My Kingdom Building Done Right!
Chapter 261: Parley [Part 1]
Moments later, Gundar, Troy, and the others halted several dozen meters from the massive wall, choosing not to advance any farther.
Seeing this, Kael stepped forward and looked down from the ramparts.
Once upon a time, he wouldn’t even dare to look down on one of the chieftains from the high-ranking tribes. But now, he could do so as much as he liked.
"State your purpose for coming," Kael said, his voice filled with arrogance.
"I have come to speak with the Chieftain of the Aslan Tribe," Troy replied. "Call him here."
"No." Kael shook his head. "You don’t have the qualifications to speak to my Great Chieftain. If you want to talk, I, Kael, will accommodate you. I am our Great Chieftain’s left-hand man and most trusted adviser. If you have business with him, you have to go through me first."
Godwin, Hagen, and Malik, who had also come to the ramparts to see what was going on, heard Kael’s condescending tone.
They had long been curious about what position Kael held in the Aslan Tribe. Now that they had heard his words, they now knew that he was the third most important person within the faction.
Ulric, Jason, Otto, and Brann cursed the shameless old man in their hearts. Still, none of them made any move to correct him.
Even Daedalus could only chuckle at those words, continuing to project the scenes as they happened.
"You dare say that to the Chieftain of the Darkmane Tribe?!" one of the Elders shouted. "You’re the one who doesn’t have the qualifications to talk to him!"
"Oh? Is that so?" Kael took out the finger he was using to clean his ear and blew on it as he spoke back in a casual tone. "Go back to where you came from, then. You have no power here."
"Y-You!" The Elder glared angrily at the bastard who was looking down at him with contempt.
"Ah. By the way, when you speak to me, you should call me Lord Kael," Kael stated. "If you can’t do that, then we have nothing to talk about."
"Call Leone Frontera here," Troy stated firmly. "Call him now."
Kael ignored him. He even took out a nail file and started working on his nail. If Kael had been the same man he used to be, he would’ve been trembling in fear at Troy’s order that was tinged with anger.
But now?
They could take their threats, polish them until they shined, and shove them right up their *ahem,* and Kael still wouldn’t bat an eye. He might chuckle though, but that was all the reaction Troy could get from him.
The Elders started hurling insults at Kael after that, calling him a shameless dog and a third-rate chieftain who sold his tribe to the Kingdom of Britannia.
Yet, Kael didn’t raise his gaze from the nails he was filing, even blowing on them when he was done.
Even with Troy calling out to him, Kael didn’t budge.
In the end, they tried calling out to anyone with authority from the Aslan Tribe, but none of Leone’s vassals stepped in.
Half an hour later, the Darkmane Tribe finally compromised.
"Lord Kael, we wish to propose a duel against the Aslan Tribe." The Elder who had called Kael a dog earlier was forced to call him ’Lord’ after being chosen as the sacrificial lamb of the Darkmane Tribe.
"A duel?" Kael arched an eyebrow. "And why would we accept that?"
"It’s because your tribe refuses to face us in battle," another Elder spoke up. "You’re simply hiding behind these walls like the cowards you are!"
"Hah..." Kael sighed dramatically. "You know what? Calling us cowards won’t get you anywhere. Also, let me tell you something funny. If my Great Chieftain hasn’t shown you mercy, do you guys truly think you’ll be talking to me right now, alive and all?"
"Big talk coming from an old coward!" the Elder once again hurled insults at Kael, while the latter shook his head helplessly in response as if he couldn’t care less about a birdbrain.
"Since that’s how you see it, let me kindly remind you about your current situation," Kael said calmly. "All of you came here, thinking you can easily destroy our fortress and show the Borderlands how amazing your tribe is.
"However, on your way here, you got ambushed by an archer, which made all of you shake like a leaf at the mere sound of the wind."
He even shook his hands after saying those words, as if to mimic the shaking of a leaf before continuing his arrogant declaration.
"The only reason why you’re still alive right now is because our Great Chieftain is a righteous, magnanimous, benevolent, compassionate, honorable, merciful, noble, generous, kind-hearted, charismatic, peerless, courageous, handsome, humble, gracious, and an exceptionally good-looking young man who doesn’t wish to shed unnecessary bloodshed."
"Damn... what a bootlicker," one of the Elders muttered after hearing Kael’s non-stop praises for his Great Chieftain.
For a brief moment, Troy wished he had someone like Kael, who would also say the same words about him.
However, the sly fox wasn’t done yet because he still had more things to say.
"Do you know?" Kael scoffed. "The reason why all of you can eat, sleep, pee, and take a sh*t is all because of my Great Chieftain’s mercy? Had he been a little more ruthless as a leader, what do you think will stop him from ordering our archer to decimate you all from the safety of your camp?
"From the moment you declared war on us, your lives are already in the palm of his hands. If anything, the reason why all of you are not dead yet is because he doesn’t want any of you to die... yet. Of course, that can change depending on his mood. As for the duel? Hahaha... What a joke. You really think we are that gullible, huh?"
This time, Troy was no longer able to hold back and shouted at Kael.
"What do you want?!" Troy asked. "What would it take for you and I to find a middle ground and reach a compromise?!"
He didn’t want to admit it, but the matter with the archer was also weighing on his mind.
If that archer was one of Troy’s subordinates, he wouldn’t have hesitated to give out the order to annihilate every member of the Aslan Tribe, leaving only Leone behind.
With that said, Kael made it perfectly clear that the only reason why they weren’t dead right now was because that archer was holding back.
And with the walls protecting the Aslan Tribe rendering their siege weapons ineffective, the Darkmane Tribe was close to being pushed into a corner.
"A compromise?" The corner of Kael’s lips rose faintly. "Of course, we can reach a compromise. If you agree to call me as your Great Ancestor, change your tribe’s name to the Dumb Dog Tribe, and surrender all of your Fire Catapults to us, then the Aslan Tribe will accept your surrender graciously."
The corner of Leone and Troy’s lips twitched after hearing Kael’s declaration.
Leone mentioned the part about the Darkmane Tribe’s name changing and the surrender of the Fire Catapults as conditions for ending the war.
However, Kael had obviously added the part that said he should be called ’Great Ancestor’ by the Darkmane Tribe, which made the envoys want to spit on the shameless man.
Among those three conditions, perhaps Troy would have reluctantly agreed to surrender the Fire Catapults if this could put an end to the war.
He didn’t even care if he called Kael his Great Ancestor.
However, the one thing that he couldn’t accept was changing his tribe’s name to the Dumb Dog Tribe.
No chieftain with pride and dignity would allow such a thing to happen.
It was very clear that Leone wished not only to utterly destroy their confidence, but also to humiliate them.