135 - 139

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With the battles mainly focused at the area surrounding the main gates, the initial discrete units of soldiers were nothing in the face of the might of the mercenaries. However, after 15 minutes the warning horn was blown, a squad of Northland Army soldiers had already rushed over to reinforce the gates. Given the number of mercenaries who fought in no orderly fashion, the squad of Northland Army soldiers didn't last long and many of them were assaulted by the mercenaries and had no choice but to resist defensively until more of their comrades came.

Sounds of killing and blades clanging rang out on top of the walls as well, signifying the purge of the defenders of the walls by the guards and family soldiers who were led by Waxima. The mission that was given to him by Lorist was to eliminate all enemies that were stationed at the wall to take control of and defend the other gates within the town so that not a single enemy could escape. As long as nobody ran out of the town to report to their main force which was attacking Maplewoods Bastide, Lorist would have more than enough time to finish dealing with the soldiers within the town.

After another 30 or so minutes, sounds of well-coordinated steps could be heard as three squads of fully-armed Northland Army soldiers marched to the town gates in three neat rows. A few Silver ranked knights at the front looked at the wide-open town gates from a distance as well as the two wooden sheds beside it that were set aflame. Around 300 leather armored troops of the Norton Family could be seen suppressing the rest of the Northland Army soldiers who were desperately fending for their own lives. By the time the enemy reinforcements arrived, about 100 leather armored Norton troops split off and headed their way...

The few Silver ranked knights let out breaths of relief as they thought that the number of enemies heading for them were not numerous. Taking into account the three squads they brought with them, they would have no problem dispatching the group that was headed for them. The Silver ranked knights rode to the side of the street on their mounts and one of them raised his riding lance towards the leather armored soldiers and ordered, "Longbowmen, prepare... Ugh..."

One javelin had nailed the knight and his mount onto the ground out of nowhere.

"Fire!" A voice resounded in front of the three Northland Army squads all of a sudden as soldiers appeared above the two buildings by the roadside with their bows fully drawn. Arrows hailed down densely from above with numerous javelins between their barrage towards the three squads of the duke's soldiers, causing their formation to disintegrate completely. The longbowmen formation was hit the worst: having been attacked without having enough time to react and retaliate, half of them perished instantly from the rain of projectiles while the lucky survivors balled up in fear on the ground.

The rain of projectiles continued for three volleys and it was followed by a voice screaming out, "Kill!"

Near 100 silhouettes jumped down from the buildings and joined the mercenaries who were on their way from the gates in a bloody massacre.

It was indeed a massacre as the soldiers of the Northland Army who survived the volleys of arrows and javelins had lost all their will to fight. They didn't regroup after the initial attack at all as the Silver ranked knights that were leading them had all died from Lorist's javelins. Coupled with the terror they experienced from being suddenly ambushed by the soldiers who showed up on the buildings all of a sudden, all they could think of was defending themselves individually and running away as soon as possible to preserve their lives.

The mercenaries who leaped down from the rooftops sealed off all the escape routes and engaged in a pincer attack with the mercenaries who were rushing over from the gates against the Northland Army soldiers that were sandwiched between them. Regardless of whether they kneeled down and begged for mercy or resisted, they were killed by the bloodthirsty mercenaries who regarded them as nothing more than small, mobile chests of gold coins for them to claim.

A few torches from the walls could be seen gradually being lit and the sounds of killing gradually subsided. The torches twirled multiple times in the air to signify that the gates have already been secured and that the enemy guards were completely eliminated.

Lorist looked at the twirling torches from afar and started counting in his mind; there were more than 100 guards on the walls. Including the 20 plus I personally killed, it would total up to around 150 people. The guards within the gate corridor that were killed also numbered more than 10, and more than 150 soldiers rushed at the mercenaries when they saw them approaching. Taking into account the three squads that later arrived as reinforcements, there should only be around 100 enemy soldiers remaining within the town out of the original 700 or so as well as the Gold ranked knight stationed here to protect the place. Weird, why hasn't he shown up yet? Did something go wrong?

"Reidy, let's go," Lorist said as he jumped lightly down from the second floor of a building and landed on the ground as lightly as a leaf.

Reidy, however, took a roundabout route and jumped onto a lower rooftop nearby as he was carrying two quivers of javelins on his back. He even got some blood and mud splattered onto him as he hit the ground.

Paulobins appeared out of nowhere, bringing over tens of war horses with him. He said on horseback, "Milord, I found a stable nearby..."

Lorist and Reidy picked one horse each and mounted them. Reidy also called for a few double metal armored guards to follow Lorist and him.

"Paulobins, send someone to give Waxima a message. Tell him to lead two squads of family soldiers to guard each of the town gates respectively. Also, have him bring some guards to regroup with me. You will be leading two squads of family soldiers to collect the weapons and spoils and switch out the training longbows of our men for the proper ones you find," Lorist said.

"Yes, milord."

...

Knight Hennard could feel nothing but a severe headache after having consumed huge amounts of alcohol on that night.

During the tens of days he was at Wildnorth Town, he had experienced the time of his life. Never had he dreamed that in the rural corner of the Northlands, there would be a small paradise like Wildnorth Town. The citizens of the town were all rather wealthy with every one of their households having meat and wine, not to mention being fully-furnished. Aside from the gold and silver ware the soldiers pillaged from the houses, he even found some silk clothing that belonged to the citizens he massacred there: most poorer dominion lords didn't even have the opportunity to enjoy such luxuries.

They really are far too wealthy. Even that dogshit herbalist's family has a secret room that kept over three chests filled with imperial gold coins to the brim! Each of them had 50000 gold coins! Based on only that, my guess is that the four great families combined together have up to 200000 gold Fordes in currency only, and that doesn't include the gold and silver ware they have which number among the hundreds. Needless to say, their house decorations were worth quite a lot as well and the amount they have is enough to fill up three large rooms...

The Lord Duke really made a huge profit this time... That was what Hennard kept saying all the while he was at the town. Even so, he also got his share of the riches as well. Apart from Knight Chevany, who Knight Hennard thought was a stubborn old fool who refused to glean the slightest riches for himself, Hennard and the other Silver ranked knights intentionally recorded a slightly lesser amount of items and swiped them for themselves. The Gold ranked knight himself got around 30000 gold Fordes while each of the Silver ranked knights had around 10000. Those transactions were all kept secret from their leader Chevany, because they thought that he would definitely hand all the things they took to the duke as he believed that the duke would reward them for their efforts in the end.

Tch, everybody knows that the duke wouldn't give us much anyway. It would already be considered extremely generous for him if he gave us 1% of all the things we took. That was the main reason Hennard was willing to let the issue of swiping the wealth for themselves slide and also didn't force the soldiers to hand up the gold and valuables they took from the other households, so long as they also gave a part of their loot to the Silver ranked knights that led them. After all, things were better if they were shared and that would encourage the soldiers to better follow their orders after all.

It sometimes occurred to Knight Hennard that the Norton Family were a bunch of idiots. They think that everybody would fear their reputation as the Family of the Raging Bear just because they have a bear on their insignia? I really don't understand why they would allow their own subjects at Wildnorth Town to act so freely like this... Other dominion lords would levy a tax simply because their subjects used the leaves of the trees within the dominion as fuel, whereas the Nortons only asked for 10% of the harvest from the citizens of this town and didn't bother to tax their other income-generating practices like fishing, hunting and trading... This truly is quite appalling...

The ones who are dumber than the Nortons would be these folk at Wildnorth Town... Even though they have such a benevolent and generous dominion lord, not only did they not pledge their undying loyalty to him, they even drove him into a corner and refused to listen to the lord's orders. To think that they would rebel and conspire with another power just because of their over-ambitious plans of wanting to receive a noble title... To Hennard, while the Nortons were the enemies of the duke, the citizens of Wildnorth Town who betrayed their dominion lord were even more dastardly, causing him to be feel justified in killing them off without even batting an eye. He even believed that it was only right for a Gold ranked knight like him to punish traitorous citizens like that even if they were women and children and that it didn't go against the chivalric code at all.

After killing off all the men, elderly and infants of the town, all that remained of its folk were three types of women. The first category were girls aged from 10 to 15 which were extremely popular in the slave market. Some nobles with girl-raising fetish would spend a huge sum to purchase young girls like that so they can train them into their personal maidservants. The second category were for virgin women of age 15 to 20 which, needless to say, fetched a tremendously high price as well. The third category were the married young women and they were the favorite of the soldiers who would use them to release their pent up feelings and stress and were free for the soldiers to toy around with however they liked. Even if they caused one of them to die, they only had to pay a small penalty fee as those women didn't sell well on the slave market and the duke didn't want anything to do with things that won't bring him any significant profit.

