Red Storm

The Preparing Pareia

I will take responsibility.

But the Glow must give me everything as well.

Book 3-1.1 Funding the Ships (I)

Yulian took in the crew members and families of the Desert Runner. With these foreigners who were wandering across the quicksand river now a part of the tribe, Yulian, as well as the chiefs and Greatest Warriors of Pareia, had to be busy.

Yulian and Thriger discussed many methods about how to properly utilize the quicksand river, and a lot of preparation was required to make that happen.

First, in order to better utilize the quicksand river, they needed more ships. They determined that they needed quite a bit of funds to make enough ships to transport at least 10,000 warriors, as well as talented warriors who could maneuver the ship and launch landing operations in special situations.

In order to create those warriors, they assigned 5,000 warriors under Thriger’s command.

There were many opposing voices about naming a foreigner as a Greatest Warrior, but Yulian claimed that not trusting someone who has already become a part of the family shakes Pareia’s foundation and cut the debate short.

It does not need to be mentioned that Thriger, as well as the Desert Runner crew members, became even more loyal to Yulian after hearing about what happened.

Pareia had many long meetings of the Greatest, but none of them felt tired.

Everybody had the same dream as Yulian and was working hard to make that glorious day come even a bit faster.

Today was no exception. There was another meeting of the Greatest.

Once it started, around four hours went by extremely quickly, so everybody had to take care of any physical needs before entering. These meetings exhausted both your body and mind.

“The most urgent issue right now is that we are lacking in funds.”

Veruna, who had been in charge of Pareia’s internal affairs since the days of the former Glow Baguna, grew pale at the discussion going on in the meeting before he started to speak.

They needed to train warriors, but the ships needed to be made as well. In order to transport at least 10,000 warriors at once, they needed a minimum of 12 ships, and the cost to make those ships was not cheap.

“Please do not forget that the tribe currently only has black water and Monster’s Souls to trade. Furthermore, the majority of those are used to trade for iron. Although we gained a lot of materials from the last war, the number of our warriors also increased by that amount.”

Veruna grew pale as he was pretty much shouting ‘construction impossible’!

“Are you telling me Pareia is that poor? What about the Glow’s fortune passed down from past generations?”

Veruna expressed his disapproval at Yulian’s question.

“Of course there is a decent amount of funds. However, the majority of it is used to pay subsidies to foreign emissaries, as well as funds to prepare for war.”

Yulian sighed at Veruna’s answer and started to speak.

“It is very disappointing that we cannot do something we need to do because of a lack of funds.”

Pere asked a question.

“Veruna, is there really nowhere for us to get some gold? What if we collect some more black water or Monster’s Souls?”

“I’m sure our situation would get better. However, with each ship requiring 48 kilograms (one kg of gold is approximately 200,000,000 won [USD $183,831.98]) of gold [1], we would not be able to build twelve of them even if we died and came back to life. The most expensive Monster’s Soul of a Sand Dragon is not even worth 500g of gold. Even if the Glow was to go out and hunt only Sand Dragons, how long will it take to collect that much gold?”

“Why are these stupid ships so expensive?”

As Trebol bluntly asked, Thriger responded.

“It is not a normal ship. In order to float above the low density quicksand, you must inscribe special magic runes to the bottom of the ship. There are not many magicians in general, but there are even less magicians who can use levitation magic. Because of that, it is extremely expensive to hire them.”

“Even so, isn’t this too expensive?”

At Trebol’s words, Thriger looked at him before answering.

“Please hear me out to the end. The funds to pay the magicians would not require that much gold, however, it is in the method to inscribe the runes where we need to pour out the majority of our money. The method to do that ……”

“Wouldn’t it still cost less even if we inscribed them all with gold?”

With Trebol continuing to interrupt him, Thriger looked over to him before continuing.

“Please speak only once I am finished. The reason magicians pay a lot of money for Monster’s Souls is to use the Monster’s Souls to make a special magic reagent (reactant). The reagent changes based on the type of Monster’s Soul, and because the runes underneath the ship have to be inscribed by those reagents, it is that expensive. It is made from the highest quality reagents.”

