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Chapter 268 The Terrible State of Silowas Prev ChapterNext Chapter

"We're back, Milord," said Fiercetiger Loze as he stood in front of Lorist with Yuriy.

Lorist breathed a sigh of relief and felt his emotions calm down. Loze and Yuriy's return signified that the enemy had already retreated from Silowas. While no enemies were there to fight it out with Potterfang's forces, they had still achieved their goal: the raiding of the island and the capture of the residents. The sight on Silowas was horrible beyond description.

"Tell me, how's the situation of the island now?" asked Lorist after taking a deep breath.

Loze and Yuriy's expressions soured at the mention.

Yuriy stammered, "Milord, it... it's horrible. The slavers from the Hanayabarta kingdom are not human; they're nothing but a bunch of lowly animals! The islanders aged over 50 were killed. Even children under ten years old were not spared. I still remember seeing a few infants being impaled on stakes..."

Loze shook his head as if he wanted to forget the scene he had witnessed. "Silowas has become Grindia's hell. Whitebird Town itself has turned into a complete slaughtering ground. Those slave traders massacred all the elderly, injured, and sick systematically. The ground is so soaked with that it has turned pitch black. The previously flat ground has turned into rolling hills, built out of corpses...

"Everyone who saw what happened was maddened beyond belief. Right before we traveled back, the corpse count at the plaza was above 4000. Among them, Josk found the corpses of Mayor Hugo and Old Mike, the accountant."

Lorist clenched both his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned pale. During the civil war of the empire, Silowas managed to avoid any such catastrophe as it was situated quite far away from shore. So, many thought that it would be safe from the chaotic times and brought their families to the island, hoping that they would be able to spend the coming years in peace. Little did they know that while they did manage to evade the miserable civil war, they couldn't escape the claws of the slave traders that came from the sea.

"Milord, we found Whitebird Town's security officer, Kriston, with fifty people in an abandoned waterway. They avoided capture by hiding there. Other than that, when we attacked Seaview Manor, we found Grandmaster Sid's eldest son, Delokua, and his partners imprisoned. After seeing chaos break out in the midst of foraging, they hurriedly returned only to be captured by the slave-capturing troupes," reported Yuriy.

"Wait," mused Lorist, Attacking Seaview Manor? "There were still enemies on the island when you arrived?"

"That's right, milord. We even managed to take over 14 ships, two of which were large-class armed merchant vessels," Loze said.

"When we arrived at Silowas, the sunlight of dawn allowed us to discover that there were 14 ships still anchored at the coasts of the island. Senbaud ordered us to approach them only to find they were unmanned, despite being stuffed to the brim with cargo. We managed to capture around a hundred sailors at some houses nearby.

"According to them, there were roughly a thousand of them left on the island, mostly slavers and sailors from the kingdom who had stayed behind with the intention of taking as much stuff as they could," added Yuriy.

"So there are more who weren't captured?" asked Lorist with joy at the very possibility of Charade and Jim still being safe.

However, what Yuriy said next shattered Lorist's hopes.

"Naturally, the security officer and the rest are examples of those. But by the time we rescued them, they had already been starving for a good number of days. Had it not been for a basement near the waterways that still had some old leather skins, they wouldn't have been able to last for almost a month.

"The ones who escaped were mostly folk from the seven villages. The garrison leader from the village near the mountain brought half of the village folk with him into the mountains. But the elderly left behind had all been killed by the slavers and the village ended up being burnt down. The pursuit unit that followed also managed to capture more than a hundred other villagers who were later locked up at Seaview Manor.

"The captives said that the ones that led them were a blademaster and a gold-ranked knight. They were the subordinates of Duke Gouffman. They intended to defend Seaview Manor for ten more days before they headed back."

"A blademaster?" mused Lorist as his heart clenched.

While the gold-ranked knight and the duke called Gouffman was of little concern to him, being only the lowly slave owners they were, the presence of a blademaster on the island might inflict a lot of damage to the house. Should the blademaster choose to use hit-and-run tactics or ambushes, there would be a huge problem.

"How did Potterfang deal with the blademaster? Did the blademaster cause us any damage?" asked Lorist hurriedly.

Loze said in an annoyed tone, "That cowardly blademaster? He's completely useless! The moment Potterfang heard that around 500 enemy fighters were holed up in Seaview Manor, he sent a regiment of heavy-armored soldiers and another regiment of wheelbarrow-ballista troops over there with the intention of luring the blademaster out. However, the gold-ranked knight and blademaster actually decided against coming out for a fight and would rather stay turtled up in the manor.

