What you fear most always seems to co knocking.
And right now, that’s exactly what’s happening.
The Eastern front was in full swing—battles raging, fires blazing—and yet, soone from Thalor had co looking for him?
There was no real reason for that...
Unless it was about that.
And just as Vaelion was losing sleep over the whole ss—
Erald Castle received two unexpected, yet not entirely surprising, guests.
...
"Lord of Erald Castle, allow to introduce soone I ntioned to you before—the King of the Kingdom of the Elentals in the East, Thalor."
At the top floor of Erald Castle’s council chamber, Archmage Eldrin bead as he gestured toward the man beside him.
As soon as he finished speaking, he glanced at Thalor and gave him a subtle nod. "Thalor, this is the Lord of Erald Castle, Valkarion."
"Lord Valkarion, it’s a pleasure to et you. I’m Thalor."
Thalor smiled warmly, rising to his feet and extending a hand toward Ethan.
"You’re too kind, Thalor. I’ve heard a lot about you—seems the stories didn’t do you justice."
Ethan stood as well, his eyes flickering slightly as he felt the raw power radiating off Thalor. He returned the handshake with a polite smile.
Once their hands parted, Ethan sat back down and got straight to the point.
"So, what brings the two of you to Erald Castle?"
Thalor and Eldrin exchanged a glance. Thalor gave a small smile before speaking.
"Lord Valkarion, to be honest, the pressure on the Eastern front is getting intense. I’m not sure how much longer I can hold the line."
"I get what you’re saying..."
Ethan nodded slowly, his tone calm but heavy. "I know Erald Castle hasn’t exactly been holding up its end of the agreent lately. But I’ve got my hands full too. The Kingdom of the Night Elves is lurking in the rear, watching like a hawk. They’ve even started sending heroes into our territory—seizing gold mines, resource points, even creature dwellings..."
He paused, then added, "To be blunt, Erald Castle is barely holding itself together right now. Compared to the Night Elves, our strength just doesn’t asure up."
"I understand where you’re coming from..." Thalor said, locking eyes with Ethan. He shook his head slightly. "But the fact that we’re here in person should tell you sothing. At least for now, Eldrin and I are still on your side. So let’s not dance around it—honesty’s going to get us further."
Ethan hesitated for a mont, his gaze flickering between the two n. Then he gave a faint smile and said, "Alright then. Let rephrase what I just said."
He looked directly at Eldrin, then Thalor, his voice steady.
"The Kingdom of the Night Elves ca after out of nowhere. I’m not just going to let that slide. I’m not the kind of guy who goes looking for trouble—but I don’t forget a grudge either. If soone crosses , I make damn sure they regret it."
He paused again, letting the words hang in the air before continuing.
"I’ll admit it—yes, Erald Castle’s been using this situation as an excuse to delay sending troops. But I stand by it. You can’t fight a war on two fronts. Before I deal with the outside, I need to clean up the ss in my own backyard."
Eldrin and Thalor exchanged a glance.
Eldrin gave a small smile and said, "Lord of Erald Castle, truth is, this visit is exactly about that."
"Oh?" Ethan’s eyes sharpened, a flicker of interest flashing through them. "What are you proposing?"
"Before we ca here, Thalor already sent envoys to the Kingdom of the Night Elves," Eldrin said. "We’ve asked Vaelion to co to the table—to negotiate."
"Negotiate?" Ethan blinked, clearly caught off guard. "Negotiate what, exactly?"
"Your feud with the Kingdom of the Night Elves," Thalor cut in, his tone calm but firm. "We’re all staring down the sa threat now. Whether or not we consider each other allies, we’re still on the sa damn boat. If one of us sinks, we all go down. But if you two keep clinging to this grudge, dragging each other into a civil war, we won’t even need the Dungeon army to crush us—we’ll destroy ourselves first."
As he spoke, Thalor slowly rose to his feet, locking eyes with Ethan. His gaze was unwavering, his voice edged with authority—this wasn’t a suggestion. It was a line in the sand.
"That’s why this fighting between you has to stop. Now."
Eldrin chid in, his tone lighter but no less pointed. "Honestly, Lord Valkarion, if you think about it, you didn’t really lose much. Sure, they ca knocking and threw their weight around, but in the end?"
He chuckled, eyes glinting. "It’s Vaelion who got screwed. I heard he lost ten Green Dragons and fifteen Erald Dragons, right? That’s a hell of a hit. Losing that many Legendary Units? That’s like carving the flesh off his bones."
Ethan sat in silence for a mont, his expression unreadable.
Then he let out a breath, spread his hands, and said, "I’ll admit, you’re not wrong. I didn’t co out of this too badly. But..."
His eyes narrowed, voice low and deliberate.
"What I’ve gotten so far? It’s not enough."
"What else do you want?" Thalor’s eyes glead sharply as he stared at Ethan.
