The Achievement Junkie

Two days had passed since Morani's rescue and Jack's departure. Gilga was receiving more traffic and immigrants than ever before, even compared to its hay-day.

Currently, numerous dignitaries were visiting the city. In particular, Many nobles and military officials had gathered within the Leisure Guild while the guild hosted the requested war conference between Trodar, Iscantor, Prachten, and Limneer.

Outside the conference hall, Rydel was speaking with someone via contact crystal visibly disturbed by what he was being told.

"There are how many?!" Rydel blurted out his words, startled and unable to control his volume at first. "How could Zuran suddenly gain so many people?"

"I don't know," Tridon replied, "But I wanted to ask if there's any way you could come with Jack and--"

"Jack's busy right now. He'll be gone for a while and not even the gods are allowed to disturb him," Rydel stated, disheartening Tridon. "I think I can go along with a few others… but I'm not making any promises about winning you the war."

"Thank you! Thank you! With this, you can consider your debts for those beasts you took free and clear!"

"That's so thoughtful of you…" Sighing, Rydel took a moment to think before saying, "Jack can't come, but I think I can take Bowzer and Karronteel…"

"Great! Oh, and who's Karronteel?"

"You'll find out soon enough. We'll be there within the hour."

"Within the hour?!" having his expectations obliterated, Tridon shouted, "How can you--"

"I've got to go and finish a few something. If not for that, we would be there in a few minutes," stated Rydel. "See you soon…"

Ending the conversation, Rydel stored his contact crystal and reentered the giant conference hall. He strolled up one of the center aisles and returned to his seat, one of many on a raised seating area overlooking six sections of seating.

Each of those six sections was filled with representatives from the three territories that defected from Trodar, taking two sections each.

At the front of Trodar's raised seating area was Vixus. After he was officially named as the Vice Guild Master, he also assumed the role of the council spokesman. No gods were seated with him, leaving him as the presiding dignitary.

With him were all higher-ups of the Leisure Guild and the Leisure Guild's subordinate guilds. Also, Jack's party was present, which is why Rydel returned to sit beside Maynard, Zariff, and Trax.

Vixus paid no attention to Rydel as he returned, acting as if the hunter showed no interruption whatsoever. "I'll ask again. Do you three territories agree to these terms? And if not, please inform us as to why."

Prachten was the first territory to speak up. Their head representative stood back up and explained, "As for agreeing with the terms, I can't so for certain without taking a small recess to confirm with my fellow representatives. But I will say that I personally find no fault with the terms and am willing to support such a decision."

"We're glad to hear that." Vixus smiled and bowed his head to the Prachten representative. "Should there be any issues that you do have with the terms, we can discuss them then."

Vixus and those from Trodar then looked to the representatives of Iscantor. Their amiable yet unreadable expressions said a lot.

"As the current Vizor elected to head the Iscantor council, I'm willing to stand by your terms, Vice Guild Master Vixus." That man also showed a friendly smile with more depth than politicians could easily read into.

"Wonderful. We're happy to know that you're willing to join Trodar and work together to increase our security and influence across Kartonia."

All eyes fell onto the crowd from Limneer.

At the front of that crowd sat General Toms among a few others. But General Toms said nothing, only gritting his teeth while staring at Jack's party.

When the conference began that morning, Jack's party was introduced as those that subdues the illegal army that Limneer had formed against the policies of the agreed-upon war pact. It brought them a new level of prestige but also a lot of infamy among those of Limneer. With the nobles and generals of Limneer controlling things behind the scenes, how could they not want to strangle the party that kept them from taking control of the war? Rather, now they were all on the losing side in terms of reputation, appreciation of their citizens, and stipulations with clear bias at the war conference.

A well-dressed man a few seats away from General Toms stood up. His smile wasn't true but it was worthy of a conniving politician. "Vice Guild Master Vixus, there are many treatments that we agree to, but there are some which we can't possibly accept."

"And those would be?" Vixus asked for clarification.

The lavishly dressed man continued, "We agreed to form an alliance with Trodar but we see no reason why we should become a subordinate territory of Trodar. This past war has proven that our three nations are capable of many things without Trodar, so I don't believe there are enough grounds for us to become your subordinates."

"Is that all?"

"Also, there's a single condition that should've been added to your proposal," stated the man. "With your abundance of gods, why must they all remain in Gilga? There's no point in having an alliance for protection when only Gilga and Trodar are protected."

"Understandable… Then how about this, I'll get you a conference with the gods and you can convince them to relocate. How's that?" Vixus questioned, too savvy with business and politics to waste words unnecessarily.

"That… As you're the ones with the connection to the gods, then it would best be handled by yourselves. Isn't your guild master a spokesman for them? Where is he, by the way?"

"Guild Master Jack is handling more important matters at the moment," Vixus replied. "And though he represents them, they've officially integrated themselves into the Leisure Guild. Technically, they don't belong to Trodar but the guild. If you're asking me to manage your relationship with them, that would need to be through a separate inquiry of the guild and not Trodar."

"But--"

"As for becoming our subordinates, that's mostly for your benefit and not ours," Vixus continued. "Should you want to face the world on your own, then you're welcome to do so. But if you seek the protection of Trodar and are daring enough to request the guild to relocate their strongest forces elsewhere, then what are you offering us in return for such a ridiculous request. Please, sense of it if you can."

Taking a moment to choose his words, the man carefully said, "It's not a request but something that our people need to feel secure. Without at least that, how could we justify suddenly allying with our enemy to the populace?"

"I think there's some error in your thinking…" Vixus sighed and went on, "If I'm not mistaken, the greatest fraction of our newest immigrants come from Limneer. Unless you're ever worse at handling paperwork then your political mannerisms make me believe you are, then how could you not know that? Wouldn't allying with us, in fact, boost the popularity of you nobles and generals currently in power?"

That man wanted to speak but Vixus kept going, saying, "If you refuse to see the facts, then there's nothing I can do to help you. However, I can inform you that Limneer did breach the former war pact, which gives us reason enough to invade with high-level experts. You haven't forgotten that fact as well, have you?"

Biting his tongue, the man stayed his anger with his smile that wasn't a smile. "Vice Guild Master Vixus, please see our reasoning more clearly. With the way the world is going, how can we--"

"Shut up."