdom Buriek's contingent, and happily talked with Duke Phelite who looked super happy.

Then, Prince Meriek sneaked out of the room with the Captain of Buriek Royal Guard. He quietly went to the small park beside the meeting room, where a man was sitting on a wooden bench with a little girl. The man sat casually, while the girl beside him was happily drawing something and would occasionally show it to him.

According to Admiral Errez, the man was Ser Vex, the second-highest official in TF Amethyst and the strategist who thwarted Kingdom Buriek's invasion.

As soon as he arrived in front of Vex, Prince Meriek bowed slightly. "Ser Vex, greeting, please allow me to introduce myself, I'm Meriek from Kingdom of Buriek. It was an honor to meet you directly."

Vex immediately got up and also bowed slightly. "Prince Meriek, greeting, this humble me is Lucan 'Vex' McGuire."

Prince Meriek didn't surprise Vex knew his identity, even though he didn't join in the peace talks. After a slight smile Prince Meriek then said, "Ser Vex, please don't joke around. No matter how humble you are, with a few words you will be able to erase Kingdom of Buriek from the map."

"Thank you for your kind words, but I will end up in jail if I declare war without justified reason. Also, TF Amethyst's main goal is to secure natural resources using trading and economic cooperations."

Prince Meriek nodded slightly, but he didn't believe TF Amethyst would not use its military strength as a primary means to achieve their goal.

"Even so, once Kingdom of Makai realizes that they just lost one of their supplies of iron ore, it will be impossible to avoid open war with them."

Vex casually replied, "Well, we will break their will to wage an open war then."

"Understood." Prince Meriek smiles cheerfully before continuing, "May glory and prosperity be with TF Amethyst and Kingdom of Buriek."

Vex smiled before replying, "May glory and prosperity be with Kingdom of Buriek and TF Amethyst."

Inwardly, Vex wanted his guest to leave as soon as possible, but he couldn't just kick out a prince. Fortunately, after some small talk Prince Meriek then went back to the meeting room.

Meanwhile, with a curious gaze Erlin looked at the two people who walked away, then turned to Vex. "Lucan, are they bad people from Kingdom of Buriek?"

Vex smiled and then replied, "Well, don't mind them."

"Mhm."

Erlin nodded three times, then went back to her drawing. At the same time, Vex sighed inwardly because he could feel the burning ambition in Prince Meriek's gaze.

'I hope he wouldn't become a king, or TF Amethyst would have a dangerous liability.'

*****