Chapter 196 - The Demands (1)
A/N: I forgot to mention that the novel got renamed because of the sites that started to steal my novel as of late. It made them get confused but those guys still found out.
Also, sorry about yesterday, even Daedric Princes catch flu.
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"I see! So, the Chief Executive of Skyrim's Branch of the East Empire Company and the Cousin of Emperor Titus Mede II needs a connection to meet with a mere citizen like me?"
To my words, both the Imperials and the Stormcloaks jumped on their feet and placed their hands on their hilts.
The tension was as high as Mt. Anthor and it seemed that it is not going to turn out really well.
Vittoria Vici was looking at me with eyes wide open, Viscount Lucius took out a staff from his robe and Legat Thorvar put his hands on his sword's hilt. They all were wary of the Stormcloaks on the other side of the table.
Speaking of them, the also stood up with their hands on the hilts of their swords while glaring with murderous spirit at Vittoria Vici.
"Tsk tsk tsk! And I thought better of you folks, on a table of diplomacy you guys would glare at each other with such rudeness, how shameful!"
I couldn't help but mock them out loud, these hot-heads were really going for it.
"The cousin of the man who sold Skyrim and Talos to the Elves is right in front of us, how can you just ask us to remain silent?" Captain Mislav said while looking with hate at Vittoria Vici.
"Watch your tongue! What you said just now is a high treason to the Empire, if not for the Emperor's understanding nature, the likes of you would have been purged long ago."
"The likes of me? You filthy Imperial Dog! After all, what your Empire has done, you still dare to lecture me?"
"Humph! Barbaric folk like you are the reason why the situation is like this from the start."
"Why don't you just go and make your ears pointy like your Elvish masters? bunch of cowards!"
"Dirty barbarians like yourself shouldn't be allowed to..."
These people were taking it too far.
With a snap of my fingers, the situation changed dramatically.
Hilda waved her axe at the Imperial Legat blocking his path, Jonrad drew his golden blade at the Stormcloak Messenger, Wulfur held a small knife on the neck of the Imperial Envoy and Jull aimed her crossbow at Ralof.
"Such a nerve! To dare and aim your weapon at me, An Imperial Envoy!" Viscount Lucius glared at Wulfur who gazed back at him coldly.
"Jon Dare? This is a stupid move!" Legat Thorvar said.
"I knew you are that killer from that day!" Ralof was glaring at Jull.
The tension reached its peak.
"You bunch! You were thinking of waving your weapons at each other under my roof? Does my presence worth shit to you? So you so-called diplomats are just some mad dogs in the end."
I was genuinely pissed. Starting a fight in Winterhold meant that this area will get marked for trouble, I knew from the start but both the Empire and the Stormcloaks think so little of Winterhold.
These trash!
I only stirred some muddy waters and now they want to make it into a flood.
"You, you bad mouthed the Nords to your heart content since the minute you showed up here. Don't you think that I don't know how you tried to investigate the origin of my technologies and even tried to interrogate some of my men about the 'Soaring Flame'." I faced Viscount Lucius with facts.
"And you, you tried to make the native Nords act against the non-Nords and went to snoop around Jarl Korir to convince him to Join Ulfric's shit show." I also directed some of the facts to Captain Mislav.
These two were actually very busy since the time they showed up in Winterhold and were working hard to stir trouble for me. If not for my 'Team 0', things would have taken a bad turn.
I was gazed at with a lot of discontent and negativity by the two envoys.
"The Empire's orders are abs…"
"Jarl Ulfric wants you to…"
They tried to retort at me at the same time.
"Both The Empire and Ulfric can go and suck a bag of dicks for all that I care about."
To my words, all the parties fell silent. I made a clear statement. The two forces only work for their own benefits, I know very well that they will try to rip my stronghold in Winterhold apart as soon as they get the chance.
The Dare Dragon Group rose to power in a desolate location and didn't attract any attention. Within only one year, it now controls one-ninth of Skyrim's landmass and the populace is growing at a drastic rate. Most of the Dark Elves in Windhelm and the worshippers of Talos, who are being chased by the Thalmor, chose Winterhold as a safe haven. Even a small settlement was constructed near to Whispering Mine for the Dark Elves who wanted to live near the Shrine of Azura.
As a new power with that size rises, the other power will be worried and act against it right away. When I killed all the spies of the Empire, the Stormcloaks and the other forces when Alina and the rest disappeared, it made them all realize that they have underestimated the Dare Dragon Company. This is why a ginormous whale like the East Empire Company has sent its branch manager of Skyrim, Vittoria Vici, to investigate us.
Actually, if the reports are accurate, Vittoria Vici just arrived at Skyrim during the last King's Tournament that I didn't attend, she and her mother, Alexa Vici, had a meeting with Maven Black-Briar and they seemed to have hit it well.
