Planet Master

179- Settlement

After the situation on Rodentia became more bearable, it was time for the Ambassador to come.“Alright, you are good with that outfit. What more do you need?” Tatsumi asked Chen Fei beside him. Ame was a step behind the two, giving them some room to talk.

“I am afraid that the Municipality will talk behind my back that my outfit is not making them comfortable." Chen Fei sighed, but he was still tidying up his clothes.

“Then be yourself and be confident in what you do. Isn’t that simple?” Tatsumi tilted his head as he said this.

Chen Fei wanted to cough at that statement.

“How could you say that so simply? There are complicated factors in presenting myself before the highest authority of the Municipality.” Chen Fei said, feigning composure.

Currently, they were on their way to be dropped off from the spaceship on the surface of Rodentia.

“But it doesn’t prevent you from showing up, don’t you?” Tatsumi teased.

“Of course! I still need to show myself before them. After all, I am the appointed Ambassador.” Chen Fei said.

Then they entered the dropship, heading toward the surface of Rodentia. To be exact, they headed toward the capital city of the Municipality.

After landing, Chen Fei was greeted by the salute of the military of the Municipality, followed by Tatsumi and Ame behind him.

The Rodents, Lizardfolk and Elves were feeling a strange pressure coming from the two people behind Chen Fei and did not dare to act.

They formed a procession and also a formal salutation to the Ambassador from the Federation. And his two escorts proved that this Ambassador was the most important person to bridge the two civilizations.

“Please don’t be tense. I am here on the duty of being the mediator between your civilization and mine.” Chen Fei used the Municipality language after learning it from the linguist.

It had been half a month and he managed to learn it quickly thanks to the people of Solont.

Then Chen Fei saw that he had to walk on the red carpet. The end of the carpet was where the entrance of the palace should be. They landed right in front of the palace, something that only the ruler could enjoy.

Tatsumi and Ame scanned the crowd and the surrounding five kilometers for the potential threat and did not even find something threatening the Ambassador or even them.

The three walked on the red carpet, slowly heading toward the entrance of the palace.

“Look at that palace, so the aesthetic of the Municipality is similar to ours.” Chen Fei smiled slightly at the sight of the palace. Although he was also a transcendent, he was not the most powerful ones unlike Tatsumi, Ame and Long Wu.

He was just a peak Core Formation Realm transcendent so his power was limited and could be defeated by the enemy.

“Well, this place is said to be the first place where their civilization appeared and the Rodents respected this place so much.” Ame uttered the information that she had read before to Chen Fei.

“Good enough.” Chen Fei wanted to say something more but then his senses perceived the appearance of the ruler of the Municipality as well as the important ministers.

“Welcome to our Origin Palace, Ambassador.” The ruler said in a warm but sad tone.

“Welcome, Ambassador.” The ministers said loudly.

Chen Fei nodded while Tatsumi and Ame went to his side. Seeing this, the ministers and the ruler realized that the two was the strongest transcendent from the Federation.

“Let’s enter the palace. Let this be the first step toward common prosperity.” Chen Fei said while cupping his hand to the ruler as well to the ministers before he walked further into the palace’s interior.

The ruler and the ministers exchanged looks of bewilderment. They did not expect that the Ambassador would quickly grasp their language. Furthermore, he did something which, from their perspective, was something like showing respect?

Soon, they also followed behind Chen Fei while the military units in front of the palace then made an encirclement to secure the meeting place.

Although they were not a strong transcendent, but their numbers were quite numerous which made them slightly confident.

‘Their numbers are quite good but their transcendent power is quite weak. Understandable since their numbers are so many.’ Tatsumi used his mind transmission technique to communicate with Ame and Chen Fei.

‘Well, they had just gone through the Star Battle and this is likely their reserve forces.’ Chen Fei commented.

‘But I can perceive some strong individuals inside the palace. Please don’t underestimate them just because we have won.' Ame advised against underestimating the Municipality.

‘Of course, we know that.’ Tatsumi replied.

Chen Fei chuckled slightly at the two but continued his walk. Slowly but surely, the ruler walked side by side with him.

The corridor from the entrance of the palace was quite large and grand, with items of value for the Municipality on the side, showing the achievements that the Municipality had gained so far.

Chen Fei, Tatsumi and Ame sensed with their mental scan that most of those items were not worth much in wealth but signified something.

The ruler then explained to them each item’s significance to the Municipality. The trio who heard it could glean the history of the Municipality more deeply.

‘What about that? Do you dare to say their history is not as deep as ours?’ Ame teased as a small laughter could be heard on Tatsumi and Chen Fei’s mindscape.

