Book 4-7.4

“They have clearly united to stand against us. It might have been better to strike them earlier on even if it would have been pushing it a bit.”

Pareia was having another meeting of Greatest individuals, and the Greatest Warriors were also present for this meeting because it was a discussion about war. Egane was the first to speak up about the three tribes uniting together.

“If they have joined together, then they must have more warriors than our Pareia. They should have a minimum of 120,000 warriors.”

Many of the chiefs and Greatest Warriors turned pale at Egane’s words. They had anticipated as much, but hearing it directly from Egane made them feel a sense of burden.

Vibli followed up to Egane’s comment.

“Since they have joined together and have no enemies around them, they should be able to move at least 70,000 warriors should they choose to attack us. They’ll need about 40,000 warriors reserved for an emergency.”

Everyone’s faces started to turn darker.

Realistically speaking, in order to move 70,000 warriors, they will need to reserve 20,000 for the supply caravan. With Pareia also having 100,000 warriors, there was only a low chance of the united tribe attacking them, but it was still a large enough number to feel the pressure.

“It is actually better like this.”

The person who started to speak with an energetic voice in the middle of the gloomy room was Runa.

“We do not have time to take them all down one by one. Our Pareia should be thankful that they have united so that we can take them down together.”

“Assistant Warrior. Did you not hear about their number of warriors?”

As one of the oasis chiefs looked toward Runa with disbelief, Runa responded back with a confused expression.

“A war is not decided by the number of warriors. Isn’t the results of war determined by who prepared more for it? It is also determined by who has more confidence and fighting spirit.”

“Assistant Warrior, do not take this so lightly. 120,000 warriors is a number that nobody has been able to reach before.”

As Grenti, the chief of the Minimal Sand Oasis of Wikaly origin, responded with frustration, Runa just tilted his head before responding.

“I’m not sure. Our Pareia has too far to go still to be talking about the past. If I am being honest with you, if we just focus on our defenses, within about ten or so years, our number of warriors will be close to 200,000. That is how the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.” [1]

Runa looked toward Grenti with a relaxed expression as he followed up with a question.

“Is it possible that Grenti-nim thinks our Pareia needs to wait 20 years? As time goes by, the Shuarei will become even stronger than they were before, and we might even miss the chance to attack the Silence Empire, our sworn enemies. Will you still wait?”

“That...I’m sure everyone thinks that it will not be a big issue, but we are just thinking that it will be hard to bring them under Pareia’s control.”

As Grenti responded in an uncertain voice, Runa shook his head. He then looked toward Yulian before speaking.

“I have a message for the Glow. Our Pareia has not slacked off in preparing for war and we can now have 100,000 warriors. They are all valiant warriors of Pareia. I am planning on heading out to war on the first month of next year.”

The other people in the paoe started to whisper to one another, but Runa did not falter as he continued on.

“Everything will be done according to the Glow’s will, but what does the Glow think about all of this?”

Yulian had been sitting with a majestic air the whole time, but finally started to speak as Runa respectfully asked him a question.

“If you have made a plan, we need to make it a reality.”

A calm demeanor and a response that showed absolutely certainty.

“Glow!”

“It will not be too late to grow our strength a little more before going to war.”

“I heard that Shuarei have reached 60-70,000 warriors like they used to have. We will need at least 70,000 warriors and 10,000 support team warriors to unify the Eastern Desert. Then what will we do about Pareia’s defense at that time?”

Many people started to shiver as they stated their opposition, as if Yulian’s answer had caused a cold wind to flow through the paoe. The one with the loudest opposition was Hikonicks, the chief of the Windy Oasis.

But looking around the room, it was visible that there were no Greatest Warriors who opposed Yulian’s decision. The only ones in opposition were the majority of the oasis chiefs.

“Who said we were going to take the North with 80,000 warriors?”

Runa’s eyes opened wide at Hikonicks’s response, as he retorted back.

“Then……”

As Hikonicks hesitated for a moment, Runa continued.

