after 2 hours, 29 were found dead and 11 wounded and the fire was put out quickly
the priest tried his best to heal as many as possible but it was futile he did not have enough mana
las looked at the priest and said "stop it's useless "
the priest spoke back "i don't have a choice i must save as many as possible im sorry my lord "
"i said stop i have something better " las said and gave a signal to leonard "bring the box with the dragon in the cover "
leonard brought the box and put it down las gave him a key and said "open it" leonard gave a nod, there were 10 bottles with red elixir and a cup las said " use half of one of the bottles for 50 wounded it should be enough "
arthur whispered " my lord this is high healing potion do you want to use it here? its very expensive "
las looked at the old arthur and said "they are my people i can't let them die and this will help me to pass reforms without much resistance and my popularity will rise , i will no longer be the new lord who knows nothing of this land so the commoners will support my reforms even if its little its a start "
arthur understood but said "this will take time my lord right ?"
"no if we push it just a little " said las and smiled
"how do we push it exactly and keep it believable my lord?"
"we will take the survivors to the capital region with the potion we will have 67 people most of whom are woman if we leave them they won't have a good end we will use them for propaganda and we will teach them how to read and use them as administrative officers " las said having already made a decision
arthur was surprised and said "my lord most of them are woman "
las spoke in a calm tone "arthur your a clever man so you know something is wrong with this bandits they were not put down from the start and they have the power to force taxes and nothing seems to be done to stop them "
"indeed my lord probably someone is behind this "
"yes and i thing is someone from the inside so if i take them i will have loyal subordinates i can rely on them "
the healing potion was fast las than order the knights to help them bury the dead after an hour everything was over woman were crying about the death of their husbands children and daughters
the chief of the village an old man who survived come to me he kneeled and said " my lord i can't express how grateful i am , if it wasn't for you many more would have died "
las looked at the old man "what is your plan for the future there are mostly woman left "
"i don't know my lord we are in a very bad situation "
las smiled a little and spoke " to your information i'm the new viscount helstain "
the chief was startled "my lord are you the viscount helstain the lord of this and ?" las gave him a nod
the chief gave a bold answer "then we are in good hands "
las finally made the proposal " hmmm your bold old man i like you ,how about i take you to the capital and work for me"
the chief with some hesitation "my lord there are some men but there are mostly woman here i would have understood if you take 2 or 3 for your enjoyment but all of them"
the woman around got scared
las was little embarrassed but spoke " no chief you misunderstood i will take you and teach you how to write and read and i will make them administrative officers "
the chief did not believe it and said " my lord but they are woman "
las spoke " and why should i care i need manpower to handle the bureaucracy and men should be soldiers and farmers so why not use woman"
the chief was surprised from the way that las was thinking but he said " my lord i must talk with the others please can you let me " las smiled and he thought [ hmm you dare test me old man to see if i will let you interesting this is why you were so bold ] but he said "yes go but don't take too long i need to reach the capital "
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
the old man left then leonard said "i don't like him he dares to test you my lord a mere chief" las smiled he liked the chief [ hmm he may be more useful than i thought ]
the girl who threw the rock looked at las her gaze was like knives the knight who was near her touched the handle of the sword to warn her
the chief coma and said "my lord we accept your proposal we don't have any luggage so we can start if you wish my lord"
las said "yes you are going to ride in the same carriage as me chief all the other can go to the two carriages in the back"
the chief said "my lord how can someone like me ride with you"
las said " come with me don't disobey me do you have any family?"
