In the afternoon, every vilger gathered in front of the chief's mansion, whether it was the guards or servants, they were all there as they whispered and gossiped among themselves.

  Rumor had spread around the entire vilge that the little girl they saw being led to the chief's mansion had beaten up Torak and decred herself the new chief.

  Many did not believe it, which is why they gathered here today. Kyle and Reggie, the guards who had spotted and escorted Non into the vilge where also there.

  At this moment, Reggie was in disbelief while Kyle looked confused. They both had seen Non up close unlike most of the vilgers. Such a small and fragile child could never hurt a big fat pig like chief Torak. So, what was happening?

  'Is the chief pying a trick on us?' Reggie thought as he pondered, feeling a little panicked since he had outwardly dispyed his lust towards Non yesterday.

  If she truly did beat up Torak and became the new vilge chief, that would mean he was doomed. Although he was obsessed with her from the moment he saw her.

  Reggie also noticed her cold and expressionless face but at the time, he thought it was just the arrogance of a little girl from a wealthy or noble family. So, he didn't pay much attention to it.

  'Hah! What am I thinking?! Chief Torak's brother is a 4th circle pinnacle magician in the city. There's no way such a little girl like that is more powerful than him!' Reggie thought as he silently consoled himself.

  Meanwhile, Kyle beside him was utterly confused as he waited for the new chief to come out like the rest of the vilgers.

  "Silence!!" Vigil suddenly shouted as he came out from the mansion's hall. Causing everyone in the crowd to stop their chattering and gossiping.

  "Form a line! All the vilgers and servants of the mansion will be meeting the new chief one by one in the mansion's main hall. As for the guards, every one of you gather around and head into the main hall right now, the chief will meet with you all first!" Vigil commanded as he shouted.

  Although he was not as strong as Drellis, Vigil was second in command among the guards after Drellis. So as long as Drellis wasn't around, he was basically the commander of the guards.

  """Yes sir!!""" The guards replied as they began to gather and walked towards the main hall, Reggie and Kyle following along and blending in with them.

  The vilge was small and desote, so it only had 100 guards to protect the vilgers from bandits.

  Being near the desote mountain, the vilge was barely within the jurisdiction of the empire. The nd here was barren and desote, with the nearby desote mountain full of dangerous magic beasts.

  So, naturally the vilge was never officially named or recorded in the empire's official map. It was truly an abandoned nd, with no officials or government workers to collect taxes.

  This was why chief Torak was basically a king in this pce. Most of the guards were vilgers trained by their predecessors to protect the vilge, with a few strong guards like Drellis, Vigil and other older guards being former mercenaries or wanted vigintes who escaped from the city and were taken in by Torvaal to protect the vilge and his brother.

  Although the vilge was close to the desote mountain, the magic beasts rarely left the mountain, so all the vilge had to defend against were bandits and a couple of weak magic beasts which were chased out of the desote mountain occasionally.

  In the mansion's main hall, Non stood at the centre as Sandy, Lily, and Rose called in the guards lined up at the door one by one. Each guard walked into the hall and kneeled under Non's oppressive aura.

  Non then used her "Eye of truth" ability to peek into their memories. Looking into their memories one by one, she found out that most of the guards had abused their authority within the vilge. Vioting and killing the women and men within the vilge.

  She separated the guards after looking into their memories. Casting a "sleep" spell on the guards who had committed such crimes as Vigil dragged them to one side and tied them up.

  Those who she deemed innocent were grouped up on one side. Standing behind Non like loyal dogs, seeing Non separate the good from the bad. Their loyalty towards her soared.

  They were also aware of their colleague's crimes, but under Torak's leadership, such crimes were actually motivated to cause fear within the vilgers. Which is how Torak ruled.

  When it was Reggie's turn, his face turned pale as he entered the hall and saw Non standing at the centre, with a "polite" smile on her face.

  As he walked up to Non, he was about to speak when...

  Bang!! He suddenly fell to his knees as he felt an oppressive aura falling upon him.

  Non stepped forward and put her hand on his head as she used the "Eye of truth" ability.

  A projection of Reggie's memories appeared on top of his head for everyone to see. All the remaining guards behind Non were left disgusted and furious upon seeing his memories.

