"A good question, mister Olsen. How indeed had the countries in the past, when things were still strongly drawn along the racial lines, even conduct diplomacy of any sort between nations of different races?

The answer is one that's bound to cause many a facepalm for people in the modern age. They had arranged meetings by letters back then, and those meetings were held on the borders, or in neutral territory that allowed entry to both races in question.

Foolish? Yes. Overcomplicated and vulnerable? Definitely. Such was just the price our ancestors were once willing to pay to adhere to their… beliefs, even ones we've learned to be less than wise these days.

It was one reason we call those times the dark ages of the continent after all." - Excerpt from a lecture by Janos Klingesmann, History Professor at the Levain Institute of Higher Learning, circa 637 FP.

Over the next few minutes, Solenia nervously clarified her position at Dvergarder. She was the youngest daughter of the Duke, and was the apple in her father's eye.

Her presence in Knallzog was a coincidental one, as she happened to be on a vacation abroad. Duke Utghwes was one of the more open-minded nobles in Posuin, and had encouraged his children to visit their neighboring countries so they could understand them better.

In Solenia's case, she happened to be of a martial bent. As the fourth daughter and youngest child of the family, succeeding her father was the last thing in her mind. While Posuin had not encouraged it, it was not uncommon for such noble daughters to strike out on their own.

Solenia had always wanted to be a knight, a dream that her father had at first discouraged due to the dangers. The Duke eventually gave in to her stubbornness however, and instead supported her with the best teachers and equipment he could get.

That said, a girl of barely twenty, even with masterwork armor and weapons, was by no means a match for a four century old dwarven veteran who spent the majority of her life on the frontlines. Ginnie had taken down the girl in less than a minute, with little more than a few scratches on her armor in exchange.

By now Aideen had fully healed the girl, who stared and marveled at her regenerated right hand. With Aideen's healing, there was no sign of the girl ever being injured in the first place, other than the damage to her armor.

They had gotten the story from Solenia on how she ended up in the trial. She had arrived in Knallzog just less than a week ago, and had wanted to watch the famed gladiatorial events in the colosseum.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

When she was offered a chance to take part in an exhibition match - the offer passed through one of her maids - the girl had all too happily agreed to it. Which was how she found herself on the receiving end of Ginnie's axe just moments ago.

Some of her guards had apparently made a ruckus when they realized how things had gone horribly wrong, but Ginnie had her people secure them for the time being without harming them. She had also sent others to round up the rest of Solenia's attendants and asked her to identify which of her maids had passed her the "offer".

Sure enough, that maid was missing from the group. The only thing the other maids knew was that she had left early in the morning on an errand from the mistress. An errand Solenia herself had no recollection of ever giving.

"S-so they were trying to get me killed!? To start a war!?" asked Solenia nervously after Ginnie briefed her of the situation they faced. There were only the three of them in the room, Leopold was reassuring the captain of Solenia's escort of her well-being, and the sisters had left with him.

"It probably wouldn't go that far, but it'd become an international mess all right," replied Ginnie with a more serious tone of voice as she crossed her arms over her impressively muscular chest. "No offense, lass, but I doubt either your kingdom or your dad would be crazy enough to start a war just over your dying."

"Dad would extort every last copper and concessions he could squeeze out of you if I died," replied the girl solemnly as she lowered her head. "But I agree. He wouldn't have lost his mind, which is what it would take for him to start a war, even over me."

"What was their aim in getting her killed though?" Aideen asked in turn. "As you said, it would cause some fallout if it happened, but it didn't seem to be the sort that would directly affect the guild's situation."

"Buying time is my best guess," replied Ginnie with a frown as she thought for a moment. "Their strongest supporter at court is one of my nephew's cousins, who's away on inspection until next week. Maybe they thought having him back would change things."

"Would it?"

"Hah! Only if the undercity froze over!" said Ginnie with a loud guffaw. "I guess it might sound odd to you, but we dwarves are a bit… stubborn when it comes to sticking to the laws we have. When Georg found out what sort of mess his guild buddies got themselves in, I'd say chances are more likely that he'd drop them like a hot potato."

"So there were no laws that touched on what this… guild was openly doing?" asked Solenia with curiosity and interest in her voice. "We have the same issue back home, but since each duchy was allowed to amend the laws to a limited extent, dad had always cut down hard on any of them trying to get into our hometown. Other healers flocked there instead."

"Not yet," replied Ginnie with a predatory grin. "I'll bet that after this whole mess is done the old coots in the parliament would be far more amenable to adding some, though. Toeing between the lines is one thing. Breaking the laws and attempting to trigger an international mess is another."

"What about her then?" Aideen asked as she pointed to Solenia.

"We'll let her go of course. She's not exactly to blame in this mess," replied Ginnie. "That said… are you planning to head back right away, lass?"

"No, no way," replied the girl. It was surprising how quickly her mood recovered after a near-death experience like that. "I still got another week before I must return and I'd rather not do so while prince jackass is visiting."

"The third prince I assume?" asked Ginnie, to which the girl nodded in reply. "I guess the rumors we had heard here wasn't that exaggerated then."

Rumors of the womanizing third Prince of Posuin had reached even Knallzog next door, so notorious was his reputation. Even Aideen had heard of the rumors during her short time in Knallzog so far, so she sort of understood why Solenia wished to avoid the man.

"Guess that brings up another issue then. I'm just worried that they might not stop at this silly idea of theirs," added Ginnie with a more solemn tone. "If you were to die in our lands, it would partially be our responsibility, no matter the circumstances."