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Chapter 47

Knights and Gifts

Ever since Potterfang referred to Lorits as 'lord' in public, Lorist suddenly felt a trend brewing in the academy. He didn't know if it was Kelly spreading rumors around, but the workers at the Gold ranked instructor residences started greeting him rather cheerfully. Sometimes, when they saw him walking by, they would step aside and bow when he passes by and bow deeply as they say, "Good day, lord," which Lorist was horribly not used to.

Then came Terman. It was already getting rather late that night when Shadekampf reported that Terman had come to visit.

Lorist felt that it was rather weird as Terman usually wouldn't visit alone without anybody else, especially that late in the night. Maybe something's wrong? Or perhaps it's something about the Swordsmanship Society? Then again, there shouldn't be any activity since it's the semester break…

Lorist then went downstairs to receive Terman at the lounge.

He asked Terman to have a seat only to be ignored. Instead, Terman stood in front of Lorist rather respectfully and said something that startled him badly. "I've resigned."

"Huh?" Lorist was totally stunned…

He's just joking, right? Terman's the vice captain of the Enforcement Academy and is also the vice chairman of the Swordsmanship Society… Why didn't I get notified about his resignation even though I'm the Swordsmanship Society's chairman? Who permitted it?

"I've thought about it for the past few days and finally made my decision this afternoon. Charade doesn't know about it yet. I went to talk to the academy head about it and he has agreed to my resignation," said Terman solemnly.

"What made you want to do that?" Lorist got more confused the more he thought about it. Terman's position at the academy earned him roughly 9 gold Fordes every month. That was a salary that many would be envious of. Why did he suddenly resign?

Terman lowered his head and said, "I'm starting to feel that my days in the academy are far too uneventful and boring. I'm starting to crave some real battles. My father told me that as a knight, the greatest shame he had was that he didn't perish on the battlefield but to an illness instead. Being a knight myself, I don't intend to succumb to the same fate as my father's. I believe I should go all over the place to seek conquest and battle."

What… What kind of reason is that? Are you still the cool, collected and reliable Terman that everyone loves and trust? Don't tell me someone got transmigrated over here and took over your body? As Terman's good friend, Lorist felt that he had the responsibility to at least try to stop him from making such a rash decision before everything can no longer be taken back.

Before he could think of something to convince Terman to reconsider his decision, Lorist saw Terman kneeling in front of him on one knee. "Locke, this is the last time I will refer to you as such. Would you be so kind to take in a friend who has nowhere else to go with you on the journey north?

"I, Waprey Terman, am willing to pledge myself as a knight of the Norton Family and take you, Norton Lorist, as my lord and liege. I will follow in your steps and conquer your enemies for you."

Lorist was shaken yet again...

He suddenly noticed Potterfang standing beside them with Lorist's longsword in hand which he passed to him.

Drawing the sword out of the scabbard, Lorist tapped Terman on each shoulder twice and said solemnly, "Rise, my knight."

And thus the simple knighting ceremony was completed. Potterfang received Terman with a hug and said, "Welcome, my fellow brother."

Oh, it's the good old welcome speech. At least that part is normal, thought Lorist.

Shadekampf happily greeted Terman with a bow. As expected of the young master. Yet another Three Star Silver Swordsman joined us. Something like this would be unimaginable in the Northlands… The Norton Family will definitely prosper under the young master's leadership!

Shadekampf suddenly recalled something important and hastily reminded his young master, "Young master, you still haven't had a family knight badge made. I've brought you the design..."

"Give this to Reidy and tell him to order it from the badge makers. Oh, and prepare one Gold ranked one as well. Pog's going to break through really soon," said Lorist.

I really don't get why Terman would decide to pledge himself to me as a knight… Maybe that's the difference between this world and the one where I came from… In Lorist's previous world, the attitude of the people there were quite individualistic in that they often seeked accomplishments by their own ability to showcase their merit. However, the Grindians mostly racked up their accomplishments in service to a noble family instead. This was the main difference of the different cultures.

Lorist was starting to get more and more frustrated at the glaring differences between the two cultures. "Oh, Terman, you have a high-ranked Battle Force manual that��s passed down in your family already, right?"

"That's true, milord," replied Terman.

"Then I won't give you a Battle Force manual. Shadekampf, go to my study and get that piece of Mizek Stainless Steel Armor for Terman as his knighting gift," instructed Lorist.

The Mizek Stainless Steel Armor was the staple product of the Mizek Sector of the Temanda Kingdom and was well-known for its relatively higher defense compared its counterparts which allowed it to withstand piercing strikes better than most other armors. However, the supply for the armor was rather low and it was really hard to even purchase one as it sold out rather quickly. Lorist had gotten one from President Peterson for 300 gold coins because he wanted to be protected any hidden attacks on the trip to his dominion. Never would he have expected that he would be giving it away just three days after getting his hands on it.

"Thank you, milord," said Terman as he accepted the armor thankfully.

Lorist then went upstairs and let Potterfang and Terman by themselves to celebrate the newly-formed brotherhood. "I'm going up to take a rest, I can already feel a headache coming. Terman, there's still a vacant guest room upstairs so you can move over for now."

Since Terman had already resigned from his post as a Gold ranked instructor, he could no longer stay at his villa at the instructor residences. It was fortunate that Lorist still had an empty room.

"Alright, milord," said Terman,

—————————————————————–

The news of Lorist's departure to the north to become a dominion lord spread like wildfire overnight in the academy. When Lorist was returning to his villa from doing some errands, he bumped into Supervisor Skali who gleefully forced Lorist to come with her to her house where she advised Lorist to pay close attention to his health as the Northlands were desolate and much colder than the rest of the continent. After that, she took out a hand-knitted fur coat and gave it to him before wishing him all the best on his journey to become a great lord.

Lorist accepted the coat but he was still curious about how she got to know all that even when he didn't mention a word of this to anyone else...

After dinner, Instructor Marlin came to visit and brought along a large chest which he said contained the things his wife always used and said that it was his gift to Lorist as he believed that it would prove pretty useful during his journey.

Lorist almost fainted when he heard that and desperately tried to reject the gift. Why would he need the things Marlin's wife used on the trip? His misunderstanding persisted until Marlin opened the chest. In the box were a set of horse armor, a saddle and some stirrups. Apparently, Instructor Marlin often referred to his treasured horse Jenny as his second wife.

Carefully caressing the items, he told Lorist that since Jenny was getting old and losing its ability to gallop, the items weren't much use for it and he only kept them for old times�� sake. Now that Lorist would no doubt be riding on a horse or two on the journey north, these items would prove quite useful, especially the armor, which would give a horse a decent boost in defense.

Thanking Instructor Marlin, Lorist opened a couple of bottles of wine and drank together with him.

Instructor Marlin chatted with him quite cheerfully as he bragged about the heroic antics in the days when he served in the city garrison. In the end, he was sent back home totally wasted.

During the afternoon of the next day, it was Instructor Anfya's turn to come pay a visit. She brought with her yet another large chest. First and foremost, she told Lorist about her husband, Instructor Claude's successful breakthrough to the Blademaster level after gaining some insights following more than half a year of training. This was an event that would forever change the Dawn Academy's status, position and their reputation.

Lorist hurriedly congratulated her. Instructor Anfya then told him that within the chest were seven good quality swords which were part of Instructor Claude's collection. He had heard that Lorist was about to leave for the Northlands to inherit his position as the lord and believed that these swords would come in useful. While he was confident in Lorist's swordsmanship, he was concerned that Lorist's longsword wouldn't be able to handle the constant battles that he would no doubt experience in the future. That's why he decided to present these swords to him to aid in his journey.

Lorist thanked her again and started to think about what to gift to Instructor Claude to congratulate him for his recent success. Already seeing through Lorist's intentions, Anfya politely declined the kind sentiment. She mentioned that the main factor for her husband's breakthrough was the duel he had with Lorist one year back which gave him many insights to ponder over. As for herself, she said that she had already learned the art of pulse reading from Lorist so he didn't need to trouble himself over something like that.

Hearing Instructor Anfya put it like that, Lorist laughed out loud. While he couldn't think of anything to give to Instructor Claude, he had the perfect gift for her wife. Asking for her to wait downstairs, Lorist went up to his study and came back down with an intricate box in hand a gave it to her.

Instructor Anfya opened the box and was incredibly delighted. Just as she was about to take it out to closer inspect the gift, Lorist told her to take her time at home and also reminded her to not tell anybody else that she got it from him to save himself some trouble.

Instructor Anfya nodded and carefully made her way back with the box safe in her embrace.

In the following days, Lorist received tons of gifts that filled his study whole. Almost every one of his acquaintances came over to give him a parting gift that ranged from weapons, gloves, shoes, cloaks as well as cold-resistant clothing. Instructor Hughes gifted him a good set of leather armor while Welledor, the knight training instructor, gave him a pair of golden horse spurs. Instructor Wensen from the horse riding course gifted Lorist a fine Illinoihaus Horse. The breed of the horse was the favorite of heavy-armored knights as it was large in stature and was able to withstand a relatively heavier load as well as being quite intelligent and had one of the fastest acceleration times. The only drawback was that it wasn't suited to long distance gallops and was rather picky with its food.

