To be honest, the spot I stumbled upon while doing some impromptu rock-climbing was indeed a prime place for shady meetings. There was a crevasse of sorts in the middle of the rocky hills, a barren area covered in front that looked like dry dirt and dust.

  A flat, closed-off area perfect for two parties who worked with one another, but didn’t trust each other enough, so they stood like twenty meters apart, just staring ahead like they were about to have a face-off.

  This was exactly what I ran into, and fishy it did indeed look. Even the foolest of fools would know with just a glance that something ‘underground’ was taking place here.

  The two groups were rather different on several points. To my right was a group of humans. The one at the front was dressed in a manner I would expect from a noble, but I could tell at a glance that this guy definitely wasn’t one at all. His way of standing was typical of someone who was trying to imitate nobility without actually knowing a thing about it.

  Also, his attire featured some sort of brooch shaped in a way that I couldn’t say I had ever seen before. Behind him were a bunch of knights and mages… But they were also dressed in an unconventional manner. The knights had the same symbol drawn upon their chestplates, and the mages also had it woven onto their robes.

  They all stood nearly completely still, apart from the faux-noble in the front. All of them had their faces hidden beneath a helm or obscured by a hood.

  As for the group to my left… They were definitely less cultish in looks, but they didn’t seem to have any sort of uniform anyway. Though they were all beastfolks. There were several ‘levels’ to beastfolks and other similar groups. On one extreme, there were those who only had minor bestial features and basically none of the animalistic behaviours or instincts. On the other extreme, they were literally just talking beasts–At least, that was if you only counted sapient beastfolks…

  Some of the human-looking ones could actually be completely feral and not even remotely close to sapiency.

  These guys had a mix of several of those ‘levels’, the one at the front–Whom I would presume to be the leader–Was mostly human-like with what I believed were the ears and tail of a fox. Though on closer inspection, his facial structure was somewhat animalistic, it was like he was a werecreature who had just barely begun transforming.

  “Why did you need to call us here, Beasts?”

  The faux-noble spoke up, instantly proving his lacking capabilities as a diplomat–Whose bright idea was it to let him do the talking?

  The fox did not seem fazed by this and merely chuckled.

  “Would you remind me of your wife’s species, My Friend?”

  “...Shut the hell up and explain yourself”

  “Right. We have a slight problem on our side”

  “When do you incompetents not have a problem?”

  “Listen. Our king is dispelling our falsehoods left and right. He actually managed to get the support of a foreign church that worships a truth god. Our lies are pretty much getting exorcised, and everyone can see it”

  The faux-noble stayed silent for a few moments.

  “It would appear that this church of truth is also being employed here. Our lies as well are getting ‘exorcised’ as you put”

  “What are we going to do? If we can’t rile up the people, nothing will happen! We sacrificed too much to get where we are. We won’t be able to stay hidden for much longer. Our respective kingdoms will track us down eventually. We need to provoke the war before then”

  “Keep your moaning and groaning for our sponsor, Beast. They are the only ones who can actually bail us out at this point… Neither of us was actually capable of grasping what we were dealing with. The people are not nearly as dissatisfied with their rulers as we imagined. We projected our own thoughts and ideas onto the common man. It was a rookie mistake”

  “It’s easy to sound so wise after eating dirt and seeing how shitty our plan was!”

  “Gentlemen…”

  A third voice joined the conversation, setting out from behind a large rock on the opposite side from me… Has this guy been hiding behind the rock this entire time? The idea that he was waiting to make an entrance was rather humorous.

  “Sir”

  “Sir”

  Both of the quote-on-quote leaders paid respect to the newly arrived man. It was a human garbed in a crimson cloak. His face was disfigured with four deep claw marks. You could even make out cuts into his very eyes… Yet, he did not seem blind in the least, glancing at the two groups with an unreadable expression.

  “You have all failed at your jobs. You were supposed to sow division and provoke war… And all you were able to come up with was slander the Rootiskan Prince and Heldinotian Princess? A story about cheating? That’s the best you could come up with? With two of you to do the thinking? My Lord is strongly disappointed”

  “Come on, Man! What else were we supposed to do? We are trying to take power in our respective countries! We have a limited array of things we can do to achieve that goal”

  “The fox is right. Everything was working very well at first until those pesky truth clerics started showing up! Where did these guys even come from?”

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  The crimson-cloaked man sighed.

  “Excuses, excuses, excuses… Listen, none of us here is an idiot. We all know what the others are up to. You two are only assisting because you want an occasion to usurp power. You aren’t planning on cooperating once you obtain it. We aren’t planning on being peaceful if you do claim power. We are all after the throats of the other. We are merely cooperating because it is useful at the moment… Everyone here knows this”

  “Actually, the humans and we would gain more from good relationships. I mean, they call us beasts, but it’s all performative. They literally all have beastfolk wives”

  “Oi… Stop mentioning that! But the fox is right, we don’t really plan to go to war, we just want to trample the crown. If anything, if we both usurp power, we’ll ally against you afterwards”

  “...Huh. I didn’t take you two fools to be capable of such sharp logic”

  “It’s just banter, Red Snow”

  “Yes, we honestly don’t give a damn about each other. We’re just talking shit because it is funny. Do you lack social interactions, Red Snow?”

