Baturu said: "If we did this normally, we would indeed be ruthless and cruel. But once it is tied to resources, there is no such thing as mercy in any war. It is either you die or I live; this is what a resource competition is truly about. What you are seeing right now is merely a microcosm of it."
"In a war like this, the sovereign's orders cannot be disobeyed. The only thing we can do is carry out the orders, eliminate all our enemies, and get the resources we want. What does the life or death of anyone else have to do with us!"
"In this resource competition, at least you have a way to survive if you hand over your resources. In past battles, enemies were never left with a way out because the nature of it is different. Most of the people here are merchants. At other times they are enemies—if you don't kill them, they kill you. It's as simple as that!"
Chapter 148