I sat at my desk and reviewed the blueprints for some new improvements on our autonomous Golems when a knock at my door brought me back from my delusions of giant mechs fighting in space. "Enter." I picked up my half-forgotten glass and wet my throat as Oswallt opened the door with a tidy stack of new papers in his hand. "Yet more budget paperwork for some wild research projects no doubt?" I asked as I gestured to place them with the rather small stack of yet unprocessed documents on the corner of my desk. Oswallt cleared his throat in the manner he usually did when he was about to begin reading a report, this told me that my previous assumption was false and that this report was worthy of my full attention. I sat up straight in my chair and replenished the fine spirits in my glass before nodding at the man to prompt him to begin.

"I hold reports that were submitted to our embassy staff in Teyfont. One report was submitted by our representative within the Traisanian Royal Court and the other was submitted by the Royal family on behalf of their eastern partner, the Novarus Dominion." The man paused briefly before first reading the declaration issued by our neighbor's neighbor. "The Novarus Dominion has begun their emancipation campaign into the territory of the Gecuria Empire. The people of Novarus extend a warm expression of gratitude to the Royals of Traisan and Brimstone in thanks for their provided material and logistical support for the duration of this campaign." He shuffled the paper to the rear in order to begin reading the Traisanian report.

"The Kingdom of Traisan hereby denounces the vile acts of the Gecuria Empire. The Empire stands accused before the international community by Traisan, Novarus and Ronem of illegally supporting the kidnapping and enslavement of beast-kin people from within our sovereign borders. We respond to these vulgar actions with a declaration of war, jointly signed by the Royal families of Traisan and Novarus. Furthermore, an accord for wartime support has been reached with the Ronem Union and Brimstone Kingdom with regards to arms and provisions."

I chuckled lightly as I looked at the map, the Gecuria Empire now found itself trapped between two large and well-armed countries. The armies of the nations to their south and southeast were fitted to the teeth with quality dwarven gear, thanks to my dungeon powers allowing me to cheat when it came to quickly replicating simple non-magical gear. From what Reynard had told me, the people within the borders of Novarus were almost entirely beast-kin and the Empire's slave policies had been enraging them for the past 150 years. Now, with our support, they had a leg up on the more populous Empire and gladly jumped at the opportunity when we presented it. The two countries now had an amazingly good chance of winning even with a combined force that barely matched the Empire's standing army. I plucked up the ornate dagger at my hip, that I usually reserved for opening letters, and stabbed it into the dot on the map that represented Gecuria's capital as Oswallt collected a pair of sealed letters for Traisan and Novarus.

—————

Three weeks later I sat in a miniature replica of my throne, the throne itself was attached to a slowly moving litter being carried by Golems. I looked at the two similar litters to either side of me to check on the Kings from Traisan and Novarus before returning my gaze to the Imperial Capital that their armies were in the process of surrounding. The two armies had practically swept through the empire's lands like a tidal wave before this point. Many small villages and towns had surrendered within moments of the army arriving on the horizon. My men were currently guarding the golem powered cages that contained the few slave-owning nobles that had refused to surrender, the slave-owners that had surrendered were kept in plain tents but were always in the presence of menacing Golems that were enchanted to be able to locate their assigned prisoner through the blood they had graciously donated.

Unlike how most wars were depicted in Earth culture we had left many people alive, but disarmed, in our wake. The land that the King's would eventually claim from this war would need people to inhabit and work it after all and killing townsfolk was seen as a grave crime by every nation in the world. This was originally because the fey had flexed their muscles to make it clear that killing innocents would ruffle their feathers, probably because an increase in deaths leads to an increase in work for the High Fey no doubt. I had been saddled with this responsibility of late due to me being party to the war that was causing the influx of souls, though I had also flexed my muscles to intimidate many more stubborn cities into conceding to make my work easier. A few well-placed shots of boiling magma into a few walls quickly changed the minds of even hardened veterans and I planned to do the same thing here in the capital but on a larger scale to send a message to the nations not yet known to me.

I slowly stood from my throne after the armies had finished setting up their base camps and nodded to my Kings-in-crime, as I had taken to calling them to their disgruntled dismay, and walked to the front lines. I stopped just far enough between our camps and the city for the defenders to see me while allowing me to retreat as fast as might be needed. I channeled Ether into one of the gems in the amulet hanging by my neck so I could project my voice for a full kilometer around me. "Hail citizens of the Empire! I am Anwirn Gemmolder Brimstone, King of the Dwarven people and war envoy of the Fey! I request that you peacefully surrender your arms, that we might bring the bloodshed of your people to an end! Your rulers have made the choices that brought this army to your lands, you do not need to bleed in their name since they did not rule righteously in yours! I hereby pledge, as the envoy of the Fey, that any who lay down their arms shall be granted passage through the warzone and into safety, for them and their family."

I directed my Ether at the ground on the other side of the city and eventually a meter wide moat full of molten rock formed a semi-circle around half of the city perimeter.

"I will leave this river of flames and rocks for a night as a reminder of what power awaits those who foolishly refuse to yield."

I walked back to the camp and entered the main tent reserved for the royal entourages. The Chief of Novarus chuckled lightly at my return before repeating a line I had heard from him a few times now during this campaign. "I will never again underestimate a mage who wields both Earth and Fire magic." I sat between the two men and gratefully accepted a large mug of spirits from Oswallt before I countered with my usual response. "Only a mage of sufficient power among the dwarves can wield magic capable of boiling already solid rock, you are safe as long as you respect my kin or bribe them with more spirits like this."