Truce
The water that seeped into the sand started to evaporate.
Book 6-3.1
After returning to Pareia, Yulian ordered the warriors to rest as he gathered the oasis chiefs and Greatest Warriors for a meeting. These busy days continued for a while.
There was just too much to do. While Yulian was gone, a mountain load of items requiring Yulian’s approval had built up. However, he did not have the time to thoroughly go through them right now. He delegated most of it to different Greatest Warriors before preparing to go back to war. There was no time.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
Yulian bowed to his father-in-law, Dejaine.
“Sigh~ he sure lived up to his name as the War God of the desert. He definitely deserves it. There was nothing we could do.”
Although his age was close to 60 now, Dejaine had enough vitality to rival a young warrior for a long time. However, this old warrior in front of Yulian was no longer that energetic warrior. The deep wrinkles on his forehead, the extremely thin cheeks. All of this showed just how much worry and concerns Dejaine had suffered until now.
“I’m sorry, Glow. I should have helped you ……”
Dejaine was someone who had taken care of Yulian for a long time. He was a trusted friend of his father, and once his father passed away, Dejaine had been a father figure for Yulian.
Seeing someone who cherished him so worn out looking like this made Yulian extremely sad.
“I seem to be causing sorrow for someone who came back after achieving something big. Furthermore, I am no longer a Glow. Although the Shuarei may have used the strength of the continent, the battle was fair. I was cleanly defeated and need to accept the reality.”
“I will personally head over. We will take back the Rivolde.”
Dejaine shook his head at Yulian’s statement.
“No, my time has already passed. I would have hope if my son was even half the man that you are...but it is now your time.Do not worry about me. The warriors must be tired as well.”
“I cannot do that. If it was not for Glow’s help back then, would there even be a me of today? I will definitely take the Rivolde back and return everything back to normal.”
Dejaine smiled back at Yulian. Although he did not have any luck with his son, he did have luck with his daughter and his son-in-law. He believed Yulian would become a great individual from the first time he saw him; that was why he had no issues with giving his daughter to Yulian for marriage.
“Do not make me look so bad. A Glow who could not protect his tribe does not deserve to be the Glow. Instead of recovering the Rivolde, take over the land and turn it into a part of your tribe. That is the correct course of action. Don’t worry about this old man and go take control.”
“We need to fight them before the Shuarei has time to gain more oases and warriors anyways. That is the reason I came back as well. We have already started to prepare the warriors to head back out, so we should be heading to the Western Desert soon.”
As Yulian had mentioned, the Shuarei was taking control of the Western Desert very quickly right now without stopping.
After taking control of the Rivolde, there were no more obstacles in their way. There were only three tribes that were still safe from the Shuarei’s invasion.
Yulian was planning on taking control of at least two of those tribes before the Shuarei could get there. Since they are going to battle, they would need a base on the Western Desert. They needed to take control of these oases to even think about fighting the Shuarei.
“It should be possible because the Shuarei are exausted from their restless march forward. But you must absolutely not overdo it for this old man. As you already know as well, Venersis is a scary person.”
“I know. Do not worry too much.”
“I know that as well. Now stop worrying about me and go do what you need to do. I’m sure there are many people who need you right now.”
“Then Glow, I will head out first.”
“No need to stop by again. I’ll be fine until you unify the entire desert and bring stability back to the desert.”
Yulian bowed once more at Dejaine’s words before heading out of the paoe.
The moons in the night sky were very bright tonight. Was it because he had rushed back as quickly as possible?
Yulian was staring at the moons as if he was overwheled with emotion.
“Yulian-nim?”
When Yulian turned his head, he saw Grace looking at him with confusion.
“Why are you still not asleep at this time?”
As Yulian asked in shock, Grace approached him and gently grabbed his arm as she responded with a smile.
“I have a ton of things to do as well. You don’t know how busy I have been without you here. Plus, we haven’t had a chance to have a night date like this in a long time. There was no way I would miss this opportunity.”
Yulian held Grace’s hand with both of his hands as he answered.
“The only thing I can tell you is that I am sorry.”
“About what?”
“The situation with your father, as well as the fact that you have to work without even being able to sleep.”
Grace leaned her head on Yulian’s arm.
“Everyone was prepared for it. Father’s situation was out of all of our control as well. Pere-nim tried very hard. I was so worried that something like happen to Pere-nim while you were not even here.”
Yulian’s excited heart calmed down after hearing Grace’s words.
He was thinking that his other half was extremely wonderful.
“I should be able to rest once this war is over. I will reward you for everything at that point.”
“I have everything I need just standing next to you like this. I’m sure things are hectic right now.”
Yulian nodded his head and answered.
“I need to prepare the warriors to head to the Western Desert. The warriors who came back from the continent will have to be moved to defend our tribe, and we also need to include the Heavy Armor Infantry as Runa suggested. There are a lot of things to figure out.”
“But you need to take care of yourself as well. You know you look much tinner, right?”
“But I am still making sure to eat every meal so don’t worry. You think I would starve myself while I work?”
“I wish you could come home at least once a day to eat with us and see the children, but I guess it is still too soon for that?”
“Sorry.”
Grace quickly shook her head.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Let’s go home. I should rest a bit tonight.”
Only the moonlight remained once the two of them left.
The fourteen Desert Runners, three more had been built in the last few years, started to ride the quicksand river up to the north.
The first trip would transport 30,000 warriors. After three trips, a total of 70,000 would head to the northern area.
They seemed to have been training the crew as the speed of the Desert Runner was much faster than before. The morale of the warriors were also so high that it did not even feel like they were heading to war.
“I’m sure they received it by now, right?”
Runa, who had been looking down at the quicksand river, turned his head to answer Yulian’s question.
“We should be able to hear a response by the time we land.”
“Runa, what do you think about it? Do you think they will become a part of our tribe?”
“I would say eight or nine out of ten times, they will. We are offering to accept them as the chiefs of their respective oases even after the war. Rather than fighting against the Shuarei and losing everything, I would think they would choose to become absorbed into the nation of Pareia.”
Before starting their conquest of the Western Desert, Yulian had sent a messenger to the three remaining tribes of the Western Desert. The message indicated that they will allow the current oasis chiefs and Greatest Warriors to retain their positions if they become a part of Pareia. Yulian was offering the three tribes who were facing significant pressure from the Shuarei a different option.
They could either fight against the Shuarei and perish, or become loyal to Pareia who would allow them to retain all of their positions.
“They must accept. I really hate shedding blood for no reason. Who could go against our strength at this point?”
There was a lot of pride in Yulian’s voice.
Pareia had already become so strong that nobody else in the desert could compare to them. Although they were still low in population and had a significantly skewed ratio of men to women, there was a significant amount of people who came over from the Rivolde recently, and their number of warriors had increased significantly as well.
This would be the case even if they did not include the citizens and soldiers they gained from the continent in this past battle.
“The iamge of 70,000 warriors moving in will be overwhelming. Even if they do not surrender right now, I’m sure they will change their mind once they see that.”
“I guess the question is whether the Heavy Armor Infantry can adjust to the heat of the desert.”
Yulian only had one concern; he didn’t know whether the newly engaged Heavy Armor Infantry could stand the desert heat.