Published at 12th of August 2024 6:22 am

Chapter 1202: Anthony On Tour – Aggressive Diplomacy

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Isaac’s mam had some lungs on her, even towards the end. The neighbours were almost as familiar with her voice as he was, since it sounded like she was yelling from within their own houses.

However, he had to give Eran Thouris some credit, she might have his dear departed mother beaten.

“WE CAME IN GOOD FAITH, UNDER TREATY!” she bellowed.

She bellowed so loudly, the golgari warrior actually flinched. She had lungs on her like an ant-built industrial smelter. If she got any louder, the whole place was going to come down on their heads, since it wasn’t exactly structurally stable at the moment.

The golgari tried to get a word in edgeways, but she wasn’t having it.

“THIS BASE TREACHERY IS AN INSULT TO THE ENTIRE BRATHIAN TRADE ALLIANCE!”

“We have committed no treachery!” the warrior spluttered. “It is you who have brought devastation and destruction to our home!”

“YOU THINK I HAVEN’T BEEN IN COMMUNICATION WITH MY PEOPLE OUTSIDE? HOW DARE YOU DENY INVOLVEMENT AFTER ATTEMPTING TO DROP A MOUNTAIN ON MY FLEET?!”

“That was simply a natural fracturing of the rock!”

Isaac almost winced for the man. It sounded weak, even to his ears. True to form, the Eran pounced, glaring at her opponent like a snake would a shivering rodent. She even lowered her volume, which was a blessing to all with ears nearby. The ants hadn’t been bothered one bit.

“If you seriously think anyone is going to believe that, then your head is full of rocks, not just covered in them!”

“We will not be held responsible for the mistakes and poor skills of a few lowly Shapers.”

“Your Shapers are the finest earth and stone mages on the entire damned planet! Whoever decided this was a good idea, and whoever thought you could escape the consequences with such a pathetic excuse, needs to have their brains bashed out with a bat! At least that way, the brain matter could be fed to a dog, and provide something useful!”

“After all the destruction caused by the monster you brought, you then think we will stand for these insults? We demand compensation from the Brathian Island Conglomerate for the damage!”

Eran had let him build up a head of steam, and Isaac had expected her to cut off the warrior at the knees, but with the demand for compensation, all the anger seemed to evaporate out of her in an instant. She went ice cold, her eyes as hard as diamonds, even her scales seem to tighten around her. The golgari felt it, how could they not? Every brathian had the same response to his demand for payment, every one of them becoming an icy pillar of cold fury.

Eran Thouris drew herself up to her full height, almost half that of the imposing warrior before her, but she didn’t appear small in the slightest.

“You will hear from our lawyers.”

She dropped those words as if dropping an artillery grade fireball, then turned on her heel and began to stride out. Not knowing what to do, Isaac ordered his people to follow in her wake, since all the brathians were already doing so.

“Are we just going to leave the goods behind?” he whispered to Eran when he caught up with her.

“Much of it is wrecked, and I don’t want us to carry anything that has been polluted by the stupidity that seems to infest this place,” she replied, her lip curled in disgust.

“Who gave you permission to leave?” the warrior yelled, visibly fuming.

“I will not be detained by the likes of you,” Eran spat back over her shoulder. “Either have the noble triad which ordered this idiocy show me their faces, or let me leave. I will take my fleet to our next destination and trouble your people no longer.”

Isaac hoped she never found out who those people were, given the look in her eye. If she did, he imagined they would be living in a wooden box before long, everything they touched turned against them by the might of the brathian trade empire.

“Told you the Eldest would take care of it,” his partner, Cavalant, told him cheerfully.

“The Eldest almost got us all killed,” he pointed out, knowing it was pointless to bother, but somehow unable to help himself.

“That’s weird. I’m not dead. Are you dead, Isaac?”

“… No.”

“So nobody is dead, and the fleet has been saved. Seems like my point of view is gaining strength over yours, wouldn’t you say?”

He couldn’t help himself, he had to keep going.

“Have you ever spoken to the Eldest, Cavalant?”

“Me? Of course not! I wouldn’t trouble them.”

“I have.”

“Don’t rub it in.”

“And I find it hard to detect this deep wisdom you seem to imbue them with.”

“Well that’s unsurprising,” Cavalant laughed.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Wouldn’t you need to possess deep wisdom, in order to find it in others? You couldn’t find your own left hand if I didn’t point it out to you.”

He tried. He honestly couldn’t say why, but he did try.

Only when they reached the edge of the mountain and began to descend on platforms of air did Isaac finally get a sense for the true scale of what that mad ant had done.

The tunnel that had led down to the dock had been sheared away, and so had huge chunks of the mountain face. As if a giant had reached out a hand and scooped away billions of tons of stone, the mountain was just broken.

Cracks and fissures big enough to fit his home village inside ran all along the face of it. Now wonder it had felt like the entire thing was falling apart. For the first time, he felt a chill when considering the power of that single ant.

Anthony had managed to do this? It was absurd, it was madness, it was too much. Too much power. And he would only get stronger from here.

That was a good thing, he comforted himself, the Colony would be safer, which meant he, Isaac, and all of his friends and comrades would be safer too, under the umbrella of such a creature.

Yet, he couldn’t help but admit to himself, he was beginning to see why the Legion feared what he would become if given the chance.

With troubled thoughts filling his head, he floated down toward the fleet.

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