Viv spent her first evening doing what would (hopefully) become routine. Lady Azar’s aides briefed her on what they had learned that day, mostly who was talking to whom. Afterward, she gathered the shadow group to decide how they would rescue King Sangor’s son.

“Our first and absolute rule is that no one must die,” she started. “This place is sacred. We can get away with shenanigans but not with violence.”

Irao and Solfis agreed, though she suspected it was only because they enjoyed a challenge. Sidjin remained silent.

“It is a rescue,” Irao said with delight.

The concept was still novel to him. It was probably the first time in his long career he would break into a fortified area to save someone.

//It would be best not to antagonize the gods any more than we have.

//The less evidence we leave, and the harder it will be for our adversaries to pin the blame on us once the escape is inevitably noticed.

“We are in agreement then. My plan is rather simple.”

She unfolded a map on the central table of her council room. It showed a large, three-story building with parts of the sewers below it. A snap of her fingers and the map turned into a three-dimensional display. Irao’s eyes widened. Viv didn’t have the heart to tell him that earth by this point most likely already had the technology to manage that.

“This is the Hidden Smile, Mornyr’s prime bordello, dedicated to Sardnanal. Upon my recommendation, King Sangor will hold a masquerade there on the second day of the summit. We will extract the hostage then and have him leave with one of the artistic troupes who will attend the show.”

“Is there a specific reason as to why it happens at that time?” Sidjin asked, though it wasn’t a challenge.

“The vote to decide Harrak’s status starts the summit. We will be either accepted as part of the alliance or spurned then. There is a remote chance the first vote will be postponed by a day and I do not want to take the chance to ruin it. If our adversaries suspect something, they might gather an alliance against us, but if the vote is already passed, then they will struggle to reverse the decision.”

“Okay.”

“It will also be one of the busiest times of the Summit. Security will be tight around key buildings. I am counting on this to act as a distraction. Our best bet would have been to rescue him long before or after the event, however…”

//Our guilt would have been too obvious.

“Precisely. Here, Maranor’s church will hopefully blame Sangor and find no proof. If we were the only delegation around… But enough of this. The masquerade’s purpose is to hide our infiltration of Maranor’s compound. There is a semi-direct path between the bordello and our target via the sewers. We will have to go through a wall.”

“I will handle this,” Sidjin assured. “A trivial task for someone like me. The wards are not, however. They will have barriers in the most sensitive areas. Such barriers are fed by divine mana as well, which means that the goddess… But I digress. I assume you have a plan?”

Viv nodded.

“I had a look at those wards and I think they can be tricked into letting bodies through with careful manipulation, which I am capable of. We still have three problems. One, I need to study the wards in more detail before the event.”

“I can draw them,” Irao said.

He tilted his head then, as if listening to some ghostly council.

“Reasonably well. Not perfect, like a caster.”

“It should be good enough. That leads me to the second point. We need to know where Sangor’s son Gil is. We also need to know their patrols. We can’t do that without being, ah, on site.”

“I can perceive them through the walls,” Irao said.

//Similarly, I can study the compound’s exterior and extrapolate a patrol pattern.

//We merely need a few days of preparation.

//We will also need to be present there on the first night of the summit in case they increase their security measures.

//One last thing.

“Yes?”

//Divine barriers are exhausting to run.

//Temples will only maintain them in the most sensitive areas.

//I expect we can… circumvent most of them with a little creativity.

Viv nodded.

“From below?”

//That might be feasible.

“I will design an adapted spell with Irao,” Sidjin said. “Brown mana is one of my domains of expertise.”

“Then it’s decided. You two get started on recon, then we act. After we have returned to the Hidden Smile with Gil, Sangor will extract him with a group of comedians leaving the city, hopefully before his presence is missed.”

“How likely is that?”

“Unless they constantly check on him, it shouldn’t be until the next morning. By that time, he will be gone.”

“Let’s hope things go to plan.”

***

Viv’s second day in Mornyr started with physical training with Rollo. She could no longer practice darkness magic here as it would be suspicious, so learning how to use a physical weapon presented a useful alternative. The knight was a complete asshole, or so Viv believed when she was tossed to the side by a blow from the man’s zweihander, but he sure knew his shit. Her improved physical stats helped her greatly but they couldn’t make up for skills and technique honed to vengeful perfection over decades of merciless practice. Weirdly, her men seemed to respect her more for that even though the exercise didn’t show her in a very good light. A ruler had to look untouchable. She could only assume the Harrakan elites had come to see her as a leader as well.

After she was down brushing off the dust, Viv checked the answers to her different petitions.

