"I can not show you unless you are willing to form an alliance with me. Our alliance will differ from other kingdoms as we will have a full free trade alliance that will allow us to freely move back and forth between the nations. With certain restrictions on people who have been arrested in either nation. If you are willing to form the alliance, then I can show you everything I have planned and in the works to ensure both our nation's safeties." I would not give out or show what I had on hand for nothing. After all, only when an alliance was formed would we both have the means to truly trust each other. I am not saying that the elves are untrustworthy, but I can not risk the lives of my soon to be citizens.
"Hmmm…." The elven king looked at me before nodding his head. "You are young but smart. I figured I would ask this question because you were Runa's friend. I wanted to see if you would give out the knowledge freely before even forming an alliance with me. I know Runa has seen the things but is unable to speak about them, no matter how many times I tried to fish for information. But do not look down at me. I am a king, after all, and anything that may benefit my kingdom and my people is something I have to look into. But you know that this alliance that you speak of will force all of our citizens of both nations into a pact that will not allow any of us to harm one another. This alliance you speak of will be one that we can never go back on from the moment it is sealed. So if you ever wanted to take over my elven kingdom, you would never be able to."
I chuckled as I answered: "I may seem like a warmonger, but that is not the case. I would prefer to form an alliance between all nations. Which will support one another and not fight for measly gains because that only ruins the lives of the soldiers who die, their families, and our citizens. Everyone will be affected by it. So a peaceful pact between nations is something we should be able to give rise to. Our best minds between nations working together for one purpose is better than everyone being wary of the other, is it not?"
"Hahaha! You are right! We elves always prefer peace. This is why we rarely mingle with other kingdoms, but this time as you have said, times are not very good. There are too many unknowns, and if my people are alone in this matter, it will result in us being targeted by many. As such, I would prefer to be in a relationship with your empire that is about to bloom and follow your lead in hopes of making a continent that is truly at peace." The elven king replied with a smile. He looked very satisfied with my answers thus far. Inwardly I was breathing a sigh of relief because Runa was my friend. I did not wish to become enemies over any of this. We would still be two separate nations just working towards the same goal.
Whether any of this is good for the world or not, I do not know. I am following the path that many on earth have tried to tread many times before. World wars were started in this way. But that does not mean I will sit idly and allow ourselves to be consumed by greater powers and threaten the safety of my people. The dwarven kingdom is an example of this. If I had not gone there when I did and discovered the issue, we would not have known that there was someone pulling the strings from behind the scenes. There was no telling what would have happened. The kingdom might have fallen, the king would have been ousted, and the stupid prince would have been made a puppet ruler who would only suck the kingdom dry, even more, making the lives of billions of people worse to the point that a civil war would have probably broken out and only when the Azengrade's people appeared to stop it would things really come to show.
But this is all speculation on my part, as I have no idea what they had planned. They may be planning something else for all I know. But from everything that I have heard so far, this seems like the best assumption for this whole mess.
Why such powerful beings are hiding in the dark, I do not know, unless there are many unknowns in this world that are blocking them as well. Whatever it is, I do wish I could see it for myself. After all, it would at least shine some light on the mystery of this race of beings who appeared out of nowhere.
"Then we should work out what will go into the contract." The elven king waved his hand, and a servant came over with a pen and paper. I noticed he was using one of my pens which made me smile.
For the next few hours, we worked out our alliance pact, which covered everything from military to trade, as well as rules and laws that would need to be followed in case someone somehow broke the contract on them and committed a crime. Everything was pretty simple. For military, if one was attacked, the other nation would send aid no matter what. If I moved to annex a territory, the elven people would gain control of any forest and the spirits domain. This did not stop people from entering the forest to hunt and whatnot, but it would allow the elves to regulate certain species that were considered necessary for the forest's growth. As for them gaining the sprite's domain, it would only be on an in name basis only since no one owned that but the spirits themselves, but they would be in charge of protection as the elves are the protectors of the spirits.
For trade, the elves would build a small town where many things could be traded at the edge of the forest. This will be where the teleport would be set up, and it would allow trade with my citizens and also allow for regulation on certain items, as some things were not allowed in elven cities or territories. The same would be done on my side of things as well.
We wanted free trade, but this still had to have some limits due to the different cultures. As for the other things, I would disclose them all to the elven king once the contract has been set between our two nations to never disclose any information about our military capabilities. Then I would bring him directly to the hangars to get a first hand look for himself.
