Book 3-7.2
The Greatest Warrior Meeting.
This was a meeting between the chiefs of the oases as well as the chieftains with a lot of influence.
Since
the seven new oases chiefs for the seven oases they just gained from
the Wikaly were present as well, this was Pareia’s largest Greatest
Warrior Meeting ever.
Once Yulian and Runa entered the paoe, everybody got up from their seats to greet Yulian.
“Please take a seat wise warriors.”
As Yulian said that while taking his seat, everybody sat back down as well.
“The
reason I called this meeting today is, as everybody already knows, to
take care of the loose ends from the end of this war. Please share the
things that you have thought about and then follow the things that we
decide on in this meeting. Furthermore, I am naming Runa Brink as my
assistant warrior starting today. He will start to participate in the
Greatest Warrior Meeting from here on out.”
Once Yulian introduced him, Runa stood up from his seat and greeted everyone.
“My name is Runa Brink. Please take good care of me.”
Many of them were stumped at Runa’s greeting.
The
anger from knowing just how much sacrifice Pareia had to make because
of this man, the relief from knowing that he was now one of Pareia’s
people, as well as the remaining thread of connection to the Wikaly for
the former Wikaly chiefs.
The Wikaly Glow had pretty much selected a bath of destruction by throwing away Abham and Runa.
Runa
and Yulian must have discussed it beforehand, as Runa did not sit back
down and started to bring up the topics for discussion.
“Under the
order of the Glow, I will be leading this meeting. The most urgent
issue right now is the protection of the oases. There are only 80,000
warriors left in Pareia right now. We are lacking too many warriors in
relation to the number of oases we hold. Pareia did not have a bad
relationship with the Oklama up north, but there were some friction
during this last war. As a result, it would be smart to consider them as
enemy territory now.”
Runa put the map of the desert that he had prepared in advance at the middle of the table.
“That
means that the problem we face is how to handle the Shuarei to the
south, the Oklama to the north, as well as the potential hostile forced
from the Silence Empire. Thankfully, the Shuarei will take at least two
or three years to return to the 60,000+ warriors they used to have.”
Runa stopped talking for a moment before continuing on.
“In
addition, the Silence Empire to the east is currently being pressured
by a kingdom called the Rojini Kingdom. So I believe it is safe to say
that they will not be a big problem for a while. As a result, my
suggestion is that we throw away the two oases closest to the Shuarei,
as well as the two oases closest to Oklama.”
As soon as Runa stopped talking, the chiefs all started to whisper with one another.
This was especially true for the chiefs of the oases Runa suggested they throw away. These chiefs started to angrily shout.
“Does that make any sense? Why would we throw away any oasis when people are all trying to earn more oasis?”
None of the Chiefs, and even Yulian, could not understand Runa’s intent. Only Egane was lightly nodding his head.
“Do we have the strength to protect them? Do we have the strength to protect twenty oases with 80,000 warriors?”
Runa glared at the chiefs as he continued.
“The
more we split up our warriors, the harder it will be to gather them. It
will also be harder to handle any sudden attacks by the enemy. I will
not say this if someone is capable of defending against 20,000 enemy
warriors with just 5,000. Is anybody confident that they can do that?”
Although Runa’s words were not wrong, the chiefs who believed it made no sense to throw away an oasis started to speak.
“Even so, to throw away four oases. We all sacrificed so much to earn those four oases. What would we say to our warriors?”
“Since
we have more women and children in the tribe, our number of warriors
should quickly increase again. Why must we give them up?”
“No matter what your reason may be, it does not make sense.”
Yulian lifted up his hand to make people stop talking and then asked Runa.
“Please break it down and explain it to us.”
“It
is exactly as I said. Keeping oases that are difficult to defend will
not strengthen us. It will instead weaken us little by little. Rather
than let that happen, it would be better to focus on our internal
affairs to build up the necessary strength to defend them before we go
get them back. Furthermore, even if we throw those oases away, the
Shuarei cannot take them.”
“And why would that be the case?”
“They
don’t even have 60,000 warriors. Do you think they will have the
strength to occupy another oasis? The oases they have right now will be
enough.”
“And what if the Shuarei end up taking them?’
Runa looked toward Yulian and the chiefs before starting to smile.
“Do
you think the Glow will just let that happen? If you consider the
Shuarei’s current situation, they will only be able to gather around
10,000 warriors for an attack.”
“So it is a type of trap?”
“That is not the main goal, but it can end up being that way.”
“Then what do you plan to do about the Oklama?”
Runa quickly answered Egane’s question.
“We
would not be giving it to them for free. In return for the oases, we
must get a promise of mutual non-aggression for a couple of years. The
Oklama will not be able to reject this offer. If they had the desire to
fight, they will have shown their teeth at our last interaction. Since
they didn’t, it shows that they are wary of us as well. In a situation
like that, if they can gain two oases by agreeing to mutual
non-aggression, that would be a great gain for them. We would also buy
ourselves some time to focus on our internal affairs. Since Pareia’s
population is now close to around 800,000, which means that we should be
able to gain around 10,000 new warriors in about three years time. It
will continue to increase quickly after that. The most important thing
right now is to not lose any warriors during that time.”
