Pioneer Lord: I Have Conquering System

But they had heard a great personage was arriving today, someone who would decide whether they would all find their final resting place beneath this seemingly endless snow. Thus, at their Chieftain’s command, everyone brought out their most precious cured meat and their last remaining potatoes to welcome the distinguished guest.

Inside the central wooden hut, a dozen or so Chieftains sat around a brightly lit fire pit.

The bear-fang necklaces around their necks, once symbols of martial prowess, were now mostly empty. During last winter’s maddening hunger, these symbolic ornaments had been ground into powder and mixed into their bran cakes.

Sam, who now lived a comfortable life in High Cliff Castle without worrying about food or clothing and had even grown slightly stout, gazed at the cracked fingernails and frostbitten hands of his old arch-enemies. He felt no schadenfreude, only relief—relief that he had once been so blind as to lead his men to raid the iron mine, a blunder that led to his capture by the Lord of High Cliff Castle and ultimately saved him from this kind of suffering.

“Sam, can you really stop the children from having to gnaw on tree bark?” The first to speak was a Chieftain with a stooped back. Even with his creeping age, his frame was still as burly as a brown bear’s.

“It is not I, but the great Lord of High Cliff Castle, the true master of the Wilderness, Duke Levi!” Sam first bowed respectfully to the empty air to show his loyalty before turning to face the others. “The benevolent Lord does not wish to see you all perish beneath this endless snow, and so, in his great mercy, he is prepared to accept you all as subjects of High Cliff Castle.”

“Our dozen or so Tribes alone number seventy or eighty thousand people. How can you guarantee that this so-called Lord of High Cliff Castle can provide for so many?” a few of the Chieftains asked, remaining skeptical.

If they weren’t completely out of options, they would have torn this former Tribe Shaman to pieces on the spot for making such an outrageous claim.

The amount of food that many people would consume each day was simply incalculable. It wasn’t a burden that just anyone could bear.

“He is the great Duke of the mighty nation of Debei, the last living Dragon Knight in the world, the one and only respected master of our High Cliff Castle, and an unparalleled badass who can fight the Demon Army to the south with his physical Power alone.” Sam cleared his throat and recited in the unique cadence of a Minstrel, “What the hell would a bunch of country bumpkins from the Wilderness like you know? Forget about you lot—providing for the entire Wilderness wouldn’t be a problem for him.”

The Chieftains fell silent. Living their lives deep in the mountains, they only knew that this Lord of High Cliff Castle had made a spectacular name for himself in the Wilderness, once repelling the massive Wilderness Alliance Army to seize the iron mine. As for everything that happened after, they, being cut off from the world, knew very little.

But no matter how isolated they were, they knew that anyone associated with Dukes, Giant Dragons, and Demons was bound to be extraordinary.

“Name your terms,” the Chieftain who was built like a bear, the one who had spoken first, asked in a low voice.

Bran cakes don’t just fall from the sky, after all. The other party couldn’t possibly be some fool simply looking to do a good deed.

“It’s actually very simple for you.” A thought sparked in Sam’s mind, and he quietly altered the terms Levi had already discussed with him:

“You need only swear absolute allegiance to the Lord of High Cliff Castle as your master. Our Lord’s will is your will. His enemies are your enemies. Whether his demands are right or wrong, reasonable or unreasonable, just or unjust, you will forever do everything in your power to fulfill them for our Lord!”

“In return, our Lord of High Cliff Castle will guarantee your safety, providing you with clear spring water, delicious food, and clean clothes.”

Originally, the terms Levi had offered were for them to become his subjects. But after seeing the Chieftains’ miserable state, Sam directly downgraded the terms. He changed “Lord” to “Master.” Though it was the difference of a single word, the meaning was entirely different.

“That’s impossible!” one of the Chieftains shot to his feet, as furious as a ravenous wolf about to pounce on its prey.

