Claude & Lorenz B / houses.fedatamine.com

Lorenz, Claude enter the scene

Claude. Are you aware of the most recent conflict within the Alliance?

Hello to you too, Lorenz. And you'll have to be more specific. The Alliance is always bickering over one thing or another.

Margrave Edmund is raising objections over the assignment of his troops to the eastern defenses.

If you please one noble, another will only gripe. No matter what happens, there will always be conflict.

That is just the kind of lackadaisical attitude that causes more conflict among us than necessary! Now, listen to me carefully.

House Edmund may not hold much land, but the land they do control is quite rich. They also maintain a thriving port.

Their influence is poised to rival even the most powerful players in the Alliance. Yet they claim they cannot spare a fair share of troops?

Do you find it acceptable to let such an obviously unreasonable objection stand?

It's not as though the threat of Almyra to the east has proven all that threatening of late.

Such negligence! What makes you so certain the Almyrans will not attack us tomorrow?!

If certain dukes hold back their proper share of support, it will only serve to weaken House Goneril's hold of our eastern flank!

Calm yourself. I am well aware that the financial situation of House Edmund is quite exceptional.

However, what you fail to realize is that they are lacking in troops. They're not lying when they say they don't have that many to spare.

As it were, the Almyrans have been nothing but peaceful since we refortified Fódlan's Locket.

And are you aware that Margrave Edmund paid the majority of the costs for those repairs?

Is that so?

In fact, it's largely thanks to the skilled craftsmen he assembled that the fortress is now so impregnable.

I, for one, wouldn't want to attack a fortress as formidable as that.

I do see your point. If House Edmund has already made its fair contribution, then that is all we can ask. Very well, I withdraw my objection.

But even the sturdiest fortress needs soldiers to defend it. If we continue to squabble amongst ourselves, it will eventually fall.

Lorenz leaves the scene

Well, well. And here I thought he only cared about status...

Still, if someone like him really came to lead the Alliance, it would not bode well for Almyra.