TF Amethyst

TFA1 7.21 - Peace Treaty

Buriek Royal Hall

09:00, 3 Sept 2025

Over the past few days, King Buriek XII seemed to have aged ten years. The failure of invasion in Sandhur Region truly shook his heart until its deepest part. Also, he was still having trouble accepting the explanation regarding TF Amethyst's military strength which was beyond reason.

After taking a deep breath, King Buriek XII turned his gaze towards Grand Commander Keraz. "Uncle Keraz, how big is the remains of Buriek Guard we had in Sandhur Region?"

With a heavy tone Grand Commander Keraz replied, "50,000 at forward base on the beach, 80,000 at Railev Pass, and 170 thousand at the border with Sviek and Rivek Region.

They only have enough supplies for the next three days and they don't have air cover. Meanwhile, we can't send additional supplies or make a quick retreat. Apart from carrier ships and supply ships, TF Amethyst destroyed 90% of our landing ships."

King Buriek XII took another deep breath before saying, "So, in short TF Amethyst has 300 thousand prisoners of war."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

King Buriek XII immediately massaged his forehead, while silence enveloped all corners of Buriek Royal Hall.

--- 

Buriek Royal Hall

11:35, 3 Sept 2025

When Duke Phelite entered Buriek Royal Hall, King Makai XII and other high-ranking officials were sitting in silence. It could be said that the Royal Hall was as quiet as a haunted graveyard on a full moon.

Without delay, Duke Phelite bowed slightly to King Makai XII. "Your Majesty."

On any other days, King Makai XII would rise to greet Duke Phelite like an old friend regardless of formality. But for now he only nodded slightly, and then waited for Duke Phelite to take his seat before asking, "Uncle Phelite, please share your review on the economic proposal from TF Amethyst."

In a calm tone Duke Phelite started his explanation, "On paper their proposal is quite lucrative and worth the compensation they are asking for. However, as they suggested in their letter, more detailed talks from both sides are needed to arrive at a more concrete conclusion."

Duke Phelite then turned to Grand Commander Keraz before asking, "About the request for deployment of our forces in Sandhur Region, I need to know the details before I can draw up the operational budget and submit it to TF Amethyst."

Grand Commander Keraz immediately handed a document to Duke Phelite. "The details are in this document, but in short we will deploy 400,000 Buriek Guards, 20.000 workers, 400 Riders, and a combination of 3rd Fleet and the remnants of 2nd Fleet."

Duke Phelite gave a small nod before turning his gaze towards King Makai XII. "Your Majesty, if assessment from Royal Blacksmith and Royal Chef on Amethyst Merchant's commodities is positive, then I dare to conclude that siding with TF Amethyst is a wise choice."

"They both conclude that Amethyst Merchant's level of metallurgy and culinary, are far above Kingdom of Buriek's level." King Makai XII tapped his fingers before continuing, "So, I decided that we will have talks with TF Amethyst to establish the cooperation.

And, because Prince Meriek will succeed me in five years, he will represent me in this talk. The contingent will set sail tomorrow at first light. For today, we will discuss the details of the negotiations."

As soon as King Makai XII gave the mandate, all high-ranking officials in Buriek Royal Hall immediately responded in unison.

""""We are ready to carry out Your Majesty's wish with all of our hearts.""""

--- 

As the potential for conflict with Kingdom of Buriek increases, TF Amethyst didn't just gather intelligence about Kingdom of Buriek's military power. In Magwurt City, Lt. Colonel Slane formed a team to explore economic potential on Kingdom of Buriek.

Understanding Kingdom of Buriek's economic potential would be vital once the conflict ended, where the possibility of TF Amethyst coming out as a winner was quite large.

The problem was, Kingdom of Buriek's economic aspects could only be obtained from third parties, such as merchants and noble families in Makai Royal City. That's why the assessment was not free from bias and personal sentiment. Meanwhile, aerial reconnaissance did not provide adequate information.

Then, before Lt. Colonel Slane managed to gather solid data to form an economic plant, the conflict with Kingdom of Buriek had ended and peace talks would soon be held. Fortunately, Lt. Colonel Slane was a veteran in trade negotiations. So, he reflexively came up with a solution to overcome the lack of information.

