The Duchess sat down at the table, looking imposing. There was just a single chair for her entire Entourage, and behind her stood her advisors. Isabelle, the War Chief, sat beside me silently, and the Elders took their spot. The silence took hold, and only greetings after three days took hold. Resentment was in those Duchess's eyes, and she glared at us, her eyes clearly questioning what my motivations were.
I could feel that she had much better control of her emotions this time, though, and I smiled, "Hello, General, Greenwald, right?" I said and continued without letting her confirm, even though we had greeted each other again only moments ago. It was a slight that I wanted to use to continue holding her in a certain frame of mind. I wanted her to be angry and less willing to compromise with someone disrespecting her.
So I continued, "So, did you talk to your so-called Emperor and reach a decision on our generational people that have been prisoners in your nation, treated like slaves?" I asked about my voice level, but this time I saw her anger start up again. But she did not do anything, but I saw the Advisors looking insulted at my more noticeable slight, and they did not like it.
"Please refrain from insulting our Emperor," The Duchess replied, her voice cool, "Supreme Commander Chelsea Loveknot." She began, this time her voice bringing up a bit of an edge, "We have talked with the Emperor, and we will be willing to do such for a small concession of land from your side. Say, to the other side of these hills and a kilometer farther. In exchange, you can pick the third party for the truth-telling of the three parties for each slave."
"No." I replied, "Try again. No land concessions, period." I finished. It was a reiteration of what they truly wanted. I refuse to lose more breathing room, and the perfect choke point being lost to them. But I was not done, and I grinned as I decided to pull something out that they would not expect, "But I do have a much more interesting concession, you know, in exchange for the choice to choose who will oversee the slaves choice," I said, my voice sounding almost bored. I saw the confusion on the Duchess's face as she did not know where I was going with this, and I thought it was the perfect time to bring it up.
"You know, when we were looking through the vast number of prisoners of war, we discovered a little blonde treat. What I never expected to find was one of the daughters of the current Emperor," I said, and the Duchess looked shocked and turned to her advisors. I shrugged, "Look, I can't believe we found her in the numbers and how she remained out of our more VIP hands for so long, but I think she was trying to hide just for when negotiations began. So responsible, would you not say?" I asked my voice coy, and the room turned icy.
I could see the Duchess's eyes, and her fury had returned. She was blindingly angry again, and I grinned, "How about our concession is, The Crown princess and all D rankers Soldiers, in return, you release Beast-kin people back to their natural homes with our choice of neutral party overseeing it."
The silence dragged on, and the Duchess glared. "You, You, You already knew," She said, her fury clear in her voice. I looked at her, shocked.
"What are you talking about?" I asked my voice, concerned but clearly fake, but not obviously fake. "We gathered thousands upon thousands of Human Prisoners of war. You think that I would be careful to look for Nobles?" I asked, "Then not report them?" I asked a fresh question and looked at her, shocked, "We are Civilized Beast-kin. We did war openly and fairly, and the Civilian population has remained as untouched as possible, unlike you barbaric Humans!" I said, turning my voice dark, and I saw the Duchess turn even angrier, "Think about it, Duchess," I said, acknowledging her nobility. "Your people come into our nation like savages, rape, plunder, kidnap like bandits and take our people for slaves. We have asked you to get those disgusting Barbaric tendencies out of your barbaric blood, but now, here we are. After the war, finally listening to us," The fury in her eyes was at a volcanic level. "Now, we are talking like civilized people because we gave you barbaric humans a good slap on the ass to remember that we are supposed to act like civilized people, not some barbaric monkeys."
The Duchess stood up and glared down at me, and I grinned, looking at her. The mana in the room grew tense for just the briefest moments before she regained control, and she took a deep breath. "What do you want?" She asked her voice dark, "You clearly want me angry and not thinking clearly. Calling us barbarians when you have a literal damn Barbarian army not far away. Talk to me without insulting us."
"Ah, you finally understand, I did not think a barbarian would understand so quickly," I said and I literally pulled out a bag of gold coins and tossed them over to Isabelle who smiled as the gold coins littered the table and she picked them up and put them back into the bag slowly. "Sorry, had a bet with my Civilized Dragonic War Chief here to see how direct I can go without the Barbaric humans understanding that they were being insulted. I guess you were more intelligent than I thought."
The Duchess's face turned dark, and I grinned, leaning back as her fury was easy to see. A literal vein looked close to bursting from her forehead, due to how bad her blood pressure got from the insults. It seems my belief in her racism was correct. She was racist beyond belief and believed that Beast-kin were unworthy of respect.
