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Book 3-5. 4 Raising the Morale (II)
Yulian shouted from the center.
"Warriors of Pareia! I know very well that you are having a tough time. But you must not forget why were are all out here! We are here to make our territory larger and bring more people into our tribe so that we can step away from the influence of the strong forces of the continent. We cannot forget that we are here to make our lives better!"
"Oowaaaaaaaa~!"
"Become strong. Do not die. Shouldn't you at least see what kind of person your Glow is? Shouldn't you be here to see the changed desert? Shouldn't we get out of the current situation where all men become warriors to kill or be killed? I will show you the strength of our Pareia. Look at the strength of the warriors who are about to reach the pinnacle. And follow them. Today, I will show you the goal you should be aiming for."
All of the warriors could feel their hearts pounding at Yulian's loud voice.
"Red Storm, are you ready?"
"Oowoooooo~!"
"You may all be allies, but this is a competition. Do your best. Treat the enemy's wooden sword as a real sword, and if you feel like you have received a hit that would leave you unable to continue in a real battle, step away. That is the only way to have a fair and just battle."
"Oowoooooo~!"
The Red Storm warriors looked over their t-shirt shaped leather armor and their wooden swords.
If they were using their greatswords, these armors would be useless, but since it was a mock battle, they made sure to put them on. It was possible to get a broken bone with a wooden sword, so the armors were there to help prevent any injuries.
In the middle of the audience of warriors, Red Storm divided into two groups and set up their formations.
"Start the competition!"
With Yulian starting the competition, the two formations of Red Storm warriors quickly ran forward.
Running strength played a large part even in smaller scale battles. And when you are in a battle like this where you are very clear about your opponent's strength, you needed to take even the slightest terrain advantages you could get.
"Oowaaaaaaa~!"
The warriors in the audience started to cheer. They were finally getting the see the might of the Red Storm that they had not been able to see clearly until now.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
They could instantly start to hear the sound of wooden swords clashing. There were even instances of wooden swords breaking from the first clashes.
"Squash them!"
"Flip them over and kill them!"
There were rough words being said in multiple places that it was hard to tell if they really were fellow warriors.
The Red Storm warriors all had higher levels of pride and competitive spirit compared to most warriors. That personality was the reason they selected to join the Red Storm in the first place, and it was what kept them going even when Yulian was mocking them and putting them down.
Although they were on the same side, the moment a competition begins, they were the enemy.
As wooden swords started to break and people started to fall of their pirmas, they started to fight with their fists.
The Red Storm warriors' surprising strengths made the other warriors drop their jaws, and some of them even questioned whether they had to go that far, making each other bleed and shout out in pain. Even though it was a competition, they were still fellow comrades.
Some of them started to be eliminated one or two at a time, and at the end, everyone was down on the ground heavily breathing. There were even a few warriors who had ended up fainting.
Yulian started to shout after seeing them in that state.
"Take a close look. This is the Red Storm. They were able to stay alive because they have worked hard and become stronger. Even 20, 000 Wikaly warriors could not stop them."
Since this was all set up to prevent the morale from falling and bring up the warriors' passion, Yulian started to say things that would light a fire in the hearts of the warriors.
"I will ask you this. Do you think you can take on the Red Storm? I hope you aren't scared, are you?"
The warriors started to get angry in their hearts. They saw the strength of the Red Storm warriors with their own eyes, but they felt that if it was them, they would not let a mere 60 warriors get away from them.
"Do you think I am speaking nonsense right now? If you can't even get past the Red Storm warriors, do you still think that you are strong?"
Their commander was suspicious about their abilities. There was no greater mockery than this.
And Pareia's warriors were not calm enough to just take such mockery quietly. After all, these were the warriors who never lost their will to fight even in the long wars against the Shuarei.
"We will kill the Wikaly. And we will make the Glow apologize for making such remarks."
Egane saw the expressions on the faces of the warriors and quickly stepped forward. It was because he realized the purpose of this show today.
Egane continued to show in a loud voice.
"Doesn't this make all of you angry?!"
The warriors all turned their gazes to Egane.
"Our Glow is doubting our strengths. I am extremely frustrated at that. I will show him. I will show him my strength. Are you all just going to sit back and let him continue to doubt?"
"Oooooooooooooooo~!"
The warriors started to shout in one voice. All of their gazes turned toward Yulian. It was as if they were asking him to give them a chance to fight.
Yulian stepped it up and continued to speak.
"If you show the same amount of courage that the Red Storm has shown, I will believe you. But I will not believe the warriors who have expressions full of fatigue as you do right now."
"Ooooooo~!"
"Show me with your actions. Your time will come soon. Our warriors have taken over two of the Wikaly's central oases. They will cut off the enemy's supply line. If we are continued to be pushed back even in such a situation, doesn't it mean that we have lost?"
The warriors hesitated for a moment, not sure whether they should cheer or rag on Yulian.
The warriors knew as well. They knew what it was like to get your supply line cut off and to be pressured from the back.
