"Yeah,"
Aleya answered without thinking: "Besides that one, we don't have any others around here."
"You idiot! The mine is only about a mile from us—it'll track the scent right back here!"
"No way..."
SMACK!
Ryan slapped Aleya hard across the face, furious: "No way? What if that thing comes here?! You're putting everyone's lives on the line!"
Aleya was stunned by her father's slap, and even Maxim was shocked by the sudden violence.
He was about to speak up when shouts erupted from outside:
"Hostiles!"
"Shit!"
Ryan's heart dropped like a stone!
No time for anger—he spun around and bolted out of the wooden house, his mind flooding with images of friends getting ripped apart by the wyvern.
Ryan quickly scanned the sky looking for flying shapes but saw nothing.
"Where the hell are the enemies?!"
Ryan yelled, frantically searching for targets.
The next second, he spotted through the village gate an impressive force steadily advancing up the valley!
Not the wyvern?
Who the hell was this?
Ryan's heart filled with shock and suspicion.
Who else could possibly find this place?
There was no time for Ryan to think it through. He immediately barked orders: "Shut the gates! Get up in that watchtower and get ready to fight!"
Two villagers instantly obeyed, running to the gate to close it, but just as they started pushing, guards in shiny new chain mail suddenly charged forward and knocked them flat!
"Maxim! What the hell are your guards doing!"
Ryan roared in shock, while Maxim, who'd just run outside, looked just as confused!
Before they could react, other guards nimbly scaled the watchtower and lightning-fast took down the mountain people up there!
"Maxim, you backstabbing son of a bitch!"
Ryan roared and drew his hunting knife, hurling it at Maxim, but Pamin leaped over and sliced it out of the air with one clean sword stroke!
"It wasn't me!"
Maxim trembled with fear and quickly protested: "I don't know anything about this!"
Right then Maxim felt sick to his stomach, finally realizing that all of this had been Thane's plan from the get-go!
"He's got nothing to do with this—he doesn't have the authority to give me orders."
Pamin said calmly.
Before coming here, Thane had told him to keep Maxim alive if at all possible and not let him get hurt.
"I follow the orders of Shadowpine Ridge Lord Baron Thane. If you drop your weapons and submit to the Baron, I won't hurt you."
"You're that bastard lord's lapdog?!"
Ryan roared: "This is our land—we'll never bow down!"
"Then you're asking for it."
Pamin struck first, moving like lightning, closing the distance to Ryan in just a few steps and slashing down!
Pamin's speed was way beyond what Ryan had expected. He couldn't dodge in time and could only barely twist sideways to protect his vitals, taking the hit on his back!
RIP!
The leather armor split open like paper, blood spraying everywhere!
The sword's impact and the pain made Ryan pitch forward, nearly losing his balance and hitting the dirt. He barely managed to stay upright through quick footwork!
But by then, Pamin's next strike was already heading for his face!
WHOOSH!
At that life-or-death moment, a sharp arrow flew straight at Pamin!
Pamin jumped back to dodge, and Ryan took the chance to put some distance between them.
The archer was none other than Ryan's daughter Aleya.
Pamin stood his ground, calmly eyeing the two:
"You can't get away. Give it up."
Behind him, the soldiers led by Thane had already stormed into the village.
"I am Shadowpine Ridge Lord Thane Ividaya. You've illegally squatted on my land and poached my game in violation of Imperial Law! Now drop all your weapons, come out and submit to me, and I'll let you live! Otherwise my army will level this place!"
Thane's voice rang out loud and clear. With his intimidating soldiers backing him up, he instantly struck fear into everyone in the mountain settlement!
"Don't kill me! I'll submit!"
"I'm from Fontdmer Town! Sir!"
...
The Blackstone Mountain people weren't as stubborn as Thane had expected. In a heartbeat, over a dozen people were on their knees with their hands behind their heads.
Thane waved his hand, and soldiers quickly fanned out to both sides of the village, zip-tying all these people.
But there were also some tough nuts who immediately raised their bows and let loose a volley at Thane!
"Shields up!"
Several arrows flew with whistling sounds but just went "thunk thunk thunk" into the round shields without doing any real damage.
"You morons really don't know when to quit!"
Thane's face stayed cool:
"Attack!"
The soldiers quickly advanced under shield cover. Pamin charged out front and rapidly took down the resistance.
These Blackstone Mountain people weren't as fierce as expected either.
Most were regular folks without any training or decent gear, completely outmatched in close combat against seasoned fighters like Eliric.
When they saw sharp steel coming at them, many freaked out and could only hit the deck and surrender.
Only a handful of skilled hunters used nimble footwork to slip away from pursuit, quickly escaping toward the back of the village, apparently heading for some secret exit.
Thane got it—every smart hideout has multiple escape routes. This stronghold definitely had back doors.
In the pitch-black night, soldiers wouldn't stand a chance against hunters who'd vanished into the forest. No point in throwing lives away.
He waved his hand, ordering Pamin and the others to stop chasing.
"Go ahead and run. Don't worry about your family and friends—I'll take real good care of them."
Thane shouted toward the back wooden houses.
He wasn't bluffing—he really wouldn't hurt these people who'd already given up.
For one thing, Shadowpine Ridge desperately needed workers. For another, Thane had no personal beef with these folks.
The worst punishment Thane might dish out would be cutting their food in half, then making them work twelve-hour days with no time off.
Massacre?
Not a chance.
Those willing to surrender were honest, scared people—good workers.
The territory didn't have any troublemakers left to make examples of. Pointless killing was all downside—Thane wouldn't do it.
But only Thane knew this for sure.
In everyone else's minds, Thane's "taking real good care" had only one other meaning.
It was a threat.
Sure enough, after a brief silence, Ryan's voice came from the back wooden house:
"Why do you have to come here and mess with us? We just want to live in peace!"
Thane stopped Eliric from charging forward and called back: "You're squatting on my land and telling me you want to live in peace?"
"This isn't your land! We've lived here for thirty years! This is our home!" Ryan shot back.
"If living somewhere long enough made it yours, then the whole ocean would belong to sea turtles."
Thane understood Ryan's point but wasn't buying it.
If everyone thought like Ryan, then lords wouldn't need to exist.
Never mind Thane's current era—even in civilizations a thousand years more advanced than the Loanium Empire, there was no rule that whoever lived somewhere long enough owned the land.
"None of that matters. What matters is that His Majesty the Emperor granted me Shadowpine Ridge—this place is mine!"
"If you've got a problem with that, I can send you and your family before the Emperor. You can argue your case with His Majesty—if the Emperor says this place is yours, then I'll hand it over!"
"But right now, this is my territory—Shadowpine Ridge Lord Thane's domain!"
The Emperor assigned it—don't blame me!
If this godforsaken place wasn't missing everything—iron, grain, people, you name it—why would I come here to duke it out with you guys?
Thane had his own complaints. Taking over territory still meant personally recovering it himself.
The village instantly went dead silent.
After a long moment, Ryan's voice rang out again:
"Forgive our crimes, and we'll submit to you."