I don't know what I was imagining the snowlords arrival would look like. I expected the storms to take on titanic proportions as their very steps would have shaken the walls. I expected them to be followed by an army of ice beasts at their back. (Even though Shamon was clear that it was not possible. What can I say, my imagination is very active.)'

  Nothing like that happened. Their arrival on the battlefield is very anticlimactic. They just appeared like blips on the horizon. They weren't particularly trying to hide themselves as well. I don't know what I was expecting to happen, but this was certainly not what I had expected.

  Well, they are standing right next to the southern gate so confidently as well. Letting them so close to such an obvious weak point is very risky but this is the only way that I will be able to get a shot in. (What, I had been tracking them for a couple of minutes now.)

  Just as I am getting the perfect shot ready on them, Shamon stops me.

  “Captain, the enemy is flying a flag of peace. You do not want to be attacking them with that flag.“, the man speaks just as I am aiming the ballista. In my scopes, I can see the flag the man is speaking of. It is a piece of cloth covered in a symbol that must be the tribe band of these snowlords. (Well, we do know some things about the snowtribe. I will speak of them some other time though.). It is a nonsensical pattern, resembling some kind of abstract art.

  “Why would I not be taking such a perfect opportunity to strike them.“, I reply, as I look up from the ballista. There is no way that they are going to be making peace deals with a person of the legion.

  “It is the truce, captain. If you break this today, the little negotiation that we can do with the tribe will also be lost.“, he speaks.

  "You don't understand, they won't negotiate with the legion. This is a trap.", I reply.

  "Maybe it is, captain. This is something that has been assured by the commander.", he speaks, his voice carrying caution with it. "If a snowlord comes to the land of the Snowwind empire with their flag, no weapon of the Snowwind empire shall strike them. This ballista of yours is still the property of the snowwind empire. If you break this truce, the commander will be forced to provide your head to the snow tribe."

  “Fine, but just remember that no negotiation will be successful. I am surprised that they are already not attacking us like rabid beasts.“, I reply to the man as I stay my hand, very reluctantly.

  That is how we have ended up in the present situation. With the snowlords standing right at the weakest point of this fort. Even as I am speaking the soldiers are hurrying down there removing the obstacles they had placed to get the thing opened up.

  They are three snowlords standing at our gate. The main threat is a man the size of a small hill. His entire body is covered in some kind of runic tattoos. None of them are active, but once that does happen he is going to be a pain to manage. Even without it, his mana output is amazing. This is not somebody in the foundation stage. They are in the stage beyond. Even though I had expected it. I have to admit that mentally processing it and looking at it on the battlefield are two very different things.

  The other two are more muted in the mana that they emit. It is flickering as if they have been overdrawing on their mana for the last couple of days. If I were to try something like that, my mana core would have ruptured. The damage to these people is also pretty high, as they seem to be at my present combat strength. (Without my formations naturally.)

  As I am speaking this, Shamon and his soldiers have been preparing to greet the snowlords at the fort. Shamon had disappeared from the watchtower, as he was already making his way down there.

  Normally it should be the strongest person in the fort that should be doing this task. In this case that would be me. I am not going to be taking such a risk. After all, the bastards could be coming here with the express desire to do exactly this.

  The only reason that I am allowing the bastards to enter is because the narrow tunnels of this place will make for a perfect ambush. I can riddle them full of holes if they try anything.

  Granted it is going to leave a few holes in the building but that is an acceptable loss, isn't it? Well, I guess that I should focus on this. Right now I am hearing what is happening at the southern gate by enhancing my hearing with vital mana. It will leave me with a headache but it will be worth it.

  “Greetings, snowlords.“, Shamon speaks while opening up the gate to the fort. “For what purpose have you decided to come to our humble abode?“

  “Your master seems to have a certain amount of spunk, to dare to intrude in our lands. “, it is the man who speaks, his voice strengthened with mana so that it is audible to everybody in the fort. “Come on out, you little spawn of sages. Just because you are not using the arts of your people, do you think that we will not be able to track you down? “

  Well, I still am not making a move though the only reason for that is suspicion. There is no way in hell that I got that lucky now, could I have? I used the legion arts in front of them, that should have been enough for them to put two and two together.

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  “I do not know what you mean, I am the commander of this fort and I have presented myself as is the tradition.“, Shamon replies, as cool as a cucumber.

  “Well, commander. We understand the mana signature of the sages and the touch that they have with their magic. Even now I can feel the bastard's mana sense probing into this place.“, the man speaks, his voice normal now.

  “Well, sage we are waiting down here. If you do not get your ass down here, I will be forced to tear down this fort of yours.“, he screams again.

  Well, again I find myself questioning if I should be going to the gate. Let's just go with the flow now.

  (After about a couple of minutes.)

  I have finally made my way to the gate. Normally I am much quicker about this but I am wary. Even right now my heart is beating like a drum. What, there is no way that I am expending vital mana before a possible fight with somebody from the stage beyond. Even at my full strength I won't be able to fight the opposing enemy easily. Just surviving is going to take everything.