"Let's win. Your Glow will always lead from the front. All you need to do is follow."
"Oowwaaaaaaaaa~!"
The warriors started to cheer once more.
As Egane approached him, Yulian whispered in a quiet voice.
"You're making me into the bad guy."
"Didn't you make up your mind to be the bad guy before saying all of those things? If you're going to do it, might as well do it right. That was why I gave you some help."
"I guess all of their anger will be directed toward me for a while."
"Hohoho, in return, their morale should not fall any further."
Looking at the smirk on Egane's face, Yulian ended up smiling as well. No matter what, things ended up the way he wanted it to go.
Yulian and Egane both turned their heads toward the Wikaly oasis at the same time.
The Wikaly meeting of Greatest Warriors had currently continued a marathon meeting of six hours because of Runa's last suggestion.
"Remove 10, 000?"
"Yes, Abham-nim."
Many of the Greatest Warriors disagreed with Runa's words.
"We are able to persist because of the prepared defenses as well as the numbers advantage. If you remove 10, 000 from here, we will not be able to last."
"I do not understand why the person who said we should avoid a dangerous field battle is now saying we should remove 10, 000 warriors."
"If Pareia attacks us while those 10, 000 are secretly moving behind them, we may end up in a very dangerous situation."
Abham lifted up his hand to stop the discussion and asked Runa a question.
"I want to know what you are thinking."
"We have already lost two of our central oases and the enemy is already preparing their defenses for those oases. We can't just sit back and watch like this, can we?"
Everybody agreed with this much. Wasn't that why they had discussed retreating from here to merge with the warriors in the center?
But it was Runa who was completely against that idea, which was why they were even more confused about Runa's suggestion.
"Even if we retreat from here and merge with the warriors in the center to pressure Pareia, it is possible that we will end up being pressured from both sides. It is possible for us to leave the minimum number of warriors here to defend, but the question becomes whether they can prevent the Pareia warriors in front of us from getting past them. Is there anybody here who is confident that they can successfully defend with 10, 000 warriors?"
The Greatest Warriors could only turn red and let out some fake coughs at Runa's question.
They were not confident. They had to put aside their pride and make an unbiased opinion about it because if they ended up losing 10, 000 warriors for no reason, that would really be the end of the Wikaly.
"I can confidently say that I would be able to defend with 10, 000 warriors, but how quickly can you take back the central oases with the remaining warriors? If you cannot take it back within 3 months, Pareia will send reinforcements even if it puts them in danger elsewhere. Time has not been on our side since Pareia took over the central oases."
Runa had determined that they would not be able to take back the central oases quickly.
Pareia's warriors had defended their oases against that Venersis for over 10 years. Their defense really was flawless. That was why he has been thinking that he needed to be the one to go.
"Right now, Pareia knows that time is on their side, but their morale has to be falling. We need to use that to our advantage to hit Pareia with everything we have, before retreating and taking back the central oases. In order to do that, we need to send 10, 000 warriors to move behind them."
"Will they just sit back and watch us do that?"
"The enemy does not know where we will move from, so if we make some movements, their focus will be directed to the oasis. As long as the enemy is not dumb, they will know that they cannot win in a battle where the enemy has 10, 000 more warriors than they do. They will plan some kind of scheme to help them. If you head about half a day past Pareia's current location, there is a location that would allow them to launch such a scheme. All we have to do is ambush them when they get there."
The eyes of the Greatest Warriors started to sparkle. Runa's plan had a decent chance for success.
- Amazing."
One of the Greatest Warriors gave Runa a thumbs up as he said that, and Runa started to smile.
"Abham-nim and I have been preparing for a war against Pareia for many years now. Can't you tell based on the amount of food that is currently stored in the oasis? Everything around the oasis is already in my head, so this much is nothing."
"Ha! Abham-nim, you really have an amazing lead warrior. I also cannot stop admiring your foresight to have prepared for this war far in advance."
At the other Greatest Warrior's praise, Abham let out a laugh as he answered.
"Kekeke, everything came out of Runa's head. We suffered quite a bit to prepare, but I did not expect it to be used like this."
As the atmosphere in the paoe turned better, Runa started to speak once more.
"If you will allow me, I will like to personally escort the Greatest Warrior there."
"Of course. We will do as you say. Then what should the rest of us do at the oasis?"
"Please start to make it look like you are preparing to face them head on. If you do that for a couple of days, Pareia's Greatest Warriors are wise and will not want to engage in a disadvantageous battle. As a result, they will perfectly fall for our trap."
Runa's true feelings could slightly be seen. He was blaming the Wikaly Greatest Warriors for being a bit useless. But nobody seemed to have noticed that as they were still happily chatting with each other.
'It's not surprising. Our Wikaly has been peaceful for too long while Pareia has constantly been at war. '
Runa was shaking his head internally as he had a bitter smile on his face.
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| ← Ch. 103 | Ch. 105 → |