Chapter 294: Missed Target
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
I received the Tark Republic’s undead envoy group in an empty clearing outside the Forest of Dreams. In many cases, diplomatic envoy groups were no different from spies scouting out information. Even if many things weren’t considered top secret, I still didn’t want to show them to the Tark Republic.
“…Halu the Twelfth? What a strange name.”
“Your Majesty, we possess our very own naming system. Perhaps other species consider our names strange, but to us, they represent our entire lives.”
The main envoy was a vampire marquis. Tall, white, and handsome, he was clad in ancient black ceremonial attire and held a black staff in his hands. He slowly yet clearly articulated each sentence in a logical manner, although his speech was somewhat archaic with an ancient accent. Despite his young appearance, he resembled an old-fashioned aristocrat.
As for him calling me “Your Majesty,” that was without any formality at all. It was just the typical way the undead respected SemiGod undead… it would seem that they had long since known the fact that I was Yongye. Actually, I had already resolved myself to this as some things were impossible to conceal from everyone. If I was an Undead Emperor exiled from the mortal plane, I would have been really interested in the only new Undead Emperor to arise in this recent generation, thinking of every method I could to obtain all possible information on him.
Although he was quite deep in enemy territory and surrounded on all sides, the envoy, Halu the Twelfth, was quite gracious and seemed to be an experienced diplomat. With warm passion in his seriousness, his behavior revealed an elegance that only time and accumulated experience could have given him. In fact, there was nothing wrong with his manners, and perhaps we were the ones being a little rude, as we didn’t even invite him inside the forest and had casually found him a small wooden stool for him to sit on.
“Let’s get to the point. What are you here for? I don’t have the time to be playing word games with you.”
In spite of my bluntness, this vampire marquis undead—who was, at the minimum, at the Saint rank—maintained his smile as he shook his head slightly.
“Of course, we would not waste Your Majesty’s time with trifling matters. My main purpose on this very day, apart from presenting you the greetings from the other Undead Emperors, was, in sooth, a small matter that I would like to ask Lady Gria …”
Not me, but Gria? I had pretty much guessed at what they wanted. And the next moment when Halu stated his goal, my prediction was proven correct.
“You want to ally with the Xiluo Empire?”
Since the Xiluo Empire was an undead country like the Tark Republic, in a way they were the only possible ally for the Tark Republic in the entire world.
Also, don’t judge Gria by how unreliable she seemed when she was with me. As the former Fourth Senator, in a situation where the First and Second Senators had been deposed and the Third Senator Harloys was “missing,” Gria was indeed the number-one ranked individual under Omar. Even Lionheart, the current Xiluo Empire’s prime minister, would have to respect her opinions on every matter.
When I turned around to look at Gria who was standing beside me, she cast a casual glance in my direction before faintly lowering her head. She remained behind me, and this was an obvious indication of her giving me the right to answer for her.
“It’s even better to be able to discuss this personally with you.” Halu’s elegant smile remained unflustered upon seeing this. Not even a hint of surprise showed upon his face, as if he had long since guessed at this outcome.
Well, his tricks didn’t need to be stated out loud. In a way, the Xiluo Empire had already become one of the most important parts of the future Mist Alliance, and any perceptive individual would be able to figure out who really was behind the Mist Alliance.
But, from a certain standpoint, this was also a standard diplomatic tactic, to test whether the Xiluo Empire was still under Emperor Yongye’s control. In front of such a sly veteran diplomat, Gria had instantly revealed the truth that I was still in charge as she was used to only thinking about combat matters.
“Alliance? Do you really think it’s possible?”
It had been quite difficult for me to get the other Northlands countries to begin accepting the Xiluo Empire. However, the Tark Republic, which was invading the mortal plane, was basically the enemy of every single country in Eich. The moment the Xiluo Empire allied with the Tark Republic, Xiluo would likely be viewed as the same as the Tark Republic, which would waste all of my previous efforts.
“As ancient undead who haven’t been back to their homeland for a long while, we find it quite fortunate that we have been able to see another undead country in our original home of the mortal plane. We’re even more delighted to see that the Xiluo Empire’s citizens have achieved a peaceful relationship with the living. We understand that your country hasn’t had it easy in a world filled with enemies, but, at the very least, allow us to express our friendliness to plant a seed of opportunity for the future.”
His words were rather roundabout and slightly difficult to understand, but to express it in an easier manner, he was basically saying “Even if we can’t become official allies now due to the circumstances, we’re simply here to express our friendship, and we just want to improve our relationship.”
It would seem that Halu was indeed an expert diplomat. From the very start, he didn’t say anything useless like, “We promise to not attack the wood spirits,” or something as foolish like, “We’ll pretend that Emperor Aso’s death didn’t happen.” Instead, he had jumped directly to the main topic.
His directness and sincerity had actually given me a good first impression. After all, due to the unique and unavoidable geography of this region, the conflict between wood spirits and the undead was practically unavoidable. Not to mention, Emperor Aso’s death would definitely be no small ignorable matter for the Tark Republic, and it would only be natural to blame us for it.
Since the conflict between both sides was unavoidable, with battle the only result in the future, saying something so obviously fake like, “We won’t have any conflicts anymore,” would be nothing more than an insult to both sides’ intelligence. Unfortunately, many of this generation’s diplomats liked to pretend to be fancy with their words, saying only pretty words they felt their targets wanted to hear. Not only would they be unable to fool their targets, they would be all the more despised.
But, if it was only to express their friendliness, there would have been no need for this vampire marquis to personally come here. I didn’t pry and merely sat there quietly, sipping my tea and waiting for him to speak up.
Finally, Halu was unable to wait any longer, and his tone contained disgust and absolute loathing as he spoke again.
