Chapter 944: Browntail Clan's Terms
The moment Ratatos heard those words from Degenbrecher's mouth, her very first instinct was that Enciodes and his inner circle had completely lost their minds. They had gone entirely mad.
"What is he doing all this for?!" she demanded, her voice trembling with equal parts anger and sheer disbelief. "What on earth could possibly drive that man to launch a full-blown coup just to take complete control of Kjerag?"
She found herself utterly incapable of comprehending Enciodes's line of thought. To tear apart the peaceful balance of their realm, to turn brother against brother in these snow-bound valleys—it seemed like total madness.
"The meeting..."
Hearing that subtle clue, Jeanne's mind immediately sparked with a realization. If there was any single gathering on this continent capable of delivering such a massive shock to a man like Enciodes, it could only be the Grand Council of Nations.
And as fate would have it, Enciodes had personally attended that summit in Laterano, representing the isolated nation of Kjerag before the great powers of Terra. Could it be that the overwhelming gap between his homeland and the outside world had shaken him to his core?
"It was likely the Grand Council of Nations in Laterano," Jeanne murmured softly. "Ever since he returned from that summit, he accelerated every single one of his plans. He was determined to unify this country at breakneck speed, no matter the cost, so he could begin remaking it from the ground up."
Once Degenbrecher and Jeanne laid out the connection, both Jeanne and the Doctor nodded in silent understanding. Ratatos, however, looked between them with an increasingly bewildered frown.
"The Grand Council of Nations? What is that?" Ratatos asked, her Zalak ears twitching. "A summit where countries sit down together? Are there really that many nations out in the wider world?"
"You didn't know about the Grand Council of Nations?!" the Doctor gasped in genuine shock, throwing her hands up inside her cloak. "Kjerag literally sent a delegation to attend! How can you look so completely clueless when your own country was represented there?"
The Doctor couldn't wrap her head around the sheer lack of communication within Kjerag's leadership.
"Because Enciodes never told us a single word after he received the invitation!" Ratatos spat, her sharp voice dripping with venom as she pieced together the truth. "He took the news, kept us in the complete dark, and went off to attend the grand summit all by himself!"
Hearing the Doctor's incredulous tone, Ratatos finally understood why the patriarch of the Silverash Clan had acted so strangely upon his return. So there had been such a massive, bustling international gathering beyond their snowy peaks? What on earth had transpired there to drive him to such extremes?
Sinking into deep thought, Ratatos suddenly snapped her head up and looked directly at Jeanne.
Right here sits someone who was actually there! Ratatos remembered with a start. Jeanne was the Laterano Saintess—she must have played a central role in that very conference.
"Don't look at me like that," Jeanne said with a slight, helpless chuckle under the Zalak's pleading gaze. "I'll give you a brief rundown of what happened..."
Jeanne patiently described what the Grand Council of Nations was, painting a picture of the vast geopolitical tides moving across Terra and detailing the major events that had unfolded in Laterano.
"I see..." Ratatos breathed out, her chest heaving as the weight of the revelation settled on her shoulders. "To think such monumental shifts were happening in the outside world... while we didn't receive a single shred of news! How much more has that man been hiding from us all these years?!"
Ratatos wasn't just furious about this isolated incident; a terrifying chill ran down her spine as she wondered how many other crucial facts regarding the outside continent Enciodes had concealed from the Tri-Clan Council.
She had to admit now that the Browntail Clan's long-standing policy of turning a blind eye to the world outside Kjerag had been a grave mistake. Even if their family only ever intended to play the neutral fence-sitter, possessing basic intelligence was an absolute necessity for survival.
"He probably saw the summit as a rare opportunity," the Doctor noted thoughtfully, crossing her arms. "An opportunity to establish trade connections and push Kjerag onto the modern stage. But as for Kjerag's internal readiness right now..."
The Doctor trailed off awkwardly, but everyone in the room understood her unspoken words. Modern Kjerag was nowhere near prepared to embrace the overwhelming tide of the outside world.
For the common folk, adapting wouldn't be as painful; given a few months under new policies, they would gradually adjust to a modernized lifestyle. The far greater hurdle lay at the very top.
"As things stand," Degenbrecher stated with blunt, unvarnished honesty, "aside from the Silverash Clan and its immediate retainers, not a single power in Kjerag is ready for such a future. To Enciodes, the rest of you are nothing more than dead weight holding this country back."
The Black Knight laid the harsh reality out on the table without a hint of hesitation. In the grand design of the Silverash Clan, the traditional factions of Kjerag were liabilities.
"My sincerest apologies for being such 'dead weight' in your eyes," Ratatos sneered coldly, her tail flicking with sharp irritation. "But don't expect us to simply lay down and surrender. The Browntail Clan does not give up."
"Then, knowing all of this, would you consider joining forces with the Silverash Clan to lead Kjerag toward a bright, modernized future?" Degenbrecher offered once more, attempting to recruit the Zalak leader standing before her.
If possible, bringing the Browntail Clan into the fold peacefully was one of the core tasks Enciodes had assigned her. The two goals were by no means mutually exclusive.
