In the midst of the chaos and flames, Baron Rutherford stood atop a building watching it all happen.
A little smile could be seen on his face as his plan had succeeded. Silverleaf belongs to him!
Flap! Flap!
The sound of flapping made him lift up his eyes, but even his eyes could only see a golden flash, and in the next moment, golden flames rained from the sky, pulverizing rebels who were assaulting civilians.
Upon seeing the golden lion, which has four wings, long golden horns, and dragon-like claws, Baron Rutherford’s eyes widened to the limit.
“What is that?!”
A Rebel standing below him exclaimed, his arms trembling as he watched the dragon-like creature breathe flames.
“Change of plans. We’re leaving this town.”
Baron Rutherford said suddenly. He jumped down, running towards the stables as fast as his legs could take him.
The appearance of that beast wasn’t part of his plan. Who could have expected that a subspecies of the dragon species, the lion dragon, was in this city?!
Fighting it without a well-trained, well-equipped troop was suicide!
And so the only remaining option was to escape!
While Baron Rutherford ran toward the stables, Baron Scarlet was heading for the blacksmiths, the most important people in this town when the lion dragon appeared.
The scorching flames, several times hotter than his flames, made him turn. His eyes widened as he watched his men turn to ashes in mere seconds.
Thud!
The beast landed, its claws sank into the ground as it slowly turned toward him. Before Baron Scarlet’s eyes, the beast instantly transformed into Geriant, the warden.
“Under the orders of the count, you are to surrender or die.”
Baron Scarlet frowned. “You might have had the advantage as that beast, but not when you’re human!”
He shot forward, closing the gap and swinging his sword.
Clang!
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Geriant blocked the attack with his forearm, folded the fingers of his other hand, and threw a punch that launched Baron Scarlet into the smithy!
He tilted his head to the other rebels, and his eyes transformed.
“Do you know the punishment for rebellion?”
As he spoke, fangs grew out of his mouth and his body began to transform.
….
Sitting inside a study was a gray-haired man looking at the air. He supported his chin with his arm while looking at the stats of his cities.
Previously, he needed to be in the city to check their stats, but it seemed like the system was evolving as he rose in noble ranks.
As a count, he could check the stats of his cities, and one of the reasons he did this was to check their security status and loyalty.
Recently, he wasn’t too bothered by loyalty stats since it had risen.
Goshen was the only city he was worried about because of the influx of new civilians, but their stats were on the safe side.
[City’s Name: Goshen
City’s Tier: 3
City’s Grade: Normal
Population: 120,000/100,000
Security: 72/100
Loyalty: 81/100]
A breath of relief escaped his lips. Nineveh has the highest loyalty rate, almost hitting 100! Second to Ashkelon and third to Goshen.
Nimrim was at the same level with Ashkelon, while the town in the horror forest had about 65 loyalty, the same with Tiberias.
Just when Asher was about to close the panel, he sighted a yellow light amongst the soothing blue panels.
When he made the panel appear before him, his pupils dilated.
[Town’s Name: Silverleaf
Town’s Tier: 3
Town’s Grade: Half-Mythical
Population: 3000/5000
Security: 2/100
Loyalty: 37/100]
Asher ignored the appearance of this new stats that showed the grade of the dominion as his eyes were fixed on the security and loyalty stats.
Anything below 50 for loyalty meant that city needed troops to keep it under control and avoid rebellion, but the security was almost nonexistent and the loyalty was so low.
Before his eyes, it dropped.
[Loyalty:35]
One must know that a drop of loyalty stat in a dominion was different from that of an individual. For the dominion’s loyalty to drop, it must involve several people!
Asher rose up.
Alex was stunned when the door swung open and Asher stormed out, his cloak fluttering as he walked down the hallway.
“Gather the swordsmen; we ride for Silverleaf!”
By the time Alex gathered the King Swordsmen before the castle, all of them holding the reins of their horses, they found Asher on Sirius’ back.
“My lord, what happened?”
Kelvin rushed out of the castle.
“Something is going on in Silverleaf. I need to see what it is.”
“But my lord, you can send your subordinates.”
Kelvin’s words fell on deaf ears as Asher rode out of the castle with his swordsmen.
They galloped through the streets at full speed, causing those fast asleep to jump off the bed as the ground was trembling.
Rumble!
The light of the moons kissed Asher’s solemn. From a tall tower, a silver-haired beauty clad in a light blue nightgown looked out the window.
“Where is his lordship heading to at such an hour?”
….
After an hour, Asher arrived at the outskirts of the Bastide. He could see black smoke rising from the city with flames burning in different areas.
“What in Tenaria happened here?!”
Alex’s eyes widened.
Asher clenched his teeth. Sirius dashed forth, racing for the town like a silver streak.
When he entered the city, Asher heard screams and cries. He could see some men fighting off rebels, but most of them were lying lifelessly on the ground while the rebels roamed the streets.
The moment they saw him and Sirius, some of them dropped their weapons.
“It’s the count.”
Asher was still in shock. He couldn’t believe it. Were these the people he sought to make his citizens? People he refused to make slaves and never treated them as animals despite some of them killing his men in battle?
Were these the men that he showed mercy?!
His pupils shook.
“It’s the count and his troops!”