Eincraig told me to just keep the armor, and the sense plate was hard to find. I, of course, accepted. With that, we left. I was able to ride on Kylo's back, as for Eincraig, he simply stood to stop his talons, holding onto one of his legs. The ride was much easier going that time, since I wasn't dragged into doing some weird coming-of-age ritual and all that was… Never really explained, now that I think about it.

We flew in and landed right in the middle of the courtyard, Empire soldiers encircling us with full plate armor and tabards, actually looking like a professional army. I quickly dismounted and rejoined Eincraig, feeling a bit awkward being significantly larger than all of them, who were the normal size for humans. "Their armor is actually quite shiny, isn't it? It's pretty."

"Is that the dragon you talking? Or the teenage girl."

I sighed. "Maybe it's both, who knows at this point... Still, it looks a lot nicer when it's not caved in and covered in blood like most of the sets I've seen. Seems like a waste to fight in something like that."

"Hm… Well, they aren't as strong as us. So they're probably more worried about how they look when they die, than how they look when they're fighting."

'That got dark fast…' One of the men flinched back slightly, and looking around, I could tell most of them were at least a little afraid. Kylo was one thing, but it seemed like my eyes were almost bringing them to their knees. 'Well, I can't really blame them for being scared. I almost feel bad, knowing they'll probably die for no reason…' I sighed again as I stepped forward. "You there, where are your legions' commanders? We sent word that we would be here, and we are."

"We notified them as soon as we saw you approaching."

'If that's true, they should have been here by the time we landed.' I glanced up at Eincraig, who just sighed. "It seems the empire's dogs and cats have poor manners. Would you care for a game?"

'He's way more chill than I thought he'd be… Maybe it comes with being old?' "What did you have in mind?"

"I was wondering how many soldiers I could fit on my spear."

A jolt shot threw me before I quickly jumped closer to his side and grabbed his arm. "The answer is 26… So please don't test that…"

He relaxed his arm, placing a hand on my shoulder and slowly pushing me away. "Please be careful… I'm far too old to have a young lady clinging to me like that." He said, clearing his throat.

Not knowing how to respond, I simply clasped my hands in front of my waist and continued to, now more awkwardly than before, wait.

"The answer is actually 27, by the way, the armor dents more than you might think when I stab them. But it's surprising you guessed so close."

"Hehe…" 'So he's tested this before then…'

"Just so we're on the same page… It's a bad look to attack under the guise of negotiations… Also…" I raised my armored hand, circulating my mana to prove to myself once again I was healed and ready if I needed to fight. "The two of us alone can't take down both a sage and a star… Well, I'd give us a 50-50 chance."

"What about the rest of the fortress?"

I lowered my hand, and we stared back at each other for a moment before I looked back at the knights.

[Empire knight:]

Strength

118

Agility

123

Endurance

110

Constitution

132

Intelligence

143

Wisdom

120

Total / Level

985

Faith

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

–

Divinity

***

Magic

23

Terror: (Unable to use magic, intelligence is halved)

Fear: (strength and agility increased by 10%, Constitution and intelligence decreased by 10%)

Intimidated: (all stats decreased by 10%)

So… They have an effective intelligence of less than 50 right now? That's so low… I think that stat affects mental attributes like having the will to fight, so does that mean if I started killing them, they wouldn't even fight back? Not that it would matter… "What about them… Honestly, Kylo could take them all out himself… Or I could sneeze and they'd fall over… Actually, you know what, I bet we could take this fort back if we fought here."

Kylo chuckled, lowering his head and opening his mouth to reveal a small flame already lit. "Say the word." He said telepathically.

I rubbed his nose hard before raising his jaw shut. "It's good that you're ready, but I'm hoping we won't have to melt this castle, it took awhile to build, you know, so please no fire unless we really have to."

'Terror, fear, and intimidation… I wonder what other debuffs I could stack on them.' I looked the man dead in the eyes as I transformed my body, scales and all, eyes changing color and claws sharpening.

[True dragons' gaze all stats decreased by 10%]

'It's just another intimidation effect… That's kind of boring… But it stacks, so that's cool.' Taking in a deep breath, I let out a loud, echoing roar.

