Wasteland Lord: Starting from Thirty Days to Live

Vittorio's sudden question left John speechless.

He was terrified that his entire conversation had been overheard.

This is a ruthless man who dares to personally execute rebels; heaven knows what he might do.

However, to John's relief, Vittorio suddenly put on a smile.

"You really are here. I've been looking for you for so long."

"What brings you here, sir?" Hans stood up and bowed.

"I have something important to tell you. These fifteen brothers have been with us all the way, through several battles, big and small. They are brothers who have shared life and death."

"Now that they have fulfilled their escort agreement, they are saying goodbye to me. Before they leave, I would like to throw them a farewell dinner."

"So that's how it is." John, feeling guilty, didn't dare to look up at Vittorio and only answered hesitantly.

Vittorio waved his hand, and fifteen guards carried in a barrel of wine that was neither too big nor too small.

They brought this, but hadn't been able to bring themselves to drink it, so they took it out now.

The crowd's expressions softened slightly. They took out their glasses, filled one for each person, and served it with dry bread, butter, and ham that had been lightly toasted over the fire.

John looked at the food and wine in front of him with a regretful expression.

Again.

Eat up, eat up, there won't be any left to eat in a couple of days.

Everyone raised their glasses, and Vittorio offered only a brief toast before downing his drink in one gulp.

Most of the others only drank half, mainly because they couldn't bear to part with it; as the saying goes, every sip is one less sip.

With wine and meat, everyone gathered together.

Vittorio, however, had ulterior motives. He downed the drink in one gulp and then deliberately spoke loudly so that everyone could hear him.

"Now that everyone's here, I've heard some rumors, so I'll share them with you as a joke."

The crowd did not understand his meaning.

"I heard that some of my men are planning to escape because they can't stand the harsh conditions here."

For a moment, the fire crackled in the room, and everyone was silent, the atmosphere subtle.

Only John, who had just spoken the loudest, was covered in sweat, his eyes darting around, and he was trembling slightly.

But Vittorio changed the subject.

"But I never believed those rumors; I had absolute faith in the loyalty of my men!"

John, who was standing to the side with his head down, silently breathed a sigh of relief.

After saying that, Vittorio smiled and took a bag out of his pocket.

"Ignore those baseless rumors; I have something to give you tonight."

Everyone was very curious. He stopped talking, untied the bag, turned it upside down, and the contents immediately poured out.

A small, golden, glittering object that makes a pleasant tinkling sound as it constantly bumps into things.

A bag of gold coins.

Everyone's eyes widened instantly, even more so than if they had seen a naked beauty standing in front of them.

Vittorio ignored their stares and simply reached out his fingers to pick them up one by one.

"Ten, twenty, ... one hundred and fifty."

He picked out a smaller portion of them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I promise you the final payment."

He gestured for the leader of the fifteen mercenaries to come and collect the money.

The small-time leader—his name was Wood.

Wood walked over and put the gold coins away, but his eyes remained fixed on the larger pile.

Vittorio watched his expression and knew the fish had taken the bait.

So after Wood left, Vittorio pushed the atmosphere to its peak, pushing the largest remaining pile of gold coins forward like a stack of chips.

"And these are the rewards I promised you seven. Every guard who successfully protected me to the Reach will be rewarded with one hundred gold shields!"

"Come and claim your reward."

John and the others swallowed hard, looking at each other. They had obviously imagined this day, but they never expected that actually facing this pile of gold coins would make their hearts race!

They stared longingly at the pile of gold coins, and as Vittorio nodded in approval, they came forward one by one, eagerly stuffing the gold shields into their personal money pouches.

"Thank you, sir."

"Thank you, sir!"

Clutching a hundred warm gold coins, the seven men were overjoyed, unaware that the gazes of the fifteen guards from Stonemill Town opposite them had changed.

It was a look that mixed jealousy, disdain, and envy—a complex mix of emotions.

All fifteen of them shared the same thought.

On what grounds?

These seven people are utterly useless trash, especially that John guy, who'd wet his pants even if he beat a rotten dog.

Does he fit too?

