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Felicitas Settlement

And here's the second sponsored chapter of last week courtesy of Frazer T. from the UK!

The flickering candlelight illuminated Lorist's furrowed brow. Before him stood Belnick, Pajik and a voluptuous young woman who held a two-year-old boy in her bosom. The child had just awoken and was looking around with his two wide, round eyes.

That woman and child was in fact Pajik's wife and son. The couple were also quite curious about the reason they had been summoned by Lorist to have dinner together along with their child. Not only was Belnick there, in front of them stood also Molocinque, Eidelwoke and Wellickson, all of whom were Lorist's half-brothers and the illegitimate sons of his late father.

The door to the hall opened and four middle-aged maidservants brought four adolescent boys and girls into the room. At that moment, the curiosity of Pajik and his wife were roused as they recognized the four children. All four of them were in fact the illegitimate children of the late Baron Norton like Molocinque, Eidelwoke and Wellickson. In other words, all of them were the half-siblings of Lorist.

After a few moments, the door to the hall opened again and this time, the ones who came in were Supervisor Spiel and Reidy. In Reidy's arms was a 6-year-old child and behind him was Pesha.

"Wonderful, everyone is here," Lorist said, before he waved to Reidy and instructed, "Carry the child over here."

Not intimidated at all, the child questioned, "Who... who are you?"

Lorist laughed out loud and kissed the boy's cheeks before he said, "I'm your uncle, and you better remember that. Now, tell your uncle your name and age."

The child thought before he said, "I-I am He-Helias and I'm five and a half this year."

"Good boy," Lorist said as he stroked the boy's face. Raising his head, he looked at Pajik and his wife who was clasping her mouth with surprise and said, "Pajik, madam, can you please come over here?"

Lorist placed Helias on the ground and stood up before he bowed to Pajik's wife and said, "I apologize, madam, for your painful experiences. Today, I shall return your child to you."

Pajik's wife passed the child in her arms to Pajik before hugging Helias tightly and saying, "Child... Oh, my child..."

Pajik on the other hand hugged his own son as he stared at the situation with confusion.

"Knight Pajik, may I request you to be the stepfather of Helias?" Lorist said towards Pajik solemnly.

"Milord, this is..." Pajik didn't know how to respond. He knew that his wife was previously the maidservant of the First Young Master and had birthed him a son whom Pesha took to be raised as her own son, forcing Helias to be parted from Pajik's wife. Pesha was also the one who established their marriage. This was why Pajik usually didn't dare to act against Pesha.

In the beginning, his wife missed her son dearly and often cried herself to sleep in the middle of the night. However, she gradually recovered after giving birth to her and Pajik's son. Even so, her first child was still Helias and no mother would ever forget their firstborn.

"Knight Pajik, in my eyes, you have always been an upright person who upholds his oaths. Helias is the sole offspring my elder brother left behind and I hope that he can obtain the love and care of a father and mother that a child like him deserves as well as siblings for him to grow up with. The reason I want you to be his guardian is because I hope that you will be able to raise him into a trustworthy and noble person. When he reaches 12 years old, I will fetch him back and begin training him into a magnificent knight like his father," Lorist said.

Pajik passed the child that was in his arms back to his wife and saluted towards Lorist. "Milord, I will gladly become the adopted father of Helias. Since my wife is her mother and the First Young Master had also treated me well, I will definitely raise him as I would my own son and won't let milord down."

"Thank you, my knight," Lorist said as he bowed towards Pajik gratefully.

Pajik and his wife stepped aside with the two children and Lorist returned to his seat before he said, "Molocinque, Wellickson and Eidelwoke..."

The three of them stepped forward and bowed towards Lorist to show their respect.

"Honestly speaking, I don't really mind your statuses. To me, the blood of the Nortons also flow in your veins and you are my brothers by blood. However, due to the customs and traditions of the family, I am unable to let you train in the hereditary Crimsonblood Battle Force technique. However, I've gotten you these..." Lorist said as he took out three high-ranked Battle Force manuals.

"Molocinque, your Battle Force is of the earth attribute, right? This is for you. Wellickson, since your Battle Force is of the metal attribute, this one is for you. As for Eidelwoke, I believe that you are quite talented in Battle Force training. Within only one year, you managed to train up to the Two Star Bronze rank. I hope that you will continue to strive hard. This fire attribute Battle Force manual is for you. Other than that, all three of you will also be receiving training in noble and knight etiquette.

"This is the least I can do for you as your brother. I hope that all of you will continue to train hard and break into the Silver rank to become knights of the family, after which you will be allowed to bear the Norton family name. When you rake in enough achievements for the family, I will also make you all landed nobles so that you can form branch families for the Nortons. I look forward to the arrival of that day," Lorist said.

The three of them once again saluted Lorist as they said in unison, "Thank you, milord."

Lorist then waved to the four middle-aged maidservants to bring the children forward.

He said to the maidservants, "You all used to be the personal maidservants of my father and have graced me with four other siblings. Since you've been taking care of my siblings rather well even after you have formed your own families, I will allow them to continue staying with you so that they may experience the joy of being raised in a normal family. However, when they reach the age of 12, they must begin receiving training for noble etiquette and knighthood. As long as they are hard working enough, they will definitely have the same prospects of their three brothers here. You will also be receiving a yearly sum to improve the quality of life within your families so that my half-siblings will be able to live better lives."

The four maidservants paid their respects and said, "Thank you, milord."

"You may return for now," Lorist said.

When the maidservants left with his half-siblings, Lorist said, "Pesha..."

Pesha stepped forward without any fuss. She felt that Lorist behaved rather differently tonight and got the same vibe she received when she looked at the late Baron Norton in the past: strict, confident and dominating.

"Pesha, since you have chosen to become the leader of the female garrison unit, I hope that you will give it your best to fulfill that role and obey the regulations of the family and become a fine female knight. However, you must remember that without my permission, you are not allowed to act as you please and change the organization or regulations of your unit, understand?" Lorist said as he stared at Pesha.

She merely nodded painstakingly.

"Today, with Brother Beck, Knight Pajik and Supervisor Spiel as witnesses, I will entrust you with the responsibility of being the leader of the female unit. Similarly, you must uphold the promise you have made to me. Otherwise, don't blame me for being ruthless. Also, if you receive an invitation, you may go to Pajik's home as a guest to visit Helias. However, I forbid you from going there on your own accord to disturb the calm and harmony of their lives. Remember my words well. You may leave now."

...

"Irina, thank you for birthing this wonderful child. He's so cute..." Lorist said as he hugged his son gently as the child narrowed his eyes quietly, wanting to go back to sleep after being breast-fed.

At that moment, Irina was leaning on the bed and looking at Lorist hug the child lovingly with the warm smile of a new mother on her face.

Reidy silently opened the door and whispered from the outside, "Milord..."

"What's up?"

"The Pentasword Mercenary Crew leader is here to collect the rewards. He heard that you were back so he wanted to pay you a visit."

Lorist nodded and placed the child back into Irina's bosom. "Shhh, be careful. He's asleep..."

Irina rolled her eyes at Lorist jokingly and said, "I know, just go."

The Pentasword Mercenary Crew had brought their family members and friends from their village over to Firmrock Castle during the first round of snow on the 11th month of the previous year and they were settled down at Wildnorth Town by Supervisor Kedan. The tale of their migration was rather dramatic: they used the opportunity during the celebration of the 36th day of the 9th month when everyone else was heading to Windbury City to participate in the harvest festival and traveled by river and carriage to the Northlands. Using the cover as immigrants which the Kenmays Family were bringing into the Northlands to develop their dominion, they managed to pass the customs point at Hendliff Suspension Bridge within the duke's dominion and headed for the Norton Family's dominion right away.

The crew leader Doboff respectfully greeted Lorist before he was invited to have some tea together.

This time around, Doboff and his various subordinates brought more than 50 heads of the mountain barbarians to claim the bonus from Supervisor Spiel and also requested for some support in terms of weapons and other equipment.

Doboff reported the developments of the past few months starting from the 3rd month to Lorist. During the time the Pentasword Mercenary Crew defended the intersection point at the two mountain ranges near the border of the Norton Family dominion and the Magical Dragon Mountains, they have encountered the cavalry of the barbarians a number of times. In the beginning, the mountain barbarian cavalry units numbered less than ten and eventually grew in number to a few hundred. Doboff expressed his suspicion that they would be facing a large-scale barbarian attack some time in the future.

Lorist agreed to Doboff's request for weapon and equipment support right away and also promised that each mercenary of the crew would receive one metal armor to increase their defensive capabilities.

Incredibly grateful, Doboff thanked Lorist three whole times before bidding his leave.

Lorist then spent another month of bliss with his child before receiving an urgent letter from Charade that called for his presence at Firmrock Castle.

...

Currently, Lorist, his family knights and other administrative officers were gathered within the wide hall within Firmrock Castle, which was only used for the first time since the completion of the castle. Even Belnick, Pajik, Supervisor Spiel and Pesha who were usually stationed at Maplewoods Bastide came over to the castle to attend the meeting.

