Kingdom Simulator: I, a Fallen Noble, Build a God-Level Kingdom!-Chapter 60: You’re the Smartest Vassal I’ve Ever Met

To the east—the road led to Stone Town.

The cold wind atop the mountain whipped across Mangton’s face, and in that moment, he finally understood what these mechanical monsters truly were.

These things must have been the source of those dueling beams seen before in the "Poison Swamp Zone."

He never imagined they wielded such power! How terrifying that was!

Just imagine—a Lord preparing to attack another Lord: while he’s still busy mustering troops, gathering supplies, and giving rousing speeches, the other side has already sent these monsters to hover overhead.

Under such a barrage of concentrated fire, how many could possibly survive?

Lukoff piloted the Magitech Drone at its slowest speed, making sure Mangton could keep up. In fact, this was a real test of the drone’s endurance.

In flight, nothing burns through energy quite like sudden accelerations, abrupt stops—or, ironically, flying at a crawl. Of course, this doesn’t include the limitless drain of firing weapons; that’s a separate matter. If the drone keeps shooting, either the barrels will melt or the Magic Crystal will be spent in no time. Firepower consumption can be easily calculated based on the Magic Crystal’s integration level—think of it as magazine capacity: the higher the integration, the more shots it can fire.

Once the "ammunition" is accounted for, all that’s left to calculate is flight energy consumption.

Shortly after setting out, man and machine encountered a pack of bloodthirsty wolves on the hillside.

These wolves held no fondness for people from Highmount Fortress. They could smell it: the dead Draven had a scent very similar to these humans.

Draven had dared to attack the Wolf King—making him an enemy. By extension, the people of Highmount Fortress were enemies, too.

And enemies were to be torn apart with fang and claw.

But just then, a long howl echoed from afar—the Wolf King calling his pack. The Wolf King had already deduced the link between the Magitech Drones and Romon.

It had witnessed the battle in which Draven was slain from start to finish. The logic was simple: these mechanical things were the master’s emissaries.

So with a Magitech Drone leading the way, this human from Highmount Fortress must be someone Romon wanted—he was not to be harmed.

Mangton’s heart pounded with fear as the bloodthirsty wolves swiftly scattered. The Magitech Drone acted as if nothing had happened, continuing to guide him forward.

Witnessing this, Mangton’s shock only deepened. If the true master of Stone Town—the Lord of Thune Territory, Romon Thune—not only commanded such machines, but also had some unfathomable connection with the bloodthirsty wolf pack... wasn’t that just too terrifying to imagine?

What kind of methods were these?

Mangton simply couldn’t comprehend it. All he knew was that if Romon Thune had wanted him dead, he could have wiped him out—along with Highmount Fortress—long ago.

So, what was the point of bringing him here now?

If the other party wanted his allegiance, he had absolutely no room for resistance. If he didn’t want his entire family slaughtered, he could only submit.

That was always the way of war between Lords. The loyal, unyielding subordinates were usually the first to be purged, while the Lords themselves and their families often remained unscathed.

In the end, both sides would simply sit down at the negotiating table, compensate each other with some coin, exchange a few prisoners or bits of land, and call it done.

Two hours later.

Under the Magitech Drone’s guidance, Mangton finally made it through the misty forest and crossed into Thune Territory.

The first thing he saw was row upon row of dwarves. They wore blue-tinted goggles and gripped strange controllers in their hands, busy with some unknown task.

He’d never seen anything like it.

Standing before the dwarves, offering him a faint smile, was none other than the youngest Lord—Romon Thune.

"You must be the Lord of Thune Territory. I am Mangton, Castellan of Highmount Fortress, former vassal of Lord Thomas Nightingale of Nightingale Territory. As a defeated commander, I submit myself to you. Do with me as you will—but I beg you, spare the people of Highmount Fortress."

Mangton had resolved on the journey here: to save his family, he’d swallow his pride and beg.

Romon looked at Mangton, who had dropped to one knee even before a word was spoken. Clearly, this man knew how to read the times—he didn’t even need prompting before he knelt.

No doubt the journey had terrified him.

But that was fine. Romon’s original plan was to win Mangton over. According to his simulations, he could use Mangton to extract a hefty war fund from Thomas Nightingale.

And that would be just enough to equip the third-gen drones with voice modules.

"My attack on your town was a last resort. Your Lord declared war on me—he bears the responsibility for all this," Romon stated, making his position clear.

Upon hearing this, Mangton hurriedly replied, "I understand. In fact, I must confess—Thomas Nightingale once sent me orders to keep a close watch on you. If the princess ever left the border, I was to immediately lead my troops against you. I even dispatched an assassin—his name was Draven. I assume he has already met his end at your hands. We were the ones who started this wrong, and I must apologize to you."

