So the Column king is actually not dumb!
He tried the greedy strong-arm approach. It didn't work? Ok, let's just stop that.
I was half waiting for him to be a drooling buffon and keep pushing forward. Instead he got the hint! Points for the admiral too, cause he honestly reported back that he could go no further.
I mean, these are not nice people but they're not idiots. That counts for something.
(also pretty vampire lady chapter but that's a given...)