Conditions and Request
Hi guys, here's the first sponsored release of the week also by Sebastian S. of Germany! There will be one more sponsored this week and I hope I'll be able to get it done during the weekends.
Within the wide tent, everyone present was listening to Lorist speak as he pointed towards the beastskin map of the Northern Highlands.
"So far this is the situation of the Northlands. Given that Duke Loggins covets the riches of our family but lacks the military force to take it, he has rallied up the various nobles of the land and managed to gather a force of 50000 plus men to attack Firmrock Castle. So far, the soldiers have been there for about one month and has attacked our castle three times, sustaining heavy losses without any substantial gains in the process. The nobles who lost much of their soldiers are already quite frustrated and it seems that they're even trying to avoid attacking the castle by using a ballot method to decide which one would be the next to send their forces ahead..."
Everyone within the tent laughed out heartily at that comment.
Lorist stopped laughing as he continued, "We have already contacted Knight Josk who is defending Firmrock Castle and he said that we shouldn't need to worry about those shambled and disgruntled nobles and that even if they had another 100 years to prepare, they wouldn't be able to take down Firmrock Castle. He's also really glad that our convoy has already arrived at the Northlands and expressed his anticipation finally meet the rest of us.
"Right now, we are at the western part of the Northlands and it will take us 5 days to travel to the family dominion on horseback. If we're traveling on foot, I believe the time required will be longer than that and given the scale of the convoy and the supplies it is transporting, it will still take us more or less one month to arrive. On the way, I've decided to conquer this place over here..." Lorist said as he pointed to a point on the map. "Count Spenseid's dominion. It is half a day of travel on horseback from Firmrock Castle and it's a great transit point for the convoy members, vagabonds and supplies.
"What troubles me is how erratically Count Spenseid has been behaving. To be honest, they've been rather good neighbors to our family. Even though our relationship was not too amiable, our two families have always maintained an unspoken mutual respect. I don't understand why this time the count has so passionately responded to the duke's call to arms and was even the first one to lead his forces to attack our castle. This really just came out of the blue..."
Lorist scratched his head and continued, "Well, we don't really need to know the reason anyway. Since he's willing to become the enemy of the Norton Family, then he must be prepared to receive our retribution as well. I have already ordered Yuriy to attack his bastide and start scouting the land around it. Pog..."
Potterfang stood up and said, "Milord, I'm awaiting your orders."
"Set out later with your heavy-armored infantry and head to Count Spenseid's dominion to take charge of the castle and start setting up a camp there. The supplies of the convoy and the vagabonds will head there later and you are tasked to maintain order and security there."
"Yes, milord."
"Freiyar, Malek, your garrison legion shall ensure the safety of the convoy and the vagabonds as they travel towards the count's dominion. Terman's knight brigade will also be there to be the main force to respond to any emergency situations. If anything happens, Freiyar will be in charge with Terman and Malek being his aides, understood?"
"Yes, milord. We understand," said the three of them in unison as they stood up and saluted.
Lorist continued to give his orders. "The camp over here and the transportation of the people and supplies will be managed chiefly by Charade with their safety being put in the care of the guard division. Dulles's carroballista unit, Pete's mounted archers and Loze's three heavy-armored cavalry regiments will be led by me personally. We will sweep the whole of the southern area of the Northlands and suck the rich lands of the duke dry. I want to let him understand the consequences of offending the Norton Family. Finally, we will gather up at Count Spenseid's dominion before we give the idiots attacking Firmrock Castle a huge surprise and taste of our family's military might.
"Pete, you shall lead the mounted archers to blockade the area from Bing Mountain to Somm River so that word of our attack against the southern area of the Northlands doesn't spread to the soldiers that have gathered up before Firmrock Castle. I will order Yuriy's light cavalry scouts to cooperate with you on that matter as well."
"Yes, milord."
"Loze, you will bring two of the heavy-armored cavalry regiments over to the Hendliff Suspension Bridge's crossing point where Freist Castle is located and force the soldiers defending it to turtle up within the castle. Originally, that area is defended by four regiments of the Northland Army numbering around 10000 soldiers. However, the duke has mobilized around two regiments of 5000 men with him to attack Firmrock Castle, leaving only 5000 plus men facing off against two regiments of our own heavy-armored cavalrymen. You can try to bait them out and eliminate them, but do not besiege the castle under any circumstances. I don't want our soldiers to be sacrificed for no good reason, understood?"
"Your will is my command, milord. I won't disappoint you," Fiercetiger Loze said as he stood up straight.
"The remaining heavy-armored cavalry regiment and the carroballista unit will be commanded by me personally. Coupled with another squad of guards, we will begin our attack against the dominion of the duke himself. I want to move everything from riches, food, weapons and equipment, carriages, Northlander Horses and various kinds of livestock to farmers, work smiths and artisans to our own dominion. Confiscate the riches of the nobles and we will also expropriate all the goods of merchants for half of the market price. Charade, you will also need to prepare a small convoy to ship all our loot from there," Lorist said as he made the decision to deprive the duke's dominion of every resource he could get his hands on.
"Milord, please wait. You seem to have forgotten that there is a unit of the duke's army stationed there. I'm a little curious why all 5000 soldiers of the Northland Army would be stationed at the manor at the duke's dominion's border? The two other bastides and seven towns within the dominion are each only defended by a squad of Northland Army soldiers. Even the duke's own manor is policed by a mere company of men. Could it be that there is a trap waiting for us there instead?" Potterfang asked.
Lorist laughed out and tapped on the spot Potterfang mentioned before saying, "It's my fault for not explaining it properly to you. In actuality, this unit here no longer obeys the duke's orders. The leader of this unit is Knight Hennard. You guys should know that he has been captured by me before. Due to the duke's insane outburst and accusation of Hennard for not shipping the riches they obtained after the massacre of Wildnorth Town back, he attributed the fault of the loss to the two knights. Even though knight Chevany died in battle, Duke Loggins still resorted to exiling the knight's family members and tossed his corpse into the wilderness. This action caused some soldiers of the Northland army to revolt.
"Additionally, the duke even wanted to get Hennard back by paying a reward fee for a convict instead of the full price of a knight's ransom. I couldn't stand the obscenity of the duke's actions, so I released Knight Hennard and the other Silver ranked knights. According to some reports, when Knight Hennard returned to the dominion, he relied on the other Silver ranked knights to contact the subordinates of Knight Chevany who were not happy with how their dead leader was treated and proceeded to take over two regiments of soldiers on his own and conquered this manor for themselves and began to ignore the orders of the duke completely. The duke couldn't do anything about that situation either and was forced to accept the status quo.
Even though they're still technically part of the Northland Army, Duke Loggins no longer holds any power over them. Otherwise, he wouldn't use the soldiers he stationed at the Hendliff Suspension Bridge and Freist Castle to attack Firmrock Castle. I plan to visit this conquered bastide tomorrow and meet Knight Hennard to try to convince him to just sit by and allow our forces to roam through the dominion without resistance. If he doesn't know what's good for him, I'm pretty sure our forces will be able to wipe his men out completely in an open field battle."
Potterfang nodded and said, "Alright, if that's the case, I no longer have anything to worry about. I pray that your plan will run smoothly."
"Okay, that will be all. Let's all make our respective preparations to make the flag of the Norton Family known across the Northlands and show the Northlanders how the Roaring Raging Bear vents its anger..."
"Yes, milord!" shouted the rest within the tent energetically before they left.
...
Cherry Blossom Ridge was the name of a manor which was located at a place of impeccable scenery. It was said that the third Duke of the Northlands had built the manor there to be used as a vacation house because he loved the view of the cherry blossom trees. However, at this moment, two groups of soldiers were in confrontation with each other at that location.
Upon seeing Lorist emerge from the midst of his force, Knight Hennard said in a surprised voice, "Why have you come over here? Isn't the duke attacking Firmrock Castle?"
Lorist laughed and said, "I'm here to see you, my old friend. Well, the other reason is that I'm here to attack the duke's dominion. However, I'm a little concerned by your troops which are stationed here. If you can pretend that you don't know what is going on outside your territory, then I will be relieved. Tell me, Knight Hennard, what conditions do you have so that you will not interfere with my forces?"
Without answering Lorist's question, Knight Hennard said, "Lord Baron Norton, you should refer to me as Baron Shazin. Last year, I inherited the barony of my father and he has already retired from the position as well."
Using his finger to point at another direction, he said, "That is where my dominion is at."
Surprised, Lorist said, "Oh, congratulations, Lord Baron Shazin."
"Well, you can call me Hennard like usual. That's what I like my friends to call me."
"Hehe, then please call me Locke as well, friend."
Lorist gave it some thought before he asked, "Why didn't you bring your troops back to your dominion?"
"I can't, the dominion is too barren to be able to support all 5000 of my men. In actuality, this place used to be within the territory of my family as well. However, the third Duke of the Northlands liked the scenery of the cherry blossoms here and forcefully took half of my family's dominion, forcing us to become a vassal family for them. Now that I have my men stationed here, isn't that the same as having taken my family dominion back?" Hennard said.
"Then what do you think of my proposal just now, Hennard?" Lorist asked.
Revealing a sly smile, Hennard said, "Locke, you've brought up a tough call for me to make. After all, no matter what, I'm still a retainer of the Lord Duke. The men I have under me are also the soldiers of the duke's Northland Army. If I sit still and allow you to ravage the duke's dominion, how would I uphold my honor as a knight?"
Lorist furrowed his brow and said, "Are you saying you want to engage in a battle with me?"
Shaking his head, Hennard said, "I'm not stupid. Look at your men's equipment and the leather armor my soldiers are wearing. I'm not a big fan of smashing an egg against a rock. How about this, I'm sure you wouldn't want to fight against us either, right? Just accept three conditions of mine and we'll think of a way to prevent conflict between us."
"Tell me those conditions of yours then."
