[
Exile: Instantly expels a member of a civilized species who does not belong to a faction at war with you, banishing them from your Realm for at least 10 years (duration can be extended).
This ability does not work on Monsters.
Cooldown: None.
Cost: None.
Side effects:
(i) Every time this ability is used, all citizens of the Realm receive a notification with the details of the Exile via their Status screen.
(ii) Exiled citizens become refugees. Exiled non-citizens are teleported to the last Barony they occupied, outside your Realm.
(iii) Exiling citizens temporarily lowers the Realm's standing with the World. For a certain period, fewer refugees will be sent your way.
(iv) When a citizen is Exiled, every other citizen of the Realm has the option to follow them and voluntarily leave the Realm. If many people choose to leave, the Realm's standing with the World will decrease further.
]
Exile was a powerful Skill that every Ruler possessed. It prevented high-level non-citizens from other Realms or external forces from causing havoc in a Ruler's territory.
It could even be used on citizens without any cost or cooldown.
However, using it on citizens carried significant risk. If citizens perceived their Ruler negatively, large numbers might leave, crippling the Realm's economy and triggering a downward spiral.
Exile made a Ruler nearly unkillable. It made it so only two effective methods existed to eliminate a Ruler:
One was assassination—killing the Ruler before they had the chance to use [Exile]. This had been rare throughout history due to the powerful defensive skills Rulers acquired as their Realm expanded.
The other was War! A Ruler could not Exile enemies they were at war with.
Hiro's question made Barbara and the six other men turn their heads toward him and stare in terror.
The reason for their fear was simple. They assumed Hiro had used powerful magic to kill Shuvene so easily, yet they saw no signs of any spell being used.
If the magic required casting, they could have tried interrupting the cast by attacking Hiro.
If the magic took the form of a projectile, they could have dodged or destroyed it.
But Shuvene's head had been destroyed directly and effortlessly. Just a snap of Hiro's fingers had done the trick. No casting time. No projectile. Nothing they could use to prevent their own deaths if Hiro decided to use that Skill on them.
This realization filled the Shuvlok tribe members with immense fear, and they instinctively stepped away from him.
Hiro, on the other hand, admired his own handiwork. This was the power of Ultimate Force Telekinesis.
The skill's description stated that Force Vectors could even be created inside other living beings. Hiro had tested that function just now. The description also mentioned that the cost of doing so would be extremely high.
[Carna: 1600 (2500 -> 1600)]
Hiro's Carna had increased to 2500 after so much intimate time with Tara. In one instant, 900 of it had been consumed.
"Why would you do that!?? Do you think Carna grows on trees or something!?" Carnalia's voice roared inside Hiro's mind. This was the angriest he had ever heard her. "You could have taken care of all of them much more efficiently."
"Calm down. I just did it because it seemed like a cool thing to do. Don't you see their terrified faces? Besides, I didn't like how that guy was looking at and talking about Furina. So the revenge is an added bonus."
Carnalia was speechless at Hiro's reasoning. She muttered some barely coherent words, unable to form complete sentences. She would need to properly educate Hiro on the value of Carna in the future to prevent him from wasting it on something so trivial.
Hiro had just taken his first human life after arriving in Warnath, but he barely felt anything about it.
Hiro was someone who treated even his own life as insignificant. Someone with such a twisted worldview could never care much about the lives and deaths of strangers, much less enemies.
He calmly gazed at the seven remaining figures and their tribal appearances. He had no idea who they were or where they came from. The only thing that mattered was that he had no intention of letting them walk away.
"To avoid more pointless deaths, I recommend that none of you take even a single additional step back."
His voice carried over the rain, freezing them in place as they hesitated in their retreat.
"In fact, it is hard to talk so loudly when you're all so far away. Come closer and stand in front of me," Hiro ordered. "Anyone who isn't standing in front of me in six seconds will have their head blown off just like your friend."
After saying that, Hiro stopped looking at them altogether, acting as if he had absolute control over the situation.
He turned his gaze toward Furina, whose mouth still remained slightly open in shock.
"How long do you plan on lying there in the rain?"
His words embarrassed Furina as she realized she was still on the ground from when Shuvene had pushed her down.
Meanwhile, the attackers from the Shuvlok tribe exchanged glances. They had no idea about the limitations of Hiro's skill. His confidence unsettled them further.
Without speaking, they unanimously decided their best chance of survival was to obey him.
The seven of them stepped closer and stood where Furina had been before. Furina had already gotten up and now stood beside Bob after thanking Hiro. And Bob stared at Hiro as if he were looking at a god.
The Shuvlok tribe members looked at Hiro with trepidation, wondering what their fate would be. They were already regretting their raid, with some of them even internally cursing the now dead Shuvene for providing false information.
Hiro ignored them and walked toward the Chest of Holding.
'I should move this chest inside my room,' he thought, kneeling in front of it.
It is worth noting that leaving it outside would do no harm since, like the Stone Tablet, the Ruler's Chest of Holding could not be accessed by anyone except the Ruler or those he explicitly permitted.
Like the Stone Tablet, it was also indestructible.
It's just that having it inside him room would make it more convenient for Hiro to access.
From within the chest, he took out the Citizenship Approval Slate. He did not waste any time.
"Right now, you have only two choices," Hiro said. He raised one finger. "Option 1. Willingly become citizens of my Realm." Then he raised a second finger. "Option 2. Die."
The tribespeople and the Worken couple were both shocked by Hiro's words.
Bob blurted out, "You're willing to make these barbarians citizens of your Realm, my Lord?"
Hiro was about to reply to Bob but then he paused. A thought crossed his mind. He set the Citizenship Slate aside and summoned the Stone Table into his hands.
Opening the 'Shop' app, he entered the word "Slave."
To his dismay, the only results were Master-Slave roleplay items for the bedroom, all priced exorbitantly. No actual slavery-related items appeared.
Then he noticed a line of text above the first search result:
[Are you looking for the popular item – 'Enslavement Scroll'?]
[Yes / No]
Without hesitation, Hiro selected 'Yes.' The next message irritated him.
[Unfortunately, you are not allowed to purchase this item. Your Realm is part of Goddess Selune's Divine Realm. Her Divine Majesty's doctrines prohibit slavery in Her Realm, causing this item to be banned.]
Hiro stared at the message for a few seconds before shaking his head.
'Why would she do something so pointless?' he thought.
First, the monogamous marriage rule, and now this. Hiro felt more and more convinced that he and Selune had very different views on life.
'Just have to deal with this for now,' he thought. Setting the Stone Tablet aside, he picked up the Citizenship Slate again.
"Never mind, my previous words still stand. Become my citizens or die," he said with finality.