While the group of foreign beings were escorted out of the room, Vizier Hadix focused his attention on the mood of those around him.

It became immediately obvious to him that arranging for the foreigners to be presented to the kingdom’s leadership was the correct decision. While many of the voices he could hear seemed to favor isolating Azjol-Nerub from the Eastern Kingdoms, a large portion of the leadership was interested in the potential benefits that could be gained from the new lands.

Hadix knew without a doubt that if the Order had not gone to significant lengths to direct key members of the leadership toward a more outward-looking policy, then that portion would be substantially smaller.

As it was, this was a favorable start and Hadix was confident that the kingdom would reach the conclusion that it was in its best interest to establish a presence in the Eastern Kingdoms.

Hadix glanced toward one of the Viziers from the Technological Research Division and gave him a nearly imperceptible nod once he caught their attention. It wouldn’t do for Hadix to publicly push for his agenda given his connection to the Initiate responsible for discovering the Eastern Kingdoms in the first place if he wanted to avoid attracting unwanted attention.

And he very much did want to avoid that.

Therefore, Hadix had… convinced a Vizier that was seemingly unrelated to himself to push his agenda for him.

Vizier Cre’al visibly flinched when Hadix nodded at him, but he still obediently moved to carry out the nonverbal command.

“Underking Kuk’arak,” said Vizier Cre’al, silencing the crowd as everyone turned their attention to him. “I believe I speak for my colleagues in the Technological Research Division when I say that it is in the best interest of the kingdom of Azjol-Nerub to establish a diplomatic presence in the Eastern Kingdoms and learn what we can from its natives.”

“The Arcane Research Division supports this as well for the potential it has in expanding our magical knowledge base by introducing new factors and insights,” Vizier Ci’as agreed, pleasantly surprising Hadix because she needed no prompting on his part to do so.

Most likely due to her Division anticipating the benefits of a relationship with the surface in regards to the new arcane aligned reagents collected from the Lothalor Woodlands and hoping for more.

Hadix listened carefully to the surrounding responses.

“We stand to gain much knowledge from these new lands… “

“I wonder if there are any reagents in the Eastern Kingdoms that could be used to create a superior healing potion.”

“We should prioritize studying the technology of these ‘gnomes.’”

“It would be wise for the kingdom to keep a close eye on these lands for potential threats.”

Similar voices echoed throughout the room, with most being positive or at least neutral with few outright dissenting against it.

The response was more positive than Hadix had expected, although he could tell that there were many who held different opinions and were not speaking up. The natural curiosity of the Viziers and the desire of the Weavers for trading goods that would benefit their various crafts pushed against their insular nature.

“Ridiculous.”

All discussion in the room was immediately silenced by the deep voice of a Spiderlord coming from the Naz’anak scrying crystal.

“Why should our kingdom associate itself with lesser creatures? What could they possibly have to offer us? Are our Viziers so inept that they need to learn from foreigners? Are we so incompetent that we need the help of others to acquire the materials that this kingdom needs?” said Underking Anub’esset derisively. Many who were previously quiet started to mutter in support of the Underking. “If we allow those foreigners to return to the Eastern Kingdoms, then our lands will soon be crawling with outsiders whether we want it or not. We should kill these creatures and destroy their transport before it is too late!”

Hadix didn’t bother holding back a scoff. It was obvious to everyone that Naz’anak would benefit the least out of all the present cities from diplomatic ties with the Eastern Kingdoms, given the city’s focus on producing Warriors over Viziers or Weavers. The Spiderlord’s objections more likely stemmed more from that fact rather than an actual ideological opposition. Hadix wasn’t the only one who could pick up on this fact and the Underking would almost certainly face pushback.

Sure enough, mocking laughter echoed from the En’kilah scrying crystal as soon as Underking Anub’esset finished speaking.

“Are you truly so scared, Anub’esset?” said Underking Naferset, his voice filled with mockery. “Are your Warriors so incapable of handling a few lesser creatures exploring our lands that you believe we should hide like newly born hatchlings? It’s obvious to everyone that the kingdom would be better off learning more about these new lands rather than hiding like cowards.”

Naferset was no less self-interested than Anub’esset given the relatively large focus his city put on creating capable Viziers. En’kilah stood to benefit greatly from the new knowledge that they could potentially learn.

“Who are you calling a coward, Naferset?! I doubt you would be so brave if you were speaking to me in person!”

“I have better things to do than fight with a fool,” said Underking Naferset with a scoff. “We would be better off discussing the composition of the diplomatic party that we’ll be sending to the Eastern Kingdoms.”

