89 - 94

Inheritance Ceremony

Even though that maidservant called Irina seemed really timid and shy around Lorist, she was very hardworking and helpful. After preparing a comfortable hot water bath for him, she silently carried the wooden bathing tub as well as the bath water away and even tidied out the room right after Lorist went to bed.

Probably because of the relief of his journey's completion, Lorist managed to get a real good night's rest.

The clear chirps of the birds prompted Lorist awake during the morning. He got out of bed, went to the window and saw two birds perched onto a branch on a tree not far away, fervently singing without a single worry in the world. A slight fog could be seen blanketing the bastide and the whole of the maple forest in the distance, causing the buildings within the bastide to give out a strange, astral-like feeling.

A brand new robe was placed at his bedside: it was probably brought over by Irina. After he put the robe on, he noticed that the young maidservant was lying curled up on the floor mat beside the couch using a rough rag as a blanket, seemingly sound asleep. I wonder what she's dreaming about, thought Lorist as he looked at the satisfied smile on her fair little face.

After standing there and observing her for a moment, Lorist took a clean blanket and lightly put it onto Irina's body before quietly leaving the room.

Down the flight of stairs was the living room and the study. Lorist had placed his sword on the table in the living room the night before. After retrieving it, he walked to the end of the corridor and just as he was about to go down one more floor, the door right beside the stairwell opened. Patt poked his head out and said, "Milord, good morning. Are you going to train? I want to join too."

Lorist nodded and went downstairs with Patt to start their morning training.

A well-built man stared at Lorist and Patt as they executed the eight basic swordsmanship moves until he got bored and yawned before taking up another wooden plank and started sawing away at it.

"Milord, that's the son of the cooking lady," said Patt as he looked towards that man.

Lorist turned his head to look. Seeing the man who was diligently sawing at the wood, he nodded towards Patt, signalling his understanding.

Shadekampf also made his way outside and gave that man a greeting before he went to the yard to wash his face at the well. After a while, a servant went up to him and said something to him for a few moments before Shadekampf nodded and sent the servant away.

After Lorist and Patt finished their session, Shadekampf came over to report that Butler Gleis had sent someone to notify him that there will be a feast at the main dining hall that night during which Lorist will formally inherit the position of the family head. He also told Lorist that he could only look around nearby the bastide without traveling too far away because of the event that night.

Lorist nodded and after he had his breakfast, he brought Patt and Shadekampf as well as three Zeno Horses before the three of them rode at a leisurely pace around the bastide.

The Norton Family bastide was built on a large, white-colored stone hill. Aside from the main road leading from the family's castle, the elevation of the ground on which the castle was built was around ten or so meters, making it easy to defend but hard to attack. It's no wonder that Viscount Kenmays had failed to breach the castle during the attack half a year ago and had to leave empty-handed following the death of tens of his subordinates.

Shadekampf led his way up a small hill and pointed to the east before saying, "Milord, look. That is Wildnorth Town."

Wildnorth Town was located not too far away from the Norton Family castle and it was built upon a small rocky hill. The weird thing about the hill was that it had a blowhole in the middle of it. The earlier citizens of the town had probably settled on that hill for that exact reason.

"How many people are there in that town?" asked Lorist as he looked at it from afar.

Shadekampf shook his head and couldn't even answer a simple question like that. "Milord, I myself am not too sure about it as a population check has not been conducted in the town for years."

Normally, a large town like that should be able to support the bastide with manpower and resources. However, the founding ancestor of the Norton Family had left quite a huge problem for the future generations given the Wildnorth Town's questionable loyalty. As Lorist stroke his chin, he thought, sigh, how should I handle the garrison of Wildnorth Town…

"Huh? Isn't that Wellickson? What's he doing there?" Shadekampf asked curiously.

Lorist turned his head in that direction and saw Wellickson and another servant placing several baskets over the edge of a short cliff. The contents of the baskets couldn't be seen from where Lorist was.

"Let's go and check it out," said Lorist.

The three of them rode down the hill they were on, circled a few vineyards and ended up at the edge of the cliff where Wellickson was.

"Where the heck is this? I didn't know there was a place like this within the bastide," exclaimed Shadekampf with both his arms covering his mouth as he gasped.

Lorist was also surprised to see that as well. However, he thought that it was only natural for them to miss out on that place given that it had been hidden beyond the cliff. From their current vantage point, a low-lying terrain that was really close to the white hill where the castle was built could be seen. Having been shielded from view by the trees in the forest, not many knew of that place's existence.

Over there, row after row of wooden houses could be seen where several women and children wearing old and torn clothing could be seen collecting the baskets that had been passed down. Within those baskets were bread that were distributed among the people there.

The ten baskets which they brought over each contained a 30-centimeter-long black bread. Wellickson was talking to someone below the cliff at that moment. "That is the food ration for the next two days. We will send you more in the future. I will be quite busy at the bastide for a while, so I won't be coming over. What am I busy with? Oh, it's just that the Second Young Master of my family has returned to the dominion to inherit the position of the family head. Everyone in the castle is feeling rather finicky…"

At that moment, Lorist showed up beside Wellickson and caused him to jump in surprise. However, Lorist merely ignored him and looked at the people beyond the cliff for a bit before asking, "Who are you and how did you get here? Why are you hiding at this spot?"

The man who was being stared at by Lorist had stopped distributing the bread and handed the basket to a person beside him before he looked up the cliff.

"He's… He's called Pajik. You… why are you asking him that question instead of me?" said Wellickson timidly.

That man called Pajik quickly climbed up from below the short cliff and clapped the dust off his body before he said, "Wellickson, he has a better eye than you and knows that I'm at the Silver rank. That's why he asked me instead of you."

Wellickson said curiously, "Even I know that you're a Silver rank. How is that significant?"

Shadekampf came over and said, "But milord hasn't met Pajik before. Milord, I know this person. Technically, he used to be a captive of the First Young Master; The First Young Master admired his talent and said that he wanted to ask him to become a knight of the family before he set out for battle. However, he never did come back alive. We wanted to give him his freedom, but Pajik said that he wanted to uphold the promise he had with the First Young Master, that was to stay at the family dominion for three whole years unless the First Young Master comes back to make him a family knight."

After introducing Pajik to Lorist, Shadekampf asked, "Pajik, hasn't it already been three years? Why are you still here?"

With a bitter look on his face, Pajik replied, "It's all because of Mistress Pesha…"

Being informed about his situation as well, Wellickson started to explain it to Lorist.

Half a year before the date he would regain his freedom two years ago, Pesha gave that man a personal maidservant, much to his delight. However, three months right after that, the maidservant's belly started to swell, revealing that she was in fact pregnant. After doing some digging around, Pajik only found out that the maidservant used to serve the First Young Master personally and Pesha intended to adopt the child the maidservant had with the First Young Master as her own stepson. That was why she felt distressed that the maidservant, who was the child's biological mother, to continue staying at the castle and decided to give her to Pajik so that he would bring her away when he leaves after his term as a captive is over.

However, that particular maidservant had been impregnated by Pajik. Given that he wasn't some sort of noble, there wouldn't be any problems for him to have an illegitimate child or two. In fact, he was quite elated that she was willing to bear him a child. That's how he suddenly become a loyal 'slave' of the mother-to-be and her unborn child and did his best to take care of the maidservant.

Now that the child had been delivered, Pajik had properly become a 24-year-old father whose every action seeks the best for his child. To make more money for a better living, he went to see Butler Gleis and took over the management of the slave camp. Last time when Viscount Kenmays attacked the bastide, Pajik was the one who had defended quite a number of attacks from several Silver ranked mercenaries and even killed two of the viscount's knights who were stronger than Pesha in the process.

Lorist nodded and said to Pajik, "Knight Pajik, if you're willing to become my family's knight, then please attend my inheritance ceremony tonight. It will definitely be an honor of the Norton Family for someone of your abilities join our ranks.

...

That night within the candle-lit dining hall, a flag bearing the emblem of the former Krissen Royal Family that was shaped like a rose could be seen hanging on one wall of the hall. To the left of the flag was the Norton Family flag with the Raging Bear depicted on it and to the right of the Krissen Royal Family flag was a large map which detailed the range of the Norton Family's dominion, as enfeoffed by the founding emperor. In front of the flag was the longsword which the founding emperor had used to grant the title of a baron to the founding ancestor of the Norton Family around two hundred years ago.

The inheritance ceremony was far simpler than Lorist had imagined.

At Butler Gleis's beckoning, Lorist walked to the front, knelt before the longsword and recited, "Under the witness of the myriad divinities, I, the eighth generation descendant of the Norton Family, Norton Lorist, shall once again recite the oath of the founding ancestor before the banner of the Krissen Royal Family. I shall defend the northern borders in the name of the empire and will always silently await the summons from the royal family. I will bring the family back to the olden days of glory as it used to be during the days of the founding ancestor, and the Norton Family will never submit to anyone's will other than that of the members of the royal family and the elders of the Norton Family."

