The next morning, we woke up, got ready, and then portaled back to the village of incest. I’m sure it had a name, but that was the only name I could think of at the moment. I had checked on Salicia, and other than that someone had knocked to ask if we needed anything, the night had been rather quiet. We opened the barn door and walked out refreshed, without anyone knowing we hadn’t slept there the whole night. Only Salicia looked a bit messy and haggard, but I could live with that.

“What’s the plan, Master?” Shao asked.

“We’ll hit the nearest villages first. If they are in trouble, we’ll liberate them. I’m going to send everyone here. Since this place… already has a reputation with the Bandits, it probably won’t be watched closely. It’d be the safest place for people to gather.”

Some people might not want to enter this town, but there were plenty of uninhabited buildings, and if the Bandits were giving this place a wide berth like I suspected, then it was a better place than I originally had thought to gather people. I had a dream of creating a city here, which would become part of my territory, and allow me to take over the Southwest of Aberis. Then, once I defeated a certain Count, I’d be the Lord of all of west Aberis. Nearly 1

/3rd of the country would be under my leadership.

It wasn’t like I was hungry for power or anything. I just wanted to strengthen my position and with time, live a safe life. For that, I needed land, people, and resources. I imagined building five large cities in the west. Chalm was already being built. Alerith I would conquer one day. Regency would fall under my leadership once the Bandits were taken care of. That left another city between Regency and Chalm. This felt like as good of a place as any. Then, I had dreams of building a border city in the wilderness, possibly supported by a dungeon I had subjugated.

That arrangement would put Chalm more or less in the middle of my territory, with other cities on the outside where they could protect my territory. Was I being a bit too ambitious? Maybe. Only time would tell if I was able to obtain my dreams.

“Start construction on a wall. Just pile up stones. It doesn’t need to be perfect yet.” I explained to the elder. “Also, it might be a good idea to build up some more places to stay. People will be coming to your town soon.”

“Yes, of course, my lord. I’m glad to see someone finally taking charge. The other lords either fled or were killed. Once they died at the hands of the Bandits, they refused to return, hiding in the Capital like cowards.”

“Are there no lords left?”

Other than the Grand Master, who had an honorary position in Aberis not unlike a lord, I hadn’t heard of any lords in Regency. Supposedly, the majority of the lords had already tried and failed. They were tortured and resurrected in the Capital. After facing days or weeks of torture and humiliation at the hands of bandits, they were likely angry, but also too afraid to return. My actions were supposed to help them receive some peace and possibly swear loyalty to me.

However, I didn’t want such men. I wanted those that didn’t run away and cower. If any still remained in the Southwest, these were the men I wanted to impress and gain their loyalty. These would become the ones who gave me strength.