223 My Counterattack
I knew that paragons already assigned the world over their top people. So Wryly and Fang were limited in action in this region. That central region would fall under the jurisdiction of other archlords.
But that didn’t mean they couldn’t fight in between themselves. I still recalled how Wryly got promoted and became an archlord thanks to his gains from our little deal.
Also Fang once told me that in each race there were many paragons, five, competing over the control over their entire race with all their might.
So it would be natural for these two to work and expand their territories outside their assigned borders. Fang wasn’t a problem. That dude was ambitious, not lesser than me.
But Wryly… that dude was all focused on fighting. Without a good fight, he wouldn’t be excited to have part in this.
I slightly thought about this situation. Would I lie to Wryly to lure him in? Or should I first work with Fang, gather intel about this region before deciding what to say to Wryly?
In fact lying was a big problem as if we went there and faced no strong foe, Wryly would lose his trust in me. It would be a gamble to just lie. It was better to gather intel first before doing anything else.
As for the fourth quest, it would be a task to expand the territory of each city lord over other cities.
This was a simple brutal fight between the city lords in each region. I wouldn’t care about this stage. After all, I’d either go and crush more cities myself, or use the help of my allies and let them control the cities I’d conquer.
As for my share, I’d safely secure it using a contract. But should I aim towards gaining territory or gaining camps?
I had to choose between these two goals. After I thought for another half an hour, I decided to aim for both.
The East region from here would be totally covered by my forces. I wouldn’t let that area fall under anyone’s control but me.
So I’d aim to gain territory here. As for the central part of the continent, if I gained control over an area adjacent to here then I’d simply claim it.
But if the forces expanded far out of my ability to defend, then it would be better to replace these cities and towns with training camps.
After all these camps would serve me best in the near future. What was the benefit of having vast territory and a small army to defend it?
It was better to have a concentrated base with a strong and grand army, well trained humans who would serve as my strongest sword when the fifth quest kicked in.
That quest would mostly be about a general test of resilience and witts. I had a belief that it would be a mix between monster invasion plus attacks from other city lords and big figures.
It would be an open war, where defence and offence would meet together as a single test for any war lord.
I wouldn’t need all my forces to come with me to the central lands. The East mission would come first. After claiming the entire East part of this continent, I’d work second over the important human arsenal weapons upgrade.
That would take a long time, and a hellish amount of resources and intelligent minds. I hoped that by the arrival of the fifth quest, my forces would be partly equipped with our firearm systems, changing the entire course of this war.
But when heading West, I’d rather prefer to take part of my forces. First I’d need forces to keep defending here. Building defensive points, making sure cities were well secured, plus the trials over the upgraded human firearm weapons systems.
In addition to that, I’d need them also for the other mission. I looked again at my inventory while smiling in confidence. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
“Trying to punish me so hard to put an end to my clear progress? Humph! You are simply daydreaming.”
I opened the friendliest of mine, selected Fang and simply sent to him:
[Are you satisfied with the results of this quest?]
[It’s indeed refreshing to have more than what I wanted]
I first started with such a greeting. My relationship with him hasn’t been that good lately. So I had to start by reminding him of my worth and value in his current progress.
[Tell me, do you think the next quest will be limited to here?]
[Of course!]
His answer was short, swift, and firm.
[What about playing outside these limiting rules?]
[What do you mean?]
[Where are you now?]
[Not that far from you] he paused before adding, [I heard you got yourself a nice city from the clutches of Dragons and Berserkers. Nice job by the way]
Aha! Even if we have our little differences in the last deal, he was still focused over the big picture.
It seemed what I did to Wryly came to serve his goals. It also was a clear declaration that I didn’t totally support those Berserkers over Selvators. I was just simply working for my own good.
[I just did what’s best for me] I sent to him before adding, [I want to aim towards the West. That dragon archlord that died left behind a vast area unclaimed. But I lack intel about the other contenders in the area]
[I already heard the two dragon paragons themselves sent envoys to claim this region before the third quest would end]
As expected! But were they the only enemies we would face?
[Archlords?]
[It’s yet unclear who will come, but at least the two will be archlords]
[If they are archlords, then we can crush them]
[We?]
[I want to form a coalition army between our three forces and split the spoils together] I didn’t hide my thoughts from him. Fang was smart, if he suspected I was doing something from his back he would instantly react differently towards me.
[I heard weird rumours by the way]
Rumours? One thing popped into my mind once I read his message.