"yes my lord " said the chief little scared from his words
"bring them with us " the chief run to bring his family
leonard with a hard expression said "my lord are you sure this will damage your image between nobles "
las said "i must learn more about this land this man will speak about everything even the rumours"
all of the people were on the carriages and las waited for the chief to his surprise the family of the chief war the girls who threw the rock and her mother who was probably the daughter of the chief
las gave the order to march the knights rode their horses and the carriages started
in the carriage of las no one spoke after some time las looked at the chief and said "what's your name chief"
"samuel my lord "
"i see samuel my name is las von helstain ,samuel tell me more about this bandits i want to hear everything even the rumours "
samuels face darken and spoke " my lord this bandits have been here for a long time the previous lord tried to get ride of them when he could but his army was defeated from there the bandits started to raid and they forced the villages to pay the tax this bandits were weird if you ask me lord "
the chief hesitated but las said " i want to hear everything speak i want to know even the Rumours"
then samuel spoke "the bandits my lord they were well equipped most of them ,and they become strong too fast the numbers were rising very fast my lord i don't know much but i think someone is helping them and their is a rumour that the brother of the previous lord was trying to take the throne "
samuel spoke for some time and then , las said "alfred give me the details of the territory "
"yes my lord here " las looked at the papers the territory was unique most of it was plains but the capital is surrounded by mountains in the north were mountains and at the other side was the great plane in the east was mostly mountains but there were many gates to the kansberg empire the north and east are easily defensible but the west and south were plains where others nobles of the empire were"
but there was a large river in the south between the helstain and other nobles the mountains near the capital had iron the amount was large very large it would take 4 generations to mine it all ,this was something very weird , but it could not be mined every time they tried the mine collapsed so it was useless only a little amount could be mined [hmm the spirit said something about memories if i get those i may be able to use it ,the spirit didn't lie about my illness but i have not the memories and he called himself a hero but he can't be the hero who fought the last demon lord can he?] that moment las felt a sharp pain in his head arthur said "my lord what is it are fine" and he grabbed his shoulders
las fainted when his eyes closed and opened again he was in another world of eternal white he looked around "what is going on where am i " a person without a face was coming near him "stay back don't come near me" before he even realized it the person had grabbed him he then put one finger at his forehead and at than moment las fell to his knees and he screamed in pain he touched his head and cried out "it hurts it hurts stop make it stop" after some time of constant pain las realized
"memories ,what are those i never seen things like that a car a gun steel , phones ? why do i know those thing ,why do i thing those are familiar " las looked at the man "what are those " he knew but he asked .the figure had no face but las could tell [why can i recognise his emotions " the man had a warm smile the man did not speak but he heard it "i believe in you " las had heard this from his mother but she lied at him but why do i feel warmth las shed a tear the man started to disappear like sand las screamed "wait don't leave me" he did not know why he said that but he felt the same as when he was abandoned by his mother "please wait " the figure was no longer there but the voice was heard again "i believe in you " las was confused but he knew that the man did not lie las cried for some time
las fainted again but when he woke up he saw the worried face of arthur "my lord are you hurting anywhere "las looked at arthur with a smile "don't worry arthur im fine leonard let's start the march we must reach the capital before noon " leonard was hesitant "my lord you should rest" las spoke " leonard i gave the order start the march" leonard had no choice but to obey
the carriage started and the middle aged woman who was with las spoke for the first time she introduced herself as lisa daughter of samuel said "my lord are you perhaps ill" leonard looked at her with anger but he did not speak "you are correct im ill lisa " samuel and his family were surprised lisa said with some hesitation " my lord im an alchemist and you saved my life by healing my wound so i may be able to cure you, potions don't work on sickness" las stopped her and said " do you think that i haven't tried everything so far im terminal ill it seems so drop this now "
finally after 2 long months las reached the capital of the helstain viscountcy the flags were waved in the air
the carriages enter the capital city the knights were alert looking around , the houses were terrible everything seemed like was about to collapse ,poverty everywhere there were some blacksmiths and a two castles las said "the second castle must belong to the previous lords brother "
the eyes of the people were foul of hatred and distrust
las knew how to use the iron in the region with the new knowledge that he hade
[but i must get rid of the bandits as soon as possible or they will come for my neck and i must get the trust of the commoners ]