The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]
Chapter 342 – The Island Under Siege

Arascus talks of grandiosities which he simply does not comprehend. He thinks himself genius and unique for treating Paradeisius and Tartarus as an enemy as if the concept of a grand evil is something new. The three worlds are not in competition, Arascus’ thinking is self-fulfilling. If he does prove victorious in this holy war of his, then Paradeisius and Tartarus will both descend on Arda to wipe his Empire off the map.

An alliance with the other worlds is not simply beneficial to us in regards to the war effort. An alliance with the other worlds is necessary in order to prove that we can be trusted. I do not want to make payments to either of the other worlds of course, but Arascus has forced Arda to pay tribute. It is our choice whether that tribute will be in gold to allies or in blood to enemies.

- Excerpt from Allasaria’s ‘It is Time’ Speech, the first time a White Pantheon member ever expressed any sort of positivity towards the concept of the Three World Alliance.

“Malam is coming here to meet with us.” King Richard VI said to the table of ministers. Aliana stood in the king’s Shadow Council room and watched the various players that did all the decision making for the nation she was the incarnation of. “She should be here soon.” The King of Allia declared as the ministers nodded along. It was a small room, normally it had a round table dominating the centre but this time, the room had been rearranged. Instead of the round table, it was a rectangular one that stretched long enough for all the ministers to fit on one side. Aliana stood behind Richard and his wife Eleanor. Only Allian’s rulers, its Goddess and Queen, brought colour to the room with their golden hairs was the only hint of bright colour in the room. Other than that hair and their blue eyes, it was all dark suits and serious gazes. The starkness of the white shirts underneath the dark only made the woman’s hair even brighter.

Everyone sat nervously as they waited. Aliana knew she was nervous too, she had only just returned from Rilia once Fortia’s forces had started to retreat. The southern part of the country was still occupied by the White Pantheon, but Aimone had already negotiated a ceasefire the Goddess of Peace. At first, Aliana had thought it was the end of the war. It wasn’t an end to hostilities with the Pantheon though, instead it was an end of hostilities with Fortia. Aliana didn’t know what the woman was doing and from what she managed to figure out, no one did. Even Anassa had said that the most likely scenario was that Fortia had gone into depression because of Maisara’s death. So whilst Fortia was pulling her forces out of Rilia, Tasaidien was keeping the Epan blockade going. The Goddess who commanded the White Pantheon’s armies looked as if she was ending the war, whereas the White Pantheon was raising even more anti-Epan rhetoric.

But it was all speculation. Maybe Arascus and Malam and Helenna knew, Aliana half-expected them to know, but they didn’t share. From the outside, it simply looked like the White Pantheon was fracturing even more than it had already. Aliana looked over at the men in suits. Everyone sat in silence, papers in front of them, as they waited for Malam to arrive. “Is she going to be arriving soon?” Duke Maximilian said, minister of Agriculture, aristocrat, short hair that should be brown but was brightened by the sun. The man had always been fit and lean, but now his cheeks were looking slightly hollow. Aliana had heard his house had been giving away food to feed the local towns and villages around his estates.

“She should be.” Bertrand spoke up. A tall man, once skinny, now looking famished. Bald and with glasses, his neck was craned forwards and he looked ill. The man had gone down with some flu a month back and forgone treatment in a hospital in favour for the more needy: the price paid was now looking as if he was on death’s door. “But when…” As if in direct response to Bertrand, there was a sudden knock on the door.

“Come in!” Richard called out. The King of Allia was not sick but he didn’t look healthy either. There was obviously a certain paleness in his skin that hadn’t been there the last time Aliana had seen him.

The door opened and a guard in a ceremonial silver helmet with a tuft of red hair at the top leaned in. “It is Goddess Malam, of Hatred, she-“ Richard interrupted the guard before he could finish.

“Let her in, we’re all waiting for her.” The man backed out, looked as if he was about to speak, and then the door was flung open. Malam did not enter, she confidently stormed in and Aliana felt her breath catch as she felt the utter presence that the Goddess of Hatred inspired. The woman had pure white hair, so pale that it made the white shirt Aliana had put on look dull. And as if to bring contrast, Malam’s eyes were pitch black and she wore a dress that managed to put Eleanor’s to shame in its grandiosity whilst being half the size. Instead of a wide gown, it was wrapped tight around the woman’s hips over which went a coat of black, all lined with thin trims of gold. Malam came in with a smile that was gentle yet condescending, with eyes that looked friendly even though they made Aliana want to run and cower, with a posture tall and dominating. The Goddess carried herself so easily she may as well have been walking into a meeting of friends even though she was looking down her nose at them.

