Reign had to admit that he was incredibly tempted to choose the third option right away, but honestly, he didn't feel right about choosing it without at least mentioning it to the people of the territory.
After all, even though he was the lord of the territory and the undisputed ruler that could do as he wished, it was the players that were the territory itself, without them, not only would Reign and the others not have funds to purchase and build all the buildings they had built so far, but they also would have no need for them since nobody was there to use them except for them.
Reign didn't feel as if he was a goody two shoes that would constantly think of the players, he was a selfish person at times, just like previously when he had decided to sacrifice some of them in order to deal with the enemy once and for all.
He knew that he couldn't constantly act as if the players were babies that needed his constant attention, but this was different. It was the players that would have to live with the ants, even though the ants would always be below the ground or in a different area, hunting.
The players would also lose a valuable source of exp if the ants were gone and leveling up quickly till Tier III would no longer be an option for them. Of course, it wasn't as if all the players were constantly fighting against the ants.
Fighting below the ground constantly was not good for one's mental health, not to mention that it wasn't really pleasant being there as there would always be blood, guts, and parts of ants around from the previous fighting, making the cave system quite smelly.
Players would frequent the caves, but they would also hunt above the ground, in the nearby forests and other areas that had monsters that were below Tier I and above, especially the mountain range which was to date, the single largest area they had come across that was as big as most of the areas they had found put together.
Reign decided to call for a meeting, but one that everybody from the town was qualified to join.
He used the easiest method for calling the meeting. He and the others had already placed a couple of giant voice-amplifying devices around the city in cases like this. If an emergency was to occur, like the siege of the city that had taken place previously, they could immediately notify everybody by using the devices.
Reign had immediately called for a public meeting in the center of the city, and everybody was qualified to join it. He had even sent a message to the base on the first mountain so that more people could come and partake.
The meeting was set to start in about 3 hours. Reign had done so after deliberating for a bit. He wanted as many people as possible to join so that he could hear their opinion, but before that, he called for the top teams that were available to join him in the building, where he would tell them why he was calling for a meeting.
Even though he valued the opinions of all the players, he did value the opinions of the strongest people in the city. Of course, the players would not mind that since the top teams were the ones doing the most and were constantly fighting against more powerful enemies in order to gain more power.
In today's world, power meant everything. They understood that, and they had of course also noticed that the barriers between the areas were dissipating since Reign had not prohibited people from talking about it.
Everybody was aware that the barriers could be lifted at any time now, and when they did, then the many areas would change, monsters could freely leave their areas and go to other ones in order to increase their strength, or they could go to the weaker areas in order to slaughter the weaker beings and feast on their dead bodies.
Without sufficient power, a territory would not be able to survive in the world. Even though they had Reign and the others, they had seen just what had happened before when Reign was not present, even though he arrived on time and saved the day, everybody was well-aware that they would have all died if not for him.
If a day was to come when Reign and the others were once again absent and they were attacked, they would die without sufficient power. They all knew that Reign and the others would avenge them, but they would ultimately still be dead, and nobody wanted that to happen to them.
"The ant queen has evolved and now is a humanoid monster that wishes to join us, I really didn't expect something like that to happen," Loreno said with a sigh as he sat with his team while the other teams around him nodded their heads in agreement.
"Yes, that is the gist of it, the reason I am calling for the public meeting is to let the players know about this, and to let them speak their minds about what we should do." Reign said before Neil suddenly opened his mouth.
"But boss, you do know that no matter what you choose, we will all support you, right?"
"That's right, even if a couple of people disagree with your decision, they would make the minority that thinks that way, for you to actually want to hear the opinions of all of the players, it really isn't necessary." A leader of another team spoke out. He was a bold man with a couple of tattoos visible on his body, the one on his face, a tattoo of an eagle that was on his left cheek, and a black sun on the right side of his neck, being the two that brought the most attention.
He was a native of Doncaster, and even though he had not done anything in the beginning and was merely a civilian when Reign and the others first arrived, he was one of the first to take action after they had taken over the warehouse.
He was able to quickly get his ability and with the help of the people that were now members of his team, he quickly rose through the ranks and was now the leader of one of the top teams in the territory. Also, just like the other top teams, he was fiercely loyal to Reign and the others.
"I understand that, and I thank you for your unconditional support, but it will be the players that will sometimes have to fight alongside the ants, not to mention that the lower-leveled players will be losing a valuable hunting ground that they have become familiar with."
"It will probably result in the speed at which the players level up slowing down, so I do want to get their opinion on that before deciding what to do." Reign said with a smile before talking more with the teams.
As he had previously thought, they didn't care what Reign choose, whichever option he thought was best, they would support, no questions asked.
This was also a great way to inspire more loyalty and show that he cared, something that would always work for his benefit. Not only the top teams, but the other players would also feel as if their words mattered and that they were important for the territory, and for Reign and the others.
He only hoped that they could all get to an agreement over what to do. No matter what, he would not choose the first option and kill the queen and all the ants. Even though the appearance of a humanoid ant didn't sit that well with him, he would not do something so short-sighted that would not benefit the territory at all.
The second and third choices were the only ones that he was willing to choose, and even if the majority of the players were to say that they wished to slaughter all the ants, he would not let them do it, even if that was to damage the relationship he and the players had.
3 hours had passed since he had called for the meeting, and hundreds of players could be seen at the center of the city. A stage had been placed at one end of the center, and Reign and the others could be seen making their way toward it.
The players started talking to each other, all of them interested in why Reign had called for a public meeting as they had never done something like this in the past. It was because of that that they understood that whatever Reign was about to talk about today, was of immense importance.
Even those that were going to hunt at this time decided to postpone it till later, while those that planned on going down to hunt the ants were surprised to see that the entrance was blocked by a couple of orcs who told them that Reign had ordered for no one to go down before the meeting was finished.
The sourc𝗲 of this content is fre(e)webnovel