PoV Duchess Beverly Greenwald
Sitting on a horse, I slowly rode on the stupid beast toward the destination, in front of the hills that killed so many humans that the ground was still dyed red. The Beast-kin, at least, were smart enough to start burying them. The problem with that was that they were digging a mass grave. I sneered, and I saw beasts tossing naked corpses after naked corpses into a pit. They had clearly looted the dead and taken their equipment, which would have been worth millions of gold coins at this point. If they sold it all off at the same time, it would crash the market for armor.
Before the kill zone, a large tent was set up, clearly meant for the talks ahead. My anger and humiliation at having to do what was next were on a level that I would have to do some things once I was back at the capital. The worst part was that I knew the exact reasons were all because of arrogance. The more I received after-action reports, the more I realized that interrogators ensured they were telling the truth. The picture painted a rough picture and also told me that my commanders had failed completely.
Sure, the beasts brought out new weapons from goddess knows where. But then they used it with perfect precision. Taking us at the perfect time, even the city assault, which lacked A-rankers, was not supported properly. The sudden attack had frozen our decision-making ability, and it showed major weaknesses in our command structure. I did not receive a proper report until the border fortresses had been down, and they were on the doorstep of Border City.
The number of failures painted a picture of a perfect storm of failures, which was a fantastic fiction. A purge was now going through the ranks of the military. Corrupt officials were being hanged in the capital city and left along the wall, to be left untouched. The Crows would feast for a long time.
The problem was that I also bore some of the blame, but I was a distance away. That is no excuse, as I sent the minimum to the new front, not particularly caring what a bunch of beasts could do. My attitude went through the ranks, and so in the end, we had been caught with Beast-kin spies in our ranks putting gold coins in the pockets of the right hands.
Now, I had to deal with the humiliation of dealing with beasts. The fucking shame was gnawing at me and I pulled on the reins a short distance from the tent. I did not want to look like we were about to fight, and I carefully schooled my expression.
Then it happened, a rift in the world opened up, showing the void and a Bunny-kin with long flowing silver hair that seemed to have a mind of its own in the cold wind. The green splotchy clothing was something I had not seen before, but I heard about it from spy reports. It was the new Beast-kin Elite Army uniform. A group of Elites that were kind to the humans as they guarded them from that stupid A ranked Necromancer spell that fucking Necromancer guild casted. The City Lord had almost been decapitated for that performance, but was also stripped of their rank and put into isolation for a decade. Sure, they would get more powerful, but that did not mean you would not hate a decade of isolation.
What this Elite army had done in Border City made me want to grind my teeth. the fucking worthless serf trash was starting to prefer the fucking beasts over the Empire. Betraying their own race, the spies were having extreme difficulty causing rebellions. Now they had to go underground as the traitors were now reporting them for even trying.
My mind focused as others started to join the Silver-haired Void wizard, who was around B-ranked. She looked young for a B ranker, extremely young for a B ranker, and one such as a Void wizard. We did not even attempt to train void mages. The combat style was difficult to use and was incredibly rare to understand. Although mana was using the imagination, it did not mean you could forgo an understanding. Even a surface-level understanding of Void magic was something that confounded the masses, and so we preferred to train our soldier wizards in the four basic elements: fire, wind, Ice, and earth. Although water was the basis, we found more success with training ice.
I shook my head as I then remembered a report about silver-haired Bunny-kin, and my eyes narrowed. Loveknots, the ruling family of the troublesome bunny-kin. A species that was surprisingly powerful for a species based on a herbivore. It confounded a lot of scholars why they were such good wizards, preferring to go the general wizard track usually till A rank or B rank, keeping their options open till the very last moment.
It was hard to see the woman's features in that odd outfit she wore, but I turned my attention to the true power movers. The Elders who walked out of the tent were not even in formal attire. Each was prepared for war, and I held back a sneer at their barbarism. But I noticed that only four of them were coming out. Another silver-haired bunny-kin and one Honey-bager-kin, those were difficult beasts, and there was an A-ranked. Their physiology made them difficult to kill, and I could see that they brought out everything to win this war. Then there was the Lion-kin, which was standing tall behind a black Dragonic woman.
Then the Dragonic woman and the young Silver-haired Void mage stepped up.
They stood before our delegation with the A rankers behind them, both in the open and hidden. I had my own people hidden, and they would not like what happened if they attacked us, but I was not stupid enough to attack their army. There were reasons the lower ranks fought each other, while the A-rankers fought each other.
But then they stood before me, not speaking, and I felt the humiliation again as I dismounted, and my delegation did the same. I handed the reins to my attendant and stepped forward, looking deathly serious. "I am Duchess Beverly Greenwald, The Top general, only second to the Emperor of the Military," I said, my voice booming, and that void mage smiled.
"Greetings," She said with a smirk, mocking me, and she opened her arms, "Welcome to the Beast-kin nation, General Beverly Greenwald!" she exclaimed. I felt fury building up inside me, and I knew instantly that she wanted this war to continue. A pit grew in my stomach. Her utter disrespect for my rank spoke volumes. She stepped aside. "Please, we have brought some of the best beast mead from our territory to toast your Surrender in our pavilion."
My rage flared and I almost burst into a complete fit as my anger was already at the peak and my mana built to smite this fucking little bunny bitch. Then, the A rankers started to flare their mana, and I woke up, and I closed my eyes, and I took a breath.
"Greetings, although we will not be surrendering, I wish to discuss peace with you," I said, and the beast smiled widely.
"My mistake, I misspoke, Duchess Beverly Greenwald. I meant to toast our peace talks; I hope you forgive my slight," she openly chuckled. "I have always been told I'm bad at these things, but I am the Supreme Commander, Chelsea Loveknot. I control the Elite Army of the Beast-kin nation. Please, let me properly invite you to come talk about peace between our two friendly nations."
This woman was up to something, and I hated it.
Because I was going to have to walk into it before I could figure out what they wanted.
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