Ali was sitting in the big chair in the office of Cinder Castle. It was twice as large as Fort Stork with luxurious furniture and large glass windows that showed the bustling town of Obidos.
Fiona was sitting on a comfortable couch with her daughter sleeping soundly in her arms. Fiona was excited to live in Cinder Castle as the living conditions were better for her daughter than the fortress.
"Ready to start?", Miles's voice came from the mirror newly installed on the wall of the office.
"Yes", Fiona said, and Ali was tapping the desk with his index finger as he rested his chin on his right hand.
"Well, the town has been cleaned of all influential merchants with connections to IronPeak. Now the mines are complete under your control. All mined ores are waiting to be sent to IronPeak, and it will be the last shipment before the mines are reconstructed.", Miles reported.
"The merchants in IronPeak won't be happy with their pawns dying here…", Fiona commented.
"All the trade deals will have to be renegotiated too. The town is being underhanded in every deal", she added as she picked up papers from the desk and read through them. It showed the terrible state House Cinder had gone to in their last years.
"They will most likely refuse to negotiate and push the viscount to starting a war with us. Since if the viscount wins, then they could just keep it all without paying for anything, and as long as that is an option for them, negotiating is a waste of time", Fiona said, showing her brilliant political mind as she continued reading through the papers.
"I agree. Also, the adventures have reached IronPeak now. They should be spreading the news about us any second.", Miles said.
Ali listened to them speak without saying a word. He simply looked at the ceiling with his black eyes. In his mind, he was thinking of politics of a different world, Paradise to be exact.
'They will know of my dragons and a high chance my regeneration too. Also, if Miles is correct, then maybe I will have to truly go all out. After that, there will be no more guild members coming after me. Only apostles and guild leaders from now on…', Ali thought as he remembered Jacob's words when they were eating breakfast in Paradise.
"Ali, you should really consider becoming an apostle. I'll tell you a secret: no matter how weak an apostle is. Always be careful when an apostle is close to dying because that's when the gods get involved and you don't want to be anywhere near an apostle when they do.", Jacob told him.
"Ali…ALi", Fiona said out loud, taking him out of his thoughts. He looked down at her as she looked back with worried eyes. This wasn't a time for their leader to be distracted.
"Stall any deal from the merchants and do not give it much thought. Focus on Obidos and rebuilding the mines. We have at least a week until they start applying pressure: the merchants, adventure's guild, the church, and the Viscount. That is enough time for me to enter the city and weaken them all. If push comes to shove, I'll just kill every person of power in the city in one night", Ali said.
His words shocked Fiona, who couldn't believe the confidence with which Ali spoke about taking out the rulers of the city. IronPeak was a big city and full of powerhouses. The city was actually the biggest trade hub after the duke's city. It was even more profitable than the Earl's city because of the mines in the surrounding lands.
"Ali, it is not that simple. I don't doubt your ability to kill them, but the viscount is under the Earl, who's siding with the oldest son of the duke's family for the succession, while the other side has three other viscounts with them. If you attack the only viscount under the Earl, then his armies will knock on our door.", Fiona said, and Ali shook his head.
"You're underestimating the damage we can inflict on them, even the Earl," Miles said as suddenly the mirror turned into the entire map of the dukedom, fully detailed down to the last baron's territory.
Ali's land was surrounded by the land of the Earl's supporters; they could all collapse on him and decimate his land.
"I could reach the other viscounts in mere hours and offer an alliance in secret. Me and Ali can burn down all their towns and cities along with destroying any strategic infrastructure before they even knew what hit them. Ali's dragons can burn down towns by the dozen before they catch them, and I can make it so every time a lord closed their eyes to sleep, their bedroom exploded," Miles said as tens of red dots spread all over the map.
Fiona's eyes opened wide as she looked at the map, then Ali to confirm what Miles was saying. 'Just who are they?' she thought, realising that Miles alone was more of a problem than platinum-ranked adventurers. Both of them were more of a headache than a level five aura knight simply because of their reach and evasiveness.
"I understand," Fiona said. "So do you want me to put up a fake front of potential allies to the viscount? I'm sure he would appreciate your capabilities in war, Ali," she said, and Ali nodded.
"Fiona, all we need is time. As long as you can buy me time, then IronPeak will fall just like Obidos did. We will walk into the city through the front gates," Ali said, and Fiona nodded. She was already thinking of ideas to implement in this political mission.
"I have a suggestion," Fiona said, attracting Ali's attention.
"Go on," Ali said.
"The demi-humans, they're still in our forest, aren't they?" Fiona said, her eyes turning cold. That soft gold shine was no longer there.
"Why do you think so?" Ali asked, intrigued by her thought process.
"I know more than most about how dangerous the Forest of Beasts is. If they live in a camp, then they must have invested quite a bit of resources and hard work into shaping the forest so they could hide there. Most demi-humans breed once they set camp to increase their numbers fast as their children grow up faster than humans, and so they must be very hesitant to move until they see signs of danger close. Slavers or armies moving in the forest would push them to that extent. Of course, it's not 100% but a high chance this is the case," Fiona explained.
"It is the case, they're still there….", Ali told her and Fiona's eyes looked back at her daughter.
"Do we know where the camp is?", She asked as her voice turned colder.
"Yes", Ali said and Miles stayed quiet, leaving the matter to Ali.
"Then how about selling them out? That way, we can deal with the problem of their existence in your lands and we can make thousands of gold along with gaining the favour of powerful slave companies, slavers tend to have very deep connections with high society as they're the ones buying all the slaves," Fiona said, the venom and hatred in her tone obvious.
'She wants revenge', Ali thought looking at the widow who still cried every night thinking of her husband.
Fiona looked at Ali with her golden eyes. She was pleading him with her eyes to take up her offer…
"Fiona, I have plans for the demi-human camp.", Ali said to the woman who stood up with her baby in her arms.
"Ali, they killed my husband. They killed George who saved your life, remember?", Fiona said as she walked closer to the desk, looking down into Ali's black eyes.
"Your husband was a knight, was he not?", Ali stood up and walked to the widow, looking out at the town.
Fiona didn't answer and simply looked at his wide back.
"He killed husbands, fathers, sons…Just like every man who carried a sword. It's what we do, kill…", Ali said and Fiona's expression turned dark. She wasn't happy with Ali's words.
"That doesn't mean those who dared to attack me would escape their slow deaths; their fates were sealed the day they raised a sword at me.", Ali said and turned around, his black eyes locking onto her golden ones.
"Fiona, how and when they die is up to me; everything in this land is up to me. EVERYTHING. This is the last time…", Ali raised his left hand and moved her brown hair behind her ear, his fingers holding her chin after. "You look at me like that", Ali said and his left eye turned completely black with black veins spreading all over the left side of his face. And his right eye turned into a frightening dragon's eye shining purple with a deep black slit in the middle focused on her.
Fiona felt fear creak into her bones as she looked at Ali's demonic eyes; she'd never in her life felt fear like this. She slowly nodded with Ali's left hand still holding her chin and his thumb moving over her soft cheek.
"Good", Ali said as he blinked and his eyes returned to normal. He looked down to Fiona's daughter who looked up at him with her big eyes. Ali moved his large index finger to her and the baby held onto his finger laughing while Ali moved his finger.
Fiona meanwhile was still looking at Ali; 'I was wrong about him, he is NOT human. But I'm trapped, he would not let leave with what I know.', that was her thought as her focus went to the door which opened after the maid outside knocked multiple times.
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