Our Family Has Fallen
Chapter 92: Aftermath_1

Chapter 92: Chapter 92: Aftermath_1

Lance couldn’t help but feel a sense of validation when he saw this. He was also quite emotional for a moment. Having suddenly been transported to this world, he had very little sense of belonging. From the moment he arrived, his survival, achieved by any means necessary including cheating and deceiving, was solely driven by his will to live. These were actions he’d never resorted to in his previous life. Knowing how fucked up this world was, he forced himself to struggle. As a man standing between heaven and earth, how could he languish forever beneath others! He used Dismas and all the others like tools, never considering their feelings, only their usefulness. As for himself? What is 996? Damn it! Since he had arrived, he averaged less than four hours of sleep per night. When not managing governance and planning town construction, he was diving into dungeons with a few companions or plotting against enemies. It was only by being ruthless to others, and even more so to himself, that he had managed to break through this situation of internal and external strife. Now that he had complete control of the interior and the bandit problem outside had been settled, he could finally slow down a bit. But Lance didn’t indulge in this feeling and was unwilling to delay any longer.

He called Susan over and delegated to her the task of organizing some people to clean up the battlefield, while he organized the soldiers once more.

"Assemble!"

After a brief rest, the soldiers rallied from the recent warfare and quickly lined up upon hearing the command.

"The war is not over. The bandits’ stronghold on the old road still needs to be eliminated, and you need to rescue those they have abducted. Everyone prepare to deploy."

"Yes!"

The soldiers’ morale was high; this victory had shattered their fear of bandits.

Lance called Reynard and two others, laid out a Map, and delegated the task of destroying those strongholds and digging out the buried treasures to them.

"Go, take two carts with you, and try to complete the task before nightfall."

"Yes!"

The strongholds on the old road posed little risk as they had been scouted several times. Besides, Lance needed to deal with the bodies; he had to stay behind.

The troops set out, and the town’s other residents began to deal with the aftermath of the battle.

It wasn’t difficult—just loading the stripped bodies onto large wagons to be taken outside the town, though some could now only be carried in barrels.

Lance did not linger on the street but walked alone to the tavern.

Inside, he saw that the bodies of the bandits were mostly by the bar, while the tavern owner lay behind the counter.

Upon inspecting the body, it was clear he had sustained many injuries, but an axe blow to his head had been the fatal one.

Lance had seen the tavern owner a few times before. A mercenary who had managed to retire alive—his strength was not hard to imagine. Although he was somewhat older, he still had a robust build and a wealth of combat experience, capable of dealing with several bandits easily. But without armor and facing a surge of bandits, he was only able to kill a few before he was cut down. One could say the tavern owner had no quarrel with Lance, but he was simply in the way. Opposing the Void Devourer was an extremely difficult task, and Lance would not allow any uncontrollable force within his domain, not even an extension of such a force.

After ensuring everything was in order, he went straight to the gambling house.

About thirty people had died inside. Due to poor air circulation, the strong stench of blood lingered, much more potent than on the streets and growing more severe as one drew near.

Lance, showing no fear at all, walked straight in and quickly spotted a blood-stained spherical Incense Burner on a bandit’s belt.

Opening it, he found that the medicine pills inside had been soaked with blood. If they had burned completely, perhaps a dozen or so more would have died. However, this little trinket having such a significant impact was beyond his expectations. Indeed, this was one of the reasons why Lance dared to take thirty new soldiers and square off against over a hundred bandits. If they were to truly spread out and fight, those thirty new soldiers would be nothing but cannon fodder. Therefore, Lance had always been seeking various ways to weaken those bandits.

When they broke in, Dismas took the opportunity to blend in with the bandits.

He lured the bandits to the square, pointed out the existence of the gambling den to attract them, and then casually hung an Incense Burner on one of the bandits.

As the drug’s stimulating properties spread with the smoke, the gambling den turned into a battlefield, directly leading to severe infighting; these thirty lives were merely controlled by a single pill.

Then, Dismas seized the chance to kill a leader, triggering a second round of infighting.

Though it was quickly suppressed, warfare relies on morale. As the saying goes, "the first roll of the drum rouses the spirits, the second sees them falter, and the third exhausts them."

These bandits had been disgusted by his scorched-earth tactics upon arrival, their morale already diminished from failing to loot any money or women.

Furthermore, the successive infighting caused heavy casualties. These sorts of losses are fatal to bandits – where would they get the will to continue fighting?

Not to mention, the bandits had been driven back and forth across the square. Already exhausted from running for their lives, their stamina was significantly depleted by the time he herded them onto the streets.

Now was the perfect time: they were drained, his men were rested. Lance led his troops to engage the enemy.

Those bandits had been so thoroughly outschemed by him they were left with nothing, while he himself held the advantages of timing, terrain, and the unity of his forces.

But even with all this, things nearly went awry. If the new soldiers’ formation had broken, they would have been bogged down in chaotic skirmishes, which would have been troublesome.

Luckily, he was fierce enough to stabilize the formation, annihilating those fellows on the predetermined battlefield.

Lance shook his head slowly, picked up the Incense Burner, and turned to leave. "Bandits who don’t use their brains will always be bandits."

Cleaning the battlefield and tallying the spoils was arduous work. The ground, soaked with blood, still oozed red no matter how many times it was washed, and a faint stench of decay lingered despite all cleaning efforts.

Yet nobody minded these things, all diligently attending to their tasks without a single complaint of dirtiness or fatigue. This was not only because the townspeople bore a blood feud against these bandits, but more importantly, the job paid a whole five copper coins.

They managed to secure such good work thanks to their high credit scores.

The credit score was a unique system Lance had devised. It was quite simple: their daily work performance led to additions or subtractions to their score.

For example, diligent and efficient work earned points upon payment, while slacking off resulted in deductions.

Doing good deeds or things beneficial to Hamlet also earned points.

Committing crimes or causing public order issues, if caught, would result in fines and point deductions.

This credit score served as a benchmark for assessing everyone. Those with high scores naturally received better preferential treatment in town, such as bonuses, promotions, pay raises, and hiring priority.

Just like now—not everyone could secure such a good job.

This was a method of positive reinforcement. He knew he had to provide differentiated treatment, or it would harm those who worked hard.

While they worked hard, Lance took on the task of driving carts laden with corpses to the outskirts of town for the Sacrifice.

With a wave of his hand, the fragmented corpses were all consumed by the Void Devourer. As the Sacrifice from hundreds of bodies flowed into him, the sacrificial energy he had expended in the recent great battle was replenished, even surpassing his previous reserves.

That sense of security once again enveloped Lance’s heart, and a smile surfaced on his face unconsciously.

Old bastard waiting for a meal? Eat shit!