In the end, we had no choice but to force our way in. With the manor breached, the blademaster had no choice but to come out and negotiate, and that he did. He asked to be spared and be given two ships with which to leave the island in return for his surrender. We requested that they surrender immediately, but the blademaster actually threatened to unleash a killing spree if we didn't release him.

In the end, 300 wheelbarrow-ballista fired a volley of bolts with but a single wave from Potterfang. The useless idiot got struck on the right thigh with an iron bolt and was no longer in fighting condition. He even fell to the ground and cried for his parents. The gold-ranked knight, on the other hand, managed to resist for quite a while with his men but we captured him in the end. The 200 or so enemies that survived surrendered to us as well."

Lorist asked in a gleeful tone, "Were the blademaster and gold-ranked knight captured alive?"

"Yes, Milord," Loze said as he nodded, "We have successfully recaptured Seaview Manor and rescued the 300 or more captured villagers in the process. They include the guards that accompanied Delokua. Unfortunately, only three of the ten are still alive.

"Potterfang also ordered his troops to conduct a sweep across the entire island to capture the remaining slavers and sailors. They managed to rescue around 200 more villagers in the process as well.

"According to the survivors, Charade and Jim were captured and taken away by the slavers..."

Lorist slumped back into his seat powerlessly and thumped weakly on the table with his fist.

After a good while, he raised his head and asked, "Did the survivors say how the captives were brought away?"

Loze thought for a bit before he said, "Those survivors said that Charade and Jim brought more than 20 guards in a hurry to rush to the refugee camp and had the people in charge arm the refugees with whatever weapons they could find. The rest that didn't have any were given farming tools or even wooden sticks. The kingdom's forces arrived just as everyone was running around panicked and confused. The refugee camp was their main target.

"Charade and Jim thus resisted stubbornly along with their 20 or so guards, half of whom were killed. In the end, a blademaster arrived and managed to defeat and capture them. Without anyone to lead them, the refugees lost control and many of them were killed by the slavers, around 1000 or 2000. In the end, the ones who surrendered were spared."

Sighing, Lorist asked, "How many of Silowas's residents managed to evade capture?"

Yuriy replied, "We are not certain ourselves, but we estimate around 700 of them. After the situation stabilized on the island, Potterfang sent us back here to make a report to you, as well as escort the captured blademaster and gold-ranked knight for your disposal. As for the remaining captives we have... Well, the state of the island was so bad that we had to find a way to vent our rage. So, after a short customary trial, we ordered the troops to erect crucifixes on the southern coast and nailed the captives up on them like you did with the others here."

The crucifixion of more than a thousand captives on Potterfang order, who was normally able to keep his emotions in check, was a testament to the tragic state of Silowas. It was so bad that even the soldiers of the house obeyed such a cruel order willingly.

"Also, Milord, Potterfang, and the rest requested for an urgent resupply of medicinal powders and ointments and preparations to begin immediate disease prevention on Silowas. Those darned slavers actually didn't even bother to collect the corpses of their own. The island is littered with corpses and the hot weather will only accelerate their decay," reminded Yuriy the moment he recalled.

"Howard..."

"Milord, please speak your will," said Howard as he stepped forward.

Lorist drafted a written order quickly and said, "Send someone to the healthcare department at Firmrock castle and order them to prepare large amounts of preventative medication. Send a few herbalists to Silowas as well. Tell them they only have three days to prepare before they leave with the Flying Fish of Dawn. The herbalists and medicines must be ready by then."

"Yes, Milord. I will have a guard pass your order on immediately," said Howard before he rushed out and left on horseback.

"Milord, what do we do next?" asked Yuriy.

"When's Senbaud's fleet returning?"

"It should take another ten or so days. He will be bringing back the survivors and villagers we rescued. Perhaps, he's already on his way," guessed Yuriy.

"Alright. By the time he gets back, it should already be the end of the 7th month. I hope that his fleet can make a few more trips during the 8th month to bring the heavy-armored division and wheelbarrow-ballista division forces to Silowas. After that will be the transportation of Ovidis's Thunderbolt Brigade. Yuriy, have your light cavalry scout brigade prepare to leave for Silowas with the Thunderbolt Brigade as well," said Lorist.

Loze's eyes shone the moment he heard that "Milord, are we going on an expedition against the Hanayabarta kingdom? I want to go too..."

Since Loze had already guessed his intentions, Lorist no longer felt the need to hide them.

"House Norton has always retaliated when it was slighted. This time's no exception either. We will not stay quiet and swallow our anger. What we will do is exterminate the Hanayabarta kingdom. But Loze, you cannot go this time and must stay back to defend the dominion."

"But Milord, there are lots of people here. Malek, Terman, Belnick... All of them can do that..." complained Loze as he brought up his three other comrades.

