Herald of Steel

Watching Metztil's trouble, the very first thing the various chiefs of the other tribes decided to do was learn from his mistakes and guard themselves against it, shutting their own rivals from trying something similar.

And once they secured their place, the clever men decided to take a simple wait and see approach, feeling not the slightest bit guilty for ditching their 'leader'.

This was because, despite many of the abilities that Metztil possessed, he had many detractors, who found the man to have quite a few glaring shortcomings.

One of the biggest ones being he was not considered to be particularly clever or politically savvy. Or at least not as much as it required one to be able to masterfully navigate through the complex maze involving so many different tribes and factions.

Metztil was only able to maintain rough control through his tribe's overwhelming force as well as the occasional brilliant advice from his chief shaman.

However, that only worked during peace times.

Now that Metztil was in trouble, such strong arming tactics swiftly came to bite him in the rear, as the various alliance leaders decided to bring up old scores, wanting to settle these old grudges first.

In addition, they were also in general pessimistic about Metztil's chances even if they helped him, for the trap laid out for him was truly insidious.

His rivals knew this was their last chance and so they really committed themselves to this one last dice throw.

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This was because if the land deal with the Margraves truly went through, it would undoubtedly cement Metztil as the tribe's chief till his death, being almost impossible to remove using any legitimate or popular means.

So given the situation, one could not really blame them for trying so hard.

And given that this was their ultimate battle cry, even those chiefs that were favorable towards Metztil cautioned themselves from carelessly dipping their toes.

They could see Metztil was clearly losing and it seemed very likely that he was going to fail in getting what the people wanted and then be promptly replaced.

Thus to them, this great chief was little more than a sinking ship, a ticking time bomb.

So why should they go out of their way to help such a failing cause?

And this line of thought clearly manifested in the fact that not a single one of them accompanied Metztil to Giant City, despite it being such a momentous meeting.

Rather they waited to see Metztil fail, hoping that there would be various opportunities for their tribe's expansion.

Once they were done with that and after a new Helvati chief had been chosen, then they could come again to re negotiate the terms with Alexander, the real terms.

In this way, whereas Metztil was a lion surrounded by a pride when he met with Lord Janus, now the prideful man looked like an abandoned dog, rolling out his tongue in pathetic pants.

"We can agree to let you people live in those lands… with some sort of special arrangement."

It was also knowing this that Metztil forced himself to sit down upon hearing Alexander's offer, before giving the man a subtle look to continue.

Alexander succinctly proposed, "We can allow the Helvati to live and work in our lands with special laws in place. Laws that will respect your rights and beliefs."

He wanted to form a basic two state solution.

"Joke! You wish to rule over us. Hah! We will never submit to you outsiders!"

The nascent plan was brutally stamped on even before it could get a single chance to bloom, Metztil brushing past the 'insulting' proposal with a wide swing of his sturdy arms.

"No, you misunderstand! We will give your people autonomy to rule the lands by themselves…and..." Alexander was however very quick to chime in to try and correct the man, but....

"Given that we bend our knees and pay you taxes… right?" Chief Metztil snatched the words right out of Alexander's forming a sneer as he said it. "Let me guess, you also want us to disband our army and only keep a token force to maintain the internal order."

Metztil was three for three till now, managing to strike every point on its bullseye.

This surprised Alexander a bit. Because clearly the man before him did not seem to be that smart.

So how did he guess his thoughts so easily?

Metztil was there to give the answer himself, producing a proud, disdaining smile,

"Heh… surprised? This was exactly what those Margraves dogs promised us back when they asked us for help in subsiding the rebellion. Only for those scums to betray us later. *Tsk*...and now you dare show us the same thing again? Do we really look so stupid to you?"

"Wait! What do you mean we betrayed you? Clearly, you betrayed us!" As Chief Metztil's revealed this enlightening information, Lord Janus was unable to hold himself back from jumping up to instantly 'correct ' the snarling man.

Before reminding the bulky chief of the true events- that it was the natives who attacked the Margraves's center without any cause or provocation.

"Heh! Is that what you are told? I already knew you outsiders were liars and swindlers, but… the extent still leaves me speechless." Towards Lord Janus's 'amendment', Metztil once again revealed the full set of his yellowed teeth and squinted his eyes, showing his rage,

"Let me tell you what really happened back then old pup. Just as the battle started, we got a secret tip that your family never intended to honor its promise. That the entire battle was a trap designed to surround and exterminate us… remove this eye sore from the island once and for all. So we killed them before they could. *Tsk*... even my grandfather barely managed to live!"

Metztil added that last bit to show how great and terrible that fight must have been. His grandfather should have been a very high ranking, powerful man, without a doubt a commander, and such men were always placed in the center of the army, protected from all around.

So the fact there was a breach that far into the lines clearly meant immense casualties.

"That… you… what…ummm.." For Lord Janus, this new information was clearly like a bolt out of the blue, stunning to the point he would barely speak.

It was his words against the other, making it hard for him to counter it.

Hence mouth agape, the thin, white whiskers on his cheeks only twitched crazily, his mouth struggling to make a sound.

'...Hmmmm…' While Alexander hummed inside his mind, many, many different scenarios playing inside his mind, 'Was this information true? It must be. Or it's hard to imagine that the natives would all unanimously choose to believe it. So much was at stake.'

He first said to himself, feeling more inclined to believe Metztil over Lord Janus.

The spy who revealed this should have been trusted beyond even the slightest shadow of a doubt to convince all the present tribes so quickly.

But then, the always skeptical man also added, 'It could also be a ploy by the rebelling nobles. Perhaps they brought the spy. Or even all the natives.'

This was also very much possible, one should not underestimate the power of money. The number of mercenaries who had turned on their employers after being offered a better deal was enough to fill entire libraries.

However in this context, Alexander did not favor this argument that much. Given the resources promised to them by the Margraves, mere money should not have been enough to move the natives.

Alexander thus felt he was still missing something.

'Hmmmm… I should look into this Margraves rebellion deeper when I get the chance. Also how the natives have been doing from then to now. I wonder if those rebelling nobles promised to give those natives some covert assistance in exchange.'

He made a note to himself,

Alexander felt that if he truly wanted to make some of these lands a part of his fief, he needed to understand the local politics. Even if this was not in depth and down to the minute detail, he at least needed a general idea of the place to make sure he did not unknowingly pass completely useless or even aggravating policies.

While Alexander analyzed the powerful chief's words, Metztil much more focused his attentioonds Lord Janus, and seeing that hated man fumble, felt a surge of glee coursing through his heart.

Thus he could not help but reiterate with a loud, disdainful voice, "Heh! All you outsiders are the same! We will not fall for the same trick twice."

"....." And towards this vehement loathing, Alexander very frankly pursed his lips in a very unnoble like way, clearly showing his dissatisfaction.

Given that they were not interested even after all the concessions he made, It almost seemed as if the natives were not at all interested in reaching any kind of middle ground.

"So what do you propose? Because we are not giving you all that land." He thus asked in an exasperated tone, subtly warning, "If that is what you want, then we might as well sue for peace with the Heeats. They are far close to us. I am sure we can work out something better."

"....." Metztil's eyes clearly flickered with a chilly light as he heard this, but could only produce a muted silence.

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