I woke a little before dawn as something triggered my barriers. My no-worries plan was going horrendously well. I woke Garth up and prepared for battle.
The chimera eagles had attacked our camp. I didn't know if they saw us as a threat or food, but they wanted something. I hadn't gotten around to negotiations, but it seemed those plans would be messed up.
A rank seven eagle had led a small group of four rank sixes to our doorstep. They were almost through my barrier, so I needed to think of a plan fast.
I didn't want to kill them, and keeping them as hostages would better my chances in negotiation. I couldn't restrain them long enough to keep them away, and while Garth could help, it would be dangerous if we both went out.
Garth created another barrier underneath mine to give me more time to think. It was nice to have someone you could rely on. I considered partly injuring the birds and healing them after the negotiation, but that could be viewed as a sign of war.
I didn't want to upset them if they had a rank nine. The Hydra was injured when I fought it, and while Garth would help, it would be a close fight.
Taking a chance, I lept up to the eagles as they busted through my barrier. My body was made of adamantine, and while they wouldn't be trapped, binding them with my body and barriers would give me enough time to negotiate.
I sent out a wind spiral to throw off their flight and even blocked their wind magic momentarily. While the mana core could change the element of mana, it was much easier to use mana of the same element to sustain your magic.
By absorbing all the wind elemental magic nearby, I could momentarily shut off the wind magic the eagles used to stay flying.
With the beasts discombobulated, I wrapped them all up with strands of my flesh and restricted their movements with barriers. This would only stop them for about half an hour. My knockout magic wasn't powerful enough to put these beasts out of commission.
With the sun rising, I flew over to the eagle nest. Unleashing my whole aura, I landed at the nest, suppressing any eagles coming over.
I walked further into the nest, where I felt the mana of the leader, a rank-eight beast. After a short walk, I arrived in front of the leader with the five eagles I captured.
I sat down, conjuring a throne of fire and ice. I wasn't about to come all this way to bow down to the enemy. My silence was a show of authority, and I wouldn't be the first to break it.
I stared down the chimera eagle as it came closer. It was twice my size but nothing compared to the Hydra.
'Why are you here, human?' A mental transmition. I expected that such a high-ranking beast would be able to communicate, even if not by voice.
I responded in kind, 'Why did you attack me.'
'It was not our intention to.'
'Your subjects' actions would say to the contrary.' I waved the captured eagles forward.
'I'm sorry for that, but they aren't my subjects.'
'I don't know what you call them, but they are a part of your nest, and as their leader you are responsible for them.'
'Well, I'll take respobsibility for them, and you can go on your way.'
'No.'
'I'm asking nicely.'
'And I don't give a shit.' I stood up, facing the eagle eye to eye.
'Don't think I'm just going to let this slide human. You will die if you continue another step.'
'Yeah, well, I don't think so.' I took a step forward.
'So be it.'
An incredibly high-pitched scream resounded through the mountains. It would have disoriented any human, but my ears could take it.
As the chimera eagle continued its sound attack, I slapped it across the face. That shut it up, and before it could even turn back, I slapped it again, then again, and again.
With the eagle's head angled toward the ground, I stepped on the bird, cutting off the mana and air around it with a mana whirlwind.
'Now you want to negotiate or fight.' With its head to the ground, it only had one realistic course of action.
'I'll negotiate.'
'Good.' I released the eagle and sat back down, restraining my aura.
'I'll let these birds go as an act of goodwill.' I removed the barriers around the eagles, and my bondings returned to my body.
'I'm a fair man. My offer is simple. You help the village when we need help, and I'll help you with whatever you need.
Call it an alliance. Of course, you could reject my offer, but then I can't guarantee the safety of this nest.'
'Yes, I accept.'
The expected outcome. After negotiating the deal's nitty-gritty, I returned to the village. The eagles would scout around the camp for any dangers, and I would help the eagles by taking out the competition or healing them.
It was a good deal for both sides, and it didn't require too much from me that I didn't already do. With the camp secure, we just continued building the village infrastructure. I helped out with the wall and heavy lifting.
Everyone was doing their part, and some of the fourth-ranked villagers were close to breaking through to the fifth rank in a couple of weeks. Having stronger was always a positive. Even I only needed a little more to get my tempering level to the eighth rank.
-----
A month had passed since we settled into this valley. I broke through to the eighth tempering rank. After my core became teal, I would step into the ninth rank. Because my core was unique, only it needed to get to the next level for me to be considered at that level.
If anyone else wanted to get to the next level, they would need to raise their tempering level and mana core.
I completed the north wall this past month, and a wood fence surrounded the rest of the village. We didn't want to surround the town if we decided to expand. Today was the day we would discuss the idea of expansion.
I made my way over to the meeting house. Garth and some people were already there. There was Toby, the elder dwarf; Norg, the Orc leader; Felicia, the human speaker; Holone, the nature elf; and Modum, the leader of the fish folk, or as I learned, Vulgarpicse was the actual name for their race.
These seven people and Garth made up the central council, with me being the tiebreaker member. Today, we gathered to discuss the village expansion.
Garth spoke first: "Okay, now Alex is here, and we can start. The first order of business is whether we expand the village. As you know, the town needs more people to be entirely self-sufficient.
Alex and I are making up for anything we lack, but we won't always be here. This village will eventually collapse unless we get more people or more powerful."
Norg was next to speak up. "We can always expand the village, 'naturally'."
"No, I don't know how it is for orcs, but that wouldn't be sustainable, and there aren't enough people for that anyway." Felicia rebutted Norg's suggestion.
"So we agree we have to expand?" Garth put the conversation back on track.
"Yes."
"Aye."
Everyone agreed.
"So, does anyone have any ideas?" said Garth.
"..." The room was silent. I spoke up.
"What if we expanded the same way we got started?"
"What do you mean?" asked Holone.
"Well, you guys are all here because I killed the slavers, so we just continue doing that."
"Slavery is a big business in the Daitya Empire. It's legal, so there are bound to be more." Garth added to my idea.
"Yeah, but how would we get the people back here?" Modum was a bit skeptical of the idea.
"It's the same way. I can leave alone and then use the slaver's equipment to return here. Garth will be here, and we have the help of the Chimera Eagles, so it should be no problem if I leave for a couple of weeks.
I should be able to get to the Acies forest in a couple of days, and the return trip will take the same amount of time as when we traveled."