I smiled at the exchange. Loriel seemed slightly embarrassed. I had a feeling she did not have a lot of people who talked to her as equals. Teasing a transformation out of Loriel was something for later though. I had more questions first. “What do you know about the dwarves who will accompany us?”

Loriel seemed relieved with the change of topic. “I would consider the dwarfs to be trustworthy. They will stand by us if things go poorly. While I do expect the Empire to try to weaken our relationship I doubt they will succeed. As for their powers, the delegates are not warriors, except for Freyja. She could hold her own against any knight. In case of a conflict she would keep enemies away and allow us to focus on our magic. There is also Hilda among their guards. I am not sure how familiar you are with her but she is among the dwarven champions. Her exact powers are unknown but Bloodforge is more than her name. She can manipulate blood to a degree and use it to create weapons and armour.”

“That sounds good. Anyone else who could compete on our level? What about Elnora or any of your other guards?”

“They are more like our guards now, countess.” Loriel said with a smile. “None of them could compete with us. Elnora is stronger than most but not good enough for our league of power. She is also more focused on covert operations and not direct fighting. The guards will perform well against any normal soldiers but once again, we are out of their league.”

“What about Beravis?” Lucy asked. “They seemed rather confident on their own. What force did they bring?”

“Interestingly they did not bring anyone noteworthy. No, I should rephrase that. They did not bring anyone noteworthy that we can identify. Which likely means they have someone hidden. Their delegates are just diplomats and politicians. I would assume they brought one strong person who is hiding among their normal guards. Most likely someone capable of escaping in the worst case. Beravis has a complicated relationship with the Empire.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Complicated?” I asked. “The Empire wants to invade them, should they not be hostile in some way?”

“There are people in Beravis who dream of joining the Empire. One unified human nation. There are also people who fear the Dominion. We have a border and are stronger than they are. Despite the fact that we haven’t shown any aggression towards them, some people think it’s only a matter of time. Beravis has three major factions. The mercantiles want to trade peacefully with everyone. They think nobody would start a war if there is more profit in peace. Then there are the militarists. They believe Beravis needs to be strong to avoid conflicts. They also think everyone is out to get them, including the Dominion. Lastly we have the royalists. Despite the name they mostly care about power and not their own royal family. Some of them would gladly join the Empire to increase their influence.”

I pondered that. “So the militarists are aware that the Empire might invade them but distrust others too much to contemplate an alliance. They are interested in weakening the Empire though. The mercantiles will try to leverage the situation for better trade deals but will oppose any sanctions, probably. What will the royalists do?”

“That is hard to predict.” Loriel answered. “It will depend on what the Empire offers most likely. No matter how much some people in Beravis delude themselves the Empire wants to invade. The current situation will only delay the inevitable.”

“So the Empire will try to keep Beravis isolated. Offer a sweet deal to the merchants and bribe some royalists in the background. Then invade when their guard is down. It does seem rather predictable though.”

“People often act foolishly with little foresight. Or simply blinded by greed. Beravis would not be the first nation to fall like that.” Loriel shrugged. “Take our own people, most consider the Dominion untouchable. They don’t care what happens to Beravis since it’s not our problem. But once the Empire swallows our neighbour they will be at our doorstep. And much stronger.”

Ah, that was probably why Loriel was so invested in stopping the Empire. She realised that they would be a problem if left alone. And once they were big enough to be a direct threat it might be too late to stop it. Especially if they were working on a secret weapon.