Silver spoke calmly. "I need to know why Reno is suddenly so interested in expansion, and I need to know whether their expansion plans are a threat to Lunaria's provincial lands. I will not allow the people under my protection to come to harm." Silver hoped that a peaceful solution to the Renoan threat could be found, but he was prepared to go to war.
The man chuckled, "Ever heard of the Old Kingdom? Well, that's what Reno wants. My tribe was lucky enough to live on top of one of the Old Kingdom's few remaining archives, so we know more about them, and just why Reno wants to mimic them. You see, this planet used to belong to some race not from here; like not from this planet from here. They colonized this planet a bit, then randomly decided to turn the whole thing into a massive expriment, so they took several different species, wipe their memories, and placed them on this planet with completely reset technological know how. Our kind, like us and Reno, we are the direct descendant of that old country, and Reno wants to take over the lands the Old Kingdom had in order to "revive the Old Kingdom and unite its people once more", plus a whole lot of religious mumbojumbo."
meanwhile,news had yet to reach Heavillia of the Renoans. Instead they were busy building more stuff. Such as the rebuilding of the ruins of Arleton's Birthplace. She was also overseeing the construction of defensive walls across the city; making sure it stretched slightly farther from the city to allow more room to build.
Silver thought for a moment. "I cannot know for certain if this story of extraterrestrials is true, or simply a convenient myth meant to excuse conquest and slaughter." He drained his flagon, silently thanking his own gods that the Earthkin had perfected the process of making mead. That alone was enough to make them valued as citizens of the Empire. Silver set his empty flagon on the bar, and continued. "If they are religious zealots, they are dangerous. They will likely fight to the last. I will need to approach this situation carefully." He turned to the Lunar Pegasi soldiers drinking at the bar. "Get word to Lunaria City. Tell everypony to prepare for war, and pray for harmony. I am going to Reno, to try and solve this problem." Silver walked out of the tavern, picked up Holly, and flew south into Renoan territory.
The Ryborians and the Devena caught up with the main-force of the Renoan army, further increasing their strength greatly. The sight of the Devena, which was currently the first time they had ever seen such humanoid giants clad in their heavy armor was enough to inspire fear in the hearts of even their most intimidating foes, Lucius swore he seen some of the Renoans, as trained and disciplined as they were, petrified. Lucius caught up with Kona while giving his report about the Devena and their integration into the empire as workers and soldiers, along as the conditions of Ardelan now serving as the industrial and scientific side of Reno, with Neromia being the hub and an extremely profitable center where fortunes were made and lost in a blink of an eye. With the Eriborian serving peacefully in Neromia, the city grew just as large, if not larger, then some cities he had heard about as the capital of Ardelan sat on the coastline of the gulf of Reno. They had just sent their latest shipments of armor and weapons for the armies to wear with pride alongside anything that could benefit them, such as advanced medicinal potions and farming equipment that will improve crops by almost 40%. Neromia was not populated heavily with humans due to the Ryborian influence there, but instead human fortune hunters and inventors. It was just the way the Eriborian liked it.
"High mage, Word from the Pegasi. Seems they are mobilizing for something." A messenger came to her in the streets relaying the message. She started walking signalling the messenger to come with her. "Well then, Seems council will be in session. Inform my Advisers, we need to discuss this. Oh and head to Lunaria, we'll need one of them to discuss about this." The messenger left heading to a building which seemed to be the messengers guild by the banners outside it. a minute later multiple messengers left to inform her advisors and two went to go get an ambassador.
Velvet hadn't got to talk to the Renoan's army leader: Once the battle was over, she misplaced him for a dead body, talking to him a few minutes before having any answers. Fustrated, she decided to find another civilisation here no matter what, only to prove her crew that, even if she wasn't as strong as males, or good at potion-brewing like women and that her gypsy magic was nothing compared to their witch's powers, she could at least be an inspiring leader. She walked south-east to her position, assuming to find something east from their campment (Using the columns of smoke in the sky clearly was a good way to find civilisation), at the other side of the large bay they installed themselves.
Noticing another race has wondered into the town, the Eriborian smiled at the fact that this particular race and it's unique characteristics have been causing quite a stur in the merchant district. While allowing them to continue their trade, Venquis sent one of his advisers to speak with their leader in terms of trade, and possibly giving their company a possible head start in their quest for fortune and fame. If the leader accepted, then they would be surprised of the luxury's they could possibly enjoy.
Velvet was trying to get some merchant's attention, but her drunken crew was the only thing people would dare look at. She cursed herself for bringing them along, looking for someone of importance around her; If she could somehow find the leader around here, selling her goods would be easier.
The Eriborian's adviser arrived not long after attention began to be drawn onto Velvet's crew. Dressed in purple and white , he had the rare oddity of having blonde hair, despite his kind having dark colored hair. He bowed before Velvet the moment he layed his eyes on her, indicating his presence as the Eriborians informat. "Salutations. My name is Jiargo Willbena, adviser to the Eriborian Venquis Razona himself. My lord has sent me to talk to you the moment he knew you came to Ardelan. It seems you're interested in trade, how much so? And if you are, the Eriborian could help set up an establishment in the city. Do you wish to see the Eriborian, or shall we settle our negotiation right here?"
