CHAPTER 316: THE WHO’S WHO

“...Which is why the Littan Empire will begin combat operations within the Less-Than-Habitable Forest beginning in one month’s time, at the beginning of the Forest’s ‘dry’ season.”

Empress Rona Littae had spent an hour explaining the circumstances and events of the Battle of Krimsim, and I noted that it was only mildly propagandized. Namely, the army’s response was given more credit than it was due, which I understood. No one would want the world to know that their military got caught with their pants down, nor that one of their most well-defended and equipped cities was functionally destroyed. Looking weak wasn’t just bad for optics; it was terrible for national security.

At the same time, the loss of life wasn’t downplayed. Tens of thousands had been killed in Krimsim alone, with thousands more dead or missing from the surrounding farmlands. It was the second-largest mass casualty event in decades, with first place being the destruction of Canotha by Orexis and Anesis. Timagrin’s former third-most-populous city took that macabre gold medal by a wide margin, since there had been no survivors of that massacre.

The deaths in Krimsim weighed more heavily on my mind than Canotha. I’d seen the destruction first hand, I’d been a major part of the recovery, and I knew the survivors. There was also a greater sense of scale to what happened in Krimsim, lent to me by my recent mass-immigration event. The floor of our new arena had been packed tight with five thousand new citizens, and I couldn’t help but imagine them as a massive pile of bodies. Then, my mind filled every single seat in the arena with another corpse. That would be half of the deaths caused by the Hierophant.

That we knew of.

In contrast to an arena of the dead, the venue for our current talks was much smaller than I’d imagined. I’d had in my mind something similar to a NATO summit, where hundreds of people would line up behind tiny desks with little name plates. In reality, the official invitations had been sent to a surprisingly low number of people.

There were two clan leaders from Mittak, with the tiniest man in the world representing the yeti-like Iskarim and a proportionately massive woman representing the big, blue, tattoo-covered Grimvaldrim. Mittak was a loose coalition of tribes with no true rulers, with the two leaders present being the elected representatives for their groups. Neither had the power or authority of a king or other head of state, being closer to emissaries.

Timagrin was represented by their ruling council of five ‘elders’, which was more of a political term than a description of their age. Two of the wide-nosed and antlered Timans were properly wizened and gray, two were closer to their middle years, and one appeared fairly young.

Hiward had King Filix Celeritia, whose suave looks and laid-back demeanor were only amplified by his silver hair and artful signs of aging. It made him my fiercest competition for the title of foxiest king.

Princess Ishi represented the dragons and all the groups of sapient non-humanoids who fell under their umbrella. I let my gaze linger on her, wandering over her void-black hair and skin the palest shade of silver, nearly more snowlike than a pure-blooded Hiwardian. Her deep blue eyes watched the Littan empress, alight with cunning and intellect. A sapphire amulet hung just above her collarbone, complementing her eyes, and further down, she wore a high-end dress of neutral tones that did little to draw the eye but did a lot to hold your attention once she had it. It hugged her body and showed her curves without showing off. It was nearly more alluring than if she’d only been wearing–

Aaaand she caught me staring.

Ishi failed to suppress a grin at the attention, but gave a shallow nod toward the empress, softly chastising me for letting my attention wander along with my eyes. To be fair, I had at least one instance of focus paying attention to the Littan ruler at all times. I had another managing my doppelganger back in Closetland, working on writing our criminal code. I wondered how many others in the room were doing something similar, working several problems while still fully engaged with the situation. I gave Ishi a wink and kept surveying the room.

Choval had sent the head of their largest colony, and the brooding hulk of muscle ran in contrast to the normally spindly bat people. He reminded me a lot of the alpha I’d encountered in Hiward years prior, and his soul even had some hints of the same flavor of odd magicks.

All three Zenithars from Eschendur were present. Zenithar Zura with the scales and tail of the slightly reptilian Geulon, Zenithar Dal with the broad features and ring of short granite horns typical of a Hyrachon, and Zenithar Manar, who sat cross-legged on thin air as a gentle breeze made the Deijinon feathers on her scalp and shoulders sway.

