"Gentlemen, now that everyone is here, let us enter the conference hall first!"
At this moment, President Theodore saw that the key figures from both sides had arrived and immediately invited them into the council building.
"Very well, Lord Nalant, please!"
Duke Michel nodded, then made a welcoming gesture toward Nalant. His posture could not have been lower.
"Then I won't stand on ceremony!" Nalant did not decline either, calmly taking the lead.
Seeing this, Duke Michel's eyes revealed a trace of gravity.
This young man before him seemed even wiser than he had imagined. No wonder he had made a name for himself on the Sacred Continent in such a short time.
Under normal circumstances, with a duke of his standing acting so deferentially, the other party should at least have politely declined once or twice for the sake of appearances.
Yet Nalant had accepted it openly, without the slightest hint of embarrassment.
That showed he was not like ordinary young nobles, who cared excessively about saving face.
Only after pondering how he could make Nalant lower the ransom as much as possible did Duke Michel step forward.
The representatives of the other duchies and empires followed in after them.
The Alliance's conference hall was much like the elders' council hall from Nalant's previous life.
Its layout was semicircular, with the seats rising around the edges and dipping lower toward the center.
The seats for the duchies were all arranged along the semicircle, while only the raised platform directly ahead held a row of long horizontal tables.
These long tables were ordinarily where the six great empires and President Theodore sat.
Since today's main matter was for Nalant and Michel to negotiate the ransom for the prisoners, the two parties went straight to the center of the hall after