Chapter 622: The Darr Kingdom’s Situation – Part 3

Back then, debate had raged in the council chamber, with literal fist-fights breaking out more than once between the two sides, but in the end, the Royalist Faction won out, with the deciding factor ultimately being money.

The Darr Royal Family was not only the largest land owner in the kingdom, they also controlled access to its largest body of fresh water and all the rivers that flowed from it, which allowed them to continue producing a significant amount of both grain and sugar even during the drought.

Decreased supplies of sugar coming from the Darr Kingdom also led to prices rising in foreign nations, which, ironically, benefited the royal family and its closest allies.

That increase in profits from sugar sales wasn’t nearly enough to make up for the damage that was being done to their territories by the drought, but it left them better-off than those of the Noble Faction who had, over the centuries, been quietly pushed out onto less favourable plots of land.

This divide in prosperity, which was compounded by the drought, led to a large amount of resentment building up among the Noble Faction’s members, especially Duchess Camille Dyer.

The Dyer Family, as one of the founding houses of the Darr Kingdom, was second in power only to the Royal Family, but due to a number of historical differences, it had always been at loggerheads with the Darrs.

Camille, the current duchess, was no exception. If anything, she was particularly antagonistic towards the royals.

During the drought, her territory, which was heavily dependent on a number of smaller rivers for its water supply, had suffered immensely.

On top of that, during the previous great war, many members of her family, including both her husbands, had been killed, leaving her with a deep and bitter hatred towards the Rockwell Kingdom.

She, perhaps more than anyone else in the Darr Kingdom, wished for war, both to expand her own territory and to seek revenge on her enemies. The fact that her efforts were repeatedly blocked by the Royalists was a point of extreme frustration for the prideful woman.

Still, while Duchess Dyer was one of the coldest, most ruthless people in the Darr Kingdom, she was also among its most cunning.

Camille understood the value of patience, planning, and preparation, all 3 of which she employed after the decision was made to not use military force to seize fertile land during the drought.

Today, the Dyer Family controlled a military force that rivaled that of the Royal Family in both scale and strength, at least among the lower-end troops.

Many of the most powerful masters and skilled officers still pledged allegiance to the Darr Family, which kept the kingdom’s internal situation somewhat stable, but everyone knew it wouldn’t take much for that balance to tip the other way.

This was what Darian had meant when he spoke to Celestina a few months ago.

The Noble Faction was pushing for war, and while Talia had cleverly devised a strategy that slowed their progress, there was only so much that could be done.

If the Royalists clamped down too hard on the Nobles in their calls for peace, it may signal to those who were still neutral, or to the more hawkish members of their own faction, that they were afraid of the Rockwell Kingdom.

Fear meant weakness, and when a leader is perceived as weak, bad things tend to happen to them, especially in a militaristic society like the Darr Kingdom.

On the other hand, if the Royalists decided to go all in and fully support the idea of war, Darian, Talia, and most of the kingdom’s top military officers were convinced that it would only lead to disaster.

Seizing territory from the Rockwell Kingdom was no easy feat, while holding it was nearly impossible. The past several wars had proven this again and again.

The two kingdoms had suffered immensely in the last great war, with an enormous number of soldiers and civilians being killed on both sides, yet when the dust settled, the borders between them ended up essentially unchanged.

Since then, neither the Rockwell nor the Darr Kingdom had grown significantly faster than its opponent, so their relative strengths were still roughly equal.

Launching another great war right now seemed not only foolish, but also pointless, yet the Noble Faction was absolutely dead-set on doing just that, a point that had confused Darian to no end.

King Darian was always up for a good fight, but that didn’t mean he was willing to smash his head into a rock just to prove how tough his skull was.

Still, refusing outright wasn’t an option, so a compromise was reached.

The Darr Kingdom would engage in a slow, steady, secret military buildup, one that would leave the option of military action open but not fully commit the kingdom to war just yet.

This strategy had worked for the past few years, and when the explosion happened in the Great Western Forest, even the staunchest pro-peace members of the Royalist Faction began to think this might be a once-in-a-generation opportunity.

Unfortunately, that opportunity had failed to materialize.

Somehow, someway, the Rockwell Kingdom had managed to weather the disaster and come out stronger on the other side, which was as impressive as it was frustrating for the Darr Kingdom.

Debate continued between the members of the Royal Council, specifically between the Royalists and the Noble Faction, about just what they should do next.

It was clear to everyone that the Rockwell Kingdom was building up its own forces now; whether that was because they had noticed the Darr Kingdom’s activities or simply because the recent crisis had forced them to was unclear, but either way, it was now complicating their plans.

In order to maintain their edge, the Darr Kingdom would have to accelerate its preparations for war, which suited the Nobles just fine, but was something the Royalists definitely wanted to avoid.

Eventually, a compromise was again struck, “We’re agreed, then? We accelerate our timetable, but only by 1 year, aiming for completely readiness 2 years from now.”

Everyone looked disgruntled and unsatisfied, but perhaps that was how they knew this was the best possible outcome they could expect, so they all reluctantly nodded.

As for Prince Landon, he had retreated to a seat in the back of the hall and was now just waiting for the meeting to end.

He had been called to give a report, but as a member of the younger generation, he had no say in the council’s decisions.

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