Dark Thoughts

Year 83 Month 11

“They want us to host their families...” 

“I recall we have answered that request before.” Jura frowned. “They are welcome as regular guests, but no special treatment. That means no ‘special area’ where existing New Freekan law does not apply to them.” 

“I understand, this time, it’s temporary, Counsel Jura. We can have a small area set up for all these royals outside New Freeka, a temporary camp for them. The royals will handle their own camps... It’s a united request from the envoys of the five countries. The heroes will destroy the demonic monster soon, and the royals will return back to their respective homes...”

“I’m afraid that still sounds like they want their own enclave. Honestly, it sounds like a no. But for you, I will consult Aeon for his views.” Jura answered to the councillor. 

“I have informed them that in no way this way affect New Freeka or Aeon’s sovereignty over this valley. The royals acknowledge they are here as guests... it’s just that they want to continue their life of privilege...”

Jura sighed. This was the 2nd time they asked. Or maybe it was the 3rd. Perhaps there are more instances where the request went through other channels. “TreeTree, what’s your view?”

“They are guests, nothing more. Follow the rules and they can stay. Behave improperly and they will feel my wrath. Whatever privilege granted is in a personal capacity, but not by law.”

The politics behind this request is frankly rather simple. Not all capitals have the kind of magical protection that some kingdoms do. Some of the older kingdoms like Barsoom have a wealth of inherited artifacts from heroes of a different era, and those artifacts power various shields and barrier magic. 

Survival. 

It strikes fear into the hearts of royals. The thought of dying in your own palace from a magical projectile from far away. 

Maybe it’s like us, someday, we will die to an asteroid we can do nothing about. 

“They are willing over backwards for your protection, TreeTree.” Jura explained. “Some of them are already here, secretly. I hear one of the young princes of Rajahskan is already living with one of the merchants here. ‘Smuggled’, I hear, since it doesn’t sound good to some nobles if the Princes are seen fleeing.”

Well, Ivy told me about some strange foreigners, escorted by a small group of knights. But I suppose they didn’t seem ‘dangerous’ to warrant any action. 

“Indeed. No unusual behavior detected, other than complaining about everything to the merchant. But it seems the prince’s minders are managing him. They have all been advised to remain within their respective premises.”

Well, I did say they could come if they could behave themselves. “They?”

Ivy then responded. “There is also a Princess and Prince from one of the Nung houses.” Ah, Nung. That country’s got a few ‘sub-kingdoms’ within a ‘kingdom’. Weird practice. Not too interested to find out more.

Jura frowned. “Looks like some of the earlier messages from the envoys have gotten out.”

“Who else?”

“A few princes and princesses, a Queen from one of the city states down south...” Jura explained. “Some Lords, Ladies and Dukes too. It’s quite a big list, apparently.”

Okay. I’m not exactly keen on hosting a ‘royal’ or ‘elite’ party, but my word is law, and I have said they are permitted to visit, so long as they do not do anything funny. 

“Trevor, hand over some of your tasks to Stratreegy. Stratreegy, we can hold off on the rod for now, since we already have one [Forest Rod]. Trevor, I want you to help Ivy with observation of the royals. I do not intend to have these royals prance about my valley like they own it.”

“Acknowledged.”

“So...?” Jura was oblivious about my conversation with Ivy and Trevor. “Do you think we should set up a special quarter for them? Some of the Councillors think that is a good choice.”

“That is special treatment. Let them find their own accommodation. I am not creating a special district, or allowing to have a special tent area just for royals. And there’s probably going to be a fight. They stay among us, and if they act up, I want the Order on them.”

It was then that there’s a knock on the door. “Counsel Jura, may I come in?” It’s Madeus.

“Sure.” 

Madeus looked uneasy. “Counsel Jura... I received a request from royal court of Barsoom.”

Jura frowned. He knew where this was going. “Oh? They survived the attack, I recall?”

“Indeed, but the ancient shield matrix of the grand palace will not be recharged within a week, it takes at least 2 months for that matrix to come up again. The royals now fear a second strike...”

“And they would like to be here...”

