I made it up the stairs, and my mind was active. The Elders were calling me hopefully with good news but something that I needed to know. That was the best-case scenario that I could think of while I was coming up the stairs. As I reached the top of the tower, the elders were watching me. I winced, knowing that they left it on instead of turning it off.
"Elders," I announced my entry as they saw me.
"Ambassador Chelsea Loveknot," I heard a reply, and I saw my father talking. "We have news from the Elder that went out to sea to see if your deduction was correct." I schooled my face to make sure I showed no reaction. "The timing of your deduction has worked in our favor. When the Elder arrived, our ship with Ralph was under attack. They had just arrived within minutes of our Elder." I sucked in a breath at that timing. What reason was it that we arrived at the same time?
.
"A fight between two A ranks broke out, and our Elder and theirs both survived. Many warriors on the boat died while they fought, but we kept our ship, and the Elder sped up their passage bringing the Traitor Ralph with him." I sighed with that news. "It isn't all good news, though. Ralph is holding things that I am sure that you would have liked to know Ambassador Chelsea," My Father told me, and I paid attention. "It seems that you were correct in your deduction that he has been compromised. I am also pretty sure that the Empires A rank our Elder fought, although technically it could have been the Kingdom of Arlin's. The chances of the Theocracy having an A ranker this far south is negligible at best. The Empire is within range to dispatch and would have arrived around the time when you deduced this. In the end, we were closer, which allowed us to arrive in time." My father leaned back, but none of the elders were smiling.
"Things are more complicated than that, though, isn't it?" I asked.
"Correct," My Father replied, "Ralph had a space ring, one of the surviving warriors told me. He used that ring to purchase his safety from the Human that took control of the boat. We were lucky when the Human didn't just kill all the Wizards and Warriors on the boat. In the end, though, we arrived at the moment that Ralph handed them the space ring, one of which was probably the missing files you have been complaining about." My father finished, and I frowned deeply. That was a lot of Spy information into allies and alliances in the Demon lands, and other information, not to mention background data and historical information lost to our nation. It was stupid we didn't have backups.
"We are suspecting that the Empire has learned our plans through us that our nations are done dealing with them and are preparing for war." My father told me his face was like stone, and I felt a wave of anxiety.
"Ambassador Chelsea," My Father said, and I felt solemn. "You will soon be recalled back to the Silvermoon tower, and formal written letters to bring you back for the war will be sent soon along with many other assets. We will have someone come to replace you, and we require you to tell us what it is you achieved in regards to the negotiations for the nation. Report!" My father ordered.
The suddenness of this moment arriving hit me like a truck. It was something I knew was coming, and suddenly without warning, it was here. I was being recalled to the nation, and someone would replace me and the work I had achieved here. I felt a wave of anger go through me as I was losing a lot leaving before finishing here and the vote coming soon.
I got my thoughts together quickly, though, and I nodded. "I have gotten a verbal confirmation from Queen Mira of the Illusionist Wizard tower that they will bring Illusionists for us to use with several conditions; did I secure this support," I said.
Surprised, looks around the table on each of the Elder's faces came with that report, and they all looked at each other. "What are the conditions to be able to bring their forces," My father said after they finished looking at each other. The elders were much more interested now in what I had to say.
"Queen Mira First would like to join us to make sure her women are properly taken care of," I told them with nods around the table. It was expected for at least one Queen to come with her ladies, and that wasn't surprising to them. "The next condition is that we protect her ladies by creating teams around their usage," I told them.
"What do you mean, teams?" My father bluntly asked before I continued.
"One of the things that worried Queen Mira was the fact that her women when using the potions would become targeted." I paused to see the understanding nods, "That doesn't mean she doesn't understand that casualties happen in wars, but the fact of the matter is that Queen Mira repeatedly reiterated that minimizing that would be for the best." More nods around the table, and I wait for a second to think how to continue. "I convinced her by saying that we make a form of elite divisions around these Illusionists to defend them." They continued to nod, "This way, what we can do is supply them to more of our army, spreading them around the front increasing their effectiveness in the war. This would also give us more flexibility in other areas, but these groups would be able to move in and out of areas of interest while being able to defend the Illusionists." I finished knowing that there was more to it.
"So you are saying that we will dispatch elite troops to defend these ladies specifically to protect them while they do their thing?" An Elder asked with a clean-shaven face and snow-white bunny ears.
"No," I replied, "These elite troops will defend the Illusionists," I said directly, going against what I just said in a way, "But they will be an elite troop that does jobs no other group can do. They will be groups that we can dispatch to villages or towns that can move freely. These will only be elites with a minimum of C-ranked members. Any army group they come across can either retreat or kill before retreating. Queen Mira never said what we can and cannot do with them after our elites protect them." I told the Elders with a large grin.
"You want to use them as scouts?" Another long Bearded Bunny-kin asked with curiosity.