“You act as if we have already made a decision,” rebuked Underking Kuk’arak. “I, for one, still have reservations on the matter.”

Hadix had done his best to direct Underking Kuk’arak to a more outward-looking policy, but his success was severely hampered by the Order’s relatively light presence in Kilah’kuk. Kuk’arak was steadily warming up to the idea of increased interaction with outsiders due to the benefits that trading with the tuskarr had brought to his city, but centuries of belief were difficult to overcome.

“I agree with Underking Nasferset,” said Queen Mel’ras as one of her skitterers delivered a lobster to her grasp. “We have much to gain from studying these new races and the trading goods that the human expressed interest in are easily acquired. The kingdom produces plenty of ore and there is no shortage of low-grade silk that we could trade for valuable goods. After all, it’s only the higher-grade magical silks that we would need to restrict from trading.”

The Weavers were able to produce many high-grade silks with magical silks with fantastical properties that the kingdom would not want in the hands of outsiders.

Hadix noted that many of the Weavers he could see relaxed slightly at the words of Queen Mel’ras. Many of them were extremely protective of their more powerful silks, and would naturally oppose trading them away to outsiders.

The discussion continued on like that for a while, with several important leaders arguing for their positions on either side of the matter. Hadix was gratified to see that Vizier Cre’al succeeded in pushing the narrative toward establishing diplomatic contact by constantly mentioning the benefits of doing so whenever someone spoke against it. Vizier Silvos also spoke in favor on occasion, but he remained quiet for the most part.

“There is also the matter of the prophesied tide of death,” said the aged voice of Elder Nadox, one of the most politically powerful Viziers in Azjol-Nerub and trusted advisor to High King Anub’arak. “It would greatly increase the security of our kingdom if our people were able to spread to another continent.”

At the Vizier’s words, the discussion suddenly stopped and Hadix could feel himself want to chuckle with mirth. While Nadox was not a member of the Order, his apprentice—Seer Ixit—was, and he had done everything he could to convince the Elder that the kingdom needed to spread to the Eastern Kingdoms if it wanted to survive.

It seems that Ixit’s efforts have paid off, Hadix thought with amusement.

Nobody wanted to speak against the Elder, due both to the political power he wielded and their unease over the unknown calamity that many of the kingdom’s seers could sense approaching. Hearing Elder Nadox tell them that their kingdom would be significantly safer if they expanded to another continent was a great source of discomfort for most of them.

Just as the silence was beginning to grow awkward, a voice that nearly every leader in the kingdom would recognize carried across the room.

“Enough,” said High King Anub’arak in a tone that brooked no argument. “The kingdom of Azjol-Nerub will send a diplomatic party to join the outsiders as they return to the Eastern Kingdoms. This team must be capable of establishing a permanent portal connection between the kingdom and these new lands if we decide it is in our best interests to do so. Matters of trade will be handled on a case-by-case basis. We will now move the discussion to the details and composition of this diplomatic party.”

With that, the discussion on whether or not the kingdom should interact with the Eastern Kingdoms was brought to an end. Although the various cities of the kingdom had a large amount of autonomy, none of them would dare to directly contradict the orders of the High King on such a serious matter.

Hadix was unsurprised that the High King had chosen to step in.

While the kingdom was extremely isolationist, it was obviously in their interest to have some amount of contact with these newly discovered lands, even if only to keep an eye on them.

Though, the nature and the degree of that contact was still up for negotiation.

It was likely that the High King wished for the diplomatic party to gather additional information about the Eastern Kingdoms so that he could make a more informed decision at a later date.

There were many short-sighted fools who would prefer to simply kill all the outsiders, destroy their ship, and never worry about them again, but fortunately, Anub’arak was a fairly competent ruler.

The discussion was quiet for several more moments before the crowd slowly started to argue over who would be sent with the group. Each of the cities wanted to send its own people so that they could push their respective city’s agendas.

Hadix spent a while listening and decided to step forward after Underking Anub’esset shamelessly proposed to send one of his direct subordinates with the diplomatic party he previously spoke out against.

The Order had decided that it would be best if he was the one who traveled to the Eastern Kingdoms so that he could begin scouting these new lands for the influence of the Old Ones.

After all, his direct relationship with the Initiate behind the discovery of the Eastern Kingdoms made it easy to justify his inclusion in the diplomatic party.

