Answering The Challenge (4)

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- - Back in time a bit - -

In the midst of the chaos, people cowered in dismay but Sedin was different.

"Lillian! Now, let's get out of here. I don't know what is happening, but it's our best chance!"

Lillian, who had been leaning against the wall in a daze, murmured in a fading voice.

"But where is Frill?"

"You idiot, we have to get out of here to find her!"

Sedin said, grabbing Lillian's hand and running out of the jail.

"Children, it's not safe out there! It's better for you to stay here!"

It was a war of attrition and the private soldiers were blindly killing the slaves that escaped.

Thanks to this, people were just shivering in fear behind the doors.

However, Sedin thought that they would be trapped again if they kept staying there, but that assumption turned out to be wrong.

"Sedin!"

A blade flew into the back of Sedin, who was running along with Lillian, and impaled him.

He became a victim of random slaughter carried by private soldiers; Lillian sat down and cried out Sedin's name.

However, with the amount of blood that was already flowing out meant that there was no chance of saving him.

"Sedin! Sedin...! No, you can't die, not you too!"

Then, a blade came flying at her but Bente blocked it.

"Get inside! It's not safe out here!"

Lillian clung to Sedin and wouldn't leave, even though Bente whom Julius had sent shouted as he came toward the jail.

And in no time at all, the stronghold was in ruins.

Julius received a signal from Bente and stepped into the jail because as long as the people who had been captured were there, he had to do something.

"Sir, I've gathered them all!"

Bente said, and Julius nodded, then he shouted to the gathered crowd.

"I am Count Julius, Lord of Aquitania. I have come to help you in my cause of cleaning up the slavers. Raise your hand if you've been kidnapped by these people. If you have a place to return to, we'll send you home!"

Then the women started to raise their hands fearfully, looking around here and there to see what was going on around them.

"All right, gather together in one place. No matter what happens, I'll send you back home. With an armed escort for safety"

Dozens of women gathered at Julius's words.

The rest of them were buzzing and couldn't take their eyes off him.

"The rest of you have probably been sold into slavery. When you return home, you will either be oppressed or sold into slavery again. I will give you a choice. If you want to go home, that's fine, but if you want to start a new life, I'm going to give you all a new place to live. I'm building villages all over Aquitania. If you don't want to go back to your homeland, you can come and live there. Of course, it's a border territory, so there will be risks. But don't worry, I will protect you. I can assure you of that. Those of you, who would rather farm without worrying about what others think than lead a miserable life, come forward!"

People began to whisper at Julius's words.

"Count Aquitania is...Don't tell me you were the one who ended that war?"

One of the women who had just been abducted screamed out in surprise.

She had been kidnapped in a war zone and had heard rumours about Julius.

Even more so since the rumour of Julius being a great strategist was already spreading all over Lunan.

"Yeah."

Julius nodded and the woman suddenly stepped forward.

"...If I go back to my village I'll just be sold back anyway. I want to go to Aquitania. Can you take me with you?"

"If that's your choice."

Because of the location, 90% of the people being held were women.

However, they were worried that they would be taken away again, but her words became a fuse.

Their trust level soared, and soon, the women came forward to take the lead.

Furthermore, more than half of those who had said they were going back to their homeland decided to come to Aquitania instead as the homelands were more dangerous since they'd already been invaded once by Visigoth whereas Aquitania had repelled the invaders.

Due to the peculiarity of being a border region, Aquitania's weakness was its small population.

Of course, many refugees had recently moved in due to Erhin's fame, but it still wasn't enough.

In the midst of all this, Lillian, who had been pulled away from the body of the Sedin and forcibly brought to him, only looked up at Julius with a dazed look in her eyes but did not come forward or stand up, then the woman next to her grabbed Lillian's hand with a pitying expression.

"You have nowhere to go, right? Your friend is dead and your sister was taken away, poor thing...This is a good opportunity for you to come and live with me in a place called Aquitania."