Establishing Authority

Beside the convoy.

"I... we won?!"

The leader of Squad One was helped up from the ground by the other guards, looking incredulous.

That fast? That easily?

Uh... perhaps it hadn't been easy.

Thirty or forty people lay on the ground, and several had died.

"We won!"

Just then, Lin Ke, covered in blood, stood atop a carriage and shouted, "The glory of Azan protects us!"

"The glory of Azan..."

The guards murmured to themselves and exchanged glances, still somewhat dazed.

"The glory of Azan!" At that moment, John ran out, waving his little fists as he shouted.

The guards looked at one another, then suddenly caught on. They immediately raised their swords and shouted:

"The glory of Azan!"

"The glory of Azan!"

"The glory of Azan!"

Some of the servants were stirred by the sight and joined in the shouting.

As they shouted, their gazes gradually converged on Lin Ke.

Some of them vaguely recalled the earlier rumors.

Rumor had it that their young master had publicly declared himself the "King of Azan" yesterday.

Now, as they looked at that small figure, reverence filled their eyes.

The people in the convoy gazed at Lin Ke's bloodstained figure atop the carriage. Bathed in sunlight, he seemed to radiate brilliance.

Just then, Lin Ke blinked.

[Mission successful]

[You have radiated an irreplaceable aura of leadership and used it to repel the invading enemies]

[Mission reward: awaiting collection]

The mission was a success!

Yet Lin Ke was not particularly happy. Instead, he let out a deep sigh of relief.

He had checked the system not to look at the reward, but to see whether the invading enemies had truly been driven off.

If they had truly been repelled, the mission should show as successful.

Now that the mission was complete, it seemed those two dark-blue tigers would not be coming back.

Lin Ke relaxed a little and tapped the mission reward while he was at it.

"Little Lin Ke!"

Just then, Lin Ke's mother emerged from the cheering crowd and clambered onto the carriage roof on her hands and knees, abandoning all dignity. Ignoring the blood, she threw her arms around him.

The moment she hugged him, she could not hold back her tears.

"Waaah, little Lin Ke... waaah... that was so dangerous... waaah..."

She cried for ages without managing a single complete sentence.

Helpless, Lin Ke set his sword aside and gently patted his mother's back to comfort her.

His mother was still just a twenty-five-year-old little girl, after all...

Meanwhile, the guards and servants began tending to the wounded. Far too many people had been injured.

After a while, Lin Ke's mother cried herself straight to sleep.

Lin Ke guessed that his mother had never gone into battle with that bastard father of his. Otherwise, why would she cry so hard over such a minor skirmish?

He had the servants take his mother down, then began handling the aftermath of the battle.

"Mighty Mr. Lin Ke, please allow me to follow you! Until the stars fall, the world collapses, and the rules are destroyed... I shall remain faithful unto death."

Suddenly, Nix, the rabbitfolk from earlier, came before Lin Ke and dropped to one knee, speaking with deep respect.

Lin Ke grinned.

The system reward had arrived: a follower who would never betray him.

The servants and guards around them watched the scene with a mixture of solemnity and envy.

They felt solemn because the words Nix had spoken were the weightiest of oaths, tantamount to giving his entire self to Lin Ke.

They felt envious because they did not even have the opportunity to become his followers.

Their standing was too low. They were merely commoners.

Unless they had something special about them or earned someone's appreciation, as this rabbitfolk had, they were not even qualified to follow a noble.

"Get up, Nix." Lin Ke helped the fluffy Nix to his feet. His fur felt very nice.

"Yes, sir." Nix obediently stood up.

"Wait for me in the carriage. I still have things to ask you, but first I need to deal with the battlefield," Lin Ke said softly.

Nix nodded in assent, then darted back in a white blur, moving very quickly.

Lin Ke climbed down as well. "Bring back the bodies of those who died in battle for cremation. The wounded should lie down in the carriages and rest. Guards, continue patrolling!"

"Yes!"

The guards shouted much louder than before, smiles filling their faces.

After experiencing their first victory, their spirits had completely changed.

Although some of them had merely stood at the back, gripping their sword hilts and making sure not to stab the people in front of them.

But that was often how morale accumulated, little by little.

"Young master, what should we do with Rosfor, who tried to flee earlier?" the leader of Squad Three stepped forward and asked.

After all, Lin Ke had killed him with a single stroke.

"He was a deserter! Do you understand? A deserter!"

Lin Ke sighed inwardly, suppressing every trace of pity. He tried to make his voice sound as furious as possible. "His body is not to be cremated! Throw it into the woods for the jackals to eat!"

He had to impress upon every guard that fleeing meant death, while fighting offered a chance to survive and earn honor.

Only then would they avoid scattering at the first sign of battle in the future.

"Young master... his body isn't to be cremated?"

The leader of Squad Three froze, then asked again as though he could not believe it. "What I mean is, Rosfor only ran away. I think..."

According to local custom, the dead had to be cremated. Otherwise, even after death, ancient and cruel necromancers would find them, imprison their souls, and subject them to endless suffering.

It was much like the belief in his previous life that ghosts would come for someone who was not properly buried.

At least here, necromancers had indisputably existed in history.

"Hm?" Hearing the squad leader's words, Lin Ke's angry expression faded and turned stern.

At the sight of that expression, the leader of Squad Three lowered his head in panic, despite being in his twenties. "No, no, no. He deserved to die! He deserved to die!"

Lin Ke snorted, stood up, and swept his gaze around them. "Why do you think I killed Rosfor? Do you think he shouldn't have died?"

He realized that many of these men had been farmers before. They knew nothing about morale, routs, the flock-following-the-leader effect, or the broken windows effect.

Not only did they know nothing, but they would even question his decisions!

In an age when information traveled poorly, failing to concentrate power in one place could very well mean being reduced to a figurehead or allowing unchecked corruption to spread.

He had to establish his authority!

He could not yet establish authority through military might, but he had to establish the authority of his knowledge and judgment first!

He was that authority!

"Rosfor was a deserter! Do you know what a deserter is?" Lin Ke demanded, his voice and expression harsh:

"Rosfor wanted to run, and plenty of others wanted to run too! Once one person ran, a second would follow! And then what? In the end, everyone would run!"

"Those two ferocious tigers would have killed everyone here first, then caught up with you and killed you one by one! Did you think you could outrun two tigers whose Bloodlines had undergone Enlightenment?"

Those two tigers had been extremely fast and had keen senses of smell. Even Nix, with all his speed, had been unable to shake them off.

"Even if one or two of you escaped, where would you go? Back to Azan Castle? Who do you think would take in deserters who abandoned us? You'd be lucky not to be killed."

"Or would you survive on your own in the wilderness? Can you hunt? Can you start a fire? What would you do if your clothes tore? What if you fell ill? And that's not even mentioning all the other terrible situations you could face..."

Lin Ke delivered it all in one breath, his barrage of questions leaving the guards speechless.

Only then did they realize how serious the consequences of desertion were!

Seeing the guards begin to put their impoverished minds to work, Lin Ke's expression softened slightly. He spoke again. "Squad leaders, I will award ten gold coins to Squad One and six each to Squads Two and Three! Make sure you distribute them fairly!"

"This is to commend Squad One's achievement in wounding the giant tiger!"