78 - 82

On the Road

The clattering sound of the wheels of the four-wheeled carriages repeated on and on as the carriage traversed the muddy mountain path.

Reidy, who was driving the carriage, shouted out, "Milord, I think we should find somewhere to rest. It's really hard to travel on this road right now. Even if we could hold on, I doubt the horses can continue for long. We also have to maintain the carriage for a bit, I think the axle might have been damaged as the carriage is getting quite difficult to control."

Lorist got off his horse and approached the carriage before shouting out, "Please hold on for another half an hour. After passing through the Plate Mountain Pass, we will arrive at a small hill city where we can rest for two days."

Lorist and the other four had traveled for almost seven days straight. With 12 strong and endurant Zeno Horses as well as a carriage suited for long distance travel that they had obtained back in Geldos City, the group only rested for an hour for every 20 kilometers they traveled and switched the horses that pulled the carriage between the breaks. Easily moving a distance of up to 150 kilometers in a day, they had traveled for around 1000 kilometers so far, causing the whole group to feel rather worn out.

Whoosh! Suddenly, a crude, long arrow scratched the side of the carriage and landed onto the ground nearby.

"Sol…" cursed Lorist as he got off his saddle and agilely climbed onto the carriage beside the coachman's seat while he withdrew a javelin from the roof of the carriage and prepared to cover Reidy, who was occupied with controlling the carriage.

Was this the 16th or 17th time they had encountered bandits after they departed from Geldos City? Lorist had already lost count as they ran into two to three groups of bandits each day. At first, the bandits that had attempted to rob them looked to be extremely impoverished and famished and didn't seem like they intended to harm Lorist and his men for its own sake, so he simply gave them light punishments before leaving some food behind. However, as the encounters got more frequent, Lorist decided to simply outrun their unmounted pursuers.

The interesting thing was that the bandits they had encountered within the Redlis Kingdom were mostly old and hungry refugees who demanded food and money and were equipped with only farming tools used as makeshift weapons. However, when Lorist and gang entered the Andinaq Kingdom, the bandit encounters grew less frequent. But those that had showed up usually were much better trained and equipped and behaved in a cruel and heartless manner. Lorist didn't bother showing these bandits who raided for a living any mercy at all.

A few agonized cries rang out from afar as a result of Josk's sniping. Poking his head out of the carriage, Shadekampf asked, "Young master, what's going on?"

Lorist replied with a low voice, "Don't poke your head out. We've just encountered another group of bandits. Prepare your crossbow just in case."

With a swing of his hand, the javelin shot out like a bolt of lightning into the trees by the side of the path and pierced a bandit bowman who was aiming at the carriage squarely in the chest.

Within the trees by the side of the road, a loud angry group of voices could be heard as 30 or so bandits rushed out with various weapons in hand.

The javelins shot out one after another in response, causing ten or so bandits who were rushing at the forefront to be nailed flat to the ground within moments.

The remaining twenty plus bandits were so frightened by the sudden death of their comrades and instantly retreated. However, Lorist's javelins had just run out at that exact moment.

"KIll him!" shouted a bearded bandit who was pointing angrily towards Lorist. Upon seeing Lorist run out of javelins, the attackers steeled their resolves and rushed over once again.

"Sol! There were 200 javelins when we left, but it all ran out within only a few days!" exclaimed Lorist as he got off the carriage. "Reidy, be as quick as possible in dispatching them so we can start traveling again within the shortest time."

Following that, one bandit after another fell in front of Reidy with crossbow bolts stuck to their foreheads that had been fired by Shadekampf from within the carriage.

"Hey, don't take my prey!" shouted Reidy in a dissatisfied manner towards the passenger's compartment.

With another flash of the blade in Lorist's hands, four bandits fell to the ground with blood spluttered out of the slits on their throats.

It was then when the bandits finally realized that they had ran head on into an iron wall. With only two exchanges, only 5 to 6 of the 20 remaining bandits were still alive. As the survivors attempted to escape, they were hunted down and slayed by Lorist and the bloodthirsty Reidy.

"Agh!" shouted a bandit who had played dead and attempted to escape into the trees only to end up shot in the back by Shadekampf. It did not take long for him to let out his last breath.

The result of this encounter ended with the bandits' complete decimation. Shadekampf got off the carriage and started looting the bodies of the bandits while Reidy stayed by the carriage to inspect the conditions of its wheels. Lorist on the other hand was checking if any of the javelins he had thrown were still in usable condition. It was a shame that javelins were mostly one-use items that either lost their sharpness or had their handles broken after Lorist uses them, often rendering them unusable.

Patt quickly returned from further up the path on horseback and reported that the bandits had dug up a large pit ahead that the carriage was unable to pass through. GIven that Josk had shot the other four bandits to death, Patt had no choice but to return to get a shovel to fill up the pit.

"What's wrong with the wheels?" asked Lorist as he approached Reidy.

"Milord, look. One of the bolts over here had fallen off. It's no wonder I felt that the wheels were slightly misaligned as it was quite difficult for me to control the carriage when I was making turns. I guess I'll make a temporary bolt out of some wood for now and get it properly repaired when we reach town at a blacksmith's," said Reidy as he pointed towards the hole in the wheel.

"Very well, we'll do just that," said Lorist as he turned back, only to see Shadekampf coming over with a couple of things in his hands.

"Young master, look. These bandits are quite well-off. Normal garrisons of common nobles won't be able to afford mail and scale armor like these. There are three of them here with another 6 sets left on the ground back there. Each of these bandits also carried two to three imperial gold coins with them and half of their weapons are standard military issues. Young master, if we can find their stronghold, then we will definitely gain even more…" said Shadekampf excitedly.

Lorist looked at the armor Shadekampf brought over and was nothing short of impressed. It was fortunate that when Lorist was killing the bandits, he primarily relied on slitting their throats, so the armor sets were mostly undamaged.

Seeing Shadekampf carry the armor sets into the carriage, Lorist cleared his throat before asking,"Um, Shadekampf, we need to rush to the dominion as fast and possible and have to travel light. Are you sure you want to bring these back?"

Shadekampf said in a troubled manner, "Young master, our family lacks decent sets of armor like these. In the Northlands, people mostly rely on leather armor instead of metal armor. I'm sure a mere few sets wouldn't set us back that much."

Sigh, fine. If you really want to bring it back, then go ahead. Lorist didn't say anything else as he felt that after Shadekampf spent more than a month by Charade's side, he had adopted most of the greedy and stingy habits Charade had. Even though the Northlands lacked metal armor, Shadekampf didn't consider that it would no longer be the case by the time the convoy made its way there. Though, he couldn't be bothered to lecture Shadekampf on that as worrying for the family's future was a commendable behavior.

The rest of their journey was rather uneventful. After half an hour, the walls of Fenyata Town that was stacked up from stones was within their sights.

The guards by the gates of Fenyata Town looked towards Lorist's group of 5 men, 12 horses and a carriage with curious eyes as it was quite uncommon for a party that small to be traveling long distances. However, right after Lorist showed the badge of the Norton Family to the guards, they stopped worrying instantly and even let them into the town without collecting any fees.

Lorist then asked the guards where the smithy was in Fenyata Town before tipping them with one imperial old head gold coin each, causing them to thank him reverently.

Fenyata Town was a rather small place that housed only five to six hundred households with a population of around 2000 people. A long street split the small town into two from the middle. On one side, the neat-looking multi-storey buildings that were constructed out of stone could be seen with shopfronts mostly occupying their lower floors. On another, residences constructed from both wood and stone could be spotted, but the lack of organizational planning made that part of town look like the slums.

Lorist's group stopped at an inn called the Wine and Weary Birds and reserved three rooms on the third floor. After having a decent meal, Reidy brought the carriage to go look for a blacksmith whereas Patt went to the stable of the inn to instruct the horse caretakers on how to manage the 12 Zeno Horses they had brought. Shadekampf moved the nine sets of armor to the room he and Patt shared and even got some sand, cloth and butter in preparation for polishing the armor. Lorist and Josk on the other hand returned to their respective rooms after instructing the servants of the inn to prepare some warm bathwater, after which they took their baths and went into deep sleep.

On the second day, Lorist didn't feel like he wanted to get out of bed and told Patt to instruct the food server to leave his breakfast on the table before returning to sleep. Shortly after that however, the town bell started ringing incessantly.

"Sol, what the hell is wrong? It's not even the new year's festival yet…" mumbled Lorist as he tucked his head under his pillow in an attempt to drown out the sound of the bell.

"MIlord, I think this is an alarm bell…" said Patt.

Quickly feeling more energized already, Lorist got off the bed and went to look out the window, only to see the townsfolk panicking and running around frantically on the streets with looks of terror on their faces.

