"It's a pleasure meeting you, sir. I hope that your nephew pa.s.sed the message about our plans for the future in advance."

Bowing deeply in front of the elderly man that invited me to his place, I pretended not to see the huge variety of the hunting trophies filling the walls of his guest room. While it could be said to be a testimony to this guy hunting capabilities, I could bet that at least half of them were actually bought on the market just for the sake of intimidating anyone who happened to be in this room for the first time like me now.

"Oh, come on. I'm too old for such pleasantries. We both know that it was you that wanted to meet with me, so cut the c.r.a.p and speak directly, sir brother. Right now, I'm but a weak, old man rather than the senator representing the might of commonwealth behind him!"

Despite how one could easily take his words to be on the border between aggressive and offensive, if not for the broad smile on his face and clearly over the top tone of his voice. Yet the message that he included in his words was pretty clear.

"Just to make sure we are on the same point then, the current head of the Cheerie household agreed to initiate a cooperation with me, where for the price of both the recipe and setting up the local brewery of the Tarnowian beer in the town of Cherrie, my efforts at creating a peaceful outpost near the Cossack lands would be supported by the main house. As for the reasons behind this move, this is the topic for an entirely different talk."

While I reckoned that this man was far more knowledgable about the affairs of his household that he would let me know it, I had to make sure that we were on the same page when speaking about my interests in the east.

"Yes, I was informed about this proposition, just as well as I know how you failed to make any moves to turn those words into reality. Should I take this meeting as you finally making your move?"

Dang! 

This man was quite sharp! But again, it wasn't that hard to detect the tension between me and Ostros with how they pushed the econom of the country proposal along with my strict refusal to take up this responsibility. With how this man survived in the highest circle of politic that governed the country alongside his former majesty, it was given that he would be quite skilled in terms of the underhanded deals and schemes, making it impossible to play him into my own game without alerting both the senator in front of me and the entire house that he currently represented about my shady intentions.

"Nothing can escape your eyes, sir. Indeed, with the pressure of some… families that wish to rob me of the ancestral lands that I spend so much effort into developing forced me to hasten my actions in regards to the east. But while that sounds quite desperate, even though I'm not going to drop my ideas for the east, I'm willing to make quite huge concessions as long as I could count on the backing of Cheerie family in return."

I was several decades too young to attempt to play the game of whispers with this old man, so the only way for me to ask for his help was to explain my motives straight away. After all, what I wanted them to do was to pit themselves against one of the major powers in the entire country! Unless I could make it worth for them to back me against Ostros, rather than helping me out, they would be sure to jump on the opportunity and swallow the sc.r.a.ps that would be left after my clash with my cousin!

"Oho? And what are the concessions that you just spoke about? Did you mean that ten thousand gold coins? Or maybe the items that you would arbitrary price that high?"

f.u.c.k! 

I was sure that this little word game of mine would go through unnoticed, yet just as expected from this sly, old fox, he realised the true meaning behind those words as well!

"Guilty as charged!"

With how all my schemes were laid bare with just a few sentences of this man, I could only admit to it while bursting out with a wry laugh. For the first time since I moved to this timeline, I fully realised that disrespecting the people of this time was the worst mistake that I could commit. Even if they lacked the formal education that I went through, just the sheer life experience of dealing with such schemes and word games made them more than worthy opponent in terms of debating, not to speak how devious they were sure to be when really putting an effort to take down an enemy of theirs!

"Let me put my thoughts directly on the table then. I would love if the Cheerio family could push one of their members to become the econom of the country. In exchange, I will sell all the products of mine that I can for their production price, along with sharing…"

Only as I was speaking did I realise just what kind of insane concession I was willing to make just to obtain their support. Swallowing my saliva in order to buy time, I could feel the taxing look of the elder scanning my face as if he wanted to probe just what kind of words made me so scared of myself.

"Along with sharing ten out of a hundred coins that the Tarnowian marketplace will make. But to make one thing clear, I'm not going to take the risks of transporting those goods on myself. As the trading route goes through the lands of the Ostros family, unless they would be moved under the Cheerio family banner, we would risk the cousin of mine… stealing it away under some kind of stupid pretence."

While speaking my lines, I dared to carefully observe the face of the elder, hoping to find some clues that could help me to discover a way in which pus.h.i.+ng this man's b.u.t.ton would be effective… Yet without any surprise, this elder face was as calm as an old cat leisuring on top of a d.a.m.ned tree!

"That's indeed reasonable. But before I can even guess what will be the response of the head, I need to know the details of why do you want this eastern outpost so much, and what its purpose will be."

Cupping his hands together, the elder relaxed in his chair. With his eyes still locked to my face, he gave off the vibes of the hardened diplomat that he surely was.

"In short words, make them rich by trade while directing their potential outside of the country. Use my beer in the foreign lands to advertise the products bought from the cossacks as an exotic luxury, and use the money from said trade to turn this bunch of outcasts into loyal soldiers of the commonwealth. While I get to earn lots, the country receives a powerful force guarding its south-eastern borders to the last drop of blood. Not a bad trade, won't you think?"