“It is as you say, Counsel. They... wish to hide it out until the heroes slay the demons.”

I am not quite keen on being the ‘swiss alpine hideout’ or the ‘nuclear bunker’ of the rich and powerful. Seriously. But then again, I also believe in the ‘free movement’ of living beings. After all, what are boundaries in nature? Animals roam the terrain all the time, and do lions bother about little rats moving into their realm? Do trees and forests care which animals hunt in their woods? So if these people come over like any other, I don’t believe in stopping them. I just won’t go out of my way to help. 

“Yes, temporary. Barsoom is greatly indebted after what we did for the young Princess a few years back, and they would like to offer various perks if we do protect them.”

“No special treatment, Madeus. If we take from Barsoom and do not take from the others, I do not think that is a fair trade. Nor is New Freeka in any kind of diplomatic arrangement with Barsoom, whether as an ally, or in a mutual defense pact.” Jura answered. “I believe TreeTree has similar views, but I’m afraid you will have to accommodate the Barsoom royals in your own quarters, or with any of your merchant friends. Or the hotels...”

Madeus sighed. “Ah... I was hoping to use the Order’s guesthouses...  with Oakwood Hotel gone, there’s really no place fit for royals in this town.”

“That would be us taking sides, Madeus. The councillors will use this against us, I am sure you understand.”

Madeus was silent for a moment, then he nodded. “I... I will relay the message.” He left.

Jura sighed. “I think Madeus got offered an amnesty of some kind. I think. But I do agree with your position. New Freeka’s position as a uniquely neutral place is made possible thanks to you, TreeTree. So the Order cannot be seen as taking sides, especially with a party that’s not formally allied with us. But perhaps, TreeTree, if any of this nations do want an alliance or treaty of some kind, would you consider it?”

“I would, but truly, it’s all about the terms.”

“With all the royals coming over, it might be a good time to talk about what would be a dealbreaker, and what’s a must have.” Jura asked, and then took out a notebook. “I am certain discussion about alliances would come up, and I’d have to do some... sensing of what the other kingdoms are willing to give.”

“I will refuse any alliance requiring me personally, to protect their lands. And I will not take part in any offensive war between kingdoms.” 

Hmm.. Actually, is that wise? Maybe I should ask the question to Jura instead.

“No. Ignore that. I do not want to be dragged into any conflict with other nations, or between nations. What kind of treaty will allow that?”

Jura tapped on the notebook. “Well, that rules out any ‘alliance’, or ‘mutual defense pact’, since being in a group means there are countries which are outside of a group, and a conflict will emerge one way or another, which, inevitably, you will get involved.”

“Oh.”

“We’ll just have to survive on our own, like we always have.” Jura smiled and happily sipped on his hot tea. There’s a cold wind blowing outside. Once again, winter comes far too quickly. “Honestly, I like it that way too.”

Hmm... that didn’t sound right. I do think making connections and alliances are a good thing, but I think my issue essentially is that... these nations... I don’t think I’ll ever be able to ‘rely’ on them. There’s something about alliances with nations that feel... fickle. These nations, with their millions of citizens and changing leaders, can I make a deal with them that would last hundreds of years? After all, it’d be a major waste of my personal time and energy if I ally with a nation that probably lasts only 10 years.

I think I would prefer individual deals, with powerful individuals who can hold up their end of the bargain, than with nations as a whole and the political complexity that entails.

Perhaps I should seek out other ‘spirits’, and make alliances with them instead? At the very least, as fellow long-lived beings, our arrangements would last... longer.

Does that make me ‘speciesist?” Or spiritist? Ah, I should really extend my trees to the Lilypod city... then I can talk to another spirit. Maybe other spirits have experiences on this matter?

Is there some ancient alliance of ancient spirits I can apply to?

---

“There are murmurs of unhappiness in the ground.” Trevor and Ivy reported. 

“Oh? So quickly?”

“These royals didn’t take long to make their displeasure apparent to their hosts, and their hosts are rattled and are now pressuring the councillors to do more to appease them.”

Ngeh. "Like what?"

"One of them wants to go hunting in the woods... and are requesting the councillors to permit them access."