“I am honoured to meet you gentlemen.” Malam said as she looked around. “I don’t know what you were expecting from me.” Aliana didn’t know either. Kavaa and Fer had set an expectation of competency, then Anassa had set an expectation of inhumanity into her. After the Goddess of Allia watched the Goddess of Sorcery wipe out hundreds, if not thousands of men with mere snaps of her fingers, she had re-evaluated what it meant to be Divine.

Anassa had made her feel incompetent. Aliana had covered that up by simply not even competing with the woman’s abilities. Anassa could appear in multiple locations at the same time, who else could do that? Competing against that? It was simply stupid. So Aliana had decided to ignore it. She had a character and a strength of will after all? It wasn’t all competitions of power.

In a single moment, without even so much as finishing her introduction, Malam had shattered Aliana’s idea that she had a strong character. Not compared to this. Aliana’s confidence was a mere butter knife compared to the cannon Malam brought. The Goddess of Hatred continued. “But I have come on behalf on Arascus, I thank you for the taking the time out of your busy schedules. I know Allia stands in a time of troubles.”

“It is our pleasure.” Richard made his tone polite. “We are grateful to speak with anyone else who is against the White Pantheon, I hope we can come to some mutual understanding.”

Malam’s smile only grew wider as the Goddess of Hatred pull up a chair and sat alone on the other side of the table. Aliana wondered if she would be able to sit alone like that. She looked down at Richard and weighed herself honestly. Against anyone else, then yes, but against Richard? The man was the King of the nation she was the embodiment of. Aliana sighed and supposed she wouldn’t. “There is no mutuality here.” Malam replied in a quick and stark tone. “We have the same opponent, but we fight our own battles.”

Aliana saw Bertrad lean forwards at the words Malam just said. They had expected… Well, even Aliana had expected the woman to express some curtesy and decorum. Maximilian tried to argue back as Malam scanned the men with a smile. “Apologies Goddess Malam, but we both fight the Pantheon. It doesn’t matter who defeats the Pantheon, we still win.”

“Duke Maximilian.” Malam said offhandedly, as if the man was a child who was trying to stop his parents from discussing taking out a mortgage on their home. “I’ve been rather busy but I was going to congratulate your daughter on entry into Camford. I know it’s a difficult entry exam.” Aliana felt her eyes widen. Was that a threat that had slipped right under her nose? She saw Maximilian shift position and look around awkwardly as Aliana silently cursed herself. Speaking up after this silence would only make her seem indecisive and weak, and Malam could simply say that she was being truly sincere. The Goddess of Hatred followed up her offensive when she realised that no one would speak up. “I would just like to say, I have not come here to gossip and I have my own schedule. Today’s proposition is about an end to the Allian embargo and an opening of the sea routes once again.”

And just like that, the atmosphere changed again. Malam may have just threatened Maximilian, but if she was proposing an end to Alanktyda’s blockade? Frankly, she could be insulting everyone in this room if she came in with that as an offer. What wouldn’t Allia accept at this point? King Richard VI asked roughly the same question. “I assume you bring a deal and not charity, what is the price?”

Malam answered quickly and with a smile. “I appreciate the forwardness your highness.” Aliana blinked, she never used Richard’s title. A Divine respecting a mortal’s rank? Aliana watched Malam for a moment and realised why the woman could ‘your highness’ and she herself could not. Malam was confident in her arrogance. She had absolutely nothing to prove. “I ask only one simple thing. The declaration of Allia as an Imperial Province.”

Since the moment Malam entered, the woman had chilled the atmosphere in the room. But now? She sent it from cold and down to sub-zero. “An Imperial Province?” Richard said. “You’re asking to sign away our independence.”

Malam smiled as if she had won. “The fact you’re not instantly rejecting me proves independence isn’t some great goal worth dying for.”

“That’s why we created the Coalition to replace the Community Goddess.” Richard said. “For independence from Divinity.” Malam’s black eyes settled on Aliana behind the man.

