Building An Empire Starting From The Labor Camp In Exile-Chapter 287: Meeting II

"Have they begun to amass their army?"

The Akatsuki might be a dry land with little resources, but one thing they did not relent on was their breeding. They had children all the time and always encouraged such. They had been able to build one of the strongest forces in the Hinterlands because of this.

They were nomadic in nature, and except for their capital, they usually moved en masse from one place to another, changing locations and building temporary buildings.

The location of their capital was one of their closely guarded secrets. No one in the Hinterlands had been able to locate it.

This made fighting them difficult. They were difficult to invade because why would you attack and occupy? But they could attack. In fact, they had been gripping lands that were directly in Soryu’s territory, and that was what alarmed the Chiefs from the beginning since his father did nothing about it.

One of the tasks Atrox gave the eastern army was to clear the border of such.

Commander Petel shook her head. "I do not think so, but the fact remains that there’s an increase in their activities. And they’re letting us know it. After all, they don’t usually come closer to the border."

Atrox thought about this as she sat down. "To be honest, I don’t want to fight the Akatsuki. They are the most difficult to fight with, especially in that desert. They are like cockroaches in there—here and then gone the next instant."

"I am open to suggestions on how to deal with it," Atrox said.

Immediately the Commander of the Western army spoke up. He was an elder man with grey in his hair, his eyes like a pool of water. "My Lord, since we can’t go in there to fight them, then the only thing we can do is to defend ourselves well.

"The one thing we should be worried about is a joint attack. If the Akatsuki attack, then there’s a probability that I’ll be facing attacks as well," Commander Garran said. "Likely from the Ito Clan since we are separated from them by water."

Atrox sighed. It was one of the things he had thought and speculated about. "How’s our diplomatic relationship with the Hinterlands?"

If he could make one of the other Clans give the Ito Clan some tension, then he could focus only on the Akatsuki.

Everyone winced. Master Knight Arin caressed his white beard. "My Lord, we are in bad standing with the Hinterland Clans. Your father directly cut off all diplomatic services for at least two decades now. We were known as the strongest and most powerful, but we’ve since lost that right."

Atrox tapped the table. "So what options do we have? If I was the Ito or the Akatsuki, this would be the time to attack, before we can try rebuilding from the damages my father caused."

"Very well. I order the return of diplomatic services. Tell all my officials in the administrative wing," Atrox gritted his teeth. No wonder the Elders were angry. Things like diplomatic services were left in their care. They would even directly go themselves to negotiate trades.

Atrox needed them back. His father directly created the administrative wing to cut the power of the Elders by more than half, but those in the administrative wing did not have the experience that the Elders had and could not stand up to Atrox’s father if a policy was not actually good and beneficial.

"And Valtor, increase the search for those Elders," Atrox raised his voice next. "Spymaster, that goes for you as well."

He did not get any reply from the Spymaster, but he did not need to.

Atrox faced them. "We might have a problem. Ito and Akatsuki don’t necessarily have to have an agreement to attack us. They might just give them tacit approval. The Ito want our Rift and ruins so they can break away from relying on us for their economy."

The Ito Clans had a very small amount of Rift and ruins. So when one of the main sources of resources was gone, the Soryu Clan needed to transport their resources to the other Clans, and going by water was cheaper than flying with ships that would cost a lot in essence stones.

So they came to an agreement. The Ito Clan would help the Soryu Clan sell their resources. The problem was that the Soryu Clan sold at a ridiculously expensive price to the Ito Clan, who had no choice but to comply. This only led to resentment.

But then, about forty years ago, the Ito Clan attacked. They wanted the Soryu, or at least part of it, so they would be able to get their hands on the resources they wanted.

It did not end well for them because they were quickly defeated. Then Atrox’s father made them ship his resources without giving them a dime for the attack they made.

Simply put, they were not the best of friends.

And before Atrox’s father went mad and shut down his own borders, the Ito Clan was returning to its feet. They found a powerful Rift of their own. Now they had built their might like never before.

"Father should not have let them grow in power, but they won’t allow us to build again," Atrox said. "Now we are facing two powerful enemies. Which do you think we can persuade not to attack us for now?"

"None," Helena said. Her eyes flashed. "Although we might have had a decrease in Master Knights since some were seduced away."

The room turned cold immediately.

Atrox’s eyes widened. "Ah! That’s true! I had forgotten about that. Indeed, a lot of our Master Knights left us to join other Clans. This mess is even bigger than I thought. They would have leaked our secrets."

Commander Petel shook her head. "There is nothing we can do about that. My Lord, I think we should lock down the border and force a defensive war on our part."

"So we can build here silently while we grind the war into slowness," Atrox smiled. "Not bad, but they would be expecting something like that. Why would they not just force their way in? They have all the advantages. They will be the ones to choose what they want."