Chapter 112 – Rhetoric
The grey-furred women frowned unhappily.
“Are you threatening us now?”
“Of course not, I would never dare, great warriors. Oh, did I mention I’m acquainted with some higher-ups in Geola’s hierarchy? I’m sure they wouldn’t let my disappearance go without investigating… and maybe retaliating. That would be a problem when your focus should be on the war, right?”
I was saying whatever I wanted but it was fine since they had no way of knowing if it was true or false. The same young woman as before barked again.
“I can’t take it anymore! Chief! Let’s just kill them all!”
“Be quiet, Elna.”
“But, chief!”
“Don’t make me repeat myself.”
The young woman bit her lips, sending me a very dark gaze. Zhuri looked back at me with a warning.
“You should stop with your threats too. My patience has its limit.”
“Please forgive me. Let’s talk about more positive things. You all understand I’m here to help you, right?”
“Ha! Help us? You’re insane!”
“Elna!”
After this reprimand, the young woman cowered in fear and finally shut her mouth. The mood was great so I went on.
“There’s no need for so much tension, everyone. I think you’re misunderstanding the reason for my coming.”
I pointed at the rank 6 sorceress armed with a sword.
“Let me ask you, lady. Do you have a daughter?”
Taken aback by the sudden question, she took a moment to answer.
“I do.”
“What rank is she?”
“I have five daughters. They have ranks from 1 to 3.”
“Did you teach them your martial arts?”
“Of course. What’s your point, merchant?”
“Wait, please let me finish. What did you feel when your daughters ranked up using your teachings and martial arts?”
Technically, ranking up had nothing to do with martial arts. The best example would be the bandits who attacked us a few days prior. Some of them reached rank 3 but none knew any decent martial art. It was easy to guess that women carefully stopped men from learning any martial art, even if they allowed them to rank up a little due to the increase in stamina and strength that came together with it.
In this situation, though, this small detail mattered little. The rank 6 sorceress paused for a moment before answering.
“I was proud.”
“Of course! What could be happier than watching your precious daughters ranking up due to your instructions? It’s the most joyful event in one’s life!”
The woman hesitated a little but didn’t contradict me.
“Now, let’s imagine this very grim scenario. One of your daughters is fighting on the battlefield but due to a shortage of weapons in the army’s stock, she is unfortunately bare-handed. All the martial arts that she tirelessly trained for and that you taught have become useless. She can only show a portion of her real power, and then, terribly, an unfortunate event happens, as is often the case on the battlefield. Your daughter is defeated, cursing the fact that she could have survived in different circumstances.”
The rank 6 sorceress took her sword out of her scabbard and started walking toward me menacingly.
“What did you say?”
I waved my hands reassuringly.
“Now, now, great warrior. Let’s remember this is all a hypothetical situation.”
“I don’t like your hypothesis, young man.”
“I understand. No one likes to hear about such terrible truths.”
One of the rank 5 sorceresses, an unarmed one, spoke for the first time.
“I’ve never seen someone spout so much nonsense in such a short time in my life. Chief, let’s end this.”
But I didn’t let the chief talk. That woman inserting herself into the talk was like a sorceress tripping on the pointy part of their weapon.
“Nonsense, you say? Don’t you care about having a weapon when you go to war?”
“Why would I? I fight with my fists and claws.”
“So, what you mean is that you don’t mind if your fellow warriors and their daughters go to the battlefield unarmed because you fight without weapons? That it’s fine for them to die helplessly as long as it’s not you?”
“What? I didn’t say that!”
Even though she protested, the harm was done, and some of the fighters in the group were already looking at her weirdly. However, the grey-furred one was also looking annoyed, but at me instead.
“Now, now, great warriors. I’m not here to create a shift between you and gain some advantage by making you fight your own. I understand this amazing sorceress didn’t mean what she said and only had a slip of the tongue.”
After talking for so long, everyone's attention was now fully on me, including Wico and Selva, who didn’t know what face to make when watching me.
“I think there’s a big misunderstanding between us.”
I used those words again as if they were a mind-affinity spell. And it worked. No one interrupted me while I continued my speech.
“Why do you think I came with weapons and iron ingots, even though weapons will earn me a lot less money but take just as much space?”
Zhuri was the one who answered.
“Isn’t that because you couldn’t afford to only buy ingots?”
She wasn’t far from the truth.
“Of course not, my lady. I came here with both goods to show you my absolute goodwill toward Makji and the Chian Duchy! The war is going to start soon, right? But the ingots won’t get transformed into weapons in just one day. That’s why I bought a stock of ready-made ones, as a stop-gap measure to equip the fighters that need it the most. In the meantime, each warrior will be able to place an order for the custom-made weapon of their choice. This will help greatly increase your chances of survival on the battlefield. Do you understand my intentions, great warriors?”
Some of the women started to look at each other, and I could see my words had a bit of an effect on them. I wasn’t done, though. I needed more than that to fully defuse the situation.
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