Rising Sun above the Land of Pearls (Ashigawa-Franerre)

[aimway921]

Kido smiled a bit at how well the Franchmen could speak Ashigawan, despite the few mistakes he made.

As they were talking and drinking, the limo was quickly making it's way through the streets of Kyoto. It mostly went through the outer part of the city, avoiding the Old City, probably due to the ancient roads there not being suited for such large cars.

About 30 minutes later, they reached their destination. As the car stopped and the door was opened from the outside by another officer, they would be exposed to a lavish courtyard surrounded by whitewashed walls that were no taller than an average person. In the middle there was a huge building 4 floors high, built in traditional Ashigawan style.

The diplomats would be led through the building untill the reached an office on the second floor. Inside there was a pretty big table, with 3 charges ready. Some drinks and glasses in the middle, papers and pens next to the chairs. Other than the traditional wallwork, several exquisite paintings and potted plants, the room didn't have much in decoration.
"The Foreign Minister will be joining you in a few minutes," Kido said, as the Franchmen entered the room. He bowed and closed the sliding doors from the outside, leaving them alone in the room.

[callmedelta]

Now alone inside the room Seth could finally speak to Ewan. "I will admit, Ewan, you are doing better than I expected," Seth said begrudgingly, "No major errors at all, as far as I could see at least. And what did you even say to the General, anyway? I don't speak Ashigawan."

Ewan was beaming after hearing Seth's praise. "I simply thanked him for the lychee juice, though I will say I'm surprised you don't know Ashigawan better, considering both how long you've been in the FA and how many language they teach."

"It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks, Ewan," Seth replied, "And besides, I know common. And why is it that we always have to learn their languages, anyway? Why can't anyone learn Franch for a change?"

[aimway921]

About 5 minutes passed before the doors opened again. The person opening the door, dressed in a Kempeitai uniform, stepped aside to let in an older looking Odaru man with graying hair and tail. He was wearing a black business suit, extremely well tailored by it's looks. It was no surprise - after all, following the long tradition, most Ministers in Ashigawa were members of the upper nobility - including this man. As the newcomer stepped into the room, the uniformed man behind him showed in the doorway again and closed the doors.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," the man said in Commons with an accent audibly thicker than that of Kido. As he was greeting the Franchmen, he bowed. "Welcome to the Southern Jewel of the Commonwealth. I am the Foreign Relations Minister of Ashigawa, Tagomi Nobusuke. I hope you are enjoying your visit to the Empire so far."

[callmedelta]

Seth and Ewan made sure to return the bow even deeper. Seth gave a glance and a nod to Ewan, letting him take the lead. "Thank you, Minister Tagomi," Ewan answered in commons so Seth could understand, "Unfortunately, we have not been able to experience much of Ashigawa yet, but the lychee juice we enjoyed on the car ride over was very enjoyable. If the rest of the Empire is as good as your juice, I believe we will enjoy our stay here very well." Ewan shot a glance back to Seth, who responded with another nod and a smile, a silent congratulations. His first of many, Ewan hoped.

[aimway921]

"I am glad to hear that," Tagomi replied, as he was walking up to his seat at the head of the table. "Please, let's sit," he said, as he pulled his chair out slightly and sat down, but not before politely waiting for his guests to take their seats first.

"First I wish to welcome you as first Franchmen on Ashigawa territory after our nations became allies with your entry into the Commonwealth. There are several topics I wished to discuss with you today pertaining to your involvement in the alliance, mainly trade and communication. But first - I have been informed of a conflict brewing at your border with Elenria. Sadly, details of the how and why have not reached me."

[callmedelta]

Seth and Ewan both sat down, the younger diplomat beginning. "It is an honor to be here, and hopefully we will be the first of many Franchmen to follow us."

Seth picked up after, making sure the brunt of the diplomacy was on his more capable shoulders. "I don't mince words when I say that Kumosenkan, and by extension their presence in Elenria, is currently the greatest threat to the Franch nation. However, before this, Kumosenkan has taken little action against Franerre, thankfully. Now, however, Kumosenkan has deemed fit to completely shut down and militarize the Franch-Elenrian border, and while Franch officials initailly assumed an imminent invasion, war has yet to been declared. The supposed reason for these actions was the large presence of Elenrian terrorists on the Franch border, but Franch intelligence conflicts with this claim, and it is the opinion of most government members that this is in reaction to Franerre's joining of the Commonwealth."

[aimway921]

"An undesirable development indeed," Tagomi said. "But I've heard that the Chamber, currently meeting in Rombarda, are discussing on what to do. So unless they request our involvement, I suggest we let them handle it."

"Meanwhile, let's talk trade and economics. Now that you are part of the Commonwealth, the revenue you lost from Elenria can potentially be, if not in full, then at least partially, restored if you redirect your trade into the Commonwealth. We care about eachother's prosperity and security. In return we ask that you care about ours as well. Tell me how your country is doing economically?"

