Chapter 2854: Undercurrents and Prophetic Glimpses

————I'm not feeling well today due to a fever, so there is only one chapter. I'll make up for this chapter tomorrow~~

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The next day.

Xia Duo arrived at the Council early. Although today's meeting might just be a formality, almost all the councilors attended in person.

"Councilor Xia Duo, good morning."

"Good morning, Councilor Kelifu."

Kelifu, whom he hadn't seen yesterday, arrived relatively early today. Xia Duo greeted him, and they entered the meeting hall together, then waited for the others to arrive one after another.

Some people had already arrived but were still chatting in the garden outside. At this moment, inside the meeting hall, besides Xia Duo and Kelifu, only Speaker Badijiaer had arrived early.

A short while later, the various councilors arrived one after another. Only a few individuals did not attend in person, such as Niya, who was still at the Tower of Time researching the Mythallar; this time, she didn't even attend via Projection, but instead had Xia Duo cast her vote for her.

Others, like Buluode, also did not arrive in person and only attended via Projection.

"Alright, since everyone is here, let's begin!"

The Mithril agreement between Netheril and the two countries in the past was not an intuitive manifestation of an alliance, but over the past few hundred years, Netheril had always been trying to replace the status of Eaerlann, and had achieved decent results, but in the end, it was impossible to completely replace them.

After a simple opening statement, Badijiaer first introduced the cause of this emergency meeting to everyone, which was this Mithril Mine incident.

"Eaerlann and Ruier have the intention to unite and support Amalinda in obtaining the right of first occupancy of the Surface Grey Peak Mountains. Cormanthor and Illefarn are temporarily watching from the sidelines because they do not border the Grey Peak Mountains.

After Xia Duo finished speaking, Buluode was the first to express support, which warmed up the atmosphere significantly. Then, the various councilors began to express their own views. Besides support or additions to Xia Duo's proposal, there were also views on the attitudes of the various Northland countries.

"Eaerlann and Ruier established a Mithril Alliance very early on. If we let them unite again to take the lion's share this time, it certainly won't be a good thing for us."

After all, making money is nothing to be ashamed of.

In the end, a total of 42 votes were in favor; even if everyone else had opposed it, it could still have been forced through.

It is to try one's best to promote fair distribution within the Alliance, letting this unexpected incident serve as an opportunity for the various Northland countries to further unite.

Besides this, there are also general services, such as Dwarf architects entering Elf society to work, or Elf designers heading to the Underdark, and so on.

"Now, let's vote. Regarding the attitude and plan of Netheril toward this Mithril Mine incident proposed by Councilor Xia Duo, who is in favor?"

"As long as we can break the Mithril Alliance of Eaerlann and Ruier, even Cormanthor might not be impossible to unite with."

Badijiaer did not mention the Demon Descendant; it seems the Northland Alliance side also has no new news regarding the Demon Descendant. This is undoubtedly bad news; a viper hidden in the dark is even more dangerous because you don't know when it will quietly strike.

All require authorization from the Seventon Council. If it is just a general matter, Tiao can possess sufficient autonomous decision-making power.

"As for countries like Evereska, they have also temporarily not expressed their stance, but one thing is certain: the several countries around the Grey Peak Mountains, besides us, including Evereska, will all send forces toward the Mithril Mine."

But Badijiaer still confirmed it according to the procedure. The remaining nine votes were all abstentions. Xia Duo's proposal was officially passed and will become the fundamental principle for Ambassador Tiao's negotiations in the Northland Alliance moving forward.

And correspondingly, Eaerlann also needs to provide surface support services to Ruier, so that Ruier Dwarves can receive timely support when operating on the ground, or even have citizens of the two countries serve in each other's Army.

In addition, there were two councilors from the Sweetwater Three Planes who also could not attend in person for various reasons, and they also used the Tower of Time's Remote Conference System for their Projections.

Of course, regarding the above, whatever Eaerlann has, as long as the other Northland countries do not object, Ruier can also satisfy, but compared to their close neighbor Eaerlann, the conditions of other countries in all aspects are far inferior.

"The current situation is like this; it is temporarily still unclear. We must reach a consensus as soon as possible on how to deal with this Mithril Mine incident."

But for a negotiation involving the huge interests of the various Northland countries, having fundamental principles alone is not enough; it also requires support from numerous details, such as the bottom line for negotiations, the scope of communication with representatives of various countries, the scope of interest exchange, and so on.

Fortunately, it is not the time to discuss Ruier topics now. Badijiaer spoke up in time, gradually pulling back the increasingly off-topic conversation——

The Mithril Alliance between Ruier and Eaerlann is not a political or military alliance; it is closer to a customs union or trade partnership and does not affect Ruier's neutral status.

Just as Xia Duo expected yesterday, there was indeed a slight variable today. Those who originally wanted to abstain ended up voting in favor. As for those who had already agreed to support it, they of course voted in favor as always.

Most of that information was already known to the vast majority of councilors, including Xia Duo. The focus of Badijiaer's briefing this time was on the latest reactions from the various countries of the Northland Alliance, which had just been transmitted back to the country by Tiao, the Netheril representative to the Northland Alliance, this morning.

……

Because Eaerlann and Ruier have too many complementary industries, and coupled with the fact that both countries are long-lived species, their friendship of hundreds or thousands of years is far more stable than that with Netheril.

"Illefarn does not border the Grey Peak Mountains, so it is difficult for them to directly interfere with the Grey Peak Mountains. They have common interests with us."

As for Eaerlann and Ruier, their trade list is even richer. Besides the trade of physical goods, there are also a large number of service-type trades, such as Eaerlann regularly sending Spellcasters to the Underdark to garrison for Ruier while training troops.

Xia Duo himself does not go so far as to want Eaerlann and Ruier to become enemies, but he is also very supportive of developing further relations between Netheril and Ruier.

What is exported are low-value-added products, but what is imported are high-value-added ones. Regardless of whether it is a deficit or not, it is not a good thing; it means being easily harvested by others.

If the Northland Alliance had not appeared, Xia Duo believes that in a few years, Eaerlann and Ruier would have been entirely capable of coming together and becoming a confederated country.

After Badijiaer finished speaking, the meeting hall was silent. Xia Duo naturally had no need to be modest at this time; it was his proposal to begin with. If he himself were not proactive, how could he get others to support him?

Besides this, there are also trades in Adamantine, Mithril, Gemstone, Magic Item, etc., but overall, Netheril is in a state of huge deficit.

So he stood up and stated his proposal, which was the final plan after a whole day of consultation and refinement with various councilors yesterday. It only had some adjustments in details compared to his initial proposal, and the overall principles remained consistent.

Currently, the bulk commodities that Netheril and Ruier trade the most are grain, Ironware, ore, and alcohol. Among them, Netheril mainly exports grain, alcohol, and various types of ore, and imports Ironware.