Leonel agreed to Mordred’s request, but there were a few things he knew had to be done first.
The first was to contact Camelot. It was impossible to accomplish this without putting up a united front. Camelot and the Demon Empire had to come together.
Of course, Leonel got a lot of pushback about this. But, he had to speak reason to them all.
The Empire would never allow civil war within its borders. One way or another, the two would have to assimilate. The question was whether or not they’d act first and get something out of it or if they’d wait to get conquered and receive nothing in return for their grievances.
When Leonel explained it this way, they managed to calm down somewhat and listen to reason.
It was only at this point that Leonel realized the demons seemed to hate humans as much as humans hated them.
While humans thought demons were bloodthirsty creatures who shouldn’t be allowed to be a part of normal society, demons believed humans to be hypocrites that hid their true nature, only to reveal themselves to be far worse than the demons the hated so much.
Leonel’s second suggestion was to present a shot of strength to The Empire.
Negotiations were only possible for those with strength. If there was too large of a power imbalance, what would be the point? The one with the stronger fist would simply take what they wanted.
Even though it was clear that The Empire was by far the strongest between the two parties, they still had to put in some effort to level out the playing field. Only then would they be able to open up negotiations in good faith.
In the end, these talks boiled down to one fact… Mordred would have to take a trip back to Camelot.
**
“Hm?”
Noah looked up from a map he was seriously observing, his expression colored with surprise.
“You said they sent someone? They want to negotiate?”
Jessica stood before Noah with her usually cold expression, relaying the information she had just received.
“Yes. Their #9 Demon Lord made a trip down the mountain to relay this message. According to what he had to say, the Demon Empire was willing to open negotiations and want to understand more about what it would mean to submit.”
Noah raised an eyebrow. “Are they trying to stall for time?”
“They arranged for the negotiation to occur in half a month. I have a hard time believing that they could prepare anything in this time. In addition, half a month was the time frame we set for our first wave attack to begin as well.”
Noah nodded.
He found all of this to be curious. From the information they had compiled, the Demons were most definitely not such a race. They were incredibly fond of battle and blood, something like surrendering before a single bullet had been fired was baffling.
Could it be that there was someone leading them? Their Empress should be a human from Noah’s understanding, maybe it was her who helped them see reason?
Noah had never considered negotiations not because he was opposed to it, but rather because there were some cultural barriers that couldn’t be crossed with simple words. Instead of convincing Camelot how powerful they were, it was best to just show them. This would make everything much easier.
“Interesting…” Noah mumbled.
He fell into his own thoughts, a familiar aura enveloping his surroundings.
Jessica stood silently, her small hands gripping a clipboard.
“… We will accept their meeting, but continue the preparations just in case. We also need a proper display of force to set the tone for the negotiations.
“I will contact Imperial Grandfather to understand what our bottom line is.”
Jessica nodded and took Noah’s silence as a tacit dismissal.
**
Mordred never thought there would be a day she would return to Camelot. The heavy rain falling against its tall stone walls seemed to be a reflection of her heart.
At the very least, she thought that when she returned, it would be as a conqueror. But the truth was that she never expected to do such a thing. If she wanted to overrun Camelot and destroy it, it was likely that she could have succeeded long ago.
The only thing that had kept the humans safe all this time was the disorganization of the demons. Mordred was the very person who fixed this fundamental issue, yet Camelot had still yet to be conquered. What reason could there possibly be for this if not a hidden softness within her heart?
Mordred silently gazed upon Camelot’s gates.
Compared to how things usually were, the massive capital city was quite quiet. Ever since this endless torrential rain began, a dark fog had been hanging over there world as though everyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop. The appearance of The Empire just so happened to be that other foot…
Leonel watched silently from Mordred’s side. To this negotiation, only he, Mordred, Aina and Crakos had come. Even if things went horribly wrong, Leonel was still confident in taking everyone out safely. Now, it was just a matter of Mordred taking that final step forward.
After gathering herself, Mordred took a step forward. But, what she hadn’t expected was for a woman in a fluttering blue dress to suddenly appear before the gates. The only one who didn’t seem shocked by this was Leonel himself who had long since grasped the energy fluctuations. And, it was even easier to understand after he recognized the woman to be Queen Guinevere.
Mordred never reacted when she saw her father. In fact, even with Leonel’s senses, he would have never guessed that King Arthur was her father without having seen Mordred’s life from start to end.
But, the moment this woman appeared, Mordred froze.
Tears flowed uncontrollably from Guinevere’s eyes. Still, as though she was trying to respect Mordred’s personal space, she didn’t get any closer than a few meters.
It seemed that the reason there was no one to receive them was because Guinevere had insisted on doing it herself…
For some reason though, Leonel felt as though the energy of this world suddenly shifted when mother and daughter stood face to face. He couldn’t quite grasp it, but he felt as though a small shackle had unlocked.
This meeting might be far more important than even Leonel knew.
Sparks flew within Leonel’s Dreamscape. But, once again, there wasn’t enough information to draw the final conclusion.