Ch.7575. Negotiation

When I returned to the fortress, hundreds of eyes turned toward me.

At first, I sensed awe.

Normally, troops were constantly being dispatched from all the fortresses in the border territories. This was because they were frequently ambushed by beastmen while performing reconnaissance missions or transporting supplies.

In this situation, we had infiltrated the beastmen’s main base, eliminated nearly a thousand of them, and returned without a single casualty. It was natural for people to be surprised.

However, the looks directed at us weren’t just filled with awe. It wasn’t quite resentment, but more like they were looking at us as if we were troublemakers.

‘Even though we reduced the beastmen’s numbers by so much.’

My Academy senior and the Border Count’s vassal, ‘Rick,’ observed the atmosphere carefully and gently explained the reason. He was the same gentleman who had taken the Cordana donated by the cat people to the exchange and converted it to gold coins.

“Count Wellesley. Actually, several wyverns were just spotted.”

“How many is ‘several’?”

“…Ten. An elf came running urgently to report it.”

Wild wyverns from the Demonic Land wouldn’t have come out in groups for a picnic, so it seemed someone had flown urgently from the Demon Lord’s castle. Given that there were ten of them, it wasn’t just the Beast King alone; there were probably several powerful individuals accompanying him.

The border soldiers seemed worried that a bloody battle could break out as soon as tomorrow.

They were prepared to fight.

Each ballista, which fired projectiles enchanted with devastating magic, was operated by two soldiers, and knights and mages were stationed at every defensive position. The other fortresses were probably in the same state.

“Today, the Hero’s pursuit team… ah, is it alright to call it that?”

“It doesn’t matter. That’s what they call it in the capital anyway.”

“People seem worried that the team’s actions at the border might trigger a full-scale war. Especially since you brought back so many prisoners.”

At these words, I looked at the beastmen we had taken hostage.

Beastmen covered in wounds, growling at us. There were various types.

Dog people, cat people, bear people, and of course, lizardmen too.

The common factors were that they were all exceptional specimens selected by us, and they were all expressing fierce hostility toward me.

As I carefully examined them, I suddenly made a request to Rick.

“I’d like to provide food for the prisoners. If our supplies allow, of course.”

“That’s fine, but why…?”

“They’re important prisoners.”

I didn’t mention that I was planning to start negotiations with the Beast King via communication magic soon. If it failed, war would be inevitable anyway.

‘By now, the communication crystal should have reached the Beast King.’

And the Cordana I had gently placed beside it.

If the Beast King was the kind of person I suspected him to be, he was likely experiencing complex emotions upon seeing that insignificant piece of gold. He must be busy trying to figure out what connection there could possibly be between the damage the beastmen suffered today and the Cordana.

I just hoped those emotions would cool his head a little. It would be even better if it made him suspect that beastmen were being sacrificed meaninglessly.

Of course, if he ignored everything and attacked anyway, there was nothing I could do. If I had been afraid to fight the Beast King, I wouldn’t have come here in the first place.

‘It should be about time now.’

When I entered the modest inner chamber, Professor Weaver was sitting calmly with a communication crystal in front of him.

And Elder Edin was also sitting beside him. Considering the bad blood between the Papal State and the Beast King, this wasn’t surprising.

“Lord Wellesley, if you don’t mind, I’d like to listen in.”

“That’s fine.”

“Thank you… Come to think of it, all the holy knights we assigned to Gwon Heejin were killed by the Beast King’s hand. We couldn’t even recover the remains of most of them. Shamefully, I didn’t think of them during today’s battle.”

The Elder seemed to be filled with strange emotions.

Once, as the Cardinal of the capital’s diocese, he had elegantly conducted services every Sunday for over two thousand believers (mostly nobles and royalty). The Beast King was the reason he now wandered around in what looked like a sack.

However, he didn’t seem to harbor intense resentment toward the Beast King.

Rather, he muttered, “Perhaps he reduced the scale of the disaster a bit by stopping Gwon Heejin.” It wasn’t wrong, but it was strange to see him making such sage-like statements while his eyes were wide open.

‘Well, with so many casualties, he couldn’t possibly be indifferent yet.’

I immediately looked at Professor Weaver.

“Is it possible now?”

“I’ve aligned the wavelengths, so if they respond… Of course, someone other than the Beast King might respond, but I don’t think there are many beastmen with magical power.”

Go ahead then. As I nodded, Professor Weaver immediately released his magical power.

This was a historic moment of attempting to communicate with a current member of the Tetrad.

If we failed, an angry beastmen army would invade the border territories; if we succeeded, we could create a rift in the Demon Lord’s army.

However, I didn’t speak first. My response would depend on what the Beast King said first.

After a moment, a metallic voice was heard.

