Chapter 1459: Chapter 29: Negotiation (Final) (Part 2)
“Fifth! Sixth! Seventh!” Seeing Winters about to raise his fifth finger, Gessa Adonis finally couldn’t bear it any longer and sprang to his feet, getting in Winters’ face, his saliva spattering on the latter, “Eighth! Ninth! Tenth! How many more?!”
“You sly devil,” Colonel Gessa was trembling with fury, “You’ve taken all the advantage, haven’t you?”
He laughed harshly in his anger, with an expression of shock yet unable to suppress amusement, and sternly demanded: “Are you naming your price? Or are you giving me an ultimatum?!”
“I haven’t named my price yet,” Winters’ voice was calm like water, carrying a power that could convince, “Colonel.”
“What?” Gessa calmed down a little.
“I will support you in becoming the highest military commander of the Republic of Paratu,” Winters, unruffled, wiped the saliva off his face and continued, “Fifth, I need you to ensure that you don’t recklessly deploy troops to attack Kingsfort until we have sufficient intelligence support…”
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“Did he really say that to you?” Skur Meklen asked incredulously, suspiciously, “Did you mishear him?”
“Am I deaf?” Gessa retorted irritably.
Colonel Skur considered for a moment, “This isn’t a fair deal—the terms are unbelievably generous!”
Gessa snorted lightly.
Colonel Skur cautiously asked: “Are you sure… he doesn’t have other plans?”
Gessa bared his teeth: “Why don’t you ask the kid yourself?”
Skur fell silent, looked down at his fingers, and once again lost himself in thought.
“What do you say?” Gessa turned to ask Lieutenant Colonel Magash Colvin, straightforwardly.
Lieutenant Colonel Magash’s expression was mixed, after a long silence, he slowly spoke: “I… can accept.”
Gessa said nothing, just nodded once.
“Amazing,” Magash Colvin took a deep breath and smiled, relieved, gracefully complimenting, “I’ve only seen young men gaining fame with arrogant ambition, but never… never seen anyone reach such a level…”
“Are you really sure?” Skur couldn’t rest easy, asked again, “Winters Montagne willing to give up the position of highest military commander? That’s…”
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“Are you really sure?” Gessa asked in disbelief, “You’re going to give the highest military commander position to me? That’s…”
Clearly he had gotten the better deal, yet Gessa was getting anxious instead, “I’m telling you, this could be the closest you’ll get to that seat in your lifetime! By the time we take Kingsfort, the civil war might end! It will be hard for you to climb any higher!”
The next second, Gessa Adonis saw the eyes of the Blood of the Wolf as dark as a deep pool, the latter’s tone calm but his words made Gessa’s spine chill.
“I wish I could be as optimistic as you,” Winters Montagne asked, “Why do you think the war can end at Kingsfort?”
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“So he asked for one more thing,” Every time Gessa recalled the question Winters Montagne asked, he felt a wave of melancholy and despair, he shook his head, temporarily putting aside future matters, focusing on the present.
“His sixth condition,” Gessa said to Skur and Magash, “He wants ‘Second Army Academy’.”
“It was originally organized by him,” having accepted the situation, Magash Colvin became very straightforward, “He wants to take it, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Colonel Skur seemed a bit uneasy, hesitated yet worriedly said, “Honestly, I… I’m still a bit, sigh, he’s too young. Give him the Army school, in less than twenty years the Paratu Army will be filled with his students, by then he’ll only be forty…”
Gessa ignored the old comrade, raised another finger, “His seventh condition—he wants a Generals’ Star.”
“Oh?” Magash Colvin, intrigued, asked Colonel Gessa, “Did you convince him?”
“Not for himself, it’s for John Jeska,” Gessa Adonis glanced at Colonel Skur, “He wants us to agree to appoint One-eyed Jeska as the first principal of the ‘Second Academy’.”
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The news that Colonel Gessa Adonis became the interim chairman of the new government’s highest military committee spread like wildfire across Maplestone City and Newly Reclaimed Land even before the announcement was posted.
When the announcement was officially posted, it instead left many feeling a sense of emptiness as if the shoe had finally dropped.
Regarding this ‘appointment’, there were misunderstandings, grievances, complaints, and some were joyfully celebrating within the New Army.
Beyond the army, observers also discussed it endlessly, and rumors abound.
But regardless of how people inside and outside the army viewed this appointment or how many hidden messages they read into it, it didn’t change the fact—the Republic of Paratu’s newly organized military machine was officially set into motion.
Clarifying the command sequence was like opening the floodgates of a reservoir.
Parchments bearing the name [Gessa Adonis] surged out like a flood, flowing into every bone, every sinew, every piece of flesh of the New Army, awakening this war machine from its slumber.
War was coming again, no one doubted it.
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[Maplestone City Cathedral]
Since the last collective vote, formal officers from the army of the four counties gathered here for the first time.
Each officer received a sealed commission with their name on it, but before receiving orders, no one dared to open it.