INTERLUDE: SHOCK AND AWE

The members of the Falcon tribe were still circling around the vicinity of our fleet and of the Isidus army, while we wait for the answer of their chief, Sekhte. However, I think I made it clear to her we won’t accept ‘no’ for an answer; after all, one signal was all it would take, and our bombs would go off once again.

“Human king,” the Isidus chief called out to me, “can you give us a moment to talk it over?”

“It’s not an issue, please go ahead,” I answered.

“Thank you,” Sekhte bowed for a bit and called the leaders of her army for an impromptu conference. Of course, we’d never put our guard down, so I had some of our Falcons buzz on them.

Now that our entire army and fleet was awakened, Chief Sekhte and her forces realized the futility of their position, should they try to resist. The Isidus elder, as well as her retinue, surrendered. I allowed her into our ship for further negotiations, welcome her and her men with cups of tea and snacks.

“I do not wish to fight you, human king,” she repeatedly professed. “I’m just obliged to do something because of our oath to the Foxes.”

“Yes, I know. And I assure you, we don’t want unnecessary murder as well,” I answered. “However, as the representative of the Beastman Queen—who rules at the great city of Malvette, I implore you to submit your people to her authority, and all will be well.”

The Isidus delegation then turned to themselves, muttering and nodding to each other. Perhaps they’re weighing in their options.

“Before we answer, what do you mean by ‘submit’?”

“It is what it is, Chief Sekhte. You and your people will not lay a hand against the Beastman Queen’s armies, nor show hostility to our kingdom and its people.”

“The Beastman Queen?” the Isidus chief was surprised, “You mean, there’s someone who rules over you?”

I nodded, “Her name’s Queen Ursura of the West Ursus. She’s the one who founded the united kingdom of the Beastmen and Humans of Cherwind; I’m just her assistant. And, as you can see, we strive to live in peace with each other—human and beastfolk—for the common good of this land.”

“Err…”

“What?”

“I’m just curious. You talk like the Beastman Queen isn’t your mate, and yet you’re her king. Is that even possible?”

“T-Trust me…” I subtly covered my face and hid my embarrassment, “…y-you don’t want to know.”

“Ooh…interesting! Well, you humans can be weird at times. Anyway, it’s the first time I learned of this ‘kingdom’ you speak of. For all I know, our saint Lady Ruro favors human ways over our culture, while Lady Konka is bent on establishing the superiority of our people over your race.”

“And may I know what is your own belief, Chief Sekhte?”

“Me?” she chuckled, “I don’t give a damn about them. Human or beastmen, if they do something bad to my kin, then I’ll make war against them. But, in any case, my people’s realm lies under the seas, so what happens on land rarely affects us. In all honesty, I just want the Isidus to be left alone in peace, that’s all.”

“Well, you’re in luck, for our kingdom would like to assure your peace.”

“I thought you wanted me to submit to your queen?”

“Part of submitting to her authority is that we’ll leave you alone in your realms; in exchange, we’d like to enter into a trade pact and a peace deal.”

“Oh? Am I hearing right? You want me to submit, and yet you’ll treat us as equals. Isn’t this contradicting?”

Hearing those words from her made me wonder of how the previous human leaders dealt with them, and Chief Sekhte had that kind of mindset. Well, as we didn’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past, I told her, “I’m not sure how the others treated you before, but in our kingdom, beastmen and humans are the same under the law.”

“And the terms if we submit?”

“The assured peace between our realms and the trade deal. Here’s what I propose: sell us your fishes, and we’ll barter you, our products. Also, don’t attack us, and we can provide you with knowledge in any matter that you like: human-beastmen medicine, literacy, and even military training. How’s that sound?”

An Isidus retainer of Chief Sekhte then whispered something to her, and they discussed something amongst themselves before turning back to me.

“Err…human king, please don’t be offended if I ask this, but what’s your goal? Honestly, your deal being presented to us will benefit us more than your side. We just can’t believe how magnanimous your offer is.”

“Yep, you’re right; I got something personal in mind about our deal,” I flashed a business-like smile at her. “That is, to unify Cherwind under one banner, and return to my land, Chersea.”

----------

“You surely impressed that fishie chief, huh?” Sir Loin told me the moment the Isidus returned to the sea, and allowed us to proceed.

“Hm? More like, I coerced her,” I replied, noting the Red Feather wings covering our fleet. “Of course, they saw with their own eyes how their ‘krakens’ simply got obliterated with impunity. It’s a big blow to their morale, you know?”

“Ah, the principle of ‘shock and awe’ tactic?”

I nodded.

“Ei, Kuro mah boy,” Sir Loin’s curiosity was clear in his voice, “Where did those Red Feathers come from? For all I know, everyone—save for us two—fell asleep.”

“Ah, them?” I snickered, “They are from the Avinus archipelago to the west, the No. 6 Falcon Wing.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Lady Sebastenerva had given me a warning about these guys shortly before we embarked,” I glanced at the azure sky, dotted occasionally by the clouds that I made. “So I asked Chief Malu to assign several of their scouts to follow us from the air. Well, I was expecting the Isidus to drill holes into our ships, so I tried to take countermeasures by installing armor plates in our ships’ hulls, as well as prepare some depth-charges and grenades that magically latch and explode on contact. Turns out, while the scenario I have in my mind didn’t happen, the plan is also effective against monster squids.”

“Oh, alright. I can now see why you created those clouds above us; I thought it’s all about providing shade for our army,” the parka guy turned his gaze upwards.

“That, and also to hide our scouts so the Isidus will attack.”

“What?”

I nodded back, “Got to make them think we’re weaker than we really are.”

“You got some balls of steel to allow these fishies to take the initiative. You could’ve got us all killed by that, Kuro mah boy.”

“Nah, that’s why we got our eyes up there. If the Isidus tried boarding our ships earlier, then the Falcons will attack them.”

“Yeah, attack…that came a bit late, no?” a wry smile appeared of the parka guy’s face.

“W-What’s important is that we’re alive, and the enemy is willing to negotiate.”

Sir Loin gave me a long stare, “You know, sometimes I’m lost as to how you think. Why do we even have to talk to these fishies in the first place?”

“Told ’ya before I’m aiming to unify Cherwind, right? If we just attempt to go past them, or attacked with our cannons, the Isidus will surely fight. However, if we create an opportunity to talk with these guys, we can convince them to side with us, which is better.”

“We could’ve sent in an envoy…”

“That could work if we’re dealing with humans. These are Beastfolk we’re talking here; they’d rather die than break the pacts they’ve made. So, I just gave them the chance to ‘lose’ with ‘dignity’. They fulfilled their obligations, and they get the opportunity to side with us. A win-win scenario, isn’t it?”

“Heh…and we also got our dinner.”

“Yeah, but first, we need to check out on the others,” I told him as I peeked on a nearby hourglass. “We have to get a move on with haste; I’d like to force the end of this conflict, the sooner the better for all of us.”