Chapter 650 (Patreon)

The next three weeks saw tensions rising throughout the camp and it all started after the official communication of intent for a prisoner exchange arrived from the beastkin. While this wouldn’t be the first time since the start of the war that the beastkin would have held someone for ransom it was the first time they were approaching the Republic directly instead of contacting the prisoner’s House. 

The response to this had been varied. The commanders of the army did their duty and forwarded the offer to their headquarters leaving the decision to be made by their superiors and washing their hands of the whole mess. Regis on the other hand wanted to accept the offer, his arguments revolved around this being a show of good faith that might help further prisoners in not being summarily executed but everyone saw through it. 

Aranor on the other hand wasn’t against the exchange but he proposed sending the beastkin a counter offer, one that they couldn’t fulfil at the moment as they hadn’t kept anyone of equivalent value alive after capturing them. 

With Aranor and Regis on completely opposites sides of the issue nothing changed at the camp, Regis and his squad still held the prisoner and Aranor was periodically checking on him and trying his best to squeeze every drop of information he could from him, though by now all the information had been gained or become irrelevant. 

“What do you think they should do about the offer?” Arianwyn asked Ajax, she had avoided the topic for as long as she could but her curiosity had finally gotten the better of her. 

There had been an initial attempt by both the camp commanders as well as Regis to approach Ajax in regards to taking a side in the prisoner’s fate. That attempt had been quickly aborted when Aurexion’s first reaction at hearing the topic had been to ask if his next meal had run out of information and could be served. One thing every side agreed on unanimously was that Aurexion eating the prisoner after the offer was extended by the beastkin was the wrong way to go. 

“I thought I stated my position from the start.” Ajax answered with a slight raise in eyebrows. “It hasn’t changed.” 

“It should have.” Aurexion huffed, smoke risking from his nostrils. “The offer was a smart move by our enemies.” 

“You think I should accept a lesser trade?” Ajax was surprised to hear Aurexion’s opinion, he wasn’t sure the dragon would make such a meek choice. 

“Of course not!” Aurexion denied. “I just think that your entire view of the situation should have adapted since they made the offer. Because it wasn’t just an offer, it was an attack.”

“How so?” Ajax asked and Arianwyn was just as interested in the dragon’s take on things. 

“From what I’ve managed to gather on the situation, the prisoner they offered to give in exchange is just a beloved heir of a Duke, but one that is vital as he controls most of the food.” Aurexion stated. “Someone far weaker than the prisoner I captured.” 

“That is correct so far.” Ajax nodded. 

“The offer came five days after we captured him however.” Aurexion continued. “This means that the offer didn’t come from our prisoner’s father but rather it was a decision made by the enemy command. Considering how long it took for it to come I assume they had spies that reported on the disagreements of Regis and Aranor and factored that into their decision.” 

Arianwyn was impressed by Aurexion’s reasoning. She had come to a similar conclusion and had wanted to explore the topic with Ajax in an effort to help him develop his previously abysmal social understanding of things a Duke should be aware of. 

“They’re trying to start infighting among the Republic.” Ajax caught on, expanding the issue from a disagreement between Aranor and Regis to Duke Fieldwealth and Archduke Warborne. 

“It won’t really cause any infighting.” Arianwyn joined in to provide some nuance; she was pretty sure Aurexion had no way of inferring from being stationed all the way out here. “Duke Fieldwealth’s House doesn’t have the power to stop providing the army or the country as a whole the food they rely on. The Republic might not have a monarch to ensure that but their contracts where such things are concerned are quite clear and with no real powerhouses to speak of, House Fieldwealth can’t just break it.” 

Aurexion glanced towards the elf with interest as he got to better understand how humanoids lived. This particular situation was one that happened with some regularity between the Ascended races and sometimes between the dragon under different dragon emperors, however the lack of power of someone with wealth was all but unheard of for him. 

‘What they are trying to do is build distrust between the individual Houses and the Republic as a whole.” Arianwyn offered. “Not only that but by making the offer they are showing support for one of their own in a big way. General Ivoryspear wasn’t part of the coup that took place so by having the first official offer be made for his son is a way to bring the two sides in their own forces closer together.” 

“What do you think we should do?” Ajax asked Aurexion. 

Up until now the dragon had been content with sleeping and scouting for most of the day while Ajax worked on getting better accustomed to his newer Skills but having heard his bond’s opinion on how he was making a mistake Ajax wanted to hear his opinion on what his next move should be. 

“I think you should turn their own move against them.” Aurexion offered. “I can tell that you’re almost ready. In the next fight make use of the element of surprise and capture at least one but preferably two more prisoners. Change the perspective to make it seem like their offer enticed you into risking more. It would be ideal if we are seen as overchasing in order to catch them with you by my side this time.” 

Arianwyn had to bite her lip to stop herself from asking what was almost ready. It was clear that Aurexion was talking around something intentionally but curiosity had almost gotten the better of her. Instead she asked the other question on her mind, one that her experience as a noble so far didn’t lend itself to as this was her first war. 

“You think the next fight will happen soon?” Arianwyn asked.

“Within the week.” Aurexion sounded sure of himself but that wasn’t anything new for the dragon, if anything Aurexion sounding unsure of himself would have been a surprise. “The other battlefields have already had follow up engagements initiated by the enemy. Clearly they are leaving this one be in consideration for their offer as a ploy to create resentment amongst our forces. With tensions rising we will go on the offensive within the week.” 

Arianwyn silently chastised herself for having missed something that in hindsight seemed so obvious. The offer brought a lot of attention onto their camp and then having them be the only ones not attacked would draw resentment from the common soldiers and the elites alike towards the generals if only for their inaction. 

“Are you close to an antidote?” Aurexion asked, changing the subject to the other thing Ajax had been focusing on besides his training. 

“No.” Ajax shook his head but the smile on his face contradicted his words. “The poison is surprisingly resilient, the only way I’ve even managed to suppress it was Life Mana. What we did manage to do instead was find a good binding agent.” 

Ajax produced a small vial from his spacial ring. “It won’t counteract the poison, if anything it will actually make it the slightest bit more potent by concentrating it a little. But what it does do is slow down its spread significantly.”

The discovery had been a mistake when one of the animals the alchemists were using to test the effectiveness of their antidote attempts hadn’t been put out of its misery after the antidote had been deemed a failure. It was only later that they noticed it when they found the rabbit was still alive despite the poison still working its way through its body. 

“That should help mitigate the poison’s effectiveness in the middle of the battle as well as give our people time to seek healing if they can disengage.” Arianwyn was surprised by how a failure could lead to such a discovery. 

The conversation was interrupted then by Aranor who arrived and activated a privacy bubble around all of them. “The army has its next orders. They will be moving to attack in two days time.” He was looking at Arianwyn who the orders were going to be directly affecting as the commanders wouldn’t even attempt to order a champion.

Both Arianwyn and Ajax turned to look at Aurexion much to Aranor’s surprise. The dragon instead focused on Ajax. “You have two days to get ready, I know you can do it.”