“I am called Torsten Atra, the crown prince of Atra. It is an honor to meet you, Duke of Ceres.”
A man in 20s with silvery hair, similar to Isaac’s, dressed in a military uniform consisting of a dark gray thick tunic and equally dark pants was in front of Kamil. His tunic bore the emblem of Atra on its left chest and had wavy gray patterns on its edges. The emblem of Atra was a dragon on a hill within a circle and was woven in golden threads. The prince’s firm light gray eyes were fixed firmly at Kamil who offered a handshake as if he was attempting to deduce whatever he could before the talk would begin.
“My name is Kamil Fenchel, the duke of Ceres. I thank you for granting us your presence, your grace.”
“Your reputation precedes you,” The prince responded while shaking his hand. Kamil had no idea what the prince had heard about him. Given his rather colorful history thus far, it was inevitable that some gossip about him would be floating about. While he wanted to respond to the prince in a similar sense, it was his first time meeting the prince. He knew virtually nothing about him. In fact, his knowledge regarding the whole nation was severely limited.
“I thank you.”
They were on the first floor of the makeshift tavern by the labyrinth. It had been cleared out clean for this occasion. While the place was certainly not fit to receive a royal member, those involved understood the nature of the situation. They were at a table with two cups of Macomaco tea.
“The airship you invented, it has been very, very, useful. A journey to this location would have been unthinkable otherwise,” The prince noted while he glanced at the tea. He wasn’t drinking it first in fear of poison. Thus, Kamil took the first sip. Only then did he follow suit. Still, there was a slight hesitation right before his lips touched the cup.
“Wonderful,” He praised. “This must have been brewed from very fresh leaves.”
“It is indeed. In fact, they are the finest quality.”
The capital of Atra was so far away from anywhere else that they had a hard time acquiring certain commodities which included Macomaco tea. A traveling merchant had to target Endal specifically and would need to resist his urge to sell during his journey. In the end, a small pouch of the tea would end up costing more than 40 silver coins in the capital. What made the deal worse was that the tea might go stale by then because the tea leaves were not meant to go completely dry and, because it was not meant to be completely dry, moisture meant rotting over time. Even for Torsten, a prince of a Kingdom, it was his first time tasting freshly brewed Macomaco tea from obviously fresh leaves, and it blew his mind away for a moment. The taste was so much different. There was no longer bitter aftertaste. He beamed a bright smile as he enjoyed the subtle sweet taste melt onto his tongue.
“Magnificent!” He uttered with an amused look on his face as if he could not believe what he had just tasted.
“I am glad that you are pleased, your highness. Perhaps you should use an airship to transport the tea quicker. That way, it won’t spoil.”
“I have indeed thought about that but doubts clouded my mind. I told myself how better it could be after all the troubles of sending an airship to patch something like tea leaves. I see now that I was wrong.”
“I assume it had a bitter aftertaste.”
“You’d be correct, Duke.”
“It means the tea leaves were beginning to rot or were already spoiled. I assume merchants tried their best to get you the best quality of what they had.”
A traveling merchant from Ceres to Endal would take at least three months. And that was the best case scenario where the merchant would head there directly which was impossible. He’d stop by other places and spend nights here and there, effectively making the trip half a year long journey. It was sort of a miracle that the tea leaves made it to Endal intact.
“You seem to be well educated about tea, Duke.”
“It’s the speciality product of my fief, your highness. It’s only logical that I need to be a good salesman.”
They laughed systematically in unison after taking sips from their cups. Of course, Kamil knew more than what he let on. He was a tea farmer himself after all.
“Now, let us talk about the real issue here,” Torsten said with his tone darkening.
There was no one in their vicinity. The whole tavern had been cleared out to create a secure environment. Everyone was waiting outside with guards from Endal and Ceres having surrounded the place. Only two maids were allowed in and out for the tea. One was a royal maid for Torsten, and the other was Anita. The former was present to check for any suspicious activities from the latter. The latter was chosen because she was the only maid under Kamil who had first hand experience serving royals.