"Well, you were just one step slower. Malek had already talked me into letting him join. He will replace Dulles as the commander of the wheelbarrow-ballista division," said Lorist with a smile.

"Ugh, Milord... How about Freiyar? By the time you leave, Freiyar's injuries will have recovered already. You can have him defend the dominion. Also, I'm not going to bring the spear cavalry division there. I only need to follow you, as your personal bodyguard. Also, you understand my training style. Only by fighting against high-tier enemies will I be able to improve. Currently, apart from me, what other gold-ranked knight can stand against rank 1 blademasters? I heard that the Hanayabarta kingdom has more than ten blademasters, so I'll be much more useful over there..."

For the sake of going with Lorist on the expedition, Loze was willing to bring up all sorts of ridiculous excuses. Behind him, Yuriy secretly cheered at the fact that he had already been appointed by Lorist to mobilize with his light cavalry scout brigade.

He interjected, "Brother Loze, don't forget your duties. You're the commander of two spear cavalry divisions. How can you leave them behind just like that?"

Loze glared at him hatefully and said, "No worries, the vice commander, Knight Waxima, is extremely capable. It makes no difference whether I'm there or not."

He turned back to plead with Lorist. "Milord..."

Gah, what a headache, Lorist waved his hand and said, "Fine. As long as you organize the matters concerning your spear cavalry divisions first, I will consider letting you come along."

After hearing what basically amounted to an agreement, Loze hugged Yuriy excitedly and spun around in joy. "Yaaay!"

Yuriy cursed and gave him two kicks, which Loze didn't mind at all.

Loze thought of something and said, "Oh, milord, if we are going to attack the Hanayabarta kingdom, we'll need more ships. If we don't send all our troops in one go, the battle will be a tough one."

Lorist nodded and said, "I've already thought of that. This time around, Els and Tarkel will both head to Morante. One of their missions is borrowing ships from the Peterson Merchant Guild. We'll also ask them to purchase some used ships in our name. Also, when the Flying Fish of Dawn returns, I'll follow along and go to the Sea of Grief to expropriate a few more before we leave."

I have no choice but to resort to expropriation again.

Loze exclaimed with joy, "Milord, I want to go along with you when you expropriate the ships!"

Yuriy said with dissatisfaction, "Milord, don't bother with Loze... the pervert. He actually hugged a man like me as he would a woman! It's better if I go along with you for the expropriation."

"Enough. Expropriating ships is not exactly something we should be proud of. Stop grumbling about trivial matters all day long. It's not like we're in that much of a rush. The Flying Fish of Dawn must first transport the herbalists and medicinal supplies to Silowas, and it'll take at least three weeks before it returns. I must first go back to Firmrock castle as I already have an appointment with our three allied houses. Only after dealing with that can we head for the Hanayabarta kingdom. You guys have only just gotten back, so rest for a day or two and deal with the other matters you have first. Oh, and, don't tell anybody about the expedition. I don't intend to make it known publically for now."

"Yes, Milord," said Loze and Yuriy before they saluted and left.

They returned a few moments later, however.

"Milord, the gold-ranked knight and the blademaster we captured haven't been dealt with yet," said Yuriy.

"That's right. Also, Yuriy, have someone bring the interrogation logs we recorded on the way back," reminded Loze.

"You have records of the interrogations?" asked Lorist.

"Yes, Milord. We had nothing better to do on the way back, so we went ahead and interrogated them. We were so thorough that we even know about the time when that blademaster caught his parents mating in bed," replied Loze.

Lorist could imagine how horrible the two prisoners had been treated by his subordinates, and he couldn't keep himself from laughing as a result. It was obvious from the fact that even something that personal was dug up that the two prisoners didn't bother to hide anything.

"Since there are records, there's no point for me to meet them. Treat them like the sailors before. Nail them on the crucifixes," instructed Lorist calmly.

Both Yuriy and Loze were shocked.

"Milord, that's a blademaster and a gold-ranked knight! The blademaster even says that he'll be willing to serve the house if his life is spared..." stammered Yuriy.

"Hehe, thanks, but no thanks. House Norton doesn't need animals like them who don't see humans as their own kind. He's someone who's able to cut down innocents without any hesitation. So what if he's a blademaster? All our troops are true and just. Letting an animal like that serve among their ranks is nothing but an insult to our heroic knights and soldiers! Have the two nailed on the crucifixes!"

The scorn which Lorist had for the knight and the blademaster made Yuriy and Loze's eyes glow with pride.

"Yes, milord!" shouted the two of them in unison.