Ayama was represented by Godking Ayamari herself, whose soul was every bit as impressive as her reputation. Level 61, almost all Platinum, with veritable rivers of violet streaking through it. The only reason she wasn’t full

plat was that her most recent level was a color for which there is no word. I wasn't sure what that was about, but it seemed like fertile ground for a later discussion with Grotto.

The most powerful Delver on the planet looked similar to a Timan, although her antlers were larger and more ornate. Her body proportions were more similar to a human’s, while her face was even more deer-like than a Timan’s. The only visual representation that I’d ever seen of the woman had been in Umi-Doo’s office, where she was one among the many scandalous statuettes that the director of Hiward’s Central Delver Authority produced.

In an odd inversion of the normal rule, Ayamari was wearing even less clothing in person than she did as portrayed by Umi-Doo’s figurine. That was extraordinary, since Umi-Doo’s figurines were practically allergic to clothes, but Ayamari pulled it off by wearing not a thing at all. She had a light layer of fur over her body that grew the slightest bit thicker over her more personal areas, but even that didn’t do much to hide what she had going on. It was kind of crazy to see a completely nude woman in a high-level diplomatic conference, but no one else was acting weird about it, so I tried not to let it distract–

Aaaand she caught me staring.

Fuck.

This time, I fully turned my attention back to the empress, eyes and brain both, trying madly not to think about all the ways Ayamari could smear me across the room. I didn’t actually know a thing about her build, other than that it was obviously effective. I managed to distract myself enough with the empress not to start sweating.

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Empress Rona Littae was ethnically Littan, meaning she was mouse-like in many ways, being lithe with a gently sloping snout. She had lustrous, light-colored fur, precisely groomed, with artfully symmetrical features, and whiskers that glinted in the central podium’s light. I could swear they’d been waxed and polished.

I’d previously been brainwashed by the avatar Hysteria to develop an infatuation with the Littan ruler, alongside the rest of my party. I no longer had any impulses towards the empress, but I could still appreciate her visual charm.

She caught me staring as well, but she was giving a presentation. That made it socially acceptable.

A tightly controlled number of scribes and advisors hid in the shadows at the edges of the room, none of whom were allowed to speak. Etja was among them, using her Perfect Recall to memorize every detail of the gathering. Zenithar Zura was gracious enough to allow Nuralie as her plus one. It wasn’t out of place either, given Nuralie’s station as an inquisitor within Eschendur. There were other notable figures in the periphery, ones who would normally be the most important person in any room they were in, such as Umi-Doo himself, but their prominence was crowded out by the room’s royalty.

The entire civilized world boiled itself down to less than fifty people, and of those, sixteen held the majority of its power. Curious, I flexed a Leadership evolution that showed me who had the most social influence among everyone I could see. The evo couldn’t seem to decide between King Celeritia and the empress. I wasn’t sure if that was because the two were so close to one another in global authority, or if Empress Littae’s weird-ass soul had something to do with it.

You see, all of the world’s most prominent leaders were also Delvers, with one very notable exception.

The soul of the empress had similar strength to a high-level Delver, but the woman did not have a level when I inspected her. My Soul-Sight found no halo of platinum, gold, silver, or even copper surrounding her. That soul-bound measure of the System’s influence was always present with Delvers.

This wasn’t the first time I’d noticed this. In our past meeting, I’d assumed the empress had a powerful deception skill, or that the strength of her soul came from a divine source, like Zenithar Zura’s. Having dealt with the dragons and their profound control over their souls, I now thought it was possible the empress was simply suppressing her presence in a similar way. She came across as being close in power to a Delver in the mid-30s, so if she was hiding her true strength, she was absolutely terrifying.

I couldn’t quite figure it out, and something tickled the back of my brain the more I considered it. Some factoid about the empress was on the tip of my tongue, like a word that perfectly encapsulated something I wanted to say, but I couldn’t quite remember it.

