Serea’s Methods

Bonus Chapter!)

As the Skeleton Warriors and blood slaves stormed in for the final assault, their overwhelming strength and numbers instantly turned the battle into a massacre. Except for Mulin, no enemies remained alive on the battlefield.

“You… you people!”

Usually, backed by Maregof’s name, no one dared go against him. But now, confronted by this sudden group, mulin was scared stiff on the spot.

While the others were cleaning up the battlefield, Little Black dragged Mulin back to the lizardmen’s camp and tossed him in front of Tifia.

“Ow!”

Mulin let out a cry of pain, then saw Tifia and Digue, the father and son, before him.

“You… How dare you do something so reckless! Lord Maregof—ah!!!”

Before he could finish, Little Black lashed out, severing one of his hands with the blade of his tail.

“No need to thank me, this is just to help you see the reality of your situation.”

“Sp… spare me! I’ll do anything you want!”

Mulin immediately caved in—he understood that these people didn’t care at all about Maregof. If he tried to provoke them any further, they would definitely kill him.

“That’s for the best. Now, chief Tifia, do you have any questions for him?”

“I…”

“Think carefully. Ask what you most want to know right now.”

Little Black prompted. Hearing this, tifia thought for a moment, and then his gaze turned cold.

Since things had already come to this point, then…

“Who in the lizardmen’s ranks has been collaborating with you?”

Tifia asked. Hearing the question, digue and the other lizardmen were all stunned.

“Father, are you saying there’s a traitor among us?”

“It was already suspicious when the food stores suddenly exploded without any outside contact, and right after Queen Serea promised to supply us with food, these ogres arrived immediately. There’s no way this is a coincidence.”

Tifia explained. Seeing Mulin’s shifty eyes only convinced him further that his suspicion was correct.

“Speak!”

With the bone blade threatening him, mulin hurriedly shouted,

“I’ll talk! I’ll talk! It was him—he gave me the information!”

Mulin pointed to a lizardman, and everyone turned to look. That lizardman lowered his head and stayed silent.

“Seize him.”

Tifia ordered coldly. The lizardman was then pressed to kneel beside Mulin.

“Anyone else?”

Tifia asked again. Mulin shook his head, but when he saw Little Black’s tail blade approach, he quickly spoke up again.

“No, wait! I’ll tell you everything—there’s also him!”

Another lizardman was forced to kneel beside Mulin.

“You’re certain that’s all?”

“Yes! I wouldn’t lie to you—I swear!”

Mulin was timid, and thanks to his weakness, Little Black and the others were spared some trouble.

“How did you command them?”

“I…”

Mulin hesitated, as if afraid of something, but the current situation left him no room to withhold the truth.

“Their wives and children are in our camp. We used them to force their compliance.”

“What! Our tribespeople were taken by you!”

Tifia was furious, while the two traitorous lizardmen kept their heads down, unable to face their former kin.

“It… it was Lord Maregof who ordered me to do it! He said only you had the ability to mine ‘black pearls,’ but since you wouldn’t submit, we had to capture your tribespeople.”

Mulin explained, which made Tifia even angrier.

“Where are the tribespeople you took?”

“They’re in… in our camp.”

“How many guards are there?”

“Twelve.”

Mulin replied—since most people from the camp had come out, there were currently few guards left inside.

After Mulin gave his account, tifia turned to the two traitors.

“Take them away and lock them up. Without my order, they are not to be let out, and they are not to be given food.”

“Yes, sir.”

A few lizardmen guards took the traitors away, then Tifia looked at Little Black.

“Sir, I’ve asked all I wanted to know.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Getting his confirmation, Little Black swung his bone claw, and Mulin was beheaded on the spot.

Seeing this, many lizardmen gasped in shock, but Little Black calmly sharpened his bone claws.

“As for your captured tribespeople—do you need my help?”

“No, sir. It’s plenty that you’ve stepped in this time. What remains is something we can handle ourselves.”

At this, tifia finally decided to take the next step.

“If you need help in the future, use this.”

With that, Little Black handed Tifia a red jewel—it was a communication device from Xiyun Merchant Guild.

“Thank you, sir.”

Tifia accepted the jewel, marking the completion of Little Black’s mission.

“Since our part is done, we’ll take our leave.”

“Take care, sir.”

Tifia saw Little Black and his group off, and after they left, Little Black led his people directly back to Serea’s camp.

Once they were gone, digue turned to Tifia.

“Father, our tribespeople…”

“Gather the guards—we’re going to rescue them.”

“Father!”

Digue was a bit excited; he hadn’t expected his father to act so decisively this time.

“What are you standing around for?”

“Yes, I’ll go right away!”

Said and done, digue went to rally the troops, while Tifia gazed in the direction Little Black and the others had left.

I hope this is the right decision…

……

Elsewhere, in camp, when Serea saw that Little Black had perfectly completed the task she’d set, she nodded with satisfaction.

“Was it a success?”

“Mm, half a success so far. The other half is simple—just spread the story of the lizardman tribe, and the plan will be fully completed.”

As Serea spoke, Celia naturally understood what she was thinking.

She intended to use Maregof’s own methods to undermine his rule.

By building alliances with trade and profit, and then using those alliances to oppress weaker foreign tribes, his rule appeared solid—yet it had a fatal weakness.

That weakness was…

With the arrival of Xiyun Merchant Guild, maregof could no longer monopolize the jungle’s trade. This would be a fatal blow to a ruler that relied on trade to maintain control, which was why he did everything to prevent the human merchant guild from entering, even using force to suppress Xiyun Merchant Guild’s trading partners.

But for Serea to deal with Maregof, she only needed to do one thing: help Xiyun Merchant Guild establish a foothold in the jungle.

Take today’s Jawfang tribe as an example—when their story spreads, it’ll go like this:

Look, maregof’s men tried to stop Xiyun Merchant Guild’s trade, but none of them returned. Trading with Xiyun Merchant Guild is no longer dangerous.

Once this message gets around the jungle—combined with the guild’s “cheap” trade prices—what will the new foreign tribes and those weak ones oppressed by Maregof think?

The answer was obvious.

Although this approach wouldn’t show results quickly under Maregof’s oppression, Serea had plenty of time—she could afford to play the long game.

But what if Maregof decided to break with her completely…

The strength of his own tribe was nothing special—it was his massive alliance that mattered.

But Serea believed that as long as she didn’t attack first, if Maregof came for her, his allies would only put up a show of support at most. After all, Serea’s strength was well known—who would want to be the first to stick their neck out? Heh, they’d have to really weigh their own abilities.

Besides, those so-called allies were only after more benefits from Maregof anyway.

And now, with Serea and Xiyun Merchant Guild as alternatives, there was no guarantee they’d keep following Maregof. All Serea needed to do was give these observers an “opportunity”.

(To be continued…)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep