Rebirth of the Phoenix God

When thinking about a road that would take him as an envoy to the capital of a country he not only scammed for two entire provinces but even was in process of continuously dismantling it in preparation for his the growth of his own state… 

Fen never even could imagine a reality where they would be invited with all the honours of the envoys right in the first city they decided to take a short rest in!

"For the reestablishment of the Imperial Road! Cheers!"

Raising the cup filled to the brim with an expensive wine, the mayor of the city of Astyrran pointed his cup at Fen and his small entourage before drinking it all in one gulp.

'What a waste of a good drink…'

Taking his time to enjoy the impeccable taste of this rich fluid, Fen nodded his head to the toast before wetting his own lips. 

'For sure, that's now how I imagined our journey to look like…'

In fact, the entire situation managed to surprise the young man. With how he was used to travelling with the help of his wings instead of following the tradition of the humanity of moving by land, the fact that the pace at which the rumours and news spread was even greater than the formidable speed of the envoy's entourage was something that Fen didn't account for in his plans.

But so far, this worked in favour of his plans. Maybe even the local mayor was someone insanely capable in what he was doing, making him already aware of how would the future of those lands most likely look like? 

Right now, Fen was quite positive that the man he recommended for the position of the mayor of the central city of Gazar. And given how insane talent and the ability to learn that man had, there was a good chance that all the governors that remained in Kinzar had to be at least that capable to force so many taxes down from the King's subjects.

As little hopes as Fen had for this scenario to be the actual case, in the off-chance that it would actually happen, he would gladly accept this opportunity. After all, his plans only considered three options for this city.

Either a total annihilation slashed by open conquest, establishing relations positive enough to later diplomatically annex this city along with its surrounding lands, or turning it into a hidden faction siding with them. 

"Dear sirs, I hope you enjoyed our little welcome."

After the time of the feasting finally was over, the lord governor himself approached Fen's entourage with his arms wide open. With one of his hand a huge bottle of the wine that the guests were enjoying tonight while the other hand of his held a huge platter of strange, meaty delicacies.

"It was surely a great detachment from the dirty and uncomfortable reality of the road for sure. You have my thanks for welcoming us so openly and generously."

Standing up from the table and nodding his head in thanks for the host's hospitality, Fen naturally looked at the face of the city's governor. Contrary to what people liked to claim if one knew what to look for, it wasn't all that impossible to learn more about others just from the small hints visible on their faces.

"In exchange then, I will ask you, dear sir, to accompany me to this small niche over there."

With both of his hands busy, the governor had no other choice but to point out the direction with his chin.

"With drinks and snacks, I would love to hear more about your endeavours in the wilderness of that abandoned province of our great Kingdom."

The governor's words sounded strangely… detailed for them to be just a courtesy. With each passing second and each word coming out of the local lord's mouth, Fen was more and more sure that the meeting that he was invited for wasn't just a wish of the old man to hear about the adventurous stories of the youth.

"Sir, I would be honoured. While I might work for specific people right now, I always wished to become a mer… adventurer one day. I hope my stories won't bore you."

Using this opportunity to properly stand out from the table, Fen reached for the platter with the snacks. Since the lord wanted to speak under the cover of official words, the young man decided to reply to him in kind.

"My lord, allow me to help. If we want to talk about the great rises and even greater perils that I went through, it won't do for the two of us to act like strangers."

Taking the porcelain piece filled with pieces of meat coated with some vegetables and sauces from the local mayor's hands, Fen followed him to the niche he pointed out before. But as the two of them got closer to that place, Fen realised that it wasn't something that a normal world would do. 

Judging from the curious gazes that all the local guests of the feasts graced them with or from how perfect the lord's niche was to having a silent type of talk with others…

"Okay then, let's move past the pleasantries and get to the point."

As soon as a special, material cover was closed behind them by some servants, Fen could tell from the strange way in which sound reverberated in his ears that for all that mattered, this place was completely safe from eavesdropping.

Moving his hand up towards the thick cloth, Fen touched it gently, as if worried about potentially breaking the spell that made this place so safe to talk openly.

Retracting his hands, Fen rubbed his fingers against each other before raising his eyes towards the lord.

"Water?"

Nodding his head in response, the middle-aged man on the other side of the room didn't bother with pleasantries, be it spoken or ritual-wise. Instead of pulling elegant, glass cups for the wine of this quality, he quickly opened a small compartment hidden in the table before placing two huge mugs on top of it.

Pouring the two drinks, this man passed one of the mugs to the young man before grabbing a handful of snacks and stuffing his mouth with them. Only after slowly chewing all that stuff and soaking it with an honest gulp of the wine did his eyes regained some kind of strange clarity.

"Okay, I'm back to my senses again. Those official parties can be so dull…"

Shaking his head as if the unpleasant feeling from the feast still held him by his insides, the middle-aged man finally directed his eyes on Fen's face.

"Let me get this straight. At first, you guys took over the entire province. Now you are posing as some mercenaries and trying to establish contact with the royals. What is the real end-point of this game?"

Revealing half of Fen's secrets right away, the lord dealt a fatal hit to his plans. If the people of Kinzar were aware of his plans, then there wasn't any chance at any of them succeeding!

"Sir, I don't understand what you…"

"Cut it out. Didn't we agree to stop with the bullshit?"

Stopping Fen from attempting to gain more time for himself, the local mayor looked at his young face before taking a deep sigh and relaxing back on his chair. With his mouth once again filling with the wine, it took actually a while before he spoke again.

"Okay, I might've been a little bit too hard on you. Listen. One doesn't even need to look for the news to know that you guys are scheming and preparing for something. Given your position, I would say that your only path leads forward, through the rest of the Kinzar."

Using the drink to cover the short pauses that he made in his speech, this damned middle-aged man clearly noticed the surprised and troubled look on Fen's face.

In one moment, the atmosphere was tense, with the young man unsure what to do. With how he planned everything so cleverly, Fen didn't expect even in his worst assumptions that his plans would be discovered so instantly!

"Oh, come on!"

Nearly choking on his wine, the lord barely managed to save himself from suffocating by coughing up the liquid from his throat back to the mug. Shaking from inner laughter for a moment, he then looked up on the Fen's face.

"Boy, listen. This country is a goner. It was obvious ever since I was turned into the mayor of this city. But as little as I cared for it when I took this job, I'm not so willing to let go of it once I learned how pleasant this kind of life is."

Explaining something as it was the most obvious thing in the world, the middle-aged lord stared intensely at the young mercenary.

"In other words to not scare you even further, I want to make a deal. Even if you are not well-versed in the diplomatic games, I have no doubts that you and your friends are more than capable of taking this country apart. If I were in your position…"

Suddenly stopping his monologue, this strange man tapped his fingers against his chest only to use this momentary break to take yet another hearty sip from his mug. 

"... I would definitely go for Tlinra. Its southern road allows to basically carve out another province from the state of the Ofmase. And if you are at least this smart to notice it, then it becomes obvious that you need to establish some sort of relations with my city, as we will soon turn into neighbours. Isn't that right, my little mister pioneer?"