"Um," Rhys shifted his weight from foot to foot. Utterly professional. "I went here for protection. The outside world is crazy."
Left, with his scarred face and rough features, glared at Rhys with an equally scarred expression. Rhys's boots skidded against the ice as he stepped back. Okay, don't piss off Left. Don't ever piss off Left. "You meant to say that you are willingly endangering us in order to save your hide?" The man's eyes were as sharp as the confiscated daggers once found in Rhys's boots.
Exactly. Rhys didn't bother hiding his agreement as he nodded. This was one dialogue he had been hoping to have with the ice sprites. It wasn't enough that Rhys just proved their existence. The reason why he was bent on discovering the Capital was not because he wanted to run.
It's because he needed them to fight.
"I come with a proposal," Rhys clasped his hands in front of him. "I didn't come here just because I was escaping things from above. I came here with a proposal."
Middle was fuming red. "How dare you—"
"Master Hornori, please, let's hear him out," Right waved a hand in Middle's direction to calm the man down.
Uncertainty colored Master Hornori's features. "But surely—"
"He came here with his friends. They have been nothing but compliant. They haven't caused trouble for the past day they've been here. General Draswist claims their innocence. Now, they have a proposal," Right said like he's talking to errant flower-children. "Let's hear what our dear guest has to say before we decide his fate."
Decide his fate had as much relief as there were ice sprites in Dwanzeig.
The three men looked at him. Rhys kept his eyes on their ice-blue robes and distracted himself by guessing what kind of fabric they used to stitch those clothes. Moreover, dye must be hard to come by around here. So how in Umazure did they manage to produce that specific shade? The embellishments...
"Well?" Left prodded. Waiting. The man was waiting.
Rhys shook his head and cleared his throat once again. "I am considering making the Ice Sprites my ally in this coming war."
The men froze. No one spoke for fifteen whole seconds.
"This...war you speak of," Master Hornori rolled off the words with enough hesitation to power the entire city. "How big was it?"
Rhys frowned. "If you've seen how the island is being governed now, you'll know."
"No, we won't," Left laid a hand atop the table as he shook his head. "We've stopped sending spies to every kingdom to gather information. Over the past month, most of them didn't return. We never heard from them again and figured they were no longer with us. Resources are our only concern as of the moment. What is the state of the island above?"
Rhys clasped his hands behind his back and opened his mouth. "It all started with two organizations—Synketros and Cardovia."
Out came the whole story of what happened the past few months. The men's eyebrows crept higher and higher, their lips turning paler and paler as Rhys heaped more and more information into his list. "Then, the Human King allied himself to Synketros and now, the forests of Flaron and Diven are dying for some reason. The Alkaran heir is also nowhere to be found," Rhys tapped his chin. "Hmm, I think that's it?"
Right's face was so pale he's almost the same shade as his clothes. "All these happened in two months?"
"Two months is a short time for people who were committed to an agenda like the Sovereign and the Heiress were," Rhys nodded and held up three fingers. "So, your options are to either fight with either organization, fight with us, or don't fight at all and be obliterated."