Conversations similar to the one in the previous tavern were elsewhere in the empire.
"What do we do now, people? This situation is too dangerous. Two million people just expressed their opinion about surrender and were killed. There's no freedom of speech here." A young man commented to his friends from the western region who had come to the Black Plain Empire with him after the beginning of Vico and Maximilian's war.
A woman commented. "It's extreme, but where are we going to go? Back to Mairin? The Black Plain Empire currently has the best professionals for Saints like us. Local resources are the cheapest on the continent, while salaries are among the best.
Here, we can invest in the state and earn crystals without working. We have various benefits, such as free special cultivation areas, opportunities to join the army, and much more.
Are we really considering giving up all these opportunities to people who died for opinions we don't even agree with?" She looked at her old friends.
"Don't you see the problem here, Alice?" A man of level 74 asked with a disgusted look on his face. "What if we're the following ones? What if some of your relatives think differently from His Majesty in the future? You could lose everything, including your investments in the empire just because of that!"
"Yes, that's a problem." A blonde woman said to Alice. "I don't even talk to my older brother. I haven't seen him in over 100 years. But I know he lives in the empire today. What will happen to me if he screws up?
What happened to those 8 million people is very unfair, you know? I understand that maybe the punishment for those who actually expressed their opinions is understandable, but this is entirely out of touch with reality. It doesn't exist anywhere!"
"I understand your concern. I, too, feel uncomfortable with all of this. But people, we've come from our state to this place. We have to abide by the local rules." Alice spoke. "No migrant comes here without being introduced to the imperial law book. If you accepted the rules when you came here, why hesitate now?"
...
Meanwhile, Ambrose Snow, currently at level 73, was in a fancy restaurant in the largest city in the Snow's area, where he was still the local leader as the current representative of the assembly.
Next to him was a high-ranking Saint with whom he had a business meeting this afternoon but who was talking to him about local insecurity.
"Ambrose, what do you really think about this?" The black-haired man in front of Ambrose asked, a little concerned about continuing in a state where the emperor could kill so many people so quickly, and the local population had no right to ask questions.
Some residents had recently attempted to protest, demanding further justification from the imperial family. However, all attempts at protest were prevented by soldiers or police, and many people were arrested for public disturbance.
Knowing this, this man, who had lived here for less than six years, couldn't help but be concerned and ask for the opinion of someone who had dealt with Minos since the very beginning of the emperor's rise to power.
Ambrose smiled as he listened to his business partner's delicate question. "James, His Majesty is both generous and ruthless. Would I do the same as him? No, but I'm not him. I don't have his ability and knowledge. Otherwise, I would be the regional leader, not His Majesty.
His Majesty sees things differently, and maybe that's why he's so successful in his journey. So I think he is right in his decisions.
And from a lawful point of view, these people have committed a crime. The aliens are threatening the whole Spiritual World, so it's right to say that they are enemies of the empire and that they are trying to destroy the state.
Anyone who says out loud or signs a declaration that they will surrender to the aliens and be at their disposal in the future is basically saying, 'we are on the side of the enemy of the empire.' How is that not treason?" Ambrose smiled as he gestured.
He continued. "So the punishment was appropriate and followed all the empire's law book rules." He placed a small book on the table where there was food and drink, drawing James' eyes to the item that every migrant would receive with their ID when they migrated to the Black Plain Empire.
Ambrose finished his thought. "James, we're businessmen. When you sign a contract, you must follow through with it, right? So why question His Majesty's actions in enforcing the 'invisible' contract he had with these residents?
Anyway, if you follow the state's rules, you and your family will be fine. Here, you'll have a chance to grow like nowhere else in the world. So I wouldn't worry if I were you."
"Do you really think so?"
Ambrose asked, spreading his arms. "Do I look nervous? Just learn to dance to the music, James. You'll be very big when you do it."
...
Meanwhile, in an area near Brown's border with Albano, a group of people were hiding in a house on the outskirts of a large city.
In the basement of that house was a group of four nervous people, each of them breaking into a cold sweat as the latest newspapers littered the floor of that sparsely decorated or lit area.
"Shit!"
"We have to leave this state." One of the people there, a woman, said as she felt afraid to continue planning her group's actions in this place.
"But our plans to sabotage the empire haven't even gotten off the drawing board yet! How will we stop the madmen of this world from further developing their powers if we give up now?" A bald man asked.
That was a group of terrorists from a faction on the Central Continent who had planned to interfere with the powers of that continent to prevent the development of technologies based on alien projects.
The group they came from believe that the war Minos and his allies wanted to fight was a losing confrontation. Fighting would only cause more casualties for the world as a whole. So, instead of fighting, they wanted to make the world aware that accepting the aliens as their new monarchs might be the best way out for everyone.
Some may find this strange at first. However, this group used an excellent narrative and was successful in recruiting more and more people as more and more people believed similar things to them.
This story was very simple. The Spiritual World was already dominated by less than 0.1% of the population, those high-ranking individuals from organizations such as the Travisani Family, the Elves Tribe, the Pantheon of Honor, etc. For 99.9% of the population, switching from these and other groups to the aliens wouldn't make much of a difference!
So why not avoid unnecessary deaths and surrender to the aliens?
That was the group's argument!
