I am so sorry that this chapter is coming out so late, but you know the usual reasons for why my update scheduling has slowed down to a crawl these past few months.

But at least we've finally gotten to the meeting for the Northern lords which I thought would be easy to write...it was not. But I'll save my rambling for the end of the chapter.

Big thanks to Qinlongfei for beta reading this chapter and making important critiques.

With that said, let's get this chapter started!

Chapter 56: North Stars

Their new carriage that they had received as a gift from the Schnee Heiress suited them quite well, even if the carriage didn't have many deviations from their old one aside from being a bit bigger and made out of some sturdier materials. Probably for the best so it doesn't go up in smoke like their last one. Thankfully they didn't lose any especially important equipment or supplies when their old carriage was burned by a fire spell since they kept the majority of it stashed away in Naofumi and Mein's inventory space, aside from some spare supplies that they left out for convenience sake. Looking back on it, they really should have thanked the Schnee Heiress more kindly for giving them this carriage, it certainly saved her the trouble of finding a new carriage on short notice.

And she supposed that it was good that this new carriage was finally being put through the paces after they lost their last one in a blaze of fire, by going on a long ride to the meeting location of the northern lords.

It took a few days before the northern lords could even agree on where to meet for this discussion, as each of them apparently had one reason or another for not wanting to meet at a certain location. Be it out of personal grudges or political reasons. Mein couldn't help but roll her eyes at how many of the nobility would be this difficult at just choosing a place to meet to discuss a common threat to them all. She even heard from Eclair that Rabier suggested having all the northern lords come to his castle for the meeting, which she no doubts was some kind of power move for dominance against the other northern lords.

Thankfully, another lord stepped in and suggested a more neutral meeting location for the northern lords. A nice little grass field that lied on the border between Rabier, Reichnott and Ascart territory. A place where nobody held true dominance over the others.

At the present moment, her and Naofumi's party, Itsuki's group, Titan Storm travelled with Eclair along with a contingent of her knights to the meeting place. It was a long ride from Silver Keep to the meeting place, so that left Mein with virtually nothing to do besides find ways to bide her time. Both Jun and Raphtalia were resting their heads on her lap, taking a nap because the ride took so long and the princess turned heretic would occasionally gently pat them both on the heads while they slept. Ake was up at the front with Naofumi, which left Mein with nobody to talk to.

Mein leaned her head up against the wooden wall of the carriage as it travelled across the road, as she occupied the time by looking over her Skill Tree and reading the description of any interesting skills or enhancements that she had. Most of them were simple enhancements or skills that were either useless to her, slightly useful or situational to some degree. Only a few seemed to be especially notable enough for Mein to consider upgrading with runes later down the line.

Maybe I should upgrade Blink for farther reach? Or would Agility be the more practical choice? Its not like I can use Blink that much on account of being surrounded by people most of the time, and a bit of extra speed is much easier to hide with an easy explanation like my high agility stat.

When she got bored thinking of which skills and enhancements to upgrade, she opened up her inventory to take out something to read. She took out the 'Grimoire on High Level Offensive Spells' that they had received from father after the Second Wave. While the Grimoire itself was mostly meant to be one gigantic middle finger to Naofumi in particular, it did have some uses for the rest of them. Mein carefully read the book and found that there was some pretty powerful spells in here, particularly on the fire and wind spells. It made Mein wonder if father's real intention was for this to be a gift to her instead of it merely just being an insult to Naofumi personally. Probably both in this instance.

Mein spent the ride just reading the grimoire to both abate her boredom and for the useful spells that lied within. She mainly prioritized her fire magic for the most part of her magic education and somewhat neglected to grow her wind magic. Perhaps it was time to correct that mistake. The grimoire contained many different types of offensive spells that included just about every affinity there was, except for healing and support of course. And Mein saw quite a number of powerful fire and wind spells that would be quite beneficial. There were even light and dark offensive spells in here that Raphtalia could benefit from learning.

Of course, she's not going to be able to learn them from reading the grimoire alone. She will need to practice extensively to get a handle on them, reading a book was no substitute for experience.

It was while she was in the process of reading the descriptive text of a spell called 'Fire Vortex' that she felt the carriage come to a stop and she turned to the front of the carriage to see Ake poking his head out from the front.

" Mein, wake up Jun and Raphtalia. We're here." Ake called out before pulling his head back.

The agent of the Outsider let out a sigh as she gently woke up the two children sleeping on her lap, shaking their bodies a little to disturb them awake. " Jun, Raphtalia, wake up. We've arrived at the meeting."

" 5 more minutes..." Jun mumbled in his sleep and Mein couldn't help but smile at how cute he looked. She gently lowered his head off her lap and onto the wooden floor of the carriage. Raphtalia actually did wake up, but she let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes tiredly. Mein knows from experience how sleeping for a short period of time in the middle of the day can leave you feeling restless and tired.

" If you're tired, you can stay here in the carriage with Jun." Mein offered but Raphtalia shook her head in response.

" N-No, its okay big sister, I can come with." Raphtalia said trying to sound determined but just sounded more tired than anything. Mein decided not to press on it as she exited the carriage, helping Raphtalia get down along the way.