Loboff from the herbalism faculty gave Lorist a set of test tubes and lab apparatus commonly used in the concoction of herbal medicines. The chest that contained the tools was even cushioned properly so that the things within wouldn't easily break. Lorist really didn't know what to say. It's not like I'm going back to be a herbalist, am I? What would I be able to use it for?

—————————————————————–

Next came Charade and Yuriy. Lorist felt relieved when he saw that the both of them came empty-handed and seemed that they were not here to send him off with gifts. He invited them to the lounge and Lorist was shocked the moment he heard what Yuriy had said.

"Locke, I have come here today with Brother Charade to join you on your journey. We have both resigned and are ready to become your knights."

Charade merely stood there pouting without saying a word.

Yuriy stared at Lorist go into the washroom and come out with a mirror-like silver plate in his hand. After looking into his reflection for a few moments, he finally let out a long sigh.

"Locke, what are you up to?" asked Yuriy, weirded out by Lorist's erratic actions.

Lorist replied, "I was checking if something had suddenly grown on my face and gave me a domineering air that caused the two of you to join my cause. Good thing there wasn't anything weird, cause you guys are just messing with me, right?"

Yuriy laughed out and said, "Locke, we're serious about this."

Lorist didn't want to believe it. "It's alright, stop kidding around. I still have lots of things I need to work on and I'm already exhausted. To joke around with me at a time like that is really not what friends do, you know?"

Yuriy's face turned solemn as he said, "Locke, I've really resigned from the academy. You know that I'm from the plains of the Khawistan Khanate's, right? Had it not been for the fact that my parents saved a count's life before, I wouldn't be studying at Morante City now. Just a while back, that count came back to me and asked whether I would like to become a knight under his family. I've turned him down as my father had perished under his service. While I'm the horsemanship instructor at the Dawn Academy, the students of my course don't respect me as I'm originally from the grassy plains. You should know this as well. Had it not been for you and our friends, I would have left this place long ago. Now that Terman has chosen to follow you, I would like to as well. I believe that he made the right choice to become your knight. This way, we can all be together even after you leave for the north."

"Alright, your reasoning has left me fully convinced. I welcome your participation, Yuriy. But what about the fatty? Since when was he the kind of person who would be willing to serve under another?" asked Lorist as he looked at the pouting Charade.

Yuriy laughed before saying, "It's like this. He received quite a bit of shock during this afternoon."

"Shock? What kind of master was able to pull that off? I should really pay that person a visit to learn that from him," said Lorist curiously.

"It was Terman," Yuriy replied.

"There's no way. How did Terman even do that?" Lorist was intrigued. Terman has always been a straightforward fellow who had always been messed around by the fatty instead of the other way round.

"Didn't Charade's father come over a couple of days ago?"

"Yup, I know about that. I even paid him a visit," nodded Lorist.

Charade was also not a local of Morante City. His family came from the Teribo Kingdom which was famous for its green and oil glass products. His father was a merchant who had property in both Morante City and the capital of the Teribo Kingdom. Other than that, he was also the cousin brother of Academy Head Levins and also contributed quite a lot financially to the academy. This was also why Charade was able to act so unrestrainedly as nobody dared to find any trouble with what he did.

During the two days Charade's father came to visit, he treated Academy Head Levins to a meal. After the meal, they decided to wander around in the academy, only to bump into Terman and Yuriy.

At that time, Yuriy was conflicted as to whether he should resign just like Terman. When he left his quarters, he saw Charade's father and Academy Head Levins and went forward to greet them. Just as he was about to wave hello, Terman approached while wearing the Norton Family's knight badge with Charade following him. As Charade was laughing at Terman's newly-obtained badge, Charade's father quickly pulled him away and gave a deep bow to Terman and asked extremely politely, "Good day, milord. Is there anything I can help you with?'

Terman, Charade, Yuriy and Levins were all stunned speechless...

Suddenly, the atmosphere turned weird in an instant. Charade's father then asked carefully, "Milord, you…"

Terman instantly ran away…

After snapping out of his trance, Charade shouted at his father. "Dad, that's my friend! Why did you do that?! That's super embarrassing! Gah!"

However, Charade's father knocked his head harshly and said, "That guy is a noble! Did you not see that badge on his chest? What a domineering Raging Bear! The sides of the badge also have a laurel design, which means that the family has at least 200 years of history. Even if he is your friend, you still have to act respectfully. There is nothing embarrassing about that, got it?

"In this world, there are two things that is worth one's respect. The first is a noble title and the other is knowledge. For example, your Uncle Levins here is respected for his extensive knowledge and the status of an academy head. However, knowledge can only awe a person for so long before it ceases to be inspiring once a certain amount of time passes. However, noble titles that can be passed down through generations can even raise the status of the whole family. Don't think that just because I'm wealthy, I don't have to abide by these customs. Even the richest man would need to show utmost respect when seeing a noble from a rural area, because they have the right and power to kill any commoner that dares to disrespect them, and that includes you as well.

"Don't even bother getting pissed off now. Are you thinking that you got away with getting on the bad side of some nobles before? Those people are different from landed nobles. They are mere honorary nobles whose titles are empty and hollow as they don't have a proper dominion, just like Uncle Levins. His title is only honorary and it can't be passed down to his descendants. You can easily tell the difference from the badges they wear. Why is your uncle not wearing his noble badge, you may ask? That's because he feels that it's embarrassing as he doesn't have a dominion nor does he have subordinates of his own. Without those, what kind of influence would one have anyway?"

Academy Head Levins was still speechless…

"It's my fault for not being able to procure a noble title for you to inherit. The titles you can purchase with money are merely honorary titles which don't really mean much. If you can manage to get a hereditary noble title for family, then I would die without any regrets! Your status in the academy doesn't count for crap in the real world. In the end, you're only a tool for your uncle's use to settle his problems. Think about it, aren't you just like the bodyguards of the high-ranked officials of the Trade Union? Even though they seem high and mighty and earn lots of money, they are but useless tools that can only follow orders."

Academy Head Levins started freezing all over again…

Charade's father sighed once again before continuing, "Back then I placed my hopes on you to help the family gain a noble title. But looking at you now, I only hope you can live out the rest of your life peacefully. Let's hope that your sons and grandchildren will try harder to achieve that dream for our family…"

After saying that, Charade's father turned and walked away alone, leaving Academy Head Levins, Charade and Yuriy standing amidst the leaves that were blown up by the twirling gust...

The three of them were completely silent. At that moment, Yuriy used the opportunity to tell the academy head about his resignation, to which he agreed immediately.

Seeing the fatty who was standing there flabbergasted, Yuriy added, "Charade here is also going to resign..."

Academy Head Levins merely turned to his back and started to leave. But he still said one thing, "Go… All of you, leave as you please. I hope that your ambitions will be achieved and wish you a safe journey."

...

"And that was what happened earlier. Locke, if you don't accept us as your family knights, then we'll have no choice but wander around as lordless knights," said Yuriy.

Northbound Journey Strategy

Ever since Charade and Yuriy became Norton Family knights, Lorist suddenly realized that the current situation was more and more out of hand.

When Lorist brought up the resources that he would transport back to the homeland during the meeting with the other knights, Charade started to laugh out loud at the plan. Even though he was Lorist's knight, he didn't even bother to give Lorist any face. He grabbed the map of the Northlands from Lorist and said that his focus should be on cleaning up the mess the Norton Family was currently in and give them a chance to start afresh instead of sending them resources to merely help them survive.

According to Charade, a prosperous family with huge potential for development should have the ability to change and reform to adapt to whatever situation they may be in instead of holding onto old detrimental traditions and customs. The sad part of Lorist's current plan was that it focused only on sending resources back just to make do for the moment instead of considering how to develop the family further in the long run.

Lorist was a little embarrassed and even felt a little guilty as Charade had nailed his original intention: that was to return to Morante City after delivering the resources and live out the rest of his life without worries. However, given the situation now, there was no way he would dare to say something like that, otherwise Charade would instantly leap over and kill him for that. Imagine what the reaction of his friends who were willing to cast away their comfortable lives in Morante City to jump into the pit of fire that was the Norton Family's dominion when they hear that Lorist was planning to return to Morante City from the beginning…

Charade continued giving his opinion. He believed that the main reason that the Norton Family had fallen to such a predicament was the severe lack of manpower. As long as that problem was addressed, the Nortons would no doubt be able to rise again.

For example, when it came to the magical beast horde during the winter, it wouldn't be a problem for the family if they had the human resource to expand and fortify the defensive infrastructure of the dominion and could probably even profit from slaying the beasts and selling their meat and fur.

As for the mountain barbarians, Charade said that he has talked to Shadekampf about it before and he discovered something that had been overlooked by everyone else: ever since the first conflict between the Norton Family and the barbarians, the family has been on the defensive side and only retaliates when the barbarians invade without taking the initiative to wipe them out even once. If they could afford to start an expedition or two to annihilate the barbarian tribes, they wouldn't be constantly harassed by the barbarians for so long. That's why the main solution against the barbarian threat was to launch an attack on their home bases and kill all who resist while capturing the rest to use them for road building and developing the desolate lands. Charade was filled with bloodlust and excitement when he talked about that solution.

