Zephyr had a very productive morning. Going over plans of how to utilize the resources at his disposal with Rose, picking a banner, and getting a good workout killing Beatles. Swelling his minion horde enough, he was comfortable sacrificing enough minions to empower his weapon and armor, christening his ax Dragonnail. Stepping out of the portal, he was shocked to see that he was greeted with a woman tied to two posts and a trembling man next to her.
"Dark Lord, in the hope you would have pity on us poor wretches, we offer you our finest maiden!"
"I ain't a maiden! They don't call me haystack Harriet for nothing!"
"She's clearly historical... overcome by your magnificent visage, Lord!" Zephyr walked over to inspect the woman being sacrificed and was amused that she was the woman who thanked him for killing Melvin yesterday.
"We could always use a few servants at the tower... clean the place up. The spawning pit is getting rather whiffy." Gnarl said, his opinion being unwelcomed as usual.
"We did have nine other maidens to sacrifice, sire, but they... escaped. B-But they are all yours, sire! You can spot them by the outfits we put them in!" Before Zephyr could ask how he could possibly lose helpless women, Harriet managed the slip out of her bonds and made a run for it, answering his unspoken question. Rolling his eyes, he summoned some minions and willed them to catch her, making a point to keep an eye out for more ladies dressed like sexy shepherdesses. Spotting two on his way into town, he made sure to grab them up before walking up to Archie.
"What do you want!?"
"Relax, Archie, I just have some paperwork for you." Archie looked over the papers while Zephyr summoned minions to garrison the town, ten reds on the walls on each gate. And twenty-four browns, split into four squads of six to patrol the town, set up the new banners, and all the other good stuff.
"Excuse me, my Lord, but what is all this about expanding the village?" Archie questioned as he tapped the paperwork.
"We are going to be expecting refugees soon, so I'm going to clear out whatever resistance is left in the halfling village. Build suitable housing above the holes, convert the main nest into a storage facility, and turn that ridiculous kitchen into a factory."
"With what resources, and who's going to be doing the building?"
"Lumber from the workcamp, and no, I'm not going to enslave the town or anything. I have plenty of minions to do all of the labor necessary." That seemed to appease Archie for now; Zephyr wanted to keep the mayor but did have plans if he had to kill him.
"And what will you be making in this factory of yours?"
"Nails, farming tools, anything that we can sell. The long-term plan is that the metal will be empowered by minion lifeforce to be more valuable."
"I don't know what that means, but if it helps Spree, then I'm all for it." Their conversation was cut short by two of the minion guard squads came before him with three women in sexy shepherdess outfits.
"Masta, these ladies belong to you?" asked one of the minion captions asked, pointing at the captives.
"That's right, take them to the tower, then return to your post." The caption nodded, and the minions began to drag the poor girls off; one of them did not want to go quietly.
"Please, Archie! Do something, help us! Please! Someone, anyone!" Zephyr could see that Archie couldn't look the poor woman in the eyes. And he was not the only one; the whole town had mixed feelings. Some cried; others glared at Zephyr.
"Well, I better go set up the work camp; you have fun looking over the paperwork. Memorize the new tax laws. If you guys try to screw me on those, heads will roll."
"Y-You do that." Zephyr made his way to the work camp, finding another of the sacrificed lady folk on the way. But before he could even plant his new flag, a mob of disgruntled villagers attacked him. Clearly, some townsfolk were not behind the idea of sacrificing their women to him. It was a quick battle if you could even call it a battle. Dragon nail carved through the peasants so fast that the minions didn't even have enough time to get a swing in, much to the little guy's disappointment. Two more sacrifices were found, from what Zephyr could tell, they were getting ready to flee Spree. As his minion carried the screaming girls away, he looked over a map one of the men had on him, thinking he had figured out where they were heading.
"Hay Gnarl, what do you know about a place called Greenvale?"
"Greenvale? Aw, that takes me back to the good old days. That pathetic little village was where overlord Grumguard rose to power! I have always meant to give the minion's old stomping ground a visit, and you should too, at some point."
"Could always use another village in my domain, and thanks to this pathetic little band of rebels, we have directions." Zephyr then moved on to inspecting the slave camp for halfling stragglers, and sure enough, there were some. The little warriors were more of a speed bump than anything else, and sooner than even he expected, he had fifty minions working the lumber yards. Zephyr wondered if clearing out the halfling village would be any more challenging, but he doubted it. When he entered the halfling village, it looked like the little vermin were putting up a last stand. The swordsmen he effortlessly cut down on his way into town were even more pathetic than usual, clearly being conscripts rather than real soldiers. Zephyr expected them to not just lay down and die, but he didn't expect what he saw next. In the middle of the rode was a little old halfling sitting at a table covered with food; the old fart look like he was expecting him to.
"So, you have come to finish us off, have you?" The elderly lard ball said as he meekly ate a roll off the table.
"That was my plan when I woke up today. But now, I am wondering what it is your goal is." Zephyr said as he walked over to the little old man, casting his shadow over him as he loomed menacingly above the halfling.
"My name, not that you asked, is Dodo Rumbltum. And I am here only to say that we surrender and beg your mercy, my lord." Zephyr was impressed by how fearless Dodo was in his presence. Everyone else he loomed over like this would usually be quivering by now. He had to respect the rat for that, at least.
"I dought my mercy would matter in the slightest. Your people have raided, enslaved, and even consumed the villagers of Spree for quite a while. Even if I spare your lives, I don't think your victims would be so inclined."
"So what would you have us do, oh evil one? There are no warriors left; you've seen to that. All that is left off us are women, children, meek, and the elderly. Whatever fate has in store for us, we have no power to fight it. All we ask is for what little mercy we can get." Zephyr thought long and hard about what to do with the halflings, making an uncomfortable silence as he did so.
