***
--- Knappnai, Knappnai Gladiator Arena ---
January 10th, 2026
Kagash Poprila is sitting in the stands of the Gladiator arena. Before they leave for Rondel, she promised her son Fagrish that they can watch a few games. While she doesn't like the games, her son and husband surely loves them.
"Boys," She said. "I will never understand their love for violence."
"That is the mother speaking," Drasho Getro said with a chuckle.
"True but I can't help it," She replies.
She glances over to the left and sees the Human sage. He is the representative from Rondel, her competitive magical city. He is one of the governing members of the Governing Council and he helps manage the economy of Rondel and has deep ties with the Magic Guild. While some of the other representatives from Rondel are off doing something else, Drasho wanted a secret meeting with her.
During the summit, she and her family are here to represent Darlko, another major magical and research city within the Empire. It lays in the east, right before the Grasslands of the old Warrior Bunnies kingdom.
For centuries Darlko has been in the shadow of Rondel, mainly because in Darlko they teach all forms of magic, including banned and forbidden types. They are far looser in their research than Rondel. The Magic Guild has a far less influence there because of all its regulations and customs but the Magic Guild has been the biggest obstacle for Darlko in increasing its status. But those were the old days, before the war.
"But I have to say I have never been a fan of the sight of blood," Drasho said.
"I see that is why you don't have a woman," She said.
Drasho chuckles as the crowd celebrates the gladiator who just Fought once? "I am surprised you brought your son."
She looks at him. "I would never leave my son for a long period. To be gone for months if not for years. My heart could never allow it."
"And yet you bring him to war?" Drasho said.
"Well," She replies. "We didn't know we were going to accept the Empire terms. Just like Rondel, we act more independently than most Imperial cities and Counts. And if we did accept that means our mission would be far longer."
She then looks down at her beautiful son as he watches the games. He reminds her of her husband Galrik when they were kids. He was full of excitement and full of energy before he was cursed. Her parents tried to sacrifice her to save themselves, but he agreed to Hardy to become a Warlock. He saved her from the demon but was cursed to be stuck as a Warlock for life and can only speak a dead ancient language that she had to learn to understand. In return, she fell in love with him and started a family with him.
She then sees the child Warrior Bunny she bought for him in the city market. Drasho is right, both her and Galrik will be busy on their mission so she bought her son a friend.
"I see you bought a bunny," Drasho comments. "They are popular these days. I believe in twenty years they will replace the Cat-people as the most popular slaves."
Cat-people are naturally weaker compare to most other races and hybrids which makes them easy to enslave. They also have this cuteness feature about them that attracts people to buy them. The Warrior Bunnies, while deadly they have this exotic feature to them because it was rare for someone to buy them before the Crown Prince conquered this Kingdom. They are considered the new toy on the block and the fact over ninety percent of their babies will become females is the spices on top of the exoticness. But she wonders how long until people realize Cat-people are still easier to manage.
"I don't know about that, but he wanted one," She said. "He needed a friend while we are away from home and he is getting to that age where he will be taking interest in girls and will become a man soon. If he is anything like his father, he will be an energetic rough one." She said with a chuckle.
"Well, it is good you got a Bunny," Drasho said. "Bunnies offspring are always other female Bunnies which means you could easily sell the offspring without worrying about linage. Some say they have no males because of how rare they are."
"When the time comes there is that, but I have to admit she is kind of cute," She said. "I am thinking about making her his lifelong slave and my servant because of her being just a toy for entertainment. Having two men in my life makes it hard to keep a clean loving home." She said referencing her husband and son.
She then looks at Drasho. "Now let's get down to business."
"As you already know Rondel is a key city to the Empire," Drasho said. "Our research, education centers, economic weight and the magical element of our city is key to the war effort. Most of the Governing Council has protested for getting more involved."
"Because of how strong these Other Worlders are?" She spoke.
"Yes," Drasho said. "We believe the only reason we haven't been invaded is because of the mountains and Row Stream."
"Yeah," She comments in a bored voice. "I don't care about your people's troubles. We are here to help you and in return, you help us."
Darlko is ruled over a Lord named Valker. He appointed her and her husband as emissaries. He sees this as a way to expand Darlko influence and replace Rondel as the top city within the Empire. There are corrupt people within Rondel and their job is to explore it and help put the people they want in power and purge everyone else.
