"I welcome you." spoke Kuran as he stood up from his seat in the meeting hall. Right now all acting lords were gathered for a meeting. The Overlord had established that the lords meet up at least once a month to discuss the happenings of the kingdom and to bring suggestions about future endeavours.
While they had an unofficial one during the tournament, they still do the proper one now. However, it would be properly shortened due to the fact many factors were already talked about during the tournament.
"As we have talked and written letters about the recent events," continued Kuran, "And nothing of importance happened since the tournament, is there anything to add since then or ideas to bring forward?"
To which Arlene and Silver rose their arms. The Overlord looked at the two and gestured to them, "Ladies first."
The queen nodded and stood up, "Thank you my lord." was her reply. "I was recently getting reports about activities within the former lands of the deceased Lord Minus."
"Lord Minus Lands? You mean his mountain castles? Could it be raiders or bandits?" asked Lady Miona.
"I doubt that Lady Miona." countered Halbert as he took a sip of his wine. "Anything of worth was removed months ago, while for bandits it may offer great protection but the apparent weakness of the castles would have driven them off as soon as they appeared, leaving no report worthy activities."
"I agree." nodded Silver, "I was there once. Without constant supplies from either side of the castle, it is only a matter of time before they would either hunger or leave for more profitable grounds."
"So whoever is moving up there… has the means to support themselves..." mused the Overlord and looks at his lords, "Given that, I want that you send somebody to establish contact with the people there… and tell them that they should meet me to explain why they are in my country without giving me the courtesy to ask if they could have the castles up there."
"It will be done, my lord." said the queen with a bow and sat down again. Then Overlord Kuran looked at Silver and gestured to him to speak.
Giving a small bow Silver stood up and took a deep breath, "Queen Arlene, lords, ladies." he began, "During my studies about means of reaching the country that my wife told me about… I stumbled about something."
"Did you actually find a way to them?" laughed Halbert, as he had a hard time to take the young silver seriously upon a "strange land so far away east, that by ship it's faster than by land."
"No." admits Silver. "But I found something else." and then spreads his arms. "I have one question, my fellow lords. How many horses do we have?"
With that everybody was looking a bit ashamed. Which didn't surprise Kuran. In the war against the fifth Overlord, almost all horses living in this kingdom were killed… and the remaining ones, as far the former king could get the hands-on, were sold.
The amounts of horses are barely reaching a hundred. And those all were right now in the hands of breeders to get the number high enough as buying new horses was only a limited option. At the moment they could only afford ten new horses per year. Until there were enough horses to support the farmers, letting rich people have their own ones and of course having a proper non-minion cavalry would take decades… and until then any invasion from others with enough horsepower would be troublesome.
So what was Silver going for?
"To help us to get at least a proper Caverly again, I found a solution: I read a report of the lands of the Rimas."
"Those dessert guys?" asks Lady Capera, "They are a good tradingpost, though it takes nearly two weeks for any ship to get there. What is so interesting about them?"
To which Silver grinned, "Simple." and spread his arms, "They also have a breed of wolves at the size of horses. That's their cavalry. I propose that we make contact with them and either buy or rent enough of them to cover our lack of Caverly for the time being."
"Are you sure they would even consider that?" asks Kuran and leans back. "It sounds for me like a great asset that they wouldn't want to give away. In fact, I have heavy doubts they would be even interested to see us regarding this matter."
"That is why I propose that I travel to their lands and at least talk with representatives of them to find a basic understanding. I already prepared a letter asking for an audience, which only needs your approval and I would send it with a Skeith."
Leaning back, Overlord Kuran thought about it and nodded, "Well, it would never hurt to ask. If you succeed we get new assets. If not… well, we didn't lose anything, except for some time wasted on your side."
"I thank you, my lord." bowed the young lord with a smile, "I will later come to you to get your official stamp to legitimize me as your representative during those talks."
"Indeed!" nodded Kuran and stood up, "Now that this topic was covered: Does anybody else have to say anything?"
Silence. Nobody spoke a word. Which proves that no one has anything to add regarding the topic. Nodding satisfied he stood up, "Good. Then I can declare my intentions." and looks at his two mistresses who haven't spoken yet, despite their rank of ladies within his kingdom, "I am soon on a trip to visit with Lady Lehid the Skeiths to solve some political formalities. While Lehid won't travel with me until the last sections within the Skeith Forest, I am only available for part of a day until I reach the said forest. So if anything needs to reach my ear, you have to judge if it is worth taking my very limited time."