"First, don't touch this manor as well as Evanson Town nearby here. My men rely on these two places for sustenance."
"Agreed," Lorist said as he nodded.
"Second, I want to send some of my men along with you on your operation. They want to move their family members back to my dominion so that my soldiers can truly become part of the Shazin Family's forces."
Lorist pondered for a bit and said, "You're saying that the duke is threatening you with the lives of the family members of your soldiers?"
Hennard nodded and replied, "After I inherited the land and title of my father, I wrote the duke a letter to inform him that I was no longer his family knight but a vassal noble of his now. However, the duke didn't want to recognize the legitimacy of my birthright and didn't want to give me a certificate of verification and said that if the soldiers 'leap' to my side, he would punish their family members. That's why we're currently at a stalemate."
If a family knight of another family was granted a title by his own family, then he would no longer remain a family knight and his status would change into that of a vassal noble instead. In Hennard's situation, as he had inherited the noble title and land of his father, he no longer had to unconditionally obey the orders of the duke. Hennard's father actually made the decision to pass down his title to his son so that he wouldn't be labeled a rebellious knight by the duke, allowing Hennard to resign himself and become a vassal noble instead.
'Leaping' was a term for a knight who left his dominion lord to become a wandering or freelance knight due to disagreements in policy. Becoming a vassal noble to leave the position of a family knight could also be considered leaping.
"Then, didn't the duke ever think of sending his soldiers to attack you?" Lorist asked curiously.
"Of course he did, but he couldn't do it. My men are still technically part of the Northland Army and nobody would be able to fight against their own. Even if Duke Loggins gave that order, nobody in his army would bother to obey it. That's why he diverted his attention against your Norton Family. Why aren't you worried about the situation at Firmrock Castle and came here to attack the duke's dominion instead?" Hennard asked Lorist.
"Hehe, I'm sure you've seen the defensive fortifications at Firmrock Castle yourself. Do you seriously think that the duke's soldiers and the personal forces and farmer soldiers of the noble families he rallied up would be able to pose so much as a threat to us?"
"You do have a point. So, do you accept that condition of mine?"
"Sure thing. You can send your men to escort their family members back," Lorist said. "What's your third condition?"
"I want to send a regiment of soldiers to join your men and disguise themselves as soldiers of the same unit so that I can launch a joint assault on the dominion as well. I want half of the loot we get," Hennard requested audaciously.
"Buzz of. You'll get ten percent at most," Lorist bargained.
"Come on, don't be so stingy. The 5000 plus men of mine who defend this place only have their bare necessities satisfied and don't have any additional benefits at all. No matter what, I have to consider the future of my subordinates, right? You can't swallow up all the benefits for yourself you know. If you consider me a friend, you should leave some for me," Hennard reasoned.
"I have more than ten times the number of subordinates you have. At most, I'll give you 20 percent of the cut. If you're not satisfied with that, it's better if we just fight it out," Lorist said.
Hennard revealed a look of surprise and said, "You're just bluffing... I don't believe you have so many men..."
However, as he noticed Lorist's gloomy expression, he agreed reluctantly and said, "Fine, 20 percent it is. I agree. However, I have one final request."
Angered, Lorist said, "Is there even an end to your requests? I'm sure it'll be much simpler if we just fought it out."
Hennard hurriedly waved his hands and said, "This is a personal request of mine. It's fine if you don't agree to it..."
"Fine, let's hear it," Lorist said in annoyance, before he saw Hennard fidgeting around in an embarrassed manner.
"Um, ahem... Locke... I was wondering if you'll be okay with sending Mina, Honey, Glise and Molina back to me... I've been missing them for the past half year..."
"Wait, who are those people you just mentioned? How would I know who they are? I don't recognize any of those names..." Lorist said in confusion.
"Well... Back during that night when I was caught by you at Wildnorth Town, they were the four women who were in the room with me. I really fancy them a lot... You must've kept them for yourself to warm your bed, right? Can you return them to me?" Hennard explained.
Thinking hard to recall that moment, Lorist did in fact remember seeing a few women during the night of Hennard's capture. Shaking his head, he said, "I didn't take them as my concubines. They must be with the other women we rescued from Wildnorth Town. I even ensured that they wouldn't be bothered by anyone else. However, I am quite curious how you're able to take fancy to them even though you killed their fathers and brothers. Aren't you afraid that they would kill you in your sleep for revenge?"
Hennard clicked his tongue and said, "I wasn't the one who wanted to kill their family members. It's the duke's orders and it has nothing to do with me. In fact, it was me who protected them from being ravaged by the other soldiers and it was them who wanted to thank me for my benevolence with their own bodies. I'm quite glad that you didn't lay a hand on them, Locke. You're really the best brother one could ever ask for. So, when can you send them back to me?"
"You can go pick them up yourself as long as they're willing to follow you back. If they don't consent, you can't forcefully bring them back either. I'm sure you understand that nothing good will come from doing everything by force. Also, if you don't resist my forces as a vassal noble of the duke, aren't you worried about what others might think about this?" Lorist asked.
"That's a small issue. Just watch and learn," said Hennard as he turned his horse around and rode back to his camp before blowing the horn signal for battle preparation. He then drew his sword, pointed it at Lorist and announced loudly that he was going to declare war on them for the sake of the duke's honor.
However, when Hennard was charging forward on horseback, his mount fell head first and 'injured' its rider, causing Hennard to be brought back into his manor by his subordinates to defend it and 'recover'.
Lorist and the soldiers of his heavy-armored cavalry merely stared in stupor as Hennard played out the battle scene he wrote and directed himself, including his glorious fall in battle and retreat into the manor.
"Is this really okay?! What the heck was that?!" Lorist exclaimed.
...
An excerpt from the War Chronicles of the Continent, Northlands chapter:
On the 11th day of the 4th month on Year 1768 of the Grindian Calendar, the new lord and leader of the Norton Family, Norton Lorist, led his men to attack the dominion of the Duke of the Northlands. The leader of the 5000 Northland Army troops, Gold ranked Knight Hennard, charged into battle gloriously to resist the enemy attack. In the midst of battle, Knight Hennard's mount lost control and caused him to fall off it. Despite being badly injured from the fall, the brave knight persisted and continued to fight until he was forcefully dragged back into the manor by his own subordinates, causing him to have no other choice but to defend the manor without being able to continue resisting the enemy forces. As a result, the Norton forces swept past the dominion of Duke Loggins and demolished the prosperous lands that the Loggins Family had spent so long to build up and nurture. That event would eventually be known to historians as 'The Plundering of the Southern Northlands'.
Plunder, Move, and Destroy
And here's the promised second sponsored chapter of the week courtesy of Anh D. L. from the USA! See you guys next week!
"Kill anyone who resist! Kill anyone who resists!" roared the heavy-armored soldiers loudly all over the village. One poor farmer after another brought their meager belongings, farming tools and livestock with them as they squeezed into the small carriages which brought them to an empty space within the village. After that, they were assigned to three different groups by a middle-aged man holding a beastskin name list.
The group at the southernmost area of the village had the fewest number of people, among which included the village chief, the security officer, the tax officer, the mill owner and some other managerial officers who were the basis of Duke Loggins's government of the southern Northlands. However, that group looked to be the worst among the three as their assets were all confiscated and they were only allowed to bring their families with them along with some dried food to head towards the manor of Duke Loggins in Gildusk City.
The group of people facing the west also had a relatively small number of people. Most of them were the family members of the soldiers of the Northland Army soldiers and they were to be brought to Cherry Blossom Ridge per Hennard's agreement with Lorist.
The group facing the north was the largest of the three. Their destination was a camp roughly 50 kilometers away where they would be divided into smaller groups to be sent to a refugee camp at Count Spenseid's dominion before finally being brought to the Norton Family dominion to begin their lives anew.
"You can start setting the fires..." ordered a heavy-armored officer before his ten subordinates tossed flaming torches towards the straw huts within the village. The whole village soon became immersed in a sea of flames, from which a thick pillar of smoke emerged skyward.
Some of the farmers began to cry. Those were the huts that had sheltered their family from the harsh rain and wind throughout the years.
A fearsome escort soldier rushed to the crowd and shouted in a loud voice, "What's there to cry about? 'If the old doesn't go, the new won't come'. We've already told you that after we arrive at the family dominion, everyone will receive new farmland and houses which are much better than your pathetic straw huts!"
Countless pillars of smoke continued to rise from the dominion of Duke Loggins which was considered to be the most prosperous area of the Northlands. Under the instructions of Lorist, they spent only 16 days to sweep through the duke's dominion. The two manors of the duke, the six towns and Gildusk City had already fallen into Lorist's hands.
Within the whole of the duke's dominion, apart from Hennard's soldiers who were defending Cherry Blossom Ridge and the nearby Evanson Town, only a around 5000 soldiers of the Northland Army were guarding the Hendliff Suspension Bridge customs point and Freist Castle.
The duke's Gold ranked knight, Aordem, who led the troops, mobilized around 2500 men to mount an attack against the Norton forces which were forcing the villagers to move away. However, they were met with an ambush by Fiercetiger Loze and his two regiments of heavy-armored cavalry. Aordem himself fought Loze on the battlefield and got gravely injured. However, he managed to escape with roughly 600 soldiers and abandoned the customs point at the bridge and retreated into Freist Castle with the rest of the soldiers with the intent of turtling inside it and defending it.
After eliminating most of the remnant Northland Army forces, the Norton Family's soldiers no longer had anything to worry about and focused on ransacking the duke's treasury, food warehouses, and armories as well as confiscating the wealth of the duke's vassal nobles and expropriating the goods and carriages of the merchants who had arrived at the duke's dominion. Following the order to migrate by Lorist, the Norton Family forces then turned their attention to the villages within the duke's dominion.
...