The first thing she noticed when she stepped off the carriage and onto the grass field was the abundance of soldiers standing around, all armed to the teeth that disrupted the peaceful atmosphere of this little grass field. But walking closer, Mein could see that all of the soldiers were not under the same noble house as some of them sported different symbols and tabards that showed their allegiance to who they served. She recognized the various banners and tabards that of the various northern houses under House Seatto.

Ebonheart...Rabier...Neverwinter...Graithos...Ascart. It seems like everybody is here.

Now Mein was just wondering if this meeting would go anywhere. She glanced over at Rabier's little army and saw how it was mainly made up of demi-humans and beastman, alongside with a few squads of human soldiers. It would seem that Rabier brought his personal slave army to show off to the other northern lords, since all the other soldiers seemed to be giving them a wide berth. Mein even spotted a lizardman among the slaves who wielded a pair of shotels and seemed to be mumbling to himself. The princess turned heretic was honestly a little impressed that Rabier had a lizardman in his slave army on account of how vicious and powerful they are.

There was a large tent that was set up in the middle of the field and Mein made a guess that was where the meeting was being held on account of that's where Eclair was wordlessly leading them to.

" I recommend leaving most of your companions out here or else it will be too crowded inside the tent." Eclair suggested out of the blue as they walked. She had a point, the tent didn't look especially big and there wouldn't be much space.

" Ake, do you mind staying out here and keeping an eye on Raphtalia and Filo? Jun is still in the carriage sleeping." Mein asked and the knight wordlessly nodded.

" Slayer, Alice, Armina, mind coming with?" Itsuki easily decided who were the most important people to attend the meeting to him.

" Sure, I don't mind." Alice nodded, as Slayer and Armina simply nodded.

" Awwwww...I wanted to go to the important war meeting." Rufus said a bit childishly, before he was pulled away by Nina.

" Come on, we'll go to the next one." Nina said with a roll of her eyes.

" Why do we always get left out of the important stuff?" Audrey complained.

" I like the quiet. Come on Audrey." Welst shrugged as kept his head buried in his book. The rest of their party members broke off and went to do their own thing while they attended the meeting.

" So um...any tips before we head in?" Naofumi whispered to her as they walked. She was glad that Naofumi looked to her for advice when it came to matters like this.

" Keep your cool and try not to speak out of turn. The northern part of Melromarc got hit the hardest during the Great War with Siltvelt, so there are plenty of lords who have reasons to hate demi-humans and you by extension." Mein didn't mince words when she told Naofumi what to expect when they headed in there. It was better to prepare him for the worst than try to sugarcoat it." If you thought the King hated you, then you haven't seen anything yet."

" So expect to be insulted and called slurs? Got it." Naofumi's tone was humorous, but his expression was a bit nervous. It was clear that he was not looking forward to what kind of reactions he was going to get at his presence. Mein can't say that she was looking forward to it either frankly because of how many lords were going to be there and had a chance of recognizing her. She pulled up her hood and cloth to cover her face just in case, better to be safe than sorry.

As they entered the tent with Eclair at the helm, Mein made sure to stick close to Naofumi to draw as little attention to herself as possible. She could see that all the other northern lords were already gathered at a large round table with a map on it that appeared to be of Silver Pass.

But one lord in particular caught her eye, the one that had managed to arrange this little meeting.

Mein made it a habit to keep track of her mother's allies...which weren't that many left after Thomas slaughtered a good number of them. While he didn't quite slaughter them to the point that they would die out since that would have taken way too long, the ones he did kill were usually the heads of the House and that fear he put into the survivors was more than enough to let them know that loyalty to the Crown was a death sentence. Which was why even after the threat of the 'Shadow Demon' passed Melromarc, many of those noble houses never swore loyalty to dear mother again, much to her disappointment and Mein's silent glee.

But Count Ascart has always been an interesting case of one of mother's allies or rather former ally. A minor lord that was part of Mother's inner circle back during the early years of her rule. She was still young when the scandal surrounding House Ascart happened, but she learned about the story as the years went on from her sources in the underworld and taverns.

Lord Ascart was one of mother's most loyal allies as he was a minor lord who didn't have any connection with any great houses or factions, thus ensuring his loyalty to the crown. After the war with Siltvelt ended, mother wanted to give equal rights to demi-humans and entrusted that duty to Lord Ascart while she kissed ass with the Three Heroes Church to secure her rule. This made Lord Ascart unpopular in the nobility but nothing especially serious...up until the birth of his daughter Sofia who had white hair and caused it all to come crashing down.

The news that Lord Ascart's daughter had white hair of course, stirred up the nobility who accused Lord Ascart's wife of having an affair with a White Tiger from Siltvelt and Lord Ascart being a collaborator of Siltvelt. And her mother being queen bitch that she is didn't lift a finger to help the man she put in the line of fire. Instead her bitch excuse of a mother gave Lord Ascart two choices, either disown his daughter and divorce his wife or fuck off back to his county and never come back to Crownland. Lord Ascart took the second option and was publicly disgraced, just so mother could keep fair and just ruler image.

The thought alone fills her anger at the injustice and unfairness of it all, to the point she clenched her fist. Mein gave a pitying look to Lord Ascart that he didn't see.

Lord Ascart has every reason in the world to hate her mother, she threw him away after using him as a glorified scapegoat. Mein knows how that feels in a way.

It makes her wonder if she can find a potential ally in Lord Ascart...but that's a thought for later.