Everybody else nodded to that explanation, figuring that he needs his rests given how difficult it is supposed for a human to reach the Skeiths and getting their permission to even reach their political centre. Something that must be tiresome. So in their minds, they would make plans if they get something that would catch their attention.
"If nobody has added anything to this or have a sudden memory of something noteworthy, I end this meeting and dismiss you all."
With that, the lords began to leave while Lehid and Unor stood up and walked to their Overlord… both with a smirk on their faces that told him he won't have much sleep this night.
Overlord: Kingdoms's Rise
Laying on her couch, was Ayha viewing the orb of her sceptre, using a spell to view a few things. Sure, that kind of spell requires that she had seen the places beforehand but for her needs, it works.
As she watched it, she had a grin of amusement and wondered how Kuran would react once he learned that his researchers dug out ideas again. She shakes her head about this and then whispers another spell and the view of the orb changed, making her view a report from home.
"That little magic plate that allows me to see written reports from a distance was one of the biggest ideas those guys came up before I left for here." she mused loudly and flicked her tail and tilts her head, "Hmm… at least that works according to plan… but I do wonder. Why had none of my rivals caught hints to my plans? Or at least adepts of sabotage in a general way?" and she narrows her eyes.
While infighting on levels that personal harm is forbidden in her culture as the last time it happened nearly destroyed the entire government system, but still everyone with greater political interest tries to hinder or sabotage each other…
"Not a single activity against me for nearly a year?" she whispered to herself and tilted her head with narrowed eyes. "Why? I wasn't home for nearly as long and still not trying to get me off my seat? What is going on?"
And rose her from the couch and dismissed the spell while weighting her sceptre in her hands and thought carefully about her next step. "On the one hand, I should be glad that no motions against me are running… but given that I am notorious for my ploys one should think people would try to act against me." and she slithered around in the room. "While it saves my safeguards against those moves for better opportunities, it's still not good. A snake never sleeps."
She looked out of her window and looked at the lands in front of her view, still having thoughts about what to do about these events. Considering every move she could take. If she is rushing without much thought, she could trigger events that might cause chaos or worse end her political career. However, if she isn't doing anything, she might be caught off guard by whatever any of her rivals might try to pull in her absence.
Then she tilts her head and given that she only has the support of the Overlord as long she can be of use to him, she decides to play it safe. "Time to pull some of the weaker strings to see if anything IS going on." and rose her sceptre, speaking a number of words to make contact with home.
Overlord: Kingdom's Rise
Entering a tavern, Sunkren heads straight towards the owner of the tavern who was busy cleaning a glass. Upon noticing the succubus the bar owner placed the glass on the table "Well well. What is a succubus of your liege doing here in my tavern?"
"Hello, Saraquiel. How is running your Tavern in a nameless town in this obscure kingdom doing?"
"Doing well. Though I wonder… why are you here? And not with your Overlord? After all his kingdom is on the other end of the world." Saraquiel grinned to the succubus while starting to mix a drink, "Well?"
"I am following a clue… A demon told a human info he couldn't gain otherwise for his tasks. That allowed him a few things that made life more difficult. Now given he claims that this demon got the info from an angel, this either means a god is breaking the rules or it was one of the fallen or rogue ones."
"And what tells you that the angel wasn't sent according to the rules?" mused Saraquiel while pouring in two glasses of the mix she made and placed one in front of Sunkren while taking one for herself.
"Please." chuckled Sunkren while taking the glass and taking a sip of it, "I know the rules thanks to my position as a Priest, even if my priesthood involves an abyss lord. And you as a rogue angel knows the rules as well." and took another sip.
"Touche." and took a heavy gulp of the drink and nods, "The current Overlord isn't considered a big enough threat at the moment that warrants divine intervention by sending an angel to anybody... not even to a demon." and then waves a bit with the glass with a deep thought, "I take the human was the infamous Frederick Steadfast?"
"Yes, it was him. But...infamous? Did I miss something?" wondered Sunkren and nibbled on the glass a bit.
