Cleanup

"Donny, stop standing there in a daze. Take Edward's helmet and sword back to the castle first. Tell Madam Madeline about this, then have the servants in the castle bring the bodies from the pit back... As long as you follow the few things I taught you, the overall situation in Glan Territory will be in your hands."

Zhou Ming patted his shoulder and said casually into his ear, "You are now Baron Connor's only son and the sole heir of Glan Territory. Even if a few blind fools stand in your way, as long as I'm here, nothing will go wrong again!"

Zhou Ming was extremely confident when he said this. Originally, Glan Territory had eleven knights besides Baron Connor, including Edward. But in the "500 Horses Battle," six of those eleven knights had died. Of the remaining five, aside from Knight Henry, whose eye Zhou Ming had stabbed blind, and these three lying in the pit... Glan Territory now had only Knight Morris, who guarded Baron Connor day and night.

And looking at the twenty-odd strong bandits in Small Woods, Zhou Ming had no reason to doubt that he could control the overall situation in this tiny Glan Territory.

Donny nodded and accepted the crushed helmet and horribly bent longsword that Great Thief Jero handed him. He mounted his horse and returned to the castle.

"Mother, this is bad! Brother Edward was killed by bandits!"

After the terrible news reached the castle and the bodies were quickly brought back, Madam Madeline fainted on the spot. Baron Connor, already gravely ill and near death, vomited a mouthful of blood and fell unconscious for several days in a row.

After Madam Madeline woke up, she gathered all the servants and had the steward Brunode and her younger son Donny oversee the territory. She also had Knight Morris recruit a group of strong farmers to patrol the territory day and night, strengthen the castle's defenses, and dispatch messengers to seek aid from neighboring lords and Earl Lautz.

Naturally, Zhou Ming had every one of those messengers intercepted and killed. Before he had complete control of the situation, he would not tolerate even the slightest hidden danger disrupting his plans.

A week later, Donny sent someone from the castle with a letter. It said that only one-third of the people in the castle were willing to listen to him, while the other two-thirds belonged to Brunode. No matter how he tried to win them over, he could not, so he asked what he should do.

"This Donny really is useless. He doesn't even know how to win people's hearts. It's nothing more than divide and entice. I taught him so many tricks step by step before, yet he still doesn't know how to use them..."

"Forget it. Steward Brunode is an Old Fox who has lived for decades. A green kid like Donny definitely can't outfight him. Tell him to open the castle gates. The time to enter the castle has come..."

Zhou Ming sent Donny a reply, arranging for him to open the castle gates at dawn the next day. He and Great Thief Jero and the others, more than twenty people in total, would enter the castle and help him ascend to the position of lord.

Amid a series of creaking gate sounds, with Donny coordinating from within, Zhou Ming and more than twenty fully armed men, including Great Thief Roger, surged into the castle at dawn the next day.

Seeing this group of fierce-looking men suddenly enter the castle, Madam Madeline trembled all over. Pointing at Great Thief Roger and the others, she questioned her son Donny, "Donny, wh-what are these people? Are they friends you made outside? How come Mother never knew you had friends like this?"

Madam Madeline had already vaguely guessed what was going on.

"Respected Madam Madeline, there is no need to worry. These people are mercenaries that Young Master Donny asked me to hire outside. They have come specifically to protect you and the castle," Zhou Ming's voice came from the doorway.

"Ryan?"

Madam Madeline was startled. Pointing at him, she said, "Didn't you leave a few days ago? Why have you returned? Could it be..." Her eyes suddenly widened as she stared incredulously at the unfamiliar people in the room, as though she had understood everything.

"Respected Madam Madeline, too much has happened recently. I think you should go back and rest properly. Leave the affairs of the castle to Young Master Donny. Young Master Donny will take care of everything."

Zhou Ming spoke with a smile, but in Madam Madeline's eyes, he was as terrifying as a devil.

After having Snake Woman and several female bandits "escort" Madam Madeline back to her room to rest, Zhou Ming turned his attention to the steward Brunode, whom he had been most looking forward to dealing with.

The next day.

After a late-night raid.

In the center of the castle's front courtyard plaza stood more than a dozen chests filled with dazzling treasures. They contained gold and silver coins, gemstones and jade, as well as all kinds of rare and exotic valuables.

Seeing these treasures, Zhou Ming sighed. He had not expected the miser Brunode to have embezzled and hidden so much treasure not only in his own residence, but also in his "little treasury" within the castle. There was far more here than what Zhou Ming had stolen from his house last time, with a total value exceeding thirty thousand gold coins. Zhou Ming estimated that nearly ninety percent of all wealth in Glan Territory had ended up in Brunode's private treasury.

"Brunode, with so much treasure laid out before us, what else do you have to say?"

Donny pointed at Brunode, who was kneeling on the ground, and sternly questioned him. Many of the servants watching from the side were either pale and speechless or loudly cursing, demanding severe punishment for this insatiably greedy embezzler.

"According to Article Seventy-Five of the Territory Law, the punishment for embezzlement is public hanging. Carry it out immediately!"

Donny delivered the final judgment in an icy tone, feeling incomparably satisfied inside. Brunode, you kept opposing me these past days. Today is the day you die!

Hearing the verdict, Steward Brunode shuddered all over. He rushed forward and clutched Donny's leg, howling like a slaughtered pig. "Young Master Donny, I was wrong! I was wrong! Please spare my life! Please, spare me! For the sake of my lifetime of service to the territory, even if I have no merit, I have worked hard for it. Please spare my life!"

Donny kicked him away forcefully and roared, "Your contribution is all this treasure you embezzled! Men, drag him away and execute him at once!"

"Yes, Young Master Donny!"

Great Axe Johnson and two burly men dragged Brunode away. Before the eyes of several hundred townspeople, he was hanged at the entrance of Rose Town.

After executing Brunode with the utmost speed, Zhou Ming had Snake Woman take out a packet of poison and kill the steward Brunode's cronies imprisoned in the dungeon. A number of servants who were not cronies but were not very obedient were also dismissed from the castle by Zhou Ming.

By this point, aside from a few key people who had yet to be "dealt with," everyone else in the entire castle had basically been cleaned out by him over the past two or three days.

"Baron Connor, Madam Madeline, Edward's wife and two daughters, Knight Morris... Who else is there? Oh, one more. I almost forgot about him..."

Zhou Ming called Great Thief Roger and brought several others with him to a room on the third floor of the castle's side wing.

Upon entering the room, they saw a tall patient lying on a large bed by the wall. His eyes had been injured, and because the sharp weapon had penetrated too deeply, it had damaged some structures inside his brain. He could only lie in bed in a semi-paralyzed state, and had done so for more than two months.

"Respected Knight Henry, do you still recognize me?" Zhou Ming walked to the bedside, crouched down lightly, and asked beside his ear.

"I... I do," Henry said in a trembling voice. His limbs began shaking violently as well, but four large men quickly pinned him down.

"Respected Knight Henry, regarding that match, do you think you won in the end, or did I?" Zhou Ming tilted his head and asked with his ear near Henry's mouth. The dagger in his hand was already pressed against Henry's heart.

"You won. You won. You won."

Henry's body shook even more violently as he clearly shouted the words three times in a row. Yet the sharp pain from his chest soon sent him into deep darkness.

"Mr. Henry, when you duel someone in your next life, make sure your sword is aimed at their left chest, not their right..."