Chapter 605: 605:This Is Robbery
"War... War... War... What the fuck is going on?"
"The Great Demonic War just finished and now another one has already begun... Are you kidding me?!"
Sophia screamed angrily while slamming both hands heavily against the table, and the loud bang instantly echoed throughout the hall while the dishes and teacups placed nearby rattled violently from the impact, and the wooden surface beneath her palms even cracked slightly because of the sheer force behind her anger.
Her face was filled with frustration while faint waves of energy spread uncontrollably around her body, and it was obvious that she was already reaching the limit of her patience after hearing one disastrous piece of news after another during the past few years.
"This world has completely gone insane," she snapped while running her hand through her hair irritably before turning toward the others with disbelief still visible in her eyes.
The rest of the women sitting nearby did not look any better either because the sudden turn of events had completely destroyed whatever little peace they thought they would finally get after the end of the previous war.
Julia frowned deeply while folding her arms tightly against her chest, and her usually calm and collected expression had already turned dark while displeasure flickered openly within her eyes.
"We barely managed to survive one war," she muttered coldly while slowly shaking her head.
"And now those bastards want to start another one immediately as if the deaths of millions of people still were not enough for them."
Amber quietly lowered the report she had been reading while rubbing her forehead tiredly, and although she usually tried to remain optimistic during difficult situations, even she could no longer hide the concern in her expression.
"This is bad..." she said softly while glancing toward Ethan briefly.
"The Empire is already weakened badly after the previous war, and if the four major Empires truly attack together, then Arcadia will be forced into an extremely dangerous situation because there is no way it can recover properly in such a short amount of time."
Diana looked visibly irritated while pacing slowly across the room with crossed arms, and her footsteps echoed faintly through the quiet hall while anger gradually built within her voice.
"They are acting exactly like starving wolves circling around a wounded animal," she scoffed coldly.
"The moment they saw Arcadia weakened after the war, they immediately rushed forward to tear it apart and grab whatever benefits they could."
Claire also looked uneasy while occasionally glancing toward Ethan as if trying to understand what he was thinking at the moment, and after remaining silent briefly, she finally spoke in a low voice.
"The worst part is the timing," she said quietly.
"The Empire has not even fully recovered yet, and many regions are still rebuilding after the war against the Demon Alliance, so if another large-scale war starts now, then the damage may become impossible to recover from for generations."
The atmosphere inside the room gradually became heavier and heavier while everyone silently processed the incoming disaster, and even Ethan himself could feel a painful headache slowly forming because of the overwhelming mess developing outside.
To be honest...
He truly did not care much anymore whether the Arcadia Empire survived or perished.
The previous actions of Emperor Alaster and the Imperial Court had already left a bitter feeling inside his heart because they had previously turned him into a scapegoat and pushed the blame toward him when the earlier war situation became unfavorable, and although they later tried to compensate him with rewards and benefits, the unpleasant feeling never completely disappeared.
But despite all that...
There was still one unavoidable problem.
When the house falls, all inside are crushed.
The Blanks family lived upon the lands of the Arcadia Empire, and once the Empire truly collapsed, its territories would naturally be divided among the four major Empires, and when that happened, the Blanks family would inevitably be dragged into the chaos regardless of whether Ethan wanted involvement or not.
Ethan slowly leaned back against his chair while pressing his fingers against his forehead tiredly because he had spent half century building everything the Blanks family possessed today, and naturally he did not want outsiders from the four major Empires suddenly arriving and taking away the wealth, lands, influence, and resources that his family accumulated through endless effort and sacrifice.
Of course, Ethan was not completely hopeless either because with his current combat strength already comparable to that of a high-level Divine Knight, surviving personally would not truly be difficult for him, and as long as he was willing to surrender himself to one of the major Empires, protecting the existing assets of the Blanks family should still remain possible.
But the problem was...
He could not simply surrender so easily.
The moment he chose to betray Arcadia and submit elsewhere, he would instantly be marked as a problematic and opportunistic person by every major force, and such a reputation would only create endless future trouble for him and his descendants.
More importantly...
Doing something against his own conscience left an unpleasant bitter feeling deep inside his chest.
For a brief moment, Ethan even wondered whether he should simply abandon everything and escape far away with his family before the storm truly arrived.
But then again...
Where exactly could they even go?
The more he thought about it, the worse his headache became, and in the end the only thing Ethan could really do was maintain life as normally as possible despite the growing tension outside while spending what little peaceful time remained together with his wives and children who had thankfully already returned safely from the previous war.
But unfortunately...
That peace did not last long.
Half a month later, the peace negotiations between the Arcadia Empire and the four major Empires completely broke down, and the moment the news spread across the Empire, another huge uproar instantly erupted among both nobles and common citizens alike.
According to rumors spreading throughout the Imperial Court, the negotiation process had been extremely difficult from the very beginning because Arcadia was the side seeking peace first, and because of that, the four major Empires naturally held absolute initiative throughout the discussions.
And their demands were terrifying.
The four major Empires demanded seventy percent of Arcadia Empire’s territory alongside enormous amounts of treasures, resources, strategic materials, and war compensation, and the moment those conditions became publicly known, countless people throughout the Empire immediately exploded with anger and disbelief.
"This is robbery!"
