Night time came, and the usually lit and bright city of Chabigtown went into a standstill for the first time. Almost no people walked out in the street, and the atmosphere was gloomy.
Because Aldred just took the city, and with the golems patrolling the street, no one dare to come out at night even though there were no cases of violence act by the golems.
Aldred was quite sad that this city become so quiet, but he believed he could change it for the better. After all, this wasn't his first time taking over a city. Soon, the people here would love him for what he could offer them.
Count Heled might did a good jog in managing the city, but like every nobles, he did not truly care about the people's well being. The city look grand and flourish from the outside, but people were actually pressed to make money and work hard because of how expensive thing were.
Especially the cost of potions, medicines, and general health products.
From now on, Aldred distributed the product for free. It wasn't expensive anyway, and health related services became much cheaper.
It was way more expensive before because the practitioner needed to pay a huge amount of money for their licenses. Aldred removed the cost of licenses which made the price of their services dropped exponentially. Of course, the money that they earned did not reduce at all.
As Aldred looked around during the night atop the balcony, he saw no activity of people at all. He did not even oppresses them or threatened them at all.
And yet they still feared him.
Aldred detected shadow moving in into the castle. One of the satellite detected it as well, and four metallic robots rushed in, bringing a huge assault rifle and began blasting.
The sound of flesh and skin being torn reverberated. 20 Bladed robots rushed over from afar at high speed.
Near the gate, a man and a woman fell on the floor. Their legs were terribly wounded with bones sticking out of the wound while blood made a puddle under their feet.
"Please, have mercy!"
"There is no mercy for spies," a robot said with a mechanical voice before they blurred into motion and pounced at them.
"Slip!" the woman pointed at the floor below the robot, and the robot fell.
The gunner robots began firing their large assault rifles.
The man gritted his teeth. "Acid Wall!"
A wall of green liquid suddenly appeared in front of them. It stopped the bullets and melted them.
Ten bladed robots rushed in from the side.
"Fuck! We surrender!"
"No prisoners allowed!" The robots did not stop and then slashed their head off.
Aldred appeared right after and looked at the spies. "Read their memory."
A satellite floated down and silver tentacles came out of its body, piercing into the man's head.
Right after that, it did the same thing to the woman's head.
The robot processed the information first before uploading it to the database.
"What is it Corduul?" Aldred asked through telepathy.
Corduul appeared beside Aldred in a flash. "These two are spies sent by the Earl of Northingia. His territory is neighboring us in the east."
"Do you think he will be mad at us for killing his spies?" Aldred asked.
"No. In fact, he might even respect you."
Aldred scoffed. "He sent the spies right in front of my gate. I think it's his way of underestimating me."
"What would you like to do, master?"
Aldred thought for a second before he asked: "What is the most destructive weapon you got?"
…
In the Capital of the Withokere Kingdom, the Tinediga city, within the throne room.
A man with a dignified aura sat on the throne with a majestic crown atop his head. His posture was tall and sturdy, and his gaze seemed to be filled with courage.
"A man suddenly appears and kill a noble of our kingdom," a noble said. "And are we not going to do anything about it?"
"Yeah! We should destroy the invader or else the other nations will consider us weak!"
Heshad Withokere sat calmly on the throne. Withokhere was a small kingdom, but all the soldiers and nobles of this land had the courage and pride of a dragon. One of the reason why it survived despite their small territory was its culture in warfare. They were not only brave and loyal, but they also use intelligent in battle.
Those two things were usually hard to balance, because to be brave, sometimes you need to be a fool. But they always manage. They never lose a war, but they also never initiate one.
People always came and attack them, but the kingdom never once lost a territory. In fact, it even gained a little from the war.
With this history, the soldiers, the people, and even the nobles had a strong patriotic honor in their heart.
Heshad was no exception. He felt proud to be the king of this kingdom.
"Your majesty, according to our spies, the invader is a golem master with a large army of golems. These golems are weird however. They said that they have never seen golems like these before."
"How so?"
"The golems… half of them do not use mana. And there are these castle-sized ships floating in the sky with powerful cannons."
Heshad coldly spoke: "We are a kingdom, while the enemy is only one person. Eradicating this man should be easy."
Heshad Withokere was an Adamantite Rank himself, so if he took hands directly, he could finish the job with a snap. But Adamantite Ranks rarely made a move, because they wanted people below them to proof themselves and gave the opportunity to rise up the ranks.
Not only that, the biggest reason was Adamantite Ranks were high-priced targets for assassination. If they reveal themselves, a team of Adamantite Ranks might capture them for ransom.
And any kingdom would pay a high price for it.
Suddenly, a guard entered the throne room and knelt. "Your majesty, an envoy from the Lord of the West has come to see you."
"Lord of the West?"
"That's what the envoy call his superior."
Ruhnan Noku could not say that Aldred titled himself as the Grand Emperor. If he said that to the guards, the nobles would order him to be killed on the spot and they will send an army towards Aldred.
So he could only lie and said a random title.
"Let him in," Heshad said.
Ruhnan entered the throne room all by himself. He was wearing a minimalist yet luxurious clothes. He looked dignified and confidence, but he was also harmless and could be trusted.
"What does your master want?" a noble asked directly.
"Before that, may I share a little story?"
"We have no time for your rubbish. Speak it out or I will kill you now!"
Ruhnan smiled. "I am merely a Platinum Rank, my lords. You can kill me whenever you want but you will lose a valuable piece."
Heshad frowned. "Explain."
"I am sure all of you know Count Heled as a wise and intelligent Count."
They all nodded in agreement. Heled's territory was quite rich and the economy was booming.
"I am not here to refute that fact," Ruhnan continued. "But despite his bright qualities, he also has a shadow within his heart as well. You see, apparently, he love to molest women. There is nothing wrong with that, but what if the woman was your wife?"
The nobles nodded again. Molesting women was fine, but if their wives were molested then that was a different thing completely.
"Count Heled dared to molest Aldred's wife right in front of his eyes. Enraged, he returned with shame and then bring his golem army to swept Heled's territory. Only when my master killed Count Heled did he realize his mistake. And so, to pay for that mistake, he is willing to give all of you a satisfying amount of his golems."
The nobles looked at each other after that statement.
Ruhnan smiled inside.