" Lady Seatto, it is good to see you well." Lord Ascart gave a courteous greeting and bow to Eclair.

" Lady Seatto. My condolences for Lord Reichnott." Rabier followed suit in a similar manner.

None of the other northern lords bothered greeting Eclair, on account of Graithos and Neverwinter being too busy ignoring each other.

" Thank you lord Ascart and Rabier. I appreciate it." Eclair gave a nod in return to the two lords who showed respect, but her voice sounded tired.

Eclair stood up straight as she glanced at all the noble lords and lady present in the tent. " Thank you all for coming to this meeting. As you all have undoubtedly been made aware the Hound Lord very recently attacked and managed to kill Lord Reichnott, one of our very own. Previously we thought the Hound Lord was nothing more than a particularly powerful and skilled bandit, but now we have seen what he is truly-"

Eclair speech was cut off when the sound of some kind high-pitched scream came from outside the tent. Mein was able to hear it much more clearer thanks to her enhanced senses making her hearing more focused, and she could hear that it was a shout from someone with a high-pitched voice. A child? A female one at that. She could hear more shouting coming from outside mixed with other voices.

" What's all that commotion coming from outside?" Aslatiel asked out loud. The knight didn't have to wait long for an answer when one Eclair's knights entered the tent to let them all know what was happening.

" My Lady, Lord Reichnott's daughter has just arrived with her retinue and is requesting entry into the meeting." The knight explained with a bit of a frazzled look on his face.

" Cute? She's here?" Eclair was clearly shocked at hearing the name of someone she considers family to appear here. Mein was similarly surprised as well, she didn't expect the daughter of the recently deceased Lord Reichnott to make an appearance at this meeting.

" Yes my Lady, she is very...insistent on joining the meeting. Should we allow her in?"

" Absolutely not. Cu- I mean Lady Cute is a child and this is a meeting to discuss how to handle the Hound Lord." Eclair instantly rejected it outright. Not like anyone could really blame her, Cute was a kid and still in grieving for her father. It made Mein wonder if she's going to be more trouble than contribute anything to this meeting.

But to her surprise, Lord Ascart was the one who stepped up. " Lady Seatto, if I may argue for a moment but Lady Cute is now the Head of her house which gives her just as much right to be here as any of us." Ascart argued in Cute's favor." It would be improper to leave her in the dark about what we plan to do about the threat of the Hound Lord."

Eclair had a conflicted look on her face, as she could see the logic in Lord Ascart's argument but was torn between her own worry about Cute.

" This meeting is meant to be open for all noble lords to attend and it would be unfair to exclude House Reichnott from this discussion." Lord Ascart argued. " Lady Cute deserves her place here just as her father would."

Mein could hear Graithos let out a scoff." What's left of them..."

Eclair seemed to be in thought for a moment before she let out a sigh. " Let her in." Eclair conceded, to which her knight nodded and exited the tent.

A moment later, the new Lady of House Reichnott walked in with her bodyguard, a similarly young boy. She immediately noticed that Cute was dressed head-to-toe in a fancy looking breastplate with red and purple gemstones imbued into it, metal gloves and boots where it looked like more effort was put into the design than the actual metalwork. Mein would have thought it looked impressive if not for the fact that it looks like a piece of overdesigned garbage meant to be more eye-catching than practical. The kind of armor that nobles would wear on the battlefield to look pretty rather than engage in actual combat.

Mein gets the distinct feeling that Cute came to this meeting with the intention of looking intimidating but instead she ends up looking like a kid dressed in a too small knight's set of armor.

" Lady Cute its...good to see you." Eclair said slowly, not sure of what to make of this.

" Its nice to see you too Eclair." Cute's voice was short and clipped in a sense that Mein would have interpreted as rude if she didn't know that Cute was likely still grieving.

" How did you learn about this meeting? Did somebody here send you a letter informing you of where it was?" Eclair inquired and that made Mein realize the same thing. How did Cute learn where the meeting was taking place? Only the northern lords would have known about where it was and she doubts some servant gossip would have reached Cute's ears fast enough, assuming House Reichnott even had some spy network of their own.

So that left her with two possibilities either somebody here told Cute about the meeting or she learned through some other means.

Cute seemed to stand up straight and divert her eyes away from Eclair. " I...I heard about it through some chatter and somebody told me." Mein could spot the lie from a mile away and from the look on Eclair's face, so did she.

Eclair stared at Cute for a moment before turning her attention back to the meeting at hand. Wise move, confronting Cute about her obvious lie wouldn't be the best call. " Very well then...excusing Lady Cute's arrival, I shall continue. As I was saying, the Hound Lord is not just any run of the mill bandit lord, he is something much worse than that. He is a heretic who uses black magic to empower himself, I have personally witnessed some of his powers and they are nothing short of terrifying to witness."

Mein could hear Lady Ebonheart scoff under her breath." Animals empowering themselves with black magic? Who would have guessed."

" The Bow Hero Itsuki has been investigating this matter and can explain better than I can on the threat the Hound Lord poses." Eclair stepped aside to let Itsuki speak his piece.

" Based on my party's investigations, we have reason to believe that the Hound Lord has a supplier or backer of some kind. He has the supplies, weapons, armor and funding to arm every bandit group in Silver Pass. Way more than any one bandit group could ever do, the logistics just aren't adding up." Itsuki said which earned a nod of approval from Slayer." The bastard is even well-connected enough to have outposts set up in large cities."