The other issue was the one regarding the garrison troops that many people working for the Norton Family had close relations with. This was a difficult and delicate situation to handle as the Nortons couldn't afford to wipe them out yet given that the territories of the former Krissen Empire had just emerged from the ashes of six years of civil war and the land was in peril with the citizens living harsh, tormenting lives and bandits popping out all over the place. During this northbound journey, it was imperative that the convoy destroyed bandits along the way as they raised and trained their own elite army. By the time they arrive at their destination, they would have an experienced elite fighting force that would no doubt be able to easily crush the rebellious garrison troops. The members of the army could also become citizens within the dominion, thus further boosting the available human resource of the Nortons.

Regarding the territorial squabble with the Kenmays, Charade didn't believe that to be a real problem as the Viscount would obediently give the mines back to the Nortons or be prepared to be completely annihilated by the army that was forged along the journey. Should that come to happen, the Nortons would have yet another piece of land they could rule over.

The real distressing problem was the presence of Duke Loggins, who was notorious for his avaricious nature that was obvious from his frequent schemes to swallow up the riches of the noble families under his rule. That person was like a blood-sucking leech to the Norton Family who could do nothing but endure as they had no ability to resist him at present. Charade said that it was up to Lorist how he wanted to handle this matter. He recommended that if their forces were strong enough by then, they should just crush the lord duke in one fell swoop. However, if they don't yet have the abliity, staying low and waiting for an opportunity to strike was the wiser move.

Taking a map of the territory of the former Krissen Empire, Charade pointed to it and said, "Everyone, look. The former Krissen Empire is currently divided into three kingdoms and seven duchies, among which, the Lormo Duchy neighboring the Falik Plains has already sided with the Forde Trade Union. The next one is the Redlis Kingdom, ruled by the First Prince of the former Krissen Empire, that occupies 7 of the 29 provinces that used to belong to the empire, making it the power with the most territory and might in the area. Next, we have the Farkel Duchy, Forund Duchy, Handra Duchy and the Shabaj Duchy that occupy the center and most prosperous area of the territory that used to belong to the empire. These four duchies even formed a military alliance and they are currently entangled in incessant conflict with the Redils Kingdom.

"The kingdom of the Third Prince of the former Krissen Empire, the Andinaq Kingdom, only has power over 3 provinces. However, the capital of the former empire is under his control and he is the officially sanctioned heir to the empire named by the former emperor himself, and his status is much higher than the other nobles because of that. Had it not been for the Forde Trade Union inciting the First and Second Prince to rebel, the Third Prince would have ascended to the imperial throne. Due to the constant pressuring of the trade union, the Andinaq Kingdom's power is currently the weakest among the rest and can't even compare to some of the other duchies. The Third Prince should be the ones the Norton Family should have good relations with, or even pay allegiance to, as he is the true heir to the Krissen Royal Family.

"Lastly, let's pay attention to the Second Prince's Iblia Kingdom which is situated near the territory of the Nortons. The Second Prince has always had a rather bad reputation among the nobles of the empire and he is often regarded as a cold, selfish, lustful, opportunistic schemer who doesn't have any outstanding achievements whether it be in governance or the military. In actuality, the nobles in service of the Second Prince are a divisive mess. They only pledge their allegiance to him in name and frequently fight among each other and even ignore his orders outright. If the Second Prince did not have the backing of his father-in-law, Duke Fisablen who rules over the northeastern grassy plains, there is no way the Second Prince would be able to found his own kingdom.

"Occupying the northeastern area of the former Krissen Empire, the Iblia Kingdom rules over 5 provinces including the Northern Highlands, as well as the Madras Duchy which is subordinate to the kingdom in name only. The current power the Iblia Kingdom is fighting against is the Melein Duchy, which is the loyal supporter of the Third Prince's Andinaq Kingdom and serves to defend the former royal capital from the Second Prince's forces. For the Second Prince to be able to conquer the royal capital, he would have to first find a way to handle the Melein Duchy. The problem is, Duke Melein used to be the commander in chief of the armies of the former empire and his troops are among the most experienced and skilled. The Second Prince has been quite unsuccessful in his attempts to defeat the duke's forces for the past two years.

"The nobles under the Second Prince include 2 dukes, 7 marquises, 19 counts, more than 40 viscounts as well as 100-odd barons, among which 90 nobles are newly-entitled by the Second Prince himself, essentially giving away titles for more funds, resulting in the hilarious situation of some counts having territories that are even smaller than the neighboring barons. One of the 2 dukes under his service is Duke Fisablen who used to be the general of the Border Defense Army of the empire that was mainly responsible for keeping the barbarians of the plains out of the nation. During the power struggle among the three princes, he supported his son-in-law the Second Prince and he's so influential that he can be even said to be responsible for the founding of the Iblia Kingdom by himself.

"The second duke under his service is Duke Loggins. Look at the map here, the Northern Highlands take up about half the area of the Iblia Kingdom's territory. The only thing about it is its relatively low population. Now, look at the Norton Family's dominion. It occupies a third of the Northlands that is mostly desolate and undeveloped. Duke Loggins's dominion is the most prosperous part at the south of the Northern Highlands, right across the Watar River. The duke actually has ambitions to make the whole of the Northlands his dominion to form his own duchy. But due to the lack of military force as well as the pressure from Duke Fisablen, he had no choice but to accept becoming a part of the Iblia Kingdom. Right now, he is occupied with the formation of his Northland Army so that he can have some leverage against Duke Fisablen's army that he will also use as his main force to form his own duchy in the future.

"During the formation of the Iblia Kingdom, the Second Prince has agreed to make Duke Loggins the overlord of the nobles of the Northern Highlands to gain his support. This is the main reason why the Norton Family is currently subordinate to the him. However, the Second Prince also granted more than 90 titles to some new nobles, among which more than 40 of them had been enfeoffed land in the Northern Highlands. Viscount Kenmays is also one such noble.

"The sudden entitlement of so many nobles was because the Second Prince had hoped that the Northern Highlands would develop faster with the new nobles in charge. But in actuality, it has caused quite a bit of trouble for Duke Loggins. After gaining their titles, the nobles have been involved in countless conflicts for territory and 3 newly-entitled noble families and 1 old noble family have already perished. The duke has since changed his plan on taking the whole of the Northlands by force and is instead secretly fanning the flames of war among the nobles to reduce their power and force them to rely on him. This is why the current situation of the Northlands is incredibly volatile and no noble is safe from it.

"That concludes the report on the political situation in the Northlands. It is currently the perfect chance to reap some profit over there. As long as we manage to raise a strong military force, the unification of the Northern Highlands is also achievable. This is why I believe that Lord Locke's plan of transporting resources over there is completely unviable. If anything, bringing too much resources with us would only make us a tempting target for bandits and even some local hegemons. If we raise an armed convoy, however, the local lords would instead worry about being attacked and think twice before acting. As for the bandits, they would serve as the perfect target to train our forces with. In fact, we should minimize their deaths and make the strong and able ones members of a suicide camp that we will later use when we lay siege. For those unfit for battle, we can even use them as a labor force to develop the Northlands with."

A loud applause erupted from the audience, and Lorist was no exception. Charade has always been a person who looked at the bigger picture. Lorist already noticed that back in the day when they took up mercenary missions together. Charade would never accept missions that was beyond their party's capability and his record of not having a single member in the group die on his watch was testament to his abilities.

Too bad Charade didn't know about Lorist's original intention to bail after transporting the resources to the Northlands. He must have been quite shocked by his father's lecture and is probably trying his best to secure a noble title in the Northlands.

Lorist raised a small objection and said that while Charade's strategy was praiseworthy, the cost of bringing refugees into the Northlands was too large, as they would cause quite a bit of issues there, mainly because of the lack of farmland in the dominion as well as the lack of food to sustain the refugees' livelihoods.

Charade merely snorted at that notion and said that it didn't make any sense, because Lorist's original plan involved transporting enough resources to last the people in the family for up to five years. Did he plan to have his family members stay in the comfort of their castle and never venture out? It would be much better to use the food they were transporting to tempt the refugees into joining and procure more food and provisions on the way. He believed that they would have enough food for up to 2 years by the time they reach the Northlands and they could use that timeframe to develop the land. Yuriy asked, "What if the locals don't intend to sell us any food? How would we sustain the refugees then?"

Charade replied, "Do you think we carry swords and spears for nothing? If they don't want to sell it willingly, we'll force them to! After all, we're just a group of traveling refugees and are not there to occupy their dominions. The nobles wouldn't bother to gather their armies to deal with us because even if they do, their own forces will be severely depleted and that would leave them vulnerable to the neighboring dominion lords. That's why the best thing they can do is to appease us and pray that we leave their dominions for the Northlands as soon as possible."