Below is an excerpt of a book titled 'Northlands Journal' which was written by a merchant who had been conducting business in the Northlands during that time. The journal caused quite some commotion a few hundred years after it was written as it described 'The Plundering of the Southern Northlands' from a different perspective in great detail, eventually becoming the primary subject of study for the rise of the Norton Family.
"This was an unprecedentedly huge, organized and carefully planned maneuver. The forces of the Norton Family were known to be even more fearsome than the worst of bandits. They emptied the city's warehouses completely, confiscated all the property of the nobles and didn't even leave behind a single piece of crude pottery.
"My merchant convoy toiled for an extremely long time to transport our goods to the Northlands, only to be robbed when we were about to check in to the inn within the capital of the southern Northlands, Gildusk City. They forced us to sell our goods for half the market price. Even though I personally didn't incur any losses from that exchange, the profit gained is incredibly miniscule compared to what I had envisioned. Poor little Tini... my heart pains at the thought of my incompetence for not being able to buy you that beautiful dress so that you can show up at the ball like a princess to grab the limelight...
"Originally, my merchant convoy planned to sell our goods at the Northlands and buy some local goods there to be sold back at home as well. However, given the chaotic situation there as well as our suppliers who had suffered our fate at the hands of the Norton Family's forces, I couldn't get my hands on any local goods. Given the situation, I decided to escape the area. Unfortunately for us, my convoy's carriages required maintenance and our horses needed new horseshoes before we could leave.
"And so, I tried to find a blacksmith. However, I didn't expect that there wasn't even one among the 100000 people of Gildusk City. After spending some money to get some information, I got to know that the Norton Family's forces had forcefully moved all blacksmiths and their family members away from the city. They didn't even spare the common peasants or servants and only left behind the elderly and merchants within the city. Other than that, they also brought many other village chiefs and officers to the city...
"When I returned to the inn, I realized that I no longer had to worry about my carriages as the Norton Family's soldiers once again showed up before me and were here to expropriate them. I didn't bother to resist or object and let them have their way. But they were much better this time around as they paid for the carriages and horses according to the full market price using gold Fordes as currency.
"That day afternoon, we left Gildusk City and began our journey back home on foot. It was only after we left the city that we noticed the villages of the friendly Northlanders had been set on fire with smoke forming everywhere. The villagers who were hefting their belongings and protecting their wife and children were tearing up as they were escorted away by the forces of the Norton Family.
"Along both sides of the road we took were numerous tall crucifixes where the nobles within the villages or the brave men who resisted the Norton soldiers' violence were hung. We didn't dare to collect their corpses as there were mounted Norton patrol troops passing us by from time to time. When we left the city, we already obtained a permit to travel, so the soldiers didn't pay us any heed. However, the regular checks we received caused us much trouble and frustration.
"As we no longer owned any carriages, we could only travel on foot while carrying our luggage on our backs. We even used some wood to make a sledge which we stored our camping gear on and pulled it along with us, resulting in an even slower traveling speed. If we were on horseback, we would be able to arrive at the Hendliff Suspension Bridge within a day of travel. However, it seemed that we wouldn't be able to arrive there within three days at this rate...
"When we halted to camp at night, a group of patrolling soldiers stopped by and borrowed our campsite for some rest. I noticed that there was an insignia of a white lion on each of the soldiers' breastplate. A mercenary leader traveling with us secretly told me that those were the equipment that belonged to the famed Whitelion Legion of the former Krissen Empire.
"And so, I brought out a few bottles of fruit wine and treated those soldiers to some drinks and pretended be surprised and asked them whether they were the soldiers of the Whitelion Legion. Those soldiers merely shook their heads and said that they were the soldiers of Count Norton. I exclaimed that I thought that the head of the Norton Family was only a baron and not a count.
"The soldiers then told me proudly that along the way on their journey to the Northlands, the Norton Family's convoy helped the Second Highness of the Andinaq Kingdom to wrestle control of his kingdom, hence stabilizing the state of the kingdom. That's why the Andinaq Royal Family, being the recognized heirs of the legacy of the Krissen Imperial Family, elevated the rank of the Norton Family from that of a baron to a count. The Second Highness even enfeoffed his own principality to the Norton Family. The equipment of the Whitelion Legion was also offered as a reward for their efforts.
"I then asked the soldiers why they were forcing the poor villagers to leave and even burned their villages, to which they replied angrily that it was to teach the greedy Duke of the Northlands a lesson so that he doesn't cause any trouble for the Norton Family again. Due to wanting to develop the Norton Family dominion into a haven during chaotic times so that its people would be able to leave blissful and stable lives, the Norton Family leader ordered that everything and everyone within those villages to be moved to the Norton Family dominion as well as the destruction of infrastructure within the duke's dominion so that the duke would no longer be able to recover his power to once again cause the Norton Family and their citizens any more trouble.
"Perhaps because they were grateful for my fruit wine treat, the soldiers left an old horse for me before they departed and even wrote a document for our group to signify that we were merchants who had treated the Norton forces well. That document later saved us lots of trouble during the rest of the journey. Before he left, the squad leader even informed me of a business opportunity: after crossing to the other side of the river from the Hendliff Suspension Bridge, we could get our hands on some carriages which we could resell to the Norton soldiers at the campsite near Freist Castle for a high price.
"That was indeed a good idea. Originally, I was planning to purchase more carriages when I crossed the Hendliff Suspension Bridge to make my way home. However, I thought that the squad leader's idea made sense and decided to try to see if I could make up for the losses my convoy sustained during this trip. And so, I instructed the rest of my men within the group to leave immediately to head for the Hendliff Suspension Bridge..."
...
"That felt great!" exclaimed Knight Hennard delightedly as he put down the wrecked chair within his hand and looked at the mess within Duke Loggins's study which was created by him during the last half hour.
Raising his head, he saw Lorist looking at him like he was a madman.
A little embarrassed and mad, Knight Hennard said, "What kind of gaze is that? Why are you looking at me like that? Let me tell you something... Wrecking the duke's study has always been something I wanted to do very badly. In the past, when we reported to the duke and said something that angered him, he would start smashing this room up in front of us in a fit of rage, causing us to have to wait nervously until he calms himself down. That's how I eventually started imagining how good it would feel for me to smash this room up myself. Today, my wish has finally been fulfilled."
Lorist snorted from his nostrils and said, "I didn't know you had this side to you. Being by the side of the duke must've caused some sort of trauma or complex to develop within your mind... That's why you feel so fulfilled after smashing up the room like a kid..."
Hennard jumped and said, "I'm not afraid of him at all. It's only because he was my lord and as his knight, I couldn't disobey his orders. Now that I'm Baron Shazin, I can ignore the unreasonable orders of the duke openly as a dominion lord..."
Lorist said in an annoyed voice, "Alright, did you have your fun? Let's go if you're done. I have many other things to handle."
"Fine, fine... What's so important that you have to attend to them personally? Can't you just let your subordinates do it? You don't look like a dominion lord at all being almost as busy as a lapdog..." Hennard said as he put a grey-colored linen scarf around his face. "Wait, I need to cover my face up so that others don't recognize me..."
As Hennard was the rumored 'heroic knight who had attempted to resist the forces of the Norton Family before he was injured and forced to retreat', he had to disguise himself when walking beside Lorist. The night before, he showed up at Lorist's tent and said that he wanted to follow Lorist back to the dominion to look for his four concubines, when in fact, he was to act as a guide through the dominion of the duke for the Norton Family forces.
Lorist also treated him rather well. Seeing that there was an opportunity to be taken advantage of, Hennard didn't hold back and brought a whole regiment of troops to collect their metal armor, leaving behind only less than 300 men defending Cherry Blossom Ridge. By the time Hennard's men emerged from the campsite of the convoy, they had already donned a set of metal armor which was previously used by the convoy's forces.
After donning the guise of the Norton Family soldiers, Hennard's men behaved even more savagely and made sure to plunder the dominion of the duke thoroughly and were especially cruel to the nobles and officers within the villages. With the 5000 men who were familiar with the area, Lorist led his men to sweep through the duke's dominion without much resistance.
The only downside was that Hennard's Silver ranked knights went to recruit another 2000 soldiers of the Northland Army from various areas and went to Lorist's convoy's campsite and shamelessly asked to be allowed to switch their gear for metal armor.
The company of Northland Army soldiers that defended Gildusk City had also surrendered because of Hennard, who had tasked his Silver ranked knight to inform the company leader to not put up any futile resistance and make pointless sacrifices. He advised the company leader to surrender first so that they would be able to retain enough strength and retreat to the Cherry Blossom Ridge for now and unite under the leadership of Hennard himself to reestablish the glory of the Northland Army.
With only that, Gildusk City fell into Lorist's hands, followed by Hennard's pestering of Lorist to go to the duke's manor because he had a dream that he absolutely wanted to fulfill. Lorist only just realized that smashing up the duke's study was that dream...
At that moment, Reidy approached them and said, "Milord, we discovered someone within the water dungeon of the duke's manor..."
After hesitating for a while, Reidy said, "It's Baron Camorra..."
Stunned, Lorist exclaimed, "Who? Did you just say Baron Camorra?"
Hennard who had his face covered started as well. "Why would he be locked up in the water dungeon? No wonder I couldn't get hold of him no matter how many messengers I sent... Bring him here, quick..."
Naturally, Reidy also knew who that masked knight was and he nodded to Lorist before heading off into the distance.
Battle Preparations at Firmrock Castle
Here's the first regular chapter of the week! This arc is finally nearing its end.
Baron Camorra was quickly brought over. According to the guard who was tasked to watch him, he had been placed in the water dungeon for more than a month. Had it not been for the guards' secret care of the baron, that is, allowing him to rest somewhere dry during the night, the baron's legs might have long been wrinkled to the point of rotting by the constant submersion in water.
Currently, Baron Camorra was still unconscious. After reading his pulse, Lorist noticed that even though the baron was currently very weak, he only needed some time to recover and let out a breath of relief. He then instructed Reidy to let the baron rest and recover for two days while he himself would find some time to concoct some medicines to help boost the baron's recovery.
