Chapter 144: Sarey’s clever tactics, for a small price

Sarey looked at both of them, founding their appearance quite laughable, for once. “You both look quite tired just from waking up on another day. That is what you get from messing with each other in the spar and overdoing things.” Sarey jokingly said upon seeing their appearances.

Zigmund looked at Allan, but Allan didn't look all that tired to him.

“She is making fun of me since the morning? What sort of heavenly tribulations will I endure today? Damn heavens…” He thought with helplessness, looking at the table with the meal for at least 5 or so people.

“What do we have here? You will eat all of this?”

“No. This is for everyone here, including you. I suppose me and Allan have some plans for the rest of the day, and before the spar around the night, we won't come back.” Sarey said as she placed the last plate on the table.

“Even me? How generous. I don't remember the last time you made breakfast for me. This is rather surprising indeed. Heheheh.” Zigmund joked and took a seat, accepting this generosity without a single speck of hesitation.

Looking around, he noticed quite a bit of food that was enough for everyone, and maybe even more. Although, he did not notice that everything on this table was something that came out of his pockets.

Without caring about it, he went straight to the plates and fill his stomach which need some nutritious meal from the last night. His injury, hidden behind his clothes, was in need of some healing, so this meal was welcoming.

“Come, Allan, I think I made quite enough for you as well.” Sarey pointed to the table, indicating it more by her words than her actions.

“Yes. Yes. Thank you. I will eat to the satisfaction and even beyond that.”

The plates were almost empty in very little time, as usual, since these two men were always unhinged with their hunger or with their manners. Both Allan and Zigmund filled their bellies and took a big gulp of water to quench their thirst afterward.

“That was good. I thought you would be more pissed than yesterday. Hehehe.” Zigmund said to his daughter.

“Not at all. At least I did not poison your portions of the breakfast, which was almost as easy as it sounds.” Sarey said in a mocking tone.

“That…” Zigmund gulped down the water. “is good. Good. I will probably go to the restaurant to check things around so I won't be here as well, or something. Nothing much is happening nowadays, and the results from the war will not happen until one side is victorious anyways, so whatever. I may as well check the information around that later.”

“We checked the information yesterday,” Allan said as he heard him talk about this topic. His words were kind of out of reach by Sarey, who didn't want to talk about it, but it was too late to cry over spilled milk.

“You did? Oh, I forgot you had a day with Sarey. Is the information about war also included in times such as this? What a bummer of a topic to discuss on a good day.” Zigmund talked as if he understood everything.

“I took it for granted, since you aren't telling me much of anything. Regarding the war, or other things… I had to be forceful and gather information by myself.” Sarey countered his words, not eating as much as coming with words to force Zigmund into an uncomfortable position.

“Oh, you want to know something regarding Tricloud politics and war in general? I can tell you some things or two if I will have breakfast such as this every morning.” Zigmund offered a brand new price for his clumsy method, called information gathering. He wasn't entirely expecting a positive answer to such a purchase, but what did he know? He noted the time his daughter didn't need and said this in a fleeting moment with very little thought put behind it.

“Sure. Why won't you start right now?” Sarey earnestly said, with not a single second of hesitation.

Zigmund looked at her in surprise but forgot his part in this. Of course. He fucked up. If someone gave him such an easy thing to do for something like that, he would also not hesitate.

“Oh… I believe I agreed to something terrible. When I think of this, I don't think I need to stuff my belly every day like this, so how about not doing this? ” He said, sweat forming on his forehead and back.

“Will you go against your own words, father?” Sarey asked with a look that could kill.

“I could, but what sort of things do you even want to know? I don't know some mind-blowing information about the current state of their efforts.”

“So you know about their past efforts and politics? That in itself is also valuable information, you know?” Sarey deducted from his way of speaking.

“I think I am talking way too much so early in the morning. How about this topic tomorrow and not now?” Zigmund tried to survive the gaze of his daughter and get some space for himself to come up with some excuses.

“What do you mean? Since you dared to say that breakfast would come, I could ask you about things I am curious about. It's your words, your rules.” Sarey continued.

“Don't be too unreasonable, just from a simple breakfast.” Zigmund tried to respond, but it all came to the firm mind of Sarey who wouldn't back down.

“No. I will make you such a great breakfast every day that you won't have any better in all your life. You will be salivating over it with expectations and will look forward to this every morning.” Sarey exaggerated her words.

“Fine! You are a real piece of work… What do you want to know about Tricloud policies, or war anyway? Does it matter too much for you?”

