Chapter 589: No Deal
(Ancient God’s Pavillion)
"What if we want to be independent now?" Mu Shen asked, as the atmosphere in the room suddenly turned heavy at his question.
"What? What did you say you little punk? I don’t think I heard you correctly...." Helmuth replied instantly, as he strained his neck and glanced towards Mu Shen with a side eye.
"He said we want to be independent now, the Six Great Clans have already decided that the current arrangement where the clans are subservient to the Universal Government is not good enough for us anymore.
We served you for 2000 years. But we wish to serve you no more." Su Ren reiterated, as Helmuth felt his left eye flicker from rage.
*Crack*
*Crack*
Helmuth began cracking his knuckles first, before adjusting his neck muscles, as he seemed ready to fight when Kaelith suddenly put an arm in front of him, as if gesturing for him to calm down for a minute.
"I’m sure there’s no need for you people to walk out of the Righteous Alliance, afterall, we have a good thing going for the past 2000 years.
Today, if you make reasonable demands..... The three of us are more than willing to make some concessions, so please, before demanding independence, let’s just try working this out." Kaelith suggested, his tone still calm and polite, as unlike Helmuth he did not appear outraged by Mu Shen’s statement.
None of the Gods belonging to the Six Great Clans had expected Kaelith to be so cooperative today, and hence, faced by this unexpected offer to re-negotiate, they were caught slightly off-guard.
Du Trask looked towards Lu Han who shrugged his shoulders in response.
The two of them now looked unsure if they wanted to declare rebellion immediately, while Mu Shen and Su Ren looked unconvinced, and seemed like they had already made up their minds on walking out of this alliance today.
Finally, while all the men at the table stayed silent, it was Ru Vassa who broke the silence.
"Very well..... Then the Ru Clan wants a non-poaching agreement with the universal government.
You cannot recruit talents from the Ru Clan, unless we approve of them working for you first.
Far too many of our talented branch clan members have been lured away by the universal government because you promise them elite level techniques that are usually reserved for the main clan descendants back home, costing us an average of 1 Monarch Candidate per century, which is unacceptable." Ru said, her tone uncompromising, as Kaelith glanced towards Mauriss who nodded his head.
"Yeah we can do that, we can make a pact which gives you say 100 rights to refusal every year, so you can keep the best of the best talents from your Branch Clans from being poached away.
While we still get a steady flow of mid level guys to run the universal army," Mauriss said, as Kaelith nodded in agreement.
"Yes, that’s possible, we can discuss the specifics later, but it’s possible." Kaelith reaffirmed, as Ru Vassa looked momentarily stunned by their response.
She had not expected Kaelith and Mauriss to be so understanding, and it surprised her in a good way.
"Well, I want that for my clan as well, and I also want to re-negotiate the yearly tribute the Yu Clan pays to the universal government.
If possible, I want to abolish it completely, but if that’s not possible, I at least want it to drop by 80%, as it’s absolutely ridiculous that the Yu Clan pays you 2-3 Trillion MP annually." Yu Kiro said, as he too put a condition forward.
"No...." Mauriss replied immediately, as he rejected this proposal outright.
"Although the Universal Government only controls 5 major planets, the size of our military forces matches the fleet size of the Six Great Clans combined.
Our capital expenditure is much higher than the Six Clans, and without you all paying your fair share of Tribute, we can’t keep it afloat.
If the Clans reduce their tribute by 80%, it will mean that we will have to downsize our military by about 60-70%, which would significantly weaken us against the Cult Of Ascension." Mauriss denied, as Lu Han immediately scoffed at his remarks.
"The Cult Of Ascension is no longer a threat.
There is no need for you to maintain as large a fleet as you used to 1500 years ago.
It’s not like they have dozens of Monarchs, leading divisions of ferocious fighters across the universe anymore.
The Cult is only alive because of Soron, and nobody has seen him make a move in over a millenium either." Lu Han pointed out, as every leader of the Six Great Clans agreed to his words.
"It is exactly like he said, we the Great Clans no longer fear the Cult like we used to, and we see no need to pay you as large a tribute every year to maintain your overinflated army.
It’s time for you to downsize, and for the Tribute System to be abolished.
We have paid our fair share over the years, now it’s time for the Great Clans to be financially free." Mu Shen said, as Mauriss chuckled at his words.
"The Cult is no longer a threat? Why don’t you ask Su Ren about it..... I think he just lost a planet to them...." Mauriss pointed out, as Su Ren felt insulted at that comment.
"It was an insignificant planet, losing it means nothing to us.
It’s barren and was only good for its mana mines, which we have depleted 80% anyways.
So it’s akin to junk.
Which is why we did not even bother defending it properly in the first place." Su Ren said, as he stuck with the narrative that the Cult was no longer a security threat.
"Very well," Kaelith said at last, as he let out another deep sigh.
"We can discuss terms on how much we need to reduce the Tribute by, however, I’m telling you now, that it won’t go down to 20% of what it is right now.
At best we can reduce it to 70% of current levels, but anything lower than that is simply impossible." Kaelith conceded, however his offer did not satisfy too many.
The Six Great Clan members exchanged silent glances, their eyes meeting across the table as though each of them had been waiting for someone else to voice what they were all thinking.
As finally, it was Yu Kiro who leaned forward, his voice sharp and unyielding.
"No. Seventy percent is not good enough. We are not asking for minor concessions, Kaelith. We are demanding reform. If the Universal Government wishes for the Six Clans to remain within this alliance, then the Tribute must fall to twenty percent of its current value. Nothing less. That is the will of the Clans."
Ru Vassa folded her arms, nodding curtly in agreement. "Either you accept this condition, or the pact that has stood for two millennia ends today."
For a moment Mauriss simply stared at them, the faintest of smirks tugging at his lips as silence blanketed the chamber. Then, with a dismissive wave of his hand, he finally replied.
"Alright then... I guess there will be no deal made today." as he, Kaelith and Helmuth moved in synchronisation.