The hexmountain treaty is the core of the present black mountain. The history of the treaty is a complicated mess about which I have no desire to get into. Honestly, a scholar would be better for this task rather than me. The treaty itself is a different matter. Now that is my bread and butter.
Made between nearly every power in this continent and the black mountain. the treaty at its core is an agreement that any magical ruin found on the continent is black mountain property. No third will conduct research into ruins (it is quite risky too, as the blown up temple shows). Any newly discovered ruins will be handed to the black mountain and their scholars.
In return for control of the ruin though, the faction that has granted the ruin can make a single request out of the black mountain. Most factions ask for spells or magical knowledge. Some ask for help in completing matters where they do not want to get involved( I will tell you about the fiery spring incident, though not now.). Some ask for help in defending a region from their enemies or other things. It is much rarer up here though. They are pretty self-sufficient up here. The snowwinders are the only exception to this rule.
The snowwind army runs and operates the frozen peak because of the snowlords. The snowlords are a tribe who make the northern wastelands their home. The only thing we know is that they are nomadic and have almost absolute control of mana in their homeland.
Every year at the onset of winter, the snowlords attack the snowwind empire. every year the snowwind army keeps them at bay at the frozen peak. Some say it is because of a historic grudge between the two forces. some say it is so that the snowlords can survive the winter. I feel it is somewhere in the middle of the above two. I don't know what is the truth but it does not change the fact that there is a conflict.
They would rather be sent a master of formations to bolster their defenses. Normally in this place, one of the captains of a more diplomatic nature is sent. They don't tend to have much combat ability. Most of them tend to remain in the frozen peak, acting as a house guest. Their job is to ensure that the black mountain remains in the mind of the snowwinders.
It is easy for Trevor to tell me to agree with everything that the commander says. The man does not have experience in this matter at least. he doesn't understand just how dangerous it can be for a formation mage on the front lines. I do not even have a proper defense squad guarding me. All I have are an old man and two rookie soldiers who have not even seen war properly (who also happened to be idiots.). It would be very easy to send me to my death and make it seem like an accident.
I am starting to wonder if I ended up offending somebody from the home office. Stephen, if you are reading this, I hope you understand that I was only teasing you when I was calling you a shorty. It is certainly not meant to be insulting. After all, why would I be insulting a person who would be getting me killed?
Right now I am sitting In the office of the commander. The anxiety to see what request Is going to be made of me today is killing me. I am not accepting this request if this guy does not provide me with a troop at the very least.
Trevor has tried to help me out as much as he can explaining the political situation of the frozen peak and its many factions. my summons to the commander happened almost an hour after Trevor began to speak to me on this topic. therefore the only thing that I got from this is that the frozen peak is a bit of an exception. Normally, they won't allow a commoner like the commander to take such a vital position. There are theories but we don't know why. It is still a good thing for me, nobles tend to be quite easy to provoke and are the source of half of their executions.
Looking at the room again, I am surprised by how simplistic it looks. On one wall to the side, we have a very old-looking map that seems to have been very well used. The map is useless anyways, it is what is written on it that matters. Other than that there is a table and a couple of chairs in the room. I guess a busy man like him does not mind that he is essentially sitting in a box. With no windows and no way to pass the time I would have lost my mind. I am getting anxious just waiting for the commander to make his way here already. Maybe that is part of the appeal to the commander.
I also had expected the room of the man who could cause me to enter such a panic at sight, to resemble the throne room of a king. Intimidation is a useful tool after all. His room is simple and practical and so anxiety inducing for the person who has to give a report here. Maybe I am looking at it wrong. If his presence is enough to scare a man, why should he waste time with the theatrics?
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(After a couple of minutes.)
“Commander, I salute you.“, I begin by saluting in the first place. I can see the commander enter the room from behind me from the edges of my sight. I steel myself. I will need to negotiate with the man even if his presence will cause me to pee my pants.
