Armistice (1/2)
"Oh, bro… one more thing before you go," Dakka says as he beckons with one of his clawed fingers.
"What is it?" Haalfrin sounds very tired with his reply.
"It'll be really quick and painless - promise. Just come closer."
Haalfrin gets up, and the instant he steps too close, Dakka slugs him in the face and knocks him out cold again – breaking the very nose again that had just finished healing up.
Freyya is looking at Dakka in shock, and the dragon in question just straightens his jacket.
Seeing the goddess's questioning look, Dakka shrugs, "What? Those children are under my protection, and he hurt them. The only reason I didn't kill him is because I understand that he didn't know better."
Freyya can tell that Dakka is both sad and furious. Still, she doesn't appreciate what he just did.
"Dakka!" Freyya growls, "Didn't you already punish him with that first hit? Why'd you have to do it again?"
Dakka folds his arms and turns his chin up. "The first hit was for attacking my wife. The second was for the children. I considered hitting a third time for wrecking the house, but this castle is his to begin with, so I'll let that one slide."
He nods his head at her. "Anyway, so long."
Before the dragon can leave, she holds up her hand and says, "Wait a second! I have something to say to you."
"…Yes?"
*BAM* In an instant, Freyya reached forward with her hand and used her magic to break his nose in turn.
The dragon reels back with a bleeding face, and Freyya just crosses her arms. "What?" she says coyly. "I didn't kill you because I understand why you had to do it. However, this man is my husband, and you broke his nose."
Instead of getting mad, Dakka gives a toothy grin – revealing his long row of fangs. "Heh… Haalfrin found himself a good wife."
With that, the dragon steps out of the room and closes the door.
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Haalfrin soon wakes up again – this time with Freyya at his side to explain why Dakka suddenly hit him again.
"You don't have to worry about that stupid dragon for now," Freyya tells her husband. "Dakka's already acting like you're going to agree to peace, so he's making all of the Ants clear out of the Valor Hall."
Just to be sure, Haalfrin summons a few Wills to check out the situation for him.
(Remember that the Wills are catalysts to summon the Arkin and Rehkin into his Soul Realm. So long as these soldiers remain unsummoned, their Wills remain behind.)
Since there aren't any weapons to house these Wills, he just summons a few necro crystal daggers and puts the Wills into them.
With the daggers ensouled now, they all shoot off in random directions and explore every corner of his castle – his home.
Within an hour, the last of the Wills returns to him, and Freyya translates for them, "It's all clear. No more Ants remain."
"All right."
Just in case a fight DOES break out, Haalfrin summons his Arkin army and orders them to secure every inch of the castle again. Lastly, he tells the common soldiers to not make a move for now, and he summons his generals again to the same place they've always held their war meetings – the old throne room.
Of course, the Rehkin clan representatives are invited too.
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"Ah! It's good to see you again, Commander!" several of the generals call out with joyful looks on their faces. "I see that we've got the castle back. Looking at how the Ants are fleeing away from the keep, they must be on the run now."
Another general crosses his arms and nods proudly, "I knew that waiting for Lord Dakka to wake up was a good plan."
Another general actually wipes some tears from his eyes. "All those memories of being eaten over and over again… It was all worth it."
Understandably, Haalfrin feels a powerful bloodlust in the air. After all the suffering they were put through, they're ready to finally hunt the Queen down and end this war!
Unlike the Arkin, who are all reeking of bloodlust, most of the Arkin war chiefs have their arms crossed, and they have stern expressions. They don't have nearly as much reason to kill the Ants – rather, they just want to objectively help protect their descendants.
Seeing all of these people's reactions, Haalfrin gets a little uncomfortable. Suddenly wanting to get this over with, he waves them all down and says, "Let's all sit down and calm down. We have a few things to discuss."
Everyone in the room senses that their commander is feeling particularly serious, so they all get a bad feeling. Obediently, they all quiet down and let him speak.
Haalfrin sits there with his elbows propped on the table and his clasped fingers hovering right in front of his face.
He's like this for a few uncomfortable seconds before he says, "Now, I'm going to explain a few things, and many of you are probably not going to be happy. Unlike before, the decisions in this war council are going to be more democratic; I'm not going to tell you all what to do."
"W-what's this about, Commander?"
