"As it stands, there are four major powers on this planet. Basically." Risa explained in my stead, "There's us, this brand new economic bloc that emerged out of nowhere, consisting of New Farminus, Tempest, Blummund, Eurazania, and Dwargon, as of right this moment." She didn't count Thalion, because at the moment, we didn't have any formal relations with them. That'd probably change pretty soon, though. "Then, there's the Eastern Empire. They don't matter right now." They probably would in the future, but they were expansionists by nature. They didn't really have formal relations with anyone unless they were declaring war, which they hadn't done since before Veldora was sealed, 300 years ago.
"Then, there's the demon lords, and others like them. Thalion would go here, I guess. They don't really have interactions with anyone but themselves, and they don't really need to care about anything else, either. Neutral parties, for the most part. Except for Clayman. He's dead." Risa mercilessly passed her judgement upon Clayman.
"But the problem is with the final group. The Western Nations."
"You sound like you're declaring war." Fuze noted.
"No. They're killing each other. And themselves. We don't need to." Risa told him, "Basically, the vast majority of the Western Nations are protected from each other by the fact that they're all part of the Council of the West, and protected from monsters by the Church."
"So?"
"Let me finish. The Council's headquarters is in Englesia. In fact, that's all Englesia is, the headquarters of the Council of the West. That's the only reason that they have so much power, influence, and money. They don't have anything else, aside from the Free Guild headquarters." Risa reminded everyone. Another way of putting it was that Englesia's only reason for thriving was the fact that the rest of the Western Nations cowed down to them, and all the commerce flowed through them. They weren't influential because they were special, they were special because they were influential. And they knew it.
"Englesia's a pristine-looking trash pit. They do human experimentation, and most of their higher-government is supported with bribes, just like Farmus was. They encourage infighting among the various western nations, so that it can be settled with bribes later on. The West isn't working together, it's barely working. We can't be like that." Risa said. That was essentially what her entire speech had been for. To explain that we all needed to be on the same page, here. Because the rest of the West wasn't.
"New Farminus is going to become the breadbasket of our new economic bloc. Eurazania will supply fruit. Dwargon with their physical engineering skills, Thalion, I want their Spirit Engineering skills. Blummund will become a trading hub, and Tempest will supply our military prowess, as well as our location and technological prowess. That's the future that I see."
"You want to create schools." Gazel wasn't asking me a question.
"I want technology to progress. I wanna see what new stuff people can create with just a bit of knowledge in their heads, and we need peace, symbiosis, for that to happen. So, I wanna create seven schools." Risa replied.
"Three in Tempest, right?" I thought aloud, "A lower-school, a college, and an Adventurer's academy, right?"
Risa nodded in reply, "Then an engineering school in Dwargon, where people can learn dwarven sciences, engineering, and crafting techniques." Gazel nodded, so she continued, "Two in New Farminus. One to teach general skills that'd be useful for people aiming for normal jobs with farming or handiwork, and an art school, so that culture can be studied and advanced in a single place, too." Honestly, Risa wanted the Western Holy Church to back the art school, but we'd need to trust them first, and that wasn't happening at the moment.
"And the seventh?" Erald asked.
"I'm not going to ask Thalion to freely spread their technology among the other nations, if that's what you're asking." Risa assured him, "That's not what knowledge should be, forced. If you don't want to teach us anything, then you don't have to. I'll figure it all out on my own, no matter how many centuries it takes."
Erald rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything in reply.
"I want the last school to be centered toward merchant-like jobs, and I want it to be in Blummund. I want to turn each of those places into their respective World Capitol, and I want the world to grow."
"Well, that's all well and good," Fuze was the first to reply, "But what about when you start a Tenma War?"
"Then you can all call on Tempest." She promised, "If we, along with your own forces, can't stop those angels in their tracks, then we'll just rebuild. From scratch, if we have to."
"I like that future. Consider Dwargon in. Eventually." Gazel replied with a smile.
Slowly, the others nodded their agreement, too.
Now that we were all on the same page, we'd iron the details of it all out later.
Once we'd thrashed Clayman and had a long conversation with the Demon Lord Luminus Valentine.