The Fall of Everything [Rewrite]

After an hour's rest, Corvus entered the meeting tent with Belisarius. Inside, the atmosphere was heavy, every face shadowed with worry. The arrival of Belisarius with Corvus made Zarqa, Kragan, Baldrek and the two old warriors a little uncomfortable, but they said nothing. When they had set out, they had thought they would eliminate a few bandits, but now they had complex issues to resolve.
As soon as Corvus sat quietly in his chair, Zarqa laid the large leather map on the table. "These are the locations of the major groups," he said, his eyes fixed on Corvus, pointing with his finger at the marked points on the map. His fingers ran over the map, as if pointing to the graves of the bandits. It had become quiet enough to hear every breath inside the tent. "If you give the order, I will clear them all before tomorrow evening."
One of the old warriors leaned forward, his brow furrowed. His voice carried the weight of years.
"Do they know we are here?"
Zarqa nodded with his eyes and took a short breath. "Yes, there are some who know. Some of the base camps we found were recently abandoned. Someone seems to have warned them. Others are not aware of the situation."
Baldrek said in a deep voice, "The bastard Tanar must have sent word. I heard rumours today that some bandits are working for him." The other warriors in the room had heard similar things.
Corvus did not focus much on this issue. He was aware of the situation and left this matter for later. Running his eyes over the map, he asked in a low voice. "What about the small groups? What are they doing?"
Zarqa's expression hardened. "They're always moving. Trying to catch them will take too much time. And if we try to catch them, they'll keep ambushing or hiding. They know the area better than we do. Without Tanar's support, we'll have a hard time catching them."
Kragan interrupted, his words echoing in the room. "We don't know exactly which groups Tanar is partnered with. If we take out the big groups without informing Tanar, the smaller groups will get scared and scatter. We'll catch the ones that aren't working with Tanar in time. The rest will flee and go to safer places because they have lost trust in Tanar."
Corvus' eyes travelled over the map again. Then he turned to Belisarius and translated the entire conversation into Adler language. This made Kragan nervous.
"Why is a outsider here?" he said. Corvus understood Kragan, but he was the one to judge whether his friend could be trusted.
"As you say, he is an outsider. He comes from another world and sees things differently than we do. That's why Belisarius' opinion may be important!" then his expression hardened. "And I decide who attends my meetings and who does not!" Kragan was not satisfied with his explanation, but he quieted down.
Belisarius realised it was about him, but made no comment. After listening carefully to Corvus, he studied the map for a few seconds.
"Bandits are all over the continent. There are three ways to get rid of them. Either you make a deal with the bandits, or you hunt them down regularly and punish them mercilessly, or you make sure that no one needs to be a bandit."
Corvus didn't quite understand these sentences, so Belisarius spoke more clearly.
"If you deal with bandits, you will get the benefits, but it is risky. You can regulate trade even if the bandits don't bring you money. For example, they might make it harder for groups of traders you don't want to enter your country, but you won't get in trouble politically. After all, it is the bandits who disrupt trade, not you."
Corvus and the others in the room didn't like the idea of dealing with bandits, but it was something they had never thought of before. Belisarius continued.
"Destroying bandits is costly. Even if you take out all the bandits at once, you have to keep sending men after them to make sure they don't get replaced. So you have to constantly deter bandits."
These words depressed the morale of the people in the room a little. Their plan was to destroy the bandits once and for all and leave the matter behind. They thought this would be a permanent solution.
"The third option is the most effective. If no one needs to be a bandit, there will be no bandits."
"What do you mean?" said Corvus. He didn't quite understand.
"Why would anyone become a bandit? I think you have to solve that question to solve the whole bandit problem."
Belisarius' words reminded Corvus of his conversation with the bandit a few hours ago. "The lack of livelihood..." said Corvus. That should have been the answer to the question.
"Exactly! Money is usually the reason for banditry. Of course, sometimes criminals and psychopaths form bandit groups, but once you catch them, that's it. But you can't get rid of bandits if there's a lack of livelihood! You can get rid of bandits if you solve the problem of livelihood, but this is the most difficult and long-lasting method."
Belisarius' words confused everyone in the room, and they were wondering what to do. Until Belisarius spoke up.
"The only thing you can do now is to destroy the bandits. It's a short-term solution, but you have no choice. We've barely even located the bandits, and you say most of them are in a deal with Tanar. So you can't deal with the bandits in this area right now.And the livelihood problems in Rhazgord can't be solved while bandits are around.So all you can do is wipe out the bandits once and wait for your deal with me to take effect."
Everyone in the tent silently confirmed the truth of Belisarius' words. Still, there was a tension in their hearts; one wrong step could ruin everything. Zarqa turned back to Corvus, seeming in a hurry. "What shall we do, move in the morning?The men are ready."
