After ringing the bell Harriot came to collect me he took me straight to a room with a large round table and on it were three people the emperor, the empress and a large man with dark earthy brown skin, silver hair and pointed ears.
I bowed slightly and spoke towards the emperor and empress.
"Good morning emperor and empress I apologise for being late"
Before they could speak I took a breath and spoke to the man with my right hand over my heart and left open and facing him.
"Good sunbreak herald of wood I make regret on my tardiness"
He looked surprised and spoke to me.
"You know wood elven greetings?"
I spoke shaking my hand my palm facing the ground.
"No no that is pretty much the extent of it I'm afraid but I believe it is polite in wood elven culture to adapt to other clan and tribe customs is it not? I just followed basic etiquette"
He nodded and spoke talking to me but looking at the emperor.
"Yes you are a very polite person sadly the same cannot be said of others..."
Emperor Xenam coughed slightly and spoke.
"Please prince zeth take a seat anywhere we all have much to discuss"
I took a seat an equal distance away from both the imperial couple and the elven man and then empress Cecilia spoke.
"The emperor and I have called this meeting because you two are our smallest allies both in number and in power however you are both valued assets now I will quickly go over what we have given each other"
She took one long breath and spoke.
"Firstly from the wood elven tribe of Fairwood the empire has given your people complete sovereignty over the east fairwood forest region in return for your military assistance and strategic counsel is that correct herald arjin?"
The man nodded the Cecilia continued speaking.
"From Serothor the empire has received weapon schematics and a promise of military and strategic support from Serothor's army and the second prince himself in return Serothor recives protection becoming a protectorate state maintaining its sovereignty and customs correct?"
I nodded then empress Cecilia sighed and spoke.
"Well now we have officially all become allies it is time to discuss our future plans together first we will discuss our plans with serothor then we will discuss the fairwood tribe.
So prince Zeth your nations weapons are quite ingenious can we expect to acquire more plans?"
I thought for a moment we only gave them the grenades and cannons I will not be giving the mines but there was the exploding arrows that were being tested by the craftsmen in serothor so I nodded and spoke.
"Though the basic principles and elements of our weapons are mostly all similar we still have a few projects we can share once complete currently we are working on special arrows"
Cecilia nodded and asked a different question.
"About serothors protectorate status how long do we need to keep it in place?"
I thought for a little bit then spoke.
"Though no time limit was put in place I would say a minimum of 20 years then we can end it and turn it into an alliance contract"
Cecilia pondered, nodded then spoke.
"The empire has already promised in the contract to give Serothor protection to its sovereignty and land in times of need which could mean any level of force and you have promised military and strategic support in times of war what can Serothor specifically offer?"
After some quick math I spoke.
"While serothor does not have a standing army we have around 500 trained guards and a combined force of a little under 5000 people as a civilian army mind you many have awakened aura and have relatively good equipment"
Cecilia stopped nodding and spoke
"Only 5000? but these reports say that you fended off an army from the dust kingdom of tens of thousands of soldiers?!"
I sighed and shivered remembering the battle then replied to Cecilia.
"Yes it was a bloody battle serothor lost a little over 1000 people we used everything at our disposal our weapons, Magic, arrows we even used the city as a maze to give us a home ground advantage using the confusing layout to our benefit"
The emperor the empress and the elven man all looked at me like I was stupid but they also had a hint of curiosity on their faces so I spoke trying to clarify.
"To clarify most of the Dust kingdoms soldiers were a conscripted army that was poorly equipped and I don't think most were trained at all if you ever visit serothor you can see the scars on the surrounding landscape from the battle"
They all nodded still with a confused look on their faces then Cecilia spoke again.
"Well having a small group of trained forces and you as an ally is quite enough in addition to weapon schematics especially since you are an experienced defensive strategist which we are sorely lacking"
She sighed and asked me a question.
"So do you have any requests they can be national or personal but for our continuing relationship there should be further exchanges between us as we might call upon you at any time for aid"
Without a second thought I spoke my requests.
"Well let's see a body refining pill for myself as you might have gathered from last night my body is quite fragile and assistance to build a road from Serothor to the twilight citadel in order to cut down travel time would be useful"
The empress looked at the emperor and he spoke.
"Well you are a asset in the treaty so ensuring you can travel and keep your health is certainly a priority we can probably secure you a body refining pill but how would we help build a road?"
I replied.
"Quite simply Serothor has the bricks and the plans but we need the man power to actually do the work I understand if this is asking too much in wartime but non combatants can easily help build a road"
The emperor nodded and spoke.
"Very well it will be done now Cecilia let's turn our attention to herald Arjin"
Cecilia then started speaking to Arjin.
"Herald Arjin what shall we continue to exchange?"
He thought for a moment then spoke.
"As you know I am simply a herald not a king or chieftain however my tribe can offer some of the most talented archers there are along with training your archers we can also supply a steady supply of lumber"
The empress nodded and asked a question.
"And what do you want in return?"
Arjin did not take long before he replied.
"Well once serothor has given you the plans we would like a steady supply of special arrows and also we would like the right to seek refuge in case of an attack on our forest by our mutual enemies"
The empress nodded and spoke
"Quite reasonable okay then this meeting is adjourned we require you both to stay a week so we can arrange everything for our nations but feel free to roam the city take these they will allow access in and out of the palace and show you are high in status"
Harriot gave me and Arjin a badge each of a black and gold rising sun then we were dismissed and I suddenly have a week to kill time in a major city well I guess I am going to be quite busy this week.