Ch.1232Hold My Hand

“I’ve heard your story, but… this isn’t something I can answer right away. We’ll need to discuss this on our side.”

“Discuss…?”

“Yes. Since this is a matter where opinions will be divided, I should hear various perspectives before making a decision. Whether we accept or refuse.”

After hearing Lati’s full story, I sent the two werebeasts away, explaining that it was too early to give a definitive answer.

Though I called them allied forces for convenience, this alliance with this Caliburn person would be a union between equals, unlike the existing forces that were essentially subjugated under my command.

I couldn’t make such an important decision on my own without knowing what problems might arise later.

So I decided to hear advice from those with sharper minds than mine before making a decision.

The fox werebeast looked like she couldn’t understand why a leader would bother with such unnecessary procedures, but she nodded obediently as if she wouldn’t interfere with my decision and left.

“—So? They just left like that? That’s it?”

After sending the werebeasts away, I called my companions for an emergency meeting. Ophelia asked on behalf of all participants after hearing the whole story.

“Not quite the end. We agreed to meet again later so I can give them our decision.”

Just before leaving, the fox werebeast said she would return in a few days for an answer, and I pointed out a suitable meeting place, telling her to come around here.

What I would say there would be determined through this discussion.

If we decided to accept, we would negotiate detailed conditions afterward, and if we refused, we would become enemies.

So, which would it be?

—-

“I oppose it. Werebeasts are savage by nature, prone to lies, and will bite at the first sign of weakness. They are faithless beasts, not worthy of being our allies.”

Nigel opposed, saying they couldn’t be trusted. Her criticism was so sharp and scathing that I wondered if Frider had temporarily possessed her.

For some reason, my chest ached with each word she spoke. Why was that? It was truly mysterious.

“But she seemed nice, didn’t she? What was her name again…?”

“Yelena Olegsdottir? She’s still a child. If she had grown up among werebeasts, she would be no different.”

Was it because this was an official meeting, or because Lena had grown up considerably? At some point, Nigel had started speaking formally to Lena.

Not as a cute girl she considered like a sister, but as a royal member she should respect.

Well, though her words were polite, she was directly contradicting Lena’s statement, but that was natural in a discussion.

“I didn’t know you hated werebeasts that much. That’s news to me.”

“Considering our bad history with them… it’s difficult to feel goodwill. Don’t you feel the same, Haschal?”

That’s true.

Though not as much as Frider, I disliked werebeasts. I didn’t trust them, nor did I have any intention to.

The bad history with werebeasts Nigel mentioned was something I had experienced firsthand, not just her.

Having personally witnessed that devastation, it wasn’t easy for me to view werebeasts as a species with goodwill.

I would try to set aside my prejudice and care for them if they came completely under my command, like the Ka’har refugees who settled in Hestella, but the werebeasts hadn’t shown such submission.

This proposal was no different.

If my companions agreed, and if it was deemed necessary, I might form an alliance with this Caliburn werebeast, but I had no intention of trusting him.

I would doubt, be wary, and ultimately subjugate or destroy them.

I couldn’t leave a demigod’s army, especially a brutal werebeast army, alone just because of an alliance if they didn’t submit to me.

If they just played king in Naraka like now, there wouldn’t be a problem… but would they be satisfied with that? No, would they even try to be satisfied?

Of course not.

Even I, a relative newcomer to Naraka, was already longing for the warmth of the sun, so they must feel it even more strongly than I do.

They would surely find a way to return to the surface and try to burn and conquer not just this place but the surface world as well.

So I had no choice. To ensure they wouldn’t dream of advancing to the surface for thousands of years to come, I had to thoroughly crush and weaken them.

In simple terms, the purpose of this discussion wasn’t really to decide whether to believe Caliburn’s proposal or whether to ally with or oppose them—

“—Why not? Whether undead or apostles, they’re all things we need to exterminate anyway, so having more meat shields to die in our place is welcome.”

“What about inducing conflict between the werebeasts and the undead? If we target the aftermath, there’s no need for an alliance…”

It was more about determining how and to what extent we should use Caliburn’s forces.

—-

Everyone agreed that we should make good use of the werebeast forces, but opinions differed on the specific approach.

Ophelia suggested forming an alliance and fighting together while subtly being cautious and shifting our burden onto the werebeasts, while Jahan proposed having them clash with each other so we could reap the benefits.

I expected him, as a Ka’har warrior, to simply suggest crushing both sides with force, but it seemed he had learned to use his head from someone.

“If we reject the alliance proposal, they will never make the first move. They’ll quietly preserve their strength and wait for us to clash with the undead army.”

“So we need to make them fight before we do—”

But a Ka’har is still a Ka’har. Just coming up with the idea of using one enemy against another was certainly a big step forward, but…

“Is there a way to do that? I can’t think of any suitable method…”

“Ah, well… that… I don’t know either. Any good ideas?”

When it came to ‘how’ to actually implement this, he couldn’t provide an answer, so it was ultimately just an armchair theory.

“But hey, do we really need to be so picky about an alliance?”

Leonore’s opinion was to form the alliance first, regardless of what might happen later.

“You want to join hands with those we can’t trust?”

“That’s usually how it works, right? Alliances between nations are formed out of necessity, not trust. That’s actually the proper approach.”

Trust aside, is that how alliances normally work?

Despite abandoning her imperial status to become a knight, she was still an imperial princess, and her observation was realistic and very political.

“Such alliances break easily… but so what? It seems you don’t intend to maintain the alliance with them until the end anyway, right?”

“…That’s true. They’re too dangerous to leave alone.”

“Then there’s nothing more to consider. Take their hand when you can. That way, when the time comes, you can pull that arm and drive a dagger deep into their heart.”

“What are you saying?”

“…Form an alliance to make them lower their guard, then it’s easier to stab them in the back.”

Ah.

So we should stay close until the inevitable moment they become our enemy. That made sense when I thought about it.

Like the saying to keep friends close and enemies closer, the closer the distance between us, the easier it becomes to identify their weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

Of course, they would also find it easier to read us… but even considering that, it’s better to fight knowing something about each other than knowing nothing at all.

—-

“An alliance… it’s necessary, but we must be careful. They too will be planning to use and betray us.”

Hyalbaer also agreed with forming an alliance but maintained that we couldn’t trust the werebeasts and should remain vigilant.

Except for Turangkai, Bergelmir, and Nigel who weren’t present, virtually everyone recommended forming an alliance first and betraying later.

Even Nigel, who had opposed the alliance, eventually yielded to everyone’s opinion, so there were no dissenters left.

“Alright, if everyone thinks so, let’s proceed with forming an alliance. The remaining issue is the specific conditions…”

Now that we had decided to accept the alliance, the next matter was establishing detailed conditions or treaties.

Of course, this was something to negotiate with the werebeasts, our alliance partners, not my companions… but we should at least outline the framework before talking with them.

Even with exams, there’s a huge difference in difficulty between studying expected questions beforehand and just diving in unprepared, right?

“To maximize our benefit—”

“Our enemies are not just the undead—”

“From their side, they’ll probably—”

Not just me, but everyone seemed to think the same way, as far more opinions poured out than when we were discussing whether to form the alliance or not.