He shook his head slowly from side to side, thoughts warring in his head. "No," he said in a heavy voice, "I want to see what Tanar is going to do. He said he's going to take out a few groups by tomorrow morning. Let's see which groups he takes out. But in any case, it will be more effective to attack at night. We'll catch them by surprise." His voice intensified the tense atmosphere inside the tent. "What do you think?"
Everyone in the meeting understood Corvus' patient approach, but waiting for Tanar's troops to mobilise was risky. Nevertheless, they respected Corvus' plan. After minor adjustments, they approved Corvus.
Corvus turned his gaze to Baldrek, his voice commanding. "Go to Tanar first thing in the morning. Share with him all the information we have. Also find out if he has cleared out the groups he promised me. And don't forget to arrange for someone to follow Tanar and his men. We need to know exactly which bandits are working with Tanar."
Baldrek bowed his head, his strong hands tightening on the hilt of his sword.
"Understood."
After a moment of silence, Corvus spoke. He kept his voice as low as possible. He did this because he did not want his words to be heard outside under any circumstances.
"Someone was following me and Belisarius today."
Corvus' words caused everyone in the room to frown. Watching the camp and following Corvus directly were two different things. They were all loyal and valued Corvus. They were also deeply loyal to the Tiamats and Sanguinar.
"Did you kill him?" asked one of the older warriors. He knew Corvus' abilities well, and there were not many in Rhazgord who could escape Corvus, and he had heard that Belisarius was a good warrior too. Corvus tilted his head and shook his head from side to side, surprising the old man.
"I was about to catch him when another man appeared and distracted me. I missed them both."
Everyone in the room knew what that meant. These men were obviously well trained in espionage. Which meant they were foreigners. It could not be a good sign that foreigners would send such skilful men to the Rhazgord.
"Were they following you or Belisarius?" Zarqa asked. The answer to that question could make all the difference, but neither Corvus nor Belisarius would know. But regardless, spies from other countries were on Rhazgord territory, and that was an important problem.
"We must send word to Rhazgord! Sanguinar is not here and he has half the army with him! These men could be gathering information for war!" said Baldrek. He liked to make a big deal out of things.
"Are you afraid of war?" Kragan retorted. The two were joined in their quarrel by the two older warriors in the room. Until Corvus pounded his fist on the table.
"Shut up!" Corvus' voice drowned out every sound in the tent. Everyone was on edge, and the last thing Corvus needed right now was his trusted men fighting with each other. After telling everyone in the room about all the strange things he had noticed in the city earlier, he asked everyone for their opinions.
Many ideas were put forward, but none of them seemed to be enough for Corvus. Zarqa was silent from the beginning. He sighed deeply as if he wanted to show that he wanted to talk. When everyone turned their eyes to him, he began to speak.
"Bahoz is close to the borders, but don't you think it is strange that so many merchants are here? Even in the city of Rhazgord there are not this many merchants. On top of that, almost all of these merchants come from the same countries, and Tanar favours them."
Everyone in the room already knew what Zarqa was saying. Zarqa continued after a moment of hesitation.
"Although the city is full of merchants, I have not seen any different products being sold. Most of them are local products.Moreover, the merchants do not fill their carriages when they leave the city. They come full and leave empty."
These words hit the minds of everyone in the room like lightning. Everyone in the room started to scan their memories. What were the goods brought by the merchants and to whom were they brought. Everyone was looking for answers to these questions when Baldrek's voice gave the answer.
"The inns! They must be bringing goods for the inns!"
"Is there anyone staying at the inns? Why would they bring so many goods!" replied Kragan. Only merchants were staying in the inns, and their numbers did not even fill half of them. This was also a legitimate question. There were an abnormal number of inns in the city, but almost all of them were empty. Besides, the inns usually served Rhazgord food. So there was no need to bring goods from outside.
Many ideas were thrown around. Belisarius was silent, too busy thinking. Finally they decided to inspect the inns and merchants.
"Check the inns and merchants before noon tomorrow! Even if you can't find out what the merchants are bringing, find out where or to whom the goods are being taken. Whatever is happening in this city! Let's find out what these merchants are up to.Whether Tanar is lining his pockets or something else is going on."
It was time for the last topic, the one no one wanted to talk about. Corvus stepped in to end the unrest in the room. "Gather everyone tomorrow morning." He told Zarqa. "We will decide what will happen to the Bandit. Now get some rest."
Corvus' words ended the meeting. Everyone left the tent except Belisarius. Seeing that Belisarius was thinking like his brain was exploding, Corvus said, "I didn't know you were so smart." laughing. He was trying to lighten the mood. Belisarius also noticed this.
"While you were learning to swing a sword at the age of seven, I was learning how to rule a country."
The sun was still a long way from first light and the new day brought with it many things to do. So the two left after chatting a little more.