"What if there isn't enough farmland when we reach the Northlands, some of you might say? That is a non-issue, as we can have these refugees do other tasks like mining, building roads, constructing castles as well as hunt magical beasts. Given the size of the Norton Family dominion, are you worried that we'll run out of land to develop?" Charade also mentioned that there was a lot that could be removed from the list of items they would transport. For example, the ten carriages worth of iron ingots can be left out as they are heavy and difficult to transport. Instead of purchasing iron ingots, it would be better for them to recruit people who know how to scour the land for ore veins as well as metallurgists. Charade believed that the vast lands of the Norton dominion would definitely have resources waiting to be found.

He also asked Lorist how much money he intended to use to purchase the goods in his initial plan, to which he replied 10000 gold Fordes.

"What would you do with the remaining 20000? Leave them to rust? All of us here are prepared to go through thick and thin with you without a thought of coming back. We can't afford to skimp on the preparation! Hand me all your money and I'll use them to purchase the things we actually need."

Sol, this fatty knows my wallet like the back of his hand… His share of the profit that Els just sent him two days ago as well as the rest of his savings all went to Charade's hands just like that. Lorist accepted his current predicament and sighed, how would I be able to come back to Morante City and live out the rest of my life in leisure now that it's come to this?

Having gained the authority to manage the funds, Charade started discussing with the rest of the group about the resources they would need. Mainly, they required weapons and equipment, food and clothing as well as enough carriages to transport all that. However, that was secondary to building a formidable armed force they could rely on to escort their convoy. Charade thought that it wouldn't be good to rely fully on mercenaries as he understood their nature well: when the fight was to their advantage, they would give it their all, but when things start turning unfavorable, they were the first ones to flee.

"Here," said Potterfang as he pointed on a black spot on the map. He was pointing at Port Nupite.

Potterfang said, "The Hanayabarta Kingdom rules over this archipelago and the slave trade is not forbidden by their government. Port Nupite is the largest slave trading harbor on the Grindia Continent. We can go there to purchase some slaves to form an armed force with."

Charade replied, "Oh, I know of that place. But I've never went there myself so I do not know the finer details about the situation there. Though, I've heard that that place is extremely chaotic and lawless."

"One of the mercenary missions I have done involved escorting a group of slaves at the port. It is indeed rather chaotic but I've also met several close acquaintances whom I got to know back in the days I served in the army. Currently, they are working as guards for the port and I think I can get them to give us more information about the place. It would be best if we could wait a few days before doing so as I'm just about to break through to the Gold rank."

Breaking through Battle Force ranks wasn't inherently difficult. As long as Potterfang familiarized himself with the Battle Force circulation diagram and was able to circulate his Battle Force according to that route flawlessly, he would naturally be able to break through to the Gold rank.

Charade nodded and said, "Alright, then I'll be coming along with you by then. As for the things over here, I'll leave it for our lord to handle."

Potterfang suddenly had a question to ask, "Knight Charade, I know for a fact that you've never been to the Northlands before. How, then, are you so well-informed about the situation over there?"

"It's simple," Charade replied, "The ambassadors sent by the Forde Trade Union to mediate the conflict between the Third Prince and the other powers have just returned. I managed to get ahold of one of them through my contacts and used a high price to purchase a journal of what he had seen and experienced over there."

Potterfang lowered his head as a sign of respect, "Knight Charade, you truly have contributed a whole lot."

Charade returned the nod. "Don't be so polite. It's only natural to do that for the sake of the family."

At that moment, Yuriy made a suggestion. "Hey, since the academy has quite a number of old students, especially the ones in the Swordsmanship Society, shouldn't we go ask some of them if they want to join us on the journey? This way, it'll be much easier for us to form the armed force with their help."

"Great idea. Terman, you help Yuriy out with that matter. The only requirement is for them to have good attitudes and be at the Silver rank. Do tell them that this expedition will be dangerous and risky and that anyone who wishes to return after they reach the Northlands will also be given 20 gold Fordes. If there are any who are willing to join the Norton Family, tell them that Lord Locke will knight them when we finally reach our destination," said Charade.

He also asked Terman and Yuriy to try to seek out any professionals who wish to join the journey and help develop the Northlands. Anyone with some sort of skill or trade like herbalists and smiths were welcome. He mentioned that the development of the dominion cannot lack people with skills like those.

Potterfang nodded in agreement to that idea.

The knights then gave Lorist a salute before leaving after the meeting concluded. Potterfang quickly went back to continue his training while Terman and Yuriy started to handle the task Charade had given them. As for the fatty himself, he was quite busy haggling around with various merchants to get a good deal for the resources they would require for the northbound journey.

Sitting alone in his study, Lorist sat as his desk thinking before he finally realized something. It's over… Now I really have no choice but to go back and inherit the position of the dominion lord…

The Academy Armory

Raising his head to look at the greenish-grey tower, only to see Academy Head Levins standing at the balcony, Lorist put his hand to his chest gave a deep bow to him before turning and leaving.

The day before, Lorist received the academy head's letter that asked him to go to the academy head's office.

When Lorist entered the room, Academy Head Levins behaved politely and courteously towards him. Kknown that Lorist was about to return to his homeland to inherit the dominion, the academy head wished him good fortune and expressed his hopes that Lorist would one day become a great leader. After that, he told Lorist that the academy had a bunch of old equipment that were gathering dust which he could buy should he need them for the journey.

Thanking the academy head, Lorist removed the Dual Gold ranked instructor badge and placed it on the table. Given that he didn't know how long it would take for him to return to Morante City once again, Lorist said that he would forever remember the ten years worth of good times he spent at the Dawn Academy.

Holding the badge in his hand for quite a while, the academy head gave it back to Lorist and said, "Keep it as a memento. And don't even get started about your resignation. You are our academy's pride and legend. At the very least, you can be the honorary instructor of our academy. The Dawn Academy welcomes your return whenever."

After saying his farewells to Academy Head Levins, Lorist went to the armory where the training equipment for the knight and swordsmanship courses were kept. Even the training swords used by Lorist's students had to be obtained from the armory before the classes start.

The supervisor of the armory, Kurzim, was expecting Lorist's arrival. After greeting him, he brought Lorist to one of the warehouses which was packed full with various equipment.

"In here is a total of 320 training cavalry spears which will work perfectly well like a normal spear after installing the speartip. There's also 700 training swords which is usable after some sharpening. Aside from those, there are 500 diamond-shaped training shields, 150 crossbows as well as 24 full body knight armors and 220 plate armors used by heavy-armored troops. Oh, and there are also 82 sets of cavalry armor suitable for scouts," said Kurzim.

Lorist was quite delighted and surprised as all of the items were mostly new and weren't in need of any maintenance. Two days ago before Charade brought Potterfang to Port Nupite, he reported that there were no issues when he purchased provisions and horse carriages, but it wasn't the case when it came to weapons and equipment. First, the price was rather high. Secondly, most of them were not complete. While they were able to get quite a number of longswords and greatswords, they weren't able to get good armors as most of the protective equipment in the market were leather armors which were usually favored by mercenaries. Metal armors were low in supply and each set cost quite a sum as well. Additionally, there wasn't enough time to order some to be made. Now that Lorist had been given access to the academy's armory, this problem was essentially solved.

"Uncle Kurzim, why does our academy have so many sets of plate armor? I recall that our academy doesn't train any heavy-armored swordsmen. Also, what's with those cavalry armors? I've never seen anything like it," said Lorist.

"Hehe, Locke, have you forgotten that our academy has merged with the Yellow Ribbon Academy? These plate armors originally belonged to them. Due to the exceedingly few applicants for the heavy-armored swordsman course, the academy had it cancelled, rendering these equipment useless. They wanted to sell it off at first, but the academy head said that you might have some use for it," explained the old supervisor.

Lorist laughed out shyly as he had totally forgotten that the Yellow Ribbon Academy mainly offered training courses for armed guards as well as supervisors. It wouldn't be weird for them to have some plate armor.

"As for these cavalry armor..." Kurzim stroked his chin and tried to refresh his memory. "It seems that these were the result of a failed experiment and they have been in the warehouse for more than ten years. But the condition is definitely brand new as they have been well-maintained over the years."

"A failed experiment?"

"That's right, it must have been fifteen years already. At that time, there was a book published about the knight occupation that raised a lot of controversy. The author boldly claimed that the end of heavy-armored knights was coming and that cavalry in the future would be quick, agile and be able to employ hit-and-run tactics from far away, unlike the current fashion of battle which involves two armies charging straight on into each other. The author used the scout as an example. In one of the battles he described, a scout cavalry unit was able to totally dominate the battlefield and far exceed heavy-armored troops in both speed and performance. The author then posed a thought-provoking question: should an army unit be composed entirely of light cavalry that primarily employs hit-and-run harassment tactics on heavy-armored knights, who would win?

"Back then, the arguments between the knight training course instructors about that topic were really heated. The academy administration also got interested in the theory and believed that if they could realize the concepts described by that book, the whole occupation of the knight would change forever and thus grabbed the opportunity to begin research into lightweight cavalry troops. A research budget was then allocated to a professor that specialized in protective equipment to come out with a new type of armor suitable for lightweight cavalry. The original plan was to have 150 sets manufactured for a cavalry company to be formed to carry out the first test drill. However, the Battle of Mount Blanco happened and the 30000 mighty lightweight cavalry troops of the Khawistan Khanate were totally decimated by the Lormo Duchy's heavy-armored knights with only less than 4000 of them surviving. As a result, the book was regarded as a huge joke and the academy also stopped the production of the armors midway, leaving the completed ones here ever since," explained Kurzim.

