Visitors From Another World

8. The Alliance

"Cale.."

A faint voice could be heard from afar.

"Wake up..."

Cale jolted up from his bed, breathing heavily. 'What was that?!' He had a dream.. someone was calling his name.. it was blurry... he felt like he was sinking into the deep void... He touched his neck, was it just a dream?

"Mmhm..." Argenti was sleeping on a chair beside Cale, his head lying on his bed. "What's the matter so early in...!" He immediately got up, realizing who it was. "Cale! Are you alright?! How're you feeling?!" He cupped Cale's cheeks in his hands, turning Cale's head around to check for any injuries.

"Stop it." Cale tried removing Argenti's hands off his face, but the man was way stronger than him and didn't even budge a bit.

Argenti realized what he was doing, "s-sorry!" He retracted his hands. "I was too occupied with your health that I didn't realize what I had done..." He gave an odd apology.

Cale got up from the bed. "It's fine."

"Does it hurt?"

"No." His answer was casual and calm for his condition.

Argenti walked behind him. "But you seemed to be in a really bad condition earlier! You should take some time to recover!"

'I wish I could!' Cale continued to walk. "It's normal." Another nonchalant answer from him.

'It—it's normal?.. does he usually get this badly hurt?! How can they leave someone so fragile like him unattended!' Cale was making him worry about his wellbeing.

.
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Cale walked down to the end of the hall. He had been informed by Alberu that someone wanted to meet him, in which he thought that it was the guy from earlier since they had not finished their conversation before getting interrupted by uncultured animals.

He opened the door, greeted by multiple two faces. As he expected, "Jing Yuan and Yanqing, correct?"

"Yes you are."

Cale went over and sat alongside them, "I assume you wanted to continue our previous discussion?" He flashed them his professional smile.

"Let's get down to business then, shall we?" He was getting straight to the point. Jing Yuan took a deep breath before speaking again, "the Xianzhou would like to form an alliance with the people of this planet, more exactly, the Roan Kingdom." He kept it short and simple.

Cale didn't think there was any means to make an alliance, they were already prepared for what had come. Another helper would only help lessen the time taken. "And what exactly will we gain from this?" Cale asked.

Jing Yuan had already predicted this question, "you'll be able to get help from us and trade with other planets"

They didn't need help with the war currently, but what if there was an unexpected variable on the enemy's side? There's no saying there won't be. And there's nothing wrong with being a little more prepared.

But there one thing Cale didn't understand, as far as he knew, the Xianzhou, where they came from is highly advanced and is many steps ahead of their time, so what need would there be for them to help the Roan Kingdom with it's own problems? "And what do you want in return?" Cale knew nothing came for free here and anywhere.

"Simple." Jing Yuan answered, "we just want trading rights to here and a little favor, which will be revealed later on." He didn't specifically say what it was.

"General!—

Jing Yuan silenced Yanqing, shushing him.

Yanqing knew that not revealing their true intentions would cause a flaw in their trustworthiness. He just couldn't understand why the general was taking such a big risk, doesn't he want to form an alliance with them?

Cale found it skeptical, why did he do that? Was there a reason? A meaning? Even with all those unanswered questions, Cale had already came up with his decision, "alright."

Jing Yuan smirked.

They shook hands, sealing off the deal.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but that can be answered on a later date. We have more important matters anyways, don't we?"

"Yes.." Cale didn't like being left unaware of things like this but did he have a choice?

"Alright." Jing Yuan looked at Yanqing, then back at Cale. "When do you plan to settle the war?" He was asking when it was going to start, at least the first exchange.

'Is he personally taking part?' Cale thought, it would've been great if someone as strong as be participated in it. "The preparations are almost done, we're aiming towards 3 months."

Might sound like a long time, but war takes time and resources. 3 months is anything but short.

"Alright." Jing Yuan was slightly upset, he was hoping to stay longer than expected, 'I'll just have to make the most of it.'

After a bit of friendly talk to get to know one another better, the three exited the room and headed their own separate ways.