24 New Horizons (1/2)

I stood beneath the manor, staring up at the main building as I tried to think of what to say. What did I even want to change? Ideally, I wanted to back to my peaceful life, maybe even return to earth, but that was probably out of the question. It hadn't worked the last time I'd asked and I doubted it would work this time.

Maybe the leaf girl was right about me needing something to look forward to, was there some goal I could set? What even were Elmidath's goals? All I really knew was that she wanted to succeed her father, largely out of pride. She'd already done that, so what came next? And what was motivating her in the first place? If it was little more than her desire to above others, then maybe death was the best option after all. The only way to find out if there was more to her than that, was to ask.

Deciding that there wasn't much point thinking about how the conversation would go when I had so little idea of what she would say, I went inside and sought her out. I found her in her uncle's former room, surveying her latest conquest. ”I need to talk to you.”

She looked up, frowning. ”What is it?”

I took a breath as I wondered how best to broach the subject, and decided to just jump straight in. ”What was the point of all this?”

”All of what?”

”All this fighting. What did we really gain out of it? Was it really just so you could take control of your father's lands?”

She shrugged. ”Is that not reason enough?”

”No, not for me. I get why you might be personally invested in all this, but it doesn't do me any good. To be honest, I don't see how it benefits anyone other than you.”

She walked past me and sat down on the bed. ”You're probably right.”

I blinked. ”What?”

”I said, you're probably right. I probably am the only one who benefited, if you can even call it that. The more I think about it, the more it feels like all I've done is create a mountain of problems for myself.”

”Then why did you do it? Why go to so much effort and risk both our lives?” Not to mention all the people who'd died along the way.

Closing her eyes, Elmidath paused for a while before replying. ”What do you think of this world? You should have been here long enough to form an impression.”

I didn't even have to think for that one. ”It seems horrible.”

”And what about it seems horrible?”

”Mostly all the violence, what're you people even fighting over? Useless scraps of land?” I didn't really agree with the empire building that had gone on in my old world, but at least some people stood to benefit from it. The fighting here didn't seem to help anyone.

”Not exactly, that's just a means to an end. Also, the land isn't exactly useless, but that's beside the point. In my opinion all those who conquer do so for fundamentally the same basic reason; to reshape the world in their vision, even if only in a small way.”

It was fine talk and all, but what did it actually mean in the real world? ”And? What's your vision then?”

She looked down, drawing circles on the bed with her finger. ”I'm still kind of figuring that out. My father used to talk about unifying the demons, rather than squabbling amongst ourselves for territory. There's probably no way I can do that, and even if I could it would be a very long way off, but I think it's a nice idea. At the very least, I'd like to try and make life a little more peaceful for my father's subjects. Well, my subjects now.”

”And this was the best way to do that? Seems to me like they would've been better off with your uncle in charge.”

”It's possible, but I really do believe he would've led them to ruin. He was no fool, but he was selfish and short-sighted.” Closing her eyes, Elmidath rubbed her forehead. ”In all honesty when I decided to try to take back my father's title, I fully expected to die. Either in the process, or shortly afterward. It was only when we met Lord Biustarn and he agreed to an alliance, that I started to think there was a chance.”

I shook my head, so she thought she'd just been committing an elaborate form of suicide? What a ridiculous choice. ”If you thought you were going to die, why did you even go through with it?”

”Because,” she raised her head and drew herself up, ”it was either that, or I give up and submit. And I refuse to dishonour the memory of my father like that.”

I still wish she hadn't drawn me into all this, but there was no point focusing on that past. Though I didn't exactly agree with her thought process, her reasons weren't all that bad. Certainly better than I'd initially thought. ”Well, what's the plan now? Because at this rate we, and your remaining subjects, aren't going to survive very long.”

”I realise that, and I do have a plan, but it will require a bit of a leap of faith on our parts. As we no longer have any troops of our own, we are essentially going to have to throw ourselves on the mercy of Lord Biustarn. No doubt he'll demand a lot in exchange, we just have to hope it's within our means to repay.”

”Is there no other way we can get more soldiers?”

She sighed. ”I wish that there were, but without powerful allies or powerful incentives I'm afraid it's all but impossible. At least for now.”

”What about mercenaries?” I assume her uncle must've left some wealth behind.

”I'm not familiar with that word.”

”Unaffiliated soldiers that will fight for pay.”