The key goal of this visit was getting official recognition as a nation. It would protect her merchants, give her nobles status, and generally would make it diplomatically costly for anyone to fuck with her. Her acceptance to the Paramese Alliance would depend on a vote. She needed the majority to pass rather than a unanimous approval like some of the defensive alliances of her world since the organization’s goal was also to regulate large conflicts. This provision took into account the adversarial relations most nations held for one another. Basically, if anyone wanted to join the alliance, their neighbor would most of the time vote against it. It also bore mentioning that the latest addition to the alliance was thirty years before with the port city of Zeshtanet, far to the south of the continent beyond leagues of savage lands. New admissions were exceedingly rare.

Given Viv’s history with the northern cities, it was fortunate that votes depended on financial and military contributions that followed an obtuse calculation system handled by Sardanal’s clergy, rather than just one entity, one vote. Most northern cities had no votes since their contributions were minimal, though they still enjoyed the rest of the benefits. Baran had seven as Param’s dominating power and a main contributor to stopping the Hallurians. Enoria had three though they would be ramping up soon. Mornyr had two on account of shameless favoritism. Zeshtanet had one. Glastia had one. The Pure League had two because they were a bunch of assholes who claimed to fight against savagery. Helock had two because their war archmage's contingent was pretty much a continental strategic asset. As the newcomer having already contributed to the community, Harrak would have one vote. Viv thought it was weird an outsider would get a vote but Lady Azar had clarified it was not a given, rather an incentive for candidates to help first and ask to join later. If Viv hadn’t helped Jaratalassi at the Battle of the Pass, she would have come with zero votes.

Baran would vote for her, Zesthanet would vote with Baran as they were almost a client state. She would have her own voice and that total amounted to nine. Meanwhile, it was expected that the Pure League, Glastia, and Helock would vote against her, possibly Enoria too for a total of eight. Unless something dramatic happened, Viv already had the majority. It didn’t mean she wouldn’t try to secure more votes. There were still some possible shenanigans, like the remaining northern cities banding together to gather one vote. It had happened before. From an outsider’s perspective, her accession was not a given, so It would be weird for her not to ask around for more support.

People naturally didn’t know Sangor would side with her and the vote was pretty much done. She wanted to keep it that way, so she had contacted Glastia and Helock just in case.

The answers came as surprises. Helock naturally refused to help her, but the ambassador’s answer was much more polite and nuanced than she had expected.

“Your Majesty Viviane, Empress of Harrak.

Although it pains me to do so, I must decline your offer for a meeting. Our meeting would be disadvantageous at this junction. The unfortunate demise of archmage Elunath still lingers in the minds of my fellow citizens despite your excellent standing at the academy. The matter of your departure also remains a painful low in our mutual relationship. We hope to resume normal diplomatic relationships at a later date, if it pleases you. In the meantime, I wish you much success in your other endeavors.

Respectfully yours,Ambassador Claron.”

Viv read between the lines. The Academy still supported her and with some time and some official reparations for having thrashed their palace on her way out, Viv could expect to normalize her relationship with the capital of magic.

Naturally, her clashing retreat across the floating stones of Helock was due to some fucking asshole arresting her with no legitimacy whatsoever. Sadly, national interests trumped honor and integrity almost every time, everywhere. Helock was slighted so Helock would ask for concessions, and for the sake of Rakan’s pupil who would come of age soon, she would grant the reasonable ones. Access to the greatest institute of learning was worth a few trade treaties.

It also didn’t help that Helock didn’t need her. They had a contract with Sidjin, meaning there were already operational portals across their domain. Viv brought nothing new. She had to keep this in mind.

In any case, Helock would be voting against her this time. That was what ‘I wish you success in your other endeavors’ meant. The ambassador was telling her his official position was that he hoped for her bid to fail. It was, at the very least, honest.

The other surprise was that Glastia agreed to meet. Only, they wanted to meet with Sidjin.

“Are you sure you want to go?” Viv asked with obvious concern. The fallen prince’s emotional scars could reopen in an instant, as they had in the past.

“I am most certain I do not want to go, however I have a duty to you and our shared dream, and I will not back down from a conflict out of fear.”

“They could be really mean.”

“Oh no, anything but mean!” He mocked her with a smile.

Viv bumped her fist against his shoulder — lightly — and he returned the gesture with tenderness. His hand lingered there until she could feel the heat of his presence on her skin.

“I know I can face them because I know that after we are done, I will return here and so will you. And besides, there are no reports of the presence of Medjin. Maybe I can meet one of my less problematic relatives for once. I shall let you know what I learned.”

“Ok. Worst comes to pass, blast them into oblivion and we’ll escape by riding the resulting cataclysmic out of here.”

//Please do not joke about this.

//The gods are listening.

“Wait, they are?”

//They are always listening.

“Perverts.”

Is it time for a new title yet?