Shadow Empire

Chapter 1050 An Unpleasant Teacher-Student Meeting
Pedro picked up his teacup and took a small sip. It was very fragrant, quite different from the leaf tea he had drunk before. It had a fragrance he had never experienced before.

He looked with some curiosity at the leaves beneath the clear tea in the cup, which seemed quite different from the ones he had drunk before.

However, he quickly shifted his attention from the leaves to Lance.

"Mr. White..."

“Lance!” Lance corrected Pedro’s form of address. “We know each other very well. Using overly formal terms of address would make us seem distant. We are friends, not strangers.”

Pedro didn't force himself to call him "Mr. White." He didn't know what expression he should wear at that moment, but he looked at him with a slight hint of "a student who has gotten good grades and wants to show off."

"Did you ever imagine that we would meet like this one day?"

Pedro himself was a teacher, and from his time as a teacher, he knew very well the genuine smiles that radiated from the faces of outstanding students when they achieved a bright future.

He could feel it, and he sincerely wished them well.

But this time, the roles were reversed, and he became the "student," which was a novel experience.

He thought he had a complete understanding of what it felt like to be in this position, but it seems that things are a little different now.

He pursed his lips, somewhat anticipating Lance's answer.

Lance took another small sip of hot tea; drinking this in winter was indeed very comforting.

He slowly placed the teacup on a coaster woven from a local, relatively tough herb, then looked up at him and said, "I've thought about it."

“When I taught you how to find your direction and how to achieve it, I thought that some of you would definitely be able to get to where you are today.”

"Stand in this city, stand before me, as if you were a victor."

He paused for a moment, then shifted his gaze from Pedro to the others, saying, "I just didn't expect there to be so many people."

"In my opinion, there are probably only three to five people who will be able to stand here in the end. That would be the most. It would be normal if there were only two or three."

He seemed somewhat wistful. These people were quite resilient. Or rather, Pedro and Ross had waved the banner of the rebels right from the start, and the faction had been born without anyone knowing. They seemed like a disorganized mess, but in reality, they were already a tightly knit faction.

With factions, these "trainees" are less likely to get into trouble because they have allies. Anyone who wants to deal with them has to think twice about their allies.

This has led to Pedro's rising status among these people, until he is at his current position.

Pedro was not entirely satisfied with Lance's answer; he would have been more comforted if Lance had shown a shocked and incredulous expression.

After all, for a middle school teacher to have reached this point, it can be said that he has already made history.

Historically, there have been virtually no reformers who truly overthrew the old rule and established a new order from the bottom of society!

Regardless of the country or social background, "foundation" is the key that determines everything.

Just like the peasant uprisings that preceded the empire, they were eventually suppressed.

He did have the support of the Federalists, but he succeeded!
He's different from everyone else!

He will be recorded in the history of this world, becoming a page that no one who comes after him can avoid.

He had such honor, so he wanted to enjoy the privileges that a "historical figure" deserved, but he didn't.

He didn't hear any surprise or other emotion in Lance's tone; everything was too bland.

Lance looked at him and spoke to him, just like they had done at the seminar before.

"Change is painful, just like a person correcting their bad habits."

"Smoking, excessive drinking, and possibly incorrect posture and other minor issues can be very painful to fix at first."

"Physiological and psychological, some bad habits will be abandoned in the process, just like those who get lost along the way."

"This is indeed a very difficult thing, but from another perspective, if these bad habits have caused a person to have a serious illness, they will die if they do not change them."

"So, what drove him to make changes and succeed in transforming the situation was not just perseverance, but also fear."

Pedro, the most educated person there, listened patiently to what Lance had to say. He vaguely realized that "perseverance" and "fear" represented two things and two effects.

“I’m not curious about how you got here, because survival is a human instinct. If you want my praise, the only thing I can say is congratulations.”

"You've identified the crux of the problem, but how are you going to address it now?"

Everyone listened to Lance's words and fell into deep thought. Lance's examples were simple and easy to understand, but it was precisely this ease of understanding that gave everyone some different ideas at this moment.

Pedro's gaze was initially somewhat lost, but then it focused again. He looked at Lance and said, "We will resolve all of Rapa's ailments and heal him!"

He spoke with great confidence, having already had a very special feeling after visiting the Presidential Palace yesterday.

He felt that he was chosen by God to save the country, and he was certain that he could do it!
He looked at Lance with a determined, even somewhat aggressive, gaze.

Lance remained silent, maintaining his smile.

However, not making a statement at this time is the best statement one can make.

Pedro seemed eager to prove something. "We have overthrown the rule of the Lavila family. Now, we can draw whatever we want on this cleaned blackboard!"

"We have endless possibilities to bring about some fresh changes to this country."

"The people, the constitution, the law, fairness and justice..." He said a lot to Lance, seemingly eager to prove something.

But the more anxious he became, the less unmoved Lance's gaze became.

Because he knew that Pedro was getting impatient.

Lance raised his hand, interrupting Pedro, "Can what you're saying really be achieved?"

Pedro answered almost instinctively, "The Federation will achieve it!"

