Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 103
After he finished talking with Victoria, Dante stepped out of her tent and made his way to where Warlord Vidal was resting.
The usual scene greeted him as he stepped through the camp. Anyone who saw him, regardless of their position, stopped and acknowledged him. Some saluted, some nodded to him, and the others just muttered about him with those around them – either talking about his escapades in reverence or his demonic presence in fear.
At first, the treatment was somewhat uncomfortable. It felt like no matter where he went every eye was drawn to him, and more than one was looking for a weakness to exploit. But as time went on he had become used to it. Now he faced such a scene with indifference.
Dante stepped between two sections of tents, taking himself off of the main road and shortening the route to his destination.
When he had first arrived at the camp, each section of tents had flags waving through the air to indicate whose group the section belonged to. Those flags were now gone, and the mercenary groups had long been broken up.
It wasn’t something he had wanted to do initially, but it was necessary. After a month without change in Warlord Vidal’s poor health, it became apparent to the other mercenary leaders that the Warlord position was up for grabs.
It was fortunate that the three factions that arose targeted each other and not him. It made dealing with them fairly simple. He just utilized the remaining mercenary groups, which stayed loyal to him and Warlord Vidal, along with the conscripted troops that Jayden had basically subjugated. With their overwhelming numbers, seizing the rebellious leaders one by one was a simple matter that was carried out without conflict. And having them executed was even easier.
After that, he broke up all of the mercenary groups. Placing the combatants that were in opposing factions in the same units as each other, along with those who stayed loyal and the conscripted combatants. The entire camp had been restructured.
Needless to say, no one liked the change. There was even discontent among those leaders who had remained loyal, as their influence was completely obliterated in the span of a few days. They couldn’t do anything about it though. With all of the opposing forces being a part of the same unit, everything shifted into a stalemate. There wasn’t enough coordination in the units to rebel, and all of the people who could have lead them were long dead.
Dante stepped inside of Warlord Vidal’s tent and was immediately assaulted by the thick herbal smell of the medicines that were being administered to him. Warlord Vidal was laying in a plush bed as he received his treatment from a healer, and to say that he resembled a corpse would be a gross understatement. In fact, finding a corpse that was in such a terrible state would be quite the challenge.
As Dante stepped into the tent Warlord Vidal smiled, which was sickening. His white teeth used to make him look extremely charming, but now that his skin was almost the same color as them, he just looked ghastly. Making the entire scene worse was the amount of weight he lost, which made him look skeletal while also emphasizing his sunken eyes and hair loss, which allowed Dante to easily see his sickly-looking scalp through his wispy hair.
Dante resisted his urge to recoil. “Greetings warlord.”
Warlord Vidal sat up with great effort and spoke in the weak and raspy voice that was a product of his weakened state. “Ah, Dante. Welcome.” He looked at the healer that was administrating his medicine. “Please leave us.”
The healer nodded respectfully and placed her things down gently before stepping out of the tent.
As soon as the tent flap fell back into place, Warlord Vidal slumped back down onto his bed, his earlier attempt at charm was completely gone. “What do you want?” Now that the healer was gone, Warlord Vidal’s voice, despite being raspy, was full of irritation at being bothered.
Dante wasn’t offended by it, he had gotten to know the real Warlord Vidal in the past couple of months. Behind the charismatic charm was a very ambitious and driven person. Now that all of his ambitions had crumbled into nothing like his poisoned body, he was more than just a little bit bitter. “Victoria and I are preparing to leave.”
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Warlord Vidal didn’t react at all. “Your contract expired over three months ago, you can go whenever you like.”
That reminded him that he still hadn’t been paid for his contributions to the war effort after coming to the camp, but didn’t bother to bring it up. According to the original contract, his reward should have totaled well over 200,000 world essence worth of crystals, but he new better than anyone that he wouldn’t get paid. There wasn’t even 100 world essence worth of crystals in the camp, much less 200,000.
Dante brushed that thought aside. Victoria had told him to wrap things up in two weeks, and there were multiple ways to accomplish that. The most obvious would be to lead their combatants out of the encampment and break through Warlord Karabell’s forces as they made their escape.
