"Well, that's certainly one way to start off a conversation," the mayor said, shaking his head. "Right, down to business it is. Look, I don't know if you recognize it, but we've been gearing up for a potential war for our very existence, and, to be quite frank, because you don't look like the sort to beat around the bush, the lot of you were an investment, and given that you have<em>absorbed</em>the others that we dispatched and financed, and you seem to have resolved the rather significant issues plaguing your nation, we are now asking you to support us, as we supported you. We're not asking you to cede the lands to us - primarily because then the Crown would lay claim to them and make our job even harder, but we are asking that, now that we are in need, you provide us the same courtesy we extended to you."