A part of Regina thought she should have held out for an unconditional surrender from the gnomes, but that part was quickly shouted down by the rest. She wanted this to be over with, and she couldn’t countenance continuing the war and increasing the toll in lives when she could already accomplish her goals as it was.
Besides, it wasn’t like they were really giving up much, they still had a good position. If the gnomes didn’t honor their surrender, if the peace negotiations failed, they could always continue fighting. It would only give them more time to get new drones for the hive.
She didn’t spend much time wondering why General Aliekin had surrendered. It was pretty obvious — the hive had effectively just defeated his stratagem to delay their advance and make them pay for it, which in turn might have just been intended to put him in a better position. But they hadn’t actually won any major victory over his forces or gained a noticeable amount of territory out of it, yet. If either side waited a few weeks before beginning talks, the Gnomish Confederation would be in a worse position. So he was cutting his losses.
Regina took it as reassurance that she was dealing with a rational man. That would be reassuring, anyway.
She did get a bit more information from the contacts they’d made among the Gnomish Confederations’s opposition — if she could still call it that — which gave her some insight into their internal state. Aliekin had appointed several faction leaders from their ranks into high positions, which clearly indicated he was trying to work with them. In return, the opposition had made no plans to depose him or attack his legitimacy and was shoring up his support among the people. Regina was absolutely certain they were also using the opportunity to entrench themselves and were probably preparing to be able to act against Aliekin or the next guy who might come along to seize power.
Regina was a bit amused to hear that Tikimaken and Tikelikel, the two gnomes she’d met first when they’d come as traders and who she’d probably still talked to most of all gnomes, had risen to the Historical faction’s leadership. She supposed it made sense, if they were involved in the opposition. And the guy was apparently Aliekin’s aide, which would count for a lot. The faction was much diminished with most of their higher leadership dead or in prison. The rest of its members probably latched onto the two of them to try and stay relevant. Personally, she would have quit the faction after everything its leaders had done, but she supposed she didn’t understand gnomish politics as intimately as someone born and raised there.
Either way, Regina wished them luck with it. It would be best if the faction would be the same in name only going forward. Hopefully they would combat the anti-Hivekind propaganda, and change that part of their platform. She didn’t see it going over too well in the future in what passed for the gnomes’ political process, either.
For now, the fighting had stopped as a truce took effect, until the end of the war could be properly handled. It did mean the flying drones Janis had taken deeper into the Gnomish Confederation were a bit exposed, which worried Regina a little. Then again, breaking the truce might only give the gnomes a short-term advantage and would spell disaster for them otherwise. She’d still told them not to entirely let their guard down. Currently, she, or rather Ben, hadn’t actually recalled their forces in any real sense. They were being supplied by air and via the path they’d made through the gnomes’ attempts at killing fields. It wasn’t an arrangement she wanted to sustain for months, but it was fine for now. And having these troops breathing down the gnomes’ necks ought to encourage them to tread carefully.
This time, there was little wrangling about the location of any peace talks. Regina had invited them to the biggest town close to the border she could find, in southern Cernlia, and the gnomes had agreed. Well, it was more of an order than an invitation, but they’d come, anyway, and that was what mattered. The winner gets to dictate terms, June had told her with a shrug, and at least for things like this, it seemed to be true.
The local Cernlian nobles had been informed and Kiara had set to the task of preparing the talks on short notice with an enthusiasm that Regina vaguely realized she hadn’t seen from her in a while. She really needed to take a bit more time for her friends. With the war ending, hopefully she could do that more easily now. Still, something seemed to have eased between them, although Regina had only spoken to her through a drone — she’d remained in the capital while Kiara had continued traveling. Due to current events, she’d focused on the southern part of Cernlia.