Drasho takes a breath as he gathers his thoughts. "Right now, there is a divide in the city. Very few want to side with the Empire. I believe you know about the Other Worlders’ intents?"
"Only the Empire propaganda," She said.
"Well, the Propaganda is true this time," Drasho said. "While Rondel does not rely on slave labor, the Other Worlders are ripping the economy apart. They say they are doing that because of their so-called Rights and let us be honest, its economic warfare. They are also overthrowing the people in power and replacing them with their own people."
"And yet Countess Myui is still in power and same with King Duran," She comments as she yawns. She leans forward, closer to her son. "Are you ok my swery?”
Fagrish turns around. "Yeah, mom! Did you see that though!? He killed that man even though he smaller."
She smiles warmly. "I saw." She leans back and looks to Drasho. Because no one but she can understand her husband she has to do all the business decisions. While that is usually a male tradition, she understands why women stay away from it, most of the conversation is boring.
"Are you not taking this seriously?" Drasho asked.
"Yes, I am," She said. "But I don't need a boring lecture on what's happening. I understand these Other Worlders from the other side of the Gate threatens the current order of Falmart. My people don't care. I am here because you reached out to Lord Valker. You are trying to purge the anti-Empire elements in your government."
Drasho adjusts himself. "Right. Do you know of Mage Grand Master Mimoza La Mer and Cato El Altestan?"
"Of course," She replies. "We know all of the Mage Grand Master. They have a lot of influence in the magical world."
"They are pushing for Rondel to follow Italica lead and leave the Empire," Drasho said. "They want to reach out and extend peaceful terms to the Other Worlders."
She thinks about what he said. Both Cato and Mimoza are brilliant people and powerful sages. While they are enemies to her city because they don't believe in the Dark Arts and help prevent them from gaining their deserved influence in the Magical Guild. They and the rest of Rondel wish to hide knowledge while Darlko embraces it.
Still, they would not dare to abandon the Empire and switch sides to a brutal invader as the propaganda says. The truth is it is in Darlko’s interest for Rondel to leave the Empire. That would force the Empire to embrace the city and treat it the way the city deserves.
The problem is that Rondel will go to the new enemy. The Empire is already struggling with this new threat and while she hates Rondel, she acknowledges how important and strong they are. Their knowledge and understanding of magic would be a massive blow to the Empire and her lord doesn't want the Empire to fall.
"Correct," Drasho said. "They are leading a separatist movement. The council is divided and agreed to stay neutral. But the more they learn about these Americans the more the Council is getting supportive of separation."
What he said confuses her. She understands why Italica and Elbe separated, they were already occupied by the Other Worlders. Rondel is still within Imperial control and the Empire has a reputation of being brutal to anyone who even hints of separating. "It is that bad? How did that happen?"
"Cato El Altestan has a young student working for the enemy," Drasho said. "This student named Lelei La Lalena has been helping them and been sending letters to Cato. She has been writing to him about her adventures with the Other Worlders and this group called Vanguard-7."
She starts to listen very closely to what Drasho has to say. He gives some details about this girl named Lelei. Her story sounds very interesting and she have many positive outlooks on these Other Worlders. What caught her eyes was when he said Lelei has learned to merge their knowledge with magic. She explains how she merged the two and it has increased her magical abilities five-fold at such a young age and has even invented new spells around their knowledge. The last part is that she expressed to Cato that Rondel should switch sides and join the Americans in the war.
"Interesting," She comments, and she reflects on everything Drasho said.
"She will be a problem in your attempts in becoming King," She said. "And is a threat to Darlko. Has she shared any of this knowledge with you?"
"No," Drasho said in an annoyed tone. "She explained that her commanding officer said they trust her with their knowledge, and she does not want to break that trust. She speaks highly of her commanding officer. Some people in the Academy believe she is hoarding knowledge to advance her station."
"The Grand Council in the Academy has proposed promoting her to the rank of Master because of what she claims," He said. "There is a massive debate going on about her. She is only seventeen and Cato claims she is one of the most powerful Mages in Rondel."
"This is interesting," She said. If Rondel switches sides and they get access to the Other Worlders magic, the Empire is finished and Darlko will fall with it. "Ok. From what I understand Lelei is the bridge to the Other Worlders and Rondel. Alright, we will support your power to grab and take care of your girl problems."
Drasho nods with joy. "In return, Lord Valker will have control of the Magic Guild."