"Oh, it really is the alarm bell. The last I heard, there wasn't any wars going on in the Andinaq Kingdom. What's really happening here?" Lorist muttered as he got dressed.

Giving the map a glance, he saw that Fenyata Town was still 250 kilometers from the Madras Duchy. Don't tell me the Madras Duchy has declared war against the Andinaq Kingdom and the conflict had spread over here? That doesn't sound plausible… The Madras Duchy is more than capable of protecting itself, but attacking others is another matter altogether. Even though it was considered part of the Iblia Kingdom in name, the Duke of Madras had never paid the Second Prince much heed. Perhaps he's already unable to bear the political pressure and started sending his troops to fight the Third Prince's Andinaq Kingdom?

The more Lorist looked at the map when he was eating, the more confused he got with his theories. Subsequently, knocks could be heard on the door of the room. Looking at Patt, Lorist gestured for him to go open the door.

Reidy came in and said, "Milord, the garrison captain of Fenyata Town wishes to meet you."

"Oh," said Lorist as he placed the map down and said after giving some thought, "Please let him in."

Well, might as well ask him about the alarm while he's here.

The captain of the Fenyata Town Garrison was a grim-looking, middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties. The way his hands fidgeted around as if he didn't know where to place them while he stood in front of Lorist only served to show his anxiety. Even though Lorist asked him to take a seat, he said that there wasn't a need and that he was perfectly fine with standing.

Alright, keep standing if you like it so much, Lorist thought. He had never liked to force others to do what they were not uncomfortable with. After leisurely taking a gulp of tea, he asked the captain what business he had for him to request a personal meeting. The middle-aged captain stammered, "Milord, may I ask if you used the Plate Mountain Pass to arrive at our town?"

"That's right," said Lorist as he nodded.

"Then, were you the ones who met with a group of bandits and killed them all?"

"We were. What's wrong?" Lorist asked. He felt a little wary that the captain asked such a question as killing bandits wasn't something that uncommon.

"Milord, misfortune has really descended upon us. Just this morning, the bandits have barred the town gates and said that if we don't hand you over by noon, he would massacre all the people in the town…" said the captain with a pained expression.

"Bandits? You're saying that the alarm bell just now was sounded because of a bandit attack?" asked Lorist.

The garrison captain merely nodded.

"Then tell me what sort of bandit actually dares to be that audacious to even dare to threaten to kill all the residents of Fenyata Town. Doesn't the local lord care about the situation?" asked Lorist curiously.

"Milord, it's not that the local dominion lord doesn't care, but he just isn't able to. He's tried to take action against the bandits twice, but it only ended with his loss on both occasions with heavy casualties on his side. The lord even got injured himself during the second attempt. That's why the bandits dare to be so arrogant. For the past few years, the area has been affected by the ravages of war and many deserters, vagabonds as well as bandit groups gathered over time at the mountain forests about 50 kilometers from the pass. Around three years ago, a Gold Swordsman who called himself the Wolf of Plate Mountain brought a group of people and started ruling over the bandits and set up a stronghold within the Blackrock Mountains nearby to collect toll and rob the people who pass through that pass."

"Oh, so the head of the bandits is a Gold ranked swordsman… This is interesting. It's the first time I've heard of a person who's capable of reaching the Gold rank becoming a bandit," said Lorist as he laughed.

The garrison captain started to seem even more anxious as he said, "Milord, I truly am speaking the truth. The local lord has lost 3 Silver ranked knights to him. You can easily verify this by asking around, almost everyone knows about this. The Wolf of the Plate Mountains is cruel and lustful. Three villages near the mountain pass have already been wiped out as a result of his whims. That's why our dominion lord decided to act against him in the first place but has failed in both attempts."

Looking at the middle-aged man, Lorist asked, "Since the bandits have blocked off the entrance of the gates, then what is your intention as a garrison captain to come see me? Are you going to hand me over so that they don't start massacring the townsfolk?"

"N-no, milord, it never even occurred to me to send you out…" said the middle-aged captain with a panicked look on his face. "Milord, the reason I've come to inform you about this is so that you can make preparations to escape. This town only has one garrison squad and we don't even number 80 people. Of all the soldiers in the garrison, only I, the captain, has reached the Silver rank. On the other hand, the bandits have at least 500 members. Apart from the Wolf of Plate Mountain who's a Gold rank, they also have up to 70 Silver ranked experts. The disparity in our strength is far too much and we won't be able to hold them back for long. I only hope that you will take the opportunity to leave the town sooner and notify the authorities of the kingdom so that they will send some soldiers over to wipe the bandits out. This way, I'll be able to rest well even if I perish in the midst of battle."

"That's not right, if the bandits are so much more powerful than the town garrison, then why haven't they attacked the town long before and only decided to take action after we killed some of their own?" asked Lorist coldly with a solemn look on his face.

"Oh, milord, to be honest with you, our dominion lord has come to a compromise with the bandits," said the captain embarrassedly. "After the two attempts at erasing the bandits ended up in failure, the lord was worried that they would come over to occupy the town right away and cause his reputation to fall to the point where his title would be revoked. That's why he had a large merchant guild show up to sign an agreement with the bandits stating that in exchange for Fenyata Town to be open to bandits for them to purchase supplies and use the facilities in the town, the bandits would sell the items they pillaged to the merchant guild. And as long as the merchant guild pays the toll, they would not be touched by the bandits. As for other people who use the Plate Mountain Pass, even though it was unfortunate that they would be robbed, the dominion lord would turn a blind eye to those matters. And as long as the bandits don't carry any weapons into the town, they would be allowed entrance to feast and have fun here. If they don't cause any trouble, the garrison troops would close one eye towards their presence…

"The main reason the bandits are blocking the town gates is due to one of the bandits you have killed yesterday being the younger brother of the Wolf of Plate Mountain. That's why he's completely lost it and came to attack the city despite the agreement with the lord and the merchant guild. Milord, I'm sure that when the bandits attack, they'll start pillaging anything they can find and chaos a lot of chaos. That's when you can take your chance to escape."

"Hehe, it's only a group of 400 to 500 bandits with a Gold ranked fighter as the leader. I believe it's a good opportunity to broaden my horizons," said Lorist as he picked up his longsword by the table. He then looked towards Reidy and Patt and said, "Let's go meet these bandits for a bit. Reidy, have Joe bring a few extra quivers of arrows. It's best if we don't let a single bandit escape today."

A Withered Tree Crumbles Easily

When Lorist picked up his sword and said that he would go confront the bandits, the gloomy garrison captain brightened up for a moment, but started worrying right away after that. He believed that even though it was quite impressive that Lorist would exit the town to prevent the massacre of the townsfolk, he felt that the young noble youth didn't understand how serious of a situation this was and the few people in his party was far from enough to take on the bandits who numbered approximately 500.

Not wanting to see Lorist give his life away, he really wanted to stop him from going out. However, thinking of the threat the bandits posed, he couldn't bring himself to do so on the account of the citizens' lives, lest Lorist changed his mind about confronting the bandits. It was, after all, the lives of more than 2000 people.

Seeing the garrison captain's conflicted state of mind, he smiled and consoled him that it wasn't a big deal, and since this incident was partly caused by him in the first place, and given his status as a noble, he wasn't going to back out of this and cause the innocent townsfolk of Fenyata Town to die as a result of his actions.

After a while, Lorist walked over to the town walls with the garrison captain and took a look outside. Much to Lorist's relief, clusters of disorganized bandits could be spotted loitering all over the place wearing armor or beastskin robes. There were even some who wore women's skirts on their shoulders as if they were some kind of cape.

Perhaps due to the fact that there was still some amount of time before the deadline, the messy-haired, savage bandits were still acting relaxed as if they were on a field trip. With three to five of them gathered around different bonfires, some boiled water to make drinks with others could be spotted roasting some food. Some bandits could even be seen lazily staring at the mountains and chatting, occasionally letting out loud bursts of laughter. A few of the more bored bandits even approached the town walls and started cursing while making funny faces towards the town guards, threatening to break into the town once they received their orders.

...

"What a bunch of rowdy fools…" said Lorist as he sighed. He really wondered how the dominion lord couldn't even handle a useless bunch like this after two attempts, causing him to overestimate the bandits for a moment, thinking that they probably knew an army formation or two that would give him quite a bit of trouble. Their unprepared and lax manner was really a pleasant surprise for Lorist.

"Where's the Wolf of Plate Mountain that you've mentioned? What does he look like?" asked Lorist.

"Milord, look at the group in the middle that has the most people where a goat can be seen being roasted on a bonfire. The one with a bearded, scarred face wearing a silver mail with a blue gown is the Wolf of Plate Mountain. The tens of people by his side are the vice leaders of the bandit group and most of them are at least of the Silver rank," said the garrison captain as he pointed them out to Lorist.

