Chương 971: Chapter 970: The Meeting

"Everyone," I greeted as I stepped into the room. I sat down, and the four people sat down after me. It had been months since these four had gathered together in one place. It is General Stone, Azalia, Cardin, and Hiren. My most trusted and powerful generals. The backbone of the dominion's defense. They all hold important positions. Especially Azalia and Hiren; it was not without risk to bring both of them back to the city at the same time, but it needs to be done for this meeting.

"Let's start," I ordered. Stone nodded and tapped the table, and soon a map projection appeared on it. It's a map of the region, with the territory of the dominion highlighted.

"We will face multiple threats in a few months, with Count Viremont and Marchioness Arenthal arriving," stated Stone and tapped on runes. Immediately, their presence was highlighted on the empire's map.

"These two are big enough threats, but not the biggest ones."

"Their appearance will give a chance to Vris'alud and Marquess Grimvale; the chance they have been waiting on for months." These words highlighted the Dustorn Fortress and Port Midlet.

"If it is limited to only two of them, we could have somehow managed. We could not, if all four of them attack us at the same time," added Azalia. That is the challenge we are facing. We made significant progress; our army is bigger, more experienced, and better equipped, but it's not strong enough to face all four enemies together. Facing two together would be a stretch. This is why we need a strategy to deal with them.

"There is also Navr, Zanav, and Summerfield, and even monsters, we shouldn't forget that," added Cardin, and I sighed. All of them are threats, but we put them on the second tier. Especially Zanav and Summerfield, because I believe they, like me, are also thinking about their survival. As for Navr, I don't think they will attack, but we will need to be prepared in case they do. The same with the monsters, which means we will need to keep considerable force on both fronts.

"The best option we have is to minimize the battles we will need to fight." Said Hiren. It's difficult to manage that when everybody wants a piece of you.

"The only way we could manage that is to destroy the enemy in the first battle, in such a way that it will make the others hesitate to attack us," stated Stone. Many shook their heads, hearing that.

"It wouldn't be easy, General. To that, we will need to put considerable forces on a single front."

"That could turn disastrous as the enemies could attack our other cities. Aside from the Knight and a few other hidden cards, they are aware of our strength."

"If we focus too much on one front, it will give others a chance to attack other fronts," replied Cardin. I agree with it. The Knight and a few other cards we have are good, but not enough to go against so many enemies. Besides, I want to keep his strength secret as long as possible. These might be big threats, but I still believe imperials are the biggest threat to me. Though before I could even think about it. I need to deal with those who are coming at us now and those who will use that chance to deal with us.

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"We need more men, powerhouses, and weapons," said Hiren, making me smile. We want those, but it's not easy. The kingdoms are restricting their powerhouses; I am slowly building a mercenary contract for the battle, but it's slow. They are interfering, and the mercenaries also see us as not having a chance. And mercenaries don't like to fight on the side that they believe will lose. Grimvale, undead, and nobles have spread the news that they will mercilessly kill any mercenary who will fight on my side.

They might discard the threat of Grimvale and nobles, but they take the undead seriously. Though the allure of essence couldn't be easily suppressed. So, I am getting the mercenaries, but not in the numbers I wanted. Still, it's not too late; there are a few months more before those two come to the region. I listened to them without interrupting before finally opening my mouth.

"Fighting every battle would be too costly for us, nor could we fight it with our current forces."

"I agree with General Stone that we should fight selected battles with such a show of force that others would hesitate to come at us," I said finally.

"It won't be easy, my lord. Our enemies will work hard, not give us such a chance to control the location," replied Cardin.

"Then we should force them," I stated. It will not be easy, but if I didn't want to lose my cities, I would have to manage it somehow. And I think there might be a small chance. I have been working on this, and some of my efforts paid off, revealing a few things. It is still very challenging, but there is a chance. However, I didn't voice it out. It is politics, and that is my domain, as defense is theirs. Over an hour later, the meeting ended, and I walked back to my office. There, I took a file from the desk.

It has information on all the powerhouses that I have.

"It's growing steadily," commented Argis.

"Not fast enough," I replied and looked at the names before stopping at one of them.

"She has a greater potential than we had initially thought," he said, looking at me staring at the name. Baroness Leda. Since her father died, that woman had been participating in the battles more and more. She had fought against all the monster tides that had happened since then. Earlier, she did that only in a few battles, and she never fought at the front. Now she is doing even that. The death of her father had affected her a lot.

"It's dangerous, but she is growing stronger," I replied. Aside from sending words of caution, I didn't stop her. She is now one of my most loyal people in the baronies, and I need her to be strong.

"Speaking of which, we have finalized the next batch of people we are sending to the baronies," he said, and placed the file in my hand. The file didn't just include the names of all two thousand people we are sending to them. No, it has information on their classes, family units, professions, and other things. I can't just send any people to baronies. No, I have to send them the people they need. Each one is carefully chosen for the baronies. We have created a whole subdepartment for it.

As for how we know what each barony required, aside from the Baron's words, there are also our record offices in each barony that provide us with accurate information. This way, we could use the people we have more efficiently and help the baronies and cities develop faster.

"They will be happy with the number of blacksmiths and tailors we are sending their way this time," I said as my eyes stopped at their numbers.

"They are the lowest level ones, but they will do the job. Besides, the work waiting for them in the baronies will make them level fast," he replied. To that, I couldn't help but nod. To meet the high need of these craftsmen, we have been training them. Mostly, we will choose those six months to one year away from getting a class, but we will also take chances on people who will learn and have the talent for it.

We are giving baronies and cities the people who will aid in their comprehensive growth, and it is showing. The economies of the baronies and cities are growing rapidly. That will be even faster, especially for the baronies when these people get well-settled. In the baronies, every day, they are converting a large swath of forest land into farmland. In a year, there will be a large amount of agricultural produce coming from the baronies.

I am looking forward to it as it will reduce our import bill, which is massive and growing every week in this wasteland. We import a lot of things, especially food. I want to reduce that dependence.

"There is a message from the mine; they have dug through into another section," informed Zela, hearing that Argis sighed but said nothing. He is a person who is against digging the mine. He said, " We should leave it until we deal with most of our problems. I will not. I have to find out what the mine has and deal with it as soon as possible, preferably before those two come. Every day, we are getting closer to it. We still don't know how far it is, and the only thing we can do is keep digging.

It wasn't a wasteful effort; it had been the opposite, with us finding Grade IV and V crystals. Not to mention Drelthar, which we had started selling and were making a great profit from. From this month on, Panar will start paying its taxes to the dominion as Mirador Hold does. I am very excited about it, as it will greatly reduce the workload on the domain. The other two cities are also doing well, but it will take some time before they become financially capable.

As long as we deal with the threat coming at us, I will give them all the time they need. Until then, I will keep mining until we find what it is and deal with it. So, it wouldn't spring up on us at an undesirable time.