The man in charge of negotiations for reasons still unknown cleared his throat, already caught off guard by my attitude and clear statement that I was winning. After a slightly confused glance at the military leader, he looked back at me, taking another moment to become certain I wasn't joking before he continued. "Apologies… Call me Detrick." He slowly looked up at the legion's commanders at a complete loss for words. "So peace is out the window… Why did you come then?"

'This is how I thought it would go… But… Is he really so shocked he forgot what I said?' "I'll be blunt then. My people don't surrender, but even so, I'm sure you have one or two hostages or prisoners of war, do you not? Of course, I have a few of my own. Not least of which are Rokai and Hara, your sage and fourth star. Obviously, neither of us will be willing to accept peace, or a truce at this time, but that doesn't mean this talk should be entirely useless in establishing some good faith… Think of it as… Trying to make up for the previous king's lack of tact…"

The third star leaned forward on the table and stared into my eyes for a moment before standing up and sorting through a nearby shelf for the right book, handing it to me. "This is a collective list of every prisoner of war by rank.

'There's more than I thought…'

The list alone shared numerous scars as entire command groups listed only a couple names, but it didn't take long for me to recgnise at least one or two of them.

[Keigan Nayanthulu: General]

[Bhaltair Nayanathulu: Comander]

I paused for a moment, my brain trying to go in two directions at once. The fact that Bhaltair was supposedly alive was one thing, but the fact that my father had left home and fought, and somehow lost… That was its own problem…'

"Is something wrong?"

I shook my head and slid the book over to Eincraig. "I'm just surprised at a few of the names on here…" 'Or I guess… Maybe the titles would be more accurate…'

[XXX: King]

[XXX: Commander]

[XXX: Commander]

[XXX: Admiral]

[XXX: Kings advisor]

[XXX: Prince]

'Rank generally equates to strength here, but they aren't necessarily in perfect health after fighting to the death. This is where Eincraig will come in handy.' "Take a look at these names, and the others as well. Rank them from strongest to weakest in a fight. And make note of anyone near the same level as you or the third star."

The sage growled. "Awfully arrogant, aren't you? Already showing your hand. Even if you had someone to beat my star, you wouldn't be able to deal with me."

'I'm… Arrogant? And yet you say my star like he belongs to you…' I sighed, looking back at the book and ignoring her. 'Dealing with magic is surprisingly easy when you have it as well… Though I guess that's mostly because I'm part dragon.'

"Don't ignore me, you brat!"

I yawned, looking back at the third star. 'Is she even really that much stronger than he to claim him as her own? I thought they were joint leaders, then again, Hara was probably more of a puppet leader compared to Rokai.'

[Empire's third star]

Strength

356

Agility

349

Endurance

335

Constitution

357

Intelligence

110

Wisdom

120

Total / Level

985

Faith

–

Divinity

***

Magic

0

'Yup… One scary dude…' "Mr. Third star, what kind of weapon do you use?"

"Why are you so fixated on me. I'm hardly your only opponent." He said calmly, most likely trying to manage the sage's temper.

"You mean her? She's irrelevant…"

A surge of mana rushed through her body, but with a single glare, it stopped as my eyes changed color. Not so much scaring her as much as just bringing her back to her senses, as the lord lifted his hand and at least made her take her seat again.

'I wonder if Eincraigs is having a hard time… It's possible he doesn't know many people either, being in the border region. Well, it's not like it's fun picking on them to pass the time.' I turned back to the third star. "In reality, none of these hostages would be best used strategically to fight mages. I already have everyone I need to deal with her, what would make the war easier would be more people that could deal with you, right now I only have…" 'Actually, how many do I have?' I paused, looking around the room. "Well… That's not important right now…" 'I should probably watch my tongue at least a little bit anyway…'

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Eincraig handed the book back to me. "It depends on their condition, but these five are rather good fighters."

[XXX: King]

[XXX: Commander]

[XXX: Admiral]

[Keigan Nayanthulu: General]

[Bhaltair Nayanathulu: Comander]

I looked back at him. "You're sure… You aren't just putting these names on there for the sake of it?"

"I'm sure."

