Islur Tawal Ebrus helplessly looked at the documents. If not for his teacher, Islur would have been lost in the complicated legal language. Tyklas Ross, however, studied them with happy sparks in his eyes.

"I can't understand why you are so happy, teacher..."

"Isn't it obvious, my Prince?" He smiled happily. "They treated us seriously! This is the traditional legal language of the Empire of Metaka! Metaka only used such an elaborate language a few times in the treaties they signed with Ebrus almost three hundred years ago. I recognise the other documents as well and they are less stiff but nonetheless serious. They belong to the Kingdom of Iceleon... But those... Oh, those..."

He cackled with glee as he pointed at various stacks of documents. He pointed to the smallest stack of documents.

"All the diplomatic documents from Metaka and Iceleon account for the full legal path necessary to follow during our various interactions. They follow paths we are familiar with and understand. The roles of nobility and the entire feudal chain of command. They are natural and easy to understand and negotiate but, with all honesty, there is nothing that I would argue about. In a sense, they are natural." The old diplomat explained. "But not the documents from Arcadia. They are simple, without the flowery legal speech that causes unclarity or deliberate misunderstanding. Arcadians don't care about feudal dependencies. They don't care about the needs of nobles."

"That's not good..."

"Oh, no, my Prince." Tyklas shook his head with a patient smile on his face. "It means that Emperor Theon Avalon wields absolute power. He rules by the might of his armies and the decrees he issues. He's not bound by noble senates or gatherings. The Arcadian nobles are his servants. Nothing more, nothing less."

"But... Arcadia is huge! The nobles surely have some influence on the politics of the Empire! There must be other influential people within the Empire of Arcadia!"

"Of course there are." The old politician smiled wryly. "They are called Empresses."

"You must be joking..."

"Not in the slightest. All power in the Empire is in the hands of the Royal Family. Theon Avalon is an absolute ruler and nothing important will pass without his knowledge. His wives occupy every other position of power and no amount of ambition or talent will let you reach for power in Arcadia."

"That's ridiculous... What about the army? There, surely, must be some ambitious officer? In the long term, the Emperor must grant them special privileges to safeguard their loyalty."

"Good luck. Contrary to you, I spoke with a few soldiers of the Guardsmen Corps and I can assure you that they are zealous. If any officer tried to rebel against the Royal Family, they would be immediately executed by their soldiers. The soldiers..." Tyklas lowered his head thoughtfully. "I spoke with a simple Guardsmen, one of probably thousands in the service of the Emperor and I managed to appraise him. He was a monster... In Ebrus, he would be hailed as a Hero and I can guarantee you that your father and mother would curse you for not being born as a woman so they could marry you to him. Level one hundred, Guardsmen Class. It was the first time I had seen such a class, and someone like him was just policing the streets of this city. He also claimed to be just a rookie. No, my Prince. The army of Arcadia is so zealously loyal that you could probably condense and forge a weapon out of it."

"His wives?"

"You can't be serious..." The old diplomat raised his brow. "They have everything! I can guarantee you that their power is second only to the Emperor himself. Their life is a dream interrupted by several hours of hard work daily."

"I would strongly advise you to never suggest anything disrespectful to the Empresses of Arcadia, young Prince." Goddess Arletta said quietly from the deep-cushioned chair she was sitting in. "If you consider their Guardsmen to be monsters, then you won't have a word to describe the power wielded by those women. Each one of those Empresses is capable of single-handedly destroying a country like Ebrus. Stop asking moronic questions as if you were preparing for war."

"I just..." He sharply inhaled but lowered his gaze, embarrassed. "It's hard to believe that a single man can gather so much power..."

"He is not a man! For all intents and purposes, you can think of him as one of the Major Gods of Nilmerthis. Period." She huffed angrily, making them pale.

"But, our Lady..." The Prince lowered his head and clenched his fists. "Pursuit of knowledge is one of the most important goals of my journey. Knowing how the Emperor is keeping such power would help me in the future..."

"You can't do what he does or replicate his rules and expect Ebrus to survive." She said angrily and held her cup of tea tighter. "Did you not hear me when I said that you should think of him as one of the Major Gods? I wasn't only referring to his power or influence, which is unbelievable, but the fact that he is immortal."