Lorist stood up, took the longsword that was placed on the table in front of him and raised it up high, before he turned and faced the rest of the people within the hall.

The sounds of applause gradually increased in volume until everyone within the hall was clapping and cheering. From that moment on, Lorist would be the new family head and is officially a baron.

Pesha was rather mad as Pajik and Patt had stolen her spotlight and got knighted by Lorist before she was. She merely made a rushed salute when it was her turn and became the third family knight to be knighted.

After that, Lorist announced three things. First, the castle defense unit of the bastide will undergo a reorganization. The current members of the unit are mostly veteran family soldiers who were in their late thirties to forties. Some of them had even returned to service after their retirement as the Nortons had lost quite a lot of their men during the stormy years that have passed.

Lorist said that he wished to recruit around 120 people from the bastide aged between 16 to 25 and promised that he would help them awaken their Battle Force within a time span of three months to six months.

However, Pesha was the first one to speak out against that plan. "It's impossible! The cost of forming a castle defense unit of 120 people is not something the family can afford."

Lorist laughed out and said, "Even though I might not have much, money is definitely something I don't lack!"

It was at that moment when Shadekampf and a few other servants carried two large chests into the room. After they were opened, the gleaming golden light that emanated from within filled the eyes of everyone present. Both the chests contained 10000 gold Fordes that Lorist had brought along in the carriage and it was time to put it to good use.

After seeing the money in front of her, Pesha was speechless. Lorist then ordered Patt to be in charge of the recruitment and training of the new unit.

Before Lorist made his second announcement, he gathered the illegitimate sons and daughters that the Old Master had fathered as it was something that concerned them.

"As the illegitimate children who shares the same father as me, you can still be considered descendants of the Norton Family. The least I can do for you is to provide you with the proper education and training for nobles. If anyone of you can also reach the Silver rank in Battle Force training, you may choose to roam the world or serve the family. Should you choose the latter, you will be allowed to use the Norton name and even form a branch family for the Nortons in the future.

"The last announcement I have is, Pajik, the newly-appointed family knight, will be in charge of the slaves in the camp to build a citadel at another location. The location of the building site will be kept secret for now, but I encourage anyone within the bastide who is interested in helping out to follow along as well."

After announcing everything he had to say, Lorist sent Butler Gleis back to his room, much to the immense dismay of Pesha, who had wanted to complain about Lorist's actions to him after the ceremony.

Three Chief Supervisors and Irina

As Lorist was pushing the butler on his wooden wheelchair back to his room, he noticed Patt standing outside it. Within the room was Shadekampf and three other middle-aged men.

The men all saluted towards Lorist to show their respect to the family leader.

Butler Gleis patted on Lorist's hand and introduced the three chief supervisors of the family to him. Without them, the family bastide couldn't be effectively controlled and managed.

The first one who swore his loyalty to Lorist was a middle-aged man with a receding hairline. His name was Hansk and he was the finance supervisor of the family and was in charge of the accounts and budget planning of the family's spending.

The second person was called Spiel and he was mainly in charge of the warehouses within the bastide and was well-versed with the amount of supplies the family had.

The last middle-aged man, Kedan, looked a little chubby, but he had really good social and conversational skills and managed the human resources within the bastide. Gleis secretly hinted at Lorist to pay more attention to that man, because the words he used to swear his loyalty felt really roundabout and insincere.

Lorist didn't mind that, however, as he believed that the hearts of people will eventually be revealed by time. What he needed now was subordinates that would aid in his development of the dominion. He would naturally weed out the less loyal ones as he went along. Lorist had the three supervisors brief him on the various issues in the dominion so that he would get a rough grasp on the situation.

Just as Lorist had expected, the state of the family seemed rather grim. According to Hansk, the family only had a meager amount of money left. Half a year back, one of the Gold ranked knights sent over by Duke Loggins had collected a sum of over 3000 imperial gold coins as tax and almost sucked the family treasury dry, leaving less than 100 imperial gold coins within it.

Lorist waved his hand to signal Shadekampf to give the two chests of gold Fordes to Hansk for safekeeping in the treasury. However, Hansk also frankly mentioned that gold coins wouldn't do much good to the family in its current state as what it truly needed were connections and trades with the outside world. Given that the entry and exit from the Northlands of the family was within the hands of other dominion lords, the taxes levied on the trades the family conducts will be too much for the effort to be worth it.

After Hansk's turn to speak was Spiel's. According to his report, the family still had quite a lot of food. Even though crops were only harvested once a year in the Northlands, the Norton Family could already more than sustain itself based on the stretches of farmland it had. Additionally, the garrison of Wildnorth Town sent 10% of their yield as tax. That's why the family had a huge surplus of food amounting to more than 5000 kilograms. Without trade, it would only continue to pile up as its consumption in the bastide wasn't that high.

Aside from food, the second most abundant resource the family had was copper ingots. Given that the family used to have control over the copper mine, the copper ores that were mined there were refined into ingots and stored at the bastide. As money was something the family had lacked before Lorist's return, Spiel had intended to arrange for more imperial copper coins to be minted using that resource to temporary relieve the financial burden.

The other thing the family had in a fair amount was various types of furs which were mostly collected during the past few years. Given the deteriorated state of the family's fighting force, there was no way an expedition to hunt magical beasts could be organized. Other than that, the warehouse had quite a number of ropes, wooden buckets and some other production tools. The family was in a dire need of iron, weapons, armor, mounts as well as seasoning and spices.

Kedan was the last to speak out and he announced something that everyone was surprised to hear: the family members of the fallen soldiers within the bastide already numbered up to 1000, and that was taking into account of the fact that three to four hundred of them had already left the bastide for Wildnorth Town. The ones who remained within the bastide were mainly those whose children had already grown up and those who were still able to live quite comfortably with their relatives and work as paid laborers. The ones who went to Wildnorth Town had it even worse. They weren't able to count on their relatives to sustain their livelihoods and could only rely on the occasional provisions of the bastide.

The death of hundreds of people during the elimination of the family's merchant convoy a few years back and the First Young Master's participation and death in the Second Prince's military campaign where only tens of the 200 family soldiers returned alive from, as well as the Old Master's death from the ambush of the mountain barbarians due to the absence of the Wildnorth Town garrison reinforcements, the family members of the deceased soldiers in the bastide started nearing 1000. These people put the family under a great burden. While the family was still able to give them enough food, it was still unable to pay them the pensions for the deaths of their relatives.

Other than that, Belnick, a Three Star Silver ranked family knight who had incurred serious injuries during his attempt to save the Third Young Master from a magical beast, was absent from the inheritance ceremony as his wounds had worsened all of a sudden. Kedan hoped that Lorist would pay that knight a visit at Wildnorth Town tomorrow as it was his obligation as the new family leader, to which Lorist agreed.

Old Butler Gleis had the group take a seat before he told Lorist that he was stunned to have heard about the happenings during the journey on the way to the Northlands from Shadekampf. He hoped that Lorist would once again tell it to everyone present.

Lorist started his story right from Morante City when his close friends had pledged themselves as family knights, to their eradication of the Sloph Slavers and their conflict with Count Corby and how he had decided to avenge his Third Uncle and the rest of the merchant convoy after he had found out the truth about the count's involvement in the incident years prior.

After describing the killing of the count and all his illegitimate sons at Geldos City, he recounted his departure from the main convoy with Shadekampf, Patt and several others to make it in time for the inheritance ceremony, which led to their extermination of a group of bandits at the border of the Andinaq Kingdom and the formation of another convoy followed by their return to the dominion, during which they discovered the construction site at the valley in Morgan Hills as well as his occupation of it. He also told them of the rescue mission of the captured family members who were being forced to work at the mines by the Kenmayses.

Unrolling a map of the Northlands, Lorist told the rest about the plans Viscount Kenmays had for the valley at Morgan Hills and his intention to take it for himself to build a strong defense for the Norton Family.

The people present wore expressions of wonder as if they had just been told of a magnificent legend. Not one of them expected that the return of the Second Young Master during such troubling times would allow the family to be able to go into a new phase.

Lorist also agreed to Hansk's request and told the three supervisors that he would personally head to the construction site at Morgan Hills and bring the 500 or so slaves who had been loitering at the hidden camp within the bastide with him there and said that he would grant them freedom upon the completion of the development project. He also mentioned the need for a shipment of food to be made to the site and that he would notify the rest of the convoy over there to be ready to receive it and also told the three supervisors that they would be free to check that place out at their leisure.

Also, he requested the supervisors to keep the development project at Morgan Hills a secret for now, to which they promised and left excitedly. Butler Gleis started making his thoughts known to Lorist after the three left about how he believed that the development project at Morgan Hills was a waste of manpower and resources. He thought that Lorist should bring the rest of the convoy back to the bastide and build a settlement nearby instead.

Lorist wondered why the old butler would have an opinion like this. Gleis explained that the founding ancestor's oath was to defend the northern borders and the Morgan Hills could hardly count as part of it!