  What in damnation am I watching? That’s not how I imagined a meeting between groups staging a coup…

  Considering what I heard, these are two groups who fancy themselves as revolutionaries. The humans are from Rootriska, and the beastfolks are from Heldinot–Which is weird, Heldinot is east, and I should be far west right now…

  As for Scarface over there, I frankly didn’t have a clue. He was clearly from a third party that was way bigger than the other two… It’s odd, though. I feel like his scar is something I know.

  Nara, would you mind looking through my ancient memories? If I can’t recall it, it must be something I learned when I was a little gal.

  Let me check–The scar fits the description you once heard from your father about a foreign man called ‘Denaiel’. Actually, I am near certain it is the same person. Denaiel is known as ‘Red Snow’

  He is well-known as an enforcer and close confidant of the ruler of Beelmart. That’s all I can find, but judging by his posture…

  Yes, he stands like he is ready to kill at any second. That’s a warrior alright… He probably has a weapon hidden under his crimson cloak. I am quite surprised he hasn’t slaughtered everyone present already, though. He doesn’t strike me as a very patient fellow. Not to mention, we're talking about a Beelmartian here.

  Those guys have literally turned enslaving others into a way of life… I suppose that them being involved in causing chaos makes sense. Twenty years ago, I was already hearing words of them beginning to enter a state of decline due to the lack of new slaves to replace the old ones.

  Last I had heard of them, they had launched a special program inciting the ‘owners’ to start making their ‘workers’ reproduce, or even for the owners to do it themselves in an attempt to slow down the decline.

  It was safe to say, Beelmart was not very highly regarded by anyone. Not only were they awful neighbours to have–It was like living in the house as an ogre–But their economic model had proven to be unsustainable in modern times… So the few that would have given them credit for at least being good at managing their country were long gone.

  In any case, for this particular guy to be here, this meeting had to actually be important.

  I should be running still to make distance, but I was very curious… And also, it made me wonder how SHLAD would react to such a scene. Knowing Leton, his automaton of death would absolutely intervene in such a blatant meeting of evil forces.

  “Silence. Do remember who is sponsoring you guys here. With the snap of a finger, I can take away everything you have. If that happens, you can say goodbye to your dreams of grandeur, understand?”

  The man who I was sure was Denaiel looked around, but seeing no objections being raised, continued speaking.

  “Beelmart will begin to struggle to keep up with its demand in about a year, according to our economists and scholars. The signs are already beginning to show themselves. There can be no further delays. War must be sparked. We’ll have to do it ourselves if you two can’t”

  “No need to be so pessimistic. Have you guys tried to switch from using slaves to something else? I mean, many have already done that before, you know? It has been proven by time that slavery just isn’t possible anymore on a large scale. The continent and its nations have all improved too much”

  “The human is right. If Beelmart really wants to continue like this, then you should consider exploring the uncharted territories or finding islands to conquer”

  “You are both profoundly annoying… Stop spouting nonsense and give me your reports already. Have you learned anything of interest for once?”

  The fox and faux-noble shifted uncomfortably. I can smell that they had been trying to steer away from this topic the entire time… Bad news, I assume?

  “Well… Our king has… He had been hiding several princesses, and according to what our spies gathered, he had already married them off to princes or kings from other nations, thus forming alliances with them…”

  Red Snow frowned.

  “Aherm… On our end, everything is fine… Except for one thing–Two things, actually…”

  The faux-noble pulled on his collar. I spotted the faint marks of claw marks, but clearly not the sort earned from a fight–He really does have a beastfolk wife.

  “The first thing is that Leton Nebulo has gotten involved with the crown more than ever, and we fear that he is going to provide military support for the first time in more than a decade… You know how bad combat automatons can get, so if the father of machinery actually designs some…”

  “I understand. What is the second thing?”

  “The report I got on this one isn’t conclusive, alright? It might not be true, but… The new queen. That demon woman… She might actually be pregnant with the king’s offspring…”

  “What?!”

  For the first time, Denaiel seemed to actually get flustered.

  “How? How?! Human-demon hybrids are a rarity, and wasn’t it assured that her particular species was absolutely not compatible with a human like him?”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “If this is true, Rootiska is untouchable. Malkazert will get involved in the slightest bit of a problem. That damned demon king might actually get off his throne to destroy us if we even imply that this grandchild of his will be in the slightest bit of danger”

  I was out of the loop, but apparently, the king of Malkazert was overprotective? Last I remember, the demon king there wasn’t like this… But there could have easily been a change during my little backroom nap.

  “It isn’t confirmed, as I said. It could be an intimidation tactic being used since they seem aware that something is up”

  “My Lord will not want to take the risk. Tell your spies to move their asses and bring confirmation quickly”

  After saying this, Red Snow looked up at me.

  Oh shit.