I ride on Courage as General Pirous leads us to the Mage Guild. The crowd in front of the guild parts easily for my escort of twenty knights who all take up protective positions around me.

Magister Gwyna and Guildmaster Evans look very surprised to see us. Guess humans aren't used to the direct method of the vess.

"General Pirous of Tarenbaum?" If Gwyna was surprised to see me, she is dumbfounded to see him. A slew of thoughts passes through her head; you can visibly see her trying to work out what is going on. I silently savor catching her off foot, she probably thinks I have an alliance with Tarenbaum or something.

The General in question steps forward and bows politely, "Magister Gwyna, Guildmaster Evans. A pleasure."

"What is the meaning of this?" Evans has another delectable expression; a look of anger mixed with fear.

Pirous stands straight, his hands clasped casually behind his back. Although this time, he does have his sword on his hip. "I am here to speak on behalf of Queen Renna. It seems you have decided to set up your respective organizations in her town without asking her permission. To my understanding, it is standard procedure to first speak with the governance of a town and come to an agreement with them before simply moving in. I understand this is a new and promising town, but you have overstepped, and we must discuss what to do next."

"This is no town," Gwyna scoffs, "It is more akin to a prison camp, these innocent refugees are nothing more than food for the demon behind you. We have come to liberate them."

I feel my eyebrow twitch, but I let Pirous handle it.

"I see." Pirous looks around, "It hardly looks like a prison, these people seem to have a lovely little town out here in the frontier. In fact, Lotheris itself has formally recognized the Vess Kingdom; shall I retrieve the relevant documentation?"

Several of the mages start to look uncomfortable and a few adventurers whisper together, confused. It seems that what Pirous said doesn't line up with what they've been told.

A scroll is withdrawn from Gwyna's robe and proudly displayed, "I found a record, deep in the royal library of Lotheris. A long list of names, the deceased from the last time Lotheris had contact with the vess. Many generations ago, the vess moved on our borders and the losses we suffered were massive, there were so many grieving families that Lotheris could hardly support them all. I will prevent such a tragedy from happening again."

The Magister is looking very smug and is literally looking down her nose at me.

"That's it?" I mutter under my breath. That's her big justification for doing this? I mean, I guess it's pretty good. My vess look scary and if you have anything close to proof that we are dangerous it wouldn't be hard to convince people.

Pirous is unfazed, "So, you are here on behalf of Lotheris? To be clear, Lotheris is declaring war on Queen Renna?"

The smug look vanishes and Gwyna sneers, "I am here on behalf of humanity!"

"So, you are here alone." The General concludes with a satisfied smile, "Very good. Let's move along to your demands now."

Gwyna is starting to look pissed. Pirous is way better at this than I thought, I knew he was a good pick, until I get my diplomacy vess at least; I swear I'll get one eventually.

Guildmaster Evans steps forward, "The Adventurer Guild has allied itself with the Mage guild. If you think a handful of monsters scare us, you are sorely mistaken. Some of the highest adventurers in Lotheris have come in support of us." He clears his throat and pulls out a small paper to read off of, "The Vess Queen will relinquish control of the town and its people. It will surrender itself and all of its creatures. If it cooperates, we may spare it in favor of studying it."

They want to control my vess? They must have figured out that my vess obey me and only me. I mean, I haven't been trying to hide it, and I don't exactly have a bunch of intelligent looking vess commanding my soldiers.

Evans smirks and continues, "Should the Vess Queen fail to surrender, it and all of its creatures will be destroyed."

"Also." Gwyna interjects with a malicious smile, "We have captured your companions, Sarah and Grant. I'm sure I don't need to speak the threats out loud."

My heart stops for a second before Enna speaks in my mind, "Do not worry, sweetie. I highly doubt such humans could have captured the Hero, you know how strong she grew in the void; I doubt they were expecting her new strength. Still, I shall dispatch scouts and knights to search for her immediately. She only left yesterday, even on a drake, she couldn't have gotten too far before they tried to intercept her. We know the path she was going to fly; she will be found, I swear it.

Pirous looks back at me, a concerned look wrinkling his face. I give him a shaky smile and try to relax. All of my knights have adopted an aggressive stance, many bladed arms poised and ready to reap the lives of the humans. With great reluctance, I order my knights to stand down.

"We would like proof that you have the captives, and they are alive." The General calmly continues negotiations.

Grant is brought out of the Mage Guild, bound and gagged, they must have had him just inside, ready to show off. Sarah is conspicuously absent.

The old General notices too, "And Sarah?"

Guildmaster Evans sneers, "We aren't so stupid as to bring her out."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"She is too powerful; we had to take special precautions to restrain her and sadly cannot show her off." Gwyna smoothly interjects.

"I see." Pirous stands silently for a moment, "We refuse your demands."

"We will hurt the girl! Don't test us!" The Magister fumes, face going an ugly shade of red.

"You do not have her." Pirous dismisses with a wave of his hand, "You and every member of your organizations will cease and dismantle your operations in this town. If you wish, you may properly open discussions to set up here in the future, as you should have done in the first place. Failure to do so by the end of the week will result in your buildings being destroyed and your people forcibly removed."

In an act of incredible balls, the General turns his back to the two people he just pissed off and mounts Courage, turning the horse and trotting us away.

I shut my eyes and do some deep breathing exercises.

