Lance started talking about our battle strategy to deal with the dryads.

"We will be placing the Rank Two and Rank Three Liberomancers atop the city wall," Lance said. "Of course, I shall be there alongside you. The Rank One Liberomancers will be assigned other tasks based on their capabilities, either to use buffing magic or for things such as [Create Water] to help with logistics. We do not think they have the capability to breach our walls, and so the only real point of weakness is the portion of the city facing the sea - we must do everything in our power to prevent them going into the sea and then striking us from the rear. My sources tell me that they can float, though I don't know how well they can swim, especially against the tide, but regardless, we will be fortifying that side of the city with wooden barricades. As it is also the weakest section, we will staff most of our Rank Three Liberomancers at the two ends of the wall. Our forces will be thinner in other regions - but given our primary objective is to stop them from getting through to us via the ocean, this should suffice. If we had some more time, I would've liked to build two flanking fortresses at those positions if only on a temporary basis - and perhaps we should consider this once this ordeal is over, but such will not be possible given the timeframe. In case the dryads do break through that side, we will have a wall of conscripted spearmen to hold the line while our forces rally to that side. I will remain near the city gate, which is our other point of weakness, so that I can easily respond to anything coming from either side, as well as change our battle strategy depending on the changing situation."

As he spoke, he gestured to a large map of the city, pointing at places of interest. Seeing the map, I thought of two things: one, the city was a lot bigger than I had originally thought of it as, and two, there was indeed a wide area that was open. It was clear that a lack of threats such as invading forces over the centuries had resulted in several things wanting when it came to defense.

'We really have been caught with our pants down,' I thought.

Lance took a deep breath and looked at all of us. "I know many of you are worried, but from what I have heard from our allies in Hitutsa, and my own understanding, we have an extremely high chance of not only getting through this predicament, but doing so with minimal casualties."

"Why don't these people from Hitutsa come to help us?" one of the lizardmen seated there complained. "Haven't we essentially taken this problem off of their hands?" There were similar voices of discontent from other people - and I agreed with them.

"I understand your feelings," Lance said. "But think about it - can we really ask for a foreign army to come in and save us so nonchalantly? It will take them a long time to reach us, and even if they could, the political consequences of such would not be something we can ignore."

He turned to me. "Master Liberomancer," that was how he always addressed me - though there was another Master Liberomancer in the room. Likely he just didn't know my name, I realized, or didn't want to mispronounce it. Or perhaps he was emphasizing my status so that the other lizardmen would take me seriously? "We would of course need to co-ordinate with our human allies regarding this defensive plan, I take it that you can convey our thoughts to them?"

I nodded. I had understood most of the defensive plan, and felt relatively confident about explaining it to someone else.

Lance turned to the lizardmen gathered there. He then changed the topic and his tone shifted ever so subtly to accompany it. "Since the founding of Chipker, humans and lizardmen have lived together. There are a few other intelligent races within our walls who we have welcomed from time to time, of course, but these have been the two largest groups. Two different species - lizardmen and humans, with different lifestyles and needs, living side by side, without waging war, this is nothing short of a miracle. Of course, there have been incidents throughout our history where this peace between species has become strained, as it has been recently. However, this is not the time to dwell on such aspects. The dryads will not discriminate between humans and lizardmen when they climb over our walls and slaughter all of us - children included. Cooperation is a must in these turbulent times."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Tell the humans to withdraw their complaint about having one of our own hanged for something that was not murder - they are the ones making a mountain out of a molehill!"

"We have peace only because the humans do not have the power to wipe us out… we preach peace, tolerance, and cooperation, but what of them? If we did not have the upper hand, we would either be lying in our graves or living with chains binding us in slavery."

"Indeed, they cooperate with us only because they lack the strength to slaughter or enslave us all - if they had a few Rank Four Liberomancers of their own and the tables turned, they would not hesitate to-"

"If the humans don't like it within Chipker they can leave, there are other countries out there which are majority human-"

Such objections rang throughout the room. I winced.

I had not imagined the extent to which relations were strained before I accepted this 'job', but I hadn't thought it was this bad.

I had been able to get along with most lizardmen when I went outside, whether it was to buy something or the like, but it seemed that their real feelings were different.

It was likely then that a good portion of the lizardmen also felt this way, even if they repressed such thoughts and did not openly air them out in public.

People were cordial enough to me when I spoke to them, but who knows what they were thinking or saying about me behind my back or behind closed doors?

I was snapped out of these thoughts by Lance slamming the table with his hand. It might as well have been a judge's gavel, because instantly everyone else became quiet.

"All of you - perhaps I was not clear enough when I said this… We. Will. All. Die," he put stress on every word as he pointed to everyone in the room and then to himself. He had increased the volume of his speech by a small fraction, but it was enough to gain the undivided attention of everyone in the room. "Should we not cooperate? I have heard these complaints a countless number of times during my long life, and they are always the same. Despite this, we have lived with the humans peacefully for the majority of our existence as a country, and I see no reason why that should change. These complaints that you have - I cannot say that you are wrong for having these grievances in your hearts, but for now, it is necessary that you bury them so that we have a chance against what is coming against us."

There were no objections to this.

"Many of you are very well aware of Master Stefan here, who has in his short time within our walls, already made quite a name for himself," Lance continued. "Many of you have already met him." He motioned towards Lauren.

"Right… yes that is correct," she fumbled with her words initially before finding her voice. "Master Stefan here was a scribe in my bookstore. I have watched his growth from a Rank One to Rank Two Liberomancer myself. Many of you have purchased Sonnet 95 from him. He was an excellent worker and very talented at creating new grimoires even back then."

Lance nodded. "That is why I wished to reach out to him - I intend to create a position for him so that he may ease communication between our two factions and smooth out any issues that may arise. I know he is human, but remember that he also does not have any strong familial ties to the humans of this city, and is a foreigner. He is the closest to an impartial mediator we might find."

"I agree!" Lauren said hastily the moment Lance paused. "I wholeheartedly think that he would be fair and impartial in his dealings with us. The Goddess of Fortune had clearly blessed me the day that he wandered into my shop when he did to become one of my scribes - though I did not know at the time that I had such a diamond in my hands else I would've never agreed to let him go!" She chuckled, but it was clearly fake laughter.

I had to resist the urge to snort. All of this praise was born out of possible fear of retaliation from me, and so she had decided that by backing me right now, I would be less likely to strike out against her.

Yes, I had done the right thing by not giving her any hint that things were already alright between the two of us.

"Thank you for your input," Lance said. "Any other objections?"

The other lizardmen turned their gazes towards me, with quite a few of them locked onto the purple sash I had.

Man, was this thing coming in handy!

"Master Liberomancer, I was simply curious, where are the ninety-four other sonnets? I've been waiting for them for some time," one of them asked and there was some mild laughter, some of it was even genuine, from the others.

"Ah, that was from a famous poet where I'm from," I said. "Not my original creation - so I don't remember the others." It hadn't been a serious question, but I threw the answer out there anyway.

There were no serious objections.

Lance nodded in approval. "Alright then, my eldest son Zeke will be my deputy - with any issues when I am not present you may defer to him."

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