  Reggie was truly a monster in human form; he was always after Torak's "leftovers." Forcing himself on the women Torak had abused, broken and abandoned, most of which were left barely alive. He would indulge in them, then took them to a hidden Goblin's nest a short distance away from the vilge when he was done.

  This was a small Goblin's nest with only dozens of regur goblins and a few Hobgoblin commanders to protect the nest. Torak had struck a deal with the goblins to provide them with women every once in a while, to keep them from attacking the vilge.

  Reggie was like his spokesman since he was the one responsible for delivering the women, so he knew where the nest was hidden.

  After reading Reggie's memories, Non also cast a "sleep" spell on him as the guards dragged him and tied him up with the others.

  After checking all of the guards' memories. Non noticed that only 50 of the 100 guards were honest and sincere towards taking care and protecting the vilge. This surprised her as she had expected less given the current state of the vilge.

  "Take them away and imprison them in the mansion's underground prison for now, I'll need them ter." Non's cold voice echoed in the hall as she pointed to the unconscious and tied up guards.

  ""Yes chief!"" The guards replied.

  "Vigil. Inform the servants and vilgers to enter one by one." Non said as sweat started appearing on her forehead.

  "Will you not rest my dy?" Vigil asked with concern.

  "I'm fine." Non firmly replied before Vigil turned around and walked out to carry her orders.

  When he stepped outside the door, he looked over to Sandy, Lily, and Rose who were posted just outside the door responsible for guiding people into the hall.

  "Take care of the young dy." Vigil said as he walked away. Leaving the three maids confused.

  Vigil was a quiet man who didn't talk much and kept to himself. He never showed his emotions on his face and was always stern and serious.

  He came to this vilge around the same time as Drellis but no one knew of his origins. Although he was always serious and strict, he had a handsome face. Which led to many believing he was a fallen noble or a noble's illegitimate child.

  But Vigil never confirmed or entertained these rumours. The way he carried himself was also different from the other guards. He didn't drink or chase after women despite receiving love letters from some women in the vilge from time to time.

  ...

  ...

  ...

  Time slowly passed as Non used her "Eye of truth" ability on every vilger as they entered the hall one by one. Many came back out while some went in and didn't come out.

  The vilge had around 200 vilgers, excluding the 100 guards. So, it took Non half a day to finish checking everyone as she ordered the mansion's servants to prepare food and drinks for the vilgers as they queued up outside.

  Half a day ter, Non sat on the chief's throne. Visibly tired and exhausted as dark circles formed below her eyes and her skin pale. She had just finished checking the st vilger and was drained.

  Although she was a 4th circle magician, the "Eye of Truth" ability consumed too much magic energy since it was a special ability.

  Even with her abnormally high magic energy reserves, it was still difficult since she had the body of a 10-year-old little girl.

  Among the 200 vilgers, around 30 had committed crimes such as murder or rape. There were some who committed petty crimes such as theft among the remaining 170 but she let them off.

  She cast a "Sleep" spell on the 30 and grouped them up with the other captured guards.

  ""Young dy please rest!"" Lily and Rose urged Non as they rushed into the hall.

  The st vilger Non had just checked noticed that her condition didn't look good and decided to tell the maids at the door as he came out. Causing Lily and Rose to rush in concerned.

  "I'm fine... I'll rest when I'm done with today's task." Non replied as she caught her breath.

  "B-But..." Lily tried to persuade Non but was cut off by her.

  "Tell Vigil and the guards to gather everyone who was imprisoned today and come with me outside the mansion." Non said as she stood up walked out of the hall.

  "Yes!" Lily replied as both her and Rose went to inform Vigil.

  20 minutes ter, Non stood at a podium outside the mansion in front of the vilgers as they gathered. By now, everyone was convinced that Non really was the new chief since they witnessed her abilities first hand and were in awe of her strength.

  Behind her, were the guilty vilgers, guards, and servants she had found through her ability to have committed all kinds of crimes. Chained up and tied together as they were still unconscious.

  "I'm sure each and every one of you know these people. Some of you might even see those who personally wronged you or took your loved ones from you." As she spoke, many in the crowd roared in anger. With some women in the crow feeling disgusted upon seeing their abusers within the captives.

  Non let them be, as they vented out their anger and threw stones at the unconscious bunch. Some of the prisoners woke up and began wailing in pain as the hail of stones drew some blood.

