Chapter 843: Distribution Of Interests
Hoffman was a little anxious. However, the Glittergold Trade Union was still a little weak compared to the various top forces that almost represented the entire Breezy Plains, even though they were on par with the three major forces. It was one thing if he were pitted against just the three major forces, but the problem was that the Ashen Warlock was a powerful existence that even mortals couldn’t compete with. Hoffman had no choice but to consider the Glittergold Trade Union too.
Now that things had developed to such an extent, almost everyone could predict the fate of the Tower of Dusk. Even Lin Li himself secretly kept his guard up. After all, he had never had any interactions or ties with the Ashen Warlock. Although the Ashen Warlock was a powerhouse who was on the same level as the three arbitrators, Lin Li wasn’t one to resign to fate easily.
While everyone was making a request, the Ashen Warlock who was standing on the stairs without any expression finally spoke up slowly. However, his words made everyone feel rather puzzled.
“It seems that Breezy Plains has been rather peaceful lately. In that case, let the peace continue. No one should try to disrupt it,” the Ashen Warlock said in a low and hoa.r.s.e voice, using an indisputable tone.
Peaceful? How could it be peaceful!? The Tower of Dusk caused so much trouble, and they’re also rising domineeringly. How could there be peace on Breezy Plains!? Everyone was dumbfounded, and they couldn’t believe their ears at all. They looked at the thin and shriveled old man who was standing on the steps in utter disbelief. They even suspected that the Ashen Warlock before them was an impostor.
However, no one dared to stand up and question the words of the Ashen Warlock, because they all knew that it was the final verdict and the new order of Breezy Plains. In particular, the fact that he mentioned that no one should try to disrupt the current peace of the Breezy Plains was a blatant threat. That sentence was akin to a protective amulet for the Tower of Dusk. Not only did the Ashen Warlock not care about the things that the Tower of Dusk had done, he even eliminated the possibility of other forces taking extreme measures against the Tower of Dusk.
More than 300 years ago, there was a force named the Blood Lions Adventurers that was eligible to be invited by the Ashen Warlock even though they were weaker than the major forces like the Mithril Alliance. They somehow thought that the Ashen Warlock definitely wouldn’t leave Gran Town, and wouldn’t be able to do anything to them. Although they did not express any dissatisfaction when the new order was established at the time, they turned a deaf ear to Ashen Warlock’s warning when they returned, and continued to fight the forces around them for the sake of interests and benefits.
Indeed, the Ashen Warlock did not personally intervene. Instead, it was an Abyssal Demon Dragon engulfed in flames that arrived at the headquarters of the Blood Lions Adventurers. Despite the four Legendary leaders of the Blood Lions Adventurers, thousands of elite warriors, and a legion that consisted of more than 100 warriors, their headquarters, which resembled a castle, was completely wiped out of the Breezy Plains overnight.
With the previous examples, the leaders of the various forces did not dare to question the words of the Ashen Warlock, and also tried to refrain from making any mistakes. At the thought of the request for the Ashen Warlock to expel the Tower of Dusk from the Breezy Plains, everyone’s face was changing with various emotions such as excitement, disappointment, regret, embarra.s.sment, worry, and many others.
In particular, the ones who were led by Joseph and were standing in front turned extremely sullen after hearing the words of the Ashen Warlock, who was obviously biased towards Lin Li. However, they dared not voice their displeasure despite being rather infuriated. They had initially thought that they could get the Ashen Warlock to value them since they were the three major forces. To their surprise, the Ashen Warlock still felt that they were insignificant, regardless of how powerful they might be.
At this moment, Joseph was filled with regret, for he’d never thought that he would hear such words from the Ashen Warlock after all that he had planned and plotted against Lin Li. Had he known earlier, he would have gathered all the powerful forces and annihilated the Tower of Dusk before the gathering was held and the new order was confirmed.