" Are you implying that he could have more outposts in our territories for gathering information?" Lord Ascart asked in concern.

" Very likely. At least the large ones." Itsuki didn't miss a beat answering.

Itsuki's words did give Mein something to think about and realized that he was right, it seemed impossible that one bandit group even an especially large one could supply every bandit group in Silver Pass by themselves. Mein knew from her studies on warfare that logistics truly was king in war, how could you expect your armies to march and fight when they don't have food or boots? That's not even taking into the account the logistics of getting it there in the first place. One of the biggest problems with logistics is figuring where all those supplies were coming from.

How could a bandit group afford to keep itself well-equipped and supplying several other underlings under their control? It would require a lot of support and assistance to make sure everything was running smoothly, not to mention the cost of it all. Mein knew that only a select few could afford to pay that price which were wealthy merchants or nobles.

So that left Mein with a question: Could this mysterious benefactor of the Hound Lord be foreign or domestic? Neither boded well.

" My fellow lords, I think we have painted a clear enough picture of the danger the Hound Lord presents to us all. He is bold enough to plan an assassination of one of our very own so we can no longer sit idly by waiting for his next move." Eclair's voice was somber as she did not mince her words over how dangerous the Hound Lord is.

" I agree. What do you have in mind?" Rabier nodded.

" A coordinated sweep of Silver Pass, we will share information about any bandit activity and mitigate the Hound Lord's forces the best we can." Eclair came up with a decent plan to flush out the Hound Lord which Mein agreed with. They needed to eliminate his manpower to limit his ability to attack as much as possible.

" What about the Hound Lord? Why are we wasting time hunting his lackeys when what we should be focusing on is killing that son of a bitch!" Cute shouted as she slammed her hands on the table, her grief and anger apparent in her eyes. Mein recognized it from a long time ago, that Cute was being driven by anger rather than logic, not that anyone could blame her." That bastard killed my father! He deserves to die first!"

Eclair looked at Cute with a sad look in her eye as she could probably see the grief that was driving Cute to act like this. " Lady Cute, I understand where you are coming from but its not really a good idea to kill the Hound Lord before taking out most of his underlings when they could run rampant without the Hound Lord keeping them in line."

Cute looked like she wanted to retort to that before someone else interrupted her. "What we should be doing is coming down on the local animals in Silver Pass! If these animals have set up outpost in our territories than we need to find them and stomp them out! Damn, animals probably have been helping hide them too..."

" How is clamping down on local demi-human population going to help?" Itsuki said with crossed arms." What we should be doing is following what Eclair-"

" Shut up! I don't recall asking for your opinion, who do you think you are!?" Lady Ebonheart screamed at the Bow Hero and she turned her glare at all of them. The Bow Hero crossed his arms as he gave her an annoyed look in response. " You damn interlopers think you know oh so better than us natives of Medea who have been dealing with these issues for centuries! Just because you have a legendary weapon, it gives you the right to do whatever you want! Well, I'll be damned if I roll over and let some rapist from another world tell me how to manage my lands!"

Itsuki didn't jump in anger like Ebonheart did, but he did narrow his eyes in a way that showed his anger." Excuse me? Would you like to repeat that?"

" You heard me! Why else would you be walking around with this asshole who raped his companion on his very first night and bought slaves!?" Ebonheart turned her glare to Naofumi who was shocked at suddenly being put on the spot.

" W-W-Wait what?!" Naofumi shouted in shock before" I didn't do that! That whole damn trial was a farce!"

" A farce or was your crime merely swept under the rug because everyone wants to exploit you for your 'hero' ability to unlock higher potential!" Ebonheart screamed right back at the Shield Hero, slamming her hands on the table and glaring directly at him." We all know the only reason anybody gives a shit about you 'heroes' is because of your ability to unlock the higher potential of a person, without that then you lot are nothing more than just a bunch of interloper rapists who think they have the right to do whatever they want! And if you're so innocent then where in the world is your companion that you supposedly did not rape on your first night! Because I don't see her here!"

I'm right here you stupid bitch.

Mein was about to step in to correct the idiotic noble when Eclair beat her to it. " Lady Ebonheart, control yourself. You are not acting befitting a noble...and the Shield Hero was found innocent when his own companion said that it was all a misunderstanding. You have no right to insult and besmirch their good name during this meeting." Eclair spoke in a calm manner, as she gave a disapproving look at the annoying Ebonheart as she defended Naofumi.

" Do not presume you have the right to silence me when it is your father and that spineless worm Reichnott's fault that this is all happening in the first place! It is because both of your Houses are too damned lenient and would rather take in animals than your own kind! It is because of you that this Hound Lord has managed to gather so many men to his cause!" Ebonheart turned her anger at Eclair now, who stood firm against her." The only reason your father was appointed Lord Paramount to Silver Pass was because he kissed the Queen's ass almost as hard as that pathetic worm Reichnott!"

" HOW DARE YOU!" Cute let out a screech as she tried to charge and attack Ebonheart if not for her bodyguard holding her back." My father was a good man who cared for his people! How dare you insult his name!"

" Your father was weakling who got killed by the very same animals he promoted peace with! Poetic irony I suppose..." Ebonheart spit back at Cute who let out another screech as she tried to attack the woman. Her bodyguard doing her best to calm her down to no avail.

