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Vix levels up. She gains Spear Grand Mastery. Watch out.
Year 10, Month 3
“Thank you for meeting with me King Ericall. You know what I want to talk with you about.”
“I suspect I do, although I hope that I am wrong.”
“You are not wrong. I have here the letter for you, and another I am sending back home to Empress Eriadne.”
“I appreciate that you came here to give me letter in person, Alzar.”
“Of course. It’s the least I could do. But King Ericall, I also wanted to remind you that you owe your independence to me. Did you free Oceansend or Landfall? Did you free the various coastal lands that were taken? Did you defeat them in battle on the seas or on land? No, you didn’t. The only place that was able to defeat the combined mercenary, Qoedhar, and Alphatian forces was us, and we had all four armies and navies turned against us, with the Sky Castle, not half of each that took Landfall and such.”
“I know, but you are from Norwold. You do not deserve thanks for helping your lord win a war. That is your role as as servant.”
“And that’s one of the reasons you’ll never be a good leader, King. You weren’t trained for it, and you haven’t learned it after a decade on the job. But remember, we are the only reason you are free today. My people won the war for you single-handedly. Now we have the very sky castle that threatened Alpha itself on our side. I’m sure your scouts told you about the cloud castle as well? It’s true. Don’t overestimate your forces or underestimate ours. I have no desire for war against my new neighbor. And if we were at war, you know I could choke Alpha off at the entrance to the Great Bay and you could not get out without failing to crack the same nut they just need.
You need to help rebuild Landfall and your infrastructure. You can’t sustain another war, nor can you succeed against us like you want to. You will always prefer us as friendly neighbors, to, well, less friendly. So what I would like to do is to get your assurance, neighbor, that you are going to us go our mutual way, and not attack me, and I’ll try to be neighborly as well.”
“I agree. I don’t know if you chose the area you did at the beginning in order to give yourself the strategic advantage that you are flexing now or not. But the facts are the facts. I will not wage war against you unless provoked.”
“That’s fair enough.”
They shake.
“Now for the other piece of business. You have a part of Norwold to your west that has always been uppity, and they don’t respect your rule. Right now, it’s hard to deal with them and the many other crises you have going on. I’d like to offer to buy, or otherwise give you something, for the halfling holds of Leeha and the surrounding area and the shires of the halflings out there.”
“I have lost enough today, I am losing no more.”
“That’s fair. But the offer will remain moving forward. I’ll happily lend you my aid in rebuilding Norwold or giving you a lot of money or magical items and such. Leeha will be happier with me than you. As you know, the various demihuman populations of Norwold respect me very highly for a human. The dwarves and myself get along very well, elves, halflings, Aarakocra, and many more similarly see me as available ruler and ally. So, if at some point in time, I hope you reconsider, it’s the best for your people in Leeha.”
Alzar rises, and Ericall’s wife, previously watching the conversation to ensure no lies were told, rises and they shake hands as well, and Alzar teleports back home.
Alzar has declared his independence from Norwold.
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