Magical Engineering [Progression Fantasy, LitRPG] (Book 3 Complete)

"I'm almost sure he's right on the big war talk. I've been worried about that potential from the get-go. I still stand by my claim that we might be able to ride that out as the big guys fight amongst themselves, though," Pryte said the moment the giants had cleared the room.

"Generally, people don't offer alliances like he did out of the goodness of their hearts. Even if he truly means well, he's going to be doing this because he believes it is in the best interests of his people. That means he thinks the war would affect them," Laura replied.

"And he also likely has a better understanding of the current political sentiments than we do. I may be tapped into the news of the Spire, but any real access I had to the faction gossip dried up the moment I signed on with Dave. That probably means things are even worse than I realize," Pryte replied, sighing loudly as he did so.

"What are the downsides to agreeing to this?" I asked. There was, of course, the obvious mutual defense, but if they were attacked, we were probably in trouble anyway.

"We'd inherit their enemies. As that is only the Velvet Sworm Empire, I'm not sure I'd consider that much of an issue, though. They are stretched incredibly thin, and losing this universe hurt them a lot. Beyond that, I'm not sure I see any big negatives," Pryte answered.

"There's always the possibility they aren't as friendly as they appear on the surface, but that's almost always true. I think it's well worth the risk for Earth to gain its first potential ally, plus with our time running short for the supplies we need, I think this is the best option," Laura added.

"Then let's do it," I replied.

"Hey, uh, before we let them back in, do you think we trust them enough to have really let us have this meeting in private?" Elicec asked nervously.

"Yeah, I don't think we are being spied on here," Yorela answered, her upper eyes laser-focused on the sealed door.

"Okay, well then, somehow we got a letter from home. We haven't read it yet because we didn't want any potential spies, but if it's safe here, it might be best to get it out of the way before we make any lasting alliances," Elicec replied as he produced what looked like a small piece of leather and began to unfold it.

I shrugged and nodded, not seeing why they shouldn't. There was silence as he read it. His brother then moved it closer to his eyes and read it as well. Both of their eyes went wide as they read through it, but somehow even Cecile managed to refrain from speaking.

"Okay, one of you needs to spill. Whatever you just read had you both looking like your reality shifted," I said.

"The Dwarves missed their last collections, and the ones watching the village have been acting strange. Dad even managed to bribe one of them to get this letter to the Spire. There's more, but it's mostly personal stuff. Is our planet about to be free?" Elicec asked, a plea evident in his voice.

"Maybe, we are going to have to determine what's going on with the Wrenderling Dwarves to know for sure, but yes, this is a good sign, but also likely one that we need to sign the alliance," Pryte answered.

"I agree. If your world is about to become another potential ally, that means we need a show of force to your former enemies. That said, I want nothing said to the giants about this yet. We don't know the details of what's happening, and until we do, we can't show our hand," Laura said firmly. She was already falling into the role of diplomacy on a multiversal scale, and frankly, I was impressed.

"We ready for them to come back?" Maud asked as she stood up and stretched.

"Yeah, go ahead and get them," I replied. There wasn't much else to discuss. It looked like we were doing this, and in moments, the giants were back at the table. Tomta had the same expression on his face that he had before they had left the room.

"So, before we get started. I have one question. Did you think there was any chance we were going to reject this offer?" The answer was likely obvious, but I wanted to hear the man say it.

"It was always possible, but considering the position you're in, no, I didn't. I understand I'm strong-arming you into a potential war front, but I also don't think you would find another ally more willing to stand beside as that builds," he answered.

"I think then all that's left is drawing up official terms. How do you want to handle that?" Laura asked.

"I don't, at least not yet. Right now, I want to work on getting all the supplies we need and the gate connected to your world. Do you have someone on your side capable of setting one up, or will we need to use Spire access to get there? We don't have any vessels capable of independent portal travel yet." Tomta started tossing out questions rapidly, the earlier roar of his voice having turned into a genuine interest.

"We have communication with our people, and I believe Quarilyn and Elody will be able to build anything to your specification," Yorela answered.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Quarilyn Trelyn? I've read her work, I wasn't aware the Olkerfins were working so closely with your empire," a woman seated next to Tomta said, speaking up for the first time.

"They aren't. It's just the three of us. But yes, that Quarilyn. Dave does seem to have an odd way of drawing in people," Yorela replied with a bit of a glare at me.

"Yes, Tomthy mentioned that. I'll admit it's part of why I'm interested in this alliance. There's something here that I can't fully put my finger on yet, but I want to be on the right side of it. Now, though, I believe it's time for us to get that gate put together. We have supplies we need to deliver," Tomta said, some of the boom back to his tone.

Despite all his training, Grant was in over his head. It was the primary reason he had jumped at the opportunity to start checking all the local towns for any survivors. It was something familiar, something he understood. The thing inside him that was pumping mana throughout his body, well, it was useful, but it was still so alien. He had no idea how Dave and Maud had taken to this as easily as they had. If Mel hadn't been pushing him nonstop for the trip back to Earth, he might have had more time to question it, but it was probably for the best that he hadn't.

"That animal is following us," one of the three Reltleons, Lainchin, said. Lainchain had been the most willing to join Grant on these missions, and he appreciated it. The other two had been friends of the man, and apparently had been training for possibly dungeon raiding before everything went to shit for them.

Grant looked out the side window of the truck, something they had managed to get running from the first town they had been to, and spotted the moose. This was a first. It had never followed them from the homestead before.

"That's new. Keep an eye on it. We should be in the town shortly," Grant replied, not really sure what else they could do with the moose at the moment. Since it had eaten the shield orb, it was likely far more powerful than he was.

Mel had convinced him to take a reinforcement mana orb, despite his objections that a shield seemed far more useful. But he had seen enough of what Mel was capable of to know the man had a deep wisdom within him. He reminded him of his mentor, a man who could scream at a new recruit with the best of them, but he was also a man who had seen too many kids die. He could see that same sadness in Mel.

He pulled the truck up and parked it on the outskirts of the town, if you could even call it that. There were maybe half a dozen things he'd call houses, and a bunch of smaller, rundown-looking buildings. As he hopped out of the truck, he pulled up his mana orb again to look at it.

"Those don't look human. You don't normally have anything like that on the planet, do you?" Glander asked. He was another one of the Reltleons and was pointing to several small animals huddled over the corpse of what might have been a deer.

"No, we don't," he replied. Which wasn't exactly accurate, ermines were a common enough animal. Normally, though, they didn't glow blue or hunt deer in packs.

A common theme across the many worlds of the Spiral is accountability. And yet, as much as those at the top echelons of society rant and rave about holding oneself accountable, their ire is only ever directed at those below them for a failure to do so. The people, after all, must understand that when their betters do something despicable, it was only a mistake, not a true flaw of their character. That same standard is never applied to those they deem rabble.

When a being has come to hold so much power that there is no person or institution able to keep them in check, what is one to do? The harsh reality that few like to think about, and even fewer dare utter aloud, is that power is only ever held accountable by death.

Diaries of the Man Calling Himself the Spiral Reformer