"We're going to talk about whether or not to continue this war," Haalfrin says. "Let me explain…"
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Haalfrin keeps his explanation brief. He talks about the Queen's new ability to revive into her children's bodies first, which elicits several groans from the crowd.
Doesn't this literally make her impossible to kill? Since she doesn't use mana to revive her children (as far as they know), then she'll never die, so long as she doesn't spend mana herself.
Immediately, several of the Arkin generals realize that no matter how much stronger they are than the Queen, they can forget about killing her. One of these generals immediately raises his hand and says, "I vote we sue for peace."
"Idiot!" one of the other generals pulls his hand down. "That monster won't stop until everyone's dead! We have no choice but to fight her."
One of the Hawk war chiefs speaks up, "From what we've seen of her, her surrendering is unlikely if she's confident that she'll win the war."
"You're all getting ahead of yourselves," Haalfrin says. "Let me finish."
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Haalfrin talks some more, and when he gets to the part of the story where Dakka awakens and gives the Queen a crushing defeat, all of the Arkin cheer… only for them to go quiet again when Haalfrin gives a heavy sigh. "…And then, the stupid dragon confessed his undying love to the Queen and married her."
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You know, if things are quiet enough, even silence has a sound.
"…What?" comes a single reply from a gentleman in the back.
"Yes…," Haalfrin leans back with a tired look. "Our dear friend, Lord Dakka, has decided to support the Queen now, and he wants us all to get along now."
One of the Arkin generals frowns. "If Dakka could defeat the Queen so easily… then what can we possibly do even if we want to continue the war?"
"The Queen can't be trusted, though," another general interjects. "From how the Commander explained it, it sounded like the Queen was an unwilling wife anyway. She definitely only submitted to him so that she could find another chance to claim her victory in the end."
Haalfrin nods at this. "I completely agree with both of you. Frankly, I would like to continue the war… but I'll have to admit that I'm biased here."
General Kaalhyme, who knows Haalfrin best among the people here, nods his head. "Yeah. This is probably your last chance to get killed in battle; no one else here is powerful enough. That would certainly cloud your judgment."
Understanding now what Haalfrin was intending by calling for a vote, Kaalhyme appreciates the man even more now.
There's nothing worse than a king or leader who forces war upon a people who don't wish to fight. However, the king should also be willing to lead them, if they all cry for blood.
One of the other generals, however, doesn't understand. He just raises his hand and bellows loudly, "Commander! Why are you even discussing this with us!? You can agree to a truce or turn the Queen down! You're our commander after all, and you get to make these decisions."
Haalfrin calmly replies, "Because you're all my men, and in a situation like this, I have to take your wishes into account. During my years of imprisonment, you were all the ones who suffered the most – being eaten over and over again."
Another of the generals – a tall man with red hair – leans back and crosses his arms, "True. She was slaughtering us like cattle. We should be pretty mad… I still say that we need to sue for peace. If the other side is offering to end the conflict, then we need to accept it. There's no point in continuing the war."
One of the other generals slams his fist on the table. "But we can't just give in to Dakka, the traitor! So what if he wants peace!? After all we've given to stall time for his awakening, and he abandoned us just because that place between his legs got a little tingly!"
"You forget," the red-haired general says calmly, "that we were the ones who volunteered to be the Queen's sacrifices. If we hadn't given value to the Commander's life, our leader would've been dead by now. With all those years before Dakka's awakening, and with the Queen desperately wanting to be stronger than him, she'd have eaten the countryside dry."
"He's right," one of the Hawks nods gratefully. "Now that Lord Dakka is awake, he's stopped the Queen from warring, even if it's not in the way you'd have liked. All of your people's sacrifices hold value. You've saved a lot of people. Many of my descendants got to die peacefully and join me in the Death Realm because of you. Please try to remember that."
The belligerent general calms down upon hearing this, and there are actually a few tears in his eyes. Undoubtedly, his experience in the Queen's mana farm had shaken his mind, so hearing about all the good he's done hits him really hard in the heart.
So, the man wipes the tears from his eyes and says slowly. "Yeah… As long as our sacrifice held meaning, then there's nothing to regret." He turns to Haalfrin. "I'll support a truce with the Queen and Lord Dakka."
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