"Oh, so that was the case," said Lorist as he opened the box and took out a set of lightweight cavalry armor. Upon inspecting it, Lorist got a rough idea about it.

The heavy-armored knights that were so popular in armies donned chain mails before wearing full body plate armors and had extremely good defense. Lorist has also heard from Instructor Marlin once that the city garrison scouts were basically issued a chain mail and a leather armor to wear over it, and the scouts of the different nations on the Grindia Continent were no different.

But the lightweight cavalry armor Lorist held in his hand was an amalgamation of a plate armor and a chain mail. The chest and shoulder parts were protected by the breastplate and pauldrons while the arms and lower torso were covered by chain mail. One advantage of this combination was that its defense was superior to the common armors worn by scouts and lighter than the full body armors knights usually wore. The one drawback was that the design was not practical as it was inferior to full-plate armor in terms of defense and another layer of chain mail couldn't be worn with it because it would increase the load borne by the wearer by too much. It's no wonder nobody had found a use for it for the past 10 years. However, Lorist didn't mind it and believed that the armor was indeed quite suited for scouting troops.

"Alright, I'll take all of these, Uncle Kurzim. How much would all of these be?" Lorist asked.

Kurzim was momentarily stunned and exclaimed, "You're buying them all?! The academy head was prepared to auction them if you didn't want any, but it seems that he was worried for nothing after all. This will save me a lot of trouble from having too. Wait for a bit, let me give you a figure.

"The grand total for 320 training spears, 700 training swords, 300 training shields, 150 training crossbows, 24 knight training plate armors and 82 lightweight cavalry armors is 3836 gold coins. I've already given you a great discount for the lightweight armors at 10 gold coins each; they cost about 30 gold coins each to make back then." Kurzim's arithmetic ability was quite good given the speed at which he got the total cost.

"Oh, that's right. Uncle Kurzim, can I have the equipment maintenance facility fix up these items for me? I want the training spears to have the speartips installed, the swords sharpened, the shields coated with a layer of stainless steel and all the armors be engraved with the insignia of my family. I will pay for the extra cost," said Lorist thankfully. The price offered by Kurzim was already a third of what it would normally cost according to market price.

"Of course. The academy equipment maintainers have nothing better to do anyway and are either gambling or drinking away during the semester break. I'm sure they would be happy to be able to earn some extra cash," said Kurzim as he smiled.

"That's great. I'll bring someone over in the afternoon who knows how the insignia is made. I'll also be giving the maintainers a bonus when they complete the work. Also, can I settle the bill 3 days later?" asked Lorist.

"Of course, Locke," said Kurzim, nodding.

....

Sol, that fatty only left me with 3000 gold Fordes to buy the equipment and weapons we need. The 300-odd weapons and several tens of armors have already cost me about 1000 gold coins.. I guess I have no choice but to sell of that building I just got to be able to afford the costs, thought Lorist as he grit his teeth at the thought of having been forced by the fatty to have no choice but to inherit the position of the dominion lord.

That afternoon, Lorist brought Shadekampf to the academy armory and briefed him about the engraving the insignia on the equipment before heading to the Red Grace Inn to see Els. After a while of waiting, Els showed up and was surprised to hear that Lorist was about to sell off his newly-acquired building and asked him why.

Lorist then told him about the situation and Els asked him to wait before running off somewhere. He returned later with a small box in hand that contained 50 gold coin notes worth 5000 gold Fordes in total.

"Brother, this is the entirety of my savings and about half of them came from the betting pool you helped out with. I know you wouldn't accept my money for nothing, so let's consider it a loan with that building as the mortgage. Write up a contract that states that you will transfer the ownership of the building to me should you be unable to pay me back 10 years later. Aside from that, the yearly rent from that building that amounts to 70-odd gold coins will be my interest for the loan. How's that?"

"Alright, we'll do it your way. Els, thank you. You've really saved me big time," said Lorist thankfully.

Els sighed and said, "There's no problem. After all, I don't have anywhere else to spend my money anyway. If I did not have so many attachments over here, I would've loved to follow you to the Northlands, especially after seeing that damned fatty show off in front of me."

He was referring to Charade who came over to the inn two days ago with Potterfang and 10 other senior students of the academy who were willing to join the expedition to throw a welcoming party. When Els arrived, Charade told him this, "From today onward, you shall refer to me as 'Honorable Knight' because I'm now a noble and you're just a commoner. You shall show me respect," which, needless to say, enraged Els to the max.

—————————————————————–

After bidding Els goodbye, Lorist rushed back to the Dawn Academy and settled the bill with Supervisor Kurzim as he was afraid that the maintenance of the equipment would somehow be flawed if he really paid them three days later.

Kurzim laughed and said, "And there I thought that you didn't have enough money on hand. It seems that you really need these equipment quite urgently."

Lorist gave a bitter laugh and said, "Uncle Kurzim, you should know that the trip to the north won't be a peaceful one. Charade intends to form an army to escort the convoy back to the Northlands. It is a huge help for the academy to be able to sell me these equipment."

Kurzim gave it some thought before saying, "Then, come with me. There are still two storehouses that I think you should see. Maybe they'll be quite useful to you as well."

He brought Lorist to two stone rooms that was situated behind the warehouse and opened the door to one of them. Lorist was greeted with a whole pile of scattered equipment that was about half a person tall.

Kurzim said, "This is where we store all the broken equipment that are deemed too much of a hassle to repair. We only clean this place up once every few years. Some of them gets recycled while others go to the incinerator. I believe there should be something that you can use here. For example, look at this spear blade here. You can use it as the sharp tip of a javelin. If you need anything from here, Locke, feel free to take it. It's all free. Just tip the maintainers a bit and they'll be happy to fix them up for you."

Lorist was exhilarated and he took Kurzim's hand and shook it fervently. "Thank you, thank you. Uncle Kurzim, you have truly helped me out immensely."

Kurzim laughed loudly and said, "Don't shake so hard! This set of old bones won't be able to handle the stress! Here, this is the key for the rooms so that you can have somebody come sort it out later.'

...

After having dinner, Lorist asked Terman and Yuriy to go into his study and told them about the storehouses in the armory.

Terman was excited to hear that. So far, there were 38 senior students of the academy who were willing to join the expedition to the Northlands and Charade and Potterfang brought 20 of them to Port Nupite some days back. He suggested that Yuriy, who was planning to bring a few others to the Khawistan Plains to purchase some war horses, to leave a few people behind to go sort out the usable items in the storehouses.

Charade had also given Yuriy 3000 gold Fordes before he left to buy 200 war horses. But the price of one horse in Morante City was at least 30 gold coins. That was why Yuriy planned to go back to his homeland with a few others to purchase the horses from the breeders directly instead of letting the darned horse merchants profit.

Lorist was against Yuriy bringing lesser people as he would be gone for at least a month. It was safer to go in a larger group just in case something were to happen. He said that he can just hire ten students from the academy part time to clean up the storehouses and mentioned that he would go monitor them personally from time to time since he wasn't going to leave the academy anytime soon.

...

After sorting out the items in the storehouse for three days, Terman sent someone to ask Lorist to come over.

Lorist could see that the pile was cleaned up halfway and expected that the sorting process could be completed within 3 more days. The equipment that Terman deemed still usable piled up rather high.

Seeing Lorist inspect the items, Terman said a little reservedly, "Milord, this pile contains the things that seems usable after the first sorting. I think that after going through it again, only about a third of this will actually be useful. The reason I asked milord to come over today was because we discovered a few ballistas within the pile that's still in perfect condition. I really don't know why it had been put in here. I wonder if we can take this along with us as it will no doubt be incredibly useful during the journey."

It was only after being told that Lorist noticed the 12 ballistas arranged neatly in a row at a corner. Other than lacking a bowstring, the rest of the parts were in good condition, especially the bowstave, which was made of some unknown type of wood coated with a glossy shine. This type of weapon was usually installed on war chariots for ranged support. It was weird how they were left in the storehouse for broken equipment.

Lorist asked for Supervisor Kurzim and after looking at the ballistas for a few moments, he flipped the beastskin book in his hand and said, "Ah, it's here."

According to him, these 12 ballistas were designed and constructed by a crafting professor and his students for the use of the city garrison. However, even though they were of good quality, they required too many people to operate. Each one needed one man for aiming and firing, one for driving the chariot and another to load the ballista. That was why they were left in the storehouse with the other retired equipment.

Kurzim said, "You can take them if you want. There's even a label on the ballistas that says 'defunct'. Though, you'll have to string them up yourself."

Both Lorist and Terman were extremely delighted. With the 12 ballistas, the armed convoy would have yet another method at their disposal.

