Chapter 314– Tier 3 Trial Part 10.

“Please show mercy, I surrender!”

‘Well, this was unexpected, it’s deviating from the last scenario…’

Roland looked at the Lord Commander of this castle that was standing kneeling down. It would be as easy as taking candy from a child to deliver the killing blow to this enemy but he was asking to spare his life. The duel between the faction leaders had started just like last time but the opponent capitulated without them even going through one exchange of blows.

‘Could this be due to the power differential or something else?’

The siege of the stone castle was now over. His heavy spiders were able to blast a hole in the wall while also keeping the archers and enemy ballistas at bay. Soon after his army was able to rush inside with him right behind it. Inside they witnessed a moderate amount of resistance but not as much as he expected. Now instead of having a duel with the master of this castle, he was being surrendered to.

He was given an option without much of an explanation. There was no way of knowing what would happen after he agreed. There were two possible events that could unfold if he agreed here. Either this whole place would just become his and join his side along with the NPCs or they would become his vassals.

Roland was more inclined to believe the latter to happen. Even when soldiers surrendered and were without a leader they needed to go through indoctrination camps. If he killed this Lord Commander of theirs while he was kneeling there was also a possibility of infamy. After staying here for a while he was convinced that there was some type of hidden renown system in the background. Considering that he never had anyone from the lords surrender to him, perhaps he would be considered a warmonger if he just beheaded him in this situation.

But then if he left him alive would this wooden lord truly listen to his orders? It was like taking another kingdom while leaving their old king some autonomy to direct it. Scenarios did play out like this but it was always a risk to leave an old monarch in power. Usually, the old king and his line would be asked to step down. Then they would be replaced by another noble that had closer ties to whoever conquered the lands. This could be a noble from the faction that was conquered that had aided in the conquest or a noble from the invader’s side.

‘Should I take him up on the offer and replace him with one of the Lord’s Aids? But the support for a member of my court would probably be lower than the original monarch…’

There were a lot of pros and cons to each decision. Considering this test didn’t like when he focused on one side too much, being too lenient wouldn’t be a great idea. There was no reason for him to trust in the words of their leader. It wouldn’t be strange that when the time came he would be the first one to sink a dagger into his back.

‘They capitulated due to the power difference, the moment I’m out of these lands they might quickly revert to their old ways or even worse. When the time to fight the Woodlanders comes and I start losing, they might just desert instantly…’

“So, you wish to surrender?”

“Yes, I do!”

“I will allow it but you shall no longer be the lord of these lands. You will need to relinquish your title to a person of my choosing and will be banished from these lands but you may leave, do you accept these terms?”

“You want me to go into banishment?”

“Yes. Accept these terms and you may leave, I will also promise not to harm your citizens or your soldiers.”

Roland made sure to talk loudly so the residents of the castle heard their conversation. Their Lord was already acting in a cowardly fashion but he could save some honor if it was known that he was doing it for the citizens and not to just save his own skin. In a sense, he was giving him a way out but also keeping him away from any positions of power. It was a curious game-like event with a lot of results depending on what he did. Considering that his aim was the conservation of resources then it wasn’t such a bad decision.

“I… I accept…”

“T-the lord has fallen…”

While the conversation was happening he made sure to aim the runic shoulder cannons at his enemy for intimidation purposes. For a moment it sounded like he would fight back but when his magical force was ramped up, the wooden man lost all semblance of resisting. To his surprise, the surrender was not the only boon from this confrontation as he had gained a new skill too.

‘Huh, what’s this skill? Menacing aura? Is this producing some type of killing intent or something?’

The description wasn’t clear but it seemed that when he tried to intimidate the Lord Commander here, he was simulating some type of killing intent. This allowed him to create a skill to suppress weaker opponents. Similar skills like this existed in the world and were produced by some monsters. Sometimes when encountering a dragon people would freeze up and be unable to move. This was due to skills like this that were meant to disable weaker enemies.

‘This could be useful in a large-scale fight but I didn’t know that I could learn new skills in this place. Could this be a Runesmith Overlord-related skill?’

This was quite strange as usually in trials he would be given all the skills at the end and not in the middle. Perhaps it was possible when all the conditions were met to acquire the skill in question.