“Certainly. Before that, however, I’d like to ask about the negotiation between you and the Kingdom of Egra.”
The prince blinked his eyes a few times. “You mean you do not know?”
“I do not.”
I assume he thought we were probably in the same boat and were scheming.
On the surface, Laufeld was torn away from the kingdom by force. It was a reasonable assumption to make that they would cooperate closely.
“Interesting. Then this meeting makes more sense if true.”
“As you are aware, Ceres was a part of their kingdom a few years ago. They still think that we are under their jurisdiction.”
“You would be if it wasn’t for Estana.”
The kingdom essentially lost the war against Estana and paid a relatively small price for it. They paid a small price because suing for peace was done very early on without either side taking too much losses. In return, Karsten acquired Elsos, which was objectively a better prize. The prince was implying that, if the Kingdom of Egra stood firm, the outcome may have been quite different, and he wasn’t wrong on his take.
“True, and I had no intention to break off from the kingdom. Alas, my voice wasn’t heard.”
In fact, he wasn’t even consulted. His age may have had a part in being ignored, but he was unlikely to be asked for his opinion either way.
“Kindly tell me what they demanded of you, your highness.”
The prince was a bit hesitant in answering as if he was weighing his options.
“Their diplomat, Lord Knell, demanded that this settlement be under a similar condition as Ceres. It'd remain a free settlement backed by us and Egra. Given the fact that those who would end up migrating here would be your people, it meant we would effectively cede this piece of land and its surroundings. We were not going to have that.”
“Understandable.”
“We laid our claim on this land thousands of years ago, and nobody objected. This land is rightfully ours, and we intend to stand by that.”
Kamil felt that the prince was reasonable so far. Border lines had to be enforced to be meaningful. If Atra backed down at this point, it’d leave a bad precedent to be abused in the future.
“I do not seek to shake your country’s claim,” He said. “I simply wish to borrow this piece of land for a bit.”
“And then? For how long?”
“Until I am done with exploring the labyrinth. You see, your highness, I am a bit of an adventurer. I simply couldn’t help myself when I found out about this place.”
The prince fired a curious look. “Pray tell, how did you even locate the dungeon?”
“We’ve found clues about its location from translating ancient texts.”
“A bit of an adventurer and a bit of a scholar as well, I see.” There was sarcasm in his voice as if he wasn’t trusting him fully. Given Kamil’s age, some of his claims were hard to take at face value in the prince’s perspective. After all, he was just fifteen years old. The prince believed that someone must be behind his actions, and that he was just a puppet.
“Regardless,” Kamil cleared his throat, “I have the intention of objecting to your claim on the land. I seek to rent it. Once I am done with the dungeon, I am more than willing to return whatever has been established.”
“If I understand correctly, this land cannot support a settlement,” The prince said firmly. “By returning it, it feels like you will hand over the aftermath cleaning job to us.”
He was being cynical but wasn’t wrong, either. The settlement was functioning only due to external support from Ceres and Tantan. Water and construction materials were delivered from Ceres, and Tantan supplied food and other basic materials.
So, he doesn’t want the settlement? He must want something.
“In such a case, may I inquire what you wish in return for my request?”
The prince must be present here because he wanted something. Otherwise, he would have simply rejected the call for a diplomatic meeting.
“Information can be very valuable on its own,” said the prince with a very careful tone. He was trying to probe Kamil for his reactions.
“What information do you require?”
He began tapping his index finger on the table slowly. “The kingdom of Egra looks to be itching for war… and we are not going to back away. Do you have … or can you provide any information that could be useful to us?”
So, that is what he wants. He is asking whether I am fine with selling my former nation?
