The thieves had already been pursued from the village to their lair by Niu Zida and his maids, leaving them physically and mentally exhausted, tired and scared. Seeing the fires blazing at their supply outpost, and hearing the Goblins' clamor again at their lair, and with people inexplicably being killed, the remaining thieves were in utter disarray and began to flee in all directions. Of course, occasionally isolated individuals would be ambushed by hidden Goblins, letting out screams in the night. This further stimulated the thieves inside the lair, making them mistakenly believe that they were truly targeted by an unknown Goblin army.
Although individual Goblins are weak in combat, they generally appear in groups. In human perception, Goblins are synonymous with cruelty, sneakiness, and treachery. Women would be taken back as tools for reproduction, and men would be killed and stored as food for the winter. Once captured by a large group of Goblins, the outcome would be very tragic.
This widely known fact on the border further deepened the fear of the already startled thieves. Coupled with Niu Zida and Yor's intermittent sneak attacks, raiding and harassing, the thieves in the cave quickly lost control. They began to flee in all directions. A tall man with a scarred face, who looked like the leader, desperately tried to rally his subordinates, but no matter how he tried to restrain them, he couldn't control the chaos.
Niu Zida found the captive thief who had previously led the way and asked him about the appearance of the thief leader. The captive pointed to the tall, scar-faced man who was constantly trying to restrain his subordinates and said:
"He is the leader of our thief group, Vitshinkai."
To catch the bandit, first catch the ringleader. Niu Zida immediately ordered Yor to infiltrate during the chaos, find the thief leader, and kill him with one blow. The remaining thieves around the leader were all stunned by this scene, completely unaware of how their boss had fallen. However, after a brief moment of shock, the leaderless thieves became even more chaotic and scattered to escape.
"I am Goblin Lord Niu Zida! Your leader, Vitshinkai, is dead! The rest of you, quickly lay down your weapons and surrender, otherwise, you will all be slain!"
Niu Zida now rode on Yor's slender, snow-white neck, his legs draped over Yor's shoulders, and desperately shouted these words. Seeing that some people were still fleeing in panic, Niu Zida simply ordered Yor to kill a few disobedient thieves nearby. Yor, naturally, did not hesitate, slaying about ten people in quick succession, which finally intimidated the remaining thieves at the scene.
"Put down your weapons and you shall live; otherwise, none of you will be spared!"
These thieves were already scared witless. Seeing a Goblin riding a beautiful woman, blocking their path like a demon, with many corpses lying around, and hearing the chaotic shouts of Goblins outside, they thought they were surrounded by a Goblin army at the cave entrance. Hearing that surrendering offered a chance to live, they had no choice but to give up. In an instant, nearly a hundred thieves in the cave were disarmed by Niu Zida riding Yor.
After the thieves were disarmed, Niu Zida ordered them to find ropes and tie each other up. Once they were mostly bound, he had them walk out of the cave in a line, one after another. Niu Zida counted a total of ninety-seven people.
Originally, Niu Zida wanted to go into the cave to clear it out, but with so many thieves outside, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to control them if he stayed inside for too long. After all, he only had a few dozen Goblins on his side. So, he decided to set the thieves' main nest on fire and burn it clean.
To ensure that Yor had indeed killed the leader of the thieves, Niu Zida specifically brought in other prisoners to confirm. Only after confirming that he had indeed killed the thief leader did he feel relieved. At the same time, he also had the prisoners identify the second-in-command.
After capturing this group of thieves, Niu Zida ordered the Goblins to escort them to the vicinity of the farmstead overnight. Then, he sent someone to fetch Aponia from the village. In front of all the prisoners, he had Yor directly execute the second-in-command of the thieves. Afterward, he had the Goblins drag the second-in-command's body away in front of everyone to be made into salted meat for winter storage.
The thieves were terrified by Niu Zida, trembling with fear. Taking advantage of their fear, Aponia used her ability of Discipline, telling the thieves to live well in the future, allowing them to atone for their sins by reclaiming wasteland and rebuilding houses for the village, and forbidding them from harming the villagers again. Under the control of fear, the thieves all knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly, afraid that if they disagreed, they would become food for the Goblins like the second-in-command.
In reality, Niu Zida was just using fear to give Aponia practical experience in using Discipline to control these thieves. After all, there were hundreds of thieves. If he didn't use Aponia's Discipline early on, he only had a few dozen villagers and a few dozen Goblins. Once the thieves realized that they were outnumbered, he wouldn't be able to control them.
If these hundreds of thieves were used well, they would be excellent labor. It would be a waste to kill them all. Besides, some of them were from nearby villages. Niu Zida felt that keeping these people would make it easier to subdue other villages in the future.
Now, by using fear to ferment the Discipline ability, he had temporarily controlled these thieves, buying Niu Zida time to breed more Goblins. Once he had a large number of Goblins in the future, he wouldn't be afraid of not being able to control these thieves due to numerical superiority. As for making salted meat, it was naturally just a scare tactic. Although Goblins do eat human corpses when they are hungry, Niu Zida doesn't allow his Goblins to do so. Once they get used to eating human flesh, it will be difficult to get along with humans, which doesn't fit Niu Zida's expansion plan. Furthermore, killing the second-in-command could eliminate future troubles and prevent these surrendered thieves from rebelling under someone else's leadership.
"I didn't expect that four or five hundred thieves would be defeated by Master just like that. Master is truly amazing."
Seeing that Niu Zida was able to defeat and even subdue a bandit group that had plagued the village for more than a year in just a few days, Aponia expressed her heartfelt admiration. It wasn't just Aponia; even Misato Shizuku on the side was completely impressed by Niu Zida's strategy this time. Leading a group of weak Goblins, he was able to achieve such results against hundreds of thieves in a situation where both numbers and quality were inferior. This person's ability is indeed not to be underestimated.
"It's nothing, just a bunch of bandits. Next, we need to make good use of these laborers to rebuild the village. Also, Aponia, now that the recognition of Master is successful, is it time to come to bed and focus on bearing me sons?"
"Since I am Master's maid, of course I will listen to Master's orders."
Aponia, hearing what Niu Zida said, blushed on her delicate face and responded softly with her head lowered...
💎 Power Stone Bonus: Every 100 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter
🌟 5-Star Review Bonus: Every 5 (5-Star) Reviews = +2 Extra Chapters
💬 Comment Speed-Up: If any chapter reaches +10 Comments = The Next Chapter Will Be Released Faster!
🔥 Want to Read Ahead? If you want to read advanced chapters, check out my buymeacoffee(.)com/02netnovel