Ares and Sandy sunk back into the room, followed by the elders, Arla, and Lara, and everyone took up the seats they were in before things went south up above them. One of the elders, the old lady who seemed to be on good terms with Sandy, kicked things off by clearing her throat and grabbing everyone's attention. "First of all, thank you for your assistance in..."
"Assistance? Bah!" And right out the gate another elder was looking to cause trouble. Ares didn't know who this was but he gave him the name 'elder 1' in his head due to his positioning around the table. For reference, the old lady elder was elder 2. There were fifteen elders here and there was no way Ares cared enough to remember them all individually and, besides, they hadn't even given their names yet anyway! It didn't even seem like they respected Ares enough to spit them out so he wasn't going to be polite either. What was it Tom Tom called those things a while back? 'Barcodes'? Ares would slap one on each of their heads if he could! Elder 1 continued. "What 'assistance'? Those scavengers were weak! Even our rookie guards could have handled them!"
Elder 2 gave elder 1 a mean side eye and retorted, "You mean like the ones you stationed at the entrance to the tunnel? What a fantastic job they did. Maybe if they weren't too busy sneering at anyone who came down the tunnel they could have done their job properly and wouldn't be lying face down in the dirt, dead as doornails! Also, I wasn't referring to beating up the scavengers and you know it. Anyone could do that. Ares' assistance was needed to rescue the children because everyone here knows you weren't going to! Hell I wouldn't be surprised if you though this was the chance of a lifetime to get them killed and out of your hair, however little you have left."
"Such opportunities are indeed rare and my only regret is that you weren't captured alongside them you dumb hag." While elder 1 and 2 bickered, Ares lazily leaned on the table with his head on his palm and rolled his eyes. This was absurd! He came here as a diplomatic representative of all things Red Sun, as a sect master with pride who commanded respect! And these two were squabbling like school children! They were too old to be acting like this! It reminded Ares of how he and the eagle went back and forth but Ares was still young enough to get away with it!
AHEM
Ares interrupted the two in what should have been considered a rude fashion but it was hardly even half as rude as what the two elders were doing so nobody had any complaints about his methods and chided him for it. Rather, a lot of the elders were secretly grateful because 1 and 2 could go at it for hours and they probably would have if Ares didn't stop them in their tracks. Elder 3 was even trying to sneakily take some sleep medication by pretending to drop something and then swallowing the pills under the table so he could have a way out of this nightmare... Still, Ares appreciated elder 2 here because they were trying to wrestle for more negotiating power on Ares' behalf... No, she was actually doing it for Sandy, realistically, but Ares was the direct beneficiary so it just seemed she was helping him "Excuse me but how about we discuss things in sequential order rather than get ahead of ourselves. I've not formally declared what I'm even here for and we can still discuss the scavenger matter first as we're all aligned on dealing with that. Let's collaborate on dealing with Diggers and tool before we worry about Sandy's matter as I'm sure the latter discussion will take up most of our time..."
"Not a bad suggestion brat." Elder 4 was... something? He didn't appear to be aligned with Ares, Sandy, or elder 2, but he knew how to compliment people he didn't agree with and seemed less obstinate than elder 1 at least. He was agreeable even when he was disagreeing, was the best way to put it. He was someone Ares felt like he could have a proper discussion with about the merits and demerits of all approaches fairly... Although being called a 'brat' by this stupid dinosaur was irritating! Go eat some meat and get some fat on those bones you damn skeleton! If Ares didn't know any better this geezer was going to appear in the Riddlemyd as an opponent in a combat room alongside other undead! And he wanted to bring up 'age'?! Ares had some choice words for this guy but kept them to himself otherwise he would spend the entire day here having a war of words with these retirement home rejects.
"Right, well, first of all, what do you currently know about the scavengers?"
"Why should we tell you that?" Elder 1 was now directing his anger and grumpiness at Ares instead of elder 2.
"... Because the scavengers are currently trying to move along a plot to destroy the entirety of Xasca and this is a bigger issue than your ego? Is that a good enough reason?"
