The base of Coterel organization in Patena.

Coterel was a "mafia" like organization which operated especially in the southeast of Thedas continent. Although it was said there were 5 bosses in Coterel, there were only 4 of them in this meeting room. The bosses sat around a large luxurious table. Behind each of them, there were bodyguards except a single man. 

I, Hiro, was pretending to be a bodyguard behind Hilma Cygnaeus, the boss of the smuggling division. This twenty six year old woman had wavy blonde hair that rested on her shoulder. Her white revealing clothing made it difficult for anyone to distinguish it from her pale fair skin. She also wore purple mascara and lipstick, and thin garments that gave her the decadent aura of a high-class prostitute. In fact, that was her profession until more than 3 years ago. 

Standing beside me was Hilma's real bodyguard, Edstrom Ollson, dressed lightly in thin silk. Edstrom's wheat coloured skin resembled Sekrit. Edstrom had greyish long hair with its ponytail reaching her back waist. 

She had numerous golden bangles on her wrists and ankles that sounded every time she moved in her black, ballet flat-style shoes with a gold rim. She armed herself with multiple daggers. She looked like a dancer in Arabic tales. 

Sitting opposite of us was the only person without a bodyguard, Fitwalter, the head of the mercenary division.

 I walked beside him when we entered the room. He was even taller than me. was a fierce looking, bald man with half of his face and body covered with tattoos of various beasts.

The outlines of his muscular figure could be seen through his clothes.

"Hey, Edstrom." He called Hilma's female bodyguard. Edstrom ignored her by turning her face away.

Fitwalter spoke to her again, "Edstrom. As one of the best fighters in Coterel, you have been in the mercenary division but lately you only followed Hilma everywhere."

"Edstrom now worked as my personal bodyguard." Hilma interjected.

Fitwalter retorted sarcastically and turned to me, "Ooo..and this man is your new pet..your another bodyguard?"

Hilma firmly replied, "Who I hire is none of your business!"

"Stop this petty squabbling!" A high pitched male voice interfered with the war of words. That came from a skinny, bearded man with a blue, wide-brimmed hat on his head. The noticeable feature was a long beard and big, dark spectacle. That man, Jango was the boss of the thug division. 

A voice of old man followed up, "Jango is right. We had no time for falling out."

This sixty year old man acted as the chairman of Coterel, Judas. Despite being a gangster, Judas looked like a priest. In fact, according to Hilma, Judas actually worked for the central church. This fact was only known by the ring-leaders of Coterel.

After a minute of silence, Judas spoke,

"As you know, civil war is ravaging the country, Orlais. At first, it looked like a coalition of noble factions to defeat other noble factions. We cooperated with the Saxon faction as they paid us. After gaining many military victories, their true colour. Saxon joined the neighbouring state, Fanoss to create a totally new country, Orlais-Fanoss Union with Selena Saxon declaring herself as the Queen. Although 3 great nobles such as House of Haine, House of Chevin and House of Chalons maintained their loyalty, many nobles who were previously their vassals had defected and fought them after Selena Saxon started purging the nobles. As of now, the Orlais-Fanoss is winning skirmishes and annexing more lands. Our meeting today is to discuss our future relationship with Orlais-Fanoss Union. The three of you had attended the declaration ceremony in Milbech, their capital city."

Fitwalter voiced up, "We must join them as they are paying us. Besides, this is the opportunity for us to show our strength to the world."

Hilma scolded him, "That is because as a muscle head, Fitwalter merely wants to fight and kill."

"Say that again, little girl!" Fitwalter barked at her.

"I said, enough bust-up!" Judas raised his voice.

After the outburst, a tense silence fell over the room once more. I could feel the palpable animosity between the bosses, and wondered how long this fragile alliance would last.

Finally, Jango spoke up again. "I agree with Fitwalter. Joining the Orlais-Fanoss Union would give us more power and influence in the region."

Edstrom, who had remained quiet all this while, finally spoke up. "I disagree. We should remain neutral in this conflict. Our only concern should be our own profits and gains."

Hilma nodded in agreement. "I agree with Edstrom. We should not involve ourselves in the politics of others. We should focus on our own business and ensure our own survival."

Judas stroked his beard thoughtfully, considering their arguments. "I see both sides of the argument. But we must also consider the potential consequences of our decision. If we join the Orlais-Fanoss Union and they lose, we will be seen as traitors and face repercussions. On the other hand, if we remain neutral, we risk losing out on potential profits and alliances."

Hilma spoke,

"I propose a compromise. We will offer our services to both sides, but remain officially neutral. We will provide information, mercenaries and resources to whoever pays us better. This way, we minimize our risks and maximize our profits."

Fitwalter argued, "Little girls, if we play both sides, we will end up as the untrustworthy if they know our game. We must take one side. I prefer Orlais-Fanoss as they are winning the wars. They declared they would conquer other countries in the continent. Those who aim big are a lot better than those who are content with their little land."

Hilma appeared obviously dissatisfied with Fitwalter 's reasoning but she couldn't say anything to avoid another war of words.

"I concur with Fitwalter. There is no way for us to hide out traitorous action. We should side with the winning side."

Judas pondered for a while before giving his answer,

"Fitwalter and Jango were absolutely correct. It's just that I, as you all know, served the central church in Niceaea. The new queen, Selena Saxon not only purged aristocracy, he also purged organized religion like ours. Now, our religion was being banned in in her annexed territories. Thus, I had to personally withdraw from Orlais. But, I don't oppose Coterel to side with the winning side, that is Selena Saxon."