“In order to defend against the Shuarei’s Venersis, the only man our Glow has accepted as his equal, we will need at least 50,000 warriors. We also need 10,000 warriors in reserve for any emergencies.”

“Assistant Warrior, you don’t mean?”

“40,000. That is the maximum amount of warriors we can send for the Glow to attack the north and unify the Eastern Desert.”

“Absolutely impossible.”

The oasis chiefs started to whisper to each other again. There was no way you could take down 120,000 warriors with only 40,000.

“Quiet~! There should be a reason the Assistant Warrior has just said that. There should be a reason the Greatest Warriors who have experienced many wars have been quiet this whole time.”

Yarumaha was now full of white hair and ready to retire in the near future, but his voice was still loud enough to quickly get people’s attention. He calmed everyone down so that they could hear what the Greatest Warriors had to say.

“It is not as impossible as you may think it is. We can either select the desert route or the quicksand river route. That means that the enemy’s forces will have to be divided into two to defend against both, which means there should not be much differences in number of warriors either way.”

The moment everyone started to quiet down, Egane, who had a lot of respect, agreed with Runa’s words. The smart chiefs quickly realized that the Glow, Greatest Warriors, and even Yarumaha had all made up their minds.”

‘I’m sure they knew we would object to it and already made up their minds before pushing it to us like this.’

With things turning like this, the conversation naturally switched to how they can prepare for the war, and how they will be taking warriors from each individual oasis.

The unification of the three tribes, as well as the joint leadership of the three Glows was progressing pretty smoothly. It might be because everybody was aware of the pending danger posed by Pareia, but it also helped that they were all similar in size in terms of number of oasis and population, as well as warriors.

“Pareia’s warriors have started high intensity training.”

“Mm~”

The two Glows let out a sigh at Kinicks’s words.

“I’m sure you are aware who those blades forged by sweat will be aimed toward.”

“We need to also increase the intensity of our warriors’ training. We may have started later in the war preparations, but we are currently in the lead because of this unification. They should be able to handle it.”

Nakatin was speaking as if he was trying to put some confidence in himself. Kupepa quickly opened his mouth as well.

“I personally cannot understand why we are feeling so uncertain. I feel like it is pertinent to ask whether we are feeling pressured way too much because of Pareia’s fame.”

There really was no reason for them to be worried. They had over 120,000 warriors, and the enemy had at max 70,000. Even if they had the quicksand river under control, they would not be able to bring 70,000 warriors and a supply brigade to support that many warriors.

“Pareia may have been one of the strongest tribes in the Eastern Desert for a long period of time, but we are also warriors of the desert. It is embarrassing that we are so scared like this even before going into battle.”

The two other Glows’ expressions changed significantly after Kupepa’s words. He was not wrong. Before they were Glows, they also went through the tough coming-of-age ceremony and protected their tribe as a warrior. They may not have as much war experience as Pareia, but the pride of a warrior was all the same.

Kupepa had reminded them about it and thanks to that, the three men looked toward each other and drove up their confidence.

“You have said something very wise.”

“That one phrase was enough to make all my worries go away.”

As the two men praised Kupepa, Kupepa raised both of his hands and started to shake them.

“I am not someone who deserves to hear such praises from the two of you. All I am saying is that if we calm ourselves before responding to any issues caused by Pareia, our unification is something that people cannot ignore.”

“You are right. We need to calmly assess the situation. That is our best course of action. If there is something we can start, we need to start it, and if there is something we can do, it is better for us to do it.”

Kupepa nodded his head at Kinicks’s words.

“You are right. Don’t the say the moment you think you are late is the best time? The only question is how to calm the warriors down.”

Kinicks responded in shock.

“Why are the warriors so agitated?”

“I don’t know who spread this rumor, but there is a rumor that Pareia will soon invade us with 100,000 warriors.”

Nakatin and Kinicks were angry at Kupepa’s response.

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[1] It was the closest saying I could find to mean the same thing as what the author has written.