[Dragon pups roar: Constitution and intelligence decreased by 5%]

'Not bad… But not great…' I turned to Kylo, "You do it too."

He let out a long hum. "I wouldn't dare mimic the roar of a dragon…"

I waved my hand back and forth. "No, no, use the cry of a wyvern. My uh… My roar isn't much if we're talking dragons anyway, so… Yeah…" 'dragon pup… really…'

"Very well then." A loud, piercing shriek tore through the valley.

[Wyverns cry: constitution and intelligence decreased by 5%]

Most of the knights were now on their knees, those that were standing were shaking in their boots and Barkley holding their weapons.

'It seems that once their intelligence drops below 30, they lose the ability to stand when faced with intimidation. Constitution factors in as well… But that's dropped into the 50s, so it's likely they are all going to get sick just from experiencing this… Maybe I went too far? It was kind of fun, but it's obvious these guys aren't the elite knights, almost like they are baiting us into attacking by giving a perceived weakness. This kind of thing… Would totally work on my father…'

"Would you please quiet down…" A woman growled, walking out from the main building. Judging by her robes and familiar scent, I could tell it was the sage.

"Sorry about that." I chuckled, a bit embarrassed about how effective it was. 'I should really check into these things more thoroughly, instead of focusing primarily on the bigger picture. I forgot how fun numbers were.'

She growled again, rolling her eyes as she took in the sight of her men before leading us back inside.

[Sage:]

Strength

102

Agility

112

Endurance

200

Constitution

132

Intelligence

368

Wisdom

144

Total / Level

985

Faith

–

Divinity

***

Magic

423

'Well… She's a mage, that's for sure… For now, let's stick with the negotiation plan and see where that leads us.'

We followed her to the old war room, which had already been redecorated in gold and black, and sat down at the table where the third star was already waiting. "Is it just the two of you then?" 'Maybe I should have given them more time… That stupid letter just pissed me off, who writes like that?'

"No, the governing official of this land will be arriving at any moment. Since it concerns his domain, he will take the lead."

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my legs, folding my arms and glancing over to Eincraig, whose face was covered in a deep scowl. 'His domain, huh… As if transferring land is so easy…' "If everyone from the empire talks like this, it's starting to make sense why our old king cut off your diplomat's head…" The sage pounded the table, but hardly left a dent with her weak little hands, quickly being calmed by the star next to her. "And you are no less short-tempered than the king was…" 'This really is hopeless, isn't it… Negotiating with AI is so much simpler… The algorithm just lets you know what the most reasonable request is… Players are always like this…'' The doors opened and in walked a man with heavy gold armor covered in a black tabard. I assumed he was the noble, but was surprised that he seemed to be a strong and capable warrior as well. "Alright. Now that we are all here let's get started."

He calmly sat down. "As you wish. Now, I'm not an unreasonable man. Personally, I don't buy into this war being for the greater good, or any of that nonsense. However, I am a noble of the empire, and this is my task. I don't wish to annihilate your people. Let us call a truce in which we simply maintain what we have taken and you provide us with knowledge of the enchanted trees in the absence of war reparations."

'I kind of figured this is where we would be going…' I sighed. "Why would we pay reparations when we are winning? If you want peace, then withdraw from our territory in its entirety and give us back our ancestral home in the north. You have no use for it anyway since it's infested with ghosts. Oh, you mentioned reparations, though… Hm… We mostly deal in trade goods, so we'll take 300 metric tons of iron and pretend like this never happened."

Everyone fell dead silent as even Einckraig's face lost its expression.

"That's.. Un, I mean.." The nobleman scratched his head. "You don't really think you're winning, do you? Truly, that's what you believe?"

"Which is why trying to settle for peace is pointless right now… So with that out of the way, we should probably move on instead of wasting our time. You didn't even bother giving your name, and you're already pretending you own this fort that I funded the construction of… So it's pretty clear we aren't going to get along."

"Since we aren't calling a truce, let's discuss hostages."

"Ah… Alright…"

'And just like that, I've taken complete control of the negotiations.'

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