King of the North: My Lord's Diary Weekly Summary

Wayne frowned as he looked at the bandit in front of him, who exuded a bit of savagery and murderous intent.

He never expected that the headhunter would bring the bandit to the village like this—and that the bandit only brought such a small group of people.

In fact, judging from the aura of the people behind them, they might not be bandits at all, but rather Patton's hunting party.

How dare you? It's like you don't respect me at all...

Looking at the reactions of the surrounding villagers, they didn't seem surprised.

Some of them hunched back and looked on, while others took a long detour and ran to deliver the grain sacks to the warehouse, as if they were already used to this scene.

Did headhunter Barton really bring the bandits directly to the village like that?

And judging from this situation, this is probably not the first time.

Wayne sneered inwardly.

Well, there really is a saying in this border region: sentries don't report bandit activity, and villagers even get used to their own headhunters bringing bandits into the village—officials colluding with bandits, and villagers colluding with bandits.

That's really good.

He didn't speak first, but sat on his horse, calmly scrutinizing the village chief, Barton, and the man in front of him.

Patton's Adam's apple bobbed, and the awkward smile on his face froze.

His lips moved several times, as if he wanted to say something, but he was suppressed by Wayne's aura and couldn't utter a single sound.

In an instant, the air seemed to freeze, with only a cold wind blowing.

It was that scarred bandit who broke the suffocating silence.

He grinned, revealing his yellow and white teeth, and took half a step forward, raising his right hand to make an extremely clumsy and awkward "salute" in front of his chest—more like a casual wave of his hand.

"Your Excellency, it's a pleasure to meet you. I apologize for disturbing you."

"I'm from the nearby Black Blade Gang. We've taken the liberty of visiting today because our boss wants to invite you to the village for lunch... as a welcome welcome and a token of our hospitality."

After hearing this, Wayne gave a perfectly timed smile, as if he had heard something interesting.

"Your husband is quite kind-hearted."

He mimicked Ronald's usual manner, speaking in a relaxed, slightly teasing tone: "It's time to prepare for winter, and you still have surplus grain to throw me a welcome party?"

The bandit seemed to have been prepared, and calmly replied, even with a touch of exaggerated emotion: "Oh my, sir, what are you saying! Who in our Byron Kingdom doesn't know the prestige of the Lancaster family?"

Our boss has the utmost respect for your family!

No matter how precious this meal is, it must be prepared!

To be honest, before I came, the boss had already ordered that all the good stuff be prepared, just waiting for you to grace us with your presence.

"As long as you go, it won't be a waste!"

"Hehe, thank you very much for your boss's kindness."

Wayne's smile remained unchanged, but his tone shifted: "However, it is the crucial time of the autumn harvest, and my people are still diligently harvesting grain in the fields."

"Your master is so kind; surely he understands my predicament as a lord, unable to leave for this banquet."

He paused, his gaze sweeping meaningfully over the sheathless machete at the bandit's waist and his filthy leather armor, before continuing, "Besides, just look at your spirit, brother. I can tell the Black Blade Gang must be full of talented people and have a strong army."

Your boss will definitely find it well worth hosting this banquet for you.

Seeing the bandits' unexpectedly obsequious attitude, Wayne thought for a moment and understood perfectly.

It's a certainty that this village is involved with bandits, but the relationship is by no means good—even in the worst-case scenario, the village chief and the rich peasant's overtures could be interpreted as attempts to lull him into a false sense of security, and their silence about the bandits could very well be part of a plan for this moment.

But the transformation of the old carpenter Maurice, and the rejection of the bandits shown by the villagers earlier, were definitely not feigned.

The ordinary villagers would never like these ruthless robbers.

That's enough for him.

To be honest, Wayne didn't care about these high-ranking officials in the village at all—he just needed to understand whether the villagers in his territory were suitable to be commoners or slaves, and to leave more room for maneuver in his future arrangements.

As for the village chief, wealthy households, and headhunters?

He's just a nobody.

Wayne's current attitude towards the village's civility and cooperation is merely a way to save manpower and time costs when they haven't touched on things he cares about.

What he truly cares about most is his own safety and the state of his territory.

Including the strength of these other forces.

This includes the sustainable development of one's own territory.

Secondly, he wanted to determine the labor force structure within the territory:

If the villagers are close to the bandits, then Wayne will just treat them as bandits—once he has the ability to wipe them out, he will leave only a small number of obedient ones as slave laborers.

Finally, there's the actual food, the small amount of autumn grain right before our eyes.

After all, if you don't count the people in this village, he doesn't lack food for the time being.

Therefore, at the moment—first, the strength of the bandits is unknown, and Wayne cannot take risks relying on Ronald's strength.

Secondly, now that he had understood the will of the villagers from the carpenter's attitude, he should resolve the matter while taking into account public opinion—that is, resolutely not showing weakness.

He didn't want the labor force that originally belonged to him to lose its composure and defect to the enemy, becoming his soldiers or victims of his cheat-like abilities, because of his purposeful forbearance.

The bandit chuckled twice after hearing Wayne's words, scratched his messy hair with a brute force in his gesture, but his words still revealed a shrewdness that shouldn't belong to an ordinary bandit.

"The Baron truly cares for his people; he is admirable."

He changed the subject, lowering his voice slightly, but making sure the nearby villagers could faintly hear him: "Then... could you please bring your soldiers outside the village to talk to me?"

Wayne now has two options.

The first option: let the other party talk to you right here—if the other party adopts a relatively civilized approach, the path they want to take is nothing more than collusion between officials and bandits, or lowering your guard in order to control or eliminate you.

Regardless of their stance, the conditions they've set for the talks today will inevitably revolve around cooperation and interests.

The cooperation and benefits they bring will inevitably involve the exploitation of villagers at the grassroots level.

Therefore, letting him speak here is an effective way to win over public opinion and establish or further reduce public aversion to bandits.

The second option is to listen to what he has to say.

In any case, without knowing the true strength of the bandits, every step from now on will be a crucial decision.

Therefore, he wants to be perfect.