Chapter 265 - Discussions

Note : Chapter 267 has been written and added to the queue !

Also apologies for the late upload, forgot to set it up.

Chapter 265

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth

Dungeon Factory, Command Center

"It still feels like I should be there." Said Emilia, as she paced back and forth, and Alexandra shrugged.

"You're the one who wished to remain here."

"Yeah, with all the threats going on…I didn't want to leave you. But CQ…what if something happens?" Emilia rounded on the dungeon core. "You know she has very little experience with people!"

Alexandra held up her hands defensively.

"She's done alright. More than alright, in fact. If anything, she overdid it."

"Overdid it?"

"Yeah, she turned everyone's head at the ball. Including the count's."

"What." The temperature dropped two whole degrees, and Alexandra shuddered as her girlfriend met her gaze.

It was easy to forget, but the vampire was an extremely powerful mage…and her mother had slaughtered whole cities and armies.

That didn't even count the two maids, who had tensed up immediately.

There was no shortage of danger on her side.

"Don't worry, I sorted it out, had a talk with the Count."

The advisor hesitated.

"Talk, as in…"

"I made it clear if he pushed her beyond what she was comfortable with, there would be consequences."

"Alex, I've seen you have a 'talk' with people, I'm fairly sure some of the people you 'talked' to, including hardened veterans, wet themselves. I want to protect CQ, not…not…"

"Ruin her burgeoning personal life?" Offered Sarah, and the advisor nodded.

"Yes, exactly."

Alexandra grimaced.

"Okay, so first, I didn't threaten to do anything." Emilia glared at her, and the dungeon core shrugged. "Look, I may, may have been a bit cold, but don't tell me you wouldn't have done the same if you had to watch someone spend the entire night with your precious daughter, unable to take their eyes off of her!"

Emilia relaxed.

"Yeah…probably."

"See?"

"Still doesn't make it better."

Alexandra sighed.

"No, probably not. I should probably have another word with him, apologize."

"That…may be for the best. It'll probably mean the most if you do it in person, and not through a proxy."

"Yeah." The dungeon core took in a deep breath. "Let's just hope I haven't antagonized him."

*****

"-As I said, she is highly protective of her family." Allya shifted in her seat to better face the count. "It does not mean she is displeased with you, just that she will intervene if you hurt her daughter."

"Right. Still, she was quite…candid." Answered the ruler of Darthar.

"You have heard what she said to Sunrise's envoy, right? She doesn't do anything but candid."

The count chuckled.

"I suppose that is a fair point."

The current discussion they were having was a far cry from the first time they'd met. Then he had been ennobling her as his vassal.

Now, while she remained a baroness…there was no discussion who was superior to whom. Rebirth may have a fraction of Darthar's population still, but its economy already eclipsed it, and if one counted Alexandra, her principality's military was simply in a league of its own compared to Darthar's city guard, even before it was shredded by Sunrise's assaults.

Besides which, her principality had saved him, through the military supplies sent before the siege and Alexandra lifting it. But she'd rather not insist on that, and thus, they spoke as equals.

"Now, you said-" Allya stopped as there was a discreet knock on the door.

"Yes?" Called out the count, and the seneschal poked his head in, his cat ears twitching. "Ah, Felix! What is it?"

"Apologies my lord, but lady Crystal wishes to speak to you."

All color drained from the count's face, but he nonetheless nodded.

"Of course, please, do show her in."

The seneschal bowed.

"At once my lord."

A few seconds later the door swung open, and the dungeon's ambassador golem stepped through.

Alexandra nodded in greetings, and sighed as she saw the count's apprehension.

"Hello count."

"Greetings lady Crystal. What can I do for you?"

"I…came her to apologize. I was rash, yesterday. Hostile, even." The count gave Allya a startled look, and the dungeon core smiled. "No, it's alright if she hears."

"That's not-" The count coughed as Allya not so discreetly kicked his leg. "Yes, of course. My apologies. I must admit, I was quite shaken by that."