She nods and smiles. She then looks down at her boy as Fagrish sits by his leased slave Yemui. Then she hears the crowd yelling in excitement. She looks out and smiles, seeing her husband walk out to the field. "Fagrish. Do you see your daddy down there?"
"It’s father, mom," Fagrish said and stands up, excited to see his father fight. "Is that really him down there?"
She looks out and sees her husband Galrik walks into the arena in his black and red Warlock armor. Around him are five gladiators surrounding him.
"Is your husband going to be, ok?" Drasho asked, worried about Galrik life. "Mages are not normally frontline fighters."
She giggles and then blushes, thinking back on their life. "I wouldn't worry about that. He prefers to take his magic and beat people to death with it."
She sees Galrik start chanting and this orange color magic appears around his hand. While most Sages and Mages prefer staff to channel magic, he built the orb into his right-hand armor plate.
As she hears the bell rings, starting the match, she sees all five Humans charge at him and then a light appears as he starts fighting them.
Then this four-armed skull creature that he once killed forces itself out of the ground screeching. Once it is out Galrik says something in his dead language. The skull creature screeches and charges at the gladiators.
Galrik then starts walking as the magic stabilizes around his arm, planning to rip these gladiators apart.
***
--- Valtris ---
January 10th, 2026
Princess Piña Co Lada walks over and knocks on Myui’s door. "Countess, the delegation is about to arrive."
The town of Valtris is a major seaport and bridge on the Row Stream, being a border town to the Elies Forest and then to the Greater Elies Region. North of it is Populis, Rondel, and Bellnahgo. Italica and Atler are to the east on the Appia Highway.
Valtris was taken by NATO early in the war during the Elies Forest Campaign(1). The battle took a day before the Imperial forces were defeated. In the beginning, tensions were high as the American forces abolish slavery three days after taking the city. It hurts the agriculture of its economy, but its industry in textile and river ships remain strong because of the high skill labor needed.
Ambassador Harland Willington explained to help resolve tensions, NATO agreed to allow slaves to go back to the fields but as paid contractors. The slave owners were given two choices, pay them a fair wage or pay a low wage but must provide decent living quarters and quality food. In return, Fort Alnus would automatically buy a third of their crops minimum to help offset the economic damage and feed the growing NATO presence during that time.
From what she understands, this becomes the bases for the Elbe peace and trade treaty(2) where the slave owners have to pay their slaves a wage, turning them into soft employees. The next stage is to phase the institution out and integrate better methods and technology that will help the slave owners and the slaves.
She remembers how zealous Major Sharpe is about topics like this and was shocked that Willington is taking a slow approach. But he explained that he is trying to prevent a war from breaking out because the economy collapsed and give people time to change. Too much change on a civilization level traditionally leads to instability and civil unrest.
She already knew that the Americans and other nations once had Slavery and the debate was intense. For the Americans, it took a four-year civil war to end it, which is the bloodiest war in American history. The problem with freeing all the slaves at once is that then they will have no jobs or homes to go to. And all the employers just went out of business because they went bankrupt.
She remembers when she was at the Sadera palace, the world felt so complicated but after spending time with the Americans she has found she had no clue how the world worked. She would have just abolished everything and called it good without thinking about the possible as Sharpe did with Noriko.
From what she can see, it seems like Valtris has accepted the new reality. She has seen some of the townsfolk holding grudges but most seem to have a positive view of them.
Myui guest door opens and she can see that she was crying. "I am sorry, I am almost ready."
When they got to Italica they were rushed to come here. She did not get the chance she would like but she told Myui what Herm said about her father. That he murdered him to save himself(3).
It didn't change the facts, Colt Formal went through the Gate to fight a pointless war and died there, for the Empire. While she already knew that her father died in combat, it must be like drinking salt to know he was murdered for being loyal.
"It is ok," She said. "If you like you can skip the meeting."
"No," Myui said. "They requested my presence so I should go talk to them. I kicked them out of my city, and they want compensation. To hell with them" She finishes with some upset sniffing.
She smiles and nods. "I will tell them you are on your way."
After the door closes, she turns around and heads downstairs to the meeting room. As she walks, she starts to think about her father. Willington told her the spies in Sadera found out that her father was executed but he couldn't tell her how they found out.
She had a feeling that he would be dead but what shocked her the most is that she had more emotion learning how Colt died simply learning that her father died.
Looking back her father only cared about his power and the throne. Everything is always about the throne. She always wanted to make her father proud, always wanted his love. Her mother died when she was young from a disease leaving her with her two brothers and Molt.