Lunaria was busier than it had been in years. Between preparing for a possible war with Reno, setting up trade with Heavilia, and fighting off yet another horde of ravenous Rotgut toads in the northern mountains, the Lunarians were stretched to the limit. As Lunaria prepared for the possibility of war, Silver sought the Renoan leader in hopes of preventing it. After flying for nearly a day, he spotted a column of smoke in the distance. Closer examination revealed it to be coming from the smoldering remains of a small village. The level of decomposition on the corpses strewn about told Silver that the battle had been fairly recent. He examined the tracks left by the Renoan soldiers to determined what direction they had marched, and flew off in pursuit. An army the size of Reno's was not hard to find. The dust cloud kicked up by tens of thousands of marching feet was visible for many miles. Without hesitation, Silver flew down and landed right in front of the massive Renoan army. "Greetings. My name is Silver Crescent, ruler of the Lunarian Empire. My companion is called Holly Everfree. We are here to speak to your leader."
Lucius watched from the distance as he witnessed Silver talking towards the army. While Kona was the leader of the military and Reno's leader in general, Lucius commanded the Ryborians and the enormous Devena. He went towards the front of the army to join the conversation. Lucius was wearing white Elite Crimson Rose Spell-Sword armor, the color worn by Crimson Rose commanders and had two specially crafted one handed spell-axes for his use, just incase things got crazy. He stood at the front of the army, besides Kona and in front of Silver proudly.
The crew of zebras immediatly, and to Velvet's grand displeasure, started to act immaturely drunk around the market. At Velvet's orders, the whole crew left to the outskirts of town, leaving her and the representative alone to discuss. It went like this: ''Effectively, 'sir Jiargo, we'd like to-'' *crew starts to act drunk* ''Excuse me for a second...'' Velvet turned around to face her crew. ''YARRR MATEYS, LEAVE YER CAP'N AND LE MONKEY ALONE, WOULD'YA?'' *crew leaves* ''I'm sorry, my mens had decided to celebrate the victory from earlier a little too much, and they just couldn't leave me to come here alone. And i realised my mistake a little too late... Anyways, i'd really like to expand our crew by getting a merchant's company, and we'd travel all around the island to make the exchange of merchandise of all sorts, even food. So, if you're interested, we could settle some arrangements in private, with the... Chief, Captain of this villa-Town?''
"Of course. Please come this way while i will escort you to our leader." Jiargo said as he escorted Velvet across the city towards the palace. Soon, Jiargo was accompanied with two Devena clad in full body armor, masks completely hiding their faces. While not only being incredibly strong, but carried great swords the size of a helicopter propeller. Soon, Jiargo let Velvet enter the throne room first as she would soon see the Eriborian, surrounded besides two Crimson Roses. Venquis smiled at the Zebra, this was going to get interesting.
Velvet faked nervousity as she sat on the floor, a few meters away from venquis. ''Pleased to meet you, Sir, and may i say, Your representative is a real gentlecolt!'' She shyly waved at Jiargo, smiling. She thought she'd play it shy to get his confiance quickly, and maybe even gaining a noble status...
The Renoans remained silent, perhaps questioning the sanity of the pony that stood in the way of an army. Silver noticed a single warrior approach the front line. Though he appeared human, it was clear to Silver that he was not. "Well, this is interesting. The scent of magic... that armor style... this one reminds me of the Ryborians back home. What do you think, Holly?" Holly sniffed the air and whined in confusion. The warrior smelled almost exactly like a Ryborian. However, she knew that such a thing was impossible. The Ryborians were an equine race, not humanoid.
Kona stared at Silver from his horse and simply slid his bow out his quiver, soon followed by the tens of Equestans around him, "who are ut?" he demanded, "What with so many intruding Renoan land?" he muttered aloud before in one smooth, swift move he put an arrow on the bow and drew it back, aiming it directly at Silver's head, "So. What do ut want?"
Holly growled threateningly at the human on the horse. Silver, however, remained completely calm. "I would suggest you put that down before my friend here rips your throat out. I am Silver Crescent of Lunaria. I came here to talk. Nothing more."
"Lunaria? The land located besides the Old Kingdom? The sacred land that all Renoan's hold dear?" Lucius responded thoughtfully. He looked towards Kona and the precision of his arrow. He placed his hand on Kona's and lowered it, indicating that Silver and his timberwolf could be more of a threat then what they could bargain for. "I'm quite interested about this individual, Lord Kona. He seems to have traveled far to give us information." Lucius responded as he looked at Kona. "I have heard stories about that land, we best be careful about the Lunar Pegasi. They seem to be the only ones in my knowledge that are even able to harm Reno." Lucius then faced Silver again, his arms crossed. "We're interested. Continue, tell us what you desire."
Kona raised an eyebrow at Lucius, "It's 2 against 50,000 Lucius. I hope út realize that, but..." He turned towards Silver, "As úts land is not of NatusOliit, we have no quarrel, unless út give us reason." He replied, obviously not caring about the threatening growl, "Now, please make brief, we have much land to free from savages who desecrate holy land of NatusOliit."
