Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 869 - Taming the Fifth Year - Cold Diplomacy - 3

If these forces had abandoned their positions where they should have been protecting the city...

If theyʼd left vulnerabilities in defenses that only hadnʼt converted into disasters because somehow these nobles were controlling the mutants somehow...

Then they werenʼt simply an army deserving respect as combatants doing their duty.

They were deserters whoʼd put the civilian population at risk for political purposes. Leaders had ordered them to abandon fundamental responsibilities. And that created a situation where punishment wasnʼt simply permitted but obligatory under military laws governing the armed forcesʼ conduct in the kingdom.

The laws were clear, had been clear for centuries. Abandoning a defensive position without authorization was a capital offense. Not because rulers were cruel but because the alternative was systematic collapse of defense that would result in far more deaths than executing a few deserters.

Those laws existed because previous generations had learned what happened when you tolerated desertion. Through lessons written in blood and corpses.

Selphira wasnʼt proposing revenge…. She was proposing the application of the existing military law to a situation that fit the definition of desertion with disturbing precision.

And Arturo, despite his reluctance toward violence, despite his preference for administrative solutions, despite every instinct telling him this would create problems...

Couldnʼt actually argue that she was wrong.

”Thatʼs unnecessary,” the leader protested with a voice that had lost some of the initial confidence heʼd projected. ”We can resolve this civilly if youʼll simply…”

”No,” Selphira interrupted with finality not permitting additional discussion. ”Iʼve already decided. Youʼre going to return to your positions after discovering exactly what it means to face the consequences of desertion.”

Her mana increased.

The three tamers before her involuntarily stepped back another half a pace. It was a clear threat needing no verbal elaboration to communicate intention.

The younger man attempted one last argument appealing to rationality.

”Matriarch, please carefully consider what youʼre proposing. There are hundreds of soldiers here. Even with your considerable capabilities and the forces Lord Arturo brought, direct confrontation will result in conflict and casualties that neither side truly desires. Surely itʼs better to resolve this through negotiation as intelligent, noble people rather than resorting to…”

”Intelligent, noble people,” Selphira repeated with a short laugh carrying no humor, ”donʼt abandon defenses protecting the civilian population from mutants that eat human flesh without distinction. Intelligent, noble people donʼt participate in kidnapping a military commander under pretense of ʼnegotiationʼ. So pardon me if I donʼt find your appeals to intelligence and nobility particularly convincing right now.”

Arturo sighed internally while accepting the situation had crossed the point where diplomatic intervention could redirect eventsʼ course.

Selphira was committed to action now, and he recognized the arguments sheʼd presented werenʼt without merit. If he tried stopping her now, heʼd only create visible division in Yanoʼs leadership that these enemies would exploit.

And honestly, she was right in a fundamental aspect.

If these soldiers werenʼt at their assigned positions... If theyʼd abandoned duties putting lives at risk... Then it didnʼt matter whether they could control mutants or not. It wasnʼt Selphiraʼs fault if she kicked their asses for being insubordinate.

They were the ones whoʼd first forsaken their positions. Consequences of that decision would appropriately fell on those whoʼd made it.

The calculus was cold... But leadership required cold calculus sometimes. Compassion without judgment led to situations where good people died protecting bad people whoʼd exploited that compassion.

”Very well,” Arturo said aloud, words directed to both Selphira and the trio watching them with growing alarm. ”Weʼre going to knock out all Gold-rank tamers leading this desertion. And weʼre going to chase all surviving Silvers toward their appropriate positions on the wall. With sufficient... incentive... some will remember their duty is toward the kingdom and not toward some corrupt nobles.”

It was an acknowledgment that much of this force was probably people from the regional regular army, soldiers whoʼd been ordered here by superiors controlling part of the command structure but who personally had no particular loyalty to the rebel faction.

Those obligated soldiers could surely be convinced to return to appropriate duties if the alternative was sufficiently unpleasant.

Maybe 50-70% of the force fit that category. Regular soldiers. Career military. People whoʼd taken orders because thatʼs what soldiers did.

Those people didnʼt deserve death… Deserved correction, certainly. Deserved consequences for following illegal orders. But not execution.

And those who were true loyalists to rebels and wouldnʼt yield... well, theyʼd be eliminated as the threats they represented.

Probably 20-30% hardcore. The ones whoʼd volunteered for this. Who believed in whatever Orion was selling. Whoʼd fight rather than surrender.

Those, Arturo had less compunction about removing from the board.

”Youʼre making a grave mistake,” the leader warned with a voice attempting to project authority but breaking slightly at the edges. ”Lord Orion wonʼt take kindly to attacks on the forces under his protection. And we have Victor in…”

”Victor is inside that underground ruin,” Arturo interrupted while pointing toward the ancient castle behind the deployed army. ”Which means heʼs relatively safe from being used as a human shield during this confrontation about to occur out here. Orion isnʼt foolish enough to leave outside the only real leverage he has over us.”

It was cold logic but probably accurate.

Victor was valuable as a hostage precisely because he was alive. Moment Orion eliminated him, heʼd lose the manipulation tool justifying considerable risk heʼd taken by capturing him in the first place.

Hostages only worked while alive. Dead hostages were just corpses that generated revenge motivation rather than compliance motivation.

So Victor was probably in the ruinʼs most defensible position, well-guarded. Standard hostage protocol.

Orion might be many things, traitor, opportunist, dangerous, but he wasnʼt stupid. Heʼd follow those standard protocols because standard protocols worked.

Which meant Victor was safe.

Selphira didnʼt wait for more discussion.

The temperature began to drop.

Not metaphorically. Literally. Physically measurable temperature decrease spreading outward from her location like an invisible wave.

The air itself became hostile. Moisture condensing. Breath visible. Grass beneath their feet acquired a thin frost layer that crackled when weight shifted.

Behind Arturo, their 35 companions began manifesting their own beasts, some were even doubles. 60+ beasts total in their group.

The numbers still favored the deserters.

But numbers werenʼt everything. Especially when rank differences were this pronounced.

The three negotiators stumbled backward, nearly tripping over each other in a scramble to create distance from Selphiraʼs advancing cold.