The villain's way to tame the protagonist

"Um……"

The young man stood at the entrance of the reception hall and said thoughtfully: "We need some practical assistance. However, now is not the time to talk about this."

Anser cast his gaze towards the reception hall, and all the nobles trembled physically and mentally, and most of them couldn't help but look away.

"Good morning everyone."

The elegant Hydra nodded to the nobles and smiled: "How have you been recently?"

Only at times like this would the nobles' brains work at full capacity, trying hard to think whether Anser was hinting at something.

Only the Lord of Stone, as the host, responded immediately. He bowed slightly and said in a humble and respectful tone: "Under your leadership, the Red Frost Territory and we are all getting better, Lord Hydra."

At this time, the other nobles woke up from their dreams and began to compliment Anser.

Anser just smiled and raised his hand, signaling them to stop: "You all have contributed to this, what can I do alone?"

The girl behind Anser on the right lowered her head, stood quietly and gracefully, and remained silent.

Marina did not feel disgusted by Anser's words. On the contrary, knowing how much Anser actually disdained the nobility's words, she admired Anser even more.

The reason why Ansir Hydra maintained the aristocratic order so well was not because he did not have enough ability and had to integrate into it to get help.

On the contrary, the so-called noble rules and noble blood honor never had any power to force Anser to bow his head. He restrained his nature so much and made everything perfect, just for one thing - that is to make the goal he wanted to achieve perfect.

No matter what he cherishes or what he despises, if necessary, Anser can always use every chess piece on the board in the most perfect way... to the greatest effect.

In Marina's opinion, this is more shocking and respectable than the kind of "power" that is unbridled and sweeping.

The atmosphere became more harmonious because of Anther's words. There was no doubt that although deep down, the nobles still had an indelible fear of Hydra, at least now, most of them regarded Anther as "one of their own".

"By the way, let me introduce her to you all. Although you should all know each other, this should be the first time I bring her to such an event."

Anser spread his hands to the side, smiling, and spoke with confidence and pride:

"Marina Lancemalos, my temporary secretary."

The girl standing behind him took a step forward, but did not perform a ladylike gesture that would show off her feminine charm. Instead, she bowed slightly and said in a neither humble nor arrogant voice: "Good day, my lords."

"Although the ring has been taken back by me."

Anser stroked the black snake ring on his thumb and spoke briskly, as if he was talking about something insignificant: "But Marina's words still represent my meaning. I hope you will remember them."

This was probably the first time that Ansher spoke to the nobles in a tone that contained a hint of warning, so these guys with a keen sense of smell immediately expressed their opinions. Their sincere, even flattering attitude made Marina's heart surge.

Different from the respect she received when she used the snake ring to contact various nobles before, Marina knew very well that at that time they were only respecting the ring on her hand, not her herself.

But at this moment, the sincerity of these people... came from the bottom of their hearts towards her, towards Marina Lancemalos.

respect.

For Marina, a mortal no different from a mayfly, such respect is worth remembering.

The girl memorized this feeling in her heart, and swallowed it together with all the knowledge she had learned day and night as nourishment.

Compared to Sitana, Marina is growing all the time.

"I asked Earl of Stone to gather you all today because I have something for you to do."

Anser walked calmly towards the main seat and said, "Some simple little things."

Upon hearing this, the nobles breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as there are still requests, it means that everything is fine. In this case, let alone small matters, even if Anser wants their wives, they will rush to offer them with both hands.

"First, about Sitana's village..."

Anser sat on the main seat and shifted his gaze to a pot-bellied noble. He smiled and said, "Baron Blackwater, that is the territory under your rule. At the same time... you are also the noble who treated them well the first time, right?"

The obese middle-aged noble was stunned for a moment, then nodded hurriedly: "Yes, yes, it's me! It's my honor to be remembered by you!"

He patted his chest hard, thinking he understood what Anser meant: "I understand. I will send another batch of supplies to their village tomorrow... no, today! Today!"

Among all the nobles present, he was the only one who knew best how wealthy that poor little village had become now.

Not to mention the parents of the Calamity Lance, even her fellow villagers were able to gain weight in this cold winter! The great cold wave was even more of a joke to that village - because some noble was so capable that he directly invited the warlocks to help prop up the etheric realm. The people in that village were not only shivering in their houses, but they were even able to run out and move around!

