"Young master, the final touches have been set in place," Robert said to Raze, who was standing on a hill not too far from Oden and looking inside the town.

"Oh, that's good," Raze replied while still looking at the city of Oden from the hill. He turned around to look at Robert. "Then we can start the final part of the plan," he said, a grin on his face as he spoke.

"Final part of the plan, young master?" Robert asked with slight confusion.

"Oh, I didn't tell you of that part, but don't worry, you'll get to see it," Raze said before he began walking down the hill.

He returned to the campsite. The bathhouse was completed, massive, and everything was working well. He looked at it with a proud smile. He had come a long way since the first bathhouse he made in Ribest, the simple bathhouse that was still standing there. It was functional and well-maintained, but it was still small. He made a mental note to upgrade it when he returned to Ribest.

Then he turned his attention back to the town and headed in. Elaine, Ella, and Fey followed him inside, along with Seraph. They made their way to the town square, where Raze stood. A few people were going about their day, picking up the debris of their broken homes due to the attack that had happened.

Raze had promised them to fix it, but days had gone by and he had done nothing. Many of them had begun to lose faith in what he could do, especially when they heard of how he treated his workers. It made them believe that Raze was all talk, but under all of that, he was another tyrant. He had to ruin their lives, which was all still a part of Raze's plan.

He began speaking in the square.

"Good day, everyone," his voice bellowed out.

He caught the attention of anyone that was in the square. After all, he was the current lord of the town, so they paid attention to hear what bullshit he was about to speak.

"I'm sure many of you are already angry at the fact that nothing has been done to fix your homes and lives after the issues that occurred. Well, there are a few reasons for that," he said.

Hearing that part of his statement, their interest was already piqued, and he could see it in their faces. His grin widened even more.

"Oh boy," Elaine muttered. She knew he was about to go all out now.

"There are a few people in this town, people that have been hindering your happiness," he said.

When the townspeople heard that, all of their attention was caught. People started moving closer. A few more people started coming from other parts of the town. Word spread fast. The town lord was speaking, and he seemed to be addressing the situation they were currently in.

In less than a few seconds, the crowd had grown even more. Raze didn't say anything else until the crowd was massive, and then he spoke.

"The rich, wealthy, and powerful of Oden seemingly don't want you, the commoners, to be happy. Ever since I planned to rebuild Oden, they have been coming against me, trying to get me to give them more attention rather than all of you. And due to the fact that I was handling all of this, I have been incapable of doing what I needed to do properly," he said.

When they heard this, people felt completely pissed, angry. Their situation made it worse. They were living in rubble while the rich were fighting against them. If this was true, then those people sitting on top of Oden deserved to die.

Raze saw the anger in their eyes and decided to keep going.

"But I am not like your former lord. Neither am I here to cause you or inflict more pain. I'm here to make everything better," he said.

He spread out his hands like a savior. "I am here to make it better for everyone. If any of you had taken the time to look outside the town, you would realize that all the materials needed to rebuild your homes and the town have already been prepared. But I decided to take a little detour and work on something else, not for myself and not for the rich folks, but for you, the commoners, to ensure everybody gets relaxation, happiness, and a good time even while working on fixing their own town," Raze said, sounding like someone who brought redemption.

Then somebody's voice cut through the crowd. "We saw you being rude to your workers. What was that?"

Raze looked at the man, his face twisting into something almost gangster-like. He looked at the man in the crowd and pointed at him.

"What the hell did you just see?" he asked.

"You were being rude and controlling to your workers, like a tyrant, just like the viscount before you," the man said. He knew he was risking his life by saying this, but he didn't want a repeat of what had happened to them time and time again.

Raze shook his head.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." He clicked his tongue. "You want me to baby you even when I'm paying you?" he asked. "Of course I'm going to want you to be efficient when you're working for me. But that doesn't mean I'm rude. My workers are trained to be efficient, fast, and the best of the best. And do you know what they get in return for all of that?"

As he spoke, the attention of everyone was fully captured.

"Free housing. Free food. Education for their children. Stable daily pay. And every amenity they could ever dream of."

Murmurs spread through the crowd. Free houses? Free food? Was that even possible?

The man stared at Raze in disbelief.

"Oh yes," Raze continued. "They get a lot of free amenities, incentives, and a whole lot more for them and their children. So of course they're going to need to be efficient. Of course I'm going to be strict with their work. And if you see that as tyranny, then, my friend, you are not ready for the real world."

He paused, then added calmly, "And you should really take a look at yourself if you're hearing this from a fourteen-year-old."

The man fell silent, not knowing how to respond. Everything Raze had said was true. If someone was giving benefits like that, then it made sense to demand results in return.

Seeing that the realization had sunk in, Raze pushed forward.

"Now, to all of you," he said, raising his voice slightly, "outside the town, something is waiting for you, a bathhouse for your relaxation. A place to calm yourselves and rest, even as you rebuild your town, with the help of my people."

He spread his arms slightly.

"But I'm not just going to allow anybody to use the bathhouse however they want, because that property belongs to Ribers. If you're willing to sign a contract that makes you a worker under Ribers, then you can use it freely."

At that moment, Ella stepped forward and dropped a thick stack of contracts onto the ground.

Raze pointed at them. "All you have to do is read the contents and understand what's in front of you before you sign."

He continued, his tone steady and businesslike. "The contract states that you'll be working under me and Ribers for the next two years, with full incentives, payment, and benefits, food, housing, clothing, education for your children, and much more. In return, you're bound to work for me and only me for those two years."

He looked over the crowd.

"If you think this offer isn't good enough, then be my guest. Stay here, and maybe somewhere down the line, we'll rebuild your house."

His gaze hardened.

"But if you believe this contract is worth it and you sign it, your homes will be rebuilt and renovated immediately. You'll gain full access to the bathhouse, free food, and even more premium goods, perfumes, soaps, drugs, everything needed to make your lives better."

He let the words settle.

"The choice is yours," Raze said. His grin faded, replaced by a calm, serious expression that showed he wasn't joking. "The choice is yours now."

After he said that, there was a silence before the people rushed forward, everyone moving to grab a contract as fast as possible and sign. Despite how prosperous Oden was, they had to survive on adventuring and other things, because the viscount didn't do anything for the people most of the time.

Raze watched as they rushed for the contracts. He couldn't help but smile and look at Elaine. "A bigger group easily won over, hehehe." He let out an evil laugh.

"Young master, don't laugh like that here. These people might think you tricked them in some way with such an evil laugh," she said.

"Tsk, it's too late. The promise of a good life is too good," he replied.

Now that he was basically done with the setup here, all he had to do was deal with the big shots and finally head to the edge of Vermillion for the lizardman and ogre issue.

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