There was something about a crisp formation of soldiers that gave Norman an immense amount of pride.
It was finally the day of the talks, and all of the guards who would be attending to the safety of this event were gathered in the square for a quick parade to help reassure the residents.
The older locals were much more at ease with the upcoming event due to their faith in Norman and the guard. But the newer ones were a bit more on edge. He couldn’t blame them, they had all died under Donovan’s rule and had witnessed more than one attack directed at Ashvale since their short time here. They didn’t know he would fight for them with all he had.
Even the rumor that Norman had single-handedly killed eighty thousand invaders didn’t quell their anxiety. It wasn’t true by the way. He may have killed close to ten thousand, which isn’t a small number by any means, but he hardly killed the majority of the Third Prince’s army.
If you could even call those people an army. While there had indeed been people with callings within his ranks, most had died trying to stop his spells. The few that battled his Death Knights were swiftly outmatched thanks to their armor and enchanted war spears. Who goes to war in tunics instead of wearing armor?
From what Eugene told him, some of the non-enhanced did put up a fight, their skills quite impressive for normal folks. But it didn’t matter if they were an expert swordsman when they couldn’t even scratch the Death Knight's armor. But those were the minority.
After seeing their prince die, most of the Prince’s army broke and fled. But his people knew the land and didn’t tire.
He realized he was letting his mind wander again. It was almost time for the guests of honor to arrive.
Norman thumped his hand to his chest and the gathered soldiers repeated the gesture, the sound ringing through the square.
He may not have many troops, but they were all worth far more than any single man or mage he had come across. Especially now that their armor was enchanted.
Norman gave a wry smile as his troops marched out of the square and to their assigned positions. After Kalia had told him how she cracked the enchanting, Norman had mulled over the issues she mentioned. Mainly the one about the enchantment breaking if the lines were damaged. Why have them visible in the first place, then?
He knew that enchantments could be buried. Several examples from the gron alone showcased this. So in a last-minute change, he worked with Kalia to implement her enchantments using his Transfer spell. This way the enchantment appeared on the surface facing the person's body, protecting it from most attacks. It worked, and now all of his soldiers had an additional card to play against attackers.
The normal guards got the same treatment, but with only the breastplate, they were simply harder to kill and not three times stronger than a normal human. Those were his peacekeeper forces or police. They weren’t meant to be walking juggernauts of terror and destruction. Besides, Eugene had added a guard captain in full armor to each patrol group, so it wasn’t like they were without someone that could kick serious ass.
Even with the guard, that left him with slightly less than five hundred armed defenders. That was less than two percent of his population after the influx from Vincent and the additions since. But he would put odds on his forces almost every time. With the exception being maybe the Council and the Commonwealth. And he supposed he should add the Golatian Empire and the gron to be safe.
It wasn’t that he feared these nations. Except maybe the gron, they terrified him with their magitech. It was their numbers that concerned him. If Donovan wanted Normenia gone, he could do it, just throw forces at him until he eventually won. If his memory was correct, California housed almost forty million before the fall. Even if he didn’t use undead, it was more than his people could handle many times over. And he wouldn’t put it past Donovan to throw every single living soul at him until he claimed victory.
This was the main reason Norman hadn’t ordered his Wraiths to assassinate the man. The other reason was that it wouldn’t keep him down for long. For now, he would keep the status quo, even if he didn’t like it. It was even more important now that the Golatian Empire was a possible hostile entity. And they were still an unknown. He didn’t like unknowns. With any luck, the Wraiths he sent to spy on them would pass information back soon and he could determine what to do about them.
With the guards gone, Norman could see groups of people coming from the teleportation center.
Norman walked to the edge of the red carpet where the horseless carriages came to a halt to greet the first arrival. The carriages were essentially magical automated cars, but Saliu insisted they not be called something so mundane.
