YM778.TV Chapter 68: Conquest { XXVIII }
Rowan watched them closely, reading their fear and doubt. His smirk widened. "I know you\'re all thinking about running away right now and you might also be wondering, \'Why should I risk my life for this fat fool?\' But listen carefully—if you try to flee, I\'ll kill your pathetic Lord right here. Then, I\'ll march to Glenwood and slaughter everyone—old, young, it won\'t matter.
Everyone you care about will die because you disobeyed my orders. If I were you, I wouldn\'t take such a risk."
The more he spoke, the more the fear dug deeper into the hearts of all Glenwood soldiers on sight.
Even Bryce and the others were sort of terrified after hearing him speak in such a dark and hostile tone.
On the other hand, his terrifying speech did wonders as Glenwood soldiers started dropping their weapons one after the other.
They thought about the implications of disobeying Rowan and decided not to take such a risk. Their duty in the first place is to protect their Lord and their fellow villagers; what kind of soldiers would they be if they tried to save their heads and leave the rest of their village to damnation?
With these thoughts in mind, they didn\'t dare to disobey the orders of the \'Demon.\'
The clanging sound as their swords were dropped on the ground soon exploded across the battlefield.
One after the other, all of Glenwood soldiers began disarming themselves and getting on their knees afterwards to prove their full surrender.
Bryce and the others watched as this took place with surprised expressions on their faces. The scene in front of them was simply amazing and almost impossible to pull off, but their beloved Lord was pulling it off with just a simple speech.
Even Fagin was puzzled; just a few minutes ago, he was pleading with his soldiers to rescue him. He even went as far as to make threats and promises, but none of them took his words.
But all it took for Rowan to get their full obedience was a threat, and none of them went against his orders.
\'How is this guy naive and dumb! I shouldn\'t have listened to that bastard!\' he cried out inwardly.
Not too far away from the shocking battlefield, Ren and Liara watched with surprised expressions. The scene both of them had witnessed in the last few hours was nothing but magical.
On the other hand, Rowan observed Glenwood soldiers surrendering with a grin on his face. \'This is it! The joy of controlling even your enemies with fear is heavenly!\' he thought.
After a few minutes, all Glenwood soldiers were now kneeling on the ground without a single intention to escape or attack. They had all given up and succumbed to their fears, becoming nothing but prey under the gaze of the scary demon ahead of them.
"You all made the right decision," Rowan commented with a grin.
Then he turned to his captains and gave them a nod; they immediately understood the message behind his nod and sprang into action without hesitating.
"Everyone grab their weapons," Bryce and Roland ordered their men at once.
They all went in the midst of the kneeling Glenwood soldiers and took the weapons in front of them, unarming them and leaving them with no single means of defending themselves.
On the other hand, Josh and Bruce gave orders to their men to bind their hands with the rope Rowan had given to them before the battle. Sadly, the amount wasn\'t enough to bind all of Glenwood soldiers, so they immediately went to the bushes to grab some fiber plants to use as makeshift ropes to bind the soldiers.
Unarming and binding Glenwood soldiers took them more than thirty minutes.
After they were done, Rowan began his next line of action. He ordered his men to start moving Glenwood soldiers as they marched forwards towards Glenwood.
They immediately carried out their orders—they ordered Glenwood soldiers to make several lines, then began marching them toward the direction of their own territory like slaves.
Ren rode towards Rowan as fast as he could and gave him his horse to ride because there were no other horses around except the one Liara rode on.
Rowan gave him a nod of approval as he took the horse from him and climbed on it. Then he gave Ren the order to grab Fagin and drag him along as they began marching towards Glenwood.
At this time, morning had already reached, and the bright morning sun was already up, radiating its glorious glow upon the forest path.
The scene below was quite mesmerizing and chaotic at the same time. A gallant figure rode on a white horse, leading a group of more than one thousand men towards Glenwood.
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It was morning hours in Glenwood, and the people could be seen moving around with smiles on their faces.
Unlike Winterseed people who got up very early to take care of their farms and go about other daily tasks, the people of Glenwood were the total opposite.
The streets were filled with little children running and playing around, men making casual conversations, women putting on nice clothes to reveal their high class, and others—none of them were busy or had the need to be.
A group of men sitting in front of a nice house conversed with each other.
"I do not have to visit my farm every day from now on. Once Lord Fagin returns with the new slaves from Winterseed, I will finally be able to leave a relaxing life of not worrying about the weeds on my farm but rather the harvest those new slaves are going to bring for me," one of the men let out with a hearty laugh.
"Haha, that is it. My farm will also be taken care of by those slaves as well, and I will have a lot of time to spend with my new wife. I am going to explore her every single free time I get," another added.
"I can\'t wait to see the beautiful Winterseed women Lord Fagin is going to bring with him."
The men discussed with hearty laughter, their every word revealing how much they trusted and believed in the might of their army to defeat Winterseed.
None of them shared a single doubt because they believed their victory was set in stone. After all, the number of their soldiers was almost the same, if not more, than the total number of villagers inhabiting Winterseed. With such a small number, their defeat was inevitable.
Not too far away from them, the women gisted among themselves with merry laughter.
"I heard the women of Winterseed are all young and beautiful," one of them said, bitterness dripping from her words.
"Of course, they are," another woman chimed in, folding her arms. "I\'ve seen one or two before. They don\'t have a single wrinkle despite being the same age as us. Their skin is smooth as silk, and their hair shines like gold. That\'s why our husbands can\'t stop talking about them. Every time they mention those women, it\'s like they forget we even exist."
"They\'ll regret it soon enough," one woman said with pure hatred oozing from her voice. "Wait until they bring those Winterseed women here. I\'ll make sure my husband never looks at another one of them again."
Unlike the lustful discussions of the men, the women\'s were instead filled with hatred and jealousy.
The men wanted to get one of the beautiful women as their concubines, but the women plotted how to stop that from happening.
Nevertheless, if they all knew what was coming for them, such discussions wouldn\'t be taking place. Instead of thinking about obtaining slaves, they would think about every possible way to avoid being one.