Letting out a snort, Ventura retorted, “I’m not so sure about that. Frantz wasn’t destroyed, by the looks of it, but I heard they’ve effectively been vassalized.”
“Of course they were,” Elizabeta said coldly. “They lost a war.”
Maybe I should have made Frantz’s conditions a bit more favorable.
“Regardless, there is no bad blood between you and us at the moment,” she continued. “We can come together as equals. The same can’t be said of the Nyrnal Empire.”
“So it’s either you or the Nyrnals. We’ve been debating this very topic in our Senate meetings. Many of our countrymen have a strong anti-Nyrnal sentiment, but few senators are in favor of joining forces with you.”
I could understand that. They hated Nyrnal, but that in and of itself didn’t make the Arachnea much more of an appealing ally.
“Then perhaps I can persuade more of your fellows to support an alliance with the Arachnea. If I won’t do, my mistress may be able to convince them.”
“By your mistress, you’re referring to the Arachnea’s queen?”
“Indeed.”
If it would help cement this alliance, I was prepared to enter the Eastern Trade Union.
“I see. Yes, I believe that would be most beneficial. Emperor Maximillian asked that we allow him to station his army within our borders, but he never made that request directly. If the Arachnea’s queen will come in person, we will consider your offer more seriously.”
“You have our gratitude. Let us iron out the details of the upcoming negotiations, then.”
Thus, we’d decided to negotiate for an alliance with the Eastern Trade Union. The meeting would be held not here, in this brothel, but in a high-class hotel in Khalkha. There, I would meet Ventura and the other members of the Senate. After discussing some of the conditions, the senators would hold a vote.
I felt like things were going well.
The one term we couldn’t back down on was the Eastern Trade Union serving as our route into Nyrnal’s territory, but we could compromise on just about anything else. Having devoured most of the continent already, our faction was stocked to the brim with resources. There was no need for us to skimp out.
We’d seize the Eastern Trade Union at any cost, be it through bribery or seduction.
Who would handle seduction, though? I’m too tiny for that. Buxom as she is, Sérignan’s just too bashful.
♱
I crossed the border into the Eastern Trade Union with Sérignan, Lysa, and a Masquerade Swarm in tow. As was our usual tactic, we walked among the refugees before slipping away and heading for Khalkha.
Unsurprisingly, we were stopped by a guard outside the city. “Halt! The capital city of Khalkha is past here!”
“Could you take a look at this?” I asked, holding something up. Unfortunately for him, I had a surprise today.
His eyes grew wide as saucers. “M-My word, this is an entry permit from the chairman himself!”
“I take it we may enter, then?”
“Erm, yes, of course.” The Khalkha guard had a rather swift change of attitude. “Please, right through here. My apologies for the holdup, miss.”
Once we were inside the city walls, I handed the Masquerade Swarm a map.
“Go to this hotel, Maska. Here’s how you get there.”
“By your will, Your Majesty.”
Of course, specifying an address or giving them a map wasn’t necessary; I could have just transmitted the information through the collective consciousness. And yet, my habits from when I was a normal human still lingered; at times like this, I acted as I would have back in the real world.
I decided to make more use of the collective consciousness going forward. Even when I wasn’t going out of my way to do so, it still proved beneficial. While I was here in the Eastern Trade Union, for instance, I could keep up with the war situation in Schtraut in real time and instruct our forces directly. No other country could match the speed at which we exchanged information.
On the Schtraut front, Roland was making good use of the mountain road to overwhelm the Empire’s troops. The Swarm collapsed cliffs, set up ambushes, caused the road to crumble beneath the enemy’s feet—any possible way to impede Nyrnal’s army.
Still, something about this was worrisome. The Nyrnal forces along the Schtraut border were simply too small. They only had four, maybe five divisions, markedly fewer than what they had used to take over Maluk.
There were three possible explanations for that. They were either hiding additional soldiers from us, going through the elven forest, or shifting their main focus over to Frantz. Maximillian was a fearsome man, though, so he could’ve had an entirely different plan up his sleeve. If we didn’t regain the initiative in this war, it wouldn’t be long before the situation started going downhill.
“Aah, there it is.”
As I pondered the war situation, the hotel came into view.
“Let’s head inside,” I said. “This will decide the future.”
Can we win over the Eastern Trade Union or not? This is where my skills will be put to the test.
♱
We were led to a royal suite. As I opened the door, I found three people already sitting there. The only one I recognized was Ventura. Assuming the other two weren’t assassins, they must have been members of the Senate.
I introduced myself with the best smile I could manage so as to make a good first impression. “A pleasure to meet you all. I’m Grevillea, Queen of the Arachnea. This is my knight, Sérignan, and my guards, Lysa and Maska.”
“Hey, Keralt,” said the man I didn’t know, nudging the woman at his side. “Is that the monsters’ leader? I heard she was a queen, but she looks completely human. So do her guards.”
“As I reported, Konrad, the queen is a young woman who appears to be roughly fourteen,” she replied. “We don’t make mistakes. This is the Arachnea’s leader, the one who unites them. If you can’t accept that, you’re welcome to pretend this is all a dream, go back home, and crawl under the covers.”
To my surprise, they started bickering as soon as I’d introduced myself. Not very polite, as these things go. Of course, even without their introductions, I recognized their names. Konrad was the head of a mercenary company, and Keralt was the guildmaster of the Adventurers’ League.
“It’d only be polite to introduce yourselves, you two,” Ventura told them, perhaps seeing irritation in my eyes.