Chapter 511 - Standoff (Patreon)

During the Lightning War, Port Ulta had been one of only two major Sachay cities which hadn't seen any fighting — the other being Cashan. In fact, the only harm to come to the city during the war been caused by their own Lord Vareo, who had sent many of his warriors out to die in Antila, even those too young to be called adults. Whether such an act was forced by the occupiers or whether he was eager to prove his loyalty and ability to his arcavian masters, House Vareo had unmistakably shown their opposition to Corco's rule in the process.

However, just as the king's troops were about to descend upon Port Ulta, before he had lost all of his remaining advantages, the lord of the city had struck a private deal with the king. In the end, House Vareo had somehow managed to cling onto their position as the masters of the estate, and even their patriarch was allowed to retain his role. Even so, there had still been great changes in the city ever since the end of the war.

For one, the many foreign-owned businesses which had dominated the city over the years had disappeared almost entirely. Compared to the past, it was much harder to find someone from Arcavia walk the streets these days. Back then, people from foreign countries had been everywhere, though the de-facto foreign occupation had hardly made the city look like an international metropolis. Not only had there been many arcavian soldiers who had come to fight the southern kingdom and protect their possessions, there had also been countless merchants eager to take advantage of their kingdom's new territory.

Although factually, Port Ulta had been part of the central kingdom in the past, in reality the territory had been fully controlled by forces from Borna and Cahlia. With support from their governments — and the swords and guns from the arcavian knights and soldiers — overseas merchants had pressured the local lord into selling them land for cheap. At the same time, they had signed many unequal trade deals with House Vareo, and forced them to implement many policies to benefit the new masters of the land. As a result, many eager merchants had bought warehouses and shops along this valuable trade route, to take full advantage of their rule.

Now, almost all of these people had vacated their ill-begotten gains. Only a few stubborn merchants remained, unwilling to give up the ravenous profits they had enjoyed, and unrepentant of the crimes they had committed to achieve them. Most, however, had seen the signs of the time and left together with the cahlian and bornish fleets after their defeat at Antila, and the subsequent peace deal. Though of course, control of Port Ulta hadn't simply returned to the locals.

In place of the departing Arcavians, people from Saniya — the new masters of the city — had moved in. Some of the oriental merchants had been replaced with locals, of course. At last, Port Ulta finally had its own Wonders of the World shop. On top of that, government officials from Rapra Castle had set up offices in Port Ulta, to check on the actions of House Vareo.

After all, even if Lord Vareo had struck a deal with the king, that didn't mean he was trusted. In fact, extensive oversight to prevent betrayal or spy activities had been part of the agreement in the first place. Finally, a number of soldiers from Saniya's army had also been stationed here, ready to defend the city from new incursions from the sea.

Though, most recently, a diplomatic delegation had also been added to this crowd from Saniya. Yet unlike the relatively harmonious — or at least calm-before-the-storm — picture elsewhere in the post-war city, open division had shown itself within the delegation shortly after their arrival.

"Now then, husband, will you not let me, the kingdom's official envoy, onto your ship?" Royal Envoy Tamaya di Pluritac asked Atau Sonco Saqartu, admiral of the southern kingdom. Behind her stood her delegation, a group of ten people who were eager to board the kingdom's fleet of five ships, which were docked at the pier beyond the admiral.

"Who are you saying is your husband, Tama?" Admiral Atau Sonco Saqartu refuted, backed by a line of more than twenty sailors. Many of them were highly experienced veterans. Some had even followed Atau in his last great journey around the world. However, none of them had ever seen a domestic dispute like this before. Though while they certainly weren't comfortable with the current conversation, they still backed up their captain without question. Thus, a standoff between allies had ensued at Port Ulta's harbor.

"You may as well be," Tama claimed, and sneered dismissively. "So, will you get out of the way, or will you get violent with an innocent woman?"

"I'm wondering where that innocent woman is meant to be," Atau mumbled, which immediately caused a violent reaction from his opposite.