"Reidy, prepare the mounts. Joe, follow behind me later and clear a path for me with your arrows to the bonfire in the middle; we're gonna go for the beast's head first. As long as we can wipe out the Wolf of Plate Mountain and his vice leaders, the remaining bandits will definitely crumble and cease to be a threat. Patt, lead Reidy and Shadekampf to circle the surroundings of the bandit group and take out as many as you can with your crossbows. When we wipe out the leaders, shout out loudly that you will spare anyone who ceases to resist and kill anyone who dares to bar our way!" said Lorist.

The garrison captain almost fainted upon hearing that. There are up to 500 bandits outside! WIth only five people, you actually plan to take out their leaders and even have the audacity to ask the bandits to surrender? Aren't you overestimating yourselves? They're bandits, not sitting ducks…

As the captain was pondering on whether he should give Lorist another warning to discourage him from acting, Lorist turned towards him and asked if he had any javelins that he could use.

Thinking that he probably had some lying around, the garrison captain hastily left and returned with 20 or so of them, all packed up in a sack and given to Lorist. During that time, Lorist and the rest had already finished their preparations and were already on their horses waiting for the town gates to be opened.

Fenyata Town didn't have a moat around the walls nor did it require a drawbridge to cross; the gates of the town opened directly to an open field. Spurring his horse along, Lorist rode straight towards the bandit group with a pike placed on his saddle.

Josk followed slightly behind Lorist and started shooting his arrows from horseback successively, taking out the two bandits who blocked Lorist's path and sending them flying. Within moments, a bloody path lined with corpses seemed to have been paved with Lorist at its forefront heading for the center bonfire.

With the bandit leaders being more than 300 meters from the town gates, they only spotted Lorist and Josk after they had traveled half that distance with thirty to forty bandits dead in their wake from the flurry of arrows. Suddenly startled to alertness, they stood up in preparation for the two incoming attackers.

The scar-faced Wolf of Plate Mountain shouted out in rage as he pointed towards Lorist and Josk, "Onward, my men! Turn these good for nothing twerps into mincemeat right away!"

Apart from a few idiotic bandit leaders who rushed forward with their weapons, the others quickly scrambled for their shields. The threat that Josk and his bow posed to them was very real.

As expected, the few bandit leaders who attacked without a thought had been spotted by Josk. With a flash in his eyes, the green longbow in Josk's hands let out successive thunderous twangs as five green-colored arrow trails appeared in the air with breakneck speeds. The five bandits merely stopped in their tracks and collapsed to the ground in orderly unison.

"Gold ranked…" mumbled the Wolf of Plate Mountain as he quickly drew his sword and awaited his adversaries.

Lorist had already reached within 50 meters of the bonfire with two waves of bandits blocking his way ahead. After he spurred his horse with his boots, his mount let out a loud neigh and rushed forward as if its life depended on it. The pike in Lorist's hands transformed into hundreds of afterimages that surrounded the space around his mount. By the time Lorist rode past the cluster of bandits, 30 or so of them spun around, revealing the numerous blood-spurting cuts and wounds on their throats and torso and fell to their deaths without being able to let out so much as a cry of pain.

Four other bandit leaders ran towards Lorist with their swords in hand that emanated Silver blade glows. Two shield-bearing bandits thrusted their swords towards his mount while protecting their bodies with the other two standing ready in front of him. One of them raised his two-handed sword and jumped upwards with a loud roar while the other leaping over the horse with the tip of his longsword aimed towards Lorist's chest…

Making a light humph, Lorist let the pike in his hands dance left and right and two gut-wrenching sounds of flesh being pierced resounded. The two shield-bearing bandits had their shields pierced right through by Lorist's pike and were crying out in agony as blood gushed out of their bodies. Subsequently, the pike was lifted to meet the two-handed sword, causing it to be parried upward and creating an opening for the pike to find its way to the sword user's body. The bandit who was turned into a kebab and held high in the air grunted and let out his last breath as his eyes turned cloudy.

Lorist then swung the pike down forcefully, causing the body of the dead bandit that was hanging from the tip to be thrown towards the bandit with the longsword. Surprised, the incoming bandit rapidly changed his trajectory only to find the pike digging itself into his throat like a agile python hunting for its prey…

Within such a short time, Lorist had dispatched four bandit leaders before he made his way in front of the Wolf of Plate Mountain.

"How dare you!" screamed the bearded man who had just witnessed four of his own subordinates killed by Lorist. Seething with rage, his hand trembled and three crescent-shaped blades of golden light were unleashed in Lorist's direction.

Without bothering to respond, Lorist waved his pike lightly and knocked away the blades of light and quickly dashed and thrust his pike towards the chest of the Wolf of Plate Mountain. With a smile on his scarred face, the man said with a sly smile, "Just in time…"

Turning his body slightly, he evaded the incoming pike before manifesting a golden blade of light on his sword and swinging it towards the pike's handle. "Little boy… Do you have a death wish?"

Lorist quickly withdrew his pike but it was too late as it had already been cut into two by the bandit leader's sword. The Wolf of Plate Mountain let out a smile and said, "Kiddo, surrender and… What's this?"

The Wolf of Plate mountain was shocked to notice that Lorist was already so close to him and with a sword flash, his head was sent flying through the air. Lorist had taken the opportunity to ride closer to the bandit whose attention had been focused onto the pike and decapitated him with his sword.

"You talk too much…" Lorist finally said.

The surrounding bandits who saw Lorist sweep past and eliminate the five bandit leaders including the Wolf of Plate Mountain within moments all stared wide-eyed in disbelief and stupor.

The sound of the bowstring rang out again followed by the deathly grunts of the three shocked bandits as they fell while clutching the parts where they were hit. The remaining seven to eight bandits snapped out from their astonishment and turned tail to escape.

It was at that moment when Lorist took out the javelin quiver he slung onto the horse's back and tossed them out like spears of lightning, nailing six of the escaping bandits flat to the ground. One of them managed to get onto a horse only to be shot off it by Josk within moments. The last remaining one was a bearded bandit who threw his longsword away and kneeled down to beg for mercy upon seeing Lorist arrive in front of him.

Sigh, we have another Engelich over here… With a swing of his hand, the javelin flew right above the head of the kneeling bandit and nailed another one not far away to the ground who was rushing over and waving his axe just in a raging frenzy. The kneeling bandit breathed out in relief and thought that it was fortunate that he took the chance to prostrate himself before his indomitable foe.

Lorist stopped his horse in front of the kneeling bandit and said coldly, "Get up and quickly get your other comrades to drop their weapons and kneel down to surrender! Otherwise, they will not be spared!"

A seething killing intent could be felt emanating from Lorist at that moment, causing the kneeling bandit to jump in fear and shout towards his comrades. "Drop your weapons! Quick, everyone kneel!"

Another bandit asked curiously, "Brother Oss, why do we have to drop our weapons?"

The bearded bandit walked up to his subordinate and gave him a heavy slap before taking the pike from his hands and throwing it to the ground before he said, "Quick, kneel and drop your weapons! I'm trying to save your sorry lives…"

Another wave of bandits rushed up from behind with the leader screaming out loud, "Ovidis, what the hell are you doing? Have you turned traitor and surrendered to the enemy? My brothers, don't listen to him! Otherwise the boss will never forgive you all… Ah!"

The leader of the group stopped talking and instead made an ear-piercing grunt after being nailed to the ground by Lorist's javelin. Lorist then rushed into the rowdy group with his longsword ready and within but two bouts, almost all of the bandits had been killed with only five to six who were quick to drop their weapons and surrender.

The bearded man said towards the kneeling men, "Didn't I tell you? He truly is a god of slaughter to have killed more than 30 men out of the 40 plus that rushed at him. The boss didn't even last a few bouts against him before dying by his hand. Had I not asked you guys to discard your weapons, you would've ended up like them…"

Lorist rode up to that bearded man and said, "Hey you, take up your weapon and ask someone to collect the head of the Wolf of Plate Mountain and parade it around. Make sure you tell them that anyone who doesn't surrender will be killed without exception."

Having been frightened out of his wits by Lorist, the bearded man nodded respectfully and said, "Yes milord. Your will is my command."

...

Even though Lorist and Josk started killing off multitudes of bandits incredibly swiftly, the ones that were gathered further away from the central bonfire were unaware of the sorry situation of their comrades and gathered towards where the commotion was being caused. When the bearded bandit put the head of the Wolf of Plate Mountain atop a pike and held it up high to warn the rest of the bandits and ask them to surrender, many of them thought that the boss's death was caused by infighting within the bandit group and even said swayed some of their comrades to avenge their boss.

