"Royal business will be put on hold for a while."

Meanwhile, Princess Diana was talking contentedly while I was sitting next to her during the evening meal.

First of all, a ceremonial coronation will take place in the palace, where all the royal nobility will be invited, and then a candidate’s ball will be held, where the king will meet his potential wives. By order of my father, I will be obliged to appear there and try to win the favor of His Majesty.

“I figured it out for a long time.”

I sighed in disappointment and asked at the same time.

“In your country, power is inherited, as I understand it, this is a monarchical form of government?”

Diana's gaze became a little questioning.

“Yes, it is. Are you so surprised?”

"Yes. In the past, my home country was also once ruled by kings, but the monarchy was replaced by a republic, where the people directly chose their head of state."

Hearing my words, the count himself suddenly intervened in the conversation.

“The people choose a king for themselves... what stupidity. It’s like a herd of pigs choosing a shepherd, but among whom, among their own herd? This is even worse. Everyone knows that the whole callous family wants to become a king, but the right to lead the whole people The kingdom is sacred and should not be subject to such stupid changes like “elections.” From here I want to ask you, between whom and who are you choosing candidates for kings? Are they playing a game of who will climb the pillar and take the throne? "

I would answer this question honestly, but I’m afraid my words will seem very pretentious to them. What I am saying now is essentially an active intervention in the life of a primitive civilization, because I am explaining to them the principle of functioning of a republic with a democratic structure, which they may simply not understand. So what should I do?

Still, I decided not to hesitate and tell it like it is, leaving out some details:

“To be honest, I can’t say this. I can only say that the term of office of the head of state is up to ten years. The candidate must provide the people with a plan for the development of the state, and also be over forty years old, and of course, the candidate for the role of head of state must speak at the debate before his opponents and convince the people of the correctness of his point of view on the world, his role and the role of the state in the world, and also show that his path of development is more correct and logical, without being simple populist slogans."

The looks of everyone present were directed at me, it seemed that I had said too much, which is why they all had their mouths wide open. I probably should have simplified my explanation about the presidential election much more, and I’m only now realizing what the hell I did.

“Everything is much more complicated with you.”

The count answered me, sipping a drink from a mug.

“Apparently your people distrust the lordship so much that they allowed illiterate, dirty commoners to choose their king.”

Almost everyone at the table laughed at these words except me and Granid. To be honest, I didn’t find anything funny in these words, because what the count said was essentially an insult to his own people. On Earth, this would be difficult to imagine, because every word of this or that politician that came to the ears or public would sharply provoke a reaction from public opinion. That’s why politicians are such boring guys, whose words always make you want only one thing: to sleep.

"This is how we live."

I shook my shoulders and asked Diana a question.

"I'm interested in learning about the Lakuus royal family, if I may."

“Of course, I’ll be happy to tell you about it.”

Diana answered with a smile on her face and began to explain.

"Ahem-ahem~... the deceased king's name was Leff, he was a wise ruler of our country and on the day of his death he reached the century of his life. I never saw him with my own eyes, but among the nobility and common people he was dearly loved and respected. His beautiful Queen Benthia's wife, even in her mature years, retains her unprecedented beauty and caring maternal charm. She is quite modest, pious and especially emphasizes her love for her children. They say that Queen Benthia was the conscience of the king, the angel of the people, allowing His Majesty to have mercy on the guilty subject."

"If the king had a wife, why didn't she take on the role of head of state?"

I became curious and the count himself answered this question.

"The Queen only assumes the duties of regent if the Crown Prince is a minor."

"What if the king doesn't have a crown prince?"

"Then the new king is chosen by the royal council."

“Thank you, now everything is much clearer to me.”

I answered the Count and asked Diana to continue.

"So where are we?"

"Ah, I wanted to talk about the princes and the princess. Do you want me to talk about them?"

Diana asked me a question, and I nodded in agreement, after which the count’s daughter began to tell me about the children of the former king.

“The eldest son of the late king, Crown Prince Monrid, I talked about him, but I forgot to mention that he has not yet been chosen a betrothed and therefore the choice of a wife for the crown prince is a matter of urgent importance. The king must have a queen and maybe I will be lucky enough to become one.”

Well... good luck.

