Chapter 199. How To Survive (2)
Crunchy! Cuddle!
Lloyd’s hand moved busily.
I stuffed various clothes, gloves, and boots into my backpack.
They lined up sacks and canteens for food.
In the meantime, he said nothing.
As if there was no time to speak out.
As if there was no time to waste.
He was completely engrossed in packing his rucksack with a furious and blind momentum.
Perhaps that was the case.
“…What are you doing?”
A member of the envoy’s entourage came and implied the question.
Only then did Lloyd raise his head.
I glanced back at the attendant.
“As you can see, we are packing.”
“load? what load?”
“It’s luggage for a night getaway.”
“Yavan…getaway?”
“yes.”
Crunchy and crumpled again.
After answering, Lloyd’s hands became busy.
In the meantime, the attention of everyone who had been laughing and rejoicing in the reception room of the guesthouse turned to Lloyd’s room attached to one side of the parlor.
“A night runaway. What do you mean Prince Frontera?”
Finally, the special envoy, Count Ventura, approached and asked.
Lloyd glanced back at the count, and a bitter smile appeared on his lips.
“It is as you say. Do you have any other intentions for escaping at night?”
“You mean to run away? here? tonight?”
“yes.”
“why?”
“Because I just had a reason to do it.”
While answering, Lloyd’s hand did not stop.
Grain oil to use as a substitute for sunscreen in the desert, Lloyd said as he packed blankets to protect him from harsh nights.
“Didn’t you just tell everyone? About the outcome of negotiations that worked out much better than expected.”
“It did.”
“So it is.”
Lloyd’s words continued.
“You said that the Sultan acknowledged responsibility for the Monster Domino Incident, accepted the level of compensation requested by us, and made a decision to proceed after first proposing an agreement to prevent recurrence of the incident?”
“Of course it was. Does that mean there is a problem?”
“yes. It only matters to me.”
A bitter smile appeared on Lloyd’s lips as he was still packing.
“The Sultan here is not such a generous person. Not even stupid people. But if everyone nodded to such an unconventional condition, wouldn’t they be aiming for something of course?”
“no way…Are you saying that the Sultan’s pursuit has something to do with you?”
“yes. You may not believe it.”
“No, believe me. Tell me more.”
The special envoy Count Ventura’s eyes became serious.
It was Count Ventura who now fully recognized Lloyd’s abilities.
It was natural.
If it wasn’t for Lloyd, would they have been able to negotiate?
Absolutely not.
Such a tremendous diplomatic achievement today could not have been dreamed of.
However, as usual, these were the words of Lloyd, who had made a great achievement.
The Count thought he would never be able to overlook it.
“Other people may not know, but I will believe what you say. tell me more.”
“Yes, thank you for saying that.”
Lloyd’s bitter smile deepened.
“This is purely my opinion, but perhaps the Sultan is trying to keep me on my toes.”
“Your feet?”
“yes. He wants to make me his son-in-law.”
“…haha?”
“It is true. I already had one of my daughters as my escort when I went to Kandahar.”
“Has that happened?”
“yes. It’s a personal matter and it’s not something to talk about externally, so I didn’t bother to say it.”
“okay. So, do you mean that the Sultan meekly accepted all the terms of this negotiation in order to make you his son-in-law?”
“Maybe it is.”
“why?”
“Perhaps to show off their generosity.”
“It is generosity.”
“It’s just my personal speculation. The sultan must have wanted to emphasize through this negotiation that his vessel is large and his virtue as a monarch is outstanding. If my predictions are correct….”
“What if?”
“As soon as the sun rises tomorrow, the sultan will invite you to the palace.”
“To show off the great vessel and virtue as a monarch you just mentioned?”
“yes. On top of that, they will try to give me a new job.”
At Lloyd’s words, Count Ventura tilted his head.
“It’s a job. What if you don’t accept it?”
“Perhaps they will press me to overturn the outcome of today’s negotiations.”
Lloyd’s answer came out calmly.