[callmedelta]

"Ewan, if you would," Seth said. Ewan hurriedly opened up his briefcase and began digging through the many disorganized papers inside. Finally, Ewan retrieved the report he was looking for, and handed to Tagomi. The report detailed the current economic strain Franerre was undergoing. Unemployment numbers had jumped up to 15% of the total population, and Franerre's unemployment system was woefully unprepared for the strain, only saved by a stimulus bill passed in Parliament. Even so, the value of the Franch Lira had tanked internationally, and many businesses had been forced to close.

[aimway921]

As Ewan was searching for the report in his briefcase, Tagomi put on his glasses he took out of an inside pocket of his suit, before taking the papers. After reading them, he put them down.

"Here's a deal my advisors had in mind before you even arrived," he said, as he moved around some papers on the table that were there before the meeting started. "Ashigawa is looking to do a major expansion of it's automobile industry into the international market. I believe it is a way we can help each other. We shall fund the construction of Trueno and Isuzu factories on your territory. They shall be staffed by your countrymen, creating jobs to fill that void of unemployment. To cut costs you will start producing already existing models, as you pay back the cost of installing these factories. After 1 year the license would expand to allow you to design your own models under our brand. I think it is still negotiable on the numbers you will pay to pay off the initial debt that would be created by starting this deal, but afterwards, we would receive 5% of profits generated by these factories."

"With such a deal, you will create new jobs, expand the industrial sector and be set on a path of restoring you currency's value. While we get publicity for our autocomapnies and a small cut of the profit."

[callmedelta]

"You will have to forgive my lack of knowledge on Ashigawan automotive industries," Seth said, "But how much do these cars cost? If no one can buy those cars, then your investment would be wasted. While it pains me to point this out, I cannot in good conscious, as an honorable Franchman and ally, accept this deal without first making sure you are aware of this fact. In much better times, this would be a nonfactor, but considering Franerre's situation, this is is different story."

[aimway921]

"An average car in Ashigawa sells for ¥ 150,000, which is about 2 - 2.5 monthly incomes of an average middle class Ashigawan. Converting to international means, it is worth roughly 1 kg of solid gold. The cheapest model car we have, Trueno Jidai, a small economy family car, is priced at about ¥ 100,000 while one of the most expensive, like th limo you arrived in - ¥ 2,000,000"

[callmedelta]

Seth paused, mulling this information over. He didn't know the exchange rate from Lira to Yen offhand, but he did know that the average middle class Ashigawan and the average middle class Franch were on two very different economic standings, a fact the current crisis didn't help. "It would be best to make the Trueno Jidais, in that case, but regardless, Franerre would be honored to accept this proposal."

[aimway921]

"It is decided then," Tagomi said. "We shall invest in a factory with assembly lines for the Jidai. You shall use that investment to uplift your citizenry from unemployment, to construct and run the factory. We shall let you handle the marketing and sales both in Franerre and across other nations in Touli. 5% of profits will go to the Ashigawa branch of Trueno. We shall let all the other details be settled between Ashigawa managers at Trueno and whomstever you post as managers for the Franch branch that we are creating. I am sure that once this undertaking bounces back your economy into stability, other Ashigawa makers will follow. Isuzu would probably be one of the first contenders - they are our biggest producer of trucks and mechanized farm equipment."

As Tagomi was saying all that, he was shuffling through the papers to find the pre-made agreement forms. Of course, it'll have to be remade if Franerre would want to change any of the terms. Once he was finished speaking, he slid the papers towards the ambassadors. There were 3 pages. One written in Commons and one in Franch. They were virtually identical, save for some minor mistakes in translation. The third one was written in Ashigawan Moon Runes. All three had two empty lines on the bottom for signatures.

[callmedelta]

Seth eagerly took the page in Franch, leaving Ewan to take the Ashigawan page, before swiftly switching to the one in Commons. Ewan may have known more Ashigawan than Seth, but he had a long way to go with Moon Runes, only knowing the most basic ones on the page. After both men did a quick scan of their pages, and finding no faults aside from a few words which Seth chalked up to translation, though even with it's minor faults, Seth was still impressed with it's accuracy. Taking a pen from his suit pocket, Seth sighed on the lines provided before giving the pages over to his Ashigawan counterpart.

[aimway921]

Tagomi watched as Seth was signing all the papers. When he was done, and the papers were returned to Tagomi, he took his own pen and signed as well, in Ashigawan. Then he pulled a little ornate wooden box from under the table, and from it he took a closed white dish and what looked like a stone rectangular block as long as a pen and a bit wider than one. Opening the dish revealed some red paste inside. Tagomi then took the block which, by what was going on, was probably obviously a stamp, has pushed it into the paste with the narrow end, and then printed the stamp on the very end of the page in the middle. He then repeated the process with the other 2 pages, before putting the stamp away back into the box. The stamp itself was somewhat simple. It was a single, yet complex Moon Rune, enclosed in a square with round corners.

After Tagomi was finished, he looked up at the Franchmen, and started standing up, queuing them to do the same. "Our agreement today is now official," he said, as he bowed, end then extended his arm for a handshake. "Welcome to the Commonwealth.