‘As expected of them. They have gone through even one Star Battle on the same scale as our current scale. Just look at the pyramid form of that artifact.’ Chen Fei signaled with his eyes to one item being displayed on the closed cube glass.

“…then this is the artifact from the defeated civilization. At least what remains of them.” The ruler said.

Even the ruler had noticed that the three looked at the pyramid artifact for one second too long. So he explained to them what that thing was.

“This thing can further bend space and even open a deeper layer of space.” The ruler explained. Tatsumi realized that this was what made the Municipality spend some of its resources to learn spacebending technology.

‘According to the information from a Marine Division as well as from Teacher, they even subdued a Planet Behemoth, which could do something similar. Perhaps their specialties are related to space-based weapons.’ Tatsumi took note of this characteristic.

He then shared this with Ame which received it with a blink of the eye and a glance.

‘I believe what you think is correct. They are developing toward a direction where their space-based weapon is developed to the point of being used militarily. Fortunately, their method can be broken down with your transcendent power and technique.’ Ame gave her mind to informing Tatsumi.

‘As long as they are proven useful, we will not let them suffer and decline.’ Tatsumi had to stress out about this.

Chen Fei on the other hand nodded with a smile when he heard the ruler talked about his Municipality’s achievement.

“But ultimately, the Federation has defeated you.” Chen Fei’s statement was both a hurtful fact and a tarnish to the Municipality’s history.

“But we are still willing to listen to your history. Do you know why?” Chen Fei walked away from the items shown on either side of the corridor to arrive at a large door leading to the throne room.

Everyone else was a bit confused. Yes, why would the Federation not look down on its history?

“Because through history, we can learn things we are supposed to do and what we should not do.” Chen Fei said with conviction.

“Furthermore, we will not repeat the mistake of our predecessor if we learn history properly. At least those insights will be put to good use.” Chen Fei took one last glance at the items on the corridor before he stood in front of the gate.

The ruler then stepped forward along with the ministers, slowly pushing the gate. The creaking sound of the gate being opened could be heard as the air from outside slowly filled the throne room.

“Please, you go first. You are the host so I will respect you as much as you put in the effort to respect me.” Chen Fei gestured for the ruler and the ministers to go in first so as not to embarrass them.

“Thank you for your understanding.” The ruler said before he swaggered into the throne room.

There was a throne standing high on the nine steps to it. Chen Fei followed after the ruler, slowly took a step higher toward the throne.

The ministers stopped moving and positioned themselves at the bottom of the stairs. Tatsumi and Ame were also at this place because their role was to escort the Ambassador.

Chen Fei stood beside the throne while the ruler sat on it.

“I am pleased that our enmity has ended along with the Star Battle. But this is just still ultimately the higher position decision and does not represent our entire civilization. Please forgive us for this result.” The ruler said with a sigh.

“No, this problem is something only time and the right policy will do long term. Understandably, the races of the Municipality felt anger and resentment. But I hope that they can get past this and realize the benefit of cooperating with the races under the Federation.” Chen Fei shook his head and offered his understanding.

“Why do you do that? According to the information I have, your civilization looks like amendable to the defeated race. Even coexist with some of the most troublesome races, something that we cannot do.” The ruler asked something that nagged at his heart.

Chen Fei blinked a few times, considering his words and actions as an Ambassador.

“We learn from each race that coexist with us. For example, we know that some of our human race have the capability to wield the undead element. That is only possible because we have been in contact with the undead element during the Star Battle. That is also the time when the first transcendent was born.” Chen Fei explained some of his civilization’s history.

But to the people there, it was an amazing achievement. To be able to wield the undead element which should have been impossible for the other races, while the humans managed to do just that, amazed them for real.

“But how did you manage to do that? Isn’t the undead element exclusive to the undead race?” the ruler asked.

“Well, we have a characteristic that allows us to wield the undead element. Without it, we are just like any beings, treating the undead element as something dangerous.” Chen Fei sighed.

This was an unsolvable mystery that current time scientists were still researching. They were researching why the Necromancer’s Trait in humans could wield the undead element while those without it suffer the same fate as any living being.

But for the others, that felt like a great revelation. No wonder they saw some humans wield the undead element just like the undead. They even wrongfully designated them as an advanced undead.

Who would expect that they were truly a race from the living?

“Now, let’s talk about your side for a bit. Is there anything you want to share?” Chen Fei smacked his lips as he offered.

The ruler glinted in his eyes before he opened his mouth.

“Our beginning started with the water that fell from the sky. We, as the Rodents, drank that water and when we realized, we had developed stronger hind legs as well as what we perceived as advanced intelligence as well as sentiency.

