For the past few days, Gabriel’s father heard the same thing. The convoy has been interrupted. There seemed to be a roadblock. The delivery of their resources will have to be delayed until further notice.
" They attacked us again?"
The Vanderbilt guard nodded.
This was the problem all of the Conglomerates faced as they entered New Sparta. They were being attacked by agents, spies, and assassins from the Ersatz organization.
Those rats were doing everything they could to delay the Conglomerates’ from establishing their business in New Sparta.
Now usually, the Ersatz wouldn’t be this bold in their attacks. They were more of the ’attack from the shadows’ type of organization. But recently, they were even attacking in broad daylight.
The reason was quite interesting. It has been rumored that two of the Ersatz Stronghold had been sieged and invaded by the Consortium organization.
This was quite a pleasant surprise for Gabriel’s father. He hated those rats.
But as much as this had been a massive blow for the Ersatz, it had also galvanized them to become more bold.
They attacked the Conglomerates, throwing as many bodies as they could down their way.
Of course, against the Conglomerates, the outcome was easily decided. Those rats stood no chance.
However, the danger with the Ersatz came from their uncanny ability to multiply their forces to no end. 1st to 3rd stage were literally cannon fodder for them, so they didn’t care if they died trying to delay the Conglomerates transport even for less than half a day.
"What’s the progress?"
"We only have about 13% of our resources here at our disposal. The next 10% will be delivered tomorrow. And the next 12% will hopefully be delivered two days after that."
They had to stagger their transport of resources. Putting all of their eggs into one basket would only attract trouble. And golden eggs would make even the biggest of rats hungry.
Although this worked in somewhat covering their tracks from the Ersatz, it meant that it would take a lot of time before they could completely establish their business here in New Sparta.
This was what the other Conglomerates were doing too.
But of course, this was still a competitive space. Although each of the Conglomerates were wary of the Ersatz, they were still trying to get ahead of the others.
If they transported all of their business here in New Sparta first, they’d be able to swallow a bigger chunk of the market before the other Conglomerates could even set up their own.
So now, the battle would be decided through speed of transport.
That was why even Conglomerates like them were entertaining the business of the companies here in New Sparta. They’ll need all the help they could get.
"It will be interesting to see what happens in our meeting later."
...
...
...
With the Conglomerate Archers out of the competition, the Elves found themselves to the semi-finals, and then to the finals with ease.
And even at the last Sanctum Duel against a Dark Horse team who used an Artifice Diva, the Elves still ended up as the ultimate winners.
Those Ersatz rats were somehow able to make their way into the competition again. But it didn’t matter. They were all skewered with arrows all the same.
With the end of the Archery Competition, the entirety of the Colosseum engaged in festivities.
The Brownbloods celebrated the most, having won both of the tournaments and being crowned as the ultimate winner in Archery. This was very much unexpected, as many companies, organizations, and tribes dismissed them to be on the lower rankings.
But who would have thought that they would ally themselves with a Maugnetic demi-human and an all-powerful squad of Elves?
And although Chief Lupan wanted to drink to his heart’s content with the rest of the tribe and the Reborn company, he was called by the other tribe leaders for a meeting.
To conclude this Archery Tournament, all the important leaders and chiefs in New Sparta gathered in one space.
The 12 Tribe leaders sat in the foremost. Next to them were the leaders of the Vampires, the Mermen, and the Elves. The Draconians sat opposite them, distancing themselves from everybody else.
Then on the other side of the rooms were the human leaders.
Knights from the Order, Magicians from the Guild of Arcana sat away from each other. The three monarchs from the three important human territories sat in between them, namely: Metropolis, Zenthanven City, and Bonacore town.
Then, last but not least, the Conglomerates sat on an elevated platform on the other side of the three factions.
Every single important leader was present. Except for one.
The Metropolis Monarch was noticeably missing.
Many would have waited for her appearance, but it had been rumored for a while now that the Duchess Regina had been retired quite recently, so they didn’t wait for her to start their discussions.
"First of all, let us congratulate the Brownblood Tribe. They have shown great strength in front of the Moon god."
Most of everyone in the room applauded, making Chief Lupan well up with pride.
He was even more jubilated when he saw even the Conglomerates giving him praise.
Gabriel’s father then stood up and addressed Chief Lupan directly.
"Chief Lupan, you truly have a good future ahead of you. Your allies are quite interesting as well."
His words made the other conglomerates stare at him sharply. They didn’t want him to get ahead of himself.
"The Vanderbilt family is willing to ally with the Brownblood tribe," he declared. "... is what I would like to say. But I do not like my words to be empty. So, I will wait until I am able to give sufficient reason for you to ally with the Vanderbilts."
Then, he looked towards the human factions.
"We are currently in need of good transporters. We prefer a convoy that is fast and quick on their feet. Would anyone be able to provide that?"
The Zenthaven and Bonacore town representatives immediately raised their hands.
This was not protocol. After all, it was common knowledge that the first dibs of this kind of request still fell onto the most prosperous territory in the region. Metropolis!