Chapter 106: Forest lords
The location for the meeting was a place at the very center of the massive forest. A structure that Ren had no idea was there. It was like some sort of ancient monument.
"This is the place," Aris said as they arrived.
"I do not understand why he gets to come with an envoy," Tempest said with a frown, turning around to look at Ren. Ren was walking up front, followed by Remu, Ragna, and Ezra, who had refused to leave his side as he came here.
"You should be happy that we managed to reduce the number to three. Left to them, we would have a whole army following behind him," Aris said, sounding exhausted at the situation.
"Tch, I hate him," Tempest said.
"Well, you cannot do anything for now, so keep your hate in your pockets or something," she said and kept walking. Tempest glanced back at Ren and then kept walking as well.
’Do those two really think I cannot hear them? Well, probably they know I can but simply do not care.’
He watched them all ahead, his gaze panning up to the monument. The structure was the type adventurers would go into and seek out treasures.
"Could the being that sent that spider send me here?" he muttered to himself.
They walked through the front door right into a dark hallway. Torches lit up along the sides as they walked and illuminated the hallway. The walls were made of large blocks, and the floor was made of rough rock tiles. The hallway carried the scent of age and ancient dust.
"You guys could really use a clean-up in this place. It’s a mess," he said with his hands behind his head.
"Tch, we only use this place for meetings. There is no need for us to start cleaning it consistently," Tempest responded.
"A lazy excuse, I have to say. If you use somewhere, you should put effort into making it habitable."
"Can you keep your mouth shut?" Tempest asked.
"Can you not be an angry ogre? Let’s not ask the impossible from both of us now, can we? My talking is crucial to my character, and your anger and hot-headedness are yours."
Tempest clenched his fist tightly and took a deep breath. He gritted his teeth and kept walking until they got to the stairs that led up. They got to the second floor and then to a large stone door.
"Behind the door is the meeting place. Only forest lords can enter here. The rest of you will have to stand back," Aris stated.
Remu stepped forward and was about to argue, but Ren raised his hand and stopped him.
"Remu, let it be. The two of them are alone as well. There isn’t really much that can happen to me inside there," Ren said with confidence.
Tempest glared at him. What Ren had said was basically that none of them could touch him. He took a deep breath and pushed the stone door open, walking in. Aris followed in, and finally Ren walked in like he was coming for something not too serious.
He walked in.
The room was circular, with stone walls and a stone floor. Four seats were arranged around a low center table that looked like it had been there longer than anything else in the building. Three of the seats were already accounted for. The fourth sat empty.
In the seat directly across from the door, a man was already waiting.
He wore a clean suit, sharp and well-fitted, completely at odds with the ancient stone room around him. He sat with the relaxed posture of someone who had arrived early on purpose and had spent the waiting time being comfortable about it. His eyes moved to Ren the moment he walked in and stayed there with the particular attention of someone who had heard a great deal and was now comparing it to reality.
William. The Spirit King.
Tempest moved to his seat without a word. Aris took hers. Ren looked at the remaining chair, walked to it, and sat down.
Tempest watched him lower himself into the seat, and something moved across his face that went beyond the standard irritation he carried everywhere. That chair had belonged to the Calamity Orc. That territory, that seat, that position at this table, all of it had passed to the dragon now sitting in it like he had been there for years.
His jaw tightened.
Ren looked at him and smiled.
Then he shifted in the chair, got comfortable, and tossed one leg up over the armrest with the easy manner of someone settling in for something they had no particular tension about.
Before any of them could open their mouths, he spoke first.
"So what do you guys actually do here as forest lords?" he asked, looking around the table. "Is there an agenda or something? A schedule? Do you have a group name?"
William looked at him for a moment.
Then he smiled.
"Nice to meet you, Ren," he said. He leaned forward slightly, elbows on his knees, the posture of someone choosing to engage rather than observe. "You are a really free spirit."
"I am," Ren said simply, and they looked at each other across the table with the particular ease of two people who had taken an immediate read on each other and found the result acceptable.
"Enough of that," Aris said.
Both of them looked at her.
"Let’s get into the issue at hand," she said, her voice carrying the tone of someone who had been managing rooms full of difficult personalities for long enough that she had stopped finding it interesting. "Starting with Ren. What are your plans, and are they going to affect this forest at large?" She looked at him directly. "You took the Calamity Orc’s territory in a very short time. You have been building something there. You brought in a dwarf. You engaged royal knights." She folded her hands. "So, what exactly are you doing?"