All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 305: “Diplomacy”

I had more than enough time to finish the wall. We didn't leave the next day or even the one after that. There was apparently a lot Beatrice had to take care of, which was fine with me. I even had time to add decorative filigree on all the crenellations along the wall, as well as those towers made of perfect crystal. They each rose 50% higher than the wall.

There were also a few custom additions requested. With Arthur's suggestion, I mounted massive siege ballistae and trebuchets in an alternating pattern every twenty yards. That would allow excellent point defense from any portion of the wall. I also made sure that the ballistae could aim up in case there was any sort of flying attack. We would still be vulnerable to something coming directly down from the top of the city. But for now, that was ok. I'd add defenses that could deal with that in some other way. A way that wouldn't result in ballistae bolts and trebuchet rocks falling back into the city.

I was just contemplating adding more color to the wall when Beatrice found me. Evidently, it was time. Sadly, we weren't flying because there weren't enough people in the delegation who could fly. Arthur was also coming along with a contingent of a thousand soldiers, which was not enough to take the city, he claimed. At least not on their own. I had my doubts about how much everyone had been leveling lately. Their main purpose was to prevent any sort of attack from being successful against us.

As for our other companions, we had a few. Beatrice, of course, was coming, and so was her aunt Beatrix. We left behind Susan, the Warden, and Tony to take care of things In the capital. In fact, Tony had a voyage of his own to embark on. He had mostly organized all the people in the capital who wanted to go back to the castle. We deemed that he had regained enough control over his powers and surprising new combat abilities that he, along with a company of soldiers, could make the trek himself. According to Beatrice, it would even kill two birds with one stone if he escorted people back as well.

That obviously wasn't the only reason he wanted to go, though. Beatrice had told him how much his parents and siblings missed him, and Tony felt that it was time to return home. Susan and the Warden would maintain order in our stead.

Harold, though, was coming with us. Beatrice wasn't exactly ecstatic about that, but the Warden assured her that Harold would be excellent for maintaining our contacts with any sort of agents or information brokers if we needed them. He could help us learn about what was going on in the city while also accomplishing a few missions of his own. It took a bit of convincing, but she agreed.

"I don't think it's necessary," Beatrice argued. "Even if something unexpected does happen, we are more than prepared."

"Better to be safe than sorry," The Warden replied. "He will not trouble you, I promise. Besides, he has his own missions to complete in the area as well. Ones related to that demon-worshiping group you mentioned."

Evidently, the Warden had been hard at work digging into that particular matter. Unfortunately, their network hadn't managed to come up with anything yet. It was a little worrisome. They weren't our only options, but they were some of the better ones.

Archibald and Daedalus were also tracking the Lieutenants down. Still, the dragon obviously couldn't go into the city on a stealth mission. And while Archibald was a certainly capable fighter, his knowledge of the current world and its customs was certainly lacking. He might not be able to blend in well enough and certainly didn't have the contacts to get any sort of real information.

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Still, things seem to be under control for the most part. And before long, our little diplomatic party was underway.

I mostly flew ahead, improving the road as we went to improve our travel efficiency. But I had done this enough that it was a half-hearted effort. Not to say that I produced anything but high-quality work, of course. But it required less than 30% of my attention to creating a perfect cobble road, leveled, gradient textured and sloped to prevent water from pooling on it. Each one would last, by my estimations, almost 2000 years of standard wear and tear.

No one was exactly surprised by this since most of the soldiers had gotten quite used to my little projects, except for Beatrix, who was appropriately excited.

"Think about it! All the potential money we can save on shipping! We just need a network like this throughout the entire kingdom!"

Her enthusiasm did make my bristles puff up a little in pride. It was always nice to have people appreciate my work. At some point, once we had enough time and stability, I fully intended to build more roads. I could connect all the major cities, probably the entire kingdom, too. It would just take a bit of time.

Of course, roads weren't the only way to travel. Maybe I could work on improving transport in other areas as well. But judging based on how excited Beatrix was, this would do a lot of good for a lot of people.

At the very least, it was an easy way for me to help out and bring a bit more order to the world. They went back and forth a bit about monopolies, caravans, fluctuations and reductions in the costs of goods, and other such economic stuff I didn't have much interest in. But at the end of the day, it sounded like nice roads were an overall net good.

During the night, I explored the area around us, wandering through the forests while still keeping within the microphone range of the camp so that I could hear anything going wrong. But this left me a large enough radius where I could find some pretty cool things. There were a few caverns. I tidied up plenty of shrubs and overgrown grasses that I trimmed. I even met a bear and her cubs. She was not exactly very polite, especially considering that I was cleaning up her home. Still, she was fine once I gave her some space.

I also found some strange magical energies coming from a small circle of mushrooms. When I stopped to examine them more closely, I could see little butterfly-like creatures flitting from one to another. I watched for some time before they became aware of my presence and zipped under the ground to hide. It was just fascinating.

The days passed, and I had plenty of time to relax and catch up with my friends. But soon enough, we arrived. The city loomed large on the horizon, boasting almost as impressive a skyline as the capital did. Several large buildings dominated the city, towering over the comparatively imperfect city wall, and I could see a faint haze of wood smoke rising up as morning fires were being lit.

As we approached the city, the gates opened, and a long column of guards wearing shining breastplates rode out on horses. A full 192 of them. They made their way at a trot towards us. Arthur called a halt a few hundred yards away from the city and waited for the guards to reach us.

Our soldiers formed ranks, but no one made any threatening moves. No weapons were drawn or anything like that, which I appreciated. Despite all the fighting I had done lately, I still didn't like it all too much. Especially not the idea of humans fighting humans.

The guards stopped 20.41 yards away from us, then split into two columns as a man rode up between them. He was on the shorter side at 5'2", balding, with a decent amount of pudge around his waist but a serious face and an ink stain on the tip of his nose. When he got halfway between his guards and us, he stopped and dismounted. My companions talked to each other briefly before Beatrice and her aunt walked out to meet him.

I watched from a distance, content to let the humans do their politicking. But after a couple of minutes of exchanging words, the governor, the pudgy man, went to one knee and kissed the back of Beatrice's hand before she pulled them back to his feet.

I froze. My predictive models indicated that there was an 89.7% chance this was a good thing. But that last 10.3%...

...This couldn't be a proposal, right?

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