“Leaders of the kingdom of Azjol-Nerub, I am Vizier Hadix of Kilah’kuk’s Surface Research Division,” he said, attracting the attention of everybody listening to himself. Hadix gestured to Krivax with one of his arms and watched him tense as the crowd turned their attention to him. “I am the mentor of the one who was directly responsible for discovering these new lands, Initiate Krivax. I would like to put forward myself, Initiate Krivax, and Neophyte Masruk to be sent as members of this diplomatic party due to our experience in dealing with races of the surface.”

“You, I could understand, Vizier Hadix,” said Underking Naferset, with an edge of skepticism. “I could even perhaps understand sending your Initiate, as young as he may be. But why should we send a Neophyte with this expedition?”

Because the two of them are practically inseparable and I don’t want to deal with the brat’s whining if I try to split them apart.

Not only had Initiate Krivax shown himself to possess a useful talent for diplomacy with the surface, but Hadix was loath to leave the talented Initiate in the hands of Malas. As such, it was best to bring the Initiate along to the Eastern Kingdoms instead of leaving him behind and allowing his potential to be squandered… or worse.

“Neophyte Masruk has spent more time than most on the surface,” said Vizier Hadix. “He has shown himself to be competent at communicating with the other races and will be a useful asset. He has also fought with and against the surface races, observing how they fight in great detail, something which I believe will be very important when studying these foreigners in their own lands."

It was not the strongest of justifications on his part, but it was good enough that nobody cared to fight him over it.

The discussion went on for quite some time and was made more difficult by the limited amount of space on the foreigner’s wooden ship, but they were eventually able to agree on the composition of the diplomatic party.

En’kilah would send a Vizier who was both proficient in technologies and experienced in creating permanent portals. Azjol-Nerub would send Weavers who were highly knowledgeable about the kingdom’s material needs and could assist in any potential trade negotiations. Naz’anak would provide the Warriors that would both offer protection to the rest of the envoys and evaluate these new lands for potential threats. Kilah’kuk would send Vizier Hadix to handle any necessary diplomatic negotiations, and he would be accompanied by Initiate Kirvax and Neophyte Masruk.

At one point, the discussion devolved into a heated argument on the merits of sending a Spiderlord to act as head of the party’s protection detail, with many pointing out that the outsider’s ship was not large enough to comfortably transport one. Azjol-Nerub might not have its own maritime tradition, but the Viziers were smart enough to understand that a Spiderlord would be forced to stay on the deck and would face severe difficulties during long sea travel.

However, many thought sending a Spiderlord would be essential as both protection and a show of force to the surface races.

Eventually, it was decided that a Spiderlord would be sent after some of the Viziers from En’kilah proposed that the Spiderlord be fastened to the ship with adhesive waterproof silk and put to sleep with a potion to stave away boredom.

There were a few more things that they needed to discuss after they reached an agreement on the diplomatic party’s composition, but they eventually finished and the meeting was ended by High King Anub’arak. After giving an order for the members of the diplomatic party to prepare for their journey to the Eastern Kingdoms, the scrying crystal for Azjol-Nerub went dark and the other two crystals soon followed.

Hadix couldn’t help but sigh in relief. The meeting had gone as expected and the results were as favorable as he could reasonably hope for. Turning his attention to Initiate Krivax, Hadix could see that the Initiate was still filled with tension, but he was slowly relaxing.

We’re not done yet, Initiate, thought Hadix with no small amount of humor. You’re about to become the center of the crowd’s attention for the second time today.

“As you have heard, the High King has decided to establish a diplomatic relationship with the Eastern Kingdoms,” said Underking Kuk’arak to the city’s leadership. “There is no doubt that this will bring great change to this kingdom, and you all will be responsible for guiding our people through this. I am sure you all have much to think about. If nobody has anything else to discuss, then you are all dismissed. I will send a messenger to inform the outsiders of our decision.”

“In fact, there is something further that I would like to discuss,” said Hadix, just as everyone was preparing to leave the room. “I wish to take this opportunity to ask a favor of Queen Mel’ras.”

“Oh? What favor is it that you wish to ask me?” asked the Queen, her tone one of curiosity. Her bulbous abdomen swayed as she directed her attention away from the skitterers that were crawling along her body to deliver food to her mandibles and turned that attention to Hadix.

“I would ask that you elevate Initiate Krivax to the Vizier caste before he is sent to the Eastern Kingdoms, Queen Mel’ras.”

Hadix could see from the corner of his vision that Initiate Krivax had completely stopped moving after processing what was just said. The room was silent for only a short, surprised moment before one of the Viziers loudly objected to the proposal.