During the previous gathering in Gran Town three years ago, the Tower of Dusk had yet to appear on the map of forces of the Breezy Plains. It could be said that no matter how they had chosen to deal with the Tower of Dusk, it would not have been considered going against the will of the Ashen Warlock as long as they did not make too big of a fuss. However, given the current strength of the Tower of Dusk, they could not be easily manipulated, not even by the Mithril Alliance. If they were to go toe-to-toe against the Tower of Dusk, they would inevitably have to suffer some consequences. The Mithril Alliance now lacked manpower and talent, and none of the five major families would be willing to suffer any losses. Hence, Joseph came up with the idea of using the Ashen Warlock to kill them so that he could take the Tower of Dusk without staining his hands with blood.
Joseph’s idea was undeniably wonderful. Otherwise, Mogadi and Claus wouldn’t have been willing to join forces with him. The young President of the Tower of Dusk and the Ashen Warlock didn’t seem to have any ties with each other, and the three major forces were extremely influential as well. How could the Ashen Warlock possibly let the Tower of Dusk off easily?
However, how could mortals predict what the Ashen Warlock was thinking? Joseph’s plans backfired as the Ashen Warlock didn’t intend to pursue the matter and put the blame on the Tower of Dusk at all. Instead, he even gave the Tower of Dusk his protection. Hence, if Joseph were to try and attack the Tower of Dusk again, he would have to get ready to face the wrath of the Ashen Warlock. Not to mention the Blood Moon Clan and the Caesar Family, even the Mithril Alliance would not approve of it.
He was digging his own grave! He really was! Although Joseph was filled with resentment, he dared not harp on the matter. Instead, he saluted the Ashen Warlock respectfully, and said, “Yes, we will continue to work hard to maintain the peace and tranquility in the Breezy Plains. Should we move on to the next issue?”
The Ashen Warlock nodded slightly, seemingly not intending to hold it against Joseph and the rest, thus causing the people who were asking for the Tower of Dusk to be expelled to heave a sigh of relief. The Ashen Warlock was not selective when it came to punishment. If he were to be angered, even the powerful figures of the Breezy Plains would not be able to escape death.
The next issue Joseph talked about was the confirmation of territories of the major forces. During the previous gathering, the matter was almost at the end when it happened halfway. Over the years, the territories of the major forces had hardly changed much with the existence of the Ashen Warlock, and everything would be settled with just a few words.
This time, the rise of the Tower of Dusk had obviously brought a lot of changes to the map of forces in the Breezy Plains. The reason that the Tower of Dusk was originally built in Doland was because it was once the place where the territories of the major forces overlapped. It was also one of the few areas in the Breezy Plains where there were no factions. Of course, it did not include the smaller forces that were not popular enough.
However, the blank area was just a small place. Otherwise, the major forces wouldn’t have ignored it. Now that the Tower of Dusk was already significant enough to be compared to the three major forces, their territory had naturally been expanded countless times, and the territories of many other major forces had been included in their expansion. Hence, the next thing that they were going to do was to finalize the territorial map of the Breezy Plains, which was of great significance to the Tower of Dusk and the other forces.
The disputes between the other major forces in terms of territory had already been resolved, and the parties had already reached consensus through negotiations. Hence, there was nothing worth discussing at this juncture. After seeing the Ashen Warlock nod, he made some changes to their respective territories according to the outcome of the negotiation. The map of forces was then finalized.
When the various forces were interacting with each other previously, the Tower of Dusk refused to give in to anyone. Naturally, they did not come to an agreement with any of the forces.
Joseph failed to provoke the Ashen Warlock into dealing with the Tower of Dusk, and the Ashen Warlock even ended up giving the Tower of Dusk protection instead. Hence, Joseph was filled with indignation. Although he could no longer cause any major trouble for the Tower of Dusk, Joseph still did not give up the opportunity to put the Tower of Dusk in a difficult position.
Didn’t you say that the Breezy Plains has been rather peaceful, eh, Ashen Warlock? Now that there are so many issues in the Tower of Dusk that you have to pa.s.s a judgment on, let’s see if you can continue insisting that it’s peaceful! Joseph thought to himself. Although he wasn’t as prejudiced when talking about the territorial disputes between the Tower of Dusk and the other forces, he tried his best to complicate the problem as much as possible.
