Chapter 1117: War of Establishment XIV
The arrival of Terris’ reinforcements immediately soured the hopeful, if still somewhat dour, mood in Leon’s meeting room. No one stopped for long to ponder the implications of what these new enemy arks meant; Leon immediately ordered them to their posts just in case Terris decided to attack without delay.
Fortunately, these new arks didn’t do much other than begin patrolling around the coast, taking some pressure off of Terris’ pressed forces. Still, their arrival made one thing clear: Leon wasn’t going to be able to force Terris away from his claimed territory by force of arms. He simply lacked the capability to do so.
So, when Leon called another meeting, this time in the southern Talon instead of his villa so as to be closer to the action in case Terris decided to attack while his most powerful advisors were all in one place, the room was quiet and subdued. Even the Lions were quiet, no longer advocating for blood and violence.
All the progress made, all the lives lost, all the blood and sweat shed in defense of their new home felt like it had all been for nothing. Their opponent was a Despot, one of the high Lords of the Nexus. Leon only now saw what a mistake it had been to think that Terris didn’t have more force at his disposal and that he wouldn’t call upon that force if pressed. He thought it was likely a mistake on Terris’ part to get so bogged down in the Storm Lands, to lose so much of his war material here, but it was not necessarily a mistake that would save Leon’s fledgling colony.
And, almost as if on cue, when the situation was laid out and Leon asked the room for suggestions, another beam of Lumenite cut through the water in the south and deposited another handful of small Ocean arks over their soil.
It seemed that Terris wasn’t done calling his reinforcements.
If nothing else, Leon supposed it was something to be proud of that he’d pushed a twelfth-tier mage to such measures, though it was cold comfort in the face of such power.
“Anathema though it might be…” Clear Day whispered in the silent meeting room as these new arks started taking up positions further inland than the rest of the arks on the coast, “might it not be time to open negotiations?”
The Jaguar snarled. “What could we possibly have to negotiate with them over?”