Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 403 Negotiations

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The livings did not know where to start, the undead before them had just assumed a posture, and chosen to remain in it, having yet to initiate any conversation, emitting a no-so subtle sense of dread even as he was being suppressed by the barrier.

'Well… The first thing to do is-' Alisart Cleavster shuffled in his seat, putting one hand on the table.

"I-"

"I am Loimos, General Of The Vanguard, a follower of The Prince Of Death, King Nitok" the undead spoke right before he could even start to vocalise his thoughts "Alisart Cleavster, Warking of the Southern Shores…"

"...Irlke Combuscrus, Warking of the Northern Swamp…"

"...Derdlim Maulerd, Warqueen of the Eastern Peaks…"

"...Jaral Cribler, Warking of the Western Cliffs…"

"...Through the dragon known as Solast, we have already begun negotiations and agreed to terms of regulated warfare, however, it is today that we are to come to an agreement on what this means, I am all ears" Loimos opened the discussion, making it painfully clear that he was not going into these negotiations without prior knowledge.

The warlords exchanged a few looks amidst themselves, Combuscrus taking the lead.

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"General Loimos, we would like for battles to be set up in advance, date and location" he said, as far as regulated war went, that was pretty standard, conflicts were not to take place anywhere at any time, Loimos pretended to consider the offer for a moment before responding.

"That is acceptable, however, I will require to be given full rights over the cadavers that result out of said battles, and also to the remains of my own fallen troops"

"That would be acceptable" responded the pyromancer king, not paying attention to Maulerd resisting the urge to call bullshit, this meant that there would be nothing left for her and the feasters to devour at all.

Of course, not anyone was actually comfortable with allowing the undeads to take possession of their fallen brethren, but as far as it went, this was actually in their favour.

"On my part, in exchange of vowing for my soldiers to not turn their blades upon the civilians, and also to spare the life of the major regional lords as well as their right hands if they happen to be defeated, I will ask for the right to access and do as I please in the Central Plains, in other words, make it a region unbound by any regulations and rules we might come up with throughout this meeting, be it for my troops, or yours" that was a daring demand, but Loimos's offers were rather alluring, a problem many of the warlords had was that their populations were not all warriors but that they were still very required, meaning that the civilians would be at risks of being slaughtered, Loimos was asking for them to throw the central region under the carriage in exchange, but that would also give the undeads foothold on the continent and access to all four of their territories from within.

Alisart read the room and shook his head.

"We cannot allow for this" he tried to read for the undead's reaction, a meaningless affair.

"What if I add the clause that the Central Plains must be reached by foot, by my soldiers, before my benefit of the deal comes into fruition, whilst your benefits come into play straight from the beginning?" a bead of sweat travelled down Alisart's face, Loimos had turned directly to him when asking this question, even though the undead's voice did not seem to come directly from him, he was definitely meaning for Cleavster to be the one to answer.

'He is being too generous, what is he trying to get? Just testing if we will agree, or checking for something else?'

"How about your part of the deal comes into fruition if your soldiers can make their way to the central region through all four of our territories?" Jaral proposed, now, this deal was completely to Loimos's disfavour.

"I see no issue" and yet, he readily agreed.

'He always intended to spare the civilians and keep us alive, he doesn't care if that deal is shitty, he just wanted to have us agree somehow' Derdlim covered her face with one hand.

'He agreed to that?!' meanwhile, Cribler was actually taken aback by this approval.

Next, all four went over the fact that they wanted for the barrier to be left alone, this was the only thing stopping the miasma from flooding in, as well as preventing powerhouses from simply waltzing in, they did not actually know if there were other undeads comparable to Loimos himself, so obviously, they wanted assurance that not only the barrier would not be put under attack, but also that monsters of power would not get involved out of the blue.

Their worry was understandable, but Loimos could clearly see that the lords were far from weak, forged from near-constant conflict and a dire need to become stronger and stronger, they were not as hopeless as they feared themselves to be, Loimos did not correct their false belief.

Making them cough up more promises in exchange of his own promise that he would not trample over each battle by getting involved, or getting anyone overwhelming powerful involved, he managed to secure no restrictions put onto his troops when they stepped into the barrier, as well as the right to establish a few camps without having to fight to earn them.

Indeed, for it to be a war, the undeads needed to be granted right to progress upon the lands when a battle was won, by threatening to target some of their food sources, he was able of earning himself a comfortable margin, then, he implied that his forces easily outnumbered all of theirs combined, which was a fact, and to make Loimos agree to cut down on his numbers, they had to give sensitive information concerning their practices and such.

Loimos assured them on his own that there would be no grazing of the continent or of their people, and that it would instead see a clear improvement, undeath was a perfectly viable way to promote a civilisation to the next level.

Amidst a plethora of other details, everyone seemingly got what they wanted, they had to define what constituted a battle in their particular scenario, and how long it supposedly lasted for, still, things were still left without much details attached to them, leaving flexibility for both sides.

Loimos knew very well that they had put in place other life barriers within the territory that did not fall under the agreement taken for 'the' barrier, Loimos just let them think they had tricked him on this aspect, in the first place, he was agreeing to so many regulations solely to give a certain impression to the other continents, which were all certainly well-informed through Dragonnerie, and also because Belliste would serve as the crucible to forge his vanguard into its greatest height.

Not to say that it would be easy, it would take a long time and be arduous all the way through.

Returning to the miasma, Loimos gave his troops an explanation of what had just transpired, and then assigned everyone to their posts.

Eventually, all oaths would be broken, and chaos would settle in, until then, Loimos would engage in this war like a respectable, most honourable general.