There are certain things that must be followed in order to survive natural disasters such as fires, earthquakes, and tsunamis.
The most important thing is to maintain your composure even in the midst of chaos.
You might ask, how can anyone remain calm in a situation where dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people might soon perish?
But just like how one can survive entering a tiger's den as long as they keep their wits about them, if you can think rationally even in horrific situations, your chances of survival increase significantly.
'You must think calmly.'
It's secondary whether you're filled with anger; right now, it's most important to minimize the damage.
Everyone here is visibly panicked.
"Everyone, don’t act recklessly and follow my orders."
In fact, this situation is the most troublesome and absurd for me, but that’s what being a leader is about.
Even though I’m thinking of giving up because this situation seems completely unsolvable, on the outside, I must act as if it doesn’t bother me.
As a leader, I must provide my subordinates with the confidence that following me will lead them through this crisis.
How I perform this role will determine whether the army, the company, or even the country survives.
As the head of the Rothschild Barony family, I also need to give hope to my companions here that we can overcome this problem.
"Did the enemy also attack Vio Village?"
Vio Village holds a wealth of sensitive information.
The Rothschild Barony’s flagship products, such as the seaweed farming technique and the pearl farming technique...
If these were leaked, it would cause immense economic losses due to the advanced technologies involved.
Therefore, the village is home to about 200 soldiers and their families, and in times of emergency, everyone in the village has been trained to fight, armed and ready.
‘Are they attacking such a village?’
It would be impossible for a band of ordinary bandits or pirates to do so, let alone move military forces at a national or lord level.
"I immediately rushed over when the seaweed farm was attacked. So I don’t know much."
The seaweed farm is one of the most important facilities in the Rothschild Barony.
If such a place was suddenly attacked, waiting to see whether the village had been attacked and then contacting me would be pointless.
If the village had been attacked, a follow-up messenger would have come right away, and if not, there would be no further messengers.
"I understand. How many enemies did you estimate there were?"
"About 50 or so. However, they raided the seaweed farm and behaved suspiciously. If they were pirates, they would have been blinded by the seaweed and only focused on looting the seaweed from the farm. But these guys were walking around the seaweed farm, looking at the farming facilities and other things with interest."
From here, we can deduce two things.
First, even if these were pirates or elite soldiers, 50 men could never conquer or plunder Vio Village.
With a stationed force of 200 soldiers and the villagers themselves trained to fight, there would be over 600 defenders.
They couldn’t possibly attack the village with only 50 men.
'Vio Village should be safe.'
Moreover, these pirates were surely acting on the orders of someone higher up.
Normally, pirates view looting as an essential part of survival.
It’s as necessary as eating and drinking to a human...
But instead of looting, they rummaged through the seaweed farm to steal ‘technology’?
Unless they were disguised under someone’s orders, there would be no reason for them to do this.
"Did you come out alone?"
The technology handled at the seaweed farm is considered confidential and important.
However, I have no intention of blaming this guy.
Someone might accuse him of cowardly fleeing, but if he were one of the soldiers stationed there, it would be different.
He’s just a technician.
And no matter how good a computer or program is, if there’s no skilled programmer to operate it, it’s meaningless. Similarly, without a technician, it would be impossible to replicate the seaweed farming technique.
‘That’s why we’ve trained everyone to scatter and evacuate in case of an emergency.’
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"I saw a few other survivors. They’re all probably rushing to contact the Baron right now."
Evacuation is enough, but the fact that they’re going through the trouble of running around to inform me shows their determination to minimize the damage.
I feel a lump in my throat.
"I understand the story. You did well."
"Thank you."
"Now isn’t the time for rewards. We’ll talk about it later."
After receiving the information, I immediately gave instructions to my group.
"Dalton, take 30 mercenaries and escort Erica, my family, and the rest of the group, excluding the mercenaries, to Avitosh. Then head towards Vio Village."
"Yes, understood."
The number of high-ranking individuals coming to a disaster site should be minimized.
Only the necessary people should be there so that the scene doesn’t get overwhelmed.
"Vio Village will be safe."
If this were any other rural village, the moment 50 pirates arrived, the village would have already been devastated.
But Vio Village, with its stationed army and reserve system, can’t be taken down by such a small number of people.
"I’ll head straight to the village with the mercenaries to stabilize the scene. Don’t let anyone else know about this for now. That’s all."
It wouldn’t change anything to make a fuss just because 50 pirates attacked.
All it would do is make the villagers nervous and ruin my reputation.
"I’ll move quickly."
**
As soon as I arrived at Vio Village, I immediately sought out the village chief.
"Chief!"
The chief, probably expecting me, rushed over to me as soon as I called.
"Thank you so much for coming faster than expected."
"Protecting you is my duty. I can’t abandon my duties."
The reason nobles are considered noble is because they are in positions of responsibility.
And among those responsibilities, the most important one is to protect the safety of the people.
Of course, these days, many people born into noble families believe they are noble simply because of their birth...
But at least I think that’s the case.
"What’s the situation now?"
"The seaweed farm has already been looted and is no longer usable."
Upon hearing that, I became furious.
"I know that. What’s more important is whether the people working there are injured or not! Honestly, if we had the technicians, we could rebuild the farm, and money could always be earned again, couldn’t it?"
I don’t necessarily agree that human life is more important than money.
To be frank, the lives of people I don’t know mean very little to me.
But naturally, my people are more valuable than a looted seaweed farm and the lost opportunity cost.
If I treat them well, the villagers of Vio and others will continue to pledge their loyalty, and I can make money again.
The chief, moved by my words, replied.
"20 technicians at the farm were killed, and 30 were seriously injured. The number of missing technicians is still unclear. Some of the dead seem to have been tortured."
Upon hearing this, I immediately ordered that the injured be treated.
Right now, saving lives is the top priority.
"The seaweed farm has been retaken by the villagers and mercenaries, and in the process, we successfully captured two prisoners."
Without the prisoners, we wouldn’t even have been able to think about who the culprits were.
We don’t have modern surveillance equipment like wiretapping or IP tracking, so we couldn’t have caught them even if we searched everywhere.
"Where are the prisoners now?"
"They’re locked up in the village warehouse."
And I had forgotten something in the midst of all the confusion.
I had been so focused on the news about the seaweed farm being looted that I hadn’t even asked about the status of the pearl farm.
"Is the pearl farm safe?"
"Fortunately, it’s safe. However, some of the pearl farming technicians were also caught up in this incident..."
I ground my teeth in frustration.
Honestly, I’m not innocent.
No, can people who fall victim to murder or violent crimes really be blamed for the misdeeds they suffered?
The criminals deserve whatever happens to them, and they just got what was coming to them.
What matters now isn’t who did this to my territory or what their motivations were.
If they’ve committed a crime, they’ll pay the price.
There’s a fitting saying in the Bible.
It says that the sinner and their children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren will suffer the punishment for their crimes.
‘I hate the idea of collective punishment, but since they touched my territory...’
"Interrogate the two prisoners and find out who’s behind this. I’ll go visit the injured at the seaweed farm."