Chapter 404 - Diplomatic Mingling

Notes : Chapter 109 of Manaforged Robotics has been written and added to the queue !

Well, didn't expect to write more MFR so soon, but I got a surge of inspiration. Worry not though, I'm still focusing on and writing The Fallen World.

Chapter 404

Hills of Discovery, Sapphire Kingdom

UDC-Sapphire Alliance Tent

Maes-Khan Trivor, archmage of the astral and minister of foreign affairs of the Sapphire Kingdom, had rarely felt so sidelined while in his own element.

In theory, he was heading all of this. In practice, the Archmage of Life, Ulvi, the de facto prime minister, had taken it over.

And for once he was glad. She was an idiot who didn't see the looming disaster for what it was. The more she took on the spotlight, the greater of a chance he and his co-conspirators had of surviving this mess.

Currently she was chatting up the dungeon core of Tivaro, their now ally, and-

"Minister, if I could have a minute of your time?"

Maes stopped himself from jumping with the ease of long practice, and smiled affably at Glarvistar, whose avatar wore an expression of polite inquiry on its porcelain mask.

"Of course. How may I be able to assist you?"

"The UDC has not been the most...au fait with current diplomatic events, and I was hoping you could enlighten me."

Maes took a sip of his drink. Damn that wine was good. Yet he barely tasted it.

"It would be my utmost pleasure. Though, of course, that is a broad subject. What did you wish to enquire about, particularly?"

"The Far Reach, as well as the status of several of your...trading partners."

Maes' eyes would have narrowed had been less experienced at this game. Oh oh oh. Trading partners? The way he said it, he didn't mean just the seaborne trade routes that kept Sapphire City alive, but also the land ones...

That were officially all cut, with the Aurorean Empire's declaration of war. And yet continued to thrive.

That was the problem fighting a mercantile power, even a newborn one after all. Just because they had a small thing like a war for the survival of their nation in the way didn't mean that the demand for the goods of the rest of the continent had abated any. Even at the height of Sunrise's uprising, some cargo had still gotten through, and right now the Empire was doing nothing to stop the smuggling.

Actually, worse than that, they didn't seem to consider it illegal in the first place. Instead of just turning a blind eye they just treated the merchants like normal ones, collecting taxes, doing paperwork and being able to filter specific goods that would aid the war effort. That approach was a thousand times better and less stupid than Ulvi's mandated one, where has they were considering any cross border trade illegal and had driven it underground, thus giving up any opportunity to control it the soft way, ensuring that a steady stream of war critical material made it through, rather than the minuscule trickle coming in the other way.

He wanted to punch the prime minister so, so much. She wasn't stupid. But she was blind. Too long locked in a paradigm that had flown out the window in the last couple of years, and unable to fathom the new one.

"The Far Reach has declared its neutrality." Started the minister. "Its utmost neutrality."

The dungeon avatar nodded.

"Of course, but surely that neutrality..."

Maes smiled.

"You do not know the mountain clans very well, do you?"

"No."

"You expect them to have dissenters, and us to have agents to smuggle some of your troops in. Infiltrators, those self sustaining monsters of yours, to unleash them into the wildlands to wreak havoc in the New Republic. Let me stop you right there: the clans seem to be a disparate bunch of maniacs at each other's throats, and they are anything but." He took a sip of his drink. "Their sense of...coherence is second to none. They will scream and yell and throw tables at each other until a consensus is reached, and then they will follow it unto death. That is their strength. That is why they remained loyal to the Kingdom until the very end. When the Republic invaded, they did not have any local support. No clan to help them, and only the merest handful of turncoats. Everyone else resisted in every way imaginable. They had to bring their own engineers to build themselves wells and tap into new sources of clean water because the clans sabotaged their own rather than let their enemies use them."

"But they were losing."

"Until the dragons intervened, yes. And I can guarantee you that if you send monsters through their territory to harass their neighbors, those dragons will start hunting your monsters down. But they won't stop there. Do you want your remaining outposts in the south to end up in a wyrm's belly? Because that is what will happen." Maes smiled. It was, on the surface, a nice smile, but it was belied by what laid in his eyes. "And if you are hoping that such a play will cause an Imperial counterattack and invasion of the Far Reach, it won't. Their Empress isn't that stupid, and even if she was, the clans definitely aren't. They will know exactly who caused this and lay the blame squarely at your feet. For the first time in twenty five years the Far Reach has tasted peace, and they will not let it go without a fight."

That wasn't even mentioning the gestures the New Republic had done, disarming the Five Sisters, the massive border forts containing the clans, or the Empire currently in trade negotiations with the clans, offering, as far as he had been told, staggeringly generous terms on top of entire treasure hoards of 'gifts' to the delegate and clan leaders. That wasn't corruption in the Far Reach, it was the way things were done, and the Empress had more excess money to burn than the entire Sapphire Kingdom had in terms of national budget. Especially since she had effectively taken over the adventurers guild and its income sources.

"I see. Thank you for those insights. They've been most helpful. And those trading partners, then?"

Maes took another sip, and found far less in his glass than he had thought. Damn it, he could hold his drink, but he was starting to slip again because of the stress. He was better than this.

"If you find a single handful willing to work with you, I would be amazed."

"Surely, mana speaks loudest to the likes of them."

