A mage's journey begins with a battle mage.

Chapter 461 Archimonde's Betrayal

Before setting off, Rosemary had told Kosoroya that Jiang Shuzhou would absolutely not give any money as a gift.

Now that I see it, it's indeed true.

This is normal, after all, Jiang Shuzhou and Rosemary are not that close. Attending the wedding is already a favor, so don't expect any monetary gifts.

After all, for these nobles who were begging for food under Rosemary's command, Rosemary's wedding was a momentous event. Naturally, they had to prepare gifts and obediently present them. After all, Rosemary might not know who gave her a gift, but she knew perfectly well who didn't.

Now is the time when her reform policies are progressing slowly, and naturally no one wants to provoke her.

"Since I don't have to pay, I'm naturally willing to attend the banquet."

Ideally, they could also have a white banquet, and if possible, Jiang Shuzhou would prefer it to be Rosemary herself.

"If you're willing, that would be wonderful."

Kosoroya breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this; the relationship between Jiang Shuzhou and Rosemary was, to put it mildly, quite peculiar.

Theoretically speaking, Jiang Shuzhou did save Rosemary's life, but he demanded a lot of benefits afterward. Later, when Rosemary betrayed her father and brothers, Jiang Shuzhou just watched, and then demanded a large sum of hush money.

Now that he's getting married, Jiang Shuzhou has been invited to attend the ceremony, and most importantly, he can't refuse to be invited.

After all, Jiang Shuzhou is now the guardian of the Central and Northern Regions of the Alliance, and his power is immense. Except for the Eastern Region of the Elven race, the rest is under his control.

It can be said that Jiang Shuzhou is currently the highest mountain, the longest river, and the hottest sun in this alliance. Everyone who sees him must shout "Loyalty!" Otherwise, they can expect to be purged.

"Now, Your Excellency Kosoro, would you like to discuss some personal matters?"

Seeing that Kosoronia was still deep in thought, Jiang Shuzhou reminded her, as he was also somewhat interested in Kosoronia's private affairs.

Furthermore, if Jiang Shuzhou's deduction is correct, Kosoroa probably felt the water was too cold and wanted to jump out of the car and run away.

"Who are these two...?"

Kosoroya did not intend to speak immediately; the matter was of great importance, and he could not casually reveal it to outsiders.

"They're all on our side. One is my apprentice's mistress, and the other is my apprentice. They've both signed contracts."

Jiang Shuzhou waved his hand, still holding Denoz and Grace without a care in the world.

Grace was already lost in thought, pondering how to solve the problem of increasing the speed of Dream Crystal acquisition.

She had no interest in this negotiation; she wouldn't have come at all if she hadn't wanted to spend time with Jiang Shuzhou.

Denozzi's body was stiff, her face flushed, and she buried her head in Jiang Shuzhou's arms, like an ostrich, not moving at all.

In fact, Chahara was also there, hiding in Jiang Shuzhou's shadow, protecting his safety.

However, there are differences even among legends.

Kosoroya was completely unaware that there was another person in the shadow behind Jiang Shuzhou.

Naturally, Jiang Shuzhou didn't tell him that it was unnecessary, and that this was just a way to prevent accidents from happening.

If Kosoroya were mentally unstable and attempted to assassinate Jiang Shuzhou, Chahara could pierce his skull and kill him instantly.

However, it is clear that Kosoro is of normal intelligence and does not have such thoughts.

"Since they're all your people, I won't waste any more words."

"The Ovi Empire is currently in some turmoil. Rosemary's new policies have already affected the interests of many families, so we hope to get some support from you."

Kosoroya spoke very bluntly, practically saying he was going to run away, so he just said he wanted to let Jiang Shuzhou know.

There were none of the usual hints from nobles, since the mages might not understand them anyway.

There's no need to worry about leaving behind audio or video evidence; after all, at this point, everyone understands.

Besides, the Archimonde family are, after all, electors, so they have a legendary backer. Even if they really rebelled, Rosemary couldn't do anything to them.

Jiang Shuzhou curled his lip in response; he had no fondness for these opportunists.

Traitors are not welcome anywhere.

After all, if you can betray someone once, you can betray them a second time.

"This is something we can consider, but it will take a while. You can wait for news later. I will try my best to find some larger lands to see if we can exchange them for your fiefdoms."

Jiang Shuzhou's reply was quite restrained and official.

The meaning is clear: there's not enough sincerity right now, no time to deal with it, just wait for news.

"Ahem, please feel free to ask for anything. If it's within our power, we'll definitely help you."

Kosoloa saw an opportunity and quickly replied.

"How many companies can you represent in total?"

"Seven families."

Kosoroya replied that he knew the other party was about to make demands.

Jiang Shuzhou pondered that if he accepted these conditions, it would be tantamount to declaring war on the empire.

Normally speaking, this would definitely be a loss; Jiang Shuzhou couldn't possibly defeat the entire empire with the power of a single legend.

But that's not necessarily true.

Moreover, Jiang Shuzhou's plan already included attacking the Empire, so it was only a matter of time before he became an enemy of the Empire.

"Okay, I can agree to that, but we need to agree on the conditions first."

Following this, Jiang Shuzhou and Kosovoya began negotiating, and after some discussion, they reached a preliminary agreement.

These nobles would have to pay a price to join the alliance; Jiang Shuzhou couldn't let them enjoy the alliance's benefits without doing anything.

For this reason, Jiang Shuzhou asked these families to become traitors when the time was right.

At the same time, he also asked these legendary figures from the families to help Jiang Shuzhou with a task that was not difficult and not very dangerous.

If they wished, Jiang Shuzhou would find a large land and grant them a fief of the same size as these nobles.

Jiang Shuzhou was able to agree to this because, firstly, the territory wasn't his, and he wanted to use public property to do his own thing.

On the other hand, Jiang Shuzhou didn't say that anyone would live there.

Take the western border, for example. It's all desert there, so sealing off a section wouldn't have much of an impact.

It would be perfect to send these nobles to develop the Western Regions, a place that has been unable to develop due to the war.

"Our Archimonde family agrees to your proposal, however..."

Kosoroya remained silent.

Clearly, he did not have the authority to agree to these conditions on behalf of the other electors.

"I understand your difficulties. Here's what we'll do: at most twenty years. If you still don't agree within twenty years, then there's no need to agree."

Kosoroya nodded upon hearing this, seemingly relieved.