After getting a huge haul from occupying Wildnorth Town, Knight Hennard and Knight Chevany got into an argument. Hennard believed that it was best to send the loot back to the duke to placate him for the moment and take their time to settle the Norton Family. However, Knight Chevany was dead against it and said that since the duke's orders were to eliminate the Norton Family specifically, the loot they got from the town was only a second priority and that the duke would only be satisfied if they were sent back after the Norton Family was defeated.

Since Knight Chevany was the main commander of the expedition, Knight Hennard could do naught but follow his instructions and let him lead 3000 troops to attack the Norton Family while he stayed behind at the town to enjoy himself without even bothering to take note of Chevany's battles. To him, if Chevany's attacks succeeded, he could claim half the credit for guarding the town. If it didn't, that might cause Chevany to retreat to Wildnorth Town and once again reconsider Hennard's advice to send the loot back to the duke before continuing on with the conquest. In the end, Hennard believed that the stubborn old Chevany would be rebuked by the duke for not sending all the riches back in the first place while he would be credited for securing the loot and making sure that they ended up in the duke's hands.

The day before, Knight Chevany went back to the town and told him about the unfruitful battles as well as the casualties they incurred from being ambushed. He also warned Hennard to raise the defences of the town. While Hennard appeared to agree on the surface, he didn't take any of Chevany's words to heart because he thought that the Nortons were already being really defensive and the 300 or so mercenaries they hired were not that fearsome in the first place. To him, as long as the Norton Family's men were carefully kept within their bastide, the mercenaries they hired to do the surprise attacks outside wouldn't be able to continue their ambushes for long. Without the mercenaries' support, how could the Nortons even cause any trouble? As for the construction site at Morgan Hills, it was even simpler to deal with: as long as they conquer Maplewoods Bastide, the men over there would naturally surrender and the duke's forces didn't even need to send a single man to attack it.

Hennard also thought that Chevany's plan to use the supply convoy to bait for the Norton Family's forces into attacking them was nothing but a joke. Even if you are going to ambush them, do you think that you'll be more familiar with the terrain than the mercenaries? If they discover your men when they are in hiding, then they simply just won't attack the supply convoy. That way, all your plans will be for naught. However, Hennard did not mind lending Chevany the 300 longbowmen as he believed that a few hundred mercenaries would never have the guts to attack Wildnorth Town.

Currently, Knight Hennard took residence in the most luxurious mansion within the town that he had heard belonged to the leader of the Mollin Family. It's so laughable... For commoners like them to even mimic nobles and form families of their own without even considering whether they're worthy of being called as such... Having slaughtered all the people within, Hennard occupied the mansion without hesitation. Given his status as a Gold ranked knight, he was allowed to bring his personal attendants and servants along with him into battle. That was why he didn't require any of the original servants within the mansion. Apart from that, he picked four great beauties from the younger women within the town to wait on him.

The eldest of the four beauties was a maidservant that one of the garrison squad leaders had purchased for a high price while the other three were descendants of the four great families. With the four women as his companions, Hennard spent his days in Wildnorth Town with ultimate bliss and joy. Just that night, he drunk himself into stupor and rolled around in bed with the four naked beauties.

All of a sudden, the door to his room was hammered onto urgently as a man called out loudly, "Sir... Sir! Wake up!"

Hennard snapped out of his drunken daze and curled his arms around the four women who were startled awake from the knocking while copping a feel in the meantime. Annoyed, he grumbled, "What are you doing screaming out loud like that? What's going on?"

The knocking finally stopped as the man outside said, "Sir! There's an enemy attack! They're already within the town!"

"What did you say?" The slightly hungover knight pushed the beauties away and got out of his bed. Without caring about the fact that he was nude, he opened the door and said, "Did you say that the enemy infiltrated the city?"

...

Looking at the grand mansion, Lorist thought, we're finally here at the spot where the last enemy is located. He knew that the house used to belong to the old fellow of the Mollin Family as Supervisor Kedan had personally told him about the it in detail. Thinking back, Lorist had wanted to send someone to infiltrate the town before. However, within a few short months, everything had changed so much. I'm willing to bet that the old Mollin fellow didn't expect that his own family would have this kind of ending.

The doors to the mansion opened and a metal-armored knight walked out with a group of other knights. The knight had a sword which radiated a golden blade glow while the other Silver ranked knights behind him held out their swords which emanated a silvery glow.

"I am Knight Hennard! Who dares to challenge me to a duel?"

Lorist dismounted and drew the longsword he had slung on his back as he walked forward.

"Milord..." Waxima said worriedly. Given that he didn't know about Lorist's battles in the past, he was really concerned as his lord was about to face off against a Gold ranked knight.

"Don't worry, milord will kill him like a chicken in no time," said Reidy as he stopped Waxima who was about to rush in and fight in Lorist's stead.

"That is the new family leader of the Norton Family," said one knight who had met Lorist once before when he accompanied Baron Camorra to Maplewoods Bastide.

"Oh..." mused Hennard as he started to look more energized. If he were able to take down the family leader of the Nortons, then he might have a chance at rectifying the whole fiasco which he had allowed to happen. Looking at the Norton Family soldiers that surrounded them, it was the only path he had left.

"Kill!" roared the Gold ranked knight as he waved his sword and sent three semilunar golden blades of light in Lorist's direction before he stepped forward speedily.

With a flick, a swipe and a flash of his sword, Lorist disintegrated the three light blades before he paid attention to the incoming knight and identifying the countless openings he had. Given his shoddy footwork, it seems that he is still under the influence of alcohol and is unable to grasp his center of gravity properly. Sigh, there's no honor in defeating an alcoholic like him...

Lorist casually dodged Knight Hennard's strike and planted his knee firm into the abdomen of the knight.

"Urk!" Hennard instantly collapsed onto his knees as he started vomiting nonstop without being able to catch his breath. With his sword cast aside and him wriggling on the ground as he vomited, the knight looked quite pathetic like a curled up shrimp.

"Tie him up," Lorist ordered, before he turned his gaze to the men who came with the knight.

With a loud clang, the knight who had met Lorist before dropped his sword and said bitterly, "I surrender..."

Chapter 136 Out of Options Prev ChapterNext Chapter

Lorist pushed open the door to the room lightly and saw a bunch of huge wooden chests put together neatly with each of them having labels that denoted the type and quantity of coins contained within. After a rough count, he found that there were around 16 of those huge boxes within the room.

Leaving the room and closing the door, Lorist thought to himself, the citizens of Wildnorth Town were actually saving up their wealth for the past 200 or so years within these four rooms... The hearts of people are truly difficult to fathom. To protect their hard-earned wealth, they were actually willing to conspire with the Duke of the Northlands to rebel against us, their own rulers, only to be sent to their deaths as a result of their own actions...

"Seal these rooms. Make sure to assign some guards to overlook this place," Lorist told Reidy.

Reidy nodded and said, "Understood, milord."

"Waxima, how's it going over at your side?" Lorist asked.

Waxima replied, "After some checking, 631 young and virgin girls had been discovered to be kept within the yard nearby. The surrendered Silver ranked knight told me that the duke had ordered for those girls to be sold to slave traders for a huge sum. Other than that, there are up to 800 young women within the army camp and they look to be in a rather bad state from the treatment they received from the enemy soldiers... I also found quite a number of women within the houses of the Silver ranked knights which they have claimed for themselves. How should we deal with this?"

Lorist patted his forehead and said, "Bring the young women out of the camp and let them live with the girls. Given that the town is quite huge, I'm sure that many of them are relatives and it would probably be easier on them if they received consolation from each other. Give them some space to live in and supply them with food and water and let them take care of themselves. After this battle, we will bring them away. Given that there are so many youths at Firmrock Castle, it wouldn't hurt to add some women to the population there to balance things out. I hope that when these women form new families in the future, they will be able to forget about the nightmare that is Wildnorth Town and start their new lives afresh..."

"Yes, milord. However, there were four other women within the mansion who were serving the Gold ranked knight. They're quite beautiful too, do you want..."

"Just send them away. I have no intention of doing that. As for the loot you guys find, pass them to Reidy so that he can process them after the whole conflict ends. Also, make sure the security at the place where the women will be staying at is tight. Don't let the mercenaries do any harm to them..." Lorist instructed.

"Yes, milord. I will pay extra attention to that," Waxima replied as he stood straight up.

"Milord, Jim has returned," reported Paulobins.