"Usually. But they would make a lot more mana, and live to spend it, continuing to...trade goods, and not risk summary execution at the hand of the Imperial army." Maes squinted at the dungeon avatar across his glass. "And that isn't mentioning those that have family on the other side. Alive or otherwise."

The dungeon avatar slowly nodded.

Sunrise had not traded with the Sapphire Kingdom since it had rebelled. Its treatment of the war prisoners and then devolvement into a slaver duchy had all but guaranteed that.

Any trader currently braving the border, usually with generous 'contributions' to the coffers of border fortress commanders or patrol officers, would almost certainly know or love someone who had been enslaved, hurt or flat out killed in Sunrise's rebellion.

They might take the UDC's money, but if they did it was a guarantee their cargo would either end up with their throat slit and their corpse tossed off a mountain slope, or find the Empire conveniently tipped off to their arrival within hours of being let loose.

"Ah. A fair point. Then what would you recommend?"

To sneak agents through? Not try. If there was one thing that would guarantee pissing off the Empire, it was sneaking monsters into their hinterlands and start harrying the recovering civilians there.

Maes was wired into the Sapphire Kingdom's foreign intelligence networks, and in fact ran most of them, though the military did have its own sources. He had seen what Allya had done to the people in Molro and Kaidan who had refused to stop lynching anyone associated with Sunrise or violated her interdiction of slavery.

If the Empress was willing to execute her own people for this, she would burn the Kingdom to the ground for unleashing monsters upon innocents.

If Maes had to guess, the reason Glarvistar was so interested in this was because of the adventurers guild's collapse. After all, with them gone, the primary defense against monsters was null and void as well.

Except the Empress already had replacements ready to deploy. And adventurers hadn't disappeared with the guild. They'd be absolutely fine taking the Empire's mana as they had been the guild's in exchange for monster hunting quests.

"Perhaps a more...direct approach would be preferable."

"Direct approaches got us beaten."

"On the contrary. I would argue indirect approaches, such as your stealth attack over the inner sea or your alliance with Sunrise and support of its troops, is what has gotten you beaten."

Glarvistar stared at him, and for a second, Maes wondered if he'd made a faux pas, and retorted too harshly.

Then the dungeon core smiled.

"That is very true." He seemed satisfied. Oh. This was a sounding expedition. Right, the United Dungeon Council was anything but United...and Glarvistar was, like Maes, just one head of a very big hydra. Perhaps one that was not in agreement of everything the other heads were doing and the general direction the beast was heading. "Then, what would you propose?"

"I'm sure such things would be best left to my colleagues, but..." He shrugged. "For now, the Empire is most likely going to lay siege to Southmarch. We know that the main Imperial army is heading north to Asaria, and it is the only target that makes sense. What I would recommend would be small units through the western mountains. Sarth and the western baronies are exhausted and almost entirely devoid of troops and Imperial occupation forces. Very few troops could be able to accomplish a great deal. Do not do commerce raids, or such. Take towns and villages. That will draw off a significant amount of resources while minimizing...consequences."

At this point Maes was fairly sure the UDC didn't want to escalate too much. Their tense relations with Sunrise as the alliance proved more and more unpopular, as well as their demands during the meeting that Crystal be contained and not executed showed that. They also probably realized that making more martyrs for the other side of their civil war wouldn't end well.

Hell, if Crystal died the Empire would rally around her memory. They wouldn't have to bring the dungeons back in line they'd have to level most of the continent.

If they did that the Eris Empire would thank the Gods, and then immediately start justifying the destruction of the UDC for that atrocity. With the enthusiastic backing of effectively everyone else. The United Dungeon Wars had worked because the dungeons were, well, united, and moreover because as little as anyone would like to admit they were right. Plus, they'd had the support of the adventurers guild to some level, though few liked to admit it.

Here they would have most of their forces tied down keeping their own kind in check, with a moral low ground so abysmal it would touch bedrock and the guild was being dismantled.

"An intriguing proposal. And one worth considering. With the lack of Asarian airborne assets, and our surviving fleet, it might even be possible to begin extremely quickly."

Maes nodded. The UDC's fleet, at least the one that had limped out of the Asarian Kingdom, was mostly transports. Despite a steady stream of reinforcements, their actual warships had been savaged time and time again by Crystal's forces, most famously by those 'Mackies'. Gods he'd seen the pictures taken of the aftermath and he was having nightmares. The guild had apparently destroyed several in Rebirth but that was with Old World weapons. Even magic would have its work cut out killing something like this.

Hell...Crystal might just send a few into the western baronies, and use them to obliterate the forces crossing the mountains. The airships could almost certainly outrun them, but it would only take a small enemy task force for that to change.

Still, anything they diverted from the impending bloodbath at Southmarch was very welcome.

"Just beware that a response will most likely be extremely swift and deadly." Cautioned the minister.

"I have fought Crystal, and I have grown familiar with her tactics and strategies. You need not remind me. But I thank you for your insights. They have been most...enlightening." Glarvistar's porcelain mask shifted into a smile, and he made a gesture as if raising a glass in a toast, though he was bereft of a beverage, and left.

Maes watched him leave.

He had the feeling he'd just been tested, and not found wanting.

And perhaps found someone he could use on the other side of this new 'alliance'.