Sworded Affair

Chapter 61: Diplomacy

Emma would have loved to say that a bit of time alone in her tent, was enough time to devise an ingenious strategy to conquer the castle, capture the princess and ride off into the sunset to the cheers of all and sundry. In reality, her skills in battle mainly lay at the individual and squad level; nor could her hours spent playing Age of Empires substitute for genuine education in siege-craft. There were far too many factors present not even counting any magic, and she knew for a fact that these unknowns would trip her up. Therefore, instead of trying to devise anything elaborate, Emma decided to just keep her key objectives in mind while doing what she did best: improvise.

"Come in everyone," Emma invited, remaining seated at her desk as she watched the score of advisers who'd dumped all their problems upon her enter the tent in single file. “Just to double check, we're not missing anyone, are we? This discussion is rather important, and will only happen once."

"This is all of us," A portly fellow with a peg leg declared, to general nodding from his fellows.

Emma smiled; that was the best confirmation she'd get, seeing as the System had stopped flagging up names for NPCs on this floor. If all of them agreed, there was likely nobody of importance left in the cold (that they were aware of, anyway).

[Part of the trial conditions, I'm afraid. I can bend the rules to a degree, but 'no historical insights given to the aspirant' is literally spelled out this time, so no dice.]

“Wonderful,” Emma nodded firmly, wasting no time acknowledging Edith whilst everyone stared intently her way. “First impressions are important, as you all well know, particularly in circumstances as fraught as this. Tardiness is not a trait that impresses me, when I'm not exaggerating in saying that the outcome of this meeting will have wide-reaching implications on the order of succession, following the conclusion of the siege.”

Everyone stood straighter before her at that; a couple of the less experienced exchanging quick glances with presumed allies. Emma tapped the desk once with a single finger, emitting just enough Death magic to burn a pentagram into the wooden surface. It was flashy, eye-catching and completely devoid of magic beyond the initial application of magic to wood.

"Due to the sensitive nature of the discussion, I've enacted a barrier ensuring no sound leaves this tent for curious ears outside. I doubt we all follow the same school of magic, so you're all welcome to take your own precautions against eavesdropping in addition to my own."

Golden runes enveloped the inside of the tent, whilst black strings formed of shadow sewed every physical entrance shut; soon after joined by wisps of blue flame, hieroglyphs depicting men knelt in subordination and even a handful of seeds, digging themselves into the dirt to sprout stalks topped with a single bulbous eye each.

"Good," Emma nodded, hoping that the five layers of defences would be sufficient; it wasn't like she had any magic to prevent surveillance, nor was she trained to detect it. "With that done, we can get down to business. I have already outlined a general plan that will bring us to the Princess; however I will need your assistance to fill in the gaps. My concerns in recent years never ventured beyond the military; as such, I must profess to lacking your familiarity with the situation in court. As such, in order to effectively allocate resources and men for the coming battle, and plan for the aftermath, I must ask you to speak candidly here. Who is the most likely to take the throne, assuming our success?"

Predictably, half a dozen voices replied as one to the loaded question; each extolling the virtues of their own patron and disparaging the efforts of their rivals. Those who pleaded for calm were ignored, whilst even those attempting to stay out of the brewing storm were invariably caught in the crossfire by careless insults, and waded into the fray with sharp tongues of their own. Tempers flared every higher; the inevitable result of cramming martially inclined men under severe stress into a single tent, and asking them about politics. Impressively, despite the circumstances, the collective managed to make it a whole three minutes before the first knife was drawn; the advisers had left their guards outside in respect of neutrality, but they were all veterans of the royal court, none of whom would ever travel unarmed into a stranger's tent.

A dagger sank into the portly man's eye, and all hell broke loose. Emma remained seated, ready to respond to any incoming fire, but it seemed all the advisers wanted the brawl kept out of sight, given how none of them reached for destructive, area-of-effect magic.

[Either that, or they simply don't have the time to cast, not while trying to stab and avoid being stabbed in turn.]

A dozen men lay dead on the floor before a single combatant managed to break free of the melee; backing up against the tent, he tossed a rather anaemic fireball into the remaining seven brawlers, setting them all alight. As they began to scream, wards flickered and faded, the defences against surveillance dying alongside their casters.

Oversoul. Emma took over the flame thrower, halting his attempt to leave.

Emma commanded her vessel to dive into the flames, grabbing a discard knife from the floor along the way. Her blade accounted for the final three survivors, cutting their throats even as they attempted to smother the flames by rolling in place. Only when they finally died did Emma's vessel turn the knife upon himself, completing the set. The death of the advisers awarded only a paltry sum of experience, reflecting their relative lack of strength and therefore value. Nonetheless, for Emma who was already on the borderline of another Level, this was enough to tip the scales just right.

[Advisers slain!

40 EXP gained.

Level Up! Congratulations, you have reached Level 10!

Statistically, this places you within the top 5% of all System users in terms of longevity.

Emma Knight - Level 10 Revenant

Race: Undead {LOCKED}

Alignment: True Neutral

Anima: 600

EXP: 3010/4000

Die by the Sword active!

Skill selection modified by Level 10 Milestone.

Level 9 skill selection remains open.

Modifying and merging Level 9 selection with Level 10 Milestone skill.

Select one of the following four options below:

1) Trait - Core Concept: Anything in your hands cannot be destroyed.

2) Weapon Enhancement - To The Edge: Summon cost reduced to 10% of current Anima; no restriction on the number of blades summoned and maintained. Freely transfer velocity between blades.

3) Ability - Extreme Prejudice (Cost 10% Base Anima): Your next attack cannot be blocked.

4) Ability - Angel of Extinction (Cooldown: 24 days): Summon an avatar within line of sight. The avatar is invulnerable and disappears after 12 seconds, inflicting Instant Death to anyone who looked at it during that time.

If selected before Align in the Sand is completed, your choice will grant a bonus to your Archetype.]