I scratched my head. "I didn't really think my brother was that strong, but I may have missed something…"

'I don't just need strong people, though; quantity will be vital if we want to retake and hold land, or we will spread ourselves thin. But, with him recommending them like this, it's almost too perfect.' "First, we should establish metrics, like currency. For example, one common soldier will be the base. Then a guild master will be worth 5 common soldiers, and so on. This will be the simplest way to barter." They all blankly stared at me again. 'I mean… It might be crude, but that is what we are doing right now…'

The sage thought about it for a moment. "Yes, alright, it seems reasonable that one of yours would be worth at least three common soldiers. Your men are quite capable after all."

I glared back at her. "Then I guess Rokai is worth at least a few thousand, since that's how many he's killed…" 'Anyone else from my culture probably would have seen that as a compliment… But if I agreed to that, this deal would be pointless.'

"Be civil, you two…" The third star sighed. "It's true, though, your soldiers are individually strong, even without magic."

I gritted my teeth, my eyes sharpening. "It doesn't matter. I have a total of 342 prisoners. 200 of them are mages. I'll go ahead and just say a mage is equivalent to 5 soldiers, then, and we can continue from there. For measure, let's just say that Rokai, our general and our king, is worth 1,000 soldiers, while Hara is worth 2,000, because she has been helping us with her magic under duress. From there, it seems reasonable that if we give you all of our hostages, worth around 4,000, then you would release all of our hostages as well." 'You think it's hard to make unreasonable demands… How do you like that…'

After another silence, I took a deep breath and calmed down. "Before we do anything else, tell me what condition these hostages are in."

[XXX: King, missing an arm and a foot.]

[XXX: Commander unable to use legs.]

[XXX: Admiral, no disabling injuries]

[XXX: Commander unable to use legs.]

[XXX: Commander unable to use legs.]

[Keigan Nayanthulu: General, no serious injuries.]

[Bhaltair Nayanathulu: Commander, no disabling injuries.]

[Guild master]

[Scout]

'It's amazing they aren't asking about the condition Rokai is in… It's making my job easier, not having to tell them I cut off his arm…' I looked over to Eincraig. 'Normally, getting the king back would be paramount, but I'd rather not have my authority challenged. If it is at any point, this war is lost… On that same note, it's risky to bring my father back as well… But they don't need to know any of that… And if Eincraig continues to be passive, this will turn out just fine.' "What would you say the value of a commander is relative to a general. If a general is a thousand, then a commander would be maybe 100, no?"

"No, the position matters as well. We don't judge things solely by strength like you. Commanders are not worth nearly as much when compared to someone like your king."

'I wonder if he knows he's helping me.' "So, commanders would be worth 50 then." 'Fine by me.'

"Not all of them." He said with a grin. "For example, your brother has been pointed out as a strong individual and is of special importance. So naturally, he would be worth much more."

'Not that I was going to bring him back anyway… But I was planning on using this to my advantage. Of course, he would increase the price of my brother, someone presumably important to me… "Rokai is also stronger than most generals and of special importance, so he must be worth more as well." 'We just have to talk in circles like this for long enough and eventually they'll realize it was a downward spiral all along.' "My father is also quite capable. So his value would be very high as well. I suppose both of them would be more like 2,000 then."

He begrudgingly agreed. "Possibly, but Rokai isn't fully supported by certain factions within the empire, so it's likely your father would be worth more." He grinned as I continued to feed him slivers of information, and he continued to drive up the prices of my family members, not having any idea I never had the faintest want to get them back. Meanwhile, the prices of Rokai continued to increase until I got it to where I was satisfied. "I agree with these numbers… Is everyone here in agreement as well?"

They all nodded, except Eincraig, who simply watched, no doubt conflicted about what to do upon seeing the report of the king's physical state. "I will let you speak for the nation in this matter…" He finally said, basically admitting he wasn't thinking at his sharpest.

I had no doubt in my mind that they all thought the same thing. That I would trade Rokai and Hara for my brother and father. And then I would trade everyone else for the remnants of my father's army. Eincraig, in particular, might have stayed out of it just because I had family involved. Thinking it was unreasonable to request the king, I had never seen over my own father… But regardless of his motives or intention, he left it all to me.

