Back in Gryndor
“Why should we call our banners? It could be seen as an attack on the Republic.” Nobody believed the words of the Viscount, they had spent the last three hours explaining that they had solid information they had spent months extracting from a spy that the beastkin kingdoms would be looking to start a war soon, more than that the information was being spread to Sylvanthal and collaborated by what the Republic managed to find out about their neighbors to the south. “It could affect our harvest.”
The move was an obvious attempt at over exaggerating but it was getting so support from so of the nobles present. The call to arms they were putting up wouldn’t have actually had any effect on the harvest as they would only be marshalling half the forces the nobles were expected to have ready at a mont's notice, specifically those they would like to have level and gain Skill from experiencing real war. But so nobles made up the numbers for that quota by having rcenaries live in their territories, calling them up would actually bring significant costs to those Houses.
The king felt bad as he looked on from the side as his son tried to get the court to vote, everyone knew the vote would pass once it was actually voted on but they were trying to delay it as much as possible.
“Have we had any ssage from the Empire?” the king asked his spy master as he felt the man approach.
“They are willing to make a binding deal to not make any aggressive moves of any kind towards Grynfor for the duration of the war with the beastkin plus two years after it ends.” The spy master said, the official information was still on its way back with the representative but spies had a way to move faster when delivering such important news. “They are even willing to send material support.”
The Empire, Deepwood and Highmountain wouldn’t be sending any soldiers for the war, they simply couldn’t be trusted not to attack the Republic or the forces of the other kingdoms so Gryndor Sylvanthal and Brightstone respectively were working out deals to ensure they could send out their forces to support the Republic without worrying about being attacked at ho.
“What do they want in return?” the king asked. “The griffin cub is out of the question, my grandson or granddaughter both have the potential to bond with it.”
“They aren’t asking for the cub.” The cub in question had been born less than two weeks ago and it was still under tight watch from its parents. It wouldn't be ready to bond for at least another two months but the royal family were already providing as much help as they could to ensure the cub would grow strong. “They want spots for the dungeon delves not only in Gryndor but also in the Republic, Sylvanthal and Brightstone.”
The king couldn’t decide if the beastkin’s chose the best or the worst ti to attack. The delve slots were a powerful bargaining tool Brightstone Sylvanthal and Gryndor had over Highmountain, Deepwood and the Empire respectively and it was sothing they could have used to make a lot of money. Starting the war now ant they had sothing to trade that wouldn’t empty their coffers but it would also an they wouldn’t be able to sell the spots for the prices they would have wanted.
“On top of that they want cent.” the spymaster added
House Hearthbound had started exporting cent by the ton within a week of Ajax leaving, while that wasn’t a large amount in terms of how much a city could use the capital had seen vast changes as it started new construction at a record pace with the slums finally heading towards not having holess people living in the streets.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“We can’t give them that!” King Gryndor huffed. “I had a hard enough ti ensuring we got all of it for the first few deliveries so that we could expand the slums, we might have a revolt from the Dukes if they find out we are sending it to the Empire next before we give it to them.”
“They don’t want a shipnt.” The spymaster said, the slight hesitation before he spoke his next sentence told the king he wouldn’t like what was coming. “They want the recipe.”
“That makes it simple.” The king said. “I can’t give what I don’t have. Anything else or we’ll just have to leave it with the non-aggression agreent and no supplies in exchange for the spots, they need those delve spots too much not to agree to non-aggression in exchange.”
“We could pressure House Hearthbound into giving us the recipe.” the spymaster said. “They aren’t going to be sending troops towards the war, not to ntion the need for their cent is much larger than they can produce.”
“Their duchy is new, not even a year old, they have two decades before they are expected to field an army and from the rumors I am hearing they might be well ahead of schedule on that front.” The king cut off that argunt.
The king couldn’t fault his spymaster for thinking that way, it was in his nature to try to get his hands on important information like that recipe but it was his job as the king to ensure he didn’t turn into a tyrant at the first inconvenience.
“Looks like my son has this handled.” The king said as the vote was officially started, with that the king started to make his way back towards his war council where the next steps could be planned out.
“Are you going to be calling your newest Duke back?” the spymaster asked.
“Not just yet.” the king answered as he approached the war council chamber. “I want to see how the war starts before I do that, he might be nearing the level of a champion but one extra champion won’t make that much of a difference at the start. If the Republic starts to falter even with support from us, Sylvanthal and Brightstone then I’ll be calling him back and rallying the rest of our troops.”
In The Republic council chamber
“Their army is gathering and it will soon be on the move.” Shadow said as he addressed all eight mbers of the council.
“What were you able to find out?” Archduke Goldenmouth asked.
“Their levels are slightly higher than I would expect their army to have but their stats are quite a bit higher.” Shadow answered as soon as the archduke finished his question and looked at the man pointedly as a warning to keep his Legendary Skill under control.
“So it wasn’t the new training thod for youth that caused them to start this war?” councilman Deepforge asked.
“From what I could see I doubt that is the case.” Shadow answered. “If I was to make a guess I would say they found a dungeon or maybe even two in the Wild Lands close to their borders, close enough to get their entire army to go through them.”
The two beastkin nations didn’t have the sa number of dungeons as the other kingdoms but if they combined their dungeons and added a few in the Wild Lands that would be a different matter.
“I think they have been preparing for this war for a while and when the training thod ca out they would have been happy to delay their plans to grow their army with the extra dungeons.” Shadow gave his insight. “But now that all of us are starting to have our nobles delve each other's dungeons, their advantage will be aningless. Their soldiers being stronger than ours wouldn’t matter if our champions can crush theirs and then their army after that.”
“Gryndor, Brightstone and Sylvanthal have all agreed to send us support but their forces are small, they are clearly looking to use this as an opportunity to train their people at the cost of our territory.” Another councilmber grumbled.
The eting continued from there as the council tried to plan on how to best deploy their own forces and the support from their allies to minimise losses to their own people without offending any their other neighbors.
Near the border between Gryndor and the Wild Lands.
Aurexion P.O.V
“Aunt you’ve finally returned.” It was about ti, I had been waiting here for a week now with nothing better to do than to watch over my little cousin. There Mana was dreadfully sparse so close to the humanoid lands and there was nothing exciting for
to hunt
“Well where is it?”
“Where is he!” I couldn’t help the wince at being corrected, it wasn’t the first ti either. I knew that looking down on my potential bond would make it very hard to actually get the bond to form but I couldn’t help it, he was a human.
“Where is he?” I repeated with a small chastised bow of the head.
It was my aunt’s turn to look slightly embarrassed. “It seems he left the humanoid area more than two months ago. We’ll have to turn back and look for him, he won’t have wandered too far.” Frustration at the ti wasted and joy at getting away from this Mana desert warred inside of , I almost missed the last few words my aunt whispered to end her sentence. “... I hope.”
Reviews
All reviews (0)