No matter how hard she tried she seems to never find that affection that she wanted. She doesn't understand why but as a daughter, there is this strange pull for that fatherly love. Dealing with Sharpe and the other Humans from Earth, the hole in her heart seems to have been filled somewhat.
She doesn't understand why she thought she could get his love; he didn't even love his sons. She is a royal girl, her only place was to be married off to another kingdom, have children and be forgotten by her father. He bastardizes Krysist and tried to get him killed dozens of times for existing, turned Zorzal into a rapist child so he could manipulate him, neglected Diabo until he only felt value in reading books because he was too smart. Grey told her that she had two other brothers that she never met. He believes her father killed one and he has no idea what happened to the other.
She remembers when the war started, she marched(4) to the throne room and requested to take her virgin knights to war. She was so naïve, eager to prove herself in battle, but her father knew it was suicide. He was going to allow his only daughter to go to die, with no chance of victory. If Italica wasn't attacked while she was waiting for her knight, she would have died a few weeks later in a pointless charge against the American defense at Alnus.
The more she learns about her father the scarier he becomes. She sometimes wonders that maybe the Gate opened for a reason, to punish the Empire for its corruption. She has seen Sharpe with his team and with the girls and other natives of Falmart. There is so much love there and it seems the Empire has forgotten that. As the Americans say, karma is a bitch.
She gets downstairs and sees the US Ambassador Willington sitting there as he gets ready for the meeting.
They are meeting a delegation of Adventurers from the Rondel Headquarters. Adventures are a group of volunteers who do quests for local citizens like protecting caravans, fighting and rescuing villagers from monsters and other local stuff. The best example to compare is the police force the Other Worlders have but acting independently from the government.
"Hello Ambassador," She said. "Myui will be down shortly."
"I see she is still taking it hard," Willington comments. "It is not easy for a twelve-year-old, being forced to grow up so quickly. It sounds like Colt was a good man. Too bad events happened the way it did."
"Yes," She said thinking on that.
"Either way lets go greet them," Willington said.
She heads outside with him to greet the delegation. The Adventurers have a mixed history, some see them as good while others think they are just mercenaries pretending to protect the common people. There was a massive scandal at the city of Wuthord within the Elbe Fiefdom(5) which forced King Duran to banish the Guild Post there.
While Duran was right to do what he did, it was illegal. The Empire likes the guilds because they help the massive economy of Falmart. The guilds bring in a large sum of tax revenue and when this case went to the Imperial Court, they would have sided with the Guild, which would allow them to reopen in Elbe. But the war happened so the court case never happened.
She walks outside and sees all these Adventurers standing there. They are all armored up like Adventurers always are. They take pride in their uniform, pretending to be warriors. For her, she remembers hearing the tales of them, the protectors of the common folk. All she remembers is hearing the glory of their work, but she was only a kid when she was told those things. She remembers Grey not having a positive view of them during her Rose Academy days.
"Hello. My name is Harland Willington, United States Ambassador for our operations in Falmart. I will be representing my people's interest." Willington said.
"Nice to meet you Willington. My name is Urgosh Pothrulo, Rank S with the Guild. I am the lead delegation here and I will represent the Guild in these matters. This is Karther Jagith, Rank S. His Party will be joining in the conversation to represent the Adventures in the field."
"Party?" Willington asked.
She looks up at him. "When they say Party, they mean like a team. Like the Vanguard teams but they are volunteers. Safety in numbers."
"Ahh," Willington comments.
She looks back at the Urgosh and sees a smile on his face. He must be thinking because Willington doesn't know the basics, they might be able to take advantage of him during the negotiations. She smirks and looks back at the two S ranks. "Nice to meet you two. I am Princess Piña Co Lada, leader of the Rose resistance against my brother Zorzal. I will be joining the Ambassador and Countess Myui today."
She sees their attitude go away as they realize royalty is in the meeting now.
"Princess," Urgosh said. "I guess the rumors are true."
"What rumors?" She asked confused by that.
"There are posters of you demanding for your head," Karther said. "I have seen them myself. The Traitor Princess. It said you sided with these people, but we just weren't expecting you."
"Well," She said. "I am glad I am famous now." She finished with a laugh.