Even the young people who had left the village and were struggling in different places in the Red Frost Territory suddenly turned their lives around.

Anser held his chin with one hand and looked at Baron Blackwater, just smiling.

The fat baron was frightened by what he saw, and his expression changed immediately. He asked very cautiously: "I, I will contact someone right now..."

"No, that's not necessary, Baron Blackwater."

The young Hydra leisurely uttered a snake letter that was only for the Homecoming Wolf: "I hope you can stop all funding for Xitana Village."

“…Stop?”

The baron looked at Anser blankly, but the moment he made eye contact, he dared not say anything more and nodded vigorously, "Understood! I will immediately, immediately stop all funding for that broken village! All policies will be cancelled!"

Anser nodded and sighed: "Xitana disappointed me a little. She needs to learn a lesson."

This was equivalent to a clear instruction, which made all the nobles understand clearly, and they all knew that there was one more thing they should do next.

They had been unhappy with those country folk for a long time. If it wasn't for Anser's sake, why would they give those unruly people so many things for free? If they didn't give them a hard time, they should kowtow and thank him!

"Of course, there's no rush for this." Anser chuckled, "Maybe in, um... three or four days."

“And then, the next thing.”

Gleipnir transformed into a red-black whip blade in Anther's hand, causing all the nobles to turn pale in an instant.

"After working together for some time, I think you should understand that I am a very easy-going person."

"A man who follows the rules."

Anser lowered his head and stroked the sharp blade that was glowing with a cold and eerie light. His voice was gentle and warm, just like your closest friend.

"Don't give me that look, my noble bloods."

Anser smiled happily and waved the whip blade in his hand casually: "I think you should all be clear about my principles - depriving people of their lives is a luxury for me."

"As long as people exist, they must have value. Depriving people of their lives is a blasphemy and a waste of this value. I don't want to and don't like to do such a thing."

Of course, all the nobles were well aware of Anser's character and style of doing things. That was why they were even more afraid, extremely afraid.

During the trip to Xiaofeng Fort, Anser took two viscounts, Long Bing and Xiaofeng, with him. The former was sent to the Emperor's [Black Matrix], a place that is said to be a hundred times more despairing than hell; the latter, as a third-stage transcendent, should have become the material of the contemporary Hydra, the alchemist master, if nothing unexpected happened. As for whether he is dead or alive, or whether he still has a "human" appearance, it is unknown.

Ansir Hydra's emphasis on "value" is so horrifyingly cruel that even the nobles would tremble.

Giving death is indeed a great mercy to the young Hydra with a warm smile.

"Killing is a very inefficient, extravagant, and wasteful behavior." Anser sighed, "I hate death for the same reason."

"Although you may think that those poor people are like weeds, even if they are all frozen to death, they will grow again next year, and they are worthless."

"But in my eyes—"

The whip blade gradually lengthened and began to slowly move across the necks of the nobles.

"They also have their value and role, and... they are not small."

"During this severe cold wave, I reached a tacit understanding with Earl Hardstone and all of you. I thought this tacit understanding was beyond question, but some people... betrayed my trust."

This sentence made the faces of some nobles turn extremely pale in an instant.

In fact, although the frozen corpses in front of Anser’s mansion in Red Frost City looked extremely scary after the cold wave ended, it was just as Marina said, “not as many as expected.”

Earl of Stone had done a good job of keeping a tight control on the situation. The mortality rate of the poor in the outer city (note, the poor) was only about 40%. There were basically no deaths among the civilians whose living standards were barely acceptable.

This is extremely rare in the Great Cold Wave in the North, especially in the Red Frost Territory, which never cares about the lives of the poor. Basically, as Anser said before, whenever a rare Great Cold Wave comes, the nobles will let those poor people who "damage the appearance of the city" freeze to death directly, just as garbage cleaning. After all, after a while, there will be population filling in, because the people of the North have a strong fertility, and the terrible natural disaster of the Great Cold Wave does not come every year. It is just that it has been too frequent in the past twenty years, and it has already occurred three times. In the past, it almost only occurred once every fifteen to twenty years.