Eclair looked increasingly troubled, Lucatiel and Aslatiel looked pissed quite frankly. Graithos seemed to be nodding his head along in silent agreement with Ebonheart, while Neverwinter maintained a neutral expression. Rabier looked to be hiding a smirk as if he was enjoying the entire show of Ebonheart making an ass out of herself.

" Lady Ebonheart, you are out of line! This is meant to be a strategy meeting to discuss the threat of the Hound Lord, not a place for you to insult your fellow lords and throw wild conspiracy theories around." Lord Ascart stood up from his chair to stand with Eclair against Ebonheart, in a much more calm and controlled manner than Eclair." If you have an issue with Lord Shield Hero's trial than you are free to launch an investigation of your own, but please maintain some decorum and professionalism in this meeting and not insult Lady Cute's father who just died. Especially since Lord Reichnott is not here to defend himself anymore."

" Defending the Queen's cronies even after she threw you to the wolves? I expected better from you Ascart." Ebonheart spit her venom at Ascart next.

Mein was about to tell Naofumi to simply ignore Ebonheart's pathetic mewling...until she heard what she said next.

" The Shadow Demon should have slaughtered Seatto and Reichnott, at least then that bloodthirsty dog would have been good for something before he got put down." Ebonheart mumbled under her breath, but it was just audible enough for her to hear it with her enhanced hearing.

Mein felt some crack there as an emotion rose faster than she could control as her body moved faster than rational thought compelled her too, as it seemed all logic went out the window.

A dagger was drawn and she heard someone yell- maybe it was Naofumi or someone else. It didn't matter.

Nobody insults Thomas like that.

She felt her hand slam the dagger directly into the table where Ebonheart's hand was. But it didn't hurt her...but if her blade was a few inches to the right than it would have taken her middle finger.

Silence permeated in the tent, aside from a few gasps in shock at what had just happened.

Some part of Mein belatedly realized how stupid what she was doing was, putting herself on the spot. Another part of her decided that she just didn't give a shit.

" My mistake Lady Ebonheart, my hand slipped." Mein said in the most faux tone of sincerity possible." But thankfully I managed to get your attention so please listen carefully you entitled self-victimizing whiny brat-"

" AH!" Ebonheart let out a gasp as Mein grabbed her collar and pulled her close.

" Shut the fuck up. This is a goddamn strategy meeting to discuss the threat of the Hound, not your little private space to bitch and moan. If you have a problem with the Shield Hero then you can kindly take it up with me personally." Mein said in the most menacing tone possible, not shouting but her voice was cold was ice." Just because you were asking earlier, I AM Naofumi's companion and that trial was in fact complete bullshit. You would know if you spent 2 goddamn seconds asking instead of throwing worthless accusations around."

" W-What but how-"

" Show proper respect to your superiors while you're at it because last time I checked, it was House Seatto who lost a company's worth of men bailing your House's sorry ass out during the Great War. If it was not for Lord Seatto's generosity, then your House would have been utterly destroyed or turned into breeding horses for Siltvelt to be taken back as trophies." Mein watched as Ebonheart's face drained of color at those words and shiver in fear at the thought. Mein found that she relished in that fear.

" So do everybody in this meeting a favor and sit your ass down quietly when the adults talk you whiny brat!" Mein shoved Ebonheart back into her chair roughly, but she didn't stop there. She put her foot down on edge of the chair...before slamming it down with the force to break off the wood much to the shock of everyone present. Mein glared directly into Ebonheart's eyes. " And just for the record, the Shadow Demon would have started with your House before moving on to Seatto or Reichnott."

Ebonheart's lips quivered in a mixture of anger and resentment, as she switched her glare between Mein and Naofumi. She stayed like this for a moment before she got up in a huff and headed for the exit.

" FINE! It is clear that my presence is neither wanted or needed here if you all want to mingle with rapists so badly, so you can all consider this House Ebonheart withdrawing from this operation!" Ebonheart shout was intended as a threat, but it came off more as a whiny child who's complaining that she got told off.

" Heartbreaking. Absolutely nothing of value is being lost here." Mein said in the driest tone possible at Ebonheart who gave her a glare before running away with her tails tucked between her legs.

Fucking bitch...

The agent of the Outsider turned to the rest of the room. Eclair and Ascart was shocked at what had just happened, Cute was a mix of astounded and happy that Ebonheart got told to go fuck herself, Graithos and Rabier were looking at her impressed, and Neverwinter had a neutral expression as if torn between impressed and displeased.

" You...didn't need to do that Mein." Naofumi said in a not quite disapproving tone, but not an approving one either.

" I'm not going to let you or Eclair get talked down by some entitled bitch who's more concerned with screaming matches than strategy." Mein said bluntly, not sounding apologetic in the slightest.

Mein heard Lord Graithos whistle." Nice to know at least some of the lasses here still got some spunk and guts in them." Graithos gave a smirk to Cute." And its good to know that House Reichnott still has some vigor to go on the offense to kill the animals to avenge her father."

Mein resisted the urge to roll her eyes, she knew that Lord Graithos was one of the more military leaning lords in Silver Pass. It doesn't surprise that he's complimenting more on her aggression than anything else.

