Chapter 362 - WIFI Diplomacy
"Demons ..."
General Rockmont, having recovered from his brief shock, instinctively tried to find a weapon to fight the Sin Demon.
But the voice of Klund III compelled the flustered ministers to calm down.
"Welcome, Joshua Annerlaude. Would you happen to be the director who produced Beauty and the Demon, Léon, the Demon and Hachiko?"
Klund III observed Joshua, who was standing beside Zenarth, from head to toe. He had always thought that Joshua would be the same age as Master Morgan, but he had never thought that the director would be so young.
"That's correct."
Although the three films had not been written by Joshua, he did direct the films.
"The films you have produced are all excellent and … interesting. I along with my ministers never expected that the Demon Realm would harbour a talent like you."
Klund III, scanning the ministers below him who were unable to calm down because of Zenarth's presence, had deliberately uttered this sentence to put them more at ease.
"That's because humans have never tried to understand us. Most humans know about demons through those baseless claims from the canons of Nation of the Holy Church," Joshua said.
"Coincidentally, I don't like the lies of those missionaries either." Klund III said in a loud voice, as if to make his position clear to all his ministers.
The king of Farucci openly expressing his distaste for the Nation of the Holy Church would cause negative ripples for the country's diplomatic ties.
But the king hated to act sensibly at all times. Considering that the Nation of the Holy Church had killed his friend, the Duke of Blackwood, and had openly slaughtered elves in Farucci territory, Klund III thought he was already lenient in not publicly denouncing the Holy Church's cruelty.
If it had been his father, Klund II, he would have openly cursed those hypocrites in Parliament. His grandfather would probably even have led the troops directly into war.
So, in contrast, Klund III was relatively sensible.
"So, third prince Joshua from the Demon Realm, have you come to visit Farucci today to correct the people's false perceptions of the Demon Realm and the demon race?" Klund III asked.
"It is something I have been doing ever since I came to the world of humans. Whether that be through those three films you like, Your Majesty, or through my cooperation with Madam Schroder. As for the reason for coming here today, rather than coming here as a diplomatic envoy, I have come as a merchant to sell my wares."
Joshua snapped his fingers softly. Behind him, Zenarth lifted Joshua's suitcase and used his own sharp claws to open the sealed leather clasp on it.
As Zenarth opened that suitcase, the ministers and generals standing in front of Joshua once again became suspicious, as if expecting the demon to pull out some extremely dangerous explosive any time now.
"As a merchant? Interesting, I'm curious what merchandise you wish to sell me, third prince Joshua? Another excellent movie script? A tutorial to teach us how to make a film? Or some speciality unique to the Demon Realm?"
Klund III stared intently at the suitcase Zenarth held, having already heard from Master Morgan and also from Mrs. Schroder about what the talented demon had achieved in Norland.
But Morgan and Mrs. Schroder were too biased!
"There are two kinds of merchandise I want to sell. The first is 'a whole new way of communicating' and the second is 'a brand new viewing experience to watch performances'."
Joshua only talked about two very vague concepts that even Joshua himself felt could not be described by words alone.
So Joshua went straight to the most direct and brute method of explaining everything. Zenarth took out two originium crystals from his suitcase.
One of them was considerably smaller than Zenarth's meaty palm, while the other crystal was just about the size of his hand, with a leaf from the World Tree sealed inside.
"Bring it up here, let me see it." Klund III gave a direct order. One of the attendants walked towards Zenarth with trembling legs, ready to take the two originium crystals from the Sin Demon.
Watching this scene, General Rockmont finally could not help but raise an objection.
"Your Majesty! Please let me identify first if these two originium crystals are dangerous before handing them over to you!" General Rockmont did not lower his suspicion about these two demons. The general had encountered demon troops on the battlefield in his youth.
He therefore clearly understood how terrifying demons could be as an enemy.
"The larger crystal will be given to Master Fedorie for identification. As for the smaller one, General Rockmont, I will have you inspect it directly."
Klund III made a decision that left the ministers somewhat puzzled, as his gaze fell on Joshua.
"Prince Joshua, 'a whole new way of communicating', you say. I believe you must be talking about the magic network,"
Klund III said as he waved his hand slightly and a translucent interface appeared in front of him - the interface of the magic network.
"Yes, that's correct."
It did not surprise Joshua that Klund III had a version of the magic network. What he did find a little surprising was that this majestic emperor was interested in Super Mario.
With his vision as a Chaos Demon, Joshua could clearly see an unclosed window of Super Mario under the magic network's reflected in Klund III's eyes. The main window was the regular mage forum.
But now that Joshua knew that His Majesty was a user of the magic network, he felt that the rest of the conversation would be much easier.
"I wonder how Your Majesty's experience has been?"
"It was given to me by Master Morgan, a new type of magic said to have been created by Norland's sages! I cannot describe in words how wonderful this magic is. For the first time, it has brought humans closer to each other. I never thought that communication could become so easy. Just sitting here, I can communicate with the countless wise mages of Norland. But the only regrettable thing is that the communication is so short-lived."
Klund III glanced at the greyed-out network signal in the lower right corner of the interface.
"The only way to establish a link with the mages of Norland is to directly hold the item known as a Leaf of the World Tree. There's only one leaf, Master Morgan's one. I cannot keep it with me all the time. I am sure you, Prince Joshua, can understand the pain of having this wonderful experience of being able to communicate with people all over the world, only to be suddenly deprived of it!"
At the latter part of Klund III's speech, he suddenly began talking with such emotion that Joshua could have described his speech as "I f$cking just bought a new computer and then someone cut my internet connection."
As Klund III was saying this, his eyes occasionally darted to Elder Safran, who was standing next to Joshua, as if suggesting something.
"Ahem, then I think the gift from the Blackwood Elves can take care of that problem for you."
Josho felt that Klund III's subtle hinting could no longer be considered a hint. It could better be described as an explicit demand. After all, each Elven race was known to shelter a World Tree of their own.
"Great human king, I am here to offer my thanks to your vassal, Duke Blackwood, for granting refuge to our elven clan."
A tender green leaf appeared in the hand of Elder Safran. Klund III immediately ordered his attendant to pass the leaf of the World Tree to him.
