Listening to Aditya's direct warning, Ethan's face turned pale. "At most, it would take his Majesty one week. By then the whole Nepoca Kingdom would fall in our hands. We simply could have attacked back after defeating the force of 50,000. But we didn't. His Majesty was kind enough to call for this meeting yet you're disrespecting his kindness." Watson's words added more pressure on King Ethan.
"So what are you going to do now King Ethan? Will you choose to give up a part of your territory or will you choose to lose your entire territory with your life?" Aditya drank the remaining wine inside the glass as he waited for Ethan to answer.
Both Watson and Aditya knew that they have managed to push King Ethan to the corner. By limiting his options, he would have no choice but to agree with Aditya's conditions.
Ethan gritted his teeth and glanced at King Vega for some help. His eyes were clearly pleading with King Vega to help him. However, the Nyland King ignored him as he continued to eat his food.
Seeing this, Ethan instantly knew that the Nyland king had no intention of taking his side. The Nyland king looked more interested in forming an alliance with Aditya and the Istarin Kingdom. 'Damn you, Aditya.'
"Fine"
"What did you say? I couldn't hear your words."
"I said Fine." Ethan glared at Aditya as he replied in a high-pitched tone.
"I agree to hand over Duke Easton's territory to the Istarin Kingdom. But I will only do that if you agree to sign a non-aggression pact under the watch of Nyland King."
'Smart man. He is using the Nyland King to make sure that the Istarin Kingdom does not break their promise and attack the Nepoca Kingdom. If the Istarin Kingdom attacks the Nepoca Kingdom, then the Nyland King will have to step up and protect the Nepoca Kingdom. I guess he wasn't totally a dumb person.' Aditya couldn't help but smile.
"If King Aditya is okay with it, then the Nyland kingdom shall guard the non-aggression pact and watch over both Kingdoms." With his pact, King Vega could gain certain control over the movements of both Kingdoms which will only benefit his Kingdom in the future. But he also didn't wish to offend Aditya while doing that. He wished to befriend the Dragon King and make him a powerful ally.
"Fine, I agree but the pact will have some conditions in it."
"What conditions?" Ethan was starting to feel that Aditya was going to trap him again.
Aditya raised his right hand and started stating the conditions of the pact. "Under normal circumstances, the Istarin Kingdom shall not attack the Nepoca Kingdom. But if the Nepoca Kingdom or the King breaks one of the following promises, then the Istarin Kingdom also shall strike back."
"First of all, if the Nepoca Kingdom is found guilty of trying to launch a secret attack on the Istarin Kingdom."
"If the Nepoca Kingdom is found guilty of attacking the Istarin Kingdom's economy in secret."
"Third, the Nepoca Kingdom cannot order any military drill 10 km near my borders."
"And lastly if the Nepoca Kingdom tries to attack the Kingdom of Thera, the Istarin Kingdom shall strike back."
Hearing the last part even both King Vega and King Charles were surprised. "I can follow the first three conditions but why I am not allowed to attack the Kingdom of Thera? The Kingdom of Thera is not yours. It's an independent Kingdom."
"One reason. the Kingdom of Thera is our ally" Another reason that made Aditya add the last condition was the ambition of King Ethan. Knowing Ethan's personality, he won't just stand around and let the Istarin Kingdom continue to suppress his Kingdom. If he can conquer this land, then he can attack the Istarin Kingdom from two sides which Aditya didn't want to let happen.
King Charles and King Vega were confused. Since when did the Istarin Kingdom become an ally of the Thera Kingdom? Both Kings nodded at each other and decided to not question Aditya for now. The last condition was also giving protection to the small kingdom of Thera. In the future, the Nepoca Kingdom will have to think twice before they attack his land. So King Charles was a little grateful to Aditya.
Ethan also understood the hidden reason why Aditya added the last part. He secretly gritted his teeth as his eyes flashed with murderous intent. He wanted to rip Aditya's head right here but considering how powerful the Dragon King was, he suppressed his anger for now. "Alright. I agree with all of your terms and conditions."
