Armipotent

Tang Shaoyang looked toward the man. Different from the Valuer Empire, they clearly wore official clothes from their world. Their outfits were similar to each other, just different in color. Their outfits reminded him of the people from the Middle East minus the headdress.

The man who yapped looked to be in his mid-thirties with a thick beard and short black hair. His eyes were blue, not just him but everyone from The Etherna Alliance had similar blue eyes. It was either common to have blue-colored eyes in Etherna, or it was the effect of their bloodlines. His eye color changed two times, from black to violet, and from violet to crimson.

He had a list of names, but he did not know who was who, and he did not bother asking his wives about this man. He was annoyed with what happened, and he was getting even more annoyed that this man kept yapping even though they were almost late.

The man did not stop after mentioning him, continuing as if a teacher was lecturing a student. Albeit a bit rude, the man refrained from hurling insults and taunts. A little bit of provocation and a little bit condescending. It was like an elder talking to the kids.

“Are you done yapping? If you are done, then we can start the meeting since you seem to be busy, and so the meeting doesn’t take your time for too long,” Tang Shaoyang had enough and cut off the man from continuing.

“That’s true. Let’s not waste our time and speak about why you initiate a meeting. I hope this is something urgent or else…” The man narrowed his eyes at Tang Shaoyang.

“Not urgent, but something important,” Tang Shaoyang turned toward Kang Xue, and the latter nodded and started to explain what the meeting was about; quick, compact, and simple explanation.

Of course, no one liked to hear it, and everyone was staring at Tang Shaoyang. If they tried to intimidate Tang Shaoyang, then that was not working.

“We have discussed it for five days, and we are all happy with the result. Why do you want to change it all of a sudden? You are not expecting us, young man,” The man who was still unknown responded. The same man from the Etherna Alliance.

“Then I will be a blunt, old man. You all suck at gathering resources. We are sharing the ten resource points. Your side is only sharing two resource points, the Gondar Alliance is sharing one, and Valuer is sharing none. If you are a little bit competent, then maybe I will not propose the change. You all are not even helping to harvest the resources.”

The man fell silent, glancing at his friends, wondering if anyone was willing to respond to that. He was shameless, but not shameless to give a reasonable explanation as to why they found so few resources.

“But we will help protect your resources if the forces from the other cities come attacking,” The only woman from the Valuer Empire answered.

“Will and if. That means you are not protecting the resources right now, and you enjoyed twenty-five percent without doing anything. What a good alliance we have here,” Tang Shaoyang chuckled.

“You can’t change the agreement we have set together just because you are at a little disadvantage. We might not be able to find more resource points, but it’s just a matter of time until we find more, and you will get more shares from ours,” One of the men from the Gondar Alliance spoke up. All the people from the Gondar Alliance were mostly black-skinned, and all of them were averaging two meters tall.

Tang Shaoyang scanned everyone in the room, waiting for their further response. No one said anything as if they were in agreement, not willing to change the current agreement.

“It’s a pity we can’t reach an agreement, but I don’t have any choice here since you all are insisting on keeping the current agreement. The Tang Empire and our vassals will pull out from the alliance.”

The Valuer Empire, The Gondar Alliance, and The Etherna Alliance were surprised to hear it. First, it was the same as a war declaration against them, breaking out from the alliance meant they left themselves vulnerable. Second, Tang Shaoyang only mentioned The Tang Empire and its vassals. What about the remaining force from the Earth Alliance?

The young man from the Valuer Empire finally understood why there was tension between the two leading factions from the Earth Alliance.

There were five factions from the Gondar Alliance. One of the men from one of the factions responded, “Are you sure about that? That means our people are free to attack your people and take your resources, right?”

Tang Shaoyang was not mad, in fact, he grinned ear to ear as he faced the man from the Gondar Alliance, “Are you threatening me? Does that mean your voice represents the Gondar Alliance as a whole? If so, then we will respond to your threat with an action. I will take it as a declaration of war against The Tang Empire.”

Matheo could not hold his smile anymore. As he thought, this would become interesting. He wanted to watch these people fight with each other, and he would enjoy the benefit. He sent a message to his four companions not to interfere with the talk, letting the Tang Empire and The Gondar Alliance fight. The Etherna Alliance did the same thing, they did not make a comment or even try to mediate. They were glad to be a spectator and enjoy the fight from the sideline.

Of course, the people from the Gondar Alliance immediately realized this was what the other two alliances were waiting for. They were aware that The Valeur Empire and The Etherna Alliance would not help them to fight even just the Tang Empire but instead of the whole Earth Alliance.

They were confident that they would come as victorious against Earth, but they must pay the price for that. The price they were not willing to pay was because their real competitor would reap the benefit from this fight.

“I apologize on behalf of my friends,” another man from the Gondar Alliance stood up and bowed slightly toward Tang Shaoyang, “We don’t mean any harm…”

As if Matheo had been waiting for this he cut off the man and spoke to Tang Shaoyang, “Just so you know if you leave the alliance, that means we can take the resource from you, right? Fair and square. This is not a war, but a fight for the resource points.”

Regardless of what the Earth Alliance or the Tang Empire’s plan was, he did not intend to let them leave without any consequence. If the Earth Alliance did not want to contribute as workers, then it was better for the Earth Alliance not to get anything.

“Your resource points are quite valuable, and you don’t mind if we work together to split the resources right, Sir Malek?” He was speaking to the man who stood up to apologize. Matheo’s action caught the man off guard. There was a short exchange between the two, but they seemed to be in tacit understanding.

Malek sat and nodded at Matheo, “We don’t mean any harm, but we come to the tower to fight for the resources, no? So taking over your resources doesn’t mean we are declaring war,” He smiled at Tang Shaoyang.

Tang Shaoyang almost licked his lip out of excitement, but he held his impulse because he knew that Rosalie would not like it. It was an obvious threat, yet masked behind their amiable smile.

“Why don’t you work together with The Etherna Alliance as well?”

“We are an alliance, so we can’t force The Etherna Alliance if they don’t want to take your resources out of sympathy. They are free to do whatever they want, but we are an alliance. We are expecting help from them if we encounter trouble,” Matheo maintained his calm smile. It was his way of telling Tang Shaoyang that if the Tang Empire left the alliance, they would face the three worlds.

Tang Shaoyang stood up and his wives followed suit, “If you are not willing to change the agreement, then unfortunately the Tang Empire has to leave the alliance. We are a separate entity from the Earth Alliance. My decision doesn’t affect the Earth Alliance.”

Then he locked his eyes with Matheo, “Thank you for the reminder. We come to the tower to fight for the resources, and I completely agree with it. So if the Tang Empire takes your resources, it doesn’t mean a war declaration— Pfffft…”

Tang Shaoyang could not hold his laughter as he turned around to leave the room. His laughter echoed in the room and somehow his laughter raised the tension in the room.

“What a f*cking m*ron. Most war happens because of resources, war happens because people fight for the resources, and this fool says it’s not a declaration of war when they try to take the resources from us. This is so outrageous, does he take us as a fool?”

He did not even lower his voice when he said it. In fact, he made sure everyone in the room heard him as he exited the room.