Devourer

Chapter 104: New Chapter, Exciting Possibilities

I flew over the city, it’s been two days since we took Tralis and messages have been sent out by Eissa ordering all remaining Volerian soldiers to surrender. The city has slowly started to return to normal but it is becoming extremely clear that Tralis had a similar idea as the Averlonian Empire. Simply put this war was one that they could not afford. With the Averlonian Empire the problem was gold but for Tralis it was food. They had expended so much food in their campaigns that they were facing famine. Well lucky for them Elysia had one of the most fertile lands in the world. The crops grew strong and tall, the harvest is always good. Feeding this city and the region will definitely help win the people to our side.

As I flew towards this area outside the city I spotted something interesting. I looked down and saw the elf from before heading out the gate. I wanted to talk to her before this but I never got the chance. I know she isn’t leaving but if I want her to not turn all the elves against me I need to start making a good impression.

With that in mind I shifted course and headed straight for her. I saw her look up warily as I landed next to her. By now she knew I wasn’t going to kill anyone for no good reason. I could tell she was just curious as to why I was even seeking her out.

“Hello elfy.” I said with a grin and she just scowled at me.

“What do you want?” the elf asked, her brows furrowed and her eyes narrowed.

“Just wanted to chat, I’m surprised you haven’t gone back to your forest or at least back to Averlon. I heard you were from the adventurer guild in Averlon.” I said and I saw her lip curl into a snarl.

“What adventurer guild? I know you are planning to turn the adventurers into a new military unit. There are no more adventurers in Elysia.” the elf replied with scoff.

“Then why are you still here? This place’s adventurer guild isn’t long for this world you know. My hive makes all of you obsolete.” I said and the elf sighed as she looked away for a moment.

“I know, believe me I do. The only reason I’m still here is because there’s a famine coming. I checked the food stores which were almost empty and the planting season has gone to hell. I can still hunt and do some good here.” the elf replied as her shoulders slumped.

“What is your name elf?” I asked curiously as I gazed at her. She was certainly a strange one, I heard the elves hated humanity. Viewing them as lesser, so why the hell was she even bothering with all this.

“Minuvae of Clan Emeradine.” the elf replied as she ran her hand through her short golden hair in frustration. Her clan looks to be a touchy subject… interesting…

“Not on good terms with your clan? You got exiled or something?” I asked and Minuvae visibly flinched at those words.

“I assume that’s why you are even here in the first place. The elves view humans as lesser and here you are serving as an adventurer, even going out of your way to help them. You and I know the score, human life is too short. Before you know it they will all be dead, so what do their lives matter to you who can live a thousand years.” I said and Minuvae slumped as she rubbed her arm.

“Doesn’t that apply to you too? I hear you and the Empress are close friends. Wouldn’t that be the same for you?” Minuvae asked.

“I have ways around that.” I replied and I saw Minuvae raise an eyebrow at my response.

“Will she have a say in those ways?” Minuvae asked, her voice filled with suspicion.

“Yes she will. So why do you care so much? You aren’t even from around here. You could leave to go somewhere else. Why stay here and fight this famine? What the hell are you going to do? Kill enough random animals to feed the whole city?” I asked and Minuvae scowled in response as her face curled into a snarl.

“None of your business. Why do you even care so much?” Minuvae shot back as she pointed a finger at me.

“Just curious…” I began but Minuvae scoffed as she crossed her arms.

“Then get a hobby, there are better things to do than prying into people’s business.” Minuvae spat as she turned around and started to walk away.

“Like running away?” I stated. She flinched before turning around and glared at me.

“You think I’m running from you?!” Minuvae shouted, getting steadily angrier and angrier. This girl had a lot of issues…

“Who said anything about running from me?” I asked and she froze.

“You don’t care about this city, you don’t care about the famine. You just want something to do, something to justify your existence. Some vague purpose now that you lost your original one… so why did you get kicked out of the forest?” I asked and Minuvae really lost it now.

