Chapter 269: Necessary Alliances

After Erebus left with Wisteria, the rest of us were left to think about what had been revealed. Near the end, I had been expecting him to issue some form of mission to us, such as securing a dungeon or two to use against the church. However, the only instructions that he gave were for us to steer clear of the matter entirely for now.

As Diane put it, this was a ‘cold war’. If we gave them any hard evidence that they could use as a pretext, they could pull in support from other nations to strengthen themselves. On the other hand, we had very limited options in what we could do against them at this time. Rally the other Players into boycotting the church? I hardly held that kind of power within the Player community. If anything, it might incite more people to actually join the church if they hear about the policies that they have.

After all, those policies might be horrendous to the Fallen and NPCs, but they are quite beneficial to Players. I didn’t want to simply advertise those policies to Players that would be more than happy to hurt NPCs for their own gain.

“So, what do you want to do now?” Nuoda asked from the desk, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat. “If they really do declare war, are you going to fight them?”

I shook my head at that. “Not unless they strike first. Fallcry is too small right now. I’m confident that I can at least retreat if I fight most grandmasters, but a nation like Athua is bound to have plenty of strong figures of their own. If they really committed to an attack, it would be hard to hold them back.”

“Then why don’t they?” Bella questioned, seeming confused. “I mean, if they have the military power to defeat Fallcry, what’s stopping them?”

Diane simply sighed. “It’s all politics. If they attacked without a significant reason, they would be making themselves a target for every other nation. The dragons didn’t have to worry about this as much because they’re already monsters. Most nations would gladly attack them if given the chance.”

“Look at it this way. If your neighbor suddenly went on an unprovoked rampage and killed the person across the street, would you feel comfortable living next to them?” she asked, and Bella widened her eyes. “Exactly. Right now, we’re in a precarious position. If we give them an excuse, they’ll be able to rally anyone that has a grudge against Drake or Fallcry as a whole. If we do like the league master said and keep a low profile, then all of their attempts to incite a conflict will fall to the wayside.”

“Thankfully, the rift close to Fallcry is connected to Farro, not Athua. Otherwise, they could work on spreading their territory into Chimeris with the intention of forcing us into conflict. With Farro acting as a buffer, they don’t have the means to expand without offending another nation.”

“So again, what are you going to do now?” Nuoda repeated, looking at the three of us. “Even if it is a ‘cold’ war, this declaration could cause Players to leave your territory, setting us back over a month of development.”

I lowered my head, thinking about our options. I could always count on Ella to back me up, just like I had done for her when she was in trouble. However, she was being supported by the elves, who were themselves hostile towards me. If she got involved, it might ostracise her from her own camp.

There was the Questing King, who I was on fairly good terms with. He had notified me about Yatagarasu, which had been a substantial help with taking care of that trait farm. However, his primary objective as a Player was to accept quests, thanks to his traits. It wouldn’t be a good idea for him to make an enemy of the church, a potential source of high-value quests.

Aside from those two and the league itself, our primary allies were none other than the pixie kingdom that we had made contact with. I looked over at Diane, my expression serious. “Is there any way that we can utilize our connection with the pixies to help? Whether it is to attract more Players or anything else.”

Diane’s eyes widened briefly, thinking over the question. “There are definitely some advantages to being allied with the pixies. For many Players, pixies hold a certain charm. That’s why so many were willing to travel to Feycross even when it was such a dangerous area.”

“Additionally, they are the most technologically advanced civilization that we have come across to date. Their eccentricities aside, the only real downside behind them is the fact that their civilization is based in the spirit realm, which is difficult for most Players to access.”

Nuoda listened to the conversation, seeming intrigued. “What if we offered to make an embassy for them in Fallcry?” she suggested. “They could have people dispatched as permanent liaisons between our two nations, which would make it even easier to conduct trade. And, from what you said before, they are quite fond of food.”

Diane slowly began to smile beneath her mask. “That could work. We don’t really have a good grasp on what they have to trade since their civilization is focused so heavily on runic technology. We should go and make the offer, at the very least.”

After she said that, she turned to look at Nuoda. “Can you have Ennolf prepare an assortment of dairy and spicy dishes? Those were their favorites, and it would help to get them to open up about a closer diplomatic relationship.”

“Spicy? I always assumed they’d go for sweets,” Nuoda muttered, before shrugging her shoulders. “Still, I can call Ennolf. He should be getting off work soon, so he’ll have time to log on and cook. Is there anything else that I can do to help?”

