Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1675 1647. Treaty Loan
"Well, back to the point," Istrada said. "You have come to me across the sea with a sense of duty as a patriot, for your country has been plunged into chaos since the assassination of King Vizimir."

"Redania is now ruled by a group of idiot nobles called the 'Regency Council'. My dear Zelica, believe me, these people will not fight for the country when the crisis comes. They will only run away or beg for mercy."

"Lick the boots of that Emperor Emhyr like a dog."

Halfway through his speech, the king spoke to his queen in a voice that was half teasing but also contained contempt.

"They despised Dijkstra because he was a spy, an upstart and a murderer. But the interesting thing is that this was the same man who crossed the ocean to find a way to save the country. That proves who the patriots are."

Istrard Thyssen paused and straightened his flannel hat, which was drooping a little on his forehead.

"So, Dijkstra. What crisis is your kingdom facing? I mean, besides the financial crisis?"

"Except for the financial crisis," the spy's face was as hard as if carved out of stone, "everything is fine with us. Everyone is healthy. Thank you for your concern."

The king smiled dumbly: "Oh, I understand. You mean as long as you have money, you can buy all the corresponding medicines and solve the problem. The biggest problem now is that you have no money. If you have funds, you don't have to come here now, right?"

"You are right."

"Out of curiosity, can I ask how much you are short?"

"Not much, one million."

Lan En, who was listening nearby, coughed slightly while sipping blackberry wine.

"Oh my!" Istrade leaned back, pressing his hat on his head. "You call that not much? You made Lord Hunt cough!"

"To you," Dijkstra whispered, "this is just a small amount."

"A small amount? Zelica, did you hear that?" The king looked up speechlessly at the naked nymph painted on the palace dome. "Do you have any idea, Dijkstra? With one million and without one million, the total is two million!"

"I know that you and Philippa both want to stabilize Redania's defenses, but are you planning to buy Nilfgaard?"

Then the two of them began to discuss Nilfgaard's offensive and war situation in the north before the winter truce.

There's nothing new to say, except that the intelligence provided by these two people was extremely accurate.

They could even tell exactly how many troops were in a certain Lyrian army, how many troops were there in Rivia and Aedirn in total, and how long it took the Nilfgaardians to defeat them.

But there is no doubt that after reviewing the battle situation, the Northerners seemed to have no future.

"With Redania's current war potential, you should be able to recruit 35,000 soldiers, of which 5,000 are heavy cavalry, according to optimistic estimates."

Istrada stated the facts calmly.

“But the combined forces of Rivia and Aedirn were about the same, and Emhyr defeated them in just twenty-six days.”

"Dijkstra, according to your and Philippa's ideas, you need to quickly build a solid defense force. Not only do you need professional and experienced soldiers, you also need horses worth at least one million Linta."

The spy remained silent, because King Kovir's calculations were very accurate. To some extent, he even knew what he needed better than he did.

"But you also know," the king said coldly, "Kovir was, is, and will always be a neutral country. Since my grandfather, we have signed a treaty with Nilfgaard. We cannot provide any assistance to Nilfgaard's enemies."

"Money, troops, horses, none of them."

“But your majesty, once Emhyr has cleared the northern kingdoms in the conventional sense of the word,” Dijkstra said, clearing his throat. “He will look further north. It won’t be long before your treaty is nothing more than a dead letter.”

"Didn't we discuss this during our review just now? His truce with Temeria is only valid for sixteen days."

Dijkstra tried to convince Istrade by using the lobbyist's usual "analyzing the interests" and "prosperity and adversity together" arguments.

But he picked the wrong person.

"I must say: Dijkstra, I cannot accept such a view." The king laughed. "It is not in line with my conscience and my ideas."

"A treaty is like a marriage. You can't marry with the thought and suspicion of possible betrayal."

"If there is no affair, then there is no need to talk about it. If there is an affair, then there is no point in talking about it. If you keep worrying about gains and losses, it will only make things that are not a problem into problems."

"I repeat, I repeat," the king said, looking up at the naked nymph on the dome, "Kovir's principle is 'agreements must be kept', which is also an important part of our neutrality."

"Kovel will not break the contract, even if the other party may break the contract."

"Excuse me," Dijkstra said anxiously, "Redania does not want to persuade you to break the contract. We are not seeking alliance or assistance from Kovir to fight against Nilfgaard. We just want to...well, borrow a small amount of money! This is a normal loan, and it will be repaid in the future!"