“I DIDN’T SAY I GOT EXILED!” Minuvae practically screamed as spit flew from her mouth.

“You didn’t deny it either.” I replied calmly and Minuvae froze before seemingly deflating like a balloon. I think I know how to get her on my side now…

“Elven exiles are rare, it’s a massive disgrace in your culture. All of you follow the Great Plan don’t you? So now you aren’t in the plan anymore since you got exiled and you spend your days trying to justify your existence. The whole adventuring thing, this famine crap, it's all to fill that void inside you. I bet you told everyone that you left of your own volition but not that you were kicked out.” I said and Minuvae seemingly shrinked with each word I said.

“What do you want? Do you just enjoy mentally torturing me?” Minuvae asked bitterly.

“No not really, torturing you lot got boring quite awhile ago. But what I can do is offer you something.” I said and I watched as she peered at me in confusion.

“You want a purpose? I can offer you purpose and I don’t mean that you end up as some brainwashed hive creature. I need help building this place into something that doesn’t resemble a pile of shit. I could use your help.You don’t have to agree right away, you can stick around either here or in Elysia and see what I plan to do. Consider this an open offer that you can cash in whenever you want.

Also one more thing, don’t bother going out to hunt for the famine. Cecilia already sent out the ravens, we have food shipments coming to solve the famine problem. This is what I mean, if you chase some kind of shallow purpose you will find it all meaningless. Because something at some point will eventually take over your purpose. You don’t have the luxury of dying after a hundred years.” I said as I peered at her. She was biting her lip and refusing to look at me.

“Think about it, just look around. See if I make the world better or worse. Also there is something you should know. That fancy tree you have back home isn’t going to last forever. It wasn’t looking so good last I heard. Not even sure if all of you still live for a thousand years honestly.” I said as I extended my wings and prepared to leave. This conversation was over, I said my piece the rest is up to her. I shouldn’t kill her unless she becomes a problem, pissing the elves is not a good idea.

“We don’t live for a thousand years… not anymore.” Minuvae said and I paused as I looked at her.

“Huh… the tree must be doing worse than I thought.” I said as I looked at her who was standing there looking very sorry for herself. Kind of like a cat that just got shaved… “I might be able to fix it, but that’s hardly relevant now.” I said as I pretended to prepare to leave once again. I knew she was about to make an offer, so I was pretending to leave to give her some urgency.

“If I help you, can you heal the Elder Wood?” Minuvae asked.

Jackpot…

“I can but I won’t do that just for you. If the Elves as a whole were useful to me then I might consider it. Anyway this conversation is getting a little old, I’m going to be heading out. You know my offer, think about it…” I said as I spread my wings and took off into the sky.

The main thing I wanted from her was for her to act as an envoy to the elves or at least put in a good word. But if she actively works for an alliance between the elves and the Averlonian Empire then all the better. I plan to improve the lives of the people regardless of what she does because I don’t want to get smited by heaven. So in terms of benefits to the people and benevolence she would see plenty of it. The fact that she even bothered to try and hunt to prepare for the famine means that to an extent she does care about humans and gave up some of that elven elitism bullshit. Which was all the better for me…

Now then with that small little distraction out of the way let’s get onto what I was actually going to do. It wasn’t that interesting but it has to be done so I might as well get on with it… I had to meet up with Cecilia before this bagage train left and discuss boring shit for everyone to hear… boring, boring, so boring…

I headed over to this area outside the walls and I saw this massive baggage train waiting in line. It was heavily guarded by Wardens and my hive. I could see Cecilia and Mahaila standing by the side of it speaking.

When I landed I saw Cecilia and Mahaila turn to look at me. I shifted my gaze to what looked to be a scribe as she jotted things onto this piece of parchment that was clipped onto a board of wood.

“Empress?” the scribe asked as she looked up, most likely expecting Cecilia to keep talking. Then she turned to look at me and she jolted almost dropping the materials in her hand.

“You could use more spatial awareness.” I said dryly. I know I intentionally didn’t try to kick up too much wind so I didn’t shower Cecilia in dust but I couldn’t completely negate it.