It was indeed true that Kamil had an extensive network within the Kingdom of Egra. He was close to Isaac, Lux, and Noah. If he truly desired, acquiring information that was otherwise barred was entirely feasible. In addition, he had seen first hand how Karsten operated in wars. He knew the inner workings of the nation. At the same time, he had no strong disdain toward his former nation, his ill feelings were specifically for Karsten only. Depending on how closely he might work with Atra, it was certainly possible that he could inflict a heavy defeat on them.
Ceres is meant to be a neutral entity…
“When the city was ceded from the kingdom, it was agreed that it would remain neutral.”
“It is indeed, but that does not mean you are unable to act.”
The prince was essentially asking Kamil to break the deal for the sake of his kingdom. It was apparent that this was why he came all this way.
Normally, I’d ask him what I’d get, but that is not the point here. I am not going to drag my city into a conflict just because I want to get rid of Karsten.
He recalled Flora wolfing down rice balls which made him grin. Years ago when she had just arrived in Lux, she was literally a lost bird and never really smiled at all. Once she became pregnant, everything seemed to have changed for her. She became far more relaxed and showed more emotions as if an invisible weight on her shoulders was lifted at last.
“I shall not act in your interest,” He replied firmly. “I will not act at all, for I will be neutral.”
The prince grimaced slightly. “Not acting now in our favor will backfire on you. The Kingdom of Egra will lose this war.”
Kamil replied dryly, “Pray tell; What does that have to do with me?”
“If Atra conquers the kingdom, you will be surrounded by us. Isn’t it better to earn our favor now early? Because you won’t be able to do so later.”
Kamil laughed internally.
I don’t know how good Atra is, but Karsten is not a fool, either. Yes, I loathe him but I must give him credit for taking his kingdom this far. He has fought against odds. He won’t go down easily.
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“Your highness,” He said with a smile, “Perhaps you should know your enemy more.”
The prince’s face twitched, and his face was becoming redder by second. He had just insulted him.
“Ceres will stand neutral, period.”
“Is that your final answer?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Then get the hell out. Get everyone out of this place by the end of the day or I will treat it as a declaration of war.”
“Very well, that shall be done.”
“What?” The prince blurted. “Did you mishear me? Get everyone out by the end of the day.”
“I have heard you, your grace. Everyone is prepared to depart. Everything has already been packed up and ready to go.”
The prince realized that Kamil foresaw this outcome which wasn’t actually true, but that was how he understood it because Kamil was reacting too casually. In reality, Kamil was casual about this because he felt he could always sneak in. The loss of the settlement wasn’t his problem, and he could establish a base of operation in Tantan instead. Of course, Atra could set up an outpost here to bar him from approaching, but that would be a gigantic waste of resources for little to no gain. If they left, the independent mercenaries would likely attempt to maintain this place, and Tantan was likely going to help when paid. Finally, with the possible war with the Kingdom of Egra, they would have no leeway to spare any resources.
“Let us negotiate,” The prince said hurriedly. If this talk ended as it was, there was nothing to gain for him. His threat didn’t work out.
“Your highness?”
“Speak your terms. Allow me to hear it at least.”
He wasn’t quite sure what was going on in the prince’s mind and why he was having a sudden change of heart. Regardless, he spoke the terms he had in his mind.
“Allow us to stay until my desire to explore the dungeon has been satisfied. It won’t take long, probably several months at the most. Then we will withdraw. There are some independent mercenaries here who have nothing to do with us. They will likely stay and run the place on their own. Whatever you do with them and this settlement, it will be down to you.”
“Why would they stay here? There is nothing here.”
“Your highness, the monsters drop loot, and some of them are iron weapons which can be melted down.”
“Are you implying that monsters respawn?”
“Yes. It is my understanding that they think they can make a living here albeit hard without supplies from outside.”
Looking down, the prince began to scratch his chin slowly in thought. It never occurred to him that a proper settlement could begin at this location. If people were willing to stay behind because they could make a living out of exploring the dungeon, there was a chance that a proper settlement could start anew. This aspect was especially important for the crown prince who had been seeking some sort of achievement under his name, which was why he was itching to respond fiercely against the Kingdom of Egra. If a proper village could start on this location which had been practically abandoned, it was going to count as one of his achievements and cement his position as the crown prince further. And this was certainly safer than going to war. He wouldn’t need to fight on the front lines if he could do this.