However, Lorist merely laughed it off and consoled Gleis and said that he had no intention of forsaking the bastide. As the saying went, one must first retract one's fist before it can be launched out again. Lorist said that the Morgan Hills would become the fist of the family upon its completion and also mentioned that he had further plans to use it against others in the future.

By the time he left the butler's quarters, it had already become rather late.

Lorist made his way to the veranda above his bedroom that was located at the main building of the castle and took in the nighttime view of the bastide from his vantage point.

This place is really quite decent. The founding ancestor must have spent quite some effort to select this place to be the headquarters of the family 200 years ago and used another tens of years to build the bastide I see today. It's no wonder that the old butler is so protective of this place and even suspected whether I was going to abandon it for Morgan Hills, thought Lorist as he recalled the look the butler had that seemed like he was staring at a hideous sinner just before.

"Master, your bathwater is ready…" said a timid voice that broke Lorist's train of thought. He turned back and nodded to Irina before he went down the stairs to where his bedroom was.

After taking a comfortable bath, Lorist half-leaned on his bed and looked at the hard-working Irina pour away the bathwater within the wooden tub before carrying it out of the room and returning to clean the floor. After that, she put on her greyish-white sleeping gown and took out a leather sleeping pad which she placed behind the couch. Just as she took out a rug and prepared to lie down…

"Irina, please come over here," said Lorist as he licked his lips.

The young maidservant's body stiffened. As she made her way in front of Lorist, she didn't utter a single sound, silently shivering away…

"Are you really that afraid of me? Why is that so?" Lorist asked as he stretched out his hand to stroke her chin before he raised her head up to look her in the eye.

Her face had a look of panic, but part of her expression revealed her resignation and acceptance of the situation.

"Do you know what maidservants do with their masters?" Lorist asked.

The young girl started shivering even more, but she silently nodded to signal her understanding.

Lorist then traced his fingers around the girl's cheeks before it passed her nose, lips, chin and then to the knot on her gown…

The greyish-white gown fell to the ground and revealed the slender and fair body of the nervously shivering girl.

Lorist hugged her in his chest and started stroking the two protrusions on her breasts. "Irinia, I won't have you sleeping on the floor in the future. Half of the space on this bed is reserved for you, understand?"

Irina didn't respond and could only continue to shiver in place as her body slowly warmed up from Lorist's careful caressing. Gradually, she started to let out involuntary moans.

Positioning the girl on his bed, Lorist lowered himself and allowed his blazing-hot member to enter the depths of the warmth between the girl's legs…

The girl struggled and flailed as she shivered vigorously and clawed away at Lorist's back while tears flowed down her face, all the while crying out, "It hurts… so much…"

Lorist halted and stopped all movement and waited until the girl stopped uttering any sound before he wiped some of the tears off her face and said, "I'm sorry, I thought you've done it before. I didn't expect that this would be your first…"

The girl cried and mumbled, "The… the Third Young Master was only… seventeen… The Old Master said that he could only touch me when he reaches the age of 18, or his Battle Force won't be able to be awakened…"

It's my fault, I shouldn't have pushed him into the well and caused him to have a frail constitution for the rest of his life, thought Lorist as he heard about his younger brother. He then said to the girl beneath him, "It will hurt a little during your first time, but it'll gradually fade away when the pleasure comes in�� You'll understand later…

"Don't keep shivering like that, otherwise I won't be able to restrain myself from moving… Stop, or I'll really lose it…"

...

Sounds of carnal pleasure echoed throughout the peaceful and tranquil moonlit night.

Sword Crisis

Lorist awoke the next day from the ear-piercing sound of wood being sawed. As he opened his eyes, he saw the young girl lying asleep beside him, grunting and furrowing her brows occasionally with the trails of her tears from the night before still visible on her face.

Carefully drawing his arm out from beneath the girl's head, he put a blanket over her and got out of bed naked. After putting on his sleep robe, he went to the window and saw the cooking lady's son sawing away at the logs. Hmmm, this guy is pretty hard-working. It's pretty decent of him to start working that hard this early in the morning.

He had completely released the tension he had from inheriting the title and the family dominion on the young maidservant, Irina, the night before. Currently, Lorist felt a mystical clarity and eagerness within his mind.

He silently stepped into the washroom to take a short shower and freshened himself up. After he dried himself, Lorist got into his garments and went to take his sword for his training.

However, when he arrived downstairs at the living room, Lorist was baffled by the sight before him. Where are my swords? They're not here!

Lorist had discovered that the two swords he had placed on the blade rack was no longer there. Only the ornamental sword that was used during the inheritance ceremony yesterday was in place. This is weird, who would take both of my swords away?

He went to the end of the corridor and knocked on the door of the guest room. Shadekampf yawned as he opened the door as he had slept rather late after drinking with the three chief supervisors last night. Knowing that he was the confidant of the new family head, the three supervisors tried their best to get on his good side. Shadekampf on the other hand talked about Lorist's likes and dislikes and couldn't help but drink to his content, causing him to wake up relatively late due to a hangover.

Upon knowing that Lorist's swords went missing, Shadekampf was stunned awake from his hangover and quickly aided in the search.

Lorist asked, "Where's Patt?"

Shadekampf said, "He's been gone since dawn because you just announced the formation of a new defense unit for the family…"

Patt shouldn't have taken my swords, he has his own after all. What would he do with mine? Just as Lorist was thinking, the sound of sawing resounded near him again.

Oh, I should go ask that sawing guy. Lorist and Shadekampf went to the yard and Shadekampf asked, "Eidelwoke, have you seen anyone else who've entered our building?"

Eidelwoke thought for quite a while before he stopped sawing and said, "I think Mistress Pesha did…"

Pesha? What did she come here for? Lorist hurriedly asked, "Then, did you see her take anything away?"

Eidelwoke nodded and said, "Yes, she took both of your swords with her. I could recognize the scabbards…"

Now, why would Pesha take my swords? Just as he was wondering, Eidelwoke said, "Mistress Pesha has been wanting to have a personal weapon crafted for her use, however she was unable to procure any good materials and there wasn't any weapon in the family armory that suited her needs. I think she took your swords to Old Smith Alba…"

Upon hearing that, Lorist punched the wall in anger as he thought, what's the meaning of this, Pesha actually dares to take the swords of me, the new family head, and have them used as materials for her own weapon? She's clearly looking down on me. The reason Lorist called her 'Sister Pesha' respectfully was because that was what the original owner of the body remembered her as. But that didn't mean that the current Lorist, a transmigrator, was afraid of her. If he let this incident slide, then would anyone still take him seriously as a family leader?

"Bring me to see Old Smith Alba," said Lorist to Shadekampf in a cold tone.

Lorist was very clear about how much money and precious materials he had used to make his two swords. For example, each Metal-eater Rat teeth that was among the materials of the swords cost one small silver each. Lorist had spent almost ten gold Fordes on nearly a thousand of them and used them to increase the hardness of his swords so that it would be strong enough to be able to withstand strikes from blade glows without prior infusion of any Battle Force. His friends all knew that even though his swords didn't look fancy or amazing, the cost involved in their making greatly exceeded that of most other priceless weapons.

Back in the days when he had just gotten used to his new life in Grindia, he was very confused about the Battle Force ranks of this world. According to his common sense, the ranking of precious metals should start from gold being the most precious, followed by silver, bronze and lastly, iron. However, why was the Iron rank placed above Bronze rank instead? Shouldn't it be the least rare metal of them all?

That bewildering question Lorist had was left unanswered until he attended the knight training course offered by the Dawn Academy. Even though the civilization of Grindia was very similar to that of the Middle Ages on Earth, the main difference was the existence of Battle Force. The lances of the knights in Grindia were also not made of applewood like they were on Earth; the situation of lances shattering into many pieces upon collision as seen on Earth by Lorist from a movie was not possible in this world. Due to Battle Force, the lances in Grindia were more similar to those often seen in video games with the blade in front easily longer than 30 centimeters in length, with some even going up to 60. Upon reaching the Silver rank, a knight would be able to manifest a blade glow and use it to cull weaker enemies easily on the battlefield.

It was when he attended the course that he learned that after the magi invented Battle Force, they discovered a problem. Battle Force practitioners usually didn't have any issues during the first two stages, however when they reached the third stage, they were heavily reliant on weapons. The magi at the time found that common metals were rather bad conductors of Battle Force as they crumbled too quickly after light usage.

Thus, the magi found three types of materials that were suited for Battle Force conduction, namely, Jadebronze, Raresilver and Darkgold. However, the blade glow formed after Jadebronze was infused with Battle Force was rather chaotic whereas Raresilver and Darkgold were exceedingly precious magical materials. Given that the magi themselves didn't have enough of those to experiment with, how would they be able to mass produce weapons for Battle Force practitioners?

