Chapter 124: What Do You Say, Lord Cassian?

A few moments later, mother and daughter were staring at the item description he had sent.

"Life... Essence? Life Essence that can improve Aptitude?"

If that curse had struck Elara, it might have killed her. Even if she had survived, she would have suffered badly.

Warbody training took time. A single bottle of Life Essence no longer did as much for Cassian, but it could still transform someone else’s prospects.

"Interested?" he asked with a smile.

Aveline drew a deep breath.

"I’ll find the money."

Several things fell into place for her. If Cassian could offer Life Essence, he must have used at least a bottle himself. Add the attributes from his Ranking rewards, and an ordinary curse would have little chance of hurting him.

She kept that thought to herself.

Elara looked toward her mother’s image.

"Mother, if you keep buying things for me, I’ll end up living off you."

Aveline smiled at her daughter, her voice gentle.

"Darling, you already do."

——

Three days later, more Commanders had gathered beside the same altar.

Daigo slammed his hand on the table.

"Not only is Cassian alive, he’s apparently running around as though nothing happened!"

"He must have a treasure that blocks curses," the stout woman said. "That has to be it!"

The others looked no happier for hearing it.

"Is he simply not meant to die?"

"Sun Mother, why would you protect a Crown Lord?"

"If you’re so fond of Cassian, take him to your side!"

Daigo clapped his hands to stop them.

"Enough. Twenty-seven Marches have entered the Province now. We’ve heard that the Crown’s military has offered generous terms to the Beacon League, the Dawn Coast, and the Northbear Union."

He looked around the gathering.

"We need to decide how to respond. However strong Cassian is, he’s still only one man. Put him aside for now."

——

The core members of the Dawn Alliance had gathered in Forgotten Shrine.

Cassian greeted Seraphine and Mira with the others. Once everyone had settled, Mara explained the King’s Frontier Legion’s decision.

Darian frowned.

"Working with Northbear is one thing. Why the Beacon League? Why the Dawn Coast?"

"Black Banner controls roughly half the Marches on Tidecrown," Mara said patiently. "Our side holds about thirty percent. The other factions share the remaining twenty. We’re in a better position than when our boundaries first opened, but the larger the war, the less one person’s strength can decide. And our own Marches have only a few tens of thousands of Lords."

She paused.

"The military is paying a great deal to bring those other Marches over to our side."

Cassian had no particular objection.

"I’ll go along with the Legion’s arrangements on this."

As long as the newcomers caused no trouble, he had no interest in going out of his way to find any.

Mara looked relieved.

"Can you attend the alliance video conference?"

"Of course. When?"

"We can join now."

"All right."

He opened the conference, enlarged the screen, and made it visible to everyone in the room.

Three Commanders were already there, all on the Crown’s side. One was Lydia Venn of Evenfall.

She greeted him warmly.

"Lord Cassian. You certainly know how to make an entrance. Oracle Hall has just moved your Eclipse Legionnaires up to fifty-eighth among the homeworld’s self-created Epic troop lines."

Oracle Hall was the homeworld’s largest intelligence organization. It also had a fondness for publishing rankings.

"Fifty-eighth?" Cassian said. "Why so low?"

Lydia stared at him.

The ranking covered every self-created Epic line from the homeworld’s long history. How many ages of Lords did he think he was competing against?

Seraphine leaned close enough to speak quietly.

"Fifty-eighth is excellent. My ancestor’s Three Banners are only seventy-second."

Cassian smiled without answering.

Oracle Hall’s information was clearly behind. They could hardly know about Wings of the Windlord. With that included, the Eclipse line should be in the top thirty, perhaps higher.

"I hear you’ve also worked out how to produce the troop Building Blueprints," Lydia continued. "Could you sell me a few?"

"Yes, but you’ll have to wait your turn."

Cassian smiled.

"If you’re in a hurry, I’ll take a Disarming Toast Skill Book in exchange. One book for one Blueprint."

Disarming Toast was one of House Venn’s signature Grade-B skills. It weakened the Command effects of a targeted Hero—a very useful ability to have.

"It’s an extremely precious skill," Lydia said regretfully. "I’m not even eligible to learn it myself."

"She’s lying," Darian whispered beside him.

Cassian almost laughed. House Frost had clearly investigated Tidecrown’s people far more thoroughly than he had.

The other representatives began joining the call: Adrian Wolfe of the Beacon League, Arun Varma of the Sunspire Federation, Selene Rook of the Dawn Coast Confederacy, and Alexei Petrov of the Northbear Union.

Darian supplied quiet introductions for the people around Cassian.

"Adrian is descended from one of Free Will’s twelve directors."

He indicated the next face.

"Arun’s ancestor was Ashar Varma. My father often praised him as a powerful Lord. His descendants haven’t done nearly as well."

Then Selene.

"You know House Rook. They’re the ones who keep insisting that House Brightmere is a branch of their family."

And finally Alexei.

"A descendant of Saint Petran. One of the strongest Domain Sovereigns in the Seventh Realm."

The Crown’s military representative was a middle-aged colonel named Roland Mercer. To enter the newcomer region and coordinate the campaign, he had reportedly given up the Domain he had spent more than twenty years developing.

"As discussed," the colonel said, "if we gain control of Tidecrown, the Domain sites within the provincial seat..."

He continued setting out the offered benefits.

Cassian’s frown deepened as he listened.

"More than half the gains would go to those few Marches," Darian said in a low voice. "Their Lords would get greater privileges than ours."

The Crown had nine Marches on Tidecrown. The other four factions combined had only six.

"With them on our side, we can still keep half," Mara said helplessly. "If they join Black Banner, we could lose the whole Province. We were unlucky enough to start on the front line."

Those six Marches were waiting to see who would pay the most.

Colonel Mercer finished laying out the terms.

Adrian, Commander of Coldridge Marches, smiled.

"Your offer shows real sincerity, Colonel. There is only one condition I’d like to add."

"Please explain."

Adrian stood and made an elegant bow.

"We all know that Lord Cassian won command of the Shattered Marches by voting for himself. My apologies—the Riftward Marches, now."

His smile remained in place.

"The prevailing view is that he has captured an exceptionally productive Epic Dockyard. Since we’re allies, surely we should be open with one another and share our resources."

"What do you say, Lord Cassian?"