This time around, Pesha was finally able to come to terms with the true might of Lorist, causing her to develop a sense of respect and fear towards him. As the only female knight within the family, she also received curious stares from the other family knights and when some knights came over to introduce themselves, Pesha instantly hid behind Belnick shyly.

Lorist and Charade then entered the hall, followed behind by Reidy and Patt who were booth holding a wooden rack and a huge beastskin scroll in their arms.

The chatters in the hall gradually quieted down as everyone understood that the fate of the Norton Family's 500000 plus subjects would be discussed during the meeting.

Patt and Reidy placed the rack firmly on the ground and hung up the beastskin scroll, which was in actuality an enlarged version of the map of the Norton Family dominion.

After Charade saluted Lorist, he proceeded to tell everyone within the hall about the problems the family was facing that had to be solved as soon as possible. Holding a wooden stick, he started pointing it towards the map.

"This plan involves the area from the valley city all the way to Wildnorth Town. The family is in favor of developing these wastelands into the main food producing area of the dominion. As everyone may have noticed, the wasteland is divided into seven sectors which are painted in different colors. Within each sector, one town will be constructed and each town will be surrounded by around 10 villages with each town housing roughly 1000 to 1500 households and each village housing from 300 to 500 households. This way, the seven sectors can hold up to 500000 people and roughly 12000 square kilometers of farmland will be cultivated.

"This map was brought to you by the painstaking month-long effort of the light cavalry scout regiment and the sacrifice of tens of family soldiers. Right now, on these lands are huge groups of magical beasts which have crossed over from the Magical Dragon Mountains into the family dominion last winter that haven't yet returned to their habitat. If we are to develop these lands, we will first have to deal with these magical beasts.

"We plan to use three years to develop this wasteland so that we may be able to establish a haven for our loved ones, unaffected by the perils of war going on outside. This year, our plan is to first clear out the magical beasts within the dominion and settle the folk down into the seven sectors to start sowing the seeds for the winter wheat as well as construct temporary living quarters and build roads and other infrastructure. We will also be readying the supplies the folk will be needing to survive the winter and all the preparations must be finished before winter comes in the 11th month.

"Next year, we will widen the roads and improve the transportation infrastructure as well as launch a large-scale irrigation project for the farmlands and distribute farmland to the folk. Each household will receive up to 30000 square meters of land and we will also provide farming tools and one horse for each household. In the future, our lord will fulfill his promise and construct new stone houses for each household so that all the people who have followed us back to the dominion will be able to live in warm, safe homes.

"The three years of development is estimated to cost millions of gold Fordes. After distributing the farmland, our lord also promises to give a discounted tax rate for three years. During the first year, the commoners will only have to pay 10% of their harvest. During the second year, they have to pay 20% and during the third year, 30%. After that, the tax rate will stay at 40% and that is the highest it will go. As for the family members of our soldiers, they will even get a discount of 10% in their taxes. We believe that after three years, we will be able to convert this wasteland into an earthly paradise for all."

Charade then turned to Lorist and said, "Milord, you should name this piece of wasteland."

"Alright," Lorist said as he stood up. "In hopes for the plentiful harvests produced by the land and the bliss of those who settle within, I will name this place the Felicitas Settlement.

"I'm sure all of you have heard Knight Charade's description of the plan. It's already the 7th month now and there's only 4 months remaining before the 11th month, so we don't have much time. I hope all of you will cooperate and give this effort your all," said Lorist as he made a knight salute towards the rest.

Everyone within the hall stood up and said in unison, "Milord, we pledge to give nothing but our best efforts!"

"Knight Josk..."

"Milord, I am awaiting your instructions," Josk said as he stepped forward.

"Where is my Fiercetiger Knight?"

"Milord, your Fiercetiger Knight awaits your orders!" exclaimed Lode Wales passionately as he stood beside Josk.

"Where's my knight brigade?"

Terman stepped forward and said, "Milord, your knight brigade will always serve as your sword loyally."

"Where are my eyes and ears, Knight Yuriy?"

"Milord, the direction in which you point will be where we head!" Yuriy said as he stood up.

"Good. The mounted archers, knight brigade and light cavalry scouts... I order you all to clean up the magical beasts that are still roaming the wasteland before the coming of the 9th month!"

"Yes, milord!"

"Knight Waxima..."

"Yes, milord," Waxima said as he stepped forward.

"Your heavy-armored cavalry company will be fused with Loze's heavy-armored cavalry unit with you becoming his second-in-command. You shall join him in this mission as well."

"Yes, milord."

Lorist then looked at the rest within the hall and said, "Knight Potterfang's heavy-armored infantry unit will be in charge of policing the immigrant camp. Ovidis's guard company will be stationed at Firmrock Castle as usual and Pajik's guard company shall defend Maplewoods Bastide and reinforce the two army bases of the Pentasword Mercenary Crew should they need any help. Freiyar's three garrison legions will escort the immigrants to their settlements and each village shall be defended by a company of troops with each town also being defended by a regiment. Els, you shall bring your guards to oversee the captive laborers who will be constructing the roads. The rest of the units will be managed by Knight Charade."

"Yes, milord."

"Knight Malek, please step forward," Lorist said.

"Milord," Malek said as he stepped in front of Lorist.

"Knight Malek, as your dominion lord, I order you to take a break from your duties until you break through to the Gold rank," Lorist said with a smile.

"But milord, the family will be quite busy and I have to work my share as well..."

"Nonono, you have already been held back far too long during the journey with the northbound convoy. I have already ordered Knight Belnick to replace you as the second-in-command of Knight Freiyar and take over your garrison legion. You shouldn't worry too much and go on your vacation. It won't be late for you to contribute when you reach the Gold rank. Not only is this my personal request to you, it's also an instruction by me as your dominion lord, so there is no room for negotiation."

"So be it. Thank you, milord," said Malek as his ever-stoic face revealed a touched expression while he made a knight salute to Lorist.

Ridden with Matters

Hi guys, finally managed to get this long chapter out. The chapter title perfectly describes my schedule right now! This is the first regular chapter of the week.

I need a short breather to catch up on my studies, so there might be only 1 sponsored this week, making 3 in total. However, I assure you readers that after my tests (which should be around mid-May to early June), I'll get back to 6 chapters a week as usual, promise!

Happy reading!

Charade was laid down on the bed and according to the herbalist Lundmorde, he had collapsed from overworking for a few nights straight. Even though Charade had Battle Force of the Three Star Silver rank, he still couldn't take that kind of fatigue and had to rest for three days before he would be able to recover.

Lorist was incredibly regretful, especially when he witnessed the sight of Molise carrying Charade's son, Charade Libert, as she stared at her husband worryingly. He realized that he had put too heavy a burden on Charade to the point that he did not have enough time to be with his own wife and child.

Molise's pregnancy had been discovered during the 6th month of the previous year and Charade was ecstatic when he was notified of it. When the convoy was going through the Andinaq Kingdom just before it reached the imperial capital, he had Potterfang, Terman, Yuriy and the other Dawn Academy students bring Molise and her grandfather, Engelich, to the War God's Shrine and he got officially married to Molise with the blessings of a priest there.

During the snowy night of the 8th day of the 2nd month at Kobo City, Molise delivered a healthy son for Charade.

Lorist recalled that moment when he suggested for Charade's son to be named Snobby with a devious smile on his face. The others who were unaware of what it really meant praised that it was a good name. However, even though Charade didn't understand the word either, he rejected that name right away as he understood that Lorist was never up to any good when he revealed a smile like that, much to Lorist's dismay.

At that moment, Charade was still worrying about the management of manpower and resources for the wasteland development even though he was bedridden. Lorist patted on his hand and asked him not to worry about the other matters and rest well and told him that he would take over the work so that Charade could have a month of vacation to rest and accompany his family.

While Lorist did promise to take over the work, it was easier said than done. Only after he started did he realize the true complexity of the work handled by Charade. He had to deal with tons of reports even to the most trivial ones and had to come up with a solution for every one of them. Busy to the point of exploding, Lorist could only catch a breath of rest after burning the midnight oil for three whole days.

No... Charade's breakdown is my own fault. He's basically a living Zhuge Liang who can handle all matters, big and small. While he had no choice but to be in charge during the convoy's journey, I can't let him continue without rest anymore.

Lorist understood Charade's frustration. Given that they only just arrived at the dominion and were short on time, Charade couldn't afford to familiarize himself with the officers within the family dominion and could only make do with the ones he had worked with during the northbound journey, which was a very limited number of people, causing him to eventually collapse from fatigue.

As the dominion lord himself, Lorist wasn't as attentive and adept at working long hours as Charade and his eyes were already bloodshot from working for three days straight. Right now, the only thought on his mind was how he could lighten his burden. He notified Supervisor Hansk, Supervisor Kedan, Supervisor Spiel, Butler Boris, Shadekampf and a few other officers that used to work for Charade within the convoy to gather for a meeting.

During the meeting, Lorist got to the point straight away and said that he would form a development committee for the Felicitas Settlement comprising everyone present. The committee would be made up of multiple departments with Hansk being the manager of the allocation department which would approve requests for resource and manpower.

Spiel would be the manager of the finance and resources department and would be in charge of managing and distributing said resources.

