Farces and Negotiations

Armies.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

Some were here to protect their kingdom, some were here for glory, others for just perhaps wealth and battlelust.

But they all had one thing common: their fate rested on a few powerful individuals. And those powerful individuals were marching toward the center of the battlefield.

If something went wrong thousands would lose their lives.

If something went wrong- countries could perish.

If something went wrong- the world- perhaps-

Would end.

Whose world-

That was the question.

‘So, let’s make sure-’ Maria was determined. Things moved on fast and things didn’t pan out the way she thought they would.

Why was the queen here with such a massive army of the dead?

Why was the united army so desperate to attack her despite knowing they could very well perish?

‘And why are these people still treating me like some sort of deity?’ Last night she tried to ask the eagle on her shoulder but- but she never got the chance.

Maria didn’t really get any of her answers, even though she was inside the united army herself.

But she knew one thing she had to do.

She had to somehow stop this war.

She didn’t have any specific reason to. After all, this world didn’t do her much favors and she was an outsider.

But she was glad to have been summoned here, to have been saved from the bounds of her fate. She was glad, her dead body or at least heavily injured body didn’t get tainted. She was glad she didn’t have to go back to that wretched life she left behind…

She was glad-

To be needed.

Perhaps she was acting on a whim, perhaps she genuinely wanted to save the people?

She didn’t know and she didn’t have time to worry about all that.

And frankly, she didn’t care.

She was here, and she was going to stop this. Why- that could wait for later.

“Are you sure, she won’t just incinerate us?” The dragon princess whispered; her voice oddly tiny.

For someone so beautiful, and someone so majestic, her sweating wasn’t either of those. If anything, she looked ugly and smelled terrible- or rather she would have if she wasn’t using some really high-quality concentrated perfume which only made things worse.

She never had the chance to take a proper shower on the battlefield.

About twelve or so people were heading for a place just up ahead. Some had horses, while others had large ostriches.

“Don’t think I can guarantee that.” Maria mumbled.

Five heroes were among the twelve, along with some generals and nobles.

‘Why the hell are they trusting me so much?’ Maria still didn’t understand things, but she chose not to complain. Complaining wasn’t going to get her anywhere, and she had certain things to complete.

“If the negotiation falls through and she does try to attack us, we’ll buy you enough time to get back to safety,” the man in shining armor- Jay, said.

‘How dependable.’ Maria rolled her eyes. Just last night the guy was lying on the ground, in a pool of his blood and even now he was probably too injured to move around. Yet, here he was, acting high and mighty.

Almost everyone was skeptical and that included Maria herself.

And she was actually kind of worried too. ‘What if she really as evil as everyone says?’ For the time being though, she chose to set aside everything and just focus on ahead.

***

They had arrived.

The undead queen and one demon- the prince of the demons, were just in front of them.

Behind them, were the united army, and in front of them was the army of the undead and large serpents.

The stench of the dead lingered in the air- a faint stench of rotten blood and flesh…

So far- things weren’t looking great.

“So, you’re the queen of the undead?” One of the heroes spoke. “Shouldn’t you be a bit more boney?” He wasn’t sure of what he was saying.

No one expected him to open his mouth. After all, Layns was perhaps the only one among the summoned heroes who had a tough time expressing himself. Especially to strangers.

And now that he did open his mouth, he was met with disbelief from the people around him. They weren’t shocked because he was speaking, no, they were shocked at his idiocy.

‘Can you get any stupider?’ Shreya wanted to give the guy a good smack on the head.

“Oh?” The queen bemused. “Then you’d prefer this look?”

Her body started to morph… Darkness oozed out and her skin disappeared. Light could not penetrate that darkness and no one could see what was inside; she was already quite tall, but now she was easily twice as large. But- but, even so, everyone could say, they were seeing something.

The darkness cleared slightly and something-

And that something was dark- had crimson eyes, skin- moist and wrinkly and definitely dark beige.

A foul stench made almost everyone near her gag- a stench that put the earlier rotting smell to shame.

The light of the sun gradually faded, almost like the world was covered in large clouds.

It was almost as though everyone was staring at their deaths… and they knew it…

“Pl-please go back to normal…” Layns almost fell to the ground, but managed to pick himself up at the very last second.

Actually, everyone but the three Dragonborn were shaken. Though in Maria’s case, she was just pretending to be fine. Inside, however, ‘Holy shiiiiitt!’

The queen switched back with a smile; the stench, the darkness disappeared like it was never there at all. “Now, I believe you’ve gathered here for a talk? And that’s why you even went as far as to bring in your trump card here.” She gave Maria a glance and then returned her gaze to the heroes and finally to a singular man in the middle. She pretended like the earlier situation never happened.

“Y-yes,” The man replied back. He was a general- full body covered with golden armor- cheeks awfully swollen. “After having a debate with our lady, and the rest of the generals, we’ve come to terms, furthering this war would be pointless and a waste of time. We’ve mostly achieved our goals. And we’d like a ceasefire and-” He was the commander in chief of the united army- Genral Zork.

The united army had reduced the number of the demons by two-thirds and they’d also captured almost half of the demon realm. Meaning, the demons could not counterattack for a few centuries and the other races could freely use the captured land and its riches. So, there really wasn’t much need to continue this war apart from just to satisfy personal agenda.

And to make them understand that, Maria had to teach them quite a few things last night. She also slapped some of the generals silly- but that was a different matter.

“You murdered us,” The demon prince grumbled. He didn’t hide his murdering intentions. He was definitely furious and he wanted the world to know so. “You destroyed our lands; you took everything and now!” His voice gradually rose high.

But the queen just signed him to shut up. Instead, she kept smiling. “Really? Why?” Her gaze clearly centered on the general.

“Because further bloodshed would serve to no merit-” General Zork attempted.

“And what do we get out of stopping here?”

“What do you get?” The general tried to chuckle. But his nerves weren’t on his side. So instead, he tried to give a serious answer. “We won’t have to kill each other. Let’s face it, with our lady here and the heroes, it’d be really devastating if a war broke out. But on the other hand, the demons won’t lose anything and we’ll sign a treaty-” He was trying his best to bluff.

“Perhaps you fail to understand the scale of the crimes you’ve committed.” The queen lifted one finger to the sky.

Thousands- no, almost half of the united army crumbled to their feet. They were still conscious but they couldn’t move nor breathe.

They were fuming, and definitely dying.

“STOP!” Jay readied his blade and he was about to charge.

“Please stop,” Maria said, not quite begging nor asking nicely. She was speaking to the both of them.

“I’m just making a point. Killing all of you here would be pointless,” The undead queen undid her spell and the soldiers were still on the ground, barely able to breathe.

But they were very much alive.

“Th-then-” The general attempted.

“I want Cirvena.”

“Lady Cirvena!” One of the nobles shrieked. “We can’t just hand her over to you!”

The queen gave the man a glare while smiling.

The man fell to his knees, unable to even glance at the queen. His bladder leaked the very next second… as he shook with fright.

“So, if they hand you over this person, you’d stop this war and not kill the army?” Maria said. ‘Please just say yes…’

“That is correct.”

Meanwhile the prince of the demons- just stared dumbfounded at the whole thing. ‘So, her target was the demi all along? And that’s why she didn’t kill them and-’ He slowly started piecing everything together.