My Kingdom Building Done Right!

Chapter 112: In Their Eyes You Will Always Be The Enemy [Part 1]

The teenage boy looked up at the young man, only to then ask him a question that made everyone glance in his direction.

"A Hero?" Leone blinked. "What made you ask if I was a Hero?

Leone chuckled and casually patted the boy’s head in return, which made Zed flinch. No one in the Borderlands had dared to pat the head of his Young Lord due to his position.

Unforgivable!

"I am no Hero," Leone replied. "But I do admit I aspire to be one."

"I-I guess?" Leone found the younger man’s gaze too intense, and he even wondered if the other could see his Status Page.

"Sir Leone, the Chieftain of the Darkmane Tribe is a prideful person," Vlad said solemnly. "Now that you have used his son as a hostage, he will definitely pay the ransom.

Leone smiled faintly. "Thank you for telling me this. Although it is possible that the Chieftain of the Darkmane Tribe might declare war upon us, he would also need to keep his reputation in mind.

"Is it because of your alliance with the Grimhowl Tribe?" Vlad inquired.

"Be that as it may, he will indeed not take this lying down," Zed decided to interject in the discussion of the two teenagers.

"Some of them might turn a blind eye. Perhaps they might even encourage the Darkmane Tribe to attack you. Do you know why?"

They only smiled back at him, neither affirming nor rejecting his earlier statement.

Vlad’s guardian then glanced in the direction of Brann, the Chieftain of the Stormhorn Tribe.

"I will still need to discuss it with my Elders, Lord Zed," Brann replied. "We will make our decision after that."

But he would never say what was on his mind. If he did, there was a chance the representatives of the high-ranking tribes gathered there would make their move before he could even lead his people to Grimjaw Mountain.

"Also, the Bloodtusk Tribe is as good as gone. With their chieftain’s impending execution, as well as over a thousand of their warriors dead, they could no longer be regarded as a middle-ranked tribe.

"The other forces will gobble them up. Though, there is a higher chance that the Darkmane Tribe will be the one to devour them first. After all, the Bloodtusk Tribe are their dogs.

The man paused for a bit before giving Leone a long and hard look. He could tell from the young man’s features that he wasn’t a native of the Borderlands.

"That’s right," Leone answered. "I am an exile from the Kingdom."

"But since an exiled noble from the Kingdom has formed his own faction and even gathered three low-ranking tribes under his banner, the high-ranking tribes will see you as a threat."

Simply put, they didn’t have a good impression of the Kingdom of Britannia. With Leone being an exiled noble, building his own forces in the Borderlands could be seen as the Kingdom trying to gain a foothold in their own lands.

Leone bowed respectfully to Zed, which took him by surprise. The chieftains of the tribes didn’t really bow to others since it would diminish their authority and influence.

"As long as you understand, then that’s good." Zed looked at Leone more kindly now. After all, this was the first time a chieftain had actually bowed to him.

"Sir Leone, a chieftain must not bow his head so easily to others," Vlad stated. "It makes them look weak and servile in the eyes of the other chieftains."

"As for me bowing my head, it is a sign of respect toward someone who has opened my eyes due to my ignorance of the ways of the barbarian tribes."

But now that Leone had admitted his ignorance of their ways, Zed took the initiative to tell him more about the current political strife among the barbarian tribes.

Leone might not know about it, but it was because he faced people with honesty and because he wasn’t afraid to admit his wrongs and shortcomings that he easily won hearts.