4.1 Negotiations
Man Boo Boo Dang
The phrase Man boo boo dang, which means they can even handle 10,000 people applied to them.
Book 3-4.1 Negotiations
“What did you just say?”
Yulian shot up from his seat as he asked.
Egane looked at Yulian before bowing his head and answering in a depressed voice.
“Trebol and Vibli, as well as all 4,000 warriors were annihilated.”
“Yes, so I am asking you what you mean by annihilated.”
“I was curious as to why the reconnaissance warrior who was supposed to show up did not show up this morning, but the reconnaissance warrior that just went to the oasis……”
Egane could not easily continue speaking.
Greatest Warrior Amboma who was next to Yulian spoke as if he was frustrated. Egane was not usually one to beat around the bush like this.
“Egane. Tell us exactly what happened. What did the reconnaissance warrior find?”
“Sigh~!”
Egane let out a loud sigh as he continued.
“Trebol and Vibli’s leader flags were hanging on the oasis with a giant hole in them.”
Yulian and Amboma’s hearts sunk.
They could not believe it. Those two Greatest Warriors were Pareia’s best of the best.
The fact that their flags were hanging meant that they weren’t killed in battled but ended up as prisoners.
If the two of them were dead, the Wikaly would not have raised their flags like this out of respect. This was an unbreakable rule between all desert tribes.
“Are you sure? Is it perhaps a scheme by the enemy?”
As Yulian urgently asked, Egane shook his head. It was something he couldn’t believe either, so he had verified it multiple times with the reconnaissance warrior. Furthermore, other reconnaissance warriors brought back the same news.
“This, no, this is not possible. For us to lose two Greatest Warriors right now, even if we manage to take the center of the Wikaly, we won’t have a way to pierce through this oasis over here!”
Egane nodded at Yulian’s words.
The plan this time was that once they caught the Wikaly off guard and took the central oases, they could cut off the supply line to this oasis and pincer them from both sides while they were in disarray. Then they could take a minimum of four oases from the Wikaly.
If that happened, the remaining three oases would not be able to last very long.
But that was only possible if the main formation could hold back the Wikaly warriors currently in this oasis.
With things the way they were right now, it might be their warriors that end up getting a pincer attack.
“I don’t know who in the Wikaly tribe could manage to catch both Vibli and Trebol at once. The only famous person among the Wikaly is Ebinong. There is no way Trebol and Vibli would have been careless, so they must have clearly fallen for the enemy’s scheme. Just who?”
Amboma started to mumble as if he could not believe what happened.
Egane was also standing there in complete disbelief. Egane knew that the Wikaly did not have anybody of note as well, that was why they had strategized to send only 2,000 warriors with each of them for 4,000 total warriors to annoy and irritate the 20,000+ enemy warriors.
The inside of the paoe was full of despair. None of them could speak through the shock and just started to think about how to resolve this situation.
“Is there no method to get them back?”
As Yulian ended the silence and started to speak, Egane shook his head as he answered.
“The warriors maybe, but they will definitely not let Trebol or Vibli go. The two of them are Greatest Warriors who have a reputation throughout the desert. It would make no sense for them to let the two of them go.”
“Regardless of what we offer?”
“Maybe if we completely give up on the Wikaly and sign a non-aggression pact.”
“Ah~!”
Yulian let out a long sigh.
If they could not take over the Wikaly now, his dream would be pushed back at least ten years.
“Glow, someone is here from the Wikaly tribe.”
Hearing the voice of a warrior from outside of the paoe, the three of them looked toward each other.
“Send them in right away.”
Once Yulian shouted, a warrior with a WIkaly flag on his back entered the paoe.
“My name is warrior Yoshishi Mozart. I am here greeting Yulian Provoke-nim, the Glow of Pareia, under the orders of Wikaly’s Greatest Warrior Abham Shuttra-nim.”
Even while he was in the enemy’s base, Yoshishi, who revealed himself as a warrior, did not seem pressured at all as he clearly spoke each word.
“Warrior Yoshishi, what message have you brought?”
“Pareia’s well-known two Greatest Warriors as well as 3,000 of Pareia’s warriors are currently our prisoner. Our Greatest Warrior is hoping you will pay the ransom for their return.”
“What?”
Yulian, as well as the two Greatest Warriors, were shocked.
‘Ransom for their return? Are they being serious right now?’
Egane could not believe what was going on through the Wikaly’s mind right now.
Were they saying they could beat Pareia even if they let the two of them go?
Yulian urgently answer.
“State the condition.”
“We are hoping that you will release all of the Wikaly warriors currently being held prisoner by Pareia. In addition, all of Pareia’s warriors will need to leave the Wikaly territory and promise to never attack the Wikaly tribe while Pareia’s Glow Yulian Provoke-nim is alive.”
Slam!
As Yulian’s fist landed on the table with anger, the table made a loud noise as all four legs crumbled. Yoshishi flinched for a second, but he must not be an average warrior as he remained still and maintained eye contact with Yulian.
Yulian stared at Yoshishi for a while before clenching his teeth and starting to frown.