Regina was going to travel to attend the talks herself, this time. They were held on Imperial soil, after all. Besides, it would be a good excuse to shift her range a bit — this way, she would be able to send some drones further south, and she’d get a better view of the mountains. Getting a secure path through them wasn’t exactly the primary goal of defeating the gnomes, but it was on the list. Given Tim’s initial successes in the south, she really wanted to increase trade with that part of the continent. It would bring new materials, new ideas and new opportunities. People, too, eventually, she hoped. Regina was already expecting a population boom in the Empire, even excepting the hive, but natural births might not keep up with the demand once the economy started to grow. There were a lot of projects in the works, from infrastructure to education, and she envisioned a lot of workshops.
Somehow, Regina suspected the Esemen and the Western Confederation wouldn’t be permissive of immigration into the Central European Empire for long. Especially in the medium term, once the improvements in the standard of living — which she dearly hoped would happen — spread throughout the population.
She knew that in the more … traditional … countries, all it might take was a bad harvest for people to seek greener pastures elsewhere.
Regina had tried her best to keep an eye on the pulse of the Western Confederation, although she had to admit she’d been distracted by other concerns. The gnomes, the war, building up the Empire, all sorts of internal affairs — she just didn’t have the time to manage it personally or even to make regular sweeps with her psychic abilities. Not that those would help much, it was a bit outside her range.
Still, the Western Confederation was obviously the softer target compared to the Esemen. It was still too new and uncertain to have any kind of united defense against the influence of foreign powers. It was a game that took time, so the gains they’d made were limited, but Daine had seemed confident in their chances to get some penetration of the Confederation eventually. They were already buying information from merchants and travelers and carefully cultivating some people to search out information in more targeted ways. He’d bribed a number of servants in noble estates across the new nation, people in less ‘decent’ professions like prostitutes, and even made inroads with promising soldiers who might be promoted to higher military offices.
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Time would tell what came of it. They were hardly privy to the innermost council of the movers and shakers in the country, but at least Regina now had access to regular reports about its general state and the pulse of public opinion in the Western Confederation.
Unfortunately, she supposed she had to assume the Westerners (Confederates?) were doing the same, and the Esemen too. There was little Regina could do about her enemies getting similar information from the merchants and others in the Empire. That only made protecting at least her court and the top echelons of the ministries and agencies she’d set up more important.
It was why she kept up with her screenings as best she could. Fortunately, June’s psychic training was finally making some progress and she’d hopefully be able to help eventually, too. For now, Regina tried to schedule meetings with pretty much everyone concerned and worked her way down the list, one awkward conversation-slash-test at a time. It was getting surprisingly repetitive and boring considering she was prying into people’s minds and innermost lives. Not that she should be gallivanting around in those figurative inner worlds out of curiosity.
Regina had already had a few people discreetly fired. So far, she hadn’t met any spies she would consider to be real problems, though. Maybe she needed to counter-check with more conventional methods.
“I truly doubt there are any hidden, high-level agents that have slipped through your net in the interrogations, Your Majesty,” Lord Daine said when she asked him about it, looking, and feeling, a bit uncomfortable.
“Is that because there are no such people or because they wouldn’t be here?”
“From what I can tell, stories of ‘super-spies’ are largely just stories, My Empress. Of course there are Classes and Class Skills that lend themselves to spy work, but hidden feats of daring and intrigue are rather less likely with them. They tend to be more practical. And any such spy would have certainly heard about your tests, and known to avoid them, giving up any chance to pursue a high position if necessary. Keeping one’s cover is generally preferable to running such a risk. I am not a psychic so I can’t speak to the efficacy of your methods in that regard, but I am sure the lady Madris has taught you well. And all of this is assuming our enemies would have gotten far enough to place a spy in an appropriate position at court, anyway, which, with all due humility, I doubt they would have managed.”
“Alright,” Regina nodded. “That brings us to your own efforts in the west and east, then.”
Daine frowned faintly. “Your Imperial Majesty, did you not want me to gather more information regarding the gnomes, in preparation for the upcoming peace negotiations?”