To which the rogue angel nods, "You know which god he is praying to?"
"The Light Goddess Tapil, why?" wondered Sunkren
To which Saraquiel laughed loudly, "You did really miss something then. From what I learned, Tapil was less than happy with Frederick beforehand and the church he belonged to. They twisted her teachings badly and they even brought sacrifices to her. Mostly non-human but she is still upset about it. After all, she never said non-human beings are less worthy. In fact, she makes a point that all sentient beings are to be treated the same. Except for Underworld creatures. They had to be killed. But that point is a formal thing for her to say as she is a light goddess. But any religion that also keeps attention to her brother, the dark god Aziel knows: Not all creatures are bad. Some are just more likely to tend to good or bad, depending on the moral view."
"I bet Aziel found Fredericks antics amusing?"
"Not really." the angel shakes their head, "It seems Fredericks was nearly causing the twins to break the rules and smite them with an artefact they created together millennia ago. Especially after this human sacrifice. Neither god even permits them."
That caught Sunkrens attention "That's… odd. I can understand that Tapil was pissed. But why Aziel?"
"Honestly: I don't know. I mean every god is wondering why Aziel let Gnarl choose a new master that soon. And not the 20 to 50 years as usual. Last time it was a gambit of the second Overlord, so Aziel let it happen for his amusement. But this time? Only he knows.
"I think no one, except his sister, can claim to understand the creator of the Minions and subsequent the creator of the Dark Masters." accepts Sunkren and finishes her drink, "However I am not here to talk about the gods. I want to know who informed Frederick where to find something belonging to the Overlord, so he could sell it to one of the remaining heroes."
"That's something. I can tell you a few names where the info COULD come from. For the info broker self, I need some digging."
"How long?" asks Sunkren
"Give me two weeks." said the Angel, "And for my payment." she began to grin and moved to Sunkrens ear, whispering something in. Which makes the succubus grin.
Leaning back a little the demoness mused, "That is big. And if things go as I suspect, it will be hard to get you there. But if you get everything I want or more, I will pull every string necessary to give you what you want."
"Thanks!" smirks Saraquiel and poured each of their glasses and they rose it and said together, "To a good business." and emptied them in one go, both grinning at each other.
Overlord: Kingdom's Rise
Inside a tavern, a man came in, covered in robes and the face hidden by a hood. His gaze moved over the guests of this tavern and he found what he was looking for. Slowly moving over, he sat down on a table and a pair of Yellow eyes looked at the man.
"What do you want, human?" asks a female voice, the owner of the Yellow eyes.
"Are you Siltra, leader of the Bahamut Mercenaries?" he asks.
The female leaned forward and a reptile head with a purple body and silver stripes and hair grinned at the man, "That's right. I am Siltra. So tell me! Why are you here, and dared to sit at my table?" while two others came to the table. Two armoured warriors with their weapons ready to be pulled. A clear sign that those two belongs to the mercenary band.
Not the slightest affected of this show, the man continued, "I am here to call upon your services. If you accept, I will give you the double of your usual payment. Half in advance, the other half upon delivery."
That causes Siltras eyes to widen and the two warriors to step back in surprise. "Double our usual payment? What kind of hell job are you asking for?" and rose on her feet while slamming her hands on the table, "Because it is so dangerous that others have declined it, or you want something very desperate?!"
"It is the latter case." he admits, "I want you to capture somebody who avoided my hold too long. I know now where to find her. But if I even come close to her current location, she will properly run away without the ship."
"Then how do you know she wouldn't run if we appear?" asks Siltra with narrowed eyes. "Or that the person you hunt will stay that long. Especially as you just said she got a ship."
"From the information I got, the ship got damaged and until the repairs are done, she is forced to stay in port."
"I take the advance, but you won't get it back if we don't get her because of misinformation." said Siltra while pointing one of her clawed fingers against her client.
The man nodded, "That is acceptable."
"So before I say yes for sure, who are you, who do you want to be captured and where is the "target" of yours?"
As an answer to the first question, the man simply lifts his hood and Siltra hissed, "So one of the heroes? No wonder you fear she might be caught wind if you get too close."
The man nodded to that, "The target to seek is in the trading town of Sipoa, properly near the ship named Dark Eagle… and the name of the woman is Zhi Mu Ling."