The warm room gave no hint of Maliro's harsh weather.
Outside, heavy snow drifted down, yet the hotel room was a comfortable twenty-six degrees. To the Malіro People, this was simply unimaginable! The vast majority of the Malіro People had never enjoyed the warmth brought by "heating systems." They could only live in drafty houses, wearing or covering themselves with as much as possible to deal with the cold weather.
Those who were slightly better off would light a fire in the fireplace to raise the indoor temperature.
But overall heating was something only a tiny minority could enjoy.
The old man, dressed in thick winter clothes, was sweating all over as he spoke loudly to the Little President about his views.
Malіro could not merge with the Federation. As the successor to the next presidency, the Little President should stand up and clearly refuse rather than accept.
He also believed that even the redrawing of the administrative regions should not be done by the Federal people.
This was the Malіro People's own affair. It should rightly be handled by the Malіro government.
He spoke at length, discussing history, culture, politics, and various other aspects of what excessive closeness to the Federation would bring to Malіro, this poor and backward country.
But the Little President did not take in a single word.
The old man knew that the Little President's perfunctory smile and nodding were absolutely not signs of agreement with his views. He was merely going through the motions and completing the process.
He grew somewhat angry.
"I knew your grandfather!" The old man broke off his previous line of thought and suddenly brought up the Little President's grandfather.
"He was a man whom every one of us admired. Even those powerful warlords at the time, though they were