After finding the butler and servants of the duke and asking for some information, they got to know the real reason behind Baron Camorra's incarceration in the water dungeon. It all began from the mistake made by Knight Chevany. When the duke first decided to send Knight Chevany and Knight Hennard to go on an expedition against the Norton Family, he told a slave trader acquaintance of his that he would be getting a group of young female slaves sometime in the near future to be sold to him.
In the end, that expedition of his ended up with more than 4000 casualties with one Gold ranked knight dead and another captured. Angered beyond belief, the duke decided to exile the family members of Knight Chevany so that they would live their lives as beggars. After that, he sent Baron Camorra to the Norton Family dominion to pay a fee to bring Knight Hennard and the other Silver ranked knights back as criminals because he intended to punish them, only to be refused by Lorist who instead was unable to accept the fact that the duke had so casually humiliated the knights that served him and released Hennard and the rest without demanding anything in return.
When Baron Camorra returned to the duke's dominion, he was harshly scolded by Duke Loggins who thought that the baron had failed because of incompetence on his part. Hennard and the other Silver ranked knights instead rallied up two regiments of roughly 5000 soldiers of the Northland Army and took over the Cherry Blossom Ridge to protect themselves. That act caused the duke to be even more infuriated, but he was unable to do much about it, so he vented his anger on Baron Camorra instead.
At that moment, the slave trader acquaintance of the duke rushed over excitedly for his purchase, but the duke didn't have any slaves on hand because of the failed expedition. In the end, Duke Loggins ordered that the beggars, the farmers who had lost their farmland as well as the unemployed people in his city to be captured and made into slaves. He even made sure to specify for the family members of Knight Chevany to be among those people as well.
In the end, the duke's guards were unable to locate the family members of Knight Chevany and upon seeking out some information, they got to know that they had been evacuated from the Northlands by Baron Camorra. And so, they made their report to the duke much to the misfortune of Baron Camorra, who was in a rush to the duke's manor to stop him from carrying out such a ridiculous order as catching his own citizens and selling them to a slave trader as he believed that an act like that would definitely tarnish the reputation of the duke and cause the rest of the citizens to lose all their loyalty towards him.
In the end, the angered duke who had just heard about the evacuation of the family members of Knight Chevany saw Baron Camorra, who dared to rush into his manor to stop him from making slaves out of his own citizens. Not only did Duke Loggins rescind the honorary title he had given Baron Camorra, he even tossed him into the water dungeon for him to starve and rot to his death.
After waving for the butler and servants to leave, Lorist shook his head and sighed before he said, "Duke Loggins really has gone insane this time. However, the guards of the water dungeon weren't lying about secretly taking care of Baron Camorra all this time. Otherwise, he would have starved to death already. Reidy, give each of those guards 5 gold Fordes as a reward for taking care of the baron. Also, give them an invitation to bring their family members to follow us if they're willing so that they won't be punished by Duke Loggins by the time he comes back."
"Yes, milord," Reidy said before he left.
Hennard who was standing beside Lorist said hurriedly, "Locke, you aren't planning to take in Baron Camorra, right? I was about to bring him back to the Cherry Blossom Ridge's castle..."
"Forget it," Lorist said as he glared at Hennard. "If he follows you, his talent and potential will be limited. Think about it yourself, would Camorra have a bright future with you? He will at best be used as a butler or manager. As for me, I appreciate his talent and will definitely allow him to reach his full potential; heck, maybe I'll even be able to make him a landed noble one day."
Hennard was rendered speechless as he understood that Lorist was already a count and not a baron like him. As the aide of the general of the Northland Army, Knight Chevany, Hennard understood Camorra's talents well and knew that without Camorra's support in management and logistics, there was no way that the Northland Army would be able to maintain a scale of over 20000 people. That's why, unlike the Gold ranked knight Tabik, Hennard didn't look down on Camorra one bit.
However, now that Lorist had set his sights on Camorra and has further plans for him, Hennard believed that it was best for him to back down for now as there was no need to offend his benefactor for Camorra alone.
"Alright, you can have Camorra. However, I want some compensation for that," Hennard said with a dissatisfied tone.
"Buzz off... You still want more compensation? Tell me how much benefits you have received from me so far. You even managed to get 2000 more subordinates and had my force equip them with metal armor..." Lorist said as he ignored Hennard's request.
"Hehe, we're friends, right? Good friends shouldn't be so calculative... I just want one person... Is one woman okay with you?" Hennard said with a smile.
"A woman? Who else have you fallen for now?" Lorist asked curiously.
Hennard looked around his surroundings and just as he was about to lean on Lorist's shoulder to whisper to him...
"Hey, don't get too close. If you have something to say, be more candid about it. You're a grown man, so don't be so creepy like the way you're behaving now. Sheesh, I really don't know how a secretive person like you managed to become a proud and glorious knight..." Lorist said as he pushed Hennard away.
"Fine. The one I want is the Lord Duke's most coveted mistress. However, I need you to help me out and send some men to 'kidnap' her before I rescue her heroically as she passes through the Cherry Blossom Ridge..." said Hennard shyly as he shamelessly recited his plan for him to be the hero that would save the beauty and be thanked with her love and affection for his deed.
"Sol, I bet you will one day die because of a woman. When Reidy returns, you can discuss with him how you want that little act of yours to play out. However, I must advise you to wait for a while for now. Don't forget that you're still 'injured' and resting up within the Cherry Blossom Ridge. There's no way you can be both an injured knight and a hero at the same time..." warned Lorist even though he agreed.
Elated, Hennard rushed away to look for Reidy instantly.
Two days later within one of the guest rooms of the duke's manor, Baron Camorra awoke on his bed and looked at Lorist with surprise. "Why are you here?"
Lorist smiled tranquilly and said, "Why wouldn't I be? The duke personally rallied up the various nobles within the Northlands to attack my family. Naturally, I noticed how scarcely guarded his dominion was, so I took the opportunity to make a visit..."
Baron Camorra laid back on his bed exasperatedly and said, "The Lord Duke is far too stubborn... I have warned him time and again to not disturb the Norton Family... Why wouldn't he listen to me..."
"You shouldn't bother worrying about that duke of yours anymore. The sane can never reason with the insane. He even revoked your honorary title and tossed you into the water dungeon... Had it not been for the few guards who pitied you and fed you enough to keep you alive, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right now. Don't think too much about it. Just rest up and recover. In two days, I will gather my soldiers to meet that duke of yours. I will also be bringing you along," Lorist said.
"Wa-wait... Lord Norton... You have already conquered the duke's dominion. Why would you leave now? This land is the most prosperous area within the Northlands. Are you really willing to give it up?" Camorra asked.
"Hehe..." Lorist laughed before he continued, "Given the distance between here and my dominion, it would take 5 days for a messenger to be able to get from one place to another. In essence, occupying the duke's dominion would be akin to splitting the might of the Norton Family into two. I am not that irrational. Before the Norton Family builds up a stable foundation, there's no way that I will set my eyes on the rest of the Northlands. As for how this area is the most prosperous area of the Northlands... Hehe... That's already a thing of the past."
"Milord, Knight Freiyar has arrived," reported Reidy.
"Alright. Camorra, rest well and recover. When we return to the family dominion, there's quite a number of things that I would require you to help out with. If you have anything you need, just tell the guards and don't hold back," Lorist said before he waved goodbye and left.
Within the lounge of the duke's manor, Lorist asked, "Freiyar, how are the workers and villagers that we have moved feeling? Are they causing you any trouble?" Lorist asked.
Freiyar shook his head and said, "Milord, the situation of the villagers are still fine. Instead, the skilled workers from the city are causing more problems relatively."
"Is there a reason for that?"
"Milord, I believe you are unaware of this, but, Duke Loggins collects 60% of the harvest of the farmers within his dominion. To the farming folk, the remaining 40% of their income is not enough to raise their family, so they usually have only two meals a day. To add to that, half of their livestock produce automatically belong to the duke and the other half will be sold to pay the rest of the taxes with the meager remains of that money being used to purchase other living necessities; they are definitely no stranger to hardship. However, this time we appeared and purchased their livestock with cash and even provided them with three meals each day during the migration process. That's why the farmers are the first to believe our sincerity and were the most cooperative of the bunch."
Freiyar sipped some tea before he continued, "After receiving your orders for us to form another garrison squad to maintain order, Malek and I decided to recruit the men for the squad from the migrating villagers. Those villagers were also really eager to join and we already have enough men for the new squad and we have equipped each of them with a pike and leather armor, which will be more than enough to maintain security and order during the migration process."
Lorist nodded and said, "You and Malek have done well, I am incredibly happy with the results. My intention for you to lead your 5000 mounted garrison soldiers here was so that you can replace Loze and his soldiers who are stationed near Freist Castle. For now, Freist Castle still houses around 3000 Northland Army soldiers who are still defending it from within. Knight Loze and his two regiments of heavy-armored cavalrymen are stationed outside to suppress them.
"After this, we will be attacking the enemy soldiers who are attempting to take over Firmrock Castle. That's why I need Knight Loze and his two regiments of heavy-armored cavalrymen to be my main force for that operation. Your task is to make sure that the enemy within Freist Castle don't come out and harass our men who are busy with the migration process. Even though Knight Aordem, the leader of the Northland Army soldiers within Freist Castle, has already been injured, you shouldn't be careless, understood?"
"Milord, please be assured that I will carry out my task properly," Knight Freiyar said as he saluted.
Three days later, Fiercetiger Loze brought his two regiments of soldiers and headed back to Gildusk City.
"Let's go into the last battle prior to our arrival home," Lorist said to Els, Loze, Reidy and the rest as he mounted his horse.
The disguised Hennard looked at the empty duke's manor behind him and said, "Locke, why didn't you just set fire on that building like you did the rest?"
