Lord Silverbrook squealed like a pig as he watched Ethan charging toward him at terrifying speed, the bloated nobleman’s jowls trembling as the color drained from his face.

"Protect your lord, filthy peasants!" he bellowed, only deepening the contempt in Ethan’s heart.

A third-stage warrior, begging for help from soldiers who looked like they hadn’t eaten in days.

Pathetic.

In that moment, Lord Silverbrook watched his forces crumble completely.

Weapons dropped into the mud one by one, accompanied of pleas for mercy from those ragged, half-starved men.

"S-spare me!" he screamed as well, voice cracking as he raised his sword in desperate defense.

His entire body trembled and his feet sank deep into the wet earth as Ethan’s blade crashed against his own.

He was still a third-stage warrior, after all.

"You don’t deserve mercy."

Ethan drove his boot into Silverbrook’s gut.

The air rushed out of the fat nobleman as he was sent flying backward several meters, crashing into the mud with a heavy thud. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

The fat pig rolled helplessly through the muck, gasping for breath, only to feel Ethan’s sword plunge deep into his belly.

The Lord bellowed, thrashed, grunted, and wept all at once, his fat body writhing against the impaling steel as hot entrails began to spill from the gaping wound.

"And you don’t even deserve the dignity of dying like a human."

With a single sharp stroke, Ethan severed Silverbrook’s jugular, leaving him bleeding out on the ground like a pig in the slaughterhouse.

Rising and leaving the nobleman to twitch out his final moments in the filth, Ethan turned his face.

The battle had lasted no more than two minutes.

With their morale in shambles and their stomachs hollowed by weeks of hunger, Silverbrook’s forces truly hadn’t needed much to break.

Even so, more than fifty bodies now littered the field, while the Goldenveil guard had suffered only a single wounded.

Ethan glanced back and pressed his boot down on the pig’s neck, snapping it with a sharp crack.

Without hesitation, he reached out and activated the Blood Emperor’s ring.

His eyes gleamed as the notifications flooded his vision, revealing just how many stats a third-stage warrior could yield.

[You have absorbed the blood of 54 humans

You absorb a small portion of your targets’ talent and attributes

+6 Strength

+5 Vitality

+3 Agility

+3 Intelligence

+250 Aura Reserve

Blood Reserve: 1600/1600]

[You have leveled up! 65 -> 66

+3 free attribute points]

[You have successfully subjugated the medium-sized village of Windmere!

+ 5 prestige

+ 5 premium gacha tickets

+ 10 common gacha tickets

Congratulations, you have received: 1x good-quality city core]

[You have successfully conquered the medium-sized village of Silverbrook!

+ 5 prestige

+ 5 premium gacha tickets

+ 10 common gacha tickets

Congratulations, you have received: 1x high-quality city core]

Ethan smiled, thoroughly satisfied with the rewards, before lifting his gaze to the villagers gathered around them.

Their faces held many conflicting emotions.

Some looked at him with anxious eyes, others with fear, and still there were those whose gazes burned with anger.

"I am Ethan Goldenveil," he spoke, his voice no longer carrying the icy edge from before. With a firm gesture, he tore off his helmet, revealing his handsome, noble face.

"From this moment on, you will all become citizens of Goldenveil. You will be protected by me, you will receive housing and food, you will be given honest work, and you will have, I promise, a dignified life free from oppression."

Those words, coming from an invader, might not have been enough to change the hearts of the villagers entirely.

Even so, they were enough to make knees buckle, one by one, into the mud.

Ethan was an invader, yes, but at least he carried nobility in his words.

Ethan smiled again, his gaze settling on Adam, the same young man who had been beaten by Silverbrook on the day he first arrived in this village.

"Is your sister all right?" he asked, his eyes shining as he sensed the Rank A talent humming within Adam.

"Y-yes, my lord..." Adam lowered his head, hesitating for a brief moment before continuing. "I hid her in the forest."

Ethan wouldn’t try to take her by force too, would he?

Adam shuddered at the thought, his fingers clenching tight against his own tattered clothes.

"Good. You don’t need to hide her anymore. When you reach Goldenveil, join the guard. No one will dare force her to do anything in Goldenveil."

Ethan turned, his gaze finding Doran, who was tending to the wounded soldiers.

"My lord." Doran approached quickly, bowing.

"I’m returning to Windmere now, but I’ll take only fifty soldiers with me. Stay with the rest and prepare the people of Silverbrook for the journey. Tomorrow, the transfer must begin."

"It will be done, my lord." Doran bowed respectfully, drawing a gentle smile from Ethan.

Soon, the Goldenveil guard spread out across Silverbrook.

They broke open the storeroom once sealed by the former Lord and distributed its bounty to the starving population.

Wounded men were tended with healing potions, while others gathered the old city guard’s weapons and armor, readying everything for transport.

Slowly, even less than an hour after the death of their corrupt leader, the faces of Silverbrook’s people began to brighten.

They had been given care, nourishment, and the chance to bury their dead with dignity.

Adam, who had slipped away from the village for a few minutes, returned with his sister.

She was a beautiful red-haired girl whose beauty was terribly marred by hunger and her skeletal frame, her cheekbones sharp beneath sunken eyes.

With a delicate grip on a fresh loaf of bread she had received directly from a Goldenveil soldier, she ate.

"Adam," Ethan called, motioning for the young man to approach as he grabbed the reins of his horse.

He was already prepared to ride out.

With a smooth motion, he swung himself into the saddle, settling Alice comfortably across his lap while Evelyn climbed up and seated herself behind him this time.

"You and your sister will accompany us to Windmere."