CHAPTER 2337: CHANGING NATION
His meeting with his father ended soon enough as he felt more relaxed about competing with the enemy leader himself for the alliance with the Shionel Confederation. Certainly, it was much harder than if the alliance had sent an ordinary ambassador.
Rui was confident he could outcompete any ordinary diplomat.
Prime Minister Edward himself taking the initiative to convince the guildmaster to join the East Panamic Treaty Alliance made things harder, but still within a tolerable degree.
Rui immediately headed to sleep as dusk came, not wanting to enter the meeting with Guildmaster Bradt at anything less than his optimal condition.
Soon enough, the next day came along.
It wasn't too long before Rui completed all the preparations.
"Come, Your Highness. The guildmaster awaits you at the capital of the nation. We have prepared appropriate travel arrangements for you and your bodyguards."
He hadn't forgotten that they were only in the luxury complex right near the port of entry at the border of the nation. They immediately boarded a carriage that took off in the air, heading to the capital of the Shionel Confederation.This text is © NôvelDrama/.Org.
Rui peered through the window as he got a good view of the port town stretching out as far as the eye could see.
"Business has been good, from the looks of it."
Down below, the town was bustling with a dense population as the dense commercialization had people running into shops and stores of all kinds across the entire town. As a
corporatocracy, commerce was the most important and significant part of the Shionel Confederation. It was a nation that began as a consortium of merchants who banded together with the mutual interest of wanting to have greater collective bargaining power.
Nobody in the nation was under the illusion that it was anything other than a trade hub for the merchants.
The Shionel Confederation was probably the only polity that was doing better rather than worse ever since the war had commenced. While many other places experienced economic downturns or even recessions as a consequence of the war, the Shionel Confederation experienced economic growth despite these setbacks. It spoke to the sheer commercial entrenchment that the nation had managed to create in the economy of East Panama over the centuries.
"Business has been going extremely well for the past twenty years, Your Highness." The Secretary of State smiled. "But I'm sure that you know all about that, don't you?"
Rui threw a knowing gaze at the man.
It was public knowledge in this day and age that the Void Prince was the true identity of the Voider that dominated the Shionel Dungeon more than twenty years ago. Back then, he partnered with the guildmaster and overcame Chairman Deacon, who was the guildmaster's greatest rival and opponent.
It was a historic event that shaped the future of the Shionel Confederation and made the guildmaster the unofficial emperor of the polity.
Even before, he had been nigh unstoppable, but after he fully capitalized on the bounties of the Shionel Dungeon and his only opponent died, his grip over the Shionel Confederation became absolute and unchallengeable.
The guildmaster elections that were held every few years had become little more than a meaningless formality where he swept the votes unhindered. The Shionel Confederation had gone from a democratic confederation to an autocracy where the leader simply could not be challenged unless a truly extreme event happened.
Unfortunately for him, the Third Great East Panamic War was one of them.
If he made the wrong choice, he could potentially lose the invincibility that he had cultivated within the nation.
"We have arrived, Your Highness."
Rui glanced out the window as he beheld the Shionel Dungeon for the first time in more than two decades.
"It's changed so much that I hardly recognize it." Rui smiled nostalgically.
Gone was the dangerous underground dungeon filled with monsters and bounties.
In its place was a metropolitan underground estate sector that made full use of the vast empty swathes of land in the entire dungeon that collectively constituted a small nation.
The tunnels leading in and out of the ground were filled with specially designed bogeys that could transport people and goods from the underground cities and storage towns that had been built since the dungeon had been long cleared.
Rui could see the logo of the Bradt Distribution Service on all of them, which showed that the guildmaster was successfully relying on the map that Rui had created and exchanged to gain a special advantage and dominate the dungeon wars.
Rui felt nostalgic as he recalled the eighteen months he had spent in the dungeon, clearing floors of it together with Kane as they raked in more floors at a remarkable pace. He also recalled how they had fled the nation when his identity had been discovered by Chairman Deacon, setting them on a long journey that only ended eight years later when Rui killed the Chairman with his own two hands.
It was surreal visiting the nation after all this time.
His eyes narrowed as he saw a section of the underground transport system featuring people and goods bearing the emblem that he had become all too familiar with.
The Virodhabhasa Faith.
"Tsk," he tutted with displeasure.
He hadn't forgotten that they had managed to set up a church town inside the former dungeon to spread their influence east. While it was not the reason that he had come to the nation, it wasn't one that he could ignore entirely.
Soon enough, the carriage began lowering until it finally landed before slowing down right in the carriage trackway in the Shionel Merchant Guild headquarters.
STEP
"Let's go." Rui grew more serious, exiting the carriage with his bodyguards.
"Right this way, Your Highness. The Guildmaster has just completed an important meeting and looks forward to speaking with you immediately."
The four of them, led personally by the Secretary of State, hurriedly walked over in the direction of the Guildmaster's Office.
Rui could only narrow his eyes gravely as he watched the Britannian Prime Minister walk out of the office with three Sage Knights behind him.