“I am curious, and I bet Allan is too.”

“Don't try to connect me to this mess, Sarey. I would rather not know about it if it's too bothersome to him.” Allan added, helping Zigmund out of the sheer pressure even he could feel.

“See? Even Allan agrees to this mess that you created.” Zigmund exaggerated the problem, which wasn't a problem.

“You started it, father! I want to know the internal structure of the Alliance. Is that too much to ask?”

Zigmund frowned but relaxed in his chair as a result of listening to her first question.

“Like what? Parts of the Alliance? The structure around the leaders and subdivisions of three schools that went out of their way and created the Alliance? There are so many layers to the Tricloud that aren't even available to the public, so what do you want to know?” Zigmund asked after accepting his fate but secretly thought of some ways to get out of this.

“The second one would be enough. Alliance stuff sounds good.”

“Well, what can I say to that? It is a structure that any kind of military or nationally formed power uses. It is a normal-looking Alliance aside from the involvement of the schools. Three schools that created it are in charge of it and changed the way they did things around this region in general. It's all about the history of the Tricloud Region, but you know its history already, so I won't bother with such tiny details. As far as I know, the structure is following. Gathering resources is the forte of the 3rd division. Expanding wealth is done in 2nd division with trades and economics, which goes through the Alliance and the Region as a whole. 1st one is the military department, which is in charge of defensive and offensive subdivisions.”

“Who is in charge?” Sarey asked.

“Charge? Someone from the Three Schools, I guess. I think the Alliance is now somewhat independent from them, but I don't know much about it. The flow of time can change a lot of internal things in the powers that rule over millions.” Zigmund said some lies, some truths, and something in-between. The fact was, that what he said still counted in today's time, but some didn't.

“I guess that makes sense. For now, is Alliance strong enough to face the Timeless kingdom or the three schools will get involved as well?”

“I don't know for certain. Maybe? It's complicated for sure.”

“So what do you know?” Sarey asked as she was not entirely believing his casual answer that sounded more like an excuse.

“Ohh… Give me a break, Sarey.” Zigmund said in a dismissive manner. “I know that it's normal to not know much. That is all that is to it, but sure, If I would guess something, they could act. The Alliance is already facing the Timeless Kingdom, so if anything will go wrong, three schools will get involved as well. Why wouldn't they, since it involves a lot of people and their benefits?”

“The three schools what you speak of. What are they in their structure?” Allan suddenly asked, as his interest was piqued.

“You too?” Zigmund looked at Allan who was continuing to eat a few spoonfuls of some salad while listening to their discussion. Sarey looked at him as if she was the one that asked that question. Although she already talked to Allan about it, it should hurt to hear something from Zigmund about this topic.

“They are the general protectors and influence which revolves around this entire Tricloud Region. I told you something about it, Allan.” Sarey answered since Zigmund didn't tell anything.

“You did, but what about them in specifics? The Alliance sounds like the three schools combined together into what? Another power that could cause more complications and maintenance? That sounds like a recipe for problems or whatnot.”

By this point, Zigmund had to answer, since Sarey was about to pierce him with her gaze. “That is not entirely wrong to think, but politics are not so easy to understand. For example, the regions outside of this one. There are struggles within them too, causing a lot of troubles and runnings in the world. The Timeless kingdom is not the only one that is keen on increasing its territories. What Three schools did was a simple structural segment for running the region that is much larger than they could manage. Having a simple and singular running organization to do so is much better than their internal conflicts. I swear… I know about it, but…” Zigmund said, mumbling in the end after getting ahead of himself.

“Why increase the territory when there is enough place for everything?” Allan asked in return with a question that had deep roots within his heart. His own home had fate like that in similar senses, and to this day, he can't wrap his head around it. What would a nation gain from gaining more trouble with other ones?

Especially the involving mess that would happen when gaining more land to their borders at the cost of their lives. Including the deaths of the former nation in successive invasions, and its recipe for disaster and further complications.

“This… is a question which goes to humans in general. We are all somewhat greedy and we want more than we already have. That is all about it. It's in human nature.” Zigmund answered.

“I hate that…” Allan quenched his fist and anger was visible on his face.

“Changing that is impossible… unless you want to completely obliterate every nation and kingdom in this continent and cease the wars under one single banner. Wait… That is what every butcher of people wanted, so here we are. It's nothing easy to answer, or even think about it, boy. Sorry for the reality check.”

Allan grunted, dismissing his last words, but remembered it anyway. “That would not solve anything either. I thought about it a lot since the war took my home.” Allan continued.