These blind fools soon became corpses beneath the hooves of Lorist's horse with the remaining ones who managed to escape Lorist's massacre shot to death by Josk. It did not take long until the rest of the bandits were put into perspective, causing almost half of them to discard their weapons and kneel on the ground with a small minority scattering and running away in all directions.

Coming over from afar, Patt, having just broken through to the Silver rank recently, rode on top of his Zeno Horse into the crowd of bandits holding a pike that emanated a silver blade glow and managed to cut the few escaping ones into two halves. Reidy and Shadekampf who were following behind took care of the rest with their crossbows. In the end, only twenty to thirty of them managed to escape into the woods.

At that moment, the gates of Fenyata Town opened up with the garrison captain bringing tens of other garrison soldiers outside to assist in finishing the remaining bandits off after seeing the situation that was far less dangerous than before.

With almost 300 bandits kneeling without making a move on the ground, the bearded bandit leader walked towards Lorist to express his felicitations and asked if he should tie the surrendered bandits up and confiscate their weapons.

Lorist agreed because he felt that it would save him far more trouble should any of the bandits attempt to escape. Upon hearing the response, the bearded bandit called out to ten people from within the crowd to ask them to help out with tying the rest of the bandits up.

Lorist felt that the bearded bandit leader was a pretty interesting fellow and even considered him to be one of his loyal subordinates already. That man also tied up the other bandits in a peculiar way: He first removed the bandits' belts and used them to tie their hands behind their backs so that their pants would fall off should they attempt to run away.

However, some of the bandits were enraged at the bearded man and attempted to resist him, only to be beaten savagely by his subordinates to the point of calling out in vain to their moms. Lorist and Josk felt something was off and asked one of the bandits about it. "What's going on over there? Aren't you a unified group?"

The bandit nervously replied that the men over there weren't his comrades and gave a more comprehensive explanation. Lorist and Josk then understood that while the bandits considered the Wolf of Plate Mountain as their leader, there were actually different factions beneath him. The bearded bandit was called Ovidis and he was the leader of thirty other men. Not wanting to serve the Second Prince during the civil war in the empire, Ovidis led some of his other fellow soldiers to desert the army and secretly made his way to his homeland nearby.

However, he did not get to live in peace for long as the Wolf of Plate Mountain later showed up in the area after a few years and coerced him into serving him through martial prowess and force. Even though several other bandit groups have been united under his leadership, conflicts still existed between the different factions within. Given that the people Ovidis had selected to help him tie up the rest were part of his faction, the bandits from the other factions were naturally not satisfied and even tried to fight back at the risk of their lives.

Patt and the rest brought the tens of other bandits who attempted to escape back and Ovidis quickly had his subordinates tie them up as well. After finishing his tasks, Ovidis asked Lorist if he would like him to lead them to the stronghold of the bandits and mentioned that there was no one else there apart from the elderly, women and children. He also said that the riches the Wolf of Plate Mountain had acquired over the years were accumulated there and that if Lorist didn't take advantage of that, it would only benefit somebody else.

Giving Josk a glance, to which he nodded in response, Lorist said, "Alright then, I'll be troubling you to check that place out for me, Joe. Um, big beard, bring several other men with you as well. Patt, you can tag along if you want to."

Ovidis brought three others with him and instructed the rest of his subordinates to listen to Lorist's orders during his absence before he mounted and went to look for Josk, Patt and Shadekampf before departing for the stronghold. Lorist then ordered Reidy and Ovidis's subordinates to look after the captives while he went over to where the garrison troops of Fenyata Town was.

Forming yet Another Convoy

Lorist just noticed that a new problem had arisen; he had up to 300 captives from the defeated bandit group. Even though they participated in the barring of the town gates, they haven't actually killed any townsfolk yet nor did they clash with the town garrison's soldiers as their forces had been crumbled thoroughly by Lorist's group. All the leaders were killed except for Ovidis, who had surrendered to him and became one of his loyal subordinates before he left for the bandit stronghold with Josk and the others.

That all resulted in the 300 or so surrendered bandit captives becoming Lorist's personal property. That meant that before he could decide what he wanted to do with them, he would have to be responsible for their food and shelter.

The garrison captain who was despairing just moments before was now full of smiles, causing Lorist to grimace in disgust. He circled around Lorist and made sure he had everything he needed as if he owed him hundreds of gold coins.

Currently, Lorist was seated on a sofa that the garrison captain had brought over and was drinking a cup of fragrant tea that he had been served. Beside him, the garrison captain was rinsing a cloth with warm water for Lorist to use to wipe the grime and sweat off his face…

Had that all happened on the veranda of the inn they were staying in, Lorist would no doubt feel incredibly pleasant with the hospitality and care he had been shown. However, in front of him at that moment sat the 300 captive bandits, causing him to feel more like a circus freak instead from the bandits' awkward stares.

"Are you sure you can't take the bandits into your hands?" asked Lorist once again.

"That's a given, milord. These are your captives and they're your property. I wouldn't dare to have any designs for a noble's property…" exclaimed the garrison captain solemnly.

Lorist waved his hand in frustration and continued, "Then what the heck do I do with them? If you don't take them captive, would I have to spend my money to feed them? Wouldn't it be better for me to simply release them?"

"Milord, whether you release them or not is up to you. However, I must remind you that these are bandits. If you release them, they'll only be of harm to the people. I'm sure your reputation would be impacted if word of this got out…" said the garrison captain with a feigned expression of concern for Lorist.

"Sol, if I had known that earlier, I would've killed them all instead of having them cause trouble for me while alive…" Lorist complained.

The garrison captain was merely taking a gamble. He knew that the noble youth before him was not a person to mess with. However, he did not doubt that Lorist would really have killed the bandits if he knew that it was going to end up like this after seeing Lorist's group wipe out the 500-strong bandit group, especially that Gold ranked Wolf of Plate Mountain that had caused the local dominion lord huge losses for two separate instances along with the several Silver ranked bandit leaders.

Including him, the whole of the garrison soldiers respected Lorist like he was some sort of war god. The demise of the Plate Mountain Bandits within a single morning was nothing short of a pipe dream for them before Lorist's arrival.

The garrison captain walked up to him and said, "Milord, you don't have to be in such a rush. I've already informed the local lord on the matter when the town gates were first surrounded. I'm sure that the lord would arrive at this town within two days. At that time, you can hand the bandits to him and I'm sure he would provide you with some remuneration for your contributions here. To me, the bandit captives are actually sacks of gold coins."

"I don't lack any gold now. I just don't want any more trouble. Tell me, where would I keep these captives? Maybe you could lend me your garrison camp for that purpose at least?"

"Oh, that won't do, milord. The garrison camp is actually really small and it definitely wouldn't be able to hold that many people. If a small incident breaks out, chaos would definitely ensue. I think the best option we have now is to set up a separate camp," explained the garrison captain.

While setting up another prisoner camp would be a comparatively better idea, it did cost quite a substantial amount of money. Aside from the materials required to set up camp, a management fee had to be paid to the local lord for the consumables they needed to sustain the prisoners like firewood and clean water. This was another person's dominion after all; even the smallest rock was the property of the local lord and it definitely couldn't be used without an appropriate fee payment or remuneration. Even though that wouldn't cost him much, Lorist hated to deal with the paperwork that usually followed.

"Sol…" mumbled Lorist as he stood up and took a pouch of coins out of his pockets and handed it to the garrison captain. "I've never heard of a person having to feed the bandits he captured after defeating them… Whatever, I don't care anymore. I'll be going back to take a rest. Here's 20-odd gold coins that should be enough to cover whatever is needed for the camp. If there's any left over after all that, split it among your men as bonus for looking after the prisoners."

The garrison captain bowed respectfully and said, "Milord, please be assured that I will handle this properly."

"Reidy…" Lorist called out. "I'll leave this place to you, so be careful. Also, don't forget to clean up the weapons on the ground as well as the Wolf of Plate Mountain's head which we will need to claim the bounty."

"Yes, milord," said Reidy casually.

"Freaking hell… If only I can kill a couple of them to cut my costs…" mumbled Lorist.

....

After returning to Wine and Weary Birds, Lorist ordered a large feast that included a bottle of the famous local wine. Even though the skirmish in the morning didn't take long, he felt very worn out after that especially having to care for his mount after riding it around all day. Lorist slept for the whole night soundly after finishing his meal.

He woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and free of the fatigue from seven days of travel and the battle the day before. Halfway finishing breakfast in his room, he suddenly recalled that Shadekampf came by in the middle of the night to inform him of something, but he went straight back to sleep after telling Shadekampf to do whatever he saw fit.