Kedan would take the role as the human resource department's manager and everyone within the development villages would fall under his jurisdiction. Additionally, he was also tasked with setting up a comprehensive registry for the citizens of the settlement.

Butler Boris on the other hand would take charge of the main development projects of the seven sectors and manage where the manpower and resource be distributed and the various farmland development tasks. In other words, he was the main lead of the project.

Shadekampf would represent Lorist in checking on the three supervisors and the development of the seven sectors. Additionally, he had complete authority regarding the handing out of punishment for any transgressions in regulations. Apart from having to report anything he deemed deserving of a death penalty to Lorist, he was free to hand out any other punishment or solution he pleased.

As for the other officers who worked for Charade during the days of the convoy, they would be allocated to the various departments according to their respective capabilities. Lorist gave them three days to set the departments up, after which they would begin the development according to Charade's plan.

In the end, Lorist clapped his hands and encouraged for them to work hard and said that he awaited the completion of the settlement which would be only the first of the many good things that would come. He told them that the settlement would be divided into seven administrative districts according to the seven sectors and that the district chief would be recommended by the managers of the various departments before being appointed officially by Lorist. He also said that as administrative officers, they would be given an honorary noble title if they performed their duties well so that they may enter the ranks of nobility. Also, there would be a yearly bonus which would be given according to what Lorist thought about their work performance.

Faced with the 'encouragement' Lorist had just given, every officer present felt incredibly excited. They quickly bowed and pledged that they would give it their all for the family and the successful development of the Felicitas Settlement and assured Lorist that they wouldn't give up regardless of the difficulties involved and asked him to be assured and wait for their success.

Lorist then returned to his quarters and slept for a day and night straight. After waking from his long sleep, he leisurely sipped on some tea as he read some books before he entered his office during noon only to find that a stack of beastskin documents had piled up on his desk.

What's going on? Why are there be so many documents? Didn't I allocate the workload already? Which department are these reports from? Lorist thought as he picked up a few documents in annoyance.

The first beastskin document was actually submitted by Supervisor Kedan and according to him, there wouldn't be enough beastskins within the whole family dominion to make a registry for more than 500000 citizens and also noted the extreme costs involved. That's why, one of the subordinates of Kedan suggested that thin wooden sheets be used temporarily instead until the beastskin requirements could be fulfilled.

Kedan suggested in his letter for that subordinate of his to be awarded five gold Fordes and also submitted an estimate of the cost of making the thin wooden sheets which included the building of a factory and the cost of paying the woodworkers. It would amount to roughly 100 gold Fordes a year and the proposal had already been submitted to Supervisor Hansk.

Hansk was of a similar opinion that the solution was a good one. However, he didn't dare to make the decision himself and waited for Lorist's approval.

What's there to hesitate about? I can only have 5000 beastskins made within a year for 100 gold Fordes whereas I can have 15000 wooden sheets made each month with that money. That's obviously the better choice! Lorist then signed the document, indicating his approval before stamping it with his seal, thus resolving the problem of the registry.

Lorist felt that the remaining few documents were mostly trivial matters. Some of them were merely reports of things that had already been settled while others were decisions that the departments hesitated to make which was sent to Lorist for the final say. Even though the number of documents was easily half there previously was, Lorist still felt rather frustrated for having to deal with all that paperwork.

"Sol, why is such an important matter stuffed all the way down here?" Lorist exclaimed angrily.

That was a report about Loze who was cleaning up magical beasts in the wasteland. Josk and the rest submitted that report that stated that they had already swept their way to the third sector and killed many magical beasts in the process with near 10000 carcasses already piled up. However, most of the beasts were herbivores like magical bulls and goats and they submitted the report because they wanted a solution to manage the animal carcasses so that they don't rot to waste from the harsh tempering of the natural elements.

To Lorist, the so-called magical beasts were not much different from animals. While they had some amazing powers according to the legends, with the end of the magical civilization, the magical beasts had also lost many of their amazing magical abilities. The surviving ones to this day only retained their bestial ferocity along with their tough hide and stunningly aggressive physical features.

The reason they were still distinguished from normal animals was because of their aggressive tendencies. Putting the carnivores aside, even herbivore magical beasts would attack right away the moment their territory was infringed upon.

"Reidy, call the three supervisors to come over," Lorist said angrily.

The three of them soon arrived at Lorist's office. Lorist tossed the report to them and asked, "Tell me what's going on with this. Why hasn't a report as important as this been seen to already?"

"Milord, we haven't even seen this report before either," replied the three supervisors in unison.

"Huh?" Lorist mused, before he took up the report and checked the date once again only to notice that he had made a mistake. The report was submitted only three days ago when the departments had yet to be formed and it wasn't weird that they didn't get to know about its existence. Lorist had missed the report because he was too worn out from three straight days of work previously.

"Fine. Then, do you have a solution in mind?" Lorist said hurriedly to change the subject.

"Milord, we should mobilize any workers with butchering skills to deal with the carcasses right away. We might also have to allocate some female leather workers as well as those well-versed in meat preservation to handle them as the beasts can also be a good source of food for us," suggested Hansk.

"Not bad. The three of you should prioritize dealing with this for now, especially with the mobilization of resources and workforce to the three sectors. Have Shadekampf guide you along with this process," Lorist said as he nodded.

"Milord, we might not be able to mobilize any of our family's forces as escorts," noted Kedan worryingly.

"There should be no problem. The three sectors have already been mostly cleared up and there shouldn't be any magical beasts left," Spiel said.

"What if there's one or two that managed to escape? These workers don't have the ability nor courage to face off against those beasts. If we really did encounter any, chaos would break out."

"Alright... Send my orders to Pesha for her to lead the female garrison unit to escort these people to the third sector. Right now, only her female garrison unit is not occupied with anything else. Additionally, she is already at the Two Star Silver rank, so she shouldn't have any problem handling those magical beasts. After settling this matter of the three sectors, there are four more that still have lots of magical beasts roaming around that must be dealt with," Lorist said.

"Yes, milord."

During the next morning, just a while after Lorist entered his office and looked at a few documents, Potterfang entered the room.

"Milord," said Potterfang as he made a knight salute.

"Oh, Pog. How's the transport of the resources going at your side?" Lorist asked as he raised his head cheerfully.

Lorist was actually referring to the various goods left at the transit point at Count Spenseid's dominion. The important resources and immigrants had already long been moved into the family dominion through Firmrock Castle.

While they were of lesser importance relative to the things that had been moved first, the value of those goods were not to be underestimated. For example, among the furniture plundered from the duke's manor was a huge bed which was enough for six people to sleep in that was crafted intricately by an experienced artisan. It was left behind to be transported last because it wasn't convenient to ship it first.

"Milord, it should be done in another month or so. Currently, only two companies numbering around 1000 men and near 1000 carriages are left there. At the rate of one shipment per two days, we would still require tens of more shipments to ship everything over," Potterfang replied.

It was currently the 26th day of the 7th month and Potterfang had stated that the transportation of the items would only be complete by the end of the 8th month. Potterfang's forces were also stretched rather thin as well. Currently, most of his available men from the heavy-armored infantry unit were stationed at the immigrant camp near Firmrock Castle to maintain order there. Even though near 100000 of his men had been sent to develop the wasteland, the 400000 plus immigrants placed an immense burden on the 10000 or less men Potterfang had left.

"Is there anything you need since you came all the way here?" Lorist asked.

"Oh, it's not that, milord. The transportation of the goods and the immigrant camp is posing no problem. I just wanted to know how we should deal with the nobles and knights that we have captured during the last battle," Potterfang said as he placed a huge stack of documents on Lorist's desk.

"Gosh... Yet another huge pile of documents," Lorist complained, before he flipped the first page open only to see a familiar name on top of it: Count Spensied.

"Oh, Pog, did you find out what this old fellow's problem was? Why did he suddenly choose to antagonize our family? Did you interrogate him yet?" Lorist asked.

"I've already asked him. Milord, this old count said that he had answered the call to arms of the duke for justice and to defend the honor of nobles. That was also the reason he was the first to lead the charge towards Firmrock Castle. After incurring 400 casualties with only a company of men, he became akin to a toothless tiger and got oppressed by the other nobles to a point that he returned to his own dominion after being unable to stand the disgraceful treatment he was receiving. In the end, he fell straight into our hands," Potterfang replied.

"For justice and the honor of nobles?! Bullshit!" Lorist exclaimed.

Potterfang laughed and said, "In the end, his subordinate revealed the truth. Milord, didn't you hang a person called Baron Farad for harming our messengers?"

Lorist nodded and said, "Oh, come to think of it, I did."

"The butler of the count said that Baron Farad had always been really respectful to the count and he even wanted to wed his daughter to the baron. However, the baron was hanged by you, milord. Angered beyond his wits, Count Spenseid believed that you didn't have the right to punish another fellow noble for the sake of a few messengers. Had it not been for the troops you brought with you at that time, the old count would've launched his assault on you long ago.

"That's why he was the first to heed Duke Loggins's call and ended up losing his forces at Firmrock Castle. Milord, how should we deal with this count? We've already imprisoned him for two whole months and given how busy we all are, no one else can really afford to spend any time on him. Now that the transportation of the goods is almost done, it's about time you made a decision," Potterfang said.

