Chapter 130 - Peona Kingdom?

In the meantime, One, Two and Three had their own mission.

They went to shops, businesses and influential people in disguise. They preached that the town's peace will never be restored with the White Clan, royals or the greedy merchants at the helm. They should all form a united front rejecting them, and they will provide an army to get rid of all the five forces giving the people their freedom and peace back. These people were also told that they could be the new leading force to rule the town. They were all told that they will keep an eye on them and if they gathered the people against the tyrants. There will also be rewards.

Like this, the news of the unknown force also reached the ears of Hunter, Marquis Andrew, and Hazel. They could guess the identity of the newcomers. The Peona Kingdom has used this strategy successfully in the past. With this, their headaches intensified.

The power structure and diplomatic balance were crumbling. The current tense atmosphere between the White Clan and the royals made it very unlikely for them to work collaboratively. The death of a 6th stage powerhouse was no joke. What was even more problematic was now the royals realized that possibly the Peona Kingdom has someone that could kill a 6th stage cultivator with ease. As they did not know the extent of the old man's injuries beforehand, their fear intensified. They sent news to the White Clan that the person who attacked them was possibly from the Peona Kingdom. However, how could Hunter accept such a convenient excuse? Although it was a logical conjecture, he did send some people to investigate.

On the other hand, the White Clan was relieved, the news brought them much needed time. With the interference of a foreign force, they knew the royal side would not attack them. Giving them enough time to strengthen.

However, they did not know that this was only a temporary distraction, after some investigation, there will be no solid base of the Peona Kingdom. Once that was established, the royal side will return back to their arrogant nature.

Both the royal side and the White Clan were getting ready for tomorrow to bring the unaffiliated forces to their sides. They were afraid for them to be influenced by their rival or worst the Peona Kingdom.

Aile had a peaceful night, and Leia felt Aile's affection for her, removing any doubt that shrouded her thoughts. In this happy occasion, she allowed Aile to take advantage of her a bit and did not opt for 'training' the dark side of his soul. Aile also felt the fondness Leia showed him and was very happy that he took out this time for her. In each other's embrace, they found comfort and appreciation. Gazing the star and with a calm mind, they fell asleep under the moonlight and stars.

Early morning the next day, Aile woke up and took out some meat and fruits that he had stored in his spatial storage ring, he made some breakfast and Leia woke up soon after. Aile carried her, washed her face, she then sat on his lap as he fed her breakfast with care, and she lovingly held on to him.

After breakfast, Leia kissed him on the cheek and said, "Thank you."

The both of them then got ready to go back to the town.

They were not too far away and soon reach their home. Outside the room, Hazel was standing waiting for Aile. Leia said, hello, and with a blush greeted Hazel, after a quick chat she entered the room.

Hazel explained the situation of the town to Aile. She was worried about the wolf-like behaviour of the royal group trying to chew everything up quickly. Therefore, Hazel had remained outside of Aile's room for a long time now, so they do not lose too much power as they did not do anything. She worried about his influence in Port Kiar.

Aile and Hazel went to the office, and Aile listened to the whole story. He got informed of the four meetings that have already been arranged for him. Two for Shadow, one with the royals and one with the White Clan. Another two with the same people as the Boss of Moon Merchant Hall.

Aile sighed and then smiled, saying, "That was well done!"

Hazel looked at him with a bewildered appearance, "What do you mean?"

"No one suspects us of going against the old man now. It would not have been long that they speculated us, after all, we were the only force with strong people that was not injured. Now, they need our support." Aile let out a long breath, "Plus, we were going to lose the militaristic dominance anyway, at least now we can benefit from it."

Hazel shook her head and said, "If we lose our top position, we will face problems with our business and freedom of movement, is that worth it?"

"We will not, neither side will do anything that will push us towards their enemy. In fact, we will have much less to worry about. Saving us money and time that we can spend elsewhere."

They talked for a bit longer, and by the end of the talk, Hazel calmed down. She then asked Aile with somewhat of a resentful tone, where he was at last night. Aile noticed her jealous demeanour, and with a hug, he told her that they too can spend some time alone later. She already knew where he was at, so Aile gave her the best possible response in this situation. With that Hazel smiled, soon she went to send news of the meeting to the two forces.

Within an hour, Aile was asked to attend the first meeting with Hunter as the boss of Sun Merchant Hall. He went to the meeting, and nothing surprising happened. Hunter laid the fact that they should create an alliance in which they would assist each other if the royal group attacks either one. As it was the best course of action as after the first group was finished, the next group would follow. Aile had no problems agreeing with it, plus he could decide based on the situation in the future. Aile did notice an absence of sincere respect when Hunter spoke to him this time. Clearly, as a result of the fact that he was no longer the leader of the most powerful group in Port Kiar. Aile did not really care about that, and no matter Hunter still came to his place to meet him and had to wait for him for a whole day, so a bit of resentment was expected. The meeting soon came to an end, both Aile and Hunter maintained a sincere attitude, and the previous deal between the two groups remained.

Then came a representative of Duke Andrew, he asked about the situation of the Merchant Hall and how much the Sun Merchant Hall lost. Aile simply said a lot to which he offered money, in return for being part of the business. Aile rejected that, then the representative said, as a result of this recent success Marquis Andrew was taking consorts. He then told that Aile should consider sending Fiona, Diana, Luna, and Xue to him. Aile had known about Marquis Andrew's interest in his people, but this was too fast of a reaction for his recent success. However, starting a conflict was unnecessary.

Aile rejected the offer and stopped showing any friendly behaviour to him and kicked him out. Ten minutes later, Aile announced that due to loss of manpower, they will only be guarding the western gate. Guard duty had become a bottleneck for Aile's Merchant Union and adventurer's union. He took this opportunity to relinquish this burden.

High-level practitioners that were more effective doing missions had to be stationed at the gate for a few coins. They could earn much more if they simply killed a simple beast and returned. Initially, Aile wanted the title of the most powerful-force in Port Kiar and for the people to have faith in his group and believe in his dominance. Therefore he took the role as the warden of each gate.

However, now that he was giving up the title, there was no need to waste money protecting all these gates. The western gate that he still protected came under the White Clan. This way the White Clan had to only worry about the southern gate sea gate.

Which would reduce the influence of the royals at sea? While the royals had to protect both the northern and eastern gate now, further thinning their manpower. He still maintained his hold on one gate so that his people's movement does not get affected.

This would seem like a sign of weakness, but the truth was the opposite.

His people were no longer spread apart, in fact, their power was more consolidated, while the royals and White clan had spread their force. On the surface, the people of Port Kiar got the illusion that the White Clan and the royal's got more strength. The reality was their limited force was already stretched.