"... You..." Elder 1 wanted to retort but Ares, if what he was saying was true, had a pretty fair point.
"Has anyone in this room heard of the Torchbearer? I should start there." Ares looked around and when nobody responded he started explaining as much as he knew about the person in question and the current state of things. By the time he finished, the elders seemed to be taking things a bit more seriously at least which was a good start. "The scavenger issue goes beyond whatever grudges you may have with them as a clan. I am strictly looking for them to deal with this mess and for no other reason so if they have something of yours, if you want personal payback, or if you just want complete, undisputed control over the desert then I don't really care. Do as you please but only after we've worked together to deal with the scavengers. So I'll ask you again. What do you know about them?"
Elder 3 responded before any of the others could decide how much to reveal as he just wanted this meeting over and done with. 3 could tell Ares wasn't here to play around and endlessly entertain the limitless stupidity of these old morons and so wasting the time of a persona actually making strides to fix this country's problems was idiotic. "We don't know the exact location of their base but we've narrowed it down somewhat to a specific quadrant. Granted that's not saying much as the area we still need to cover to locate them precisely is not small. We do also have a rough grasp of their numbers and cultivation bases but we don't feel much threatened by them because they aren't a particularly powerful force compared to us. tool should be their strongest member but there is also someone near the peak of transition realm that's said to be respectably powerful compared tot he average cultivator. No match for Sandy if she goes all out but not a pushover either."
"I see, thank you." Though some other elders were giving 3 a fierce stare for revealing everything, Ares appreciated it because now the conversation cold truly get underway. "In that case, let me deal with tool when the time comes and Sandy can deal with this other transition realm cultivator. If there's nobody else worth mentioning then I can either deal with the rest of them or you can tag along with some fellahin forces to clear up the scavenger riff raff. It's up to you, I guess, but if what you've said is true I don't think I'd really even need help to deal with them all myself."
"Tsk, arrogance will get you nowhere other than a cemetery and fast, brat." 4 didn't seem too pleased with Ares' attitude this time around but Ares simply shrugged.
"I specialise in eradicating armies. Their numbers are irrelevant and if their strongest is tool, a person I can beat, or a transition realm cultivator, who I can also beat, then what's the obstacle that's supposed to stop me? Don't pretend you didn't see the desert nuke a while back. Tell me who's going to survive that? Could you? No? Are you weaker than the scavenger riff raff that makes up their army? If not, and you can't survive that magic, then what makes you think they can? I assure you there are bigger threats in Xasca than those pathetic scavengers and despite having my hands full with actual dangerous enemies I can still take time out of my schedule to wipe a few ants off the face of this desert. I'm simply asking if you want to tag along or not, for whatever personal reasons you may have, to destroy the scavengers. A yes or a no is irrelevant to me. I already know the scavengers are in the west and tomorrow, in the black market, I will figure out exactly where. I will locate their base and you have figured out their overall power level when taking all their forces into consideration. We hold all the keys to the information kingdom so now its simply a matter of deciding how involved you want to be. You can make up your decision now or later but if you take too long I will do it all without you and not look back. I will report their location to you and give you time to prepare your people, whether you show up or not is not my concern. Again, this matter is merely the entree to our real arguing so I don't want to get caught up on petty nonsense already. Tell me what you want and host a vote if need be, I can wait while you do that."
....
