Civilization Chronicles: Rise of the Divine Creator

While serious discussions about the Darr Kingdom’s future were occurring inside Talia’s carriage, similar talks about the Rockwell Kingdom were happening back at the Balfour Manor.

Today was supposed to be a celebration, a chance to set aside all the pressures they were currently facing and relax for a change. Christina, in particular, had been looking forward to this as it was a significant day for her, in every sense.

They should have known reality wouldn’t be so accommodating.

The party had ended some time ago, and most of the guests had departed, leaving just the staff and manor residents behind, along with a scant few others, all of whom had gathered around the head table in the garden square.

Celestina was naturally among this group, as were her Disciples and a few others from the Balfour Family’s inner circle.

The two Queens were also present.

Drumming her fingers against the table, Celestina went over and over the events of the evening in her head, analysing every detail and every encounter she had.

A lot had happened, much of it completely beyond her expectations, so it was taking her much longer to sort through her thoughts than normal, and Celestina wasn’t the only one.

Every strategist at the table was deep in thought, while the ones who were less inclined towards long-term planning were waiting quietly, not wanting to interrupt their colleagues.

Eventually, however, someone had to break the silence.

Since she was the host, Celestina figured it should be her, so she clenched her fist and unequivocally declared, ”We have a problem.”

”Just one?” Lucas asked from the seat next to her in a wry tone, which earned him a flick to his forehead.

As Lucas nursed his new head wound, Celestina continued, ”That Talia is a sharp one.”

”En,” Third Queen Cynthia nodded, ”She’s completely different from the envoys or diplomats the Darr Kingdom tends to produce. Not only is she intelligent, she’s clearly also a long-term thinker.”

”If...” Eris hesitated to speak, which was rare for her, but receiving encouraging looks from both Lucas and Christina, she decided to speak her mind, ”If having Princess Talia attend the party was such a big problem, why didn’t we just refuse to allow them in? I mean... I... I liked some of them, like Zara, but...”

Eris had begun to think a bit more strategically recently, probably the result of her helping to establish and operate the Rising Phoenix Guild, but she was still a few steps behind most of the others at the table.

That said, even though many of them had their suspicions, they too were interested in hearing exactly what Celestina’s reasons were for being so welcoming to the Darr Kingdom’s unexpected delegation.

Noticing this, Celestina scratched her head somewhat awkwardly.

There were plenty of reasons she could have given, all of the perfectly legitimate and capable of justifying her actions, but if she was being completely honest, none of those ’reasonable’ answers was the real one.

”Was it because of Reisha?” First Queen Marianne, who had fought in the last war under Celestina’s command, couldn’t help asking.

Smiling wryly, Celestina nodded, ”You could say so.”

”Haa... that wasn’t your fault,” Elizabeth Carlson, who was also familiar with the circumstances back then, sighed and shook her head.

”I was the one who crippled her,” Celestina denied, ”If not for that...”

”She still might have died,” Marianne cut in, ”The situation back then was incredible unstable, and combat was never her strong suit.”

”I know,” Celestina sighed, ”But when I saw Talia... and just how much she resembled her...”

”Master?” Christina, who was clearly not in the loop here, asked on behalf of herself and the others at the table who were confused.

Pursing her lips, Celestina sighed once again, ”It’s a long story, but suffice-it-to-say, I was once good friends with Talia’s mother, but during the last war we found ourselves at odds and... and we both had our own duties to perform.”

”Oh...” Christina nodded, feeling a bit complicated inside.

Just thinking about what she would do if she found herself in such a situation, having to choose between her responsibilities and her friend, made Christina’s stomach turn in knots.

”That can’t have been the only reason you welcomed them into the banquet, Master. You would never allow your personal feelings to override your better judgement,” Lucas, who had finally recovered, stated with absolute confidence.

”Heh,” Celestina chuckled, ”that’s kind of you to say, my Disciple, but you shouldn’t put such blind faith in me. I’m only human, after all. I make mistakes too.”

”But tonight wasn’t one of them,” Lucas followed up promptly, ”Was it?”

”No, it wasn’t,” Celestina nodded, then shook her head, ”but it also wasn’t the right way to handle the situation.”

”Was there a right way to handle this situation?” Eris asked, her sharp instincts once again hitting the mark as obviously, the answer to this question was ’no’.

”If we had refused, we would have either appeared petty or weak,” Allina, the chief strategist for the Raging River Legion laid it out plainly, ”And while being viewed as petty is a problem, weakness is the one thing we cannot afford to project right now, not when all of our plans depend on us putting up a strong front.”

”I thought we were planning on appearing weak in order to lure the enemy into a false sense of security,” Samuel Balfour commented.

”No,” Lucas shook his head, ”Our goal is to create confusion about our actual situation to gain as much time to build up our strength as possible. Refusing to even seat a Crown Princess from another nation, even a hostile one, when she wasn’t accompanied by any powerful bodyguards and posed no imminent threat, would be a clear signal we were trying to hide something.”

”And the most logical conclusion to draw from that was we were trying to hide our fear,” Cynthia, who was the kingdom’s chief diplomat and highly experienced in the art of negotiation, concluded. ”At least, that’s what I would have walked away from such an insult believing.”

”Right,” Lucas nodded, ”There may be a point in the future where we really need to feign weakness, but only if doing so benefits us. This wasn’t such a situation.”

By this point, some of the more straightforward types at the table felt their heads spinning, but that wasn’t surprising given how convoluted Lucas’ overall strategy was.

”Again, though,” Marianne interjected, ”that couldn’t have been the only reason you let them stay.”

”En,” Celestina nodded, ”they were clearly here to probe us, to test our reactions and to investigate our situation, but it was also a rare opportunity for us to gain some insight into their situation as well, which I’m sure this little brat here was busy doing all night long, right?”

”Yes,” Lucas nodded, ”Landon and Zara were relatively tight lipped, but I was able to glean quite a bit of useful information from the others.”

Keeping the mood light during his Junior Sister’s 16th Birthday Banquet was certainly Lucas’ primary goal in dragging Eris over to the table where the Darr Kingdom’s youth were seated, but gathering intelligence was also an important reason.

”Like what?” Old Braxton, never one for patience when it came to nonsense like plots and schemes, asked bluntly.

”I know that whatever it is they’re planning, they’re not ready to act yet,” Lucas stated in an equally direct manner, ”Each of those youths from the Darr Kingdom is a leader amongst their generation, but none of them seemed aware of anything unusual happening in their country. That means that things are still developing in secret, rather than in the open.”