"Mr. Fisher Benavides, come, have another drink."
After all, they had waited until Mr. Fisher arrived to start enjoying dinner, so his timing was perfect, and the atmosphere in the dining hall became even more lively after the meal began.
According to the seating arrangement at the table, Prince Schwali was supposed to sit with the officials of the New Party. On the table, Quinn, the current party whip of the New Party, was assigned to welcome the delegation from the Schwali Kingdom.
He was a portly gentleman who clearly frequented the various entertainment establishments of Saint Nali. The officials of the New Party have two factions: either somewhat chubby like Quinn or somewhat frail like Trandell.
However, even the pleasure-loving Quinn began to falter under the relentless urging to drink by Prince Schwali. His constitution was not strong to begin with, and he didn’t eat much before drinking like mad, so soon he was sweating profusely from his forehead.
The remaining officials of the New Party were also pulled into the mire of alcohol by the surrounding academics.
Even the Schwali Gentleman who had brought the sheepman to the banquet was now boldly introducing how docile his sheepman companion was and how pleasant it was when the creature would dutifully massage his back, much to the drunken dismay of the accompanying New Party officials.
But Fisher clearly saw that this visit from Schwali carried a hint of aggression.
Though the visit was a result of an agreement privately reached between the two countries, it was still unclear how much Schwali had profited from the specifics of the agreement. After all, it was Schwali’s economy that was in trouble and needed to open foreign markets, which gave Nali the upper hand in that regard.
The New Party might not be good at much, but they should still be adept at making money and negotiating. Even if rekindling relations with Schwali was beneficial for them, they could still play some games in this aspect.
From what one could see, the agreement likely included many parts where Schwali came out at a loss, and in the end, Schwali probably had to begrudgingly accept the terms.
Therefore, it was within reason that during this academic visit, they would try to recover some lost ground, such as through this overly encouraging dinner party, and later on, at the academic conference targeted at Fisher.
Seeing the New Party whip quickly defeated and retreating from the battle of drinks, Ken, who was not good at drinking, glanced at the feigning dead university president and Roger, combed his elegant beard, and prepared to step into the fray.
As the president, he certainly couldn’t afford to lose face for Saint Nali University, especially since it was a royal chartered institution.
However, before Ken could move, Fisher preemptively changed seats and sat down next to Prince Schwali.
What a joke, Ken was of such an age now, if he drank too much tonight, next year’s date could mark his death anniversary.
Professor Fisher volunteered to take on the responsibility of defending the honor of Nali and Saint Nali University, a move that earned the appreciation of Roger and the university president.
No sooner had Fisher sat down beside Prince Luosang than he was hit by the strong smell of alcohol emanating from him. The prince, with his chest bare, sized up Fisher and laughed as he spoke,
"Mr. Fisher, back in Schwali I had read many of your articles. The Nali Journal would be placed on my desk on time every week, and in different fields, social science, ethics, Magic Theory... even in such a peripheral subject as demi-humans, I can see your name. It’s , I have a somewhat personal question I’d like to ask you..."
"Please speak, Prince."
His face a touch flushed, he started pouring Fisher a drink while speaking,
"You know, in our country we have some issues regarding... demi-humans, and I’d like to ask you if there’s a way to make the descendants of those sheepmen less... uh, delicate."
Fisher paused mid-sip, momentarily unable to follow the line of thought from Prince Luosang next to him.
So instead of dealing with the issue of the Nobles in his own kingdom who prey on sheepmen, he wants to address the sheepmen all the way in the South Continent?
Looking to bully the weak, are we?
Fisher drained his glass, not bothering about whether Prince Luosang was genuinely drunk when he made those careless remarks. He laughed, extended his right hand, and made a cutting motion as if slicing something in two, saying,
"I tend to prefer getting to the root of the problem. Since they’re so impulsive, a permanent fix would do, and moreover, it would solve other issues that are causing headaches for Prince Luosang, wouldn’t it?"
Previously mentioned, the Schwali Kingdom has a significant problem with overly powerful Nobles.
Their Council, in name, is a division of power from the Royal Family to the people, but more precisely, it should be said as "division of power to the Nobles." With methods of either supporting or crowding out, the Nobles control the Council of Schwali, seizing votes that should belong to the people, leading to Schwali’s political system being quite deformed.
The power was extremely concentrated, yet not in the hands of the Royal Family, which is quite different from Nali’s current balance of power system.
Nali’s checks and balances system comes from a bloodless revolution, while Schwali’s Council system was based on imitation without understanding the essence. This not only disrupted the original balance but coupled with the incompetence of the former Emperor, the situation in Schwali in the previous years was truly not optimistic.