"H-How…how can you be so sure?" A middle-aged woman wearing a plain gray dress asked.
"Because my eyes can see who will go to heaven and who will go to hell," Arkhen said.
Arkhen looked at the woman in a plain gray dress with long wavy black hair and asked, "you are the strongest among your remaining clan members. You can lead the clan. I won't even take your resources or anything."
"B-But…you killed my husband and other members of the clan. Don't you think we will take revenge?" the woman said after some hesitation. She was testing Arkhen because, from the way Arkhen talked, he didn't know how the system of ancient clans worked.
"Revenge, huh? I don't really care because you can't do anything to me now, and it will be even more impossible to do in the future," Arkhen said with a grin behind his mask. "My identity will be revealed soon, so you can try to take revenge if you can."
"Sigh…my name is Lena," the woman in the gray dress said as she sighed. "AX, you don't know how the system of ancient clans works. The news about our clan leader and all other powerful members being dead will soon reach other ancient clans and they will come here to absorb us into their clans and take away all resources. This clan had done that before. The servants in our clan are members of destroyed ancient clans."
"And servants…are slaves," Lena said as she looked behind the courtyard where some women, girls, and boys were standing in the open house. "Their descendants are also slaves."
Arkhen was startled. 'Damn, so they do such a thing?'
"Where are males?" Arkhen asked. He didn't see male servants. He saw little boys but not big men.
"They are sent to work in the city. Each ancient clan has some sort of business in the modern world. They are worked like slaves there."
"Jeez," Arkhen shook his head and got an idea. 'Velshi, how many points do we need to make all of them loyal to me? Since we needed servants for our castle, we'll take this entire clan and their servants.'
[My lord. There are a total of 43 people in the entire clan. To make all of them have a sense of loyalty towards you and brainwash them, it will take 2749 reality points]
'Oof, that's expensive,' Arkhen thought before he asked. 'Is there any other way to control them? I want a solid method to control people that I take as servants. I don't want to spend reality points every time.'
[Not possible for now]
'Hmmm… What about a collar, bangle, or chip or something like that to control them?'
[My lord. I would suggest that you make them loyal to you using reality points. I know the amount is high and your responsibility and cost will increase if you take them as servants, but they are human resources. A living, loyal human is very useful.]
[Moreover, this system adjusts to your will and wishes. So, the way I am seeing your growth, behavior, and mentality, you will get some useful functions when you upgrade the system to level 2]
'Oh? So you mean I should take them in now and they might prove to be useful after I upgrade the system?'
[Exactly. This is a gravel universe. Influencing people here with reality points is cheap. Once you go to the 1st realm, it won't be so cheap anymore]
'Alright, make them loyal towards me. By the way, they won't become braindead or one-dimensional, right? I want them to retain their personality and such.'
[No worries, my lord. You have already done the groundwork for that by talking to them. After the system influences them with reality points, they will just produce a sense of loyalty towards you. Before that, you can put one last statement of taking them into your castle and letting them live as your servants, but with fair treatment. This way, the influence on them will fit perfectly]
'Alright.'
"Ahem… So I have a proposal," Arkhen said as he looked at everyone. "I will take all of you as servants. Of course, I won't treat you like slaves, like your clan members who died did to the slaves you have. All of you will nicely and comfortably, but will have to work for me."
p Everyone looked at Lena, who took a deep breath with a somber expression as she looked at Arkhen. "AX. I wanted to propose the same thing. It's plain for us to see that you see this system of ancient clans as disgusting. As such, it would be way better if you can take us instead of leaving our fate to other ancient clans. The remaining people alive haven't treated our servants like slaves. So…"
"Yeah, I can see that," Arkhen nodded. 'Velshi, now?'
[Yes, my lord. 2749 reality points deducted]
"Come on, grab each other's hands. Hey, you all. Don't be afraid and come out. You all are going to a new home," Arkhen said.
The remaining men, women, kids, and everyone suddenly felt strange but also good. They felt like obeying Arkhen's words and also had anticipation of a better future.
A strong sense of loyalty filled them and they felt that their main goal was to serve Arkhen well. Of course, this strong sense of loyalty didn't explode in them directly, but it was in their subconscious. Like they will never betray Arkhen and if Arkhen told them to do something, they would obey it.
Everyone grabbed each other's hands and shoulders before Arkhen walked towards Lena and grabbed her hand. 'Velshi, teleport us to the 11th floor of the castle.'
A space ripple spread from Arkhen to everyone before they disappeared in two seconds and appeared on the 11th floor of the castle.
This floor was completely empty, with nothing but plain metal flooring, walls, and ceiling. The whole area of 100,000 square meters was empty.
"T-this? Where is this?" Lena asked as she was startled to suddenly arrive here.
Arkhen grinned and snapped his finger. 'Velshi. Make two sections in half and fill one with luxurious housing and all necessity.'
[What about the other?]
'Can you pull the Eldian clan's palace, those five big houses, and other small houses from the valley and put them in the second section?'