Torsten Atra was the crown prince of Atra. He was designated to be the crown prince only because of seniority and he had three brothers. For his whole life, he had to have eyes on the back of his head to avoid being schemed against and even assassinations. And, because the age difference between himself and the youngest brother was only five years, he had always been at a risk of being pushed away. To make matters worse for him, his father did not condemn such treacherous acts. In his own words, “this is how you must survive.” Oh, how much he loathed his father’s decision to foster such an environment. To make it worse for him, his father even said, “at least it’s not boring”. He could retaliate against his brothers only if he had enough concrete evidence against them, which was almost impossible because his brothers were always masterful in their actions. His ordeals saw one of his wives assassinated by poison. He also had his two children die, one drowned in a well and the other was eaten by wolves. He was absolutely certain that his brothers would scheme if he went to war, and his guards would have a very hard time protecting him. He was very likely to perish. Therefore, being given a chance to avoid participating in war was very enticing for him.
“I want you to support this settlement after you are done for half a year,” The prince declared. “I am requesting half a year for me to prepare infrastructure to support his place.”
He made up his mind that establishing a new settlement would be his legacy as a crown prince. He would withdraw his bid to enter the conflict with the Kingdom of Egra and send one of his brothers instead and more importantly have him killed in a battle. One less schemer against him was too good of a boon to ignore. For Kamil, his sudden turn in the negotiation was a bit strange, but it was working in his favor regardless.
“I don’t see a problem with that. Am I still withdrawing my people out of here when I am done?”
“Yes, I am going to send my people, but you will not stop those who wish to stay behind.”
It meant that independent mercenaries would likely stay behind.
“Very well.”
“Another condition, I want you to finish whatever you are doing as soon as possible. I give you six months. If you do finish sooner, I will send you a gift.”
For the prince, he wanted the settlement in a month if he could. He needed tangible evidence of his accomplishment. For the time being, a contract between him and Kamil would suffice, but he wouldn’t be able to sit on it for too long which was why he gave a six-month time limit. Still, he needed to have the contract first of all because it was the first tangible evidence that a potential settlement did indeed exist. If he told the Atra royal family that he wanted to found a settlement, there was a good chance of being dismissed right away. With the contract, however, there would be physical evidence that it was possible to establish a new settlement in the middle of nowhere which would reinforce their border line.
“I probably won’t take that long, thus I shall wait for whatever gift you may grace me with,” Kamil replied with a confident grin.
“Very well, time to conclude this meeting then.” The prince clapped three times loudly, and several scholars entered; Nestor and Rose were among them. The others were the prince’s scholars. They were there to draft a formal contract. Arranging this kind of meeting would not be done again, thus they had to conclude the purpose of this meeting while they were still present together. The scholars began to transcribe the content of Torsten and Kamil’s negotiations. With both of them present, there was no place for any possible mishaps and miscommunications. When they were done transcribing, they picked another table nearby and placed a small stack of papers to write down a preliminary version of the contract. Once written down, it was checked by both sides to ensure the accuracy of the content. Once the verification phase passed, they put down two leather parchments to write down the formal contract. They would make two identical contracts for each side to keep. While the scholars were busy at work, Torsten and Kamil were seemingly free, and Anita had just poured their third cup of tea. The prince, donning a satisfied look on his face, was casually sipping his share of the sweet sweet tea.
“I could get used to this,” He remarked subtly while looking down on tea. “Is it possible for us to purchase from you directly? You’d be a trusted source for high grade Macomaco tea.”
