Al rode his Griffon, leading his troops back to the tribe.
Along the way, he observed the expressions and movements of the human prisoners with great interest.
Confusion, helplessness, and shame.
Mostly these three.
Overall, they were in a state of low morale and constant paranoia.
Their main force seemed to be further behind, moving sluggishly due to a complete lack of motivation typical for puppet troops.
Interrogating the prisoners revealed that a human force of about four to six thousand was heading north to assist the Greenskins in "clearing the Beastman tribes in the Piña Forest."
The composition was basically the old Kingdom army and some militia reserves conscripted from various places.
In terms of equipment, they uniformly used Magrittan military issue.
So, aside from their combat power and personal decorations being inferior to the old army—the Tercio had a tradition of individuals buying their own gear and decorating themselves—they looked no different from a regular Kingdom army.
This puppet legion, which had moved too fast and unluckily collided with the Beastman-Human alliance, was likely the vanguard.
Al had originally decided to imprison them separately until the battle was over, but he suddenly felt it would be a waste.
After all, these were hundreds of able-bodied young men.
This puppet force was almost entirely made up of members of the old army; unlike the militia, they were mostly veterans with actual war experience.
Halfway through the journey, the already exhausted and demoralized prisoners looked even more dejected.
Al ordered the prisoners to be gathered and lined up.
He wore his mask, riding his Griffon, flanked by two rows of majestic Khorngor Bodyguards standing in wait.
The prisoners looked at each other, not knowing what this Beastlord of the tribe—who reportedly allied with the Kingdom to fight the Greenskins—intended to do with them.
Al silently unleashed a large-scale psychological mass-suggestion spell from the Lore of the All-Knowing: "The Unarguable Word."
The effect was to create an intense psychological suggestion in the minds of the target group regarding the subsequent words and actions of the caster.
In extreme cases, Al could use this spell to goad a crowd into immediate mass suicide as a sacrifice to Chaos.
On a milder level, it simply made his words more persuasive and influential over these people.
Seeing that the effect was about right and the prisoners had focused their attention on him, Al spoke loudly:
"You are traitors to the Kingdom of Estalia, surrendering to the Greenskins and serving them to attack your Kingdom's allies."
The prisoners showed faces of shame, and some even covered their faces and wept uncontrollably.
"My original intent was to imprison you and report this to the Northern Council in Bilbali—the currently only legitimate government of Estalia, given that Magritta has succumbed to the savage violence of the Greenskins—for them to decide your judgment."
Al paused, then continued: "However, if I do that, you will inevitably be nailed to the stake of shame, and the glory of Magritta will forever be stained by the disgrace of surrendering to and being enslaved by the Greenskins... Now, I will give you a chance to redeem yourselves."
"I will form a 'Punitive' Legion to exist as a penal army. Your treatment and equipment will be aligned with regular legions."
"For the Kingdom, for the Goddess, use the blood of the enemy to wash away the shame of yourselves and the city you come from."
"This way, after the Greenskins are driven out, at least you and your families will not be liquidated as traitors!"
Al intentionally avoided using tribal terminology, adopting the official, legitimate tone of the "Kingdom."
He was bullying these prisoners who had arrived in a daze and been captured in a daze, possessing zero understanding of the relationship between this "tribe" and the Kingdom, truly believing it was a solid alliance of friendship and unity.
Or that the tribe was semi-subordinate to the Northern Council.
Then, the old rule: those willing to join the Punitive Legion to "atone" and wash away their shame stood to the left, those unwilling stood to the right.
Under the influence of the psychological suggestion, most people chose to seize this opportunity and joined the Punitive Legion.
A tiny minority refused, hanging their heads and standing to the right.
Al expressed his satisfaction and continued on his way.
Shortly after resuming the march, they arrived at the Vanguard Legion's camp.
Al casually held a meeting with the Vanguard's command system and then squeezed out about two hundred sets of ordnance.
He didn't re-equip the prisoners yet, but their treatment improved slightly and the guarding was loosened.
After all, in the heart of the great forest and tribal territory, where could they possibly run?
Then came the heavy blow.
Regarding the minority who refused to join the penal army, Al didn't act himself.
He manipulated the Vanguard Legion behind the scenes to step forward and roughly seize this group.
They were dragged and shoved into the camp to be locked up.
By then, regret was too late. Al intentionally let the Vanguard Legion—who truly represented "Kingdom legitimacy"—do the dirty work for him.
Then came a series of trials and humiliations, with representatives from the Kingdom's diplomatic team participating in the entire process.
The prisoners were first brutally interrogated, shamed, and tortured, then dragged before the public to be whipped and beaten.
Their clothes were stripped off, and they were paraded in wooden stocks.
Under Al's incitement, these surrendered troops suffered immense humiliation from their former comrades in the Vanguard Legion.
After all, while such a thing wasn't unheard of, it was indeed exceptionally egregious.
Many people, upon hearing the news, initially thought it was a rumor.
Even with the prisoners as living proof, it was hard to believe the capital of a nation had surrendered to the Kingdom's mortal enemy.
The Empire had been pounded by various monsters and demons so many times, having had inactive Emperors, unbearable fanatical Arch-Lectors, ambitious or mediocre Elector Counts, incompetent generals, and being riddled top to bottom with cultists, Chaos elements, and mortals charmed by Vampires...
But never had such a terrifying situation occurred!
A national capital, surrendering to Greenskins!
Many people even burst into tears on the spot, crying out for the Goddess's guidance, wondering why Estalians had to endure such a horrific fate.
Then, they vented their fury onto the prisoners in a retaliatory frenzy.
Several were even beaten to death.
The prisoners who had joined Al's Punitive Legion were filled with a lingering fear.
Given the situation, if Al had also handed them over to the North, to the Kingdom's hands, then to boost morale and inspire people to wash away the shame, every single one of these puppet soldiers would likely have been publicly tried and hanged.
Once his goal of intimidation was achieved, Al stepped out again to play the "good guy."
First, he designated a camp for the prisoners, stationed further behind the Vanguard Legion.
Then he distributed supplies and weapons, and arranged for the Blood Oath Brotherhood's officer-chaplains and Shamans to take charge of training, brainwashing, and proselytization.
These surrendered troops, who—willingly or not—bore the crime of serving the Greenskins, were an excellent group of helpers for Al's future southward march to occupy territories and quickly establish a tribal management system.
They could help him utilize the human labor of southern Estalia as quickly as possible.
But before that, they had to prove themselves to Al through bloody combat under the name of the "Punitive Legion."
Everyone hates a traitor, even an enemy's.
But conversely, the traitors of a (potential) enemy aren't quite as detestable.