That's why the magi started yet another round of experiments and finally found that an alloy of tungsten and Damascus steel was able to withstand infused Battle Force and produce a stable blade glow. The magi thus named that alloy Blackiron and derived the four Battle Force ranks as Jadebronze, Blackiron, Raresilver and Darkgold. Following the end of the magical civilization, materials like Raresilver and Darkgold have faded into obscurity and were nothing but myths of the past. That's why the following generation of people eventually came to know the four simplified ranks as Bronze, Iron, Silver and Gold.

Even though what was known of the magical civilization was often considered mythical, the records on Battle Force research somehow managed to survive the erosion of time and smiths knew that adding tungsten into weapons would allow for blade glows to be stably manifested. As more and more other materials that can efficiently conduct Battle Force were discovered, the craft of forging began to branch off into many varieties. Forging a stellar weapon was no longer as easy as just adding tungsten to the mix.

Sometimes, Lorist felt quite melancholic at the fact that even though the Norton Family dominion was large and vast, there were little to no mineable resource there at all. For the past 200 years, the only place that was discovered to have a copper deposit was the Morgan Hills. However, Charade has once mentioned that given the size of the dominion, there should be more mines just lying in wait to be discovered, since the family has been plagued with problems from the mountain barbarians and the yearly magical beast horde and couldn't spare as much manpower and expense on the forage for resources. Even now, the family didn't even have sufficient materials to craft a single decent weapon.

Pesha's eye for weapons was not bad however, as she had noticed the peculiarity of Lorist's two swords. However, her actions basically amounted to thievery and Lorist was definitely not going to let her off the hook for what she did, especially on his second day as the family leader. This was a form of provocation, and it would set a precedent for her future transgressions against Lorist, who was hierarchically superior to her. It was akin to slapping Lorist straight in his face.

Shadekampf led Lorist to the northwestern corner of the bastide where the smithy was located. A white-haired old man was currently checking out Lorist's swords while shaking his head from time to time. It was obvious that the smith, Alba, was far better at evaluating the quality of weapons than Pesha and understood that it definitely wouldn't be easy for him to melt the weapons down given the equipment he had in his smithy. Pesha was clearly getting more disappointed the more Alba shook his head.

Without saying a word, Lorist took the swords from the smith's hand with a solemn look on his face. Upon seeing the new family leader, Alba quickly paid his respects. Pesha on the other hand gave him a furious glare and shouted, "What the heck are you doing? An Iron rank like you wouldn't need weapons made from quality materials like those. Quickly have it melted down and fashioned into a suitable weapon for me so that I can better protect the family."

Giving the stuck-up young lady a look, Lorist started to feel really annoyed. "On behalf of my late elder brother, I will forgive this error of yours, Mistress Pesha. Also, before the men of the Norton Family all die out, there will be no place for you to defend the family, so you better remember that."

"What are you saying? How dare a trashy Iron rank like you talk to me in that tone? Give the swords to me. Also, the reason I went to see you in the morning was to tell you to let me lead the new defense unit that you just formed. Patt isn't qualified for that position as he has only just broke through to the Silver rank not long ago…" commanded Pesha in a really obnoxious manner.

"Fuck off to whence you came! Don't just stand there and block everyone's way!" shouted Lorist, full of rage.

"Alright, you think you can simply do as you please because you're the family leader? Let me teach a shitty Iron rank like you the power of a Silver rank. I will make sure you remember it," roared Pesha unyieldingly as she drew her sword.

Shadekampf hastily attempted to stop her and said, "Mistress, don't do it. Milord is…"

Wham! A crisp sound rang out as Pesha gave Shadekampf a harsh slap on the face. "Buzz off! Know your place!"

As a saying went, before hitting a dog, one must first gain the agreement of its master. Despite knowing that Shadekampf was Lorist's personal attendant, her act of giving him a slap signified a huge disregard for the authority of the family leader. It seems that she is used to behaving as she likes in the family, thought Lorist, enraged, as he decided that he would definitely put her into place and see if she would dare to piss him off in the future as a mere Two Star Silver rank.

Even though the smithy was at the northwestern part of the bastide, Lorist and Pesha's argument had attracted a lot of attention from surrounding passers-by as numerous servants and soldiers had started to gather around the area. Lorist understood that if he didn't harshly reprimand her for her actions today, his authority as the family leader would definitely fall apart in no time.

Lorist slowly drew his sword and said, "Come, as long as you can take three of my strikes, you will be the one who calls the shots in the bastide in the future."

"Three strikes? You really think too highly of yourself. Let's see how I rough you up…" scoffed Pesha as a blade glow manifested on her sword before she waved it as she rushed over.

Clang! The sword in Pesha's hand instantly broke into two while Lorist had his longsword pressed onto her neck.

"You… You're just relying on your superior blade!" said Pesha as she fervently tried to deny the results of the duel by using that as an excuse.

"Fine, I won't even use a sword. Come," said Lorist as he sheathed his longsword back into its scabbard and tossed both his swords to Shadekampf before he found himself a 1-meter-long wooden stick which he wielded in place of a sword.

Pesha then rushed into the smithy, rummaged around for a large two-handed sword and once again manifested her blade glow and swung it in Lorist's direction.

Pang! The wooden stick clashed into the two-handed sword mid-air and knocked the latter flying off into the distance before it was once again pressed against Pesha's neck.

"Aaah!" Pesha let out a sharp scream which started Lorist. During his bewilderment, she took the opportunity to go back into the smithy before coming back out with a pike and had its point aimed for Lorist…

With but a slight movement of his body, Lorist evaded the pike and swung his wooden stick and knocked the pike out of Pesha's hand. However, she scrambled around for an axe once again…

Losing his patience, Lorist evaded the axe swing and used his stick to strike Pesha in the neck. The axe-holding, red-haired demoness gradually lost her balance and fell towards the ground face-first…

When she regained consciousness, she noticed that she was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall. Alba, who was in the middle of his work, said, "Mistress, even though I'm also an Iron rank trash, even I can tell that the family leader's swordsmanship is superior to yours by several magnitudes. You are far from being his match. According to Shadekampf, the family leader had challenged over 3000 Silver ranked swordsmen without a single loss at Morante City and is known as Iron Locke, the Silver Undefeated…"

...

After giving Pesha the lesson she deserved, Lorist started to make his way back with Shadekampf. Just as they turned at a corner, they saw Supervisor Kedan, who hurriedly paid his respects and said, "Milord, are you heading to Wildnorth Town now?"

Knight Belnick

"Why would Knight Belnick spend three whole years just to recover from his injuries?" Lorist asked.

He was currently within a roofed, two-wheeled horse carriage with Shadekampf. Supervisor Kedan was personally driving and guiding the two Northlander Horses in the direction of Wildnorth Town.

"Milord, that's because our family bastide doesn't have a herbalist. The only herbalist within our dominion is the family head of the Dunbarsen Family of Wildnorth Town. He is mainly responsible for Sir Belnick's treatment," replied Kedan.

"The Dunbarsen Family? Tell me about their background," said Lorist.

Kedan started explaining as he drove. "Milord, when the Norton Family first started recruiting for the garrison force, the first generation family leader of the Dunbarsens, an apprentice herbalist, was one of the first people who joined. When the standard of living of his family started to get better, he sent his son to his former herbalist teacher to learn the craft. Ten years later, his son returned as a rank 1 herbalist to the town and followed in his father's footsteps to join the garrison. After that, it had become a family tradition for the descendants of the Dunbarsen Family to become herbalists or apprentice herbalists.

"The Norton Family has tried several times to recruit the people from the Dunbarsen Family, but all of those attempts have been refused. The Nortons couldn't force them either because they were the only herbalist family in the whole of the dominion. However, we made an agreement so that they would help treat our injured family soldiers. The relationship between the Dunbarsens and the Nortons have been like that for the past 200 years or so. That's why Knight Belnick was sent to Wildnorth Town to recuperate from his injuries."

"What is the situation of WIldnorth Town right now?" Lorist asked.

"Milord, it is currently being controlled by the four great families of the garrison force. For the past 200 or so years, the garrison force have weathered over the years and it was common to see different families' being in charge of it. Currently, Wildnorth Town's garrison is jointly controlled by the Dunbarsen Family, the Mollin Family, the Hassen Family and the Qubim Family. The first illegitimate son of the Old Master, Molocinque, was born of a woman of the Mollin Family. This is why the Mollins and the other three families are supporting Molocinque to become the next family head with the precondition that after he gains power, he would take in the four families as vassal nobles and grant them the title of knights and officially enfeoff the land of Wildnorth Town to them as their dominion so that the town will be able to lawfully escape the control of the Norton Family."

On the Grindia Continent, noble families usually didn't grant their knights their own pieces of land, but rather a bastide and a yearly salary. That was also dependent on the knight's Battle Force rank. Silver ranked family knights were usually paid a yearly bonus and only those who have served a family for ten years would be able to obtain a bastide for themselves, which can be inherited by their descendants along with the noble title of a knight. That was why on Grindia, becoming a family knight of a landed noble was akin to being granted quasi-nobility.

