“And why would I leave?” Alec asked immediately.

“Well, my lord, your predecessor did not even stay up to a week in this city before running off after collecting all the resources he needed.”

“After all, the cities around here are called the Barren Cities, so I won’t blame you if you decide that you plan to leave it’s just that the citizens of this city are fragile already and I wouldn’t like it raise their hopes for something that isn’t genuine” the old man carefully explained, realizing the conversation was not progressing the way he had expected.

After hearing that reasoning, Alec finally understood why the man had acted that way.

“Well, you do not need to worry about that, because I have absolutely no intention of leaving. And you can tell that to those waiting for you outside,” Alec said, and a rare look of joy finally appeared on the old man’s face.

“Thank you, my lord. I will personally deliver your message to them,” the old man said, while even those standing beside him nodded their heads vigorously, unable to contain their excitement.

[Master, there are several foreign mana signatures heading toward the town hall. Affiliation: Human Lords.]

Just then, a feminine voice rang all around the throne room. It was coming from the cube, the moment the old men heard a voice coming from it, they were stunned.

They had always known the cube was important to the city lords, but they had never expected it to be able to talk.

“Can you show me visuals?” Alec asked, his face showing his skeptical expression, as he wasn’t sure there would be any way for him to see whoever had invaded his territory.

He then started thinking ‘It wasn’t as though this place had some kind of magical CCTV in the first place’.

However, the notification the City Heart popped up next for him shocked the hell out of him.

[Master, pay 10,000 System Points to cover the full range from which the foreign energies are invading. (Y/N)]

Alec almost cried out on the spot as he started recalling the exact words his system had used about absorbing the mechanism and gaining full control over it.

Though he had been more than happy to let his system take over the city’s new system and rewrite its programming to give it a link to his own direct system, however; he now realized one crucial detail he had overlooked one very important he should have thought more before giving his system access, and it was the fact that his system loved money and would do its absolute best to drain him dry.

Though, to the current Alec, ten thousand System points seemed like nothing because he could easily afford it, but that wasn’t his problem.

His problem was the fact that he knew this was always how it started, and before long, he would be forced to start paying for things with far higher amounts.

However, for now, he didn’t haggle and simply accepted the cost as the amount was deducted from his balance, while he waited to see how it would all be unveiled to him.

The next second, light shot out from the body of the cube, projecting outward until it formed a wide holographic screen before him.

“Woah... I’m impressed,” Alec said the moment he saw that the holographic screen was the size of a large cinema TV.

And that wasn’t all, there were seven split sections on it. The moment he saw that, he simply smiled.

He had already suspected they were the ones coming in the first place, and now, with his City Heart screen had confirmed it for him, he believed there was no need to keep watching.

So he swiped his hand in midair, and the projector screen shut out of the way as if it had been minimized somewhere.

“My lord, is there anything you want me to do on your behalf? Though we might not have the strength to compete with mages higher than us in realm, However; I can still gather some able-bodied men who could help in creating a domain array,” the old man said, causing Alec to look at him in surprise.

“And what good would that do for me?” Alec asked, his interest piqued.

“Though weak, the array is able to inflict an overall five percent debuff to all the stats of whoever does not belong to our city and has invaded, so long as they are within the range of the array,” the old man explained.

But even though the old man called it weak, what Alec saw was an opportunity to make his future army the controller of every battlefield they stepped on.

“Baby X, don’t worry, they aren’t trespassers, they are my clansmen and friends. And old man, you don’t have to worry about getting able-bodied men. However; if it isn’t a bother, I would love to discuss the matter of the array with you in more detail later,” Alec asked, ending it as a request after naming his City Heart, Baby X, on the spot.

“Not a bother, my lord. Your wish is my command.” The old man was still speaking when both he and Alec started hearing someone shouting from outside while flying all the way toward the hall.

“Alec!!!!!!!”

Arthur’s loud voice reached the hall as he flew straight in, seeing his overly eccentric attitude only made Alec laugh out loud again.

Not too far behind him, the other six arrived as well.

‘Those are all lords... Are they friends and clansmen of our lord? No wonder. I see, they all came together, and that is why the eight stars appeared in the air earlier’ the old man thought inwardly.

However, while he was still feeling that they would now be better protected from the orc threat with all eight lords forming an alliance together, the next thing those lords did shocked him beyond reason.

Arthur walked up to the cube and pushed his own lord token into Alec’s cube.

“I, Arthur Gordons, pledge my loyalty to the master of this castle.”

The moment he did that, a not so bright golden hue flashed, and when he pulled the token back out, it was much smaller now.

“I appoint your mayor to your assigned city,” Alec said, and a new line was added to his city’s status tab. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

But the old man could only stare, because he was not prepared for the shock that followed as the rest all did the same thing Arthur had done.

[....]