I mentally answered her while continuing to listen to her story.

“It’s another matter for the second prince Slakersh, I wouldn’t like to belittle the beauty of His Majesty, but his younger brother is very handsome and charming. They say that he has already found his betrothed, but he doesn’t dare reveal who she is. Well, the youngest prince Fgorman is already showing A tremendous talent for scientific affairs and an impeccable future for him as one of the greatest minds of our kingdom."

"What about the princess?"

The mention of her abruptly extinguished Diana’s interest in continuing the conversation, but she still told me about her, albeit sitting from that moment on with a dissatisfied expression on her face.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Among all the members of the royal family, this is the most stupid and ugliest princess. Her name is Ilifreeta and she is a disgrace to the entire royal family, if not the entire kingdom. Arrogant, greedy, impudent and very closed. She spends her days sitting in her bedroom reading useless romance novels "She spends so much money from the treasury on dresses and expensive jewelry that they are talking about the fact that because of this they are going to deprive her of any inheritance."

"There's always a black sheep in every family."

The count added on his own behalf after unflattering words about the princess of the kingdom.

I immediately remember Niana, who in turn led her people into a dangerous unknown forest to escape from the Antigonians and who did everything possible to save her country, but ultimately only follows us in the hope of getting help from us. However, so far we ourselves have not If support is provided, then the release of Hippolytus is out of the question, which is why it is so important for us to meet with the king and negotiate a right of passage in exchange for military support.

“It’s fortunate that in your kingdom the country is ruled by worthy people, but we are a little unlucky.”

I said, taking a sip of a little sweet drink from a mug.

"Who rules your kingdom?"

The count asked, to which I could only smile slightly.

Should I tell them this or not?

I thought about it and decided to share this information with him.

“We have not a kingdom, but a republic, and the country is ruled not by a king, but by a president, and he or she does not have such high powers to do whatever he wants. If the president is found violating the laws of the republic, then he will simply be removed from office and the state will hold new elections."

"«Republic» …"

The Count thought aloud.

“Are you by any chance from the central trading republic of Urbaval? I actually heard that the country is not ruled by a “president”, but by a council of seven high trading houses.”

"No. This is the first time I've heard about this country."

I answered honestly and made the count think about something else.

“I see. I suddenly became curious to know whether in your «Republic» they will create false accusations against the president in order to remove him from the throne?”

Indeed, earlier one could often observe how one president after another was overthrown in the Republic for corruption, the creation of private military companies, support for separatism and much more, but now this is not commonplace due to the fact that the mechanism for conducting the impeachment process has become quite complex, requiring not only the attention of the entire society, but also all government bodies. I couldn’t explain this normally simply because I’m not a politician and didn’t understand this process.

"Such allegations require careful consideration and investigation. If the Supreme Court does not confirm that the president has violated the laws, then the process of removing the president from office is closed."

I explained as simply as possible, making the representatives of the upper class think, and at that moment I turned my head to Diana, who, to my surprise, listened to me with great interest.

“Even though we are just guests in your country, we hope for fruitful cooperation. The Republic will provide any military support for the right of passage.”

Suddenly the count remembered something and decided to ask me about it:

“I didn’t ask you about this last time, but I want to know how many soldiers the Republic is willing to provide to protect our kingdom?”

“It is unlikely that the republic will send the entire army here, but it will be ready to provide a small contingent of ten thousand soldiers.”

"TEN THOUSAND?!"

Almost everyone at the table jumped up screaming, and I, a little frightened by their reaction, sat with my mouth open and did not immediately understand what shocked them so much.

Ten thousand is such a big number for them? Don't they have an army like that? Holy shit! I said too much! Boris, who the hell made you say that?!

I mentally kicked myself over the head for being so stupid.

Everyone calmed down a little and sat down in their places, even the count was a little surprised by my words and asked me in a calmer manner:

“Ten thousand soldiers is a «small contingent» for you? And will you be ready to provide us with such support?”

"As needed."

I tried to avoid the question, knowing full well that most likely he would now do everything possible to get ten thousand soldiers into his hands.

However, the count’s gaze darted towards the old wizard, who, in turn, sat at the table with a gloomy expression on his face and carefully absorbed the dishes in silence, without interfering in the conversation, after which the count whispered quietly:

"Now I understand what your strength is."