Diane flashed a knowing smirk towards myself and Bella. “Not you, Nuoda. But these two have some homework to do before we go.”

I looked at Diane in confusion, but she slowly pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, writing on it. “The two of you are going to learn to memorize the name of the pixie king. From our last visit, it was clear that they place great importance on names. If you fail to call him by his proper name, that could be taken as a slight against their race.”

I let out a low groan, my eyes on the paper. “How did you even memorize his name so quickly? I stumbled over my own memories every time I tried to think what he was called.”

“Simple,” Diane answered. “My Chosen wrote me a note, and I kept that in the corner of my vision. Any time I needed to recite his name, I just had to look at the note and read it off. That’s not exactly an option for you, is it Drake?”

I clicked my tongue at that. It wasn’t often that I regretted not having a Player these days, but this was certainly one of those times. “So, we just need to memorize the name, then?” I asked.

“In a way. I have experience dealing with people like these pixies, so I’ll handle most of the talking while we’re there. While we’re getting ready, you should message Ella and see if she has finished any of those clothes that she mentioned wanting to work on when we saw her last.”

I had forgotten about that. With her reminder, I sent the message to Ella, and then read the name she had written on the paper. Even though I recognized the characters written there, the way that they were written still made them look like incomprehensible runes. “Great Pixie King… Gerfectenalt…” I took my time pronouncing each syllable, the name alien on my tongue.

Bella similarly practiced the name with me while Nuoda went to message her husband to prepare the food. It took about ten minutes for Ella to get back to me, letting me know that she had prepared a total of ten dresses to present to the pixies. She even asked me to stop by and pick her up before we went to visit them again, that way she could show the dresses to them in person.

We spent another two hours practicing the name and noting anything else that Diane felt was important to keep in mind about the pixie race from our first visit. When that was finally over, Ennolf had finished preparing the dishes and traded them to me. I asked if he was interested in visiting the pixie kingdom himself, but he turned me down, saying that he had some more work to do in Fallcry.

With that taken care of, I sent Ella a message to let her know that I was on my way, and then teleported myself and the other two directly into her palace. We hadn’t been here since the war against the dragons, but the place was still just as I remembered it, right down to the startled elven guards pointing swords at me the moment that I appeared.

“Easy, easy!” Ella shouted, running forward and holding her hands out. “They’re guests that I invited! Stand down!” 

Begrudgingly, the guards sheathed their swords while Ella appeared in front of me. “So, are we ready?” she asked with a bright smile, putting a hand on Bella’s shoulder.

With a small sigh, I teleported the four of us now to Feycross. I couldn’t teleport directly into the spirit realm, so I just sent us to the rather colorful and certainly not toxic swamp near where we met the king before. “I’ll be back in a moment, I’m going to try and get one of them to open a gate for you all to come through.”

After saying that, I used Beyond the Veil to enter the greyscale side of Feycross, where I saw flying cars soaring overhead between towering spires. Almost as soon as I appeared, a grey pixie flew down towards me, eyes wide. “The bearer of foodstuffs! Has the time come for trade?”

Clearly, this must have been one of the guards that saw us when we were here previously. Unfortunately, pixies all looked and sounded perfectly identical to one another, so for all I knew, this could have been the king himself. Or… itself, I should say. We still had no idea whether pixies actually had genders or not.

“That’s right,” I responded with a smile. “I was hoping to talk with…” I took a deep breath, recalling my hours of practice. “Great Pixie King Gerfectenalt Riolegese the Third. Also, my friends are waiting on the other side, but they don’t have the ability to pass over like I do. Would you mind opening a gate for them?”

“Of course, of course! Great Pixie King Gerfectenalt Riolegese the Third insisted you be brought straight to him when you arrived!” As the pixie said that, it began to chant, releasing a large series of runes to form the gate. I cancelled Beyond the Veil, letting the others know that the gate was opening. I certainly didn’t want to get stuck with the skill working in reverse if I didn’t take the chance to pass through the gate properly.

By the time the gate had finished opening and the four of us passed through it, there was already a large runic vehicle parked on the ground, waiting for us. Another pixie appeared, waving a hand at us. “Hello, big people! This is our newest big people transporter, made especially for all of you!”

Diane chuckled softly, moving to enter the vehicle. Despite it being a ‘big people’ transport, the inside was rather cramped with all four of us. The pixie who watched this hummed softly. “We need an even bigger people transport! I’ll notify the king as soon as we arrive!”