The group kept moving, at least until they reached the wall. That was when they all headed back to base, going at a pleasant and casual speed. Since there really weren’t any problems in this place thus far, there truthfully was no reason to rush forward to getting everything done all at once. They made pace, getting back to base far before the warped sunlight ended.

As they got closer to the compound, there were some good and bad news to be found. Of course, as the Conquistador had been advised, it was always best to start off with the good things at hand.

For one, he had recovered all of his power. He could use his divine blessing again, though he was feeling rather ravished. That was something that could be fixed incredibly quickly with a good amount of food, which was what the cooks would be good for. There weren’t any fights, seeing as how none of his subjects nor his soldiers seemed injured in any shape or form.

However, that was where all of that ended. His good mood was vanquished as he stared at the giant crowd outside the base, sitting around or doing absolutely nothing at all. Some of them being under his control, while others were those not converted yet.

He frowned as he got off his mount, before walking up to the group. He could hear his troops behind him rearrange themselves and Mandeline moving towards behind him, before crossing his arms as he looked down at the sitting villagers.

“All of you. What do you think you’re doing?”

“We’re resting,” One of them grumbled, “We already set up the barracks and the workshop. We got breakfast, unloaded all the materials, and now we’re taking a break.”

“So, you are saying you have absolutely nothing to do and are waiting for more work?”

“No, sir!” At that, an elderly man jumped up, scrambling to cover up the person who had spoken, “It’s not that we have nothing to do, honest! We’re so tired from all the hard work we had to do that we needed to have a bit of a rest. That is the genuine truth!”

“Hrm.” The Conquistador frowned as he rubbed his beard, taking in all of that information. While true, they have been working quite hard, he couldn’t help but feel that was nothing more than a poor excuse to laze around. Yes, siestas were a thing, but this was different. These people were not relaxing at all, merely sitting around and doing nothing. No talking amongst themselves, no attempts to bring the mood up, nothing.

No, they stayed there sitting as though they were doing so in protest. That was something that he could not allow at all. More than that, there were so many more important projects that needed to be developed, something these fools were clearly forgetting about.

More food needed to be gathered for his meals. They needed to find and secure a metal mine to prepare the equipment for further expansion. Wood needed to be chopped down, people still had multiple things to build, and so much more. There were far too many jobs and projects that were still in the queue that needed to be worked on.

He took a deep breath, before getting ready to lecture all of them on the problems that still plagued all of them. At least, that was the plan.

That was when Mandeline intervened. Her hand placed itself onto his shoulder and he nearly swiped at her. However, he kept his calm. He was a gentleman, a person of respect and civility. Thus, he did not do anything to her and merely looked at her.

She was absolutely worried. No, more than that: she was terrified. The woman had her hand on his shoulder, yes, but her whole body was shaking and trembling as she tried to figure out what to say. Was she perhaps trying to calm him down and prevent him from lashing out?

Perhaps he should do so. He took a deep breath, before looking over the group of lazy ingrates once more.

… Hm. Now that he did think of it, perhaps this wasn’t their problem at all. After all, he never told them what to do after setting up shop, did he? No, he went off on his journey to explore of the town and get all the information down. There were some that had been converted by him, after all, meaning that there were those that simply could not think for their own purpose.

He couldn’t help but feel embarrassed by the realization. Yes, this was his fault. He should have anticipated these villagers to rely on him for leadership and planning. He was their lord, someone that had to lead by example. How could anyone do anything when they were unable to think o their own?

Yes, this was something he needed to fix here and now. So, he sighed, before smiling.

“Alright. You can take a small break. Once you are done, then ensure you go through with your tasks. Split up into groups for this, as there are multiple goals. We will need plenty of wood for fires and further projects, materials for cooking meals and further construction, and last but not least, a few people to go and scout for metal that we can mine out later. Understand?”

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Everyone groaned, but no one complained about the newly assigned tasks. No, all they did was nod and keep on relaxing, something he would allow for now as he was a magnanimous lord. Now that was done, he would need to ensure that there were people that kept an eye on the situation.

Who else than Mandeline? While true, he had failed in his task to locate where they were on the map, that ultimately was something that could be resolved later on. For now, what was going to be a better use of his time was exploring and searching the nearby buildings. Why bother figuring out where they were on the map when he could simply take over the entire settlement one building at a time? Use this building as a hub to get his soldiers moving out and set them up to patrol.