The First Household Blademaster

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A large, polished plate hung amidst the dark blue veils of the night sky. Its silvery light seeped into the realms of man. Despite the time, Lorist stood on the veranda and cast his gaze on the cities in the valley below. The things that troubled him was carried away by the night's gentle breeze and tranquility ruled.

It's been seven years, huh... Time really flies. Back then, when the northbound convoy was first formed at the academy, I never would've imagined that a day like this would come. Thanks to my efforts, and those of my comrades, our little rural dominion has changed, radically so. Even the lands that used to be desolate, devoid of life, and uninhabitable have become havens for our people.

Lorist could no longer recall every single setback he experienced during the course of his journey. He only knew that the enemies he faced now were growing in might. The second prince was naught but an incompetent king. He had allowed his army, 100 thousand men, to crumble into dust. Even his assassination attempt with the blademaster had failed and, in return, Lorist had conquered his capital, Frederika. He got himself captured by the enemy and executed.

Now, however, Lorist was going up against an entire kingdom by himself. Even though it was a kingdom of pirates, it had already spent the last century developing into a strong nation on its slave trade and labor. It had its own armies as well as countless ruthless slavers. Working together, they were not a force to be underestimated.

Lorist read the interrogation reports. They revealed that the attack on Silowas had been launched with the combined forces of the entire kingdom. More than 80 slaver bands, the smaller of which were around a hundred men large and the larger over 500. The total force stretched into 24 thousand. Five hundred ships had to be used to transport them to the island.

The kingdom targeted the island because they had learned about the 60 thousand laborers recently moved to it. According to the blademaster's report, they had even sent agents disguised as smugglers to the island to confirm the information.

Despite their preparations, they had still underestimated the power of the island's forces. When they finally conquered the island, they tallied 80 ships and close to 10 thousand combatants as losses. Some of the slaver bands regretted taking part in the operation despite the massive haul. Even with the haul being what it was they had lost more than they would gain. The loot would have to be divided amongst the nobility, and the smaller bands would get only the scraps that remain thereafter. Their masters were bound to be very stingy as well, they had taken severe losses themselves and no doubt felt they ought to be compensated accordingly.

For instance, the captive blademaster's master, Duke Gouffman, was a well-known slaver in the kingdom. He had sent five slaver bands, around two thousand men, on the operation. The battles they fought on the ocean, even before reaching the island, had cost him 2 of his ships. The assault on the island and subsequent battles cost them another two bands. At the end of it all, they only had a thousand men left.

In return they had only captured 4 thousand slaves, it was far from equalling their losses. It was for this reason the blademaster had decided to remain on the island with his men a little longer. They wanted to see if they could catch any more slaves. Unfortunately for him, Potterfang's reinforcements came later and not one of them were able to return alive.

"Milord," called Howard softly.

"Finished with your night classes?" Lorist asked without turning around.

"Yes, Milord."

"Very well, go get some rest and leave me be. Our the three families will be visiting tomorrow. I wonder if Baron Felim will bring his precious daughter along with him this time? If he does, I'll give you three days of vacation so you can take your fiancee on a few dates."

"Milord!" yelled Howard with a flushed face.

"Hehe," Lorist chuckled, "Oh, do me a favor and get the kitchen staff to cook me something. Also, bring me a bottle of wine from the study. You may head to bed after that."

"Understood, Milord."

Howard carried out the instructions rather quickly, as he returned with two servants to the veranda after a few minutes. The servants laid down the table and chairs before serving the dishes. Perhaps in an attempt to get back at Lorist's teasing, Howard had asked the kitchen staff to serve him a huge smoked goose.

The night's scenery was awe-inspiring, but Lorist couldn't help but feel that the gigantic smoked goose in front of him ruined the harmony of his small supper. No matter how hard he tried not to, he still found the thought of biting away at oily, smoked goose to be rather ill-fit for such a great night.

"You little bastard..." complained Lorist.

In the end, he didn't touch the goose at all. He poured himself a cup of fruit wine and continued to admire the sight across the veranda as he went through one piece of information after another concerning Hanayabarta in his mind instead.

The Hanayabarta archipelago was located to the southwest of Silowas. A middle-class merchant vessel would take 11 days to make its way from Silowas to the archipelago, but the Flying Fish of Dawn only required around 8.

The archipelago looked like an octopus that had its teeth bared and flailed its tentacles about. The name 'Hanayabarta' was, in fact, the name of a demonic octopus deity that loved to cause storms and winds at sea. Legend says that the demonic octopus deity had once stolen a precious ornament belonging to Sufanna, Goddess of the Bloodmoon. The Bloodmoon Goddes was enraged by that act and summoned her husband, Singwa, God of the Sun, War, and Light, and her sister Daphlyn, Goddess of the Silvermoon when the demonic octopus surfaced from the depth of the seas. The three heavenly beings turned the thieving octopus deity into the archipelago as punishment.