In Which Els Reports for Duty

Lorist regretted spending 1400 gold Fordes to purchase the 300 plus weapons and sets or armor from the market. After buying the old equipment off the Dawn Academy, he had Els go check out if any other academies had some old equipment up for sale as well. Unsurprisingly, after bribing a supervisor of a couple of swordsmanship academies with 100 or so gold coins, he managed to get up to 120 sets of used plate and scale armor as well as near a thousand spears for only 500 gold Fordes.

Lorist also told Els that this was a great opportunity for profit and encouraged him to get to know these armory supervisors better so that he would be able to purchase the used equipment for a low price regularly. "Look," said Lorist as he held up one of the plate armors, "It may look a little old, but if you have it polished and maintained, it would look and function almost as if it's brand new. If you do that and sell them in bulk at a reasonable price, there's no doubt that it'll be super popular with the mercenaries."

Spending money as if it were water, Lorist noticed that the 3000 gold coins he had was about to be completely used up. However, he still couldn't bear to let the old equipment of the other academies go unpurchased and wasted. Now that he had already spent quite a bit to bribe those supervisors, there's no way that he would leave those equipment alone, would he?

After giving it some thought, Lorist decided to go with it and auctioned off some of his belongings. They were mirrors handmade by Lorist himself. Back in the day when Lorist was still designing clothes for his ex-lover, he spent ten-odd gold coins to obtain a number of transparent crystal slabs. Some were left over and he intended to use them to try to make a telescope, but gave up after failing for a few times.

When Louise and Charlando were getting married, Lorist was thought hard about how to present them with a unique gift. That's when he used the crystal slabs to make 9 mirrors. Having been the head of a craftsman factory in his previous life, it wasn't hard for him to make those mirrors. He gave one of them to Louise and another to Anfya just a few days before and was left with seven of them.

The process of making the mirrors were not hard and the materials were easy to obtain as well. Worried that the mirrors would cause quite a stir on the market and garner unwanted attention for him, he didn't let anyone know that he made them. Now that he lacked the funds, he decided to sell a couple of them and asked Reidy to call Els over.

Lorist decided to offer 4 of them up for sale. When Els saw the mirrors on the table, he let out a surprised gasp. "Oh, so that mirror Louise had was your present..."

"How did you know about her mirror?" asked Lorist.

"Oh, that Louise treasures the mirror so much that she wouldn't let anyone see it. But I, the stealthy Els, have been playing around with it for quite a while. Just two days ago, I used it to shave my face! It's definitely much better than looking into my reflection on a silver plate. Of course, I placed it back in place so well that Louise wouldn't suspect a thing," boasted Els shamelessly.

Lorist told him that he hoped that he could arrange for someone to have the mirrors auctioned and instructed Els to say that the mirrors were found within some ruins and that they might have been magical mirrors that have lost their powers and have been in the collection of a rich family until they decided to sell them off recently to bring the family back from its dire financial state.

The mirrors Lorist made all had their own unique characteristics. The first one was circular with a diameter of about 15 cm with an intricate silver frame around it. Lorist spared quite a bit of effort and carved quite a number of English alphabets on the mirror to give it a simplistic, yet enigmatic feel.

The second one was a rectangular mirror with dimensions close to that of a book. Wrapping a random book with golden foil, he emptied the middle of the book and placed the mirror within. He even used gold to engrave the Chinese poem 'Quiet Night Thought' onto the page before the mirror, believing that there would be someone who would end up spending their whole lives researching the eccentric and foreign Chinese characters.

The third mirror was oval-shaped and Lorist fashioned a handle for it so that it could be used as a hand mirror. It was made of a special black-colored wood only found in Grindia which he obtained from dismantling a chest that was said to have been passed down through thousands of years. Lorist only spent a few gold coins to buy the chest from the market and used its wood to make the base and handle of the mirror. On the back and handle of the mirror, Lorist carved an intricate pattern of the Five Blessings found in traditional Chinese art.[1]

The fourth mirror was the one Lorist spent most time on. He used bronze to replicate a mirror used by the ancient Chinese and set a transparent crystal onto the reflective surface. He even tried to make it look old and slightly rusted to give it an air of ancient mystery. Beneath the mirror were the words 'Bright Moon Looking Glass' engraved in common Grindian script.

After agreeing to Lorist's request, Els kept the mirrors for himself and admired them for about half a day before he was willing to put them to auction.

Ten days later, all four of them had been sold without any incident and generated a revenue of 13000 gold Fordes. After deducting the auctioneer fee, Lorist was left with more than 10000 gold Fordes.

When Els delivered the money to Lorist, he told him that the four mirrors had caused quite an uproar in Morante City especially with regards to the weird engravings found on them. Some experts truly believed that they used to be magical mirrors that have lost their powers and the words found on the them could very well be what the magicians used to activate their mystical powers. When the auction for each of them started, the price increased exponentially. Els even said that he made quite a number of bids intentionally to raise the price.

Lorist was extremely happy with the outcome of the auction. However, that ploy would only work once and he rejected Els's proposition to make a few more.

With the money in hand, Lorist purchased almost all of the used equipment from the other academies. By the time Yuriy returned with 353 war horses, they had enough weapons and equipment for a whole army.

There was an estimated number of 50000 spears, 2000 sharpened training swords as well as a little less than 1000 two-handed greatswords and shortswords. As for the shields used for training, there were roughly 600 while there were 800 other shields of various designs. Additionally, they had 700 crossbows, 2000 plus cavalry lances, 1500 javelins, 71 sets of full body knight armor, 583 sets of plate armor used by heavy swordsmen, near a thousand sets of chain mail and scale armor, 2000 and more sets of leather armor as well as 12 ballistas mounted on chariots.

All these equipment have already been maintained and fitted for battle, the process of which consumed materials up to 2000 gold Fordes' worth. The shields and armors also have the Norton Family's insignia engraved upon them. Lorist paid the four academy equipment maintainers 10 gold Fordes each and the other students from the academy 5 gold Fordes each. They were eternally grateful for getting so much from only working for a month.

At times, Lorist would daydream about the 10000 more gold coins of profit he would get by selling the refurbished equipment off, but he dismissed that notion almost instantly. Charade's letter had returned and it stated that he and Potterfang had successfully acquired 700 strong, young slaves and 2800 others who were their family members and were currently on the way to the Lormo Duchy's Armatrin Harbor and is awaiting Lorist and the rest's arrival. The only weird part of the message was that Charade asked Lorist to not forget to bring the spinning chair and the hollow rotor along.

What is Charade thinking about? Lorist was completely clueless about it as when Charade had tried out the spinning chair for the first time, he started crying for his parents nonstop after getting off it. No matter how Lorist tried to convince him that training with the spinning chair would help him develop dynamic vision and give his swordsmanship a huge boost, Charade said that he refused to do that even one more time, even if doing so would give him the ability to fly. What would he do with that now? Don't tell me he's going to train with that on the way to the Northlands... We'll never make it in time if that's the case. Sigh, I guess I'll find out sooner or later since bringing those along would only require one more carriage.

Now that Patt had recovered, he had developed the initial stage of the dynamic vision ability. However, even though he would be able to react better when compared to normal fighters, it was still quite far off from Lorist's natural born ability. Every time Patt was reminded of his experience on the spinning chair, he would shiver in fear due to being tormented countless times by Reidy over the course of the training.

I guess it's about time we made a move. Lorist went to visit President Peterson once again and rented three large ships through the Peterson Merchant Guild which he would use to transport the equipment, personnel, horses as well as the thousands of sets of clothing Charade had ordered before he left. While the amount of clothing was no small number, it cost the least when compared to the rest of the things they bought at only 700 gold coins. Terman has been put in charge of having somebody pack the clothes up for the past few days before they depart.

I guess I'll have to wait for another two days... Due to Yuriy having to order the saddles and other items the horses needed, it cost Lorist another 1000-odd gold coins, thus making him feel that raising an army was extremely costly. Within but a few days, he had invested over 40000 gold Fordes and was left with less than 2000 for himself. He still haven't paid the cost for renting the ships either.

The day before they left, Lorist visited Instructor Claude, who had just recently become a Blademaster and handed his book collection to him for safekeeping. Lorist only took 100 of the ones he thought was most important on the journey and left the rest to Claude so that he could one day send it to the Northlands when there was an opportunity. Both he and his wife accepted the request happily.

Finally, it was the day of the departure. All three boats of the Peterson Merchant Guild slowly left the Golden Bay. Raising their sails, the ships sailed northward.

Looking towards the Golden Bay and the shrinking image of Morante City, Lorist felt a torrent of different emotions that were hard to express with words. I'm finally leaving the city I consider my second home. I wonder how long would it be until I make my way back here once again, thought Lorist as he let out a sigh. Given the uncertain nature of his future, he was worried about whether he would do well with his companions when they arrive at the Northlands.

At this moment, Alisa's clear laughter could be heard nearby. That girl thought that the journey was all fun and games and jumped around on the deck playfully, anticipating reuniting with her father after days of not seeing him.

Seeing Lorist a little downcast, Howard asked, "Teacher, what's going on? You don't seem too happy..."

Lorist smiled and replied, "It's not that. I just feel a little sad because your Uncle Els didn't come send us off today."

