V2: Chapter 12

…

I'll be honest.

Talking over the future of a war over lunch was something I didn't expect to be doing.

But House Adil made the offer through the formal channels, and they Academy was hosting the whole event.

Now… did I consider the Academy a trustworthy faction? Absolutely not. They were a bunch of opportunists that got lucky with a great starting position and used it to destabilize the outside regions. The loss of the market until trade routes and research was done was bad, but the Academy deserved what was coming for them.

However, I could count on them to uphold their brand image until then, so I just asked Ayah to slip in a few trustworthy people amongst the guards and accepted the invite.

Even in my past life, I never entered a restaurant/dining hall as extravagant as the one sequestered for the meeting. Sure, I'd seen the fancy places all over social media, with their fifty-dollar plates and hundred-dollar specials, but I'd never went. The fanciest places I went to had tablecloths and charged twenty dollars max.

The Academy's national dining hall absolutely reeked 'we exploit people for profit and love it.' The floors were marble. Not marble paneling. Massive hunks of marble the length of whole rooms. Gold filigree was slapped on every surface that could host it. The long, dark wood table at the center sat on a rug covered in the Academy's crest which stretched from one end of the table to the other. Four chandeliers flanked an absolutely massive one at the center of the room.

In a world where most people plowed dirt for a living, these guys had a room absolutely drenched in wealth and power solely to eat in and talk about politics at. The rug alone would've taken years and years to make, specialized equipment for a single order even, and the guys put a table on it and drank wine while gorging their faces.

Yeah.

The Academy definitely deserved what it was going to get.

No, I'm not just saying that because it didn't give me the drops that I wanted.

Anyway, the walls were lined with Academy guards House Adil's heiress sat at one end of the long table, while I sat at the other. Academy liaisons waited at each end to relay our messages to one another. Literally relay, because there were teams of five for each side. This whole affair was going to be a convoluted ritual under the Academy's gaze, with my opponent and I dancing around the subject, until someone broke and asked for what they wanted.

As tempted as I was with good drink and great food, I went ahead with my plan and just walked past my end of the table.

"My lord—"

"He will sit where he pleases." Ayah intercepted on my behalf. I could've said that, you know? I can tell the cashier that I don't want pickles myself. Ah, well. Having a powerful person intercede on my behalf was always nice anyway. The Academy didn't know that. They thought Ayah was just a maid, but my guards were quick to back the Ancient Administrator up and the liaison folded. "Please, do as you wish, my king."

I gave a nod at the curtsy and statement and made my way across the room.

I underestimated how stupidly long the room was, but I figured that just made the suspense that much more palpable, before I reached the seat to the right of House Adil.

Confusion filled her gaze, until I gestured to the seat to her left.

"Let's talk. Face-to-face, Lady Adil." That seemed to surprise her, but after a moment of hesitation, she took the seat after rising. My guards arranged themselves behind me, while her guards did the same. The Academy's people surrounded us, but they were not between us. Take that, you war profiteers! You're going to get what you deserve eventually, but take this as an appetizer. " That's much better, right?"

"… Indeed, King of Wisdom." The vampire tilted her head downward in a small nod. Ayah was quick to rearrange the dining setting for the two of us. Same number of glasses, plates, utensils, and courses. The vampire noble took note and sat straighter, while I just nodded and smiled. Presumably, the Ancient Administrator was doing a great job, but I was more focused on the gnashing teeth of the Academy's liaisons. Well, they were actually whispering to each other in a huddle, but it was good enough. "So, despite assuming power over the continent, you deign to treat with me as an equal."

Oh, thank you, every deity that's deigning to listen.

The vampire's decided to just cut through all the bullshit.

"I have told you already that there is a great threat on the horizon. The many enemies of the Ancients will see the rise of the Citadels as their return, so they shall return as well. All the peoples of this land are better unified under such a threat with all the strengths each of us could muster."

"What of the Children of the Elm?"

"Their attempt to assassinate me at our first meeting, the breaking of a duel of honor, and their subsequent attempts at uprisings should speak for them. They were unwilling to speak and be spoken to, so the sword was the only option." I did my best to smoothly put all the blame on the elves for being dicks with hard-ons for racial genocide. Out of all the factions, they were the ones that would never fall in line. Thankfully, their reputation (as assholes) preceded them and Lady Adil frowned when she couldn't refute my statement. Imagine being such a terrible people that others look at the death of your civilization and culture and go: yeah, can't blame the guys who did it, tbh. "As you can see, I am here now to treat with you with words, Lady Adil. While I cannot condone your actions, neither do I condemn them. Just like you, I only act for the happiness of my people, which is to ensure that this land is ready and capable of fighting against what is to come."

There was a lot of cheese coming out of my mouth. Any nerd worth their salt will know that I'm just quoting other people. However, these guys sure as hell didn't know that, and if I could skip all the work and use quotes authors spent months obsessing over… I was going to skip all the work and use the quotes authors spent months obsessing over.

Work smarter, so your hard work doesn't go to shit!

Lady Adil, meanwhile, took a bit of time to process my words. They invalidated a lot of the arguments that she probably had along the lines of me being an imperialist tyrant, that I have no right to do what I'm doing, and that the battle was between them and the orcs. The simple statement that I was doing things for the happiness of my people was probably resonating with her, since her people were all about noblesse oblige and using Undead to ramp up their economy through 'automation.' The Undead had the strongest production capacity in the game, barely balanced by the fact they had to go through numerous techs and a massive self-diplomacy tree, to get other Vampires off their asses and do public works and industrial projects instead of waiting around to kill or be killed.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

The whole 'character arc' for the Guardians of the Moon was that they learn to be more than just soldiers and fodder, which leads to them inheriting the will of the Ancients and becoming the new, benevolent hegemon.