The Prince was confused upon hearing that but, it was apparent, he didn't understand the implications while Tyklas pursued his lips and nodded knowingly.

"If Gods are immortal, then he shouldn't be able to kill one..." Islur almost whispered and turned away his head.

"Immortality, as you understand it, is exclusive to just a few beings in the entire universe." She said softly, ignoring his disrespectful behaviour. "We call ourselves immortal because that's easier to say than explaining every time that 'we can live forever and can even be reborn if our mortal shell is killed'. Most beings can be killed, Prince Islur; even Gods can be killed if you have sufficient power and you know how to do it. It's something difficult to believe to possess such power and even more unbelievable to meet someone who obtained it. But... We are getting off track here. The point is, he doesn't need nobles as any other Mortal ruler would. The most dangerous moment for every country is the death of its monarch. It's the moment when your alliances with the nobles will protect the country and your family, securing the inheritance. Theon Avalon doesn't have this problem."

"I... I didn't think about it like that..." Islur admitted with a lowered head. "I hoped to learn how to be a better ruler..."

"You still can achieve that, young Prince." Arletta smiled at him encouragingly. "I was, simply, corrected in my delusions and don't want to see you repeating my mistakes. If you continue to look at Arcadia like every other kingdom, you will make a huge mistake that might end in your downfall. Instead of trying to copy Arcadia or trying to understand the dependencies in this country, you should learn from Metaka or, even better, the much smaller Iceleon. You can learn valuable things if you focus on what is achievable."

"You don't believe that I could achieve what Arcadia has?" The Prince asked bitterly while Tyklas was simply smiling at him softly.

"No." She simply shrugged. "I won't pretend to care about your ego or feelings, young Prince, when your life is at stake. There is a difference between him and the rest of the people of Nilmerthis. A difference that makes any comparison simply unfair. He chose to be the King and, then, was given the title of Emperor by the World's Words because it was convenient. It gave him a free hand in fulfilling his mission and allowed him to be treated seriously by other kingdoms. He is not replaying the mistakes of his predecessors, who mostly claimed their neutrality, and were shocked when no one took them seriously. On the other hand, Theon Avalon is the Emperor of a vast Empire with an undefeated army and endless wealth. Who would you ignore? A powerful but lonely and neutral Hero telling you that you can't do something or an Arcadian envoy telling you that you should reconsider your course of action or risk confrontation with the Empire?"

"The envoy," Prince answered immediately and slowly nodded with a sigh. "I just..."

"You are young and I see how Theon Avalon's power impressed you." She said with a soft smile that slowly turned into a thin line. "However... I saw the furtive glances you threw at the Empresses and felt your strong feelings of jealousy. Don't desire his life because it's not as easy as you imagine. Even as he was passing judgment on me, he was consumed by the war with Vestargo. A war that we avoided only thanks to him and the might of his armies."

Islur said nothing but he was embarrassed and shocked by Arletta. Minister Tyklas hummed softly and put his hand on Islur's shoulder.

"The Prince is young and, without asking questions, he won't learn anything. Even if said questions are uncomfortable, controversial, and dangerous, it's better for him to ask them loudly rather than allowing doubts or desires to cloud his judgment in the future."

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

"You are right..." She sighed and smiled grimly as she put away the empty cup. "I must apologise for being harsh. I just don't want you to be as ignorant as I was, Prince Islur. So... Despite my arrogant attack, the North Aderon Treaty Organisation is willing to help us?"

"It's... Complicated." Tyklas rubbed the side of his head causing Arletta to burst into amused laughter.

"Tyklas Ross, you don't have to be worried about accidentally offending me. In fact, I must remind you, as well, that with the amount of faith you have in me, I constantly hear your thoughts when I'm this close to you and not just your prayers." She giggled, making the old diplomat lower his head in embarrassment. "I fully deserved to be treated like another child in your care and I must admit that your presence saved us. In fact, I don't mind that you treat me like a child because I don't know anything useful about Mortal politics. So? What's your plan, wise grandad Tyklas?"

