Chapter 62 That Is Too Radical

The next day.

The morning mist had not yet dissipated, and the castle's training ground was already packed with people.

Hundreds of soldiers dressed in leather armor stood in neat rows, their hands gripping iron spears tightly as their gazes fixed firmly ahead.

Sir Thorin and Sir Remy, the lord’s two squire knights, stood in gleaming armor at the very front of the formation.

Before them was Karen, clad in pitch-black armor, gripping a dark greatsword, and mounted majestically on a giant wolf.

Madam Danielle also followed behind him, riding a stunning white horse.

"Thorin, Remy," Karen said in a deep voice.

"Here," the two knights knelt on one knee simultaneously.

"Take a hundred soldiers each and head to Fangtooth Town and Surplus Fruit Town. Immediately apprehend the scoundrels at the locations provided by Sean, and bring them all to the dungeon in Ore Town. Remember, let no one escape. If they resist, execute them on the spot!" Karen commanded.

"Understood, My Lord."

The two knights mounted their horses, and each led a column of soldiers off in a majestic march.

"The remaining soldiers will accompany me to Ore Town."

With that, the Dark Abyss Wolf carried Karen forward, with Danielle and the army following closely behind.

.....

Bedchamber

Tramp, tramp, tramp.

The footsteps of hundreds of people woke Xia Mingyu from his deep sleep. He got up, pulled back the window curtains, and happened to see Karen riding his black wolf and leading the army away outside the window.

"He only brought it up yesterday morning, and they're setting out this morning? Isn't this a bit too efficient!"

Xia Mingyu twitched the corner of his mouth; he had already guessed the purpose of Karen mobilizing the army.

Looked at this way, his promise to be a godfather held a tremendous allure for the nobility.

"Karen is the kind of meticulous person who would even notice Anliya's dress; he shouldn't slaughter the innocent indiscriminately. Since that's the case.... Hoo, hoo."

Xia Mingyu rolled over and went right back to sleep.

.....

Surplus Fruit Town.

Silver Lily Brothel.

Patrons and brothel thugs were dragged out in a daze by the wolf-like soldiers who had stormed into the establishment. The slightest hesitation was met with a barrage of clubs, and eventually, they were all ordered to squat on the ground with their hands behind their heads.

They had no thoughts of resistance whatsoever, because anyone with eyes could see the fine leather armor worn by these soldiers and the armored transcendent knight leading them.... This meant the operation was a direct order from the lord.

And the lord wielded supreme authority in the Black Wolf Territory.

"Sir Thorin, my lord, I've never pressed you for the tab you ran up here. For the sake of that friendship, I beg you to let me go alone."

The captured doorkeeper pleaded bitterly.

Hearing this, Sir Thorin narrowed his eyes.

As the lord's most loyal squire, he vaguely understood the reason behind this operation; it seemed to be related to that supreme Highness.

In that case....

"Fine, I'll let you go," Sir Thorin squeezed out a stiff smile, and dragging the overjoyed doorkeeper, he walked toward a distant patch of grass.

Before long, he returned alone as if nothing had happened, except for some inexplicable blood stains on his hands.

Golden Jasmine Brothel, Tulip Brothel, Purple Iris Brothel....

The exact same scene played out almost simultaneously in every brothel across the entire Black Wolf Territory.

.....

Ore Town.

Inside a luxurious villa.

Eli Hughes, leader of the Wolf Gang and also Hawk's lord, had just woken from the embrace of two beautiful maidservants when he looked out the window in utter bewilderment to see over a hundred spear-wielding soldiers surrounding his house airtight.

And the man at the lead, wearing pitch-black armor, was none other than that good uncle of his who had killed his father—the Morning Star-tier Great Knight, "The Wailing Wolf" Karen Hughes.

Eli: "???"

He had merely run a few brothels and formed a small gang; was it really necessary to mobilize the army and lead a personal raid to exterminate him?

He paid his taxes properly every single year!

In fact, given how formidable Karen was, he had long since forgotten his father's vendetta, wanting nothing more than to spend his life eating, drinking, making merry, and sleeping with women under the protection of the noble title above his head. He hadn't even dared to seek revenge when the squire knight died a few days ago.

Boom, boom!

Before he could carefully puzzle out the reason, the soldiers smashed through the front door and dragged him before the lord dressed in nothing but a pair of shorts.

"Uncle! Uncle! What on earth have I done to deserve this from you?"

"If you're worried I'll seek vengeance against you, I can swear to the gods right now that my father is no longer my father!"

Eli said in terror and anxiety.

Although he had killed plenty of people, when it came to his own life being in someone else's hands, he still felt extreme anxiety and dread.

"The Sun and Justice Gods above, I, Eli Hughes..."

"Enough, enough." Karen interrupted his oath with a complicated expression.

"Men, take him to the dungeon," Karen glanced at Danielle eyeing them menacingly from the side, and gave the order helplessly.

"Uncle! Uncle! I'm your own nephew!"

Ignoring Eli's wails, the soldiers hauled him away.

"Oh dear, Karen, this is your own nephew, the very blood of our House Hughes!"

Fran Hughes, the mayor of Ore Town who had rushed over in a flurry, blew his beard and stared in fury as he watched Eli being dragged off to the dungeon by the soldiers.

He was the younger brother and right-hand man of the previous Viscount Hughes, as well as Karen's biological uncle.

At sixty years old, he had practically devoted his entire life to House Hughes and had watched Karen and his older brother grow up. Therefore, even though Karen was now the lord, he always treated this uncle with deep respect on ordinary days.

"Karen, how could you be so cruel? The Black Wolf Castle is so vast, yet back then you drove young Eli out of the castle, and now you want to kill him too!"

"Our House Hughes truly doesn't have many direct bloodlines left!"

Fran grabbed Karen's arm and pleaded bitterly.

The plea from his biological uncle softened Karen's expression slightly, but Danielle's eyes narrowed beside them.

One nephew felt somewhat insufficient in weight; if they added a biological uncle as well, wouldn't it better demonstrate their determination to follow His Highness....

Besides, they weren't her nephew and uncle anyway; dying off just right would free up positions for her own trusted subordinates.

"Uncle Fran, listening to you, it sounds like Eli hasn't been lacking your care lately, has he?" Danielle said with a charming smile.

"Of course! When that child Eli was driven out all alone back then, if I hadn't taken care of him like my own son, how could he possibly have united all the brothels in the Black Wolf Territory and established the Wolf Gang by himself?"

Fran completely failed to notice the trap Danielle had laid for him, or rather, it never crossed his mind—after all, didn't running brothels and forming gangs go without saying for nobles?

Besides, this was also a way to increase the territory's tax revenue. After all, many shady matters couldn't be handled by the grand and righteous lord; there always had to be someone wearing the black gloves, and that was Eli's exact role in his eyes.

Hearing this, Danielle whispered a few words into Karen's ear, causing Karen to look at Danielle with a shocked expression.

"Uncle Fran, please turn around and look, Eli has already..." Danielle trailed off.

Startled, Fran hastily turned around, but before he could clearly see what was happening, he felt a heavy blow to the back of his head and collapsed to the ground in darkness.

.....

The great purge lasted for a full three days. Not only the brothel thugs and gang members, but even the street ruffians who picked fights on ordinary days were stuffed into the Ore Town dungeon like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

The cavernous dungeon was packed to bursting with scoundrels.

They wailed and struggled, utterly unable to figure out what kind of madness had seized the high-and-mighty lord to make him do this.

How could a territory possibly exist without brothels and gangs? This was simply too radical!