My Kingdom Building Done Right!

Today was the scheduled time for the warriors of outsider tribes to leave the domain of the Aslan Tribe.

Only Hagen, Malik, and the disguised Godwin were the ones left behind, officially permitted by Leone to stay until the war officially began.

Leone decided to have a grand breakfast with all the chieftains, as well as the three officials from the White Falcon Merchant Guild.

"Thank you for visiting the Aslan Tribe," Leone said before raising his wooden mug filled with fruit juice. "I hope you will continue to visit us in the future. Cheers!"

"""Cheers!"""

Vlad sat beside Leone, feeling sad that he wasn’t allowed to stay. Although he understood it was dangerous, he really wanted to stay to witness the war from the perspective of the Aslan Tribe.

The chieftains made promises to Leone, saying they would visit once the war was over.

Everyone didn’t want to make this a final goodbye, so they kept the atmosphere lively.

Suddenly, a screech from the sky reverberated throughout the surroundings.

’Is that...’ Leone asked Daedalus, who had already recognized their unexpected visitor.

’It is indeed Gundar,’ Daedalus replied.

The giant hawk landed a few meters away from the gathering. Soon, the great shaman of the Grimhowl Tribe disembarked with a solemn expression on his face.

Leone immediately stood up and greeted his great uncle.

Hagen, Marcus, and Elias also stood up to greet the great shaman of their tribe.

Gundar gave Hagen a brief nod before shifting his attention toward Leone.

"I have a question, Leone," Gundar said calmly. "Did you order your subordinates to burn down the city of the Darkmane Tribe?"

"What?" Vlad’s eyes widened in shock. "Darkmane City burned down?"

Vlad wasn’t the only one shocked by this news. Everyone gathered there looked at Gundar in disbelief before shifting their attention toward the Chieftain of the Aslan Tribe with conflicted looks on their faces.

Daedalus had informed Leone of what had happened to the city of the Darkmane Tribe the same day Hassan and Blitz burned it down to the ground.

Honestly, Leone was also shocked to hear it at first. He genuinely didn’t expect Hassan to resort to something so drastic.

However, since he was the one who gave them the order to do this, he had to take responsibility for their actions.

"I gave them the order to burn down the key infrastructures of the Darkmane Tribe," Leone replied without hesitation.

"Well, from what I saw, their key infrastructures aren’t the only ones burned down," Gundar stated. "The entire city was engulfed in flames. When I arrived, smoke was still rising from the ruins.

"It seems like your subordinates took liberty in following your orders. Even if Troy won this war, he would die from a heart attack after returning home."

Leone didn’t say anything to defend himself. After all, even though Hassan and Blitz went above and beyond the mission that was given to them, they had still done so under his orders.

As such, this outcome was something he had to carry on his shoulders.

"Are you disappointed in me, Great Uncle?" Leone asked, returning Gundar’s gaze. "Are you disappointed that I burned the Darkmane Tribe’s city to the ground?"

Gundar didn’t answer right away.

Was he really disappointed?

No.

If anything, he was more shocked than disappointed.

He couldn’t believe that the Aslan Tribe was capable of mass destruction, even though the Darkmane Tribe’s city was several days away from Grimjaw Mountain.

Seeing his silence, Hagen and Malik once again shifted their attention toward the young chieftain of the Aslan Tribe.

Gundar wouldn’t lie about something like this, so Darkmane City must’ve indeed suffered a tragedy.

Even the middle-ranked tribe chieftains were speechless. Sure, Duncan, Oswald, and Garen didn’t like the high-ranking tribes. However, even they didn’t have the guts or the ability to set an entire city on fire!

Only a madman could and would do that!

And they just so happened to have a fun conversation earlier with that same madman!

"I do not have the qualifications to judge you, Leone," Gundar finally broke his silence after a few minutes of silence. "You are at war, after all. If Troy wins, you will lose everything. Your people will either be killed or enslaved as a result. While you... Troy will keep you alive. He will make sure that you wish he would kill you instead."

Leone nodded. "Right. And that’s why I won’t lose, Great Uncle."

The young man’s gaze was filled with determination. He wasn’t the one who started this war.

He tried to endure, but the Bloodtusk Tribe and Darkmane Tribe had pushed him to the point that he was forced to stain his hands with blood.

And now that the die had been cast, there was no turning back.

"I have received a report that the Darkmane Tribe will arrive here within three to four days," Leone said calmly. "As such, I will ask everyone here for a favor.

"Don’t tell Troy what happened to his city. The moment I declared war on the Darkmane Tribe, I had already steeled myself to see this war to the very end. As such, anyone who will get in the way... will become my enemy as well."

The other chieftains might have taken the young man’s declaration as a joke if not for Gundar’s news of what happened at Darkmane City.

’He must have used one of his trump cards to completely destroy Troy’s city,’ Hagen thought. ’This kid is more decisive than I thought.’

’It seems that my adviser is right about Leone,’ Malik mused. ’That this young man must not be underestimated.’

Hagen’s sons, Marcus and Elias, were now looking at Leone in a new light. During the past few days, Marcus had tried to talk down to Leone many times because he didn’t like how the young man was addressing his father as if they were equals.

But now, he looked at Leone as if he were some kind of monster in human clothing. Even a warrior like him had to acknowledge that he was a dangerous adversary.

Godwin’s sons, Ragnar and Wayne, were also starting to change their impressions of Leone.

Though Ragnar was a warrior with a straightforward personality, even he was shaken after hearing that Leone had managed to destroy Darkmane City without even taking a single step outside of his domain.

’Was it Brann?’ Ragnar thought. ’Or was it that Kobold, Maximus?’

Soon, he tossed this idea to the side.

Brann had never left Grimjaw Mountain, and he had also seen the Kobold from time to time outside the fortress.

’Then who?’ Ragnar frowned.

He had seen Leone’s vassals during his stay in the tribe. As for Blitz, he didn’t notice the squirrel’s disappearance since the squirrels often climbed up the mountain as if they owned the place.

In his eyes, Blitz looked just like any other squirrel, so he didn’t notice that the latter had gone missing.

Because of Gundar’s arrival, the lively atmosphere from earlier was now gone. Still, Leone was not worried about anything else and returned to eat his breakfast.

Half an hour later, the young man reminded everyone not to report the news of what happened to Darkmane City to Troy before returning inside the fortress.

"We need to talk," Hagen said to Gundar in a serious tone.

Gundar didn’t reply, but he nodded.

"Can I join?" Malik inquired. "I also have a few questions to ask the great shaman."

"Can we also join as well?" Wayne asked. He wanted to know more about the extent of damage to Darkmane City.

"Fine." Hagen agreed. "Marcus, Elias, do you want to stay as well?"

""Yes!"" Marcus and Elias replied firmly at the same time.

How could they possibly leave now? Especially after hearing such surprising news from their great shaman?

Since they didn’t want anyone to overhear their conversation, they entered the Grimhowl Tribe’s VIP residence.

Gundar was quite surprised at the accommodations Leone had given the chieftains of the high-ranking tribes.

Duncan, Oswald, and Garen could only smile bitterly because it was very obvious that the high-ranking tribes’ villas were bigger than theirs.

But since they couldn’t do anything about it, they said nothing and followed Hagen to the conference room.

There, they listened to Gundar’s story, as well as the stories from the Guard Captain of the Darkmane Tribe.

A story of how their city burned despite the fact that they tried their hardest to save it.