Then something catches her eye. She sees this female adventure standing there. The one thing the Adventurer Guild has over the Imperial Army is that it allows women into it. As long as the Guild gets paid, they don't care who enrolls. But that is not what is bothering her, she then sees this boy walk pass her and she gives him a box.
"Excuse me," She said. "Is that your son?"
The woman stops and looks around and then to the Princess. She then points to herself. "Me?"
Karther walks between them. "Lillie is a member of my party. Is there a problem?"
"Answer the question or we are finished," Willington said.
She sees the Adventurer called Lillie looking scared and confused. Like she has no idea why she got the sudden attention. She sees three Romania soldiers and two American soldiers move around the Adventurers, picking up on a possible situation.
"I… I bought him fairly," Lillie said. "I can show you the document. If you are worried that I stole him don't worry. I obey the law." She says in a nervous tone.
"So, he is your slave," She said smiling. "I figured."
Willington snaps his fingers and a few Romanian soldiers walk up taking the boy.
"What is the meaning of this?" Karther said. "I guess the stories are true, you rob people of their property."
"Not at all," Willington said. "The ability to own property is protected by our Constitution. The ability to own property is the right for all free men. however slavery is outlawed by the Thirteenth Amendment. By no means, you cannot own another individual. The kid goes free, no debate."
She can see the same baffled look on their faces when she had when she learned this hard lesson in the Throne Room(6). At least this time no one had to die for the lesson to be learned.
"You're kidding?" Lillie said in shock. "That is true? You people do this? I thought that was just propaganda talk."
"It is just a boy," Karther said in an annoyed tone. "Ok. We can deal with it later."
"But he is cute and.... fine," Lillie said and lets the soldiers take the boy away, very upset.
"Look," Willington said. "As I said there is no debate about this. Under our area of control, slavery has been outlawed or being phased out. The guards should have caught this at Etlia. We understand we are from another world with different customs and we do give some breathing room, but we do have red lines. If that is too much for you then we can call the meeting a close. But if you want to have our meeting then come inside."
She looks to Willington and is impressed by how he spoke. Sharpe is far more direct, but she found that Willington is more diplomatic. However, his method is far worse, he just threatens to take everything and forced them to choose in a very subtle way.
Seeing the two S rank members talk they agree to go inside. They probably think that a single boy slave isn't worth losing on a business opportunity. Sometimes it is hard for her to remember she had that mindset not that long ago.
She walks inside and heads to the meeting room.
Inside she sees Myui sitting there at the table. She walks over to the table and sits down.
Besides for what happened outside, the meeting started decently. The lead delegation Urgosh explained how there is a history of their organization and how important they are to the regional stability in keeping the peace.
The reason why they are here is that they do not like that they been kicked out of the region, which is threatening the employment of their lower ranks. There are past debts both owned by Elbe and Italica about the forced closures of their Posts.
"As you can see," Urgosh said. "When Countess here banished our organization. what she did it is considered illegal under Imperial law."
"That was because you ran off in our hour of need," Myui said in an annoyed tone.
"She is correct, I was there," She said backing up Myui.
"That was because you didn't have the funds to pay for the protection," Karther said. "You know the laws that Sadera created."
"That was because all our reserve was spent to invade the Other Worlders for the Empire," Myui said. "That prevented us to pay."
"I am sorry about that," Urgosh said. "I read about the situation on the attack on your city. By law, we are not allowed to be soldiers or take up arms against the Empire. It is not our fault that your father spent all your money on a failed war. And two, those bandits were Imperial Soldiers and by law, we are not allowed to fight them."
"They were not soldiers, they were bandits," Myui counters.
She thinks about what Urgosh said knowing the law he is talking about. He has a point, the Empire made it clear to prevent a centrally organized arm group from turning against the Empire. On paper, the Italica Post was correct to leave because they could claim that it was the Imperial Army coming to sack the city, even though that was not the reality and makes no sense.
"You are right about the law, but you are not correct about the spirit of the law," She said.
Karther crosses his arms and glances down at the cup of water. "And here is the developing situation. After your people took the Elies Region and removed the Posts around Alnus and in Elbe. There is not enough work for everyone in this region. Most of the work was around Elies but you killed many of our Adventurers."
"It is an active warzone," She said. "You should know better than going to a warzone."
"I am talking about after the battle," Karther said. "Mirguth Party went to Havcristen but they were murdered by your people."
"Murdered?" She said offended by that. "As I said, they went to a warzone."