"Not completely," I replied, looking around once again. "I want forces that we can rely on to be able to take on anything below B ranked foes," I told them with a serious face. "Think about it. How many B ranked people do you think the Empire has?" I asked. "If we force them to spread out B ranked Forces all along the war front, that means that our B rankers will be able to price their formations either forcing A rankers to come out on our terms or to concentrate the B rankers; back into their main forces."
Understanding dawned on several elders' faces, "You want them to concentrate after forcing them to spread out. As long a the B rankers spread out, we can take ground, forcing them to concentrate their main ranks again. Then with these types of squads attacking the flanks again, they will have to choose yet again; They will either have to concentrate or spread out their B rankers. The only alternative is to bring out the real powerhouses escalating the war."
"Exactly!" I said with a grin. "I believe at the start of this war with the Potion and the Illusionists, and we will take a large amount of ground to start. I also think that before they come up with a solution to it, they will retreat. We will invade the Empire, and we can start building defenses in case of retreats as we move into their land behind us. Leaping forward step by step, they will hold their ground at some point that I cannot guess yet." I went over my internal thoughts, "When they hold ground and stop using the Battle Slaves is when we will make our first line of true battle. What we would want to do with that is make that line of battle as long as possible with low ranks and these squads taking small territory forcing them to defend a larger area or get flanked." I grinned, "IF they don't defend it, We flank, If they do, we attack the main camps. Either they have to have more B ranks than us or use their A ranks. Then it leaves what I can understand," I finished with, shrugging my shoulders.
"That is an interesting way of looking at it." My father said after a little bit after I finished. Many elders were in thought, "Is there any more requirements for us to fill for using her Illusionists?" My father asked.
"There are some on logistics and gold sent to help them out and to make them look more like Mercenaries," That made them nod, "There is one major one, and that is that Queen Mira understands that we will not allow her to order our troops around. She is a Mercenary in this," I reiterated, and there were various nods. "While I have been negotiating with Queen Mira, I have built a repour with her," I slowly said; this made some of them frown others grinned. Some could understand what I was communicating with that. "The end of that, though, is that she believes that I would be the best fit for the overall leader for these small units that her Illusionists are in," I told them finally.
Silence then fell over the meeting as various expressions came to rest on the elders' faces. Some were angry, and others looked calm. On the other hand, my father had an expression that was schooled except for a single moment that I thought might have looked smug. I didn't know if I saw that or not at this point, but the various expressions showed there was more going on that I didn't know.
I kept quiet, though, until I heard their responses to this news, with the exception of adding, "None of this is on paper yet, although the details verbally are almost final."
I remained quiet, waiting before my father spoke up, "Ambassador Chelsea, is there anything else to report?" He asked.
"Yes, I have Christina working on her Spy ring and various other things to work on. Anthoney has yet to update me on the latest findings with the potion on which he has been working with the Illusionist Succubi. Then there is the current look of the Fair trade agreement that is in its critical stages and will soon be addressed here in the Demon Lands. One portion of it, I think, would create long-term problem animosity towards the Demon lands, which I would like to avoid. Therefore I am actively working on removing that portion of the Agreement before I leave; after that, I would consider my work complete." I reported.
"You will leave when instructed, not when you feel like you are finished," An Elder with salt and pepper Fur and no beard said.
I nodded, "I understand that, elder," I replied, "I am saying, though, That putting someone new in my position would only weaken our stance on this deal, and we may get something that will hurt us in the Long term."
"Your Concerns are noted, Ambassador Chelsea. Is there anything else to report to us while you have us?" My father asked.
"None that is pressing, and that would require your direct intervention," I replied.
"Then this meeting is adjourned. Be ready, For war is coming, Ambassador Chelsea, Get the contract signed with Queen Mira in haste and let her know that her services will be required earlier than expected."
I bowed, "Yes, Elders," I replied, and the crystal went quiet, shutting down.
"FUCK!" I cursed, wanting to hit something. My plans were blown; I had outstanding Potion orders in order to fund this Embassy. All of this is on top of the fact several of my lovers were pregnant, and I still haven't been around for a single birth of one of my children. I am fuming with anger and anxiety.
I needed now to meet with Queen Mira most of all, but I simply didn't see me having the time to touch base with everyone I needed to before leaving. This was bad, really bad. I didn't know what to do for several minutes level of bad, and I just had a forest fire erupted in my house. My ass was on fire now, and I didn't have enough piss to spread around to put these fires out. I needed at least five days to finish the potion orders. I would need to leave that Gold behind as well.
"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" I screamed in the room, cursing.
Then I straightened my spine and headed down the steps. My small temper tantrum was over as soon as it started, and I headed back towards my reponsibilities which just had an arbitrary completion date in the near future.
Fuck me; I thought over and over as I went to go start pissing on fires.