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Chapter 7: Bilateral Talks
LOCATED in the Phon’kaven town of Dragontan is a vital Strategic Resource called a Dragon Vein Mine. Unprecedented tension and turmoil now surrounded this special town that had been the focal point of a slew of dire situations and high expectations.
Talks were about to be held between the respective leaders of Mynoghra and Phon’kaven, Takuto Ira and Pepe. That vague rumor spreading through the streets plunged the people of Phon’kaven into anxious confusion, bringing about a hushed stillness that made Dragontan seem like a ghost town.
Dragontan’s inhabitants were painfully aware of the Barbarian hordes that had attacked Phon’kaven and that Mynoghra had helped drive them away. But that knowledge wasn’t enough to assuage the intuitive fear and apprehension taking root in their hearts. Apprehension that made every single one of them wonder: “What in the world did we make a deal with?”
Rumors spread not only among the townspeople, but also the soldiers who’d fought on the frontlines against the Barbarians alongside Mynoghra.
“Hey…do ya know who we’re having talks with next?” a Wolfman with excellent vision called out in a conspiratorial whisper to his colleague from his post atop the watchtower built into the town’s outer walls.
Ë n̈ um̀ а̄. íd̂
The Human soldier frowned theatrically as he answered, “Wasn’t it…the King of Ruin, Takuto Ira?”
“Yeah, seems like it. Why’s someone like that going outta his way to come here himself…?” the Wolfman asked, not hiding his disgust.
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“Obviously because Staff Holders Pepe and Tonukapoli went to see him in person last time. It’s only natural he’d come to their turf this time,” the Human explained. “Besides, there’s the Barbarian Invasion to discuss. National leaders got a lotta stuff to talk about, I’m sure.”
The soldiers were talking about the upcoming bilateral talks. It was already well-known among those in the know that Staff Holders Tonukapoli and Pepe had held in-person talks with Mynoghra’s king a while back.
They should be happy to have a good relationship with an ally who valued and trusted Phon’kaven enough for their king to visit personally. This vote of confidence displayed a solid alliance between the two nations. And no one doubted their alliance after Mynoghra had devoted so much to defend Dragontan from the Great Barbarian Invasion, to the point of great loss on their side.
…The only black mark on their resume of being an excellent ally was simply that Mynoghra consisted of evil forces with unfathomable strength.
Ĕ ǹ û m̈а
“Yeah, but will things really turn out okay?” the Wolfman asked. “We didn’t join hands with the wrong side, did we?”
“Can’t say…” the Human trailed off, hesitant to answer his colleague.
Information about the empire of Mynoghra was kept top secret within Phon’kaven. The alliance between the two nations was formed only recently, so little to no information had trickled down to the grunt soldiers. They only heard vague rumors claiming their allies were a frightening bunch, and that was it.
“Phon’kaven and Mynoghra are allies for now. I’d like to think…that it’ll all turn out okay,” the Human finally admitted.
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“We all hope it’ll turn out okay,” someone suddenly joined in the conversation, mirroring those hopeful words. That clear, dignified voice belonged to a young woman.
The man reacted to that familiar voice with a start and hurriedly spun around to salute.
W̊е́ bń оv̀ ӗ l En̆ ŭm а
“M-Mayor Antik!”
“Wh-What are you doing here?”
The men saluted a gorgeous Elf.
“Playing hooky— I mean, patrolling. I’m playing my role by patrolling. I thought I’d check on how everyone’s getting along.”
Mayor Antelise Antik, a woman renowned for her slender frame, ample bosom, long ears, and cascading blonde hair, casually waved her hand and told them to be at ease with a tired smile. She was a woman with an unusual history that had her leave the conservative, secretive El-Nah Alliance of Elementals for Phon’kaven. Her background wasn’t the only impressive thing about her, either. She was a woman of exceptional talent, so much so that she was appointed the mayor of Dragontan without even applying for it.
The soldiers recoiled when she appeared on the walls with them. They were taken by her inhuman beauty—a trait unique to Elves—and the gleam emitted from her sharp gaze as it burrowed into them both. They couldn’t stop from blushing under her strong gaze—Antelise was much like a rare and stunning flower seen on top of a mountain they could never reach.
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But the men soon remembered they had been neglecting their duties to entertain scandalous discussion, and they quickly stood at attention. It hadn’t been long since the last Great Barbarian Invasion. Although the damage had been minimized with Mynoghra’s aid and the Defense Force’s efforts, they still couldn’t afford to be slacking off on wall duty.
“I-I’m sorry you discovered us like this, Mayor Antik.”
“We were slacking off… Please give us whatever punishment you deem necessary.”
“It’s all good, boys. We’ve been working nonstop, so I know how you feel. Peaceful days have become extra nostalgic to me lately, too… Wait, has there ever been a peaceful day since I became mayor?” Antelise joked with a shrug of her slender shoulders.