Silence spread throughout the room because it was awkward obeying Ares. He wasn't the leader of the clan, and he didn't hold as much sway here as any single one of the fifteen elders even, but his suggestion was the most reasonable thing to do right now anyway... It's just that if they did it, it would be like they were children being guided around by an adult. It was pretty embarrassing for their leadership to be so inept a random outsider could swoop in like this and force everyone to do his bidding even if he himself didn't see it like that. Nonetheless, the fifteen elders got to pondering their choice before the vote was held as they needed to consider all the possible ups and downs. If Ares could defeat the scavengers on his own then risking the lives of the fellahin might seem pointless. Then again, the fellahin had been getting bullied and ambushed in large numbers by the scavengers for years when all they were trying to do was destroy monsters bothering Xasca and their clan. Getting payback would be nice and a way to honor the fallen. Plus some elders weren't too sure if Ares was telling the truth about his capabilities or if he was all bluster and needed the help. Some of the elders had been underground in this headquarters when the Armillary went off and not seen it with their own two eyes and weren't awed by the recounting of it. There were some elders, however, who didn't want to fight the scavengers for no reason other than that they disliked Ares and his attitude. There was a lot of different emotions and perspectives floating around and this was arguably a great example of how too many chefs can spoil the broth. Sandy was secretly wishing she herself had complete control over the clan to just issue the order she felt was correct but, at most, she had the power to make her vote count for two or maybe three here, depending on how hard she pushed, and that was about it. She was the head of the fellahin, and could enact various measures by herself, but if she was outnumbered by the elders by a significant margin there was nothing to be done about it regrettably. The elders would vote and only if the matter was close would she step in to make the final decision. Nonetheless, about five minutes later, Sandy was done waiting so she spoke up.
"Regardless of what decision we come to about sending our forces or not, I shall be going to deal with the scavengers because I feel like getting revenge on them. That aside, if you believe we should send an army, raise your hand. If you do not, keep your hands under the table." After Sandy spoke, six elders raised their hands, eight kept theirs lowered, and one simply rested their arms on the table which was indicative of them abstaining from the vote due to being unsure of how best to proceed... Elder 7 was always like this and rarely voted for just about anything and, regardless of the matter at hand, all the other elders despised him for it! "Right. That's six for and eight against. I vote for which puts us at roughly half in favour and half against so here's what we'll do. We'll form an army of volunteers. Anyone who wishes to go may go and those in our ranks who wish to stay may stay. Normally I would no go about this in half-measures but combining Ares' and my strength means we can take care of the scavengers without the loss of life and number of injuries piling up. Once we are done here I will spread work and begin recruiting with the help of Arla. Once Ares passes us information on their location we will begin our march. Is this acceptable? Does anyone have any complaints?" Sandy looked around the room but only elder 1 and 9 didn't seem too happy about this. Still, it was undeniably the optimal solution given how the vote panned out so they kept their complaints to themselves for now at least.
"Excellent." Ares didn't really care about the result but he was just feigning appreciation so the conversation could actually move on rather than get stuck here forever. Now came the hard part. "As I'm sure you're all aware by now, I want to recruit Sandy, and some other fellahin, into the Heaven's Path sect. I won't explain the Red Sun situation and our departure to Vraizon because I'm sure you've all already heard about it extensively prior to this meeting so what I really want to talk about is what it will take for you to be ok with losing your leader. Before I hear your thoughts, bear in mind I will also take anyone else in the clan willing to leave which includes the low purity fellahin some of you seem to despise. Whether or not you think saving those children was relevant doesn't matter. If you think I did not help you in any way by saving them, then that means those children are meaningless to you and should not count as me standing to gain from taking them off your hands. They do not benefit you, and may actively make your life harder if you were so happy to have them killed, so you should be thankful for me accepting them into my sect and thus you owe me for relieving you of your burden. On the contrary, if you try to worm yourself out of owing me a favour by claiming saving the children was a good thing, and that they are worth a lot to your clan, then you now owe me for saving their lives anyway. Regardless of how you frame your stupid argument, You. Owe. Me. So don't waste your breath playing this silly game with me. I am a revenant and was born with a forked tongue, I can do this all day."
"So what you're saying is..." Elder 1 spoke sharply as he narrowed his eyes at Ares.
"I'm not expecting you to make my life easy when it comes to Sandy. Make your list of monsters you want dealt with and don't be shy. I value her worth and would kill every single major monster in this entire region for her, including the ones you don't even know about that I've found during my stay here. It doesn't matter if you're immodest with your demands because I'm willing to meet them for her specifically. That being said, if you are going to try and factor in everyone else I'll be taking off your hands then we're going to have issues. No. I should clarify, youare going to have issues. I'm not a pushover, I'm just willing to make concessions for Sandy. Try your luck with people like Arla, Lara, or those children however and the fellahins will lose all their elders on this day and be forced to restructure their entire clan. I don't have time to mess around with you so although I'm more than capable of playing politics with you I simply shan't. List the monsters you want dead and don't bother making any other miscellaneous requests because you'll just anger me and you really don't want that. Your entire reluctance to letting Sandy go is that you'll lose protection from rampaging monsters in the west and I am wiling to alleviate you of that problem, nothing more. I do not owe you more and Sandy is a free woman who is only staying here because of a guilty conscience for this precise reason. Once it is dealt with, you have no more sway."
