CHAPTER 57

  PARV’S STANDING

  “Hey, what about food? Why are we back here?” Both Delimira and Hans were facing the dean’s door. “Grandpa is not quite fond of me these days,” Hans complained, but Delimira dragged him by the collars, and they were inside.

  “Teacher,” she went straight to Sierra while Hans scanned for his missing grandpa.

  “Any time, Deli!” He urged her to hurry, and she promptly returned with a communication orb in her hand.

  Hans pointed his hand forward, asking for the orb she held. “What now?” he said, “who do you want me to threaten?”

  “No one,” she shook her head while passing the orb. “I needed a secure line, so connect to Arat. I want to know his thoughts on something.”She asked.

  Hans didn’t ask why, only just drew Arat’s pattern in the orb, and the line got connected. “Ah! My prince, what can I do for you?” Arat responded from the other side. They hadn’t met for a while, and the old man seemed older to Hans.

  “You don’t look so good, Mr. PM,” he asked Arat.

  “Just a bit of stress,” Arat assured, “nothing this old man can’t handle.”

  Hans nodded and pointed at Delimira. “It’s not me but her, who wants to talk to you.”

  “Fine by me.” Arat politely nodded at her. So, miss Winters, how can this old man be of your help?” He asked.

  After she showed her monstrous form in glory wars. Everyone knew it wouldn’t take her long to reach the same height of strength as her father. They all wanted her to be on their side, and Arat wasn’t an exception.

  Zilong in the past dismissed Samson’s invitation and chose Clandor, a nation that didn’t want him, all because Aredhel wished for elves to accept him. Arat didn’t want to lose another potential powerhouse to others, so he was willing to fulfil any requests Delimira had.

  “Before anything else,” Delimira responded, “Can you tell us about the situation in Clandor?”

  “Isn’t asking your mother would give you answers, Miss Winters?” Arat questioned back.

  “In situations like these, usually the enemy knows about the hidden workings rather than some distant relative. Sir Arat.”

  Arat chuckled a little, her response was irrefutable. “You are right about that, Ms. Winters. Clandor is already divided by noble houses. The eastern nobles have submitted to the Council while the western Clandor is under the rule of royals. Light ambushes are common there, but a battle with some significant impact is yet to be seen. There was also some news about peace talks or the division of the nation into two, but Reina is quite opposed to it. She doesn’t even want a civil war. As for the division of eighteen mage towers, ten are supporting the Council since they fall in the eastern part. But the royal side has more allies, including the Alliance and the rest of the western nations. Dwarves and Indu chose to be neutral, and we… we haven’t decided what to do. Taking the council side is out of the question, and the royal…mm.. Let’s just say we are thinking.”

  “See, you obviously know more,” Delimira pointed, prompting Arat to smile back. But then she uttered the words which robbed Arat’s smug smile, “Queen Reina attempted to kill Hans in the Deadlands—

  “That crazy bitch is out of her mind, isn’t she?” Arat fumed. Earlier, he looked like he could die any moment, but the rage brought some lost vigour into his face.

  “Are you okay, My Prince? You didn’t get hurt or anything, right? Do you want me to stop… send someone… No! No!, I’m coming there right —

  “Easy there, mister PM, I’m not that weak. There is no need to fret this much.” Hans tried calming him down as he whispered to Delimira, “Hey! I thought we weren’t supposed to report this.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Delimira whispered back, “That changes because Clandor is inviting my mother back. And that proud duke of the Highborn family specifically asked for me. Something is not right, and I can’t pinpoint it.”

  Arat ranted some more about Reina, some innovative curse words included. Hans and Delimira, on the other hand, just listened to him without interruption. Finally, when he calmed down, Delimira asked him, “There is something I can’t understand.”

  She described, “Reina isn’t someone who takes risky chances. If she wanted him dead, there was no need to explain what would follow after Hans’s death.” She put her thoughts into words and asked what confused her, “But on the other hand, if she followed through with what she said, then the Council node would be framed, and you—”

  “And we probably rain our hatred on the Council. It was somewhat a good plan, a mediocre one at best.” Arat completed her sentence, and Delimira agreed.

