AK - The Alchemy Kingdom

Year 5, Spring, Third Month, Third Week.

Reiner couldn’t contain her smile when she saw Karl entering the Council chambers intimately talking with Diana. As a mother, she was getting a little concerned about his bachelor status. Since the pair was the last to arrive, the other Councilors walked to their chairs and they officially started the meeting. This time around, three operators were also present to communicate with Lew, Samia and Sania, who were stationed at the other side of the mountains.

After Omero opened the meeting, he urged Samia, through her operator, to give the report that made the meeting necessary in the first place. The shadow skipped any unnecessary information and jumped straight into the crucial matters.

“My informants confirmed through more than a dozen sources, that the Kingdom’s forces pushed the Sandines back and took the Southern Oasis. Apparently, they plan to rebuild a base there and only keep a part of the fire Army to protect it, which means the wind Army would be returning soon…”

An awkward silence spread through the meeting. Aside from Omero, Lew and Samia, who already knew about the report, everyone else was too confused to react. The implications of the wind Army withdrawing from the Sandine war were clear, AK could easily become their next target. Although the Kingdom had other armies, the Wardens would never invite foreign forces into their regions, so until now, they never feared a large-scale attack.

Lew was the first one to speak.

“It’s unlikely that they would move against us in a short time, so we have at least until the next year to prepare… We could speed our military plans…”

The idea made the other Councilors even more afraid. Omero, on the other hand, was especially satisfied with this outcome, but he refrained from throwing in any support for appearance’s sake. Surprisingly, Tael was the one to point a way out.

“What if we could change the direction of the war… The Army is only withdrawing because of their recent victory…”

While everyone contemplated the possibility, Lew saw fit to add something.

“It would be good training for our agents and we could use the extra time to get stronger… We have been growing fast, but I don’t think we’re ready to face an Army…”

Omero couldn’t stay silent any longer.

“But how could we change the situation? The Sandine border isn’t that close and they already fell back… Are you proposing we enter the battle? How would that be any different from facing the Army in the forest? Besides being outside of our domains and thus putting us on disadvantage.”

Most Councilors didn’t think too much of Omero’s quickly opposition to the idea, but some noticed his true intention. As a testament of the youngsters growth, the usual simple-minded Toni also offer a suggestion.

“What if we gave them better weapons and armor? By giving I mean exchanging…”

Their first reaction was to dismiss the idea, but when they thought about it, they realized it wasn’t that crazy. If they had to get involved in the war, supplying weapons to one side would be the easiest and less risky option. When the operator passed the message to Lew, he immediately remembered something.

“Actually, not long ago, Keller proposed something similar. He wanted to invite some Beastkin from the Tribal Lands to AP… Maybe he would agree to help us trade with the Sandines… They hate Humans but they do business with the Democracy…”

They continued discussing the idea, trying to make it feasible. Omero knew enough to help them formulate a better strategy, but he felt conflicted. If he didn’t help, maybe they would give up on the idea, but then they might go on with a bad plan due to desperation. In the end, he decided to give up on this chance to face the Serions and offered his political knowledge about the Sandines.

“Trying to approach them directly wouldn’t work… The Sandines hate Humans, and with a good reason, considering that the Serions are set on conquering their lands and enslave them… The Democracy trades with them, but they only send Beastkin Merchants, and that’s no big deal since they’re a nation formed by many races… What we need it’s to find a third party to negotiate on our behalf, a Beastkin group willing to trade with us. The idea of doing business with the Tribal Lands is actually good, but it might take too much time… We need to find a better-positioned partner... Have you heard about the independent tribes?”

Although Marlen and Lew knew about them, they didn’t interrupt and let Omero continue.

“When the Serions started their conquest of this continent, they forced the Tribes to move and change their organization. Some joined forces to form a nation and resist the invasion, like the war Tribes that built the Sandine Kingdom. Others fled to the northeast and decided to live under the protection of the forest, forming what we now know as the Tribal Lands. However, some southern tribes refused to join the Sandines or were too pacific to enter a War Kingdom. These tribes still live in the forest borders, and they’re the biggest beneficiaries of the war because both sides don’t have time to time to care about them when they’re battling...”

In other words, the independent tribes had more to lose if the war ended or came to stalemate. In fact, every time that happened, they would be harassed by one of the sides and would be forced to move their tribes, sometimes even having to go deeper into the forest. So, they could be considered natural allies in this matter, although it might not be that simple to convince them to go looking for the Sandines.

Omero’s suggestion of working with the independent tribes was well accepted, transforming their plan into something less desperate and more concrete. Even so, they had to move fast if they wanted to influence enough in the war to make the wind Army cancel their retreat. Once the wind Army left the frontier, nobody could predict when it would return since the Kingdom could chose send other armies to assist instead.

After hours of discussion, the Council came up with an initial plan. Unfortunately, even if they started immediately and put all their resources behind it, they would need two to three months to get the weapons into the hands of the Sandines, anything less than that would be wishful thinking.

The plan would also cost them a lot, but with their potions entering AP’s market, they would hopefully be earning enough to pay for it. The operation was divided into three areas, support, trading, and production. The support area would provide intelligence, security, and means for the trade, while the trading would be responsible for the actual exchange. Finally, the production area would only need to focus on crafting the tradable weapons and armor on time.

The support teams would have three goals, first proving security to allow the traders to get there and come back safely; intelligence to both identify the tribes’ location and the war situation; and last, create a communication structure to allow the agents to communicate amongst them and with AK.

Their first action would be sending three teams towards the south. Samia and another shadow would move as fast as they could to locate the tribes and get a clear picture of the war. Another team led by Tael would travel straight to a specific point in the forest to install another communication tower, which would expand their cover to allow communication between the agents and AK. The last team would start clearing a path for the carts to move between the independent tribes and AP. Sania would be responsible for leading this team.

Although clearing more than 600 kilometers of forest in only two months was very ambitious, they had done it before in a part of the forest that was much more hostile. Currently, they could use the detoxifying tool and potions to keep themselves healthy, and their tools had been upgraded as well as their ability to use them. Finally, they didn’t need to clear a big path, only clear enough trees to allow the carts to pass.

From the trading side, they also decided to send a team immediately. They would try to convince Keller to go, but they would send someone to negotiate a deal either way. Since the negotiations could take time and the tribe would also need time to negotiate with the Sandines, they had to start doing it as soon as possible. Their own weapons could serve as an example to show their power, while the actual tradable weapons would be on production in AK.

They estimated that production might take a month, so the trading envoy could go first and close the deal while they waited for the weapons. On the production side, they also faced challenges. Under no circumstances, the weapons could end up in the Serions hands. So, they had to find a solution to prevent them for taking weapons from the fallen Sandines. Fortunately, Karl already had a solution in mind for it.

And thus, begun AK’s first participation in a war.