“Of course, it wouldn't. Unless the Immortals would get involved in the plays of mortals, but they would never lower themselves into that.”

“Immortals? Why even consider them?” Sarey asked, hearing the involvement of something that is rare to hear and even harder to see.

“Because they are humans too.”

“I know that, already… Tell me more about the Alliance than what sort of division is within those 3 that you said.” Sarey asked once more, as the things that he said, were something important.

“Heh! It is simple. Those divisions act according to their purpose and do what everyone does. Shops, merchants, and resources from the entire region are revolving around the 3rd and 2nd divisions. The ending results should come to the main place where the Alliance gathers its resources and have headquarters.”

“Where is it stationed? I know where the schools are since it is common knowledge. Is the Alliance around the north from here? Somewhere around the middle of the mountain pass of Roaring Mountains?” Sarey tried to guess since the topic of the core Alliance wasn't anything public.

Zigmund found her accurate guess kind of surprising but did not let it show. She guessed pretty much the correct answer, as the place that she told her was quite vast. The Roaring Mountains had many defenses and roads which were manageable to repair and maintain. All of the major Alliance powers had their members gathered in the middle of the mountain range. It was a good place and a strategically perfect space.

Surrounding all the borders at the same distance were mountains for dozens of kilometers, with all kinds of heights. There was an unfathomable amount of care put into such headquarters, and many roads made sure it worked fine. In fact, one could reach surrounding borders from such a location, and the mountains were a great geopolitical defense. From the bird's point of view, the headquarters were in the very middle of this Region, making it a perfect fortress.

“Yeah. Roaring Mountains are pretty much the headquarters. They have some plains surrounding the mountain or something. It's massive, but whatever. It's just some buildings and they have plenty of other places where are more subdivisions and other things.”

“I knew it!” Sarey slammed the table, happy that she was right.

Zigmund cringed and scowled at the luck this table had. “I will tell you the last things, as this is enough for today. These 3 divisions have names. 3 Cloud Divisions it is, which are under the Tricloud rule. The rest underneath them are called Mist Divisions. Is it enough to your satisfaction? I hope so because I am done. Over.” Zigmund said to Sarey with a calm face.

“Yes. Thank you. I will be preparing plenty of nice breakfasts from now on, so prepare your brain to answer my question.” Sarey said directly to his face, smiling in mischief and satisfaction at her clever tactics.

“Oh… crap. What a troublesome daughter.” Zigmund cursed in his mind and let go of this problem for the future him. For now, he rather left the room in a hurry to not inspire Sarey's mood even further.

“Was it worth it to be like this, Sarey? I bet what he knows is something that he really doesn't want to tell you for your own good. His reasoning may be normal, so why doing it in this manner?” Allan said to Sarey, who was in a great mood.

“What do you know? I will force some answers from him since time is limiting us and he knows some secrets for sure. Tricloud and the Alliance have plenty of things that are hidden from the public, and he was surely involved in something. It makes sense… because he never talked about it, nor he was… Never mind that!” Sarey shouted, going on to another topic. “Do you think the expansion of the Timeless Kingdom is some calm skirmishes? I will have to use some of my wealth to ask more important questions about it in the Guild of Questions. Yes. Yes… That should be it.” Sarey said, believing that she was right, and Allan was wrong.

“So unyielding. Your father doesn't have it easy, does he?” Allan said what was on his mind.

“Heh! I am like this because he is my father! Is it wrong to make him talk about his past?”

“Maybe I grew up in different ways… Let's not influence it much more and try to get along. How about it?”

“Sure, but after I am done with reaching at least some answer about his past in the Alliance. Today wasn't enough. If it's even truthful and honest, that is. I bet he made some excuses today, so these are going to be tough breakfasts.” She resolutely replied.

Allan couldn't help but not agree with it, but it was her own thinking that she was curious about. He could only support her from behind or ignore the rumbling lives that were between daughter and father.

“Anyways, I think this will be interesting. Father had some time in the Alliance for sure, since the Guild of Questions seems to have some rules about them. I never told this to you, but they do not explain any information about the core structure of the Alliance unless you have some badge or something. Father has a badge like this, or I at least saw something like that one time. It was definitely something secretive, so I even asked about him in the Guild of Questions. Anyone can ask about any kind of topic so I tried my best for the sake of discovering something about his past.”

“You even tried to reach out to the Guild about your father?” Allan was speechless by the sheer will Sarey had. It was for the past of her father, and he couldn't help but sight. The amount of fixation she had with it was tremendous, and maybe a bit too much.