Count Ventura’s mustache twitched.
“To think of overturning a diplomatic agreement just to get one person. Does the Sultan covet you that much?”
“Well, it’s a bit embarrassing to have to say that with my own mouth. I feel like something doesn’t make sense. But no matter how much I think about it, it’s difficult because I think that ridiculous situation will really happen.”
The bitter laugh at the corners of Lloyd’s mouth reached its highest level.
It was really difficult because I thought that crazy prediction would turn out to be true.
In fact, the Sultan he had seen and experienced so far was even more difficult.
‘The Sultan pretended to be cool on the outside, but he was obsessed.’
It was like that when we met yesterday.
He was the one who visited to report the completion of Qanat’s construction.
It was the sultan who revealed his blatant greed towards himself.
But did the sultan try to spread negotiations, which can be said to be irrational?
perhaps.
really.
I kept getting a hunch that I was going to be summoned and subjected to strange pressure.
It seemed that they would take the conditions given in the negotiations hostage.
to get your own job.
Otherwise, I will break the deal.
Then the responsibility for the breakdown of the negotiations is also on you.
It seemed like they were going to cast an absurd back-and-forth.
Then what about this one?
‘I have no choice but to accept the job by eating mustard while crying. Only then can negotiations be maintained and peace will continue. We have to prevent the disaster of Prontera Territory getting caught up in a war.’
What if you get caught up in the Sultan once?
‘It’s ant hell. Will the job be done once and for all? no you’re welcome I never will. When you finish one, another, then another. I’ll keep holding on like that.’
Once that happens, the game is over.
You’re going to be stuck here forever.
In the meantime, you will have to be tempted by the Sultan’s numerous recruits.
No, if you stay tied up like that for a few years, you will be shaken.
When I came to my senses, I found myself sitting here.
It wasn’t bad when I lived it.
It will become that way.
‘It’s a really unfounded guess, and it’s an insane level of prediction, but this kind of touch fits well.’
It was a nimble that had been trained through numerous real battles.
This was especially the case when I was living in a gosiwon.
There was often a time when the entrance fee for the high school examination was slightly lacking.
That was the case when the wages he was supposed to receive were pushed back.
Then, I had to pay the entrance exam fee because I was delayed by a few days.
Responding at that time was important.
‘I had to figure out the movement of the general secretary of Gosiwon. I had to look at other people’s tone of voice or change in behavior to see if the secretary of the gosiwon was nearby.’
Like going to the public bathroom at the end of the hallway.
Or, especially when cooking ramen in the shared kitchen.
What if you fail to notice and run into the secretary?
I had to listen to the question of whether or not I was paying the won.
I had to beg for a few days with the most pitiful expression on my face.
A cockroach-like eye that has been trained through countless real battles (?).
That feeling was still exerted to this day.
‘I don’t like it.’
The future that will unfold if you get caught up in the sultan’s tricks.
Lloyd, who had predicted that, shook his shoulders.
He quickly brushed off the goose bumps and said,
“So it is. If the other side is acting recklessly, then this side should also respond recklessly. In the quickest, simplest and most efficient way possible.”
“…So you’re saying you’re running away at night?”
“yes. After all, the business here is over. Even if my expectations were wrong and the sultan didn’t find me, I wouldn’t lose anything by escaping at night.”
That too was true.
There is nothing to lose by running away at night.
Maybe you can avoid the sultan’s tricks that will happen.
Or, there is nothing wrong with the prediction being wrong.
“So Count. I want you to listen to one request of mine.”
widely.
Lloyd, who had already packed up his rucksack for a night getaway, turned around.
He slung his backpack over his shoulder and smiled at Count Ventura.
In front of that smile, Count Ventura involuntarily had to nod.
♣
The next morning.
Magentano’s special envoy, Count Ventura, was summoned by the Sultan as soon as the day dawned.
No, to be precise, I went to meet the Sultan ‘on behalf of Lloyd, whom the Sultan called to the palace’.
“Especial envoy, Count Ventura. Why did you come here and not the one I called?”