That way, he could ensure total control. Root out any of the monsters that lurked within these structures, waiting for the moment to rush out to attack. Perhaps he would even find some of the master blacksmiths that needed rescuing? Yes, this would all be necessary. He’d have to go out on his own with his squadron, but this was doable.

Besides, he’d be able to leave Mandeline behind. As easy on the eyes as she was, there was no way she could prove to be useful in any of the upcoming fights. The first thing she showed was how much of a burden she truly was out in the battlefield. No, the next time he would drag her out to investigate the town, he’d do so when there was time and a good schedule for all of these subjects to go through. For now…

“Mandeline. Go and keep an eye on them, make sure that they get back to work in good time. I’m starving.”

“H-huh? Oh, yes!” She nodded, looking over everyone with a shaky smile. “I’ll, I’ll make sure that everyone gets to work after some time! Don’t you worry, I’ll keep an eye out!”

“Good. You should do so as my new assistant.” He nodded with a smile, failing to notice that some of the villagers were now giving her the darkest glares they could muster. The only thing she could do at that was chuckle nervously as she looked away.

In any case, none of that was his concern anymore. Since everyone was out here, he highly doubted that anyone had gotten prepared to cook at all. Thus, there’d probably be no food for him to eat at this time. The only thing he could eat was the live beasts, something that he truly did not want to do at all. In fact, he wanted to eat something similar to that brick from earlier, not the raw, bloody flesh of those monsters.

Thus, he’d merely allow himself to starve. For now, the main focus would have to be clearing out this part of the settlement. After all, there were other buildings that were all around, each of them containing potential enemies and allies.

Wit h a whistle, a new set of soldiers came right behind him, ready to march forward once more. He turned towards Mandeline, who seemed to flinch from his glare.

“Listen. This is going to be of the utmost of importance. I am going to work on clearing out several of the buildings around here. In exchange, I expect–no, demand that you focus on getting meals up. That will be the first priority, I need the same meal that I had back at the village. Understand?”

“U-understood.” She nodded, before grimacing as she headed over to the people. With that information given, he turned and headed towards the first building in his warpath: the one right next to his base.

This building was nothing to write home to, nothing compared to his glamorous base. However, he still needed to clear the entire structure and ensure nothing remained within. With a deep breath, he opened the door and waved towards his monsters.

One by one, each of them followed right behind him as they all swarmed inside the building. What he found was a large room that seemed to lead towards a few doors, all of which were a good distance away from each other. However, that wasn’t the important part.

What was important was the fact that there were a few monsters within this building, along with one of the doors seemingly barred from the outside. Whether this had been done by the monsters or one of the inhabitants, that would come later. For now, there were some beasts to take care of.

Though, he noticed something peculiar: these were different from the ones previously. These monsters had some rather peculiar arms. Their limbs bent in on themselves, along with sharp barbs that coated the entirety of their shell-covered body. Not to mention the fact that their gaping mouth reached all the way down to their chest. In any case, a repulsive sight, but a useful one for sure.

Once more, he waved his hand. His soldiers all rushed forward, prepared to stall and give him the time to convert the horde of eight beasts to their cause.

What happened next was something he did not expect at all.

One of the monsters stepped forward, a strange purple and green spiral forming right in front of its mouth. That spiral began to form into a triangular shape, before blasting off towards one of his soldiers.

The strange energy slammed into his warrior and everything immediately went wrong. In that very instance, his soldier halted in its tracks, dropping the spear it had in its arms, before gripping its head in sheer pain. A loud, agonizing howl burst out from its mouth as it kept on pushing into its scalp, before everything went topsy-turvy.

What happened next was far too disgusting to put into words. In fact, the Conquistador wanted nothing more than to scrub the image of that sight from his memory forever. The entire act was simply repulsive and absolutely traumatizing to repeat. No, all that mattered in the end was that his soldier was reduced to dust, bone, and metal armor.

He couldn’t help but growl at that. Great, the first casualty, and all of it to a monster that had the ability to instantly kill anything that energy blast touched. Well, no matter, he had the numbers on his side. With that, he began to focus his divine blessing on the bastard that killed one of his troops. There was resistance like last time, but this wasn’t as strong as the bird monster. No, it seemed as if this was far easier to do.

Perhaps that energy blast used up some of its soul? Well, no matter. He had some good potential ranged recruits here in his hand now.

It would be foolhardy not to take advantage of this opportunity.