On the latter half of the journey, it was clearly the fifteen of them who put in more effort, so why did they receive less than the seven people?

However, Vittorio's handling of the situation left them with no faults.

The price had been agreed upon with those fifteen people beforehand; they were merely hired mercenaries.

These seven men were personal guards, so they naturally enjoyed the lord's closer treatment. Moreover, judging from their tone, the lord had already promised them the hundred gold shields.

Although... I'm still very jealous.

The atmosphere in the arena had subtly changed; the once harmonious guard group had split into two factions.

One faction consisted of mercenaries led by minor leaders, while the other was composed of guards, including John, who had come from the capital.

John and his companions were still oblivious to the intense gazes directed at them, happily counting their gold coins.

Vittorio sat above them, watching the subtle atmosphere, his eyes filled with hidden veiled hostility.

Hmph, it's almost time.

Vittorio cleared his throat and dropped one last bombshell.

"It's a pity you're leaving; you won't be able to see what happens about the gold mine."

Everyone looked up in shock, all turning to look at Vittorio.

Gold mine!

"Sir, you mean a gold mine?" someone asked cautiously.

Vittorio looked "surprised," as if he had "accidentally" let something slip.

"A gold mine? I didn't say that."

"You said so," someone added in a low voice.

"Did I say that?"

"You said it."

Seeing that everyone looked like they had heard everything, Vittorio had no choice but to explain "helplessly".

"Yes, a gold mine."

"That was thirteen years ago, when I was only five years old."

One day, my father came home with a joyful look on his face, muttering something like "gold! gold!"

"I went to ask him, and he told me that a new gold mine had been discovered in the river bend, on the north bank of the river."

"Unfortunately, the gold mine was discovered not long before the fissure appeared, and the gold mine was sealed off in the contaminated area."

"To be honest, part of the reason I came back this time is for this gold mine."

"If we can salvage this gold mine, the gold produced... will be roughly equivalent to the kingdom's annual tax revenue."

"The entire year's...tax?"

John's eyes widened; he couldn't imagine how much tax the kingdom must have collected in a year—it must be an astronomical figure.

"Yes, many people know about this. You might be able to find out more by asking Edmund, but only the Conalon family knows the exact location of the gold mine."

Vittorio added with "regret," "The only downside right now is the lack of manpower. I don't know when we'll be able to start mining the gold."

Wood and the remaining mercenaries exchanged glances, and they all saw the same emotion in each other's eyes—desire!

But Wood did not act rashly, since the gold mine was just something he had said and he had not verified its authenticity.

However, if the gold mine is true...

Wood curled his lip in disdain.

If we could mine gold, who would care about the life or death of that bald, fat pig mayor of Shimo Town?

If the gold mine is real, Wood has made up his mind to stay and mine for gold.

If the mayor is not satisfied, he can come to the river bend to find him.

Meanwhile, John and his group felt a strong sense of crisis.

Lord Vittorio, how could you reveal the gold mine to their faces?

What if they refuse to leave?

The saying goes, "One monk carries water to drink, two monks carry water to drink, three monks have no water to drink."

With two horses sharing the same trough, the addition of this group of newcomers means they will receive less gold.

However, John and the others dared not refute him, and could only swallow their dissatisfaction, while trying to provoke Wood with their eyes.

Wood and the others weren't afraid of trouble and glared back fiercely.

The two groups were instantly filled with hostility.

Vittorio seemed oblivious to the tense atmosphere, instead stretching and preparing to leave.

"I'm tired, so I'll head back now. You all enjoy your meal."

After Vittorio left, the two groups automatically separated into two distinct parts, looking at each other in bewilderment.

In the end, it was John who couldn't hold back any longer.

"Aren't you leaving tomorrow? Have a safe journey." John raised his glass.

However, Wood said, "We've changed our minds."

John sneered, "Weren't you all planning to leave just a few days ago? Why the sudden change of heart? Did you really get tempted by the gold?"

Wood's expression changed, and he slammed the plate in his hand onto the table.

Wood walked up to John. Wood was a head taller than John, so John was like a suppressed chick and didn't dare to speak.