  Right now I am taking an absurd risk by coming here. If all of this was a clever ruse to get me away from the ballista then I am screwed. (They should not know about the ballistas.) All of my mana reserves should be nearing the threshold value but that is a risk that I am not willing to take at this moment. Activating it will spark them into action, truce or no truce. Better to leave it as a last resort.

  “For a sage, I must admit that you are quite fit.“, the man speaks, looking at me. In all of this, his two retainers have not spoken one word. (I have been putting all of my attention on these three. If they speak a word, I will catch it.) “Regardless we are in Snowwind territory and we will have to follow their traditions.“

  Saying so the man begins to charge in. I turn to Shamon behind me who only signs for me to wait. By the time I turn back to the man, he is already entering deep into the fort. I follow suit and soon enough we are in a room that has been cleaned up by the soldiers in a hurry. It is a kind of a massive guest room. I swear I have never visited the place even once.

  “Well, it is in no way comfortable, but at the very least it shall do. Sage, the bastards must be offering you quite the bit if you are willing to stay in this hellhole. “, the man speaks, his two servants behind him like a couple of ghosts.

  “Well, sir....“, I begin. (Well, even the sages would be polite to somebody stronger.)

  “No need to break protocol now. Otherwise, the bastards will begin to take it as an invitation to stab us in our back.“, he replies. “Any talk of business will have to be postponed till tomorrow.“

  “My sir, what would be your name?“, I ask again.

  “Well, I have no desire to fall victim to your magic, sage. I shall not be giving you the name of any person here.“, he replies with an air of finality. Turning to Shamon. "I am following your commander's rules, Snowwinder. Go to your master and inform him."

  With that, I leave the room about as confused as a man can be.

  (After almost a couple of hours.)

  Shamon has been rushing about the base for the last couple of hours. The man has been trying to get a feast cooked and I have to admit that he has been more them exemplary at it. (How a soldier knows so much about cooking don't ask me.) He has rounded up a few of the soldiers who seem to be good at cooking and opened up a random room full of food items. (Again, I did not know this existed.)

  I am surprised that the soldiers have not raided this pantry. The rations that they have here are filling but they are certainly not appetising. I am in the kitchen at the moment salivating while smelling the food that is being made here. (What can I say, a man needs to eat sometimes.)

  “Captain, we will not be getting to eat unless the guests have eaten.“, shamon speaks behind me, shocking me.

  “Well, I have come here to ask you how in hell are we suddenly feeding the snowlords?“, I ask. I did come to do exactly that.

  “Right now is the day of rest. Today they shall eat the feast and rest. Any business has to be left for tomorrow.“, he replies. "The day of rest is one of the important rules of our treaties."

  “Isn't that kind of stupid?“, is my only reply. "Wouldn't letting them into the fort even a minute more than necessary increase the risk of the fort being infiltrated."

  “It might be, but this is how the nobles do it in our empire. It is meant to be proof that neither side is going to be impulsive. The nobles believe that tired men are quick to fight.“, he replies. “Regardless, we cannot break protocol until they do. For now, I would suggest that you return to the ballista. After all, if they do end up making a move that is the only thing that can hold them back.“

  Saying that shamon essentially dismisses me to the tower. As I do so, I cannot help but think about the sages. Well, how do I describe sages to men that have never dealt with them? I think the best way to describe them is that they are men of every faction. The bastards are capable of selling the same spells to both sides of a war. On top of that they will do it in such a way that both sides have no option but to buy from the sages.

  Their ability to do this is to a degree that even the black mountain will be able to learn lessons from them. After all, they have managed to even form a trading relationship with quite a few of our allies (and all of our enemies as well.) One example of this is the tribes.

  They deal with every faction in the continent. Part of the reason for this is that their services are nearly indispensable to everybody. Very few beings can beat a sage in terms of magic.

  Even the black mountain with its massive reservoir of magic will struggle to compete with them sometimes. (The keyword is sometimes.) That is mainly due to their bloodline. The sages tend to have certain abilities present in them inherently that make magic come to them like it is their second nature. They say a sage can cast a spell even before he can speak.

  As for how I am descended from a sage, that I will have to leave for some other day. It is a long and annoying story to tell now. I will tell it to you some other day when I have the energy to tell this story. It is also pretty depressing and personal.

  I don't know why but the snowlords seem to be thinking that I am a sage. All I can guess at this moment is that there seems to be a communication gap between the various snowlords. The one that sent the troops must have been somebody else and they have not managed to communicate with these snowlords.

  If they were to know of my allegiance with the legion, they are not going to give any shit about any truce. The bastards will attack me. Well, the only way that I will be finding out about this is by going through whatever negotiation is going to be occurring tomorrow.

  The negotiation is going to fail ultimately. (the sages are very unique people. It is hard to mimic their behavior, even if you have been trained to do it.) it is going to at least give me time to figure out how the hell I am going to kill three snowlords. With the proper trap, I am sure that I can take out at least two of them.