Chapter 18

Presently in the Kingdom of Aithereal, officials from the Botodor Kingdom and the Lunia Kingdom have gathered at the Aithereal royal palace. In a large meeting room, upper-rank officials from the three kingdoms are currently discussing the invasion of the Rodara region which was now governed by the Avalon Kingdom.

A short stocky official stood up from his chair to address everyone sitting at the long stone table, "By now everyone has heard of the downfall of the Rodara Kingdom. A foreign power known as the Avalon Kingdom joined forces with the Caegon Dynasty to eliminate the Rodara invasion. Once the invading Rodara troops were eliminated the Avalon Kingdom sent their army north to capture Rodwynne the capital of the Rodara Kingdom. The Rodara king was sent off to the Caegon Dynasty and imprisoned and the Avalon king elected a regent from the Rodara people to govern the kingdom for him."

An irritated old man stood up and interrupted the speaker, "Yes, yes! We know this already Gamel! We are here to discuss what actions we should take now that the Rodara Kingdom is no longer exporting food! Our northern kingdoms do not have rich enough soil to properly farm, this is why we are dependent on the southeastern kingdoms to bolster our granaries! Not only that we have to deal with the northern snow region creatures raiding our lands during the winter when food is already short! We have had a deal with the southern kingdoms for years to provide us with affordable food since we are the barrier that prevents those snow creatures from invading their lands!"

Gamel sighed and shook his head, "Relax Swain, we will all be here for the next few days there is no need to rush on ahead! It is true in the past our three larger kingdoms were able to pressure the southern kingdoms into selling us food at extremely low prices. Along with the threat of us allowing the snow creatures to pass through our lands to raid them, we have had a profitable exchange from them. Our diplomats sent to the Rodara Kingdom have told us the Avalon King is not interested in selling us food at the 'next to nothing' prices we had worked out with the former king. They say they would be losing money on the food they supplied to us, but they are willing to work out new trade deals at current market prices. It would seem the Avalon Kingdom isn't prone to the intimidation we used in the past."

An official from the Lunia Kingdom stood up to speak after Gamel explained the situation.

"We of the Lunia Kingdom are not concerned with this. We are supplied plenty of food from the southern Amura Kingdoms western farmlands. We only came to this meeting because we were promised compensation for providing the Botodor and Aithereal Kingdoms with cultivators and troops. If you plan to invade the Rodara region we are more than happy to provide you with additional forces, but if you plan to work out new trade deals with the Rodara region then we are wasting our time by being here!"

"Everyone here is perfectly aware of why the Lunia representatives are attending this meeting. We are grateful for your assistance and are only discussing what was relayed to us from the Rodara region. No one has said anything about paying fair market prices. Everyone just needs to settle down so that we can all work together and find an agreeable plan to move forward to make everyone happy, or we will waste days just arguing without accomplishing anything!"

The Botodor and Lunia representatives both begrudgingly sat back down and looked to Gamel to proceed.

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In the past, these three northern Kingdoms had come to an agreement with the Rodara Kingdom, Varene Dynasty, and the Amuura Kingdom. They would work as a blocking force to prevent the northern snow region creatures from invading their lands if the southern kingdoms would supply them with discounted crops.

Even though the Varene Dynasty was a closed border kingdom they were willing to send diplomats to the other kingdoms to arrange trade deals for things they could not produce on their own.

At the start, it was a good deal that benefited the northern and southern kingdoms. As years went by the northern kingdoms became the stronger fighters after having to battle the northern raids every winter.

The strength of their fighting forces made them grow arrogant to the point they banded together to force the southern kingdoms into continuously lowering the price of the food they were shipped.

It had got to the point now that the southern kingdoms were losing money on the food they had to ship to the northern kingdoms. It was either continue to send them food at a loss or they would have to deal with the northern kingdoms raiding them and allowing the northern creatures to freely cross their lands to invade them.

The southern kingdoms had smaller populations and the Varene Dynasty had no desire to work together with the other southern kingdoms to fight back against the pressuring northern kingdoms.

The Varene Dynasty is a matriarchal society where one man is born to every twenty women. They had some female forces, but they could not stand up to the experienced male troops in the northern kingdoms. The Varene Dynasty could not afford to send what little men they had to fight and die in a war. It would be a horrific loss for them which could mean the end of them.

The Varene Dynasty's religious beliefs prevented them from breeding with outsiders so if they lost their men it would be their downfall. They could only give in to the threats from the joined northern kingdoms.

Now that Ben had conquered the Rodara region he put an end to these losses and sent the diplomats from the north back home stating he would not be pressured by their threats.

If the north invaded they would have a difficult time sieging his towns and the capital city. Every one of them was surrounded by concrete walls, moats, towers with magical turrets, and gatehouses with drawbridges.

