Chapter 296: Birth of a New Kingdom

"There is nothing worth looking at in the north," said a commander.

"In the north there are two realms that hate us," said the elder Granville, without raising his head. "And since last night we have the report that they are mobilizing. Both of them."

Silence.

"Mobilizing?" asked King Maximilian.

"Toward Harn ford and toward Vescia," said Granville. "Double garrisons and sealed granaries. They are preparing for something."

"They are preparing for us," said Montfort. "And if that is true, majesty, the south cannot lie open. The shaman asks for no troops, no gold, and no land of ours. He asks for a paper and a chair. It is cheap."

"It is humiliating," said a commander.

"It is cheap," repeated Montfort.

"Opinions," said King Maximilian. "All of them."

Rokk dug at his ear with his little finger and spoke without taking the finger out.

"A hundred years of supply of those metals seems better to me than a fistful of dead savages," said Rokk.

Leander St. Clair nodded without taking his eyes off the throne.

"And the supply pays for itself, majesty," said Leander. "Eight sample sacks on the first caravan. If there are whole veins back there, an open forest lets us buy instead of fight."

"Buy from a savage," said a commander.

"Buying is what we do with the east," said Leander. "No one proposes conquering the east."

The elder Granville raised his head at last.

"And the east does not send us the heads of our own men," said Granville.

"The east does not send us peace either," said Montfort.

King Maximilian let a few seconds pass and then turned to Beatrix.

"Beatrix," said King Maximilian. "You have said nothing."

"I have said nothing because I have not yet been told the important thing, majesty," said Beatrix Le Croix, and turned to Caelen. "Your Highness, can the shaman hold what he signs?"

Caelen hesitated half a second.

"He can," said Caelen.

"And if tomorrow the two realms offer him a better price to shut us out?"

"Then it will have cost us a paper," said Caelen. "And we will know who we are dealing with."

Beatrix nodded slowly and returned to her place.

King Maximilian straightened on the throne.

"Good," said King Maximilian. "I agree."

The commanders did not applaud. Montfort did.

"Scribe," called King Maximilian. "Bring papyrus. The good kind."

The scribe came at a run with the roll, the quill, and the inkwell. King Maximilian dictated slowly, eyes fixed on Caelen, and the scribe wrote without lifting his head.

When it was done, King Maximilian took the quill, signed, and pulled the ring from his finger.

Beatrix brought the candle and the wax.

The king let the wax fall on the papyrus, pressed the ring, and sealed it.

Then he stood.

"Let it be entered in the record," said King Maximilian, and his voice filled the chamber. "The Crown of Golden Rose recognizes the Overlord Kingdom as lord and master of the Great Forest, sole sovereign of all lands south of our border, and receives it upon its Council of Elders with voice and vote."

No one breathed.

"Enter the record for me," said King Maximilian. "And get this to the forest before dawn."

Very far away, in a valley that still knew nothing, Kellar sat on the edge of the well, knife in hand and a half-carved mark in the wood.

The air froze before his eyes.

[Mission Completed (S-)]

And behind that line, as though the system had been waiting, unfolded the mission that had appeared in the middle of the negotiation, when Caelen had his shirt stuck to his back and his hands shaking over the ring.

[Birth of a New Kingdom]

[A kingdom is not merely an expanse of land and people. It also needs the recognition of its neighbors, who must weigh its strength in order to recognize it as a kingdom and not merely as an objective to be conquered]

[Cause a regional power to admit your tribe as an emerging kingdom]

[These words cannot be merely allusive or informal. You must obtain an edict and a promulgation]

Kellar remembered the exact moment.

The golden window had opened above the table, he had half a second to read and not one to think. And in that half second he had understood that the mission was not fulfilled with blood or gold, but with a paper signed by a king.

That was why he had demanded what he had demanded.

Public recognition. A hundred-year treaty. A seat on the Council of Elders.

Caelen had accepted them one by one, without understanding that he was not negotiating a treaty. He was signing a birth edict.

Kellar let out a short laugh, alone, in the dark.

It had worked.

[Rewards]

[As an emerging kingdom, your Tribe Lvl 3 becomes a Kingdom Lvl 3]

[Naming capacity increased 0/20]

[Capacity to declare territories under your banner with scouts alone]

[All tribes in your zone will hear your name and send their leaders to meet you]

[Territory Expanded]

[New units may be trained: Knight]

[Knight: The core of a kingdom is its military strength. Knights are warriors trained with impeccable discipline and a sense of nobility. Only those who can embrace the love of their territory may unlock this profession]

[Professions may be taught in the barracks]

[Level missions will be adjusted accordingly]

[Note: A kingdom is not a tribe. A tribe may be led by a single shaman or a leader, but a kingdom needs nobles, vassals, hierarchy. Missions will be adapted to bring your kingdom to complete development]

Kellar went still.

Twenty. Twenty names.

He shut the knife and came to his feet in a bound, and for an instant he did not know what to do with his hands. The tribe slept around him, and he wanted to wake the whole of it shouting.

A kingdom.

Not a village, not a camp, not a hunting party with bone spears that the northern realms noted in a margin. A kingdom with a name, with a border, with a king who had recognized it before his court.

Kellar walked to the center of the square and looked at the whole valley.

His territory now reached across the entire forest. Green zones that belonged to him, sealed and quiet. Yellow zones, in dispute, which by their arrangement could only be the guardian beasts. Very near his own zone, in the ash valley, an enormous red circle, pulsing slowly like an ember.

Kellar looked at it a long while.

"It seems the dragon will be mine very soon..."