Another four days passed. Negotiations with the king came off without a hitch. The king of the Biheiril Kingdom had been terrified. He held himself like a king, but he watched my every word and gesture. Eris, Ruijerd, and Atofe’s presence had him jumpy. It was most obvious when he had to deal with Atofe. Hell, she made me jumpy. She was scary.
This is what the king said: All that had happened was that the Sword God and the North God had threatened him. He used a lot of pompous euphemisms, but that was his explanation. I had him remove all his rings and allow me to use the Stone of Absorption just in case, but it looked like Geese hadn’t changed places with him.
But Geese had been involved. We’d been conned.
In any case, after some hardball negotiating where I dropped the prisoner’s name, the king said that so long as we did something about the army on Ogre Island, he’d give full recognition to the Superd. It wasn’t like we were pressing for anything unreasonable like massive reparations or land. All we were asking was recognition for the people who’d lived in this land from the start, and who’d helped the kingdom.
On top of that, launching the hunting party, which had brought about our current situation, had been Geese acting on his own authority. I guess all the king could do was sigh and accept it.
I think the decisive factor was that if he turned down our request here, that would mean severing ties with the ogres. It would look like the Biheiril Kingdom was abandoning the ogre prisoners. This country relied on its close ties with the ogres, so cutting ties with them would spell its end.
✦ ✦ ✦
With the negotiations over, we made our way to the Third City of Heirelil. It was very far away, a port city from which you could faintly make out an island like a volcano. I would wait here while Sandor and Atofe went over to the island to negotiate, serving as my envoys to Ogre Island. I wanted to go too but ran up against the fact that the Version One couldn’t go on a boat. There weren’t any boats that could take its weight.
It was concluded that, since we didn’t know what the Ogre God would do, I should stick close to the Version One. If negotiations with the Ogre God went ahead without any issues and we freed the hostages on Ogre Island, our business in the Biheiril Kingdom would be concluded.
The Superd, by the way, had gotten permission to live away from the Ravine of the Earthwyrm, closer to the entrance to the forest. We still didn’t know what had caused the plague, but this ought to get it further away from them. Moving would take a bit of work, but my involvement there was concluded. Though I still couldn’t discard the possibility that, after everything, we’d end up fighting the Ogres…
The Sword God and the North God were gone. There had to be a chance we could win. Even if Geese was holding some of his forces in reserve, we could always return to the forest and regroup if things looked dicey.
I thought all this while at the top of a lighthouse, looking at the ocean with Eris and Ruijerd along as bodyguards.
It felt good to see the ocean after so long. It was broad and vast. The great field of water extended out under the clear sky, and across it, beyond the horizon, you could see an island. That was Ogre Island. Based on the name, I’d thought it might be ogre-shaped, but it was just a classic volcano island. A plume of smoke curled up from the mountain’s peak. From here, it seemed imposing and unsettling, but not sinister. It looked rustic, if anything, like some place that’d have hot springs. I guessed it was just called Ogre Island because the ogres lived there.
I hadn’t climbed a lighthouse just to stare at the ocean. No, I was looking for something. There was a lone boat approaching Ogre Island—the boat Atofe and Sandor were on. From the lighthouse, I would use the Eye of Distant Sight to keep an eye on the negotiations. If things went south, or the Ogre God started rampaging, or Geese popped up at the negotiation site, the idea was to blast our foes with large-scale magic from here.
It was a plan that could easily end up involving innocent ogres on Ogre Island and ruining our negotiations with the Biheiril Kingdom…but if Geese actually came, I’d fire.
“…Hey, Rudeus. Can you see them?”
“I can. Want me to describe it?”
“No need.”
With a wry smile at Eris, I resumed my surveillance. Using the Eye of Distant Sight, I could only see part of the island, the shore. People were gathered at a particularly easy-to-see spot there. That was our chosen negotiation site. On the shore, I spied one ogre far bigger than the others—Ogre God Marta. Nearby stood several ogres who looked like warriors. They must have fought a few battles because several of them were wrapped in bandages. Facing them, in black armor, was a group of creepy knights. They were Atofe’s personal guard. Moore was among them. Maybe they had a few injuries themselves, but from what I could see, they were unharmed. Sure enough, their strength was overwhelmingly superior to that of the ogre warriors. Still, things might go differently if Ogre God Marta joined the fight, but they had taken the villagers as hostages. His hands were tied. Behind Atofe’s personal guard I saw what had to be the hostages—around five ogre women and children, tied up. If fighting broke out, there would be casualties. This might get messy.
I watched, heart in my throat. When Atofe and Sandor arrived, half of the hostages were released immediately. The Ogre God and Sandor discussed something, then the gathering broke up. What they’d talked about, I didn’t know, but the Ogre God looked dejected. The biggest obstacle with the Eye of Distant Sight was that you couldn’t hear voices.