Lance retorted again, "You've never been to the Federation, how do you know it's achieved?" "You've never been to the Federation, how do you know that the lower classes living there enjoy what you're talking about, these extremely beautiful yet unattainable things?"

These words silenced Pedro. He looked at Lance with some confusion, because these were the things that Lance, those Federation people, had been promoting in Lapa.

In their description, this management system is efficient, incorruptible, and treats everyone equally.

But now, Lance is telling him, how can they do something that even the Federation itself can't do?
For a moment, he felt a ridiculous urge to laugh, and at the same time, something inside him began to crumble.

He realized this was a very bad feeling, so he immediately stopped himself from letting his mind wander. "Whether the Federation can do it or not, I believe in myself, I can do it!"

Lance shook his head slightly. "Confidence is a good thing." He didn't say the twist or what followed. "Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. You've definitely come here today for more than just to visit my old friend!"

The group looked at each other.

His conversation with Pedro just now gave each of them a vague sense of something, something they couldn't quite put their finger on, but they could feel it. Their efforts seemed to have become meaningless after just a few words from Lance.

People's expressions were somewhat different. The results of their enormous sacrifices and efforts were being negated just like that?

Pedro was the first to understand what Lance was talking about and the first to get out of this state. "We came here mainly for the Treaty of Zoran, besides wanting to see you and talk to you."

Seeing that Lance only nodded without speaking, he could only add, "The Treaty of Zoran was an unequal treaty signed by Diego, and many of its clauses seriously involved selling out the national interests of Rapa."

“We all believe that these terms are inappropriate and need to be deleted or amended to be in the best interests of both of us.”

“We should be two equal nations, Lance.”

“You told us to pursue freedom and seek fairness and justice, and you brought us to this position.”

He seemed to be trying to influence Lance with some "emotional appeal," but he was sorely mistaken.

Perhaps it is those who have not experienced the cruel baptism of capitalist society who believe that there is still affection between ordinary people that can be maintained, and are willing to make sacrifices for their own interests.

Lance shook his head. "You can't do it."

"The treaties I signed with Diego have come into effect in accordance with international practice. If you want to withdraw these treaties, you must first wait for the new government of Lapa that you have formed."

"Then we will propose a trilateral meeting in the form of state-to-state-to-personal talks to discuss the clauses in the Zoran Treaty that you consider unequal, and to provide suggestions for improvement."

"However, you need to be mentally prepared, because withdrawing a clause often means paying a higher price, and what you get may not be what you want."

Ross, standing nearby, couldn't hold back any longer. "Lance, doesn't our move into the presidential palace prove that we've taken control of the country and that our reforms have succeeded?"

Lance glanced at him and couldn't help but laugh out loud. "The emperor of the empire was once driven out of the capital, but in the end he returned there."

"On the contrary, those who once claimed to have taken control of everything and rebuilt the empire are now a thing of the past."

"Ross, the world is much more complicated than you think."

“When any of you…” His gaze lingered on these people for a moment before finally settling on Pedro, “…come and talk to me again when you’ve reached that point.”

"We're just friends now, let's not talk about anything else."

Ross, who was second only to Lance in the rebel army, blushed slightly when Lance said that.

When someone stays in a position of giving orders for too long, they are prone to becoming arrogant, and Rose shows some signs of this.

He wanted to get angry, but when he met Lance's gaze, the anger in his mind miraculously gradually dissipated. He looked at Lance with a somewhat gloomy expression, and then glanced at Pedro.

It was clear that Lance was implying that only after Pedro became president would he be qualified to talk to Lance.

If Pedro becomes president, what about him?

This was destined to be an unpleasant meeting, and Lance didn't try to persuade them to stay any longer, nor did they want to remain there.

Some people dislike the aura emanating from Lance, which makes them feel uncomfortable and puts immense psychological pressure on them at all times, making them almost afraid to breathe.

Others, however, were eager to return as soon as possible, to sort out the problems with the Lavila family's rule, and then to establish a new Lapa government to discuss these matters and make the unequal treaties more equitable.

On the way back, Ross's temper seemed to flare up again. "Look at him, he still doesn't seem to respect us!"

"It's as if we're still just pawns, puppets, in his hands!"

"He's too arrogant!"

"The Federation people are too arrogant!"

Pedro was much calmer than him. "They have every right to be arrogant."

“You… Humph!” Ross glared at Pedro. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, he didn’t.

Although he had not received much higher education, he knew that once some words were spoken, there was no going back.

Back at the presidential palace, Pedro accelerated the reorganization process. At the same time, he began calling the various states, their own princely states, hoping that these states, which had remained neutral in the civil war, would send representatives to the meeting he would be holding in March or April to determine things such as the new Rapa government structure.

Without the support of these princely states, they were ultimately just a provisional government.

The liaisons from each princely state said they would arrange for someone to come, which relieved him somewhat.

At seven o'clock in the evening, he received a call from President Czerd precisely on time.

He sat in a chair in another office, not the president's office.

He knew that Ross, and others, had an obsession with that position, and that if he took it, it would escalate the already tense conflict between them into a full-blown rift.

So he moved to a different office.

At seven o'clock, very precisely, the phone rang. After three rings, he answered, "This is Pedro..."

(End of this chapter)