>>5713164Leaving Ronan to his duties, you make your way to the top floor of the Tower of Black Winds. There, you find several of your trusted advisors waiting for you. Anemone, Ashe, Corrine and Sebastian turn to face you as you arrive. Alongside them is Ingrid, who has seemingly not budged since the last time you’d seen her. She still sits against a broken piece of debris, huddled in her fur, staring into the fire before her. You fill them in on the current situation, informing them of the impending attack on Garreg Mach, as well as the information that Ronan had shared with you.
“Unbelievable!” Corrine groans, as she buries her head in her hands. She kicks a rock next to Ingrid, who hardly so much as flinches. “Why does this keep happening to us?”
“It’s certainly less than ideal.” Anemone remarks. “While it’s good that we’re at least on decent terms with Sreng, we’ll need Garreg Mach in the long-term. I’ve never laid eyes on this ‘Cornelia Armin’ woman, but if what you say is true, it’s likely that she was the one Maeve was receiving her orders from. If she were still alive, we’d have been able to dig out plenty of information from her. Alas, these raiders have earned their reputation for a reason. They quickly changed tune and turned on her the minute it became convenient to blame her for their losses.”
>“Ronan still believes that we can divert Prince Leif’s course and get him to back off on attacking Garreg Mach. Personally, I’d at least rather not HELP them destroy the monastery.”“Never did I think I’d see the day I’d prefer to settle a dispute with words over violence, but alas, here we are.” Corrine sighs. “Ronan knows Leif better than you do, and you know the state of the war better than they. Let him know how battered and bruised the Empire was after Gronder. Spin up a tale about how the Professor is unbeatable. Hell, you’d hardly be lying. From all her recent victories, she seems to have the Goddess herself on her side. Make it convincing enough, and you may just be able to scare the bastard off for good. After all, if he thinks we’re a nasty bunch, then he would find the Professor downright terrifying.”
Uriel shakes his head. “While it would be great to avoid any further fight, I get the feeling conflict is the language these raiders speak best. Look at the so-called ‘Sreng Champions’ we fought in the arena. Most of them were beside themselves as the prospect of bleeding us dry. Though it pains me to say, the best option we have may just be to forego diplomacy altogether, and challenge this ‘First Blade of Sreng’ to a duel. He may be a strong opponent, but you are a capable champion yourself, who has faced down no shortage of powerful foes and lived to tell of it. I believe you can overcome some up jumped raider.”