A tall and what appeared to be quite young jorik stepped out from the carriage. He was flanked by two shorter jorik wearing burnished copper breastplates etched with all sorts of symbols. Guards of some sort. They glanced around the area, the typical jorik haughtiness in their eyes before they landed on Nolia. Norman didn’t miss the jorik’s eyes taking in his administrator. Norman couldn’t blame the guy, his administrator was wearing a very form-fitting dark purple dress today. Had Norman still been the man he was a decade ago, he would have ogled the woman too.
He hadn’t been sure this jorik was male before this moment, as he was rather androgynous in appearance, but this one was definitely leaning male. The fact that he even looked at Nolia like that also told him that this jorik did not have a life partner yet.
The man glided up to Norman with the typical jorik swagger and grace and stopped. It took a moment for Norman to realize the man didn’t know the proper protocol in this situation. Since he knew the jorik didn’t shake hands, he slightly bobbed his head. The man was quick to reciprocate the gesture. Showing that he did not see himself above Norman but as an equal. It was the most Norman could expect as an outsider.
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“Greetings, Custodian Valadin, I hope your trip wasn’t too hard?”
“No, Lord Norman,” the man spoke, butchering his name with his thick accent. “The accommodations were acceptable.”
Norman gestured toward the entry to the Ministry. “If you would be so kind as to head up there, someone will show you to the meeting hall.”
Without another word, the man turned and walked down the red carpet along with his silent guards.
The next carriage to arrive disgorged a large hum woman in finely crafted animal pelts and deep scarlet skin. She wasn’t quite as built as Eugene, but she had far more muscles than seemed appropriate. As for the pelts, you wouldn’t be mistaking these for the type that rich folk wore to impress their peers. These looked more ceremonial and slightly more barbaric in design. As did the large woman. He had expected something far more barbaric from the hearty people. If what his spies told him about their zone was correct, they fought to survive every day.
Surprisingly enough, the woman came alone. Although Norman knew she brought others with her to Ashvale. He had gotten reports on all of the attendees and their guests. Going by the intimidating nature of the woman, she probably didn’t need protection.
She strode over to him with purposeful steps, the thick black stripe across her face making her demonic red skin stand out even more.
She stopped just shy of bumping into Norman and he just smiled. If this woman didn’t have a calling, she would not be able to budge him as he wore most of his armor underneath his fancy suit.
“Greetings, Matron Astyria.”
The woman grunted in reply, eyeing Norman up and down before huffing. “So not spineless. It’s a shame you’re so pink and tiny. You might have made a good mate.”
Norman smiled tightly. “Thank you for your consideration.” As with Custodian Valadin, he gestured for the large woman to move toward the Ministry. She grunted and moved past him, but despite her gruff demeanor, she never once tried to bump into him by mistake or purpose.
Unfortunately, she was the only other leader of those attacked by the Empire that he had managed to persuade to this meeting. The other two his people managed to contact had declined, one even quite violently. His people hadn’t been able to reach the other zones between Normenia and the Empire as of yet.
That meant the next one to arrive was the Admiral. And he wasn’t alone either. Along with a Marine honor guard came two other representatives from near the Commonwealth. One was another jorik. This one was much older than any Norman had ever seen, and what looked like a humanoid chicken. Both seemed to have come without any attendees, seemingly fine with the Admiral’s security measures. But Norman didn’t miss the telltale signs of enchantments on both of the unknown attendee’s clothing and accessories. He wished Kalia was here to ferret out what the enchantments did.
He did his best not to stare as the chicken thing twitched its head about erratically.
Norman offered his hand. “Admiral Barnes, good to see you again. And I see you brought guests.”
The man accepted the handshake and pointed to the other two. “Custodian Marlinik, and Cho Klu’klik.”
The jorik custodian didn’t so much as nod as he strode past Norman and straight for a very surprised-looking Nolia. “Great Grandfather!”
The man stopped feet from her and clicked his tongue. “What are you wearing girl? If your mother saw this, she would have an embolism.”