“Sigh~ now that I think about it, Captain Thriger was very rich.”

“Everybody took out every penny to make our ship.”

As Yulian let out a deep sigh and started to speak, Thriger bitterly responded.

After a bit of silence, Yarumaha started to speak.

“Veruna-nim, then with our current abilities, how many ships can we make right now? Shouldn’t we at least know that before figuring out a method to deal with the rest?”

Veruna thought for a second before answering Yarumaha’s question.

“If we do not overstretch our funds too much, four ships. If we squeeze out everything, seven ships. But if we make seven ships, we will not be able to use any gold where Pareia needs it. In addition, the emissaries of each tribe will need to stop all activities.”

The chiefs all let out a sigh and looked toward each other at Veruna’s answer.

The desert tribes were a community, and all the wealth was shared. Other than the pirmas, everything was communal property, and since the Glow maintained all funds, there really wasn’t any personal wealth to use in times like this.

While everyone was looking around, Yulian started to speak.

“Then let us do this. Let the warriors kill monsters to train. Of course we will need to keep enough warriors to protect the oases, but the remaining warriors will all hunt monsters. Since the Monster’s Field is overflowing with monsters, it should be better than just training.”

“In return, many warriors may be injured. They may also die.”

Yulian nodded his head at Egane’s words and responded.

“I know that the danger will escalate. However, we do not have time. Do not think that our bitter enemies, the Shuarei, will just sit still like this forever. While they are bowing their heads, we need to take over the Wikaly tribe who keeps eyeing our northern territories.

“It will take quite a bit of time to defeat the Wikaly. If they defend with all of their might, it will take a couple of years to take all of their oases. What happens if the Shuarei return to form during those years? Honestly speaking, haven’t we been leaving the Wikaly alone because of our contention with the Shuarei?”

The politics of the desert was complicated. Each tribe had hostile relationships, as well as friendly relationships. The reason the Shuarei and Pareia could not devote everything to fight each other was because the Shuarei had the Rivolde tribe and Pareia had the Wikaly tribe eyeing their territories.

At one of the chief’s question, Yulian looked to the left and right before answering vigorously.

“That is why we need to hurry. If we can properly use the quicksand river, we will be able to take all six of the Wikaly oases. This is the best time. If we can conquer the Wikaly tribe, our war capabilities will be multiple times that of the Shuarei. Then we can finally break this annoying balance of power and take a step toward our dream.”

Yulian stopped speaking for a moment before looking around again. Although he had never been taught how to do this, he knew exactly when to stop talking and where to look.

Seeing firm resolutions in everyone’s eyes, Yulian started to speak again.

“First, let us make as many as possible. We can always replenish the funds later. I ask that all of the chiefs send out your warriors. Other than saving enough for defense, every warrior will be hunting monsters.”

“Glow.”

Thriger started to speak at that point.

“There is a merchant I know. He purchases Monster’s Souls and provides food and supplies for us.”

“Yes, please speak.”

Yulian nodded as he answered and Thriger continued to speak.

“He was asking if he could use the Desert Path. If he can transport his goods through the desert, he can drastically lower his due dates and increase his distribution margins.”

Yulian and some of the chiefs had a look in their eyes. They realized what Thriger was trying to say.

“Every so often, we have used the quicksand river to give him a ride between the North and the South. Our ship is much faster than a supply cart after all. However, since there is a limit, we were not able to transport that many items for him, but he was extremely satisfied with even that much.”

“Hold on. Captain Thriger, are you implying that we should open a desert path for the merchant?”

“Yes. That is correct. Glow, that merchant is thorough with his promises. When were were building the Desert Runner, the materials, magicians and contracts were all completed through this merchant.”

Yulian started to smile.

“Why did you only bring this up now? That merchant, when would I be able to meet with him?”

Quickly do the things that come to mind, and definitely do the things you need to do.’

The smile on Yulian’s face did not disappear.

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[1] The current real world cost for a kg of gold was $40,645.62 in case you were curious.