“That is a ridiculous proposition! That Initiate is barely more than a hatchling! How could you believe him worthy of such an honor?!”

None of the other Viziers started yelling, but it was obvious that they did not approve of the proposition. The Warriors and Weavers watched with interest but were otherwise uninvested in the matter.

“It’s simple really,” Hadix said coldly, turning his gaze to the noisy Vizier. “Initiate Krivax has contributed more to this kingdom in his short tenure as an Initiate and my student by discovering the Eastern Kingdoms than many of those in this room will contribute in their entire lives.”

That was enough to cause many of the Viziers to break out into angry condemnations, but their opinions were irrelevant so Hadix simply ignored them and turned his attention back to the Queen.

Queen Mel’ras was the one who had the final say over who was and was not elevated to a higher caste in the city of Kilah’kuk. The only reason that the Circle of Viziers was usually able to control which of their members were elevated was because the Queen was incredibly difficult to actually meet with. Even if you did meet her, the situation usually did not allow for requests to be made of her, but Hadix felt that this situation was different. Not only was it true that the Initiate in question had contributed greatly to the kingdom, but he was also about to be sent on an extremely important mission.

Hadix was not foolish enough to miss this opportunity to increase the value of an Initiate that was so closely tied to himself. Especially given the plans that he had for the young mage.

“How bold of you,” said Queen Mel’ras with a chuckle. “Do you truly believe your Initiate is worthy of me spending the effort to elevate him?”

“I do,” Vizier Hadix said without hesitation.

“And you, Initiate?” asked Queen Mel’ras after a short pause. “Do you believe you are ready to become a Vizier?”

The question seemed to startle Initiate Krivax out of whatever daze he was in.

“Yes, Queen Mel’ras!” said Initiate Krivax. “I am ready to become a Vizier and serve the kingdom to the best of my ability!”

He’s overdoing it a little, but it was still a good enough answer I suppose, thought Hadix. He could tell that Queen Mel’ras seemed to think so as well.

“Very well,” said Queen Mel’ras, waving her hand dismissively. “I suppose it is no great burden, and it’s not every day that an Initiate discovers a whole new continent. Bring him to me tomorrow. The process is not a quick one and I will need to begin soon if you do not wish to delay the expedition.”

With that said, the Queen moved to leave without further comment, her gaggle of skitterer attendants hot on her heels or even under her bloated abdomen in an attempt to help lessen her load.

“If there is nothing else, then you are all dismissed,” said Underking Kuk’arak.

This time, nobody interrupted him and everyone started to make their way out of the room while discussing the implications of everything that had happened during the meeting.

Initiate Krivax moved to leave as well—likely to meet with the outsiders and his Warrior friend—before Hadix stopped him by placing an arm on the Initiate’s shoulder.

“Vizier Hadix? Is there something further that you need from me?”

“Yes, there is,” said Hadix, his amusement growing as he watched the young mage’s expression grow increasingly nervous. “The outsiders will have to wait. I have something important to show you.”

“What is it, Vizier Hadix?” asked Initiate Krivax, trying and failing to hide his apprehension.

“You’ll see when we reach there,” Hadix said simply as he turned and began walking towards the room’s exit. “Follow me.”

After a few hesitant moments, Hadix heard the skittering footsteps of the Initiate and he allowed his mind to wander as he thought about the conversation he was about to have with the young one.

When he first decided to arrange for Initiate Krivax to be designated to his Division, he did so because of the Initiate’s drive and talent. As he watched the young mage devote all of his free time and energy to learning magic, Hadix had even started to think it would be a good idea to induct the Initiate into the Order after a few decades due to his constant drive to learn and improve.

However, none of his plans could have foreseen what Initiate Krivax had accomplished over such a short time. When Hadix allowed him to travel to the surface with the intention of interacting with the surface races, he had thought nothing of importance would come of it.

How wrong he was.

Now things had changed, and it was in his best interests for Initiate Krivax to learn about the Order before they left for the Eastern Kingdoms.

There was some amount of risk, given that Initiate Krivax was now too well known to be disposed of discreetly if he reacted poorly. Unfortunately, there were many who were fanatically loyal to the kingdom and did not approve once they learned that there was a secret organization of Viziers that held significant political power behind the scenes.

He was also young, inexperienced in many things, and highly idealistic; all traits that usually were not usually a great fit for the Order.

Still, Hadix believed that he had a good understanding of Initiate Krivax by now, and he knew how to pluck the right threads to get what he wanted.