As for promises....
'What even is a promise? Can you eat it?'
'Can you sell it for money?'
'Heh!'
As for whether his companions would sell him out...
Loran wasn't worried. Out of the three of them, only he wasn't seriously injured.
Getting rid of the other two would take him no time at all.
However…
[Lord Contract Established: Loran and Ethan have formed a contract. Loran must act entirely according to the Lord's will. If he violates it, he will die on the spot.]
Right after that, Loran heard a strange voice echo inside his mind.
'What lord contract? When did I ever sign a lord contract? I just casually said a few words. How can this be possible?'
Loran froze on the spot.
But Ethan looked at him cheerfully and said, "Since the contract's already established, I just happen to have something I'd like you to help me with."
"Gulp!"
Once Loran realized the contract couldn't be broken…nIf he didn't want to die, he could only follow Ethan's orders, "W… what is it?"
"It's very simple."
Ethan took out a peach-colored five-petal flower from his ring and handed it to Loran, "This is a Flower of Misfortune. Help me plant it in the General's garden. That's not hard, right?"
"A… a Flower of Misfortune?"
Loran checked the flower's attributes.
[Flower of Misfortune: As long as this flower is planted in someone else's garden, that person will be plagued by misfortune. However, finding the Flower of Misfortune is not easy, because it will disguise itself as other flowers, making it hard to tell real from fake.]
[PS: Even if you remove every flower in the entire garden, as long as even a tiny piece of the Flower of Misfortune's root remains, it will grow again.]
'Uh… So this is the Flower of Misfortune, the flower that will make General Shakun suffer endless bad luck?'
Loran shuddered all over. The man in front of him was terrifying. They had only come to kill him, yet he was going to retaliate like this.
'This is way too ruthless!'
"What?", Ethan sensed the uncertainty in Loran's eyes and sneered, "Not strong enough? Then take this with you too."
As he spoke.
Ethan handed him a white petal, "After planting the flower, when you go to see General Shakun."
"Slip this petal onto his clothes, or into his pocket. Either is fine!"
"But you must put it on him. Understand?"
"Y… yes, I understand."
The sly Loran nodded repeatedly, then lowered his head to look at the white petal in his hand.
No matter how he looked at it, it didn't seem like something ordinary.
Sure enough…
[Omen Petal: White represents death, like a white rose offered to the deceased. Once this petal is pinned onto someone's clothes, news of death will soon come to their household.]
This…
'Isn't this too vicious?'
'We only tried to kill one person, and you are planning to wipe out our entire family?'
'This man is a demon. Terrifying. If General Shakun knew the kind of person he has offended, will he regret it?'
"Can you do it?", Ethan asked with a smile, "If not, I won't force you. You can just drop dead on the spot."
Hearing that, Loran immediately swore loyalty, "I can! I definitely can!"
"Very sensible. Not bad."
Ethan then turned to the honest man, "Become my territory resident, or die right now. Choose."
"I… I choose…", The honest man's face crumpled, "I choose to become your resident!"
As soon as he finished speaking, his identity changed instantly.
This was a player's right.
After the concept of Lords appeared, free players could choose to pledge allegiance to a Lord, as long as both sides agreed.
As for why Shakun hadn't turned all the remaining soldiers into his residents, it was because his resident quota wasn't enough.
Everyone had a resident quota. Ethan's quota was forty-five.
One resident had died before.
So Ethan had one slot available, and the honest man happened to fill that vacancy.
[System Notification: Residents 45/45]
"Alright. From now on, your name is Honest Man," Ethan looked at him, "Later, go find the Attendant Lady and have her arrange a place for you to stay. For now, join Guard Five's guard team."
"After some time, depending on your performance, I'll give you equipment and assign you new tasks."
"Understood?"
"Yes, Lord."
The Honest Man now looked somewhat numb. His eyes were clearly less lively than before. It seemed his personal will had been cleaned up by the system.
Ethan didn't know how Shakun had brainwashed these soldiers before, but it was clear, they weren't particularly resistant to becoming residents.
It was more like they held the attitude of it's better to live poorly than to die.
"Ethan, get out here!"
Just after Ethan finished dealing with the two intruders, the voice of Merchant White suddenly rang out from outside the pet enclosure.
Hearing Mr. White's voice, Ethan raised an eyebrow.
"Heh!"
What was bound to come had finally come.
He knew Mr. White wouldn't let things go so easily.
The reason White had handed over the things he lost in the bet before was not only because the Lord Contract forced him to, but also because he had lost his rationality at the end of the gamble.
He had been provoked by Ethan's "freeloader" attack and acted irrationally.
But after calming down, Mr. White would naturally realize he had been tricked. Him showing up now was well within Ethan's expectations.
"Oh? Why haven't you left yet?"
The moment they met, Ethan asked Mr. White why he was still here.
After all, who would enjoy a sheep that had already been sheared clean still staying in his territory, eating his grass and living in his pen?
"I'd love to leave!"
Mr. White angrily shoved open the pet enclosure gate and stormed in, roaring, "But when I woke up this morning and tried to find you, your servant said you'd gone hunting!"
"You bastard, I think you were deliberately avoiding me!"
"Why would I avoid you?", Ethan tilted his head and played dumb, "You're not my ex-girlfriend, and you're not my creditor. Why would I need to avoid you?"
"I am your creditor right now. I advise you to return what belongs to me!"
Mr. White stretched out his hand, furious.
But Ethan only smiled calmly, "When we do business, it's always money in one hand, goods in the other. What exactly do I owe you?"
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