The old diplomat chuckled briefly upon seeing her honest and warm smile. He hummed thoughtfully and, after he slowly sorted papers on the table, he rubbed his beard.

"The North Aderon Treaty Organisation is purely a military alliance. The participant nations pledge to the mutual defence, which you can already see now. The southern borders of Arcadia are protected by the navies of Metaka and Iceleon, with Iceleonians committing even the ground forces."

"What? Arcadians need defence?" The Prince looked at Tyklas, who heavily sighed, but Arletta simply grabbed a report and hit Islur on top of his head with it.

"Ummm... Thank you, my Goddess." Tyklas looked elsewhere as the Prince, red with embarrassment, read the report that smacked his head. "That's the thing. While the necessity of protecting Arcadian borders seemed excessive, the other kingdoms might believe they could attack Arcadia. The Arcadian response would be brutal. However, moving forces from the war with Vestargo to punish another attacker might have severe consequences. Metaka and Iceleon are aware that only Arcadia can stop Vestargo and they have no chance against the monsters of the Ancient Forest. By protecting Arcadian borders and repealing any attacks, they, in fact, protect themselves. I have never heard of any alliance that would take mutual defence treaties so seriously."

"It's all good and fine, but how could we benefit from such a treaty? Except for Metaka, we don't have any neighbours." Prince Islur finished reading the report and put it away with care.

"Oh? What about the ocean?" Arletta leaned on her right side and rested her cheek on her hand. "There are other continents and other people in Nilmerthis beyond Aderon, Prince Islur. What if the Dark Empire arrived tomorrow and landed on the eastern shores? Arcadia would send its most powerful mages and every available vessel of its Navy to help Metaka. Iceleon will do the same. But Ebrus will be alone and it will fall."

"Even if the invasion seems unlikely, the nations of NATO pledged their help in case of natural disasters and Dungeon rampages. However, there is something even more important than that." Tyklas shook his head and, this time, it was he who smacked the Prince with another report he failed to read. "Arguably, it might be interpreted fairly loosely, but both Iceleon and Metaka insisted on including a point about mutual help in case of an internal threat."

"And what does that mean?" The Prince tilted his head, but he seemed at peace with his shortcomings.

"One day you will die, Prince Islur." Tyklas solemnly nodded. "Hopefully, after decades of your wise rules but, inevitably, we will die. Imagine that your only child, beloved by your people, was hated by nobles and they tried to use the opportunity to rebel."

"It would be the end of the Royal House of Ebrus..." The Prince sadly lowered his head.

"Not at all." Arletta smiled. "I would use my power to shield them and..."

She hesitated but Tyklas finished instead of her.

"And inform NATO that Ebrus is invoking article 5 against an internal threat." They both gave him an incredulous gaze but he just smirked. "Of course, there are politics involved, but I have the impression that as long as the people of, in our example, Ebrus, support the inheritor, Arcadia will step in like they did in Iceleon and Metaka."

"Ummm..." This time, Prince Islur managed to avoid being hit by a report but, still, Arletta chuckled as she wagged her finger at him.

"Prince Islur! I'm shocked that you have neglected your duties this much!" She said but looked at Tyklas suspiciously. "I'm not sure of the timing of the situation in Iceleon when Arcadia helped to overthrow the corrupted king and, basically, eliminated most of the nobility counts. It was long before NATO was even formed. The same goes for the covert operations of Arcadia in Metaka which greatly supported the Metakan Royal Family."

"At least you have done your homework, my Lady." Tyklas nodded with appreciation at his Goddess. "Normally you would be right. However, international law is a wonderful thing... When the former king and the nobles who used him as a puppet realised what was going on, they demanded the help of Metaka, which was ignored because Theresa Iceleon proved her claims. You may ask, how? By being the only inheritor to the throne. What's even more important, the treaties and declarations were signed with the past dates."

"But that's absurd..." The Prince huffed sceptically.

"The letter and the spirit of those pacts were fulfilled thanks to lax interpretation. Do you know what it means for Iceleon in the long run?" Tyklas asked patiently.

"N-no..."