"There's no need for that. When the duke moves back and fills that place up with valuables again, I'll be able to loot it when I return. If I burn that place down, the duke will no doubt move and it'll be troublesome for me," Lorist said as he laughed.
Today was the day they retreated from Gildusk City. Lorist pointed with his horse whip towards the distance and said to Knight Hennard, "On our way there, we will pass through the dominions of seven noble families. Since they have decided to side with the duke to declare war with the Norton Family, we don't have to spare them either. We will sweep past their lands as usual. Hennard, I will leave the bastides and towns of these nobles for your men to occupy and I will also have Dulles's carroballista unit provide support for your men."
Knight Hennard merely nodded. For this operation, Lorist would lead three regiments of heavy-armored cavalry himself, Dulles would lead the carroballista unit and Els would lead a company of guards. Compared to Hennard's one regiment of men who were pretending to be the forces of the Norton Family, they were definitely not ideal for the task of taking over the towns and bastides.
Seven days later, Lorist brought his troops and arrived at Somm River.
The Somm River was a small river within the Northlands which connected to the Metropoulos River at the south with its origin being the Bing Mountain.
After crossing Somm River, one would arrive at Firmrock Castle within one day of travel.
Yuriy and Pete stepped forward to deliver their reports.
"During the past month, you have done really well and managed to stop the enemy from noticing our recent exploits. What is the situation of the enemy camp right now?" Lorist asked.
"Milord, we didn't do as well as you said we did... Before the end of the 4th month, many of the letters of the 37 messengers we captured were love letters of some knight with only a small fraction of them being official documents. The duke did write a few letters himself to reprimand some nobles who did not send any troops to join him on his expedition against our family and demanded for them to come right away. However, we managed to intercept these messengers without issue.
"During the 5th month, however, the enemies seemed to have begun suspecting something. During the past few days, some of our scouts encountered ten plus enemy scouts whom they battled but weren't able to stop completely. Four of them managed to escape in the end and I believe the enemy is now aware of our presence," Yuriy said with his face facing the ground.
"It's fine," Lorist replied as he patted on Yuriy's shoulder. "With our victory already at the horizon, it would make no difference even if they discover the truth. Don't worry, they are no longer able to turn the tables on us. What of Potterfang's side?"
Yuriy replied, "Milord, Sir Potterfang already left with the heavy-armored infantry army yesterday. Following him are Terman's knight brigade and Malek's second division of the garrison legion. They will rendezvous at noon tomorrow at Firmrock Castle. Also, Sir Potterfang sent a message saying that he had captured Count Spenseid and his hundred plus men who were attempting to return to their dominion."
"Count Spenseid? Wasn't he the first to join the duke to attack our castle? Why is he heading back now? Whatever, have him apprehended for now. I'll settle this issue after the battle."
Lorist then looked at the map and said, "Have the soldiers rest earlier tonight. We will have breakfast at five tomorrow and set out at six so that we will arrive at Firmrock Castle by noon."
"Yes, milord."
...
On the 9th day of the 5th month of Year 1768 of the Grindian Calendar, the great battle at Firmrock Castle that shocked the whole of the Northlands commenced.
During noon at Morgan Hills where the Firmrock Castle stood, the Norton Family's forces that were at the southwest of the area began their assault. The heavy-armored infantry legion led by Potterfang got into five square formations, one for each regiment, and began their march towards the camp of the allied nobles at the east.
The allied noble army of roughly 46000 people led by Duke Loggins was evenly matched in number against the Norton Family's forces which had roughly 43000 men.
In the early moments of battle, the Northland Army's thousand plus longbowmen fired their arrows towards the heavy-armored soldiers of the Norton Family. However, after three volleys, they realized that their arrows weren't able to pierce the Whitelion Legion armor and cause any harm to the Norton forces, plummeting the allied noble army into distraught and confusion.
Immediately following that, Lorist ordered Pete and his company of mounted archers to dismount and begin their suppression fire along with Hennard's thousand plus longbowmen. After three volleys of arrows, the allied noble army sustained huge casualties.
Terman's knight brigade and Fiercetiger Loze's three regiments of heavy-armored cavalrymen began their charge, causing the remnants of the allied noble army to disband before both sides even clashed.
Baron Felim Chalvode was the first one to escape with the rest of his men, followed by one noble after another. Within moments, the head-on clash transformed into a pursuit instead.
The whole battle at Firmrock Castle lasted for three days, that was to say, the forces of the Nortons pursued their retreating enemies for three days. However, most of the nobles managed to escape in the end. This time, the number of nobles who answered Duke Loggins's call to arms was above 60, which included roughly two thirds of all the nobles within the Northlands. After the battle, 11 nobles perished in the midst of their escape with 16 others being taken captive by the Norton Family forces, with the rest of the nobles managed to make their escape.
The Duke of the Northlands, Duke Loggins, managed to escape to the territory of Count Lopez which was ruled over by the Kenmays Family thanks to his Gold ranked knight and second in command of the Northland Army, Bitson. Knight Bitson himself was turned into a pincushion by the arrow rain of Pete's company of mounted archers and sacrificed himself on the battlefield.
The battle of Firmrock Castle resulted in roughly 8000 casualties for the allied noble army with another 30000 plus men captured with less than 50 nobles and knights dying in battle. The Norton Family on the other hand suffered miniscule losses and triumphed completely, much to the shock and awe of the rest of the Northlanders.
The migration had lasted from the 5th day of the 4th month to the 27th day of the 8th month. Countless resources and food were brought to the Norton Family dominion. Other than that, more than 300000 people were moved into Firmrock Castle.
After receiving news about the Nortons who had returned to their dominion and ceased all aggression during the 8th month, Duke Loggins who had been hiding at the Kenmays Family's castle was finally willing to return to his own dominion.
Upon arrival at his dominion, the duke's face paled instantly as only the burnt remnants and ashes of the buildings that once lined the streets of his land remained with not a single soul to be seen. Other than that, the fact that all the valuables within the duke's manor being taken as well as the nobles and officers who demanded compensation for their losses caused the duke to be so enraged that he vomited blood on the spot and fell sick without being able to recover.
Viscount Kenmays sighed and muttered, "It's the end of the road for Duke Loggins."
After that, he left the duke alone and the Kenmays Family no longer had to obey the orders of the duke in the future.
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Author's note that was included in the chapter text:
A great big thank you to all my readers of your support, praise as well as recommendations to others. I deeply appreciate all your fervent love for my story. To be honest, I'd like to post more chapters myself as well but one can only write so many words within 9 hours. If I sat there for two straight hours, I can indeed write another 1000 characters to split this chapter into two. (Ryogawa: In case you didn't notice, this chapter was super long.) However, you, my readers, have paid to read this VIP novel, so I personally can't find it in my conscience to screw you up. That's why I believed that it was better for me to compact the story into one chapter with roughly 5000 characters. Once again, I apologize for not being able to churn out more chapters as my hand is quite sore and that impedes my typing quite a bit, so I hope you all will understand.
My writing process doesn't finish right after I complete the typing of the chapter either. After I finish typing, I have to check the chapter with my draft to make sure that there are no errors or anything that I have missed out. These corrections require quite a lot of rewrites as well.
As for the map, I won't be posting it. Given that my computer is relatively old, I only have the map drawn roughly on paper for my own reference so that I don't make any mistakes. If anyone is interested in making one, please tell me your QQ email so that I can tell you more about the map...
Once again, thank you very much.
Auguslo's Counterattack
The second regular chapter of the week is here. Enjoy!
After the convoy forces led by Lorist that had crossed Metropoulos River towards the duke's dominion to pillage it and subsequently defeated the allied noble army, when they were moving all the wealth and people of the duke's dominion towards the Norton Family dominion in the Northlands, various new developments occurred in the Andinaq Kingdom.
On the 25th day of the 4th month of Year 1768 of the Grindian Calendar, the king of the Redlis Kingdom, the First Prince of the former Krissen Empire, Krissen Redlis, announced that the Crown Prince of the Andinaq Kingdom, Second Highness Auguslo, was a vile person who had went against his own brother and made his father a puppet leader and said that he would punish the Second Highness on the grounds of tarnishing the name of the Krissen Imperial Family.
After the First Prince's declaration, many people laughed cynically at it and felt that it somehow sounded familiar. After someone did some research and checking, they found that that the Third Prince of the Krissen Empire, then the regent ruler of the empire, had used the exact same reasoning as justification to act against the First Prince at that time. This time around, the First Prince merely changed a few words before throwing it back it to the Andinaq Kingdom.
Even though that declaration was treated as something of a joke, the First Prince's 70000 soldiers were not fooling around. Within but ten days, the Andinaq Kingdom lost up to 7 citadels situated near the border of the Andinaq Kingdom and the Redlis Kingdom and the Fiercegale Legion could only retreat one defeat after another from their heavy casualties and rely on the bastides owned by the landed nobles to resist the First Prince's army.
On the 32nd day of the 4th month that year, the Madras Duchy's Seamountain Legion incurred more than 5000 casualties to take over the Xith Castle that was defended by two regiments of the Royal Defense Guard of the Andinaq Kingdom, thus opening up the route from Sidgler Province towards the outside world once again. The duke eventually received help from the Second Prince, the ruler of the Iblia Kingdom, and managed to retake Vanades City.
At that time, the Royal Defense Guard that had roughly 5000 men retreated from the Xith Castle back to Vanades City right away after losing around 1000 men during the siege. With the soldiers stationed within Vanades City numbering more than 5000 men and the enhanced fortifications of the city, the Second Highness believed that he would be able to resist the joint attack of the Seamountain Legion of Duke Madras and the Second Prince's forces.
However, nobody would've been able to predict that just before the soldiers of the Second Prince and Duke Madras finished constructing their siege engines, the soldiers of the Andinaq Kingdom abandoned the moat of the city and headed for the highway towards the newly-built citadel in the mountains.
