123 Stepping Away

Things were now moving along with the Illusion wizard tower. The negotiations would take a couple of weeks before signing, and Queen Mira was now the one becoming frustrated. Each meeting, she would bring up my kids and what I wanted to do at least once.

Every time, I ended the conversation with the same statement. 'I have told you the only deal I am willing to make. If you want to take the deal, we can move forward with it and begin to hatch out its exact wording. If not, then there is nothing I can do about it. I will not allow it to affect our other dealings.'

The reason for her frustration I started to find, though, was the fact that her eyes were watching Doorknocker being pleased by Se Mon, Julia, and sometimes Tammy. The ladies were showing up to play with Doorknocker while I talked to Queen Mira. I didn't even think they were teasing her on purpose.

Still, I was moving the negotiations forward, and I heard no complaints so far about Anthoney. In fact, Queen Mira even thanked me for dealing with him so that the women working with him felt more comfortable. With that being moved along, I moved to the next meeting with the Medusa Representative of their government.

The Snakes in her hair were loose and were a charming color of blue in many different shades of it. Her smile was just as charming, and I smiled back. "Representative Gloria, it is a pleasure to see you again," I told a lie through my teeth.

"Ambassador Chelsea," She replied with matching enthusiasm and less politeness. "You have done very little since you have gotten here, just like your previous Ambassador," Gloria said with a grin that spoke more than I wished.

That being said, we both knew that was a lie. Ralph was a failure all around, and I already got them to dispatch ships to deal with the growing pirate threat to help both our economies. Still, the Medusa representative was one of the largest advocates for something that pissed me off to no end. Gloria was fighting for something to be put in the Free Trade agreement that earned the support of several other groups near our border.

"So, Have you changed your mind on the Fishing rights?" Gloria asked with a sharp grin.

"No, I will not and cannot give the rights to free fishing in our coasts to the Demon lands. That is Unless you add that the Beast-kin nation will have the same unfettered freedom in the Demon lands waters." I replied tartly.

"We are defending your waters. Why shouldn't we be allowed to fish in the waters that we defend?" Gloria replied with a smile.

"You are not defending our waters. You are hunting on them for Pirates that have run from your waters into ours since you were not protection merchants as much as you needed to. But," I smirked as I tried to turn things with a wicked thought I suddenly had, "I decided I might be able to sell it to my nation is if whoever defends those waters regardless of which nation is near them can fish in them if that nation is the one to protect those waters." I told her with a grin that I purposefully put malice in.

Gloria thought about the exact wording I used and grimaced. I could see the wheels in her mind on what I had in mind. In the short term, my nation would lose out on a large coastal fishing area. In the long term, though, it would fuel a ship-building program that might start a Naval cold war with the Demon lands afterward. It wasn't the best thing, but I looked much more into the future than she might have thought.

"No, We will go off based on what is happening now," Gloria said, and I stood up.

"I will no longer negotiate with you then," I said, surprising her. "Your position will destroy any form of free trade, and I have given alternatives. I will not be able to sell this to my nation; therefore, this is a waste of my time to be discussing this. I will add one more thing, Representative Gloria. I will no longer negotiate with the Medusa people on this until you change your stance on Fishing rights. I will look to find a deal with the other races or end negotiations in total if the Demon nation insists on this addition. You may take that to the House of Representatives." I said sternly.

I walked out of the meeting, leaving the stunned Medusa in my wake. I opened the door, and Alexia was waiting and looked at me. "Was that a smart decision?" Alexia asked as I moved down the hallway, hearing the door shut behind me.

"Telling off the Medusa?" I asked with a smirk, "They mean nothing at this point. I will cut business with the house representing them at this point; I have already completed orders and have acted coy with them on further contracts. They are already acting like we are beggars and can walk all over us. They have brought the Venomancers into their fold on this and the Beholders. They are working on other races, and many seem to think I will fold on this point." I chuckled as I walked down the hallway.

"It's just some fishing rights to some of the outer coastal waters they are asking for," Alexia said, confused.

"That isn't what they are asking for," I replied more tartly than I meant to. "They are asking for us to give up part of our nation, Alexia," I said, turning on her. "The Beast-kin nation is more than just land. Many of our Port cities with the Pirates being destroyed or pushed back are going to become a money-making area again. Merchants and Trade ports will thrive, making the lower rings of society have more spending power with gold. This is just a small part of what is going to happen." I said, getting in the mood to lecture.

"That is only the start though of the economic impact of the Pirates not taking every ship is going to bring. There will be more robust shipbuilding, more want for timbers, and things like that, fueling more industry for trade. But let's say that we allow them to control the outer waters of our coastline." I continued. "What would happen is a straightforward thing to answer since I know what I would do in their position."