"I'm sorry for that. I tend to be highly protective of those close to me, my family especially. When I saw the way you were looking at my daughter I…well, I snapped."

"That's understandable. Gods know I might have the same reaction if someone courted my sister." He smiled, wanly, but smiled nonetheless, and Alexandra returned it.

"Thank you for your understanding. Now, my apologies for interrupting your discussion. I'll be on my way."

"Actually, lady Crystal." Said Allya. "We were about to discuss the future of Darthar. If you could stay?"

The dungeon core nodded, though there seemed to have been a flash of surprise in her expression.

"Of course." The count gestured at one of the chairs, and she took the offered seat.

"The future of my city?" Said the count. "I assume you mean with the annexation of Erakis?"

"Quite." The baroness licked her lips. "I…intend to make the duke of Sarth an offer."

"An offer?"

"I intend to buy your vassalage, and integrate your city inside the Principality."

That made the count freeze. When he spoke again, it was clear he was choosing his words with exquisite care.

"That is…unusual. Not to mention a bit problematical. You are, no offense, a baroness."

"Which is why I warned their majesties beforehand. They are considering elevating me, if only for my battlefield successes and the acquisition of Erakis."

That didn't surprise the count. No one would be. Erakis was the first conquest of the Kingdom on the other side of the continent, and in time could become a beachhead to either expand further south, or simply form a new border once the wasteland was given new life by Alexandra's mana. Rebirth had been a critical acquisition by the Kingdom, combined with Alexandra's loot and the acquisition of Erakis, it would make the Kingdom supreme on Arkhan for at least a hundred years, maybe more. Since all of that depended on Allya remaining loyal and not deciding that with her fancy liberating army maybe she should be queen instead, they would elevate her if only to keep her happy.

"Ah. Marquess then?"

There were a variety of ranks within the Asarian nobility, some simply derivations of others, but they followed a simple progression. Knights, the lowest, usually meant for rewarding valiant soldiers, close retainers, ect, that ruled over a village at most, though there were exceptions. Then barons, like Allya, who ruled over towns and small regions. Viscounts were something of a stopgap, usually given to baronies that had outgrown what they once were but didn't truly have the cities to truly be a higher rank. Counts were meant for important cities like Darthar, or large swathes of smaller towns, it was what Allya had expected to eventually become in her lifetime.

Marquis were meant for a city with large swathes of territory. Darthar didn't qualify because it was only a single city, and they tended to be rarer because dukes would rather partition it out than allow one of their vassals gain such power.

The dukes were then the highest echelon still in existence in the kingdom. They ruled entire regions of the realm, usually from a dungeon town or equally strategic location. Lorenz, Sunrise, Asaria, Sarth, all sat above a dungeon and controlled gigantic amounts of territory. Once there had been archdukes, but those had been dissolve for internal stability, creating the buffer dukedoms of Molro and Kaidan between Sunrise and Asaria, as well as Lorenz and Sarth respectively.

That reform had saved the Kingdom during the previous civil war, but both dukedoms had collapsed in the widespread rebellions and unrest at the start of this one, and promptly overrun. The royal army had conducted a bloody fighting retreat throughout the duchy of Molro with what remained of the ducal forces, headed by Grant the Giant and eventually the queen herself, until they ran out of ground to give. Still, the duke lived and currently commanded part of the forces defending the capital, alongside a surprisingly large contingent of his own troops, plus several of his vassals.

Kaidan the duchy however was just gone, obliterated by the late duke of Lorenz, though a few units of its ducal army still kept up the fight, some under Philia's command (over half of her cavalry were from Kaidan), or the duke of Sarth's. They were but a tattered remnant of a once proud army, their leadership structure and homeland annihilated, but it also meant they wouldn't give up. Not given all they'd been through and what had happened to their homeland.

After all, many of the slaves in the graves outside the city were once those they swore to protect.

"No, not marquess. Their majesties are considering forming a new duchy."

That got the count to pause.