The gazes of everyone in the paoe had all focused on Runa.
“I have made many plans to make Pareia into a strong nation, and to make strong warriors in exactly 20 years.”
“The
most urgent issue is the ratio between men and women. This is an issue
for all tribes and not just Pareia, but Pareia’s ratio is too severe. We
need to get it to at least a 1:3 ratio so that we do not lack warriors
in the future. This is something that we need to enforce for a long time
to fix, so we need to make the warriors take at least three wives even
if we need to force them to do so. If we start now, I believe we will be
able to see the effects of it in twenty years.”
“Twenty years?”
“It
is the shortest amount of time to get certain results. This is also
something that we need for after we unify the desert. Population is tied
to the strength of a nation. If it is something we can get started on
now, it is better to start now than to wait.”
‘He has the same thoughts as Grace and her five wives to a warrior opinion.’
That
was what Yulian thought about as he heard Runa speak. The thing that
Grace continued to emphasize was the fact that warriors needed to have
at least 5 wives.”
Honestly speaking, he thought it was normal to
have two or three wives, but he has not said anything about it because
it would feel like they were shoving girls at the warriors if he
publicly proclaimed it.
“The second issue is the economy. I know this is a touchy subject, but please allow people to own private property.”
The chiefs started to whisper once more at Runa’s words. It was a really dangerous thing to accept private property.
“We
cannot do that. If we accept private property, there is a chance that
the warriors’ loyalty will go down. Furthermore, Pareia provides the
most to our citizens compared to any other tribe, so why would we
approve of private property?”
As Shamba, the chief of the sandless
oasis jumped up and shouted, Runa lowered his head once before looking
around at Yulian and the other chiefs.
“I am saying relinquish
that control. Rather than using allocations to earn loyalty, develop
trust with each of them, person to person. Give them dreams and hopes.
If it is our warriors, I know that they can be twice as effective as
they currently are. You need to accept that the reason the desert cannot
stand up to the continent economically is because we do not allow
private property. Securing multiple oases have guaranteed us the minimal
requirements to survive; this is the only way for the entire tribe to
get stronger.”
“Runa, that is extremely difficult and complicated
to do. Have you thought about how many issues we may have to change the
tribe into one that allows private property? Talking about the biggest
issue first, the warrior spirit will shake if they are fighting for
something other than the tribe. Second, what would we use to trade? We
do not have any type of commerce system set up and the things that we
can sell are limited.”
Yulian had not been lazy with his studies
until now. He had been using books from the continent to learn about
business, economics, history, geography etc, so he knew the strengths
and weaknesses of a limited market like the one they had.
“I know what the Glow’s concerns are. However, didn’t you say that a merchant from a large merchant guild goes through here?”
“Are you talking about Edwin? We have created a path for him. We have also received a lot of help from him as well.”
“The
volume of the East-West trade is beyond our expectation. The volume
that the merchant named Edwin moves pales in comparison. It is like a
single piece of sand in a sand dune. We need to expand the trade route
and bring in as many merchants as possible so that they compete with
each other. Tell them to research the things they can take from the
desert, while asking them to give us the things we need. In return,
their safety will be guaranteed and promise them they will receive huge
profits. If we do that, then commerce will naturally be created in our
oasis as well.”
Watching Runa continue to talk without stopping, everyone could see just how much he had prepared for this meeting.
But
they still needed to be careful about the things they needed to be
careful about. Not everything in the world would go the way they want it
to go.
“I understand that the assistant warrior has prepared a
lot for this meeting, however, isn’t it too much? There are so many
things we need to take care of right away. If we announce that we are
approving private property right now, it will cause chaos and slow down
our speed to get other things done. How about we do not do this now, and
wait until Pareia’s foundations have solidified? I don’t think it would
be a bad idea to start it at that point.”
Yarumaha started to speak.
Thinking
about it holistically, he also believed that allowing private property
would raise the efficiency of the warriors significantly. However, this
was not the time.
For someone like him who had already been
infected by Yulian’s passion, private property was something he would
not even dream about.
Runa poured out his disagreement.
“If
we don’t do it now, when would we do it? This is the time Pareia needs
to do everything we can. I hope you are not saying we should start it
once we unify the desert. If we are one year late in doing something
now, it will make our dream at least ten years further away. We do not
have that much time. We cannot waste any time like that.”
Runa
looked around at Yulian and the chiefs before bowing 90 degrees. As all
of them became confused about why Runa was doing that, he started to
speak again.
“Please trust me and leave it to me. I have made
preparations for all possible issues. This Runa Brink has seen the
Glow’s dream and the passion of Pareia. I too have had problems sleeping
at night knowing that I am taking part in such a grand vision.”
Runa ended his bow and looked back to ward Yulian.
“You
promised that I would be able to use all of my abilities. And I
promised that I will do everything I can to help set the foundation for
you.”
“I did promise you that.”
As Yulian nodded his head
and confirmed, Runa seemed to have received some strength as he started
to try and convince the chiefs again.
