Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons novel Chapter 869

Chapter 869: Chapter 869 - Taming the Fifth Year - Cold Diplomacy - 3

If these forces had abandoned their positions where they should have been protecting the city...

If they’d left vulnerabilities in defenses that only hadn’t converted into disasters because somehow these nobles were controlling the mutants somehow...

Then they weren’t simply an army deserving respect as combatants doing their duty.

They were deserters who’d put the civilian population at risk for political purposes. Leaders had ordered them to abandon fundamental responsibilities. And that created a situation where punishment wasn’t simply permitted but obligatory under military laws governing the armed forces’ conduct in the kingdom.

The laws were clear, had been clear for centuries. Abandoning a defensive position without authorization was a capital offense.

Not because rulers were cruel but because the alternative was systematic collapse of defense that would result in far more deaths than executing a few deserters.

Those laws existed because previous generations had learned what happened when you tolerated desertion. Through lessons written in blood and corpses.

Selphira wasn’t proposing revenge.... She was proposing the application of the existing military law to a situation that fit the definition of desertion with disturbing precision.

And Arturo, despite his reluctance toward violence, despite his preference for administrative solutions, despite every instinct telling him this would create problems...

Couldn’t actually argue that she was wrong.

"That’s unnecessary," the leader protested with a voice that had lost some of the initial confidence he’d projected. "We can resolve this civilly if you’ll simply..."

"No," Selphira interrupted with finality not permitting additional discussion. "I’ve already decided. You’re going to return to your positions after discovering exactly what it means to face the consequences of desertion."

Her mana increased.

The three tamers before her involuntarily stepped back another half a pace. It was a clear threat needing no verbal elaboration to communicate intention.

The younger man attempted one last argument appealing to rationality.

"Matriarch, please carefully consider what you’re proposing. There are hundreds of soldiers here. Even with your considerable capabilities and the forces Lord Arturo brought, direct confrontation will result in violence and casualties that neither side truly desires. Surely it’s better to resolve this through negotiation as intelligent, noble people rather than resorting to..."

"Intelligent, noble people," Selphira repeated with a short laugh carrying no humor, "don’t abandon defenses protecting the civilian population from mutants that eat human flesh without distinction. Intelligent, noble people don’t participate in kidnapping a military commander under pretense of ’negotiation’. So pardon me if I don’t find your appeals to intelligence and nobility particularly convincing right now."

Arturo sighed internally while accepting the situation had crossed the point where diplomatic intervention could redirect events’ course.

Selphira was committed to action now, and he recognized the arguments she’d presented weren’t without merit. If he tried stopping her now, he’d only create visible division in Yano’s leadership that these enemies would exploit.

And honestly, she was right in a fundamental aspect.

If these soldiers weren’t at their assigned positions... If they’d abandoned responsibilities putting lives at risk... Then it didn’t matter whether they could control mutants or not. It wasn’t Selphira’s fault if she kicked their asses for being insubordinate.

They were the ones who’d first abandoned their positions. Consequences of that decision would appropriately fell on those who’d made it.

The calculus was cold... But leadership required cold calculus sometimes. Compassion without judgment led to situations where good people died protecting bad people who’d exploited that compassion.

"Very well," Arturo said aloud, words directed to both Selphira and the trio watching them with growing alarm. "We’re going to knock out all Gold-rank tamers leading this desertion. And we’re going to chase all surviving Silvers toward their appropriate positions on the wall. With sufficient... incentive... some will remember their duty is toward the kingdom and not toward some corrupt nobles."

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