“To prevent the encroachment of another rampaging horde of mana monsters, the Empire will be securing the border of the Forest,” said the empress. There was some minor grumbling in response. “This is also being done in an effort to improve coordination and reduce the chance of accidental engagements with the citizens of friendly nations. Checkpoints have already been established at all major entry locations, and legion patrols are regularly being performed throughout all other accessible areas.”

“Are you claiming the Forest as Imperial territory?” asked the youngest of the Timan council members.

“No,” said the empress.

“Then how can you claim authority to exclude anyone from entering?”

“Councilman Melanaris, it is our intent to work with the nations of the world on our approach to the Forest. We are not ‘excluding’ anyone, simply endeavoring to organize and monitor entry so that any action we take in the Forest does not impact non-imperials.”

The empress gave the Timan councilor a moment to digest that before she continued, her tone slightly less amicable. “However, the Forest’s edges primarily abut Imperial territory, or close allies of the empire such as Choval. Minor societies are present south of Choval, but we have treaties allowing for free movement of troops through those regions. While we cannot control the Forest, we do control the lands surrounding it.”

“Will you patrol the sea routes?” asked another of the Timans, one of the elderly gentlemen.

“We would not waste the ships,” said the empress. “Any who wish to hazard the seas to the south and east of the Forest are welcome to try, so long as you do not sail through Imperial waters to reach them.”

The Timans all got a sour look. Even if the empire wasn’t actively patrolling those unclaimed waters, most sea routes leading to them were considered ‘Imperial waters’.

“We have no desire to prevent those here from exploring and taking advantage of the Forest,” said the empress. “While the empire will be in control of operations, it is our hope that every nation present will work alongside us and participate.” She gave the Timans a meaningful look. “Rather than inhibiting the world’s access, it is more likely that the collaborative nature of our mission will enable some of those present to explore the Forest in ways that they would otherwise be incapable of.”

The youngest Timan crossed his arms, looking irritated at the implication. The older council members had a hushed exchange, looking more thoughtful about the arrangement.

“Collaboration is good,” said King Celeritia. “I like collaboration. Of course, I’d like to know how these ‘collaborative’ groups will be splitting the loot with the good men and women of the empire.”

The empress smiled at the bluntness of his question. “The objective is not to hunt for natural bounties, but to identify and eliminate threats. But we recognize that it is inevitable that a large number of valuable materials will be recovered. The split is to be negotiated. It is our desire that everyone keep what they’ve fairly earned.”

The Grimvaldrim giant rumbled thoughtfully. “We tell you we want to participate, and you tell us when and where to be?” the blue Mittakan asked.

“Succinctly put, yes,” said the empress. The giant shrugged her mighty tattoo-covered shoulders and glanced at her Iskarim counterpart. The very mini yeti made a few quick hand gestures in return, and the pair of them looked satisfied.

The empress fielded a few more questions, but promised to have her aides answer the more involved inquiries after the meeting. We’d be there all day otherwise. Finally, she’d finished saying her piece and waved a hand in my direction.

“I will now yield the floor to one of the heroes of Krimsim, party leader of Fortune’s Folly and the recently crowned sovereign of Closetland, King Arlo Xor’Drel.”

Having the Littan empress introduce me like my own personal hype woman sent a tingle down my spine, although the rush was blunted by the lack of applause from the assembled bigwigs. I popped out of my seat and made my way to the center of the room, where the empress and I exchanged matching shallow bows. She stepped aside, and I took position behind the podium.

I had a single moment of anxiety as I looked out at the small crowd of extremely important people, before my familiarity with many of them washed any worries I had away. There was that whole saying about imagining people in the crowd in their underwear, but I’d literally seen at least four people in the room completely naked at this point. One of them was naked at that very moment! It all combined to take the edge off, so I smiled and waved.

“Several of you already know me,” I said. “The rest of you, well, you may have heard of me.”