Wood stared down at John, his voice filled with pressure.

"We don't need to report to you what we do. You should be more careful about your pants."

The guards of Shimo Town burst into laughter.

Then, led by Wood, fifteen guards filed out, leaving only John and the others inside.

A deathly silence followed.

John suddenly slammed the plate in front of him onto the ground.

"What's wrong with you?" Hans asked, displeased.

John blushed and pointed to the door they had just left through.

"They're so arrogant, why aren't you reacting at all?"

The younger Louis sneered.

"What's it to you? You've got the money anyway, weren't you planning to run away?"

"Who's coming with me?" John asked.

Nobody paid him any attention; some even rolled their eyes at him.

John, feeling awkward, plopped down on the floor.

"I'm not leaving! I'm staying! I want to see what they're so great about!"

Just then, Vittorio, holding a dry bread loaf, walked happily towards his lodgings.

He really doesn't like this dry bread. If he has the chance in the future, he must introduce cooking techniques such as frying, stir-frying, stewing, boiling, etc., to the world.

On his way back to his room, he encountered two children who were staring longingly at the dry bread in Vittorio's hand.

"want to?"

The two children nodded.

"Sure, we'll each take half."

Vittorio tried to break it open, but the dry bread was too dry, and he accidentally broke it in half instead of in the middle.

Both children stared at the larger piece, neither wanting to take the smaller one.

Vittorio had no choice but to put down the bread and let them negotiate on their own.

However, the two children immediately started arguing over who should own the bread.

"mine!"

"Mine! The big one is mine!"

Vittorio had already walked forward, a helpless smile on his face as he turned away from the two children.

This is the principle of checks and balances.

The gold mine is real; they would even get a positive answer if they asked the survivors in the camp.

This was the true information that Vittorio had to rummage through his memory for a long time to find.

But for Vittorio, the gold mine was not the goal, but merely a fishing hook.

Sure enough, both teams took the bait.

The eight hundred gold shields were originally intended to be his start-up capital after arriving in the River Bend.

But now it seems there's no need for that anymore.

Here, food is more precious than gold coins, and now even excrement is more precious than gold coins.

Because excrement can be used as fertilizer, while gold coins can only be used to prop up table legs.

There are no trade partners here unless the monsters are willing to do business.

Therefore, keeping the eight hundred gold shields was pointless, so Vittorio simply distributed them all as rewards.

Incidentally, create a game where they compete against each other, with Vittorio as the arbitrator.

In the end, only the originally planned 800 gold was spent, but the 15 mercenaries stayed, and the 7 bodyguards did not run away.

one stone two bird.

Sure enough, the next day Wood approached Vittorio alone, claiming that they wanted to work under him.

But as far as Vittorio knew, Wood had asked around the camp to find out about the gold mines before coming to him.

Although his motives were impure, Vittorio was indeed short of manpower, so he naturally agreed without hesitation.

For a period of time afterward, Wood considered himself a newcomer and not as good as the lord's personal guards who had always followed him. In order to show his loyalty, he tried to surpass them and worked harder than the guards sent by the capital.

John and the others felt that these newcomers were coming on strong and that the lord clearly favored them more, so they felt a great sense of crisis and began to secretly compete with each other.

Vittorio then happily disappeared.

"By the way, I don't want anyone else besides us to hear about the gold mine. After all, the more people who hear, the more gold they get to divide. What do you all think?"

"Yes!" the crowd responded.

Vittorio then checked the character module and found that the loyalty of his seven bodyguards had increased again.

With each person given a hundred gold coins, they all became loyal subjects and guards!

Everyone's loyalty level has reached around 60, and the loyalty level has changed from "wavering" to "compliant".

It only needs to go one more step, raising it to 70, to reach the [Sturdy] level!

Wealth is a powerful motivator.

This time, the increase in loyalty will reward each person with 25 Lord Points, and Vittorio will gain 175 Lord Points at once.

The loyalty of the fifteen Stonemill Town guards also reached around 60, which is the [Obey] level, and they gained another 375 Lord Points.

Adding the two together, Vittorio's Lord Points surged to over 600.

They've struck it rich.