" But as much as it physically pains me to say it, Lady Ebonheart isn't wrong though, if the local demi's are helping or considering joining this Hound Lord then we need to come down hard on them to stop his little army from growing." Graithos surprisingly threw his lot in behind Ebonheart which was a little late considering she had already left.

Eclair looked like she had something to say about that when Rabier spoke up for her. " As productive as this meeting has been with all the interruptions and petty arguments, I think we should put aside our personal opinions and listen to what Lady Seatto is trying to say considering she's been interrupted twice this entire meeting." Rabier surprisingly supported Eclair in this situation. He gave her a knowing look as if telling her not to start up another argument that will derail the meeting.

Whether Eclair got the message or not was unclear, but she did continue. " R-Right like I was saying just then, what I'm proposing is a coalition between all of our houses to eliminate bandit groups in Silver Pass. We shall each coordinate and share information, if necessary support one another during this campaign against the Hound. And when we discover the Hound Lord's base of operations, we shall gather our forces and attack it. Putting an end to all this once and for all. Is that agreeable for you all my fellow lords?"

" That sounds like a good plan Lady Seatto." Ascart agreed.

" I concur." Rabier nodded.

" Personally, I would rather just chop off the head of the snake and be done with it...but hunting some bandits is always a good past time for me." Graithos agreed with a smirk.

" I do not find any issue with the plan." Neverwinter said in a calm and stoic tone.

" Cute, do you agree with this plan?" Eclair asked the now Lady Reichnott who had been silent.

"...Just let me know when you've found that Hound Lord bastard..." Cute said before she stormed out of the tent with her bodyguard trailing behind her. It was obvious that she wasn't happy that they weren't going after the Hound Lord directly, at least she didn't make a big scene out of it.

Eclair let out a sigh as she likely realized the same thing she did. The Silver Pass lords were not the least bit united against the Hound Lord, even if they agreed with her plan for the most part.

Mein's not sure if she would call this meeting a success, but it wasn't a total failure. It was somewhere in the middle.

Hound Lord's POV

The Hound Lord considered himself a pretty cautious person, to the point that some might call him paranoid. But the boss always said that a healthy dose of paranoia was a good way to keep yourself alive and its not like his 'paranoia' was unwarranted. He knew that the wannabe heroes and noble dickbags would want his head for what he's done, and if he dies than the entire operation will go to shit in no time at all. While he likes to think that one of his friends could step up in his place, none of them really had a talent for leadership. That was why he was always careful when interacting with people outside his crew, preferring to use middle-men and messengers to get his orders across.

Which was why he was reluctant to attend this meeting with some of the captains under his command. He honestly would have preferred not to attend at all, but he knew that the men under his command wouldn't listen to him if he couldn't give them a straight explanation on why he did what he did.

So he agreed to a meet at a neutral location that he picked, an abandoned mining camp that still had a few buildings that were left behind and never torn down. He picked the biggest one that had more than enough space for them all, but part of the agreement for the meeting is that none of them including himself were allowed to bring their crew with the exception of maybe one or two men for protection.

The meeting was just about how he expected it to be: A lot of shouting and cursing at him particular.

" What the hell were you thinking!?"

" Killing a noble lord?! Are you out of your fucking mind!?"

" Are you trying to get us all killed!? You've just doubled the bounty on your head tenfold and that fucks us all!"

The Hound Lord leaned back in his chair as he let his underlings hurl insults at him like children, deciding to let them vent their issues with him. His men stayed at his side keeping him covered, as he refused to show the least bit of intimidation or weakness in front of his men. The boss never showed weakness in front of them either.

After a few minutes, the screaming and shouting died down which gave him the opportunity to speak his piece. " Everybody got all that out of your system?" He asked almost mockingly before continuing." Good. Now if you would all just let me explain for a minute-"

" You lied to us!" One of his underlings, a wolf beastman named Shane shouted at him. "You sent my crew to that Schnee Mine because you said we could raid it for precious ores and some wealthy heiress bitch we could ransom for a nice price. You didn't say anything about hitting a damn noble or that we were your distraction!"

" Last time I checked, I didn't lie to you. I did give you a decent tip on where to score some good loot and some high value captives, and I even sent a team in to reinforce you guys when you were getting your asses kicked. Seatto and the heroes were just quicker to respond than I anticipated." " He couldn't help but add that last part on spitefully." I just didn't tell you the whole plan and it paid off in the end."

" Yeah, paid off in the end with me losing half my crew!" Shane shouted at him.

" But it was worth it in the end to get to Reichnott. His death will send the rest of the northern jackasses into a frenzy trying to get my head." He explained in a calm that resulted in his underlings giving him looks of confusion or looking at him as if he was crazy.

" How the fuck is killing a noble and getting the rest of them a hard-on for killing you supposed to help any of us?"

" Its simple. Our numbers have been dropping substantially for these past few weeks, we need some fresh blood to replenish our numbers. With Reichnott dead, the northern jackasses will turn their rage on the local demi-humans and beastman...who will then turn to us for safety." He explained his plan in detail which caught the interest of a few, not quite in support but something at least. " They will help us sow discord in the cities and cripple the northern lords."

" Y-You're actually serious about all this...you don't care about the loot or anything do you?"

" No. I want the heads of every one of the northern lords on the pike, than I'm going over to Jagged Reach and killing those Consevatie motherfuckers." He honestly would have liked to start with those slave driving fuckers, but Seatto got hit hard during the 1st Wave and he would be a fool not to capitalize on their weakness. He could deal with those pampered slave driving bastards and whores later.