Determining the mayor was going to overlook their misconduct, the soldiers scratched their heads and tried to feel out the reason for her visit.
“Haha! We’ve got nothing but respect for you, Mayor Antik. Even now, you’re goin’ on the rounds to make sure we stay on our toes.”
Е̂ n.ü m а̂ . і̀ d
Phon’kaven’s frontier towns were experiencing an exodus of citizens due to their Self-Defense Force’s utter lack of usefulness during the Barbarian invasions and the damage sustained from a lack of reinforcements sent from the main army.
Citizens want peace. That’s a natural mortal desire and not something that can be suppressed by reason.
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What if something similar happens again? What if our allies don’t join in the next battle? Anyone who understood those worries couldn’t blame them for wanting to leave this deadly zone outside of their empire’s protection.
The soldiers on lookout struggled with the same thoughts as well. If they were to be honest with themselves, their morale had hit rock bottom, and their determination to protect the people of their country was shakier than ever before.
Even as they were sounding Antelise out, they could see a line of carts loaded with household belongings heading for the gate on the dusty streets below. They didn’t know where the citizens were headed, but they’d obviously given up on this godforsaken town. Watching that exodus day in and out was a hit to anyone’s morale. So, to the soldiers, it seemed reasonable for the mayor to go out of her way to monitor and encourage the people out of concern for deteriorating public safety.
But Antelise chuckled and gave an answer that was contrary to their thoughts. “While that’s a part of the reason for my rounds, it’s also not,” she said with a wry smile. “I came here because it’s the best spot to overlook the town. This might be the last time I see it like this, you know? It’s only natural to want to burn in what the town you ran looks like, right? We don’t know where things are headed, after all.”
Е̂n̂ ŭm ӑ . і́d́
The future ahead of them was too unsettling and surreal to imagine. Antelise had made the remark lightheartedly, but the soldiers didn’t miss her hard-set jaw or strained smile. What meaning was hidden behind her words? They didn’t have enough information to speculate, but they could tell something more was going on just by how she acted.
The men shared dubious looks. They couldn’t imagine what awaited the town they protected. They forgot that they wouldn’t even be in a position to think about the future if not for Mynoghra’s assistance during the last wave of attacks.
“C’mon, don’t say such ill-omened things, Mayor…” the Wolfman said nervously.
“Yeah!” the Human joined in. “You’ve got a terrible personality there, trying to scare us by saying stuff like that. Hahaha…”
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“That reminds me, you aren’t going to run away?” Antelise asked as she leaned against the watchtower and looked out at the town below.
The town wasn’t only bleeding citizens, but also soldiers. They had various reasons for leaving, covering everything from guarding the departing citizens to blatantly admitting they’d given up on Dragontan. It was so bad that they were down to a skeleton crew that just barely managed to cover town security.
Е̇ n ŭ ṁ_ӑ
There was no time to rest for those who remained, and their work hours were growing increasingly longer without any benefit. The two soldiers on guard duty hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep over the last few days, and it’d been quite a while since they last returned home. They had a mountain of tasks to attend to outside of guard duty, and their brief chat was just a momentary respite from a hard day of grueling, tedious work.
Running away would be easier—especially right now, when they had the guilt-free option of escorting the departing citizens to their new homes.
But both men answered Antelise in loud voices.
“Haha, we’re not running.”
“It seems like we like this town too much when it comes down to it.”
The two men had grown up in Dragontan. They’d received so much from this town and experienced various joys and sorrows while living there. They planned to stay with Dragontan until the end, regardless of how the other townspeople felt. Thanks to people like them, Dragontan had yet to crumble beyond repair.
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“Really? Then can I ask you for a small favor?” Antelise asked, showing them a genuinely happy smile, soon replaced by a deadly serious expression. Then she told them her unthinkable favor.
“…I need you to have a steadfast mind and heart if you happen to see the king of Mynoghra during the upcoming talks. And please, no matter what happens, do not, I repeat, do not react. I’m not just saying this to uphold our appearance or to make our country look good. Well, that’s definitely a piece of it, but I’m telling you two who love this town this so you can live another day.”
The soldiers both swallowed so hard it made an audible noise.
Ultimately, Antelise was telling them that depending on their actions, they could offend the king of Mynoghra and end up in a life-threatening position. A grunt soldier’s life definitely wasn’t worth much compared to the bigger picture. Phon’kaven and Dragontan had no reason to concern themselves with the life of a disrespectful soldier, especially under strained circumstances.
Eliminating the offender would smooth things over just fine—that’s how diplomacy worked.
But were they really dealing with such a dangerous and unpredictable entity? Was this king that frightening?