Many on the continent took the moral of the story to be: angered women are unpredictable. That was why angering a woman was not to be done under any circumstances, or the consequences would be dire. For instance, the octopus deity had thought that the worst he would suffer from the theft was a drawn-out battle with the Bloodmoon Goddess, but it didn't expect that he would be turned into an archipelago as a result.

The Hanayabarta archipelago was perceived as being rural and desolate, being so far from the continent of Grindia without any worthy export to their name. It was only after the formation of the pirate kingdom did trade start to bustle at the archipelago, causing the opinions of the mainlanders about it to gradually change as well.

In terms of actual available area, the Hanayabarta archipelago was larger than the Norton dominion as a whole. However, most of the land available at the archipelago were long and narrow islands which did indeed look like octopus tentacles.

The kingdom had been formed more than 80 years earlier and had a population of around 500 thousand. Four hundred thousand of the population, however, were slaves. Perhaps the declining slaver population was their karma.

Even so, there were still geniuses amidst the wilderness. Lorist had learned that the second king had been one such person. Originally, the pirate kingdom was little more than an anarchic state where the strong were the law. The second king successfully turned that system into a hereditary one, firmly securing the position of the hegemon of his family for the coming years.

After he had been elected by his fellow pirates, he completely changed the raiding patterns of the pirates and enfeoffed the many islands of the archipelago to the pirate bosses as hereditary dominions. Additionally, he provided them with slave labor to cultivate their lands and recruited other common pirates into the royal family's forces, allowing them to spend their days without worry for food or shelter. Not only that, he also announced that he would no longer raid the coastal nations along the Golden Coast. Instead, he would make peace with them and establish trade. The development and expansion of the slave trade also helped to secure the kingdom's foundations.

It was considered fortunate to become a subject of the kingdom, but it was a fortune built on the blood and tears of slaves. The kingdom's subjects would not want for food and shelter. That was the birthright the second king left the pirates' descendants. However, if they wanted better lives, they had to serve as soldiers of the royal family or pick up a trade.

Hanayabarta had two standing armies. The first was the royal family's local defense army, which numbered 28 thousand people, and the second was the national patrol fleet, it had 24 large and middle-class ships to its name. The two units were under the direct control of the royal family. The other nobles of the kingdom were powerful slavers whose personal forces were the descendants of the pirates that had served with their founders. As for the slaver bands under their control, they consisted mostly of desperate deserters, mercenaries, and criminals.

Hanayabarta had two cities, the first was the royal capital of Hamidas, which was located on the central island of the archipelago, and the other was known as the largest hub in the world for the slave trade, Nupite.

While the nobles of the kingdom had residences at Hamidas, they were more accustomed to living at Nupite. It was, to them, nothing short of absolute paradise. They had their slaves construct luxurious estates and lived exuberant lives at the expense of their slaves.

Being a port city, Nupite was also a place where the various products imported from the mainland was available. It was a convenient location for the slaver nobles to instruct their slave traders and slaver bands from.

Lorist was rather confident that his forces were almost entirely unrivaled on the whole continent. This time around, he was prepared to deploy two of Potterfang's heavy-armored divisions, one wheelbarrow-carroballista division, Yuriy's light cavalry scout brigade, as well as Ovidis's Thunderbolt Brigade. Coupled with the two other personal guard regiments, his forces easily numbered 37 thousand. He believed that as long as his forces could make their way onto the islands, Hanayabarta would be exterminated. It might even be possible for him to single-handedly send all the slavers and slave traders on Grindia to the gallows.

Despite that, he was troubled to find a way to move his 37 thousand troops onto the central island without raising any alarms. The maps showed the archipelago's coasts to be straight. In other words, Nupite was in the deepest reaches of a bay that was shielded by a few long island stretches that acted as natural barriers.

Were the islands uninhabited, there would be no problem. Lorist could easily conquer them impose a blockade. However, the islands were the hereditary dominions of the slaver nobles and there was no doubt that they stationed many of their own there. The moment Lorist's ships were in sight, one signal fire after another would be lit and word of their presence would quickly spread to the city. The pirates would have time to form up and set sail, and chaos would no doubt follow.

So far, the best course of action was to transport those who would be deployed to Silowas to make preparations for the expedition. When Els and Tarkel sent back more information about the kingdom's defenses, the expedition could begin. Once most of the soldiers made it to the shores of the kingdom, they could teach the inhuman scum a lesson they could never forget.

Lorist revealed an insidious snicker. He had resolved himself to not let the slavers that attacked the island off, especially the members of the slaver bands. They had committed too much evil and it was high time they felt the consequences of their actions. Lorist had already reaffirmed his decision to go on an expedition against Hanayabarta.

