Salt and Blood [A Pirate LitRPG]

Sometimes the greatest threat you need to watch out for is not the gun pointed at your face, but the knife held behind your back

-Overheard in the Nirodas High Command Mess Hall

The journey to Nirodas didn't take long. Rose had managed to make even more progress towards completing her occupation as they sailed, focusing mostly on drawing but also sparing some time to write in her diaries and read a few stories.

Skill up!
Drawing 40 > 43
Precision 14 > 15
Writing 28 > 30
Reading 22 > 23

Your occupation has advanced!
Apprentice Scholar 80 > 86

She was almost finished with her first occupation after a few months of effort. She realised how idiotic her complaints of slow progress would have sounded to any regular person, given that most people only completed one or perhaps two occupations in their entire lives.

However, she had grown used to rapid progress and wouldn't settle for anything less now. She firmly believed that with an occupation more suited to piracy she would race through it.

They were met at the docks by the same commander as the last time. Since they knew each other, it was easy to introduce the rest of the ambassadors to Commander Greavis.

Rose was glad it wasn't the stern Commander Ackron. While he was technically higher up the chain and him greeting them would've meant they were held in very high esteem, he was rather difficult to get along with.

Greaves' men were left behind along with Rose's crew to help them take all their cargo and set themselves up in the housing that had been granted them for the duration of their stay. All of the ambassadors, the two princes, and Rose instead were escorted straight to an enormous mansion in the centre of Nirodas.

"Apologies for not giving you any time to freshen up after your journey, but the sooner this meeting is held, the better. After all, we are at war. Time is of the essence," he said apologetically as they disembarked from the carriages.

"No need to apologise, Commander. We understand perfectly," Rose's uncle replied diplomatically.

As they spoke, two more carriages pulled up alongside theirs. The doors opened and General Vagor stepped out along with a few other soldiers wearing the uniforms of Zoria. Only one person in their party was wearing civilian clothes, though they looked as if they cost about as much as the mansion they were gathering at.

Definitely someone wealthy and powerful, Rose thought to herself while wondering which piece of the pretty man's jewellery she would steal first. Eventually she figured he was so thin that taking everything in one fell swoop wouldn't be an issue.

Of course she wouldn't actually rob a fellow ambassador while they were at peace talks. Afterwards, however…

Piracy was an expensive business, after all. She would need to purchase another ship when she was ready to set sail and load it with weapons and cargo. Those were worries for another day.

"General Vagor, an honour to meet you in the flesh. Councillor Everblue," her uncle said, marching over and offering his hand to the general. "Although I suppose here it should be 'Ambassador Everblue'," he added with a friendly chuckle.

The general was a man of few words. He nodded and shook her uncle's outstretched hand. She saw her uncle wince as the powerfully built soldier squeezed his hand in a vice grip.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, ambassador. I hope our talks will be productive," he said.

After that, the two parties made their way into the mansion under the watchful eye of Commander Greavis. He was serving as an escort but also a peacekeeper.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

It was unlikely that any fighting or arguments would break out now, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Three nations meeting to discuss an alliance like this was an unprecedented event in the Bluestone Sea and as the hosts, it would reflect poorly on Derridas if anything went wrong.

Thankfully for him and everyone involved, there was barely any chatter between the two groups after the earlier introduction. They made it to the atrium of the waiting room in one of the wings of the mansion, where Greavis had left them and disappeared.

"Wait here, I will inform Duchess Windvayne and the other ambassadors of your arrival. The meeting will begin shortly," he'd told them.

He was true to his word. Less than five minutes after he left, Greavis returned, following Duchess Windvayne. Even though this was an official meeting, she was dressed in a beautiful midnight blue dress that draped around her legs and left only her shoulders exposed.

The necklace it showed off was worth more than most people's entire possessions, but Rose had to admit it was beautiful. Three large diamonds sparkled under the light of the chandeliers.

"Welcome to my humble abode," she announced, opening her arms wide as she greeted them. "Apologies for the wait, we were just discussing how we intend to proceed. Please, follow me to the living room so we can begin."

As usual, although polite, she was also straight to business. Rose appreciated that quality. People who wasted time with nonsensical chatter often lacked in the brains department in her experience.

Or they had an ulterior motive. Either way she had no desire to engage in idle small talk, so the Duchess' business minded attitude was perfect.

Her uncle led them in her wake, with General Vagor doing the same for the group from Zoria. However, Rose noticed that the general waited for a nod from the well dressed, handsome man before proceeding.

Clearly he was in charge.

Despite it being a living room, the way it had been arranged for the meeting made it worthy of a throne room or military office. A large round table had been placed in the middle of the room, with dozens of chairs arranged around it.

All of the ambassadors from Derridas were already seated, but they stood up to greet the newcomers as they arrived. It was only polite.

Once everyone had found their way to a seat, the Duchess prepared to begin the meeting. Even though it was a round table, the groups had settled in three rough sections, each one populated by the ambassadors from each of the three nations.

"First of all, I'd like to thank each and every one of you for making the journey to Nirodas. We appreciate the effort you are putting into making this alliance work. As you know, we all share the same goals and I hope that will allow us to come to an acceptable deal," she said, motioning for everyone to sit once she finished.

After that, it was time for the negotiations to begin. Even though they shared the goal of defeating Minenblum, which should make this meeting a simple affair, human nature often got in the way.

Every nation had their own views on how to approach the war, what they wanted from it, and of course there was a lot of contention about the most important decision of all—how to split the loot once Minenblum had been decimated.

"A pleasure to meet you all and I hope these talks will be productive and amiable. My name is Ambassador Everblue of the Emerlan Isle and I will be the main representative of my nation today. I hope we can all reach a satisfying agreement that makes everyone happy, but I'd like to begin by reminding everyone that it was our island that was attacked first and it is our forces who have been fighting Minenblum every step of the way, even dealing a blow to their homeland," Rose's uncle said, earning nods of approval from his countrymen and a mix of fierce glares and understanding looks from the other ambassadors.

"While that may be true, you forget that this is just one war of many. Minenblum have been aggressive bastards since the dawn of history. I myself have fought in dozens of battles against their navy and lived to tell the tale, but you don't hear me spouting about them," General Vagor replied.

"You dare-" one of the nobles sitting beside Rose started to exclaim, but a cough from her uncle silenced him.

"You are right, General, but you have to remember that you are a soldier. You made the decision to fight for your people and put your life on the line. While there has always been battle between the nations of the Bluestone Sea, I don't believe that such a devastating loss of civilian life has occurred before. Given the extent of the suffering we have endured, it is only right that we are able to have the first say on the terms," her uncle replied, expertly shifting the general's complaints into yet another advantage for his nation.

After that, chaos unfolded. It was impossible to reign in all of the tempers that were present even with the Duchess doing her best to maintain the peace. Rose sat back, knowing she was out of her depth here.

This time it was her turn to learn rather than teach. Watching her uncle at work was magnificent—he was an expert diplomat and she was forced to reevaluate her beliefs that he was a useless lout carried by her aunt.

There was one other benefit which made her cheer inwardly when it appeared in her vision accompanied by a splash. Apparently her presence and open mind was enough to broaden her horizons.

Skill up!
Diplomacy 1 > 2

I'm glad I didn't decide to skip the meeting and tour around Nirodas like I planned. The tide for the win.