Chapter 50 | Fear Not, Witch — A Player Is Here to Rescue You

“Yes, ma'am!” Hort clearly held some authority among the soldiers, and the rest obediently listened as he delegated the tasks.

Benita did not linger and turned to walk back into the tavern.

Wu Yao was contentedly enjoying Phelin's attentiveness.

The little girl was painstakingly cutting off a piece of steak. The cut was crooked and jagged, but she held the fork high, offering it to Wu Yao.

Wu Yao unceremoniously snatched it with her mouth, her cheeks instantly puffing out again.

Seeing her mother return, Phelin quickly held up another freshly cut piece of steak, her little face full of eager expectation, as if seeking praise.

Wu Yao was quick-eyed and swift-mouthed; she leaned forward and intercepted that piece of meat as well.

Phelin did not mind either. She lowered her head and continued her struggle with the steak, her knife scraping noisily against the clay plate.

Benita picked up another set of utensils. As she cut the beef into bite-sized pieces for her daughter, she recounted everything she had just done outside.

“I laid down some harsh threats first, so they should have some reservations.”

She explained her thoughts logically. “Those soldiers aren't good people either, but since we are short-staffed right now, we can only put these useless men to work.”

Wu Yao nodded indifferently, her attention clearly still on the lamb chops, but she raised her eyes and gave her a brief, fleeting glance.

Benita caught the look. Her heart instantly leaped into her throat, her relaxed back straightening once more, and her hands slowed as she cut the meat. “My lady, did I do something wrong?”

Wu Yao answered casually, “It's fine. What about the others?”

“The others?” Benita repeated subconsciously. Her mind raced. Who did she mean by “the others”? Other officials in the town hall? Or other nobles?

As she pondered, she divided the cut beef into two portions, handed them to the two eagerly waiting individuals, and then took her daughter's plate to continue cutting.

The scraping of the blade against the clay plate made a soft, grating sound, echoing the thoughts buzzing incessantly in her mind.

The tax collector and the administrator were the mayor's men. Her ladyship had even killed the mayor, so there was no need to bring them up. Who else could it be?

She reviewed her actions from start to finish. The soldiers were stabilized, the corpses were being cleared, people had been dispatched to the town hall, and the biggest noble in Qinghe Town was the mayor...

Everything that needed to be done seemed to have been taken care of, yet she was still unsure. She looked up at Wu Yao.

Wu Yao was currently hijacking another piece of beef from Phelin's plate, chewing with full cheeks, clearly having no intention of elaborating.

Benita swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue, but she dared not let her thoughts halt.

If it wasn't the soldiers, the officials, or the nobles... who was left?

Her knife paused slightly on the clay plate as a sudden realization flashed through her mind. It could only be the common townspeople.

She had indeed said a lot outside, suppressing the soldiers and stabilizing the situation.

But from beginning to end, all she had thought about was how to handle those with power and influence. How were the powerless people feeling right now?

All they saw was a sorceress killing the mayor. They had no idea what she would do next, nor did they know if they would survive to see tomorrow.

They knew nothing. Fear would scramble their minds, destroy their sanity, and manipulate their actions. A mob of commoners driven by fear—that was the scenario she should be most wary of!

The imposing air she had put on outside could suppress the soldiers, but it could not suppress rumors and fear.

She let out a bitter laugh.

Having grown up in the Holy City, she had been thoroughly exposed to the nobles' wining and dining, their exchange of interests, and their way of wrapping sharp terms in decent rhetoric.

During her four years in Fancao Village, she had kept her head down and lived her own life, avoiding all conflicts and never feeling the need to manage public affairs.

Now, suddenly tasked with taking over an entire town, the first plan that popped into her mind was naturally the Holy City's way—manipulate the upper echelon, control the military, and exert pressure from the top down.

But Qinghe Town was not the Holy City, and these commoners were not obedient tenant farmers on noble estates.

Benita picked up her charcoal pencil again. Her ladyship had already pointed her in the right direction. If she still couldn't do this well, how could she have the face to accept that seal?

She stopped cutting meat altogether, pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket, and began scribbling down her ideas.

The best way to appease the townspeople was not by making speeches, but by giving them tangible benefits, making them believe that the sorceress would not kill them and would instead make their lives better than before.

And the best way to tie the townspeople to Qinghe Town was land.

As long as they had land of their own, no one would be willing to leave.

The manpower needed to maintain order in the town, the handover of paperwork at the town hall, the inventory of the granary and treasury, the rearrangement of the gate guards...

She listed them one by one. Her thoughts, which had been dulled by illness over the past four years, were now like a blade sharpened on a whetstone—sharp and clear.

As she wrote down the last word, she looked up and met Suren's gaze.

The woman, who had been silent the entire way, was now silently staring at the paper in front of her. Benita gave her a slight nod and tucked the paper into her pocket.

Seeing that her mother was finally finished, Phelin quickly brought over a plate of roasted meat she had saved for her.

The little girl held the plate with both hands and stood on her tiptoes to bring it to her mother's mouth. The meat slices were cut unevenly, and some parts near the edges had already gone cold, but the fat in the middle still glistened.

“Eat quickly, Mom! This is really delicious!”

She nudged the plate a bit closer to Benita's mouth, her face full of earnest urgency.

Benita leaned down and took a bite. Before she could even chew, the wooden door of the tavern was pushed open.

The person leading the way wore an exquisitely tailored sapphire-blue gown, its intricate patterns spreading all the way down the skirt, with a brooch gleaming with a cold metallic luster pinned to her collar.

Her back was perfectly straight, her chin tilted up at just the right angle, and a formulaic smile sat on her face, though her eyes betrayed no emotion.

Two men followed behind her. The one on the left wore a dark green short robe, a ring of clinking copper keys hanging from his waist, a sycophantic smile plastered on his face.

The one on the right was taller, dressed in a grey-blue robe, his fingers constantly twirling the corner of his hem, his entire body wound tight like a drawn bow.