In this case, meaning a payment or concession designed to stimulate greater output or investment from another party. To provide incentives for others to do as you ask, to offer a carrot to bait them into action. It makes sense. It just doesn't always work. Take King Midas for example. The child monarch who drips and dangles with precious gems and flawless links of silver and gold.

He knows that theoretically money can't buy everything, but he is caught off guard that money can't buy him this.

"You must be kidding me-" Little King Midas, or "Mike" as Li remembers him, was on a conference call over his meal. A terribly grown up thing to be doing, but that effect was undermined by the meal itself. The staff of the Kong family fortress had heard that King Midas had a weakness for rainbow spongecake with sprinkles and whipped cream. Midas was an oddly colorful spectacle against the pale stones and plain manicured grass of the inner courtyard, what with the rainbow cake, veils of gold and strands of precious gems. A couple of his smaller toys and puzzles were out on the table, including a Rubik's cube and a rose gold fidget spinner. No one dared to clear away anything from his line of sight, afraid to distract him from his train of thought with unnecessary movement.

His staff was always exceptionally formal toward him, and respectfully served him the same way they would any king, murmuring amongst themselves, troubleshooting unimportant problems so he was disturbed as rarely as possible, and striving to be unnoticed as they predicted his whims and needs.

But you could tell they were his personal staff by their lack of shoes. Midas was beyond competent for a child his age, he was not shy of humblebragging, 'I just try to make best possible use of my IQ. I hear 139 is a perfectly respectable number." But he was easily distracted and annoyed by sounds, especially the sound of heels and shoes on stone or tile. Midas enjoyed service that was ubiquitous, uninterrupted, and unnoticeable. If he had to comment on his servants in any negative or positive way than something must have gone very wrong.

It was very different from the way the servants of Kong danced around Li. When possible, Li's servants would stand in the duke's field of vision and would wait to be acknowledged before moving forward, waiting to be commanded before they moved to change or adjust something. The habit of being seen was organic to the culture of Li's castle and the culture of Kaipen Nung. Midas's own staff found it incredibly nervewracking.

Of course, Mike didn't use these childish items when he was actually in a meeting! He could write fairly well with silver accented fountain pens! But having appealing colors helped him think, so he allowed himself some childish indulgences when he became king.

"Tell him The offer can be even more generous", Midas bit out. "Incentives valid on my own shores as well, his citizens could put down roots in Almanakare, start businesses without property taxes for the next 10 years."

His representative sighed, crackling over the hyper-secure connection, "I did. You can read the minutes and see that I said exactly that. But then he made up some bulls- Excuse me, your serene majesty. I do not mean to swear."

Midas snorted. A lot of adults tried and failed to not swear in front of him. He'd be rich if he carried around a Swear Jar wherever he went, but honestly, he didn't need the extra money. He wouldn't need that kind of chump change for the whole of his life. "No offense taken. So, what did he Say?"

His representative read aloud from his 'minutes', "He said, “our fair city is unworthy of such generosity- please accept our apologies for the inconvenience it may cause you as we deliberate further."

"What on earth is there for them to think about?! Do they think that if they just stall for more and more time, ill just throw more money at them? What else could they possibly want?" Midas was astounded, the city-state in question was no paradise. It was crumbling away in some places and hadn't seen serious development in over a decade. They should be leaping at his offer.

"My Serene Majesty, they are not the only ones. Madrin city has finally settled on our offer. They were incredibly nice about it, talked a good game about considering it in the future, but they definitely said No."

"Why?! I thought they were enthusiastic about our offer." Midas continued writing with his right hand and angrily stabbed the rainbow spongecake with his left. He pierced a bloated strawberry with such vengeance that it's iconic redness started creeping across the white china.

"We're getting a lot of enthusiasm from the wrong people."

Midas sighed around his mouthful of sugary confection. "I'm not terribly surprised, but I am disappointed." Midas lapsed into thought, drawing up a rough Venn Diagram with the initials of city-states that he had recently been in contact with. He frowned as many initials fell outside both circles. His representative was rambling in a subdued manner about how he might proceed. Midas interrupted, "Don't fight it anymore, move on to the next one. They'll contact us if they change their minds."

"Yes, sir."