A duchy was huge. Really freaking huge. A lot larger than three cities.

That pretty much declared to everyone who knew that Allya didn't intend to stop with Darthar, and their majesties were acknowledging that.

With Kaidan to the east destroyed, its ducal line wiped out…And potentially rebel territories up for grabs later…

Their majesties wouldn't allow Sunrise to continue to exist anymore. Not as it was. Once, it had been a necessary evil, an economic engine to feed the rest of the realm, and a key ally to resist the Saphire Kingdom's attempts to bring them back into the fold.

Now, with the dungeon and it's golems as loot making slave labor obsolete, it was nothing more than a moribund collection of traitorous slavers and monsters in the guise of humans.

"Ah. That will change things a great deal."

"Indeed. The kingdom will have to be reorganized once we are victorious anyway, so why not start now?"

The count nodded.

"Have you spoken to the duke about this?"

"Not yet, I wished to broach the subject with you beforehand. I would rather you be aware of it before I begin negotiations."

"I see. And you said you planned to buy me?"

"Well, not you, your vasselage and, in effect, your domain."

"Quite. May I ask the price?"

Allya quoted a figure, and the count's eyes bulged.

"That is…quite the sum. I was not aware you had that amount available."

"Most of it would be in trade, some drawn from interested party within the principality."

The count's gaze flickered to Alexandra.

"I see." Said the ruler of Darthar. "Though, what would be the terms of vassalage? If there is the possibility I may change suzerain, I would at least like to know what would happen."

"They're fairly simple. No slavery, no tariffs on trade, your military forces may be requisitioned by the duchy, and otherwise a ten percent tax will be taken on your income to fund the duchy's wider programs."

The fact that Allya was saying 'duchy' instead of 'principality' was rather telling. And a message in and of itself.

"Ah. Slavery isn't a problem. After this war my citizenry would tear me apart if I continued the practice." Not to mention he had to be acutely aware of how militant the baroness was about such things, and the golems from the dungeon pretty much made the practice obsolete in any case. "But this is a trade city. Tariffs are its lifeblood."

He was fishing. They both knew that. He knew the deal offered to Erakis.

Allya nodded towards Alexandra, and the dungeon core leaned forward.

"I would be willing to deploy a secondary core to Darthar once available, to open another branch office. However there would be several conditions."

"Such as?"

"I refuse to do so without being given a section of the surface to build as I see fit." The count nodded, that made sense. With all the dungeon core had endured, she'd have to be insane not to want surface defenses of some kind. "And I wish to inspect the city's shield generator."

The count stopped nodding.

"Excuse me?"

The dungeon core's expression was serious. Dead serious.

"You heard me. I wish to inspect the shield generator, and the mana pools below the city that feed it."

"Why?"

"Because when I originally appeared, the ambient increase in mana caused the Angel Fall ruins to activate. It is how I recovered my golems. I will not risk the entire city. Not if I don't know what I am working with."

The count looked deeply conflicted. Which was understandable.

On the one hand, Alexandra's branch office would allow the city to grow like never before, and may finally allow agriculture in its vicinity, enabling Darthar to rid itself of its achilles' heel, which was food imports. The city had deep reserves because of that, but they were not unlimited, and the portion already devoured during the siege would be extremely costly to replace.

On the other hand, the adventurers guild would have a heart attack at the mere thought. Alexandra didn't care about antagonizing them anymore, she knew they were out to kill her anyway. The poor count didn't know that however.

But…but the guild had also lied to him for years, with Starvak as a hidden archon within his domain.

Greed and resentment won out.

"Very well." The count slapped his knees. "Then better get going."

"I'm sorry?"

"You wish to see the shields, right? Then what better time than now? Follow me, please."

Allya and Alexandra exchanged a look.

That wasn't supposed to happen. Was he trying to put them off balance? Or present the adventurers guild with a fait accompli?

But they got up, and followed him, as Alexandra had Seraph ping CQ to join them.

This should be interesting.