"I have an idea of how your people may be spared from extinction, but you are not going to like it."
"It doesn't matter if I like it or not. As I said, we are at your mercy."
"You, and your people, will live out the rest of your lives in chains. To be forced to do whatever labor your masters command of you. Your race will live out the rest of your lives as property, but you will live, you have my word." Dodo scoffed at that, clearly not putting much stalk into Zephyr's word, not that he blamed him. But with a sad, defeated look on the elder's face, he nodded.
"We thank you, lord. I will gather what is left of my village and prepare us as best I can for our new lives." Zephyr nodded and let the old man hobble off. He then walked back to Spree, seeing that Archie had not moved from the spot he left him.
"Finished going over those papers?"
"I have, my lord. I must say, I expected something much more, well, evil."
"My rain dose not have to be an unpleasant one, Archie. If Spree is loyal, pays its taxes, and does not raise arms against me, I have no reason to be a tyrant. And on that note, I'm holding an auction of sorts in the halfling village in a few hours, spread the word."
"I can... certainly do that, good day, sire." Zephyr then returned to the halfling village, having his minions rummage through the halfing holes, piling everything that might be voluble up in the town center. Stopping a few halfling families from escaping into the wilderness and corralling them with the others in the town center. By the time that villagers from Spree started to arrive, he had all of the valuables in three piles. One for food, one for pots, pans, furniture, and one for slaves.
"Alright, my lord. We're all here, now what's this about?" Archie said as he looked over everything Zephyr had assembled.
"First, I have summoned you all here to make public that I am incorporating the halfling village into your own. From now on, this is east Spree!" Zephyr yelled triumphantly as he heald Dragon nail in the air. His minions cheered loudly, but the townspeople only gave a mild clapping.
"Secant, I have rounded up everything of value and am giving it freely to you. Food for your pantries, pots, pans, and furniture. And if any of you are interested, your very own halfling slave!" That got an applause from the crowd, who quickly descended on the piles and began grabbing whatever they pleased. Archie worked with Zephyr and his minions to keep things orderly; in a little under an hour or so, the villagers had taken everything they wanted. Leaving only most of the furniture and the halflings that didn't look like they would be good slaves.
"Ok, guys, let's round this stuff up and take it back to the tower!" Zephyr had them use the waypoint gate in the big kitchen, tacking the opportunity to set up the factory while he was in there. After making sure that everything was set upright and that the giant pile of gold behind the building was collected, he began to make his way back to town.
"Gnarl, I want construction of east Spree to begin the moment we have the lumber for it. We don't know how many refugees we will be getting, so we better make the new houses roomy. Understood?"
"You will it, we do it, master! You should also know that one of the guard minions had spotted the last wench sacrifice in the west fields hiding among the sheep."
"I suppose I should go collect her then. An overlords work is never done." Zephyr walked his way to the wast fields, some villages still gave him fowl looks, but most seemed to have been won over by his resent act of charity. Spotting the maiden easy enough, he sent some minions to grab her. But was shocked to discover that the rams were attacking to defend her, having to kill them to claim his prize. He was about to leave town when he spotted some farmers having trouble, being the benevolent lord he was, he walked over to see what the problem was.
"What seems to be the problem, gentlemen?" The farmers turned to Zephyr, looking a mix of pissed and scared.
"These roots! I've never seen anything like it!"
"Darn elves! Can't keep their own forest under control!"
"These roots are strangling our crops!"
"The forest... It's gone crazy, that ain't natural, I'm telling you!"
"I've tried cutting 'em, setten 'em on fire. Nothing helps!"
"It's elf magic! I never trusted those pointy-eared layabouts!"
"Well, we can't have that! I'll look into it after a quick bite to eat of cores."
"A real champion of the people you are." One of the farmers said before wandering off. Zephyr wondered if maybe he should beat the insulants out of him but decided against it, returning to his dark tower. And the moment he did, he regretted it.
"And what the hell is all this then?" Rose did not look too pleased with the new servent's, though it might only be the ones that were standing around the throne wearing nothing but strips of leather.
"An overlord always needs serve-"
"Shut up, Gnarl! I'm not talking to you!" The elder minion cringed and shut his lips, not even mistress for a full day. Already she had cowed the minion master, Zephyr was impressed.
"One, they were given to me by the village of Spree in exchange for not killing them all. Two, I did not choose their outfits. That must have been Gnarl. And third, you don't get to question my choices. We are not that close." Rose and Zephyr tried to stare the other down, seeing who would come out of this a winner.
"I want them in more modest clothing."
"That's reasonable, but I will still do with them what I please."
"Fine with me." Both overlord and mistress walked away from that feeling like they had won that argument. Zephyr then moved to inspect his new slaves, and their outfits left nothing to the imagination.
"Ok, lady's, here is the pecking order! You are my slaves; you answer only to me, my mistress Rose, and the minion master Gnarl." The women looked over at the elderly minion and collectively shuddered at the perverted smile he gave them.
"There are also halfling slaves working in the tower, they are your lessers, and you can command them as much as anyone else. Now, who in this gaggle is the best cooks?" Three of the ten women meekly raised their hands, unsure of their fate and filled with fear.
"Ok, you three will go straight to the kitchens and help Bob prepare all of me and my mistress's meals. The rest of you will spend your days cleaning both my private quarters and the throne room. When you have worked yourself to exhaustion, you will return to the slave's quarters, located across from my personal sleeping chambers. Now, get to work!" The frightened women quickly rushed off to work. Zephyr then turned to Gnarl and waved him over.
"Have a large lunch ready for me by the time I'm done farming lifeforce in the dungeon, I've worked up quite the appetite."
"As you command, sire." Gnarl said, bowing as Zephyr went into the dungeon. All and all, another productive day.