Chapter 312: Ch-312: Changes in City

The prisoners on the stakes gave out a heart-wrenching scream as lightning bolts from the sky fell on them, and within seconds, their bodies became charred.

The commoners who were watching this froze, and their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when they saw this. Even though Victor had already told them about this, seeing and hearing are two entirely different matters.

There was an eerie silence after the sky cleared again until one of the commoners snapped out of his daze, and his face flushed with excitement as he shouted.

"Long Live Lord Victor!"

The cheer snapped the dazed crowd out of their reverie as they also began loudly cheering for Victor.

"Long Live Lord Victor!"

"Lord Victor is our hero!"

"Haha, I can’t believe there would be a day when I would see these rotten nobles die."

"Damn, I really wanted to tear them apart with my own hands. Alas, this is also okay."

"Wuuuu... wife, daughter, you have been avenged!"

"That bastard Dane and these nobles got an easy death. They should have been tortured to death!"

"Darling, you were right. They all seem very grateful towards you," Rina said, but Amber narrowed her eyes at them.

Victor listened to the crowd and snorted and said, "Indeed, but you should know, human, look at their faces. Some of them are still displeased that I took charge of the Duchy. They would have preferred that I leave the place alone so that they could claim it for themselves. I am sure if I had not displayed overwhelming strength, they would have tried to rebel and kick me out."

Rina looked at the few people in the crowd and indeed sensed a bit of hidden hostility.

"What are you going to do about them?" Amber asked.

"I will use my shadow army to assassinate the most unstable ones," Victor said in a cold voice, but the next moment, his expression turned extremely gentle and happy as he addressed the crowd.

"Alright, everyone, disperse for now. You can go to the relief stations and get free food. I have instructed them to give you as much food as you want."

---

In the western part of Freedom City, where the weakest and hungriest survivors lived.

As well as in different parts of the city, several stands were set up where relief food was being distributed. This was happening every day, just like in the past, but everything had changed compared to when Duke Dane was in charge of the place.

Standing in the middle of a long line of survivors, a typical family consisting of a couple and their thirteen-year-old son calmly carried their bowls. Unlike in the past, this family did not have an extremely wary look in their eyes, and it was obvious that their nutrition had improved exponentially.

The formerly dry and yellowish skin of the 37-year-old woman was gradually becoming tender again, regaining its natural white color while the blemishes on her face were slowly being removed as if by magic.

The man’s weak muscles had recovered considerably, and the vigor in his eyes made him look like a lion ready for battle.

After about 20 minutes, the family of three arrived at the front and was greeted by a fat man holding a spoon in his hands.

The fat man looked at the three for a moment before putting the spoon into the pot and pulling it out before pouring the contents into the woman’s bowl. Then, the fat man did the same with the man’s and the kid’s bowls before shouting loudly, "Next!"

The family of three retreated to a corner and sat down to begin eating.

"This meat soup is really delicious," the woman commented as she looked at her bowl with sparkling eyes.

"Not only is it delicious. The quantity of meat here can be considered a lot even compared to the past," the man replied to his wife. His voice, as loud and powerful as thunder, was brimming with gratitude as he said, "This is all thanks to Lord Victor. After he took over the city, everyone’s situation changed for the better to a great extent. Now, even the lowliest commoners can get at least 3 bowls of meat soup every day."

One of the biggest changes was that the people no longer received only one bowl of food per day, increasing to three per day. In addition, instead of rice gruel diluted to the point where it was difficult to find a single grain of rice, what replaced their daily meals were three big bowls of broth with meat in it.

Now that their physiques had begun to recover quickly, those who were already fed up with the life they were leading and did not want to experience despair again, a large number of people immediately enlisted and applied to become soldiers.

Back at the mansion

"Are we going back to Earth now?" Amber asked casually, sitting lazily on the sofa.

"Not now. I am preparing to form the Silvernum Kingdom and become a king," Victor said calmly, but his words made the laziness in Amber completely vanish as she sat upright and looked at Victor with disbelief. Even Rina’s eyes widened as she looked at her husband.

"Wait, so quickly? How is that even possible? How did you even get the required army and population?" Rina’s eyes nearly bulged out, and she even doubted if she was hallucinating and pinched herself. She looked completely dazed as she had a hard time believing Victor. Building a kingdom requires decades of work, and the most difficult part is increasing the population and building a proper army. Next was the conquest of lands, which was even more difficult, as doing this would have provoked nobles and made them band together against him.

’Even though, due to evolution, many nobles died and I won’t face too much opposition, how on earth did he gather an army?’ Rina cried out inwardly as, in her eyes, the human population had dwindled due to being killed by powerful monsters during the world’s evolution, so she could not figure out how he got such a massive population and army.

"Guess," Victor said with a mysterious smile, which caused veins to pop out on Rina’s forehead. He could understand Rina’s doubts, but he was not going to tell anyone about the Troop Summoning Contracts...at least for now.

"So what are you waiting for? Hurry and create the Kingdom," Amber said with excitement as both Victor and Rina looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"You seem more excited than me," Victor asked with an amused smile.

"Of course, darling. As your wives, me and Sister Rina would become Queens. Which woman does not want to be a Queen?" Amber said with a shrug of her shoulders. Hearing this, even the calm Rina’s heart started to beat faster as she looked at Victor and said with impatience, "Indeed, she is right. Hurry and do it."

"Fine." Just as Victor was about to create his Kingdom...

Creak

The door to the room opened, and a group of people entered.

"Lord Victor." Watson and Grace led a group of people towards Victor.

Immediately, the trio’s eyes landed on the group behind them. Amber and Rina had looks of displeasure on their faces but refrained from saying anything.

"Ah...are we interrupting something?" Grace noticed the looks of irritation on the two women’s faces and asked cautiously.

"Nope. Anyways, what brings you here?" Victor asked with a smile, as he had an inkling of what this might be about.

"Lord Victor, these are the members of my clan that we managed to rescue thanks to your aid. I would like to thank you again," Watson said, bowing his head towards Victor. The tiger also looked at Victor and bowed in gratitude.

"Are they all? I thought there would be more of you," Victor asked with a frown on his face.

"The rest of them were injured and are currently healing. I brought the elders and the ones who were unharmed," Watson replied with a bitter look on his face.

"I see. So, Grace, you decided to join the Silvernum Faction?" Victor asked, and Watson looked a bit hesitant until he felt someone tap his shoulder and saw an elder looking at him with a smile.

"We have nominated you to become the clan leader. We will follow your decision," the elder said.

"That’s right."

"You saved us. Without you, our clan would be history."

"We will follow you, leader."

The others also chimed in, and Victor raised an eyebrow as he thought, ’So he became the clan head, huh?’

Watson took a deep breath and walked towards Victor.

Thud

He immediately bent the knee and said, "I, Watson Trigger, swear loyalty to the Silvernum heir."

Seeing this, the others also hurriedly bent their knees.

[You have completed the Quest ’The Animals Need a Proper Rider’]

[You have gained the loyalty of the Beast Taming Clan]

"Good, welcome to the Silvernum Faction," Victor said with satisfaction as he was giddy about getting powerful riders for the Mechanical Life Forms.

"You take them. Show them the Mechanical Life Forms for now. I will talk with you later," Victor said as Watson and Grace nodded and left with their tribesmen.