Red Storm

Book 6-2.4

“Anything more than that is impossible.”

Runa shared his thoughts in a stern voice in front of Yulian, the Greatest Warriors, and the Rojini Kingdom’s diplomatic envoy.

“The amount we have right now is enough to pressure the Silence Empire, and I believe we have shown our sincerity to the Rojini as allies. The Henkel Plains have become ours and we are holding back a significant amount of the Silence Empire’s forces in the rear as a result. Am I wrong?”

“But Runa-nim, right now......”

The moment that Pumetrin, the diplomat who was named to be in charge of the Rojini Kingdom’s envoy, tried to say something, Runa cut him short.

“Are you aware that we have an envoy from the Silence Empire here right now?”

Pumetrin flinched. Why would the Silence Empire send an envoy to Pareia? No, Pumetrin quickly realize that there would be only one reason for the Silence to send an envoy.

“Is Runa-nim perhaps trying to use that to threaten me?”

Pumetrin, who felt like he couldn’t back down, pushed a little strongly, and the moment Runa was about to respond, Yulian interjected.

“Enough. Runa, Pumetrin, both of you need to take a step back.”

Runa closed his mouth and Pumetrin also bowed his head. No matter what, the decision was in Yulian’s hands.

“I am aware of Mr. Pumetrin’s reason for the request, as well as what Runa and the Greatest Warriors’ concerns are. Mr. Pumetrin.”

“Please speak, Glow Yulian.”

“We have already decided to send back the envoy from the Silence Empire, so you do not have to worry too much about it. We return sincerity with sincerity, and betrayal with betrayal. That is the type of people we are. Since the Rojini Kingdom has shown its sincerity to us, we will also respond in kind.”

Pumetrin’s expression became brighter.

“There will be no armistice with the Silence Empire. We will continue to pressure them and hold their forces here. However, as Greatest Warrior Runa just mentioned, we are in need of maintenance. Doing something like Mr. Pumetrin is asking for and pushing forward is not possible for a while.”

“But Glow, in order to return to stability, it is best to quickly finish this war. Rojini and Pareia, our two nations have enough strength to put this war to an end. I just want to let you know of that.”

Runa retorted back from the side.

“I do not believe that the Rojini Kingdom cannot defeat the Silence Empire that has lost the Henkel Plains and a master that they were so proud to flaunt. In addition, the fact that we will be pressuring the Silence Empire from here will not change. We also have the desire to continue to push forward and increase our territory, but our main base, the desert, is not stable right now. Mr. Pumetrin needs to keep that in mind as well.”

Pumetrin realized that no good would come from continuing to push for his agenda. Didn’t he at least hear straight from the Glow that there will be no armistice with the Silence Empire and that they will continue to pressure the Silence Empire from the side?

“I understand. I will let his majesty know that you have sent back the envoy from the Silence Empire and will continue to maintain the alliance between our two nations.”

Runa added on to Pumetrin’s words.

“Of course. Pareia has not forgotten the sincerity that the Rojini Kingdom has shown us. We also believe that the Rojini Kingdom will absorb the Silence Empire quickly like a storm.”

As Pumetrin nodded his head with a satisfied smile, Runa continued to speak.

“There is also something we would like to request from Pumetrin-nim.”

“Please speak.”

“We heard that the reformation of the Eastern Continent started from the Rojini Kingdom, and that the reform has become stable in Rojini.”

“That is true. It is the reason for the strength of our Kingdom. Thanks to the hard work of his majesty, all citizens of the Rojini Kingdom are loyal to his highness and seek to better the Kingdom.”

As Pumetrin proudly answered, Runa sent him an amazed expression as he continued on.

“That is why we were wondering if you could dispatch some high ranked internal affairs personnel to our Pareia for a while. The culture of the people in the Fedore and this plain is too different from our Pareia’s way of living. I know that issues may arise.”

“Ah!”

Pumetrin understood Runa’s concern and confidently responded.

Pareia may not be causing any harm to the citizens of the conquered areas, but there were still many people living in fear. There were so many negative rumors, including one that said that the barbarians of the desert resorted to cannibalism, so it was just a matter of time before problems would start to arise.

“That is not a problem at all. Do not worry about it.”