When a noble family recruits a Gold ranked knight, or when one of their Silver ranked knights break through to the Gold rank, the family will have to start considering granting them with one such bastide. Normally, a knight's bastide included a castle, more than 600000 square meters of farmland as well as large lands for livestock grazing or mountains or lakes. Some knight bastides even had small villages or towns.

Even though that Lorist had recruited many good friends as his family knights, he would definitely have to start planning for their bastides to be built the moment they reach the Northlands and start settling down. However, he wasn't too worried about it as he believed that Charade would be able to take care of that matter for him flawlessly.

However, noble families granting their knights proper dominions were not without precedent. But it was usually only restricted to knights who have entered the realm of Blademasters or those who have made great achievements during their service. For example, the two Blademasters working for the Second Prince each have a small city or town that they were given total control of. The other reason for granting a proper dominion was due to the large size of the noble's own dominion. Usually, nobles with high ranks would grant their knights with lower-ranked noble titles and smaller dominions to make them their vassal noble families.

The families of the garrison of the Wildnorth Town actually had their eyes on knight dominions. Their explicit ambitions and intentions could be seen as a challenge to the authority of the Nortons. Should their plan actually work out, they would be able to leave the status of peasants and step into the realm of nobility. Even if they were still vassal nobles of the Norton Family, they had near-complete autonomy over their lands and could even ignore the orders of the Norton Family.

"Their ambitions are but a pipe dream," commented Lorist coldly. Given how well-informed Supervisor Kedan seemed to be about the situation of Wildnorth Town as well as their plans and intentions, he should've been quite wary of them for some time now.

Even though the walls of Wildnorth Town was within sight from the family bastide, it took up to 40 minutes of travel by a horse-pulled carriage to arrive at the area. Currently, the gates of the town were wide open and four unenthusiastic pike-wielding garrison soldiers could be seen chatting away. Seeing the carriage approach, they intended to stop it from passing. However, upon seeing Kedan at the coachman's seat, they merely waved and let them into the town without question.

"Milord, not one of the garrison soldiers were present during your inheritance ceremony yesterday. During your visit to Knight Belnick, if you see any of those garrison troops, please restrain yourself and endure it as we are currently in their territory…" reminded Supervisor Kedan earnestly.

Lorist lightly humphed to indicate that he had his own plans as he looked at the scenery of the town from within the carriage.

Like most small towns, Wildnorth Town only had two main gates, one at the north and the other at the south. A large road connected the two gates and effectively split the town into two halves. In the middle of the large road was a small plaza and at its south was a large mansion usually for the use of the Norton Family members built from wood and stone which gave off a bold and rugged look. However, during the years when the Nortons did not make their way into the town, it had started to deteriorate due to lack of maintenance.

At the northern part of the plaza was a small, grey-colored hill where the blowhole, which served as the town's main water source, was located. Deep waterways were made along the hill so that the water from the blowhole could be transported to various parts of the town for the use of its citizens.

Lorist noticed that many of the buildings atop the hill were made of stone and the roads there were far cleaner than the rest. There were even a couple of shops opened there. However, at the south of the plaza where the dominion lord's mansion was located, the houses were mostly constructed from miscellaneous materials with some being mere shacks rather than proper buildings.

"Milord, most of the residents of the stone houses of the northern part of the plaza are the family members of the garrison soldiers whereas those at the south are family members of deceased soldiers of our family. Even though many of them have familial relations with the garrison soldiers of Wildnorth Town, they didn't receive any aid or care from them and are instead treated like second-rate citizens of the town. Apart from them, the descendants of the previous ruling families of Wildnorth Town are also there. Their treatment within the town was the worst, causing many of them to join our family force during the past few recruitment drives," explained Kedan.

"Right now, what is the population of the town?" Lorist asked.

"The last population survey that the family had conducted was around 100 years ago, and the town had 3459 residents at that time. On the other hand, the people of the town who worked and lived in the family bastide numbered around 1842 people, making the total population of Wildnorth Town around 5000. In present day, there are more than 2700 people of Wildnorth Town living within the bastide, and the residents of the town itself is estimated to be around 5000 people. However, according to my observations, there should be a total of 7000 residents of WIldnorth Town. Just the four great families of the town alone have around 400 people each. Other than the official garrison soldiers, they can still rally more than 100 private soldiers. That's the main reason why the four families are able to reign over Wildnorth Town."

"Where did the four families get all that funding?" Lorist wondered.

"Milord, they've occupied half of the farmable land of the town, given that 80 out of the 200 members of the garrison troop are from the four great families. The families who have lost their right to be in the garrison either faded into obscurity or became serfs of the four great families to manage their farms for them. Also, they've been conducting a smuggling operation because the family refused to give them a proper permit to form a merchant convoy. The main commodities they smuggle are the salt they produce as well as the fur and pelts they get from hunting. Milord, we're here. Sir Belnick resides within the dominion lord's mansion," said Kedan as he stopped the carriage and helped open the doors.

After Lorist and Shadekampf got off, Supervisor Kedan went up to the closed door of the mansion and called out to the people within, prompting a young man to come out to receive them.

"Casey, move the carriage to the backyard. I've brought the lord to meet Sir Belnick," said Kedan to the young fellow.

"The lord?" The young man was stunned and he took a look at Lorist, before he quietly went to tend to the carriage without asking any more questions.

"Milord, this way," guided Kedan. They went into the mansion from a side entrance and passed through a corridor and a courtyard before they arrived at a small hut to the left of the mansion.

"Sir Belnick is staying here to recover from his injuries, milord," said the supervisor.

Lorist pushed the door to the hut open and saw a white-haired youth struggling to stand up.

"It's you… Big brother tough guy…" Lorist's memories of that man during his childhood suddenly flashed past his eyes. The white-haired young knight repeatedly tossed and caught the 8-year-old Lorist up and down in the air, causing him to laugh out ceaselessly. That knight was one of the most favored squires of Lorist's father and was also the person who Lorist loved the most to spend time with. The young Lorist frequently called him big brother tough guy because he thought that being able to toss him high up was a great display of strength…

Belnick tried hard to stand up, but later discovered that he was unable to get off the chair no matter how hard he tried. "Little Locke, it's been long since we last met. I didn't expect that during our first reunion in so long, you have already become the dominion lord. I should address you as milord now."

"Yeah, it's been more than ten years. Back when I was 10, you've already vanished. I cried so hard back then," said Lorist as he got to the side of the chair and sat down on a stool.

"That's right, I was young back then and wanted to venture to all sorts of places. That's why I left the dominion for my travels. However, I didn't know that you've been exiled to Morante City until after I returned 5 years later," said Belnick as he laughed.

"Big brother tough guy, what's going on with your body?" Lorist asked.

"Milord, just call me Beck. You've already grown up into a magnificent dominion lord, the way you call me will make you a laughing stock," said Belnick seriously.

"As for my body, it's already ruined. Didn't you see it yourself just now? I didn't even have enough energy to stand up. Ooof…" said the white-haired young knight with an extremely melancholic expression.

"But, big brothe– Alright, Brother Beck, I've never heard of anyone who still couldn't recover after three years. Can you tell me about your injuries back then?" Lorist hurriedly asked.

"Back then, I was riding tens of meters behind the Third Young Master. Nobody would've imagined that a Northlander Bear, a ferocious magical beast, would show up at a forest nearby the livestock farm of the dominion. That bear was easily over four meters tall and it suddenly rushed over to our group, greatly stunning all of us. The Third Young Master's horse was so startled it stood right up and shook him off its back. However, one of the young master's feet was still in the stirrups, causing him to be dragged along as the horse ran around rampantly in fear. I quickly tossed my pike and nailed the horse onto the ground to stop it.

"However, the scent of blood from the dead horse stimulated the Northlander Bear and it rushed towards it instantly. The Third Young Master's feet at that moment was still caught in the stirrup and his whole body was also pressed to the ground by the dead horse. The garrison soldiers around us all fled in fear and I had no choice but to throw my only sword over to stop the bear. That sword dug into the bear's lower rib and enraged it even further and caused it to change its target to me instead. After being chased around by it for quite a while, I was knocked flying with only one hit from its paw. As I laid on the ground and looked at the incoming bear, I picked up a pike that was dropped by one of the garrison soldiers that escaped and infused the last of my Battle Force into the blade and managed to give the Northlander Bear a finishing stab before I lost consciousness."

Even though Belnick sounded very casual when he recounted the events of that day, Lorist could already imagine the danger and terror that he must have been in. Northlander Bears were the most fearsome beasts in the Northlands. Normally, the best move a Silver rank could make was to escape the moment one was encountered. Otherwise, he would most probably not be able to return alive.

"By the time I awoke, I got to know that three days had already passed. Master Dunbarsen said that it was practically a miracle that I managed to survive at all. Due to getting a hit from that magical beast, all of my ribs on the right side broke and many of my internals were pulverized. The Lord Baron had ordered for me to be sent to Wildnorth Town to recover and my condition only managed to stabilize after a year. Even so, during the past two years, my injuries kept acting up and caused me to be unable to continue training in Battle Force. Even though I wanted to attend your inheritance ceremony last night, I spat out black blood after only a little movement. Milord, sometimes I wonder why I didn't die along with that bear… That's far more straightforward. To be alive in this state is to some degree, torturous…"

Lorist furrowed his brow and said, "What did Master Dunbarsen say about this?"