The losses would be extreme though. By his best estimates, only half of their 60,000 force would make it out before Warlord Karabell’s spread out forces would collapse upon them and seal their escape. That wasn’t acceptable, he had become close to many of the combatants that fought by his side. Sacrificing them in such a large number was out of the question.
Aside from that, he didn’t even know where he would lead them. Warlord Vidal had already heavily conscripted and pilfered from his territory in anticipation of the war. There wasn’t anything left to aid them.
Another option would be to appoint a new leader prior to leaving. That would only be a temporary solution though. Even with their heavy rationing, their supplies wouldn’t last more than a month. Warlord Karabell had already stopped their raiding by moving all of his supplies well behind the front lines. Without him going out periodically on Victoria’s raptor to collect grain with his storage skill, getting more food wasn’t really an option.
An all out decisive battle would also be incredibly stupid, and only lead to needless losses. Moreover, winning such a fight would be close to impossible.
So, he decided that surrender was the best option. Their position was still strong, and Warlord Karabell wouldn’t be able to conquer their encampment without taking massive losses. Therefore, the conditions they could receive would be favorable. There was just one problem. In the wastelands, no matter the circumstances, the warlord of the surrendering side would be executed, often publicly and after shaming or torture. It was the reason that most of them purposefully lost their lives in combat when they were close to losing.
Dante broached the subject carefully. “I’ve become somewhat attached to the combatants in your army, and I would prefer not to leave them in an unfavorable situation after I depart.”
Warlord Vidal’s eyes came into focus as he looked at him with startling clarity. “Meaning?”
Warlord Vidal appeared to understand his intentions, so Dante didn’t beat around the bush. “I think that the best solution would be to negotiate our surrender.”
Warlord Vidal closed his eyes as he let out a sigh. In that brief moment, he seemed to have become even more sickly. “You want to kill me.” It wasn’t a question.
Well, things had just become awkward. “Not directly… I’ve come to give you the option. You must know that you are going to die anyways.” Dante pulled a pill out of his pocket. “It can be painless.”
Victoria had given him the poison. If Warlord Vidal took the purple colored pill it he would fall asleep long before the effects of the poison kicked in.
Warlord Vidal’s preemptive death wasn’t really necessary, but it would be better for everyone involved. For Warlord Vidal, it would mean avoiding a public execution at the hands of his enemies. For Addison, it would mean not watching such a scene. For him, it would mean easier negotiations, as Warlord Karabell would be eager to absorb their forces before someone else stepped forward as warlord. And for their combatants, it would mean a seamless transition into a structured force, which would eliminate any of the needless deaths that a power struggle would cause.
Warlord Vidal knew all of this. Just the act of him living would complicate things.
Besides, if he tried to surrender without Warlord Vidal’s consent, there would still be unrest from the few loyal forces in the camp.
Warlord Vidal locked eyes with him. Looking into his eyes, Dante could see that he had already resigned himself to death. “Do you think that I would continue to suffer through this degradation if I was the only one relying on my survival?” Warlord Vidal reached forward and grabbed the purple colored pill, inspecting it with a morose expression.
His meaning was obvious. If Warlord Vidal was killed, Addison would quickly follow him. Keeping her alive was too large of a risk from the enemy’s perspective.
That wasn’t something that Dante wanted though. His relationship with Addison was rather good after spending so much time fighting side by side with her. Besides, she had been through too much in the past year, and things would only be worse after her father died. “I’ll make Addison’s safety a priority in my negotiations. And if worst comes to worst, I’ll do my best to bring her away safely.”
Warlord Vidal didn’t look away from the poisonous pill. He stared at it for several minutes as he lost himself in thought before finally speaking. “I want it in writing. Show me a mana contract, and I’ll do as you’ve suggested.”
Dante nodded. “Of course.” That was reasonable. After all, there was no other way for Warlord Vidal to be sure of his actions after death.
Dante turned to leave the tent, but stopped just before the tent flap. “I’ll let you know when the preparations are finished. Should I tell Addison?”
Warlord Vidal didn’t take his eyes off of the purple pill as moisture began to collect in his eyes and threaten to spill over. “No, I’ll tell her.”
Dante let out a sigh as he stepped out of the tent.