"What was that?" Tama shot back, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"Nothing," Atau immediately replied, as if on reflex. Yet a split-second later, he looked back at his men, who were staring at him with strange eyes, as if they were seeing their admiral for the first time today. As he felt blood rush to his face, Atau thanked the stars for the beard which covered his embarrassment, before he once more tried to reason with the manic woman.

"I just said, I don't mind you coming on board. I mean, it's an order of the kingdom. I don't have a way to change that, and I don't want to either," he reiterated, before he pointed at the people behind Tama and added: "But I won't allow you to bring your little servants with you. Ghosts aboard a ship are bad luck."

If he couldn't be aggressive with Tama, he would at least be aggressive with her men. If nothing, it would restore his image in the eyes of his crew. However, Tama's voice remained as calm — and her face as smug — as before.

"You want the kingdom's envoy to travel without an entourage? How will anyone take our kingdom seriously if it is only represented by a single, lone woman?"

As she spoke, Tama tried to step past Atau. However, the admiral quickly kept up to get in her way again. Before, he had tried to stay diplomatically vague, but he once more realized that he didn't have the patience for these kinds of games. If this woman was happy to pretend she couldn't understand him, then he would have to express himself more clearly.

"Then pick someone normal, not your group of assassins!" he thus shouted in response. "Don't think I don't know what kinds of people you've brought along. You could have picked some officials from the castle, or grabbed some merchants off the streets to help with negotiations. There's so many normal people you could choose. Even if you just brought soldiers for protection I would've said nothing. Just don't bring some damn assassins along! You're traveling to make allies, not to kill dissidents!"

The more he spoke, the angrier Atau got. He simply couldn't understand why this woman would make such a baffling choice. More and more, he felt convinced that she was doing it purely to spite him, and to undermine his authority. Didn't she care at all about the success of her mission, about her own future?

She obviously knew that I didn't want any ghosts on my ships, and brought them on purpose.

Though no matter what Atau thought, it seemed to be no concern of Tamaya's.

"And what if I insist on bringing them?" the kingdom's new envoy asked, and took another deft, sudden step past Atau. This time, the admiral didn't react in time. Since he couldn't block her again, he simply reached out and grabbed her by the waist.

"In that case, you can swim to the bronze coast," he threatened.

However, the only response to him was an arrogant smirk from the arrogant woman. Even her goons only took half a step forward, before they got back into formation.

After a moment, Atau frowned. He realized that his threats were empty. As he himself had said, he didn't have the authority to deny Tama passage aboard his ship. Yet only when her bemused eyes motioned downwards did he realize the real reason for her smirk: Until now, Atau still held onto her waist, as if it was natural. In fact, the scandalous wench had the gall to hold onto his shoulders while she was at it.

In a perfectly reasonable reaction, the admiral pushed the smug woman away. While they traded places in the process, Atau wasn't worried that the assassins would stab him in the back, not after he had so publicly shown affection with their master.

Rather, his face turned even more red as he observed his own men, worried that his weak performance may reduce his standing in their minds. It was the first time Atau felt embarrassed about flirting with a woman in public. Meanwhile, his sailors looked on in baffled silence as their admiral was pretending to despise the woman he had spent so many nights with.

Just another reason to stay away from this woman for a while, he thought, otherwise my men will lose all respect for me.

"Okay, I'll still take you along," he finally conceded to ease the awkward atmosphere, though he still had to find a way to save his reputation. Thus, he added: "But if you insist on bringing your assassins, you can forget about using my contacts. You're a diplomat now, right, Tama? Surely, you can handle everything on your own, in foreign countries, without speaking the language or knowing the customs. If you fail, you'll only end up with nothing upon your return. But maybe you don't care, do you? Surely, you'll do fine without my help, right?"

Finally, Atau felt like he had caught Tama's weakness. Maybe this diplomacy business wasn't so tough after all. As his face distorted with glee, he enjoyed the sight of his opposite's angry face for a change. Tama's loss of control was always a sight to behold. Yet her next words once more stung like a dagger.