After he said that, Lorist heard a familiar voice ring out by his ear. "Milord, your knight, Brennan Evanport is here reporting for duty."

A silhouette suddenly jumped down from the ship's mast and landed on one knee, kneeling in front of Lorist. "I, Brennan Evanport, am willing to take Norton Lorist as my lord and liege and become a knight of the Norton Family. I shall struggle and fight to my very last breath under the banner of the Raging Bear."

Lorist was surprised and delighted. "Els, why have you come?"

Not saying anything, Els merely pointed towards his shoulders, indicating for Lorist to complete the knighting ceremony.

Lorist took out his sword and tapped on each shoulder twice and tossed the sword aside before lifting Els up and giving him a big hug, "I welcome your participation, my knight and brother."

After that, Els started feeling Lorist up and said, "Badge. Where's my knight badge?"

Lorist pushed Els away and said, "Sol, why would I have a badge on me? Don't touch me all over like that. Don't tell me you swing that way?"

"You're the one that swings that way! I was only trying to see if you have the badge on your person. Stop ruining my reputation," said Els exasperatedly.

"Alright, alright. Shadekampf, go get a knight badge and give it to Knight Els," instructed Lorist.

"So, tell me why you're here. Was Old Charlando willing to let you come?" asked Lorist.

"He doesn't know, I snuck out secretly. I've left him a letter though and have made arrangements for Jindoz to take over as the syndicate boss in my absence. The old man won't have time to bother with me anyway as he'll be busy staying home taking care of his newborn children soon enough. And Jindoz is quite a capable guy. I believe the syndicate will prosper even further under his management. I personally feel that coming to the Northlands with you to venture around is the best choice for a person like me," said Els as he looked towards the cabin, secretly complaining about how long Shadekampf was taking.

After a few moments, Shadekampf came back and presented the badge to Els. As he was putting it on, he asked Lorist, "Why didn't I see Terman and Yuriy around here?"

Lorist pointed towards the other two boats and said, "They're on each of the boats respectively and are tasked with transporting the equipment and horses. You'll be able to see them when we reach Armatrin Harbor. I'm sure they'll be damned shocked to see you here."

Having put his badge on, Els looked down at his chest with much satisfaction. "I don't really care about their reactions. What I'm interested in is the look on Charade's face. Let's see who's the 'Honorable Knight' now."

[1] Five Blessings Wikipedia link. Here's an image.

The Sloph Slavers

After four days of travel on sea, the Armatrin Harbor was within sights.

"Meh, this place looks rather small. The size of the harbor itself is at least ten times smaller than that of the Golden Bay's."

Lorist laughed and said, "How can you compare a place like this to Morante City? Originally, this place started off as a group of fishing villages. Had it not been for formation of the Lormo Duchy, nobody would even bother to come here after six years of war. Rumor says that the smuggling operations run by the Forde Trade Union in the empire were mostly carried out here. For it to be developed into a small town right after the war is already a rather amazing feat. I bet that in a few years it would evolve into a rather populous port city."

"No matter how populous it becomes, it has nothing to do with us anyways. Milord, you said that the fatty is waiting for us there?" asked Els.

"He told me in the letter that he would set up camp outside of town. We'll get to know more when we ask around after we get off on the port," replied Lorist with uncertainty.

While the harbor was already within viewing distance by noon, they only managed to dock their ships around three in the afternoon due to the curvy waterways which made it hard for anyone to reach the harbor safely without getting stranded on shallow sea if they didn't have a guide.

Lorist, Els, Alisa, Howard, Reidy and Patt all got off the boat and noticed that nobody was at the harbor to receive them and felt that something was off. That's weird, Charade said that he would send someone over to the harbor in the letter, but why haven't I seen a single one of our people?

Els nodded towards Lorist without saying a thing and headed towards a tavern nearby with a sign that depicted a beer cup and a fish to gather some information.

Lorist waited for a while and the tax collector got off the boat with Shadekampf following behind. Lorist waved towards him and the tax collector came over respectfully. "Milord, how may I help you?"

"I believe that around 3000 people got off at this harbor around ten days ago. Do you know where they have set up camp?" asked Lorist as he stuffed a gold Forde into the officer's pocket.

The officer's face instantly gleamed as he said, "Of course I do. They're within a small pine forest to the south of the town. They must be your subordinates, right? The raging bear symbol on their flags is identical to yours."

Lorist nodded at that statement.

The officer continued, "Milord, I'm afraid that your people have run into some trouble. The place where they set up camp is near the Sloph Slavers' camp. I heard that some sort of conflict had sparked between the two parties and your people have been stranded within the vicinity of their camp for four days now."

"Oh? And who is this Sloph fellow?" asked Lorist.

"This..." The tax collector started hesitating.

Lorist tossed him another gold coin and his expression changed. In a low voice, he said, "Milord, Sloph is a famous leader of a mercenary group. He is really formidable and he is closely affiliated to the people at Port Nupite. If it's possible, I advise you to send someone to visit him with a gift and apologize for your subordinates' actions to settle the issue."

"Oh, I see. Thank you for your kind advice," said Lorist, unmoved.

The officer gave a bow and replied, "You're welcome. Then, I'll take my leave here."

...

"Everyone, get back onto the boats. Reidy, ask Terman and Yuriy to come over," instructed Lorist.

...

Els quickly got back to the boat and told everyone the news he had obtained from the people at the tavern. According to him, the mercenary group leader called Sloph was in actuality the head of a slave trading syndicate and is currently the local hegemon whose power and influence rivals even that of the local lord's. The lord had no choice but to come to a concession with Sloph that states that as long as his slaver group doesn't impede the businesses in the area so that he can collect taxes from the business owners, he would leave the group alone.

Els said that Charade had arrived 11 days ago at the harbor and had set up camp within the pine forest south to the town, which was within vicinity of the syndicate's own camp. For some reason, they have attracted the slavers' attention and battles broke out between them. Having not enough weapons and armor for his forces, Charade could only quickly have someone cut down several trees to block up the entrance of their camp. It also seemed that several people have already been captured with a few more dead.

Sloph's syndicate also had a formidable fighting force at their disposal, including three Gold ranks, more than forty Silver ranks as well as at least two hundred Iron and Bronze ranks. It was no wonder that the dominion lord didn't dare to find trouble with them. There were even rumors that a brother of Sloph was a Blademaster, however he rarely spent his time with them.

Everyone was sullen at hearing the news. None of them would have expected to run into an obstacle that early in the journey.

"Patt, Reidy and Shadekampf, you guys stay on the boat and take care of Howard and Alisa. Yuriy, make sure you have at least twelve other guards with you and protect our goods. Even though the boats fly the flag of the Peterson Merchant Guild and not many people would dare to get on their bad side, we must prepare for the worst. Set up the carroballistas and make sure they are well shielded. If anyone attacks, kill them."

Currently, Lorist was filled with an air of bloodlust. "As for the rest of you, suit up in your armors. Terman, prepare five carriages and load a large amount of crossbow bolts onto it and follow me to the camp. We'll kill anyone that dares bar our way."

There were 38 senior students from the academy that were willing to accompany Lorist on this journey, among which 12 departed early with Charade, another 12 stayed behind with Yuriy and 5 of the 14 left wore full body armors like Terman. Another 7 of them and Els were equipped with the light cavalry armor purchased from the Dawn Academy, each armed with a crossbow and five javelins. Lorist picked a scale armor that only protected his upper torso and tried moving around in it. Satisfied that it wasn't impeding his movement and agility, Lorist got on his horse with 12 javelins within the quiver hanging from side of the saddle.

Renting five transport carriages from the port at a high price of one large silver each, Terman had the coachmen follow them to Charade's camp and promised that they wouldn't be held responsible if they lose the cargo should an attack break out.

With six fully-armored knights as the vanguard and Terman riding at the very front, they set out towards the south and quickly exited the city and proceeded towards the highway that led to the pine forest.

After traveling for a while, they could see a simple roadblock up ahead which was formed by a few trees stacked up together. A few other people could be seen standing around the area and one of them signaled for Lorist's group to stop.

Without a single word, Terman lowered his lance and pointed it towards the front. The other knights behind him soon followed suit with exception of the one in the middle holding the battle standard of the Nortons up high in the air.

All five lances of the knights emitted a blade of light as they charged forward. "Gah! They're all Silver ranked knights!" The road blockers didn't dare to stand in front of them and hastily moved to the side and started running to their grazing mounts as they cursed out loudly.

The first one to crash against the trees blocking the way was Terman. Bang! A loud sound erupted when the trunk was smashed into smithereens, clearing up the path ahead. All five of the carriages and the rest of the group rushed forward without delay.

Pointing at the carriages while swearing in loud voices, some of the enemy got on their mounts and gave pursuit while the others fired at Lorist's group with their bows in a fit of rage. In the midst of all that chaos, a sudden cold, crisp voice could be heard. "Men, ready your javelins! Kill them all!"

