I have been trying to find out everything that I can about the snowlords and their abilities. It has not been as easy as I was hoping it to be. To the soldiers here the snowlords are something that they have never seen. The only thing that they know about them come from the nightmares of the survivors or from the drunken boasting of the nobles.

Neither is a really good source of information. So I am stuck trying to plan for something when I have no idea what the other side can do. It is at moments like this that I realise that I am a very creative man. I have quite a few tricks ready for them, even with my limited resources.

Regardless, I guess that I should be describing the snowlords as I see them at this moment. Their arrival onto the battlefield was very anticlimactic. I dont know what I was expecting to happen, but this was certainly not what I had expected.

They appeared like ghosts at the gate of the fortress. Well, that is what they must be thinking now as they are standing right next to the western gate. I have been tracking them for quite a while now. I was almost ready to crank up my ballista. I had almost done so too, if it were not for shamon stopping me at the last moment.

“Captain, the enemy is flying a flag of peace. You do not want to be attacking them with that flag.“, he spoke just as I was aiming the ballista.

“Why would I not be taking such a perfect opportunity to strike them.“, I reply. There is no way that they are going to be making peace deals with a person of the legion.

“It is a general enough convention. If you break this today, the little negotiation that we are able to do with the snowlords will also disappear. I don't know about the commander but every person in the frozen peak will curse you to death if that were to happen.“, he speaks.

“Fine, but just remember that no negotiation will be succesful. After all, I am surprised that they are already not attacking us like rabid beasts.“, I reply to the man as I stay my hand.

That is how we have ended up in the present situation. With the snowlords standing right at the gate. They are three snowlords standing at our gate. among them two do not seem to be particularly intimidating. Even their mana stores are comparable to me.

It is only one man that is the strong one in this bunch. He is roughly the size of a small hill and his entire body is covered in some kind of runic tattoos. None of them are active, but once that does happen he is going to be a pain to manage. Even without it, his mana output is particularly crazy.

As I am speaking this, shamon and his soldiers have been preparing to greet the snowlords into the fort. For this they even have a room, though it is not clean at all. That is why everybody is waiting for the soldiers to clean the place up. I can sense shamon rushing to the gate of the fort to open it up.

Normally it should be the commander of the fort that should be doing this task. In this case that would be me. I am not going to be taking such a risk. After all, if the bastards have come here with the express purpose of getting me killed there is no way that I am revealing myself.

This is the perfect trap, regardless of what shamon is willing to accept it. the man is pretty safe, if the snowlords even show the slightest intent of attacking the man, I am going to pepper them with the ballista.

Granted it is going to leave a few holes in the building but that is an acceptable loss isn't it. Right now, I am listening to them by strengthening my mana sense. It will leave me with a headache but what can I do.

“Greetings, snowlords.“, shamon speaks while opening up the gate to the fort. “For what purpose have you decided to come to our humble abode?“

“Your master seems to have a certain amount of spunk, to dare to intrude in our lands.“, it is the man that speaks, his voice strengthened with mana so that it is audible for everybody in the fort. “Come on out, you little spawn of sages. Just because you are not using the arts of your people, do you think that we will not be able to track you down.“

Well, I still am not making a move though the only reason for that is suspicion. There is no way in hell that I actually got that lucky now.

“I do not know what you mean, I am the commander of this fort and I have presented myself as is the tradition.“, Shamon spoke.

“Well, commander. We understand the mana signature of the sages and the touch that they have with their magic. Even now I can feel the bastards mana sense.“, the man spoke, his voice normal now.

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“Well, sage we are waiting down here. If you do not get your ass down here, I will be forced to tear down this work of yours.“, he screams again.

Well, again I find myself questioning if I should be going to the gate. for now, I think the prudent choice is to just go with the flow.

(After about a couple minutes.)

I have finally made my way to the gate. Normally I am much quicker about this but I am wary. Even right now my heart is beating like a drum.

Right now I am taking an absurd risk by coming here. If all of this was a clever ruse to get me away from the ballista then I am screwed. All of my mana reserves should be nearing the threshold value but that is a risk that I am not willing to take at this moment. Even a few more hours will be enough.

“for a sage I must admit that you are quite fit.“, the man spoke. In all of this while his two retainers have not spoken one word. “Regardless we are in snowwind territory and we will have to follow their traditions.“

Saying so the man begins to charge in. I turn to shamon behind me who only signs for me to wait. By the time I turn back to the man he is already entering deep into the fort.