Surprised, Lorist said, "Why hasn't he entered yet? Doesn't he usually rush in without a second thought?"

Paulobins laughed before he said, "Jim said that after learning the etiquette of knights from Waxima, he would also act like one in the future..."

Lorist joined in the laughing and said, "Let him in. It sure is quite surprising that a guy like him would go out of his way to learn etiquette... And to think that I was planning on getting him a tutor for that after the conflict... It seems that it's no longer necessary."

Even though he still looked a little rough around the edges, Jim's accurate standing posture that was unlike his former relaxed slump impressed Lorist greatly.

"Milord, we have made sure that the secret route taken by the duke's men is no longer usable. This is a detailed map that we have drawn according to the terrain over there," Jim said as he passed a beastskin map to Lorist.

A few days back when they were camping within the forest, Jim complained that he was bored and had nothing to do and kept on bugging Lorist to be allowed to once again attack the enemy's main camp. Lorist then gave him a mission to investigate whether the path that Hausky had discovered is rendered completely unusable and survey the surrounding terrain in the meantime to construct a map.

Jim brought a few guards with him and returned within 6 days.

"Milord, you really attacked far too soon. You didn't bother to wait for me at all. I only just discovered that we've conquered the town after seeing the family flag flying at the walls," Jim complained.

"Hehe, opportunities like that don't come often you know. When the time comes to attack, there can be no hesitation. Who asked you to complain about boredom a few days back when we were at the forest? Then again, your survey of the area is quite a big accomplishment as well and the next step we have to take is to deal with the soldiers that are besieging Maplewoods Bastide. I want ensure that they won't get to depart from the route they came from. While entering the dominion was easy for them, I definitely will make it as hard as possible for them to leave. Jim, go take some rest and return to Maplewoods Bastide later tonight. Tell Knight Josk and Knight Pajik to bring two squads of family soldiers to tail the enemy from a distance if they decide to move their camp. If the enemy comes back to attack Wildnorth Town, have our forces from the bastide attack their camp from behind, understood?" Lorist asked.

Jim straightened his back and said, "Yes, milord."

"Paulobins, bring the surrendered Silver ranked knights over here. I have something I want to ask them," Lorist said.

The knights were rather honest and they replied to every question that was asked of them. They even revealed the arguments between Knight Hennard and Knight Chevany without missing out on the slightest detail.

"Then again, you said that the duke ordered Hennard and Chevany to bring two regiments of soldiers here, right? Then why are there only 4000 plus men in total? What about the other two companies?" Lorist asked.

One Silver ranked knight said, "Sir, each regiment left a company behind to watch over their main camp, so, only 4000 plus people were deployed for the expedition."

"I see," said Lorist as he nodded. "Why were the citizens of Wildnorth Town massacred? Weren't they the ones that led you lot into the dominion in the first place?"

"Sir, that was the Lord Duke's order," replied the knight. "The duke thought that traitorous and untrustworthy people like them were better off dead. He also believed that the people of the town have been stockpiling their wealth given that they've had access to the smuggling route for up to 100 years, so, he wanted to take it all for himself. Even though Knight Hennard and Knight Chevany didn't wish to kill them that soon and planned to use them to help attack your family bastide, they were extremely uncooperative and came up with multitudes of excuses like being attacked by your forces and weren't willing to send any soldiers out. That's why Knight Chevany felt that it was better to wipe untrustworthy people like them out as soon as possible in one go by tricking all of them to gather in one place using the entitlement ceremony as an excuse."

Oh, so the townsfolk have themselves to blame for their untimely deaths as well, Lorist thought as he sighed inwardly. "Alright, you may go back. I will instruct the guards to treat you well."

"Wa-wait, sir. Can I pay a ransom to reacquire my freedom? I still have some savings left on myself and at home..." asked the knight hurriedly.

Lorist gave it some thought before he said, "Let's talk about this after the battle. I will consider your proposition."

"Then... Thank you, sir..."

...

Two days had already passed by the time Knight Chevany received news of Wildnorth Town's fall. Hilariously, they only found out about it because a few patrolling leather armored cavalrymen wanted to sneak off to the town to have fun with some women only to discover the Norton Family flag being flown at the walls of the town, causing them to rush back as quickly as they could to make the report.

At that time, Knight Chevany was in the middle of drinking some water and when he heard of the news, he dropped his cup in stupor. Within moments, he reasoned that the true reason they didn't receive any attacks for the past two days was due to that. The mercenaries who had been attacking their troops with guerilla tactics were all gathered at Wildnorth Town.

Whether Knight Hennard was okay at Wildnorth Town was none of Chevany's concern. He was instead considering whether there was a chance he could take the town back. Otherwise, the wealth gained from the massacred citizens of Wildnorth Town would never end up in the hands of the duke. While he would definitely be rebuked if he failed to punish the Norton Family, his fate might end up being worse than that if the duke found that all the riches that he could've had ended up in another party's hands. The enraged duke might even strip him of his status as a knight and exile him from the Loggins Family. To Chevany, that was a humiliation he couldn't afford to bear for the rest of his life.

"Wrap up and get ready to move. Pack up all the camping gear and be prepared to attack Wildnorth Town," Knight Chevany ordered.

After keeping all their stuff, the whole group of soldiers headed towards the town and by the time they arrived, it was already the evening. Ignoring the cries of fatigue of his soldiers, the anxious knight commander ordered his men to fell more trees to construct siege ladders during the night so that they could besiege the town on the next morning.

After having breakfast the next day, Knight Chevany rallied his men into formation and marched towards the town with 20 siege ladders. From his estimates, even if the Norton Family took over the town with the aid of mercenaries, they must have lost quite a number of their own men considering that over 700 soldiers of the Northland Army, one Gold ranked knight and a few other Silver ranked knights were stationed there. No matter whether the Nortons used a surprise attack or some other tactic to occupy the town, it was hard to imagine the few men they have left would be able to defend it effectively. That way, Chevany felt that the 2000 plus soldiers led by him would be enough to put pressure and break through the defense of the Nortons and allow him to take the town during the first wave of attacks.

Lorist stood on the walls and stared coldly at the enemy that was approaching gradually from a distance. Further away near a small hill, a green smoke signal could be seen spiraling towards the sky. That was the signal they had agreed on and it signified that Josk and the others were already near the enemy camp and were ready to attack at any time.

"Hehe, they really plan to take back the town in one fell swoop? They only have a measly 2000 plus people... I really don't know where Knight Chevany got the confidence for that..." Lorist mused before he turned back to the four mercenary leaders and said, "Have your men come back up here. I no longer need him to stay hidden. Back when we took the town, our victory has already been set. Tell your crew members that I will reward one gold Forde for each enemy killed during the first wave of attacks."

The four mercenary leaders were rather satisfied with that arrangement as they had earned quite a huge sum of money from working for the Norton Family this time around. Other payments aside, the loot that the mercenaries collected were enough to make them smile with joy uncontrollably. The soldiers of the duke were nothing but moving crates of money to them and each of their money pouches contained at least 4 to 5 gold Fordes. To mercenaries like them who fought with their lives on the line for a living, that was already one or two year's worth of income.

Even though the riches were gained from the massacred folk of the town, according to the original agreement, the loot of dead soldiers belonged to anyone who killed them. That's why the mercenaries did not fear the superior number of enemies at all and were delighting in the thought of the extra money they could make.

Upon seeing more and more troops equipped with grey leather armor appear on the walls, Knight Chevany's confidence sunk and he thought that the situation had far surpassed his expectations. Are these really the mercenaries the Norton Family hired? No way, given how desolate the dominion of the Norton Family is, how did they find so many mercenaries to employ? There's almost a thousand of them... However, if they really are the family soldiers of the Nortons, then the duke really has made a huge mistake this time and has severely underestimated their true might...

"Stop advancing!" ordered Chevany as he raised his hand. "Longbowmen, march forward and suppress the enemies who are defending the walls. Sword and shield infantry, ready your defenses..."

As the longbowmen shot their arrows in parabolic arcs at the walls, the guards defending it raised their shields and wooden boards. Another 100 or so soldiers on the walls counterattacked with their own longbows.

While the duke's longbowmen were suppressing the soldiers on the walls, other soldiers holding long siege ladders quickly approached it. As they placed their wooden boards and used them to cross the moat, their allied longbowmen stopped firing and rushed forward along with the sword and shield infantry. The guards on the walls then shot their arrows directly downwards at the sword and shield infantry and the pikemen of the enemies.

Having lost the defensive support of the sword and shield infantry, the casualties beneath the walls soared all of a sudden, however that was still worth it in Knight Chevany's eye as 10 plus of the 20 siege ladders have already been laid with soldiers ascending upwards to the walls.

