As the Goblin King’s territory grew, so did the number of people coming in. Yoshu not only created a guild, but he also used the funds of the city allocated toward public works to help people find work. The Western Capital has developed in such a way that people have even started to say that one would not starve so long as one went to the Western Capital.
The public order was protected by the goblins and the demihumans, while the government affairs were taken care of by the minor feudal lords of the borders. The person managing them all was a young man only in in his mid-twenties; hence, it could be seen just how skilled he was.
But no matter who it was, everyone has a limit.
Founder of the guild and governor-general of the western capital. Moreover, the amount of work he had as the person in charge of the pillar territory of the Goblin King kingdom was like that of a glass filled to the brim. He was barely hanging on.
It was upon that glass full of water that the Kushain Believers delivered word of the dark hands attacking.
Like that, water overflowed. And like a dam broken, all the fatigue that had been building up attacked Yoshu all at once and he collapsed.
At the same time, as the governor-general of the western capital, Yoshu, collapsed and word got around, word of the destructive activities of the adventurers in various territories also did, causing the flow of goods of the western region to halt.
It was as if someone had reversed the flow of the Jewel Road as soldiers attacked various territories and killed the normal goblin soldiers defending them. When the situation had reached that point, word of it finally reached the king. The smaller attacks consisted of lone soldiers, but the bigger ones consisted up to a hundred soldiers. The government of the various territories were immediately made known to this intel, and the Goblin King moved with haste to appoint a replacement for Yoshu. Unfortunately, Yoshu was too skilled, and there was no one to take over for him. Just maintaining the usual operations was in itself a considerable amount of work, so when you add the management of the guild on top of that and the issue of the frequent attacks in various territories, the difficulty of the job goes from hard to impossible.
As expected, at this point, even the Goblin King drew cold sweat when faced with the work that Yoshu had to deal with. He separated the job of the governor-general from the management of the guild, but during that time, the attacks in various territories against the goblins did not stop even for a moment.
The leaders of the governments of the various territories did not stand idly in the face of that. They desperately tried to apprehend the criminals committing crimes in their respective territories, but unfortunately, the number of dark hands that came was simply too much for them to handle.
With the presence of the Jewel Road that turned the wheel of economy, it was not possible to completely stop the flow of trade.
The merchants hired adventurers to escort them, and the adventurers made a living off of that. There were also people that made a living off the merchandise of the merchants. This was especially true in the southern region.
The surroundings were an issue as well.
For example, if an attack were to occur in Elrain Kingdom and Pena, who between them should have the rights to the criminals when they are arrested? Ironically, this issue between the administrative districts came to be because the territories under the Goblin King were too big.
IN Elrain Kingdom, the guards protecting the public order have compensated by hiring more humans, but outside the city, the goblins stationed are concerned with a different kind of public order.
The dark hands of Blanche the War Princess were able to attack the blind spot of having different systems of governance and maintaining public order.
Fei has been put in charge of the Western Region precisely to deal with situations such as this, but as skilled of a civil official as he is, in the end, he is an elf. He has an indifference when it comes to economic matters, something that Yoshu was able to compensate for. The same could be said for Princess Shunaria. They both had a lack of knowledge when it came to the economic matters of the humans.
Without Yoshu in the Western Region, the demihumans and the goblins could only implement a temporary solution by increasing the number of patrols to defend against the attacks of the dark hands.
Naturally, due to the danger, the merchants too have begun to hold back on their business.
As such, the profits that should have gone up, have gone down instead, causing displeasure among the people. Everything has been going so well until now that when something finally went wrong, the effects were far worse than the Goblin King could have ever expected.
In one part of the region, there were even people who rioted, demanding that bread be distributed. Despite having the War Princess as an enemy, they now had to worry about their backs as well.
“There’s no choice but to dispatch the army,” the Goblin King said.
“If we pull back our army now, we will be playing as the War Princess expects us to,” Pale said.
His back threatened, the Goblin King raised his brows as he glared at the map. In the face of an unexpected weakness in the regions behind them, Pale informed the king that pulling back now would play into the War Princess’ hand. Unfortunately, she too misread just how important Yoshu was and could not give sufficient counsel to the king.
“Have Ra Gilmi Fishiga and his bow and arrow army (Fanzel) take Zaurosh and retreat to maintain order in the country.”
Pale touched her slender chin as she pondered on the king’s idea of taking Zaurosh away from Gi Ga Rax’s Tiger and Spear Army (Aransain).
After Aransain lost to Blanche the War Princess, they underwent a reorganization and are currently training their recruits. Pulling Zaurosh now would be a reactive measure, but given the situation, it simply couldn’t be helped and she had no choice but to agree.
Zaurosh was the vice clan leader of the Leon Heart Clan, and the real clan leader was still at the Western Capital. Zaurosh was an indispensable resource when it came to negotiating with the humans.
“In that case, we can’t attack until the country has stabilized. This just might give time for the Holy Shushunu Kingdom to stand back up.”
The conqueror of the plains, the Holy Shushunu Kingdom, was not yet at war. Pale judged from her sources that Shushunu still wasn’t in a situation where they could afford to focus their resources in war.
But if they give them time, that just might change.
Blanche the War Princess seemed like she was the sort to push through no matter how absurd the situation was. Pale had yet to understand the mind of that woman whose famed name came to be extolled as ‘Lady Impaler’.
“Blanche Ririnoie the War Princess.”
The name of that young female warrior resounded loud and clear to the Goblin King and Pale.
