This was a desperate order. The man knew that Furina was among Hiro's first citizens. In his desperation, he hoped that Hiro cared enough about Furina's life to negotiate his own survival.
The two men wasted no time.
Furina's face filled with fear when she saw two scary-looking men charging toward her.
Unfortunately for them, this was just another futile attempt.
The [Teleportation] Skill of [Harem Link] allowed Hiro to teleport within a certain radius around the linked woman.
This effectively meant that as long as Tara was nearby, Hiro could theoretically keep teleporting within a set range around her. The only thing stopping him was the fact that [Teleportation] had a minimum Carna cost regardless of distance.
Still, using it a handful of times was not an issue. Furina stood around six or seven meters away from Tara. She was well within the teleportation radius.
Hiro disappeared from his position, and a flash of light appeared before the two charging men. Within the next second, Hiro swung the [Mithril Club of Strength] twice—first to the left and then to the right in one smooth motion.
Two bonks. Two deaths.
"How can you teleport instantly!?" The ruffian leader was now positively terrified. He was staring at Hiro as if he were some eldritch abomination. He was experiencing what the Shuvloks had gone through the night before.
Hiro's ability to seemingly cast high-level magic without any casting time or noticeable magical fluctuations shocked the spectators. The two remaining troublemakers realized that they were dealing with someone far beyond their league.
The other citizens also understood that forcing Hiro to Exile them might not be so simple.
In fact, the maroon-haired man even attempted to ingratiate himself further with Hiro. "My Lord, there's no need for someone as strong as yourself to personally act in order to take care of these weakling scum. Leave it to me and my brother-in-law!"
Hiro did not mind this suggestion at all. After all, what kind of Lord would he be if he went around his Realm solving all the problems on his own?
He used Citizen Appraisal on the maroon-haired man and learned that his name was Vasquen. After hearing Vasquen's words, a man stepped forward from the group of new arrivals and bowed to Hiro with a stoic expression. His face did not contain the same kind of worship that Vasquen's seemed to hold.
This man, who Hiro presumed to be Vasquen's brother-in-law, was called Targon. Citizen Appraisal revealed that he had a Rare Class called [Greatswordsman].
"Alright. Let's see what you can do," Hiro leisurely said.
The moment those words left Hiro's mouth, Targon used the [Charge] skill to close the distance between himself and the ruffian leader. That's right, this was the same skill Warriors also had. Not all Skills were exclusive to a particular Class.
Noticing the oncoming charge, the ruffian leader quickly picked up his second dagger from the ground. If his fate was to die anyway, he at least wanted to take down Targon with him.
Targon followed up his charge with a powerful slash from his greatsword. He made sure to utilize the range advantage he had when dealing with someone who wielded daggers.
The slash was quicker than he expected, but the ruffian leader somehow managed to dodge and then stepped in for a counterattack.
Both of them were decent fighters, and their weapons clashed about dozen times over the next several seconds. But ultimately, it was Targon's sword that ended up cleaving the ruffian leader, thereby ending his life.
Hiro did not find this result surprising. After all, the Level 38 Targon was currently the highest-level citizen of his Realm!
Seeing the result of the fight, the last person among the troublemaker group screamed, turned around, and fled. Hiro had no idea where the guy thought he was going. Did he forget he was in the Desolate Lands?
In any case, he did not run far. Vasquen's arrow pierced the man's neck, ending his life on the spot.
With that, all the troublemakers were dead. Just as expected, the Soulbound leather armor that the ruffian leader had been using disintegrated into tiny magical particles upon his death.
Hiro looked at the two brothers-in-law and clapped three times. "Not bad. You both handled that quite well."
"Thank you for your praise, My Lord."
"What is your name?" Hiro asked, despite already knowing the answer.
"My name is Vasquen," he said with a small bow. He then pointed to a woman among the newcomers and said, "I've come here as a refugee with my sister, Fiona, and her husband, my brother-in-law, Targon. We are the Berger family."
From what Hiro could infer, it looked like Targon had taken on Fiona's last name after their marriage. Hiro found this mildly interesting but did not pry into further personal details.
Carnalia spoke to Hiro in his mind. "I wonder why the World is being so generous to a man like you, sending so many good-looking women your way! Are you the secret child of the World or something?"
This comment of Carnalia's referred to Fiona. She was an attractive woman with an undeniable allure. Hiro's gaze couldn't help but linger on her a moment longer than necessary, but not long enough to be considered rude.
Hiro actually agreed with Carnalia's sentiment. Especially because, among the three women who were part of the newcomers, Fiona wasn't the only beautiful one. There was another good-looking woman among them.
'My Realm has six women now. Among them, five can be considered beautiful…' Hiro realized.
But there was nothing to overthink here. It was just a coincidence caused by a small sample size. Hiro, too, did not linger on this interesting observation for too long.
"To Vasquen and Targon, I reward a hundred contribution points each! As I mentioned before, a single contribution point is practically the same as one copper. That means each of you just earned a silver coin."
One silver was not a small sum. It was the average monthly salary of people who did not have a combat class. Considering that all the two men had to do was deal with two severely demoralized enemies, it was a generous reward.
This was part of Hiro's strategy. He was trying to adopt the carrot-and-stick approach. He had killed the troublemakers in a brutal display of power. Now, his generous rewards were meant to show that he would be kind to people who deserved his kindness.
Hiro turned to the rest of his citizens and said, "The same opportunity is available to all of you. Work for the Realm, and you will be rewarded. Remember that you are also investing in your own survival."
He wasn't wrong. Constructing the barracks would not only earn them contribution points but also provide them shelter. Gathering water from the river and hunting for food were equally valuable tasks.
"Do not follow in the footsteps of these dead men," Hiro warned. "Do not pester me to exile you. In the first place, even if you somehow miraculously manage to kill me, that doesn't mean you will automatically get exiled. The next ruler might not necessarily exile you either, you know?"
His words did have an effect.
Sure, the people weren't happy with their situation—they were stuck in the Desolate Lands with little hope of escape. They knew Hiro had the ability to send them away, yet he refused.
However, they had to admit that his logic was sound. Managing to accomplish the gargantuan task of killing Hiro would not even solve their problems. Their only hope was [Exile]. But for now, they knew they couldn't force the issue.
With that, Hiro assigned them their tasks. Most of them were assigned to help with the barracks construction, a few would fetch water from the river, and some would hunt for food and make cooking preparations. Hiro told them that their contributions would be tallied in the evening.
Speaking of barracks construction, there was a person with the Lumberjack class among the new arrivals. His wife had the Cook class, and they came with a child who had yet to enter his teenage years. These were definitely useful classes to have right now.
After the task assignment was done, most people slowly dispersed after absorbing the reality of their situation.
Some stayed behind, though. It looked like they had something to talk to him about.
Hiro raised an eyebrow at the three people from the Berger family.
"Got something to say?" he asked while looking at Targon and Vasquen.
"Yes, My Lord. I was hoping that we could learn something from you. About the Desolate Lands, I mean."