Outside of the keep there were already villagers gathered in curiosity as to whether they would continue to be neighbors to the undead and their bully of a master when Charles exited and gave his speech. They were a ragged lot, worn by starvation and regularly extorted from whomever wandered into the town with weapons, and many of the able-bodied men had been taken away to fight in the war.
"Villagers of Throneshadow!" Charles annouced as he exited the keep. "Today, I, Charles Heston, along with my retainers, slew the necromancer that plauged you this past year and a half. With him gone, I will take over as your Baron and do my best to protect you and this land."
The response among the dozen or so villagers in the crowd outside is a hodgepodge of anger, cheering, and confusion. Some of it was negative...
A plain girl nearing adulthood shouted a question
"What'd you do with Bob? He's a mule's arse but he didn't do no harm to nobody!"An elderly gentleman cries out
"About damn time! Why is Molvonia's army out there and fighting some stupid foreigners instead of protecting us!"But others were more thrilled by this change...
A gentleman with a lamed leg nearly toppled over as he threw his arms in the air.
"Praise the King! That weasel has been stealing our crops with his corpse-soldiers for months!" Apparently news of succession didn't travel well out here, or their minds remained in the past.
A woman with child screamed
"Damn right! Death to Bob! Death to the enemies of the Kingdom! Glory to Molvonia!"And a young girl with a chipped tooth and red-brown pigtails stood there clapping at the spectacle of seeing what her parents' had called a "Noble", even if she didn't understand a thing that was happening.