"Don't think I don't know who those so-called contacts of yours are."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Atau said, but even he could tell that his shaky voice was far from convincing.

"As we sail the world together, how many of your little women will I come across? It won't be one in every port, will it? Or possibly even more? You may as well speak the truth now, before you get in trouble later."

"Hey, we had an agreement! No, wait, I never agreed to anything in the first place! The agreement is off!" a panicked Atau shouted, and waved his arms around pointlessly.

In the past, as their casual hookups had become a regular occurrence, Tama had confronted Atau with a threat: She would ignore his women outside the country, so long as he wouldn't find any new ones at home. Although Atau had never really agreed to the ridiculous demands — his claim remained that they weren't in a serious relationship, after all — he still felt that the agreement should preclude Tama from complaining now. However, the unreasonable woman obviously saw it differently.

"No, the agreement was that I won't care about your philandering, so long as you do it somewhere I can't see," She explained, as that damn, smug smile returned to her face. "But I can see you quite well from here."

Yet another reason to keep those assassins away from my boat. Who knows what they'll do once I talk to another woman.

At this point, Atau felt like he was running out of options. Clearly, Tama had no interest in her mission, and had only come to make sure he wouldn't meet with any other women in her absence.

Finally, the admiral realized that talking would get him nowhere. Rather, he wasn't a good talker in the first place. Thus, he fell back onto the greatest weapon of any old sailor: stubbornness.

"Whatever you say," he just said, and crossed his arms. "So long as me and my men stand here, none of your people will get on my boats. And whatever you do, you won't get me to move from here until we set sail. So how about you just look for some replacements real quick, before you run out of time?"

This time, he was certain that he had won, if only by brute force. Surely now, the madwoman would compromise and pick a more reasonable entourage. Still, Tama retained her smug calm. More and more, an ominous feeling brewed in the old captain's stomach, something he had felt in the past just ahead of approaching storms.

"What a coincidence," Tama said, and stared at a place behind Atau. "It seems my replacement is here. So you have run out of time before me, my dear husband."

I don't like that smile. That's bad news.

Still, he wouldn't turn around, in case this was another of the woman's tricks. However, Tama continued, unconcerned by Atau's stern gaze.

"As I am the one who knows you best, dear husband, I knew you would be grumpy about leaving home. As you are right now, I have been proven right, once more. As a virtuous wife, I care deeply about my husband's well-being, and thus made sure to invite someone important in your life to see you off. This way, you would be able to let go and not be too homesick on our long journey. Please entertain your guest well."

A deadly premonition overcame Atau. All he could do was stammer out the first half of a question.

"Who did you-"

"Atau Sonco Saqartu!"

Finally, a familiar shout interrupted the admiral of the kingdom, and forced him to react. On reflex, Atau's entire body contracted in response to the sound, as if bracing for a beating. Only a second later, his brain caught back up to his body, and he immediately remembered who the voice belonged to. He frowned as he stared at Tama for another second, but she only returned a victorious, vicious grin. By then, Atau could hear the steps behind him close in already, so he had to turn around and face his fears.

"Mother, what are you doing here?" he asked, as he looked at the new arrival. Behind him stood Atau's mother, Lady Guanca Ogulno, and looked as furious as ever. Although he had a guilty conscience when he faced his mother these days, Atau tried to appear confident in his reply. Yet all the polite calm in the world couldn't stop the noble lady's anger.

"What do you think you are doing, abandoning your family like this?" Lady Guanca shouted, as she stepped through the line of ghosts on her way to her son.

"I'm just following the orders of the kingdom," a bitter Atau replied. He had really hoped he could get away without meeting his mother again. Yet now, he would once again be forced into the same, pointless arguments they had played through countless times already.

"Yes, yes.  The great Admiral Atau's precious kingdom," she shouted, and theatrically threw her hands around. "Why do you never care about your family as much as you care about this accursed kingdom?"

"I've done more for the family than you can imagine," Atau defended himself, yet it only earned him a derisive sneer.

