A week later.
A week had passed since the negotiations began, and today marked their end. To announce the successful conclusion, as well as what conditions had been agreed to after the surrender, a press conference was being held at the Esparian presidential palace. Due to the end of the war, the reporters that'd left had all returned, and there were a few hundred of them present. Thus, the press conference had to be held on the lawn, instead of the conference room.
"Today marks the end of the negotiations between Eden and Esparia, as well as the war caused by the Esparians that had been corrupted by money and the pursuit of benefits." Alexander began his speech with the confidence of a person who was sure nothing was going to happen to him no matter what he said. But despite that, he still didn't put the blame on the citizens of the country. Instead, he only blamed the politicians who were behind the decision.
"A few minutes ago, we signed Emanuel's Surrender Accord. We gave it that name so that his actions would forever live in history, and no more innocent Esparians would have to die because of a greedy politician in the future," he continued.
"The terms of the surrender are as follows.
Article 1: Complete Disarmament. Esparia henceforth is required to entirely disarm its military forces. In conjunction with this, there will be the ratification of the constitution to allow for ARES to be responsible for the military. They will hire the now out-of-work Esparian soldiers after they undergo an evaluation. As for the equipment, that will be purchased by ARES at an agreed price, and the money earned will be used as compensation for the people and families that were harmed as a result of the war. It is meant as a beginning of recovery from the trauma and emotional pain that resulted from this pointless conflict," he said.
Wording it in that way would cause people to see Eden in a positive light. That he didn't do it just as a means to defang the Esparians, but was actually looking out for those harmed by the war. Some people even thought of him as the president their country needed, but unfortunately didn't have. In their minds, it was quite a shame and a complete change in their mental image of the Edenian president, who people had once thought of as a greedy, dishonest politician looking solely to benefit his country without caring what he had to promise the people in exchange for power. Thus, when he promised that the Edenians would ensure that Esparia country wouldn't suffer too much humiliation and be able to recover from the situation without too much delay, everyone thought he had been lying, but based on just the first article, it seemed like he was striving to keep his promise —Esparians and Edenians alike—were satisfied with the integrity of the man.
"During the transition and retraining period, which is expected to last three months, our military will continue to be stationed here to ensure the peace is maintained. They'll be withdrawn when the transition is completed. And just like my first promise to you was kept, I also swear that this one, too, will be kept. I stake my reputation and position as president of Eden on it.
"The second condition is the Ceding of Territory. Esparia is required to surrender the disputed territory, effectively turning us into nations that share only a water border. As for the occupants of that territory, they'll be allowed to stay as citizens of Eden, under the presumption that they apply for citizenship, but they can also choose to receive compensation and leave if they prefer.
Third: War Crimes Trials. The leaders and individuals responsible for war crimes will be subject to prosecution and punishment, up to and including execution, should the court deem their actions severe enough to warrant it."
Gasps came from some of the reporters, as they didn't expect to hear executions being mentioned at all.
Undeterred by the reaction, Alexander continued his speech. "The fourth condition is Economic Sharing," He said, then paused for a minute and looked at the face of reporters, which had some of them smiling and others sighing.
He knew what they were thinking when he mentioned the economic sharing. To them, it was no different than taking control of the entire country's economy, only sugar-coated by using a polite euphemism. It seemed bad, but there could be worse conditions than economic control, making many citizens think of the possibilities. Alexander knew they were thinking of him and his country as greedy bastards disguising as virtuous victims.
He just smiled and continued reciting the terms of the Emanuel Surrender Accord."This won't result in your country receiving economic sanctions or limitations, like you're thinking it will. Instead, it's something that will only be beneficial to you, and I'm not lying when I say that."
Some scoffs came from the reporters, who thought they were being quiet enough to not be heard. And if he wasn't wearing his AR glasses in awareness mode—meaning everything happening was being amplified just enough that he would be constantly aware of everything in his surroundings—they would probably have been correct in their assumption. The awareness mode was one of the reasons that he always felt safe when wearing his AR glasses.n0velUsb.c0m
Not caring about their reaction, he continued, "We won't be taking anything from your already existing contracts, but for the next six-month period, every natural resource discovered by our team of inspectors and prospectors will be exploited by its discoverers, which will be us. After the initial six-month period, half of all profits generated by those resources will be awarded to the prospectors in perpetuity."
Another round of scoffing came as he continued speaking, this time in a raised voice.
"This will be valid only under the condition that we're the ones that discover and develop the resources, and that our operations are without any Esparian government involvement," he explained, showing that there wouldn't be all that much that Esparia would lose out on. Instead, Eden would be responsible for searching for them, then investing the necessary money, equipment, and manpower to develop them before they could even begin profiting from those resources.
Alexander moved on and mentioned the rest of the conditions, including the entire government being investigated and the removal of all those deemed to have a part in causing the war. That would be followed by government reform, which would result in the presidential position of the country having its previous power limited. Still, it would be more flexible than even the American president.
There were a few more conditions, then he allowed the reporters to ask their questions.
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