A slight smile did not leave his face, after which he took a sip of the drink from the mug and snapped his fingers. A servant ran up to him and bowed his head, after which the count whispered something to this man and, having finished listening to the instructions, the servant nodded and ran out of the hall. The Count, in turn, chuckled and adjusted himself in his seat and with a smile on his face told me:

"His Majesty will give you an answer tomorrow."

Hearing this, I could only sit with my mouth open.

Tomorrow already?

I was surprised and it seems that my thoughtless words about ten thousand played a decisive role in speeding up our negotiations, which I was somewhat happy about.

Meanwhile, the meal continued and the Count turned to Granid while he was gobbling up the chicken:

"Have you changed your mind about helping us yet?"

“Aarh~…”

The old wizard sighed tiredly and with irritation in his head, swallowing the meat in his mouth and answered with dissatisfaction.

"I have no intention of returning to the royal court. Don't even try to convince me otherwise."

"Your friends are willing to provide us with an incredibly large army to help us, and you can't just cast a couple of spells?"

"You don't know anything about magic to talk about it like that."

"Oh really?"

The count grinned and raised his index finger up, after which a fire lit above him as if some kind of match was burning.

“By the way, I am a magician of the second rank and I know perfectly well what free wizards like you are capable of. After all, all you have to do is cast one spell and one army will fall on its face, and then cast a second spell and then the second will fall. You are capable of doing something like this, not like to me."

“In that case, do your own magic, and don’t drag me into your games.”

"Okay, I got you."

The count said and threw a malicious look at me.

"What if I provide a condition?"

Granid's gaze suddenly became questioning.

"What are you talking about?"

“Yes, I mean that without your participation I will not accept help from representatives of the Republic and, accordingly, the right of passage too.”

"You are not a king to decide this."

“But I can offer this to the king.”

Hearing these words, Granid tutted, his expression becoming more embittered, and his decrepit palms clenched into fists.

"A lot of people could die because of your decision."

"You, dear Granid, will be the culprit of their death."

What's happening?

I didn’t understand, watching the squabble between these two people.

From what I saw, it can be understood that the count was blackmailing: either Granid is also helping the kingdom or the kingdom does not enter into an agreement with us at all. It seems that it was important to Granid that we still help this kingdom, but without his direct intervention, but representatives of the aristocracy of this kingdom still demanded his support. This begs the question: what does Granid really want?

"Then we will not make a contract."

I suddenly intervened, trying to defuse the situation, and all heads turned in my direction.

"What?"

The count asked, to which I replied with a calm expression:

“We can calmly break through your lands in battle. This agreement on the right of passage and military assistance will only be needed by you in order to avoid unnecessary sacrifices. If you do not conclude an agreement with us, then we will pass through your lands without your knowledge, and if someone- he will try to stop us, then he will immediately fall, bleeding."

"Boris,"

The count addressed me with a low, gloomy tone in his voice.

“Do you understand that you are threatening me while sitting at my table? Your people are now in the castle and at any moment we can kill you, you know that?”

"Yes."

I also nodded calmly.

“Do you know that the Republic is very vindictive and these ten thousand will be ready to wipe out the kingdom of Lakuus from the face of the earth if they find out about our death?”

“So your offer was an ultimatum all this time?”

asked the count, laughing a little at my bluff.

“Okay, I understand you. Let it be as we initially agreed.”

Seriously?

I was surprised.

Did he give in? Did he believe my obvious bluff?

I calmed down a little after hearing this, because it meant that the situation had finally been resolved and I could calmly breathe a sigh of relief. I noticed Granid's gaze directed in my direction and apparently he was very grateful to my aggressive intervention in this conversation, otherwise he would have been put in an uncomfortable position.

Despite the tension, dinner continued as usual and after it we returned to our quarters. Personally, I got a very cozy room with a high ceiling and a single window in the entire room. It was quite well maintained here, even if it was quite cool at night. I took my things from the room and headed to the barracks, where we all usually gathered to continue our lesson in learning the Lakuus language with Incartia, and the next day we finally received a letter from the royal capital.

The right of way proposal was rejected.