Our preliminary negotiations took place in my tent. The maids have served us some herbal tea and then both I and the king sat on a rug. For me sitting in seiza is the only natural way I can sit down. For the king it was… an interesting experience.

“So, what are your suggestions?” I immediately decided to let him talk.

“We offer you to become the direct vassal of the crown. We are ready to make you a duchess of our kingdom. As long as you will serve us, we can tolerate many of your excesses. You will have the proper payment and be close to the court.” How interesting.

[So, he thinks that he can convince me by offering me money and political power and convert my military capabilities into his own.]

“What will you expect from me in exchange?”

“Your loyalty and strength, we want you to help us whenever we need that.” But the actual suggestion was not interesting at all. It is too general to have an actual idea what he wants, it might have too many loopholes for me to even consider it as an actual suggestion. I wonder if he can help me achieve some of my short-term goals.

“What about the duke of Caliga?” Let’s see what will be his solution. My expectations are to pass this title to my somewhat loyal Elina.

“You can be sure that we will punish him for his actions.” (K)

“I am disappointed…” Those little hints are there to remind him that his chances of success only depend on my decision. I just hope he will be smart enough to follow them.

“You don’t need to worry, you will be compensated for his actions!” He tries to assure me but I am even more disappointed. He must’ve heard about disappearance of the duke’s son, and the fact that his daughter is my companion.

“Why wouldn’t we invite him to join our talks? It would be better to plan everything considering his position…” I just hope the king is smarter than what he looks to me. If he is, he should understand that this topic is of great importance for me and the following talks have no use unless this issue is solved.

“Perhaps we should discuss what you want for serving me, we might work something out to make sure you will have some of your desires fulfilled…” (K)

“I feel tired for today, as you can see we are in the middle of some work. I hope we can continue our negotiations later. Farewell.” I had enough of this, he doesn’t want to grant me what I want. I will have to do everything myself.

After my obstruction I decided to send them off. I will have to achieve my goals by myself and then position the king right in front of the fact that I am much more dangerous for him than he believes.

For many people it would be a death warrant, for me however, it will be a trump card for the negotiations table. The one who is stronger will always have a better position.

The king thinks that he is stronger than me and for that reason he can try to force me into accepting his terms.

I was not sitting still while the talks continued, I sent scouts to some of the duke’s known positions to find out where he actually is.

A5N is much faster than the biplanes and for that reason I have less delay between the action and reaction. On my flight deck all D3A bombers were prepared and standing by for the attack order.

When the duke will be found, I will make a surgical strike right on top of his head and it will both serve as a small demonstration of my strength and a way to bring me closer to my goals.

The king and his nobles might protest because I ‘attacked’ the duke but I always can remind them that after his attempt to kill me, we were in the state of war, and if the king wants to protect him, he will be at war with me.

Following this logic I should be on the winning side without political issues.

 “Elina, can you go with me?” I decided to discuss that with the important pawn.

After we were far from the other people I asked her.

“Are you ready to become the duchess?”

“I might not want it that much but… Only if you promise that I will always be able to sleep together with you! And that I can follow you whenever I want!” The demands were reasonable, considering that I spend almost every night as her hugging pillow.

“Then you know that you will be executing my will in the duke’s lands?”

“Yes, you have more experience than me, considering that you managed to make the king come here and negotiate with you. Speaking of which, how is it going? Your negotiation I mean.” (E)

“We will see what the future has for us.” I said melancholically and looked into the sky.

After that, right above us flew 6 formations of D3A, all armed and ready.