Midas's eyes narrowed, "What is with all the 'maybe's? I understand those simply saying 'No.' But why are we left holding so many 'maybe's?" 

"Are you asking me, sir?"

The child king's piccolo voice, still a few years off from breaking and changing into a man's did deepen a touch as he chuckled darkly, "Do you know the answer?"

"I, and all the others, actually, have a theory. No clear reason has been given, but a lot has been implied... Everyone seems inclined to watch and wait."

"Watching what?"

"Among the commoners, there's a joke that most the states in this area all have the "Kong friends and family plan."

"Oh? and what benefits does this plan provide?" Midas is perplexed, shouldn't he have heard of this plan before now?

The representative slowed it down for Midas, patient. "There is no actual plan, your Majesty. It's derived from the Kong's longstanding relationships with the other independent states. there's no actual agreement or treaty or lines of control. The entire lineage of Kong's has been consistently rewarding those who kept policies similar to their own."

"Trained obedience?" Midas asked but as soon as he said it, he knew he had missed the mark.

"It's a little more subtle than that. It's very Asian, an expression of Soft Power."

Midas was young and too used to being ignorant to be ashamed of it, he merely pulled the phone away from his ear and asked his entourage, "Can someone find me the exact definition of Soft Power for me again?"

A servant materialized at his elbow with an open dictionary,

"Soft Power. noun. A persuasive approach to international relations, typically involving the use of economic or cultural influence."

Midas frowned, "That doesn't tell me what I need to know."

Count Orun materialized at the end of the table, towering over everyone around them. Some servants let out gasps or shrieks. Midas jumped in his seat, hanging up the phone call immediately. Count Orun's materialization was not the result of being present the entire time yet avoiding notice like the servants. His was proof of his physical prowess and silent killer's swiftness. So fast and quiet that it was as if he just appeared.

"Are we talking about Li's little empire?" Count Orun asked, deep voice playful, his regional accent thick on the words 'little empire'."

"I was asking about it, yes," Midas said, trying to emphasize that it was He, not We. Trying to make Count Orun see that he had no place in this private conversation.

Count Orun shrugged, putting his hands in his front pockets, ignoring any warning or insult, "You want to know how it works?"

"... Yes... Can you explain?"

"It's not too far from why troops follow me. Afterall, I could never pay them all. So I made no promises to any of them, yet they followed... Anyway, Soft Power is a lot like a brand. It's what you can get on your good name - but you know that part. You Pearce Sullivans aren't exactly new money." Count Orun snorted like he'd made a joke, but he didn't give any time to linger on that.

"What you're really asking is 'why does this work for Li?' and it works for him very well. I'd say a lot of people have been underestimating him. they think the violence has damaged the family name, that the Kongs now hold even less power. I'd say the opposite. He has the most sway over his neighbors and his neighbor's neighbors since his great-grandfather. Because he is a little brutal, because he did kill off his enemies even when they shared his blood, because he was the one son who survived. He has grit. so, though a lot of people wanna chatter about whether they like him, everyone important Respects him. Respect is important. The other presidents or Ministers don't need to like him. They just know that he's smart. A survivor. So they'll follow his lead."

"Whether he asks them to or not..." Midas muttered under his breath. Perhaps he had been too confident, too direct in his offer to Otta Kong Li. He had underestimated his importance and now he needed to figure out a form of damage control.

"By the way, I bought this for you in town!" Count Orun interrupted Midas's thoughts by planting an oversized Rabbit plushie on the table. He wanted to scoff and take offense but before he could collect himself enough to do more than glare at Orun, he caught the bunny's large round light refracting eyes.

They were brown. the ears were so long and the huge floppy feet were huge. It was missing one button on its overalls.

"You like it!" Count Orun cheered and Midas realized with annoyance that he had been staring at the bunny fixedly. He sighed.

"Did you want to join me for tea and cake?"

Count Orun graciously accepted and in a moment a chair and a fresh pot of tea was provided for the big man. Count Orun's eyes sparkled with mischief as he poured for himself and for Midas. Then he poured a third cup, which he slid carefully in front of the toy bunny.

King Midas loathed the disrespectful gesture. Regular Mike, who had always preferred animals over humans as a toddler, liked the fairness of it.