  Non raised her hand and signalled everyone to stop upon noticing. As they saw this, the vilgers immediately stopped and quieted down. Silent as they waited for her to speak.

  "From today on, this pce will undergo a big change. As the new leader of this vilge, I want you all to know that I will not tolerate any injustices among my people. Those who commit crimes will be punished accordingly. New rules and ws will be published and announced to the vilge in 3 days.

  As for these prisoners, I'll see to it that they suffer for their crimes myself. All I ask from you as your new leader is your loyalty. Become my people and I'll shelter you all. However, I have to warn you, I'm a person with grand ambitions. Ambitions grand enough to draw the eye of the Empire, or maybe even the world."

  Non started casting a spell as she spoke, the air thickened as shadows rippled outward from beneath her feet. With a calm, deliberate motion, she raised one hand toward the sky, fingers spread like a cw grasping the void. Darkness surged in response—inky tendrils coiling and spiralling around her arm like living smoke. The light around her dimmed, swallowed by the gravity of the spell as the vilgers felt a change in the atmosphere.

  Then, with a sharp gesture, she brought her hand down. The swirling mass of shadow above her colpsed inward, condensing into a single, pulsating sphere of darkness—the "Dark Nova". A hum of raw energy trembled in the air. Time seemed to falter as the huge ball of bck mass hung in the sky.

  The vilgers stood frozen, faces pale, breath caught in their throats. Non's gaze turned back to them, her face unreadable. Her voice rang out like frost:

  "Kneel. And I will spare you. Follow me, and I will remake this world. Those who do not wish to follow me can leave right now. I won't force you to stay."

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  One by one, the vilgers and guards fell to their knees. Not out of fear alone—but because they had seen something greater than power. They had seen the end, and the little girl who commanded it as the "Dark Nova" hovered above Non's head.

  The vilgers were not stupid, living their whole lives in this desote vilge. With no officials or knights from the Empire. They knew that their little vilge probably had no pce in the Empire, not even recorded on the Empire's detailed map.

  They couldn't even enter the city because they had no identity tokens. In this little vilge without government officials, there was naturally no one who had the authority to issue identity tokens or documents proving their citizenship.

  If they left the vilge to go to other pces, they would not be any different from homeless immigrants and would most likely end up as sves.

  Among the guards, Vigil and the other former mercenaries were shocked by Non's power. Especially Vigil, who's eyes almost popped out of his eye sockets as he stared at Non in shock.

  He had read about a simir legendary spell before in a book. The "Bck star." A 7th circle spell unique to bck magicians. It was a spell that could enshroud everything in darkness within a radius of 5 kilometres. But the spell Non had cast felt far beyond a spell that only devours light.

  Seeing that everyone had chosen to follow her instead, Non waved her hand, and the "Dark Nova" disappeared instantly.

  She turned around and walked back to the mansion as she spoke.

  "Very well. I promise I won't make you suffer as my people; I will give you the strength to protect yourselves." Non's voice resounded as everyone was still kneeling, not daring to look up at her as they hadn't recovered from the shock.

  "Gather the prisoners back at the mansion's underground prison, I'm going to rest now, don't disturb me." Non said as she walked past Vigil.

  "Y-Yes my dy!!" Vigil quickly responded as he snapped out of his shock.

  As she walked back to the mansion, no one noticed that her face had now turned even paler, with a tinge of blood coming out from her lips.

  Non rushed to her room, closing the door behind her as she entered. She immediately fell on the floor as she violently coughed up blood.

  Another cough wracked her body, stronger this time, as if her lungs were tearing themselves apart. Non could barely breath as she clenched her chest in pain.

  She had forced herself to use the "Dark Nova" spell despite having ran out of magic energy from using the "Eye of Truth" the whole day.

  Not to mention, the "Dark Nova" ability was still locked. Non forcibly cast it, which partially unlocked the ability at a great price.

  While she groaned in pain on the floor. A message suddenly popped up in front of her on the attribute panel.

  Ding!

  [WHAT PART OF, "DO NOT USED LOCKED ABILITIES" DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND!!]

  Luna was panicking in her domain as she rustled her hair, yelling at Non.

  "Heh...It was necessary to clean out the trash."

  Non said as she smirked. Fainting on the floor from the pain immediately afterwards.