"Pffft." Lara couldn't help but snort and snicker at the elders. "Look at your hideous, wrinkled and saggy faces! The way they all contorted at the same time in the same way when you realised you were powerless here was priceless! Do it again! Hahahaha!" Lara was clearly enjoying the situation a bit too much but what was anyone supposed to say to her now that she had Ares' backing? The elders were trying to figure out how to scrounge as much usefulness out of Ares as they could, without giving him anything in return, but he'd laid out the law just now and set an upper limit to his aid that could not be defied unless they wanted to push his buttons. They could do it but the result afterwards would not be pretty and they had more to lose than to gain by trying.
Ares looked dead serious about this so the best the elders were gonna get was listing off very western monster they knew of and simply hoping Ares wasn't capable of killing them all... Although he probably was if given enough time... The elders were looking at one another one by one but none of them could come up with a valid reason to keep Sandy here after Ares dealt with the monsters and that was irksome because she was a symbol of power that gave the fellahin a lot of prestige and sway in Xasca. They didn't care about losing literally anyone else, not even Arla the second in command, but losing Sandy would be a major, devastating hit and it was looking more and more likely that they couldn't avoid this outcome. Unless Sandy herself changed her mind there was no salvaging his situation so all of the elders turned to face elder 2 who had the closest connection with Sandy... But she was staring at the ceiling and idly humming to herself! 'This old hag!' was what all the other elders collectively thought. Elder 2 was the reason Sandy was even here to begin with but and now it seemed she was the only one who could let her free as well and she was prepared to do exactly that. She might be able to guilt Sandy into staying but she treated Sandy like a precious granddaughter all these years and wasn't going to force her to live here forever, trapped in a metaphorical cage, so she was ignoring her co-workers pleading glances completely. Sandy saw this and made sure to thank her again in private later as this really meant a lot to her. Sandy did feel like she was betraying elder 2 somewhat, especially after everything she'd done for her, but this was the next step in her life and it was high time she took it.
"Let's start jotting down monster names for now and we can discuss this more later..." Elder 4 wasn't happy with the situation but there was still time for the elders to try and come up with something while Ares was out killing the listed monsters. There were a lot of them and this would buy time that was sorely needed right now for the elders to hatch whatever manner of scheme they could in the face of someone as powerful as Ares. While that was happening, Sandy turned to Ares after calming her nerves and asked him something.
"Do you have time to spare today after this?"
Ares was originally just going to cultivate so he did... But he was on the fence about it as cultivating to go up a stage before the stepper fight was important... He could see the look in Sandy's eye, and it seemed she really wanted to talk about something though, so he decided to just skip cultivating for today and go along with whatever it was she wanted. Ares was REALLY close to the next stage so he figured it was fine for him to make up for this tomorrow. "I am, yes. Is there something you wanted to discuss?"
"... Yes... Do you mind if we hunt some monsters first, though? I was hoping to get a head start on the list as soon as it's done."
Ares had already prepared himself to spend the rest of the day dealing with the fellahin if need be anyway so he didn't care if his time was repurposed for other matters. he would still rather cultivate but killing monsters was also on his to do list so the ordering wasn't a big deal. If Sandy asked him to extend the monster hunting to tomorrow he would say no for now but if it was just a bit here and there today then it really wasn't an issue. Plus he was interested in finding out whatever it was she wanted to speak to him about so, although it wasn't part of his plans, it looked like he was going to go on a quick hunt with the fellahin!... Although Ares did want to stop off back at Xasca city real quick to see how things went with Aejaz and Rox. They'd been through their own raid, after all.