“No one is begging you to join High Cliff Castle,” Sam said venomously. “If you choose to refuse on behalf of everyone in your Tribe, then I’ll get to watch an entire Tribe starve to death in these snowy mountains, become food for the ravenous beasts, and ultimately give back to the Kas Mountain Range. I suppose that’s its own kind of contribution, isn’t it?”

As a Shaman who had lived for half a century, Sam was a crafty old fox. Aside from the Tyrant who was the Lord of High Cliff Castle—a man he could never see through—he knew exactly what these Chieftains were thinking.

The Chieftain’s disagreement wasn’t because he didn’t want to join, but because he wanted to haggle for better benefits. But Sam knew that negotiation was like a war: the moment you show weakness, the other side will take a mile if you give them an inch, like a greedy villain.

“This is a shameless negotiation! I truly hope the Natural Goddess sees your ugly face and sentences a vile creature like you to Eternal Hell after you die!” The Chieftain who had spoken was so angry his hands were shaking, uttering the most venomous Curse known to the Old People.

“But you have no choice. You can only choose one: life or death.” Sam sneered. ‘Even if the great Goddess could see this, she would only prove that what I’m doing is right.’

‘After all, even the creature left behind by the Natural Goddess is so close to that Tyrant. If anyone deserves punishment, it’s that little traitor first!’

‘Otherwise, it must mean I’m following the Natural Goddess’s guidance!’

No one present was a fool. They all understood why he was acting with such impunity.

The mountains had been sealed by snow for a full year. The potatoes in the fields had all frozen to death. The livestock, with no rye-grass to eat, were slaughtered after the last of the licorice was gone. The beasts in the forests grew fewer and fewer, and the powerful Magical Beasts that remained were not something they could afford to provoke.

Having held on until now, they were on the verge of collapse. If Sam hadn’t come, they would have had only two paths: starve to death together in the Kas Mountain Range, or wage war on the other Tribes, a path that would leave only the strongest few of the dozens of Tribes alive.

But if there was any other choice, no one wanted war. The number of dead would be incalculable.

“This shouldn’t be a difficult decision,” Sam continued, his tone now coaxing. “Swearing allegiance to the Lord of High Cliff Castle as your master is not a bad thing. You probably don’t know this, but a constant stream of apprentice knights from Debei have sought to pledge their loyalty to our Lord, and all have been refused.”

“And haven’t we been treated like worthless scum, no better than barbarians and Goblins, by those nobles? Now, a Duke of Debei is willing to accept us, to let us become commoners under the protection of a Lord. This is a rare opportunity, and a rare honor. If I were you, I would have agreed without a second thought.”

His words echoed in the wooden hut for a long time.

Why had the Old People always hidden away in the Kas Mountain Range? It wasn’t that they didn’t want to set foot on more fertile lands, but that they weren’t considered citizens of Debei. Without a Lord, they were seen as the godforsaken, accepted by no noble.

“We agree.”

After conferring among themselves with bowed heads, the Chieftains finally gave their answer.

Just as Sam had said, they no longer had any other choice.

‘However, whether they would truly be loyal to this Lord of High Cliff Castle or just feign it was a decision they would make after seeing him with their own eyes.’

…

Loud, rhythmic work chants echoed through the mountain forest.

The sound of trees toppling followed, one after another, as if some colossal beast were roaring wantonly across the land.

Amidst this symphony of chants and trembling earth, a huge golden silhouette suddenly appeared in the distant forest. The undulating ravines made it look like a Giant rising and falling in a vast sea.

A strange wind, sweeping in from the south, was the first to arrive, sending snow cascading from the pines with a RUSTLE.

Through the churning clouds, the full view of a golden army grew ever closer.

A banner, blue with clearly embroidered patterns, snapped loudly in the fierce, cold wind. Engraved upon it in fine gold thread, a sun hanging above the earth was incredibly striking.

The Griffin Knight holding the banner wore golden Plate Armor, looking like a Celestial God Warrior from a Divine Kingdom as he spurred his mount to a halt, hovering in the sky above the Bear Claw Tribe.