And so he headed to the room shared by Shadekampf and Patt, but those two were not there. After going to check on Reidy's and Josk's rooms, he noticed that Reidy wasn't not present as well with Josk sound asleep in his own room.

Lorist understood that Josk was probably worn out like him after the battle and closed the door carefully without bothering him. He then decided to go check on the situation of the bandit captives.

The moment he exited the city gates, he saw the full-bearded Ovidis leading 100-odd fully-equipped men doing military drills…

Huh? What the heck is going on?

Looking at the surroundings, he noticed tens of other garrison soldiers observing the training.

Upon noticing Lorist's arrival, Ovidis hastily ordered his men to stand at rest and quickly ran over to Lorist and bowed respectfully. "Milord, the guard squad is currently undergoing training. Please give us your orders!"

Since when did we have a guard squad? Why don't I know about this? Without revealing his inner thoughts, Lorist pointed at the hundreds of men looking in his direction and asked, "Where did you rally the people from?"

Ovidis puffed out his chest and replied loudly, "Reporting to milord, 38 of those men are my own subordinates. When we went to the stronghold yesterday to plunder the goods, Shadekampf also managed to get thirty other people to join us. After we returned, Patt suggested that we form a guard squad with the people that had joined us so that milord will look far more impressive upon your return to your homeland escorted by one. That's why he picked another 30 men from the bandit captives to fill up the numbers required for a full squad and appointed me to be the captain of these men. I believe Shadekampf had already notified you about this the night before."

"Yes…" said Lorist as he nodded. What the hell did Shadekampf say to me when I was half-asleep? Pointing towards the equipment Ovidis was wearing, Lorist asked, "Are the men loyal and reliable? Also, I know a Silver ranked like you won't have problems with wearing mail underneath a layer of scale armor, but will your men be able to endure the burden?"

"Milord, there is no such problem. I know these men really well: they had been forced into banditry to survive the harsh days after the war and didn't do much evil across the years. I'm sure they're more than happy to cast away their status as bandits to be in your service, especially after you've shown them your true abilities on the battlefield yesterday. I guarantee that they will definitely be loyal to you at all times. As for the equipment, those have been issued on the orders of Shadekampf. Given that the men have all awakened their Battle Force, two sets of armor isn't too much of a burden. Patt also said that the better armored they are, the less likely they are to die, thus being able to better protect you, milord."

"Sol, you people should worry about yourselves first. I don't need your protection…" humphed Lorist in a dissatisfied tone.

"Where is Shadekampf right now?" Lorist asked.

"Milord, Shadekampf has left with Reidy to town to do some shopping. Patt is within the army camp," replied Ovidis.

It was at that moment when Lorist discovered that the camp in front of him was separated into two sections, one large and one small. The large section was where the captives were kept and it was secured by the garrison troops while the smaller camp was where the guard squad stayed.

"Alright, since you're willing to serve me, I consider you as one of us now. So, don't be so polite all the time. Tell me, why are there women and children within the camp?" Lorist asked.

"This… MIlord, the ones within the army camp are the family members of some of the soldiers in the guard squad. The ones who are within the large camp are the family members of the captives. Sir Josk acted really benevolent yesterday as he allowed the family members to reunite with the captives the moment we returned to town. The family members of the killed bandits and the several wives of the Wolf of Plate Mountain are also staying there. Some of them are really beautiful, if you're interested, I can have my subordinates escort them over here to serve you…" said Ovidis with a serious look.

Whap! Lorist gave Ovidis a strike with his horse whip and said, "Mind your own business! I don't need you to look out for me on that front!"

"Yes, milord!"

...

Riding his horse into the army camp, Lorist saw Patt bringing an old man respectfully out of the tent.

Seeing Lorist come over, Patt hurriedly introduced the man to Lorist, "Grandmaster Sid, this is Lord Locke that I have mentioned to you…"

The old man did not even turn to look and passed by Lorist with his head held high.

Getting off his horse, Lorist looked at the man who had walked far away and asked Patt, "Who's that old guy? He's so rude."

Patt shrugged and said, "It can't be helped, he's a grandmaster after all. It's only natural for him to be pissed for being brought here against his will…"

"What kind of grandmaster is he? Did you have to bring him here by force?" Lorist asked curiously. Did Patt and the others go too far when they brought the bandits over?

"Milord, that old guy truly is a gem! He's a grandmaster armorer. The 100 plus armor sets we managed to retrieve from the defeated bandits were actually made by him over the past three years! He's also well-versed with looking for metal ore veins. The iron mine near the bandit stronghold is said to have been found by that old guy. He uses the materials gathered there primarily for making weapons and armor for the bandits."

"That's why you forced him to come with you?:"

"Ugh… About that… Shadekampf said that the family would desperately need someone like Grandmaster Sid, so we brought him and 10 others within his family all the way here," said Patt in an embarrassed fashion.

"Oh well, there's no point thinking too much about it now that he's here. After all, he can be considered to be part of our spoils since he was serving the bandits and is subject to whatever we have in mind for him. On another note, what did Shadekampf go to buy with Reidy?"

"Milord, we need to transport the resources we've obtained from the stronghold back to the dominion. Along with the new guard squad and their family members as well as Grandmaster Sid's family, we will need several other long-distance horse carriages and more horses. That's why Shadekampf went to town to search for some more," Patt replied.

Gosh… It's another convoy all over again…

Lorist looked at Patt with an exasperated look and said, "Patt, we have to rush back to the dominion as quickly as possible. What you're doing down isn't quite suited to that as the arrangements that are required might end up delaying us."

"That's not the case, milord. I've already discussed this with Shadekampf. During the past 7 days, we managed to travel up to 1000 kilometers and there's only around 1000 plus kilometers left before we reach the Northlands. However, we have more than 20 days of time before the inheritance ceremony. If we manage this carefully, and travel 75 kilometers per day, we will definitely be able to arrive at the dominion before the 3rd month. Due to leaving the convoy in a rush the last time, we didn't bring enough supplies with us to be transported to the dominion. Now that we have gained so much from the bandit stronghold, we might as well bring it back to there to fulfill the family's desperate need for them!" Patt beckoned.

"But aren't we bringing back lots of gold coins?" asked Lorist.

Patt gave a bitter laugh and said, "Milord, you'll soon come to learn that in the Northlands, even if you have money, you might not be able to get what you want due to stock availability. Even if there was stock, the price would easily be double that of the market's, and that could already be considered cheap in the Northlands. In normal circumstances, you should already be thankful for being able to purchase an item you want for three times the market value."

"Oh well, do whatever you want," said Lorist. From Patt's description of the situation, he now knew the severity of the lack of resources that plagued the Northlands and his family's urgent need for them. He really wondered if Charade would be disappointed to return to a dominion that was in that state…

Lorist decided to leave those matters to Shadekampf and Patt since they were so enthusiastic about it. When lunchtime came, he recalled the wine he had at the inn yesterday that tasted pretty good when coupled with the roasted goat and decided to go back to there to check on Josk before having his meal.

However, Josk was still fast asleep, so Lorist could only enjoy the meal by himself.

Just as he was tasting the wine, a feminine young woman clad in a waistcoat worn over a tight-fitting black gown came over to his table and made a lady's curtsy before she said, "Milord, may I have some of your time?"

Lorist nodded in response to the greeting and pulled over a chair for her to sit. "Excuse me, young lady, how may I help you?"

"I'm really sorry for interrupting your meal like this. I heard that you have been looking for carriages to transport things to the Northlands. Can I request to come along on the journey? We would like to go there as well, however we haven't been able to find a suitable person to travel with and were left stranded here. I wonder if you, milord, can grant me this small little boon?" The young woman's voice carried a hint of magnetic charm that made one feel pleasant upon hearing it.

"Oh, you're heading to the Northlands as well? That place is rather large, you know. Which part of it is your destination? I wonder we would pass through the area on the way," Lorist replied.

"We would like to head to the Norton Family's dominion, the family of the famous Raging Roaring Bear. I wonder if you've heard of them before?" asked that black-clad young woman.

Telesti

Lorist froze up the moment he heard that just as he was reaching for his bottle of wine. Snapping his fingers, he gestured for the waitress to come over and smiled towards the black-clad woman. "I wonder if you had lunch already? Would you like some mutton steak? The steak tastes magnificent when accompanied with the red wine they serve. Do I have the honor of dining with you?"

The black-clad woman's surprised look could be seen from the semi-see-through black veil she wore on her face, as if she was wondering what Lorist was plotting for suddenly offering to treat her to lunch the moment she mentioned the dominion of the Norton Family. But when Lorist spoke of the deliciousness of the food, she could be seen swallowing twice in anticipation.

