Starting Today I'll Work As A City Lord

"Thud, thud, thud..."

A series of hurried footsteps echoed, occasionally accompanied by the sound of branches snapping with a "crack, crack" in the forest outside Sedona City.

Chris took the War Wolves as they navigated through the woods. They had received news of an intruder around four in the morning.

Aiden had arranged for sentries and scouts to be positioned dozens of kilometers away from their territory. Last night, the sentry spotted Baron Adam's team and quickly relayed the information back to their territory, passing it along through layers of communication.

Now, the War Wolves had ventured out before dawn to investigate. Their first task was to determine whether the newcomers were hostile. If they were indeed enemies, the War Wolves would hold them up in the woods.

"Here we are!"

As the group reached the edge of the woods, they were met with a strong metallic scent of blood and the low growls of wolves.

"Everyone be careful; something feels off." Chris drew his sword, while his other hand readied a small military crossbow.

"Understood!"

Chris led the way out of the woods and was stunned by the sight before him. In the distance, a pack of wild beasts surrounded the area, with various types present, but mostly wolves, all growling and fighting for something...

"What the..."

Chris's expression grew even more serious as he raised his hand and made several hand signals. The members of the War Wolves tightened their grips on their swords and began to advance toward the beasts. They needed to assess the situation.

"Everyone be careful; this situation feels strange."

Chris's voice was low. Based on their speed of advancement, they should have encountered an unknown team in the woods by now, but it seemed that the opposing group had suffered an attack.

"Understood!"

The War Wolves worked together to dispatch the attacking beasts, slowly moving forward until they reached the scene, staring blankly at the corpses scattered across the ground. The sight in front of them was full of gore.

"It looks like the other side was ambushed." Number Two said solemnly.

"Judging by the number of bodies and the bloodstains, this group had at least 150 to 200 people." Number Five analyzed.

"Who could have attacked them? And what were they doing here?" Number Four said as he slashed a wolf that lunged at him.

"Keep an eye out for clues." Chris said, his sharp eyes scanning the surroundings.

"There's a piece of cloth here, half burnt, with some patterns still visible." Number Seven said, holding a palm-sized fragment of fabric.

"Keep it!" Chris replied as he picked up a broken spear.

Half an hour later, Chris and the War Wolves left the area. As for the bodies, it wouldn't take a day for them to disappear into the mouths of the beasts. This was the norm in this area; those who died in the wild would feed some fortunate predator.

"…"

At noon, Chris appeared in Lucas's study room with the clues he had gathered.

"Have you found out the identity of the deceased group?" Lucas asked, holding the piece of fabric. His black eyes flickered as thoughts churned in his mind.

"No." Chris replied, lowering his head in embarrassment.

"Give this to Omar for identification." Lucas handed the half-burnt patterned cloth to Mina beside him and said calmly, "If I'm not mistaken, it should be closely related to him."

"Understood." Mina took the fabric and left.

Lucas slowly closed his eyes. His only enemy now was Omar. Since Omar was in the Black Mine, his family should, if they weren't foolish, start suspecting him.

He never underestimate the intelligence of the people in this era. Even if the War Wolves's abduction of Omar lacked solid evidence or was merely a suspicion, it was enough for the other side to find an excuse to take action.

After all, expecting the nobility of this era to adhere to principles, rules, or reasoning was pure fantasy; the only thing that mattered was brute force.

If it were him, and if the other party dared to abduct his people, even without evidence, just a single thought of suspicion would be enough for Lucas to lead an army to search for them and even resort to killing.

Twenty minutes later, Mina returned with news that aligned closely with Lucas's suspicions.

"Sir, this is the insignia of Count George." Mina said, her expression somewhat serious.

A count was no laughing matter. Mina was even contemplating whether to assassinate this count to eliminate the problem altogether.

"As expected." Lucas replied lightly. He sighed as the advice of Annie to keep Omar alive became useful for him now. If Annie didn't give the idea to keep Omar alive then he would need to worry about the identity of the attacker.

The other party was undoubtedly hostile. Truthfully, if they dared to enter his territory, he would not hesitate to take action, capturing all of them and sending them to mine.

As for offending a count, Lucas couldn't care less. Did he really believe that avoiding offense would lead to leniency? Judging by the route the other party was taking towards Sedona City, their target was undoubtedly him.

What puzzled Lucas now was who had intervened midway? That was what he cared about the most; hidden enemies were the most terrifying.

"Can we determine what kind of person made the attack?" Lucas looked at Chris and said in a deep voice, "There should be traces left at the scene."

"City lord, we found many large footprints at the site, and our preliminary judgment is that it was the work of beastkins." Chris recalled that there were many beastkins among the newly recruited soldiers in the military camp, all of whom had quite large feet.

"Beastkins? Why is that?" Lucas raised his eyebrows, surprised by this answer; he never would have expected beastkins to be involved.

After all, the beastkins in this era gave him the impression of being either captured and enslaved or hiding in the outskirts of the Forbidden Mountains. The fact that they could defeat a knightly squad of a count indicated that beastkins also had armed forces, and they weren't weak.

Perhaps this was the effect Bella wanted to achieve. Lucas now dared not underestimate the beastkins.

"It seems I cannot be misled by appearances; rigid thinking is truly a flaw."

Lucas sighed, thinking that he had recruited a hundred beastkin cavalry into his own army. Once equipped with heavy armor, they would truly be like humanoid tanks, able to take on five human knights without any issue.

"Annie, give each of those sentries a silver coin as a reward, and instruct them to expand their surveillance area a bit more," Lucas turned and instructed. "Any unusual occurrences should be reported back immediately."

At present, there were no carrier pigeons or anything of the sort in Sedona City, so information could only be conveyed through people's legs or warhorses. Lucas had also started training some birds for message delivery, but the progress was painfully slow.

"Understood." Annie quickly signed the order and handed it to Lucas for his seal.

"Go and rest." Lucas waved his hand, dismissing Chris.

"Yes city lord." Chris saluted before leaving the study.

Lucas looked at the closed door, a smile curling on his lips. "This storm is beginning to brew. And count, huh? When you don't receive news from your squad, you will surely send more knights, won't you? I hope they're not too weak; otherwise, it'll be tough for my soldiers to get practical training." 

This squad of knights was originally coming for Lucas; it was just that someone had blocked them for a moment, but in the end, they would still fall into his hands.

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