"What would you do?" Alexia asked without thinking.

"I would make as many ships as I could and defend the shit out of those waters and tax any country trying to bring trade to the beast-kin nation that I could." I replied, "They have an agreement that they cant tax us, But they can tax any other import driving up costs in our nation. Then we can only get those goods for cheap from the Demon lands. So those they will force others to go around it by going to the demon lands. Selling it to them before the Demon lands sells it to us charging a premium." I took a breath. "This isn't even mentioning the part that they would find it easier to invade us over water and many other things. And by the Trade agreement, they would be allowed to have shipped just outside our harbors!" I exclaimed. "Not merchant ships, Warships! Just outside of our lands would be armed ships from a nation, not our own 'defending us!" I spat on the floor in disgust.

Alexia started to realize why it was a sticking point that I wouldn't allow, "I tried to offer that whoever could defend those waters would be allowed to fish there. That way, we can use their ships to defend our borders while we attack the Empire, which the Demon lands also wants. So they have an incentive to want us to survive. Then after the war, we should have a couple of years to build up the strength of our naval fleet. If we can do it fast enough with good enough ships, we could even reverse the situation. Invade their waters and do the same thing. But nope, they wouldn't allow that either. I can't be surprised by that, though. They are trying to take advantage of the fact they have a stronger naval power." I took a deep breath, "Fishing rights are fundamental in this deal. If we cannot agree on fishing rights, we stick to our own waters or freely between our waters. The rest doesn't seem to be getting through due to the demons making it a sticking point."

I sighed, feeling annoyed and frustrated. It was getting worse, too, in some aspects. The Gargoyles are liking what the Medusa is saying. More of the races are starting to pick sides on something that I fundamentally cannot agree to. It was all going down the fucking shitter with this one point. I didn't know what to do about it.

They wanted to take the superior position in this agreement, no longer making it free trade between our nations. They wanted this agreement, though, and I would have to start playing harder with them.

I thought about why I was taking the weaker position before and realized that with Queen Mira probably taking a mercenary role in our war with the Empire, I could play a bit harder then. No one outside of the Bunny-kin and the Succubi understood how much combat power they would bring to the early part of the war with the Empire.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized I just needed to get Medusa struck out of the entire agreement. Not their race, but just bypass them and anyone that chooses their side. There were more races, and I needed a majority of them.

I had the Devils and the Imps. However, the Imps were following the Devil's lead. The Succubi representative was happy with the agreement without adding any changes to fishing rights. Therefore the Incubi should be joining them. The Vampires were on the fence in this situation, I believe, because I sent Ambassador Ralph back to the homeland to be interrogated.

I had plenty of space to work with at this moment, and the undecided were only about the fishing rights that the Medusa were making such a big deal. I didn't even need to convince them that the Medusa was wrong; Only to negotiate that in a different and separate agreement.

I smirked as I thought about it. I already knew that I was stepping away from things that would bite me in the ass later. Or maybe even my nation in the ass in the future. That might not matter, though. The coalition that the Medusa and the Venomancers were coming up with were already species that disliked us. The Beholders joined them, and although the Gargoyles might be doing so, that didn't mean that they were.

I started to walk down the hallway, deep in thought as I decided on the matter. It wasn't getting solved if I played nice with all of them. It was now time to show them what having a democracy meant. You will not always be in the majority.

A grin appeared on my face, and Alexia looked at me with a curious gaze. "What?" Alexia asked.

"I think I have been too much of a nice person the last months negotiating. It's time to take off the kiddy gloves. Get me a meeting with the Imps representative and with Francis. Then the Succubi Representatives, Mal, and Kathy. I need to confirm some positions before I start moving forward. Also, get the Incubi Representative here. I need to bring some Bunny-kin here that wouldn't mind a ride with a sex demon while the Incubi are there." I thought out loud and only took note that Alexia was writing on a pad of paper she for from somewhere as I spoke.

"Yes, We need to confirm the votes that they will make on the next assembly of their House of representatives on their meeting. I will try to get the votes before that meeting and cut the stupid fishing rights out of the Free Trade agreement with the stipulation that they will be negotiated at a later time." I nodded to myself.

It wouldn't be perfect, but I was done playing nice. Being nice got me nowhere the last couple of months but some very frustrating sex with my women. It was time to play the other races to see if I could lie, cheat and bribe those votes for this agreement.

I might not have the information that I needed to do this the most effectively. But I would just have to gamble. Worst comes to worst, the agreement dies. The bunny-kin potions would sell regardless of their nation. Just not as many.

I will need to move quickly on this plan, I thought. I can't let the small coalition build too much of an alliance for that stupid addition to the Free Trade Agreement.