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Chapter 53
Chapter 53: The King’s Banner Changes Atop the City Walls
At daybreak the next morning, the cavalrymen went door to door, knocking on the tightly shut doors of the residential district.
Even though the residents of Fineleaf City had long been mentally prepared, they still had not expected the city to fall so quickly.
The king’s banner had changed atop the city walls. Some people had taken advantage of last night’s chaos to flee, but even more had cowered inside their homes, the place they believed to be the safest.
When the cavalrymen arrived, they were not as fierce and vicious as the residents had imagined. In fact, when they spoke, they were even more courteous than the guards of the residents’ own city.
Еnũm ā.іd
“Friend, come out. Lady Luna wants to meet everyone.”
“Which Lady Luna?” A gaunt old man opened the door a crack with trembling hands. The tall, powerful cavalryman before him gave him a polite bow.
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“Does our Northern Territory have a second young lady? Luna. Lady Luna Charles.”
Obviously, the surname Charles made the old man lower much of his guard. He opened the door and walked out with his cane, then hurriedly asked, “Are you soldiers of the Duke?”
“That’s right, friend. Come with us.”
“Good, good. I’ll go right away.”
Wӗ b̃ n̄ ӧv́ẽ l̊. Еn̊u m_а̌
The old man followed behind the cavalryman and visited several more households. Even the young and strong men turned pale the instant they came out and saw the cavalrymen.
But they could not resist. The armor and bloody aura on these cavalrymen could not be compared to those of the local private soldiers. Even someone with no military knowledge could tell from their broad-backed, powerfully built frames that they were not people to provoke.
More and more people gathered. The old man seemed to want everyone to relax, so he muttered on his own, “Last year, this old man nearly starved to death. I only managed to survive because I went to Ice City with the refugees. The Duke is a good man. He gave us bread and meat. It’s just that this old man can’t work anymore, or I would have gone to become one of those workers too.”
The crowd’s unease was not relieved. Everyone was still at a loss. The Duke was too far away from them. But after large groups of people gathered together, they seemed to become less afraid.
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Luna stood in front of the armory. Watching the residents gradually arrive under the cavalrymen’s guidance, she hurriedly rubbed her cheeks with her hands.
In terms of inner unease, she was no less nervous than these residents.
W ѐ ḃ ǹ ȯv̊ е̇ l Е̌ nu m а
This was her first time leading troops on her own. If it were only a matter of fighting a battle, she would have enjoyed it instead. The only regret was that last night, no one had actually charged at her, the main commander!
Did they not know that to catch the bandits, they should first catch the king? If nothing else, they could at least shoot a couple of arrows at her.
Shouldn’t a brave warrior among them have volunteered the moment she appeared beneath the city, galloped out of the city, and fought her to the death?
If there was one battle Luna had studied the most, it was that famous battle jointly performed by members of the Charles family and the royal family—the Battle of Where Are the Dads Going?
The moment that battle began, the elite demon cavalry had charged madly straight toward the King and the old Duke. They had practically used the corpses of their own soldiers to pave a path straight to the enemy’s heart.
The fathers were still arranging troops and designing the defensive focus when the decisive battle had already erupted at the front. The demon race’s entire army pressed down with everything they had, without any regard for tactics or strategy. In an instant, that battle had reached a white-hot intensity.
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The old Duke was stunned. The King was stunned too. Luna expressed that she had learned something.
It was just that last night’s defenders had been too incompetent and had failed to show off her standard. Instead, they let the adjutant make a huge display of himself…
As for governing a territory and winning the people’s trust, she had no idea where to begin.
It was as though her elder brother had already predicted all this long ago. Before parting, he had even specially warned her, “Luna, too much knowledge is not actually very useful. What matters is the wisdom drawn from knowledge. You must use wisdom to do things, not knowledge.”
“If you fully believe in books and fully believe in knowledge, you will not only harm yourself, but also those residents.”
Looking at the residents before her, who were staring at her at a loss, Luna returned the same clear, blank stare.
Е n̄u m̌ а . і d̀
For a moment, both sides felt somewhat awkward.
Fortunately, Luna was not entirely unprepared. She still had a clever strategy that Commander Red had given her.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Um… give everyone weapons. We set out!”
Luna was so nervous that she even forgot to introduce herself. The speech she had spent the entire night thinking about also went completely unused.
It was the adjutant who stepped forward, put his hands on his hips, and shouted at the crowd, “Silence! Listen carefully. Lady Luna is the Duke’s own younger sister. Now that she has come here, she is your new liege! Your new lord!”
“Lady Luna has always been clear about right and wrong, and she rewards and punishes with proper measure! She knows that the ones who rebelled against their superiors were not you, but those greedy and cunning nobles!”
Е́ num̂а ..іd̄
“They are all bastards, beasts, animals, and parasites!”
“Now, all young and strong adults, line up and come forward. Take your weapons, stand beneath Lady Luna’s banner, go to the nobles’ homes, and take back everything that belongs to you!”
“Step forward! Form ranks!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Luna immediately nodded in satisfaction. That was right. That was exactly what she meant.
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The residents listened in a daze, but they clearly heard the words “the Duke’s younger sister.” Under the lead of a few bold young men, they obediently formed a long line and followed the cavalrymen’s guidance, picking up the dusty, worn-out weapons in the armory.
It had to be said that once a person picked up a weapon, everyone’s expressions began to grow complicated. After all, material conditions determined consciousness.
W̊ѐb̄ ǹ о̌ v eĺ Е̃ n u m a
A certain famous person once said: When you carry a nuclear bomb in your pocket, all oppression and pressure vanish like smoke.
