Forbidden Flame (Chapter II): A Zelink story

Chapter 5

"Well, the statistics clearly show that the amount of soldiers to death ratio is highly in the latter's favour. You see, we don't have enough soldiers to keep up with the death rates as of late, what with the rising amounts of monsters and people still finding themselves with fatal effects leftover from the calamity, and this leaves us with..."

Link's voice, if possible, made me even more drained and exhausted than before. We had had another argument this morning, him once more convincing me to tag along and me refusing to go. It was the afternoon by now, and we had had nothing but meetings and breaks and meetings and breaks and more meetings and more breaks.

I peered around the room at the three focused faces sat around the table. Lucius nodding yet clearly still brooding over my mere prescence in the room. Balthazar actually seemed completely engaged in the conversation, his hand supporting his chin as his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Darius, on the other hand, was slumped in his chair, his face displaying worry and anxiety at even being here. He was permenantly locked into a facial expression of utter panic.

He flitted me a look before fearfully looking away again, craning his neck to pretend to look at a painting on the other side of the room.

"...And that means, according to the statistics, that we need around thirty-five percent of your soldiers. Now, I know it's a lot, and especially what with the language barrier being an issue, it'll take a lot of work and perseverance to whip said soldiers into shape, but if you agree, Lucius, it would be a big help."

Lucius sucked his cheeks in thought momentarily. "Well, thirty-five percent is a lot of my army that I'll be losing for good. How much money will you be giving in return for all this?"

Don't slip up, Link. Don't promise him more than he deserves. Don't slip up, don't slip up, don't slip up...

"How does...Three sound?"

"What, thousand?!" Lucius chuckled in disbelief.

"No no, million." Link reassured.

"Hmmm." Lucius breathed in deeply. "Thirty-five percent, for three million. I don't think it's enough."

"Oh. Right." Link retalliated.

Lucius haggled a little too far. "How about fifteen?"

"FIFTEEN-" I began, but shut my mouth as soon as all eyes turned on me once more.

"Uhhm," Link breathed in through his teeth. "We can't...Afford that."

Lucius chuckled once more. "Of course. I forgot this isn't my castle, haha!"

Link tried not to look offended, I could tell, because I was doing the same thing.

"Yes, well, you seem to be making that mistake quite a lot." I muttered under my breath. 

"Hm?" Lucius uttered.

Link nudged my elbow and when I looked at him, he shook his head subtly with wide eyes.

I tried to redirect the subject. "Um, how about five?"

"Five?" Lucius breathed out. "Five. Hmmm. Six?"

Link winced but pretended to stretch to play it off. 

"Six is...As far as we can go right now, we apologize." I smiled. "We may be able to offer some materials, though. Natural resources and such, if that could make up some of the money?"

Lucius started laughing, his eyebrows furrowed as he did so. "Link, does your wife say everything for you? We this, we that, can I hear it from the man himself?" He bellowed, shaking his head. "God," He muttered.