" And why the hell should we listen to you anyway? You're the reason we're in this damn mess in the first place!" One of his other underlings stood up, a bear beastman by the name of Butch glared at him. His name was short for Butcher. Very creative.

He didn't even bother rising out of his chair when Butcher approached him with an angry look on his face, his friends put their hands on their weapons but he held up his hand and told them to hang back. He would deal with this personally.

" Its because of this pretentious son of a bitch killing that limp dick Reichnott that all our heads just got put on the chopping block! Now we don't just have a couple of dumbass adventurers to deal with but the whole fucking province coming after us and this dickhead wants to go to war with them!" Butcher gave a death glare to him as he pointed a sharp finger at him." The only reason any of us agreed to follow you was because you could give us equipment and supplies to stick it back to those man animal fucks, but we're not your personal army at your beck and call!"

" Like an old pal of mine used to say, you don't get to have your cake and fuck it too." He said with a bit of derision and annoyance entering his voice." Before I came along Butcher, you and your crew were just a bunch of two-bit thugs robbing whatever poor bastards off the street and roads that you could. It was through my connection, tactics and training that turned you all into an army. You take the supplies and my help, you follow my orders. Simple as that." He found himself increasingly annoyed with Butcher, as if any of these idiots could have come this far without his crew holding the reins of this operation.

" And why the hell should we follow your orders, huh? Maybe somebody else should step up and take your place." Butcher insinuated with an angry look on his face, his intention clear." Besides, we have all the armor and weapons we could ever need. We don't need you calling the shots anymore."

The Hound Lord let out a sigh as he knew that it would come to this eventually. Oh well, better to reassert his position than put it off for later.

He let out a breath as he stood up, giving a dark look over at Butcher as the two stared each other down." If you want my chair so damn badly...than by all means take it if you can."

Butcher let out a growl as he glared down at him. The bear man was way taller than him to the point that he almost hit the ceiling if he was just a few inches taller, and he knew that he practically looked like a damn midget compared to him. But he would not be cowled this easily.

The rest of his underlings stood on the sidelines, seemingly just wanting to see the fight happen.

There was a second of silence before Butcher threw a punch at him, intent on cracking his face in if he hadn't ducked in time. He quickly did a barrel roll and transversed out of the way to get some distance.

If I was a second slower than I might be a bloody paste on the wall.

He didn't have time to think about that though. Butcher was a one tough son of a bitch, he was a bear beastman which meant that he had the size, strength and weight advantage here. If he got grappled than it would all over for him, and he's not sure that he could transverse fast enough to get out of it before his throat or head were crushed.

"If you give up now than I might just consider letting you live." Butcher mocked him as he gave a smug smirk as he cracked his knuckles that were covered by a pair of metal gauntlets.

" Bring it on bitch." He drew his sword and focused.

He needed to strike hard and fast. Throw Butcher off his game.

Butcher charged at him and he quickly focused the power to transverse behind the bear man and deliver two good cuts to his leg and back. The bear man let out a grunt of pain but immediately followed up with a punch that he quickly transversed out of the way from.

The cuts were barely more than flesh wounds, Butcher's skin was too thick. He needed to go in for a critical hit.

He charged at Butcher going for a few slashes that were parried by his metal gauntlet. He deflected a punch aimed at his face, before he thrusted his sword at Butcher's chest...only for it to be grabbed by Butcher's large hands. He didn't bother looking up immediately transversing away before Butcher could get a shot in on him, but he wasn't finished yet. Butcher may have had the strength and weight advantage-

But he had the power advantage. He's just never used tethering on a target so big before.

He focused the power and pointed his hand at Butcher who was suddenly wrapped in green energy that was pulling him towards the Hound Lord with his blade ready.

" WHAT THE FUCK!?" Butcher shouted as he was pulled towards him, unable to fight against the tethering that was pulling him closer. No matter how much he thrashed and shouted, fighting the pull of tethering was pointless.

The bear man was helpless to fight against the tethering, as the Hound Lord stabbed him through the heart. The sword going clean through and Butcher letting out a cry of pain as he fell to his knees in front of him. Butcher looked at the gaping stab wound in his chest, seemingly trying to comprehend the fact that he had lost.

" N-N-No...I-"

He didn't allow Butcher to speak anymore when he cut off his head with a single swing of his sword and kicking the body to the ground afterwards. The big body of the bear man turning turning into ashes within seconds and disappearing into nothing like he was never there to begin with.

There was a dead silence in the room for a minute, the rest of his underlings had slack-jawed and shocked faces. They were either in awe of his void abilities or surprised that Butcher didn't beat him. Maybe both. Regardless, it felt good to remind these fuckers why he's in charge and who turned them into a proper army. It should discourage any further attempts against him in the future.

" W-W-What the hell happened to his body?" One of Butcher's people, a mouse woman had the guts speak up.

" Its one of my new abilities, turns bodies into ashes when I kill them." He gave his underlings a confident smirk." If you think that's impressive than you haven't-"

He was cut off when he felt a a sudden and intense pain in his gut. The pain was so intense and out of the blue that he nearly fell to his knees, it took everything he had not to do that. He wondered where the hell the pain came from since he didn't get hit in his fight with Butcher.

