Hero or Villain, Both
Chapter 98: The first step

Chapter 98: The first step

Once all of the raiders had been executed, there was a celebration that was held in the town.

Even though they had just been attacked in the afternoon, it really didn’t seem like it with the way that they were celebrating.

Still, I didn’t stop them.

To forget about what happened, letting them celebrate seemed like the best choice.

At the same time, I wanted to let them have another moment of peace before what happened tomorrow.

After joining the celebration for a bit, I pulled Vanessa and the others away.

All of the ones that were in this room were the people that held high positions in this town and in the guards. They were the ones that were in charge of making decisions in this town.

Once they were all seated around me, I said, "I have something that I need to tell you all."

None of them seemed surprised since they knew that if I was pulling them all in here like this, there had to be something that I wanted to talk about.

Only none of them expected what I actually wanted to say.

"I’m going to conquer all of the surrounding villages."

Shocked looks adorned all of their faces as they seemed to try and process what I had just told them. But in the end, it really didn’t seem like they were able to process the words that I had just said.

It seemed like they couldn’t believe that I had actually said something like this.

Once they slowly came back to their senses, Vanessa asked, "Why?"

It was a simple question that was only a single word, but there was a deep meaning behind it. It was something that had a deep importance to everyone that was in this room, which was why they looked at me with serious expressions after I said this.

I just looked at them and calmly said, "It’s because of what happened this time. It’s clear that we still lack power to prevent others from harming our town, so we need to build up that power."

Everyone couldn’t help deeply knitting their brows when they heard this.

However, it also didn’t seem like a single person disagreed with what I said.

The raid on our town this time had been a reminder to everyone of what kind of place they lived in.

It could be said that they had let their guards down a bit after living in relative peace because I had been here protecting them. But there was no changing what kind of place this really was.

In the end, it didn’t seem like anyone had anything to say about what I had proposed.

Though it did still seem like they were hesitating over this.

In the end, Vanessa represented everyone to say, "But if you do this, won’t you be stepping on the tail of something bigger? We already know that there’s someone that was behind the raiders that attacked us this time. If we start attacking the villages around us, we’ll just be giving them opportunities to move against us."

I nodded in agreement to this, but then I said in a calm voice, "But even if we don’t do anything, do you think that they will stop."

Vanessa’s brows deeply knit once more when she heard this.

Once again, it didn’t seem like she was disagreeing with what I said, it was just that she was afraid of taking that first step.

I had thought the same until I had seen the guards in action.

There was a part of me that had been wondering just how strong they were, but they had proven me wrong. It seemed that I had been underestimating them this entire time, they were actually much stronger than I expected.

As such, it would be a waste for me to not push this matter.

Vanessa couldn’t help looking at the others that were at this table, but it didn’t seem like any of them were willing to say anything. It was clear that they were thinking the same thing as Vanessa.

On one hand, being aggressive would mean that they would have more resources to deal with the person that was coming.

The con was that this could give that unknown enemy more cards to play with.

On the other hand, being passive created less gaps for the enemy to exploit.

The con was that they wouldn’t have as many resources as if they conquered the surrounding villages and gathered all of those resources in their town.

Seeing that no one was going to say anything, Vanessa still looked like she was agonizing over this decision. Since she had already spoken, she had no choice but to continue playing the role of the opposition here.

It was just that it was hard for her to do that...

"I think that..."

"Enough." Before she could say what she was about to say, there was someone that cut her off.

At the same time, Vanessa was surprised by the person that actually cut her off.

That was because it was Reddick who did it.

He was a father that usually supported her in everything that she did...well except for when she chased after a certain someone. So for him to suddenly go against her like this really caught her off guard.

Reddick didn’t care as he continued by saying, "There’s a reason why we chose him to be the chief of this town, there’s no need to start doubting his decision now."

With a sigh, he turned to look at me and said, "I’m sure that you have your own thoughts on this matter, so we’ll trust you to do the right thing. But I hope that you remember that these are people’s lives that you have in your hands."

I gave a firm nod as I said, "I know. Thank you for your trust."

With that, Reddick stood up and waved at the other leaders of the town to go with him.

It seemed that they thought the same as him once he said it out loud.

I just gave a slight bow in their direction as they walked out since that was the least I could do to thank them for the trust that they put in me.

As for the rest, I could see the way that they looked at me.

It was decided that we would take down all of the villages in the surrounding area.