"There is no one powerful enough to wrestle the Royal power, my Prince. Iceleon is safe from noble uprisings."

"Oh..."

"Indeed."

The Prince sat in silence for a moment and was staring at the reports. His calm demeanour was deceiving which showed once he looked at the old diplomat and spoke.

"I don't know how much I'm allowed to discuss without my Father's permission. Once again I'm unprepared. We expected to find Cridia fighting for survival and we would be hailed as their saviours once our Navy would join the fight. But Cridia is no more, the enemy we expected to easily push back would destroy us instead..." His dark eyes were sad. "We can't return home without making a decision that is well above us. If we retreat now, it will be impossible to return to politics..."

"Fortunately, Prince Islur, I am here," Arlleta smirked. "I will personally approve and bless any decision you will make. I agree that everything decided in the next few days will change the lives of our people. In fact, I will allow you to make decisions in my name with the counsel of Tyklas. I trust you, Tyklas Ross, to work in the best interests of the Kingdom of Ebrus."

"I live for the prosperity of Ebrus, my Lady." Tyklas lowered his head with a proud smile. "I'm honoured by your trust."

"So... How good is their offer?" She smiled and looked at the documents spread on the table as well.

"Military-wise, Ebrus would be stupid to not take it. But that's basically everything. It doesn't cover anything else. On the other hand, I imagine that we could negotiate far more favourable deals as members of their alliance instead as another neutral country." Tyklas explained earning two nods.

"I read the status declaration and I don't understand the point stating that each member country should contribute a portion of their army to a joint response force..." The Prince complained.

"If I understand this correctly, the current air policing mission on the southern borders of the alliance is an example of joint forces."

"Oh..." The Prince lowered his head and sighed. "I will leave the negotiations to you, Teacher."

"Very well." Tyklas rubbed his beard. "So let's try to determine how much we can offer and what we could gain..."

•••

The negotiations with Arcadia, Metaka, and Iceleon went smoothly. They even managed to secure some very important trade deals with each of their new allies. Everyone was smiling and even Islur was jovial because the negotiations went far better than he expected, but... Everything changed when Lord Theon smiled.

"My spies have returned from this... Cursed Land." He began, eliciting absolute silence. "As expected, the land is simply controlled by a single Dungeon. So, not even two, as I suspected, but just one. A necropolis type with a lot of undead roaming the land. However, deeper in the region are cities whose citizens are remnants of the Kingdom of Falcia. What do you think Freya?"

"Hmmm... I can schedule it for conquest in... four weeks?" She flipped a few pages in her notebook and nodded. "That's right. Four weeks. How many people live there?"

"The early estimations say about two million but, probably, there are three." Theon shrugged. "If they want to move to Arcadia, I don't think you would complain, Theresa?"

"Absolutely not." She shook her head. "It's still hard to feed the survivors, not to mention a new population..."

"Excellent!" Lord Theon clapped his hands with a carefree smile and looked straight at Islur. "Now, once Ebrus is part of our alliance, I believe it's fair to ask, once again, if anyone, except Iceleon, is interested in expanding their territory?"

"I'm still not interested, thank you, Theon." Guad shook his head and looked at Theresa, who just sighed.

"Since 'except Iceleon' implies that you already decided..." She nervously scratched the back of her neck.

"Well, I confirmed that earlier..." King Victor smiled at his wife.

"You know what? Fine..."

The Emperor nodded with an amused smirk and looked at Prince Islur. "What about Ebrus?"

"We would like to expand but to the north..." He replied in panic.

"Excellent!" King Victor nodded, ignoring his terrified gaze. "In that case, we can use this opportunity to form another joint operation. First, we use our fleets and support Empress Freya's ground troops, who will clear the Cursed Land, then we will map the northern forests!"

"Very good idea!" Guad nodded, suddenly invigorated. "The Fifth Fleet of Metaka will join you! It will be excellent training for them before they go to the south."

"But it's Cursed Land!" Islur finally managed to squeak out.

"Meh..." Victor waved his hand dismissively.

Islur swallowed, terrified, and looked at Tyklas, who was hiding behind a calm expression but was, himself, shocked. Suddenly, their situation became much more complicated...

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.