[Outside the Manor]
When Ethan arrived at the manor gate, he saw a large crowd of players. Their clothes weren't exactly ragged, but their expressions were vacant.
Each of them wandered around like the walking dead without any clear purpose. Some were pressed against the manor gates like prisoners, reaching their hands inside and shouting, "Food! Please, someone give us something to eat!"
"I'm so hungry! Does anyone have anything to eat?"
"As long as you give me something to eat, I'll do anything. Food..."
"Please... just give me something to eat..."
If Ethan hadn't known these people were residents who had lost their territories, he would have thought they were actual zombies.
"My Lord, are we really going to let these people in?"
Guard Three sounded worried.
After all, these people didn't seem to be in a normal state.
Ethan stroked his chin before saying, "Go tell Cook Four to prepare some food. Make a large batch, and when it's done, carry the whole pot over here."
"Yes, My Lord."
Guard Three immediately sent a guard to relay the order.
Ethan then took out the grilled lava octopus skewers he hadn't had time to eat at the banquet from his Tail Ring and waved them beside the gate.
"Food! Food!"
"It smells so good!"
"Give it to me! Hurry up and let me eat!"
The crowd outside the manor instantly went mad and surged toward Ethan's manor. They stared at the skewers in his hand like starving wolves, desperately shaking the gate.
It looked as though if Ethan didn't hand them over soon, they would shake the iron gate down.
"If you want to eat, you can."
Facing this crowd of lunatics, Ethan remained completely unhurried.
"But first, line up and do as I say. Otherwise, leave my manor."
However, no one paid any attention to him. The crowd had already lost their minds.
They seemed to know only one thing.
Food.
"Players who've lost their individual will?", Ethan raised an eyebrow at them and curled the corner of his mouth, "Interesting."
With that, he brought inside the two residents who had actually tried to line up according to his instructions.
As for how?
Naturally, he activated his Lord's Domain. Within three seconds, he could teleport to any location.
Bringing in two people was nothing.
Then... Ethan broke the grilled lava octopus skewers in his hand into two portions and handed one to each of them.
"Since you did as I said, these skewers are yours."
"Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!"
The two of them hurriedly thanked him, took the grilled lava octopus skewers, and devoured them.
The mindless players outside saw that someone else had food while they had none, and they became even more agitated. They shook the gate with all their strength as if they had gone insane.
The bars looked ready to snap, but Ethan wasn't worried at all.
He calmly took out another large piece of grilled Many-Eyed Monster meat from his Tail Ring. The attendants had specially prepared it as travel rations in case he got hungry while he was out.
He had never lacked food anyway.
So, he simply took out the grilled meat, summoned a Great Fireball, and reheated the cold meat until its aroma filled the air.
The people outside completely lost it.
"Meat! It smells so good!"
"It smells amazing! Please let me eat it! I'll really do anything! Anything at all!"
"I'm willing to line up! Lord, can you give me some meat?"
"Yeah! Me too! I'll line up!"
All of a sudden, without Ethan even telling them to, they started forming a long line on their own.
Even the originally confused, mindless residents followed along and lined up absentmindedly. It was the crowd effect.
"My Lord, the soup you asked for is here!"
Cook Four arrived with Stone Six and the others, carrying a huge pot of soup.
Seeing this, Ethan waved his hand.
"Open the gate and let them in!"
"Yes, My Lord."
Only after seeing the people outside settle down did Guard Three finally feel at ease enough to open the gate.
The moment the gate opened, the crowd forgot all about lining up and rushed inside like mad, looking ready to fight over the food.
"Grab it!"
"The food is limited! Whoever gets it first keeps it!"
"Hahaha! This whole pot is mine! None of you are allowed to take it from me!"
Among the players was an especially tall man who charged out from the crowd. Every swing of his arm sent a frail player flying.
It was obvious he had changed into a Warrior class or something similar. He was extremely strong.
His face was also full of fierce-looking flesh.
At a glance, he looked like the overbearing type.
Most likely, he was used to throwing his weight around because of his strength.
But Ethan naturally wasn't about to let a mere homeless stray act arrogantly on his territory.