"Very well then. At this time, I propose a partial trade. I will give you 10,000 points of hostages in exchange for 10,000 points of your hostages. 'In other words, you get Rokai and the mages that are a pain to keep restrained, and I get everyone I want and no one I don't. They're expecting me to take the king and my family, along with a few squads, but…'

"Alright, a partial exchange is fine. Since Hara seems to have so much value to you, we will take back Rokai and all of our mages."

'Piece of trash…' I slide over the list I had written out all the names on. "These 20 commanders and the rest of the regiments here that I circled in your log as well for convenience."

He blankly stared at the log. "This is outrageous. Return all of the hostages or we will burn you to the ground!" The nobleman shouted, finally fed up with it all.

'What's outrageous is that you have a young girl forced into command of a legion, hear she's being forced to use her magic for the enemy's benefit, and still don't give her a second thought…' I calmly clasped my hands, focusing on the third star. "Under the already agreed-upon value of each individual, this is a fair trade of hostages. Furthermore, if you refuse, you can do whatever you want with the hostages you have, who have lost all honor and deserve to die for losing. Then, of course, I will do the same with my hostages and execute Rokai. Furthermore… You have already agreed to the proposal…"

The third star simply rubbed his forehead. "You don't intend to take your brother, father, or your king… Are you sure?"

I nodded. "These are the soldiers I have selected."

He sighed. "A partial exchange…" He muttered. "And you're saying if we don't accept, you will execute them, because you don't care about the hostages we have…"

I smirked. "Are they even hostages? You own this land, don't you? Wouldn't that make them bandits? Why would I care about you dealing with bandits in your own territory?"

With a heavy sigh, he pushed away the logbook. "Honestly… Of all the people that were scarier off the battlefield, I never expected to find one here…" He turned to the sage. "I advise that we agree to these terms. If we don't, then Rokai will die, and we will have to explain to the emperor that it was preventable and we still refused. Since we agreed upon the "Price," We have already admitted this is a fair deal… So explaining why we refused would be… Difficult…"

'Can't they just lie? Or maybe there's magic to prevent that?' She slowly clenched her jaw. "Or… We can just kill them both right here… And then storm the south and take him back by force…"

Eincraig discreetly gripped one of his greatswords, not so much as uncrossing his legs.

I just leaned back in my seat. "That is something you would do, isn't it… Of course, I don't mind taking this fortress back right now, but it would look bad for us too, even if we said you attacked first, it's unlikely your people would believe us."

The manna in her body became more intense before the third star chopped her on the head and signed a document, passing it to her. "Sign the exchange contract." He said bluntly.

"Just like that! You want me to listen to that Strumpet Tramp! Did she seduce you already? Just because she has–" He calmly covered her mouth until she calmed down, eventually signing the document, though not after biting him.

'The balance of power in this country is really hard to figure out… What did she call me? I don't even know what those words mean…' She passed it on and eventually it made it around the whole table, with that our business was concluded, the exchange would take place in one weeks time at the mountain pass outside our defensive wall.

As we started to leave, I couldn't help but feel a sense of relief that a fight didn't break out. I looked back at the so-called sage with the temperament of a jealous girlfriend. Still, they saw us out, probably to make sure I didn't bully any more of the knights.

'I never really thought about my appearance in this form… It was way too hard since I was part dragon, part man, and unable to tell which feelings were mine.' "Eincraig, it feels weird asking you this, but do you think I'm pretty? It's been a while since someone called me that, but if even one of the sages from the empire thinks so, then it's probably true, right?"

"What nonsense are you spouting now!" She yelled from behind us.

I turned back over my shoulder. "What do you mean?"

"I never said anything like that!"

"But you did, though. Or… Is the empire's third star the type of man to be seduced by ugly women?"

Being the smarter of the two, he chose to ignore my words and remain silent, calmly turning his eyes away. She did as well… Although it seemed more like she was just at a loss.

Eincraig chuckled, helping me step onto Kylo's tail as I climbed up on his back. "A striking beauty if ever there was one." He said with a smile that awkwardly felt like he was somehow talking to a grandchild, and just saying it because he was supposed to… Though if anything, that only made it more embarrassing. I wasn't actually expecting him to respond! W-well, it doesn't really matter anyway.'

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