Esme ended up building strongholds for the people in those settlements and teaching them a few things they could use to develop their lands.
She aided in their agriculture, helped to defeat the Monsters that terrorized them, and solved a lot of their crisis; both internal and external.
The process was long and arduous—hence the reason for her late arrival.
"You should have seen them, Rey. They looked so miserable…"
To say his heart ached upon hearing all about what Esme witnessed would be an understatement.
"I… always thought I was helping all of humanity by siding with the Alliance. But, I guess I was wrong." He mumbled.
"I was only helping some."
"Yeah. From what I heard, the Alliance doesn't even bother with these small regions. I find that to be very distasteful." Esme's face darkened even further as she frowned.
"The people in charge here… I despise them."
"Is that why you barged in and caused such a commotion? You didn't care about them?" Rey chuckled as he sat on the bed, right beside her.
"It's not funny, Rey. The people out there were suffering greatly, yet the Alliance that's meant to be aiding humanity sat by and did nothing!"
"No, Esme. You're being a little too shortsighted." Rey sighed, finally settling in on the bed, crossing his legs as he sat up.
"What?"
"We still have insufficient information to blame the Alliance for the suffering of those people."
"Did you not hear a word that I said? Those people were—!"
"I did. I heard you quite well. And I understand that those people have been through rather unfortunate times."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"Then—!"
"It, in no way, means the United Human Alliance is at fault here." Rey sighed.
The United Human Alliance was—at its core—an amalgamation of different countries and cultures. When the war of the Dragons came, they gathered their strength together to fight.
"So it only follows that the Nations you saw were excluded from the amalgamation—either of their own accord, or due to their inability to reach the standards of an alliance."
"What are you talking about?"
"You said the United Human Alliance is doing nothing to help them, but is that really true?"
"Y-yeah. I mean…"
"Who is currently fighting in the war against the Dragons?" Rey asked, his tone as calm as possible.
"…"
Esme said nothing to the question. Perhaps because she already knew the obvious answer.
"The Alliance is actively fighting the war, and to do that they need all the help they can get. It makes no logical sense that they would ignore potential fighting power, so chandes are that the Nations in question are the ones at fault here."
Esme's face twisted the moment she heard Rey refer to the very people she saved—the ones who suffered before her eyes—as the ones to blame.
"Re, you—"
"I'm sure they told you something along the lines of how the Alliance abandoned them, or how they were helpless against the might of the Dragons, while the Alliance was better off. They said all those things, presenting themselves to be the victims… but is that really the case?"
Any side would always tell a story that suited their narrative. As long as Ingroup bias existed, the way their perspective would be shoved into a potentially neutral scenario would often present themselves as being in the right.
"Logically looking at it, there's no reason why the Alliance would abandon those people unless, for some reason, they refused to be a part of the Alliance."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Rey could already think of a few reasons why that could be the case.
'These are small nations, so chances are that they don't have much to offer in terms of resources or military power. It's possible that they wouldn't have much of governmental control within the Alliance, and even their highest leaders would be nothing more than Nobles.'
In such a scenario, some people would rather cling to the ultimate power they had as the ruler of a small land than to merely be little fish in a much faster ocean.
In essence, it was better to rule in hell than become a servant in heaven.
"Are you saying they lied to me? I don't think so, Rey. I can see their Alignments, rememeber? I also know when someone is being dishonest with me."
"It's possible that only the leaders are aware of the deal with the Alliance, and they refused. The people were perhaps fed another narrative, which passed around until everuone believed they were right and the Alliance was wrong."
"But the leaders were also—!"
"In a place that has such insecurity and crisis, it's possible that the previous leaders who were approached with the deal and refused are already dead. It's been over ten years since the Alliance formed, after all."
Esme fell silent once again.
Her frown was yet to disappear, but she was also not as headstrong about her views as she was moments earlier.
Still, she didn't want to believe that the victims she rescued were perhaps not as innocent as she thought. And even if some were, if the narrative they fed her was wrong, then the Alliance was not the enemy she thought they were.
"Of course, there's a chance that I'm wrong. After all, the Alliance could have some hidden motives I am unaware of. There's also the fact that they hid the information about those other Nations from us as Otherworlders—which means they didn't want us to know about them."
Rey could understand why that information was kept secret. If the other Nations were uncooperative, and the Alliance itself was in a crisis, it wouldn't make any utilitarian sense to divide the attention of their saviors to those places.
Attention had to be focused on the group that was actively fighting against the Dragons.
'Still, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth…' His eye narrowed a little.
Even though he just supported the United Human Alliance in front of Esme, he didn't like the fact that he was made unaware of the plight of these people.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})This was where his logic clashed with his emotions.
"Ultimately, the Alliance's existence is to combat the great evil that is the Dragon Scourge. I'm not saying the framework is perfect. No, it's far from that. There are many unsavory parts about them. Still… we can't blame them for every misfortune that has befallen these people." He concluded as he placed his hand on Esme's shoulders.
"I… get it. But, Rey, the solution I offered them was only temporary…"
Rey figured that out as well. The damage that had been done to these people for over a decade could not be resolved by Esme in only a matter of months.
In fact, she barely spent a week in each settlement, so it wasn't like she could do much work for each Nation.
"Even if it's the fault of their leaders that they weren't able to join the Alliance and enjoy its benefits, I don't want to sit by and let them suffer like that."
Rey instsntly placed both hands on Esme's shoulders and smiled.
"I also don't want that."
Their eyes met once again—a mix of red and blue, reflecting in each Iris.
They both smiled.
"I'll speak to the Royal Council about it. Want to come with? They could really use your perspective on the matter."
There was a high chance that the Royal Council, or the upper echelon of the Alliance, hadn't had contact with any of these nations for so long.
They probably remained unaware of how dire their situation was.
"If we can sort something out, some kind of compromise… we can help those people."
Esme nodded as she heard that, words of gratitude leaking from her glossy lips.
"Though… it might take a little convincing to have you appear before them as a consultant considering the way you trashed their important event..."
Rey's trailing voice reminded Esme of the big blunder she made hours ago.
At the time, she was plenty upset with the Royal Council and didn't want to follow proper protocol. She simply stormed into the hall and demanded to see Rey.
Of course, she wasn't going to hurt anyone—as long as they didn't push her to it—but that didn't mean she had to be nice to them.
Realizing all of that now, and seeing how she was acting on a flawed notion, Esme covered her flushed face in embarrassment.
"Ahh… what have I done?" She shrieked, shaking her head.
Rey laughed at this.
"And I even did that in front of all your friends. What will they think of me now? They'll think I'm crazy and violent or something…"
Rey found it cute that Esme was worried about what his friends would think of her. Still…
"I should be the one more worried."
Esme raised her face as Rey said that. He had pink hues spreading all over his cheeks.
"I mean… the way we interacted, and then hugged, with all eyes watching us… I'm sure some rumors will start flying around."
He had initially thought that perhaps some would make a big deal of his dance with Lucielle, but after the whole stunt with Esme, he could see things going the way of the latter.
"Just brace yourself for what comes next."
*
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