When Duke Madras and the Second Prince realized that Vanades City was undefended, tension built up between the two forces as they scrambled to occupy the city. In the end, the Seamountain Legion took two-thirds of the city with the remaining parts of it going to the Iblia Kingdom's troops.
After that, the Madras Duchy and the Iblia Kingdom entered a period of dispute, completely ignoring the forces of the Andinaq Kingdom which were at the citadel not far from Vanades City as they fought over control of the city.
In the end, after some mediation between the two parties, Duke Madras and the Second Prince came to an agreement. After being paid a huge sum as compensation, the Iblia Kingdom's forces left the city, leaving behind the remaining ravaged territory that they occupied for Duke Madras's forces to take over.
Immediately following that, Duke Madras and the Second Prince both led their forces towards the new citadel built by the Second Highness and were prepared to press on until they conquer the whole of the Yungechandler Province. Under the leadership of Duke Madras, the soldiers launched two attacks against the citadel, after which the Second Highness wrote a personal letter to Duke Madras himself.
In the letter, the Second Highness to reminded the duke that the Second Prince is constantly on the watch for an opportunity like a hungry wolf. The Second Highness said that if the duke was hell bent on resisting him, he would withdraw the forces of the Andinaq Kingdom and even give up Lichtana Citadel. If that were to happen, by the time Duke Madras decides to bring the Seamountain Legion into the Yungechandler Province, the Second Prince might just conquer the citadel on the mountain path which he will use to seal off the duke and his forces within Yungechandler Province.
After reading the letter, Duke Madras began to worry and understood why the Second Highness had constructed a new citadel merely a few kilometers away from Vanades City. The Second Highness had intended to swallow up Yungechandler Province and establish the new citadel and Vanades City as the new border between the Andinaq Kingdom and the Madras Duchy.
It was then when the duke began to hesitate. Of the three provinces within the duchy, the Yungechandler Province was easily the most impoverished and undeveloped one with not much farmland available as most of the province was covered by mountainous terrain and swampy forests. If he gave the whole province to the Andinaq Kingdom as remuneration, he believed that he would have given the Second Highness face and cause him to cease the hostilities happily. To Duke Madras, he could even shed a burden that did not benefit him much. The cost of stationing his soldiers to defend both borders of that province was also tremendously high given that he would require the logistic and resource support from the other two provinces within the duchy. That was no small spending to the duke.
While the duke would lose some face and pride by presenting the Andinaq Kingdom with the Yungechandler Province, he would gain peace. To the duchy, the most important thing was the production of food within Delamock Province as well as Vanades City, which was the commercial center of the duchy. Even though he had completely recovered Vanades City, a large part of the Delamock Province was still under the control of the Second Prince. While there was little possibility that the Second Prince would actually forcefully take over the whole of Delamock Province, Duke Madras didn't really trust the Second Prince given his understanding of the latter's personality. Additionally, every day some landed noble within the province would send messengers to the duke to complain about the troublesome actions of the soldiers of the Second Prince. Given that the Second Prince didn't make any indication to stop despite the complaints, it was obvious that he didn't consider the duke in any serious light.
Duke Madras pondered on his decision while holding the letter of the Second Highness in his hand. If he were to rely on himself to take back the Yungechandler Province, then the Second Highness would retreat from the new citadel on the mountain path to the Lichtana Citadel. If that were to happen, then the Second Prince's forces would be able to conquer the citadel on the mountain path when the duke's men besiege the Lichtana Citadel, the result of which would spell the end of the Madras Duchy.
That's why on the next day, Duke Madras requested an audience with the Second Prince, during which he requested the prince to help him recover Yungechandler Province with the reason that even though the Second Prince claimed to send his troops over to aid the Madras Duchy, they have never once actually went into combat with the forces of the Andinaq Kingdom and were merely following behind and providing superficial support.
The Second Prince was not an idiot either as he had come to 'help' the duke out because he merely wanted to glean as many benefits as he could. By helping out, he would no longer have to pay the debt he owed the duchy for the food he bought. He might also attend to gain the gratitude of the duke along with some other rewards. Also, there was a chance that he would be able to take control of Delamock Province in the midst all the chaos. However, he was quite unhappy with how the Second Highness didn't defend Xith Castle properly and allowed the duke's forces to leave Sidgler Province, causing the Second Prince to only be able to conquer half the area of province as a result of the duke's timely intervention.
If both the Delamock Province and Vanades City fell into the Second Prince's control, Duke Madras would have lost his standing as there was no way that he would be able to pay the appropriate ransom to regain control of the conquered areas, thus allowing the income generated from those areas to fill the Second Prince's pockets.
That was also why the Second Prince was pissed to hear Duke Madras's request for him to attack the mountain citadel to retake the Yungechandler Province. He instantly refused the duke's request and pointed out that he merely brought over a support army and not a vanguard force. He mentioned that his turn would only come if the forces of Duke Madras were completely defeated.
After hearing that, Duke Madras felt an immense urge to cull the shameless and thick-skinned Second Prince with a stroke of his sword. Even though the Second Prince was obviously trying to take advantage of his predicament, he worded it in a way that it made it seem legitimate. However, after remembering the fact that he was currently within the army camp of the Second Prince's forces, he resisted that urge and took his leave. "Haha, there's no way that I would fall for that guy's sly trap," said the Second Prince to his general audibly for the duke to hear.
After that, the Second Prince truly got the full brunt of the duke's rage. Nobody would've expected that Duke Madras would lead his soldiers on an assault against the army camp of the Second Prince, completely crushing the 30000-strong force of the prince in the process. Apart from a few nobles and the Second Prince as well as some knights who managed to escape, the rest of the forces of the Iblia Kingdom was wiped out completely.
That event was known as the 'Daybreak Assault'. On the 7th day of the 5th month during seven in the morning, Duke Madras annihilated all 30000 troops of the Second Prince that had been sent to reinforce his own. Fortunately, the Second Prince managed to escape under the protection of a few of his personal guards.
This sudden incident flabbergasted everyone who was paying attention to the ongoing developments as they didn't understand why the duke had suddenly turned against the Second Prince. However, Duke Madras later claimed at a later date that the Second Prince had conspired to entrap him and swallow up the duchy for himself as a justification for his turning against the Second Prince.
The Second Prince who had escaped to the Delamock Province fumed with rage. He had never suffered such heavy losses and humiliation before. Apart from the complete defeat his own 20000 soldiers that he gathered from his various vassal noble families, a division of the Frontier Legion that his father-in-law Duke Fisablen had lent him was wiped out as well. And before he could even say anything, Duke Madras had painted the Second Prince in a wrongful light and accused him of many other transgressions as well.
In the end, it could only be blamed on the Second Prince's personality that didn't inspire any others to trust him. On one hand, he appeared to be helping out Duke Madras while in actuality, he was always ready to take advantage of the duke should an opportunity have presented itself.
Enraged that the duke had shaken him off so blatantly, the Second Prince announced that he would not let Duke Madras off scot-free and said that he would summon more soldiers from his kingdom and allow the men he had left stationed within Delamock Province to start pillaging and destroying the surrounding settlements.
At the same time, Duke Madras strengthened the defenses of Vanades City and Xith Castle while also rallying the other nobles within his duchy together to form an alliance whose purpose is to chase the ravenous Second Prince and his bandit-soldiers out of the duchy as soon as possible. It didn't take long for those two sides to completely neglect the forces of the Andinaq Kingdom that were stationed at the citadel of the mountain route during all the conflict that ensued.
At the same time when Duke Madras was about to turn the tables to his advantage, however, the Andinaq Kingdom's Bolimo Citadel which was at the border near the borders got conquered by the troops of the Redlis Kingdom led by the First Prince. The Fiercegale Legion's Gold ranked knight commander, Knight Nedram, and 5000 other Fiercegale Legion soldiers died heroically on the battlefield, taking almost 20000 casualties among the First Prince's forces with them before their deaths.
Nevertheless, upon conquering the citadel, the rest of the expedition of the First Prince would sail smoothly without obstruction. The First Prince led his 30000 soldiers gleefully towards the imperial capital.
Little did he know that just when his forces were around 50 kilometers away from the imperial capital at Flowater Creek, the First Prince and his 30000 troops fell into the trap set by the Second Highness who had long been anticipating their movements. Near 70000 warriors of the Royal Defense Guard circled the soldiers of the First Prince. While they managed to surround and entrap the First Prince and his forces, they didn't launch any attacks and merely took a defensive approach using the terrain to their advantage with the aim of waiting for the supplies and resources of the First Prince's men to run out which would no doubt lead to the eventual starvation of all 30000 men.
In ended with the Second Highness's complete victory at Flowater Creek after he commanded his recently-expanded 70000-strong Royal Defense Guard using a passive-aggressive approach by exploiting the terrain to defeat the 30000 soldiers of the First Prince within a month with only a casualty count of roughly 20000 men. The First Prince on the other hand managed to escape by casting away his armor and helmet and donning an old, torn farmer outfit as a disguise to sneak away through the mountain paths with his two attendants.
On the 3rd day of the 7th month, the Redlis Kingdom's 70000 soldiers had been completely decimated, followed immediately by the Second Highness leading 40000 Royal Defense Guard soldiers straight to the Redlis Kingdom to fight against the landed nobles there. Under the leadership of the Second Highness, the Andinaq Kingdom's forces managed to rush unabated all the way to the capital of the Redlis Kingdom, the Royal Capital of Frederika.
On the 15th day of the 8th month at the Royal Capital of Frederika, the Redlis Kingdom and the Andinaq Kingdom signed a peace treaty with the First Prince handing the two southwestern provinces of his kingdom to the Andinaq Kingdom as compensation for being the side to take up arms first. With hostilities ceased on both sides, the Second Highness brought his soldiers back to his kingdom.
