I stood outside the guard tent which held one of the soldiers in it, tapping my foot. I had been dreading this moment and my decision came down to how talking with them went. After talking with them, they appeared to be the head of the group who was leading the transport mission. He also looked slightly older than the others, which suggested seniority.

Our arrival back at the camp with the supply shipment was met with cheers of joy. Not only did we find supplies which could help us on our journey, we had gotten revenge on another side of the empire. It didn’t feel great to me even though my intent was to fight Arlin. The scale of my decision was only starting to fully set in, and it frustrated me how unprepared I was for the grander revelation. From what I could tell, the transport group were all just conscripts, newly initiated members of Arlin’s army who were sent onto the battlefield in an already annexed territory to do basic work maintaining the new territory. They hadn’t wronged me in any direct way, although I knew there were a few people here from Boralis who would say otherwise. Emphasizing forgiveness or vengeance would inevitably alienate some part of the slaves who I wanted to follow me.

Sera hobbled out of the tent with her crutch. Her leg was still unhealed and greatly limited her movement, but she had gotten used to it now. I wanted it to change, but that would only come once I learned healing.

“He’s in there and is willing to talk, but he’s probably not going to budge. Why are you even doing this?” Sera asked, cocking her head to the side.

“I want to. I need to make a choice, right? Then let me find out how I view Arlinians.”

Sera nodded, her face still showing great worry for me. I knew she wanted me to do good in my mission, but seeing me struggle like this was causing her grief. As she walked off to join with the rest of the slaves who were sifting through the supplies, I walked inside to find the soldier tied to a chair looking extremely unhappy, his eyes on the floor. His outfit looked almost the exact same as the ones that the guards wore at the camp, although much more rugged.

Can’t blame him for not enjoying being tied to a chair.

I grabbed another chair and sat across from him, trying to get him to react to me, but he seemed completely detached. The bruising left from Elina’s sneak attack was still apparent on his face, even with it tilted away from me.. The only thing I could think of to do was to try and interact with him positively and not in a threatening manner.

“Hi. I’m North. Would you tell me your name?”

The soldier looked up at me and then spat in my face.

Welp.

I should have anticipated that this wouldn’t be easy. I wiped the spit off of my face with my sleeve, trying to maintain my tone.

“Your team is still alive, if you’re wondering that. No harm has come to them.”

“You killed all of them…” muttered the soldier. I had to take a moment to let his words connect in my head simply for how quietly he had said it. The ‘all of them’ was unquestionably the guards, which had even disturbed me. Our raiding party left early and returned midday, and the rest of the people at the camp had apparently collected all of the guard’s bodies and placed them in front of the mine in a large pile. Galen’s body was left on the top and had a wide variety of knives and other sharp objects pierced through him, most likely by the penal laborers. The soldier’s reaction to spotting it was expected, as it even affected me on some level. I felt no sympathy for the guards of the camp, but even that felt like it went a little too far. The soldiers who were doing the transport were probably friends with at least some of the guards, even if they were horrible people.

“Yes. We did. We couldn’t let any of them survive because it would put us in danger.” I tried to give him a response that wasn’t built around vengeance. There was a motivation for revenge for their actions, but that would probably only make his views of us worse. “I’d prefer not to kill you as well.”

The soldier scoffed at me. “Don’t try to act like a hero. Kill us. I’d rather die for Arlin than work with a traitor like you.”

It wasn’t working and my conversation was only making things worse. The more I sat there with them, the more I realized that I didn’t have as many choices as I would like. I sighed, and walked out of the tent, only to hear the one voice I didn’t want to hear at that moment.

“Oh, you poor child. Want some help?”

Nicole…

***

I turned to my side to find Nicole leaning against one of the poles of the tent with an extremely smug look on her face.

“Why would I want help from you?”

Nicole let out a soft chuckle as she shook her head. “North, you forget how easy to read you are. You don’t want to kill the soldiers because it’d make you feel like you’re being just as bad as Arlin, no? It’s a very nice sentiment, but it’s rather unrealistic.”

Knowing that she had been listening in felt extremely infuriating. She just wanted to make me another one of her tools and having that information over me had given her another chance to try at it.

“When you say help, you mean you want to make a deal, right? Get on with it.”

Nicole nodded, her smile growing ever wider.

“See, you have a problem. You don’t know what people want. I think you’ll have a fine time going on your little warpath from camp to camp, but you don’t understand what people desire. Or how to make people believe they want something. I do.”

Are you just here to gloat?

“And how does that relate to the soldiers?”

“Simple. I know how to deal with them. Let me take control of the soldiers, and you’ll never have to deal with them.”

I stared at her, letting her words repeat in my head. Nicole was not a person who lied in situations like these, but she was the type of person to omit information.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“If I took that deal, what would you want from me?”

Nicole held up 3 fingers. Seeing her do that immediately made me think of Elric, which I tried to shake off. Out of anyone to remind me of him, I never wanted it to be her.

“First, I will take the soldiers with me when I go to Mylia. I’d love to have some extra hands, and I believe they’d enjoy working with me over you. That should be good for you, correct?”

That one was correct. If there was any place they could go, going with her would get them out of my hands and off of my conscience. That was something I wouldn’t mind happening, but the other parts of the deal worried me. I nodded, asking her to continue.