" Boss, you okay?" Maya asked in curiosity and worry, taking a step toward him.

" I'm fine." He grit his teeth to ignore the pain as he stood up straight to address his underlings. " Listen up! You were all nothing more than just a bunch two-bit cutthroats and roaming bandits who were living out your days robbing whatever poor sod you could, and were just waiting until some adventurer came along to slaughter you all. I turned you all into a proper army to really make a change to this goddamn nation, if any of you have a problem with it like Butcher did than walk away now!"

" But just so you know, if you walk away now than you are on your own. No more support from me and you're going to be hunted down by the heroes or northern asshats anyway just for your association to me. So what's it gonna be?"

His underlings didn't say anything, some shifted uncomfortably while others put on a tough face and crossed their arms. But nobody dared to walk out now that they knew what they were up against.

" That's what I thought. Now if any of you were having any doubts about how we were going to beat the nobles back, I have the solution right here." He gave a nod to his two friends who started handing out small bags to his underlings, who looked inside and pulled out the contents.

" Runes and bonecharms?"

" Oh yeah, this is the game changer boys and girls. We've only been handing these out to a few groups, but my team has been working around the clock to get these things done for everyone. Just one of these little beauties can give you some gifts similar to mine, that I demonstrated with Butcher here." He explained letting his hand smoke with void energy to demonstrate his point." I've included a list of instructions for how to use them...whether you pass up this opportunity for power is up to you."

He didn't outright say what it would cost to get that power, he included it in the note anyway. Whether they did it or not was up to them.

Some of them were eyeing the runes and bonecharms with curiosity, others with reluctance and caution, while some looked genuinely fascinated by the beautiful pieces made out of bone.

At least there were some sure takers. Now he can move forward with the next part of his plan...and he thinks that he knows just the right group for the job.

" If nobody else wants to try their luck, then you can all kindly leave...except you." He turned his gaze to the female mouse demi that was part of Butcher's crew.

" W-Wait, what me?" The mouse woman froze on the spot.

" Yes, you. Everyone else leave." He commanded and his underlings wasted no time leaving them alone. Now it was just him, the mouse woman and two of his friends in the room who were passively watching the scene.

The mouse woman looked fearful as her hands shook slightly and she kept her head down. He got the distinct impression that she probably thought that she was about to suffer the same fate as her former leader. But he was never known to be predictable.

" What's your name?"

" U-Um, Mouse boss..."

Really? Mouse...well, I've heard worse names in my life.

" Mouse, huh? Congratulations then. You just got promoted to the leader of Butcher's crew." He said to the surprise of Mouse who raised her head in shock.

" Wait, what!? Really?" Mouse shouted in a mixture of surprise and shock.

" Yeah. Anybody back at your group has a problem with it, just tell them that I chose you and they will answer to me." He explained, virtually telling that she had his support in securing her leadership of her group.

" Wow, really? Goddamn, leader of my own group I never would have... holy shit, this is actually happening..." Mouse said as her voice shifted from shocked, amazed and excited all at once. " Shit this is a lot to take in."

" Take a breath if you need it."

Mouse did take a breath as she steadied herself to stand up straight." Listen boss, not that I'm not grateful for the support and you choosing me but...what I'm worried about is if the others will listen to me." Mouse confessed. It was a fair concern to have, as he knew that the caste system back in the homelands played a heavy role back here when it came to deciding the leader of the group.

" That's where these beauties come in. Trust me when I say that they are one hell of an equalizer in a fight." He encouraged her, pushing the bag of runes into her hands.

"I-I don't know boss, I've heard rumors about...what you need to do to get the power from them." Mouse admitted, clearly in the camp of his underlings who were uncertain of whether to use the runes.

He's going to need to correct that right now or else Mouse isn't going to stand a chance.

" Rumors that are probably true or close enough to the truth. I won't lie when I say that it hurts like a bitch when you insert it into your soul but...just look at all this." He demonstrated transversing across the room and back to her again." These powers are goddamn game-changers that it even gives me the power to beat someone like Butcher. Imagine what they could do for you?"

Mouse stares at the runes for a moment before smiling." Alright, you've convinced me."

" Good. Now I won't lie to you Mouse, I need your help with a specific task that I want your group to handle. I was going to task Butcher with it but...you know how well that went." He shrugged his shoulders, as Mouse let out a small chuckle at that. It was obvious that she didn't have any real loyalty to Butcher or him really.

But that is exactly what made her the perfect person for this job.

" Whatever you need boss. I'll do." Mouse said with a smirk.

He resisted the urge to smirk as well as he explained his plan to Mouse and what she needed to do.

" Why don't we head back to my base and I can explain it all to you? I got some good Siltvelt wine just come in."

You know, I was actually oscillating a lot between having Raphtalia be in the meeting, but I figured that would taken too much time away from Cute showing up and Eclair trying to manage the meeting. Plus she probably wouldn't have contributed much anyway besides stand around or be a target for Ebonheart's racism.

And yeah, Ebonheart isn't going to be anymore welcoming in this story than she was in Qin's story.

I hope that you all enjoyed seeing the division of the Silver Pass along with seeing Malty's dark side creep up on her during the meeting. I do enjoy writing the Hound Lord not being just a regular grunt, but instead an actually smart and skilled threat to Silver Pass.

With that said, I will see you all in the next one.

Angel Out.