Chapter 200: War Intent

Riftward Region.

The alarm rang.

Nessa yawned and stretched. Her blanket slipped, uncovering her small, curving figure. She rubbed her eyes and hopped out of bed.

Florabel, her first Hero, brought over what she needed to wash.

"Thank you, Florabel."

Nessa began getting ready, muttering to herself all the while.

"Another day missing Cassian..."

"Even I’ve reached Rank XII. Why isn’t he back? He said seven or eight days if he was slow. It’s been nine! Doesn’t he know nine is more than seven or eight?"

She sighed.

"I wonder what Swordheart is like. He’d better not be in danger."

Florabel came from the Bloomfolk, a people with even less standing than Nessa’s own family. During the days since Cassian’s departure, Nessa had bought an Epic Hero Soul with her own Aether and paid the required Battle Essence to advance her first Hero from Rare to Epic.

Cassian’s help had given her room to spend resources on Florabel. The Hero had not forgotten it.

"Lord Nessa, please don’t worry," Florabel said. "With Lord Cassian’s strength, nothing there will threaten him."

"Of course it won’t."

The reassurance was clumsy, but Nessa’s face filled with pride anyway.

"Cassian is invincible. When the Governorship contest starts, I’m betting on Riftward with him. We’ll make a fortune again."

Florabel smiled. Before she could answer, Nessa cried out.

"It’s started! Ten thousand Lords have reached Rank XII already?"

Her expression changed.

"Damn it. He isn’t back yet. Let me see... Of course. Those Black Banner idiots are at it again."

The same notice appeared at the top of every Tidecrown Lord’s Province Channel.

[Tidecrown Province now has 10,000 Rank-XII Lords. The Governorship Contest has begun.]

[The Qualification Stage will last 15 days.]

[During qualification, slaying monsters within Tidecrown Province contributes to provincial security and earns War Intent.]

[The Final Stage begins after 15 days. The Provincial Capital map will open.]

[Lords at Rank XII with more than 100 War Intent may relocate to a random position in the Capital map. Existing Regional offices are retained.]

[Eligible candidates for Governor: the 32 Marches Commanders.]

The Province erupted.

Black Banner Lords cheered. Those with permission to post filled the Channel with messages.

[At last! Sooner than I expected!]

[The Capital map! Every Domain site there has a special bonus. The best combat sites give twenty percent more Combat Rating!]

[I’m a farming Lord. Give me a resource site. A Battle Essence site would be even better.]

[Tidecrown belongs to the Black Banner! Once the Governorship is ours, we’ll drive out every Crown invader!]

[Where are all the Crown Lords? Gone quiet, have you?]

They sounded as though the office already belonged to them.

Most Crown Lords stayed silent, including Corin and Lydia. A little over two hundred thousand of their people remained in the Province. Riftward now counted as one of their more populous Marches.

Rowan could not bear it.

[Rowan Ashford: Your wounds healed fast. Forgotten what happened every time Cassian put you in your place?]

The answer was a flood of laughter.

[Where is he, then? Let him come and put me in my place!]

[He tucked his tail between his legs and fled Tidecrown!]

[Nessa Fenwick: That’s bullshit! We’ve told you. He’s away on a task. He’ll be back soon!]

They only mocked her harder.

Nessa’s face reddened. There were too many of them. She could not even keep up with their replies.

She closed the Channel and sat there fuming.

Then Arun Varma, Commander of Bharan Marches, made an announcement.

[Arun Varma: On behalf of Bharan Marches, I declare our unconditional support for Black Banner rule over Tidecrown.]

[Galen Tervain: A wise correction, Lord Arun. Pay a billion Aether in rent each month, and I’ll allow your people to continue developing Bharan.]

Arun swallowed his resentment. Relocating their Domains would cost them far more. Spread among all his Lords, a billion a month was bearable.

[Arun Varma: Thank you for your generosity. From today, the Sunspire Federation supports your decisions.]

[Galen Tervain: Easily arranged.]

Selene Rook of the Dawn Coast Confederacy said nothing. Neither did Alexei Petrov of the Northbear Union.

With the Crown Lords no longer answering, the Black Banner soon lost interest in taunting them. Attention shifted to the new rules.

[What’s War Intent? We’ve never had that before.]

[Probably a currency for the Capital Exchange. Or a Combat Rating bonus.]

[The Capital map usually has ten thousand Domain sites. I wonder whether that’s changed too.]

[The more, the better. We have the numbers!]

——

Riftward’s leaders gathered urgently at Elara’s Domain.

"Why isn’t he back?" Mira asked. "You don’t think something happened to him?"

"I spoke to the Eclipse Legionnaires he left here," Elara said. "We don’t know what’s delaying him, but he’s alive."

Everyone relaxed a little. A Lord’s troops would receive notice if their Lord died.

"But the rules say only monsters killed in Tidecrown count," Tobias said. "Can the troops he left behind earn enough War Intent to get him into the Capital?"

"Absolutely," Nessa said.

Only she and Elara understood just how strong those ordinary Legionnaires had become.

Elara knew best of all. Looking after their meals had kept her busy every day since Cassian left.

She had expected a lot of troops. She had not expected twenty thousand.

Had he filled his whole Domain with housing?

They were fussier than she was, too. Offer them Rare food, and they looked disappointed.

Now she understood that hundred million Aether he had left for their meals.

"Can we reach him through the Homeworld?" Darian asked.

Elara shook her head helplessly.

"I doubt Cassian intends to go back for years."

"Then we prepare for the worst." Darian sighed, then straightened. "Everyone’s had time to put the treasures he left us to use. Even if he can’t return in time, we can still fight."

"We don’t know what War Intent does, but the system wouldn’t add it for nothing. Over the next few days, we need to..."

Ideas came from around the table. They argued, compared plans, and settled what each of them would do.

Ten minutes later, the meeting broke up. Everyone went to work.

——

"That should do."

Cassian looked over his army with deep satisfaction.

In less than ten days, the hunting income had paid for the growth he wanted. He had spent the required Battle Essence to bring his three Heroes and the rest of his main combat force to Level 65. Nine had reached the limit first; now the others had caught up.

He was ready.

The final stop of this journey awaited him: Julian Lind’s Domain.

Even if something was wrong there, he had the strength to break through it.

An otherwise ordinary combat notice caught his eye.

[Your troop Lark, Eclipse Legionnaire, has killed an Ember Spirit.]

[Battle Essence +90. Aether +5. Chest ×3; Longbow ×1.]

[Contribution to Tidecrown provincial security recognized. War Intent +1.]

"War Intent?" Cassian paused. "What the hell is that?"