Origin of Macomaco tea was not generally known. The public knowledge was that there were three such tea farms within the Kingdom of Egra. Not much else was known for outsiders. In general, this was due to merchants refusing to disclose their sources. Even a royalty like Torsten found out that Ceres had a Macomaco tea farm when he was served the tea.
“I don’t see why not. However, our tea is really, really, in high demand. We don’t really have leeway to reserve anything for anyone, even for a royalty. We can allocate a bit to you, but it won’t be much.”
There was only so much a single man, Grent, could do. He did expand his farm by at least 30% over the years, but he could never meet the demand of the whole world alone. Kamil never suggested expanding the farm, however, since he did not want his father to overwork. The expansion was possible only because Taro joined him full time. Abel was also starting to learn the trade. Originally, only one son would inherit the farm. It was going to be Taro at this point. In Vilma’s own words, if Abel was also to become a tea farmer, he would need to leave and settle down elsewhere although she said that she wanted him to take another profession. It was a back breaking job after all. As a mother and a noblewoman, it was never pleasant for her husband and children to work all day long every single day. Thus, if possible, she wanted Abel to choose another profession.
“The land which the Kingdom of Egra sits on is blessed,” The prince said ominously. “They should cherish it. It would be an utter shame to lose it.”
“Is Atra going to enter the war against Egra?”
“We are not the one who initiated it. We are simply responding to aggression they displayed. Again, we did not provoke them; They did.”
And he’d be right. Perhaps, if Kamil initiated the negotiation before Isaac could, this scenario could have been avoided. However, he wasn’t in a position to reject Karsten’s interference. At least, he had to let him do whatever he wanted before stepping in. He needed a valid reason to do so after all the kingdom was one of its two guardians. In other words, Ceres was a pseudo independent city. Its internal affairs were largely independent but its extraterrestrial affair was a different story entirely simply because it didn’t have the military presence required to press diplomatic demands. A large nation like Atra could laugh off at whatever demands Kamil could make, and there would be nothing he could do about it. Even the prince would have not agreed to this meeting if it wasn’t for Isaac’s diplomatic visit which was apparently catastrophic, perhaps intentionally so.
Lord Knell is decent at what he does. If he angered Atra, it probably means he intentionally crossed them to entice war…
A bigger question was whether that was what Karsten wanted because there was a chance that Isaac had gone rogue.
“I hope you understand my position. I cannot wish you good luck.”
“I am fully aware,” The prince replied, chuckling. “Some position you are in. You are in a bed with Egra and Estana. That’s a very weird relationship.”
The Kingdom of Egra and Estana were enemies essentially, and Kamil was standing between them with each kingdom holding each of his hands.
“I would try to dissociate with one of them if I were you,” He added while taking a sip.
“Wouldn’t that essentially mean joining the other?”
“Perhaps, but you could still stand independent. You’d need some sort of a trump card, though.”
The prince loosened up a lot during the negotiation. Having lived in a hostile environment for pretty much his entire life, he never really had a chance to talk to anyone around his age. Granted, Kamil was a little more than ten years younger than him but he was nevertheless in a similar age group sharing the similar concerns. Additionally, the prince sensed no hostility from him, and he was quite easy to talk to. Naturally, he opened up a little.
“I believe your wife is Lady Flissing, correct?”
Kamil was surprised by the sudden mention of his wife.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Lady Flissing is your wife, correct?”
“Yes, do you know her?”
“Well…”
Apparently, when Baptiste was looking for a suitable husband for his daughter, the Atra royal family was looking for Torsten’s third wife, and Flora was deemed suitable. Of course, Baptiste refused the offer flatly although he would have accepted if the position was for a first wife.
“A third wife?”
“Oh, yes, I do believe the Kingdom of Egra has a custom of taking mistresses. We, Atra, take up to three wives.”
In Atra, first and second wives were in charge of continuation of a bloodline. A third wife was more of a luxury and was usually in charge of providing an escape route or pleasure. Therefore, while a high ranking aristocratic young man didn’t have a say in choosing his first and second wife, he would have a say in choosing his final third. At the same time, any children from a third wife were disqualified from succession although they would retain their nobility status.