I follow suit and soon enough we are in a room that has been cleaned up by the soldiers in a hurry. It is a kind of a massive guest room.

“Well, it is in no way comfortable, but at the very least it shall do. Sage, the bastards must be offering you quite the bit if you are willing to stay in this hellhole.“, the man speaks, her two servants behind her like a couple of ghosts.

“Well, sir....“, I begin.

“No need to break protocol now. Otherwise the bastards will begin to take it as an invitation to stab us in our back.“, he replies. “Any talk of business will have to be postponed till tomorrow.“

“My sir, what would be your name?“, I ask again.

“Well, I have no desire to fall victim to your magic, sage. I shall not be giving you the name of any person here.“, he replies with an air of finality.

With that, I leave the room about as confused as a man can be.

(After almost a couple of hours.)

Shamon has been rushing about the base for the last couple hours. The man has been trying to get a feast cooked and I have to admit that he has been more them exemplary at it. He has rounded up a few of the soldiers who seem to be good at cooking and opened up a random room full of food items.

I am surprised that the soldiers have not raided this pantry. The rations that they have here are filling but they are certainly not appetising.

I am in the kitchen at the moment salivating while smelling the food that is being made here. (What can I say, a man needs to eat sometimes.)

“Captain, we will not be getting to eat unless the guests have eaten.“, shamon speaks behind me.

“Well, I have come here to ask you how in hell are we suddenly feeding the snowlords?“, I ask.

“Well, captain. that is a question you will have to answer. Why are they suddenly thinking of you as a sage?“, he replies.

“I do have a bloodline of the sages, shamon. It is not activated so I can't use any of their abilities though.“, I reply. “As for why a sage is in the black mountain. That is a question that might get you killed. Now answer my question.“

“Well, we cannot just keep fighting with the snowlords all the time, captain. There have been years when we have had to negotiate with them as well to have them back off.“, he replies. “Due to that we do have protocols in place for when such a negotiation has to be done. I have to admit that I have never seen them followed though. The last time I heard it was done was ten years ago.“

“So what exactly am I supposed to be doing today?“, I ask the man.

“Today you have to do nothing, captain. Right now is the day of rest. Today they shall eat the feast and rest. Any and all business has to be left for tomorrow.“, he replies.

“isnt that kind of stupid?“, is my only reply.

“It might be, but this is how the nobles do it in our empire. It is meant to be a proof that neither side is going to be impulsive. The nobles believe that tired men are quick to fight.“, he replies. “Regardless, we cannot break protocol until they do. For now I would suggest that you return to the ballista. After all, if they do end up making a move that is the only thing that can hold them back.“

Saying that shamon essentially dismisses me to the tower. As I do so, I cannot help but think about the sages. Well, how do I describe sages to men that have never dealt with them. I think the best way to describe them is that they are men of every faction. The bastards are capable of selling the same spells to both sides of a war and do so in such a way that both sides have no option but to do so.

Their ability to do this is to a degree that even the black mountain will be able to learn lessons from them. After all, even we have quite a few enemies. One example is the tribes.

They deal with every faction in the continent. Part of the reason for this is that their services are nearly indespensible to everybody. Very few beings can beat a sage in terms of magic.

Even the black mountain with its massive reservoir of magic will struggle to compete with them sometimes. The keyword being sometimes. That is mainly due to their bloodline. The sages tend to have certain abilities present in them inherently that make magic come to them like it is their second nature.

As for how I am descended from a sage, that I will have to leave for some other day. It is a long and an annoying story to tell. All you need to know is that I am part of a group that is called as the “orphans of the legion”.

As for why the sages have a presence here at all. It is harder to find a place where they do not have a dealing with the local forces. I don't know why but the snowlords seem to be thinking that I am a sage.

I cannot imagine why they would have such a misunderstanding. All I can guess at this moment is that there seems to be a communication gap between the various snowlords. Otherwise, if they were to know of my allegiance with the legion, things are going to be quite crazy. Well, the only way that I will be finding this out is going through whatever negotiation is going to be occuring tomorrow.

The negotiation is going to fail ultimately but it is going to at least give me time and I get to do the only thing that is positive in this entire mess is that I get to play with my water spears.