His administrator looked down guiltily and Norman thought the old jorik was going to slap her for a moment, but instead, he wrapped her in a big hug. It seemed nobody quite expected that.
“Gigi, you’re embarrassing me.”
The man chuffed at her complaints but didn’t let go. “I’m old enough that I can embarrass whomever I choose to. Especially if they are long-lost family.”
Finally, he released the woman but held her at arm’s length. “By the all-father, you haven't changed a bit since I last saw you.”
“Other than being undead,” Norman heard her mutter.
“Yes, I’m well aware of what you are. I don’t care. The only concern this doddering old man has, is are you happy?”
“Yes, Gigi, I’m happy here with Saliu.”
The old jorik laughed. “So you did abscond with that troublemaker. I thought as much. Your mother never did forgive me for allowing that to happen. Do you wish for me to tell her you are here?”
“Why would you even joke about that, Gigi!” the woman scolded the old man, only making him laugh harder.
The two continued their discussion as they walked toward the Ministry. Norman turned back to the Admiral. “Did you know?”
The man shook his head. Before he could ask further, Cho Klu’klik squawked in annoyance at the pair. “I did not agree to attend this meeting to be ignored, Admiral,” the avian's words came out sharp and clipped.
The Admiral bowed, “Apologies, Cho Klu’klik, we were simply surprised by the event.”
“As long as you do not let it happen again, I forgive you,” he or she, Norman wasn’t certain, clicked its beak twice before fluffing its plumage and strutting toward the Ministry.
Once he was far enough away, the Admiral sighed. “Sorry about her, the Fariken are very sensitive about being ignored.”
“And you brought her anyway?” Norman asked in surprise.
“Trust me, it wasn’t my idea. She heard about this gathering from one of my staffers. And she demanded to come or she would cut off all trade with the Commonwealth. They don’t offer much, but what they do is important enough that I decided to humor her. Just be glad I talked her out of bringing her entire clutch with her. You don’t have to worry though I will keep her occupied for most of this visit.” With that, the man parted and hurried after the Fariken delegate, his Marine escort taking up positions outside the building along with the Death Knights.
Norman just shook his head and waited for the next carriage to arrive.
It took twenty more minutes before the first of seven carriages rolled into the square. So his spies weren’t mistaken, the man had brought most of the Council with him this time.
Norman didn’t miss the blatant show of disrespect from the council. Each carriage had a group of ten mindless undead keeping pace with it along with a single dead-eyed individual who must be a low-level controller.
The first to arrive was Donovan. The undead stepped aside and the man stepped out wearing an expensively tailored suit and his customary smirk.
“Lord Norman, it’s been far too long.”
“Not long enough, Council Leader Donovan.”
“I hope you don’t mind but I decided to take my safety more seriously this time around. But I do hope this meeting has far fewer interruptions,” the man responded without missing a beat.
“Interruptions caused by your Council members,” Norman replied back, a bit of anger tinging his words.
“They turned out to be rogue elements, you can hardly blame me for that. Thank you for taking care of them by the way.”
This man and his attitude infuriated Norman.
“Someone had to clean up your mess since you were either incapable or unwilling to do so.”
The smug persona slipped from the man for just a moment, but Norman didn’t miss it.
“Well, thank you for that.”
After his terse response, Donovan strode off without another word, leaving the rotting undead to mill about the carriage. Norman ignored the undead and smiled over the small verbal victory before he greeted the rest of the Councilors. He got chilly receptions from each, not that he expected anything else. He didn’t even bother remembering their names. He knew by now they were all puppets of Donovan to some extent. Even if they may not yet realize it. He had been hoping to meet the new Councilors, but they were not present today. Was Donovan hiding them from Norman for some reason?
He made a mental note to have the Wraiths dig deeper into finding out who these people were. If they were being hidden, it was because Donovan didn’t want him to know who they were.
He let out a sigh of relief as the last counselor went inside. At least he wouldn’t need to greet the Grothlosburg attendees as they were already waiting in the meeting hall.