“The reason a slot was often for a wife was …” The prince gazed vacantly into a distance. He had a look of someone who had gone through an excruciating experience. “Because my wife was fatally poisoned.”
Kamil was a bit shocked but not too surprised. He had seen first hand how ruthless it could be among nobles. Edmund’s daughter, his biological daughter, was killed to make space for an adopted son. He could never understand the thought process to make such a brutal decision but he also had no disdain toward men making such decisions because, after all, they had to do whatever they had to do to make things work for them. Edmund chose his and he would have to live with consequences, which in his mind were none actually.
“My condolences, your highness,” said Kamil with a solemn look.
He mumbled with sadness and regret in his voice, “It’s been over half a decade… She was my favorite…”
Why was she killed in the first place? Was it because of jealousy among other wives? He would never know for sure unless the prince spoke his heart. It was clear that he had some emotional scars regarding the incident.
“Excuse us,” Nestor approached the two, flanked by Rose and other scholars. “The contracts are ready. Please have a look and put down your signatures when you are ready.”
“Good timing,” said the prince while putting down his cup. Anita, who was waiting at a distance, picked up the cups and departed the scene at once, clearing the table for everyone. Two identical contracts written on high quality leather parchments were laid down before them. Torsten and Kamil looked over the contract. The contracts had signatures of all scholars involved on a bottom corner, indicating that everyone was in agreement. Once skimming over the contract out of formality, both men put down their signatures on both contracts in turn.
“Pleasure doing business with you, Duke Fenchel.”
“Likewise, Prince Torsten.”
Once the men shook their hands, both of them stood up at once and headed toward the exit. Kamil was flanked by Nestor and Rose, and Torsten was flanked by his scholars. The prince wasted no time and proceeded to depart at once, taking his people with him on two airships.
Duman approached Kamil at once while his teammates were watching from a distance while Nestor was preparing to depart.
“How did it go, Duke? Must we leave?”
For him and his teammates, they enjoyed the exploration. It was just far better than merchant escorts and occasional monster extermination which were quite frankly boring for seasoned adventurers. Besides, camping outside took eventual tolls on their overall health due to bad diet. Here they could sit back, relax for several days before diving into the dungeon, have some fun, and get back up. In fact, Duman decided to travel the world to find more dungeons to explore with Mezei once this was done. He wouldn’t be leaving the guild, however, since he had his best teammates under Brian.
“Six months,” Kamil replied, “We have six months at the most to clear the dungeon.”
“And then?”
“Atra will take over this place and turn it into their own settlement.”
“Good, so the dungeon will be available.”
If the settlement was abandoned, it wasn’t easy to set up a camp here due to the lack of water along with everything else. While Duman had no plans to come back once he, too, was done, he wanted a backup just in case.
“How is the ventilation going?”
“Well, due to your order to pack things up, we didn’t get to do much. Roseline and I did a bit of experiments and came up with some ideas to test out. We will get to it right away since the immediate matter has been solved.”
“They want us to finish quicker. The official deadline is six months, but it’s clear that they want us to be done sooner. So, I would say three months in reality.”
“Should be more than enough, got it, Duke.”
“There is something else. Atra is likely going to war with Egra. This place should not be affected, but it is not guaranteed. Therefore, my previous order of getting ready to depart swiftly stands still. Have a plan to flee this place on a very short notice just in case.”
Duman’s face darkened. “Understood,” He replied firmly. He was actually getting jittery out of excitement. Living dangerously had always been his way of living. “Are you leaving then?”
“For now, yes, do call me when you need me.”
“Loud and clear. We will get the 10th floor cleared out pronto.”
Giving a firm nod, Kamil turned around and walked toward an airship where Nestor was barking out orders to get it ready.
I don’t believe Ceres will fall in harm's way. Just in case, though, I should consult with Lady Izabella.