Hmm. How should I handle this? Perhaps this is a good time to send some fear into the royals, else they would constantly badger them. 

"Well, if that Prince is up for it, let him into the woods. Let's see how he likes... ghosts." 

-

The heroes finally arrived.

“What? How’d a hotel like Oakwood just... vanish?” Harris grumbled. “And why are all the hotels so full?”

“You must be new here.” The innkeeper responded. “New Freeka’s the safest place in all of the central continent! Aeon, our great protector, blocked many, many shots from the vile, monstrous demons! Naturally, those who can afford it, want to be here! It’s safe, there’s secure food sources!”

“No wonder you look rich.” Becky frowned. “This is ridiculous.” 

“Ah... a safety premium is naturally to be expected. Did you think safety comes free?” The innkeeper laughed. Eh, I don’t recall charging that sort of taxes, but I guess I could consider it. A protection fee. But that makes me like those cheap gangsters that extorted money. But then again, that’s what the government does, right? It’s only ‘who’ and ‘how the ‘protection’ is charged. 

If I am the local government, then do I have that right? 

“Do we have to camp in this place?” 

“Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan. This sucks. I was sooooooo looking forward to meeting Lady Mika again. It’s so strange that she just... vanished.” Mirei kicked a pebble on the floor. There’s a lot of roots on the ground, and they formed into ‘steps’. 

“If you miss her so much, I hear she left some notes for the hospitality guild and the Valtrian Order. And the adventurers’ guild. Maybe you can check with them whether she left anything for you?” 

Harris nodded. “Okay. Let’s check with the adventurer’s guild first...” 

Indeed. Meela left them a note. I wonder what it says. 

“Huh, she had to move north because of some personal commitments...” 

“Really? So sudden? And how does she even move north with so many demons? Did she mean north of this continent, or north... where?”

“I don’t know. She didn’t say. But she did leave some instructions.” The 3 heroes walked to one of the Treefolk’s wooden homes.

“Ah, you must be the chaps Lady Mika asked me to host. Come in, come in.” An aged treefolk female greeted them. She was one of Meela’s former employees. She let them into her house, a small place in one quiet corner of New Freeka’s bustling town. 

“Sorry for bothering you...”

“It’s fine, Lady Mika left a bit of money for all the trouble. And here’s a box of things she wanted me to leave for you...”

A wooden box. It’s small, probably no bigger than a shoebox. 

“Oooo... fancy amulet!” Becky opened. “And books?” 

They opened it and started reading. And I cursed internally. I can’t read with [spirit vision].

-

They rested for a day. They went to the market the next day. 

“Where do we even start?” Becky looked a bit lost. 

“The merchants selling ores and stuff, at least.” Harris pointed and they walked over, glancing at the things. 

“Crystals, right?” Mirei seemed equally puzzled. The merchant said the price and the three heroes glanced at each other. “Discount?” 

They haggled. 

And eventually they bought some. And then they went to one of the many blacksmiths and forges. And rented one of furnaces. They spent a good four-five hours in there, seemingly trying to work at the crystal and use their star-mana.

I overheard them complain about how tiring it was, and eventually they emerged with a small crystal dagger. 

They admired their hard work for a bit, and then concluded that they all need to spend more time on their work.

Then, we all sensed it. A shot from the demonic supercannon.

At me. At them. 

They ran out of the furnace, but they were too slow. 

But I wasn’t taking chances. 5 [steelwood barriers] emerged midair, suspended and supported by roots and vines. And it absorbed the shot easily, crushing the first 4 barriers as expected. 

Then the demonic supercannon fired again.

And I blocked.

And another shot.

I blocked it too. I wasn’t going to let the shot ruin my beautiful, growing valley of giant trees.

Then, it was quiet. Harris, Becky and Mirei all shared glances. 

“First time?” Some passerby asked, he’s probably oblivious they are heroes. Then again, it’s not like they publicly declare they are heroes. 

The three didn’t reply.

“Yeah. Those loud booms are scary, but it happened a few times already.” The pedestrian shrugged. “Anyway, don’t block the road?”

