“I’m back, sir!” Randolph shouted after returning with 40 beowulf warriors and two units of 100 soldiers. He continued. “There were about 40 bandits, and all of them were eliminated. Two of our soldiers suffered minor injuries. And here...”

Randolph held out a pledge of loyalty printed with the signature of the village head from the village he had just occupied.

Eugene responded, “Well done. This makes seven so far.”

“Yes, the population was rather small, but with this, we have completely stabilized the route leading from Brighton to the Riwad territory. Congratulations, sir!” Randolph exclaimed.

“Yes. “ Eugene smiled with satisfaction as he wrapped up the pledge of loyalty. He had left the villages untouched before since he was heading to Brighton for war, but now that he had occupied the city, there was no longer any reason to leave them unoccupied. As such, Eugene sent troops to all villages in the vicinity to wipe out all the bandits and roamers in their surrounding areas to promote security, and he obtained pledges of loyalty from the village chiefs and landowners.

The village chiefs wouldn’t have expected such a thing, but this was simply the world they were living in. Someone else would have occupied the villages in the future even if it wasn’t Eugene.

“Did they have any complaints?” Eugene asked.

“They were initially as quiet as a mouse, but...