Belnick lied back down onto his chair and said helplessly, "Master Dunbarsen also said that there was nothing he could do to help me because most of my injuries are internal and many of my organs are already ruptured. That's why even though my bones recovered rather quickly, the internal organs didn't and I'm not able to do any exercise at all, not even jogging. To prevent the recovery of my organs from being affected, I can't even eat bread or beef and can only have two bowls of oatmeal with salt every day with one small bowl of meat soup every three days. Milord, I've really had enough of days like these…"

Lorist expressed his sympathy and lifted up Belnick's hand before he lightly patted it as a gesture of consolation while he secretly tried to read his pulse.

Suddenly, Lorist's face flushed red from anger and a seething killing intent oozed out of his being. His voice suddenly turned deathly cold, causing the hairs of the people present to stand up as he said, "That cursed bastard…"

Enticement

Lorist had already been rather suspicious of the situation even before he arrived at the town. What kind of injury could cause a Three Star Silver knight of the family to be unable to recover even after three whole years?

Given that he had taken the herbalist course at Dawn Academy before, even though he didn't have proper certification as a rank 1 herbalist because that would require one year of practical training in the field and Lorist didn't have the time for that, the fact that he had been able to complete the course meant that he was already a qualified apprentice herbalist. Combined with the ancestral medical techniques of his former life, Lorist wasn't a stranger to the inner workings of the body.

During his herbalist training, Lorist understood that in this world where Battle Force exists, no matter how serious the injury sustained, with proper treatment and the use of Battle Force, most injuries to the body would be able to recover. Even if one's arm or leg were to be cut off, as long as it wasn't missing, it could be reconnected. Even if the whole of the body's bones were broken, it wouldn't leave a permanent trauma on the body after recovery. There was a case where two Blademasters engaged in battle with the loser sustaining serious injuries to the point where his body was almost completely pulverized with him barely able to breathe. But after a year and a half's time of treatment, the loser could once again move freely without issue and was able to retrain his Battle Force to its previous level before the injury.

When Lorist was reading Belnick's pulse just before, he noticed that his physical injuries had long recovered and the reason he was so weak and frail was because he was being poisoned for the long term with force-dispersing toxin!

Thinking back at the food that was served to Belnick, Lorist didn't have to be a genius to figure out that Master Dunbarsen was behind all this. Even though he's only a rank 1 herbalist, he dares to call himself a master… Ptooey! How shameless. After regularly feeding Belnick with force-dispersing toxin, he caused him to be completely unable to recover his Battle Force. The meager meals he's been having has also made him extremely feeble! Just by blaming all the symptoms on Belnick's 'ruptured internal organs', he's managed to trick a Three Star Silver ranked knight like him for this long a time!

Three years ago, Belnick, one of the Norton Family's most important military backbones, had been put out of commission just like that. Had he recovered quickly enough, father might have survived the battle with the barbarians! And if he were still protecting the family, then the Kenmayses wouldn't have dared to set their sights on us.

And just because we didn't have a Three Star Silver ranked knight to rely on, the garrison forces dared to not heed the orders for reinforcements of the family during father's expedition to repel the barbarians and even started to dream of breaking free from their status as peasants… At that moment, Lorist started to get angrier and angrier as the air around him turned cold from the killing intent he emanated.

"Curses…" Lorist really felt like killing Master Dunbarsen and culling the rest of his family in one fell swoop. He solemnly swore that he would definitely not let any one of the Dunbarsen Family off unscathed.

Even though Belnick was currently very weak, given his experience during his travels, while he was startled at Lorist's sudden change, he still thought that it was because Lorist was grieving at his body's current state. He smiled and patted the back of Lorist's hands before he said, "Don't feel too down, milord. I'm already used to this. One day, all this suffering will come to an end…"

"Brother Beck, you can no longer stay over here. I will bring you back to the family bastide and find a way to cure you," said Lorist.

Belnick looked at him in a confused manner before he took a deep breath and said, "Alright, milord. I've also gotten sick of staying here. For the past three years, I feel like I've been imprisoned within this small hut. I've always dreamed of going back to the bastide…"

"Without my permission, you won't be going anywhere…" said a rough voice which sounded from behind Lorist and Belnick.

"Oh, Master Dunbarsen, you're here," said Belnick softly.

Lorist turned exceedingly slowly to his back and saw a proud, arrogant old man with eyes as deep as the abyss itself wearing a black long gown with a grey leather vest over it.

"So you're the herbalist they call Dunbarsen?" said Lorist as he carefully enunciated each syllable of his question.

The old man gave Lorist a glance and didn't pay him any heed as if he didn't even acknowledge his existence before he circled around Belnick and said with his unsettling, crow-like caw, "Beck, your body is in a real terrible state now. Yesterday when you wanted to go back to the bastide to attend the inheritance ceremony, due to your unstable emotional state, the positions of your internal organs have once again shifted, rendering months of treatment and effort wasted. For your own sake, you'd be better off staying here without going anywhere."

"Dogshit!" Lorist roared. "Old man, why don't you just admit that it's your treatment's inefficacy that's at fault?! Three years ago when Brother Beck was injured from his encounter with the Northlander Bear, he could still travel to the bastide and to Wildnorth Town for treatment with some help. However, after your years of 'treatment', why would he be unable to take a single step on his own? Isn't his current state worse than before he came here at all? I think it's because of the incompetence of a self-proclaimed herbalist master like you that Brother Beck is in his current state. Brother Beck, I am bringing you back. At most, I'll be spending a couple of gold coins to hire a proper high-ranked herbalist to treat you. Don't worry, money is not something I lack."

The moment Lorist let out his outburst, the old man started to look disturbed. "Who are you? What are you doing here? Who allowed you to enter this hut?"

"Hahaha… Who am I? Brother Beck, introduce me to that old geezer," said Lorist.

"Master Dunbarsen, he's the new dominion lord and this town is within his dominion. It would do you good to pay him your respects…" said Belnick.

"This… this one gives his respects to the dominion lord," said the old man in a forced manner.

"Good thing you understand your place, old man. Otherwise, I would've ended you personally with my sword. Considering the effort that you must've made to help Brother Beck, even though he didn't get better at all, I'll forgive your transgression. Now, you shouldn't be against me bringing him back to the bastide, right?" announced Lorist with his hand on the handle of his sword.

The old man's started sweating more profusely as he said hesitantly, "Since milord believes it is the best course of action, I have no further comments. Please allow me to excuse myself to prepare the necessary medicines that Beck will need to consume back at the bastide so that his injuries don't worsen…"

"Alright, I give you one hour to prepare it," Lorist said.

Seeing the old man quickly exit the hut, Lorist looked at Belnick, who was currently wearing an extremely confused expression. He lightly squatted down and whispered, "Brother Beck, from this moment onwards, do not consume any food or drink unless I say you can, understand?"

Belnick's body shook with realization as he said, "You're saying… I understand."

One hour quickly passed, but Dunbarsen still hadn't returned with the medicine.

Supervisor Kedan then came to report, "Milord, a few of the squad leaders of the Wildnorth Town garrison and the other family heads of the four great families have come to pay their respects. Please be wary as they probably didn't come with the best of intentions."

...

"These here are, the Mollin, Hassen and Qubim family heads as well as garrison squad leaders, Mollin, Hassen and Qubim. Oh, please watch out for that pothole on the ground. This one is Squad Leader Dunbarsen, and Master Dunbarsen, which you have just met previously," said Kedan as he introduced the people present one by one to Lorist.

Every one of them greeted Lorist respectfully with Lorist returning their greetings by nodding subtly.

When the last one came over, Lorist laughed and said, "Master Dunbarsen, did you bring the medicines? Oh, it must be in this bag. Shadekampf, take it and don't forget to ask the master on how it should be consumed. What? You'll demonstrate right now? Hehe, there's no rush. Come on, master. Sit over here. We'll get to that after we discuss some stuff."

When everyone was seated, Lorist looked at each one of them before he began, "Given that you have all assembled here, there must be something that you want to tell me. I'll be returning soon to settle some other matters, so please get straight to the point."

A fat old man stood up. According to Kedan's introductions, he was the family head of the Mollins. The fat man made a greeting and explained their intentions.

The Mollin family head first apologized for their absence during Lorist���s inheritance ceremony and cited the reason that they didn't have the face to show up as they had not managed to prepare a congratulatory gift in time. That's why the moment they heard that the dominion lord had come over to visit, they all rushed over to offer their respects and mentioned that they would once again send someone to the bastide to deliver their gifts at a later date.

Lorist magnanimously said, "I don't really mind things like that, but I thank you for your kind intentions. I will naturally be glad to receive your gift by the time it arrives."