On the 21st day of the 8th month, the Battle of Kobo saw its end. That battle had occurred within the Delamock Province at Kobo City, involving the 50000 allied noble army led by Duke Madras and the Second Prince's 40000 soldiers that had invaded the duchy. The Second Prince was forced to retreat from the duchy with his forces in utter shambles.
Against the wishes and objections of his vassal nobles, however, Duke Madras signed a peace treaty with the Andinaq Kingdom after recovering Delamock Province and allowed the Yungechandler Province to become under the jurisdiction of the Andinaq Kingdom in exchange for the tolerance of the Andinaq Kingdom and 5 years of peace.
Immediately following that, Duke Madras began to construct defensive fortifications within his two provinces on a large scale. Not only did he construct multiple citadels at the border of the duchy and the Iblia Kingdom, he even erected a long barricade roughly 50 kilometers away from the deceased Baron Silas's ferry port near Metropoulos River, thus sealing off the Northlands from the Madras Duchy completely.
In the historical records of the Grindia Continent, the conflict that had began with the assault of the Andinaq Kingdom's Royal Defense Guard and the Whitelion Legion (which were in fact the forces of Lorist's convoy unbeknownst to many on the continent) during the 10th month of Year 1767 lasted up to the 8th month of Year 1768 which was the month when the peace treaty between the Madras Duchy and the Andinaq Kingdom was signed. The events that spanned that year would be henceforth known as 'Auguslo's Counterattack'.
The series of battles have shown the military and strategizing prowess of the Second Highness Auguslo. Not only did he manage to stabilize the Andinaq Kingdom from within, he also managed to cause strife between Duke Madras and the Second Prince and force the Redlis Kingdom and the Madras Duchy to cede some land to the Andinaq Kingdom for reconciliation, effectively doubling the territory of the Andinaq Kingdom and allowing it to become a local superpower.
The reputation of the Second Highness instantly skyrocketed, causing him to be known throughout the continent as one of the most brilliant military minds of the new generation.
Female Unit
Hey guys, this is the first sponsored chapter of this week and it came a little late. So I think I'll have the second sponsored chapter of the week come out next week before the first regular chapter.
This chapter is brought to you by Anh D. L. from the USA, thank you as always for the support!
Lorist currently felt that he was the biggest idiot in the world and was trying his best to resist the urge to give himself two harsh slaps on the face.
When he made that order back then, he couldn't care less about anything else and didn't consider the consequences. Only now did he understand that having too many people with him did not directly translate to more power; in fact, they became a huge burden for the moment.
When Lorist ordered the people of the duke's dominion to be moved to his own dominion, he only thought about how taking them all was soon to giving a slap to the duke in the face so that he would know the true power of the Norton Family while also turning the so-called 'most prosperous area of the Northlands' into nothing but a wasteland so that Duke Loggins wouldn't forget the lesson Lorist wanted to teach him.
What Lorist didn't expect was that his soldiers completed their mission in perfect fashion. Coupled with the support of Hennard's Northland Army soldiers that were disguised as Norton Family soldiers, the total number of people moved from the duke's dominion was more than 280000.
By the time Lorist got to know the actual figure, he was shocked into a daze. He has neglected to consider the scale of number people he was moving when he said, 'I want to deny that dogshit duke from finding even a single smith to make his weapons, a coachman to drive his carriages, a farmer to plant his crops, a tailor to mend his clothes and a servant to pour his drink. Apart from his old vassal nobles and officials as well as the merchants, I want every else to be brought away from his dominion so that he wouldn't have anyone serving him...'
The northbound convoy had around 70000 members and the vagabonds from the Andinaq Kingdom added up to around 100000. Combined with the 280000 people moved from the duke's dominion as well as the 30000 plus captive soldiers as well as the citizens within the dominion, there was an estimated population of more than 500000 people.
It wasn't that space would be a problem for them either. The area of the Norton Family's dominion could easily accommodate another one million people if needed. However, the problem was that most of the dominion were mostly rural wastelands which had not been developed much at all. It wasn't quite possible for the dominion to suddenly be able to support such a large population and that was the root of Lorist's problems.
Right now, what Lorist regretted was that he shouldn't have given up on occupying the duke's dominion. Even if he occupied it, as long as he had sufficient military force on hand, who, if anyone at all, could challenge his rule? He only knew that he didn't consider these factors much back when he made the decision to take what he could and destroy what he couldn't bring with him with a single-minded focus on returning to the family dominion. If he had known that this was the result earlier, he wouldn't have gone through all the trouble of moving everyone and everything to the dominion. Now that they're already on their way, I can't really have them travel back there, can I... thought Lorist as he let out a long sigh.
Charade reminded Lorist sternly, "Locke, we still have around 350 million kilograms of food that we got along the way from the various nobles because the harvest for the winter wheat was just over recently. Coupled with the food we already have, we have a total of 400 million kilograms of food. While that number seems huge, feeding more than 500000 people each month will cost more or less 20 million kilograms of food. That's why right now we must arrange for some farmland reclamation to be done. Otherwise, we will run out of food within 20 months' time, which is to say that we don't have much time at all. We won't be able to accomplish that within this year, so we will have to focus on it next year. If we don't develop enough farmland to sustain us until the winter wheat harvest of the year after, then we really will have to starve."
"Do you have any ideas?" Lorist asked.
Charade took out a map of the Norton Family dominion and pointed at a spot for Lorist to see. "From Firmrock Castle to Maplewoods Bastide along the Bladedge Mountain Range is a huge piece of wasteland. It is enough for around 100 land development villages to be built with each village housing up to 500 households. allowing us to settle down more than 200000 self-sustaining farmers to decrease our burden.
"It's already going to be the 6th month soon, so we only have one month's time to measure the wasteland and decide on where the villages are to be built as well as arrange for the transport of the villagers there. After that, we have three months to build them some living quarters to develop the farmland there. If we can plant the winter wheat during the 11th month, we will be able to harvest them next year. These 200000 farmers should be able to sustain themselves so that we don't have to bear the burden of feeding them."
"Then what about the other 300000 plus people?" Lorist mused.
"I've already checked on Firmrock Castle and the valley city in construction and I believe that if we can find some right spots for three or four towns to be built, it'll be enough to accommodate all the people. The construction will only take one to two years," Charade said as he revealed his well thought out plan without hesitation.
Lorist nodded and said, "Then I'll leave the construction of the reclamation villages and the development of the dominion to you. Please try to come up with a proposal within a month and I will have it passed so that everyone can help you out with it immediately."
At that moment, Shadekampf walked inside and said, "Milord..."
"What's going on?"
"Milord, Irina is pregnant and she's about to deliver..."
"What? Irina?"
"Her pregnancy was discovered around the 10th month last year. However, milord has already went to search for the convoy at that time and we weren't able to contact you. It seems that she's going to give birth within another few days," explained Shadekampf.
Lorist fell into deep thought and realized that Irina might have gotten pregnant during the two days when he laid with her back at the Maplewoods Bastide after he had defeated the 4000 plus soldiers of the Northland Army the duke sent.
Lorist was starting to get a little restless. Since the 9th month of the previous year, he had went on a journey to seek out the northbound convoy and only returned during the 5th month of this year. After more or less nine months of absence, his first child in this world was going to be born.
"Charade, I'll be leaving you in charge of everything and heading back to Maplewoods Bastide right away. If there's anything urgent, just send someone to notify me about it," Lorist said as he prepared to mount his horse and rush back.
"Yes, milord. Also, congratulations!" shouted Charade as he watched Lorist ride off.
Irina was only Lorist's maidservant and her child would only be Lorist's illegitimate son or daughter. Even so, regardless of status, the child would still be the first offspring of Lorist.
On the way to the Maplewoods Bastide, Lorist encountered a messenger that was on his way to send some good news. Irina had birthed a healthy boy after nine months of pregnancy during dawn that day and both the mother and child were in stable condition.
Why is it only nine months? Shouldn't it be ten? After pondering it for a while, Lorist realized that in Grindia, each month had 35 days and Irina's pregnancy of nine Grindian months was already slightly on the long side.
The moment Lorist returned to the bastide, he rushed to check on Irina and the newborn. However, the two of them were fast asleep from fatigue. Not wanting to interrupt their sleep, Lorist left the room on light steps after taking a hurried look at the child.
In the courtyard nearby, Belnick was waiting for Lorist. As he approached, Belnick saluted and said, "Milord, your knight awaits your commands."
Surprised, Lorist hugged Belnick and said, "Brother Beck, you're already a Gold ranked knight?"
Belnick nodded and said, "Yes, milord. I broke through to the Gold rank during the 2nd month this year and have already been waiting to serve you for three whole months."
Back when Lorist first returned to the dominion, one of the first things he did was to check on the injured Belnick who had been recovering within Wildnorth Town, he realized that Belnick had been secretly poisoned over time by the town herbalist, Master Dunbarsen, causing his injuries to take far longer than needed to recover. The reason the four great families had chosen to do something like that was so that the Norton Family would lose their only Three Star Silver ranked knight. But Lorist had foiled their plans and brought Belnick back to his quarters at Maplewoods Bastide. Not only did he treat his injuries and detoxify Belnick, he even gave him a high-ranked wood attribute Battle Force for him to practice and break through to the Gold rank to serve the family when he recovers.
Roughly one year had passed since then and Belnick was already a Gold ranked knight, meaning that Lorist had yet another high-ranked fighter under his command.
"There's no rush at the moment. The family dominion will enter a development stage and there will be more than enough opportunities for you to serve the family," Lorist said.
Before he finished, however, Supervisor Spiel rushed over and said, "Milord, the old butler wants to see you..."
After the passage of one year, the old butler had aged yet again. He stopped Lorist and nagged him for quite some time. However, he wasn't concerned with how Lorist defeated the Duke of the Northlands or the amount of resources and people he had brought into the dominion. Instead, the old butler was worried about Lorist's marriage affairs as he urged Lorist to quickly get wedded to a lady of decent standing so that the Norton Family could have a successor as soon as possible.