"If circumstances permit, the Clan Leader has no desire to spark a violent coup," Degenbrecher added, her voice softening with genuine sincerity. "Kjerag is an ancient, fragile country. Every single life here is precious to its future."
Hearing the unmistakable earnestness in the knight's voice, Ratatos felt the weight of Enciodes's internal conflict. Even the mastermind himself was agonizing over his choices, waiting to see which path she would take.
"I'm sorry, but my answer is still no," Ratatos said, shaking her head firmly.
"May I ask why?" Degenbrecher pressed, a faint trace of disappointment in her eyes. "You want Kjerag to prosper just as much as he does. Why refuse to walk beside him?"
"Because who gets to define what 'better' actually means?" Ratatos countered sharply, looking the former champion dead in the eye. "Is it truly a blessing for the people of this land to be slammed headfirst into the outside world without any preparation? Forgive me, but I do not believe it is."
Degenbrecher fell silent, closing her mouth. She recognized that look in the Zalak's eyes—further persuasion would be entirely useless.
"I certainly want this country to move forward and grow stronger," Ratatos continued, taking a seat on a wooden stool as her tone leveled out. "But just as you said, forcing such radical, violent change overnight will catch everyone off guard. Extreme leaps are rarely a good thing."
With those words spoken, Ratatos fell into deep thought, her sharp gaze periodically drifting back toward the silent knight sitting across from her.
A throbbing headache was brewing behind Ratatos's eyes as she pondered how to deal with this formidable captive. Should she simply release her back into the mountains, or find a secure location to keep her under house arrest until the entire crisis blew over?
"I'm curious," Ratatos murmured, tapping her chin with a slender finger. "If the volatile Silverash Clan loses your martial strength right now, how does Enciodes plan to maintain the fragile stability he painstakingly built?"
Looking at the current state of the Silverash Clan, the only figurehead remaining on the surface was young Ensia. Left as it was, one would expect the family structure to collapse from within under the slightest pressure.
"The Silverash Clan does not rely on a single individual," Degenbrecher replied calmly. "The Clan Leader has undoubtedly prepared contingency measures for my absence. If you intend to use me as leverage to force Enciodes to back down, you will be sorely disappointed."
"I expected as much," Ratatos agreed with a slow nod. "Then what if I let you walk out of here—on the condition that the current military forces of the Silverash Clan do not interfere in the upcoming confrontation?"
Ratatos rubbed her temples in frustration. Deciding what to do with Degenbrecher was her greatest dilemma. With the Browntail Clan's current resources, the only way to hold a combatant of her caliber was to chain her inside the deepest cell of their family dungeon.
Yet keeping such a dangerous powerhouse inside their own ancestral estate, where lingering spies might orchestrate a breakout from the inside...
The consequences would be catastrophic.
"Don't look at me like that," Ratatos said, catching the sudden flicker of surprise across Degenbrecher's face—a rare crack in the Black Knight's usual composure that brought a small, satisfying smirk to the Zalak's lips. "I'm doing this for my own survival as well."
Ratatos leaned back against the wooden table, her eyes glinting with calculating intellect. "Enciodes went through all these elaborate schemes because he wanted to ensure that even if his grand gamble fails, the Silverash Clan won't be dragged down into total destruction along with him. He must have stashed an additional, hidden force somewhere outside the family proper, hasn't he?"
Everything was becoming crystal clear in Ratatos's mind. From the moment Arctosz captured those foreign miners digging up Tearstones in the peaks, they had all been dancing inside Enciodes's carefully scripted play.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Degenbrecher said flatly, keeping her expression completely neutral.
"There's no need to play dumb," Ratatos chuckled softly, a sly smile spreading across her face. "He handed over all of his family's executive authority to the Saintess. On the surface, it looks as though he surrendered everything he owned. But no matter what happens, those rights will ultimately return to the Silverash Clan, won't they?"
Even though those legal authorities were currently held by the Saintess, if Enciodes succeeded in his grand design, he could easily reclaim them at any moment.
And if he failed, Saintess Enya would do everything in her power to preserve the Silverash Clan's legacy and shield her family from total ruin. That was precisely why Enciodes had gone to the length of orchestrating the Grand Elder's disappearance from the Vine-Bear Court as well.
"Your guess is wrong," Degenbrecher replied stoically. "The Saintess remains strictly neutral in all political matters."
"Strictly neutral? But she is still a Silverash at heart," Ratatos pointed out with a sharp gleam in her eyes. "The official heir to the family title is young Ensia, and I remember very well how close those sisters are."
Faced with such flawless deduction, Degenbrecher opted for complete silence. Never one for silver-tongued rhetoric, the knight knew full well she couldn't win a battle of words against the head of the Browntail Clan.
"What do you want me to do?" Degenbrecher asked at last, cutting straight to the point.
"Simple," Ratatos said, laying out her terms with quiet authority. "Once you walk out that door, the Silverash Clan's main forces must not participate in the coming clash. In exchange, I will do everything in my power to isolate Enciodes's actions from the rest of his family. Even if he falls, his failure will not drag the Silverash Clan into the abyss. How does that sound?"
Ratatos dangled the tempting offer before the knight—a compromise that left the legendary Black Knight locked in deep, heavy hesitation.