"How many people are there among the nobles we have in captivity?" Lorist asked as he ran his finger through the stack of beastskin documents like they were poker cards.

"There are 16 nobles and 123 knights in total."

"Where are the family members of Count Spenseid currently?"

"They're imprisoned together with him. The old count has two wives, one daughter and one son. His 25-year-old daughter is a widow and his 14-year-old son was birthed by his second wife. He also had a family knight who perished during the charge towards Firmrock Castle," explained Potterfang in great detail.

"How are you so familiar with his situation?" Lorist asked curiously.

Potterfang blushed and said, "That daughter of his is really thoughtful and she tries her best to take care of her father and younger brother even though she's a prisoner just like them. I've seen her myself when I went over there..."

"Oh..." Lorist said with realization as a smile surfaced on his face.

Stretching his hand out to the bell rope beside him, Lorist called for Reidy to come in.

"Reidy, get Supervisor Kedan to come over here. I have something I want him to do."

Kedan quickly appeared before Lorist after being summoned.

"Supervisor Kedan, I'll leave this matter to you," Lorist said as he handed a stack of beastskin documents to him. After that, he took out Count Spenseid's file and said, "Go ask this old guy's daughter if she's willing to become the maidservant of our very own Knight Potterfang. If she's willing, we'll let her parents and brother return home."

Kedan revealed a smile and said, "Congratulations, Knight Potterfang."

Sweating with embarrassment, Potterfang thanked Lorist shyly. "Thank you, milord. However, the count won't be able to return home as their castle and town walls have already been taken apart by us with everything of value taken, including their citizens..."

"What? Why would we take apart their castle and town walls? Who made that call?" Lorist said as he thought, I would understand if they took the valuables, but I really don't get the point of taking down even their town walls.

"It was Shadekampf. He said that the construction of the seven towns within the wasteland will definitely require a lot of rectangular-shaped rocks. Seeing that the soldiers stationed at the count's dominion had nothing to do, he ordered them to dismantle the castle and town walls for the stones to be shipped back to be used as building material. Right now, almost nothing is left but a piece of flat, empty land," Potterfang said in a troubled fashion. He personally felt that the matter was going too far as well.

Sol! Shadekampf is even better at being a miser than Charade now!

"Oh well... Supervisor Kedan, tell the count's daughter that if she agrees, we will provide them with a residence within Firmrock Castle and pay them 100 gold Fordes yearly as reparation. If we are able in the future, we will once again construct a new castle at their dominion or move his dominion to another more prosperous area. That will be it for now," Lorist said.

"Milord, a few other nobles' dominions have also been ruined by the passing of our convoy," Potterfang reminded.

"Have those poor misers buzz off. Why would we waste food on feeding them? As for the rest, if they are willing to pay a ransom, let them go. If they don't have money, they can trade some resources instead as well. Settle this matter as soon as possible. Pog, you should follow Kedan there lest he gets the wrong person," Lorist said as he laughed.

"Milord..." said Potterfang with a flushed face.

"Understood, milord," Kedan said as he saluted respectfully before he left.

Female Secretary

Here's the second, albeit late, regular chapter of the week. I'll whip up one sponsored chapter by the end of this week before next week's first regular chapter. Enjoy the read!

"Milord, Old Man Balk is here," Reidy said as he pushed open the door.

"Oh, have him come in," Lorist said. Currently, he was busy organizing the various documents on his table.

Old Man Balk entered with a beastskin scroll clasped by his side.

"Milord, good morning," he said as he saluted to Lorist.

"Drop the formalities," Lorist said as he waved his hand. "Old Man Balk, did you bring the things I asked for?"

"They're all here," Balk said as he rolled the scroll open and laid it on the table. It was a detailed map of the area around Morgan Hills.

"I rushed over the moment I received your order. Milord, we started the first stages of surveying the area around Morgan Hills. Under the guidance of Grandmaster Sid, we discovered a silver deposit, a tin deposit, a clay pit, a limestone quarry and three granite deposits. This year, the production of copper within the dominion have already recovered to its previous amount and we have started to begin early work on silver mining. So far, around 60 kilograms of silver is mined every month," reported Balk.

"You did well," Lorist praised. "Oh, and what is Grandmaster Sid up to now?"

"Milord, Grandmaster Sid is currently researching the equipment of the Whitelion Legion like crazy. It's a shame we didn't discover any iron deposits near Morgan Hills. That is what the family lacks the most right now," Balk said.

Nodding, Lorist said, "Originally we had two factories, one for armor making and another for ballistas. However, I've already ordered them to stop all manufacturing, mainly because we don't lack any good equipment ever since the return of the convoy and the rest of the iron we have left are to be made into farming tools. We will expand our farmland greatly next year so we will need a lot of those tools.

"Since the equipment we make cannot rival that of the Whitelion Legion in quality, I don't plan to have them continue manufacturing either. I have already tasked Grandmaster Felin to start research into new types of ballistas and longbows. Notify Grandmaster Sid that I am also willing to sponsor his research effort so that we may one day be able to make armor of better quality than the Whitelion Legion ones we have now.

"The reason I asked you to come here today was to tell you that I intend to reorganize all the factories and mines within the dominion by setting up an industrial and mining department with you as its chief manager. You will be in charge of everything pertaining to mining as well as starting new factories within the dominion. Take a look at this first," Lorist said as he passed a thick beastskin document to Balk.

"This is a list of personnel picked from our 500000 plus citizens who have prior experience starting and managing mines and you should pick some of them to become supervisors of our mines. After introducing them to the general matters they have to pay attention to, have them report to you regularly on the development efforts."

Lorist then gave another beastskin document to Balk and said, "In here is a similar list with those experienced in running factories as well as the ones I intend to have built within the dominion. I have already readied the manpower, resources and funds required for the construction, so you will only have to pick them from the list to get things going."

Balk took the document and mused, "A pottery workshop, a leather factory, a clothes factory, a wooden writing sheet factory, a beastskin processing factory, a furniture factory and a blanket factory..."

Raising his head in confusion, Balk asked, "Milord, why do you want to start so many factories and workshops to produce daily use products?"

Lorist smiled bitterly and shrugged. "This year, we have to solve the issue of having our citizens spend the winter in the new development villages. Since Loze and Josk led their men to kill off lots of magical beasts, we've ended up with quite an amount of fur that we can use to make leather outfits and blankets which we must distribute before the coming of winter. Additionally, when most of the new citizens settle down next year, apart from supplying them with products for daily use, we have to also consider their increasing consumption of the products as well."

Lorist patted the thick documents held by Balk and said, "Many among the list are merchants and factory owners who have gone bankrupt for various reasons which caused their eventual fall into the ranks of the vagabonds. I've decided to give them another chance to pick up their former careers again. Tell them that if they manage these factories well, they will be able to borrow a sum from our family to gain personal ownership of those factories and are free to manage them however they please provided they adhere to our regulations. Tell them to be bold and do their job well and that the Norton Family will definitely support their efforts."

Balk nodded and said, "Milord, I understand what you're trying to say. I'll do my best to fulfill it."

Lorist then pointed on the calendar on the wall and said, "It's already the end of the 7th month right now. You have around 1 month to get things ready. After that, we'll head to the Bladedge Mountains to visit the valley that you mentioned before to see if there's really green clay vines over there. Oh, and we'll have Grandmaster Sid follow us along as well to check if there are any minable resources over there."

"Acknowledged, milord."

...

Lorist noticed that his work increased once again with the formation of Balk's new department, causing him to look at the calendar on the walls as each day while he waited for Charade's return from his vacation to take over the mountain of work seemed as long as a year to him.

I feel so stupid! Lorist thought. Why did I give Charade 1 whole month of vacation even though Lundmorde said that he only needed ten or so days of rest... Had it not been for what I said, I would've been able to return to Maplewoods Bastide to see my darling son...

Once again taking a glance at the calendar, he thought, Sol, there's still 15 days before Charade's vacation ends... How agonizing...

Lorist could no longer sit still, so he stood up and walked towards the map detailing the seven sectors. The migration of people to the first three sectors had already been completed and construction of the temporary villages and towns were under way. The fourth and fifth sectors were in the migration process with the sixth and seventh still being cleared of magical beasts. The seventh area was where Wildnorth Town was and the sixth was the most troublesome with its high magical beast count as it was more mountainous than the other sectors. However, Lorist was confident that the culling could be completed by the 8th month.

Bam! The door to the office was slammed open by Telesti who rushed within with an angered, flushed expression and both her eyes wide open.

"Locke, how can you go back on your promise like that?!" shouted Telesti incredibly angrily.

Lorist merely patted on his forehead as yet another headache began to manifest.

Lorist gestured for Reidy to close the door to the office.

"My beloved Telesti, sit down first and let's talk about this civilly."

"Locke, you've promised me that the construction of the valley city will go according to my plan and supervision. This, however, isn't what I wanted," Telesti said with anger still filling her voice.

Sigh, this is because of Charade, thought Lorist as he laughed bitterly.

He remembered promising Telesti that she would have full control of the planning and building of the valley city, causing her to give it her best for her work. After brainstorming for days and nights, she designed an almost fairytale-like garden city and even drew quite a number of pictures of its completed form.