"I don't think you'll ever pay me back," the king interrupted, "so I won't lend you a cent. Dijkstra, you look like a vicious dog seeing a piece of meat. Do you have any other arguments?"

"Yes!" Dijkstra said firmly, while raising his arm that was originally on the armrest of the chair to the side, "That means we can win! We are not powerless in front of the Nilfgaard Empire." "If we can win, then of course we can repay Kovir's loan!"

Istrade followed Dijkstra's arm and looked towards the wine table in the room.

The witcher was now casually leaning against the wall, pouring another glass of blackberry wine into his cup.

Seeing the two of them turning around to look at him, he raised his glass and greeted them politely.

"Lord Hunter, ah Lord Hunter." Istrade sat up straight, even leaning forward a little, "I have heard those rumors about you, and quite a few of them were brought to me by my spies."

He looked like an audience waiting for a bard to begin singing.

"Of course, I trust the professionalism and loyalty of my spies. They won't deceive me on such a big matter, but you know what I mean? Your story sounds out of the blue."

The king asked with interest.

"Is that all true? Your power on the battlefield, and how you always disappear for unknown reasons?"

"Given your trust in the ability of your spies, I don't know what they reported," Lan En tilted his head in a relaxed manner while holding the wine glass, "but it's basically true. I can't say anything about the rest."

"Tsk tsk, defeating the army of ten thousand." Istrade laughed, "It actually appeared in front of me today. When I was a child, I didn't even dare to dream of it."

As for Lann's legendary power, Istrada was not so shy. But when talking about his inexplicable disappearance, the king was cautious and didn't say much.

Queen Zelica looked even more pious as she recited in a low voice a passage from the Holy Book of Lebioda.

The power of an army can be seen and felt, and if pushed to the limit, even Nilfgaard, which is trying every possible means, may not be afraid.

But who can say for sure about those illusory beliefs?

Lan En stopped there and didn't say anything else, ignoring Dijkstra's anxious, urging gaze.

"Okay." Istrade straightened his hat and crossed his hands in front of his stomach. "Dijkstra, you want to use the Duke of Lan's position to increase the credibility of your so-called 'victory'."

"This seems to be no different from a lender going to a dwarf bank and boasting that he has come up with a good project."

"Of course, the power of the Ten Thousand Armies is terrifying and important wherever it is, there is no denying that. But what does this have to do with your ability to pay back the money?"

"If you kill more Nilfgaardian soldiers, will your destroyed fields be able to be cultivated again next year? And the yield will increase greatly? The destroyed factories will be immediately renovated? The new workers will be able to work skillfully without time-consuming training?"

At the end, the king pinched his nose with a headache: "Dijkstra, Dickstra."

"If a country could become strong and recharge its vitality simply by killing people and fighting wars, then the world would be too simple."

"When lending money to others, we must not only consider their ability to repay, but also how long it will take them to repay. Just looking at the time it will take to resume production after the war, I feel dreadful for you. Investing money in this is like throwing money away with water."

"I'll lend you one million, and you have to pay it back in twenty years. But during these twenty years, I can invest the one million somewhere else, and maybe I can get back two million! The difference between the one million and not having the one million is another two million!"

At the end the king glanced at Dijkstra.

"Anything else to say, Dijkstra? Serious, wise, or to the point?"

The spy pursed his lips. "I'm afraid there are none, Your Majesty."

"It's a good thing you're only a spy," Istrada said after a moment's silence. "You wouldn't be a successful businessman."

Today's meeting ended here, and Istrade had already ordered everyone to leave with a look.

Dijkstra was not a tactless person. He stood up and said goodbye naturally, without much interest.

Before leaving, Lan En mentioned it unintentionally: "Your Majesty, have you been exposed to magic recently?"

"Oh? Why do you ask, Master Lan?"

The witcher picked up the roaring bear head pendant on his chest with his fingers. The pendant was still trembling.

"I had forgotten that you witchers have this skill." The king nodded, "But don't worry, Duke Lann. Kovir's attitude towards magic is more open than any other country. In fact, we have begun to use a lot of magic in the government."

"It's normal for your necklace to react. At least three-quarters of the locks in my palace are enchanted. Not to mention these portraits, trinkets, and decorative weapons."

"That's normal," the witcher nodded noncommittally at the king's statement, "I hope so."

(End of this chapter)