Their time of reckoning would come.

Hopefully, Els and Tarkel would be able to discover where Charade and Jim were being held. He hoped nothing unfortunate happened to them. Even if they had to serve as slaves for several months, as long as they survived, Lorist could rescue them.

Lorist sigh deeply before chucking down the rest of the yellowish wine. News of Charade's capture was still being kept under wraps. Not even his family knew. Lorist looked at the hill to the left of the castle. Two rows of 12 large houses stood there. The first house at the top belonged to Charade. Just recently, Charade's father had gone there to check on his beloved grandchild and had yet to leave.

Sigh... How would I be willing to be the one to break the bad news to them?

All of a sudden, Lorist noticed the flash of a sword in the corner of his eye. He took a closer look. That was a strike only a blademaster could make!

Why would there be such a strike at Charade's backyard, especially in the middle of the night? Don't tell me the slavers have realized Charade's true identity and intend to take his family hostage to force him to work for them!

Feeling a little distressed, Lorist leaped from the veranda onto the castle walls like a monkey and sped to Charade's house immediately.

Everything seemed normal, however. All Lorist could hear were some soft murmurs along with the noises made by Charade's infant son.

Lorist crept to the backyard like a shadow, silently. He crept under the trees to evade the silver moonlight.

The swordlight could only have come from one person, the one training in the backyard. As the sword in his hand moved, it radiated an air of controlled and contained sword aura. Even though the blade glow arced through a wide space, not a single flower was disturbed.

The control, accuracy, and stability demonstrated by the sword-wielder were amazing, to say the least. Those were the things that differentiated a blademaster from a gold-ranked swordsman.

Lorist stepped out of the shadow of the tree.

The man raised his sword and yelled, "Who goes there?"

"It's me," said Lorist calmly.

"Ugh... Milord..." stammered the man before he sheathed his sword.

"Follow me," said Lorist, before he turned and left.

"Phew," breathed the sword-wielder in relief.

The beautiful night inspired me to start training out of nowhere, but I didn't think that Milord would be back already... It's been some time since I became a blademaster, and given that Milord has seen me train, he's definitely noticed. It's over... My days of freedom and relaxation are over... I can never spend my time with my beloved granddaughter anymore and will be ordered around by Milord to fight on one battlefield after another...

At the same time, Lorist thought, Good Sol! How ridiculous can this get?! I didn't think that cowardly old man, the one willing to sell his daughter and even signed a contract to be my slave for ten years, would be the one to become a blademaster, and without anyone noticing at that! What kind of luck is this?!

The sword-wielder was actually Engelich. Back when Lorist was traveling through Armatrin Harbor with the northbound convoy, he had gotten into conflict with the Sloph Slavers. Lorist had killed two of their gold-ranked swordsmen all by himself, but Engelich, a three-star gold rank, hadn't dared to fight him at all. Instead, he turned tail and ran, only to be caught anyway. Lorist had confiscated all his money and his battleforce manual and even had the old man hand in his beloved granddaughter and sign a ten-year slave contract before letting him off.

Back then, as Charade had been injured by Engelich and was bandaged up like a rice ball, Lorist had no choice but to make the old man's granddaughter Charade's maidservant. He didn't think that the two would be attracted to one another. Lorist had no choice but to go easy on the old man as a result. It would be unseemly for him to treat the father of his chief knight's lover as a slave.

When Lorist had returned to the convoy at Nadegas in the Andinaq kingdom to lead them back to the Northlands, he had to reward those who had contributions to the journey. He had intended to take the old man as one of his household gold-ranked knights, only to be refused by the latter who said that he was satisfied as long as he got to stay by his granddaughter's side. Charade had already impregnated his granddaughter around and even pledged to take her as his wife when he returned to the dominion.

In consideration of the harsh life, the old man had led and his wish to spend the remainder of his time in peace with his family, Lorist allowed the matter to be settled and didn't disturb Engelich. However, he hadn't expected that the old man would actually come to be the house's first blademaster.

There was no way Lorist could afford to leave him be. He had to utilize the old man as best he could. After all, he didn't have that good a relationship with Engelich, to begin with, given how the old man would tremble every time he met Lorist. Lorist was only troubled by how a man like Engelich had managed to reach the rank of blademaster.

When they were back at the veranda of the castle, Lorist sat in his chair and poured himself some wine, leaving Engelich standing before him obediently.

"Tell me, since for how long have you been a blademaster?"

"Mi... Milord, it has been... a year," stammered the old man in fear.

"Why did you not tell me about it?" asked Lorist lazily.