“Some of our warriors will learn from them. Please feel free to be stern with them.”

Pumetrin thought this would be a way for Pareia to owe him a favor while he did something that was easy to do, and decided to send not just a few, but tens of internal affairs personnel to Pareia. They had plenty of personnel in the Rojini Kingdom.

Once Pumetrin left the meeting after determining they would discuss the specifics of the issue later, Yulian and the Greatest Warriors started to discuss the next issue on hand.

“The Shuarei’s progression speed is no joke. We received news that the Rivolde was completely overtaken.”

Everyone started to whisper to each other at Runa’s announcement.

If they were being honest, the Shuarei were a much more concerning enemy than the Empire in front of them.

And hearing that this difficult enemy was getting stronger caused nervousness in all of them.

“I won’t be able to look Grace in the eye. We should have been there to save them.”

As Yulian started to mumble to himself after receiving the report, Runa responded.

“Pere-nim personally crossed the quicksand river to back the Rivolde up, but it was not enough. But thankfully, the Rivolde’s Glow Dejaine-nim, as well as many of their citizens were able to escape to Pareia while Pere-nim held the Shuarei back. Our Pareia has extra oases and just lack the people to fill them, so there should be no issues.”

“How many of them made it over?”

Runa answered one of the Greatest Warrior’s question.

“Other than the regions that were the first to fall, the majority of the rest can be considered to now be in Pareia. It was thanks to Dejaine-nim’s quick decision-making.”

“Just what would make the Shuarei feel like they could fight against the Rivolde? The Rivolde has a lot of very talented warriors. In addition, doesn’t the Shuarei not have enough warriors?”

“That, it seems that they have received mercenaries and soldiers are reinforcement from the Western Continent. A significant amount at that.”

The meeting room started to become filled with whispers once more at Runa’s answer. To receive the help of outsiders in a desert war was shameful. Especially to receive reinforcement through soldiers to make up their numbers.

“It was said that the Shuarei has created an alliance with the three large nations of the Western Continent.”

“Such unbelievable thing ... but why would the Western nations create an alliance with the Shuarei?”

“I’m sure it was to end the war in the Western Continent.”

Yulian and Runa had discussed the answer to that question for a long time. The decision they came to was that it was to end the current war in the Western Continent. They would suffer a lot less to catch the weakings than fighting amongst their equals.

‘I wonder if Aizen knows about this. Thanks to it, things have become complicated.’

Yulian suddenly recalled Aizen, who had protected the young couple. But it was not that Yulian was regretting his actions from that time. Who would be able to look down on Pareia right now?

Runa continued to speak.

“That is why we need to made a decision as to whether or not we will retreat. We need to determine whether we will stay here and continue to push forward into the Silence Empire’s territory, or go back and fight off the Shuarei.”

Discussion filled the room for a while. Pareia had control of the quicksand river, and Greatest Warriors Vibli and Egane were thoroughly defending. That was why some people were saying they should stay here and try to get even more of the Silence Empire’s fertile land. At the same time, there were people who believed they should head back to fend off the Shuarei.

Yulian quietly listened to both sides. Seeing that there was no agreement, he decided to ask Runa a question.

“Runa, what is your opinion?”

“Seeing as how the Silence Empire sent us an envoy, I do not think they will attack us if we do not attack them. I believe the smart decision would be to leave the necessary amount of warriors to defend the gate and the Fedore region, while sending the rest back to the desert.”

“Your reason for that?”

“The more they take, the stronger they will become. We cannot give that man that much strength. It will be very difficult for us in the future if we do.”

Everybody knew very well who Runa was talking about. And once they thought about that man, the voices supporting their return to the desert grew significantly.

They needed to do so to get rid of this fear that resided deep in their hearts.

Yulian thought about it for a moment before starting to speak.

“Alright. Greatest Warriors Aruta and Timua will remain here with 20,000 warriors. One of you will defend this gate while the other will patrol the Fedore region.”

Yulian then started to speak to Runa.

“Runa. You will determine the warriors who will learn from the internal affairs personnel from the Rojini Kingdom.”

“I understand, Glow.”

In the end, Yulian decided not to attack the Empire anymore and to return to the desert.

End of chapter

Next up:

Truce

The water that seeped into the sand started to evaporate.