Invitation from the Kingdom Continents

While all the players were busy logging out from Immortal Era, an important meeting was taking place within each pier city on each of the four Cardinal Continents. Each continent's meeting was separate from each other but they were about the same thing; movement from the Dark Continent.

On the Southern Continent, after Bladesmith had teleported Kirou out of the village, both he and Old Oak themselves were teleported to SC Pier City's city lord's mansion. Along with these two were two people from the other respective villages for the Southern Continent, like Old Oak and Redwood from Thousand Wood Village and Old Copper and Hammerton from Stone Mount Village. They represented the three main races found on the Southern Continent, giving them the most say in the decisions to be made in any important meeting. That being said, there were eight groups of people that had teleported over so all races on the Southern Continent were accounted for.

After everyone had appeared, they all made their way to the meeting room on the second floor of the city lord's mansion, where they found the city lord, Jonathan Pierson and the deputy city lord, Anthony Jameson, waiting for them. Both represented the human race, as well as SC Pier City. The meeting official commenced after all nine groups took their seats and the meeting room was sealed with magic, essentially moving the meeting room into a separate dimension from the rest of the continent.

Jonathan Pierson was the first one to address the group as he stood up and faced the other eight groups, "I'm sure everyone here has already been made aware of the incident that happened within Thousand Wood Forest during the previous week?"

Everyone in the room nodded at this. They became aware of the events, either by directly receiving a letter from Old Oak that was delivered by Kirou and his group or by news passed down by the members of their guilds.

Seeing their response, Jonathan continued, "I'm afraid that's not the only thing that happened within the previous week. Earlier today, I received news from both kingdoms with the Beast Continent. Apparently, the same thing has happened within the other three Cardinal Continents and the Kingdom Continents nearest to them have already been made aware of this issue. For now, they have issued a missive about opening their borders to us and the rest of the Cardinal Continents."

This piece of information was explosive within the ears of the respective representatives. Some of them started to whisper amongst themselves while a few were silently contemplating ramifications of this news quietly by themselves. Old Oak and his group were among the latter group. After roughly a minute of this, Jonathan cleared his throat, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room.

Now that he was the center of attention again, Jonathan said, "In exchange for opening their borders to us, they are requesting that we send over recruits and other specialized people from our continent to aid in the war they are preparing for against the Dark Continent."

If the first piece of news was akin to the explosion of a fireball, this piece would be considered the explosion of a rocket at point-blank range. The other eight groups could see that this wasn't as simple as opening their borders to help their continent. The Kingdom Continents were either looking to recruit players to their borders to build their kingdoms or are planning to send these players to the front lines in the war to come.

Old Wolf looked around the room and saw what was going on in everyone's minds. He was mentally prepared for this when Kirou had given him the letter along with Bladesmith but apparently the others weren't ready yet. He could only release a sigh as he thought about the discussion he had with the two dwarves and elves earlier that day as well. All six pairs of eyes glanced at each other and they all nodded before they collectively released a sigh. The other members in the room noticed this and stared in their direction. Jonathan and Anthony also looked over towards the six individuals to see what they had decided on the matter.

Old Oak was the one who spoke up, representing that group, "For all of you that received my letter, I'm sure you know that it was a group of recruits that were working in my village at the time that discovered the initial traces of the Dark Continent in that dungeon. At the moment, I too thought about what we are about to face, hence why I sent out the letters, to begin with. I'm sure none of you want to hear this, but this is something you'll need to hear now while we still have time. Many of the recruits we've gotten in recent times will be leaving our continent sooner or later, whether it be for seeking strength or searching for new resources. Instead of contemplating the kind of loss we would face by just sending them to the Kingdom Continents, I suggest we leave the decision in their hands."

The other groups, including the city lord and his deputy, were surprised to hear Old Oak say this. If anyone should have had an issue with this request, it should have been he and his group since they have bad blood with a few of the kingdoms on the Kingdom Continents. Old Oak could see the bewilderment in their eyes but he could only form a wry smile on his face.

It was Bladesmith who spoke up next, "Honestly, we couldn't care less about what happens to the kingdoms of the Kingdom Continents." Hearing this, everyone else nodded as this sounded more like what that group of people should be saying. "That being said, even we recognize the severity of the situation that is about to take place. Just from the fact that beings from the Dark Continent are capable of moving between the other eight continents when the borders of the Dark Continent itself has been surrounded by both magic and various navies belonging to each kingdom suggests one of two things: either there is, at least, one kingdom that has turned traitor or those bastards on the Dark Continent have managed to find a way to bypass both safeguards, even if only in small numbers."

