Trading

- Warning, this has a lot of politics so some may find this really boring-

Green, his father and his assistant were being led through the castle while being escorted by a handful of guards. They all wear some medieval looking blade armor that makes a lot of noise while moving. They arrived in front of a big fancy looking door. The lead guard, who was identified by the different coloured cape, instructed them to wait here.

Green's father promptly took a seat in one of the chairs, which were positioned right to the either wall.

"Sit down son… They are trying to make us sweat a bit with the waiting game."

Green followed his father's request and took seat next to him. Green went through a couple of scenarios in his head to prepare him for what is going to await him behind these fancy looking doors.

Meanwhile a silence took over the room. Jonathan, Green's father's assistant, took out a handful of documents and appeared to look through them while still standing. The silence held for a couple of minutes until Green broke it with a question.

"Why did you not also take a seat Jonathan?"

His father and Jonathan looked at Green for a second and then his father leaned back into his chair. Jonathan threw a smile, which in Green's opinion looked sad, at Green and started to explain.

"Young master, thank you for your care but it would not be proper for somebody of my status to take seat here in this house."

"Oh . . . . . . We are only allowed because we are nobles." Green reasons.

His father started to chuckle. Jonathan looked at his Greens father with a sort of hopeless look, which would give you a teacher that tried to teach you something with all their power but still failed.

After finishing his laughter Green's father started to explain "Oh no . . . . If you go after palace rules you are only allowed to take a seat if you were invited by a royal or senior staff member."

"So we are directly going against the rules here. Why?" Green asked.

"Because your father and I were in this position a couple of times. Led me quote him directly, young master 'I am absolutely fed up with these stupid royals playing completly timewaisting politic plays to imitate or make me loss my shit in this over the top pomporse room'", explained his father assistant.

Green looked surprised at his father. "We had to wait nearly 2 hours in here because the royal's were 'not ready'." Green's father put a special emphasis on these last two words.

"This room is called the 'panic room' between the castle servants as it is believed that you would only get led here to wait for a long time to make you have a near panic or anxiety attack." Jonathan explained calmly.

"So they put chairs in here but you are not allowed to sit on them as this would break the rules of the master of this house. . . . . which is the King", reasoned Green in his head.

They returned back to their silence and had to wait for what seemed to be hours for the doors to open a gap, where a face just looked at them. The face said in a blank voice

"Get ready, they're going to receive you in a minute." The door closed again and Jonathan put all of his stuff back into his suitcase.

Green waited for his father to do anything but he seemed to relax even more. Knowing that his son was watching him he said in a low voice to his son "Stay seated until I stand up."

The doors opened again, but this time they fully opened.

Green was able to see now what he assumes to be the throne room. And he really can only describe it as a throne room, as it only has the throne on a raised platform with some other smaller chairs behind it, at the other end of the room. All the eyes looked at the room where Green, his father and Jonathan were still inside.

A moment passed and then Green's father slowly stood up while not looking into the throne room. Green, as instructed, followed closely. His father once again walked slowly towards right at the transition of the waiting and thorne room. He stopped right there and then waited for something.

Green recognized it as some kind of power play but was not able to identify it. He still followed his father but held a step of space distant from his father. Silence came about again.

The reincarnated nine year old took this moment to look over the assembled people.

The King obviously was the person which stuck out the most. He wore over the top fancy clothes with an actual crown and septa in his hand. The other once seated behind the King, their chairs being physically behind the King and with lesser decorations were nearly all filled. On his left were his wife, the Queen also the closest distant wise to him. The crown prince was seated right behind the King and was sort of looking over the shoulder of him.

On the right side of the King standing, was a man who might be his Prime Minister. This guy also had the most emotion shown on his face. He looked really annoyed.

Green realized that his father was still standing at the doorway. Then somebody from the guards, which all stood at the walls, walked forward.

"Duke Kent Allen, Count of the Isles of Femen, Count of Slandnew, Earl of Newal and Marquess of the Isle of Vocoast; Full owner of the Kent businesses; holder of an International Master title in Business and Diplomacy, . . . . . ", the announcer paused a second and then continued;

"Fourth son of Duke Kent Allen and also the proclaimed Heir of the Duke, Kent Green, recently acquired International Master title in Engineering and

7th son of the Knight Arnold, assistant and right hand of Duke Kent Allen

are stepping in front of the royal family as they were graciously invited by them." The announcer turned towards Green's father and addressed him directly. "You were announced, you can now enter Duke Kent". He bowed deeply and walked back to the other guards.

