Death... and me

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ

The jade slip had many instructions as to where, who, and how to move the forces in Jaxto. However, the main point of the orders in the jade slip was that all the soldiers in Jaxto Continent would be moved to Butiva Country. Yes, Jaxto Country would be left completely empty. "Are you crazy?! If you leave this place empty, someone will definitely conquer it!"

Himisve and the others were taken aback. They also didn't know that Rean and Roan wanted to do such a thing. "Errr... Rean, Roan, are you sure you want to do such a thing?"

Rean smiled in response, telling them, "What are you even talking about? No one will attack Jaxto at all."

"No... one will?" Naturally, everyone was confused by Rean's words.

Surprisingly, the one to explain was Kentucky. "Come on, guys! Even I, who am not that good with strategies and such, can tell the reason."

Roan glanced at Kentucky and said, "You had been following us for many years and participated in pretty much all my strategies. You might not be as good as Rean or I, but you're definitely far above the average. With that said, it was normal for you to notice the reason while others didn't."

"Eh?!" Kentucky got a little embarrassed after hearing that. "Am I really that good? Well, it's me we're talking about, so it must be true. Hahaha!"

Kentucky then continued to explain. "Anyways, the reason no one will attack Jaxto is that no one has a reason to. When Lanteo attacked Butiva, his intent was to defeat Luina and force her to do the Sect Oath. That way, you would get Luina's army and Luina herself. A Space Bending Realm subordinate and an extra army. Those were the two main spoils of a conquered country. If such spoils were already gone, then invading that country became meaningless."

"B-But..." Himisve couldn't help but ask in response. "What about Jaxto Country's resources? Even if its army and the Jamai Disciple were gone, there are uses for the resources the country produces. Isn't that a good enough reason to invade Jaxto?"

Luina finally understood after that. "Oh! So that's how it is. Himisve, it's not that it's not worth attacking Jaxto for its resources. Instead, the time needed to put the country under a new banner is too long. When you arrived at Jaxto, everything was prepared for you to take control of the country smoothly. However, an enemy force won't have such a privilege."

Roan nodded in response. "You aren't helpless, it seems. That's correct. The best way to put the resources of a conquered country to use with the short time we have is to keep the Jamai Disciple from that country alive. Since Lanteo did his Sect Oath, he can still control Jaxto Country and use its resources to help Butiva. We have no need to manage personnel to take care of Jaxto at all. Lanteo already has everything ready. At most, we would have to take some of the government personnel from Jaxto and move them to System Sect. At the same time, we would build more antennas so they can talk through the communication formation."

Rean agreed with Roan. "Since there are only ten years, the other countries can only try to follow the same idea as us. Get the Jamai Disciples to take the Oath and use them to control the conquered countries. It's that simple but very hard at the same time." Rean smiled right after, adding, "To be honest, there shouldn't be any other country moving as fast as us. We now have four Jamai Sect disciples and countries in our group."

"Four?" Lanteo was confused. "You only have Luina, Himisve, and myself, no? Who's the fourth one? Ah, right! It's Brumel! I nearly forgot that your Butiva and Brumel forces attacked Lativan."

"Hahaha!" Luina laughed out loud after hearing that. "Sorry, but that's wrong. We have nothing to do with Brumel. Instead, it's Roslar Country that's our ally at the moment. In other words, Leticia is the fourth member of our group."

"B-But, I received a message from Lativ- Ah!" Only now did Lanteo understand. "You tricked me! That woman who came asking for help was not from Lativan at all!"

"That's correct," Rean answered. "Lativan is still preparing for the war. Kastrabe probably heard about your attack against Butiva, but he's most likely waiting to see the outcome before making any moves. The same goes for Brumel Country and Etivinia. Well, we left countermeasures behind, so even if they attacked, they wouldn't be able to pass our defenses."

Himisve took the chance to ask after that. "So... do you want me to move my entire army into Butiva as well?"

Roan shook his head. "No need. Instead, I want you to use the remaining forces in Tramara and spread them between Jaxto and your Tramara Country. Only the soldiers you brought to this attack against Jaxto will head back to Butiva with us. Even if Jaxto and Tramara are at no risk of being attacked, for now, it's not like we can leave both countries completely unguarded. We need soldiers in each other of them to keep order. You can head back to Tramara already and start making arrangements."

"Alright." Himisve nodded and immediately departed.

"Lanteo, you go back to your army and prepare everything as I told you." Roan also sent Lanteo away.

"Tch..." Lanteo didn't like it, but he didn't have a choice now.

Roan then looked around before saying, "We're leaving. Everyone, back to Butiva!"

"Yes!"

As the two armies approached the teleport formations, Luina asked something else about the twins. "So, now we have Jaxto, Tramara, and Roslar Countries. Are you going to move Roslar Army into Butiva as well?"

"No," Rean answered. "Other than us, no one else knows that Leticia is our ally yet. It's better to keep her as a trump card."

"Then, what will we do now?" Luina was curious about the next step.

Roan glanced back at her before replying, "What else? To guarantee Butiva's safety, we need all the countries around it to be conquered and their Jamai Disciples to take the Oath. That means our next targets are Lativan and Brumel."

Rean smiled in response. "But before that, we have something else to do, Roan."

Roan nodded. "Indeed. We have finally accumulated enough Starlight Energy."