"Look here you little bitch," She began and i held up a hand.
"No, you listen here, General," I said standing up and glaring at her, "HOW THE FUCK DO YOU THINK IT FEELS BEING TREATED LIKE A BARBARIAN WHEN YOUR FOE RAPES AND PILLAGES OUR LANDS!" I snap. She glared but also looked shocked in that glare, and I continued, "Look at you, ready to go collecting slaves but unwilling to get burnt doing it. We are done, so, SIT THE FUCK DOWN AND BE CIVILIZED YOU BANDIT BRUTE OR GET THE FUCK OUT AND WE MEET ON THE BATTLEFIELD!"
The words came down hard, and she stood tall. No longer was she angry. I could tell she was furious, but her fury turned cold, and we glared at each other. She nodded slowly and sat back down. "You are right, my fellow humans have acted like barbarians," She said, "They were bandits to your people, and you are right to remind me of that." She said, much to my surprise, in fact, throwing me off my game. "It seems we are starting off on the wrong foot for negotiations."
Now it was my turn to frown, and my eyes narrowed, "I have the Emperor's ear, and I can get him to agree to things. The Nobility will hate to lose their slaves," The Duchess said slowly, and suddenly we were back into the negotiations I wanted to delay, and I was looking at her, shocked, but I had to match the energy. I sat back down and she continued, "So, there are three ways to negotiate this. One," She took a deep breath. "You return the Crown Princess and all D-ranked soldiers. With this, you will get half of what you wanted," She said, and I waited. "Two, we negotiate something else for the Crown Princess, as her father has missed her and grieved over her loss and will be happy to have her back." I nodded at that last point, although I had no idea where she was going. "Then there is the third option, which I just finished thinking of," she said, and waited, making me ask.
"And what would that be?" I asked, obliging her silence.
"We make a bet, winner takes all," The Duchess said, her voice grinning ear to ear, and I raised an eyebrow.
"What wager?" I asked, intrigued.
"Well, we wager that other half. If I win, whatever we bet on, then we move forward with you just giving us the Crown Princess and our soldiers back and we get to choose the neutral party overseeing the return of the slaves. If you win, you give us back the Crown Princess and only the D ranked Soldiers back."
"That's insane to bet on, and a little one sided" I said, my voice showing the shock I felt at this moment. My mind was spinning, not able to comprehend what we would even bet on for something like this. "What would we even bet on? It would have to be something that everyone would have to concede is difficult, but putting entire nations' negotiations on board a simple test of skill or something?"
The Duchess was grinning like she won something, and she chuckled, "I got a simple bet. Something that will get this over with and maybe bring negotiations to a close faster over the long term."
I frowned harder and I was genuinely confused, "Look, just finish putting your third thought down into words so I can think about it, or just get out of this tent already."
"Well, I think we both put down what we wish to bet on and negotiate over it. You put something down, and I put something down, and we see what we bet on. Not me just deciding that way when I win, you cannot complain, you had no say over the bet."
I laughed, "Then fine, I already have my bet. I bet, I can fuck you for a month straight without giving you any mercy and make you cum like a common whore." I replied, and the Duchess froze, finally turning the tables back on her as she looked at me, shocked.
"How crass!" A Human advisor swore and pushed forward, "WE-"
"SHUT UP!" The Duchess roared, turning to the advisor, who clearly backed off. She turned back and glared at me, her eyes narrowing as she looked at me, then at the Elders and Isabelle, taking in their expressions. They looked just as shocked, and more importantly, a little skeptical of my ability to do that.
"Chelsea," Isabelle said, and I glared at her.
"Shut up," I told the War Chief, and she frowned but did so. I turned back to the woman before me and she clearly was caught completely off guard, "What is your bet, what do you think you can do that I cannot that is worth an entire fucking captured army and your Crown Princess. Put your stakes on it."
The Entire negotiation turned around on the Duchess, and she looked at me with something new. Respect.
She finally said, "I was about to say a battle, but that is a different type of battle. Fine, let's go with your bet, but first, I need to convince the Emperor." The Duchess said, and I smiled and nodded.
"I must do the same, it seems. You have three days," I told her, and she nodded, and the negotiations for peace over two nations suddenly turned very weird.
"I might have another bet in three days," The Duchess said.
"We will talk if you do," I replied. Then I stopped her with a cough, "Also, you need to concede something more than just a neutral party choice if I win." I finished and we both departed.
I had no idea or plans for negotiations to reach this point.
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