“…Gricasio—as long as we obtain his head, the Tark Republic is willing to pay a large price. We’re even willing to give up on this forest and the entire surrounding area.”
Alright then, I should have already guessed it. This was the critical point that Halu was here for.
I could understand the Tark Republic’s anger. Emperor Aso’s choice to sacrifice himself for the sake of the Tark Republic when facing a powerful enemy would be considered a warrior’s honor. Insulting the powerful enemy would be the same as insulting Aso himself so Halu and the Tark Republic were still able to respect me even if we were enemies. However, there was one type of individual that would never be forgiven—traitors!
Gricasio had already received generous gifts of knowledge from all the Undead Emperors which helped him get much closer to reaching SemiGod rank, but this meant that Gricasio had to help the Undead Emperors in turn. Not only that, the Undead Emperors hadn’t placed many restrictions on him, mostly due to their trust in his power.
Undead were undead because of their stubbornness, and top-level undead all had their own pride. Their power levels acted as the best name cards and self-introductions; the stubborn top-level undead all had their own pride and self-respect. SemiGod undead might be insane, foolish, and deceitful, but it was impossible for a top-level undead to not have their pride and basic morals. From a certain standpoint, this was considered as common sense by all undead.
However, they just happened to meet an exception… Perhaps Gricasio’s stubbornness that was keeping him alive was his desire to never die. As long as he could continue living, he was willing to do anything, no matter how shameless.
Even though Halu’s request sounded quite reasonable, I didn’t even consider it, shaking my head directly in refusal. I didn’t even need to consider this matter.
Halu nodded. He seemed to have expected this answer.
“We can understand your desire to protect him. Please inform Gricasio that we consider him our mortal enemy, and the day he leaves this forest is the day of his death.”
Halu’s meaning was quite obvious. While it wasn’t at the extent of declaring all-out war against us, the moment Gricasio appeared, there would be a major attack targeting him. And, in order to deal with a Myth-ranked Immemorial Bone Dragon like Gricasio, the Tark Republic undead had likely prepared themselves for paying a huge price.
“You won’t be able to achieve your desire here.”
“Hmph, Your Majesty should not underestimate our determination to take revenge for Emperor Aso—”
However, I rudely interrupted him halfway through his little speech. After all, no matter what he said or how movingly they swore revenge, it was all meaningless.
“Your declaration to kill him for certain has already failed. It’s not that I want to protect him, it’s because he’s not even in the Forest of Dreams!”
Alright then, Halu’s handsome face instantly distorted upon hearing this. I felt that it was something quite new, seeing an undead astonished to the point where his chin bone fell off.
“How is that possible? He’s not under your protection? Where could he even go!?”
“No, no, you see, on that day he directly returned to Xiluo and even left a note for me. His note said, ‘Your Majesty, I’m suddenly having some stomach problems so please allow me to first return to the Xiluo Empire to await your good news.’ Hah! As if an undead would actually have a stomachache? Halu the Twelfth, I, too, want to kill off that sly old fox even more than you guys do. As long as you can catch him, feel free to do whatever you like with him without caring about me.”
How would a sly old fox like Gricasio possibly not know that the Tark Republic wouldn’t forgive him? And how could he possibly leave the matter of his own safety up to me? On the same day Aso had sacrificed himself, Gricasio had unhesitatingly left that note for me and left. In order to avoid being caught, a Myth-ranked Undead Lord Bone Dragon like him actually secretly swam underwater in the middle of the night in order to escape. It was incredibly shameless to the point of having no limits whatsoever.
As for whether or not he really returned to the Xiluo Empire? I figured that it was highly likely he had returned. After all, it was probably the safest place for him. A powerful faction would be the most beneficial for him, and he indeed counted as being part of my faction now. Of course, just like how things were in the past, he was one of my most untrustworthy subordinates—a complete summer soldier and sunshine patriot, [1] a perfect example of “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” [2] 1
“So, he escaped long ago, and everything you just said was meaningless.”
Alright then. At least it was fun to see Halu’s ugly expression as he left. Although I didn’t really know what to think of this entire diplomatic mission, in a way, now that the Tark Republic diplomatic envoy had left, that set the tone for the relationship between us.
At the very least, we would definitely remain enemies with the Tark Republic for quite some time to come.
After I watched Halu the Twelfth vanish from my sight, I received an unexpected group of visitors.
“They want to make use of our strength to protect them?”
The Veji Merchant Association’s group was still in Nightrain City. Due to our influence as well as the change in the overall situation, the Nightrain City dragon knights didn’t give them a hard time. Still, staying in an enemy country like this was an uncomfortable situation, which was why they asked to see if they could leave together with us through the dragon knights.
I hesitated for only a moment before I agreed. After all, this was nothing to us, and, perhaps, the Veji Merchant Association and those two mercenary groups would come in useful in the future. Besides, the work here at the Forest of Dreams was falling into place; it was almost at the point where I wasn’t needed here anymore. It was about time for me to leave.
Notes:
[1] ED/N: The terms “summer soldier and sunshine patriot” were used in “The American Crisis,” a series of articles/pamphlets written by Thomas Paine during the uncertain times of the American revolution (winter 1776). They refer to individuals who claim to fight against tyranny on the side of freedom, yet are unable to stick it out when the going gets tough or unfavorable. (Source: Urban Dictionary)
[2] ED/N: The original meaning of this saying is inspirational: “When the situation becomes difficult the strong will work harder to meet the challenge. They become determined and are willing to fight.” Often times it is used sarcastically, as it is used here, meaning “when the going gets tough” (when the situation becomes difficult), “the tough get going” (the ‘tough’ people ‘get going,’ i.e. they flee).