Chapter 911: Sakaar's position
After taking Robin's permission, Charles quickly stood up and began to tell him what had happened since the Great Serpent Army's fleets began heading south and his decision to confront them. Then he told him about Sakaar confronting an entire fleet alone until support came, and after that he talked about Sakkar's desire to attack the eastern region had it not been for General Gu being able to stop him. Finally, he told him about his decision to attack the northern region and his sentence: I will not stop unless the Lord himself comes.
"..." In front of those successive raging events, Robin did not open his mouth, he just rested his chin on his left hand as he listened calmly until Charles finished explaining the last thing related to Sakaar, so Robin allowed him to sit down with a simple movement and without saying a word.
"Father! Sakaar is going too far, everyone knows that the Shadow Swords is an organization that works under your direct command, everyone must listen to us." Theo didn't seem too impressed with what he heard either, "Even if he didn't accept Charles' authority, he should have at least waited to ask permission from Supreme General Caesar or at worst he should have come to ask permission from you personally, not to act on his own!"
"Huh~" The second man of the Shadow Swords let out a long sigh, His Excellency's permission for him to sit reassured him a little, but General Theo's words of favoritism told him that he had crossed the danger zone.
As for Robin, he nodded at Theo's words, then looked to the other side at Old Man Gu, "Based on your long experience, how would you classify Sakaar's actions?"
The old man looked at the ground with a sigh, "...They are very similar to my eldest son's."
Robin raised his eyebrows slightly, Old Man Gu's son was the Flame Empire's previous emperor who ordered the destruction of Jura City, and who was eventually killed by Old Man Gu himself, and his body handed over to the demons, "Explain More."
"My son wasn't always like this, he was obedient and secretive, striving to become stronger, but when he reached the same power as me, he changed and became more self-centered, and this increased after I abdicated the throne to him and decided to retire, he no longer consulted me on anything." Old Man Gu paused for a moment, looking down at his foot as if he were seeing his son's incomplete body, "But I know for sure that he didn't do this out of hatred for me, he wanted to indirectly tell me that he is no longer a child, that he has grown up and that I can depend on him, that I can take my much-deserved rest and stop worrying about him."
"Sakaar is not your son, he is not even a human being to have such thoughts." Theo intervened in a cold tone, "They are creatures that only know how to prey and reproduce, nothing else in their heads, even their following of my father comes from the instinct that he provides them with their ideal livelihood!"
"Then I will have to disagree with you, Your Highness, why don't we all take a look at the three incidents once more?" Old Gu quickly snapped out of his bad state of mind and turned to Theo, "First: He mopolized to stop the invasion of the North so that we don't lose more territory, the war wouldn't spread to the entire planet, and to protect the Space Portal from certain destruction. Second: To attack the Eastern Region: There is a danger lurking in that direction, honestly, we are all thinking about doing it, however, he stopped when he heard that His Excellency would be sad and that should count as something. Third and last: To attack the North, this seems like a selfish idea at first, but it is a necessary move to reignite the war after it has cooled down."
"Even if the decisions were shrouded in some selfishness, in all three times he was thinking about the Empire's interests." Old Gu then looked at Robin, "He wants to tell you: I am here, you can pay attention to whatever you want and rely on me, I will manage your interests as I see fit... or at least that is my understanding."
"Yeah, I think so too, Sakaar doesn't want to rebel, he just doesn't want orders from anyone." Robin nodded a few times and then started laughing, "He's become so powerful that there's no one left in his eyes except me... I guess I should feel honored that he still respects me a little bit."
"What do you want to do, father?" Theo looked irritated as he heard his father's words, "If you want my opinion, you should send Big Brother Caesar or Little Brother Richard to take care of it."
From Charles' report, Sakaar's strength was clearly evident, but Theo had absolute confidence in Caesar's strength, whom he had fought alongside for decades, and what he heard about Richard's actions in Jura was even more terrifying. He heard that Richard burned a Marshall so bad that there was no ashes left!!
Either of them could bring Sakaar's nose to the ground once again.
And the benefit of that? It would simply tell Sakaar that he is not the strongest being in the empire yet, and that he had to walk the lines drawn for him like anyone else.
"NO! I would not recommend it at all. Trying to subjugate Sakaar this way would certainly backfire," Old Man Gu quickly interjected, "Sakaar has pride rooted in his bones and it shows in his words and actions. Any attempt to insult him would turn him into a true rebel!"
"Should we just let him do whatever he wants and rearrange our plans every now and then to suit him? Who exactly is our monarch? Being strong and authoritative doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants, everything he has is given to him by His Excellency!" Charles supported his superior
"I didn't say that, don't put words in my mouth, all I'm saying is that His Excellency should find a more peaceful solution, perhaps give him the orders directly later, or simply remove them from the picture entirely!" Old Gu quickly replied, "Your Excellency, Sakaar's actions indicate that he is 100% loyal to you, you don't have to subordinate him to anyone else in order to enjoy his service, any good ruler would make some exceptions if he had a subordinate like that!"
"Father!!"
"Your Excellency!!"
Both Theo and Old Gu looked at Robin, waiting for his decision... Theo wanted to subdue Sakar by force, and Old Gu was trying to prevent a major internal crisis from erupting, for him fighting the demons over something this trivial sounded crazy!
Robin remained silent for a few seconds, then muttered, "...You did a good job stopping him from attacking the Eastern Region, Gu."
Then he stood up, and with a wave of his hand he began to draw a map of the planet Nihari on the ground, then he called to Charles, "Draw me the current positioning of the demon forces."