“Second, I want to be able to make a public argument to all of the camp and invite them to follow me if they so choose. I will not directly tell them that they should not follow you, but merely offer the choice of going to Mylia.”

Of course. This was her plan the whole time.

She had planned to do this one way or the other to try and get others to follow her. She might have known that I would mess up in my fight with the soldiers and would use my issue with killing them against me. I had given her an express warning not to try to put people on her side, but it felt inevitable that she would find one way or another. That was where my battle with her would always have begun.

“And?”

She took a look over to the supply shipment, watching the slaves unpack all of the items and search through them.

“When I leave, I will be able to take as many supplies as I need to successfully make the journey.”

That was something that was very vague and risky. How much she needed was too vague and left it open for interpretation. She could bleed me dry if she wanted to.

“I’d be the judge of whether or not the amount is reasonable.”

Her eyebrows jumped at my statement.

“Ah, does that mean you accept?”

I shook my head in response. Something about this was off and I was sure that she knew it as well.

“You realize that you doing this would hurt my intentions a lot? If too many people go with you, I won’t be able to liberate other camps.”

Nicole turned away from me and looked to be in deep thought, although I was sure it was an act. She was the type of person to prepare for everything like this in a transaction.

“I see. Fine. When I give my argument, I will show support for your cause while also proposing my own. I’m not too bothered by the amount of people I have with me, but I still would like extra help. Journeying alone can also be quite boring. Of course, that would come with an extra stipulation.”

I stared at her, searching my mind for the definition of stipulation again. My lack of sleep was starting to have an effect on me. As I continued to think about what the hell stipulation meant, she spoke up.

“I sometimes forget how humble your origins are. To simplify, if you want me to support your cause, I want another thing from you.”

I sighed, happy that she hadn’t left me hanging on that specific part.

“What is it?”

“I want a favor in the future. Whether we meet again in the future is up to fate, but if we do, I want a favor from you.” Her eyes seemed to wander into the far distance. Unlike when Elm would gaze into the past, it was very clear that she was gazing into her future. The lady had plans that she was not keen on sharing, least of all with me.

“I’m assuming you’re not going to tell me what that favor is?”

She laughed mockingly. “Of course not. I’ll try not to give anything unreasonable, but I can imagine myself needing something from you later on down the line. The world will decide whether our destinies are entwined, so I wouldn’t think too hard about it. That is of course hinged on you not dying.”

I sighed, mulling over the details. She was giving me what I wanted but her ‘stipulations’ or whatever she called them were irritating. However, they were mangeable. The thing about Nicole that made me willing to make deals with her was her honesty in terms of what she set out in her deals. From what I had seen and heard, she never really hid anything and told you what she wanted and what she would give up front. It was a bad thing to do, but I didn’t have a choice in this case if I wanted to maintain my stance.

“I accept.”

Nicole gave another venomous grin as she walked over to me and patted me on the shoulder.

“Thank you North. I look forward to working with you in the future.”

I smiled back at her.

“I hate you.”

“I know you do.”

It was an honest statement. I hated this woman and really hoped that I would never have to deal with her in the future, but I couldn’t help but feel like she’d try to get that favor out of me one way or another.

“Now, I have a speech to make to the people, don’t I? Do you mind gathering them up?” She spoke in the most saccharine tone possible.

***

I stood next to Nicole on the same platform that Galen had used to announce the arrival of Karla. Just being there and being forced to think about him caused me to feel slightly sick. I had made a deal and I was going to uphold it. Watching the others gather around looking confused didn’t help my mental state either.

“Slaves of Arlin! I am Nicole Garcia Pluma Allena, and I have come to make an announcement. Last night, North offered you the choice to follow him down a righteous path, saving others who cannot save themselves. It is a noble cause and one that deserves to be recognized. However, I will offer you an alternative choice in case you do not desire to support his efforts.” Nicole turned to point northwards. “I am planning to head towards Mylia, away from Arlin territory. My connections will allow us to avoid the influence of Arlin and start new lives. You will be given safety if you follow me.”

She paused, taking time to see the reactions of the crowd. It was clear how much better she was at speech. Her voice was clear and practiced.

“At the same time, I implore you to consider North’s cause. He was the one who led the mission that has allowed us to be here today. We know better than any rebel group the sins of the empire, and we can use that knowledge against them. While I cannot directly support his cause, I believe in him and those who choose to take up arms alongside him. The choice is yours.”

Nicole grabbed my arm and raised it towards the sky.

“We may have mourned yesterday, but today, let us celebrate our future!”

There was a collective cheer across the crowd. I knew that people wanted to have an actual celebration, and it did feel like a fitting time, but I would have preferred to announce it myself. I held a smile on my face as I watched people disperse.

“Good speech.” I muttered under my breath.

“Thank you. I upheld my promise, so I presume you will honor yours. I shall go work with the soldiers, and tomorrow I shall decide on what supplies are necessary for myself and those who choose to follow me.”

Nicole dropped my hand and began to walk off the stage, before suddenly turning to me.

“By the way, would you mind passing on a message to Major Grayson? Tell him that if he ever needs work for someone other than the empire, the Allena family would be happy to provide for him.”

I stared at her, forcing myself to hide my surprise.

“You knew the entire time?”

Wait, then why did she ask me about who Elm was?

“Of course I did. I told you before- I have a lot of favors.”