Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 868 - Taming the Fifth Year - Cold Diplomacy - 2

The silence that followed was different from the previous uncomfortable pause.

The leaderʼs face went blank.

The womanʼs artificial smile finally cracked. Not disappeared, she caught herself before that, but momentarily faltered before being forcibly reconstructed.

The younger manʼs military posture stiffened further, which shouldnʼt have been possible given how rigid it already was. But somehow he managed it, tension radiating through shoulders and neck.

Arturo felt his own understanding crystallize as Selphiraʼs implication became clear.

5000 soldiers pulled from the defensive perimeter. That many missing should create an exploitable gap. Mutants attacked opportunistically, probing constantly for weaknesses in the wall defense. They didnʼt think strategically but they seemed to sense vulnerability through mechanisms nobody understood.

So when so many soldiers disappeared from their posts, leaving sections of wall with maybe 10-20% of normal guard strength...

Mutants should have attacked...

But according to Selphiraʼs observation, and she would have verified this before making the accusation, no attacks had occurred.

Which meant either the mutants had somehow failed to notice an obvious vulnerability, which was unlikely given their consistent behavior...

Or they hadnʼt attacked because someone told them not to.

”Unless, of course, someone is controlling where the mutants attack. And more importantly, where they donʼt.”

The leader opened his mouth. Closed it.

She looked at Arturo. Her expression said everything she didnʼt speak aloud.

This isnʼt just hostage situation. This is something bigger. Something worse.

Arturo looked at the three negotiators. Saw the confirmation in their reactions. In what they didnʼt say as much as what they did.

The rebels may have mutant control.

Which would mean every attack on Yano over recent months, every casualty might have been deliberate. Orchestrated as part of a larger strategy.

But they werenʼt certain… Maybe it was indeed a big coincidence, maybe the control was situational, regional or even temporal.

They needed to understand all of that to be certain. Still, the circumstances made it clear… It was very likely so.

Arturo felt cold recognition settling in his stomach.

Not the sharp alarm of immediate danger. Something worse... The slow, creeping understanding that arrives when you realize something has changed and you hadnʼt noticed until someone pointed it out.

Selphira was absolutely right. He had no proof, yet also no doubts.

If mutants attacked on their own, exploiting any weakness in the defenses with consistency...

Why werenʼt they attacking now?

Now when big wall sections were being left without appropriate personnel. But there were no reports of mutant attacks in areas these forces had abandoned.

Arturo would have known. Emergency reports came directly to him. Prioritized above almost everything else because mutant breaches required immediate resource allocation that couldnʼt wait for normal bureaucratic processing.

No reports meant no attacks. No attacks meant either impossibly good luck or something was controlling mutant behavior in the manner Yino once controlled corrupt beasts.

And there was only one faction Arturo knew that could have recovered access to the technology achieving that type of control after Yinoʼs fall and the loss of most Goldcrest territory nobles.

The rebels. Orionʼs people. The same group that had somehow captured Victor despite his overwhelming combat advantage.

Pieces clicked into place like a puzzle solving itself in his mind and each piece adding weight that pressed down on his chest.

Selphiraʼs eyes narrowed while observing the trioʼs reactions before her.

The noble woman still maintained a fixed smile that no longer reached any part of her expression. The younger manʼs military posture had somehow gotten even more rigid. The leaderʼs confident facade cracked. ”So I have a better proposal than your ʼinvitationʼ to an obvious trap,” Selphira declared with a tone that had passed from interrogation to pronouncement of judgment.

Her voice was level and calm... But the kind of calm that was more dangerous than shouting because it communicated absolute certainty rather than emotional response.

”Regardless of whether your leader can control those beasts or not… These forces are going to be appropriately disciplined for abandoning their assigned positions. And theyʼre going to return to the wall immediately or Iʼm going to make everyone, especially the leaders, suffer the consequences of their insubordination, consequences that theyʼll never forget.”

Not a threat... Simple statement of intended action delivered with tone suggesting sheʼd already calculated the odds and found them acceptable.

”Matriarch Selphira,” the noble woman intervened with a voice attempting to sound calming but carrying underlying panic, ”surely youʼre not suggesting youʼd attack the forces that are here under legitimate orders from…”

”Legitimate orders from whom?” Selphira cut her off. ”From Orion? Who has no military authority to command massive desertion from critical defenses? Or from rebel nobles whoʼve been operating in direct violation of the kingdomʼs mandates?”

The questions werenʼt rhetorical. They were accusation formatted as inquiry. Each one stripping away another layer of pretense.

Arturo watched the exchange with conflicting feelings.

Part of him wanted to interrupt. To try to prevent the situation from escalating toward violence that would convert this into pitched battle resulting in massive casualties.

The math would be brutal. 35 versus 5000. Even with Selphiraʼs 4 centuries of experience, even with his own Gold 2 capabilities...

People would die. Probably 500-1000 casualties minimum before the enemy force broke and fled. Maybe more if they were disciplined enough to maintain formation under pressure.

And many of those casualties would be Silver-rank soldiers who were probably just following orders. People whoʼd woken up some days ago not knowing theyʼd be in combat today. Who had families. Who had responsibilities. Who were guilty of nothing except being part of a military structure that had given them questionable orders.

Attacking the army was bad for everyone involved. That was an incontrovertible truth. Even if they won the confrontation, losses would be considerable and defensive ramifications would complicate the future.

Pulling 35 high-rank tamers away from their leading positions for this operation was already straining Yanoʼs defensive coverage. Adding casualties to that equation would make the strain worse.

But another part of him, the part that was brother before an administrator, recognized that Selphira was identifying a fundamental reality changing the moral calculation of the situation.