Chapter 69: The Offer

After that conversation, Mountain King began guiding Alexandros in earnest and the boy emperor poured in all his efforts akin to a man possessed. He was fueled by his desperate desire to save Wuzhi and his startling hunger for greater individual power.

The Empire needed to be strong in order to emerge victorious in the war for unification and for that to happen it required a strong emperor. Alexandros wanted to reach a level of strength wherein he would no longer be played around by the machinations of fate.

Days and nights passed. Alexandros' physicality and mentality were both pushed to the extreme. The Mountain King, invested in her cause to strengthen her disciple, wielded the proverbial hammer to refine the raw ingot of the boy emperor's potential.

He was made to carry boulders on his back and forced to rest in freezing lakes. He was made to combat warriors, many times his size and weight, and was strictly punished every time for losing. He was made to learn the ways of the warrior and was trusted to comprehend it.

Lavish dishes and delectable delicacies were soon forgotten by Alexandros as the savage taste of fresh and gamey Wild Beast meat settled its flavor on his tongue. Though finding it inedible at first, the boy emperor soon grew to tolerate this taste. He had to for any acts of refusal would be met by swift punishment by the Mountain King.

As the days passed and as he came into contact with more Hielanders and their primeval society, Alexandros quickly learned just how mistaken his, and others, perception of this group of people was. The Hielanders were certainly backward and tribalistic, however, they were far removed from being the cannibal savages that they were thought to be.

Hielander society was centered on two important aspects: Strength and Honor. They respected and revered the strong and the honorable. There was nothing more admirable than the strong and nothing more important than honor. Even their rituals and traditions were catered toward these two concepts.

"He, who is strong, will rule. He, who is weak, will perish. This is the warrior's code of the Hielanders."

"Those that are strong are honorable and those who find honor in their strength are proud. To be most honorable is to be the strongest!"

The boy emperor learned and mingled in this society. He found his perceptions being overturned multiple times and had his worldview refined. While he found the Hielanders' society unique and fascinating, he could not agree with all of their methods and culture.

The Hielander society thrived on strength; so much so that, strength was a tradable item here. Hielanders could use their strength to transact the items that they required and not offer any compensation for their exchange. Such a system was wildly oppressive and laughably deficient. The promotion of goods and services was entirely non-existent.

Since their society leaned heavily on strength, it created a system of apartheid; wherein the strong were considered as 'people' while the rest were considered as 'lesser.' Even cattle and other livestock seemed to possess more importance in this system as the weak were marginalized and ostracized to the extreme.

The boy emperor was deeply shocked by this discovery and spent some time pondering how such a system managed to exist for so long. He arrived at the answer shortly as he learned of the history of the Hielanders.

The Hielands were consistent in two things; the cold weather and wars! The Hielanders were almost always engaged in wars with rival tribes without a semblance of rest or recovery. From birth, every Hielander was trained without exception to participate in war.

Why were wars so common? Once again, it fell back on the underlying ideology proliferating and poisoning the Hielands; Strength and Honor. It appeared that every tribe, and the Hielanders by extension, saw it necessary to engage in battle and slaughter to prove their strength and honor.

Such incessant warfare had resulted in the upper caste, these so-called 'strong warriors,' being continuously replaced. A new strongman was promoted to the warrior caste before the previous one could even establish themselves. This constant bloodshed and replacement had ironically protected the lower caste from fatal oppression and had managed to preserve this animalistic system of order for all these years.

'Law of the Jungle.' This was the perfect sentence to represent Hielander society's dogma.

"Teacher, I do not understand. How did such a system form in the first place?" At a later time, Alexandros found himself asking this question.

His teacher, Mountain King, promptly answered. "The ancestors of the Hielanders were no brutes. Nobody who has managed to cultivate a certain level of strength is unwise or idiotic. When they came up with the idea of the current system they were able to identify its fatal downsides."

"That said, circumstances demanded such a system to be put in place."

"You see, the Hielands is home to one of the world's largest Wild Beast societies. These frost-ridden mountain peaks and snow-covered highlands are teeming with creatures of terrible strength and nature. Every day is a constant battle for dominance between the Wild Beasts and the humans."

"Why do you think that the Hielanders seek strength and honor above all else? It is to breed the best and greatest of warriors. This environment is one where weaklings cannot be afforded or tolerated."

"Why do you think that the various Hielander tribes are constantly locked in a battle for supremacy? It is to refine and train the warriors. Those warriors that survive this endless crucible of war will then be sent to battle against the Wild Beasts at our domain's borders!"

"As someone who has known peace for most of his life, you might find our persecution to be inhumane and animalistic. However, we must become monsters to battle monsters."

Alexandros went quiet. 'Those that battle monsters must first become monsters themselves,' such was the adage spoken by the Mountain King.

"Teacher is a Rank 8 practitioner, right? Why not exterminate all the Wild Beasts and put an end to this brutal system?" he asked.

Mountain King showed a smile filled with derision and said, "Do you think that a Rank 8 is invincible? No, it is far from it! I might be the strongest human amongst the Hielanders; however, I wouldn't even be in the top five if I were to be compared to the strong creatures in the Wild Beast Society. Exterminate them all? It's a blessing that those creatures haven't done it to us first."

Alexandros was shocked out of his mind. His mind then whirred with thoughts causing him to arrive at a startling revelation. "Perhaps! The reason why Teacher took me as a disciple…"

"Not bad. I did not think that you would arrive at the truth so soon." Mountain King nodded her head in sincere appreciation. "I admit that my reason for taking you as my disciple was not selfless. The reason that you have arrived at is probably close to the truth."

She then inhaled deeply and admitted. "Truth is, the Hielanders cannot afford to maintain this precarious balance anymore. My generation is the final generation that will be able to maintain this balance. After that, the Hielanders' population will irrevocably collapse. The rate of our newborn will no longer equal the rate of our deceased."

"Perhaps it is chance, or perhaps it is the workings of Heaven that a genius like me was born in this generation. I have managed to unite all Hielander tribes, except for Iron Rhino and its subsidiaries who will soon be brought under my fold. I have long perceived it to be my duty to secure a future for the Hielanders. For all these years, I wondered just how exactly I was to go about it."

"It was upon meeting you that I realized heaven's plan."

"The Hielands and Lowlands have remained separated for hundreds of years, each possessing its sovereignty and independence. However, with circumstances as they are, the Hielands can no longer afford to protect their independence. If we are to survive, it is imperative that we join hands with our distant relatives: the Lowlands."

"Alexandros Centinni the Twelfth, I am neither selfless nor blind. I require your help but I am also not willing to part with my authority or my people's sovereignty. And for this, I offer a trade."

"I recognize your plight and I understand the Empire's position in the ongoing war for unification. It appears that you need my help as much as I require yours. Therefore, we will do it like this; I will lead all the Hielanders in your support and assist the empire in re-establishing its place as the Hegemon of the continent. In exchange, I ask that you recognize the Hielands as an independent state in the new empire and assist us in dealing with the Wild Beast Society that plagues this continent and threatens the safety of men."

"What say you? Do you find my terms agreeable?"

Alexandros remained quiet.