Chapter 683 Calming The Populace
Reign and the others didn't need much time to set up the speakers around the city, nor did they need a lot of time to gather people outside their homes so that they would listen to what they were about to say.
The speakers were automatically placed by the system, so truthfully, Reign and the others had nothing to do but wait for the people to gather around. Of course, they didn't just wait.
They were meeting the many groups of the city that had risen against the Butcher or were neutral and did their best to help out the citizens as much as they could. It was from them that they learned of the hundreds of people who were outside of the city.
Those people had left and made their own little territories outside. Even though it wasn't that safe, they were free, the Butcher and his gangs didn't know about them and they could do whatever they wished to do.
They also acted as safe havens for those that left the city and didn't know what to do next. Meeting those groups, talking to them about what is to be done next, pacifying them and letting them know that they had no hostile intentions to them or the citizens, all of that took some time.
It was about 2 hours after setting up the speakers that Reign and the others finally made their way to the top of the building and stood right below the gigantic tree that was showing no signs of stopping its growth.
They used the tree's power to broadcast themselves around the city so that people could both see and hear them. Their speech continued for over thirty minutes, during which they explained everything that had happened.
Reign and the others explained how they had only visited the city out of curiosity at first before exploring, trying to see if they could ally themselves with the city, but upon hearing all the horrible things that the Butcher had done, they changed their minds and wanted to see just how powerful they were before unintentionally coming across the basement where the horrible production of the potions was going on.
Upon hearing how hundreds of people were kidnapped and killed in order to become a potion that the Butcher would drink in order to increase her own power, the people grew pale, some didn't believe it as even though they hated the Butcher, they believed that Reign and the others were trying to make him worse than he was in order to gain more favor from the public.
Thanks to all the people that had been saved from the many basements, however, it wasn't hard for Reign and the others to give the people proof, especially since the proof is witnesses that have been saved from below.
The story of what the Butcher had been doing was slowly spreading through the city even before the broadcast, which was intentionally done by Reign and the others. It was true that the more evil they managed to present the Butcher as, the more likely the citizens would accept them as the new rulers of the city, especially if Reign and the others did their best to show them that they weren't here to make their lives more difficult.
All of them had seen for themselves just how powerful Reign and the others were, after all, not only had they defeated the Butcher and his heads, but they had also managed to completely take over the city in such a short period of time.
Many people witnessed their strength as they culled the many gangs in the city, and them believed that even if they wanted to go against them, it would be futile, after all, they couldn't do anything against the Butcher and the gangs, so what could they hope to achieve by going against Reign and the others?
Half an hour passed and Reign finished his speech. He had given the citizens a brief overview of the areas they were active in, the territories they were allied with, as well as the power they had. Upon seeing the monsters that calmly entered the city without as much as touching a single person and standing behind Reign and the others, many grew a bit pale.
After all, it was an army of hundreds of powerful Tier III monsters, with over 10 Tier IV monsters standing right next to them and acting docile. Some of them were even able to talk, which further made the people nervous as Reign explained how they had allied themselves with a group of orcs and M'azgara, the one that created all the monsters and could continue doing so in the future.
After all, most of the people had no idea how powerful the Butcher and his people truly were, otherwise, they would have realized that Reign and the others, although very powerful, weren't that much more powerful than they were when comparing the entire fighting force they had. Still, they had won, that much was a fact, and even those that knew just how powerful the Butcher and her men were, couldn't deny that, they could only speculate how strong they must be to be able to do such a thing without suffering many casualties.
There was no cheering, no cursing, nothing could be heard after Reign finished his speech and stopped the broadcast, and deactivated the speakers. The citizens were mostly confused as Reign told them that they were free to do whatever they wished to do. Contrary to the Butcher, Reign used the control he had over the city to help out and create many buildings that would bring prosperity to the territory.
Amanda had barely done any of that. The people didn't have access to many of the things built, only her gang did. If one wanted to use the auction house, the training hall, the simulation building, or anything that could help them with getting better gear, practicing their fighting skills or gaining experience, they would need to become members of one of the many gangs.
With all of the requirements needed, many of the citizens didn't manage to do anything, and most of the population was stuck doing menial jobs that benefited the gangs of the city, leading to the overall strength of the city being many times lower than it should have been. With their great numbers, there should have been hundreds of Tier IV combatants in the city, not a meager amount of only slightly above 200 in total.
Reign and the others continued talking with the groups that were still arriving. Upon hearing that the Butcher was now dead, some of the groups that left the city and had created a secret hideout nearby had even taken their stuff and returned to the city upon confirming the validity of the information.
Reign and the others welcomed all of them, of course, and they met with every single leader of every single group there was. The citizens had also elected leaders that would represent each neighborhood, and Reign and the others met with them as well.
It took hours to finish meeting all the people and talking with them. The conversations ranged from the usual topics like what will happen to the city now, what are Reign and the others planning on doing, and will the safety of the citizens be assured, to topics such as whether the citizens that wish to fight would be allowed to fight if they could now purchase gear like the people in Doncaster could…
Reign and the others did their best to placate them and assure them that they would have complete freedom and could even leave the city, unfortunately, some were quite mad at them. There were family members of the gang members that had been killed during the battle.
·ƈθm Not all gang members were evil bastards that just wanted to kill people, although most were. Some joined the gangs in order to be able to become stronger and care for their families, and unfortunately, even though the citizens did recognize some of them and managed to tell Reign's men that they were not enemies, some were not as lucky during the battle.
Their family members were devastated, but also angry at Reign and the others. Some had grouped up and were protesting down at the building, fully aware that if Reign and the others were similar to the Butcher, they would be killed.
They didn't care at this point as their own family members have been killed. If their destiny was to die as well, then at the very least, they would be showing the people of the city that Reign and the others were no better than the Butcher.
Luckily for them, that was not the case.
Reign and the others had met with them and even apologized. After all, they wanted to take over the city as fast as possible, so they didn't take into account that there were some good people in the gangs as well, but even if they knew it, they would have probably done the same thing.
Some casualties were bound to happen, and honestly, Reign and the others cared more for their own people than those in Wilkashere. Apologizing to them in public and telling them that they would do their best to help everybody in the city was the best thing to do currently, and it would help with currying favor with the citizens.