“I see the independence from Divinity behind you, you’re so free that you have to bring a National Divine to these meetings. Why? Did you think I was going to kill you?” Malam asked flatly and Richard shifted in his posture. Aliana realised that Malam was correct, why was she even at these meetings? She wasn’t like Olonia or Paida or Saksma, who felt as if they needed to personally save their nations. Aliana was confident in Richard’s ability to run the nation. Yet why had she come then? Malam continued. “Let’s not joke around here your highness. The road to independence leads to what exactly? You either get starved out, you get couped by a popular revolution, or you get killed by a merman. Those are your three options.”

“We have dockyards.” Richard said and Malam smiled.

“I’m sure you do. I’m sure the ships you build are going to fair excellently against the monsters in the deep.” Aliana felt a wall crumble away as Malam spoke. Was there an argument to be made against that? She doubted it. “You are alone and independent right now. An Imperial Province is the solution for you. Not just to save yourself from Tasaidien but also Anarchia. If he doesn’t get you now, then she will get you later.”

Aliana once against saw the King, the Queen and the various ministers of the Shadow Council shift as Malam answered. Aliana herself tried to think of something to throw at the woman. It was one thing to raise protest, but it was another to raise it well. Malam came in so confidently that whatever Aliana thought up of, she simply dismissed through her own rationalizations. King Richard VI spoke slowly. “In regards to becoming a province, what would that entail?”

“Your wars would become our wars. Your army would become our army and your interests would become our interests. The same vice-versa.” Malam said. “Just like in Lubska or Doschia or Kirinyaa, we have no need or arrogance in thinking we can organize Allia better than the Allians. You would stay as King, you would simply need to understand that sooner or later, whether it be you or your heir, the Empire will call and it will expect an answer.”

Aliana sighed heavily. Those terms were good. Maybe if there wasn’t an example to follow, they could pretend not to believe the Goddess. The examples that Malam listed had their own issues, but those issues would exist whether or not they were part of the Empire. “And how long would it take?” Richard asked. “For you to break the blockade? A year? We don’t have that long as the situation stands.”

“Oh no.” Malam said cheerfully as she leaned back and crossed her arms. Her eyes went from Richard to the ministers to Aliana and back again. Aliana was almost scared to meet the woman’s gaze. “Do not insult me please. A year? We don’t even need a month. A week will do.”

“You’re going to end the war in a week?” Richard asked in disbelief. Aliana and the table shared the same reaction. There was confidence in oneself, and then there was… well, there was this. How could the blockade be broken within a month, much less a week? Aliana wished she could have that confidence Malam seemed to embody.

“It will be done by the end of this week, or else my name is not Malam.” Malam said.

Aliana could not take it anymore. She had to make sure it wasn’t just stupidity that was going on here. Her fingers clasped the back of Richard’s tall chair and she leaned forwards. “How? How are you going to finish the war?”

Malam’s smile was infuriating. The woman managed to be condescending whilst staying polite, the smile somehow achieved being the sort a mother would give to her child whilst also fitting perfectly onto a teacher who had given up on a child and was simply repeating the steps for the sake of keeping her job. Aliana had no clue how Malam managed to achieve that. “That, Aliana, is not my demesne.”

That was the sort of answer Aliana simply could not accept. It wasn’t a case of standing up and doing the right thing, it was a case of personal respect. She simply wouldn’t let Malam get away with the demand of subordination she just made followed up by washing her hands of the topic. “Malam.” Aliana said harshly. “Don’t joke about, this may not be serious for you, but this is my nation.”

Malam raised an eyebrow, those black eyes of hers somehow managing to shine as the Goddess of Hatred made a terribly aggravating smirk. “Aliana, you are the Goddess of Allia but you aren’t the ruler.” Still smiling, she turned her attention and gaze onto Richard. Aliana took a deep breath to calm herself, she was on the verge of crushing the King’s seat in her grip. “As I have said, all that it takes for us to protect you is to declare yourself part of the Empire.”

“Malam.” Richard took a deep breath as he answered. “I understand your confidence, I respect it, but Aliana is correct. How are you going to… well, I don’t wish to be rude and I hope for an alliance between our nations, but you don’t have any underwater Divines from what I know. Unless I’m mistaking, I hope to be.”

Malam shook her head, still managing to keep that annoying smile on her face. “We have a Goddess who annihilated the Caretaker. We have a Goddess who cracked a continent. We have the greatest strategist throughout all known history and we have the incarnation of Death. When that’s the line-up, do we really need a person who swims good?”

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