Ben could teleport his troops over to Rodara to counter-attack them before they could enter one of his towns or the capital city. He was growing used to battles and wars and almost wanted them to make a move so that he would have a reason to turn around and invade them next.

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While the three northern kingdoms plotted in secrecy on how they would deal with the Avalon Kingdom who refused to give in to their intimidation tactics, Ben sat on the eastern side of the bridge which crossed the river into the Varene Dynasty.

He currently remained hidden outside the western Varene town located on their western border.

Ben was using a small hand mirror with his Disguise Self spell to alter his appearance. He had made his hair a little longer and changed it to pure white color and his eyes were now red making him think of a race of vampires he had once read about in a web novel.

He removed his armor for his noble attire and gave himself a quick look over to be sure nothing was out of place. Once he was happy with his appearance he decided to bypass the border town and head more towards the center of the Varene Dynasty. Ben was confident in his disguise but an unfamiliar face suddenly appearing in a border town may draw unwanted attention.

The Varene Dynasty has towns and a large capital city just like any of the other kingdoms. There were also smaller settlements on the village level located in the rural areas.

The first people Ben encountered in this dynasty lived in a large village located on the southern road between two of the larger towns. The moment he made his way into the main section of the village he instantly drew the attention of its residents

Ben began to have flashbacks of Goldcrest on how he couldn't walk across the city without everyone noticing him. This attention was different from the looks of reverence from the people of Goldcrest.

This village is ninety percent women who were looking at Ben like a hunter who just found its prey. The looks from these beautiful women were a little disconcerting. He had heard the rumors about how this society was but too now walk through a village with hundreds of white-haired beauties staring him down he began to know what a woman felt like when she passed a group of lustful men.

This attention was too much all at once, so he decided to keep passing through the main part of the village. On the outskirts of the village, he decided to set up camp next to a small creek for the night.

Surrounding his camp is farmlands where he could see women working out in the fields. Rows of small farmhouses could be seen near where the women who worked the fields lived.

As Ben made a fire and decided to make a meal the aroma of searing beef blew on the wind to a young lady working nearby. The smell of meat was rare and it drew her attention long enough to look up to find the source of the aroma.

The young girl was startled to see an attractive young man around her age making a meal next to a tent not far from the road. With the sun beginning to set, she decided to quit for the day and go say hello to this stranger who seemed to be traveling somewhere.

Ben heard quiet footsteps approach him from the field and the curious young lady spoke up as he turned to see who was walking toward him.

"That smells delicious! It is rare to smell meat cooking is these parts. Everyone around here is a farmer so it is tough to find affordable meat without traveling all the way to the nearest town."

Ben looked over to find a girl around twenty years old with the typical long white hair and red eyes. She wore simple clothing made to be rugged and take abuse. These dirty work common clothes did not detract from her pretty face or from her youthful charm.

"Ben smiled and said, "I have plenty here to share you're more than welcome to join me for dinner."

"I wouldn't want to be a burden and eat away at your supplies. You look like you're traveling and should properly ration your food." She looked interested but was too polite to intrude on him.

"Please I have been on the road for a while alone and it would be great to have a pretty young woman like you to talk with over a meal. I have plenty of food so please don't be polite and join me."

Ben stood up and brought out a table and chairs which surprised the young farm girl. She realized this young man wasn't simple and the way he complimented her made her heart beat faster.

'Mother had always told me that males are standoffish toward females. This young man appears to be quite sociable and friendly.'

She looked Ben over and found he was an attractive young man and looked to be in excellent shape. Her face began to flush as she thought about getting to know him better and decided to take a chance and sit down at his table.

The two of them drank wine made at Ben's winery and had a great meal together. They talked with one another for a couple of hours about the spirit food they ate and her life around the farming settlement while watching the campfire.

The two of them got along well and began to open up to one another. Four of five glasses of wine later Ben found himself following her back to the farmhouse where she lived alone.

Ben's tent remained beside the creek as he spent the night in her arms. It was both of their first times being with someone. It was an awkward and magical experience that they both would always remember.

Ben found out her name is Silvana, she has lived on her own since she was seventeen. People of the Varene Dynasty are considered adults at the age of sixteen and are encouraged to have children as soon as they become adults.

She moved out of her mother's home who lived nearby three years ago in hopes to meet a young man one day.

If a woman gave birth to male children it would improve their life with every male they gave birth too. Giving birth to a male was the equivalent of being a low stage cultivator in the eight kingdoms. Each male child would increase your title and lands.

If a young woman like Silvana gave birth to a couple male children she would become a dynasty noble and could move to a town or city and live in an estate with servants.

The two of them did not think about these things at this time they were only lost in one another's touch and kiss. They explored every part of their partner until the sun began to peek through the small bedroom window.