Tbate: Starting Anew

Chapter 21: Lengthy meetings

I was sleeping deeply when I started hearing my old name in my head.

'--ey! Grey!' I quickly realized it was Agrona calling me through the artifact I gave him.

'What is it?' I asked still sleepy and annoyed.

'Don't you remember the meeting that was supposed to be today? It started 10 minutes ago. And you being late is a problem, since the main topic is your reforms!'

At his words I suddenly remembered that I even complained about it being on the same day as the summit.

'I'll be there in 10 minutes!' I responded before cutting the connection to the artifact.

'Regis, I have to be here as the prince as well so we're doing that!'

'That? I like this day already.'

Tessia POV

I was woken from my deep sleep by my fiancé. When I opened my eyes I saw 2 Arthurs. I rubbed my eyes thinking I still was a bit sleepy, but there was still 2 of him.

"Tess, don't freak out. I have things to do today so I made Regis pretend to be me for today." The Arthur on the left, who's seemed to be the real one explained. "I'm sorry for not telling you earlier, but I really have to hurry so have fun!" He said as he stepped through a portal while summoning his armor.

"Can you really be like Arthur for a day?" I asked looking at the remaining Arthur.

"Don't worry for a moment, this isn't the first time we've done this." He replied his voice Arthur's, but his mannerisms still obviously his own.

"Isn't the first time, does that mean--"

"Don't worry, mother! He wouldn't fool you like this for a moment." He replied in a comforting way. But my mind stopped working when I heard what he called me.

"Mother???"

"I've never called you that out loud, have I?" I shook my head at his question. "Shit."

Arthur POV

As I stepped out from the portal right behind my seat already in my Sovereign form, I heard the other wrapping up the previous topic.

As I sat down the conversation about my reforms began. I suggested using the empty fields owned by the state to be used for agricultural production boosting the economy and quality of life by a big margin. The food prices would drop thanks to the larger supply, new jobs would be created for low income people and it would make it possible for them to rise through the ranks. The first one of the sovereigns to speak up was Sovereign Zireael of Truacia. She wholeheartedly supported converting most of the unused land in her territory and she asked if I had any specific plant's in mind.

"I am currently trying to create improved versions of already existing plants, but my plant magic is still lacking. Based on this it's going to take a good few months to finish these completely so in the interest of getting started as soon as possible I suggest using plants that are already being produced and just increase their production. I heard Truacia's most major export is the wine produced there from special ebosu berries. I suggest allocating at least 10% of the land for these berries to increase the potential exports. I suggest all dominion who have a major agricultural export do something similar. If only you can produce it, people are going to want more. If you can slightly reduce the price of the product thanks to the increased production I believe more people are going to buy it leading to more income." Before I could continue I was cut off.

"That's complete bullshit! How could you increase profits by lowering the price?" Sovereign Kiros asked clearly annoyed.

"The lower price is going to encourage people to buy more, it's just human psyche. They are going to believe it's more worth it and buy more as a result. The people who saw these products as too expensive could also start buying it since thanks to the lower price the can finally afford it. The price also doesn't have to change by a major amount. I believe a 10% reduction should do the trick."

"You BELIEVE?" Kiros shouted. "This is idiotic. Vechor is not going to become your little testing field! I'm out of here!" He said before storming out of the room.

Agrona tried to get him to sit down, but he was ignored which shocked most of the others. After a bit of recovery the discussions resumed and I thankfully had the support of all other dominions.

After most of the sovereigns left it was only Agrona, Zireael and me sitting at the table. The sovereign of Truacia suddenly began to speak.

"Sovereign Grey, I wanted to ask permission for a personal endeavor." She said looking at me.

"Why ask me for permission? As far as rank goes we are on the same level. I believe you should be asking my grandfather." I responded slightly confused.

"I did, but he said that if the topic concerns the ither continent, then I should come to you."

At her words I looked over at Agrona who just gave me a smile. It made sense that he would direct her to me if it is about Dicathen. After all I was the one who basically ordered Agrona to get his forces out of there.

"Well then, I understand. What would you like my permission for?" I asked looking back at her.

"I have grown an interest in learning more about the other continent, since Agrona already informed us of the plans to contact officially." I was a bit startled by her words. I didn't hear of these plans up until now. I'm going to have to talk to Agrona about this later.

"I would like to send my two most trusted non-combatants to the other continent to learn as much as they can about their culture, government and everyday life."

"If they're non-combatants, I am going to gladly allow them to go to Dicathen. I do believe however that the best place to learn of all those things and even the magic used there is their equivalent of Central Academy. A place called Xyrus Academy. I could pull some strings with Director Goodsky to get them enrolled if they can look the appropriate age."

"Diector Goodsky? Is her name by any chance Cynthia Goodsky?" she asked with a hopeful expression.

"That is her name yes. Are the two of you acquainted?" I asked a bit startled that a Sovereign would know of a spy sent to Dicathen decades ago.

"Of course! She was my best spy who I gave to the High Sovereign to perform a special mission. I haven't heard from her since." She said looking joyful.

"Well then this is going to be easier than I thought."

We discussed how Zireael is going to get in contact with the director. We finally decided on using a similar artifact I gave to Agrona. I also informed Agrona that I would be removing Cynthia's curse which he understood.

After Zireael left, still overjoyed about finally getting to talk with her favorite disciple after so long, I asked Agrona about his plans for contacting Dicathen. After hearing what he wanted to do I informed him that a ship capable of intercontinental travel is going to be done soon. We agreed that it's best to wait for the arrival of the Dicatheous.

With that being done I informed Regis that I was finally finished and ready to take over. He told me that he's going to arrive in our room in 2 minutes and he's going to be away from prying eyes.

After taking my princely form I quickly searched for Tess while Regis caught me up on the day's events so far through our mental link.

__________________________________________

Well, hello there! 

As the cloaker would say: "I know, I know, I'm late." Work really took a lot out of me today and I just got home. My energy levels are at -100, but thankfully I have a backlog.

I hope you enjoyed this little more political chapter.

This has been Salty and see you all tomorrow!