Altera, a few days later
"What if one of them were asked to swear an oath?" Althea asked, thinking of it out of nowhere. She was currently playing with the babies—for the first time in so many days—in the living room.
They were just so busy. In her case, she had to improve various formulas and improve the production line of medicines. Every other elder and expert also had their hands full.
"It'll depend on the wording," Garan said, lifting Meatball upwards in a floating motion. He did this a few more times, mouthing 'Fly' as he did so.
Little Meatball: ???
Althea didn't see this as she gently poked her daughter's plump tummy, making the baby giggle. She smiled a little, but even her babies' adorableness wasn't enough to distract her worry.
She sighed. "We didn't think to orient them on that."
"Well, believe in your people," he said, leaning down to kiss her cheek as he held Meatball. "We're sending an advanced party to map out the area as well. That way, they would be nearby in case something happens."
"They also need to be able to determine where Fargo would be during the war. I really hope to get that token."
Garan nodded with a determined look on his face. "And you'll get it."
Althea blinked, knowing her husband's propensity to do some extreme things to give her gifts.
"But if there's too much trouble or risk, just kill Fargo. That'd be fine."
At worst, Fargo Village would dissipate and they'd just have to travel farther to get the limestone. It would be a challenge, even if they tap Eagle's space as well, but it was doable.
Days had passed since Juni and the others left and it was finally nearing the time of war declaration. During the past few days, everyone had been preparing, but in a low-key manner.
Although Fufi and Gochi were tasked to go around the territory for spies, they were still not a fool-proof way of finding them so they didn't dare be too open with their movements.
For instance, they'd have a difficult time finding spies if they had no real
malice against Altera, as in the person was only doing his or her job.
They would also have trouble if there was no scent related to Fargo anymore, which could easily be fixed by a good bath.
In fact, only core people and guards knew about the upcoming war. At least until the day itself. The rumor going around was that the territory was preparing for a huge beast tide, and thus everyone was preparing for it.
During this time, dozens of people had also awakened, with the soldiers focusing on training those on the verge of upgrading.
These guards were also given focused training for their elements, pretty much sleeping in the elemental training room in the barracks.
Of course, the result was a group of relatively well-versed elementalists superior to others of the same level.
As for the civilians, they were also allowed to go out and hunt, but with certain conditions.
It wasn't that they had not considered what happened to Bright before their war. That was: the enemies would attack their people while they were outside the territory.
They didn't want that to happen but, at the same time, they refused to force everyone to hide within the walls out of fear, growing stagnant in the process.
So, for civilians, each group needed to be at least 20 in number with an average level of 8. A group was also required to bring a paralysis bomb and a smoke bomb each, just in case (to be returned to the barracks after, with a couple of silver bonds).
For weaker ones, they'd have no choice but to use the training hall. Speaking of the hall, the cost was temporarily lowered for low-level individuals so there was a nice spike of strength among all levels.
The production of the factories had been increased and, fortunately, the research center had also managed to increase their efficiency by improving the machineries. This way, they didn't have to hire too many temporary workers, who should've been focused on raising their strengths.
Now, about three to four days before the set date, several groups of people were set to go to Fargo in advance. They also left in groups at varying days and times to remain low-key.
The mission of these teams varied, but were very important to lessen the deaths during the war.
Some would be assigned to check on their team, while the others would start weakening the enemies from the outside. Though in contrast to what Fargo—who targeted citizens—did, they would be dealing with their legitimate forces.
The team leading the ones to sneak inside would be Reno as well as a few other members within the level limit. They would be sneaking in a day or so before the attack and this way, even if their strength gathered attention, there wouldn't be enough time for the enemies to prepare.
They would be cooperating with Drake and Vincent's teams to create chaos inside, especially during the war.
There was no anti-violence implemented in Fargo, which meant they could also hurt back whoever.
Specifying regulations was very expensive, which was a good thing, otherwise Fargo would've definitely set things up in a way anyone of his men could inflict pain while others could only watch.
At the same time, for most territories, specifying regulations weren't worth it either.
First, during wars, they'd be null anyway so they didn't really hold value during the most important times. Second, because Fargo's men would always resort to violence, it would be too cumbersome and expensive to make exemptions for them.
That said, it was quite expensive to set up something similar for the guards back in Altera. After all, Altera's guards could hit people but people who even attempted to hit them back would go straight to prison.
The system would also determine which criminal was a high-risk one, sending them to the more advanced and better-built area of their prison.
It was definitely an investment, but it certainly served their peace and the citizen trust to Altera very well.
Even during the many wars that would come after.