A royal court with smooth black marble.
There the Sultan’s question fell.
The special envoy Count Ventura swallowed softly at the voice of the sultan, filled with both doubt and dissatisfaction.
And I thought.
‘I wonder if the predictions of that young friend, the eldest son of the Prontera family, were true.’
I remembered what Lloyd had told me the night before.
That the sultan would call him to the palace in the morning.
If so.
Did you say that you should see that your expectations were right?
‘He seems like a really smart friend.’
A bitter laugh came out.
And the count remembered.
The request that Lloyd left right before he ran away at night.
“The reason I came here in response to the Sultan’s call is not so grandiose.”
“It’s not grandiose. Please clarify the reason, Magentano’s special envoy.”
“Yes, Sultan. Lloyd Frontera, called by the Sultan this morning, is now urgently returning home.”
“…moore?”
The sultan paused.
Count Ventura’s explanation continued.
“To be honest, unfortunately, Lloyd Frontera fell ill with a terrible endemic disease. Perhaps it was because he had been away from home for so long that he had to make the inevitable decision to send him back to his country first.”
“…I’m sure you’re not trying to use the pretext of recuperating.”
“Sorry, but it is true that he urgently needed recuperation in his hometown.”
“Do you think Jim would believe such an excuse?”
“It’s really sad, but….”
“All right. I had to stop.”
The Sultan shook his hand.
There was already a bitter smile on the lips of such a desert ruler.
‘Lloyd Frontera. Could it be that he understood Jim’s intentions?’
I regretted it.
I deliberately accepted most of Magentano’s negotiation demands.
I was going to use that as an excuse to entrust Lloyd with a new job.
I was trying to pressure him into voiding the negotiations if he didn’t accept the job.
tie your feet like that
Even if you force it to sit down.
I tried to make you my subject.
‘Have you noticed Jim’s intentions just by looking at the results of yesterday’s negotiations? Do you even run away at night under the pretext of recuperation?’
What kind of cockroach-like people are there?
The more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.
At the same time, I couldn’t help but admit defeat.
‘You lost. lost How can I bring back a minister from a foreign country who was dismissed under the pretext of illness?’
If you put an irrational number, you can do that.
A nationwide order may be issued.
But then the shape gets really bad.
It is like forcibly grabbing a person who is going to recuperate and making him sit down.
What if, in a situation like that, you try to take the result of the negotiations as a hostage and leave the job?
One’s own intentions are revealed too plainly.
Moreover, even Lloyd’s position becomes embarrassing.
If you unreasonably accept the job in such a situation, it will already be like announcing to the outside world that you will abandon Magentano.
In other words, it is an irrational number for both himself and Lloyd.
‘under.’
He took away all justification from his plan with a simple night escape.
Even the silly of both sides was wiped clean.
You can’t catch it even if you try to catch it.
It doesn’t even make sense to do so.
That’s what created the situation.
‘This is why I can’t be greedy.’
The Sultan laughed hysterically and threw it away.
He beckoned Count Ventura to step back.
The throne left alone.
I sat there and was deep in thought.
‘I’ll just let you go this time. But don’t assume that you’ll be able to shake off the burden forever.’
Lloyd Frontera.
One day I will definitely make it my own.
Whether to make him son-in-law or give him the power next to the crown prince.
I will use the ability of that cheeky man to prepare a foundation that can sustain the kingdom for a thousand years.
The Sultan swore and swore.
However, at this moment, there was one fact that the Sultan was completely unaware of.
Oneself burning with ambition to recruit talented people.
He is determined to get his hands on Lloyd.
while you don’t care about that.
That one of the most promising talents was out of his control. Rather, he went on a long journey to meet Lloyd.
The Sultan didn’t realize it until the next day.
“…what? Serazad? Disappeared?”
A child with the most potential among his children.
A daughter who was expected to become a sword master one day.
Upon receiving the letter Serazade left behind, Sultan unknowingly grabbed onto the back goal.