“Friend, I thought you would be here sooner.” Cecilia said as she waved her hand at the scribe who bowed and left us alone in response.

“I bumped into the elf I told you about.” I said as I approached and I looked over at the wagons. They were absolutely laden with gold, silver, jewels and other artifacts.

“Everything go well?” Cecilia asked nonchalantly.

“Yep. Quite the haul, is what you found enough?” I asked as I turned back to face her.

“Yes, it is quite sufficient. About a fifth will go to paying the soldiers as a victory reward. Another fifth will go into paying the people of Port Mari for destroyed and stolen property during the initial invasion. Also I plan to do some infrastructure projects in Port Mari, Averlon needs a better port afterall.” Cecilia said as she turned to look at the wagons.

Port Mari was kind of looted clean during the Volerian invasion. I said “kind of” because the city was evacuated and we told the citizens to take their most valuable things with them. So most didn’t lose much, with this reimbursement they actually end up with more. It’s the good old classic strategy of allowing someone to take something away then giving it back to them to earn some free good will.

“I will be spending half on general infrastructure upgrades to the entire Elysian region and the last tenth of the haul will go into upgrading our fleet. We need to improve our naval abilities since we now control such a large coastline. There is much wealth to be earned from eastern Voleria and the Divonia Empire. Perhaps we might even trade with the elves assuming your seed bears fruit.” Cecilia said as she looked at me.

“Perhaps, more allies is always good. Honestly I can’t wait to settle all this crap.” I said as I looked around at the massive baggage train just parked by the side of the road. Tralis really did loot most of the stuff around them.

This giant convoy was just the stuff we were bringing back to Averlon. Cecilia will be sending other convoys to Beralis to give them back most of their treasury. Averlin would be getting some too, Tralis didn’t take anything from them; they were just broke. But considering they were about to get this vast swathe of territory they were going to need some money. Averlin and Beralis were also supposed to be a counteracting force to Tralis which would be the most belligerent state in the Empire.

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So now with the new borders Averlin will need to develop their existing new port which would be quite expensive. I’m honestly questioning if Averlin even deserved this special treatment but then again the strategic thinking behind this new border made sense. Tralis’s capital has now earned the title of most exposed capital city in western Voleria and Elysia. Every other capital had some kind of geographic defense whether it be a river, a choke point or just distance from the border. Now Averlin could in theory just march across the border and be right on top of the Tralis capital.

This should help keep the idiotic Tralis nobles in line. Sarana had already sent Cecilia a list of Tralis nobles that might be better without a head. The process is already beginning in vetting who gets to keep their head.

However, despite all that Eissa looks like she would remain loyal. As long as we can keep the nobles in line the rest will be easy. However, there were now two new pieces on the board. The Wardens were going to be turned into an amphibious strike force while General Montis now had command of the largest Humanoid army in Voleria. His army was only set to grow once we annex the other Volerian states of Veria, Boria, Vororia and Jaria. Whether they will come peacefully or be dragged kicking and screaming into the empire remains to be seen. But we had plans for that, many plans to push them into our waiting arms. With any luck we won’t need any wars to get them in line.

After that well the next question was who was next? The dwarves? The Lizardkin? The Eastern Volerians? The Mugummans? Maybe even the Ostayans? So many choices… What fun…

But before all of that, once we cleaned up the immediate concerns there was something even more important. There were still the Zariman vaults that Mahaila held the key for. She didn’t know what was inside but I was hoping there was something in them… or perhaps someone…

If you think about it if the Eternal Mother was locked up then what else was locked up in a Zariman Vault? From the Eternal Mother’s memories I saw something very interesting…

You know if I had Legiana, wouldn’t the Eternal Mother want her own version of it at some point? Or at least something similar?

Well this ends this particular escapade. At least the exciting bits anyway… the rest is just the boring clean up…

Still provided he exists…

I wonder what this Malegaros guy is like…

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