"Good." Then the royal legal team came and made the contract right in front of the Kings. Three contracts were made. Aditya, Ethan, and Vega signed all three contracts and kept each copy with them.
"Now that the meeting is over, I won't waste my time here. I apologize but I have a lot of work to do. I have to shift the Duke's family from his former territory." While saying that he once again glared at Aditya to which he replied with a nodding smile.
"It was a pleasuring meeting the King of Nyland." Ethan then left the room with a look of anger.
"Hehe! I wonder how he is going to react knowing that I have crippled his 3rd-order, Duke." Hearing Aditya's words King Charles slightly shivered. The Dragon King was more cunning than he originally thought. He was ruthless and merciless to his enemies.
"King Aditya!!!!" As expected everyone hear a loud roar from Ethan seeing the state of his Duke. One of the reasons why he agreed to this meeting was to get his 3rd-order Duke back. But now that his Duke has been crippled there was no use for Duke Easton anymore. Unable to handle his anger anymore, in front of everyone Ethan ripped off Easton's head and left.
"Now Gentlemen, shall we continue our meal." To others, this smile look handsome and cool but to King Charles, he felt like the devil was smiling at him. 'I should never offend this man.' The storm dragon swore in his heart to never get on the Dragon King's bad side.
'He is so young yet he is so experienced and cunning. His thoughts are way ahead of others. This whole time he was controlling Ethan's emotions through his words. He is terrifying. Unfortunately, non of my sons has an of King Aditya's abilities. Once I step down, the Nyland kingdom will also start declining. To keep the Kingdom from falling, I need allies like him.'
The Nyland King was a man in his last final years. He didn't have much time left. He wanted to make sure the Kingdom he and his forefathers built are not broken and conquered. Unfortunately, non of his sons were qualified to become King. 'Because of my negligence, they have become like King Ethan.'
This worries the Nyland King very much. Even though he had 3 sons, non of them were capable enough to take over the throne. 'Before I step down from the throne, I will have to befriend the Istarin Kingdom.' Knowing how fast Aditya conquered the Zulux Dynasty, he feared that once Aditya got stronger he would go after his Kingdom. Even if Aditya didn't go after his Kingdom, his foolish sons would surely try to attack the Largest Kingdom in this part of the continent and would end up being defeated in Aditya's hand.
Vega wasn't foolish enough to believe that his 4th-order cultivator could take Aditya down. According to the reports, Aditya has never really shown his true powers. He has enough power to kill Peak 3rd-order general with ease.
"Aditya, I hope three of our Kingdoms can become an ally and work together in the future." After some discussion, Aditya, Vega, and Charles agreed to form a triple alliance between their Kingdoms. If any foreign power attacked one Kingdom, it would be considered an attack on all three Kingdoms.
After the meeting ended soon every Kingdom in the eastern part of the continent learned of the contracts and new alliances. The sudden rise in the Istarin power was a huge shocking factor to everyone.
Meanwhile, Aditya returned to Azure city. He sent Watson, Nathan, and Tyler with 5,000 troops to governor Duke Easton's territory as part of the Istarin Kingdom. With Duke Easton's territory, the Istarin Kingdom has become the biggest Kingdom in the eastern part of the continent.
Naturally, this was followed by thousands of paper works. Aditya had some much work in his hand that he literally started staying at his own office.
Minutes turned into hours, hours turned into days, days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Aditya was working on making new reforms, plans, improvements to the military, and trying to improve the public sector. At the same time, he was also keeping an eye on his Kingdom's nobles and his neighboring Kingdoms.
Aditya also started recruitment of the army. His 7 generals also returned and started training the soldiers of their division. All the new recruits were divided into 7 divisions. Aditya also gave the Majins a special rank. They were known as the shadows of the Dragon king.
Like this one month passed in the blink of an eye. Aditya was so busy this month that he sometimes even skipped meals or even stopped sleeping at night times.
[End of First Volume] Thank you for reading this far. I know I have been uploading less chapters this month but from next month, I will try to upload 2 chapters per day. I will also add more chapters to the privilege.
Thank you for all the support. The second volume will focus on William's journey and his background story.
