Page 140 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
Tievin blinked at him as if he couldn’t believe he’d heard that, and then, his eyes drifted back to his notes. He flipped through the pages, cleared his throat, put a hand on it, and then flipped through the pages again before he took a deep breath.
“My personal records show nine different potential tribes having interacted with us ever since we were first sent here,” he suddenly spat out, talking fast. “Based on their diverse appearances, outfits, demeanor, weapons, tattoos, hairstyles, and other similar external signs, I believe that the tribes living in the mountains have significant distinctions between them, indicating they have evolved to live in rather secluded tribes that only interact based on necessity. This would be quite surprising given the limited resources and geographical territory they share, but I believe that there are rivalries that keep them from being a unified front and meshing together like many tribes living in the same area for centuries should normally have. This could be the result of notable differences in opinion, lifestyle, and beliefs. I did ask around the oldest residents of this camp as well as corroborated their testimonies with the records of my predecessors, and there is indeed a surprising amount of evidence that the–thatthiscamp, and the North Army ingeneral, has been attacked by the same tribes over the centuries, while other tribes that had been recorded have never attacked but only been spy–I mean, observing us. Before Your Highn–I mean, the Commander pushed the North Army to the foot of the mountains, it was much easier to record which tribes would come down to fight, and once again, tribes who engaged in fights with our troops were not necessarily the same ones that were found spying. Whether the tribes have significantly different goals toward the Empire or some of the tribes do not have the numbers to attack us is hard to determine. What I do believe, however, is that the tribes have always shown an undeniable interest in the Empire, and while we do have numerous records of scuffles between our troops and their people, the evidence we have does not corroborate with Princess Kiera’s statement thatallof the tribes would want you dead... potentially.”
A long, stunned silence followed his words, which caused Tievin to try to shrink in his coat and his cheeks and nose to turn crimson. Eventually, Kiera let out an amused grunt.
“Ha!” she scoffed. “I always wondered what youweredoing here.”
“Being the North Camp’s Grand Intendant includes many tasks, Princess Kiera,” Tievin gave her an exasperated sigh.
“Guess all that paperwork and scribbling you do does have some use...”
“It’s... It’s amazing news, Tievin,” Lorey said. “It means some of the tribes might be up to negotiations with the North Army, that’s... that would be historical for the Empire. How come we’ve never explored that option before?”
Tievin glanced briefly toward Kassein.
“If I dare to make any conjectures, Lady Lorey, I would say that it is most unlikely that any of the North Army leaders have ever been very...opento suggestions,” he mumbled. “...Until now.”
Lorey bit down a smile while the siblings looked at each other; fair enough, whoever had been sent here before had probably never shown much interest in befriending the other side until Kassein.
“Anything else we need to know?” Kiera asked after a sigh. “Now that we’re open to suggestions and bad ideas, apparently?”
Lorey gave her a scowl, but Tievin only let out a faint sigh.
“I personally believe His High–I mean, the Commander’s idea might have higher chances of succeeding than we anticipate,” he said. “Thanks to his predecessors and the hard work of many grand intendants before myself, we have a fairly accurate map of the Northern Mountains. Based on that map, the observations that have been made so far, and the current information I have collected on the tribes that have been spotted and interacted with, I have come to the conclusion that the Northern Mountains hold many more tribes than those the North Army has been interacting with for the past couple of centuries.”
“...More tribes?” Kiera frowned. “We already knew that, didn’t we?”
“It is the logical conclusion anyone who’s taken a look at these mountains should have, yes,” Tievin replied with a slightly annoyed tone, “but that also means that the tribes that had a number of negative interactions with the Empire in the past only represent a fraction of the Northern tribes. In other words, as Lady Lorey brought up earlier, there are some Northern tribes with which our people could potentially have a clean slate. Naturally, we should suspect that they will have an ill perception of our people if they have heard about us from the tribes that antagonize us or received some significant threat from our side...”
“Some significant threat?” Kiera frowned in confusion.
Tievin raised an eyebrow, and then, slowly, his hand emerged from his too-long fur sleeve to point a long finger toward Kiki. The dark gray dragon under Lorey was presently busy playing with a tree trunk, tearing it apart with joy like it was some toy.
“Oh,” Kiera grunted. “Yeah, right... Well, fair enough...”
“We know the Northern tribes are terrified of the Empire’s dragons,” Lorey sighed. “Rightfully so. But that might not deter them from establishing some discussion with us, especially if Tievin’s right and the tribes do not all get along. Strategically, some of them would likely benefit a lot from any kind of rapport with the Empire. We could trade resources, guarantee them safety from the dragons...”
“We could do that?” Kiera raised an eyebrow, turning toward her brother. “I don’t mean the resource part. I don’t think anyone’s safe from Kein, except for one lady.”
Kassein didn’t answer. Kein had been under control for the past couple weeks, but that felt nothing short of a miracle, and it was all due to one woman indeed. If anything happened to Alezya, he couldn’t guarantee his dragon wouldn’t go back to its usual madness and murder any human it felt like. He let out a heavy sigh, but pushed that issue aside for now; Alezya was here, sleeping peacefully in his tent and under the orange dragon’s guard, and that would be enough for now.
“Anything else?” he asked Tievin, ignoring his sister again.
This time, his Intendant hesitated, glancing at his notes, pressing his lips together and squirming under all his layers.
“Tievin,” Kassein growled.
“W-well,” Tievin swallowed. “We might need to uh... consider that Your High— I mean, the Commander in Chief of the North Army does not, strictly, have the authority to establish such a... an alliance...?”
Kassein’s eyes darkened, prompting his Intendant to look down.
“I-I mean this from a t-tactical point of view,” Tievin squeaked. “Establishing p-proper rapport with the Northern tribes would include a considerable amount of time, resources, and manpower to make the... the suggested trades happen. The mere coordination of resources coming from the nearest village to here is already quite the task given how far the army is located compared to the past. The Onyx Castle itself is at a notable distance, and if we were to establish long-term relationships, we would have to consider many factors as well...”
“The north is too deserted,” Lorey muttered. “...It’s true. I mean, we’ve already seen it. It takes a while for anything to reach this camp, and you have to self-supply as much as you can because of how long anything takes to arrive, less we use one of the dragons. The villages surrounding the Onyx Castle aren’t doing too well either; they’re too far from the center of the Empire and the Capital itself. The Empire has lost interest in the north. The Emperor has established a great relationship with the Eastern Kingdom since Queen Cessilia’s wedding, and there are already countless tribes the Empire has been establishing rapport with in the west since Empress Shareen began abolishing the slavery laws, but the north has been... left behind.”
Kassein knew it all too well.
The north prospered for a short while during his childhood, when his parents lived there, and the presence of the War God as the unofficial local lord allowed trade to bloom. His family had brought the wealth the north needed to thrive, but now, things were different.
