Ria takes a deep breath. She tugged at her shirt and skirt. This was the biggest assignment for her to date. She had spoken with generals casually at parties, but she's not sure how that would hold up in a real negotiation.
She entered the general's tent. There was a long rectangular map table in the center. All around the room, there were golden sculptures, of trees, bulls, mountained warriors and more. It appeared to be more of a museum than a war room.
At one corner, there was a young man about her weight class sitting at his desk full of stacks of paper, busy scribbling away. There was no one else in the room except the two of them.
Ria walked in front of one of the sculptures. Curious, it appears the general has yet to arrive. She studied the golden sculpture. It was a live depiction of a tree with an amazing level of detail. Each tiny branch and even the leaves and fruit on them were shaped.
Fascinating, she thought. Herdial is not well known for their rune works nor mana smithing. There isn't a school of magic she knows of that specializes in this sort of magic. It was handcrafted.
After a few minutes, she walked up to the desk. "Excuse me, do you know where the general is?"
The young man seemed familiar. A fine tunic typical of Herdial merchants, ruffled hair that one might expect at the end of a journey..
He looked up from his scribbling. His eyes widened, jaws dropped, staring at Ria's astonished face, a mirror of his expression.
"It's you!?"
A moment of awkward silence ensued. But eventually, they sat down on the table. The general offered Ria a cup and poured her something from an ornate pot.
"A curious beverage from abroad, just boil the leaves in water and you get something that tastes just slightly better than water."
"Tea. I heard of it. It's said to improve your mana flow, stamina and cognitive abilities."
The young man laughed. His modest vocals could project his voice just far enough for it to reach across the table to Ria.
"Haha! My lady, I thought you would be too sophisticated to believe that baseless nonsense."
"I didn't say I did. But you seem to enjoy it."
"Well, it hasn't made me throw up yet. But as for improving my mana flow and such, I have yet to see the evidence."
Ria took a sip. It was fairly bland with a hint of bitterness.There was a subtle, refreshing fragrance to the otherwise unimpressive beverage.
"It's not bad."
"Is it now? I had thought that this wine was going to be too bland for my lady."
"You can stop with the jests now, my noble general. I could have hardly imagined that the one who haggled on behalf of wyvern carvers would have such a grand post."
"Just a force of habit. I have been haggling with the spire dwellers my whole life. As for you, I could have hardly expected that a porcelain princess would show up heading a raid party for the wyvern queen."
"Hmp, this porcelain princess also would never expect to see a baby fawn in charge of a whole army either."
"Oh i'm much older than I look. I'll have you know that I am fully of marriageable age, not that I am interested in any at the moment."
Ria took another sip of tea. The general reached for the kettle and poured her another cup.
"That's my line. Does the baby fawn general not have any sense of creativity?"
"I merely express the same fact as you."
They both laughed.
"So, It would seem you are a pure blood knight as well, but isn't it too early for you to take on the responsibility of an entire army?"
"What can I do, my eldest brother is gone. My elder sister is too quirky for this role."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Don't be. He died an honorable death fighting a sandworm titan, having lived well past the median lifespan of knights, as you call them."
"Even so, you seemed quite nonchalant about it."
"Is that so? I suppose there are far more pressing issues at hand."
He took another sip of tea.
"By the way, you can me Rey. Rey hearthstone."
"Sure, General Rey. You are probably thinking the same thing. How do you propose we slay a queen wyvern."
Rey leaned back onto his chair and signed, taking another sip of his tea.
"We don't have enough information on it. We roughly know how big it is, which is about 10 times the size of each of its children. We even know where its lair is. We just don't know how to kill it."
Ria took a sip of tea.
"Just out of curiosity, How did you come to know that there is a queen wyvern somewhere in that mountain."
"Oh that part isn't hard. Shape shifting druids, automatons, eldritch summons from the spire city. They cost an arm and a leg to hire, but they all returned with the same report."
"I have only heard from connections in the major guides that they could do a deeper scouting than that."
"I don't know about that. They simply reported that there were too many wyvernlings around the lair to approach."
"Thats quite the bummer, so we have no information about the queen wyvern itself beyond a cursory glance from afar?"
"Indeed."
"Whats the plan than?"
Rey stood up and walked towards the map table. Ria followed. He took out his ruler and pointed to several marked spots on the detailed map of the mountain range.
"Well, luckily for us, the queen wyvern isn't our problem. The slayers guild is in charge of actually, well, slaying the queen wyvern. We are just here to carve a path open for them. This is where we're at. From here, we have to reclaim the road into the mountain passes where there is an abandoned mana crystal mine. It's infested with sandworms since no one had maintained it for so long. Then, we just have to reclaim the mine, do a bit more drilling through to the wyvern's lair. The underground route would prevent the wyverns from strafing us as we approach the lair."
"So what is our role?"
"Well that knight that came along with you. Taller than an elephant. Many times stronger than one i reckon. Really helpful to have someone who could wrestle head on with beasts."
Ria chuckled. "I see. By the way, what are these markings here?"
"Ah, those are the mana veins. That's my first proposal. The wyverns feed on the worms that crawl out of them. If we just capture these points, build bunkers into the mountain and defend, we might draw the queen wyvern out. If we did this, we might even find some clues as to why the wyverns suddenly got so aggressive."
Ria nods.
"Oh by the way, could you ask that knight of yours not to wander outside the camp. It's got my troops really excited. I'm not sure if I can even count on my officers to maintain discipline."
Ria laughs. "Well, I can't do much about that. It's not like she can help it."
"Now, about the loot splitting."
"80-20. After deducting losses and expenses." Ria said flatly.
"My dear porcelain princess. You believe your knight to be of the strength for you to be demanding such a high share in the face of my cannons?"
"It's just a fact. Why don't you see her in action first?"
"Fair enough. 80-20 just for the first battle. Sandworm parts don't sell very well anyway. The steam tanks set off first thing tomorrow."
"You won't be disappointed."