Regina shrugged. “I believe I have it in hand,” she said. “The situation is quite different. I think your skills are better used focusing on your networks in the human countries, we cannot afford to neglect them regardless of the gnomes.”
She wasn’t quite sure what Daine thought about that. She could have used her abilities to see, of course, but he would have noticed, and more importantly, she wasn’t going to try and read people’s thoughts for no good reason. He was calm and contemplative, anyway.
“I am at your disposal, Majesty,” he acknowledged. “Did you have specific concerns?”
“Is there news of John Cern?” she asked. Regina wasn’t really feeling concerned about him, but she figured she might as well be thorough.
“We know he is still in Leberg,” Daine reported. “He has been seen out and about several times. I’ve set a few people to watching him, so we should know if he makes any unusual movements or leaves the city. He is apparently hosted at a mansion in the city, but it is on the edge of the inner city and the house has stood empty for several years beforehand. It is a place to stash him and keep him in comfort, I think, but does not indicate they value his use very highly.”
So he was, if anything, more of a backup chess piece rather than a vital and key part of their plans. That would align with her expectations. Unless they just didn’t want to draw attention to him.
“We could demand his return,” Daine offered, seeming hesitant. “If he was charged with a crime, the crown could request his extradition to face justice.”
Regina hummed thoughtfully, but shook her head. “No, let’s not go there yet,” she said. “That would undoubtedly escalate the situation. If they refuse, we would need to answer in some way, but I really don’t want to bother with that. Let’s not alienate Liongen unnecessarily.”
“I concur, Your Majesty.”
“The rest of your report, Lord Daine?”
Regina had received him in a relatively private sitting room close to her office which had recently been renovated. It held a more comfortable atmosphere. And especially after verifying his motivations with her psychic abilities, she trusted Daine enough that she was willing to drop the mask a little. So Regina leaned back on her settee and closed her eyes for a moment while she listened to Daine speak.
There were a lot of details she probably didn’t need to know, although they might come in useful. Regina preferred to hear more details rather than too few, though. She considered what he told her about the Western Confederation. It was slowly growing closer together, as expected, the merchants had few complaints about prices, the planting had started and peasants were busy, the leaders were still bickering … anyone could have guessed that.
After Daine had finished, he fell silent and Regina drummed her fingers on the arm of the couch for a moment. “Do you have further information about that new Esemen ambassador?” she asked. “That strikes me as the most potentially concerning information.”
He shook his head. “Unfortunately not, My Empress. I will redouble my efforts, but it does not seem like much is known about his past, at least not publicly.”
“And this plan to build a new temple to the gods, is it connected?”
“The timing is suspicious, Your Imperial Majesty, but I have no proof of anything.”
“Then get that proof,” she said curtly, “if you can. I want to be kept apprised. It is a temple of many gods, you said?”
“Certainly more than two, perhaps all of the major gods,” Daine answered. “We are yet unsure which specific gods may be included. It may not be set in stone yet. They have spread news of this new temple widely, however. I would call it a prestige project. Perhaps even trying to elevate their new capital.”
Regina nodded, tugging on the arms of her jacket as she shifted to sit up a bit straighter. There might be nothing to worry about, it could just be a political prestige projects. Temples built by rulers often were, after all. Got to demonstrate piety and all that, and God forbid you do it by actually helping people.
Daine looked hesitant, but when he caught her gaze again, he spoke up. “Your Imperial Majesty, will we be building any such temples ourselves in the Empire?”
“Certainly not,” Regina snapped. Like hell am I going to build those gods any temples, she bit down on the words.
“Then perhaps any, ah, churches of an older faith?” Daine asked, looking even more uncertain.
Regina almost snapped at him again, but swallowed the urge. “It is unlikely,” she said in clipped tones.
She could practically see him evaluating her response. “I see. Then, is there anything else, My Empress?”
“No. You may go, attend to your duties,” she dismissed him.
Daine bowed and backed out of the room, and Regina plopped down on the couch again, laying an arm across her eyes and sighing to herself.