The military officer looked at the faces below the stage, illuminated by hope, and understood in her heart that these words had moved them, and the mission was basically successful.
As instructed, she told everyone to return home and prepare the unique token of each family, and quietly said:
"We will send people to find a way to deliver these tokens, along with Lord Arthur's promise, into the mountains."
Considering that they might have channels to contact their family members in the mountains, using both lines would be more authentic:
"Or you yourselves, find a way to tell everyone in the mountains."
The military officer surveyed the entire hall, her gaze sweeping over the expectant eyes one by one.
"Their family members are waiting for them to come home."
These words made many people shed tears again, but this time, they were tears of hope.
However, the military officer's next words were like a basin of ice water poured on the newly ignited flame; her voice suddenly turned cold, carrying an inexplicable chill that cooled everyone's recently warmed hearts, striking at the core of each person.
"But they must also understand! Lord Arthur's benevolence! Only once!"
The temperature in the council hall seemed to drop sharply.
'If they resist to the end! Refuse Lord Arthur's benevolence! Then…'
The military officer paused, deciding to improvise, biting down heavily on each word, fiercely, as if pronouncing judgment:
"Your public land! Your stability! Will also vanish into thin air!"
"Because on Lord Arthur's land! There are no families of rebels!"
"Their names! Their lives! Even your names! Your lives! Will be forever! Completely erased from this land!"
The last sentence, light as a feather, yet carrying the weight of ten thousand pounds, struck the entire council hall into silence.
Hope and fear, grace and threat, were perfectly bound together.
The choice seemed to be given to the bandits in the mountains, but in reality, the true shackles had already been placed around the necks of the family members in the council hall.
Their expectations, their tears, the tokens they prepared, would become the sharpest weapons, piercing the hearts of their family members; the path home had been laid out.
At the end of the road, perhaps there was land and new life, or perhaps an abyss and destruction.
The three officials rose and left, leaving behind the silent, quiet crowd in the council hall.
The crowd slowly dispersed, beginning to try to contact their family members hiding in the mountains through their respective secret channels.
Just one day later.
In the Lions Den, Evelyn was vividly describing her ideas for the second phase of the project to Arthur, who smiled and occasionally offered a few pointers, receiving the woman's adoring gaze.
Arthur sighed inwardly, wondering if this was what it felt like to be a genius; he never thought that he, a semi-illiterate in basketball, could also be a genius here.
"Lord Arthur!" A guard reported, looking awkwardly at the strange atmosphere flowing between the two, almost out of breath, "Outside, an official from Southern Gorge Fortress is requesting an audience with a dozen or so shabbily dressed people."
This group was led directly to the Lord's Hall of the Lions Den, which was already quite grand; the dim reflected light and candlelight further enhanced the hall's majesty.
Arthur sat on the main seat, his gaze calmly sweeping over the dozen or so men who were bowing their heads and cowering.
They still carried the wildness and bloodiness of the mountain forest, but at this moment, they were more like a flock of lost lambs, anxious and afraid.
Twenty earth soldiers stood on either side, hands on their sword hilts, standing proudly.
Arthur did not question them, nor did he even look at them; he simply nodded slightly to Evelyn.
Evelyn, holding a stack of wooden tablets, walked up to them.
Although her disguise was so ugly, her voice was gentle and clear, like a clear spring in a mountain stream, washing away everyone's tense nerves:
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