Chapter 500: 488 Return to Tranquility_1
 

At the deliberate request of the Crimson Empress, all the manpower and resources that had entered the Eastern Empire were quickly withdrawn to the Western Empire’s territory.

In addition to these, the people of the Western Empire took away as much valuable stuff as possible before leaving.

Whether it was food, money, precious metal products, or the weapons and equipment stored in the warehouses, all were carted away.

Strong and sturdy young men were forcibly conscripted like slaves, leaving behind only the chaotic and poor towns, and women, children, and elderly who held no value to the Empress for the time being.

Naturally, this process caused protests and many unpleasant incidents among the people, but all were forcibly suppressed by bloody violence.

The title of the Crimson Empress was not just for show; she was retracting her defenses as much as possible to deal with the upcoming offensive.

She was initially somewhat desperate, but everything she had encountered so far had reignited her hope.

She had already acquired the method to create soldiers even more powerful than the Dragon Slumber Army.

Moreover, in addition to Cordan and Oakland, she would also receive the help of new allies.

For this reason, the Crimson Empress needed a large number of young people to build a new army and a large amount of supplies to create teleportation gates to welcome her allies’ troops.

At the same time, under the Empress’s requirements, the entire empire mobilized to face the situation of life or death as a whole nation.

Since the Western Empire had withdrawn from the Eastern Empire’s territory in a short amount of time, Gaz and his team now found it much easier to expand and conquer territory.

However, soon they encountered many problems.

The Western Empire had taken away all the resources they could carry and had lost the most critical labor force.

When Gaz and his team received numerous towns and territories, they found that they had only acquired empty territories and a large number of hungry and pitiful people.

Now, Gaz had to divide a large portion of his troops to maintain order and allocate some of his own supplies to ensure that these helpless weaklings would not starve to death.

In short, due to the brutal and ruthless operation of the Crimson Empress, Gaz and his team only gained territories and were left with problems and messy situations.

Fortunately, now that Otto’s business had grown, food was directly transported from Felton, Farrand, and Vide to alleviate the problems of feeding the hungry population.

Amid such circumstances, Otto gradually took over the territories of the former Eastern Empire.

With the increase of territories and population, the normal transportation of food and supplies could no longer satisfy such a large area and population.

Currently, almost all large flying monsters were being used as transport planes. Even so, many people in the Eastern Empire were still going hungry.

Now, burrowing worms and kobolds were working day and night to build underground tunnels.

As long as the tunnels could be used for transportation, even just by carts, it would substantially alleviate the situation.

Saru was in charge of these matters.

At the beginning, Saru considered whether or not to give up on the underground tunnels and instead lay railway tracks on the ground.

But given the complex geography of the Eastern Empire, with dense forests and tall mountains everywhere, this idea was soon abandoned.

Because laying tracks or building roads on the ground was not as efficient as excavating underground tunnels.

Those burrowing worms were really useful, as Otto put it, they were just like shield tunneling machines but even more flexible and numerous.

Apart from the burrowing worms and kobolds, Otto also had many other creatures that were good at digging.

Creatures like desert giant lizards, cave dwellers or dwarves were all capable of this type of work.

However, this also required a lot of time. Unless they directly abandoned the people of the Eastern Empire, Gaz and his team were currently unable to launch an attack in the Western Empire’s direction.

Simply repairing the ruins and wreckage in the Eastern Empire’s territories, aiding refugees, restoring farmland and other industries, was enough to overwhelm Gaz and his team.

Under such circumstances, it was already unrealistic to continue waging war.

Gaz, Saru, and Angelina discussed among themselves briefly before Saru presented their current situation and proposed strategy to Otto.

Regardless of the situation, whether or not the war would continue depended on Otto’s choice.

In the central castle of Blackstone Floating City, Otto lay coiled on a platform filled with treasures, looking down at the Dragonborn Lizardman, who was kneeling respectfully on the tiled floor.

At this point, Otto was fully aware of the current situation at the frontlines, as well as Saru and the others’ proposed strategies.

Otto was not a real world-ending demon king; he needed not only land but also population.

Therefore, they had to continue feeding the seemingly worthless elderly, weak and disabled in the Eastern Empire. To ensure their survival, the frontline wars had to be put on hold for the time being.

In addition, even the bloodthirsty and warlike monsters were somewhat exhausted after several consecutive battles.

Both the Soaring Dragon Legion and the human army under Angelina were in need of proper rest.

Furthermore, Otto had some ideas he needed to verify, which would also require some time to be wasted.

With this in mind, Otto nodded to Saru, agreeing to their approach.

This choice of his would undoubtedly bring calm to the chaotic frontlines.

It might last for one or two years or even several years, but in any case, the subsequent wars would be inevitable. This was merely the calm before the storm.

After the old lizardman left the hall respectfully, Otto found Sofia in the Magic Research Laboratory.

After greeting her, he took wing and left the Blackstone Floating City.

Blackstone Floating City was the largest and strongest of the three floating cities. With Konoheim stationed there, there was no need to worry about Sofia’s safety.

Otto’s destination was quite distant. In the end, under the reception of the Demon Flame Emperor, he flew to the Land of Red Flames, and then into the Gale Sea Area, which was like a forbidden zone for life.

No ship, no matter how large, could sail in the year-round stormy Gale Sea Area, but for Otto and the Demon Flame Emperor, such conditions were merely a slight nuisance.

Finally, under the guidance of the Demon Flame Emperor, Otto landed on a deserted island which was not much different in size from Blackstone Floating City.

The environment here was still terrible, with the exposed land constantly subjected to thunderstorms and fierce winds. It was barren, with no plants or animals able to survive on it.

There were many more such islands in the Gale Sea Area.

If everything went as expected, Otto would stay here for quite some time.