Overall, their ending was just behind the Orcs in terms of decency to other people and races.

But I'm their opponent, so I had no intention of letting them go through their Shonen power-up arc and kick everyone's asses.

"I understand that the duty of a ruler is to ensure the happiness of their people, even if that means creating misery for others." Adil spoke slowly and carefully, like she was surrounded by spikes and traps. I suppose, in this diplomatic battlefield, such was the case given my reputation. Knowing every 'least terrible' option to pick is always a benefit. "But do you believe that you can act as you do forever? When your forces are finished doing their duty, crippling my people, do you believe that I will stand idly by and not gather allies who believe the same as myself?"

I answered without a bit of hesitation.

"The Children of the Elm are beneath you. The Conquerors will never ally with those who are their equal, below them, or beyond their strength. The Forgers of Mountains do not act unless provoked." I listed off my knowledge and the air in the room went still. Forget a pin drop, you could probably hear a feather falling. I guess, to these guys, I was reading their minds and not working off of thousands of hours of experience, data-trawling, forum arguments, and wiki-diving. "The Merchants of the Marshlands will never take such a risky deal. The Wardens of the Caverns oppose you on every front in their belief of freedom. Then, finally, the Scholars of the Skies would ask too much of you for to take them as allies."

For all their power and strength, the Undead had terrible starting relations with every other race except the Orcs. Generally speaking, if you went according to their meta and scaled up your industry, you're going to need every bit of that industry because everyone else will look to kick your ass. Barring a series of Events popping up, the right Artifacts, and if they start first, the Undead don't have a chance in hell of getting an alliance on their own.

Players, though, could get them as allies easily as long as they don't commit any atrocities and invest basic amounts of research into diplomacy.

They were called the 'noob carry faction' for a reason.

Anyway, after I listed off all the factions, Lady Adil couldn't respond.

That was, until, one of the liaisons came forward.

Oh no.

Oh no. Oh no no no.

Don't tell me.

They patched this shit out in 1.5, so that the Undead faction stopped getting themselves killed!

"The honorable House of Adil does have allies amongst the Academy, King of Wisdom." One of the liaisons removed their stupid, puffy hat and revealed themselves to be the generic merchant NPC of the Academy that bought all the worthless shit you didn't need. "Our armies now march to confront your forces. If you do not tell them to pull back, then they will confront the strength of the free armies of the Academy and its sister cities."

For a brief second, Lady Adil looked relieved, until I let my frown show on my face.

"Then, my time here is over. If this place is neutral no longer, then it is truly nothing more than a craven land filled with opportunists who seek only to prolong the violence beyond its mountains for profit." Dramatic? Definitely, but it needed to be said. I needed to make it as clear as possible to Adil that they signed up with the war profiteers. Given how she suddenly blanched, and the now-undisguised Academy representative looked furious, I could only assume that my words worked. "Ayah, rescind any further stay I have with the Academy along with Ilych's and Rita's. Prepare for our departure back home, too."

I got up to leave while the mustached, portly man started to stammer and sweat.

It must've occurred to him what he and his people did.

The Academy is a place of neutrality and learning with the rise of the Citadels, because it has taken no side in the conflict. Now that it took the side of the Undead against me, that didn't mean that they had an ally and was fighting me. That meant that they and their armies were now threats against all the possible foes that the Undead had.

And, the Undead had a lot of possible foes, whoe I was going to inform of what was happening with my departure.

"W-wait a moment! Depart!? How could you even consider that without finishing our curriculum—

"I read through everything that you have that I don't have. Yet." I called back as I walked with my guard. The only pass time that I had was reading, therefore I went ahead and got everything that I needed. That was all that I was going to tell him. In truth, I also got into the good graces of teachers of the later years with the power of money and the reputation of having two Citadels under my belt constructing new academic centers. A lot of curriculums and syllabi showed up at my door with copies of books for consideration of future positions in my campuses. That should help Rita and Ilych finish their training. "I'll teach both Rita and Ilych whatever else they need."

Normally, a 14 year old saying those things would get laughed out of the room.

But my reputation and grades spoke for themselves as Mr. Tubby's mouth opened and closed with no words.

Still, as a I reached one end of the table, I tried to salvage the situation.

"Lady Adil, should you reconsider your current actions, I will be waiting until sunrise tomorrow morning to return to my Citadel. I'm afraid that it will be difficult to speak to one another thereafter." I spoke over my shoulder. Again, I felt like I was being too desperate in trying to be cool. My spleen felt like it wanted to crawl up my throat and give my brain a stroke. But I persisted. This could prevent a lot of actual, real people from dying or suffering in the long run. I had to give it all that I had. "Please, realize that the Academy taking part in this conflict and ceasing to be balancing, neutral party invites a war that will spread across the whole continent."

With those words shared, I went ahead and left the dining room just a few minutes after going in.

Ayah spoke up after we gained enough distance.

"The Creator's generals have always been slow to change and act… save when it comes to the elimination of foes. Giving your location tomorrow was unwise."

That had my guards stiffen up, until I chuckled.

"We're leaving tonight. If she decides to come to our home tomorrow, all she'll find will be a letter for when she can really meet me next." That had my guards ease up. One even chuckled, until his senior nudged him in the chest plate. I thought about what we'd need before leaving, before recalling my failed project. "Oh, and offer the gunsmiths and alchemists we've been working with plenty to come along with us."