“Then the figure we all revere comes to us in the form familiar to us. We thought that the Great Rat God selected us because we are created in his image. At least, that’s what we believed at the time.”

The ruler told Chen Fei, Tatsumi and Ame about the origin of their races. For humans, they came from the same ancestry as the modern monkey so they knew that this was the origin story of the Rodents and how they came to be.

“But when we participated in the first Star Battle, we were faced with the fact that there are other races out there with their own deities. Furthermore, our god told us that we need to battle the other races in Star Battle. Otherwise, our race will be exterminated. So we wage war against our first enemy and they too, waged war against us.”

Then the ruler expounded on the first win that the Municipality had. In short, it was a battle of attrition.

Chen Fei nodded in understanding. He also did not forget to look around and saw that the ministers wore a complicated expression, hearing that. Although some of them were assimilated races later on, it did not prevent them from learning the Municipality’s history.

“I understand. We also use a bit of trickery to win our first Star Battle.” Chen Fei explained how the stampede helped them against their enemy at that time.

The ruler and the ministers were astounded by that. To control the stampede of such big creatures required specific knowledge, which surprised them.

Tatsumi detected the fluctuation of emotion from the ruler and the ministers. He realized that the topic was actually greater than he had assumed.

Then the ruler and the Ambassador exchanged more of their civilization history. Not only that, but they also exchanged some words and labels used in their civilization.

“Now that we have a preliminary understanding of each other’s depth, we should settle down some things.” The ruler announced.

Chen Fei looked serious and straightened his posture.

“Well, here is the agreement that the Federation has made.” Chen Fei then let out something from his spatial bag. It was the settlement agreement for the Municipality’s perusal and the Federation’s condition was already written there.

“Let me.” One minister bowed to the ruler before ascending the stairs and received the agreement from Chen Fei’s hand. Chen Fei guessed that this matter should be discussed together so he let them read it.

“This condition…” The minister who handled the agreement was actually the one responsible for foreign affairs.

“What’s wrong?” Chen Fei got the gist of it but not the detail so he was nervous that the other side would nitpick about the smallest detail.

“It is just…the conditions are just that?” the minister of foreign affairs asked to make sure that what he had seen was correct.

“Yes. The written agreement from the Federation is exactly what was written.” Chen Fei replied.

“This condition is good. Even I did not expect that the Federation would give us a chance to grow.”

Hearing what the minister of foreign affairs had said, the others, including the ruler, glanced at him.

“In short, the agreement is written so that we have some advantage, but of course, the Federation will not lose out either.” The minister of foreign affairs said.

“Yes. We are fierce in the Star Battle, even daring to kill as many as come due to the rules and fear of invoking some sort of regulation that could threaten us. This agreement can be understood as a way to compensate you on some things.” Chen Fei sighed with relief since he could see that the people in the throne room had a look that wanted to accept this result.

Although the words that came out from the Ambassador was crude but it was the truth that they all realized.

“As long as you don’t do the thing with the children anymore, you will be able to enjoy what was written.” Chen Fei added this time with a slightly cold look.

“That initiative was raised by me.” The ruler said honestly.

Tatsumi and Ame narrowed their eyes at him. They understood that the ruler had to do this as not to lose the advantage that their races had. But to use children as frontline soldiers was something that they could not forgive.

Because children’s worldviews were not developed well, and they perhaps did not even know why they were doing it in the first place. The blank sheet of paper, which was usually used to describe children, meant that the children could be shaped in any way the adult wanted.

That went both positively and negatively.

“That is why you can punish me.” The ruler said.

Chen Fei nodded severely. Knowing the perpetrator would make things easier on both ends. But the discussion needed to be continued.

“We can talk about the punishment later. What we need is everyone’s agreement on this right here, right now.” Chen Fei said not only to the ruler but to everyone in the throne room.

“Your Majesty. This is already better than our worst-case scenario. Although there will be resentment and anger from our people, but we have to be the ones showing our people that the thing in the Star Battle should end in the Star Battle.” The foreign affairs minister said to the ruler.

The other ministers showed agreement with the statement by speaking out about it.

“Alright.” The ruler closed his eyes and let out a breath of relief. Apparently, he had held things too long, and now he could finally let out his burden.

“From this point onward, the agreement between the Municipality and the Federation shall be valid and effective immediately!” The ruler raised his hand and pointed to the agreement held by the foreign affairs minister.

“Your will shall be executed!” The ministers kneeled and said this out loud.

Chen Fei did not need to kneel as well as his escorts.

From this point onward, the Municipality became one of the people of the Hinon Federation. But one thing was still needed to be addressed. Their migration from their home star system to be transferred to the Federation’s star system.

This was what the Planet Masters discussed in the Planet Master Space.