EBE Chapter 235: The Fate of Whitefall (01)
Chapter 235: The Fate of Whitefall (01)
The captain of the Whitefall guard felt his heart leap into his throat, eyes trembling as the suffocating aura bore down on him.
His soldiers stiffened alongside him. Even those struggling to close the gate halted mid-motion, their hands clenched white-knuckled around the heavy wood.
Gritting his teeth, the captain let out a fierce roar and charged out through the gates, sword firmly gripped in his hand.
He didn’t last long.
The instant his boot crossed the threshold, a golden axe sliced through the air with a high-pitched whir and buried itself square in the middle of his forehead, sinking deep into his skull and ending his life on the spot.
The source of the axe was, of course, Evelyn, a broad smile playing on her full lips.
With a simple wave of her hand, the weapon flew back to her, effortlessly crossing the hundreds of meters that separated them from the gates.
"He could have been useful, you know?" Ethan shook his head, letting out a resigned sigh.
"Dead like that? I highly doubt he’d be of any use." Evelyn flashed a mischievous little smile, drawing a laugh from Ethan.
His black horse continued trotting calmly toward the half-open gates, utterly indifferent to the fallen body sprawled just ahead.
Through the gap, a few guards peered out, eyes trembling with sheer terror at the sight of the army advancing on them.
In desperation, they scrambled to push the gates closed as quickly as possible, but a powerful voice froze their movements mid-air.
"If that gate is closed, none of you will survive." Ethan’s voice echoed coldly, cutting through the silence like a blade.
Overcome by fear, the guards exchanged anxious glances and, in the end, resigned themselves, throwing the gates wide open.
Without wasting a second, they positioned themselves on either side and bowed deeply, heads lowered and bodies stiff as statues.
With every sharp click of the black horse’s hooves against the damp ground, the guards’ hearts hammered in their chests, threatening to burst from their throats.
The trot drew closer until, gradually, it lost speed and slowed to a measured walk.
Ethan soon rode through the gates atop his black steed, accompanied by a woman of a beauty none of those men had ever witnessed in their entire lives.
None of them dared stare at her for long, for the memory of how easily she had split their captain’s skull was still fresh in their minds.
Letting out a soft sigh, Ethan dismounted, watching a system notification appear before his eyes.
[You have successfully conquered the city of Whitefall. Do you wish to annex it?]
[Yes] [No]
Ethan didn’t hesitate to select "No," since Whitefall was too far from Goldenveil to be worth it.
The moment he declined, a mid-tier city core materialized before him, which he simply stored in his system, watching as the mana and aura density of Whitefall—now stripped of its core—began to collapse rapidly.
"Gather the entire population of Whitefall in front of the gates," Ethan ordered, his gaze sweeping across both his own men and the little more than fifty Whitefall soldiers who had hurriedly left the barracks, presenting themselves with tense expressions.
"Also, collect every single item from each citizen, from pots and pans to weapons and armor, including your own. Everything must be gathered in the square in front of the Lord’s mansion."
The Whitefall guards shuddered, exchanging confused and apprehensive glances.
In the end, however, under Ethan’s firm, icy gaze, they simply bowed their heads and obeyed without daring to question a single word.
With a cold stare, Ethan ordered Doran to accompany him to the Lord’s mansion, along with twenty other Goldenveil guards.
The place was unimpressive in his eyes. It was infinitely superior to what he had possessed when he first arrived in Goldenveil, but compared to his current mansion, it was nothing more than a large shack.
The mansion’s doors were locked, but that, of course, wasn’t enough to stop him.
With a single powerful kick, the front door gave way with a thunderous crack, exploding into a shower of wood splinters.
The only servant present in the mansion, trembling head to toe, hurried to appear before Ethan, nearly tripping over his own feet.
"Are you the head servant?" Ethan asked, sizing up the old man before him.
"Y-yes, my lord!" the servant stammered, his hoarse, weak voice betraying the terror gripping his body.
"Good. Take me to the safe."
Without hesitation, the old man obeyed, guiding Ethan to the metal safe hidden in the floor, just below Alistair’s office.
It was locked, but that mattered little.
With sheer brute force, Ethan ripped the safe door off with a single tug, the metal protesting with a high-pitched groan before giving way.
The young man’s eyes sparkled at the sight of the wealth revealed inside.
There were at least forty thousand gold coins, not to mention jewels and artifacts that would easily bring the total value to over eighty thousand gold coins!
His lips curved into a satisfied smile, and he activated his talent conversion ability.
In the blink of an eye, the entire contents of the vault—from the gleaming coins to the ancient artifacts—vanished, sucked into his system.
Without refining them yet, Ethan quickly examined the rest of the mansion, gathered some of Ophelia’s personal belongings from her room, and ordered his soldiers to destroy everything else.
In the end, after setting the Whitefall Lord’s mansion ablaze, Ethan departed with the trembling old servant following close behind.
His eyes fell on the square in front of the mansion, where a small mountain of items had already been piled up.
There was everything imaginable: from old Rank G pots to a few Rank C and Rank D weapons, not to mention the tools and armor stacked throughout the heap.
The Goldenveil guard had left nothing behind, searching and emptying every house and warehouse throughout Whitefall.
Stopping before the mountain of items, Ethan simply reached out, activating his new ability and selecting the option to refine everything at once.