Hero of Darkness

Chapter 1313: Cause of Surrender

Jugram casually declared that all the people they had under their control should now give the empires a whopping 50% discount while doing business with them in the future.

The room turned dead silent with shock as the attendees stood rooted, their eyes filled with bewilderment.

“What?! What do you mean by that, lord?” asked one of the business tycoons among the crowd.

“You heard me. Accept to work with all your previous customers and partners for half the price.” he relayed his orders.

“But lord, we cannot run a business like that. We too have to pay suppliers, our workers, and also cover transportation fees.

If we take only half the price… forget making a profit, but we won’t even be able to run the business after a couple of months.” said a chairman of a corporation.

Jugram raised his hand and made another declaration.

“We will cover all the operation costs and even pay you all enough sum to recoup some of your losses. But do not think that we’re in some kind of alliance.

We own your lives now. So if you want to keep on living, just follow our command.” he spoke in an authoritative tone.

It was then that Tobias spoke calmly…

“And this arrangement shall exist only for the first year. Afterwards… once the war has taken its toll on everyone, we will instruct your future actions.” he proclaimed.

Gulp!

People present in the hall had no other choice but to accept this decree because now, their own lives were at the mercy of the Abyss and the Rakos Empire.

The fact that they were not being forced into slave labor itself was a blessing at this point.

Soon, Ronin also interjected and iterated sternly…

“If you all wish to remain active over the course of this long-due war and return home with ample money in your coffers… you would be smart to follow our wishes.

Because after the first year is finished… they would be the ones to ask for your help instead.

So simply say that we forced you into submission and you had no choice but to comply.”

His words were the final nail in the coffin as all the attendees soon left the meeting hall.

3 Days Later…

With grandiose arrivals, the other empires’ forces also sent their powerful saints to maintain the power balance.

And now, there were a total of five 7th-stage saints present in Vale Sangaris who would lead the Great War on this front until the Emperors and Empresses themselves were forced to intervene.

None of them were fools to have a ‘Last Stand’ in this war and end it once and for all when war was such a profitable business that could make everyone involved rich overnight.

The only small price they had to pay was the lives of the soldiers and some machinery being turned into scraps.

Unless their hands were forced, even the rulers of these nations would prefer to prolong it as far as needed because it also helped them control the masses in their own empires.

Kinship towards the soldiers dying on the battlefield, patriotism paraded for political supremacy, and taxes collected in the name of war were always a sureshot way for those in power to maintain their dominance and create enormous wealth.

So why oppose the god-given fortune to you?

Because morality doesn’t fill your stomach; money does.

******************

The next day…

A grandiose hall was booked for a meeting arranged between the top brass of Vale Sangaris and the Saints of the 4 empires who previously controlled the garrison.

Even the newly arrived 7th-stage saints were present in today’s meeting after their juniors appealed for their presence.

The atmosphere was both tense and volatile. People didn’t even dare to breathe loudly.

With a heavy and morbid sense of trepidation spread across the hall, the powerful saints had their eyes locked onto the large group of their previous collaborators.

Soon, pleasantries were shared, and the topic of discussion came to the main important matter at hand…

Soon, the business corporations and leaders of various groups made their argument…

“Forgive us, my lords. We were simply helpless and were left with no options.

Those scums forced us to work with them and cancel our business arrangements, my lords.

With them having the strongest saints around, we had no choice but to agree.”

Soon, similar sentiments and pleas for forgiveness echoed in the large hall as various people also cried out about their apparent helplessness in this matter.

“With all your magnanimous figures finally arriving in Vale Sangaris, we need to fear their tyranny.” spoke an elven business owner.

“As a way to compensate for the breach of trust and pledge you our loyalty…

We propose to work with all of your empires for half the price for the upcoming year.

Please offer us salvation, my lords.” said a dwarven corporation leader while bowing his head.

“What?! Half the price?!” spoke one of the commanders who previously met Jugram and Fabian.

Soon, as if having an understanding… the saint leaders of the four empires started a telepathic discussion amongst themselves.

[Their offer is indeed very enticing. But we shall not appear kind so soon.] spoke a 7th stage saint with the head of an octopus.

Many of the others nodded in unison and soon started ranting on about how their actions were unprofessional and started demanding compensation.

As if the UN was forcing sanctions on small nations without any reasonable cause… the leaders of these businesses had no choice but to give in to their unreasonable demands.

But while they found the proposition appealing…

No one had even thought of the idea that Jugram and his allies had used Blood-oath tokens to bind all these people into servitude.

Because a single blood oath token cost tens of millions of gold coins, and there were hundreds of them.

No empire would think of doing this to all these leaders when they had no control over the market, especially due to the presence of other empires.

On top of it, there was no union present among these leaders because most of them hailed from different parts of society and empires themselves. Thus, this was the first time they had officially come together in front of the representatives and commanders of the four empires in Vale Sangaris.

But Kahn had his people take advantage of this very ignorance and use the absence of 7th-stage saints to work in their favor.

After an hour of one-sided berating and forcing terms on the small guys…

The leaders of the four empires accepted the terms while forcing many new clauses that seemed to be in their personal favor instead of the empires they represented.

The following day, while all the empires’ leaders and saints were gathered… an emergency news arrived through the holographic projections. A human wearing gleaming armor, leader of one of the reconnaissance battalions, shouted in a horrified tone…

“The Khorne Empire has attacked!”