As all the parties managed to get a grip of their temper, we all sat down once again.
Silence took over for a while and the two parties realized that I already know their game and there is no point to hide poison in the honey anymore.
As we were about to talk once again, the door to the meeting room opened and my secretary rushed in informing me with some new participants in the talk.
"What are you doing keeping them out? Let them all in… Quickly!"
This is not the type of people I should keep waiting.
As soon as she went out, some people clad in clean expensive robes came in.
On the lead were Nurina and Savos Aren followed by Tolfdir and the new head of the Destruction Magic Major, Faralda. There were four more individuals, two Nords, a Khajiit and a Wood Elf that I didn't recognize. They were all old men with massive beards, except the Khajit of course, he had a glorious mane.
From the air around them alone, I could tell that these are all Arch-Wizards.
Summing it up, six Arch-Wizards and two Master Wizards one of them is a half step away from becoming an Arch-Wizard.
The hell is this formation?
The weakest among them should be Faralda and she can pretty much hand me my ass if she got serious, who on Nirn are these people.
<These are the hidden masters from the College, they are considered above that of the Arch-Mage in position and mostly hermits who live in seclusion. They are also the ones who helped me survive this long in and Incorporeal state.>
The Augur was the one who answered me.
Such a thing actually exists?
They don't feel as powerful as Lord Divayth Fyr but their Auras are equivalent to Nurina and Savos.
Why in the world are those monsters here?
***
The newcomers came in and sat in a corner of the room. Everyone could tell that these eight are here to observe as the only action they took was nodding for us to continue.
With the powerful feeling the gave off and Nurina's known status as my Master, these people were on my side.
Eventually, everyone silently sat down. Each group gathered their heads together and started to think of the situation.
A power arose but it was still small and meaningless. Then two hidden clans joined the fray and supported the new power making it able to be a small strong force. The plan was to oppress them fast and drag them to a side but a new player moved. The College of Winterhold, that normally didn't participate in any sort of a power struggle, showed its full power.
No one was ready for this change of events.
All they could do now is play it plane and throw all the cards on the table.
"We have demands."
"The Empire has demands too."
"We will hear them. If they are unjust, then don't blame our rudeness."
As I replied, the people on the table turned gloomy once again.
I then pointed to the Stormcloak messenger to speak first.
"Very well. Jarl Korir, as the ruler of Winterhold, we ask you to open the docks for our ships and allow us to resupply and pass through the northern waters."
Captain Mislav directed his words to Jarl Korir instead of me. It seemed they still had some hope that Korir would work against me.
But…
"I can't make things difficult for Jon Dare." That's what Korir replied with.
Everyone other than my inner circle looked at Korir with eyes wide open.
What kind of reply was that?
This man, if he could just be swayed to any side, he can strip me from my title as a Thane and end the contract with the Dare Dragon Company. To them, he was just stubborn but they finally noticed what is wrong.
"J- Jarl Korir, this is unrelated to Thane Jon. We just asked…"
"I can't make things difficult for Jon Dare."
Korir answered with the same words once again.
The Imperials and the Stormcloaks looked at each other trying to figure out what is going on.
"Jarl Korir, all we as…"
"I can't make things difficult for Jon Dare- I can't- I just can't- I- I- I can't make…"
It seems that Korir.exe is not responding.
The scene became a bit bizarre just like I wanted it to be.
"Program Two, Reboot!" I only said those words.
Korir who was glitching stopped all of a sudden. The mental burden seemed to have overheated the circuits in his bean size brain.
With just that, Korir turned normal once again.
The light of understanding shone on the room. Korir was now proven to be nothing but a doll in my hands.
Captain Mislav clicked his tongue and looked at me.
"Once a puppet, always a puppet."
To his words, I just smiled in return.
Korir was a sorry piece of garbage that sold Winterhold for pirates, no one had pity for the likes of him and the mystery about me controlling him was solved… or rather became more mysterious. Swaying him with money or anything is now impossible.
"Sigh! Thane Jon." Captain Mislav gave up and looked at me.
"If you want to pass through the Northern waters then it's all good and fine, according to the law, these waters only belong to Skyrim which means everyone has the right to navigate through them. However, things are different about the coastline. We can only allow trading ships, any military ship or operation near the coastline with no further approval is a direct aggression."
"... Fair enough!" Captain Mislav nodded.
"The Empire would like to send reinforcements to Fort Kastav south of Winterhold." Viscount Lucius.
"As a Thane and a Law Enforcer of the Great Kingdom of Skyrim and the Empire, I would pretty much welcome more stability and security to the Hold I serve in. Still, the Fort would always demand supplies and recruits at a low cost. I would welcome the idea in any time of stability but right now I would prefer to set up some rules and numbers."
"Great! I would send the Fort Commander and inform him of all the details." Viscount Lucius replied.
This concluded the first round which was rather peaceful.