Suikoden VII

Chapter Five: Part Three

Chapter Five: Part Three

Regulus's soldiers from the Bianca Alliance arrived within two days. The warship that had been watching from the southeastern part of Zelant's borders descended upon the smaller island, and as promised 300 soldiers in white armor came to the Old Capital ready to fight. Astraea had prepped the Reformation Army for the arrival of the Alliance soldiers, but there was no denying the tension between both factions. There were thankfully no reports of fights, but the two sides kept to themselves.

"Import a lot of booze here," Viktor suggested. "Alcohol will make them get along."

"Or it could make things worse," Richard said cheerfully.

...I'm starting to see why we need to give a lot to do to the soldiers here at HQ,Astraea thought.

Satoshi'sGaraponstand proved to be extremely popular with both groups of soldiers (which didn't surprise Astraea) and Jeane was popular with everyone because of her beauty and flirtatious demeanor. There was also considerable excitement over Bright, as everyone was pleased to not only see a friendly dragon but also a dragon who was the companion of a Dragon Knight. Though Futch quickly became annoyed when people demanded to pose for pictures with Bright.

"Charge 'em money," Gygax suggested to his mentor. "That'll pay for our fare home once this war is done!"

"Bright isn't some prop for a photoshoot!" Futch snapped.

"Hey, your sword!" A Zelantan soldier exclaimed. "Is it true that the legendary Humphrey Mintz once wielded that sword?"

"Yes, it is," Futch said, relaxing a little.

"Can I hold it?"

"NO!"

Thankfully it only took a couple more days after the arrival of Alliance soldiers for everything to settle down. Once morning after breakfast Astraea decided to go for a walk in the city. Dawa accompanied her as she always did, but Astraea was surprised to see the group that wanted to join her.

"I would like to see this fabulous city," Regulus said with a cheerful smile. Dinah and Nakoa stood behind him with smiles of their own. "What better escort for me than the future Queen herself?"

Dawa looked displeased, and Astraea knew that she had the option to say yes or no. Ultimately though she knew what the right answer. "I would love to," she said with a smile. "And I think it would help morale for our soldiers to see us out in public together."

"That is exactly what I thought, Your Majesty," he said with a cheerful gesture. "Shall we go?"

Astraea was heartened to the more people roaming the streets. People did look surprised to see her walking with Regulus, but she saw no looks of condemnation from either Zelantan soldiers or Alliance soldiers. On the contrary, what little tensions remained seemed to ebb a little.

"I've made arrangements with your man, my Lady," Regulus said suddenly.

Astraea gave him a puzzled look. "'My man'?"

"Sir David Silverberg," Regulus clarified. "Peculiar young man. Rare to see someone so young be so brilliant. But after thinking about it, I felt it would negatively impact morale for you to pay your reparations directly to me. We don't want it made publicly obvious of your compensation to the Alliance soldiers. So Sir David will act as our liaison; you give him the money for the reparations, and he will deliver it to me."

"...That sounds fair," Astraea said after a moment. "Can I ask you something, Lord Regulus?"

"Of course, Your Majesty."