“Water,” Red offered as she placed a cup on the table and slid it towards Princess Imma.

The princess held the cup, then looked at it. The Varangians offered her nothing but water every time she visited the embassy. However, she took no offense from it. In fact, she was getting suspicious about the water she was being given.

“Excuse me, can you tell me more about this… water?” Imma asked. She was curious on why the clear water had a slightly green glow. Could this actually be holy water?

“It’s water,” Red answered with a confused tone.

“Is it just water?”

“I don’t know.”

“Ah…” Imma sighed in defeat as she took a gulp of water.

“Now, can we go back to talking about the Rhankish noblility?” Red asked.

Imma was about to speak up when a Vyssian old man entered the room, shouting, “Lady Red! I must find out where Magus got his staff from!”

“Master Hetrick, why not ask Magus?” Red questioned with a confused tone.

“I tried! He kept saying ‘Smith’ over and over again. How should I know which blacksmith built his magical staff?!” Hetrick explained.

“Smith,” Magus said, appearing behind the old man.

“See?! I keep asking him which smith, but he just echoes that over and over again!” Hetrick pointed out.

“Well, you see, there is a person in Varangia named Smith…” Red started explaining.

“So that’s what he means by Smith?! It’s a name?! Bloody ‘gatory, you lots have poor sense of naming!” Hetrick exclaimed, then noticed Imma sitting on the side. “Oh, if it isn’t the Rhankish princess.”

“I have a name, you know?” Imma huffed.

“Aye, aye. Say, do you just sit around in the embassy all day? You’ve been here for what? Three days already?” Hetrick asked as he rubbed his chin.

“Of course not. I have my ways,” Imma said.

It took her a while, but with the help of her sword-oath, Alleigh, she managed to get connected to the local Rhankish spy network loyal to the crown. Imma couldn’t contact the spies before she reached the Varangians lest she risked the king knowing about her intentions and sending an angry horde of royal knights to bring her back.

After contacting the royal spy network, she managed to get a lodge house and a new set of disguises in Sea’ax. Of course, she didn’t contact the Rhankish spies just to get a place to have a vacation.

Alleigh entered the negotiation room escorted by two drones holding a roll of parchment sealed with the royal emblem of Rhankia. “I still find it a bit odd these northmen allow strangers to walk around their territory armed,” Alleigh remarked.

“Well, maybe the Varangians are just that confident,” Imma joked as she got up from her seat. “Is this a letter from my father?”

“Yes, Princess. We have finally received a letter from His Majesty,” Alleigh replied while handing the letter to Imma.

With a simple snap of the seal, Imma opened the letter and gave it a quick glance. She grinned as she looked up from the letter, then turned to Red. “Lady Red, I am sorry for the delay, but we can now formally begin negotiations.”

“What? You’re starting only now?” Hetrick asked out loud with a bemused look. “What the bloody ‘gatory have you been doing here then?”

“Well, Master Sorcerer, even though I am a princess, I can’t do anything without the permission of His Majesty, the King,” Imma explained with a smile. “Now, if you would excuse us, this talk will be important for both the people of Rhankia and Varangia.”

“Wait, what about the staff?” Hetrick asked Red.

“We can discuss that later, Master Hetrick,” Red answered. The old man, though slightly unhappy, still left for the practice ground with Magus in tow. The guard drones closed the door, leaving Red, the princess, and her sword-oath alone.

“Once again, I apologize for the delay. I really cannot speak for Rhankia without permission from my father, King Leosif the Third. It took some back-and-forth, but I somehow convinced him to let me act as envoy to Varangia,” Imma began.

“Oh, don’t worry. My people and I have a lot of patience.” Red bowed, letting her white-and-red silk outfit flow downwards.

The Varangians were very strange to Imma. Their clothing, their architecture, their entire nature—all a mystery to the princess. She looked up at the ceiling, then wondered where the light was coming from. Surely, the light coming from the windows weren’t enough to brighten the whole room. So without a doubt, these Varangians were using magic just to brighten a room.

Now, Imma has to negotiate with these enigmatic people in the hopes they could find a common ground. She hoped whichever divine being watching over her would provide her with some wisdom.

“I am aware that the Vyssians gave you northmen a Rhankish Castle. Is this correct?” Imma asked.

“Yes, Castle Marcoir,” Red replied as she took a seat across the table. Imma, based on her experience before, took a seat as well without being prompted to do so. The first day she talked to the drones, she ended up standing all day since Red never asked her to sit down.

“Perhaps it’ll be better if you sell the castle back to the Rhanks. If I could recall, Duke Villbrod is heading towards Northwestern Rhankia to take it back. Such bloodshed is unnecessary for both sides, you know?”

“Duke Villbrod…” Red muttered out loud as she looked up on the ceiling as if she was trying to remember something. “He’s a Rhankish lord, isn’t he?”

“Yes. And he has a large army headed towards your people. What’s worse is that, combined with the Northern lords, Castle Marcoir might be cut off from Vyssium. You should expect a siege coming soon,” Imma said.

