The atmosphere grew tense at the heavy-handed declaration of the delegate of the Britannian Empire. It didn’t help that the delegate had broken the norms of addressal by referring to the Britannian Empire in first-person rather than third-person when he wasn’t the ruler of the kingdom.
Still, none of the other delegates piped up immediately against the rude gesture. The arrogance of the delegate of the Britannian Empire was not all that unfounded. Everybody knew that the Britannian Empire was the most powerful sovereign nation in the summit hosted by the Kandrian Empire. All of them were wary about butting heads with the titan.
“Bold words, delegate.” The delegate of the Republic of Gorteau replied. “The Republic of Gorteau also refuses the Kandrian Empire’s proposal regarding the division of the territory of the Serevian Plateau.”
“The Sekigahara Confederate is willing to participate in the division of territory between the present sovereign states provided that the division of the territory is done so in accordance with economic parameters such as GDP.” The delegate of the Sekigahara Confederate.
The Kandrian delegate nodded as he turned back to the delegates of the Republic of Gorteau and the Britannian Empire.
The delegates of the four nations began deliberating with each other as the remaining delegates simply watched along. Most of them were delegates of small sovereign nations with very little negotiation power and had only just barely qualified to have a seat at the summit.
Instead, they simply watched as the four most powerful nations, the Kandrian Empire, the Sekigahara Confederate, the Republic of Gorteau, and the Britannian Empire, duke it out amongst themselves. The best they could really do was secure the best terms and conditions in whatever agreement these four nations chalked up.
“It seems as though we are unable to come to a resolution, regretfully.” The Kandrian delegate stated. “If the Britannian Empire and the Republic of Gorteau are unwilling to agree to the division of territory, then allow the Kandrian Empire to make another proposal instead.”
The delegates waited in silence.
“Instead of a division of territory, allow the Kandrian Empire to propose an assignment of a minute amount of territory to each of the present nations as a guaranteed territory. The remaining vast majority of the Serevian Plateau and the dungeon is up for free colonization by any of the present sovereign states” The Kandrian delegate concluded.
All of the delegates considered the proposal as they realized the significance of the proposal.
Because of the nature of dungeons, enacting a scorched earth policy was quite easy for any of the present nations, small or large. Because of the self-destructive defense mechanism of the Serevian Dungeon, all one needed to do was send over several Martial Squires to attack the Serevian Dungeon and the Dungeon would suffer an immense amount of damage quite quickly. The process could be accelerated with Martial Artists of higher Realms that would allow any of the nations present to completely annihilate the Serevian Dungeon.
Of course, no sovereign nation would want the Serevian Dungeon to be annihilated, not when it was as much of a rich resource-high location. The problem was, if some of the nations were bullied out of gaining even a portion of the Serevian Dungeon, then there was a logical incentive to destroy the dungeon for these countries since it would minimize the gains made by the other nations.
The proposal made by the delegate of the Kandrian Empire addressed that issue by providing all the present sovereign nations a minute but core territory that all nations would agree not to infringe upon. This way, none of the other sovereign nations would be pushed to choose to go for the scorched earth policy.
“The Kingdom of Grahal seconds the proposal made by the Kandrian Empire.”
“The Commonwealth Duchy of Vinfrana also seconds the proposal made by the Kandrian Empire.”
…
One by one each of the delegates recognized the usefulness of the proposal that the Kandrian delegate had made.
“Delegate of the Britannian Empire.” The Kandrian delegate turned to face him. “The Britannian Empire the only member in this summit which has yet to convey its stance on the matter.”
The delegate of the Britannian Empire remained silent for a few seconds before the mildest of sighs escaped his mouth. “… The Britannian Empire seconds the proposal made by the Kandrian Empire.”
The proposal made too much sense, not even the Britannian Empire could guarantee that nations that had been bullied out would not resort to such measures. Even if it could, the measures needed to be in place would be too much. It would require a large number of Martial Artists to remain under surveillance in the Serevian Plateau such that the number would make the Serevian Dungeon become a liability.𝑶𝓋xt.𝗇t
Instead, the proposal of the Kandrian Empire guaranteed, to a certain extent, that no scorched earth policy would be enacted by any of the sovereign nations present.
“Then there is a unanimous agreement.” The Kandrian delegate nodded. “Let us begin fleshing out the details of the distribution then.”
What followed was an intense debate about how much of the land ought to be guaranteed to the participating states. There was an immense amount of controversy and conflict over this issue. The amount of land assigned couldn’t be too much or too little. It had to be just the right amount.
If it was too much, then the smaller and weaker nations would be unfairly advantaged by gaining access to an amount of territory that they normally would not be able to retain. Yet if the amount was too little, then it would not serve as a viable deterrence to prevent any of the present nations from enacting a scorched earth policy, because the gains would be too minute to be enough of an incentive to not destroy the Serevian Plateau.
The nations had to be careful and find the right balance to ensure that nothing went wrong that could lead to the destruction of the Serevian Dungeon.