The various customs Alexander alluded to was most certainly the Adhanian noble tradition of gifting women to one another.
One in which he made it abundantly clear he was not interested in participating as then Alexander ended his long list of offers and demands for joining him.
While arriving at the end of the three-page demands and offers the nobles sat quietly for some time.
Thinking.
Reading.
Whispering to one another.
Then reading.
And then thinking some more.
It seemed they had a lot of talk about among themselves.
And seeing this Alexander smiled and suggested, "Of course, you do not have to answer me right now. You may have the week to decide."
But then with the same smiling face threatened, "But remember, you have to acquiesce to either one of the demands. Because if you do not agree to either of the options, we will not have any other options either."
"So any questions?" Alexander ended his threat of total destruction against them with an innocent inquiry in a light jovial tone.
"......" And like the first time, Alexander was at first given a wall of silence.
But this time perhaps because of the naked threat rather than the absence of any query.
But finally a brave shordar (Baron) in a low voice slowly spoke up, "*Ahem*…my lord, these 50 men that you ask for, …and cost of the various constructions….who will pay for them? Us? Or…."
"No." Alexander firmly shook his head, "All of it will be paid by the Zanzan council using the taxes collected from all of us. That's why we ask for these contributions. To be used for the collective betterment of you."
Alexander tried to paint this practice in as positive a light as possible, and then added,
"Or by borrowing money from other sources."
Here, of course, Alexander was referring to himself, who had around 300 million ropals in his treasury and was about to make another 500 to 600 million from Pasha Farzah and Lady Inayah combined.
So Alexander was damn sure that once he set up the bank, he would become one of the biggest lenders around this part of not only Adhania but in this region of the world.
"My lord, sparing 200 men for us year-round is a bit too hard. May you reconsider?" Following the question of the other shordar (baron), this time a talukdar (Viscount) made this brave request.
But Alexander was a irk by this and brutally shut him down with simple maths,
"The 200 peasants would produce for you around 1 million ropals worth of produce."
"From that, you would have taken 20% as taxes. Meaning 200,000 ropals."
"And here we are giving you 3 million in profit."
And then very pointedly asked, almost as if to show his frustration at the nobles still whining about the deal,
"So what are you complaining about?"
"Even if we wanted 2,000 men, we still would have suffered a loss."
"Never mind the fact those 200 men will be needed for just a year or two, whereas we will give you these preferential rates for much, much longer."
"Hmmmp…" Alexander very loudly snorted, appearing quite angry.
And it caused Jamider (Earl) Tikba to quickly intervene on the other man's behalf,
"No, no, that was not what Lord Yanoosh meant my lord."
"In fact we are all very fond of the conditions you have proposed. The amount of money you are willing to give us is most generous."
"And what we are most grateful for is that you have not demanded any land for us. Or asked us to change the officials who run our territories. Those are usually very common orders."
"So the amount of favors you have shown us we dared not dream a thousandth of it."
"Thank you,"
Tikba first placated Alexander with a thick, heavy, layer of flattery.
And then helped the talukdar express his concern, "But what Lord Yanoosh was actually expressing his concern about was that he might not be able to grow enough crops to feed himself.
And with us switching sides, it might also not be easy to buy grains in the open market."
As Tikba finished saying this, the specific talukdar silently nodded his head to say that was indeed the specific problem.
Alexander naturally understood what kind of guarantees they wanted, and simply said,
"Then sell the things we give you to Matrak or Adhan. I'm sure they will be happy to trade you their surplus."
"Hahaha, yes, yes," Pasha Farzah after a long time entered the conversation, loudly announcing his interest.
As did Lady Inayah, "Of course, we are very happy to buy up all the new things."
ƥandasnovel.com While the Queen Mother gave a nod and smile
The much cooler reaction was because it would be far too improper for a royal member to openly show too much interest in trading and goods as matters concerning money were thought to be below the divine envoys of the gods, and best left for the lower peasants and peddlers to squabble over.
Though perhaps the royal family was the most greedy dragon out of many entities in Adhania.
For Lord Tikba, with the first trade routes secured, and with such bigshots at that, the results were far better than he could have ever hoped for, and he gave a heavy and cordial bow towards the four, Thank you."
After this, he turned to face Alexander and then inquried about a little curious thought of his own,
"Lord Alexander, it is written in the fifth point that we must implement various infrastructure projects. If you do not mind, may we know what they could be?"
On the surface, this question appeared to be a harmless question, a simple flirt of the curious mind.
But for the ever-incisive Alexander, it appeared that this man was sharp enough to notice that those specific allocated men would be likely used in other infrastructure projects after they finished building the roads.
So those men that Alexander would acquire from them were likely to remain in his hands for quite some time.
And not just one or two years as he said.
Or perhaps Alexander could even demand even more for the other projects.
After all, he said it himself, 'I could ask for 2,000 and still make a loss'.
So who was to say?
Jamider (Earl) Tikba certainly took this thought into his mind, while Alexander clearly understand that this Jamider (Earl) was no herbivore.
No, in fact Jamider (Earl) Tikba was the real-life example of 'what he lacks in brawl he makes up for it with brains.' kind of guy,
The thin, almost sickly man seemed to tarded his health for a very healthy, sharp brain.
And this particular inquiry made Alexander want to learn more about the man and even keep an eye on him.
Such a shrewd mind could both he an asset and a huge danger.
But for now, Alexander first concentrated on his answer.
'Some of the additional structures we will require you to build is a good sewage system in all the towns in order to clean the dirty streets, construct public toilets and bathhouses in the cities for better personal hygiene, and build better roads inside the cities for easier foot traffic to the markets and stalls."
"But those are years away," Alexander attempted to play down the timeline, whereas in reality, he wanted to finish everything before the treaty expired.
So around 5 years.
Then, since they were asking, Alexander also decided to add, "Also, later we may also ask you to enact policies, such as enforce law and order in the cities to crack down on thievery and banditry, combat corruption, dedicate street sweepers to clean the streets, fine people who litter and dump waste in the city and some other miscellaneous tasks."
Alexander gave an exhaustive list.
To which Lord Tikba first gave a polite smile and nonchalantly praised, "Haha, I've noticed similar goods things happening in Zanzan city. It seems the lord loves commerce and cleanliness. Truly noble qualities."
But he still did not say yes or no to either offer.
Instead, not seeing anyone else raise any inquiries, decided to take that offer of a week to think about it, and proposed to end the meeting.
"Well my lords and Your Highnesses, we have all heard what Lord Alexander proposed."
"And personally I can say I've quite liked it."
"The Pasha of Zanzan is truly enlightened. As are I'm sure all four of you great lords and ladies."
"So, may we meet here again in say…four days to give you our answers?"
He figured four days would be enough to discuss with his other fellow nobles and neighbors to come to a solid conclusion.
"Sure. Take your time my lord." Alexander too felt there was little more to discuss.
And so with polite bows towards each other, the long, almost 4-hour meeting came to an end.
As the guests were then moved to an outside, shaded garden table, where another grand feat began, which lasted till late noon.
And it was only around evening did the 16 people leave, and Alexander could talk to his retainers and allies about how the negotiations went.
"Lord Alexander is quite the negotiator. I'm impressed." Queen Mother said with a smile, while Lady Inayah added,
"Yes, I too think it went pretty well."
As lastly, Pasha Fasha said, "Yes, I'm sure the news four days from now will be positive. Let us wait."
And just like Alexander's group debated about the efficacy of the meeting, so did the nobles, and the wait began.
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