Mangton made himself as humble as possible, groveling like a stray dog.

There was simply no other way. In his mind, this was the only hope to buy his family a chance at survival.

"I already know all of this," Romon replied. "And I also know Thomas Nightingale will soon send you a military order, demanding you raise an army—no doubt a sizable force."

"I... I didn’t know about that," Mangton stammered; the message was still on its way. ƒгeewebnovёl.com

"Well, now you do." Romon looked down at Mangton, his tone sharp. "But the real question is—do you know what you should do next?"

"I—I’ll tear the letter to shreds and ignore his demands. From now on, he’s my enemy."

"No, no, you’re mistaken."

"I apologize—please, instruct me!"

"You should accept his request—and reply that you’ll need military funds."

With Romon’s guidance, Mangton finally understood what he was supposed to do.

He replied at once, "My lord, I’ll pretend to continue serving Thomas Nightingale—drain his resources, extract his intelligence, and relay everything directly to you."

Hearing this, Romon nodded in satisfaction, and personally reached out to help Mangton to his feet.

"Mangton, you’re the smartest vassal I’ve ever met. As long as you do this well, I guarantee you and your family will be honored for generations."

These words struck a deep, soft spot in Mangton’s heart. He immediately knelt again. "Thank you for your favor, my lord! Please await my good news!"

"Excellent. In that case, hurry back. I won’t keep you—go reunite with your family and repair what’s been damaged."

Relieved at receiving such a promise, Mangton got to his feet, ready to leave—only to realize that, between wolves ahead and tigers behind, if he rushed off recklessly, he might just get torn apart by the bloodthirsty wolf pack on the way back.

"My lord, about those bloodthirsty wolves..."

"Don’t worry. They’re smart enough to know who should pass and who shouldn’t."

Romon spoke casually, but Mangton read a deeper meaning—he took it as both reassurance and a warning: if he so much as thought about betraying Romon to Thomas Nightingale, Highmount Fortress would be annihilated without mercy.

"I understand, my lord. I’ll take my leave."

"Go ahead."

Caught between Nightingale Territory’s entrenched power and Thune Territory’s unnatural might, Mangton trudged off, struggling for air.

No matter which side he chose today, if the other discovered it, he’d be dead for sure.

Such was the fate of a borderland castellan during wartime.

...

Watching Mangton depart, Romon ordered fifty operators to take shifts maintaining a perimeter around Highmount Fortress.

Then he summoned Nini, instructing the assassin corps to infiltrate Highmount Fortress and keep Mangton under watch from within.

No matter what Mangton chose, Romon could not afford the risk of betrayal. So he set up both internal and external lines of defense—this game would continue.

Highmount Fortress could not be allowed to muster an army, nor could Thomas Nightingale be allowed to suspect it had already fallen. On the contrary, Romon still intended to extract war funds from him.

"Lukoff, take the rest back with you. If you spot any problems, deal with them. Then begin mass production."

"Yes, my lord!"

"For now, let’s set a target of 3,000 units. I’m heading back to Stone Town to recruit more personnel and accelerate operator training."

With that, Romon summoned his spellbook and used [Flight] magic, soaring swiftly toward Stone Town.

At present, none of the ordinary townsfolk had any idea how to operate the Magitech Drones—only the dwarven engineers were familiar with the controls, as they’d been running tests.

But dwarves, after all, were engineers—not a real fighting force.

So Romon needed to assemble a dedicated team of operators. They didn’t require any particular combat class; even regular civilians could join.

By the time Romon arrived at Stone Town, the mayor was outside, mediating a civil dispute.

The moment people saw Romon himself, both the mayor and the quarreling crowd immediately fell silent, bowing and greeting him respectfully.

Everyone knew that Romon wasn’t some aloof noble—he was a hands-on, results-driven, military-minded Lord.

Since he’d taken over, the once-disorganized adventurers had been organized into proper units.

And with a constant stream of materials flowing into and out of Stone Town each day, it was clear something major was being built.

"Greetings, my Lord." "Good morning, Lord." "Hello, Lord."

"Hello to you all," Romon replied, then turned to the mayor and deliberately announced in the street, "I don’t think the people of Stone Town are living well enough yet. Too many still lack work and income. So, I’m issuing another recruitment order!"

Another draft? Is he crazy?!

Just about every adventurer in Stone Town—except for the useless freeloaders—had already joined the military.

Their numbers might not be huge, but their pay was higher than ever before.

If this keeps up, even if Thune Territory had ten mines, it couldn’t possibly afford such extravagance!