  “So I was thinking, her real motive must be to let Hans escape and force Parv to take the side of the Council. This would’ve motivated the rest of the world to take the royal faction, right?”

  “No,” Arat denied quickly and explained, “You are still young, so I understand how you reached that conclusion. But I know that vile woman quite well; even her close confidante doesn’t know her real intentions. Answer me this first.” Arat asked calmly, “Who wins in a civil war?”

  “The side with the most supporters.” She answered logically. “Isn’t that right—

  “No winters.” Hans interjected, “No one wins in a civil war. Your nation just suffers while the crown changes.”

  “Exactly.” Arat felt proud hearing Hans’s answer. Controlling his emotions, he explained further. “A woman as fickle as Reina will never start the civil war. Because ultimately her nation’s power will diminish. But if war is inevitable, she would want to minimise the damage. Do you get it now?”

  “Let me confirm then,” Delimira reasoned, “what she wants is to take out Parv from this equation since Parv stepping in will increase the scale of this war.”

  “You catch on quickly. But that is not the complete answer either.” Arat cleared his throat, “Taking the council side is not an option for us, and we can’t just step in as royal allies. After all, she killed our king before and now she preyed on our last imperial. She not only wants Parv out of her damned war but to make us enemies. If we attack them right now, she would exercise her right to stop the civil war to defend against a foreign nation. That war would be nothing but a failure of some old elves who got greedy for power.”

  “So whether we fight or not. She had achieved her purpose.” Hans, who was silently observing the wits of the two, spoke. “I hate to say it, but she is impressive.”

  “Yeah, she is.” Delimira involuntarily nodded. She had never seen her get defeated in mind games, but Hans was thinking something else.

  “There are no eternal enemies and allies.” He quoted, “She wants Parv to stay out of it. I say let’s bulldoze our way in. We should do what she least think. Shake hands with the council.” He suggested.

  “Yes, there are no forever enemies. I said those words to you, and it is true for most cases, but not in this one. You see, our intelligence has found that there is a hidden support behind the council, our very own old friend Xandor, and I think Reina knows it too.”

  “That bastard just has to meddle,” Hans cursed aloud.

  “Yes,” Arat nodded, “Dijkstra has cornered their location around the eastern Clandor, the area currently ruled by the majority of Council members. As I’ve said, there are no eternal enemies. I guess Xandor and the Council think the same.”

  Delimira laughed at herself. She thought she had Reina figured out, but as her distant aunt once had said, she always thinks quite a step ahead of others.

  “But, Mister PM, Eclipse is on the side of the council. It is hidden information, right? How many people know about this?”

  “Some investigators of Parv, and as I’ve said, Reina surely does it too. She must have known before attacking you. After all, she wants us to stay away from their mess or create a bigger one. But I don’t think the rest of her allies know. We never heard a word from our spies.”

  “So, just forget that we know about Eclipse. It’s time for us to show we are not that competent, Mr. PM.” Hans’s smile turned vicious, and he demanded, “Sell every possible weapon to the council. They’ll buy it quickly, thinking we didn’t have the information about their silent partner.”

  “What do you want in return? Our weapons are quite expensive—”

  “A mage tower. That is the condition.” Hans grinned while both Arat and Delimira stared at them blankly.

  “It’s quite a ridiculous bargain, Prince Parv. They won’t agree to it—”

  “They will,” Hans was confident. “Since we will offer the same to the royal faction. So whoever agrees first will be the sole possessor of our weapons.” He turned to Arat, his grin overstretched, “And when you are forgetting about Eclipse on the council side, I’ll momentarily forget that Queen Reina tried to assassinate me.”

  “The royals will definitely not agree, and they’ll try to break the deal between the council and us.” Arat affirmed.

  “Yes, and that will pressure the council into selling their mage tower to us.” Hans turned shameless, “We’ll just apologise later that we didn’t know about Eclipse being the partner of the council. As compensation, we will join the royal faction. Reina played with my life to stop the weakening of her nation. I’ll show her that revenge is not about getting physical but about taking away what you hold precious.”