W̌ еb̊ n̄ оv̀ е́ l Е̂n̂ ûm̀а
For the first time, the two soldiers felt the chill of unease rise up from the depths of their churning stomachs.
“I heard from Lady Tonukapoli that the king of that country is a being existing two to three steps outside the rules of this realm,” Antelise continued gravely. “She called him an anomaly.”
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Tonukapoli and Pepe were the only two citizens of Phon’kaven to have actually met the King of Ruin in person during their talks within Mynoghra’s Imperial Capital. Pepe had very different sensibilities from a normal person, so his witness account wasn’t very trustworthy, but Tonukapoli’s words were absolutely credible and reliable.
The strength of Phon’kaven’s Staff Holders was well known among their people. Not only were they respected for their achievements and abilities that began with Nature Spirit Artes and extended into a wide variety of magics, but they were also treated as a sort of legendary creature.
Such a person, who was already a godly existence to a grunt, evaluated the king of their ally nation as an anomaly?
A sense of impending doom crept up on the two men who’d been thinking of the situation as someone else’s problem. After all, they finally realized that what they were underestimating as merely talks between two diplomats was far more than that.
W̌е̇ b̂ n̂ о̀v е l̇ Ӗ n ů m а
“I-Is it that extreme? Are you sure the Staff Holder wasn’t exaggerating a bit…?” the Human asked.
“Have either of you ever seen Lady Atou in action?” Antelise answered his hopeful question with another question.
The men instantly understood what Mayor Antelise was trying to tell them with that single question.
The girl named Atou, who’d helped defend Dragontan, was an existence outside of mortal understanding.
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Both soldiers had seen her fight.
She’d been fighting far from the town, so they could only see her if they squinted really hard from the watchtower, but that was enough to discover she fought more like a monster than anything remotely Humanoid.
Wẽbnоv̄ е̃ ĺ Еn ũ.m а̄
Ice and snow glittered all around her. Something tentacle-like whipped around with a mind of its own. Death cries and the dismembered bodies of Barbarians being flung high into the sky were noticeable even from the watchtower. Thunderous roars that sounded like lightning striking the ground shook the air.
…The fight was all too vivid…all too fantastical.
At the time, the soldiers had been told by their superiors that Atou was an octopus Demi-human, but now they all knew that was nothing more than a futile smokescreen. There was no way in hell she was that mediocre of a being.
The girl called Atou was a being beyond anything they could ever put a name to. And Takuto Ira was that girl’s beloved master and king.
An existence that could control that monster couldn’t be normal.
“W-We understand what you’re trying to tell us, Mayor Antik,” the Human stuttered. “So…while I’m not confident, I will do everything in my power not to cause any issues on the day of the talks.”
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“That’s not even the tip of the iceberg…” Antelise said eerily. “Even the adorable Elfuur Sisters are…”
The soldiers held their breath.
The Elfuur Sisters were the Dark Elf twins Mynoghra had temporarily dispatched to Dragontan. The soldiers had seen the girls from a distance and even wondered why such children were sent on a diplomatic mission in the first place. At a distance, they looked like nothing other than ordinary, cute young ladies. But…
“Nah, I shouldn’t talk about them. Well, good luck, boys. Who knows? I might be the one who screws up,” Antelise jested, then returned her gaze to the town as if to say that was the end of that.
The conversation left a lot to wonder about, but one look at Antelise’s face let them know they wouldn’t learn anything further even if they asked. But the Wolfman suddenly remembered something else he wanted to ask her.
“By the way, you can use Spirit Communication Artes, right, Mayor? What’re the Spirits doing?”
Е ṅ um а̄
Elves have a naturally high affinity with Spirits. Following the voices of these spirits, they perform various artes and divination. The Wolfman was curious about how the Spirits were reacting to the situation as incorporeal beings more sensitive to evil.
“Oh them? They all ran for it,” she replied bluntly, the smile not reaching her deadened eyes.
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Spirits are a kind of energy that exists everywhere in the world. Their presence is incredibly faint, and they barely have much in the way of instincts and a will that typically indicates a living creature.
All the Spirits in the area had fled. How should they process that fact?
Antelise sprung to action before the men could draw their own conclusion. “You guys won’t run away, though, will you?! You love this town, don’t you?! Don’t you?!” she pressed, putting a hand on both men’s shoulders and squeezing tight as if to say she wasn’t letting them go.
The soldiers trembled before her beaming smile, wondering if they’d made the wrong decision after all.
Е́nu m̈_ã .і̆ḋ
◇◇◇
THE more you yearn for a moment to come, the more you feel like you’ve wasted a lot of time waiting for it. Meanwhile, why does it feel like the days you wish will never come arrive all the faster?
Thus, the day of the bilateral talks arrived all too soon for the people of Dragontan.
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