However, she resisted the temptation of food and nodded slightly in apology. "If it wouldn't be convenient for you to let us travel along with your convoy, then so be it. It's my fault for interrupting your meal, please forgive my transgression."

"Wait a second…" said Lorist as he stretched his hand out to stop her. "Please wait a moment, miss. Let me introduce myself. I am Norton Lorist of the Norton Family of the Northlands. My men are looking for more horse carriages to form a convoy to return to my family dominion. Here is my family badge."

Lorist then placed a golden badge onto the table that had an engraving of the insignia of the Roaring Raging Bear on top of it with a complicated laurel pattern on its back surrounding Lorist's name. This was the proof of Lorist's identity: any noble who had received formal education and training as one would be able to tell whether it was genuine or not at first glance.

The woman uttered in surprise and clasped her mouth from behind the black veil. She didn't expect that she would meet a person from the family of the dominion she wished to head to and didn't know how to react.

"Miss, are you okay?"

"Miss…"

A butler who looked to be in his fifties and a maidservant looking to be in her mid-teens stood up and came over from a table nearby.

Quickly hugging the black-clad woman, the maidservant glared at Lorist with a fierce expression as if he had committed some unforgivable sin.

That butler on the other hand stood in front of the two girls.

"Hehehe…" Lorist started to laugh as he thought, this old man's aura… Hmm, he's of the Iron rank. What a loyal person, not bad…

The woman hurriedly snapped out of her stupor and said, "I'm sorry, milord, they're only worried for my safety…"

Lorist waved casually and said, "It's alright, I understand. Now, can you sit down and tell me what business you have at my family's dominion?"

The maidservant narrowed her eyes and looked at the badge Lorist had placed on the table. "Is this badge really made of gold?"

After that, she took it up and gave it a huge bite.

"Don't…" said Lorist with much urgency, but it was too late.

As expected, the moment the maidservant's teeth collided with the badge, she tossed it away and started groaning in pain.

"Milady, this man is a fraud! His badge is not made of gold at all.." accused the maidservant in a pained voice.

The woman in black facepalmed as if she didn't know what to do with her rowdy maidservant…

Resisting the urge to laugh, Lorist picked up the badge the maidservant had dropped and circulated his Battle Force before saying to the maidservant, "Young lady, no family badge will be fully made from pure gold only. There are two proper ways to distinguish real badges from fake ones. First, look at the patterns and engravings at the back of the badge. The second way is this…"

Lorist allowed the Battle Force that flowed within his veins to slowly enter the badge. After a while, a thick black mist gradually formed above the badge and morphed into a shape of a bear roaring towards the skies.

"How mysterious…" said the young maidservant as if she had forgotten the pain in her teeth as she stared wide-eyed at the smoke projection of the bear within the air.

"This happens because a special material that allows for Battle Force to circulate is present within the badge. Coupled with the intricate patterns carved onto the surface, this phenomenon occurs easily when Battle Force is input into the badge. Every noble family badge can be differentiated using this method as each family has their own unique combination of materials and carvings that is kept secret from everyone else to prevent fraud from being easily committed. That's why, impersonating a noble is definitely no easy task," explained Lorist with a smile as the smoke projection of the raging bear floating atop the badge slowly dissipated.

"I'm really sorry, milord. Little Vinny was really too rude…" said the woman while she removed the black veil that covered her face, revealing her long maroon hair, delicate and pretty face, her large, intelligent-looking eyes, small, thin lips as well as her smooth, rounded chin. However, her skin tone was slightly paler than most.

"It's no big deal, she's a cute little maidservant. So, beautiful lady, do I have the honor now to treat you to lunch?" asked Lorist politely once again.

"Food? Count me in! I want some roasted chicken drumsticks, some beef steak, bacon and some egg tarts with pudding…" Before the black-clad woman could reply, the little handmaiden by her side had already started ordering what she wanted excitedly.

"Vinny…" said the woman as she gave her maidservant a glare.

"But mistress… Vinny has been eating nothing but potatoes for half a month! Vinny wants to eat meat…" said the little maidservant as she looked at her mistress with her large and pained puppy-dog eyes.

The woman's face instantly flushed red with embarrassment.

"Little Vinny, go sit down with the butler at that table and order whatever you like, okay? Don't worry, I'll pay for it," said Lorist as he motioned for the waitress nearby to come over. "Please get this lady here a set of roasted mutton steak, some fruit salad with buttered mushrooms and a bottle of red wine. Also, please satisfy the demands of that little girl over there as well, okay?"

"Yes, milord. It will be done promptly, please wait for a bit." The change in the waitress's attitude was quite apparent after she got to know Lorist's status as a noble.

"Oh, I haven't asked your name yet, young lady."

The black-clad woman had already returned to her previous calm and said, "It's my fault for not introducing myself first. I'm Nico Telesti, adopted daughter of Nico Albess. I'm also her student…"

"Nico Albess? That name sounds familiar, let me think…" Lorist sunk into deep thought for a moment and said, "She's a famous scholar back in the days of the former empire who specialized in ruin exploration. Being an influential professor, she is also awarded an honorary title of nobility as a dame and has written many research publications concerning the relics of the Age of Magic…"

"Ah, why are you so informed about her, milord?" said Telesti with an astonished expression.

Lorist laughed and said, "That's simple. When I was studying at Dawn Academy back in Morante City, ruin exploration was also one of the courses I had picked up. Most of the material we used in the course were written by your mother. To pass the course, I had to memorize so many of the books your mother wrote by the word! Thinking back, the days of book-memorizing were rather painful ones…"

"Hehe…" Telesti laughed out. "That's because you only did that to pass your course. If you were truly interested in the subject, there would be no need to memorize the books by way of rote at all. The books my mother wrote were incredibly well-structured in a way that would allow you to understand most of the concepts by deriving them from the foundational ones. The fact that you had such a hard time memorizing them meant that you were not properly interested in learning about that field at all."

"You have a point. After I passed the exams, I forgot almost everything that I had memorized. Oh, how is Dame Albess doing by the way?" asked Lorist.

Telesti's expression suddenly turned sullen as she started tearing up. "My mother is no longer of this world. Three years ago during the First Prince's ambush and the Third Prince's retaliation, the imperial capital had been totally decimated. During that conflict, my mother had encountered some raiding soldiers and died in an effort to protect the results of her research. After that, I collected the manuscripts of my mother and some other research documents and left with Vinny and my butler to the War God Shrine's nunnery and managed to evade the effects of the war. When the war ended, I went back to my residence only to notice that it had been completely pillaged with nothing left. The situation has been quite terrible in the imperial capital during those two years and there was no way I would be able to survive there as a scholar. That's why I decided to heed my good friend's advice to head to the Northlands."

Lorist said solemnly, "Please accept my condolences."

"It's okay…" Perhaps it was due to the hardships she had experienced, the pale-faced scholar managed to acquire a strength of perseverance that not everybody had. "Actually, the other reason I decided to go to the Norton Family's dominion apart from my friend's advice is to continue my mother's research. My friend is called Norton Glacia. According to her, despite the relative ruralness of the Norton Family dominion, there is no need to worry about the flames of war encroaching that place and that it would be safe for me to continue my mother's research over there."

"Norton Glacia? My cousin sister?" At that moment, an image of a chubby little girl showed up in Lorist's mind. However, it wasn't a pleasant memory as at that moment, that girl was grabbing at his cheeks and twisting it to make different weird faces. In his memories, he was crying really hard at being played around by that girl.

Back then, Lorist's mother was still alive and he was only 5 years old. That chubby girl was the daughter of his Second Uncle and she had come along with her mother to visit the family. That was when Lorist ended up being her beloved toy.

What a terrible memory! Lorist shook his head and shoved those memories back to the depths of his mind and said, "Do you have any news about my Second Uncle's family? Can you tell me how they are doing right now?"

Telesti shook her head and said, "It's been two years since I split up with them, so I have no idea how they're doing right now. However, milord, I can tell you that your Second Uncle has already passed away. 7 years ago when the First Prince started his rebellion, the royal guard knight legion your Second Uncle had served in as its vice captain was ambushed by the rebellion army and had been completely wiped out. Your Second Uncle wasn't exempt from that either. When the news got to your aunt, she cried herself to sleep for quite a number of times."

Lorist clenched his hands so hard that veins started showing up on his arms. "It's that damned First Prince again. I'll definitely remember this and settle it with him one day…"

"Glacia is a genius in Battle Force training and she had already reached the Two Star Silver rank at a young age of 20. My family was a neighbor of your Second Uncle and Glacia came over to my house frequently to play. She was like an elder sister to me. After the death of your uncle, Glacia joined the army and said that she wished to avenge her father. However, she came back within a year and angrily complained that the Third Prince only wished to retain his position as the king of the Andinaq Kingdom and didn't take any real action against the First Prince's forces. She felt that a person like that wasn't worthy of her service. But after a while, she got quite close to the second son of the Third Prince, the Second Highness, and formed a small squad with him whose only purpose was to cause trouble for the First Prince.