“Forget all of that, I find all those traditions very annoying. It is a reason that I have ended up here in this hellhole.“, the commander quickly takes his seat at the table. “Now I want to hear about that ship of yours. What kind of modifications have you done to the thing.“
“I do not understand what you mean, commander”, I ask, a bit confused. I cannot feel the impulse of fear that I felt the last time. Rather than comfort me this is increasing my sense of worry. Things are not going as expected. For now, I return my attention to the commander and his words.
“you don't need to act coy in front of me, kid, the black mountain is the only force in the continent capable of smuggling from us.", the commander spoke “You must be quite talented at formation manipulation for you to be able to make a steel arrow ship make its way to this place. It was one of our scrapped ship models. Something about the propulsion formation was the issue, if I remember right. I am certain you must have modified your ship somehow for it to make it here.“
“I did nothing like that, commander. I do specialize in the art of formation. I just optimized the formations of our ship to increase our speed.“, I reply. I wonder if I should just tell him how crappy the design of the ship was. Well, I think I shouldn't do that. I still need to be in their good books.
“Regardless, right now you are at the frozen peak to satisfy the conditions of the hexmountain treaty.“, the commander speaks, “in return for this protection and to grant you access to ruin number 32, you will need to complete a task for me. Are you willing to fulfill that task for me?"
“Yes commander, under the hexmountain treaty I am willing to fulfill your request.“ I reply, attempting to gauge the purpose of the man in front of me. These are formalities that are never followed. This is due to a particularly malicious rumor about the treaty, which claims that contract magic was involved in it. It is an unsubstantiated claim though. Devil magic leaves very clear signs on the people signing it.
“Well, I have no reason to make your work any harder, young captain. Therefore the task that I am giving you will be related to the very ruin that has brought you here. I will be able to explain this much better if you were to go to the map.“, the commander speaks, waving his hands causing the map to start glowing. I do not sense any mana fluctuations.
I go to the map. Getting closer the map is split into two parts, colored blue and green. (representing the snowlords and the snowwind empire, I have to assume.)
“The blue represents the territory that the snowlords have taken from us. the green represents us. Right now ruin no 32, is at this position.“, the commander speaks, as a grey dot appears on an edge at the border between the two colors. That certainly is not going to make my work any easier.
“The snowlords this year have been quite aggressive. this year they have managed to take nearly twice the territory that they normally manage to take. That means that while normally ruin 32 is safely in our territory, this time the ruin is almost at the border.“, the commander speaks. “Now, you are still not going to be facing the true force of our enemies. you shall be given control over the temporary fort that is presently being built in that region, along with the troops of that fort. You will also be provided with resources to create and maintain a class eight formation.“
The grey dot disappeared to show a glowing green circle that took the same place roughly. Based on the map I would have to assume that it is a pretty large area.
“The circle shows the region that the temporary fort that is supposed to be under your control. the temporary fort will also have the duty of protecting ruin 32. If any snowlords pass through this region under your control into the other regions, it will be considered to be a failure of your task. We will give you another task“, the commander continued “You can accept this task if you wish, but I have no way of getting you tasks that are safer or more relevant to the work that you have been sent here to do.“
Somehow, at this moment the man in front of me did not seem like the man that greeted me at the start of this trip. He seemed more like an ordinary man struggling to get his job completed. it would be wiser if I did not stay here for long. all imperials are worried about their image of being powerful being tarnished in any way. He might be one of the more reasonable but that does not change. They are capable of causing massacres too if you are not careful.
“Yes commander, I certainly do accept this task.“, I reply, trying to keep my satisfaction to come into my voice. There is no need to let the other side know how much he has ended up helping me. (Hey, that is not the case but at that moment I was imagining they would be making me into bait for the snowlords. This is better. Though me as bait is not a dumb idea.) “I shall leave for the fulfillment of my task immediately. What about access to the ruin?“
“You don't even need to ask young man, the team that is at the ruin is already expecting your teams. They will guide them in any matter that might cause an issue.“, the commander replies, waving his hand and causing the door to open suddenly “With that I have completed all the necessary formalities. I will ask that you leave the room for now."