"Hah, after you became the family patriarch, you have not been to our estate the once. Worse, you let those commoners from Saniya come take over our affairs in your stead. Will you not rest until that Pluritac steals all our lands?"

"What do I want with those in the first place?" Atau shot back the same argument as usual. Yet in response, his mother just stated the obvious.

"You are my son, and the heir to the family."

Even though her words were no more than platitudes, the Lady suddenly turned dead-serious, her eyes firmly fixed onto her son's. Maybe Atau had even felt a little guilty at the stern gaze if his upcoming journey hadn't reminded him of the past.

"Well, you thought differently when you sent me into exile so your precious Mayu could take over," he jogged his mother's memory.

"At least Mayu always puts his family first," the woman claimed, now both her face and her finger right in Atau's face. Even though she had to stand on her toes to approach her son's height, her presence still felt intimidating.

"And look how well he did with that," Atau said coldly, and took half a step back. He wouldn't be dragged into a shouting match, not in front of his men. "If I didn't make some compromises and show some indifference about the future of the estate, all our land would have been taken away ages ago. Do you even understand how much damage that selfish idiot Mayu has done to us?"

As she was about to lose the argument due to her useless traitor son, the furious Guanca suddenly sank to the ground and began to shout towards the sky.

"Don't insult your brother! He has suffered enough already, as has your poor, lonely mother! Her husband dead and father away, her brother killed by her ruthless king, one son in exile and the other indifferent to her plight. Whatever shall I do? If only my last remaining son could finally settle down, marry a wife and come back home, alas, who can release me from my torment?"

Finally, Atau's indifference broke. Panicked eyes looked back and forth between his mother and his sailors. He couldn't be too harsh with his mother, but every second she kept talking, it would further damage his reputation with his crew. Worse yet, wife candidate number one was standing by with a smug grin on her face, as she watched the carnage she had caused. No doubt, she was ready to jump in and offer her services to House Saqartu any second now.

"Fine, I apologize, mother," he finally gave in, and quickly helped his mother back onto her feet before she could make even more of a scene. "Now can we please go have a tea and talk somewhere in private, at least? We don't want others to think poorly House Saqartu's education, do we?"

Thus, a helpless Atau shepherded his mother off into the distance. At last, Lady Guanca followed obediently, though she never stopped complaining about her disloyal son.

__________________________

As soon as Atau had left, Tama showed a victorious grin. Maybe this way, the idiot sailor would remember his family, and finally reconcile with his mother before he regretted his selfishness. Now, with the obstacle out of the way, she turned towards the ghosts she had brought with her.

"Alright then, go distribute yourselves among the ships. If anyone tries to stop you, I will handle them."

Her last words, of course, were addressed over her shoulder, towards Atau's men. Not that any of them would have the gall to do anything.

Now that the captain of the fleet — and admiral of the navy — was gone, there was no one left with the authority to stop Tama. Finally, she would get her people on board the ships.

Of course, she could have also picked more officials or merchants, which would be a more traditional choice of entourage. However, Tama had the feeling she would need her ghosts with her. After all, when Corco had returned to Arguna, she had witnessed first-hand how a new force had suddenly appeared and caused chaos and death in an established system. She was unwilling to go through such an ordeal on her own. No, even if their mission failed, she would make sure that both she and her future husband would survive. Even without a title, she could still live a fulfilling life. But without life, all titles would be empty.

As for the eventuality that Atau may kick her men off his ships again after his return? They weren't called ghost warriors for nothing. In a large and complex structure like a ship, a captain and his crew had no chance of finding them on short notice.

After her appointment to this mission she had made a vow to herself: She would get that idiot Atau back safe and happy, no matter the cost.

Hermit's Notes: Took a lot longer to finish this one than I thought. I wanted to get the weird dynamic between these two just right, so I spent some extra days tweeking the almost finished chapter while I did other stuff. 

Not sure I'll be able to finish the other two chapters by tomorrow (both of which I've done a good bit of work on already), but I'll do my best.