"Did my father use the castle rules to insist on that announcement to get them for us waitting in that room for nearly half an hour?", Green reasoned in his head."But damn…. I did not know that he had that many titles and important functions . . . ."

He did not get any further as his father now stepped into the throne room. Green followed again, still keeping the step distance from his father, while mimincing his father who was looking straight at the royal family.

After a roughly 20 meter slow walk, they arrived in front of the steps leading onto the platform where the royals were seated. Green's father, after stopping, bowed for a second, but only slightly and not saying anything. He again copied his father and while his head was down he was able to see Jonathan being at least 5 steps behind him, while also bowing way deeper, close to being at an 90° angle.

"My King…", Green's father started with a rather bored voice. "I arrived in front of you and your family with my son as you have ordered us."

Green waited for his father to say anything more but apparently that was all he was going to say. Meanwhile Green was now able to see all the Royals why better and he was not that impressed. He honestly feared that they were combats in some shape or form but as he now got a closer look none of them have any threatening look to them. The King and Queen even looked slightly out of shape. The only ones slightly looking threatening and by that only looking in shape were some of the male members of the royal family.

Also the man standing on the right side next to the King was getting visibly more annoyed with Green's father. As nobody said anything after his father finished, he continued. "As usual with you, Duke Kent, making a big entry but then not following up on it", the man was saying that in the most annoying voice while making a really punchable face in Green's opinion.

Not falling for the obvious taunt, Green's father again said in an relativ bored tone. "I think it is in both of our interests to get this over quickly, your majesty. So can we stop our normal little play of who can insult and taunt the other while not actually doing it.

I really want to know whose idea it was to now to summon my 9 and half year old son and heir in front of the entire royal family to have him maybe embarrass me, which will then be all of the sudden be the talk of everybody from here to 2 dozen islands away . . . . "

His father never actually raised his voice during this entire speech but you were able to feel the spite coming from his words.

"How dare you speak like this towards his majesty and his family . . . . ", the men on the right side of the King did not get any further as the Duke interrupted him.

"Can you actually speak to me and not let your little servant over there do it for you!". This time he was talking with a slightly raised voice.

"I am not some 'little servant', I am the Prime Minister, and my family has been doing this as long as this Kingdom has been running. Not like someone like you, who until 10 years ago was just a Count of a small land would know what that means. . . . . "

"The more this guy talks the more he becomes exactly as I expected nobles in this world to be", Green thought to himself.

The Duke was still not caring what the Prime Minister was saying and was staring at the King. After the Prime Minister continued to ramble about for a minute did the King lift his hand and near instantly did the P.M. shut up. The King then spoke up for the first time.

"Leave us alone", as soon as he said that, did the guards on the side left the room. To Green's surprise, Jonathan also left. The King turned towards the P.M.

"You also leave", the P.M. looked livit after that but said nothing and after bowing left the room. As soon as the door closed did the King and some of the royals sighed visibly.

"Allen, why do you have to always have to be this aggressive towards my Prime Minister?", the King asked with an annoyed voice.

"You know how his faction is treating me and my house, Conrad."

Green was honestly surprised by his father being on a first name basis with the actual King. Seeing his son's surprise the Duke started to explain to him. "After our house increased in power and surpassed all the other houses a self proclaimed opposition formed behind the Prime Minister. Nearly 40% of the nobles got behind him while the rest either formed a sort of neutral party or only swore themself towards the kingdom, to the royal family. The only saving grace for these annoying politics starting up was that I and the King were basic friends since we were in the Royal Academy."

Green was shocked by that revelation. But he seemed to be the only one as nobody in the royal family seemed surprised. "So when did you want to tell me that you are best buddies with the King, Dad?!", Green asked his father, slightly annoyed.

"Honestly I really wanted to see your face, son. Who do you think I was meeting every Friday evening after work?" his father asked with a smug face. "You being a genius, being mature beyond your age; it's always entertaining to drop something that you do not expect in front of you. . . . ."

"So why did I receive a royal summoning?", Green asked.

