Emperor Amn says “Alright, so what did you do this time?”

  Lin says “What do you mean?”

  Emperor Amn says “Last time I heard from Ash was for him to tell me that he opened a gate to allow shadow demons through. Although, I have to admit that we have seen far less demonic beasts since then.”

  “No, it is nothing like that this time. In fact, this should benefit both of our nations quite a bit.”

  Empress Atesh says “Alright, now I am curious. What are you up to?”

  “I have figured out a way to create a permanent two way gate between here and the peninsula. With it our merchants will be able to pass through and open trade between us. The main advantage is that it will allow instantaneous travel between the two points we set it up at. Mine is already set up in the merchant district of my trade city.”

  Shiro says “That is amazing! That means that I can go explore the peninsula easily, right?”

  Emperor Amn says “This is going to have a huge effect on our economy, but it should be a positive one.”

  Empress Atesh says “Where are you planning to put our side of the gate?”

  “Wherever you want it to be, that is why I came to talk to you. Yes, Shiro, it will be easy to get there, but you still need your parents’ permission. Here, Amn, I brought this from one of my merchants, it explains the details of our plan and has examples of our coins.”

  Emperor Amn unrolls the paperwork and both he and his wife start reading through it. The wetnurse comes back into the room carrying the now awake baby, but stops when she sees that the empress is busy. Shiro gets up and takes her brother so that her mother can finish reading the document.

  Emperor Amn says “Oh good, they included a list of what merchandise your people will be selling and what will sell best. That will take a lot of the guesswork out of it for our merchants and speed up the organization of trade. That should limit the chaos and get things settled more quickly.”

  “So, does that mean that you approve of my plan?”

  Empress Atesh says “What would you do if we said no?”

  “I would respect your wishes and set the gate up in Demon Hunter City instead.”

  Empress Atesh says “Really? Don’t worry, we don’t plan to reject your plan, I am just curious.”

  “Yes, really. I don’t know the details of your empire, this could be very disruptive for you. We are allies and I would prefer the gate be here, but I won’t place it if it won’t be a benefit.”

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  Emperor Amn says “It will be very disruptive, but only in the short term. In the long term the benefits are hard to imagine. Opening a new market is always like that, but this is a little bigger due to the speed of the gate. The tariff you are charging is very fair so that won’t reduce trade at all. A lot of people are going to make a ton of money off this.”

  “That’s part of the reason I have kept this quiet. That way you can pick someone to tell and let them gain an advantage. Or you could do like me and have your own merchant to take advantage yourself. You can also set a fee on this side to make it fair, just keep it reasonable.”

  Emperor Amn says “No, you built the gate so the fee is rightfully yours. There are a couple of merchants that I would like to have owe me favors. It is also going to greatly benefit whatever city we place it in just from the increased traffic.”

  Empress Atesh says “In that case we should definitely put it in a city where the mayor is loyal to us.”

  Shiro says “Why aren’t we putting it here in the capital?”

  Empress Atesh says “Because we have worked very hard to keep the merchants from getting a foothold in the capital. This would completely undo all of that work and make the politics in the capital worse. Besides, we have a couple of cities that are struggling and could use an influx to revitalize them.”

  Emperor Amn says “Aside from that, to make the most of the gate, it should be placed in a port city. That would increase the goods available to take through the gate. The problem is that there either needs to be an army base near the city or we will have to build one.”

  Shiro says “Why is that?”

  Emperor Amn says “Because the gate will need to be protected. Otherwise Ash is opening himself to an invasion.”

  “You don’t have to worry about that too much. Not only is the main base of my army outside the trade city, but I have a way to disable the gate quickly if needed.”

  Emperor Amn says “It is good that you have considered all the possibilities. I would still prefer to have a strong enough force nearby to ensure security. My enemies might attack just to disrupt things. The northern empire is not going to be happy when they find out about the gate.”

  Shiro says “What about the port of Niffet? It has a naval base that could handle security and is a large port that could handle the increased traffic.”

  Empress Atesh says “That is a good suggestion and I am glad to see that you have paid attention to at least some of your lessons.”

  Emperor Amn says “The only problem is that the port of Niffet is ruled by a noble house that is a part of the traditionalist faction. They certainly wouldn’t welcome this kind of change.”

  Shiro says “They are only a minor house, we can eliminate them and give the city to someone loyal to use. Besides, the traditionalist faction has been steadily weakening and isn’t much of a threat anymore.”

  Empress Atesh says “That is because your father has spent a lot of time and effort to weaken them.”

  Emperor Amn says “They are idiots. They want things to stay the same but don’t understand that stagnation will kill the empire. Eliminating the noble house is a possibility, we haven’t had a bandit attack in a while. Luckily, it is a small house so we aren’t talking about a major massacre.”

  Shiro says “We have the celebration of my brother’s birth coming up, that would be a good time to move.”

  Empress Atesh says “That is a good idea. Are you sure that you don’t want to rule? You have the skills to.”

  Shiro says “Yes, I am sure. I am happy to help you, but I don’t want to do this all of the time. Actually, now that I think of it, if we are going to be connected by a gate, then we should establish an embassy in Ash’s kingdom, right? I want to be in charge of that embassy.”

  Emperor Amn says “That is possible. Ash, would you have any problem with Shiro being my ambassador to your kingdom?”