"People of Glenwood, I would love to introduce you to your new lord," Rowan declared.
His words drifted swiftly across the crowd, resulting in varying reactions from everyone who heard his statement.
Beside him, Fagin shivered uncontrollably.
Behind him, his soldiers watched with anticipatory gazes, awaiting his next actions.
In front of him, the people of Winterseed had reactions ranging from fear to confusion.
Some of them even began to whisper, making different assumptions.
"Is he going to become our new lord?" some wondered.
"I think he wants to assign a new lord and make them surrender to a vassal decree by him. With the Staff of Authority in his grasp and our military might already diminished, achieving that would be as easy as taking a pee," another speculated.
"We are doomed!" others concluded.
Rowan observed all their reactions and scoffed.
He turned to look at Fagin, who was already sweating behind him, and signaled the soldier to bring him forward.
"This guy has been your lord, and under his reign, my people have suffered all sorts of hardship. My people became malnourished; some died of starvation; babies and mothers became fatherless and husbandless. They went through all these and many more..." Rowan began.
His words sank into the hearts of everyone, especially Fagin. It was as though he was standing before judges and his crimes were being listed. The more Rowan spoke, the more Fagin felt like his life was close to ending.
Fagin imagined himself in Rowan's position; if a village had done all that to his people, he would definitely seek revenge and kill that lord. 'My fate might be the same,' he thought.
"As a lord, dominating other territories is pretty interesting; it makes you realize just how mighty and powerful you are," Rowan continued.
This time, Fagin felt strange. He didn't even know how to react to what Rowan just said; whether he was being vengeful or simply explaining what he would do was unknown.
"Nevertheless, that is useless if your main goal of subjugating a large group of innocent people is just to collect their resources and defile their women!" This time, Rowan's voice became cold and louder, causing the crowd to gasp and Fagin to shiver even more.
Rowan continued and spoke about how Fagin had defiled his women.
He lengthened his speech and made the people of Glenwood understand his perspective.
[ 600 women in Glenwood feel your pain and curse their lord and the lustful men of their village ]
[ 600 women agree with you and take your side... +600,000 evolution points ]
[ 100x activated | 60,000,000 evolution points have been transferred to your account ]
Rowan observed the rewards and smiled before continuing.
Beside him, Fagin shivered even more; his legs became numb, and his teeth gnashed as he felt death's cold hands slowly reaching for his shoulder.
"So tell me, would you let that kind of lord continue ruling over you, or would you want a lord who is handsome, powerful, cares for his people, and most of all, has dignity and self-control?" he asked the main question.
His question dropped like a bomb on everyone, even though they already saw it coming.
In the beginning, they all hated and despised him, especially because he was the lord of a poor and weak village, and they felt he was the same.
Now they didn't even understand their own feelings.
Fagin became hopeful upon hearing the silence following Rowan's question.
But his hope soon shattered when the women and young ladies in the crowd began to step forward slowly.
'No, no, what are they doing!' he yelled inwardly. 'I am your lord; you shouldn't listen to this stranger!'
Soon the crowd became even more active as more women stepped forward; even the men and children began to step out slowly, though not all of them.
Rowan observed with a smirk; at least 60% of the population had agreed with him—he needed to add more fuel, more reasons for them to agree with him.
"The women have been smart enough to make the right decision because they are pure-hearted and actually understand what it means to have dignity!" he started.
"For those men who stayed behind, are you trying to show that you are women abusers just fat bastard right here?"
His next statement invoked a quick reaction. The women and young ladies, including the little children, looked back at the men with scowls of disappointment.
The men immediately became at a loss for words. They wanted to act almighty and cool to prove they could never yield to any man, especially someone as young as Rowan. Most of them also didn't want to agree because they feared betraying their village's original leader would invoke repercussions from the gods.
Nevertheless, seeing the heated gazes of the women, their minds changed—if they didn't step out right now, not only were they risking getting killed by Rowan, they would be marked as women abusers upon their death, and no one would remember them, not even their partners who already felt disappointed in them.
They let out sighs and began to step out slowly.
Rowan opened his population window and watched his population grow slowly as he managed to sway the people to his side.
[ Population - 4600+ ]
[ Population - 4700+ ]
Rowan just needed the 5000+ mark to complete the population criterion.
Nevertheless, while they agreed to his reign slowly, Glenwood soldiers kneeling on the ground behind him began to chant.
"We pledge our power to you!"
"We pledge our power to you!"
Their chants grew louder and drew the attention of Rowan.
Rowan gave them a nod of approval.
DING! [ Congratulations, you have completed the POPULATION criterion to evolve your territory ]
DING! [ Congratulations, you have completed the MILITARY criterion to evolve your territory ]
DING! [ Congratulations, you have completed TERRITORY SIZE criterion to evolve your territory ]
[ You have won over the support of 98% of Glenwood population and military.. CONGRATULATIONS, you have conquered GLENWOOD ]
[ You have received title CONQUEROR ]