"His Lordship the Daimyo has arrived!"
At the announcement, Gato and the assistant beside him immediately tensed up in the guest lounge.
Tetsuya entered the lounge accompanied by Shinada of the Salamander.
"Mr. Gato! My, my, I've heard so much about you, hahaha. I really never expected you to come in person."
Seeing the potbellied, somewhat elderly-looking Tetsuya, Gato immediately rose respectfully to his feet.
"I am Gato, owner of the Gato Shipping Company in the Land of Waves. My respects, Daimyo Chiba. I never expected you to receive us personally. This is truly an immense honor."
"Oh, not at all. I heard you visited half the Allied Countries to join our Commercial Country Alliance, Mr. Gato. Thank you for all your efforts. Come, have a seat."
Tetsuya invited Gato to sit, then took the seat of honor himself.
They were both old foxes who had made their way through the business world, and they began testing each other with words right from the start.
In the end, however, Tetsuya had the upper hand. There was no helping it-he had simply lived longer.
Eventually, Tetsuya saw Gato off and promised to vote in his favor when the alliance convened.
To express his gratitude, Gato offered Tetsuya a token of sincerity unique to businessmen like them.
With Tetsuya's vote, along with all the countries he had contacted, the Land of Waves' entry into the alliance was essentially assured.
They were sitting on a train leaving the Land of Grass.
Gato's assistant suddenly thought of something.
"Boss, there's something I don't understand."
"What is it?"
Having secured Tetsuya's promise, Gato was in a good mood, and even treated his idiot assistant considerably better.
"Boss, we spent so long working on this and already secured the support of half the alliance's countries. By