The True Ruler of the Hills? Free Will

Yellowing fallen leaves carpeted the forest.

A faintly cold wind rustled the branches, producing a swishing sound alongside clearer, rhythmic thuds.

Burly trolls swung axes made by Dark Dwarves, felling one towering tree after another with thunderous crashes.

The trees were quickly hauled out of the forest, then cut by Caben into planks suitable for building houses.

On a hill not far away.

Tang Zheng stood looking into the distance. Beyond the trolls and orcs busily working below, he could see countless densely packed figures farther away.

"Too many people have been relocated. Even with preparations, the various expenditures have far exceeded our previous estimates." Tang Zheng frowned and sighed inwardly in helplessness.

At this moment!

The Tang Zheng standing on the hill was not a figure impersonated by Doppelgänger, but his true body.

That action alone had prompted Gelos Hornfury, Leoric Zhen, Butler Imlaris, Saphis Xoth, and the other NPCs to repeatedly advise against and oppose it.

But in the end.

Tang Zheng overruled them all. The war with Nazarick had just ended, and Ainz's side would not launch another invasion anytime soon.

Besides, the other side had just taken over the Council State and half of the Kingdom's territory, along with the Baharuth Empire and Casanas City Alliance, which had voluntarily declared themselves vassal states.

There were also the various Demi-Human races around the Azerlisia Mountains.

All things considered.

Nazarick had taken in nearly half the land in the northwestern corner of the continent at once. It would inevitably need to devote considerable time and effort to governing and managing it.

"Whether one forcibly conquers the world or seeks to rule it, the larger the territory, the more effort it requires."

Tang Zheng murmured softly.

That was inevitable. The collapse of the world once ruled by the Eight