"Husky, since you're the one in charge while I'm out, give me your report."
"Yes, My Prince!" Boss Husky came forward and reported his finding. "My Prince, we all behaved nicely when you left. We also happen to find a tunnel that will fit us all to infiltrate the cat daycare on the other side!"
"There is a cat daycare on the other side?" Alpheus was a tad surprised because none of the dogs told him about it yesterday. "How come you guys weren't telling me about this yesterday?"
"Because the tunnel was not open yesterday, My Prince! Of course, we can't invade. I don't want to burden you with the thought, My Prince!" Boss Husky said. "Apparently, Grand Overseer Eunjung Noona cleaned the daycare yesterday, but she only finished halfway because she got tired and wanted to have a drink with her friends. THat's why the tunnel is still open."
"So it's not supposed to open at all?" Alpheus asked.
"No, Prince! This is the first time we can see the open tunnel!" Boss Husky answered.
"Hm… I forgive you for withholding information now, but you must tell me this cat daycare on the other side."
"My Prince! I've only known this from a stray cat that came to the dog daycare when the grand overseer of the daycare, Eunjung Noona, is too busy streaming BTS - Dynamite for the whole day in her office. The stray cat said a cat daycare on the other side was ruled with a matriarchal system. The queen is a female sphinx cat called Meowpatra, and there is the female grand advisor, and also as the right-hand woman of the queen, her name is Neferkitty."
"Meowpatra and Neferkitty ruled the cat daycare in harmony, but the other cats must give them their offering every week. Such offering is like… dead mouse, dead bird, or anything dead."
"But they said the cat daycare is more crowded than in the dog daycare. We only have 10 dogs here, while cat daycare probably has twice or even three times the number!"
Alpheus nodded as he listened to the explanation. He wasn't surprised by a kingdom ruled by a lady. Few kingdoms in his world were ruled by queens, and they were equally strong.
In fact, even Eclipse Kingdom was ruled by a female alpha wolf, Alpheus' great grandmother, at some point.
So he didn't want to take it lightly. He still wanted to expand his domain, but he didn't want to be harsh on this approach.
"Hmm… I don't want to attack a domain without scouting the situation first. Let's try to negotiate with the cats, send an envoy and tell them to bow under my rule, or their land will be desecrated to the ground," Alpheus said. He looked at the 10 dogs who lined up in front of him.
Obviously, he could just send Boss Husky because he was the strongest out of the bunch, but Boss Husky didn't have the sophisticated envoy-look in him.
So he checked the other dogs, walking from the left side to the right until he stopped at the last dog in front of him.
It was a female white-golden brown toy spaniel dog. She was around the size of Alpheus as Pomeranian, but she was actually younger!
She was mostly silent yesterday, so Alpheus wanted to inquire more, "What's your name?"
"My Prince, my name is Millie!" Millie, the toy spaniel, answered.
"Millie, huh? Hm…" Alpheus checked the female dog from top to bottom and found her harmless-looking, perfect for a peace envoy.
"I order you to go to the other side as an envoy and then tell them about our presence here. Offer them to surrender peacefully and live under my rule, or there will be bloodshed, understand?" Alpheus said to Millie.
"Yes, My Prince! Millie will go there and deliver your message!" Millie said.
Alpheus started to worry that Millie might not return alive if she was alone since she was a female dog, a small one as well.
"Bronx, go and accompany Millie. She needs protection," Alpheus instructed the bull terrier to accompany the toy spaniel.
But Bronx, the bull terrier, looked hesitant, "My Prince, are you sure Millie needs protection?"
"I'm sure. Go with her and protect her from harm," Alpheus said.
"But…" Bronx wanted to say that Millie wasn't as cute as she looked, but he didn't dare to challenge Prince Alphie's order.
"Return alive, Millie, Bronx," Alpheus said as they sent the two dogs to the tunnel connecting between the dog daycare and cat daycare. Alpheus checked Cha Eunjung, thinking that she would definitely reprimand everyone if there was a fight, so he had to make sure that Grand overseer Cha Eunjung wouldn't disturb the envoy mission.
"Husky, do the Grand overseer Eunjung Noona ever check the two kingdoms?" Alpheus asked. "Because all I saw yesterday is her watching something, reading a novel, and playing with her phone."
"You don't need to worry about that, My Prince! Grand Overseer Eunjung only checked us twice a day, during lunch and snack time around 4 P.M.!" Boss Husky replied.
"My prince, may I know if it's really a good idea to send Millie instead of other dogs?" Boss Husky asked.
"Yes, she is a female dog, which I believe would be more preferred for the queen, Meowpatra, to talk to. That is also our sign of respect to a matriarchal society," Alpheus explained. He was taught politics, economy, and everything that a king needed to do as part of his training with his Uncle.
He never expected those boring classes with his Uncle in the middle of the forest would be useful now. Since all he wanted to do when he was younger was kill his prey while the offspring of the prey watched how their mother got devoured by Alphie.
Boss Husky looked even more hesitant than before, "I'm not so sure about that, my Prince. Millie isn't really the most peaceful dog on earth."