As for other nobles, under Anser's "instructions", most of them were doing OK, basically keeping the death rate of the poor at around 50%. Some of them were so thoughtful that they even distributed useful coal to the strong labor force.

But there were a very small number of people... some who were too stingy and too stupid, and thought that Anser was just talking. They really just did it casually, allowing the severe cold wave to "clear out" almost all the poor people in their city.

"I feel very sorry about this." Anser sighed, "Earl Solidstone, do you think I should forgive them?"

The man sitting on Anser's right smiled and said, "That depends on their sincerity. Your tolerance is not a cheap thing."

"Lord Hydra!"

Someone immediately fell to his knees and banged his head, saying, "Forgive me... Please forgive me! I am willing to give you my property and everything I have! Please forgive my stupidity, forgive my stupidity!"

The common people under the rule of this nobleman probably would not have thought that the beast who abused his power, despised human reputation, and levied heavy taxes would tremble and kneel down in front of a young man like a dog, begging for forgiveness in the most humble and unbearable manner.

The nobles always value their dignity, but what is dignity in the face of the terror brought by Hydra?

This young Hydra has proven himself. He used the death of Count Red Frost and the "value" of so many people to prove his majesty.

When necessary, he will be a perfect collaborator; when taboos are violated, he will be the devil you never want to face.

"Why do you have to be so humble, Baron Hemu?" Anser looked down at him with a compassionate expression, "Am I a cruel and murderous devil in your eyes?"

If it was just extremely brutal, we wouldn't be so afraid. But Baron Hemu and the other two nobles who also knelt down and begged for mercy did not dare to say this.

"How about this."

Anser stood up and said magnanimously: "I am willing to give you a chance."

The eyes of Earl of Stone narrowed slightly. The other nobles remained silent, but they had already started to make plans in their minds.

But the three foolish nobles had no time to think so much, and they kept thanking and praising Anser for his kindness.

"Since Baron Hemu said he is willing to give everything he has."

Hydra stroked his cane and smiled harmlessly:

“I think this proposal is very good.”

"Your territory, your people, your property, everything you own - I need these things to belong to the Revolutionary Army, and the same goes for the other two."

In the dead silence, Anser said briskly: "In the past four days, I have conducted a focused investigation in the Red Frost Territory and found that... this is indeed a very suitable land for the growth of the revolutionary army."

"I think we should give these eager audiences off the stage some opportunities to perform."

Earl of Stone opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but he remained silent.

He had no idea why Anser did this, but there was one thing he was very clear about - that was Anser must have considered things countless times longer-term than he did, and anyone who doubted Anser was stupid.

"But, I, this..."

Baron Hemu forced a smile with great difficulty: "Even if, even if I really give it up, they, those rats in the sewers of the New World... would not dare to occupy the nobles' territory."

The two Grand Dukes of the North don't seem to care much about the activities of the Revolutionary Army, so this group of talents has room for development in the North.

But the nobles all believed that if the revolutionary army calling itself the "New World" took any excessive actions, such as blatantly attacking cities and seizing land, the elite troops under the two grand dukes would be able to kill them all within three days.

"That's not something you have to consider."

Anser's smile remained unchanged.

He looked down at the nobles who were high above him in his territory with compassion, kindness, and tolerance, and said in a gentle voice:

"You just need to consider whether to accept my mercy..."

"Or, pay the price for betraying my trust?"

Baron Hemu met those ocean-blue eyes with great horror.

At that moment, he seemed to see his future self.

——I am not dead, but my value has been squeezed out and I can no longer be called a "human".

"Thank you... Thank you for your mercy, thank you for your mercy..."

This evil party, who was cursed and hated by countless civilians, kowtowed to Ansher with tears streaming down his face.

So, from the heart.

*

After returning to the mansion, Anser sat on the soft sofa in the lounge, and Yura stood behind him, gently squeezing his shoulders.

"You should have a good rest, Master." Savile said softly, "You have spent too much energy in the past four days."

Anser couldn't help laughing and said, "Savier, you think too little of me."

"No, but..." Old Savile opened his mouth, then shook his head helplessly and sighed, "I support all your wishes, but your work during this period is a bit too crazy."

He said to Anser seriously, "I can assure you that before I had any contract, I was no different from most of the dandies, not like you are now..."