From an aesthetic standpoint, Lorist couldn't help but admit that it was definitely one of the best he has seen. However, when Charade checked the designs, he almost fainted.

"There isn't even a city wall! In the mountainous area of Morgan Hills, any carnivorous magical beast can just jump into the city to hunt for prey! Also, the roads of the city should be constructed with practicality in mind so that things can be transported to their destination as quickly as possible. This road layout is so complicated and winding that 9 out of 10 people will definitely lose their way in it! Also, with the huge windows these buildings have, did she even consider the problem of retaining heat during winter?"

Charade critiqued the design for a whole half hour before abandoning the crystallization of Telesti's hard work altogether.

As for the already completed Firmrock Castle, Charade laughed at how it looked rather run down for a castle.

"Locke, my brother, you must understand that you now have around 500000 people under your rule and you're not like most other smaller nobles which only have thousands of subjects. You should convert Firmrock Castle into the Firmrock City Fortress so that it will be able to match the prestige of the Norton Family name," Charade said.

"However, there's only so much space within the valley. We can't just expand it because we want to," said Lorist in a troubled manner.

"That won't be a problem," Charade said as he took a map of the Firmrock Castle and drew rectangles outside each of the two walls. "We only have to build two more sectors here with the first one being the army base and business sector that deals with transactions outside the walls. The sector inside here will be the residence of the family members of the soldiers. Right now, it's used for the camp of the immigrants. However, we can always reclaim the land around that area after building the sectors. This way, the valley city in the middle will become the central city sector for the administration of our family as well as the central base for military operations. By the time these changes are made, we can proudly call it the Firmrock City Fortress."

Lorist had to admit that Charade made quite a lot of sense and he allowed him to redesign the layout of the city and reallocated all the personnel of Telesti to him.

Telesti was more of an introvert that disliked crowded places. That's why after she finished the design of Firmrock Castle, she returned to her hermit-like lifestyle and stayed within her home all day to analyze the materials her mother left her. She didn't mind the fact that her personnel had been allocated to Charade. However, she eagerly awaited the beginning of the construction and deeply hoped that she could name the city after her mother.

As for Charade, he couldn't care less about Lorist's personal promise to the young lady as the family's priority was to first settle down the 500000 plus subjects by developing the reclamation villages and new towns.

The first of the seven sectors of Felicitas Settlement had the planned valley city as the main town at its center. Charade abandoned the design Telesti made and found someone else to remake a simple, yet pragmatic layout and the construction had already begun only recently. That's when Telesti noticed the changes and stormed to Lorist's place for an explanation.

Recalling that Charade had tossed Telesti's design up to the top of the nearby shelf, Lorist got a stool and used it to reach out to the dust-covered plans.

Seeing her painstakingly drawn design thrown in a corner doing nothing but gathering dust, Telesti started to cry with droplets of tears streaking down her face.

"Sigh, don't cry. I was just about to tell you the reason we didn't use your design," said Lorist hurriedly in an attempt to console her.

Lorist repeated every one of Charade's reasonings that he could remember, only to be refuted by a single line of Telesti's. "But, Grandmaster Ciroba himself said that my design was brimming with spirit and genius and even said that he looked forward to its completion... He also thought that my reputation as a designer of the city would skyrocket after its completion..."

"Sigh, Miss Telesti, Grandmaster Ciroba was praising you from an artistic standpoint. While it is definitely a beautiful piece of work, the family has to first settle down 500000 of its subjects. Do you think that we can afford to appreciate your artistic talent? What we need now is to settle them down as soon as possible. Simple and quick is what this city needs to be. I'm really sorry about this, Miss Telesti... As the dominion lord, I have not been able to fulfill my promise to you. However, I didn't have a choice in that matter as well."

Lorist pointed at the documents stacked up in his rooms and said, "Look around. Knight Charade had already collapsed from the burden of his duties and it's up to me now as the dominion lord to make the decisions based on the torrents of documents coming in every single day. I'm really worn out as well, but I have to endure it so that we can pass this hurdle for the sake of the future of the Norton Family. I truly apologize for my inability to fulfill my promise and hope that I can make it up to you when the situation of the family dominion is stabilized..."

Telesti wiped her tears and looked around the office before she said, "I can see that you're quite busy... Then, how do you plan to make it up to me?"

Lorist stepped towards the map of Felicitas Settlement and pointed towards the seven sectors. "Look. These seven towns will be completed in three years. By then, I plan to build a basic school within each of these towns to train people to read and write. I also plan to have an academy built within the dominion. If you are willing, we can name the academy after your mother. That will be my compensation to you, is that alright?"

Telesti's face flushed with excitement once again. "My mother was a scholar and to her, using her name for an academy is the most honorable thing she can dream of... Thank you, Locke."

Telesti then propped her feet up to kiss Lorist on the cheek slightly to express her gratitude.

Lorist quickly turned his face around and planted his lips onto Telesti's before using his tongue to push open her mouth and began sucking. At the same time, he ran his hands all over her body, causing her to slump powerlessly in his embrace.

They were currently within Lorist's personal office and not Telesti's operating headquarters. Ever since he impregnated Irina some time during the 9th month of the previous year, he hadn't had the chance to release his pent up lust and right now, he was already at his tipping point. With a flip of his arms and a tearing sound, he stripped Telesti naked like a shaven sheep.

WIth her clothes torn open, Telesti snapped back from her daze and attempted to push Lorist away, only to have her body once again twitch involuntarily as Lorist lowered his head to suck on her pink, ripe 'strawberries', sending her into stupor from Lorist's fervent teasing.

Lorist then hoisted Telesti onto his work desk. With a sweep, the thick stack of beastskin documents fell to the ground before he placed Telesti onto the table and pushed her two fair legs apart. He then inserted his member deep into her forbidden zone gently.

With a slightly pained moan, a crimson red flower bloomed on Lorist's work desk as Telesti finally parted with her pristine, maiden state...

When their bodies parted, Lorist breathed heavily with Telesti reprimanding him in a worn out manner, "Locke, you're taking advantage of the situation..."

Lorist merely continued to lick on the two peaks on Telesti's chest before the humping resumed.

"Locke... You're... you're so despicable..." muttered Telesti who was currently sweating all over.

Lorist once again engaged in another round of intercourse...

Having given up with a teary look on her face, Telesti said, "Locke... My lower body feels a little numb... Help me out..."

Lorist embraced her and massaged her gently with his internal energy.

"Telesti, since we're already like this, will you marry me?" Lorist asked.

"I can't..." Telesti said as she shook her head resolutely. "I've taken an oath to remain single for the rest of my life... I won't marry anyone."

"But you're already mine..."

"I can only consider you a lover. Locke, it's not that I don't like you, but I really can't go against my vows..." Telesti said as she continued to shake her head.

"Locke, you've completely ruined my clothes..."

"I'll give you another chest full of new ones."

"Did you mean it when you said that you'll let me name the academy after my mother?"

"Yes, I did. However, it'll take three years for the development to complete. Why don't you help me out as my secretary? That way, you can remind me constantly about my promise to you."

"Alright, I'll help you out and keep an eye on whatever you're doing this time..."

Messenger and Alliance

Here's the first and only sponsored chapter of the week by Frazer T. of the UK. Enjoy the read and cya next week!

The Bladedge Mountains was like a huge wall that blocked off the Norton Family dominion from the open seas.

Lorist was currently standing atop a cliff and looking towards the incoming waves bashing onto the black-colored, razor-sharp bedrock with a solemn expression.

"Are the shores of the Bladedge Mountains all so reefy?" Lorist asked.

"They are, milord," replied Balk. "The coast around the family dominion is mostly like this. The only way we can reach the coast is through the three ways I brought you past just now. The other sides are so steep that there is virtually no way for us to get down the mountains to the coast. We've always headed through the three ways with some firewood and cauldrons to procure some salt from the seawater and each trip would take us tens of days to complete...

"Milord, I think I know what you're thinking. You're planning to find a place to build a port, aren't you?" asked Balk.

Lorist nodded.

"Milord, please follow me," Balk said as he traveled with Lorist across the mountains to another cliff further away.

"Look, milord..."

In the distance, part of the mountain could be seen sloping into the seas. What piqued Lorist's curiosity was the presence of a few wooden structures that were left over there.

"Milord, in the past, the four great families of Wildnorth Town had once attempted to contact the outside world through the sea and spent around one year to construct a very long floating bridge that stretched all the way into the sea over the reef near the shores. At that time, the lord of the family was your grandfather and he attempted to discuss this with the four families of Wildnorth Town and requested for half of the rights to use the bridge. However, before the negotiations were completed, a huge storm tore the bridge apart, causing the four families immense losses as the money they had invested into the project had all gone to waste. All that remains is that over there..." explained Old Man Balk, who knew many things within the distant pass in the that Lorist had no idea about.

"Are these storms common?" Lorist asked.

"Not really. Huge twisters usually appear in the sea only during the 4th and 5th months. During other times, there would be huge winds and waves, but storms are far rarer," replied Balk.

"Oh well. Let's go back now. We've already visiting the Bladedge Mountains for two months, so it's about time we headed back," Lorist said.

