"I have to admit, I’m a bit surprised, you really did show up by yourself," Remarked Landis, as I entered the throne room in my slime form before reverting to my normal state.

"Well, yeah, I did say that I would, and I’m definitely not here to start a fight, so consider it a peaceful gesture," I replied with a shrug.

That’s a lie...truth is, Satan and Lucifer are in my Pocket Dimension right now, and if things get ugly, I’ll let them out. But I don’t need to tell him that, better to make it seem like I’m displaying a show of good faith or whatever.

There are a lot of other people here...Aries was standing next to Landis, and there were a bunch of people in fancy clothes, I’m guessing they’re the influential Nobles he mentioned the last time I was here.

"Do it now, kill him!" Suddenly yelled one of the Nobles, opening a portal before a couple of men in hooded cloaks sprang out of it and shot towards me...ah, looks like I’m not the only one who’s using the Pocket Dimension Skill here.

"No, stop!" Exclaimed Landis, but the men paid him no heed, charging towards me as they manifested their Soul Weapons.

Hm, he genuinely seems alarmed and panicked, looks like he wasn’t involved in this.

"We will not negotiate with a Heretic who’s allied himself with fucking Monsters!" Snapped the Noble who’d opened the portal, as the two men closed in on me.

"Guess I shouldn’t be surprised, huh?" I sighed wistfully, as I turned my hands to slime and rapidly expanded them out, engulfing the two assailants before they could attack me.

I then turned the slime acidic, melting them down in a matter of seconds before throwing the bloody sludge that was left of their bodies out the window and returning my hands to normal.

The Noble flinched as I then turned my attention towards him, stumbling back in fear as I manifested my Soul Weapon and swung it across towards him while extending it out, hitting the side of his neck before he could react and slicing his head right off his shoulders.

"W-we need to run!" Cried one of the other Nobles, as the head of the one I’d decapitated hit the floor with a thud and rolled away, his headless corpse collapsing and falling over as blood poured out of the stump of his neck, while the other Nobles in the room began to panic.

"Relax, I’m not gonna kill anyone unprovoked! Like I said, I’m not here to start a fight...but that said, if anyone tries to attack me, I will retaliate. Now, then...," I trailed off as I turned my attention to Landis and continued with a raised eyebrow, "I trust that you had nothing to do with this, am I right, my dear uncle?"

"Yes, that’s right, I had no idea that he was going to do that, you have my sincerest apologies for that unpleasant display," He replied as he bowed his head towards me, the remaining Nobles muttering amongst themselves as they eyed me warily.

"Alright, then, since that’s the case, let’s just pretend that didn’t happen and move past it, shall we? Let’s get right down to business...what’s your response to my proposal? My request hasn’t changed...ideally, I’d like to form an alliance with Obsidian, which will include trade agreements. But if that’s too much to ask for, I’m willing to settle for a simple non-aggression pact.

However, I think it’ll be in your best interest to agree to an alliance with Arcadia. I’m sure you’re well aware that our nation is quite rich in resources that aren’t found here in Obsidian, and we’re willing to sell those resources at a fair price. Specifically, at a thirty percent discount to the price that Hematite sold these resources at," I offered, as I took out a large sack full of precious gemstones and jewels from my Pocket Dimension and set it down.

With Lumena making copies of any and all valuable resources and items, we’ll be making a profit no matter what price we sell these at. And it looks like I’ve got the attention of the Nobles...of all our resources, looks like I made the right call with going with the gemstones for this, they’re suckers for this stuff.

"I see, that’s quite the generous offer...and to give you my answer, yes, I agree to forming an alliance and trade agreements with Arcadia. I have no intention of going to war against Demons and Dragon Kings, so I have no objections," He stated with a nod.

Oh...cool, I wasn’t expecting that. Honestly, I thought even a non-aggression pact was fifty-fifty at best, so this worked out better than I thought it would.

"If I may...I have a personal request I’d like to make of you," Suddenly spoke up Aries, a tense look on her face as she stepped forward.

"Hm? What is it?" I inquired curiously.

"I’d like to pay a visit to your nation. Rather, to be more specific, I want to meet with Mysst and speak to her in person. Would that be alright?" She requested.

"Oh, is that all? Yeah, sure, that’s fine by me," I replied with a thumbs up.

"Thank you, I appreciate it," She responded gratefully.

"Sure. Now, then, shall we make it official? I’ve drawn up a bunch of documents with two copies of each, feel free to go through them. After that, we just need to sign them and we’ll be set," I remarked, taking out a folder from my Pocket Dimension and turning my arm to slime before extending it out towards Landis and handed him the folder.

"Er, okay, let’s see here...," He muttered, as he took the documents out of the folder and began reading the terms I’d set out.

It was pretty standard stuff, including elements of a peace treaty, several clauses in regards to trade arrangements, stuff like that.

Before coming here, I spoke to Rhyle about Landis, asking him questions about what kind of a person he is. After all, they are brothers, so I figured he’d have some insight in that matter.

And he did, he told me that Landis was probably the most intelligent and resourceful amongst the Royal siblings and dedicated a lot of time to studying up on various topics.

With that in mind, he should hopefully be smart enough to realize that the terms in the documents I presented are very fair, and would benefit both Obsidian and Arcadia equally.

"Satisfied?" I asked him, as he finished perusing the documents.

"Yes, I am. I was prepared to try and negotiate some of the terms, but the way they’ve been set out, they’re quite well balanced and fair, not to mention thorough, I have no objections to any of the clauses and terms presented in these documents," He nodded in response.

"Alright, then let’s get to signing them, shall we? Oh, one more thing...this is just a request, so feel free to ignore it if you want. I’d like you to help convince and direct the other nations of the Dark Continent into forming similar agreements with Arcadia, I’d really appreciate that."

"Huh? Well, I can try, but I can’t guarantee that I’d be able to successfully convince all of them. Especially not Zircon, considering that, well..."

"Ah, right, we burned their capital to the ground and killed their Queen. Yeah, in hindsight, we might’ve gone a tad bit overboard there," I responded with a sheepish smile.

"Yes, that...but regardless, I’ll accept your request and see what I can do to convince them."

He sure is being cooperative, huh? Gotta say, it’s working well in my favor that he’s a sharp person...a less intelligent ruler may have refused to even listen to me, let alone agree to an alliance. Someone like the late Queen of Zircon...

"Thanks, I’m grateful for your cooperation."

"Of course. Out of curiosity, I must ask...do you intend on forming alliances with the nations of the Light Continent too?" He inquired curiously.

"Well, I did consider it, but I doubt I’ll pursue that anytime soon, if at all. It’s hard, but not impossible, to convince someone whose prejudices are based on instilled beliefs, it’s not always easy but they can be reasoned with.

Case in point, the fact that Obsidian has agreed to an alliance with Arcadia is proof of that, and there’s also the fact that the former citizens of Hematite are slowly but surely warming up to the non-human citizens of Arcadia.

However, it’s a lot more difficult to reason with prejudice based on fanatical religious beliefs, and I’d rather not have to deal with people like that. Worst case scenario, the entire Light Continent might end up declaring war on us, so it’s probably for the best that I leave that stone unturned," I sighed wistfully...

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