Suleiman stood atop the walls of Willow Town, watching the soldiers gathered and ready to march.
This time, blood was truly going to be spilled.
Suleiman turned around, his gaze settling on Olivier.
"Olivier, organize the wagons at once."
"Take everything here that can be carried away and send it all to Lion's Den."
"Food! Weapons! Horses! Cloth! Even the paving bricks, if they can be moved!"
Olivier froze for a moment, then spoke with difficulty. "Lord Suleiman... this doesn't seem right."
Suleiman said nothing. He simply repeated, "There will be a dignified end."
Across the vast lands of House Legg, the flames of bloodshed had been kindled. Hek and his two hundred men, dressed in the standard uniforms of House Legg from Willow Town, charged into defenseless villages like a pack of hungry wolves.
"By order of Lord Legg! We're requisitioning supplies for the army!"
Hek kicked open the wooden door of a peasant's home and dragged out the terrified family inside. His men stormed into the house, took every valuable they could carry, then set fire to the thatched roof.
Flames surged into the sky as thick smoke billowed.
Scenes like this played out across the lands of House Legg, and panic spread like a plague.
Hek's men split up. Posing as fleeing soldiers, they burned and looted villages, spreading rumors that House Legg had been defeated and that all the men of the family had been captured, sowing seeds of chaos everywhere.
Countless smallfolk abandoned the homes their families had lived in for generations. With their wives and children in tow and their scrawny livestock in hand, they joined the streams of refugees. The roads leading to neighboring lands were packed with desperate people.
The vassals of House Legg—the lords and knights who had sworn allegiance in