Contrary to his expectations, however, the guards on the walls cheered as each soldier of the Northland Army reached them. Normal guards would fight for their lives to make sure that none reached the top of the walls instead, causing Chevany to feel both confused and intrigued at the same time.

The situation on the walls seem to already be set. The four mercenary crews each took a side of the wall where five or six of siege ladders were placed. Every time an enemy soldier got up, there would be up to 5 mercenaries waiting for him. Given their superior combat abilities, it didn't take long for the Northland Army soldiers to perish under the blade and pike of the mercenaries. After killing off the invading soldiers, the mercenaries stacked the bodies together for loot collection after end of the battle.

"Sol, are they treating the ladders like a monster spawners?" Lorist stared at the whole situation, dumbfounded. Currently, Waxima, Jim, and tens of other guards were completely unharmed despite the enemy rushing up onto the walls so relentlessly.

Knight Chevany was getting even more confused. Why does it seem like chaos is not breaking out on the walls even though so many soldiers have went up? Even the Silver ranked knights I sent up seemed to have disappeared completely...

The more he waited, the more anxious he got. The bad omen he felt got worse the longer he waited. Just as he was unsure of whether the battle was going well for him or not, loud, savage cries rang out from behind him. Turning to his back, the knight saw a group of soldiers slaughtering away at his camp and setting fire to the tents. The single squad of pike infantry soldiers were so terrified that they were running desperately away from their enemies within the sea of flames like cowardly rats.

"Blow the horn! Retreat! Everyone, retreat and save the main camp!" shouted Knight Chevany who was at his wit's end.

...

The casualties were far too huge. The original 2300 plus soldiers were only left with 1700 and the first attack took the lives of more than 500 of their men whose bodies were nowhere to be found. The Silver ranked knights that served Knight Chevany were also mowed down to fewer than ten people.

"More than half of the supplies in the camp have been destroyed within the fires and the remaining ones that we managed to salvage can last us at most 5 more days at two meals per day. Sir, if we don't turn this around by taking the town, we are going to be completely crushed..." reported the logistics officer.

Knight Chevany let out a long sigh before he said, "You may go back. I need some time to think..."

After sitting in deep thought for a long time, Knight Chevany took out a blank beastskin and started writing a letter. He described every detail about the expedition from the massacre of the Wildnorth Town citizens and the riches he found there as well as the fortifications of the walls of Maplewoods Bastide and the trap which he fell for that caused him to lose control of the town. The whole letter was so lengthy that it took up a number of beastskins. After that, he rolled them all up and put them into a silver tube which he then sealed with candle wax before he called for his two other attendants.

"I will bring the army back tomorrow. The two of you should hide yourselves well and when nobody is scouting around this area after our departure, try to sneak out from the entry at Morgan Hills. Make sure the contents within this silver tube reach the hands of our Lord Duke, understood?"

One of the attendants asked curiously, "Sir, why do we need to do it this roundabout way?"

Knight Chevany sighed again as he said, "I suspect that we will no longer be able to return. The Norton Family has already forced us into this predicament and they'll definitely not let us off so easily. I myself am not sure of what would happen during our trip back, so I have decided to send you two to return to the duke using the route through Morgan Hills as insurance. Make sure to be extra careful; this letter must definitely reach the hands of the duke so that he will be informed of the true strength of the Norton Family..."

...

When Lorist saw the enemy pack up and leave for the direction of the hidden path they used to enter the dominion, he was elated. They're heading the way of their deaths. It appears that the enemy is still unaware that the route had already been destroyed. Lorist brought Josk and the mercenaries from the four crews and two squads of family soldiers to tail the duke's men from their rear.

When the enemy entered the long caverns, Lorist had his men seal off the entrance and awaited their eventual return.

After two days, a huge battle seemed to have erupted within the caverns and during the afternoon, a Silver ranked knight holding up a white flag could be seen walking towards Lorist.

Chapter 137 Aftermath Matters Prev ChapterNext Chapter

Pierce! The longsword entered his chest and emerged from his back.

Knight Chevany froze up as his hand lost all its grip and released his sword, letting it fall to the ground...

Lorist looked at him with a sympathetic gazed and said, "What was the point in doing this?"

As blood started flowing out of his mouth, Chevany said, "A fai-failure of a commander like me... Doesn't de-deserve any sympathy. I-it's all because of my impotence th-that caused the expedition to f-fail and the whole army t-to be decimated... Only... only with my death c-can I atone for my mistakes for the d-duke..."

"It's not your fault," Lorist consoled. "The real mistake was the duke's decision to stretch out his claws to the Norton Family after his eyes were clouded by his greed. Actually, you've already done pretty well and even caused me to be unable to find any opportunities to deal with your main camp. If it wasn't for the lax soldiers within the town that allowed us to conquer it, I don't know how long this battle would have lasted..."

"Is... is that so..." said Knight Chevany as his speech started to slow. After that, he spread both his arms as he fell to the ground with his face looking skyward while wearing a tranquil, smiling expression on his face.

Lorist looked at the knight who had collapsed solemnly before he said softly, "I wish you a pleasant journey..."

...

On the 29th day of the 8th month in Year 1767 of the Grindian Calendar, of the 4000 men sent by Duke Loggins of the Northlands to eliminate the Norton Family, only 1279 survived after they surrendered to the Nortons at a nameless cavern within the Bladedge Mountains. The expedition of the duke ended with his complete loss.

The commander of the Northland Army, the head of the family knights of the duke and the head of that expedition, Three Star Gold ranked Knight Chevany, was forced into a corner by the forces of the Norton Family and requested for an honorable duel to the death from the newly-appointed head of the Norton Family, Norton Lorist, and passed away at the age of 53.

...

Back then, the Silver ranked knight who held the white flag told Lorist that Knight Chevany was willing to order his men to surrender to the Norton Family without any resistance on the condition that he be allowed a chance to challenge Lorist to a life-and-death duel. Despite the objection of Josk, Waxima and the others, Lorist accepted that condition.

To Lorist, it wasn't difficult for him to face off against a Three Star Gold ranked knight like Chevany. His aim was to force the knight to give up and admit defeat. However, Chevany fought with the intention of dying in the first place and didn't care about his own safety. Taking risky moves that put himself in harm's way to attack Lorist incessantly, he gave Lorist quite a bit of trouble.

It was also the first time the other people present there witnessed Lorist's skill with the sword and his tenacity. Waxima and the other four mercenary leaders were flabbergasted by Lorist's performance; nobody could have imagined that the Iron ranked Lorist who couldn't even manifest a blade glow would be able to match up against a Three Star Gold Knight and even take the upper hand, as was shown with his constant suppressing of the knight's attacks. Had it not been for the fact that he had shown mercy as he was unwilling to take the knight's life, Knight Chevany would have been crushed in the beginning seconds of the duel.

The longer he fought, the more hopelessness Chevany felt. He understood that he wasn't Lorist's match and he felt that being shown mercy by the enemy was a humiliating thing. That's why when Lorist stabbed forward with the intention of forcing Chevany to duck backwards, Chevany chose not to and rushed straight into the sword. Lorist, unable to retract his blade in time, watched as his sword pierced through the abdomen of the knight.

...

The 1000 plus men of the Northland Army who surrendered were disarmed and swept of their belongings completely before they were placed under the supervision of the family soldiers and were ordered to set up their camp. The surrendered Silver ranked knight told Lorist that many of the soldiers went nuts and started killing each other within the dark cavern when they noticed that their only escape route had been destroyed, resulting in the deaths of more than 400 of their own. That was why Chevany had decided to surrender for the sake of allowing his men to live while he resolved to die himself. Even if he had managed to defeat Lorist, Chevany had planned to end his own life.

Lorist on the other hand stayed near the nameless cavern for three more days and he ordered the surrendered soldiers to once again enter it and retrieve the bodies of their comrades and bury them within the cavern and had the surrendered logistics officer make markings of their names on makeshift gravestones so that their family members could one day pay them tribute. He also had a marker stone erected with the new name of the cavern, 'Chevany Cave', carved into it as a memorial to remember Knight Chevany by.

To Lorist, the battle itself was fairly straightforward; the troublesome part was the aftermath. That was especially the case given the massacre of the folk of Wildnorth Town which had led to numerous problems which he had to settle. The moment he returned to Wildnorth Town, he met with a messenger sent over from Firmrock Castle bearing Shadekampf's letter that reported that the knighthood competition would end in another three days and according to tradition, the organizers, Viscount Kenmays and Lorist, had to show up at the closing banquet to show their respect for the victors of the competition. Shadekampf hoped that Lorist would attend even if the battle was still ongoing so that they wouldn't be accused of being disrespectful.