"Mi-milord, you-you were not present back then," said the old man.

His voice broke at every other word.

Lorist could not remember exactly when he was within the dominion and when he was away, so he couldn't really argue. However, he was still rather troubled.

"Why are you trembling like that? Am I really that scary? It's not like I would devour you alive. Also, you're already a blademaster now."

"I... I don't know why, but... I am always afraid when meeting you..."

"Well, Engelich, I guess we should get to the main point. Since you're a blademaster, you ought to do your part for the house," said Lorist.

"Mi-milord... I pray that you let me be, given my age..." pleaded the old man.

"Bullshit! Don't think that I'm not aware that becoming a blademaster means you gain another 30 years of life. Your condition right now is comparable to a strong, healthy youth. I guess I can be honest with you and tell you that the house is not in that great of a position nowadays. In the near, I will go on an expedition to Hanayabarta. Those darned slavers attacked our dominion, Silowas. Even your precious grandson-in-law has been captured by them."

"Milord, what did you say?" asked the old man with surprise, no longer looking as fearful as he did previously.

"That's one of the reasons why I will be leaving for Hanayabarta soon. I will definitely bring Charade back. Old man, you ought to play your part too. I need you to expropriate ships from the Sea of Grief for now. We still lack enough to transport all our troops there."

Now that the matter concerned the blissful life of his precious granddaughter, the old man no longer tried to push away his responsibilities.

"Alright, Milord. I will definitely make sure that you have the ships you need."

"Very well. Go back for now. I hope you can keep the matter about Charade a secret from his wife. I will notify you when the time comes," said Lorist.

"Understood, Milord," Engelich said before he turned around and headed to the stairs.

He paused at the door, however, and asked, "Oh, how many ships do you need exactly?"

"Well, try to get me around a hundred. But I'm not sure even that'll be enough," replied Lorist.

"What? You need that many?!" exclaimed the old man as he stepped forward, only to find that his leg was already beyond the step of the stairs.

The sound of a bag of meat rolling down an incline could be heard for a few moments afterward, accompanied by the occasional grunt.

Completely dumbfounded and shaking his head, Lorist mused, "For a person with a mindset like that, I wonder how he even managed to break through to become a blademaster..."

Meeting of the Four Families

Here's the third chapter of the week.

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"Oh, Engelich, I thought hard about it for the whole night but I still don't have an answer…" Lorist sighed, "You should know that you're not an ambitious or victory-obsessed person, right? Your own survival is all that matters to you. Frankly, you're the kind that takes the path of least resistance. I find myself wondering how in the world you became a blademaster? Did you consume some kind of precious medicine?"

Lorist had called for Engelich to be brought to him early in the morning, mainly to give him something to do. He didn't feel it was okay to leave a blademaster free and unattended in the dominion. He also wanted an answer to the question he had been pondering the whole night.

Engelich smiled bitterly.

"Milord, I don't really know myself. To be honest, I was already a three-star gold rank by the time I submitted to you, but I encountered a bottleneck shortly after, and for years I couldn't progress no matter how hard I trained. I thought that I would stay like that for the rest of my life, so I didn't have any hopes of progressing any more.

"But after joining the convoy, I felt incredibly relaxed all of a sudden, as if I no longer had any burdens. I later came to understand that it was because Milord had eradicated the Sloph Slavers. I no longer had to work for others against my better conscience and it allowed me to cast off the burdens I carried with me. I was finally able to improve my circulation of battleforce, and it even became easier than before.

"Milord didn't send me on missions once we arrived at the dominion either, and instead allowed me to spend my time with my granddaughter and newborn grandchild. The sight of my daughter becoming the mother of another fulfilled the last of my wishes and removed the last of my regrets. I have no more desires or unfulfilled goals in life, as long as I can spend my life in peace with my granddaughter and her child, I will be satisfied.

"The child grew to be rather rowdy last year, so I got him a wooden sword as a toy. I realized just how blissful my life is when I saw him swing the sword around in the backyard and chase the butterflies. The realization gave me a profound insight. The blue of the sky appeared more striking than ever, and the fragrance of the flowers and plants seemed to be stronger and clearer than before. I could clearly discern every motion that occurred within a sphere that stretched out in all directions for ten meters...

"Fortunately, my observant granddaughter noticed that I had gotten some kind of insight and stopped our servants from entering our backyard. Every day, she would serve me my meals personally. I didn't feel anything particularly different about myself. I ate when I was hungry, drank when I was thirsty, and slept when I was bored, but I never left the courtyard - it had become my private universe, a world where I am completely free. I could even say that I was barely conscious of my own condition at the time.