"The last time I met her was two years ago when the civil war was about to end and the Third Prince was already having peace talks with the other dukes. When she returned to the capital, Glacia came over to my house and told me that the Third Prince had disbanded the Whitelion Legion that the Second Highness commanded to prevent further conflict between the Second Highness and his elder brother, the First Highness, and also exiled the Second Highness to his own dominion. Glacia said that she was going to follow the Second Highness back to his dominion together with her two brothers and her mother," explained Telesti.

"Why didn't she invite you to go along?" Lorist asked, curious at how his elder cousin sister had asked her scholar friend to travel to the Northlands instead of following her along to the Second Highness's dominion when the risks of traveling to the Northlands were far higher.

"She did, but I refused," Telesti said. "Two years ago after the peace treaty was signed, the citizens of the imperial capital thought that the days after the conflict would be much better and peaceful. But in actuality, it was much worse as the price of food and other fundamental supplies had risen to unimaginable heights due to a huge shortage. The security of the capital also got progressively worse as many people gradually started to make a living as bandits or thieves. And even though the war had ended, the conflict between the dominion lords didn't stop at all but rather increased instead. That's why I decided to seek refuge from the Norton Family given the terrible state of affairs at the capital.

"One huge factor for my decision to go to the Northlands was its benefit to my mother's research. There is a place called the Black Swamps within your family's dominion, right?" Telesti asked.

"Are you talking about the Blackmud Marsh?"

"Yes, the Blackmud Marsh. After many years of research, my mother theorized that the Blackmud Marsh could have some remains or relics from the end days of the Age of Magic. However, she couldn't pinpoint exactly where they were. I hope to be able to go there to see that place for myself and also restart her research too. If I manage to find the relics she had mentioned to be there one day, I'm sure I would've fulfilled the hopes she left to me before she departed to the afterlife." Telesti's eyes let out a completely different aura the moment she started talking about her mother's research.

Upon hearing that, Lorist pursed his lips in doubt.

"It's true, I'm not kidding you! I also believe my mother's hypothesis about there being relics at the Blackmud Marsh that has yet to be discovered by anyone. Glacia knows about my mother's works as well, that's why she wrote this letter of recommendation for me," said Telesti in an annoyed tone as if she was about to cry from Lorist's doubt towards her mother's findings.

"Oh, it wasn't that I doubted your mother's findings," said Lorist hastily to console the young female scholar. "I only think that the Blackmud Marsh might not be as accessible as you may imagine it to be. It is one of the most dangerous places in the Northlands as it is the main habitat of thousands of Ironspine Crocodiles. I recall that someone back in my family had reported a sighting of one that was easily over 40 meters in length. There is no way that you'll be able to approach the Blackmud Marsh without having at least a Silver rank in Battle Force training."

"Is that so…" said Telesti with a stunned look after hearing what Lorist had to say.

Did you think that you would be able to enter the Blackmud Marsh as you please to search for ancient relics? If it were that easy, wouldn't someone else have found the relics long ago? What a naive young girl…

"How about this, Miss Telesti, as the family head of the Nortons, I welcome your joining us on our journey to the Northlands with our convoy and consider you a guest of my family. You will be allowed to stay for as long as you please in the family dominion to work on your research however you please and we will provide for everything you may need during your stay as best as we can to your satisfaction," said Lorist.

At that moment, Lorist saw the bitter-faced garrison captain rush into the inn hurriedly. Upon seeing Lorist, the captain made a respectful greeting and said, "Milord, the local dominion lord, Viscount Kermas has just arrived. He wishes to have a meeting with you."

Lorist gestured for the garrison captain to wait and said, "Miss Telesti, the convoy will be leaving within two days. Because of some reasons, we might need to travel far without resting. If you have anything you need help with, please don't hesitate to tell us about it to avoid slowing down the journey, okay?"

The young female scholar's face turned flush-red again as if she was unaccustomed to asking help from others. After hesitating for a while, she finally said that her party of three had two horse carriages, but they still required 3 work horses to pull them.

Lorist nodded and said, "Please don't worry, Miss Telesti, I will definitely arrange that for you. You just have to wait for news of the convoy's departure. Please forgive me from excusing myself as I have to go meet the local dominion lord right now. Oh, your meal is here. Please enjoy it. If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to tell it to the waitress over there. Don't hold back, the bill's on me."

Lorist then stood up and made a gesture of apology before informing the inn owner to take special care of his three guests and leaving with the garrison captain.

Viscount Kermas

Viscount Kermas was a tall, thin man. He was directing his farmer soldiers to set up camp outside the town walls when Lorist went to see him.

Lorist came to a realization why the baron had failed for both attempts in taking out the bandits.

Having received word that Fenyata Town was being threatened by the bandits at the gates, Viscount Kermas couldn't just sit and wait things out as he was the lord of that area. Thus, he brought his men with him with the possibility of there being a battle in mind. However, his soldiers looked pretty poorly-equipped and trained with most only wearing rags and tatters that wouldn't even keep one warm throughout the night. Given that they did not even have proper weapons, armors and shields were definitely out of the question. Most of them were either holding a long stick or some farming tool and using them as makeshift weapons. Some of them improvised by using metal cooking pans instead of shields.

This… this is the force Viscount Kermas used to fight against the bandits? Lorist was completely taken off guard by that group of men who he would believe to be vagabonds had he not known better. It's fortunate that the bandits had already been long taken care of by Lorist. Otherwise, the viscount's third defeat would no doubt come to happen.

The viscount was a rather cheerful person who was extremely grateful to Lorist's efforts as could be seen from the way he shook Lorist's hand heartily and reluctance to let it go, despite multiple of Lorist's own efforts to pull his hand from the viscount's grasps.

Viscount Kermas then started to praise Lorist for almost half an hour. In his words, Lorist was an incarnation of a magnificent and just war god and the savior of the troubled from the hands of evil.

To Lorist's surprise, during that half an hour of praising, not once did the viscount repeat what he said. Lorist believed that the viscount would've made an excellent bard with his way of words.

After that, Viscount Kermas, possibly worn out from saying all the good stuff about Lorist, or maybe even running out of good things to say, finally took a sip of tea to curb his thirst. Lorist finally managed to pull his right hand back and used it to wipe his face that was full of the saliva of the viscount.

Afraid that the viscount would launch into yet another long-winded conversation, Lorist quickly asked him what the reward bounty was for the extermination of the bandits.

However, Viscount Kermas only responded to the question with a weird look, as if Lorist had asked something that was unfit for a war god like him, causing Lorist to feel a little weirded out.

"Cough, cough…" After clearing his throat, the viscount apologized deeply for the lack of a reward for the bandits' extermination and said that the bounty had been lifted ever since the day he signed the agreement with the merchant guild as a witness.

Then does that mean all my efforts had been in vain?! Lorist gave the awkward-looking garrison captain a glance and looked back to the smiling viscount and came to a realization. So this viscount is only good for his way with words but is actually a freaking stingy bastard! I guess I should've realized this from the gloomy expressions of his farmer soldiers. I'm sure they aren't having a good life under the rule of this stingy dominion lord.

However, when Viscount Kermas heard from the garrison captain about Lorist being on his way to the Northlands to inherit his position as the family head, he quickly paid his respects to the well-known family of the Roaring Raging Bear and apologized even further about how the incident with the bandits had delayed his journey. He also mentioned that on account of the principle of mutual assistance between nobles, he would receive the prisoners of war from Lorist at no cost at all to relieve him of his troubles.

Other than that, the viscount asked for people to take the head of the Wolf of Plate Mountain down from being displayed, citing that the hot weather would cause it to rot and stink and attract disease-spreading insects to the area and prove detrimental to the health of the nearby residents. Even though he said that, Viscount Kermas tightened the bear fur jacket he wore around his body as a cold gust had just blown by which caused him to sneeze in response.

Hehe, this viscount is really too shameless. He actually has his eyes set on the prisoners and even wanted to get the head of the leader of the bandits for free. Even though Lorist was currently smiling, his eyes were radiating a cold light.

He first thanked the viscount for his kind intentions and expressed his admiration for the viscount's altruistic offer. But he then mentioned that he already had a way of dealing with the prisoners so that he wouldn't have to cause the viscount any trouble on that front.

As for the head of the bandit leader, Lorist said that he has decided for it to be made into a decoration to commemorate his victory over the bandits at Fenyata Town. He added that he wanted to show the people that the bandit who had caused Viscount Kermas so much trouble now ended up in his hands as a tool that would help to spread his fame and solidify his reputation as the magnificent and just war god who is the savior of the troubled from the hands of evil that the viscount said he was.