It was fortunate that the battle had ended within 20 or so days. Lorist instructed Josk and Paulobins to bring two squads of family soldiers to escort the surrendered troops back to Firmrock Castle while he stayed at Wildnorth Town for another two days so that he could settle some more matters before he returns to the bastide. He also sent a few orders to the supervisors at Firmrock Castle: he ordered Butler Boris to move the laborers and their family members who were within the castle back outside the camp as the battle was over and there were no longer under threat outside. Their moving out would also allow for the construction work to continue.

He ordered Old Man Balk to bring someone to accompany Grandmaster Sid to forage the nearby mountains for iron veins and other construction materials. Supervisor Kedan's task was to manage and delegate work for the surrendered soldiers when Josk and Paulobins bring them over. Lastly, Lorist sent a letter to Telesti to inform her that the threat is already no more along with some cringey flirtatious statements. He also stated that she could start designing the valley city after she finished making arrangements for the construction work.

Lorist honestly felt that Telesti was a great candidate for being the wife of him, the baron of the Norton Family. While she wasn't among the ranks of the most stunning beauties in Grindia, she definitely looked quite pleasant with her decent figure and fair skin. The most important point of hers that Lorist admired was her wise and knowledgeable aura that fit Lorist's tastes. Moreover, Telesti was unlike most other noble ladies who only knew how to dress up and demand to be spoiled; she was also a scholar. Just like a certain saying in Lorist's previous life, while Telesti could definitely progress far in her life by relying on her looks, she didn't do that and instead focused on her studies and research. Her independent and headstrong personality was what attracted Lorist the most.

As he spent time with her, Lorist knew that she felt some attraction for him, given that she tolerates his insolent acts like hugging and kissing her once in a while. Even though it always ended with her being mad, it was more of a kneejerk reaction due to her being too ashamed to admit her hidden desires. She wasn't willing to renounce the oath she made to stay single and strive only for truth and knowledge. That was also a rather troublesome issue for Lorist. He was quite frustrated that she would take that kind of inhumane oath out of all other oaths that could be made.

Having received his order, Supervisor Spiel rushed over as soon as possible to take charge of making an inventory of the supplies and wealth gained from Wildnorth Town. Lorist was prepared to move everything that he could use to Maplewoods Bastide and abandon Wildnorth Town altogether. What he had to focus on was constructing a proper valley city at Morgan Hills. As for the acres of farmland that was cultivated at Wildnorth Town, while it was a waste to not utilize it, there was nothing much he could do about it but think of it as giving the land a period of time to recover. He would make a proper decision when Charade and the rest of the convoy arrives.

The four mercenary crews were also paid in full. All the crew leaders felt that working for the Nortons was an extremely worthwhile effort as they got paid quite highly and didn't lose many men throughout the battles. Compared to some other dominion lords who only used mercenaries as enemy fodder to take the brunt of battle, the young Norton Family leader himself frequently rushed into battle with the mercenaries following tightly behind him. Taking the last battle at Wildnorth Town for example, even though the mercenaries were utilized as the main defense for the town, they had done so willingly because the money pouches of the enemy soldiers were filled to the brim with coins.

Waxima and Jim on the other hand escorted the surviving womenfolk of Wildnorth Town back to Maplewoods Bastide. No matter their past, they were still relatives to many of the people within the bastide. Lorist planned to let them rest up for a bit before sending them to Firmrock Castle where they will be free to form new relationships and families with the youths over there and start their life afresh, effectively leaving their torturous past behind.

There was still one remaining problem to be solved, and that was the disbandment of Hausky's mercenary squad. 20 or so of them were willing to join the forces of the Norton Family while 30 plus others and some injured mercenaries were not willing to leave their life of freedom and joined the four mercenary crews within the past few days. However, that caused the intersection point at the Magical Dragon Mountains to be unguarded. If the Norton Family sent a squad of soldiers to defend it, that would affect Lorist's future plans. After giving it some thought, Lorist decided to pick one from the four mercenary crews and contract them for the defense of that area.

The crew that Lorist favored the most was the Razorpike Mercenary Crew as they were formed by retired military officers and commoners and were the most disciplined among the rest. It could be seen from the results of the battle that they have the lowest number of casualties while also being the ones who raked in the most gains. However, their leader Sandro refused the offer as he had already agreed to take up two other missions and had to go fulfill them.

The second person Lorist seeked out was Crew Leader Richard of the Cromwell Mercenary Crew. Similarly, he refused to accept the contract as he was worried that his crew would lose quite a bit of men from fighting the barbarians. Lorist then offered the same contract to the Nightbat Mercenary Crew Leader Ulampmaxin. As the oldest of the mercenaries, he didn't refuse Lorist's offer outright, but he stated that the pay offered was too low and demanded for 100 gold Fordes every month as well as an increase in the bonus for the number of barbarians killed.

That demand was so laughable that Lorist couldn't even get angry even if he wanted to. The price at which he paid Hausky's Silver ranked squad members in the past was 1 imperial gold coin per month while Iron and Bronze ranked members got 50 imperial silver coins each month. The total would only amount to a little more than 100 gold Fordes per year. It was quite ridiculous for the Nightbat Mercenary Crew to request for 10 times the price even though they only have twice the members of Hausky's squad.

The Pentasword Mercenary Crew on the other hand accepted Lorist's offer without a second thought but they also brought out a condition of their own. The leaders hoped that the family members of the crew members would be allowed to move into the Norton Family dominion and become subjects of the Nortons, which caused Lorist to be quite surprised.

The leaders of the crew said that there was no other choice. They mentioned that the crew was originally formed from members from a few different villages with the aim of earning enough to pay off their oppressive dominion lord that demanded huge amounts of tax. Recently, the taxation got even worse and the citizens of the villages could no longer hold out. While the mercenary crew could defend the citizens from military oppression, taxation was not something they could avoid. To add to that, their villages were near Windbury City and they frequently got harassed by the soldiers of the kingdom.

After participating in the operation with Lorist, the five leaders of the crew made up their minds as they found the way the Norton Family treated their own subjects to be exceedingly benevolent. After seeing the abandoned farmlands of Wildnorth Town, they felt that it was a good opportunity for them to move over.

Lorist was elated at the proposition as the dominion lacked people the most. He expressed his welcome to not only the family members of the crew but also the rest of the citizens of the villages to move into his dominion with the promise that they would be granted farmland as long as they move over and that he would only tax them 30% of their harvests as well as 10% of other miscellaneous economic activities such as fishing, hunting, firewood gathering, etc. If any household had members serving in the Norton Family's military, they would also receive many tax exemptions.

One of the leaders, Doboff, was extremely excited to hear that as his village had to pay a tax of 70% of their harvest and 50% in other categories as well, causing his family and friends to be unable to live comfortable lives and being unable to sustain themselves for the long run. Lorist threw in another offer and said that all the mercenary crew members would receive the same benefits that the family soldiers did in that there would be a regular pension should any member of the crew perish from facing off against the mountain barbarians.

With that settled, it was time to consider how to free the villages from the grasps of their dominion lord. Doboff said he was quite confident that he could pull that off and Lorist gave him two months' time and 50 gold Fordes as a deposit, causing Doboff to rush to begin his plan excitedly.

After handling all those matters, Lorist let out a breath of relief and handed the task of moving the supplies and riches at Wildnorth Town to Waxima, Spiel and Pajik while he returned to Maplewoods Bastide with Reidy. After greeting the old butler and checking on Belnick's health condition as well as spending a steamy night with Irina, he left for Firmrock Castle with Reidy and Jim on the next day.

Chapter 138 News of the Kenmays Family Prev ChapterNext Chapter

Lorist felt that he had failed quite horribly as a dominion lord. Recalling the days when he was first transported to Grindia, he had endeavored to read as many books as he could to understand the new, foreign world he found himself in, including even novels about knights that were rather popular reads. However, all such novels depicted nobles and dominion lords to be people who spent all day enjoying luxuries and fine wine while being surrounded by beauties. They were either busy organizing dance parties or flirting with other noble ladies and if they were bored, they would hunt and organize knight competitions. Even if war broke out, nobles would sit behind their armies as there were more than enough heroic knights who were willing to do their bidding and fighting in their steads on the frontlines. Some nobles were even depicted to have epic romantic encounters on the battlefield.