After the pleasantries, they started talking about the core issues. The Mollin family head represented the garrison force to voice an objection to the Norton Family for their lack of communication during the last two years and the salary they owed the garrison force during that timeframe. Even though one garrison soldier's payment is only 1 imperial silver coin per month, 200 of their salaries over 2 years amounted to 48 imperial gold coins and that was not a small sum.

The second issue concerned the promise of the founding Norton Family ancestor with the garrison force of Wildnorth Town on the granting of roughly 7000 square meters of farmland per family member of a garrison soldier. Now that most of the farmable land around Wildnorth Town had been allocated, many family members of garrison soldiers did not obtain their fair share of farmland. They hoped that Lorist would rectify the issue as the new dominion lord so that the promise of the first ancestor doesn't get violated.

The third issue was about the relative size of the population and the amount of land they had. According to the Mollin family head, many of the family members of the garrison soldiers did not have much to do within the town. He requested Lorist to give them a few permits so that the citizens of the town who have nothing better to do can form their own merchant convoys to conduct trade. Naturally, the merchant convoys would still pay 10% of their profit to the dominion lord as per the agreed upon tax rates.

Lorist kept smiling and nodding throughout the proposals as if he agreed wholeheartedly to the points made by the Mollin family head. But within his mind, a cold resolve was slowly building up. So they're actually treating me as a complete idiot. You really think I don't know the true reason you lot of trash have come to see me? The real thing you want are the trade permits so that you can use the Norton Family name to form your own merchant convoy. Without the permit, no other merchant convoy would agree to trade with you and you can only secretly smuggle and profit on a much smaller scale.

Also, the 'agreed upon tax rates' of 10% is complete bull. While it is not unprecedented for dominion lords to give their subjects trade permits, the tax rates are usually around 30 to 50 percent. Some greedier dominion lords even charge up to 70%, which is not that uncommon. Did they think that the tax rates for trading would be the same as that of being a citizen of the dominion?

When the family head of the Mollins finished up, Lorist expressed his apologies on the issue of the delayed salary and explained that he only got to know about it just now given that he had just inherited the position. He promised that he would definitely look into the matter once he returns and make the appropriate reimbursements. Lorist also mentioned that he brought 10000 gold Fordes on his trip back to the dominion, and, according to the exchange rates, 48 imperial gold coins were only worth 12 gold Fordes. He assured them that a small figure like that was no issue and that it would definitely be paid out.

As for the second matter, Lorist said that the main problem was with the flawed system his ancestor had established. However, he said that he was confident that he would be able to solve it and asked them to listen to and consider his proposal.

"Supervisor Kedan, how much farmland does Wildnorth Town have?" Lorist asked.

"Milord, there are around 18 million square meters of farmland, or around 18 square kilometers, in the whole of Wildnorth Town," replied Supervisor Kedan.

"Here's what I think…" Lorist said. "I plan to expand the garrison force of Wildnorth Town to 400 people."

"What?!" The several family leaders and squad leaders jointly let out a cry of surprise. The past few Norton family leaders had tried their very best to limit the scale of the garrison force, or even outright disband them altogether. Why, then, did Lorist make a proposition like that?

"Milord, how do you plan to make up for the lack of farmland?" the Hassen family head stood up and asked.

"Farmland? Farmland is everywhere," laughed Lorist as he said, "Using Wildnorth Town as an example, say that there are 18 million square meters of farmland at Wildnorth Town. For a garrison force of 400 men, let's assume every one of them and their direct family members include their parents, two wives, and two children, and that each person is given around 7000 square meters of farmland, each family would only need a little more than 40000 square meters of farmland, right? So 400 garrison soldiers only require approximately 16 million square meters."

"But… But milord, those garrison soldiers have other family members as well, like their siblings…" shouted the Mollin family head.

"There's no need to shout, I have a solution for that. Supervisor Kedan, bring me the map of the dominion," instructed Lorist.

The map was quickly unraveled on the table for everyone to see.

"Look here, the land around this area is relatively flat and is not too far away from Wildnorth Town. I plan to have a new town built here. When it is complete, the area of the land around the town is more or less equal to that of Wildnorth Town's. So, if I set up another garrison unit there, then I can distribute the land just like we did at Wildnorth Town, right?" said Lorist casually.

"But, milord… That place occasionally gets attacked by mountain barbarians…"

"So what? I've hired a well-known mercenary group over here just for that purpose. It's fine and dandy if the barbarians don't attack. But if they do, we can catch and enslave them to aid with the construction of the new town! Nobody complains about free labor! Also, just because there are barbarians there, you plan to turtle up in Wildnorth Town for the rest of your lives? Look at this vast land. There is so much potential for development! Also, the expanded garrison force must also be stationed at the town construction site for the long term. Given that the remaining 2 million square meters at Wildnorth Town that are still without owner, I plan to split it into three parts of 666 thousand square meters each and enfeoff them to three honorary knights respectively and let the citizens of the town pick one from the three to be the mayor of Wildnorth Town with the other two being the vice mayors," said Lorist as he dangled his bait before the eyes of the family heads and the squad leaders.

"Mi–milord… Is what you're saying… true?" Quite a number of them started to get excited about the proposition.

"Of course, I'm sure you guys know that I've been studying at Morante City for the past ten years. This method of government is quite popular over there as it is one of the most democratic ones to ever exist. I plan to slowly implement that in the dominion as well. Supervisor Kedan, for the next few days, stay at Wildnorth Town and make a registry of the family members of the deceased family soldiers as well as the citizens who don't have any farmland. I plan to have them help out with the construction of the new town. What do you think, gentlemen?" Lorist said.

"This… This sounds pretty good. We definitely agree to that proposition…"

It's a given that you do. Heck, maybe you can't even wait for those people I asked Kedan to check on to leave Wildnorth Town for good, thought Lorist. With a calm look on his face, he said, "That's great. I'll leave the expansion of the garrison force to you. It's best if you start allocating farmland to the candidates for the new garrison force. As for those who don't have farmland allocated to them, let them help out with the construction effort of the new town as well. This way, there will no longer be any problems. I'm counting on you guys and will definitely remember your efforts."

"Milord, what about the trade permit?" said Master Dunbarsen with his rough, unpleasant voice.

"About that, I apologize but due to being in conflict with the Kenmays Family, Viscount Kenmays has sealed off all our routes to exit the Northlands. Let's discuss it again after we defeat the Kenmayses and gain control of the pathway to the outside world," Lorist said.

Midway Skirmish

"Milord, what are you being so careful about?" asked Belnick, who was currently leaning against the walls of the horse carriage.

Having bid the four family heads and the garrison squad leaders farewell, right after the horse carriage exited the range of vision from the town, Lorist ordered Shadekampf to slow down and gave him a shield before instructing him to be careful. After that, he took another shield and covered Belnick's body with it before he took out a few javelins and placed them within hand's reach and patiently waited.

"Sigh, if Patt were here with me, it would've been so much easier. Shadekampf, even though I've been forcing you to train your Battle Force, you've only just made it to the Iron rank not long ago. You're not of much use on the battlefield at all," complained Lorist.

Shadekampf responded, "But milord, you've just said not long ago that I was better suited at management tasks rather than battles. Why are you calling me useless now?!"

Lorist said, "Even so, you should learn from Charade's example. He's definitely up to par with you when it comes to management, but he's a Three Star Silver rank nevertheless. In another two years, I believe he'll be able to make another breakthrough."

"Milord, how can you compare me to Sir Charade? He's someone who's fit to become a prime minister! I can only manage a bastide at best," said Shadekampf, obviously understanding the extent of his skills relative to Charade's.

Seeing the two arguing casually as they made their preparations, Belnick, who was bandaged all over and even covered with a shield, couldn't help but ask what was going on.

Lorist replied, "Hmmm, Brother Beck, don't you think something's fishy? Even though I didn't let you drink Master Dunbarsen's medicine, your condition is still stable as it was just now. What was that about not being able to move your body in fear of unsettling your organs? That's nothing but bullcrap. You've been hoodwinked by that so-called master for two whole years. He's been feeding you force-dispersing toxin for the whole time, causing you to be unable to circulate your Battle Force to restore your body. It's like you were being imprisoned at Wildnorth Town for three whole years."

"Cough… Cough cough…" After Belnick listened to what Lorist had said, before he managed to say anything in reply, the cold breeze outside had caused him to cough rather severely.

Lorist helped to readjust Belnick's coverings and patted on his back to soothe the coughing. "Don't talk, Brother Beck. I know what you're trying to say. Why would they do this to you, right? Shadekampf, tell him about the current situation of the family from the moment Brother Beck left the bastide three years ago to Wildnorth Town."

Shadekampf started from how the Old Master died from the refusal of the garrison to heed their orders and the attack of the Kenmays Family as well as his journey to Morante City to find Lorist to return to the Northlands to inherit the dominion. Just as he was about to get to the part about the convoy, several people appeared within their field of vision.

6 riders with black cloths veiled around their faces emerged from the forest further up ahead. Armed with their crossbows, they started aiming at Lorist's group as they diverged and attempted to flank them.