“Is that the will of your Greatest Warrior?”
Egane asked from the side and Yoshishi answered.
“Yes. If you are willing to agree to that, he said he will release Pareia’s warriors and the two Greatest Warriors immediately.”
“Are the two of them safe?”
“Both of them are safe. They are unharmed.”
Yoshishi emphasized the fact that they were not injured. It was important in order to raise the price of the ransom.
‘Just what must have happened for the two of them to be caught without even being injured?’
Egane could not understand it.
Yulian shouted at that time.
“Deliver this message to your Greatest Warrior. It is easy to release the prisoners, but we cannot retreat. However, I will offer up something else in return. I will not take your lives.”
“......?”
Yoshishi had a confused expression on his face and looked toward Yulian.
What was this Glow saying right now? The Wikaly were the ones with the shamshirs in their hands right now.
“You said you will not take our lives?”
“I do not say the same thing twice. Make sure you deliver the message to your Greatest Warrior. If he does not release them right now, none of you will live.”
Yoshishi could not believe what he was saying. Does this Glow who is called a War God not understand the current situation? That was what Yoshishi thought was going on.
“I am curious to know whether Pareia’s Glow properly understands the current situation.”
“Go. That is not something for you to determine. Deliver that message to your Greatest Warrior. The moment he release them, we will safely release all of the Wikaly prisoners we currently have and pardon all of your lives. The Pareia’s Glow does not lie.”
Yoshishi had a smirk on his face. Honestly, it was not even funny.
“Then I shall deliver that message.”
Once Yoshishi left, Egane and Amboma looked toward Yulian with concern.
‘We needed to find a compromise, so why did he send him away with that kind of message? That means that we lost our chance for a deal.’
“Glow.”
As Egane started to speak, Yulian lifted up his hand to say don’t say anything as he paced around inside the paoe. He sometimes scratched his head, and sometimes rubbed his rough beard with his palms [1] as he continued to pace around. After a while, Yulian finally started to speak.
“Greatest Warrior Egane, prepare to release the Wikaly prisoners if needed.”
“Glow, they will never accept such a proposal.”
“No, they will have to accept it.”
“Do you have something in mind?”
At Amboma’s question, Yulian seemed to be deep in thought for a moment before he answered.
“Just prepare to release them.”
Once Yulian stepped outside the paoe, Amboma looked toward Egane and quietly asked.
“Just what do you think he is planning to do?”
“That is what I wanted to ask you. Just what is he thinking……”
The two Greatest Warriors looked toward the direction Yulian left in with concerned gazes.
The Wikaly warriors were extremely happy about their victory right now. While they were really low on morale as a result of that terrible defeat in the first battle, catching those two famous Greatest Warriors of Pareia as well as 3,000+ prisoners made them completely forget about that defeat.
All of them were singing praises toward Greatest Warrior Abham as well as lead warrior Runa Brink who came up with the plan. There were even whispers throughout the oasis that they should have put Abham in charge instead of Ebinong from the beginning.
“Shouldn’t we have a victory feast? Our Wikaly warriors have been feeling down for too long, so letting them relax a bit with a win like this should help raise their morale even more.”
Abham was full of joy like everyone else and asked Runa with excitement.
“It is times like this that we really need to keep them under control. Although Pareia only has a little over 10,000 warriors remaining, I have a feeling they will not go away like this.”
Looking at the still composed Runa, Abham made an expression that seemed to say ‘no way,’ as he went behind Runa and started to pat Runa’s shoulders.
“Aren’t you being too paranoid? What can they do with just 10,000 warriors? We have 25,000 warriors and plenty of supplies because we have prepared for it beforehand. We also won’t do a direct battle with them as you mentioned, so what is the problem?”
Runa rubbed his chin with his thumb and index finger as he answered feeling something was weird.
“Don’t you think they are being too passive even though they were the ones to invade? We only had one real battle in the last month. Even the two Greatest Warriors we caught this time were not trying to fight us. All they were doing was irritating us and then running away.”
“You are talking like you are not happy that we only fought once. But do not worry. As long as I am the Commanding Greatest Warrior, there will be no problems with you showing off your skills. By the time this war is over, you and I will both have a lot of influence in the tribe, so we will not have any future problems either.”
Abham, who no longer had the nervousness he had in the beginning, picked up the bottle of cold cactus tea from the table as he poured Runa a cup.
“Nothing will be a problem anymore.”
Runa shook his head as he answered.
“That is not the problem. Pareia clearly has a plan. No matter how much I think about it, I cannot figure out why they are being so passive. The people who came to invade are not attacking. That means they are waiting for an opening to attack, or waiting until their strategy is complete.”
“Hahaha, that is why I am saying you are paranoid. As long as we are standing strong here like this, do you think they can get past our oasis with just 10,000 warriors? No matter what they try to do, as long as we protect this oasis, there will be no issues for our Wikaly. In fact, it is you who said that to me.”
As Abham laughed and responded, Runa still shook his head as he answered.
“But that is still not enough to explain this bad feeling I have.”
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[1] Yulian has a beard!