Looking back at himself, he had been running all over the place to complete his tasks like a dog and there was still so much to do. Even though he had many subordinates, most of the things had to be settled by him personally as they involved decisions that only he, the lord, could make. In the case of battles, he also participated in them personally and rushed at the very front. According to the books, I'm no dominion lord. I'm just a coolie!

Besides that, before he even rested after he arrived at Firmrock Castle, a huge group of people were lined up outside his room waiting to make their reports.

The first group was Telesti and her Iron ranked butler, who stated her intentions after giving a respectful bow: Telesti hoped that Lorist would see her in one or two days to solve the problem of the wells and the castle's water supply.

Curious about the issue, Lorist asked about it and understood after hearing the explanation. The new residential area had two solutions for their water supply. The first was to make a well at every household, which would mean that the workload would be huge. The second was to have a well for each street district. But that might cause some congestion when the residents line up to get water. There was also the fact that wells were hard to construct given that the castle was built right beside the mountain. Telesti hoped that Lorist could make his decision as soon as possible.

Sigh, they're even asking me about matters like this... My head hurts! The next person who entered was Supervisor Kedan who had seen the captives Josk and gang brought over. He had no idea what to let the captives do.

Lorist said tiredly, "What do you have to hesitate about? Just let them gather building materials since they're energetic soldiers. The hardworking ones will get better food while the lazy ones will get the whip. If some try to escape, just hang them. Let the laborers who were originally doing all that be their managers to monitor and correct their work. After that, have Ovidis send some family soldiers there daily to do surveillance on the captives."

After that was Butler Boris. He reported many trivial matters like how the liquor stores of the castle were nearly empty. Ever since the business sector was completed, two taverns started operating and the laborers who had recently gained freedom and payment would go there to drink a cup or two to pass time. Similarly, the family soldiers and the immigrants also did the same, causing the two taverns to boom with business. However, given that the alcohol sold there had been taken from the Redriver Valley Bastide, it was bound to run out sooner or later. Coupled with the knighthood competition organized jointly by the Nortons and the Kenmayses which required them to provide a huge amount of free alcohol, the remaining stock within the warehouses could only last for five days at most.

"Gosh, if we're running out, then start producing some. Common ale is the easiest to make. Just go check if any of the immigrants or laborers have any experience in producing ale and the problem will be solved," Lorist said.

"But, milord, last time you mentioned that food supply was the most important resource in a battle and put Supervisor Hansk in charge of it. Now that we are still constructing the city, no agricultural work has been done and there wasn't any harvest for the past two years. The food we took from Redriver Valley Bastide would only last us for one year or two at the most and given the increasing population within the castle, consumption would increase as well. How can we spare any more of that to make ale with?" asked Butler Boris.

Wow, he even quoted my words... Lorist held his forehead and said, "That's no longer an issue. Let Hansk make more ale with the food we have. I'm sure you've heard that the duke slaughtered the folks at Wildnorth Town and after defeating them, we discovered enough food within the town to last us for 5 years. Thus, the food problem is solved and I will have Maplewoods Bastide send some over after a period of time.

"Oh? You haven't left yet? Is there anything else?" Lorist asked.

"Um, it's about this..." Butler Boris said hesitantly. "We've arrested a few women who were working as prostitutes within the camp..."

"Huh..." Lorist mused as he focused his attention on this topic as any man would. "Where are these women from? Why would they work as prostitutes within the camp?"

"Two of them are new immigrants who came over from the Kenmays Family's dominion and they started seducing men after they were brought over here. Another five were originally slaves who felt that the work delegated to them was too tiring after regaining their freedom and returned to their old jobs."

Lorist had heard Butler Boris mention once that the 200 or so female slaves were originally meant to be 'rewards' for the laborers of the Kenmays Family in that the workers that performed well could spend a night with one of the women.

"Milord, according to their testimony, there are tens more women who are like them that fortunately weren't arrested by us. How should we deal with this? I need your advice..." the butler asked.

"Sigh..." Lorist crept back to his table and said, "Why the heck would we punish them? If they are willing to do it, let them continue. Men need women and the opposite is true as well. We need each other. Given that the men far outnumber the women at Firmrock Castle, and most of them are healthy and virile youths, they require an outlet for their sexual needs. How about this, Butler Boris, go build a brothel so that the prostitutes can be managed by us more easily. We will offer them protection from harm and a safe environment for their work in exchange of 30% of their earnings."

"Milord, other dominion lords would collect 70% of it..."

"Forget it. They work hard to earn their money and it's already enough for us to take 30% of it. Also, issue a notice that private prostitutes who are found to be operating without permission will be punished for one year of unpaid labor in the brothel if they are captured."

Sheesh! What's wrong with this world... A dominion lord like me is actually managing prostitutes like a pimp, how agonizing... After Butler Boris left, Lorist started to sigh again. However, he had no choice but to meet the rest of the people outside.

This time, two people entered the room at once. Lorist seemed to recognize the two.

The elder one stepped forward, stood straight and reported, "Milord, the both of us have been sent by Sir Patt to check on the forces of the Kenmays Family. We only just returned yesterday."

Lorist finally recalled that they were the members of his personal guard who used to be bandits and understood why their faces seemed so familiar to him. However, Lorist still couldn't remember their names.

"Ah, yeah. Don't just stand there, grab a seat. There're chairs right there. Your mission must have been tiring. Fortunately, you were careful enough to not be detected and returned here safely. Sit down and tell me about your findings."

"Thanks, milord," said the two guards. The first thing that came out of their mouths startled Lorist quite a bit. "Milord, the Kenmays Family forces have successfully conquered the dominion of Count Lopez."

"What? Count Lopez's dominion? Where is it?" Lorist said as he searched frantically around the beastskin map of the Northlands but was ultimately unable to find it.

"Get Butler Boris, Shadekampf and Old Man Balk here. Oh, Balk has gone with Grandmaster Sid to search for resources... Oh well, just get Boris and Shadekampf here first."

...

"I recall that there was a map at the Redriver Valley Bastide that depicted the locations of the new noble families that were just recently entitled by the Second Prince. It should be somewhere around here, go look for it," said Boris to Shadekampf who didn't know who Count Lopez was.

Seemingly recalling something about a map thanks to the reminder, Shadekampf searched around and found it in the end.

"Look, milord. The small hill over here is on the border of Viscount Kenmays's dominion and Count Lopez's dominion. It's only ten or so meters tall without any water source and is quite barren. After the forces of the Kenmays Family entered the bastide of Count Lopez, we mingled with the civilians by disguising ourselves as a group of mercenaries who were tasked to collect medicinal herbs near the Magical Dragon Mountains and infiltrated the bastide. We heard that the count did indeed request Viscount Kenmays for help to resist the barbarian invasion. It seems that the count fought a battle with them and incurred huge casualties while he himself got injured pretty badly. The citizens within the bastide were all afraid that the barbarians would succeed in their invasion as well," the elder guard said.

"Hm? That's weird, isn't this year the Kubawesson Festival? The mountain barbarians shouldn't be invading Count Lopez's dominion at all," said Lorist, wondering curiously about the situation.

"Milord, it was said that Count Lopez attacked them first. One day, the troops he led encountered a group of barbarian farmers and they launched an attack to steal all their livestock. In the end, they were attacked by a lot of barbarian cavalrymen when they were on their way back and that hard fought battle caused the count to be injured and many of his men to be sacrificed. The barbarians didn't continue their chase and merely said that they would settle the debt once the festival is over, so Count Lopez called Viscount Kenmays to send some troops over to prepare him for the upcoming invasion."

Oh my, even if you had a death wish, this doesn't seem like a nice way to go... Can it be that the count doesn't know that it's the Kubawesson Festival this year? Those livestock were sacrifices to their god for their ceremony at Smormilgen Mountain. Uncultured people like the count sure are scary... For him to even dare to violate their sacred traditions and steal their sacrifice without knowing... Lorist really didn't know whether he should praise the count for his bravery or be awed with his greed.

"Back then, I also thought that the viscount was truly going to help the count out, so I had prepared to return on the second day," said the younger guard. "But as I had drunk quite a bit of alcohol on the first night, I got up rather late the next day and discovered that a curfew has been enacted by the forces of the viscount and while entry to the bastide was allowed, nobody could leave. Also, the bastide of the count was also flying the three-ringed flag of the Kenmays Family..."

"Up until the night before, we received some news at the tavern that Count Lopez had passed away from his serious injuries. Before he died, it was said that the count had willed for the dominion to be passed on to the hands of Viscount Kenmays as the count didn't have a son of his own and his two daughters were far away at the royal capital. The viscount even managed to inherit the noble title of Count Lopez. Ever since, the Kenmays Family has sent some people to officially apologize to the mountain barbarians and compensate for the count's mistakes. Rumors said that the compensation even included Count Lopez's head...