"Let me interrupt here," Willington said, so far, he has been quiet. "My people have only learned about the Adventurers and the other Guilds recently."
"You don't have Guilds on your world?" Urgosh said confused by that. "How does your world work?"
"I am not going to go into the details in this meeting but no, we don't use Guilds," Willington said. "They are not efficient enough for our needs. But what I was going to say is that we only just learned about your organization. I am sorry about that Party, but our troops must have thought they were soldiers of the Empire, based on how heavily armed they were."
"Ok," Urgosh said in an annoyed tone. "I can understand the confusion during a time of war. However, I have to state that it is illegal to kill Adventurers because they serve a public common good, regardless of a status of a war. Everyone knows that."
"And about our Posts," Karther brings up. "You said before that you value the ownership of property, but you closed down our Posts. In Atler, Havcristen, Valtris, Naiktai and many more towns you forcibly closed them down and enslaved our people."
She sits back into her seat annoyed by the arrogance of that question. They are upset that they got kicked out of an occupied territory during a war. She does see why; the population is not accustomed to being invaded. The idea that someone invades the Empire and penetrates this deep within its territory is unprecedented. All the cities, Guilds and the Empire itself must be confused about how to manage the growing NATO presence and how to handle it.
"First, we enslaved no one, they are prisoners of war," Willington continues. "And those Posts you speak of. During our opening days in securing the region, we thought these Posts you speak of were the Imperial Army Posts. We did not know of their functions but that doesn't matter."
"What do you mean that doesn't matter?" Karther said.
"Here is the issue," Willington said. "We do not recognize Imperial Law. The issues you brought up about compensation from Italica and Elbe, we don't recognize it either. I am not here to represent King Duran and Countess Myui can make her own decision about past dues. however I don't see the need for them to pay you back. They are subject to their laws and ours, not yours. Italica and all the other towns are not part of the Empire anymore and are under our sphere of influence. They are part of our economy and military, and they will be made great again under our watch."
"And from what I understand is that you are here because you are looking to expand back to your former territory," Willington said. "Here is my issue with this. You are an institution of the Empire. You pay and report to the Empire which we are war with."
She then looks to Willington as he explains in detail the institution of the Guild. From how it is managed in the leadership to the ranking systems and that S Rank members are the most senior members and the headquarters in Rondel is the center of policymaking in the region for the Guild. He then goes into how the parties are made to how payments and how taxes are paid to the Empire.
As he goes on, she is shocked by how much information he knows. She assumed he didn't know much about them. In the beginning, he made it look like he didn't understand what Parties were and he remained quiet for the beginning. She starts to wonder if he was playing them.
Willington looks to her and smiles. "You thought I was not going to do research? I called in a favor from a blue hair friend of mine." Then he gives an annoyed look. "She gave me a video recording of eighteen hours of information about the Adventure Guild. Fifty-five hours of the magic one."
Willington then looks back at them. "So, my question is this. Why should I let an organization who is loyal to the Empire in our lands and economy? I don't need to list off all the reasons what can go wrong."
She looks back at the two Adventures as they talk to each other.
Then Karther leans forward. "As I said before, many of us are looking for work. I saw your armored wagon and your strange-looking bows. But with all of your power, you can't be everywhere at once. While you said the Guilds are not effective, I say to you that soldiers are not effective for policing a people."
"You probably know this from that blue hair girl, but the Guild was set up, so the Imperial troops didn't have to be everywhere doing everything," Karther said. "We have a strict rule for helping military because we help protect tavern trade routes between the cities and deal with other domestic issues. We are a stabilizing force to protect people from the daily dangers, not invading armies."
"Like stopping Goblin raids?" Willington asked for context.
"Correct," Urgosh answered.
"And let me make this point here," Karther said. "What are your long-term plans? I don't believe you would rip a slave away from every owner, otherwise that would break the economy overnight. Your people are clearly too smart to do something so childish that quickly. Overtime yes not overnight no. You have the understanding to know there is a right and wrong way to do things."
"There are many other Guilds in the region. Each one covers an important area of the economy and society," Urgosh said. "If you plan on being here for the foreseeable future then you will need to convince not just my Guild but the others to see you as a friend and not an enemy. This is how economics work here in Falmart."
She takes a breath. "Ok, we get the point. What are you proposing?" After asking that she sees both of them talk quickly to each other.
"How about this. We maintain a neutral stance in war. What we want to do is just protect people."
"For the money," Myui said in a hostile tone.