After Charade ended his vacation and resumed his work, he really couldn't stand Lorist's attitude; when he had work, he would let his secretary do it. But when he didn't, he would 'do' his secretary. So, he forced Lorist to form a group of people to head towards the Bladedge Mountains to search for potential resources they could use to solve the resource crisis.

One of the things Charade found that they lacked was salt. In the past, the population within the dominion wasn't high and whenever salt ran out, they would bring some cauldrons and firewood to the coast near Bladedge Mountains to make some like Balk had described and that would be enough. However, there were now about 500000 people within the Norton Family dominion and if each person consumed 500 grams of salt per year, each year would cost the family 250000 kilograms of salt. Additionally, the production of furs and preservation of meat required huge amounts of it as well.

Charade also received a report from Spiel that stated that the salt stored up within the warehouses would run out by the 7th month of next year, prompting him to rush to Lorist and ask him to go to the Bladedge Mountains to conduct a survey as soon as possible to find a way to mass produce salt instead of humping with Telesti all day long within the office.

To Lorist, the two months he spent at Bladedge Mountains was quite beneficial. Mainly, he managed to confirm the presence of green vines within the cavern that Balk once found himself in. Even though the amount wouldn't be able to allow them to produce more than 1 million buckets of green vine glue yearly like the Romon Empire, they would still yield around 100000 buckets and that was more than enough for the developmental plans of the family.

Other than that, Grandmaster Sid discovered a black iron mountain which has huge deposits of black iron. Additionally, tungsten and chrome silver deposits were also found nearby, causing Sid to dance in joy and even proclaim, "As long as I have time to do my research, I will definitely be able to make a set of armor that is even better than that of the Whitelion Legion!"

Lorist also felt quite surprised by the discovery as the three minable resource deposits seemed pretty unlikely to occur near each other naturally. Even so, given the infinite vastness of the universe, it wasn't weird for something as outstanding as that to occur, so he put that thought aside for now.

As for the salt crisis Charade was so troubled about, Lorist already had a method to resolve it, that was to use the solar evaporation method. Boiling seawater to gain salt was far too troublesome. Before this, Charade allocated 3000 personnel to boil seawater and managed to gather up to 1 million kilograms of salt within the span of two months. However, they didn't continue to do so after that.

While Lorist didn't personally work in salt production before, he understood the basic procedures and concepts and chose a wide valley and designed a layout for salt evaporation pools to be handed for Balk to manage. While the cost of setting up the infrastructure for the first time was rather high, it didn't require too much manpower at only 100 or so people. However, this method would allow them to produce an estimated 50000 kilograms of salt monthly, solving the shortage of salt within the dominion considerably.

"Also, the salt evaporation pools must first be pressed tightly with mud before applying a layer of green clay to flatten them. When the tide rises, open the valves to allow for the seawater to flow into the pools. After letting the seawater to evaporate for roughly three days, transfer the thick salt water to be cleansed with spring water and allow for the impurities to settle at the bottom. After that, filter the solution for impurities and empty it into the evaporation pools on the next level and allow them to continue to dry. What remains will be edible salt," Lorist explained to Balk one last time.

Balk had asked quite a number of questions as for the past thousands of years, no such method for salt production was ever used. This method also allowed for huge savings as no firewood had to be brought to the coast to boil seawater and the problem of transporting the wood there didn't have to be considered either.

The Bladedge Mountains was not an easy terrain to tread and only smaller plants and grass grew without any trees within the vicinity. Even if there were, they would've long been cut down to be used as firewood for seawater boiling. After descending from the gentler slopes, people would be greeted with one tall cliff after another and had no choice but to circle around them to leave the Bladedge Mountains.

Currently, Telesti and her young maidservant Vinny were at a slope picking flowers to make a flower crown. They jumped around joyfully as if they were innocent, young children.

Since Lorist had intercourse with Telesti for the first time, she began to shed her introverted lifestyle and showed more interest in the matters between men and women. That was especially the case after she discovered that her cramps no longer hurt as much as they did before. She even began to seduce Lorist of her own accord and did it within the confines of their office.

One thing that troubled Lorist was that no matter how many times they make love or try out new and exciting stuff, Telesti wouldn't agree to marry him no matter how hard he tried to convince her. While she wouldn't mind being his lover, becoming his wife was out of the question.

Originally, Telesti wasn't so keen on going along with this trip to the Bladedge Mountains. However, Lorist told her that walking thousands of kilometers was always more enlightening than reading hundreds of books. He then supported his argument by reminding her that her mother frequently visited ruins and ancient forests in person and didn't stay at home all day long merely doing some reading, thus convincing her to come along on the trip.

Seeing Lorist's sullen expression, Telesti understood that Lorist was disappointed. That spot was the end of the stretch of the Bladedge Mountains and beyond that was the Blackmud Marsh. Lorist still wasn't able to find a suitable location to build a port.

Lightly kissing Telesti on the face, Lorist said gently, "Darling, we should head back. To be honest, I was surprised you were able to last two whole months during this trip here. You must've gained quite a bit from the experience."

As opposed to finding a port location like Lorist, Telesti was busy checking out the flora and fauna within the area as well as the geography and herbs of the Bladedge Mountains.

Humphing proudly, Telesti said, "I'm not just another soft, weak, girl you know. I can do whatever my mother could."

Holding Lorist's arm as they descended the slope, Telesti continued, "Locke, to be honest, after two months of research over here, I formed a hypothesis that I'm quite confident about. The terrain of the Bladedge Mountains couldn't have been formed naturally. It was as if the gods used their divine power to build a dam facing the sea to stop the stormy weather and the other dangers they may come with. It is nothing short of miraculous..."

Lorist smiled and merely listened quietly as he thought that his lover had quite the imagination from all the reading she did.

...

By the time they returned to Firmrock Castle, it was already the 28th day of the 10th month. Lorist had considered stopping by Maplewoods Bastide for a day or two to check out on his son. However, he didn't expect that a few messengers were there waiting for Lorist's return and notified him to go to Firmrock Castle as soon as possible.

The last trip Lorist made to the Bladedge Mountains lasted up to 10 days and within that period of time, various messengers had gathered up within the bastide. The gist of their news was that many ambassadors from various noble families were at Firmrock Castle, among the more noteworthy ones included the ambassadors of the First and Second Princes. On another note, Viscount Kenmays also paid a visit to the castle and had already waited there for half a month.

The first person Lorist met with after his return was Viscount Kenmays. After all, among the people who were there at Firmrock Castle, he was considered a guest and thus had the highest priority. However, the viscount himself advised that Lorist meet up with the ambassadors of the two princes first as his matter wasn't urgent and said that it could be left for later.

The ambassador sent there by the Second Prince was a middle-aged noble who radiated charisma from the core of his being. He introduced himself as Viscount Zinderson and mentioned that he had arrived on the Second Prince's behalf to send Lorist a letter and requested Lorist to draft a personal reply without saying anything else.

Lorist opened the letter curiously and noted its length which spanned a few beastskins. The first two beastskins described the intimate camaraderie between the Second Prince and he Norton Family and contained the his condolences for the death of Lorist's elder brother on the battlefield. However, the last beastskin revealed the Second Prince's true ravenous intentions.

The Second Prince said that the conflict between Duke Loggins and the Norton Family was something that pained him deeply. He argued that the conflicts between nobles like that was the main reason why the Iblia Kingdom wasn't able to gather the forces of all nobles to reform the glorious Krissen Empire. The Second Prince stressed that he has punished Duke Loggins for instigating conflict but also mentioned that he intended to punish the Norton Family for pillaging the dominion of the duke dry.

First, the Norton Family was to hand in the near 300000 gold Fordes' worth of property obtained from the duke's personal treasury to the Second Prince as reparation for ravaging the duke's dominion. In exchange, the Second Prince would forgo the penalty for moving all the citizens of the duke's dominion to the Norton Family's dominion.

Second, as the new leader of the Norton Family, Lorist must head to Gildusk City where the duke's dominion was located to pledge allegiance to the Second Prince and said that he would consider elevating the noble rank of the Norton Family as well.

Third, the Norton Family must also supply the Second Prince with two fully-equipped armies so that he can stabilize the chaotic situation of the Northlands. He said that the Norton Family must launch an attack against the Madras Duchy under his lead before the 7th month of next year to contribute towards the reformation of the Krissen Empire.

Lorist laughed out loud after seeing the conditions the Second Prince made. He had to admit that the Second Prince was far more despicable than the dogshit duke. While the three conditions seemed really loose and didn't harm the Norton Family's foundations on first sight, once he agreed to them, they would become a leash with which the Second Prince would use to drag the Norton Family into the abyss.

Lorist didn't even bother to think too much about the devious snake that was the Second Prince. Ever since his elder brother died on the battlefield in service to the prince, the Second Prince stopped caring about the Norton Family and merely watched as they clashed with the Kenmays Family and didn't even settle the territorial disputes between the Nortons and the Kenmayses. Lorist would rather believe that pigs would one day fly than the words of the Second Prince.