"Shadekampf, disperse the horses and secure the carriage to the ground. After that, get back in here to make sure Brother Beck is protected," instructed Lorist.

Shadekampf quickly stopped the horses and pushed the sharp-tipped rod that acted as a handbrake for the carriage deep into the ground to secure it. After that, he quickly untied the harnesses around the horses so that they don't destabilize the carriage should they get startled and run around frantically. Following that, he jumped back to the passenger seat and lifted his shield up to protect himself and Belnick.

Lorist had already gotten on horseback after Shadekampf untied the harnesses and prodded the horse's abdomen by tightening both his legs and rushed forward to one of the riders at his right. With one hand holding tight to the horse's reins, he used his free hand to grab a javelin and managed to knock away an incoming crossbow bolt.

Aside from the rider who was rushing at Lorist, the other 5 had their attention on the carriage and within but a short moment, the shields set up around the carriage had taken more than 10 hits from the crossbow bolts.

Having deflected two arrows heading his way, Lorist neared his enemy as time went on. Noticing that his crossbow was not having any effect, the opposing rider humphed coldly as he put it away and drew his sword in preparation for the collision. A blade glow manifested around his sword: the enemy was actually a Silver ranked combatant. However, Lorist was curious about the unstable blade glow of the assailant which flickered from time to time unpredictably.

As the two were but meters from each other, the enemy raised his sword high and aimed for Lorist's head. On the other hand, Lorist used his javelin as he would a lance and successfully parried the incoming slash. Just as the enemy was wondering why the javelin had not broken into two from being struck by his blade glow, it had already found its way deep into his throat…

With a kick, Lorist knocked the dead rider off his horse and jumped onto it, effectively switching from an ill-equipped workhorse to a properly saddled mount.

Having noted that their crossbows were not able to pierce the shields set up around the carriage, the frontmost rider drew his sword as he approached. At that moment, a javelin soared through the air and pierced that rider before it knocked him off his horse with its momentum. Having had his chest punctured, the rider on the ground took his last breath after struggling for a moment in pain.

The remaining four riders were greatly surprised and turned to the direction where the javelin came from, only to see Lorist approaching at high velocity. The leader pointed to Lorist and roared, "Let's take care of him first!"

Even though three of the four riders' swords had blade glows, Lorist charged among their ranks fearlessly…

In an instant, the five of them crossed swords and thunderous sounds rang throughout the battlefield.

Lorist turned his horse in the other direction as he witnessed three of the four riders wobble and fall from their horses. The lucky surviving one had a pale look on his face as he stared at his fallen comrades before he snapped out of it and attempted to escape while screaming at the top of his lungs upon seeing Lorist catching up to him.

Lorist let out a cold smile and said, "Do you think you can run?" He took out the crossbow that was slung from the saddle, loaded it, aimed and pulled the trigger. The crossbow bolt pierced squarely through the back of the escaping rider and with a loud grunt, he fell off his horse.

He then returned to the carriage and knocked onto the shield with his sword. "Shadekampf, come out and go clean up the battlefield."

The shield moved apart and revealed Shadekampf's face. "Milord, is it over?"

"Yup, none of the 6 who attacked us escaped."

"Alright. Milord, I���ll be on it right away," said Shadekampf before he climbed up and excitedly headed towards the corpses.

Lorist got back onto the carriage and helped Belnick sit up, only to notice the streams of tears that were streaking down his face.

"Brother Beck, what's wrong?"

"How… How can they do this?! This is rebellion! Without the Norton Family, they wouldn't be able to enjoy their current lives! How can they have no gratitude at all?!" mumbled Belnick.

"Gratitude? Haha…" Lorist started laughing out loud before he continued, "Brother Beck, you think far too well of them. 200 years ago when the ancestor of our family accepted them as citizens of the dominion, most of them were con men, vagabonds, criminals, thieves, gamblers and debtors. It was precisely because those people had nowhere better to go that they accepted the ancestor's invitation to live in the desolate Northlands. The founding Norton ancestor took them in as folks of his dominion and even aided in the construction of their town so that they could settle down. However, have they ever showed any sign of appreciation for his efforts? No. In fact, they even exploited the loopholes in the flawed conditions my ancestor offered to take advantage of my family. Had it not been for the benevolence of my ancestor, something like that would never have been allowed to continue. From their point of view, the absence of the Norton Family might even give them more freedom.

"It's a shame that the society here on the Grindia Continent is dominated by nobles, and there are no rewards for people who don't put in any effort. Their ancestors have effectively sealed off any chance of the people of Wildnorth Town to be able to work their way up the ladder of society, as they prioritized the short-term benefits too heavily to the point that our family doesn't treat them as our own and even put up our guard towards them as we would our enemies. For example, even though they were able to train in Battle Force, nobody from our family gave them any proper training and instruction about it. They couldn't even acquire a merchant's permit. However, given their peasant status, they should be thankful that the Norton Family doesn't exploit them like most other nobles would their own citizens. That's why they are so desperate for a quasi-noble title from our family."

"But didn't you just allow them to expand their forces and even said that you were prepared to grant them three honorary knight titles?" Belnick asked after recalling the proposition Lorist had made to the four families of Wildnorth Town.

"That's right, I've mention that I would prepare to do that, but I didn't say when. If they really want that title, they must carry out my orders without question until I am satisfied. And to satisfy me can take up to tens of years. Maybe their family wouldn't exist anymore by then," said Lorist.

Well, their extermination is a given. When Charade and the rest of the convoy arrives, the first thing I on my to-do-list would be the extermination of Wildnorth Town, thought Lorist hatefully.

"Milord, you will definitely make a great dominion lord," said Belnick.

"Naturally. That's what I think too," said Lorist narcissistically as he nodded with full seriousness.

...

"Milord, it's done," said Shadekampf as he brought five other mounts back to the carriage. On the saddles of the mounts were the armor and weapons as well as other miscellaneous supplies of the attackers. Not far away, 6 buck naked corpses could be seen completely stripped of all their belongings. Shadekampf hurriedly tied two of the horses to pull the carriage.

By the time Shadekampf was almost finished, Belnick said, "Shadekampf, drive the carriage over there and let me see if there is anyone I recognize."

Shadekampf agreed and fastened the harnesses of the other 5 horses to the back of the carriage before he drove it to the pile of bodies.

Lorist helped prop up Belnick so he could look at the faces of the six corpses.

"I know two of them. The one to the farmost left is Master Dunbarsen's nephew. Two years ago while I was still recovering, Casey and him helped me with my baths. He frequently asked me about Silver ranked Battle Force training as well. In the beginning, I answered quite a number of his questions. However, after I noticed something was amiss, I stopped entertaining him completely. Thinking back, it was from that point onwards when he stopped visiting and my 'injuries' started to worsen, which Master Dunbarsen blamed on the damage of my internal organs," said Belnick.

"And that bearded guy in the middle is some relative of Master Dunbarsen. He came to the hut quite a number of times and even brought me fruits. He was the one who told me about the death of the Old Master, however, he didn't mention anything about the outside world other than that. I really don't understand why they didn't do anything when the Kenmays Family attacked. They definitely had the ability to defeat the viscount's forces… Don't tell me they don't understand that without the Norton Family, they would lose their only backbone for survival?"

After Lorist helped Belnick back into his sitting position, he pointed towards the arrow-filled shield and said, "Didn't you see that? Their target was you. They want to wipe you out so nobody will be able to find out that you've been poisoned by Master Dunbarsen once you recover from not consuming the toxin. I'm sure they've been plotting to kill you for the past two years to deal a fatal blow to the forces of our family. The people of Wildnorth Town don't even consider themselves as the citizens of the Norton Family dominion and never had any intention to weather the good and bad times with us from the very beginning. The moment they noticed that they weren't punished for their first betrayal, they took the benevolence and forgiveness of our family as a sign of weakness and began to go even further to the point that they consider an act of ambushing us like this to be the most natural thing to do without batting an eye.

"Brother Beck, surely by now you understand why I had your squire Casey and Supervisor Kedan stay back at Wildnorth Town. I can no longer trust anybody there. Apart from Shadekampf, I don't even trust Supervisor Kedan fully. Given your state, you can even be fatally injured by an eight-year-old child. Even though Casey is your squire, given the time he had spent at the town, there's no guarantee that he hasn't been bought over by the people there already. For your safety, I've decided to return to the bastide with only the three of us.

"And to my expectations, Master Dunbarsen had no choice but to resort to an ambush like this. However, I bet he wouldn't dare to imagine in his wildest dreams that the six he sent out would be killed by me so easily. Hehe, there's a saying that goes, 'swallowing one's teeth after having them punched loose by another'. They won't even be able to mourn for their losses publicly. Sometimes, I feel like a bully for even bothering to plot against those of Wildnorth Town. Their intentions and ambitions were practically written all over their faces for me to read! There's no challenge in that at all! Shadekampf, what are you still standing there for? Let's get back home as soon as possible."