"Oh. . . .", it was the King speaking up. He turned to his family and asked. "Did any of you write one?" Head shaking and not receiving an answer did King Conrad address Green and his father again. "My Prime Minister apparently saw fit to once again put me and my family against yours. I only ordered to have you invited to my office to congratulate and have a small discussion. Of course I did this through the official channels to get some good publicity, otherwise I would have asked your father on our Friday evening get to togethers."

"Will they ever stop annoying me and my family?", Green's father asked rhetorically.

The King answered, "As long as they seem to think that you want to be in their place or even want my position they will not stop."

"I am already drowning in paperwork with my current positions and I really do not want more. . . . . let us stop with the old tails and tell me what you want from my son.", Allen asked again with a bit more seriousness.

"Ah, yeah. First of all, from me and my family we wanted to congratulate you on your achievement. As it stands currently in our 800 year history you are the first 9 year old to have obtained an Master and it has been more than a century since somebody younger than 15 obtained one. Once again we want to congratulate you for probably getting into our history books.

Now we have to talk about the reprocation your little demonstration had." King Conrad paused to take a sib from his drink.

Green was surprised that it was the demonstration that started this circus.

The King cleared his throat and continued. "Yes as it stands now, I received 29 requests from different countries to share your invention since you had your little presentation."

Green was gobsmacked by that number.

"Oh, you seemed surprised but that was not even all!" The Queen giggled, which halted the King's talk shortly. "These were all countries which were a good bit away from us. Nearly all our neighbors sent a representative which had either a peace treaty with them, if they were not already in one with them, or straight up a warning that if they saw your invention somewhere near them they would see that as a declaration of war!" The King sounded more and more defeated the further he got.

"I had to hold so many calls with all the leaders that I can not even count it any more. The paperwork…. the amount of letters I had to write already and then I even got a direct call from the World Government!

You were able to give me more headaches and hand cramps in two weeks than your father and the Prime Minister managed to inflict during their stupid quarrels in nearly 10 years!". The King really looked defeated. "Oi, it is always these old fuckers who want to annoy me and then come running to you when I throw some stuff back!"

"Do not give me that now Allen. You are always encouraging them to do something… What was that entrance 10 minutes ago. You could have just walked in normally, but you really wanted to rub your titles under his nose!", the King accused back.

"But you saw his stupid face when the doors opened. If I could, I would have punched him so hard!!!" Green's father answered.

"Boys!!! That is enough!" the Queen decided to step in. "We did not assemble here to listen to your quarrels, you can save that for your weekly drinking bouts. Let us get back on track."

The King and the Duke looked at her and then back at each other, and silently agreed to stop.

"Ok, let us get back to our and your problems. Because of your invention we expect to see some infiltration attempts which may lead to either kidnapping or straight up assassinations." The King paused to let the shook sink in.

"I know you are not going to like it Allen, but the safest place for your son would probably be with us here inside the castle . . . . "

"No way I would allow him being here with one of the people of the fraction of the Prime Minister actually has a better access to him then outside. Outside I can have him continue being shadowed without any problems. I can not do this inside here!" Green's father explained and denied King Conrad's proposition.

Green was surprised for a second that he was apparently followed the entire time but then realized that he should have expected that. There was just no other way then that, other than locking him inside the mansion.

"Let us skip that part for a moment." The king recognised that he would not be able to swing the opinion of his old friend for the moment. "Now we come to the other problem. This has more to do with us than you." Again, did the King pause. "We want to either buy the rights to your 'Hot Air Balloon' completely or if you want to sell them, then we want to order. Also if you want to sell them directly then we want to be able to veto who you sell those to."

The King looked now at Green and his father. Green turned to his father and waited for him to decide how to continue. His father noticed that all eyes were on him.

"While my son did not really care what happened with his invention and even without any care gave me a detailed parts list and assembly guide, I of course saw the potential in his invention. We will not sell over all the rights to you. I made some quiet inquirings through all the channels I have excess to and found a good amount of sources from which we will be able to order the amounts to manufacture the balloons in reliable quantity, quality and time. In around 3 weeks we will be able to start with the first balloon…. or technically the second"

"Wow, dad really did not fuck around. I thought that he just wanted to understand the balloon and not start a monopoly from it", Green reasoned in his head. The reincarnated nine year old decided to speak up again. "You all know that the balloon has a really big flaw currently?" He got all of their attention with the question so he answered it promptly. "The balloon is not that steerable. Once you are up you can only hope the wind will bring you to your destination."