When the rest heard this, the bewilderment they felt earlier disappeared and was now replaced with deep concern and contemplation. This was no longer a discussion about just sending off the new recruits to join a war with the Dark Continent and was shaping up into something even grander.

Hammerton spoke up next with a casual attitude, "Hell, knowing our luck, it's probably a mix of both so instead of just sending them out or trying to keep them here, it's best we let the young ones decide their course of action. It's their own futures they are deciding after all so let's just have them decide and support whatever decision they make."

When Hammerton said that, Old Copper gave him a look of approval while the two elves and Lycans nodded as well. As for the representatives for the other races, they could only stare at the group in helplessness before nodding in approval as well. Jonathan and Anthony looked at the group with admiration and gratefulness in their eyes as they knew this wasn't an easy decision for them to have made. They felt admiration as this shows that the group was willing to look past their grievances with the various kingdoms on the Kingdom Continents and gratefulness for putting forth a method that everyone could agree to. In fact, both Jonathan and Anthony were prepared to make a few concessions in order to get everyone to agree to this proposition from the Kingdom Continents but this way they wouldn't need to give up more than what was necessary for the goal.

Seeing that everyone was now on the same page, Old Wolf spoke up once again, "That being said, that doesn't mean we'll make it easy for those kingdom bastards to get our recruits like that." Both Jonathan and Anthony cursed under their breath slightly while staring at the crafting smile on Old Wolf's face. It seems that it wouldn't be that easy after all. "Since they want our recruits, let's make it so that they be the ones to come fetch them. As you can see, we aren't as equipped as those people in engineering ships nor capable of long-distance teleportation like they are so let's have them take charge of transporting the recruits that will be interested in traveling over."

"In case they want to complain about the resources required for both methods, please remind them that all the leaders of both fields and many more can be found in their borders as opposed to our rural continent and that it would be much more efficient for them to take care of it," said Old Copper with a Chesire-like smile on his dwarven face. It was a smile that didn't fit his face or build but it seemed strangely accurate at that moment. The other races couldn't help but take another look in surprise at this feat.

"They should also send someone over to upgrade our teleport gate as well. At least that way, after the initial move by ships, the second wave can be brought over to their shores by the gate from our side when more recruits join." This time, it was Redwood who spoke. Just like Old Copper, along with the other werewolves, dwarves and elf at the moment, he too possessed a sly smile on his face. Naturally, this smile didn't fit but everyone could see the reasoning behind it.

In fact, all the other groups, including the duo representing SC Pier City had this kind of smile on their face as they too saw the benefits of doing this like this. It seems like everyone in the room has started formulating ways in which to milk the four Kingdom Continents in this endeavor. Let it be known, while they have all decided to go ahead and agree to the Kingdom Continents' request, they are all going to make sure to benefit from it in the long run since it is their recruits that are going and future recruits will need some help along the way.

After a few minutes like that, Old Oak spoke up to the group, addressing another issue they would need to cover, "While I remember, I should remind you that your groups should also make sure to address the needs of your recruits when informing them about the invitation from the Kingdom Continents." When Old Oak said this, a few of the representatives looked at him in confusion. Seeing this, he continued, "Not all of the current recruits will be interested in just weapons and skills. I happen to know for a fact that a recruit of Old Wolf is more interested in rare materials than anything else. I highly doubt that he's the only one so be sure to address this with your respective recruits if they have special tastes."

Having heard this, the various representatives nodded in agreement. Both Jonathan and Anthony were included in this as they too ran into recruits interested in things besides the usual weapons, armor, and skills. Following that, the representatives then started a discussion amongst each other over the various resources they should 'request' for in order to make the invitation from the Kingdom Continents more attractive to the recruits, as well as what they should be offering to the recruits themselves. This discussion would go on for many hours, matching the time needed for Immortal Era to finish updating.

While this meeting was taking place in the Southern Continent, meetings following similar scenarios were taking place in the other three Cardinal Continents. While they all had different reasons, they still managed to reach the same conclusions in the end.

As for the Kingdom Continents, at the moment, they were busy with meetings of their own. They were currently in discussions about how to more efficiently utilize the recruits that would be coming within the following days and preparing the list of materials they would need to appease the people on the Cardinal Continents. While they weren't sure of the exact things the people of the Cardinal Continents would ask for in return for sending over recruits that only appeared in those continents, they were sure they would ask for a lot so the people on the Kingdom Continents were currently gathering many materials that they themselves would ask for if put in the other's shoes while also making plans on how to deal with members of the Dark Continent. None of the representatives for each kingdom was going to have a peaceful time for the next few days.