Lorist also mentioned that an iron ore mine was found near the bandits' lair and that it would also become his as he had defeated the menacing bandits and owned the right to the spoils. Lorist said that he planned to have the prisoners work at the mine for him and maybe even build him a castle at Plate Mountain Stronghold so that he would be able to live there after inheriting his position at the Northlands as this place was far better than his desolate dominion there. Also, he would then be able to collect toll from the people who used Plate Mountain Pass as he had to keep it safe from bandits in the future.

"I really like the scenery of Fenyata Town, especially that of the difference between your forces and mine." Lorist then pointed to his guard squad that was training not far away and said, "I believe this town will soon prosper in the future. Maybe the Norton Family will be able to gain another dominion…"

Upon hearing all that, the viscount struggled bitterly to maintain the smile on his face. He swallowed in anxiety after taking a look at his own soldiers and Lorist's and realized that he had made a wrong call. He had imagined that Lorist would happily agree to leave everything in his hands after some flattering given his young age and urgent need to return to his dominion to inherit the position. That way, the viscount would be able to trade empty praises for actual gains.

What he didn't expect was that Lorist was unlike those young and inexperienced nobles that would be too full of themselves and lose sight of everything after being praised a time or two and would be willing to give up on material benefits for the sake of petty reputation. The thought of Lorist making the head of the bandit leader into an ornament and telling everyone of his exploits made the viscount fear for his own reputation as well. What would people think of him if they knew that he had been defeated twice by the bandits that only took Lorist one attempt to exterminate?

The mention of the iron ore was nothing to scoff at either. That equated to a huge amount of wealth! If he allowed the young noble to take over the mine and build a castle there, what influence would he still have at his own dominion in the future? While Viscount Kermas wasn't worried about the bandits, Lorist was different. He had already hinted to the viscount that he had some plans on the viscount's territory and that he would have no problem defeating the viscount with his superior forces should there be a need for it.

I can definitely not let Lorist stabilize his influence in my dominion, no matter the cost. Viscount Kermas then pulled at Lorist, who was already preparing to leave, and requested with a smile on his face for the ownership of the mines to be handed to him, arguing that his citizens were suffering because they lacked access to iron ore and added that if he had the mine, he would definitely be able to improve the standard of living of his citizens and be able to better defend his dominion and not let the same bandit problem manifest again. He expressed his hopes that Lorist would reach out to his sense of justice and fairness to help him on this matter…

Lorist stopped the viscount's ramblings and said, "Lord Viscount, are you saying that you'll redeem that mine?"

Redemption was a non-conventional transaction that could be carried out among nobles. Should a noble's dominion be taken over as a result of a hostile invasion and be unable to take it back by his own abilities, he can request another noble for military help to reclaim his land and offer a fitting and proportional price as a remuneration to redeem it.

VIscount Kermas wanted to weasel his way out of it, but was unable to find a reasonable argument and hesitantly admitted that he wanted to carry out redemption. Given that it was a huge transaction of its own right, there would naturally be necessary procedures and protocols. Thus, Lorist asked Shadekampf to represent him while the viscount asked his personal accounting supervisor to estimate the value of the mines as well as the area around the bandits' stronghold. After some period of bargaining, both sides finally came to a price they could agree on.

However, Viscount Kermas started complaining again and said that he wasn't able to pay such a huge sum given the poor state of his dominion. But he did mention that he would be able to make up for that with the resources he had.

What other resources or supplies do we need? Lorist looked at Shadekampf and he stated that the convoy needed more work horses, carriages, mounts, food and textiles.

And so Lorist started to negotiate once again with the viscount and he finally agreed to provide 350 work horses and mounts, 50 four-wheeled long distance carriages, seven carriages' worth of food and three carriages' worth of textiles to trade for the ownership of the iron mine and the area around the stronghold. Lorist will also hand the jurisdiction of the prisoners as well as the bandit leader's head to the viscount as part of the trade.

Thus, the viscount joyfully stated that the resources would be prepared by noon tomorrow and Lorist would have to pass the prisoners and the decapitated head over by then.

In Lorist and Shadekampf's presence, Viscount Kermas ordered the garrison captain to gather the horses and carriages of Fenyata Town as well as the resources he had promised. He mentioned that the stores within a 50 kilometer radius of Fenyata Town would definitely have the necessary amount.

The garrison captain looked at the viscount hesitantly and asked how he would pay back the owners of the stores for the resources they were about to take for themselves, to which the viscount replied, "What payment? We just have to promise them tax exemptions worth the value of the resources they give to us!"

Lorist sighed in admiration at the viscount's method of gaining resources for himself without paying a single coin out of his own pocket and made a mental note to learn it from him. After saying his goodbyes, Lorist returned to the army camp and asked Ovidis and Patt to pick some people among the prisoner bandits who did not do too much wrong to join the convoy as coachmen for the carriages before turning in the remaining ones to the viscount the day after. He also instructed that the wives of the dead bandit leader and the younger women to be allowed to mingle and form families with the rest of his men to prevent a mismatch of numbers between men and women in his dominion and cause a disparity between Yin and Yang.

Even though they did not understand what Lorist meant by Yin and Yang, they hurriedly went to carry out his orders anyway.

...

That night at the Wine and Weary Birds Inn, Shadekampf was making his report to Lorist. "We've managed to obtain 13 carriages from the bandit stronghold and purchased 11 more around the town. Coupled with the ones we brought ourselves and Telesti's, we will have 76 of them in total.

"Originally, we brought over 12 Zeno Horses and we purchased 53 more in town and got another 48 from defeating the bandits. The trade with the viscount will also add another 350 horses to that number and total up to 463 horses. That is more than enough for each carriage to have 4 horses pulling it and the remaining ones will be given to the guard squad as mounts.

"Just now, Patt and Ovidis have also selected 111 youths from the prisoners to serve as coachmen with 23 of them having family members of their own, among which include 39 young women. The guard squad consists of 120 men with 46 of them having families of their own as well. The young women and the other family members total up to 274 people. If we factor in Grandmaster Sid and his family, we will need a total of 30 carriages for them.

"The things we got from the bandit stronghold also occupy quite a lot of space. Just talking about the coins, there are 12742 gold Fordes, 34261 imperial old head gold coins, more than 70000 imperial silvers, around 18000 imperial coppers as well as five chests' worth of silver and copper coins issued by the Trade Union. There are also two additional chests filled to the brim with other jewelry and ornaments. All of that will require 5 carriages to transport.

"We've also got 3 carriages' worth of silk, six carriages' worth of linen as well as 11 carriages' worth of food from the Plate Mountain Stronghold. Miscellaneous goods also take up another eight carriages, four of which have been used to store the equipment Grandmaster Sid uses in his craft. There are also 5 carriages' worth of iron ingots with another 3 carriages' worth of assorted weapons. If we include the other resources the viscount will be bringing over tomorrow, we will require 81 carriages in total to transport them all. However, we only have 73 right now…

"Milord, I've decided to go to town again tomorrow to see if I can buy a few more carriages and ask the shops around the area if we can exchange the 18000 imperial copper coins for silver or gold coins to save more space. If it still doesn't work out, we can let the family members squeeze into a smaller number of carriages and have some resources carried by the work horses to make enough space so that we can start traveling again as soon as possible."

Lorist shook his head and thought, this Shadekampf actually considers resources to be more important than his own life! Even though we could've solved the lack of carriages by leaving some resources behind, he wants to transport them all back. He's really looking for trouble where there isn't any to be found.

"Have you heard about Miss Telesti's matter?" Loirst asked.

"I got a rough idea about it. She came to Fenyata Town roughly three months ago with her maidservant, butler and two other coachmen with two carriages and 4 work horses. I heard that they had split up with a merchant convoy after traveling with them to the border of the Madras Duchy and stopped here for a month to look for another convoy that is heading to the Northlands before the incident with the bandits happened. After their coachmen found new jobs and left, they have been living at the inn and barely making a living by selling their work horses and occasionally helping others to copy books. Currently, they are left with only one work horse with one of the two carriages filled up with nothing but books," said Shadekampf.

Lorist nodded and said, "Prepare some horses and coachmen for them tomorrow and notify them to start preparing for the departure. We have already been delayed here for two extra days and must leave by tomorrow no matter what. Make a final check after the transaction tomorrow and ensure that we will be able to leave by the afternoon."

"Yes, milord," said Shadekampf as he turned and left.

"Wait, one more thing. Tell the inn owner to make three people's worth of food during these two days and send it to Miss Telesti," said Lorist.

"Alright, I'll do just that."