A heavy silence lingered in the main meeting room of Tussock’s City Hall. The officials of the city have all gathered here to discuss the proposals for the new laws. The atmosphere was rather unusual as they were about to join a meeting of the Council of the Union. Even Miss Amber, the city lord of Tussock, felt rather uncomfortable; nobody liked to report bad news to their superiors.
“Run me through the numbers again before we establish the communication.” Amber said with a serious tone. Her long red nails scratched the top of the table.
A Bangaa quickly complied; he was the commander in charge of the city’s garrison. “Over the past month, despite the assistance of the Healing Temple and the other organisations, we lost a little over two thousand guards and have about another thousand guards undergoing treatment. However, we can confirm that at least eight Rights to Kill and sixty Rights to be Protected have been used by the humans when facing us. We estimate that about five thousand humans climb to the first floor in our region every day and this number will continue to increase in the near future. We will need a large number of reinforcements if we want to deal with the increasing number of humans, especially since the bounty hunters and mercenary groups are no longer willing to hunt them for only fifty points per human head.”
Amber nodded, maintaining her frosty and expressionless face. “What about the situation in the other regions? Can we request help from them instead of asking the Union directly?” She turned her attention to a gnome, the official in charge of foreign affairs.
“The latest reports we received indicate that the other cities are able to hold their ground now but that is mostly because the bounty hunters located there are still actively hunting down the humans. They have probably already heard of what happened here and will try to stop the news from reaching their cities, which means that they are unlikely to send reinforcements.”
Amber clicked her tongue as she shifted her attention to the other officials. “And all this happened because one of the humans who was safe decided to help his peers… The Healing Temple wasted no time in spreading the news…”
“I strongly suggest that we teach a lesson to that human. Because of him, our reputation in the Union will take a serious hit as the only city who was unable to contain the human migration.”
“Teach him a lesson? And how are you planning to do that? He is under the protection of the Healing Temple and we cannot touch them in anyway. You know that without them, our casualties would have at least doubled. Although they are promoting the humans, they are also helping us fight them.”
“…”
“Dealing with the Formalist side is not easy. Don’t forget that they are fully supported by the tower for helping new races integrate into the tower. While our side acts more as a control to keep their population at an acceptable level and ensure that enough benefits will be obtained. Balance is key and even the tower knows that. Or else, why would it allow us to exist when we are flat out rejecting its values and trying to establish our own society.”
“I just hope that the Formalists have learned their lesson from what happened with the previous race. They helped the Worgens and invested a massive amount of resources but in the end, when the Worgen Era came to an end, instead of joining the Union, the Worgens simply chose to occupy one of the upper floors. They ran away with everything the Formalists gave them and paid nothing in return. The Formalists wasted so many resources and it is thanks to that incident that our side is now in charge of the different cities while the Formalists retreated to focus on their own organisations.”
The air felt heavy. The officials all recalled the previous era and the harsh time they went through. Silence fell in the room until one the crystals on the table started glowing; it was a sign that the owner of the corresponding crystal was requesting a communication.”
Amber waved her hand and the communication was established. An image was projected on the wall facing the officials. The image displayed the avatars of three elders of the council of the Union; a Dragon, a Giant and a Seraph.
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“Amber Scheen.” The Seraph was the first to speak with a long hiss. “You requested an audience to the council. You may speak.”
The other two elders grunted and disinterestedly looked at the official through the crystal.
“I will be short. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are now unable to properly contain the arrival of the humans. We dispatched many of our reserve guards and trainees but are simply unable to stop their advance. Furthermore, we also suffered serious casualties and the moral of the guards is quite low. We are therefore requesting some reinforcement from the Union to turn the situation around.” The Blood Wing explained respectfully.
The three elders did not seem surprised by the news; they have evidently already been aware of the situation since many reports came in that the second floor has recently been flooded by humans. “How many reinforcements do you need? As far as we are aware, the rest of the cities are doing perfectly fine for now.”
“I will let my adviser give you a more detailed explanation.” Amber smoothly pushed the responsibilities onto the poor official who had no choice but to face the elders of the council. He nervously gulped down under the elders’ intense stare and read his report.
A few minutes later, the report came to an end and silence fell once again in the meeting room. The three elders displayed thoughtful expressions but did not voice out their opinion. Amber stood nervously, waiting for the verdict of the elders but to her surprise, the elders chose to mute the conversation instead. The crystal was able to transfer both sound and image but now, the elders disabled the former.
Although only three elders were actively participating in the meeting, it was overseen by many other council members and for the first time, the other members came into view. Amber was confused; it looked like the elders were having an argument. She only made a small request for reinforcements; how did the situation end up like this?
The heated argument lasted for much longer than she was expecting but soon, the audio came back as the three elders regained their calm and faced the officials.
“We agreed to mobilise ten thousand guards to assist Tussock and its surrounding villages. We will also transfer enough supplies for these guards to reduce the burden on Tussock. However, we will also give you an additional task to carry out.” The dragon spoke with an old and wise tone.
‘Ten thousand guards and their supplies?’ Amber was taken aback. She only hoped for one or two thousand guards to make up for her losses at most but unexpectedly, the Union agreed to send enough guards to double the current forces of Tussock. Furthermore, they even agreed to send supplies! However, this generous offer felt suspicious, especially as the dragon mentioned having to perform a task.
“May I ask what this task will be?” Amber asked cautiously. She glanced at the over officials who were also feeling uncomfortable.
“You do not have to worry. It is a simple task. We would like you to keep an eye on the human who is behind all of this. Ideally, you should make a brief contact with him.”
“Eh?” It was yet another unexpected answer. “You want me to keep an eye on a first circle human? Isn’t that just a waste of time and resources?”
“There is something we need to confirm. The report said that he was the first human to be accepted by the Healing Temple. Then, he lay low until he moved to earn himself a good amount of points and get the bounty hunters on the side of the humans. There is something suspicious about him that we would like to investigate.” The Dragon explained calmly.
“I agree but aren’t these just coincidences? The House of Fortune confirmed that no abnormal spells or items were used, and our source confirmed that the human only acted to save his peers because one of them was his cousin. In my opinion, there is nothing special about him; it is just the Healing Temple who is bringing a lot of attention to him.”
“Maybe. But we cannot be too certain. You have probably forgotten about it since your race can only live a few hundred years at most, but as a dragon who can live for thousands of years, I remember clearly how it went on. History is often distorted but I can say for certain that each race has had an individual whose actions would greatly influence the fate of the race. It is often thanks to these individuals that the races would manage to climb the tower or establish themselves. This human may be one of these individuals.” The Dragon said.
“Then, what would you like us to ask if we manage to contact him?” Amber asked after some thoughts. She did not understand the dragon’s vague explanation but took his warning seriously.
“Just ask him if he ever used a pearl. But regardless of his response, you inform us immediately and you should also keep an eye on him. Be careful to not raise his suspicion or the Healing Temple’s.”
‘A pearl? What an odd question to ask.’ Amber said to herself. ‘Still. This does not look like a difficult task. I have no reason to refuse and just sending someone to speak to him should not be too hard.’
“We accept this task.”
“Excellent. The troops should arrive in a few days. Just continue what you were doing so far and don’t think too much about that human. Once we confirm that the majority of their Rights to Kill have been used, we can then move on to the next step and pass the laws and trade regulations you mentioned. For now, just focus on keeping the conflicts outside the cities. The citizens would not feel safe living with people who can summon seventh-circle creatures on a whim.”