Green's father decided to answer that question. "I think everyone knows that, son. Using your balloon just to get to a higher viewpoint is for military and normal sourvailents nearly unmatched. The value of seeing an incoming fleat earlier or just a normal pirate attack will make your invention the stand for every town in all of the four seas and probably in the Grandline. You might have secured the livelihood for the next couple of generations of our family… and that will not even being 10 years old."

"Okayyyyyy…. and I held back with the design on that balloon…. maybe I should show them all of them." Green thought while showing a sheepish smile.

Green's father knew what that meant and asked carefully. "Come share with us what you wanted to say."

"mmmmmm…. When you asked for the plans I thought you just wanted to understand what I did there so I 'only' gave you the plans for that balloon." Green confessed.

"Ok, does it mean you have more plans for other models?" Green noded to his fathers question.

"Fully planned out 5 different models with even calculations to prove them working" Green replied to the shock of everybody in the room.

"Is that everything?" his father wanted to confirm.

"I realized that you can not steer the balloon pretty early on so I decided to move that problem for after I'm done with the original model….. So I solved the problem". (A.C: Imagine the balloons they used in Avatar the last Airbender, look paragraph comments)

After he said that he swore he was visibly able to hear their mouth hitting the ground. The King was the first one to snap out of it so he questioned Green. "Are you sure?" Green nodded. "Then your risk of getting kidnapped or killed has just 10 folded."

Duke Kent became a good bit paler and Green was able to see his father's worry for him.

Green then had an actual insane idea.

"My king, I have a question,'' Green asked.

"Oh, when we are alone you can just call me uncle Conrad. But what is your question?"

"Who much power do you have over the marines or the World Government?" Green asked carefully.

"I can only make requests to each of them but I can command the local branches on our kingdom's territory. Why do you ask?" The king replied.

"Here in this country there is not a lot new to learn so I have looked around to find a place where I could learn more which resulted in either Ohara or another place.

Firstly,why I do not want to go to Ohara is because I would only get theoretical knowledge and that is not even being that much more than I can find in our Royal Academy's library." "And because the place is getting fucking nuked in less then a year" is what he added to in his mind. "The place I want to go is Karakuri Island, to the Future Country Baldimore!"

"Mmmmm… Son, why did I hear about this Island but can not remember what is so special about it?" Green's father tried to remember.

"First it is in the Grand Line", that got a couple *gasps* from the royals and his father looked horrified. "It is the birthplace for Vegapunk, the leading scientist of our age. Even before he was born there it was recognised as the spearhead of inventions, especially engineering. They have an academy there which I wanted to attend!"

The room was once again silent and processed the information. "You asked me if I had influence in the World Government to get you into this school, didn't you?", the king asked.

"Yes, I would have asked you to organize a marine escort from one of our ports 'till Baldimore with a high ranked marine on set ship." Green hoped for maybe an Vice Admiral even.

"Mmmmmmmmm, getting a marine escort is relatively easy, also getting you into that school should be doable. That is a great plan because you would also be out of the way and under marine protection. We would be able to solve 2 things with one solution. How long do you expect to stay there?"

"Around two years, up to four", Green replied.

"I do not see any problems with it why you should not be able to do it then", King Conrad said, relieved to have solved one of his problems.

Duke Kent chose this moment to join the discussion again. "Do you really want to go?", he asked with a pained face. Green just nodded. His father took a deep breath and then started to massage his temples with his fingers. "I will let you go…. only if it is a high ranked captain from the H.Q."

"Brilliant! Now that all the annoying things are cleared, let us call all the other people in again to finish our contract. Do you have any dinner plans?" Green's father denied it with a short shake of his head. "Good, then honey" King Conrad turned to his wife, "can you prepare everything, so we can eat after everything is finished in my office with contracts."

He then stood up and started to walk towards the door. Green followed his father's lead again, which also just followed behind the King. They arrived in his office, while picking up the Prime Minister on the way, which made the entire situation stuffy again.

Nonetheless, they finished the contracts up and went to an amazing dinner, where Green was able to hear stories of his father and the Kings misadventures while they were young.

The day ended for Green when they arrived back in their mansion completely exhausted.

Green drifted into sleep with the thought that he is going to have his first real adventure.