The good news was that there was no direct involvement of the city lord manor. Otherwise, things would get only more complicated. Although they didn’t expect help from the city lord, just being neutral would be enough of a help. Among the clan people, those with the Rijal clan bloodline numbered about fifteen hundred, for the remaining thousand or so people in the clan, they were either married into the clan, were invited as guests, or worked as servants in the clan.
For those with bloodline, there was no other way than to fight, and it was the same for the guests but for the servants, it was not their war. Punya was not cruel to include them in their battle and even if he included them, they were not strong enough to make significant changes. The only problem left was whether he should ask for help from other clans in the city and outside the city. In the city, there were a few small clans affiliated with the Rijal clan through various means. Although they could provide some resources and manpower, would they truly put their life on line for another clan, were they close enough for that?
As for friends in other tier three cities, they were a long distance away. Even if they went to call for reinforcements, it would be days before they could return, days the Rijal clan didn’t have. And who is to say they would surely help? The human nature is just like that everyone for themselves. There will be many people to kick you when you are already down. It wasn’t sure if every clan member would help so it was a farfetched idea to call for outside help without massive resources. The most frustrating thing was the enemy was in the dark and their strength was unknown.
They had no idea which clan was invited. The afternoon had already passed and Punya knew there was not much he could do with haste. Everything had to be as discreet as possible. Although large movements made by the clan could be easily tracked, he still wanted to make the suspicion from the two clans as low as possible. This was a shitty situation and Punya knew shittier ones were coming so they just had to endure till the end.
Evening came and there was a cacophony of noises in the clan gate. The golden rays of sunlight had landed on the Lunaris city and with the rays, around five hundred members of the Rijal clan had entered the clan gate. Their immediate family members went there to receive them. Some of the clan members were happy to be back, some of them sad for the missed opportunities and some of them had serious expressions and injuries all over the body.
It was similar for their family members. Some of them were glad their relatives came back safe, some were concerned about seeing injury and some were asking the returned ones for the news about those back in the outpost. As for some, they were crying because they already those few people would never come back. The clan had compensated them but in the end, compensation is only compensation, they had already lost their close ones. Along with the members of the clan, there was a convoy bringing resources from the outpost.
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There were about twenty Battle hall members escorting the convoy. After Punya had sent his shadow to the outpost, Radha transferred almost all of the gathered resources to the clan since it would be of big help at the moment. As for the twenty members of the Battle hall, they would be of immense help in doing things in the dark. They had taken the curse from Radha to protect the clan so there was no need to doubt them. Punya could trust them more than his subordinates and since they followed orders without questions, they were perfect for some covert operations.
And Punya had some in mind. With their help, things would get only easier. After taking the convoy directly to the treasury hall, Punya asked five Battle hall members to supervise the catalog of the materials as well as store them in order of scarcity. He was going to give whatever supreme elders needed from these materials. As for the other materials he can commission the elders to prepare as fast as they could.
The reports he had asked from his subordinates and spies were coming continuously. And every report stated that there was something fishy going on with the major clans. There were also some minor clans involved. Hearing reports Punya was sure they would attack the clan in a few days. He had to be ready that was why he had asked Radha to prepare a grand entry for the returning clan members. Previously after talking with the fifth elder, he had asked his subordinates to prepare the list of outstanding children in the clan. After he had vetted the list himself, there were about two hundred children left.
This seemed a large number to take away into the forest so he vetted again and selected one hundred and fifty children. After selecting them, he asked Keshab to make a portable array for concealment. The clan already had something like that but Keshab re-engraved arrays to make it more efficient. There were no cutting corners when it came to the safety of the clan. He asked Bhimeshwor to talk to their parents personally and when he talked to them about taking the children to the Skill pavilion for assessment for half a month, the parents readily approved.
Although he was one of the most eccentric people in the clan, when it came to teaching, he was second to none in the whole of Lunaris city. Most of the clan members were taught by him and it was after the clan leader begged and threatened to so they knew what it meant if he was taking initiative to teach. Most of the parents, they were thinking he was about to take an heir to the Skill pavilion. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When asked for half a month's leave, most of them didn’t ask where they were going, they just agreed. For those who asked he just shrugged and replied you will know after half a month.
They knew the behavior of this elder so they could only chuckle awkwardly. Even the clan leader couldn’t do anything about his behavior so what could the common members do? As for further instruction, the fifth elder just whipped out some nonsense like assessing their parents at the same time and secrecy was important. Although most may not believe it, by dawn tomorrow, he will be far from the city so who cares?