Red Storm

Book 5-8.3

The sixth month in the year 260 of the Continental Calendar.

The official announcement of the alliance between Pareia and the Rojini Kingdom finally came, and this quickly changed the state of affairs of the continent

The desert nations that all of the continent’s nation had considered to be barbarians living in barren land had started to affect the state of affairs in the continent.

For these nations on the continent that had considered the desert tribes to be their provinces where they could trade small amounts of steel for large amounts of war materials, this was a significant turn of events.

They also had nothing to say as the first nation to acknowledge a desert tribe was the Rojini Kingdom, the strongest nation in the Eastern Continent.

This led to the larger forces of the Eastern Continent visiting Pareia to get a sense of strength of this Pareia that had managed to unify the Eastern Desert, and this only led to them becoming surprised even more.

They had over ten master level warriors, as well as thousands of warriors who would be accepted as talented knights no matter which nation they would go to. Once they figured this out, this fact alone was enough to make Pareia one of the strong nations of the continent.

Some of the nations tried to use Pareia’s critical weaknesses of population and lack of materials for their benefit, but there was no way the Rojini Kingdom would just watch and let that happen.

The Rojini Kingdom believed that they had gained a strong ally and large amounts of materials were frequently delivered to Pareia, while Pareia moved their warriors as promised.

They left 70,000 warriors to defend against any potential attacks from the Western Desert and 70,000 warriors to protect all of their oases, while the rest of their warriors were all moved to the borders of the Silence Kingdom and their allied forces.

Just this alone was enough to hold back a significant number of the Silence Empire’s army, allowing the Rojini Kingdom to prepare their strategies in a much more advantageous position.

Narrate Empire’s Emperor’s office.

Marquis Norton of the Narrate Empire started to speak to Emperor Cline I with a smile on his face.

“This might actually be an opportunity for us.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Marquis Norton had an even greater smile on his face as he answered Cline I.

“To be honest, wasn’t this a war nobody wanted in the first place? It was a war that was started just for the crown prince’s pride.”

“But it isn’t like we can just back away.”

“If you think about it, iti s a pride that does not matter if our Empire does not have a significant amount of strength compared to the Inama Kingdom or the Litmus Kingdom. I’m sure the Inama and Litmus kingdoms feel the same way.”

Cline I seemed to be interested, as he leaned forward from his seat and asked.

“Put it into simple terms for me.”

“Didn’t you just say it, your majesty? We have no choice but to be in war. I’m sure the two other kingdoms do not want this war either. The problem was that we had nothing that could put an end to it while saving face, but now we have something we can use.”

“What?”

Marquis Norton’s eyes started to sparkle.

“Don’t we now have a common enemy?”

“You mean?”

“Yes. We need to turn our empire’s blade elsewhere. There will be much less damage than now, and in fact, it may even bring us large gains in the long run.”

Cline I started to smile at Marquis Norton’s answer.

It was quite burdensome going against a nation with a similar level of strength, let alone going up against two of them at the same time. However, if things go as Marquis Norton just mentioned, it should lessen the headaches he has been having lately.

‘It shouldn’t be that hard to wipe out those barbarians of the desert. As the Marquis mentioned, it may bring us gains in the long run. The desert tribe that receives our help will not be able to go against us in the future.”

Cline I’s expression changed as he asked Marquis Norton once more.

“If we are the first to bring up this issue, won’t we look like the losers?”

Marquis Norton approached Cline I and whispered quietly.

“You leave that to the workers like me. There will be no damage to your fame, your majesty. All three countries will come to the same decision at the same time.”

Cline I’s expression turned brighter once more.

“But which desert tribe will we be helping?”

“It is a famous tribe in the desert. It is also the only tribe in the Western Desert that can fight against them. I have been investigating the desert these days because of the Inama Kingdom’s large tax gain and have started to gain some interest. Please trust me.”

Cline I’s expression started to turn even brighter.

“I wish to hear Greatest Warrior Venersis’s opinion.”

The Shuarei’s Glow Hangry Elbotta pushed aside the others around him and calmly asked Venersis.

“Mm~!”

Venersis let out a long moan. It was not a problem that could be decided upon easily.

After contemplating it for a long time, Venersis decided to ask.

“For what reason did they suddenly decide to assist us?”

“They did not want to say why they wanted to help us. All they said was that they had a reason they needed to do so.”

Venersis started to contemplate once more at Hangry’s response.

‘It is too sweet of an offer. However, it is difficult to accept without knowing their reason.’

Hangry started to speak again while Venersis was thinking.

“Based on the information I was able to gather, they took a hit to their pride. In fact, all three nations took a hit on their pride.”

“What do you mean by pride?”

“I have no way of knowing the details. However, it must have been big enough for them to make such an offer. I have thought about it, but the fact that it was three nations and not one that came to us with the same offer shows that they have already internally struck a deal with each other as well.”

Venersis could not come up with the reason no matter how long he thought about it.

Just what must have happened to them that they wish to assist the Shuarei? The deal was that they knew the Shuarei were bitter enemies with Pareia and wanted to help them take Pareia down.

‘Pareia is not located in the Western Desert. With them being in the Eastern Desert, it is difficult for something to happen between them.’

“Say something.”

Hangry seemed to be frustrated seeing Venersis just silently think, and urged Venersis to respond.

“And you mentioned that the Inama Kingdom wanted us to keep it a secret that they were involved?”

“Yes. One of their merchant guilds have a monopoly on the Eastern Desert trade route. They have a deal with Pareia. Thanks to that, the Inama Kingdom is able to collect a significant amount of taxes, so they could only ask us to keep it a secret.”

“I really wish I clearly knew why they want to recruit us to pressure Pareia.”

Hangry thought about it for a moment before responding.

“In my opinion, is it possible that they want us to defeat Pareia and take control of the trade route that Pareia currently controls? I feel like they might want to increase their gains by taking control of that route. If they assist us, it will be difficult for us to deny their requests.”

“I feel like it is a problem we need to think over very carefully. If people know that an outsider got involved in a fight between desert tribes, all of the other tribes will point their fingers at us.”

“That is why I am asking for your opinion.”

Venersis seemed to have made up his mind as he answered.

“Let’s meet with them once more. That way, we can figure out their reason. In addition, if we do get assistance, we need to make sure it is in materials such as steel and food, not soldiers.”

Venersis said that before realizing that materials alone were not enough for the current Shuarei to move. Their number of warriors were extremely low right now. They needed at least five years to have enough warriors to go back to war.

Venersis urgently started to speak.

“No, even if we were to get reinforcement of soldiers from them, we need to get reinforcements similar to how Pareia has made an alliance with the Eastern Continent’s Rojini Kingdom. That is the only way for us to have an excuse to get reinforcements from them. In addition, even if we are to get reinforcements from them, our first target will not be Pareia.”

“Then?”

“I think it will be best if we met with them once more first.”

“Let’s do that.”

Hangry answered before quickly sending a messenger to call the envoys of the three nations.

Second month of year 262 in the continental calendar.

The Rojini Kingdom and the Silence Empire finally started to clash after preparing for such a long time.

The small scale border battles had finally tugged the lines of war.

The two large nations who had been preparing quite a bit for the war brought everything they had to face off against each other, and the Eastern continent was swept up in the fires of war almost instantly.

End of chapter

The burning flames of war

A devastating flame started to rise into the air.