Noah left after talking with Kyle for a while, and Kyle went back to training.
Starting from the next day, Noah's letters became very short.
They were just one or two sentences long.
"Still fighting."
"More pressure from the Naga Covenant."
There was no good news.
The picture painted by Noah seemed grim.
Two weeks after the horrible meeting, another meeting of note took place.
The Crown Prince just dealt with the usual topics, but this time, he had a more official matter to bring up with Kyle.
"The Central Frontlines are planning an attack," he said. "This time, it's the Stark Brotherhood's turn to guard our backs. We need ten Grandmasters for two weeks."
Kyle nodded. "Is this an official request from the Skysand Kingdom?"
"Yes," the Crown Prince answered.
"Alright, when do you need them? I'll tell my Guild right away," Kyle said.
"In six days," the Crown Prince said.
Kyle nodded, wrote a long letter detailing everything, and showed it to the Crown Prince.
"Looks good," the Crown Prince said with a relieved voice.
He had expected Kyle to be difficult to deal with, but this was surprisingly easy.
Naga and Shore looked at Kyle.
This was the perfect opportunity to put a bit more pressure on the Stark Brotherhood.
Kyle noticed their expressions and looked back.
Then, he just smirked.
The meeting ended pretty quickly, and Kyle went back to training.
Naturally, he sent the letter to the Stark Brotherhood.
A week later, the next meeting took place. At this moment, the ten Grandmasters from the Stark Brotherhood were currently on the central battlefield.
As Kyle looked around the room, he noticed that Shore and Naga were in a bad mood.
He knew exactly why they were in a bad mood.
The letter Kyle had received yesterday said that the ten Grandmasters had left a goodbye present for the two Guilds.
Kyle didn't know what exactly they had done, but it had to be something big.
During this meeting, nothing of note was discussed.
An entire month passed.
The letters from Noah were just as short as always.
Surprisingly, the atmosphere during the weekly meetings became more casual the more intense the conflict got.
That was because Naga and Shore initiated more conversations with Kyle.
Nobody wanted this conflict, and as representatives, it was their job to negotiate with the competition.
Everyone should benefit.
Yet, Kyle just kept shooting them down.
During the next month, not much changed.
Another month later, two significant changes occurred.
The two territories between the Stark Brotherhood and the Naga Covenant were taken over.
The northern one was taken by the Stark Brotherhood, while the southern one was taken by the Naga Covenant.
Now, the Stark Brotherhood was surrounded by Four-Weapons Guilds.
The pressure would become even more intense.
The letters from Noah after the takeover became much longer since they reported several new problems.
And then…
The letters from Noah became very simple.
"Still fighting."
"Still fighting."
"Still fighting."
Kyle couldn't see what was actually going on in the Stark Brotherhood's territory.
He didn't know how the average day of a member of the Guild went.
But he knew that his Guild was fighting.
This was probably the most tumultuous period the Stark Brotherhood had ever experienced, and Kyle was not there to support them.
The only thing Kyle was doing while his Guild was going through an insane conflict was training.
Two more months passed.
The Stark Brotherhood had to send another ten Grandmasters to the frontlines.
Luckily, the ten Grandmasters they had sent a couple of months ago had all returned without any injuries.
After Kyle sent the letter informing his Guild, Naga and Shore arrived in front of Kyle's storage room.
They had never appeared here before.
"Do you need something?" Kyle asked after opening the door.
"Let me just get right to the point," Naga spoke with narrowed eyes. "We showed you what we can do over the past six months, but we don't want this conflict to continue."
"Will you act more reasonably from now on, or do we have to escalate the conflict even further?" she asked.
"Escalate?" Kyle asked as he leaned against the doorframe. "In what way?"
"Our goal was to stifle you until now," Naga said. "That will change to eradicate you."
"You mean kill?" Kyle asked as he narrowed his eyes.
"No, killing the members of other Guilds is forbidden," Shore interjected. "We mean that we will make the Stark Brotherhood disappear as an organization."
Kyle remained silent for a while.
He wasn't sure what the Stark Brotherhood's situation was.
This had been a conflict up to now, but nobody had been killed yet.
This might actually change.
"Before you answer," Shore said. "Remember one thing."
"You are a representative."
"You are not the Guild Leader."
"You are the mouth, not the brain. "
"It is not your job to make decisions for the Guild."
Kyle remained silent as he looked at the ceiling for a while.
Then, he sighed.
"You're right," he said. "Give us two days. I will be asking my Guild Leader."
The two representatives smiled politely. "Thank you."
After that, the two of them left.
Kyle had to sigh again.
'Yeah, I can't make the choices for my Guild. I'm not the Guild Leader.'
Kyle quickly wrote a big letter and sent it to the Chief.
In two days, he would receive his answer.
Until then, Kyle wouldn't commit to anything.
After two more days of training, Kyle received two letters.
One was the daily letter from Noah, while the other was from the Chief.
Kyle read through the Chief's letter.
Then, he called Naga and Shore over.
"You have your answer?" Shore asked.
Kyle nodded.
A moment later, he unfurled the letter and handed it to Naga.
Naga looked at it.
"Tell them to wash their necks. I don't want my blade to get dirty."
"Signed, Guild Leader of the Stark Brotherhood."
Naga's and Shore's eyes narrowed in rage.
Naga politely handed the letter back to Kyle while looking into his eyes with a cold expression.
"You wanted this," Naga spoke coldly before leaving.
"We're always ready to continue negotiations," Shore said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Just so you know."
Kyle didn't say anything.
This was not his fight.
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