Not far outside of town, Pirous stops the horse and dismounts, strolling over towards the trees and leaning against one. I follow his example, slip down from the horse, settle my skirt, and stomp over to a tree. Extending my claws, I whip my natural weapons over the innocent tree, leaving light gashes in the bark. Continuing my stress relief, I keep debarking the tree. It feels good, digging my claws into the rough material, gouging ever deeper marks into it. If I tried doing this with human fingers, I would be left with painful, bloody nails.

My tail whips in agitation, "Do you think they really have Sarah? I don't think I could handle it if they hurt her and have her all tied up."

Pirous calmly relaxes against his tree, watching me attack the flora, "No, I don't believe they have her. They were eager to show off their one captive, they would have gleefully rubbed your face in it if they did have her. I also happen to know of several ways to restrain high level individuals that would also allow us to have confirmation without risk. A simply scrying spell combined with a light projection would have sufficed. It was a bluff, and a poor one at that." He tucks his thumbs into his belt and crosses his ankles, despite just coming out of a hot negotiation, he looks cool and collected, I guess I can see why girls like him. It helps me calm down and I stop my assault on the poor tree.

"Still," The older man continues, "The man, Grant. Is he an issue?"

"Nah." I wave my tail dismissively, "I never really liked him. He had his chance to impress me and failed miserably."

"Very good." Pirous looks pleased, "Now, I'm sure you're ready to go to war, but will you hear an old man out first?"

I nod and he continues, "First, we must take precautions. Having the enemy in your town and amongst your people is very inconvenient. I will have Mayor Lessa evacuate buildings closest to the guilds, the vess can build temporary residences for them quickly. Second, I gave them a week to comply. I don't believe for a second that they will, but what I have done is put them on a time limit. They will feel pressured and might make a mistake. It also puts them on the offensive for the week, giving them more chances to make mistakes."

"So what?" I absently score some lines through the dirt with a foot claw, "We just sit in the hive and wait?"

"Essentially. You may yet become a master strategist, your majesty." I blush a little at his teasing, he smiles kindly, "Yet, you are still young, so I shall help you this time. We will set up a trap for them, should they choose to assault the hive, although I doubt they will."

"Then why do it?" I tilt my head and ask.

"It pays to be thorough and plan for every eventuality. I expect them to try something underhanded to force us from the hive. The lives of the Karnakans would do nicely, although that might be a line many of the adventurers wouldn't feel comfortable crossing, it could cause a fracture between the factions. Do you see what I mean about waiting for them to make mistakes?"

"Mmm." I nod.

"Are you willing to sacrifice the lives of the townsfolk?"

That gives me pause. Am I? Of course I am, but an uncomfortably human part of me revolts at the idea. Maybe if I look at it a different way. They are my people, this is my town, if they are hurt then that is hurting me. Looking at it like that, my vess and human sides line up a little better.

"I don't want to lose too many. If they start going down that road, I want to take immediate action." I decide.

"Very good." Pirous easily accepts, "Now, if after a week they still haven't moved I propose we evacuate even more houses around the guilds. Then, we can start bombarding them with your ballista vess, which would force them to attack us or risk losing their bases of operation. The key is making sure we are always in an advantageous position, we want them scrambling and rushing to attack us, and we want to be ready." The human kicks off his tree and walks up to Courage, stroking the side of his horse's face, he produces an apple from somewhere and feeds it to his companion, "Of course, even the best made plans never survive first contact with the enemy. We will adapt to the situation as it changes, the information provided by your scouts will give us an undeniable edge."

"Okaaay!" I stretch my arms above my head and groan, that felt good. I feel a lot better knowing Pirous is so capable. Enna would have been able to handle this too, but the result would probably have been much bloodier.

I approach Courage to get on only to be stopped by Pirous' hand on my shoulder, "One last thing, I will send a letter to Lotheris addressing our concerns over Gwyna's aggression and how it might affect our relationship with them. I will ask them to recall their magister, otherwise we cannot be held responsible for what might happen. It is, of course, the fault of Lotheris' negligence that they let their magister get into this situation in the first place."

"You're really good at this, and devious."

Pirous squeezes his hand on my shoulder, "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah!" I beam up at him, "Thanks, Pirous! You're great, I'm glad I snatched you up for myself!"

The older human chuckles, "I find myself conflicted on how I should feel. Lately I have chosen to look at this at an incredible opportunity to save my country and gain much power at the same time." He lifts me up and sits me on the horse, joining me a moment later. We set off for my hive.

"You're good with people." I observe.

Another chuckle, "I've learned much over a lifetime of managing people."

"You're really good with girls especially." I narrow my eyes up at him.

"Oh?" He casually leans back in the saddle and regards me, "I apologize, Queen Renna, but you are a little young for me."

I blush furiously, balling my fists up in my skirts, "That's not what I was getting at! I meant first the Matron and now Mayor Lessa!"

"Is that what you think?" The General remains frustratingly aloof.

Switching to pouting, I cross my arms with a huff, "I can see through your charms! It doesn't work on me!"

"Oh no? Did I not calm you down just now? You seemed beside yourself with worry and frustration." His tone is lightly teasing.

My blush breaks back through my pout, this is a losing battle, I'm way outclassed. Is there a hidden charisma stat? Instead, I retreat and go on the defensive, looking down at my boots and letting my hair fall to cover my heated face.

The charismatic human lets me go with a gentle pat on the head.

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