My Kingdom Building Done Right!

"Hurry!" the Guard Captain shouted. "Put out the fire! Now!"

"Which fire do we put out first?!" one of the guards shouted. "There’s fire everywhere!"

"Help! The granary is on fire!" one of the patrolmen shouted. "Hurry, or we will have nothing left!"

"Damn it!" The Guard Captain cursed, feeling pressured as he was forced to make a difficult choice.

He needed to prioritize putting out either the fire at the chieftain’s house or at the granary. To them, both places were important. Though, when it came to survival, the granary was the obvious choice.

"Men!" the Guard Captain shouted. "To the granary at once!"

Knowing their captain had made the right call, the guards ran toward the granary with everything they had.

They could hear screams everywhere the closer they got to their destination.

Black smoke was rising throughout their city, and visibility was starting to become a problem.

If Troy and the other warriors were here, this thing wouldn’t have happened.

Not to mention, only a few experienced warriors were left behind, and the rest were struggling to properly follow orders!

There were wells in many places of the city. Unsurprisingly, countless people had gathered there, carrying buckets to draw water to put out the fire.

However, the problem was that there were simply too many places set on fire. It was impossible to put them out all at once.

On top of that, the lack of chain of command and manpower also made things difficult for everyone.

Naturally, if your house was burning, you would prioritize it over the chieftain’s residence.

That was human nature, and Hassan knew it very well.

This was why they made sure to start burning places in proper order.

They first drew out people toward the chieftain’s residence, which made their own houses easier to infiltrate.

Then, one thing led to another, and before they knew it, the flames had now spread like wildfire.

Everyone was too panicked to make a unified approach in dealing with the problem. Mothers were crying, children were wailing, and their fathers were shouting for everyone to get out of the way.

Had Leone been there, he might have hesitated to proceed with such a brutal operation. But he wasn’t.

And Hassan, the one present, wouldn’t waver.

He was a merciless assassin.

And they were at war.

"If you want to blame someone, blame your chieftain for trying to harm my Mistress’ child," Hassan muttered coldly as he watched the burning city.

Suddenly, a loud roar spread across the surroundings.

*Squeak!*

"I know Blitz. Let’s go."

*Squeak!*

Hassan shot into Blitz’s shadow, and soon, the flying squirrel hurried away.

The Guardian of the Darkmane Tribe, the Manticore, had noticed the black smoke rising throughout the city from its nest.

It was a Rank 6 Monster. But its rank couldn’t do anything about the flames.

All it could do was destroy the gate of the city, widening it enough for the panicking people to leave as quickly as possible.

The flames were spreading too fast, and it was impossible to put it out. The people had realized this as well, so the Guard Captain immediately shouted for everyone to evacuate.

The black smoke and heat were already dangerous enough, and staying inside the city any longer would be equivalent to suicide.

Aside from a few injuries and people suffering from burns, the captain hoped they hadn’t suffered any casualties.

But he was a realist.

He understood that this wasn’t an accident.

It was definitely a man-made calamity. Whoever was responsible for it had waited until their chieftain and their army had left the city.

The Manticore scanned the surroundings, wanting to find the one responsible for such a tragedy. But the wails and shouts in the surroundings made it impossible for the Guardian to notice the flying squirrel that was already a mile away from the city gates.

"Good job, Blitz and Hassan," Otto said as soon as the two arrived at their meeting point. "I never thought I’d live to see the day where the city of the Darkmane Tribe would be razed to the ground."

The archer sat on Arion’s back with bow in hand, observing the city with a solemn gaze.

"That was a lot of hard work, you know?" Hassan replied. "We spent two days laying out the foundations for this operation, placing combustible materials in the places that we torched to the ground."

*Squeak!*

The three watched the hellish scene from a distance for a few more minutes before completely taking their leave.

They had no intention of fighting the Manticore head-on since the monster was too powerful for them to defeat.

For reference, Logan was only a Rank 5 Orc Champion, and yet, they weren’t even able to stop his rampage.

With the threat of such a formidable enemy, they didn’t dare to linger any longer.

"Do you think they will figure out who did this?" Hassan asked while hiding inside Blitz’s shadow.

"Perhaps," Otto replied. "But I’m sure no one will believe it even if the truth was told. After all, they don’t think the Aslan Tribe has this ability."

"So who will be their primary suspect?" Hassan inquired.

"The Bonegnash Tribe." Otto smirked.

The Bonegnash Tribe was the Darkmane Tribe’s closest neighbor. If there was someone capable of doing arson to the Darkmane Tribe while Troy and his warriors were away, it could only be them.

"Well then. Time for the second phase of our mission," Hassan said calmly. "Time to catch up to the Darkmane Tribe’s main army and make Troy remember that he’s a mere mortal."

"Indeed." Otto narrowed his eyes. "We’ll make him and his army understand that no place is safe."

Otto had already killed all the horses in the city, so they wouldn’t be able to send any messengers to catch up with the Darkmane Tribe.

Of course, the possibility of the Manticore catching up to the army to report what happened was also a possibility.

However, Otto believed that the chances of this happening was low.

With the vulnerable citizens of the Darkmane Tribe left with no other place to go, their Guardian wouldn’t possibly leave them behind. It knew they couldn’t fend for themselves.

And just in case the Bonegnash Tribe truly targeted them, it had to remain to protect everyone from further attacks.

"Are you regretting it?" Hassan asked, who seemed to be pondering about something.

"I was just thinking I may be underestimating Leone too much," Otto replied. "Since he came up with this plan, it shows how serious he is in making an example of the Darkmane Tribe."

"Perhaps." Hassan agreed. "But I’m sure what we did back there wasn’t what he had in mind. He is still kind-hearted, you know? He probably thought we’ll just burn the chieftain’s residence and their granary to make the Darkmane Tribe feel anxious and fearful."

Yes. If Leone had been there, he wouldn’t have ordered chaos of this magnitude.

But Hassan wasn’t Leone.

He was someone who didn’t show mercy to his enemies.

Blitz wasn’t as coldblooded as the assassin. However, when it came to Leone, it wouldn’t hesitate to bloody its hands in order to protect its Master.

Otto didn’t regret what happened. After all, its former tribe, the Black Wolf Tribe, had suffered many hardships in the hands of the middle-ranked tribes in the past.

He wasn’t as soft as Leone when it came to doing such underhanded things. Right now, the only thing he wanted to do was to embed one of his arrows into Troy’s head, killing the arrogant chieftain with his own hands.

Hassan, Blitz, Otto, and Arion had been sent by Leone to terrorize the Darkmane Tribe in every way possible.

The four of them would do their best to catch up to Troy’s army. When that happened, they would make the arrogant chieftain understand a truth he should have learned long ago.

The Borderlands had many dangers.

But none was more dangerous than an enemy who wishes to protect something that they hold sacred in their hearts.