Right now, Lorist's main priority was the development of his dominion and he didn't have any intention of conquering more of the Northlands or restoring the former glory of the Krissen Empire. Taking out a blank beastskin, he wrote only a few short symbols and after some deliberating, used his stamp as a count to seal the letter. After that, he rolled the letter up, sealed it in an envelope and handed it to Viscount Zinderson, who bid his farewell right after receiving it. He had already stayed at Firmrock Castle for more than ten days and was raring to return as soon as possible.

After that, Lorist received the 8 ambassadors of various nobles. The ambassador of the Felim Family represented them to express their similar intentions: to purchase some weapons and equipments like ballistas and metal armor from the Norton Family.

Lorist agreed to the requests almost instantly and even said that if they didn't have enough money, they could trade for the equipment with food and other resources before asking them to discuss the matter of price with Charade.

Finally, he invited Viscount Kenmays over and asked him why the nobles of the Northlands were so keen on purchasing weapons and other war equipment.

The first thing he said to Lorist was, 'the time of chaos of the Northlands has come.'

After that, the viscount briefed Lorist on the current situation of the Northlands. Ever since Duke Loggins returned to his dominion, he fell sick. After Knight Hennard had taken control of most of the soldiers of the Northland Army, he stopped at nothing to tempt the remaining soldiers of the duke who were holed up within Freist Castle to join his side. In the end, more than 3000 men joined Hennard with less than 1000 defending the castle and the customs point at the suspension bridge. When faced with the soldiers of the Second Prince, they were scattered almost instantly, allowing for the Second Prince to take full control of the two strategic locations.

The Second Prince who was actually heading back after his defeat at the Madras Kingdom had actually heard about the situation of the Northlands from the merchants who were traveling away from it. Seeing an opportunity he could take advantage of, the Second Prince sent a group of troops belonging to the Frontier Legion that incurred relatively few losses to conquer the two points at the Northlands, causing the Second Prince to decide against returning to the royal capital and instead to occupy the duke's manor and even had someone send Duke Loggins to the royal capital of the Iblia Kingdom on the grounds of treating his sickness.

The Second Prince didn't stop at that and began to set his sights on the rest of the nobles within the Northlands, only to be annoyed by Knight Hennard who had occupied the Cherry Blossom Ridge and led a skirmish against the his troops, causing him to lose around 2000 people from the defeat.

That was the main factor that prompted the rest of the nobles of the Northlands to head towards Firmrock Castle in hopes that they would be able to purchase weapons and equipment. Even though the Norton Family managed to chase away the tiger that was Duke Loggins, a hungry wolf like the Second Prince appeared there instead. To the ambitious nobles of the Northlands, this was also an opportunity for them to expand their influence and power.

The reason Viscount Kenmays wanted to see Lorist was simple: he wanted to form an alliance with the Norton Family and brought a piece of news to Lorist as well. After spending five months and countless amounts of money, the Kenmays Family have managed to set up another metal suspension bridge connecting the Northlands to the outside world and said that they no longer had to use the Hendliff Suspension Bridge that was under the control of the Second Prince to transport resources out of or into the Northlands any longer.

That was incredible news for Lorist, especially after he wasn't able to find a suitable spot at the Bladedge Mountains to build a port to reach the outside world. Lorist said that he would discuss that proposal with his knights and officers before giving the viscount a response.

Top Kek

Here's the first regular chapter of the week! The title is funny and for the unintiated, there is an explanation at the end of the chapter. Enjoy the read!

The king, Krissen Iblia, held the letter in his veined hands as his body shivered with rage.

As the Second Prince of the Krissen Empire, as well as the current king of the Iblia Kingdom, he felt that he had been insulted like never before. He would never even dream that the reply of the Norton Family leader would contain only two words: Top Kek.

The Second Prince had actually went to great lengths to collect intelligence about the Norton Family. When he first attacked the Madras Duchy, he received word that the Norton Family had a huge convoy that helped the Second Highness of the Andinaq Kingdom to tighten his hold on the kingdom and stabilize it. They also assisted the Second Highness in conquering Lichtana Citadel, ultimately helping them take the Yungechandler Province.

However, the Second Prince merely laughed it off and doubted the authenticity of the information. Even though the Norton Family was indeed known as the Family of the Roaring Raging Bear of the Northlands, after the previous successor of the family, Gold ranked knight Abelyde, died while serving him, the family had begun to spiral into one trouble after another. They were even pressured by the Kenmays Family, a merchant family he had personally entitled only recently. Since the Norton Family was no longer of any use to him, the Second Prince couldn't be bothered to care about their trivial squabbles with other nobles. To gain the support of Duke Loggins, the Second Prince even made the other nobles of the Northlands vassal nobles to the duke without their consent on his own accord.

Only after he conquered Kobo City did he get to know from the vagabonds that were left behind there that the Norton Family did indeed have a huge armed convoy of about 10000 carriages with more than 100000 vagabonds traveling with it. By that time, the convoy had already crossed Metropoulos River and the troops he sent could only watch them leave in futility.

After that, the Second Prince focused his efforts on sucking the other nobles of Delamock Province dry by putting them to death with the reason of siding with the Andinaq Kingdom and resisting the Second Prince's reinforcement army for the Madras Duchy. He also went around the province to fight the smaller personal armies of the various landed nobles and by the time he arrived at Kobo City, he had already put the Norton Family at the back of his mind.

His excursion to the Madras Duchy had yielded him quite a number of benefits. Not only did he manage to settle his debt with Duke Madras in one go, he also got lots of riches such as money, food and other supplies to fill his treasury with from ravaging the nobles of Delamock Province.

After losing the battle at Kobo City, the Second Prince had no choice but to give the order to retreat. Having experienced failures during the 'Daybreak Assault' and the 'Battle of Kobo', the casualties of the Second Prince numbered more than 50000. While most of the casualties were from his personal force, his father-in-law Duke Fisablen's Frontier Legion also lost somewhere around 20000 people, much to the dismay of the Second Prince.

In the time of chaos, military power reigned supreme. The Second Prince understood this principle deeply and he was prepared to use the spoils he got from the excursion to form another legion belonging to his kingdom to secure his position as the king as well as lay the foundations for the next time he attacks. However at that time, the Second Prince didn't consider the fact that there was no place in his kingdom where he would be able to train his soldiers in peace.

When the Iblia Kingdom was formed, it encompassed five provinces of the former Krissen Empire. The province of the Northlands itself already took up more than half of the area of the kingdom and was governed separately in its own right. Apart from suppressing the Duke of the Northlands to stay within the kingdom, the Second Prince had never found a way to truly integrate the Northlands into his control.

As for the Eastern Wasteland Province and the Wild Husbandry Province near the Great Eastern Plains, those belonged to Duke Fisablen himself and was also the home base of the Frontier Legion. Unless the Second Prince had gone insane, he would never even attempt to take those provinces for himself.

In other words, all that remained within the Iblia Kingdom was the Southern Province as well as the Winston Province where the royal capital, Windbury City, was located. However, the Southern Province was already ravaged really badly by Duke Melein and his Fiercegale Legion. If the Second Prince planned to train his soldiers there, Duke Melein might think that it would be a great opportunity for him to strike first to gain the upper hand. There was no way the Second Prince would allow Duke Melein to once again crusade his way to the royal capital like before.

When the Second Prince formed his kingdom initially, for the sake of his pride, he split up the Southern Province into three commanderies and the Winston Province which had a larger area was split into four commanderies. And to sustain his lavish lifestyle, he had long sold off his personal land to other nobles at a high price to the point that he wasn't able to find a place for himself to train his troops.

Just when he was worrying about his next step, one of the scouting teams of his vanguard brought him a few merchants. The Second Prince once again got intelligence from the merchants about the convoy of the Norton Family. According to them, the Norton Family convoy had defeated the allied noble army which had Duke Loggins as its leader and were completely victorious. To pay the duke back for what he did, the Norton Family even robbed the duke's dominion clean, which was one of the most prosperous areas of the Northlands, and even forcefully migrated the population away from there to their own dominion. Currently, there was no central power within the Northlands and it was in an anarchic state.

That situation was practically a godsend for the Second Prince's predicament and he sent his soldiers towards the Hendliff Suspension Bridge immediately. Without even sparing any effort, they managed to conquer the two strategic locations including the bridge and Freist Castle and proceeded to occupy Gildusk City. He also got to see Duke Loggins who was unconscious from vomiting too much blood from his anger.

The Second Prince waved his hands and ordered for the duke to be moved to Windbury City with the excuse that he would receive better treatment for his illness there. Everyone else understood that there was no way that the duke would be able to make it back to the Northlands during the rest of his lifetime.

Only after the Second Prince took control of the duke's dominion did he realize how badly it had been ravaged. He was actually unable to find even a single blacksmith or servant within the capital of the duke's lands, not to say much about the burnt remains of the villages nearby.

At that time, the Second Prince received a report that when his regiment of 2500 soldiers and another 3000 soldiers from the private armies of some nobles were about to raid the still-intact Evanson Town, their forces were assaulted by the former soldiers of the Northland Army that emerged from Cherry Blossom Ridge nearby, causing the Second Prince's forces to incur heavy casualties with more than 2000 soldiers dead.