When Nate asked him to provide the economic plant for Kingdom of Buriek, Lt. Colonel Slane only sent the half-done outline, but he added pre-note that more solid data and input from Kingdom of Buriek's expert was needed to complete the economic scheme.

Lt. Colonel Slane also emphasized that a feasibility study for each project was a must and Amethyst Merchant would fully finance it.

Once the raw economic plant was sent to Davy Jones along with information about major trade in Makai Royal City, Lt. Colonel Slane then issued a daily order and delegated various powers to his aide. Then, the next morning he left Magwurt City with ease.

--- 

As soon as Lt. Colonel Slane came out of Osprey, Nate immediately greeted him. "Welcome to Davy Jones."

"Yeah, I hope I'm not late. I tried my best to get here as soon as possible, but I can't leave Magwurt City without making sure everything will run normally when I'm gone."

"Don't worry. Delegation from Kingdom of Buriek is still two hours away from Bluefin."

Lt. Colonel Slane immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God."

"Yup, and we should go to see Viscount Issel before peace talks start."

"Okay."

Without delay, Nate then took Lt. Colonel Slane to main building in Davy Jones.

--- 

At first, Prince Meriek thought the peace talks with TF Amethyst would be tense or filled with one-sided mocking. But unexpectedly, it was running in a casual atmosphere. 

Delegation from Sandhur Region did indeed not hide their hateful gaze towards delegation from Kingdom of Buriek, but they did not say anything and chose to let TF Amethyst do the talking.

At the end of the talks, it was agreed that Kingdom of Buriek and Sandhur Region would send representatives to conduct a comparative study on the development in Magwurt City. Meanwhile, Amethyst Merchant would send a feasibility team to assess the economic potential in Sandhur Region and Kingdom of Buriek.

The peace talk was then end in a casual lunch. Nate cheerfully accompanied the delegation from Sandhur Region, while Lt. Colonel Slane accompanied the delegation from Kingdom of Buriek, and talked with Duke Phelite who was in super happy mood.

Then, Prince Meriek sneaked out of the room with Captain of Buriek Royal Guard. He quietly went to the small park beside the meeting room, where a man was sitting on a wooden bench with a little girl. The man sat casually, while the girl beside him was happily drawing something and would occasionally show it to him.

According to Admiral Errez, the man was Ser Vex, the second-highest ranking official in TF Amethyst and the strategist who thwarted Kingdom of Buriek's invasion on Sandhur Region.

As soon as he arrived in front of Vex, Prince Meriek bowed slightly. "Ser Vex, greeting, please allow me to introduce myself, I'm Meriek from Kingdom of Buriek. It was an honor to meet you directly."

Vex immediately got up and also bowed slightly. "Prince Meriek, greeting, this humble me is Lucan 'Vex' McGuire."

Prince Meriek didn't surprise Vex knew his identity, even though he didn't participate in the peace talks. After a slight smile Prince Meriek then said, "Ser Vex, please don't joke around. No matter how humble you are, with a few words you will be able to erase Kingdom of Buriek from the map."

"Thank you for your kind words, but I will end up in jail if I declare a war without justified reason. Also, TF Amethyst's main goal is to secure natural resources using trading and economic cooperation."

Prince Meriek nodded, but he didn't believe TF Amethyst would not use its military strength as a primary means to achieve their goal.

"Even so, once Kingdom of Makai realizes that they just lost one of main sources for iron ore, it will be impossible to avoid open war with them."

Vex casually replied, "In that case, we will break their will to wage an open war."

"Good points." Prince Meriek smiled cheerfully before continuing, "May glory and prosperity be with TF Amethyst and Kingdom of Buriek."

Vex smiled before replying, "May glory and prosperity be with Kingdom of Buriek and TF Amethyst."

Inwardly, Vex wanted his guest to leave as soon as possible, but he couldn't just kick out a prince. Fortunately, after some small talk Prince Meriek then went back to meeting room.

Meanwhile, with a curious gaze Erlin looked at the two people who walked away, then turned to Vex. "Lucan, are they bad people from Kingdom of Buriek?"

Vex smiled and then replied, "Don't mind them."

"Mhm.”

Erlin nodded three times, and then she went back to her drawing. At the same time, Vex was heaving a sighed inwardly because he could feel the burning ambition in Prince Meriek's eyes.

'I hope he wouldn't become a king, or TF Amethyst would have a dangerous liability.'

*****