Year 5, Spring, Third Month, Third Week.
Reiner couldnt contain her smile when she saw Karl entering the Council chambers intimately talking with Diana. As a mother, she was getting a little concerned about his bachelor status. Since the pair was the last to arrive, the other Councilors walked to their chairs and they officially started the eting. This ti around, three operators were also present to communicate with Lew, Samia and Sania, who were stationed at the other side of the mountains.
After Oro opened the eting, he urged Samia, through her operator, to give the report that made the eting necessary in the first place. The shadow skipped any unnecessary information and jumped straight into the crucial matters.
My informants confird through more than a dozen sources, that the Kingdoms forces pushed the Sandines back and took the Southern Oasis. Apparently, they plan to rebuild a base there and only keep a part of the fire Army to protect it, which ans the wind Army would be returning soon
An awkward silence spread through the eting. Aside from Oro, Lew and Samia, who already knew about the report, everyone else was too confused to react. The implications of the wind Army withdrawing from the Sandine war were clear, AK could easily beco their next target. Although the Kingdom had other armies, the Wardens would never invite foreign forces into their regions, so until now, they never feared a large-scale attack.
Lew was the first one to speak.
Its unlikely that they would move against us in a short ti, so we have at least until the next year to prepare We could speed our military plans
The idea made the other Councilors even more afraid. Oro, on the other hand, was especially satisfied with this outco, but he refrained from throwing in any support for appearances sake. Surprisingly, Tael was the one to point a way out.
What if we could change the direction of the war The Army is only withdrawing because of their recent victory
While everyone contemplated the possibility, Lew saw fit to add sothing.
It would be good training for our agents and we could use the extra ti to get stronger We have been growing fast, but I dont think were ready to face an Army
Oro couldnt stay silent any longer.
But how could we change the situation? The Sandine border isnt that close and they already fell back Are you proposing we enter the battle? How would that be any different from facing the Army in the forest? Besides being outside of our domains and thus putting us on disadvantage.
Most Councilors didnt think too much of Oros quickly opposition to the idea, but so noticed his true intention. As a testant of the youngsters growth, the usual simple-minded Toni also offer a suggestion.
What if we gave them better weapons and armor? By giving I an exchanging
Their first reaction was to dismiss the idea, but when they thought about it, they realized it wasnt that crazy. If they had to get involved in the war, supplying weapons to one side would be the easiest and less risky option. When the operator passed the ssage to Lew, he imdiately rembered sothing.
Actually, not long ago, Keller proposed sothing similar. He wanted to invite so Beastkin from the Tribal Lands to AP Maybe he would agree to help us trade with the Sandines They hate Humans but they do business with the Democracy
They continued discussing the idea, trying to make it feasible. Oro knew enough to help them formulate a better strategy, but he felt conflicted. If he didnt help, maybe they would give up on the idea, but then they might go on with a bad plan due to desperation. In the end, he decided to give up on this chance to face the Serions and offered his political knowledge about the Sandines.
Trying to approach them directly wouldnt work The Sandines hate Humans, and with a good reason, considering that the Serions are set on conquering their lands and enslave them The Democracy trades with them, but they only send Beastkin rchants, and thats no big deal since theyre a nation ford by many races What we need its to find a third party to negotiate on our behalf, a Beastkin group willing to trade with us. The idea of doing business with the Tribal Lands is actually good, but it might take too much ti We need to find a better-positioned partner... Have you heard about the independent tribes?
Although Marlen and Lew knew about them, they didnt interrupt and let Oro continue.
When the Serions started their conquest of this continent, they forced the Tribes to move and change their organization. So joined forces to form a nation and resist the invasion, like the war Tribes that built the Sandine Kingdom. Others fled to the northeast and decided to live under the protection of the forest, forming what we now know as the Tribal Lands. However, so southern tribes refused to join the Sandines or were too pacific to enter a War Kingdom. These tribes still live in the forest borders, and theyre the biggest beneficiaries of the war because both sides dont have ti to ti to care about them when theyre battling...
In other words, the independent tribes had more to lose if the war ended or ca to stalemate. In fact, every ti that happened, they would be harassed by one of the sides and would be forced to move their tribes, sotis even having to go deeper into the forest. So, they could be considered natural allies in this matter, although it might not be that simple to convince them to go looking for the Sandines.
Oros suggestion of working with the independent tribes was well accepted, transforming their plan into sothing less desperate and more concrete. Even so, they had to move fast if they wanted to influence enough in the war to make the wind Army cancel their retreat. Once the wind Army left the frontier, nobody could predict when it would return since the Kingdom could chose send other armies to assist instead.
After hours of discussion, the Council ca up with an initial plan. Unfortunately, even if they started imdiately and put all their resources behind it, they would need two to three months to get the weapons into the hands of the Sandines, anything less than that would be wishful thinking.
The plan would also cost them a lot, but with their potions entering APs market, they would hopefully be earning enough to pay for it. The operation was divided into three areas, support, trading, and production. The support area would provide intelligence, security, and ans for the trade, while the trading would be responsible for the actual exchange. Finally, the production area would only need to focus on crafting the tradable weapons and armor on ti.
The support teams would have three goals, first proving security to allow the traders to get there and co back safely; intelligence to both identify the tribes location and the war situation; and last, create a communication structure to allow the agents to communicate amongst them and with AK.
Their first action would be sending three teams towards the south. Samia and another shadow would move as fast as they could to locate the tribes and get a clear picture of the war. Another team led by Tael would travel straight to a specific point in the forest to install another communication tower, which would expand their cover to allow communication between the agents and AK. The last team would start clearing a path for the carts to move between the independent tribes and AP. Sania would be responsible for leading this team.
Although clearing more than 600 kiloters of forest in only two months was very ambitious, they had done it before in a part of the forest that was much more hostile. Currently, they could use the detoxifying tool and potions to keep themselves healthy, and their tools had been upgraded as well as their ability to use them. Finally, they didnt need to clear a big path, only clear enough trees to allow the carts to pass.
From the trading side, they also decided to send a team imdiately. They would try to convince Keller to go, but they would send soone to negotiate a deal either way. Since the negotiations could take ti and the tribe would also need ti to negotiate with the Sandines, they had to start doing it as soon as possible. Their own weapons could serve as an example to show their power, while the actual tradable weapons would be on production in AK.
They estimated that production might take a month, so the trading envoy could go first and close the deal while they waited for the weapons. On the production side, they also faced challenges. Under no circumstances, the weapons could end up in the Serions hands. So, they had to find a solution to prevent them for taking weapons from the fallen Sandines. Fortunately, Karl already had a solution in mind for it.
And thus, begun AKs first participation in a war.
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