Screams of agony rang out on all over the place. Els's group dashed around the battlefield and the ones closer to the enemy fired their crossbows with some further away launching javelins in the enemy's direction, killing ten or so overwhelmed fighters in but an instant. The few archers of the enemy were the first ones to fall, followed by two mounted fighters with their horses nailed to the ground from the javelins aimed at them. The shrieks of the fallen horses were extremely unpleasant to hear.

Holding his horse by the reins, Lorist picked up a javelin with his left hand, focused on his target and let the javelin fly. In a few moments, 12 of the road blockers died beneath the lightning-bolt-like javelins. Upon seeing Lorist run out of javelins, one Silver Swordsman who was playing dead rushed towards him with a loud cry and jumped high up in the air with both his hands raised as he prepared to unleash a downward slash, aiming to strike Lorist off his mount and escape with it himself.

A blade of light started emanating from the assailant's sword. When the assailant saw Lorist drawing his sword and preparing to parry his own, he didn't give it much heed as Lorist's blade did not have a glow on it. Hmph! An Iron rank like him wants to block a strike from me, a Three Star Silver rank? He'll die instantly after I break his sword in half and then the horse will be mine.

Beyond the assailant's expectations, Lorist's sword didn't break and instead, a strong force could be felt passing through his own sword into his hand. His weapon was sent flying far through the air as he helplessly stared at Lorist's agile sword strike slither like a snake through the space between them and going for his throat before everything turned pitch black....

Corpses could be seen scattered all over the road. Of all the people who dared to block their way, more than 30 of them were lying on the ground dead with four or five others frantically escaping whereas Lorist's group of nine were completely unscathed. The result of the battle was really satisfactory to Lorist. He didn't expect to kill 13 people just at the start of the battle, as well as 10-odd of the 20 plus people that followed later. Els and the rest of the group didn't even have to face one person each of the remaining enemies.

One senior student came up to Lorist and saluted him respectfully with an expression full of admiration.

"Check the bodies again and make sure to drive a blade down the ones who are still alive. Collect their belongings, I'll join you guys shortly," instructed Lorist.

The belongings referred to the enemies' mounts, weapons, clothes as well as provisions and other resources. Lorist believed that he was already quite generous for not taking their undergarments. Had Charade been the one to manage this, he'll leave the bodies stark naked on the ground after stripping them of everything they had.

"Yes, milord," replied the senior student.

"Els, when we arrive at the camp later, give them the mounts, weapons and armor that you've collected. As for the money, you guys can divide it among yourselves. Don't forget to leave some for Terman," Lorist told Els.

"Milord, the way loot is divided is already set by Charade. You can't just decide by yourself to change the regulations like that," reminded Els.

"Oh, apologies. I've forgotten. Then let's divide it according to the regulations," said Lorist.

—————————————————————–

After taking a turn at the road, the flag of the Raging Bear could be seen within the camp. There was another encampment two hundred plus meters away from the aforementioned one, fortified by a rampart made of mud and stone, making it look far more secure and tidier than Charade's camp that was constructed with simple wooden trunks. That must be the slavers' camp.

When the main gate of the camp was finally open, a cheer erupted when the ones inside saw Lorist. The slavers in the other camp gathered to see what was going on with some of them riding to where they set up their road block, obviously curious at how a small convoy of five carriages managed to make their way to the pine forest.

Getting off his horse, Lorist told Terman, "Secure the area and distribute the spears and the crossbows."

A senior student from the academy with a bandage on his head hurriedly came over to salute them. Lorist recognized this fellow: he was one of the 12 academy students that set off with Charade's group.

"Ah, you must be Dulles. How did you get injured? Is it serious?" asked Lorist worriedly.

Dulles replied gratefully, "It's just some bruises, nothing big. Lord Locke, you're finally here. Charade is within that tent over there and he has been injured while Knight Potterfang is resting up because he was on patrol last night. I've already sent someone to notify him."

"Alright. Bring me to see Knight Charade," said Lorist.

...

Pushing open the tent entrance, Lorist saw Charade sitting down all wrapped up like a dumpling.

"Hey, fatty. Somehow, you don't look as fat when you're all wrapped up!" joked Els.

Staring at Els, Charade pouted before saying, "I knew that you would come along. It's a shame I didn't make a bet with somebody, otherwise I would've won myself quite a bit of money."

"Sol..." Els was completely speechless.

"How are your injuries? Are they grave?" asked Lorist.

"It's fine, I only got slashed a few times and lost some amount of blood. Lundmorde told me that I'll fully recover within 20 days. Lord, I really didn't expect for us to falter right at the start of our journey," said Charade.

Lundmorde was one of the 12 senior students of the academy that went to Port Nupite with Charade and he was a beginner rank herbalist.

Els sat down by Charade's side and patted on his thigh as that was the only part that wasn't wrapped up in bandages. Els said, "Fatty, who did this to you? Your brother will definitely make him pay."

"The likes of you? Drop that notion. That fellow's a Gold Swordsman! I already got seven wounds from fighting against him for only a while. If you were there, you would've been stained red with your own blood in no time," Charade replied.

"Sol, don't forget that I'm stronger than you. I'll show you how I take care of that guy," said Els, dissatisfied at being looked down upon.

"Alright, cut that. Charade, tell us more about the situation," said Lorist.

Basically, after Charade and Potterfang arrived at Port Nupite, the latter got in touch with several of his old comrades. One of them was working as a bodyguard for a slave trader and Potterfang managed to easily purchase over 700 young and fit slaves from him without a hitch. It was worth mentioning that all of them had awakened their Battle Force and most of them were of the Iron rank with the rest being Bronze ranks. Many of them used to be troops of the former Krissen Empire or garrison troops from different cities who have been taken captive during the conflict and sold to slave traders. They were mainly held back from escaping due to their captured family members.

Charade said that he managed to get the slaves for a total cost of 16000 gold coins and also spent quite a bit on clothing and food. However, after paying the downpayment for the food he ordered, he noticed that he was only left with around 4000 gold coins and he still needed to pay around 3000 gold coins to settle the whole bill as well as transport the food. That's why he was hesitant to purchase weapons and armor to equip the slaves he had just obtained, since he expected Lorist to bring those over when the time came to meet. It ended up with the Sloph Slavers setting their preying eyes on them due to the slaves not being armed.

The slavers had been paying attention to Charade's group for two whole days after they set up camp and believed that they were another rival slave trading group due to the slaves they bought. That being said, Sloph's group weren't going to let them off that easily and sent someone to notify Charade of their conditions. First, they were to pay 5000 gold coins of toll. Second, they must leave at least half of the slaves they had behind.

Naturally, Charade refused those conditions and explained that they weren't slavers but rather the army of the Norton Family. However, the other party was completely ignorant of the existence of the Nortons and even said that even if the Nortons were nobles, they must also heed their demands.

Originally, Charade would still try to negotiate peacefully with them if that was an option. However, the moment the Norton Family was humiliated like that, Charade instantly killed one of them and beat up the rest before chasing them away. It was after that when Charade noticed that something was wrong as the folks of the town viewed them in hostile light and refused to sell them any weapons, even down to the smallest kitchen knives.

Unable to do anything about the fact, Charade quickly went back to the camp and tasked the soldiers to fortify their it with an ad hoc wall made from tree trunks. With less than a hundred sets of equipment and more than 3000 people, they almost crumbled under the forces of the slavers. It was fortunate that Potterfang and his two ex-colleagues managed to hold back the enemy's Gold rank fighter. Coupled with the 12 academy students' rampage, they managed to cause the slaving group roughly 30 casualties and forced their forces to retreat.

For the past three days, 17 slaves have already died with 50 more injured and 40 others captured. 7 of the 12 academy students were also wounded from the battle and were currently recuperating from their injuries. The slavers have also changed their tactic and started to besiege Charade's camp and waited for them to run out of food and other resources before finishing them off. Thankfully, Lorist's group arrived just as the provisions were about to run out.

At that point, the tent's flaps were pushed open and Potterfang came in with two other men.

Upon seeing Lorist, Potterfang said, "Milord, you're finally here."

After that, he introduced the two men beside him to Lorist. "Milord, these two are my former comrades in the army. This one here is Lode Wales and he's a Two Star Gold Swordsman and this is Mons Malek and he's at the peak of the Three Star Silver rank. Both of them would like to follow us to the Northlands to check that place out."

What Potterfang meant was simple: these two wanted to find a family to serve, but they didn't understand Lorist's demeanor well enough. That's why they decided to join the journey to see whether Lorist would be a good fit with their principles before deciding whether to join the forces of the Norton Family. Potterfang hoped that Lorist would allow them to tag along.

Standing up and saluting the two, Lorist said, "I thank you two for helping us out. Had it not been for you guys, the camp might have been breached long ago. The Norton Family will definitely not forget this favor. If there's anything the Norton Family can help the two of you with, we will try our best."

The shorter guy, Lode Wales, smiled and said frankly, "My, you're far too polite. It goes without question that we would help our comrade Pog here out when he's in trouble. There's no need to go out of your way to thank us."

Mons Malek wore a serious expression without saying anything and merely nodded.

Just as Lorist was about to continue speaking, Dulles rushed into the tent from the outside with a nervous look on his face. "Lord Locke, the enemy is preparing to attack us again!"