Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking-Chapter 921: Hector Ashborn - Fleet Space Marine Admiral

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The plans and negotiations went by for days, not just hours...

On multiple occasions, parties had to call for brief recesses to rest or to rethink their options. Voices had been raised, people became upset, and discussions definitely went awry.

It didn’t go as smoothly as one might imagine. Which is normal given the stakes presented here.

Understand that this was no mere ’business opportunity.’ They’re discussing plans for the colonization of two additional chaos realms. It was far from being a simple matter. This was a lot of territory, land, and resources. They have to be very careful when handling this, especially if they want to maximize the gains for all parties.

But it’s also that part that makes the discussions fierce. The parties involved are needed and have their particular demands. Everybody had their own considerations and wanted to secure the best deal they could have for themselves.

This was especially true for Ilya Silverspoon—a merchant through and through. He drove a hard bargain that, at numerous times, forced the Human Sovereigns to call for a brief recess to think things through.

He wasn’t as strong as either Nick or Pat, but when it comes to business acumen and initiative, even the five of them combined found themselves floundering before his retorts and counter-offers.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Ilya was having an easy time either. He’s by himself here, and neither Norman nor Hector will help him, and he’s not expecting it either.

However, this goes to show just how formidable Ilya was when it comes to money. Even the Human Council had to be wary about being hoodwinked by him.

Dealing with Norman was simpler. The dude just wanted to go out there and start building things. He’s practically vibrating in his seat in excitement. Hell, he wasn’t even asking to be paid. So long as the parties involved deliver the necessary supplies for him and his men and the resources promised, he will go out there with his people and do honest work.

As for Fleet Admiral Hector, well, he mostly stayed silent and out of the discussions.

Nobody said this out loud, but he’s only here because he’s an involved party. He wasn’t really included, or needed, in the discussions.

As the fleet admiral of the Space Marines, he gets his orders directly from the Human Sovereigns. He goes where they point him, and he’s expected to follow orders down to a ’T.’.

He’s here to be the representative of the Space Marines, as they are the guardians of the realms. His people had already been deployed and stationed ahead of time. They’ve already built observation and defense lines on both Chaos Realms.

Hector doesn’t need to negotiate since all parties knew his and his men’s importance, and they won’t dare to slight them.

It’s generally a bad idea to piss off or cheat their glorified cops, you see.

And Hector, as old and as jaded as he was, was not a fool, nor was he stupid. Although he’s never really been a political figure, he knows how this works. He’s been there before the current Human Sovereigns even became heirs to their positions. He’s been a military figure since, well...since forever; it’s kind of the only thing he knows how to do at this point.

He’s seen and experienced many things, both good and bad ones. And even though he never involved himself in the discussions of the leaders and whatnot, it doesn’t mean that he couldn’t understand the implications here.

Hector was holding his silence because this was how he was raised. He’s never one to voice out his opinions. He only does when he’s asked or if he feels the need to.

Otherwise, he’d just sit there and pretend to be a background detail.

Still, try as he might, a person like him couldn’t truly fade into the background.

Even though he’s a subordinate to the current human sovereigns, his experience and the weight of his reputation precede him.

The Human Sovereigns never really treated him as a subordinate, more like a colleague. This guy was almost as old as they were, and he was there when they marched towards the War of Sovereignty.

He led the Space Marines to their current heights. He led squadrons into literal hell when only a handful returned. He had seen horrors beyond human comprehension, and his eyes show that much.

Even as he just sat there silently, the weight of his aura silently pressed on everybody, not to suppress but to remind them that he’s right there and to anchor everybody into reality. He’s a reminder of how far they’ve come and what sacrifices it took for them to get here.

That’s why he doesn’t need to speak. And if Hector truly wanted to, his reputation could easily rival that of a human sovereign; nobody in this room would dare to slight him or snob him.

He’s not a primal origin lifeform, yes, but if he were ordered to, he might just be able to take one down so long as he’s given time and resources to do so. That’s the real weight behind his position as the fleet space marine admiral.

But again, Hector was never one to flaunt his achievements or to throw his weight around. His military background conditioned him thoroughly to be disciplined.

He could stare at the eyes of the worst creature the Primitive Universe could create and not flinch. Even if a planet with billions of lives were to explode right next to him, it wouldn’t cause his indifferent expression to falter; he wouldn’t even give a twitch of a brow.

Hector was conditioned to follow orders. No, he’s not a slave; he’s got a voice that’s loud enough to matter, one that everyone would listen to. He just doesn’t use it unless it’s necessary, and even that’s part of his conditioning.

It’s all he’s ever known, after all.

**

Eventually, after two weeks of tense and continuous discussions, all parties finally reached a conclusion that satisfied most of them.

As expected, Ilya took home more than he was expecting. And although he was satisfied, he did not dare to show it on the outside. If anything, he hypnotized himself to be gloomy and appear as if he had taken a massive loss, much to the irritation of the Human Sovereigns.

Even though they did not fight with fists, they still felt drained after two weeks of continuous verbal sparring, probing, negotiations, etc. Hell, they’d prefer to deal with the Horde than sit in a room with this unscrupulous merchant!

Still, the result actually wasn’t the worst. In fact, they secured more than they initially expected, which was more than enough to guarantee the longevity and prosperity of the council moving forward.

Ilya himself had taken home more than enough than he could’ve bargained for. Norman was just happy to be involved and literally couldn’t wait to start, and Hector was silent throughout the entire meeting.

With the discussions concluded, the next part was, of course, the action.

Not right away, though. There are still about fewer than 100 years left before both Chaos Realms become ripe for the taking. There will be some follow-up discussions and planning involved to make sure that everything goes according to plan. Some things might have even needed to be re-negotiated since things were bound to change.

But overall, the framework was done. They just needed to start the discussions and negotiations this early so that all involved parties could make sufficient preparations and begin right away as soon as the time was ripe.

As for the actual timeframe of the colonization itself, it’s expected to be completed within the next 1000 years, initially at least. Meaning that within the next 1000 years, they should be able to change a large swath of the chaos realms to be habitable to human colonies.

But that doesn’t mean that they will be ready for mass migration just yet. This was just the initial settlement of the colonies. And the first group of people to be migrated would be workers first to accelerate the speed of colonization.

As for how long it would actually take for the colonization to be complete, well, no one could say for sure. But it shouldn’t exceed 10,000 years...hopefully.

Anyway, all of this will begin very soon, and regardless of the outcome of the negotiations, all parties are looking forward to it.

How can they not? This was a massive step forward for humanity’s progress! With two chaos realms to add to their territory, humans suddenly had a massive need to repopulate.

And a new environment means new resources to play with! Without the threats of the demons or the horde breathing down their necks, humans could do what they’re always compelled to do: to move forward and seek progress.

Occupying three of the five known chaos realms will certainly cause conflict with other creatures living in the last two chaos realms, but humanity will fight tooth and nail before giving up the chance to expand their territory.

But since they have the upper hand and the lead, those creatures would be lucky if they discovered what humans were up to anytime soon. By the time they know, it would already be too late.