"The world revolves around money my dear," Karther shoots back. "But the Ambassador is worried about us giving money and information to the Empire. This will be an independent partnership to work out and see if the methods works. It will show everyone and the other towns that you're not coming to force all your ways onto people, and it will show there is a place in the new changing world for people like us."
"He is correct," Urgosh adds. "Business needs to be a two-way partnership. Like the Guild or hate them they have a powerful status within the Empire. We have a close relationship with the Mercantile, Explorer and the Magical Guilds. If we go back and say we couldn't figure out an arrangement, then they won't have any incentive to cooperate with your kind."
As she listens to them all she hears is political talk. While everything they said makes sense to her, she heard this type of talk back in Sadera when dealing with other business leaders. There are dozens of Guilds out there, some smaller while others are massive like the Adventurers. The three that he named were some of the bigger and more organized ones that opened throughout all of Falmart.
She looks to Willington surprised that he hasn't said anything. While en route to Valtris from Italica he told her the best negotiation tactic is being silent. The first person who speaks usually loses. It made sense to her, but she knows she couldn't sit there and remain quiet for this long like him.
Both Adventurers stop talking after making their case. From what she understands what they want is to allow a single team to go to Alnus to represent the Guild and work out a cooperation arrangement. To find a place for both the Guild and NATO can work together independently from the Empire.
After a brief silence from Willington, he removes his hand from his chin and leans forward. "Alright but I have terms."
She looks to Willington and back to the two Adventures. There is a sign of relief on their faces as it seems like they put everything on the line and had no other proposals. She looks back to Willington to see what he has to say.
"Only his party will be allowed to come through at this time," Willington said. "All post debts from all towns and kingdoms within our territory will be forgiven and have a clean slate. You will be operating under the Alnus Military Police and you will obey all of our regulations. I am willing to look past the incident with that boy because of cultural differences but if we find out you are following a tradition that we considered illegal then you will be banished. And most importantly if we find out you are working with the Empire in any manner you will be considered an enemy commander and we will treat you like any other Imperial soldier."
Before anyone else can speak Willington holds out one finger. "However, there is one more thing. The one point that swayed me the most was when you said that 'business needs to be a two-way partnership'. I agree with that, so I have one condition that you must accept right here and right now otherwise we will part ways."
Willington looks at both S rank Adventures. "During the Siege of Italica, you left knowing full well what would have happened to both ladies here. Countess Myui Formal and Princess Piña Co Lada and if my people did not intervene when they did, we all know what would have happened to them."
As Willington spoke, she watches completely lost on what's going on. She can see that he is playing hardball and that something is bothering him. She thinks about her time in Italica again and remembers show dire the situation was. If the city fell Myui would probably be raped for a week, maybe two and then murdered or be someone slave because of her young age. She would have been their prisoner and raped for the better of a month before being sold for a high price because she is royalty.
"You can give me whatever reason you like why you abandon a helpless city, but my people see that as cowardly," Willington said. "If you want me to trust you then you must apologize to both of these ladies here."
After hearing that she glances over to Myui. Her reaction looks just as lost as hers. She then looks over to the two Adventures wondering what they will do. Men in their position, high in a powerful Guild are not accustomed to apologizing like this. They hate to be talked down to because they do a dangerous line of work.
She sees the main Adventure Urgosh sit there speechless. He is struggling to come up with the words to respond.
Karther looks at both Pina and Myui. "Princess and Countess. As a representative of the Adventure Guild, I apologize for the action of the Guild in Italica. The Adventure Guild are not soldiers, but we consider ourselves defenders of the people from the hardship of this world and when the time comes, we did not live up to that standard. Please forgive us."
She looks at Kather and was surprised by what he said. His reaction looked like he was not pleased that he had to say that, but he didn't hesitate.
Myui sits up and acts more ladylike. "I accept your apology. "She looks to Myui and then to the two Adventurers. "I accept it too. I think we can do business now that we understand each other."
"We will be leaving tomorrow morning," Willington said. "Your Party Karther can ride with us to Alnus. We can take a break and then flesh out the smaller details."
Reference:
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(1)Chapter 31
(2)Chapter 43
(3)Chapter 42 & 53
(4)Chapter 2
(5)Chapter 129
(6)Chapter 41
Edited:
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LucerFier
Support:
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Co-Creative Support: Tomrichman
Discord: https://discord.gg/xe7nNHS