Although she had seen how fortified Castle Marcoir had become, she knew that it would get cut off one way or another. Imma also knew that the Varangians were merely mercenaries, so they wouldn’t be willing to die for nothing.

Imma nervously tapped the metallic table as she watched the drone. She stopped once Red clapped once as if she remembered something. “Oh, yes! I’m well aware of the large Rhankish army!”

“Then-...”

“That was destroyed a few minutes ago!”

“WHAT?!” Imma shouted as she stood up from shock. “Is this true?!”

“Yes, the battle ended just now. Would you like a photo of the aftermath?” Red asked.

“A… what?”

The doors opened and a large robed figure entered the room. It was the embassy’s disguised mini-Custodian that normally resided at the top floor, but it would occasionally come down at the behest of the Daedelus drones.

The mini-Custodian printed a picture of what Slayer, Exarchi, and Minos was seeing, and Red casually grabbed it from under the floating machine’s robes.

“See this?” Red said as she slid the photo across the table.

“Is this some kind of painting?” Imma muttered, too afraid to touch the frail-looking photo. Alleigh was staring at the photo from behind, and she couldn’t muster a word to describe what she was looking at.

In the photo, there were a lot of dead men and horses everywhere. Broken banners littered the field, and the northmen were seen picking up the dead. Though it was a still image, it looked so realistic that Imma couldn’t help but smell the stench of blood.

“What kind of sorcery is this?” Imma asked. “Is this real?”

“Yes. That is a photo taken a few seconds ago. The Rhankish soldiers routed, but we didn’t chase after them because you finally started talks with us,” Red happily answered.

“Princess, the red woman could be lying to us and is using some sort of illusion magic to trick us,” Alleigh whispered to Imma.

“No, it can’t be…” Imma murmured as she clutched the photo. She looked at it from an angle, thinking it was some kind of window, then looked at the back page. The princess couldn’t help but think that Red was telling the truth.

“Can I have a few days to confirm this?” Imma asked.

“Is the picture not good enough?” Red shot a question back.

“I… I want confirmation from a third party.”

“Very well. Take your time.”

“Like I told you, lass, I cannot afford that much just for a staff! You’ve got to cut the price for one of your golden staves!” Hetrick argued as he took a sip of water. “Wait a bloody minute. This is holy water, innit?”

“Is it really? We’re not sure,” Red asked.

“What? You don’t know yet you’re giving it to us to drink?”

“Is there a problem?”

“Of course, there is! You’re just casually giving out cups of holy water to us?! Do you know how expensive and rare holy water is?!” Hetrick shouted with a slightly confused and worried look.

The doors of the room swung open as two people entered the room. It was Imma and her sword-oath, Alleigh.

“Oh, it’s the Rhankish princess again? I thought you lot were done talking? ‘Aven’t seen you in three days, you know?” Hetrick remarked. “Wait. What’s wrong with you?”

“It’s true…” Imma muttered under her breathe. It was clear that she hadn’t slept for a while as her eyes looked wild, and her hair was a mess.

“What?” Hetrick asked.

“Duke Villbrod was defeated by the Varangians!” Imma announced as she threw the photo she received from Red onto the table.

“Is this another one of the Varangian magics? Bloody ‘gatory, this looks so realistic…” Hetrick commented as he held the photo up. “Wait, the Rhanks got beaten by the northmen again?”

Imma plopped down on one of the chairs and buried her face in her hands. “Yes. Again.”

Hetrick coughed awkwardly, then got off his chair. “I should leave you with Lady Red. Good day to you, lass.”

“I see you’ve confirmed my claim?” Red asked.

“Yes,” Imma raised her head up, then answered. “However, my brother is still coming to take back the Northwestern Region.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. He’ll take it back using the Royal Army, which would be stronger than the rabble army Duke Villbrod patched up together,” Imma boasted. In truth, she wasn’t really sure when her brother would come. The Royal Army should still be dealing with other enemies, like the Hettens to the south, and even then, she wasn’t sure if the Royal Army could beat the northmen. All she could do was hope that she could talk the northmen into an agreement for now. “However, I am willing to negotiate for some kind of deal. What is it that you Varangians want?”

“What we want? Hmm…” Red pondered out loud. The drone mechanically turned her head towards Imma which startled her. “Does it really matter to you? What matters is what you want, is it not?”

Imma gulped, then nervously tapped against the table. ‘Did she see through me?’

Red leaned back on her chair, then crossed her arms. She raised her head slightly upwards, then offered, “How about this? We’ll stop attacking you, and, in exchange, you’ll stop attacking us... and give a captive Vyssian lord to us.”

“What?”

“You see, Lord Otto offered to bring us to Hetten, but unfortunately, his cousin was captured. We want him back, if that’s possible. In exchange, we Varangians will sit in Castle Marcoir and we won’t bother you Rhankians,” Red explained.

“Wouldn’t that break your contract with the Vyssians?”

Red shrugged then answered, “I don’t think so? We were contracted to take the castle and hold it. That’s it.”

“Can I ask you to leave Castle Marcoir?”

“That will cost you.” Red leaned forward, excited.

Imma leaned forward as well. “How much?”