Chapter 65: 064 We Aren’t Pacifists

Montaug led Diana to a comfortable velvet seat in the middle of the room, positioned slightly off to the side of a large wooden desk. This supposed 'Grand Audience Hall' was small. Diana would be inclined to call it humble.

"My apologies for the outburst Lady Helmsguard, but you must understand that someone of your looks and wits must be extremely careful when revealing your marital status. Do not under any circumstance use 'Miss' to address yourself." Montaug paced around the edge of the desk, coming to a similarly velvet chair.

Diana, confused, responded as such. "Nobody has taken issue with that until now?"

"That would be because you have only interacted with those belonging to the Sanctum, likely born and raised here. They do not have the concept of honorifics that denote marriage status, they almost exclusively use the neutral term Lady." His tone was stern but only concern was displayed on his face.

"Is it really that big of a deal? Would anybody really make a fuss about such matters?"

Montaug sighed, cursing his current position. "You very clearly do not hail from a culture where polygamy in search of pomp and pleasure is prevalent among the higher strata. There is the extremely real possibility that some highfalutin noble might be incentivized proclaim you his wife or concubine without your consent or knowledge. Such things have happened to our own citizens attending the academy. Trust they were diplomatic nightmares to sort out."

Diana recoiled at this. She wanted to believe that such a thing would be mediated by the Sanctum, but she very quickly realized that doing so was not their job. Such an interaction was effectively a diplomatic dispute over the citizenship of an individual.

"Would it be a good idea to refer to myself as married then?"

"I would not throw away the ability to tempt some fool with the prospect of you hand in marriage, I feel that such a political tool will be extremely useful in your current situation. Besides, while declaring your marital status will only drive away those of lower status and lesser means, doing so is more likely to incite the arrogant, foolish, and lustful children of powerful backgrounds into action. It would only cause trouble for the man you declared yourself wedded or engaged to. You should maintain the ambiguity to dissuade brash action."

Diana hadn't been trained on such intricacies, and why would she have been? This sort of problem wasn't even a consideration back home on Earth.

"Why are you telling me this? Does it not go against you isolationist policies?"

"Perhaps, but I have a duty to make sure those under my nation's protection are educated on how to protect themselves."

Silence.

Diana sank into her chair, eyebrows raised in shock. Negotiations hadn't even begun yet and already they were accepted? What was going on?

"Surprised?"

"Extremely."

"I expected as much. If I'm being completely honest I didn't agree with the decision of my superiors, reserving the right to refuse taking the two of you in. Your kind having developed to the point of trench wars at minimum forced my hand. I have a feeling that a similar morsel of information courtesy of the Arboreal Maiden is what incentivized the bishops to agree as well." Montaug, now reclined in his chair, was tapping his heel on the wooden floor.

"Why that of all things? Are you not pacifists? Would our proclivity towards war not drive you away?"

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"Pacifists?" There was an ever so slight tone of indignation in his voice. "Well I suppose in comparison to everyone else we might appear so averse to war that 'pacifist' might apply, but we don't run from war. Of the nations who send their children to the military academy, ours sends the most by a large margin. We could effortlessly double the size of our territory in a matter of years without significantly weakening our ability to respond to threats. The roots of our religion are steeped in warfare, the vast majority of our pre-introduction history was defined by a state of near constant war."

Montaug pulled open a drawer in his desk, pulling out a few interesting items. The few papers were photographs, moments in time displaying the triumph and anguish of his people, and the trials they faced. He took out a boat, a warship, likely a model of some distinguished or trophied vessel. The last item was one she had seen in movies and on the hips of some select individuals. The heavy clicking it made as he set it down on the table made her flinch.

There was no mistaking it, that was a pistol.

"We aren't pacifists, Lady Diana, we have simply grown tired of war. As it stands, we have nothing to gain from it, and our reputation means that only the incredibly brave and foolish ever attempt to assault our proverbial walls. With our technological advantage, there is no glory to be had with conflict, and we like it that way. We enjoy our position, strong enough to ensure our way of life and given the occasional challenge by the Great Csillacra to demonstrate it to everyone else."

Diana's eyes were still glued to the gun. Her discomfort wasn't irrational per se, but she could probably have relaxed around it a bit more.

"That doesn't explain your eagerness to take-"

"You aren't a politician are you?" Montaug rather rudely interrupted her. "I don't mean that you aren't involved in politics or know how to maneuver in a hostile political situation, but rather that you aren't used to being in a position of power over your own citizenry. You're not a stateswoman. I can respect that, especially considering the fact that there are only two of you. In your case foreign relations are far more important than domestic matters. However I am certain that your spouse-to-be would have figured out the reason from my little explanation considering the background I am told he has. Would you like to think about why?"

Diana was completely on the back foot. Not only had she failed to talk herself into an advantageous position, her competency was now being put into question. Calling her situation suboptimal would be understating it. Despite this, she didn't feel she had done anything wrong. Certainly not reacting in such an astonished manner to their acceptance might have helped, but she was fighting an uphill battle, she already had everything she set out for.

She wasn't quite sure how to continue, something that made her uneasy.

Diana decided to follow along with the wise old man's suggestion, thinking about why they might be so eager to comply with the Arboreal Maiden's suggestion. That didn't mean she could see what the cause was, it simply didn't make sense to her.

"You are a threat to us, Lady Diana." Montaug gave her the answer after a few minutes of thinking, back to his previous serene demeanor. "More specifically, your knowledge and technology are a threat. Our current military is not equipped to deal with a threat of comparable technology, the armor of our ships only rated to take a significantly more powerful than average ballista. We would rather make you friends and allies while we can so that we don't have to worry about you in the future."

"We're a threat? There are only two of us, surely we aren't that big an issue."

"It is because you are so few in number that you are a threat. As I said before, it is your knowledge that is problematic for us. It would not be surprising for someone in a situation as desperate as yours to sell that knowledge for something you need." Montaug put the gun away out of courtesy.

"Would killing us not solve your problems?"

"It might, given we succeed, but it would present a host of new ones. You are nominally under the Great Csillacra's protection, and attacking you in spite of that would not be the best for our already poor relationship with everybody else. Making you our enemies would only accomplish everything we set out to avoid, and I have already established that ignoring you is out of the question. That only leaves making you a friendly power, ideally having you become something like a buffer state that we can rely on to take care of threats."

"You would use us like that?"

"Aren't you planning something similar with us? Hoping to leech off of our material wealth to build yourselves up? I won't say we won't help you, in fact there are a few unoccupied verdant stars along our borders that you might be very interested in. All we ask is that your kind help lighten the burden of defense for my people."

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