Of course, Joseph was not doing something meaningless. Since it was impossible to drive the Tower of Dusk out of the Breezy Plains, he decided to try his best to reduce the territory taken up by the Tower of Dusk as much as possible. He reckoned that that should help with suppressing them a little. Most importantly, the Tower of Dusk attended the gathering, and thus could no longer use their lack of knowledge of the rules as an excuse for their wayward behavior in the past. They probably wouldn’t dare to behave that way in the future.
The Tower of Dusk could be considered an outside force, and had s.n.a.t.c.hed all their territories from other forces. Hence, when they were on the topic of the territories belonging to the Tower of Dusk, Joseph would often mention the original owners of the territories, or whom they should belong to. In conclusion, Joseph felt that the s.p.a.ce the Tower of Dusk stood on should be the only territory that belonged to them.
However, before Joseph could even finish speaking, the Ashen Warlock suddenly interrupted, “You don’t have to go on. It’ll belong to whoever owns it now.”
The Ashen Warlock’s seemingly impatient words made Joseph turn speechless, and it suddenly seemed like all issues were nonissues. Since the territories now belonged to the Tower of Dusk, it didn’t matter who the former owners were. At this point, everyone could tell that the Ashen Warlock was biased towards the Tower of Dusk.
Joseph had actually already expected such an outcome, but he was unwilling to let go of any possibility. Hearing the words of the Ashen Warlock, he simply sighed in his heart, but there wasn’t much of a change in expression on his face. He simply expressed a.s.sent respectfully and remained silent afterwards.
Without a doubt, the Tower of Dusk had become the greatest winner because of the Ashen Warlock’s words. Although in the past two or three years, the Tower of Dusk had encroached on Doland and the surrounding regions based on their own strength, they were still an outsider force. Hence, possessing those territories would inevitably cause them to be criticized by the local forces, and they might even end up in various disputes.
However, the verdict of the Ashen Warlock seemed to have justified the actions of the Tower of Dusk. It could be said that from now on, no one could say that the Tower of Dusk was an outsider in the Breezy Plains, because they had already become the master of a piece of the land.
The outcome also made the face of Mogadi, the President of the Blood Moon Clan, turn even more sullen. The swamp mining area, which was extremely important to the Blood Moon Clan, was given to the Tower of Dusk with one word from the Ashen Warlock, thus das.h.i.+ng his hopes of obtaining it completely. However, no matter how bold he might be, he still wouldn’t dare to show any contempt to the Ashen Warlock. Hence, he couldn’t help but feel resentful towards Joseph at this moment.
Although the swamp mining area was also very tempting to other forces, it had an irreplaceable significance to the Blood Moon Clan. Money could be earned anywhere, but there was only one place in the entire Breezy Plains where Serum Gra.s.s could be grown in batches. If they could obtain that land and grow a large amount of Serum Gra.s.s, the core members of the Blood Moon Clan would no longer have to worry about suffering from the agony of their split genes and bloodline. They would also be able to improve the hybridization technology in order to boost the abilities of the Blood Moon Clan.
Although the Blood Moon Clan also partic.i.p.ated in the operation to suppress the Tower of Dusk previously, and gave Lin Li a harsh att.i.tude when interacting with Lin Li alone in the inn, Mogadi felt that there was still some room for reconciling because they had not really fallen out. However, the Ashen Warlock was defending and protecting the Tower of Dusk. How should he face the Tower of Dusk, then?
Seeing that the territories of the forces had been finalized, Mogadi felt far more anxious than the leaders of other forces. While he blamed Joseph for leading him onto the wrong path, he racked his brains to think of a solution. All of a sudden, he noticed Hoffman, who was standing not too far away. At this moment, the other leaders of the forces all appeared rather gloomy. The chubby Hoffman, meanwhile, was grinning so wide that his features were all close together as his face scrunched up.
Mogadi suddenly remembered that Hoffman seemed to have a good relations.h.i.+p with the young President of the Tower of Dusk. When all was said and done, Mogadi was not the one who led the suppression against the Tower of Dusk. Could Hoffman ease the tension between them and the Tower of Dusk? Although there was barely any hope left for him to obtain that valuable piece of land, the swamp would not be mined immediately. If he could plant some Serum Gra.s.s before that happened, it would at least meet his needs temporarily.