Chapter 69

Chapter 69: Occupation.

“Do you want to continue this war, or do you want peace?”

“…If possible, I don’t want any more war.”

Maybe he would have given a different answer if he had maintained his previous momentum.

But continuing the war now meant the same as losing and falling into ruin.

When the answer he wanted came out of the cold wind’s mouth, a deep smile appeared on the reaper’s lips.

“Then stop the war.”

“If you’re talking about exile…”

“Of course, that’s one option, but that’s not what I’m talking about right now.”

“Then what?”

“We’ll help you live peacefully in this land.”

At that, a strong interest flickered in the man’s eyes.

“Is that possible? The enemies won’t leave us alone, will they?”

“Of course, that would be the case in the current situation. But what if you all became imperial citizens?”

“What do you mean…”

“The empire has a duty to protect the lives and property of its citizens.”

The cold wind’s eyes trembled.

But the reaper didn’t care about his reaction and took out a document from his pocket and handed it to him.

The contents were roughly as follows.

If they agreed to become imperial citizens, the empire would send troops to this region and protect the area they had effectively ruled so far from external threats.

But once they became imperial citizens, they had to follow the imperial law and accept the imperial administrative system.

“Hmm…”

A sigh escaped from the man’s mouth.

The moment he accepted this proposal, he had to accept the empire’s domination in fact.

Surely he would have refused it nine times out of ten in the past.

But now he was in a situation where he had to grab even a straw.

After the reaper left, the meeting that took place was similar.

“It’s rather a good thing. Didn’t we have no intention of seeking asylum in the empire anyway?”

“If we accept this, we don’t have to leave this land.”

“I’m sure we’ll be free from the threat of war once the imperial forces come in!”

Of course, there were also opposing opinions, but most people leaned toward approval.

“Fine. I’ll accept the empire’s will.”

“That’s a wise decision!”

And so one faction was newly embraced by the empire.

***

This happened simultaneously among several unstable factions.

Of course, there were some factions that ultimately refused the empire’s offer, but most of them accepted it.

It was better to live under the empire’s protection than to be annihilated by their enemies.

After the negotiations with several factions were concluded,

Kim Ki-woo declared.

“As of now, I recognize the Andes people who have submitted to the empire as imperial citizens! The empire has a duty to protect its citizens, so I will take severe measures against those who harm them!”

Kim Ki-woo’s sudden declaration struck Andes region hard.

Especially the powerful factions that boasted strong momentum reacted very sensitively as if fire had fallen on their feet.

“This is a blatant act of aggression! We must never tolerate it!”

“We must raise our troops right now. Before the imperial army sets foot on this land, why don’t we just wipe out all those bastards who signed that damned treaty?”

The high warriors of Pekcha raised their voices and denounced it, but…

“Then we’ll have to fight a full-scale war with the imperial army. The empire won’t sit idly by and watch our actions. Do we have the power to face them?”

When the most feared situation was mentioned, the atmosphere turned cold in an instant.

“It’s horrible just to think about it. Opposing the empire is something we should consider only at the very last resort.”

“That’s true…”

“Hmm!”

Reality is different from ideals. And many of the Pekcha warriors were well aware of this.

Long ago, the Aztec Empire, which had sacrificed countless people to their gods, was brutally destroyed.

The Andean people, including the Pekcha, knew this fact well.

It was because they had exchanged information with the Central Continent for a long time.

‘It’s hard to oppose the Empire right now.’

The leader of the Pekcha, Howling Wolf, made that judgment.

The war between the Empire and the Aztecs was already a long time ago.

By now, they had become incomparably stronger than before.

Especially…

‘The weapons of fire are so powerful that they are terrifying.’

Cannons could shatter small ships in one shot, and break down walls with their force.

And the thing called a gun boasted a penetrating power stronger than arrows.

Did that mean that their close-range weapons were weak?

Not at all.

The Empire’s steel weapons were so powerful that they could not be compared to the iron weapons sold in the market.

In the end, to confront the Empire, all the Andean people had to unite and shed a lot of blood.

‘That’s impossible.’

Howling Wolf quickly denied it.

They had been frustrated by not being able to kill each other for a long time, and had fought countless wars.

Of course, the situation had changed, so there was room to negotiate again, but it was hard to join hands easily.

Besides, after the proclamation of the Imperial Emperor, he knew that there were quite a few factions that wanted to voluntarily embrace the Empire.

“Besides, in the current situation, we can’t stop importing the Empire’s goods and weapons, can we? We don’t have the Empire’s technology and productivity.”

“That’s true.”

Even if he gave up everything else, this was the biggest problem.

Most of the Andean people, including themselves, were accustomed to the Empire’s excellent goods.

