After the arrival of the orcs and the announcement about the upcoming barbarian attacks, hundreds of protesters were forced to return back to their homes.

A lot of the citizens still expressed their displeasure, and many even wished to leave the city. But, Tristan had prepared himself for that as well by ensuring a lockdown with the excuse of barbarian attacks.

The orcs also helped by patrolling and setting a perimeter around the town area.

When he was done, he went back inside the town hall with a huge smirk gracing his face.

"That sure went well."

Uriel tried to keep himself from seemingly panicking, but Tristan's attitude towards this problem was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Going well!! Are you out of your mind?! It was an absolute mess! All your little stunt accomplished was making the people terrified. Also, what about those barbarians? How is this the first time I heard about this?" Uriel asked Tristan question after question without giving him a chance to answer.

"Dammit, calm down, will you now?!" Tristan rubbed his forehead.

"How can I calm down, this is an absolute disaster! Gazef, please help me advise the mayor!" Uriel glanced at the guard.

Right in the middle of their argument, Karra walked inside and greeted Tristan.

Tristan smiled at the orc and praised her.

"Good job, Karra."

The orc woman put her hand on her chest as a sign of respect and appreciation.

Afterwards, Tristan told the female orc to start assigning the other orcs to guard the two town entrances. In addition, he also told them to create a temporary post in half a dozen strategic spots all over the town.

Karra nodded and turned around to leave the town hall, but not before Tristan reminded her to ensure the orcs to not cause any trouble. He added that any civilian offenders must be left to the town guard.

During the whole exchange, Uriel watched Tristan with twitching eyes, unable to suspend his disbelief and irritation towards what he just saw. He barely resisted the urge to shout and said.

"Okay, let me call on my troops from Erantell! They could ride fast enough to reach this place as quickly as two days at most."

Tristan looked at him, grinned, and said.

"Thank you for the thought… But no, I will not let Erantell take the glory!"

"Glory? It's an invasion! There is no glory to be found in death!"

Tristan chuckled and answered.

"Uriel, let me ask you something. Do you know where I went yesterday?"

The fat elf stopped and thought, and he realized yesterday Tristan did went out for a whole day without coming back until morning, but he cant think where the crazy mayor could have went.

"Don't worry, Uriel. This is all part of the plan."

Yesterday, after Astrid returned from scouting the barbarians' place, she told him about their numbers and their current condition. From said information, he believed that he could go ahead with the plan.

He snuck out from the city and into the enemy camp to personally ensure that the Barbarian Lord would be 'convinced' to attack them tomorrow.

"What?! Why did you do that?! Lives will be-"

"Shush!" Tristan glared at the fat elf. "Uriel, your mind is clouded with the idea that we will lose, why don't you consider what the benefits are if we manage to win the battle."

What Tristan said made Uriel speechless.

"You see Uriel, I truly believe this is the fastest way for us to regain full control of the town."

Tristan had seen what is going on in Caerleon first hand, and the main thing he needed for people here is order.

He has no experience managing a town much less managing a class full of students. But he understands the meaning of order all thanks to his prison experience.

Any sign of dissent from people, like the troublemaker in the protests, was quickly grabbed and rehabilitated in the dungeon.

And of course there should not be any 'hero' in his town other than himself. Fortunately, that matter has been taken care of swiftly.

Afterwards, he brought fear to the people with the threat of barbarian attacks. Fear might not be the best solution to create a better town, but it surely is the quickest. With these fears, he brought the people into a common problem, letting them to be more dependent on him as the Mayor.

These also create an opportunity to force the orcs into the town. Soon enough the people would be more accepting toward the orcs.

Other than the need for order, Tristan also needed more blood essence, and this battle was the perfect excuse to gather some.

This is the plan he has in mind. With the things he sets up, the term 'hitting two birds with one stone' would be a huge understatement.

Uriel stared at him, feeling both terrified and impressed with the new mayor standing in front of him.

"Gazef! Come and hear my order!"

"Yes, my lord!"

"Collect all able-bodied men, and force them join the upcoming battle!"

Gazef nodded and walked out. Of course, Tristan has no real need for an inexperienced fighter, he wasn't even sure that the 200 town guards would be reliable enough to assist him.

This is the part of the first step Tristan has to create to teach the people about following order.

Just like in prison, What he did was forcing them to do certain things. Useful or meaningless, it holds no weight. What matters was that the people are involved and followed the instructions they obtained, in turn, creating order.

With the threat of Barbarians, the people were able to follow his orders more easily than he thought.

The next day…

The sun had barely peeked out from the corner of the sky, and 1000 able-bodied men had gathered together in the middle of the town. There are around 1000 men in total, most of them farmers and miners, and each carried their own weapons, ranging from simple swords to improvised everyday things such as pitchforks and axes. All of them stood straight, ready to follow the mayor into the battlefield.