“Why did you leave that behind?”

***

That thing.

It seemed the beastmen didn’t even know the term “Cordana.”

It could be that information wasn’t properly shared within the Demon Lord’s army, or perhaps the Beast King thought it was trivial and didn’t pay attention to it.

Either way, it was fortunate for me.

I let out a hollow laugh. I wasn’t sure if I needed to put on an act for beastmen, but it was better to make an effort.

“Is this the Beast King?”

“……”

“I’ll take that as a yes. That gold trinket was left as a gift to let you know your operation was successful.”

“What?”

“I’m saying that because of the operation you carried out using the cat people, the Empire is in chaos. To an extent that makes the damage the beastmen suffered at the border today seem trivial. To explain it in terms beastmen can understand… Yes. You could say they’ve degraded to the point of selling their young to get a piece of meat.”

There was a moment of silence after my exaggerated statement.

It was true that the Cordana donations from the beastmen had caused some chaos.

But compared to the market crash, it was minor. At most, there were several incidents of investors scamming each other near the capital, and nobles from prestigious families causing trouble and getting arrested by the royal guard.

“Because of that mere gold trinket.”

“If you really thought it was just a trinket, why did you distribute it by sending cat people to their deaths? Don’t pretend you don’t know when you orchestrated it.”

“……”

“To be honest, more people probably died because of that operation than the number of soldiers killed by beastmen attacking the border territories over the past few years. I’m starting to wonder where the idea that beastmen have low intelligence came from.”

The Beast King, unable to understand, just made a gurgling sound.

He must be wondering how such insignificant coins could turn humans into monsters driven by evil. It’s not like Cordana had a life of its own, floating around and attaching itself to humans before exploding.

‘And he’s probably becoming increasingly suspicious about why the Demon Lord’s castle would direct such a deadly operation through beastmen.’

At this point, I decided to feed the Beast King’s suspicions with another lie.

“Come to think of it, the diversion operation using beastmen awaiting execution in the capital was also excellent. I don’t know who you spread the rumors through, but many people died because of it.”

“What are you talking about!”

“When the locations of several beastmen habitats in the Empire were revealed, along with rumors of valuable treasures there, adventurers with dollar signs in their eyes launched reckless attacks. By the time they realized it was false, the damage had already been done. That’s why they’re being executed.”

“……”

The Beast King was now silent.

It would be difficult for border forest beastmen, who rarely have contact with humans except in battle, to discern the truth of what I was saying.

However, the Beast King himself was intelligent enough to learn magic, so he could probably piece together the context from the information I had leaked.

Whether the beastmen awaiting execution in the capital really existed,

Who spread the rumors about the beastmen possessing treasures,

And whether humans could really be ruined because of money.

‘Meanwhile, suspicion would be growing in his heart.’

A confusing situation where he could trust neither the Demon Lord’s army nor humans. However, he probably wouldn’t doubt that human anger was focused on beastmen. We had demonstrated that by killing nearly a thousand of them today.

Leoneo, having made his own judgment, spoke in a husky voice.

“Was what you did this time revenge for that?”

“Not just that. Actually, there’s a rumor spreading throughout the Empire about a large open-pit gold mine somewhere at the border. I didn’t believe it, but the nobles took it seriously. We entered the border forcibly for exploration and ended up in combat.”

“And you captured my subordinates?”

“Obviously to interrogate them about the location of the gold mine.”

“You insane creatures!”

I didn’t bother to deny it.

“Take revenge if you want. The beastmen have proven their loyalty to the Demon Lord by sacrificing their lives, so it should be simple to get support from other forces. I came prepared for a full-scale war anyway.”

“Is that why you left the communication crystal?”

“Yes. If you tell us the location of the gold mine, we’ll spare the prisoners. Or you can pay their ransom in gold. Don’t blame us for what the beastmen brought upon themselves.”

The Beast King was so dumbfounded he couldn’t continue speaking.

He must be astonished that humans, who had been struggling just to defend against beastmen attacks, suddenly went crazy and ambushed the border for something as trivial as gold.

If he thought it was nonsense, he could simply end the communication, but the Beast King didn’t do that.

This meant he acknowledged that beastmen were being used as pawns by the Demon Lord’s army. He might even be harboring the extreme suspicion that demon folk were spreading false rumors to induce mutual destruction between beastmen and humans.

‘If he truly trusted the Demon Lord, such suspicions wouldn’t have sprouted, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.’

After letting the tension build sufficiently, I spoke to Professor Weaver.

“Professor. Let’s end the communication here. I’ll be meeting this guy soon enough anyway.”

Right after that.

“Wait, wait just a moment.”

The Beast King stopped me, his voice deep and without the metallic quality.

That was the moment I knew I had hooked a big fish.