"He—Kingdom of the Night Elves—took a ton of resource points, gold mines, and creature dwellings from my Erald Castle. There’s gotta be so kind of explanation, so compensation, right? I’m not even asking for much—just triple the damages," Ethan said coolly.
"Triple?"
Thalor’s voice shot up, his brows knitting together. "Are you kidding ? Just the Tier-11 Royal Unit dwellings alone—tripling that would be nine of them! Vaelion’s entire stock of Royal Unit nests barely adds up to that. You want him to hand over everything? You really think that’s gonna happen?!"
Ethan glanced at him, face calm, saying nothing.
"What the hell are you getting at?" Thalor snapped, clearly getting more agitated.
"Thalor, calm down," Archmage Eldrin finally spoke, his voice steady as he turned to Thalor. "No one’s asking you to pay up. No need to get so worked up."
Thalor paused, his anger cooling slightly, though his frown remained. "But this is outrageous. He’s asking for the moon! There’s no way Vaelion’s going to agree to that!"
"Whether he agrees or not doesn’t matter," Ethan said evenly. "I have to ask for the moon, Thalor. Don’t you get it?"
"Ask for the moon?" Thalor blinked, staring at Ethan in confusion. He clearly didn’t get it.
But Eldrin seed to catch on. After a mont of thoughtful silence, he chuckled and said, "The Lord of Erald Castle makes a good point."
"A good point?!" Thalor looked even more lost, glancing between Ethan and Eldrin. "What the hell are you two talking about?"
Ethan finally turned to him and explained, slowly and clearly, "You two ca to because you want to put more pressure on the Kingdom of the Night Elves—to force them to send troops and join the war. The harder we squeeze, the more they’ll push back. And only when they feel the heat will they start moving the way we want them to.
"Right now, the three of us together already outmatch the Kingdom of the Night Elves. Power talks, Thalor. Whether he wants to or not, he’ll have to play ball. He’ll have no choice. Got it?"
"I..." Thalor looked completely lost.
Like he kind of got it... but also didn’t. His brain was clearly still trying to catch up.
"Then it’s settled," Eldrin said with a smile, rising to his feet. "The peace talks are the night after tomorrow. We’ll hold them at the royal palace in your Kingdom of the Elentals, Thalor. Erald Castle will be there. We’ll see you then."
"Alright," Ethan nodded. "Elynn, show them out."
"Yes, my lord..."
Elynn, who had been silently standing behind Ethan the whole ti, stepped forward. She gave a respectful bow to both Thalor and Eldrin before speaking. "Gentlen, this way please. I’ll escort you out."
"Lord of Erald Castle, until next ti," Eldrin said with a nod, then turned and left.
"Uh, yeah... I’ll be going too. Goodbye..." Thalor mumbled, still looking dazed, but he stood and followed Eldrin out.
After catching up to Archmage Eldrin, Thalor couldn’t hold back his doubts any longer. "Eldrin... do you really think what that guy said will work? What if we push Vaelion too hard and he decides to go down swinging? What if he drags us all down with him?"
"Relax," Eldrin said with a dismissive chuckle. "Vaelion doesn’t have the guts for that."
He scoffed, clearly unimpressed. "A lord who doesn’t even have the courage to join the war? He’s a coward, plain and simple. Besides, he’s not like us. If he really does try to go scorched earth, we’ll just wipe out his Legendary Units—Green Dragons, Erald Dragons, all of them. Problem solved."
He paused, then glanced back over his shoulder, eyes glinting with sothing between admiration and wariness.
"Compared to Vaelion, that Lord of Erald Castle... now that’s soone smart. Sharp. And ruthless. Vaelion getting played by him? Honestly, he had it coming."
"..."
Thalor didn’t say anything, but deep down, he couldn’t help but agree—though he didn’t quite understand why.
Truth be told, he didn’t think Erald Castle was all that impressive in terms of raw power. Sure, they had so flashy stuff—Crimson Ultimate heroes, unicorn heroes, all with huge potential. But that was just it: potential. For now, his Kingdom of the Elentals and Eldrin’s Snowy Castle could easily crush them in a head-on fight.
And yet... when he’d been face-to-face with Ethan earlier, he hadn’t felt that usual sense of superiority. That calm, commanding confidence of soone looking down from a higher place? It just wasn’t there.
In fact, it had felt like Ethan was the one looking down on him.
The guy’s presence had been overwhelming—intimidating, even. Thalor hadn’t expected that. Not at all. Before the eting, he would’ve laughed at the idea. But now? Now he couldn’t shake the feeling. It left a strange, complicated knot in his chest that he couldn’t quite untangle.
And through all of this, neither of them had bothered to lower their voices or hide their conversation from Elynn, who was walking just a few steps behind.
She’d heard every word.
She didn’t say anything—never interrupted, never reacted—but at so point, a small smile had quietly crept onto her lips.
Right now, she felt nothing but pride. And joy.
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