The whole hall went silent after Jack's words. They were wondering why the king gave such a menacing statement to the first country leader who arrived. The silence was broken by a hearty laughter from Palgrost's President.
"Hahaha…! You still remember our first meeting, eh? King Storm Wind," Thelgrun laughed. "Of course, I bring you a gift!"
Thelgrun gestured to Broban, who took out a parchment.
Jack was wondering whether Thelgrun made a joke again like the last time when Thelgrun gave him the worthless statue, which was still sitting inside Jack's bed chamber. He accepted the parchment. After using Inspect, he found that the parchment was a schematic of the mana cannon.
"Mana cannon is an exclusive research tech in Palgrost," Peniel explained to Jack via their minds. "Normally, other countries won't get this tech. But if you gave this parchment to your royal mechanics, you will find a new special tech appearing in your military research path. Similar to that martial art drill tech that popped up in the research path."
Hearing that, Jack thanked Thelgrun earnestly. He had not seen the mana cannon in action but he had heard the report. The mana cannon's range was the farthest among current existing siege weapons. If his army could have these siege weapons, they would have something that resembled the artillery of the past world.
Jack gave the parchment to John while sending him a message about what Peniel told him, only for John to reply, "I know. I have Hope's Knowledge, remember?"
Jack also presented Thelgrun with a gift. A small statue of himself. After returning to Thereath, Jack had Thaergood look for a talented sculptor. Thaergood found him an outworlder who made a living in this capital by creating various marvelous sculptures for the citizens. Jack commissioned this outworlder to make this small statue of himself.
"Haha. I always know we have a similar sense of humor," Thaergood said. "Tell you what. I will treasure this statue and put it right there beside my throne. A reminder to everyone who comes into the throne about a friend of Palgrost who came to her rescue during our country's worst hours."
Jack chuckled and took out a large leather bag from his inventory. "The statue is only half my gift. This one is my thanks for the Divine Might Potion you gave me in the past. That potion had given me a big help.
Thelgrun opened the bag and his eyes went wide.
Jack whispered to him, "Don't tell the others I give you this."
Inside the bag was thirty orichalc.u.m ore. Orichalc.u.m ore was the highest grade of blacksmith material alongside the Astral ore. Any country would fight for this ore. Right now, only Mount Thenias was known to have a mine that produced this ore.
"Thank you, my friend," Thelgrun clasped Jack's arm tightly.
Jack showed Thelgrun and the others to their prepared seats. For Thelgrun, he sat next to Jack where four royal chairs had been prepared. Each for one of the visiting sovereigns. Jack wanted to send the signal that he treated them as equals.
Before noon, Kabaka arrived as planned. Following him were Mifu Longsight, Mkulme Giantkiller, Makubwa Mountking, and the dawning twins who just joined Verremor's ruling power, Vivian and Ursa.
Makubwa looked to the side where Emris was standing. The two other Lord Marshall were still with the army in Palgrost, so Emris was in charge of the security during this meeting. Emris returned the gesture. They would never have thought that half a year ago they had fought trying to kill one another. Today, they stood in this hall welcoming one another as friends. The relationship between political factions was truly fickle.
Kabaka also came bearing a gift, but nothing as special as the one Thelgrun brought. Jack also presented him with one. The gift this time was arranged by Grace. These gifts were just formalities.
Queen Aldryth came at noon. She was accompanied by Dytess, Zoikod, and Arthur.
They stayed and chatted about mundane things and watched entertainment like plays, dances, and songs that had been arranged by both Grace and Thaergood. The performers were both from the native and outworlder communities. Jack teased if Grace wanted to sing a song considering her past job. Grace told him that she had put that world behind her.
Horatio only came when the sun was almost set. Some thought he was rude for coming so late. Considering Horatio's race, Jack didn't have the same thought. Horatio was accompanied by Ezekiel Fanchon, Darius Armand, William of Wellington, and John's father, Saint Jonathan.
The two father and son only exchanged greetings by using stares.
Ezekiel also gave John a stare, which John didn't reciprocate. Ezekiel was still resentful for being tricked by John in the Jagara region.
Everyone took their arranged seats and chatted as they watched the entertainment. Nothing serious was mentioned. That would be for tomorrow. Today, they enjoyed the world as any common folks did.
As the night approached, the guests were ushered to the palace courtyard which had been repurposed to hold a feast. They enjoyed the night while nearby, an outworlder music band played songs the native sovereigns thought were a bit too fancy for their taste, but they didn't mention anything about it. They simply attributed it to outworlders' peculiar taste.
As the feast continued well on in the night, they were startled by a booming sound from the sky. All of a sudden, the sky was brightened by colors. Everyone looked up and was surprised to find a gigantic image of a person in the sky. That person was Master.
"Greetings, people of the world!" Master greeted in that image. "I'm here to announce two things. One is a message for the natives. Another is an invitation for all outworlders.
"For natives, I want to tell you about the truth of this world. Let it be known that you all live in a world that I created! Yes, I am your creator! You came into being because of my effort. This is a world originally meant for our entertainment. Us, outworlders! But I give you a chance for real life. You may thank me, you may not. I do not care.
"The purpose of my announcement is in my second message. Invitation to all outworlders. I bring you into this world. I can bring you back out. At sunrise one week from now, I'm going to hold a convention at these coordinates. This venue is in the area between the Jagara and Khan regions.
"This is a convention for outworlders, so there will be no native soldiers! Every outworlder is welcome. Even those who consider me an enemy. During this convention, you will not be harmed. You have my word. We will discuss the fate of outworlders in this convention. If you wish to return to the old world, come to me then. I will wait for you there!"