The three quickly shuffled out of the way. The three of them look at each other. “Guess we know where to put our first tower.”

“Agree.” 

The three walked to the Valtrian Order’s premises... and they bumped into Lausanne. 

“Oh Lady Lausanne, nice to see you again.” Lausanne was similarly equipped for war. Her new living weapon now about level 15 or so. 

Lausanne just nodded. “Hi. Rematch?” 

“Ah... not today. We’d like to meet Counsel Jura. We were told that Counsel Jura can assist us if we want to place an object in New Freeka...”

“By who?” Lausanne led them to Jura’s main office. 

“Oh... Lady Mika.”

And they are in Jura’s room. 

“Pleased to meet you, Counsel Jura.” The three bowed. “We’re the summoned heroes... from the other world. We’d like the Order and Aeon’s permission to deploy a magical artifact, a tower that restores [message] to the region...”

“Can I see the artifact?”

Becky walked over and passed the small gem to Jura. Jura looked at it, and then placed it into a circular bowl that’s actually connected to   [magic lab] for analysis. 

[Analysing...]

The analysis wasn’t very useful, since my [magic lab] didn’t seem to be able to look very deeply into the composition of the item. Indeed, it looks to be magically linked to the heroes, in from what little I could see, the heroes can take down the towers once they don’t need it. 

It’s... surprisingly similar to a [subsidiary tree] in theory. In short, my understanding seems to be that, the heroes have these ‘towers’, they act as ‘extensions’ of themselves, and like [subsidiary trees], these towers function primarily to ‘create’ a magical lighthouse for [message] spells.

“What else does it do, other that restore [message]? Does it allow you to filter through the messages?” Jura asked. If we are to depend on the heroes’ infrastructure for communication, does that not mean we owe them? Is that why there’s all these concerns over network infrastructure providers.

Then again, it’s a short-term thing. While I could use my network of [subsidiary trees] to monitor my domain, restoring the [message] network means a return of the trade routes, which is important to get the materials needed for my subordinates’ upgrades.

“Aeon’s agreeable, but only until the death of the demon king. After that, he may decide to destroy the tower.”

“That’s acceptable to us. Can Aeon shield it from the demon’s attacks?”

“He... will try.”

“Good enough. Where should we put it?”

“In the town square.”

The telco tower deployed, it’s a white crystalline tower about four stories high and shone like with a faint white glow that’s unmistakable, visible even in my own [spirit vision]...

And it was then it occurred to me.

Did the demons have some kind of [spirit vision], but tuned to heroes instead? Perhaps it’s like how vision is different for animals and humans, because of the spectrum we see.

The heroes sent a message to Astra as a test and they left two days later.

Year 83 Month 12

Despite the raging winter, the heroes still pressed on. Together with their summoned armies, they mounted an attack on the supercannon. And the supercannon annihilated their summoned armies easily. They were then forced to retreat. 

At this point, I’m tempted to ask... how’d they think it’d go? 

It’s winter, where, strangely, demons suffer none of the challenges of winter, and yet the mortal defenders of the world suffer all of it. Cold, slower response times, and well, their summoned units are immune to cold, but seriously, did they think that cannon that shoots across the continent can’t aim at their armies?

“That was stupid.” The three looked at each other. 

“I know, but you said we should.”

“I blame all the people we’ve been meeting, telling us we should kill the demon beast as soon as possible.”

“Why’d we do it?”

“Because we all somehow agreed to?”

The advantages of a summoned army is that well, once your mana returns, you can just summon more. And that’s what they did to hold the ‘chasing’ demons back. 

There were plenty. 

Demonic generals or elites wielding massive axes. It’s the best opponent, because they can gain levels from them.

If I were the demon king, what would I have done?

In a way, I should ignore the heroes? And just keep attacking all the kingdoms with conventional demonoids, such that the heroes gradually lose the ability to find any kind of shelter, food source, learning, or support and healing? 

Or is better to concentrate all my energies and create super-demons, and just attack once. When the heroes are low leveled, and kill them all? 

One super-demon, and that’s it. No subordinates or walkers, since they gain levels by killing them. 

Why give them the chance to gain levels?