Enraged beyond belief, the Second Prince mobilized his soldiers right away only to be faced with no less than 10000 soldiers that formerly belonged to the Northland Army with each of them mounted and equipped with a suit of metal armor. They were even led by two Gold ranked knights, one of them being Knight Hennard, the duke's former family knight, who referred to himself as Baron Shazin, and the other being Gold ranked knight Tabik. Being among the former five Gold ranked knights of the duke, they knew the Second Prince rather well. In fact, they could even be said to be old acquaintances.

Seeing his own disorganized men and the towering killing intent of Hennard's soldiers, the Second Prince understood that a battle would not go down well for him. So, he rode out from his troops and decided to talk. It was then when he found that Knight Hennard had actually inherited his father's title of a baron and currently, Cherry Blossom Ridge was part of the dominion of the Shazin Family. Tabik had also become the family knight of Hennard.

Thus, the Second Prince could only apologize towards Hennard for the fact that his men had trespassed upon the territory of the Shazin Family and told him that because of the condition of the duke, he had already taken over the management of his dominion in his place and even extended an invitation to Knight Hennard to join him.

Knight Hennard, the current Baron Shazin, also gave the Second Prince face and accepted his apology, saying that he was not mistaken as he was unaware of the situation. However, he said that he couldn't accept the Second Prince's invitation without the personal order of the duke and said that the duke has done him a huge boon by giving him control of the Northland Army in a time of crisis like that. Not only did he allow Hennard to inherit the title of his father, the duke also allowed Tabik to become his family knight and Hennard said that he was infinitely thankful for that. That's why Hennard said that if the duke personally willed him to serve the Second Prince, he would definitely do so without another word and would even be willing to die for the Second Prince.

Having had to endure his anger from listening to Hennard's excuse to not join him, the Second Prince returned to Gildusk City with the rest of his soldiers. The only benefit he got out of that trip was when he asked Knight Hennard curiously about the metal armor worn by his men. The knight then told him that he had traded them with the Norton Family.

And so the Second Prince once again began to gather more reports on the Norton Family. By the time he had read various smaller reports and information, the Second Prince got to see the bigger picture behind everything.

He found that the Second Young Master of the Norton Family who had been exiled for ten years since the age of 14 had actually learned a bunch of useful skills during his time away from the family. Even though his Battle Force was only at the Iron rank, he was able to defeat Gold ranked knight Tabik and caused him to spend one year in bed to recover from his injuries.

The moment he inherited the position of the family head, the Second Young Master intentionally instigated conflict with the Kenmays Family and burned down their Redriver Valley Bastide and even erected the Firmrock Castle at Morgan Hills. Faced with the harassment of Duke Loggins, he even eliminated the 4000 troops that managed to enter their dominion and even sent out soldiers in retaliation, all the while hanging the former horse breeder of the Second Prince, Baron Farad for harming one of the messengers of the Norton Family.

It was also rumored that the Second Young Master of the Norton Family had made quite an amount of wealth during his time away from the family. After he received summons from the family, he formed his own northbound convoy and had many Gold ranked family knights under his command, one of the most famous being a Gold ranked marksman who had headed to the dominion early with the young master before the convoy arrived. During the time the marksman guarded Firmrock Castle, the allied noble army formed by the duke wasn't able to penetrate it at all and ultimately suffered a defeat from the arrival of the convoy's main force.

After digesting the information about the Norton Family, the Second Prince understood three points. First, the Norton Family was incredibly wealthy right now. The wealth they pillaged from the duke's dominion was easily worth more than 1 million gold Fordes, not to say much about the huge northbound convoy of theirs with around 20000 carriages as well as their escorts who could afford to wear metal armor. Hennard even said that the armor he traded for his 10000 men were only less than a tenth of what the Nortons had.

Second, the Norton Family's forces were incredibly mighty with an estimated total soldier count of around 50000. They were far better equipped than the soldiers of the Iblia Kingdom and the Frontier Legion. So far, the Second Prince couldn't afford to antagonize the Norton Family and it was best if he could get along with them for now.

The third point was one the Second Prince found most laughable. The new family head of the Norton Family, the Second Young Master, had zero ambition and only shriveled within the dominion to defend it. If it were anyone else who had the forces the Nortons currently possessed and the least bit of ambition, they would've long devoured the delicious meal that was the rest of the Northlands, unlike the current Norton Family leader who retreated back into his dominion after defeating the duke and taking his wealth.

Looking at the map of the Northlands and the marker that denoted the Firmrock Castle which segregated the Norton Family dominion from the outside world, the Second Prince really wanted to laugh as he believed that the mighty Roaring Raging Bear of the Northlands had turned into a cowardly tortoise that withdrew back into its shell. Even though their dominion was vast, most of it was merely wastelands. The Second Prince reasoned that they must be trying to develop the land based on all the people they recently just brought into the dominion.

However, he merely felt thankful that the new Norton Family leader didn't have any ambition. Had it not been for the fact that he had defeated the duke and left the dominion unguarded, the Second Prince would never have been able to occupy it so easily. He didn't really mind the lack of citizens either as the seven commanderies which he controlled within the Iblia Kingdom had more than enough refugees and farmers who had lost their lands. He had already ordered his men to have them brought over to utilize the farmland there properly. As long as the Second Prince was patient enough, by the time the refugees and farmers settle down, he would be able to convert the dominion of the duke into a place that produced much manpower and resource.

By occupying the duke's dominion, not only did the Second Prince extinguish all chance of Duke Loggins breaking free from the Iblia Kingdom to form his own duchy, he was also granted a place to train his soldiers and generate wealth. Brimming with ambition, the Second Prince resolved himself to hold tightly onto this land and force all the nobles nearby under his command to one day aid in his plan for complete domination.

However, the Second Prince believed that he still had time and didn't have to rush things all of a sudden. When it came to the Norton Family which he couldn't afford to anger for now, he didn't plan to just leave them be. He believed that the cowardly leader of the Norton Family wouldn't be able to resist his manipulation. He even thought that the Norton Family leader would be even easier to deal with than the Duke of the Northlands.

The letter he had sent was written after careful deliberation. The three conditions were also there as a test. The first condition which asked for the wealth of the duke worth 300000 gold Fordes was essentially a chance for the Norton Family to 'legalize' their raiding of the duke's dominion. Of the 1 million gold Fordes' worth of wealth they gained, the Second Prince felt that it was pretty reasonable for him to demand only thirty percent of that and believed that the Norton Family would jump at that opportunity so that they can proudly hold on to the wealth they've obtained without having to be held accountable for the loss the duke's dominion sustained. He was confident that the Norton Family would gladly hand the 300000 gold Fordes to him.

The second condition asked the Norton Family leader to pledge allegiance to the Second Prince as he had only just inherited his noble title in exchange for an elevation in his noble rank. This was both a good offer and a trap. As long as he could get the Norton Family leader in his presence, no matter how many Gold ranked knights followed along, he could pressure them with his own two Blademasters. That was also one of the reasons Duke Loggins didn't dare to break off from the Iblia Kingdom to form his own duchy despite the fact that he had five Gold ranked knights serving him.

The third condition for the Norton Family to send two armies to help the Second Prince stabilize the Northlands is also a test for the ambition of the Norton Family leader. Additionally, the Second Prince couldn't feel at peace with a mighty military force like that slumbering within the Northlands with his own. If that condition was accepted, that meant that the Norton Family leader is truly loyal to the Second Prince from the bottom of his heart. By that time, the Second Prince could slowly think of a way to reap enormous benefits at the expense of them.

The Second Prince felt that his mention of the bravery of the First Young Master of the Norton Family, Norton Abelyde, who had died on the battlefield, before mentioning his three conditions, was incredibly logical and sentimental. He could already imagine the sight of the Norton Family leader kneeling before him to pledge his allegiance, allowing himself to profit from the manpower, weapons and equipment and other resources the Nortons had in the meantime...

Just as he was smiling and daydreaming about that possibility, he opened the reply of the Norton Family leader which contained only two words: Top Kek[1].

A phrase like 'Top Kek' didn't exist in the Grindian language and nobody had used the word 'top' and 'kek' together like that. In the first place, 'kek' didn't even mean anything in their language. The letter didn't state 'fuck off' or 'buzz off', but the Second Prince could feel the seething mockery behind those words in the letter, as if he had been slapped squarely in the face.

The Second Prince slowly folded the reply. As a senior noble, he was sensible enough to feel the intent of the Norton Family leader. Sending Viscount Zinderson away, he gritted his teeth and swore that he would definitely make the Norton Family suffer through hell the moment he got an opportunity. After enough time for preparation, he would definitely force the new Norton Family leader swallow the letter down his throat. Ever since his childhood, he had never received so great an insult given his exalted status. He made a mental note to remember those words firmly within his mind...

[1] In actuality, the words Lorist wrote in his letter are '滚粗', which is Chinese netspeak for something along the lines of fuck off. It literally means 'roll' and 'rough' and is also wordplay on the phrase '滚出去' which means roll out (of this place). Here's an explanation of the phrase in Chinese for those interested. Link. I used 'top kek' as a replacement for that because it is an internet slang and it perfectly captures the thought of Lorist along the lines of 'What a joke! You think I'm going to agree to your conditions?! Top Kek(lol)!' A short explanation of top kek can be found