Chapter 708

“You would come here yourself, I’m not sure if that’s brave of you or just a show of how confident you are the war will end or at least be paused for now” Shadows words are directed not towards the beastkin king or his son that have turned up for the peace talks but rather towards the dwarf representing Highmountain.

“I insisted on being here in person to give you an explanation.” The dwarf answered. He was now an archduke but it wasn’t long ago that he had been the king of Brightstone. “I did simply what was best for my people, I hardly think I would need to explain that to you.”

Unlike the beastkin, Brightstone was structured more like Gryndor. Their former king was high level but he wasn’t a champion if Shadow wanted to he could easily assassinate him on his way back and depending on the dedication to the task the assassin could probably get away after even if a few champions were there to act as his guards.

“The attack came as a surprise.” The dwarf said. “And sure we could have held out, maybe even won but at what cost. Highmountain would have forced the war to go bloody, whatever was left of our forces by the end would easily fall to the beastkin if they took over the Republic.”

Unfortunately Shadow had no argument there. The simple fact that Highmountain was willing to force the issue meant that Brightstone’s choice wasn’t so much whether they resisted or not but rather who would take over if the Republic lost. And when they made the treaty things weren’t looking good for the Republic.

“You still have time to join the right side.” The beastkin king said.

It was clear there was no love lost between the lion and panther beastkins as they stared each other down. Yet despite his own ego the king could easily realize Shadow’s power and value and his actions could be forgiven as part of the war. Even if they would never be friends.

“The Republic still stands.” Shadow snapped back. “Despite your best efforts, both of yours.”

Archduke Bronzebeard felt a little shame at having betrayed the alliance after his surrender. The surprise attack from Highmountain’s champions was supposed to have forced the war to end and the Republic to fall yet it still stood. Despite it not having been his decision he was the one who broke the alliance by not alerting the Republic their own nation had fallen.

“The freedom of my people came at the cost of yours, and that is a choice I would make again.” Archduke Bronzebeard with a steely gaze.

The peaceful surrender on top of the betrayal of the alliance had made it so that despite Highmountain taking over the nation of Brightstone all of their nobles had maintained their positions. The only ones to suffer were the non-dwarven citizens and even they were promised their freedoms, though nobody was under any impression that the racist sentiment would eventually have them treated as second class.

“The Republic still stands because of Gryndor’s Duke and his pet dragon.” the beastkin prince growled.

“I’d be wary of calling Aurexion a pet outside of a privacy bubble.” Shadow knew the prince had a point so he chose to ignore that part of his barb and focused on where it was weak. “If he hears that he might demand satisfaction through a duel. You still do have honor duels, do you ?”

“Those are only for beastkin.” The prince sneered back.

“They are for those who are worthy.” Shadow corrected. “Do you mean to imply a dragon is inferior?”

The prince could do nothing but clench his fists knowing that Shadow was right. The laws clearly upheld beastkin superiority but only a mad man would even attempt to claim a dragon was not worthy, and from the information they had gathered Aurexion was clearly both sapient and sentient.

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The back and forward continued, with Archduke Goldenmouth taking advantage of the peace talks to get out some of his own frustrations with the war by using his Skill to grate on all of Highmountain and the beastkin representatives.

“This is going nowhere.” Archduke Bronzebeard sighed as he felt the migraine that had been coming on for the last half hour only become worse. “Both of you need time to recover from the war, especially the last battle and we need time to get our new nation in order, not to mention getting a handle on the first generation with such inflated Stats thanks to a certain Duke. The only question is how long of a treaty we will have.”

The dwarf had a point none of them wanted to accept and with three different parties each needing to feel like they won the next hour was a back and forth of how long the peace treaty should be. The terms they would be under were already iron clad with precedent already set.

“So six years is final?” Archduke Bronzebeard did all he could to stop himself from letting out a big sigh.

“Six years is fine.” Archduke Goldenmouth agreed.

“Six.” The beastkin king said and the contracts were made, a specific communication enchanted item was used for the dwarven king to also sign his own part and binding himself to the agreement at the same time as the other two sides.

“Since we are all here anyway, are we really not going to address the future problem?” the beastkin prince said.

So far once the negotiations began nobody had mentioned Ajax or Aurexion, Gryndor as a whole had been mentioned but that was as far as it went, but now the ice was broken.

“He grew in two to three years from being able to match Sylvanthal’s princess to being able to beat any champion.” The prince pushed, it hurt him to admit it but after the last battle where his father was almost killed there was simply no denying it, at least not at the level of heads of state publicly the idea that Ajax is a pinnacle would be waved off.

The discussions picked up once more this time with a new topic, one that even the Republic knew it needed to be wary of despite the alliance with Gryndor.

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Sylvanthal’s Capital.

“Sylvaris, are you sure you want to try and force our nations to unite?” King Sylvian asked.

“It worked out for the dwarves and I think we are a much more sensible people.”Queen Swiftleaf took a taste of the tea that was offered. “You would be given the title of Archduke of course since Deepwood is in a better financial and military position but you would be far above the other three. I’m sure you’ll be happy to have an excuse to call your old friend back.”

King Sylvian felt the dig made at his anxiousness to have Aranor fighting in the war, he was worried that for all his friend's power he might be targeted and killed.

“A strong peace can do that just as well, we need to be focused on outward expansion not conquest.” King Sylvian tried to redirect the conversation.

“What if I am prepared to force the issue?” Despite Queen Swiftleaf’s smile the words were not just a threat but almost a declaration that war was coming.

King Sylvian didn’t have the chance to answer as the door to their out of the way meeting room was opened for a brief moment, enough for someone to enter, before it was closed again.

“Hi daddy,” The smile on Arianwyn’s face was sweeter than the Mana infused honey House Hearthbound sold yet it put Queen Swiftleaf on edge. “Xavier asked me if we’d be willing to host him and a few friends in about two or three months. One of them has been on edge for the last little while and after a bit to decompress he seems to think a change of scenery might do him good.”

Arianwyn had gotten news of the finalized peace talks within minutes of it happening from Aranor and her intervention here was planned. She didn’t really need her father’s permission to invite friends over. This was a clear threat to Queen Swiftleaf that Ajax might be passing by.

“Of course sweetheart.” The king played along. “After all, who are we to turn down friends in their hour of need.”

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Wild Lands

“Now that is surprising.” Khlaryssa said as she noticed the glowing gemstone. “Look at that son, your cousin already wants to talk. It's barely been half a year since we saw him.”

“GRRRRR” Shifty answered, his words yet able to clearly form but it wouldn’t be long now.

“Of course we are going.” Khalysstra said. “Or at least I am.”

“NGGGRRRR.” Shifty protested.

“I am happy to take you with me but you’d have to leave the gemstone behind.” Khalysstra said as she pointed towards the Death Mana gem Shifty clutched in his claws. “Or you can stay here and keep working on it.”

As one of the weakest of the draconic Dukes Khalysstra hadn’t taken the risk of trying to hide the Mana gem and instead instantly brought it to the attention of her King who was more than happy to help her protect and help Shifty develop his affinity for the Mythic Mana type. His only request was that the gem would be kept with his hoard, Shifty could use it and certain other treasure he had kept away but the only way the Death Mana gem would leave the horde was if Shifty finished absorbing it.

“MMMMHHHHHHRRRRR.” Shifty answered.

“You have two days to think about it before I depart.” Khalysstra said, deep down she hoped her son would choose to stay and focus on the Death Mana but she also knew how important family was and keeping in touch with Aurexion and Ajax would do her son well.