Only managing to shake away the old butler after much difficulty, Lorist sought out Spiel and asked, "What's up with Grandpa Gleis?"
"Milord, after the first round of snowfall during winter last year, the old butler said that he wanted to visit the family's forbidden area and didn't allow me to follow him along. However, he didn't return even during the night, so we hurriedly sent someone to search for him only to find that he had slipped from the snow and his wheelchair ended up in a ditch nearby. The old butler himself on the other hand had passed out in the snow for quite some time and when we brought him back indoors, he started having a bad fever. It was fortunate that milord had left enough medicines and herbs behind that we used to treat the old butler. However, after recovering, the old butler's memory seemed to have deteriorated and he often recognizes people wrongly or forgets what he's doing all of a sudden," explained Spiel.
"Sigh, it can't be helped. In the future, don't bother him if there's nothing urgent and let him have the time he needs to rest," Lorist said with a heavy heart. Just last year, the old butler was still quite witty and cunning like an old fox. However, right now, his mental state seemed to have regressed to that of a child and he would forget anything he said himself rather quickly, causing him to often repeat himself. Before they finished the conversation, the old butler even asked Lorist to wed Pesha and said that they had been engaged for a long time already.
It was apparent that the old butler had mistakenly thought that Lorist was the deceased First Young Master, Norton Abelyde. Troubled by what the old butler was saying, Lorist tried to explain that he wasn't the First Young Master only to cause the old butler to be even more confused. In the end, Lorist merely excused himself to stop the painful conversation.
It's all because of that cursed family's forbidden area, Lorist thought. If that stupid corpse cave didn't exist, the Grandpa Gleis wouldn't have visited it alone and fall into the snow like that... It was obvious to Lorist that the old butler had suffered a stroke that was mentally crippling. Lorist finally resolved himself to abolish the practice of sealing the bodies of the Norton Family leaders in that cavern as he wasn't willing to have his corpse placed there to rot after he died either.
After leaving the old butler's residence, Knight Hennard showed up before Lorist with bruised eyes and a swelling nose.
"Huh? Why are you here?" Lorist asked curiously.
Three days ago when Hennard went to Maplewoods Bastide to pick up his lovers excitedly, Lorist thought that he would have left right after that. It truly surprised him when Hennard showed up before him looking so haggard and beaten.
"Locke, didn't you say that if they're willing to follow me back, I can take them with me?" Hennard said angrily.
Nodding, Lorist said, "I did. What happened?"
"I've already met with them and it appeared that they've been suffering over here for quite some time as they were almost too elated to see me. I've already asked them whether they were willing to go to the Cherry Blossom Ridge with me and they all agreed. However, your people didn't want to let them leave and even began to hit me. I gave it my all to resist the urge to retaliate out of my respect to you, hence my injuries," Knight Hennard complained.
"Who was it that didn't allow them to leave?" Lorist asked as his expression turned gloomy. He had explicitly ordered for the surviving women of Wildnorth Town to not be bothered and allowed to rest so that they could hopefully recover from their physical or mental wounds. After that, he would bring them to Firmrock Castle so that they may find partners they like and form new families to start their lives over.
"Supervisor Spiel, tell me what's going on. Also, what did Knight Hennard mean by his lovers' suffering? Did you not regard my instructions seriously? Tell me, who was it that caused them to suffer and even refused to let them go?" Lorist asked Spiel with a solemn expression.
"Mi-milord... It's not my fault. it's Mistress Pesha..." stammered the supervisor under Lorist's angry threats.
"Pesha?" Lorist said, stunned. "What did that woman do this time?"
Turning to Hennard, Lorist asked, "Was it a red-haired woman that refused to let them follow you home?"
"Yes, yes!" said Hennard as he nodded furiously. "That woman was extremely short-tempered! Even if she didn't like what I was saying, she shouldn't have lashed out at me just like that! While I'm a Gold ranked knight, I would never allow myself to hit a woman. Additionally, there were other women who joined her in beating me, so I could only leave as fast as I could..."
Lorist wanted to laugh after hearing about Hennard's hardships. I bet it must've been your frivolous mouth... Haha, you deserve it...
At the same time, Lorist was relieved that the men within the bastide weren't giving the women any trouble.
"Tell me, Supervisor Spiel, what did Pesha do to cause those women to suffer?" Lorist asked in a cold voice.
"Milord, it's like this... Even though Mistress Pesha is a Silver ranked knight, she's never given any assignments and she isn't associated with the garrison force of the family as well. After the women arrived at the bastide, Mistress Pesha managed to get permission from the old butler to be in charge of taking care of them. She then had some basic Battle Force technique diagrams copied and sent to the women and told them to not forget how badly they were treated and encouraged them to start training in Battle Force to become independent and be able to stand up for themselves should they experience the same hardships in the future..." Spiel explained.
Lorist and Hennard listened with much wonder.
"During the past half year, more than 100 women managed to awaken their Battle Force and Mistress Pesha grouped them together to form a female-only garrison force unit and had them train with blades and pikes all day long. There was even once when the mistress wanted to train the courage of his force members by forcing them to kill some livestock at the compound over there, causing some of the animals to go wild and run all over the bastide. Some of the family's garrison force soldiers even had to put the poor animals out of their misery...
"Even though the old butler is a little dazed after recovering from his sickness, he agreed with pretty much anything Mistress Pesha wanted. And given that milord wasn't here, we didn't think that it would be in our place to tell the mistress off. Right now, the women who have awakened their Battle Force are getting more and more furious and some men were even pummeled to the brink of death for simply teasing and flirting with them. Knight Pajik even went to see Mistress Pesha for that incident only to be beaten all the way back, so right now, none of us dares to mess with the women anymore...
"As for the suffering you mentioned, I believe that it's because Mistress Pesha forced the women to train in Battle Force and help out with the farming and livestock raising. Some of the women who were born in families of higher social standings naturally couldn't bear to work in the field all day..." Spiel theorized.
"That's exactly it. My beauties all complained to me that their work was really tiring and that they even had to wash clothes and cook during the winter, causing blisters to form on their hands. I was so pained by their hardships and wanted them to follow me back, only to have the red-haired woman with her other fanatic followers come to stop me. They even started hitting me when all I did was try to communicate with them," Hennard said furiously.
"Sigh, let me bring you there to fetch your beauties," Lorist said as he laughed bitterly. It seemed that he had to settle the issue personally.
'People are all unique and different; for every type of grain there would be 100 more types of people.' Lorist thought that this saying from his past life made a lot of sense. Not every person would be able to handle the pains of training oneself just because they have experienced some hardships. For instance, the lovers of Hennard had all been brought up in relative comfort and they had never needed to work hard for their own livelihoods. It was merely a pipe dream of Pesha's to convert them into independent people overnight.
The female survivors of Wildnorth Town were situated at a courtyard at the northern part of the bastide. There was a wide open space in front of it which the women used as a training ground. Led by Spiel, Lorist arrived at the courtyard and instructed the women who were standing guard to gather everyone together and said that he had something he wanted to announce.
Pesha was the first one to rush out only to be stunned at the sight of Lorist.
"Stand aside, Pesha. I will see you after I settle the issue here," Lorist said coldly.
In response, Pesha bitterly stepped to the side.
It didn't take long for all the women to gather within the courtyard. While Lorist didn't speak in a loud voice, all the women were able to hear everything he said clearly.
"As some of you may recognize, I am Count Norton Lorist. From my point of view, you are all relatives of the traitorous people of Wildnorth Town and I have all the right to sell you off to the slave traders and treat you how I will. However, considering that your husbands and fathers have banded together and let the wolf that was Duke Loggins into the dominion and ultimately caused their own demise and your suffering, I am extremely sympathetic of your experiences and decided to forgive you for your mistakes. From today onwards, you are free people.
"As for your future, you are free to choose from the following choices. You may rely on your relatives within the Maplewoods Bastides or try to make a living for yourself here. Alternatively, you may choose to follow me to Firmrock Castle and find a partner there to start a family and begin your lives anew or choose to become maidservants of the knights of my family or find some other kind of work. As for the third option, I have decided to officially form a female garrison unit for those who have awakened their Battle Force to join if they want to. Their treatment and benefits will be the same as that received by the garrison force soldiers of our family. Naturally, even those who haven't awakened their Battle Force will be welcome to join that unit. However, they will only be given food and living quarters and won't receive the full benefits of being a garrison force member unless they manage to awaken their Battle Force one day to qualify as a formal member of the unit.
"I will give you all three days to decide which path you want to take and have Supervisor Spiel record your choices. You can also ask him should you have any further questions. Alright, that's all I have to say. You may disband."
"Hennard, you can bring your lovers with you now. Spiel, don't forget to ask the women if they are willing to follow Hennard back. If they are not, then forget it," Lorist said.
After Hennard left with Spiel, Lorist turned to Pesha and said, "I will also give you two choices. You can choose to be the leader of the female unit. However, I will take charge of raising and caring for my elder brother's illegitimate son. Alternatively, you can raise the son however you see fit and not interfere with the matters of the family."
"Why can't I lead the unit and raise him at the same time?" Pesha asked, dissatisfied.
Shaking his head, Lorist said, "Given your personality, you're not a real good fit to be a mother. You also haven't given birth before, so you wouldn't understand the pains of bearing a child and wouldn't be able to truly give the child the motherly love and care he deserves. What I'm saying is, either you become a great general or a caring mother. You're free to pick either choice."
"I can find him a caretaker..." Pesha said.
Sighing, Lorist said, "I understand your choice. The female unit will be left in your charge from now on and I will have the regulations and other documents sent to you in a few days. I will bring the child with me tonight and you will have to get my permission if you wish to see him in the future. If you cause any more trouble, I will even revoke your status as a family knight, so think well before you act. That's all."