At Johan’s words, the mercenaries became excited and stepped forward. They grabbed the vassals by the arms and dragged them away. As the atmosphere turned strange, the vassals panicked and shouted.  

“Your Excellency! We have surrendered! It is against the rules to treat those who have surrendered like this!”

“We do not accept surrenders after an attack has begun. Execute them. How many have died so far?”

At Johan’s question, the mercenary captains answered awkwardly.  

“Not only the count but also his wives. . . it seems several vassals have died as well.”

“The rumors will spread terribly.”  

Johan clicked his tongue. Now that it had come to this, he didn’t even know to what extent bloodshed to expect.  

He had gone through the trouble of hosting a banquet to placate the nobles of this kingdom. . .  

‘𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘬𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘶𝘱 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘴.’  

“Clean up the castle. Stop the looting and find the b*stard’s property. Catch his scribes, attendants and servants, and make them spill what they’ve hidden. . .”

“What should we do with the captured nobles?”

“Lock them up for now. I’ll decide after reviewing the situation.”

Originally, he was going to leave the count alone and ruthlessly exploit the meddling vassal families by threatening to leak secrets and refusing ransoms. . .  

But now that this had happened, his thoughts became complicated.  

‘𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺?’

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

However, the situation unfolded a bit differently from Johan’s expectations. There was less backlash than he had anticipated.   

The families who had come to the banquet sent envoys to congratulate him on his victory and declare that they would become his new vassals.   

“Your rights will remain as they are.”  

“Your Excellency! Shouldn’t you stop them from adhering to their improper religion?!”  

“I have no choice. The republic envoys strongly demanded it. If we force conversions, many merchants will flee across the sea and chaos will ensue. From the republic’s perspective, trade will become too difficult.”   

Of course, it wasn’t actually a demand from the republics. In fact, if large numbers of merchants fled, the biggest loss would be to Johan rather than to them.   

However, it wasn’t a completely false statement either. The priests of the religious order couldn’t help but resent the republics.   

“We will make generous donations to the new temple being built for you all, so please don’t resent the republic people too much.”  

“. . .Yes. We understand.”   

After appeasing the order, Johan casually asked those who had come:  

“What are the reactions of the other families?”

“They are delighted with Your Excellency’s victory.”  

“Speak appropriately and tell me the truth.”  

At Johan’s words, the envoy became embarrassed and opened his mouth.   

“While there are some expressing discontent, such fellows can be ignored. They know nothing and are small in number.”

“They say it’s no big deal that the count died?”

“Yes. In any case, it wasn’t Your Highness who caused the incident. Moreover, did you not execute those unruly fellows in his place? No one brings up that matter.”  

“!!”  

Johan was surprised.  

He was seeing an unexpected effect thanks to appeasing the nobles at the banquet. The nobles ready to switch sides staunchly defended the count’s death.   

Since the captured men also had to read the situation now, they agreed with those words. As a result, rumors did not spread as badly as Johan had anticipated.   

‘𝘏𝘮𝘮, 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴?’  

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸  

“The new count seems to be a much more sensible man than the rumors say.”   

The captured nobles nodded their heads. On the battlefield Johan had seemed like a mad demon, but after calmly cooling their heads and piecing together the rumors, he appeared in a slightly different light.   

From welcoming the families who came to properly holding the count’s funeral. . .  

It didn’t seem like he was just oppressing them by force and looting before leaving, but rather that he truly intended to govern.   

When they realized they weren’t dealing with a demon who didn’t understand dialogue, they became more at ease. It’s always the most frightening when you don’t know who you’re dealing with.   

“Then is the reason he’s treating us so well and not executing us precisely to gain our cooperation?”   

“That must be it. Since our families have quite some influence in this kingdom. . . If we cooperate, others will follow suit.”

“Then instead of chattering away, let’s go request it. If we say we’ll pledge loyalty so let us go, I’m sure even the count will be overjoyed.”  

“How much should we pay for ransom? Half?”  

“What are you saying. . . Are you trying not to pay any?”

“No, paying nothing at all is a bit. . .”  

“Even if we pay a little, we have to speak strongly when negotiating. The count seems like the far-sighted type, so he’ll know what’s most important.”  

The nobles called a servant and requested an audience. They eagerly prattled on in front of Johan. After listening to it all, Johan nodded and replied.  

“Cut the bullshit and prepare the ransom within the deadline. Anyone who fails to do so will have their neck severed.”   

“. . .!!!”

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸   

̇ȧ̇𝔴𝙚𝙗𝕤𝕥𝐨ṙ̇𝚒𝕖𝕤.ċ̇𝚘ṁ

Even after alternating between carrots and sticks, it took a solid six months to stabilize the kingdom.   

In fact, this speed was enormously fast. It would have been completely impossible without Johan.  

During this time, Johan tenaciously suppressed rebellions, appeased families, and solicited new supporters.  

━𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲? 𝐈’𝐦 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲. 𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐜 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞? 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞. 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭.  

━!  

The wealthy orcs of the kingdom were surprised yet delighted by the new count’s friendly overtures. They had never imagined that the invader from across the sea would show them favor.   

“Envoys have come from Gilsina, Your Excellency.”  

Gilsina, the port city closest to the peninsula across the kingdom. It was a city that had purchased autonomy from the former count.   

Johan clicked his tongue.   

“They probably came to grumble over their loss, right?”  

“I suppose so.”   

The city had nothing to be regretful over. Not only were they financially affluent, but they also had a decent number of mercenaries. They were also connected to the Emperor across the sea.   

As such, Johan could not casually issue orders to them either. In fact, despite having just ascended the throne here, Johan had not made any particular demands of Gilsina. He hadn’t even demanded the customary congratulatory gift.  

‘𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘹𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘺. . .’

No matter how tenacious Johan was, it seemed he would explode.   

‘. . .𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦.’  

However, as soon as the envoys finished their greetings, they began weeping and pleading.   

“Please help us, Your Excellency!”  

“?”