"The non-citizens within the bastide were only let out after three days of curfew and the Kenmays Family also announced that they wanted to recruit new soldiers and would offer a tax exemption for those who sign up. They seemed intent on having all the youths within the bastide join them and the both of us were even held and questioned for two whole days. However, using our cover as mercenaries who were sent on a mission, they didn't do anything to us.

"When we left, we noticed that the guards within the castle were no longer the soldiers the viscount brought over at first. After searching around, we found a trail left by a huge band of people heading in another direction. We followed it and spent a day to reach this spot here and it seemed to be a dominion of another noble. However, it has also been conquered by the Kenmayses as the castle was also flying the flag of the Kenmays Family."

"Viscount Sartre..." Lorist mused as he looked at the marked location on the beastskin map.

"I know Viscount Sartre. He was a noble back during the days of the former empire and all his family members died during the years of civil war. His dominion had also been laid to waste during the chaos. After the formation of the Second Prince's kingdom, his original dominion was occupied by the Second Prince. To avoid being criticized by other nobles, the Second Prince gave the viscount another dominion somewhere in the Northlands as a replacement. He was simply an old and lonely noble," said Butler Boris.

The elder guard hurriedly continued his report, "We no longer dared to enter the bastide again and we stayed in the wilderness to keep watch from afar. Three days later, the Kenmays Family's forces set out and headed east. Tailing them from behind, we ended up at Baron Ankaport's dominion where the Kenmayses set up camp outside the castle. We saw a group of people who seemed to be the leaders of the army entering the town for a visit, so we remained near them. All of a sudden during midnight, sounds of killing and fighting broke out from within the castle, followed by the opening of the gates and the lowering of the drawbridge. The forces of the Kenmayses subsequently rushed in and during daybreak, the flag of the Kenmays Family replaced the original one of the castle.

"So we stayed outside the town for another 5 more days and discovered that the Kenmays Family's forces have left a company of guards at the castle of the baron and headed back to the dominion of Viscount Sartre and left another company of men there too. The remaining forces then returned to the dominion of the Kenmayses and we followed them back here."

Lorist opened his drawers and took out two grey-colored money pouches which were made from goat leather. Those were actually prepared by Shadekampf for Lorist to use as rewards and each of them contained five imperial gold coins.

Lorist handed the pouches to the two guards as he said, "Thank you for your hard work. This is your reward, take it. Make sure to rest up and relax when you go back."

"Thank you, milord," said the two guards before they left.

Sol, the Kenmays Family really did make a great move... Lorist finally understood the real reason why the Kenmays Family wanted to make up with the Norton Family despite the losses they had suffered. Given that the Norton Family had antagonized the duke and were occupied with him, they used the opportunity to solve their other problems while the duke had his attention focused on the Norton Family. So they targeted the dominion lords of the Eastern Northlands... What a wise move they have taken...

"Milord, I still don't understand why the Kenmays Family did what they did. Viscount Sartre and Count Lopez are both newly-entitled nobles of the Northlands like them, and Count Lopez is also favored by the Second Prince. Doesn't the Kenmays Family fear the backlash of swallowing up the count's dominion?" asked Butler Boris.

"Hehe, they definitely have their own reasons for daring to do so," Lorist said as he smiled coldly. "Their plot was definitely well-executed. Knowing that Duke Loggins had his attention on us, they used the opportunity to conquer the eastern area. Look at the map here, the dominion of Viscount Kenmays, Count Lopez, Viscount Sartre, Baron Ankaport already make up the most of the Eastern Northlands. I'm sure that the smaller nobles there will also fall to the Kenmayses as well...

"When the Kenmays Family take over the whole of the Eastern Northlands, they will be free to reign and even Duke Loggins wouldn't be able to do anything to them. I'm sure that the Northlands will once again descend into a period of chaos."

"Then, milord, should we also cause some trouble for the Kenmays Family so that they don't complete their conquest of the Eastern Northlands so quickly?" Shadekampf asked.

Lorist lowered his head and made some quick calculations before he said, "It's already too late, and we don't have the manpower and resources for that either. Don't forget that after Duke Loggins hears about the decimation of his 4000-strong army, he will be completely enraged and send more men over here as payback. What we have to focus on now is to complete the construction of Firmrock Castle as soon as possible and train our family forces while also making some other preparations for the invasion of the Northland Army."

Chapter 139 Celebratory Banquet Prev ChapterNext Chapter

Outside the walls of Firmrock Castle, large grandiose tents could be seen with colorful bunting flags strung all over. The spot where the knights originally fought had a huge red carpet placed all over it and rows of long wooden tables and benches were placed upon it. On the tables, various dishes could be seen including smoked beef, baked apples, fist-sized white bread, huge pieces of grilled mutton, etc. Other than that, a huge basket filled with blue strawberries, a specialty of the Northlands, were free for the taking as well.

It was the closing ceremony of the knighthood competition that the Norton Family and the Kenmays Family jointly organized. Wandering knights, freelance knights and family knights were all seated at the tables regardless of status, heartily munching away at the food and enjoying the alcohol. Some of them were even offering food to the commoners that were serving them.

All of the wandering and freelance knights were wearing a knight badge made of iron while the family knights mostly wore a silver knight badge. In the Battle Force-driven world of Grindia, that was an invisible wall that clearly differentiated the statuses of the various knights.

It was also rather difficult for one to obtain the certification required for a knight badge. In most cases, only landed noble families, huge armies, Gold ranked knights and academies that had the qualification for knight training could issue such badges given the authority and status it provided to the bearer. If wandering or freelance knights passed on their skills to their successors, they could also pass on their knight badges as well. Lorist himself owned a knight badge as he had completed the knight training course back in his days at the Dawn Academy.

Once one reached the Iron rank, received training for the skills and etiquette of a knight as well as having a bit of family background and paying some fees, one would receive a knight badge and become a squire. If one reached the Silver rank, one would become a proper knight and be able to choose the path of wandering and freelance knights or pledge oneself in service of a lord. Naturally, most poorer commoners could choose to become attendants to a knight and slowly rise to the ranks of a proper knight as well.

For example, the leader of the Cromwell Mercenary Crew, Richard, was a One Star Gold fighter but he didn't have a knight badge. That would mean that he didn't have the right to join the other knights at the table. However, as a One Star Gold Mercenary, he naturally received invites to the banquet from other dominion lords and didn't have to sit together with the knights anyway.

As for poor old Jim, he was merely a Silver ranked mercenary and given that he didn't own a proper knight badge, not even that of the Norton Family, he could only pout and lie on the walls of the castle as he looked at the ex-bandit Ovidis and Patt bring their badges to enjoy the food that was served there. Given his merrymaking-loving personality, Jim hated that he couldn't join in the festivities and was nagging and cursing bitterly at the other two to spoil their teeth and hurt their stomachs from overeating.

Lorist on the other hand was dressed in formal garments. The formal attire for nobles of the Krissen Empire had a rather simple design: it was a large white robe with a straight collar which was worn with a V-shaped sash which was draped over the head. The sash was rather wide and it extended down from each shoulder all the way to the knees. An intricate belt was then wrapped around the waist to fasten the sash with the robe.

The sky-blue sash looked really grand as its sides had laurel leaves that were embroidered with golden thread with a blooming jasmine flowers amidst them. That was the insignia of the Krissen Royal Family which identified that the Norton Family was under the jurisdiction of no one but their members. In the middle of the sash was a golden roaring, raging bear and a small golden sword. The bear was the insignia of the Norton Family while the golden sword represented the status of the Norton Family as one that became landed nobles due to military achievements.

Shadekampf said, "Milord, you look extremely good in this attire, very noble and exalted..."

This was actually Lorist's first time wearing those clothes and he felt quite uncomfortable in them. Even so, he had no choice as he had to attend the banquet of the nobles later and he had to be in formal attire for the function.

"How is Miss Telesti's health?" Lorist asked.

Shadekampf shook his head and said, "She's still down. I've asked Vinny but she said that the young miss was unwilling to get up from her bed."

Lorist originally wanted to invite Telesti to attend the banquet with him. The night before, he went to her room to brainstorm a solution for the matter of the wells as well as make his invitation. Unfortunately, Telesti was experiencing her period. Upon noticing that she was still suffering from contractions, Lorist 'sincerely' thought of telling her about a method that would 'help' her...