And although they tried hard, they could not even make proper iron tools by themselves.

The reason why they had fought so many wars with so many sacrifices until now was to get more of the Empire’s goods.

If trade were to stop…

There would surely be a great chaos.

It was unfortunate that it was not the Empire but themselves who were lacking.

‘So this is why they came out like this.’

The Empire’s intentions were too clear.

They were confident that they could act so harshly.

Especially since the Emperor who built up that huge empire personally ordered it.

He had succeeded in everything he did.

He must have been sure of his success in this matter as well.

‘I can’t see any answer at all.’

He could see that as time passed, the Andean people would become more and more dependent on the Empire, but it was hard to stop it.

Howling Wolf felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

***

“This is definitely wrong! You haven’t interfered with our affairs until now!”

“That’s right! We will settle our own affairs!”

“Haha.”

The envoy of the Empire, Silent Forest, looked at them and smiled quietly.

‘When did you become us? How funny.’

They acted as if they were old comrades who had been struggling to survive until now.

Of course, they had no choice but to come out like that.

But Silent Forest didn’t need to consider that.

He just followed the orders of his great Emperor and carried out his assigned mission.

“The Empire will not look over your territory without permission. We only sent imperial troops to protect those who are loyal to the Empire. If you don’t do anything foolish, we can coexist peacefully as we have done so far.”

I spoke smoothly, but it was nothing but a threat not to oppose the empire’s event.

The leaders of each faction gathered here were not fools. They also felt the true intention behind my words.

“Hah! After buying so much goods from you, is this how you treat us? Is this the justice of the empire?”

“Well, I think the trade so far was done voluntarily by you. It sounds like we forced you to buy our goods. If you have any complaints about the trade, please say so. We don’t want to deal with you while hearing such words.”

“Ugh…!”

He spoke strongly, but he knew that cutting off the trade was the worst option. He couldn’t say anything more.

As the heated atmosphere subsided a bit, I continued to speak calmly.

“I’ll tell you clearly. His Majesty the Emperor acted only to prevent the war from escalating. If he only thought of the empire’s interests, he wouldn’t have traded like this. It’s obvious that the profits would decrease when the war enters a stalemate. Besides, it’s not easy to dispatch and maintain the imperial army.”

As I spoke logically, some of the leaders nodded in agreement.

“His Majesty wishes for all the people of this continent to live well. So please don’t misunderstand or distort the will of the empire.”

After I finished speaking, there was a moment of silence.

But it didn’t last long.

“Then please promise me one thing.”

“What is it?”

“That as long as we don’t touch the empire, you won’t invade the areas we rule.”

“Hmm. I can’t give you a definite answer to that.”

“No, isn’t that different from what you said before?”

“Not at all. We are beings who live under the protection of the great spirits. If a situation arises that seriously goes against the will of the spirits, we can’t help but intervene. Like those foolish Aztecs.”

“…”

The faces of the leaders became complicated.

The will of the spirits was very vague.

The emperor of the empire was one of those great spirits.

That meant that the situation could change at any time if the emperor’s mind changed.

“You don’t need to worry too much. I don’t think you would commit such serious atrocities. By the way, let me tell you this… His Majesty is very concerned about the excessive labor exploitation that is happening in various mines.”

“Hmm…”

A clear warning.

The faces of the leaders darkened at the last words.

There was not a single faction among them that did not exploit labor severely.

But now they had to reduce this tendency.

If they wanted to avoid the empire’s retaliation.

***

After that, the imperial army landed on Andes one after another.

And they peacefully occupied the areas under the shadow of the empire.

The various factions had to watch with their eyes open as the imperial army stationed right next to them.

“Let’s just join the shadow of the empire too.”

“Right!”

Also, gradually, more areas requested to join the empire.

They were fed up with war.

At least if they joined the empire, they would have a powerful imperial army to protect them.

Moreover, Andes people who wanted to become imperial citizens increased explosively.

They no longer had to flee to the coast and contact with upper part of empire and then seek asylum in mainland.

Now they just had to go to areas under empire’s influence located all over inland.

“Yeah. Just run away there…”

“We can get away from those bastards!”

Thanks to that, many mine workers who had trouble even getting a meal ran away.

Of course, there were many cases where they were caught while running away, but they couldn’t continue to exploit labor or punish them harshly as before.

The warning from empire was deeply engraved in their minds.

‘Good. It’s going well.’

Kim Ki-woo read report from Andes region and smiled satisfiedly.

It could have been a big backlash if he had done something wrong.

But fortunately, nothing he feared happened.

Now it seemed like he just had to take root firmly in Andes region like he did in central continent.

<The end.>