There was also a fine lyric: Carrying a nuclear bomb, running forward, facing cold stares and mockery, how can one feel the vastness of life without hardship? Fate cannot make us kneel and beg for mercy, even if blood spills all across our chest…
Leading the residents, Luna mounted her horse first and arrived before a splendid, luxurious estate.
“Break down the door!”
Without another word, the female soldier struck it with a powerful Iron Mountain Lean and forcefully smashed the gate open.
A few private soldiers who still wanted to fight to the death roared as they charged out of the estate, but in just a few moves, the female soldier cut them down to the ground.
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When the noble not far away saw the dark mass of people outside the gate, his legs went weak on the spot, and cold sweat poured down his entire body.
The female soldier wiped the blood from her hand without the slightest concern, sheathed her blade, and stood to the side to clear the path.
Luna sat on her horse and smiled at the residents still hesitating at the entrance. “What? You don’t dare go in?”
“My lord, please… please go first.”
“Haha, good. Then follow me in.”
Luna dismounted, pressed one hand against the scabbard at her waist, and strode inside.
Wе̄b̊n̄ ov е̃ l̀ Ѐn ûṁа̂
The residents looked at one another, then cautiously tested their way forward, avoiding the corpses on the ground step by step as they hurriedly followed behind Luna.
“Go move the treasures in the storeroom out. I’ll take the residents around.”
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“Yes!”
The cavalrymen received the order. A few stayed behind to guard Lady Luna on either side, while the rest directly bypassed the noble and charged into the house.
They even found the noble to be in their way and kicked him out.
Luna caught the “ball” the cavalrymen had kicked over. Like dragging a dead dog, she grabbed the noble by the back of his neck and led the residents on a tour of the noble’s estate.
Е̂ṅ úm ӑ .ǐd
The noble screamed and cried in pain. Luna’s fingers tightened around his flesh like iron pincers as she dragged him around on parade.
The residents did not understand what was happening. It seemed that Lady Luna had not brought them here to fight after all. Instead, she seemed more like a guide as she began introducing the various objects in the estate to them.
Century-old elven wood, a golden spoon made with dwarven craftsmanship, pearls from the ocean…
“Oh my, this is something good. Whose daughter is this? Whose mother is this?”
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When they arrived in front of a glass display case, Luna tore down a curtain and looked with great interest at a skin husk propped up by a frame.
“This!”
Ẽň umа.і d
The residents were shocked. Why were the nobles collecting these things? They called these exhibits? Collections?!
Pairs of eyes filled with fear and anger glared at the noble, who was still crying out in pain and begging for mercy. The blades and swords in their hands trembled uncontrollably. Faintly, sobbing could also be heard from the crowd.
“What are you panicking for? Someone come and identify this. Whose child is this?”
Luna stepped forward and pointed at a small wine cup with a special texture. There was no longer the slightest hint of a smile on her face.
Look at this display wall. Some were soaked in glass jars. Some hung from iron hooks. Some had been processed. Some had not. Some could still be recognized. Some could not be recognized at all!
The fear that humans were born with toward the corpses of their own kind had been easily overcome by certain people. That was why they were so proud of themselves, and why they had filled this place with their spoils of war!
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
No one knew what kind of feelings the residents carried as they finished walking this path. When they returned to the center of the courtyard and looked again at the beautiful, elegant estate under the sunlight, they actually felt a terrifying sense of being worlds apart.
The cavalrymen poured box after box of copper coins onto the ground. Back in the Western Territory, they had already lit up the skill tree for looting, so they guaranteed that this work was done both quickly and well.
Without another word, Luna lifted that noble and cut open his throat with one sword slash. Before he could even breathe his last, she threw him onto that pile of treasure.
This was the secret Red had taught her for quickly conquering a city.
Building trust between people required time, but destroying trust only required an instant. The first step of conquest was to collapse the chain of trust among the locals.
Gather the money together, soak it with the blood of those above, then distribute it to those below. This was both a demonstration of power and a method of winning people over.
W̊ё b̂ñ.ovѐl Е̌ ń üm̈_а̄
According to tradition, the local commoners should be made to carry out this entire process. But Luna did not want them to carry the guilt of killing someone. They were too kind…
It was just that there did not seem to be enough blood.
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After staring blankly for a while at the noble still struggling and thrashing on the pile of money, Luna frowned. This fellow had seized so much wealth all on his own, yet his blood was not even enough to distribute with his money?
This put Luna in a bit of a difficult position. Should she… squeeze him for juice?
“My lord, I know what to do.”
A young man with reddened eyes and a gaunt, hungry face stepped out. Under everyone’s puzzled gazes, he used his bamboo-thin arms to laboriously lift a long blade and chopped it into the noble’s thigh.
Е̃ n ú m̊ ӑ . і d̆
After doing all this, his face flushed red as he tried to pull the blade out, but he clearly did not have the strength.
The adjutant walked over, silently held his hand, and easily helped him pull out the blade.
“Th-thank you.”
The young man hurriedly lowered his head and thanked him. Then he wiped the blood on the blade with his hand, grabbed a handful of copper coins from the ground, and quietly stood behind Luna.
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Once there was a first, there was a second.
Everyone stopped speaking. They simply followed his example and did the same thing, as though completing some kind of ritual, chopping the noble, who had long since breathed his last, into several chunks of rotten flesh.
Eň um̀ a . ĭ d_
The last ones were the elderly, the weak, the women, and the children who had not taken weapons. By the time it was their turn to receive money, only the pile of bloodstained copper coins at the center remained.
Looking back at the growing number of residents behind her, Luna silently turned around, and her heart suddenly ached for no reason.
She suddenly understood why she had always felt that her elder brother clearly seemed to have done nothing, yet also seemed to have done everything.
Just like her trip here. Had she truly made any great contribution?
No. But as long as she came here and clearly showed where she stood, the people would naturally make their choice.
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