"Cough, cough... Ahem. Um, it has been said that after having intercourse for the first time, the contractions would go away eventually..." The moment he uttered that, Lorist was chased out of the room by the embarrassed and angered young lady who was tossing everything she could get her hands on in his direction.

Sheesh, as the proverbs say, 'the dog bites Lu Dongbin and was unable to recognize his goodwill', instead of appreciating my suggestion, she chased me out of her room like that![1] It's not like I was lying about it. In my past life, I had a secretary who had problems with her husband because of this... Back in his past life, Lorist's secretary who had unbearable menstrual cramps during her university days went to the doctor for some help. But no matter what medicine she consumed, the pain was still unbearable for her. In the end, the doctor gave her that exact suggestion and the secretary casually gave her first time to a guy that was wooing her and her problems ended. Naturally, she broke up with that man after graduating university, but her relationship with her husband back then was always rather awkward as she was no longer a virgin when they married.

When the secretary told him that story, she was naked in Lorist's embrace, basking in the afterglow of interourse. However, back then Lorist wasn't interested in her relationship problems with her husband but rather how she solved the problem of the cramps in the first place. The secretary merely said that her symptoms faded after her first experience and gradually, her periods didn't hurt anymore. Back then, Lorist thought that the secretary couldn't be lying as there was not a real reason to, given their casual, yet intimate relationship.

Since Telesti didn't believe in that method at all, Lorist couldn't do anything about it either as there was no way he could use an example from his past life to prove his point. Having been shut out of the room, Lorist returned to his own residence, crestfallen.

Josk stood at the castle gates and awaited Lorist's arrival. Waxima was still at Maplewoods Bastide, so among the rest at Firmrock Castle, only Josk, Patt and Ovidis were qualified to attend the banquet as family knights. Paulobins and Jim were still not yet knights of the family, so one of them took Ovidis's place to train the new recruits while the other was pouting and nagging on guard duty atop the walls.

Lorist, Shadekampf and Reidy got down the walls. Upon seeing Josk, Lorist wanted to curse out loudly. This guy actually looks far better than me, his lord! Lorist wore the formal attire of nobles while Josk was equipped with a shiny, silver knight armor that was immensely attention-grabbing. Coupled with his handsome features and slightly woeful gaze, Lorist understood that there was no way the attention of the other noble ladies would be focused on him.

Reidy bore the banner of the Norton Family with Shadekampf leading the group in front. Lorist and Josk on the other hand were mounted and they rode towards the camp grounds at a leisurely pace. Along the way, jesters could be seen performing comedy sketches, servants ran around busily with various dishes in their hands and the dancers gave a stunning performance as they were immersed in the festive music. Some bards even climbed up to high platforms and sung of ancient legends whereas certain magicians staged fire-breathing shows. Upon seeing Lorist passing through, all of them halted their performances and bowed to pay their respects.

From time to time, some knights would stand up from their benches and salute Lorist by patting their hands on their chest. As Lorist gave nods of acknowledgements to the saluting knights, he asked Shadekampf, "Who are they? I don't know them, so why are they saluting me?"

Frustrated that his lord was such an absent-minded person, Shadekampf said, "Milord, did you forget the report I made to you yesterday? 29 wandering knights were willing to serve our military force and hope to be promoted to become our family knights one day after they gain some achievement."

"Oh, my apologies. I really did forget," Lorist said. "Are they all Silver ranked?"

"Sigh... Milord, if you didn't add the criteria for them to be good at archery, we wouldn't have accepted so many of them in the first place. In actuality, there are 17 of them who are still Iron ranked and they've just received their knight badges not long ago. Originally, they just wanted to watch the competitions, but upon discovering that the archery competition didn't have a Battle Force requirement, they joined immediately. Patt said that they were quite good with the bow and arrow and recruited them right away."

"Hehe," Lorist chuckled happily. "Patt did the right thing. While they are Iron ranks now, they will soon break through to the Silver rank. Hopefully, we might have another Gold ranked marksman like Josk in the family one day..."

"Impossible," Josk interjected. "Not one of them will have the talent at archery like I do. And there is only one Green Benny, so they will only be 'good' archers at best."

'Green Benny' was what Josk called his green longbow. It was rumored that the longbow was originally made from a bone of a magnificent dragon that had been excavated from an ancient ruin which took the grandmaster up to 10 years to craft. One fateful day, it was acquired by Baron Omador who later gifted it to Josk as an engagement gift between Josk and his daughter.

"Shut up, Josk. I will have someone make a bow that's better than your Green Benny. You better bet on that," said Lorist in a dissatisfied tone.

"Oh, didn't Viscount Kenmays say that he was recruiting knights for a knight brigade as well? How many did he get?" Lorist asked as the thought occurred to him.

"Milord, there were 89 wandering knights who joined the side of Viscount Kenmays and entered his brigade," said Shadekampf with a solemn expression. "Aside from the Kenmays Family, the Felim Family, also known as the Family of the Pegasus, recruited around 50 wandering knights. Some other dominion lords also recruited one or two knights themselves while the remaining knights didn't pique any of the other nobles' interest and weren't recruited."

"Then, how many knights have participated in the competition?" Lorist asked as he looked at the tens of long wooden tables and benches that were lined up and seated to the brim with a rough estimated headcount of 1800 people.

"Milord, the knighthood competition was ongoing for 27 whole days and over 37 dominion lords came over due to the fast and strong rumors. It was said that two dominion lords who were at war halted their battles and led their knights here just to join in. Around 600 wandering and freelance knights came over as well. The noble families should have also brought roughly 800 knights of their own."

37 noble families was roughly half the total number of all the nobles within the Northlands. News of the competition really did spread far and wide. However, Lorist didn't expect that there were actually that many wandering and freelance knights within the Northlands. 600 was a bit too many.

It didn't take long for the group to reach the tent where the banquet for the nobles was being held. The Kenmays Family did live up to their reputation as the owner of the largest construction merchant guild within the former empire given the size of the tent they prepared which could easily accommodate hundreds of people within for a grand ball.

After their arrival was reported, Lorist, Josk and Shadekampf headed inside the tent while Reidy stood guard outside and looked after the horses with the banner of the Norton Family in his hand.

Shadekampf reminded, "Milord, the person who is coming forward to greet us is Viscount Kenmays himself..."

It was Lorist's first meeting with Viscount Kenmays: he was a person of slightly shorter height that Lorist and the length of his blonde hair reached his shoulders. He looked rather handsome and his face was cleanly-shaven with a rather pointy chin. His face bore a bright and graceful smile which gave him an elegant bearing which fit his image of a good-looking guy well.

Lorist turned to his back and looked and Josk as he thought, only that fellow can compare with the viscount's looks...

Josk on the other hand was quite confused and asked, "What's wrong? Do I have something on my face?"

Lorist didn't answer him.

The viscount was also dressed in the same noble robes as Lorist, with the only difference being that his blue sash had silver embroidery of the stonecrop plant that enveloped the three-ring-insignia of the Kenmays Family and the rose which symbolized the royal family of the Iblia Kingdom.

Viscount Kenmays laughed out and greeted them. WIth both his hands opened wide, he said, "I finally get to meet the Lord Baron. I've long heard about your reputation and it's about time I get to meet you in the flesh. It truly is my honor."

Lorist on the other hand observed carefully and could detect the flash of seething anger from the viscount's eyes. Smiling, he thought, this guy is still holding a grudge about the 100000 gold Fordes I've taken. Similarly, Lorist opened his hands to give the viscount a passionate hug and said, "Haha, I myself have also been anticipating our meeting. However, I've been rather busy recently and couldn't find any time. Fortunately, I got to see you here today as I have long wished."

After the two exchanged false pleasantries, the viscount brought Lorist around and introduced him to the nobles that attended the banquet as well as the many noble ladies there. Lorist admired the viscount's ability to perfectly memorize and recite the family backgrounds and history of all the nobles there. He could even recall the heroic tales each family had. No wonder that guy can mix well in situations like these so freely and get the attention and liking of those noblewomen.

When Lorist felt a little fatigued from keeping his smile up, the introductions finally ended and everyone got to their respective seats to enjoy the delicacies prepared by the cooks hired by the Kenmays Family.

Among the dominion lords that attended the banquet, Lorist paid attention to two in particular: one was the viscount who was pretending to be friendly and amicable with him even though Lorist detected the hint of hatred from his eyes. The other was Baron Felim Chalvode, the head of the Family of the Pegasus. While the baron seemed harmless and friendly enough on the surface, Lorist could feel a ferocious savagery from the baron who was also a One Star Gold ranked knight.

[1] It is a Chinese proverb based on the immortalized poet Lu Dongbin. See: Wikipedia