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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Kabur & Silavin
The Barrier’s existence and the offensive weapons used by Amamiya Tower were quickly spread as rumors by the sailors staying on the island
The Kingdom of Column did nothing to control the rumors, nor did it intentionally spread them, but even so, they soon reached other continents.
Aside from the Barrier, the rumor about offensive weapons was something that no country could ignore.
The Kingdom of Column and Tower were immediately probed.
However, because of the existence of the ‘transfer gate’, the Tower was not a place that could be entered freely, making it a very difficult place to conduct espionage.
However, there were other similar places, not limited to Amamiya Tower.
Intelligence was obtained by checking out those places.
Even if they were not official agents, there were various ways to obtain information from peddlers or to get them to gather stories.
Naturally, Alec was aware of this, but in the first place, it was impossible to completely stop intelligence gathering activities.
He believed that while some degree of restraint was necessary, there was no need to suppress it completely.
This was already foreseen when Crown and the executive branch were created, so it was not a particular problem.
Thus, information on the Tower was being gathered. However, it was mainly limited to the Fifth Floor and the other floors where adventurers were active. No information had been gathered relating to other matters. Therefore, news about the weapon came as a complete surprise to those that were trying to gather intelligence.
However, their reactions were varied.
The most common reaction was that of the Kingdom of Column, which was to spread false rumors to cover up the fact that they lost the war.
It was hard to believe that there was a weapon that could sink a large ship in a single blow.
Moreover, there were no wizards in the immediate vicinity.
The fact that it was not impossible for a group of wizards to create a similar phenomenon was a factor in their decision.
The Kingdom of Column neither denied nor affirmed the existence of this weapon.
Of course, they would have given the truth to the countries that were close to them if they had asked for it.
However, the Kingdom of Column believed that the rumors would have more truth if other countries actually tried to enter the Central Continent and caused damage.
If such a thing did happen, the Kingdom of Column would go on the offensive again.
The outside world was thinking along these lines, but those on the Central Continent, the parties involved, could not just sit back and take it easy.
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A corner of the building where the executive branch of the cities of the west was located.
In one of the conference rooms, high-ranking officials were gathered.
Leril Bacium, the lord, was present.
His expression was uniformly grave.
“As I thought, it was a mistake to leave Tower in charge of the situation…”
“So you think it would have been better to leave the Kingdom of Column to its own devices?”
“…”
What they were talking about was how to deal with the situation in the future.
Amamiya Tower chased away the Kingdom of Column’s fleet.
The problem was how.
If it was just the Barrier, there was still a way to handle the situation.
Rather, it would bring the region into a favorable trade position, and they should have been able to rejoice with open arms.
But the problem was the offensive weapons.
The information was that they could only be used within a certain range from the continent.
However, this information made no sense to them.
After all, the western cities they controlled were on the continent.
Amamiya Tower did not announce whether the offensive weapons they were talking about could be used on the continent.
But it would be natural for a politician to think that the attack could be directed at the interior of the continent at any time.
And that was the current situation now.
At any moment… The fact that they could attack was equivalent to having a sword at their throats.
Moreover, the western cities had nothing in the way of countermeasures against this.
They could not directly attack the Tower, and even if the attack that sank the ship came, they could only prevent it to a certain extent.
As long as there was nothing to counter the Barrier and the attack in the first place, it would be foolish to counter it with military force.
Of course, the people gathered here are well aware of this.
“I understand what you are all saying, but aren’t you being a little hasty?”
Leril, the lord, said, and those assembled looked at each other.
They all agreed that one of the few good things about this whole thing was the fact that those who would normally be dragging their feet, trying to kick each other down for the top spot, were now being brought together by the presence of Amamiya Tower.
“What do you mean?”
“Amamiya Tower never told us anything about this in the first place, did they?”
It was true that Amamiya Tower holds too much power, but the executive branch of Amamiya Tower truly did not mention it.
If they wanted to, they could always communicate their intentions as a Tower through the Crown branch.
On the other hand, Leril believed that there was no need for them to go out of their way to poke around in the bushes, although this could be said to be stirring up uneasiness.
At least in this case, there was no doubt that Amamiya Tower did not ask them to do anything for the Tower and was done for the convenience of the Tower.
In fact, they asked them to ignore Amamiya Tower’s actions in the first place.
By taking advantage of that, they could have pushed aside the other side’s request.
When Leril presented such an idea, several faces lit up.
Leril felt a slight headache when he saw this.
Of course, he did not show it in his expression.
He was sure that negotiations with Amamiya Tower would continue, but if he showed his emotions so easily, the outcome would not be good.
“I’m sure they will negotiate with us in the future, though, backed by the power you mentioned.”
He decided to nail them to the wall to tighten their slackened spirits.
Of course, it was a relief that not all of them were like that, or rather, some of them seemed to understand without Leril having to say so.
If it were possible, he would have hoped that everyone would have expected this level of understanding, but unfortunately, it didn’t seem to work out that way.
Some of them were in their current positions because of their parents’ and older generation’s connections, and many of them had never negotiated with each other before.
He had no intention of doing anything foolish like cutting them off, but he could only hope that they would at least stay out of his way.
“So? What are your plans for the future?”
One of them, who seemed to be able to analyze the situation relatively calmly, asked him.
“Nothing. We’ll just deal with it the same way we’ve always dealt with it. If we poke them, they will definitely look down on us.
“Are you certain?”
“That’s fine. But if you impose yourself on a level that would affect the cities, there will be repercussions.”
Meanwhile, he made sure to nail it down.
Leril never took such a position, but some of them had the attitude that it was only a small-town organization’s request.
But that attitude won’t work anymore.
This incident had such an impact.
There was no doubt that not only the western cities, but also the other three regions, would respond in the same way.
Or they would become completely hostile forces.
Leril didn’t have any idea, however, that some cities would choose not to antagonize them after learning of the power of their offensive weapons.
Rumors had already spread across the continent.
And the rumors were received positively.
It was definitely proven that Crown and the executive branch had handled the situation well up to now.
Leril sighed inwardly, thinking that even after all this time, a troublesome existence had now been created.
