I handed over the hero bear to Princess Sherin, who immediately hugged it tightly. “Thank you! It’s so soft. I love it!”
Then she ran right over to her father to show off her new toy. I decided to reveal a little bit of what it could do.
“King Doma, I couldn’t resist adding some effects to that bear that protect the person carrying it. To make sure those abilities aren’t abused, I’ve made it so that only ‘cute girls’ can hold it. Please make sure that the people who care for your daughter understand that they won’t be able to take it away from her. Also, it has an extra feature that triggers whenever the holder is frightened, so please warn them about that as well.”
“Er, thank you for your consideration.”
After that, I told King Doma about the situation in Gunzverg, and mentioned that they would like to forge an amicable trade relationship. With my newly constructed trade routes, Doma was no longer isolated from the rest of the continent. I also told King Doma about the invitations I’d made to the other northern countries bordering the Grimwood while I was in Gunzverg. If everything went well, I’d soon be meeting with diplomatic envoys from all of them. It was exciting, but also a bit scary.
While I was in Doma, I got a chance to say hi to Gin, but he seemed to have a lot on his mind. I tried to ask him about it, but he didn’t want to open up, so I let it go. I hoped the people there weren’t bullying him. He was acting as an ambassador, but the people of Doma weren’t very experienced in foreign relations. Hopefully nobody caused an international incident.
Speaking of diplomatic envoys, once I returned from Doma, it didn’t really take long for the first one from the northern countries to show up. There were a bunch of meetings over the next few weeks, and they all went pretty much the same way. The envoy would show up, dressed in fancy noble clothes that looked way worse than pretty much anything in my wardrobe. Then we would talk for a little bit before eventually agreeing that I would fence off the section of the Grimwood that bordered their country in exchange for their country recognizing Grimwood as its own nation, and relinquishing any claim on the forest that their country had. The northern nations were all pretty eager to start cultivating the land near the forest, so the terms always ended up pretty favorable to me. The monsters meant they couldn’t really use the land in the forest, or even anywhere near it, so they weren’t really losing anything by letting me have it.
Once the terms were agreed to, I would have them point out their country on my map, then I would explain my plans for where I would place towers. Many of them had to bring a copy of my plans back home for their ruler to look at before I could actually get started, but that was understandable. Eventually, I had most of my nation’s northern border walled off—but there was one country that responded very differently.
“Rather than cede our territory to you, we would prefer to hire you to destroy the Lord of the Lake.”
I was speaking with an envoy from a western nation called Stanrus, which was known for its military prowess. I’d heard they routinely sent their soldiers into the Grimwood for training. Honestly, I wanted to try to get them to switch to training soldiers in my towers instead, and unfortunately for them, I also wanted to finish walling off the forest, and their country was the only one that didn’t voluntarily give up the part of the Grimwood it’d claimed.
“I’m afraid there are three reasons I must refuse,” I replied. “First, I have no real need for money. It’s true that I want to establish Grimwood as a trade hub, but that’s because it benefits me to have humans around. Second, I’m only negotiating out of kindness. If I wanted to, I could just wall off the Grimwood without your nation’s permission, and there would be next to nothing you could do about it. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I have no idea what this ‘Lord of the Lake’ you mentioned is, so I can’t say for certain that I could destroy it. That said, based on the strength of the rest of the creatures here, I doubt it would pose much of a problem.”
So I did kinda threaten to just go ahead and annex the Grimwood, but it wasn’t out of malice. I just wanted the envoy to better understand my position. I could tell he wasn’t expecting to be refused so thoroughly, since he seemed to be struggling to argue any further. I was meeting the guy in my throne room, sitting on my ultra comfy throne. There was a Faewolf lying on either side of my throne, and Team Apple was standing guard as well. I think a lot of envoys found this setup intimidating, but that seemed to help with negotiations, so I didn’t change it.
At last, the envoy seemed to regain his composure. “Shall I take that as your official response, then?”
“Don’t be so hasty. You see, I really do want to remain on good terms with my neighbors. Understanding what the other party wants is important in these sorts of talks. I only mentioned that I could just do whatever I want, not that I would. My offer is the same as ever: I’ll use my towers to wall off the Grimwood, and set up patrols to keep monsters from escaping. This should allow your citizens to live and farm closer to the Grimwood, resulting in better crop yields. I would also be prepared to create an alternate training facility for your troops, since I’ve heard they like to challenge themselves in the Grimwood. I believe that to be the best resolution.”
“I see,” said the envoy. “I shall return home for now, but I expect a resolution will not come easily. Our people have long sought to conquer the forest, and that desire is unlikely to change due to your arrival.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
That was how my first meeting with an envoy from Stanrus went. To be honest, it wasn’t a great start. I really didn’t want to create an antagonistic relationship, but I wasn’t just going to let them do whatever they wanted either. I hoped the next envoy would bring better news. But I wasn’t holding my breath.
✦ ✦ ✦
I had just returned from another successful expedition to the Grimwood. Overall, I was feeling pretty pleased with my performance on this trip. In battle, I felled three armed bears single-handedly, and my squad slew a gigant snake as well. All of them were useful for crafting armor, so we took the time to skin them and haul the materials back to town. Once we arrived, I headed straight for the throne room.
Father always loved to hear tales of my exploits. He was a true warrior, whose royal regalia included practical armor. Truly, I respected him more than any other man, which was why I was more than willing to abide by his declaration that he wouldn’t allow me to marry a man who couldn’t best him in combat. No way was I about to act all wifely for someone I respected less than my father.
When I entered the throne room, it looked as though father was in the middle of receiving a report from the guy we’d sent to the so-called “Queen of the Grimwood” to negotiate. The rest of the countries that bordered the Grimwood just gave up their territory like it was natural, but I’d been slaying monsters in that forest since I was twelve years old. I wasn’t about to just hand over our territory there without a fight.
“As it stands, she seems to have no intention of accepting our offer,” our envoy was saying. “If left to her own devices, she will likely wall off the Grimwood and dispatch the Lord of the Lake at her leisure.”
“Huh?!” I’d only heard the tail end of the report, but I couldn’t let that slide. “If anyone’s going to crush the Lord of the Lake, it’s gonna be me!” I insisted angrily. “Give the order, father, and I’ll tear the tongue out of its head.”
“Ah, Shildris, welcome home,” my father said. “You’ve come at a good time. What if we sent you to talk with this Grimwood girl, woman to woman? Maybe she’d be more receptive.”
Father was the same as ever: a mountain of a man with a bushy beard. His armor could hardly contain his bulging muscles, and his crown and scepter looked comically tiny next to him. He had a red mantle draped over him too, but that was as regal and kingly as he got—every once in a while, political envoys from other countries got confused and thought barbarians must have conquered the kingdom just before their visit. Father seemed to think I could succeed where this wormy little diplomat had failed.
“We don’t need some little girl’s help,” I argued. “I can kill the Lord of the Lake all by myself.”