Doing this was needed. If we wanted to remain independent, we had to show him that we could not be pushed around. When the lord came he had a pouch full of silver coins. "Here, you damn ruffians. Return my son to me." he said as he threw the pouch over to me. I snatched out the air. I let his son and the commander go. I said "We will remain here as an independent settlement. I hope you understand." The lord scowled just at me. "I will rally all my best men and destroy this town if it's the last thing I do, Sage." I rolled my eyes. "You may go." I told him. That pissed him off. He was seething in anger, but there was nothing that he could do. He was outnumbered. Even if he had more men, they would be outmatched. The lord had no other choice but to leave in disgrace. I found out that the lord had set road blocks on the mountain to prevent us from crossing over to their side. We did not need it. If I needed the mountain for something, that would be one thing. We did not need it though. We had the valley on our side of their mountain range. We could farm, fish and hunt. We were great.
Jumping into a war was impossible for us. It would get Lance Quaid coming down on our heads like a ton of bricks. That was something that I did not want. Epsilon and I had to think about what would happen to the Protectors I created. They would be either deleted, killed or enslaved by others in the world. That was something that I did not want for them. The lord soon realized that I was not bothered by the headlines. All of the penalties did not matter at all. It was one thing to be defiant. He could work with that. A nice war would solve that problem for him. It was quite another thing to be totally ignored. It was a huge blow to the ego. He sent another person here to talk to us about joining them. Diplomacy is always an option. He wanted to bribe me. I was a Sage though. Anything that I could want, I could simply spawn in at the tower. In no way would I bow down and be vassalized if I did not have to do so. That was when they stormed off in a huff. Epsilon was on my side. Lance Quaid himself restored the former Protector- Black Ops to full strength. He could do great diplomacy if he wanted.
Quietly, I let that topic die. I personally promised him that he will never have to fuck a single person he doesn't want to. Even bringing it up to him would feel like forcing a particular decision. Epsilon did not need to be involved at all if he did not want to. The lord was simply not someone who could rise to the level of nuisance that we would consider a problem. That was kind of the issue. Fucking our way to ruling from the shadows would be fun. He did not feel a need or desire to do so. Clearly, forcing him was not the way to go. That would be wrong. With that in mind, I simply went around the settlement and got involved. It was one way to cut down on the boredom. They all were master farmers and builders. They were going around the communal farmlands to tend to them. I followed. My commoner Protectors were happy to see me. Well digging was on the agenda. They were not shy in asking me to go all over town for their fetch quests. I did them all to the best of my ability. When I got tired of that, I took my leave. It was important to show my face as the leader of my Protectors. I liked them all.