"Later, my granddaughter told me that it was as if I had lost my soul during those three months. I was either tracing in the air or sitting on the ground like a statue. She said that I would not heed anyone's calls and repel her with the battleforce around my body when she tried to tug at me. She was so worried that she almost broke out in tears.

"Charade wasn't home either, so my poor little granddaughter had to deal with it all by herself. On the one hand, she was worried for my sake, and on the other, she had to take care of her child. I only regained my mind after three months and realized that I had broken through to become a blademaster. That lass was elated and had wanted to write a letter to Charade to inform him, but I stopped her because I didn't want to cause a commotion. Also, I didn't want people to come visit me out of nowhere."

Lorist finally understood that the old man had broken through not because of his swordsmanship, but thanks to his mental fortitude. That was why the moves demonstrated by Engelich after he broke through had so much control, precision, and stability - like the still water of a lake that would vibrate in a constant pattern the moment it was disturbed, seeping through every nook and cranny it could find. It was unlike other blademasters who had broken through thanks to their swordsmanship, which was reflected in the attributes of their battleforce. For instance, others would feel the chilling aura of a snowstorm when fighting against Lorist.

"I really didn't think that letting you be with your granddaughter would actually let you break through," Lorist mused, before he shamelessly claimed credit for Engelich's breakthrough, saying, "You should thank me, Engelich. It was I who had exterminated the slaver band and forced you into servitude. Had you not experienced all that, you would've died as a three-star gold rank."

"Yes, yes... It's all thanks to you, Milord. Thank you so much," said Engelich hurriedly.

Even after becoming a blademaster, he still felt like he was treading on thin ice when standing in front of Lorist. He found his bone-deep fear of his lord very curious.

"That's enough. Come over and take this," said Lorist.

He took a small box out of a drawer. Inside was a golden badge. It differed from the ones given to gold-ranked knights, it had a star-shaped diamond embedded in its surface. It gathered and radiated the light from the surroundings in such a way that it looked like a shining, twinkling star.

"You see, my grandfather and great-grandfather had always hoped that the household would be guarded by a blademaster. Even though they could never afford to hire one, they still had a blademaster badge forged and hoped that it would encourage the members of the house to train hard and become a blademaster one day. Well, at least they didn't stretch themselves thin by making a ton of these. Otherwise, I would have to dig out the diamond star and sell it."

Even though Lorist was uttering nonsense, he still carefully placed the box in Engelich's hands. Naturally, Engelich didn't regard Lorist's words seriously. He understood from Lorist's actions that he was officially the first blademaster in the history of House Norton. His fate from that day onward would be forever intertwined with that of the Nortons.

Handling the box as carefully as he could, Engelich gingerly retrieved the badge from the box and pinned it on his shirt. After that, he stowed the box in his pocket, retreated two steps, and bowed deeply to Lorist.

"Milord, I pledge my service to House Norton until the day I breathe my last breath, until the day of my death."

Waving his hands, Lorist said, "Sheesh, don't talk about breath this and death that this early in the morning. Your conviction is what that matters. I wonder if an old man like you can continue to scale the ranks and become a rank 2, or even rank 3, blademaster. Perhaps, you might even stand a chance to become a swordsaint."

"Milord, you're a far bigger dreamer than I am! I only hope that I can raise my rank one more time, but I don't even have the slightest thought of actually becoming a swordsaint."

After receiving the blademaster badge of the household, Engelich spoke more freely and relaxedly.

"Well, things like this are hard to predict. You are a relatively lucky one. Perhaps, one day you might just slip on a pile of dog shit and come to realize some immutable truth of the universe that allows you to break through and become a swordsaint."

Engelich laughed bitterly.

Milord's messing around again... If there were anyone who actually became a swordsaint by doing that, I bet there would be tons of people willingly stepping into dog shit daily...

"Well, there's that. I'll put an end to messing with you. Since you're a blademaster of the household, your salary will five thousand gold Fordes annually. You can collect it whenever you please from Supervisor Spiel. If you do manage to break through to the second rank, your pay will be raised to eight thousand, whereas the pay for a rank 3 blademaster is ten thousand. I bet you're already regretting it now. If you had told me about this the moment you made your breakthrough, you would've had an extra five thousand gold Fordes already."

Shaking his head, Engelich said, "No, I don't regret that at all, Milord."

"Is that so?" Lorist asked with a look of curiosity on his face, "I recall that you looked as if you were hanged when I confiscated your personal savings earned from working for the slavers, yet you're telling me that five thousand gold Fordes means nothing to you? Or are you saying that the amount of money is too low for you to even bother with? Well, I can't help you with that. I wasn't the one who set down the regulations for how much blademasters are paid."

"Milord, you have already offered me countless gold coins. I know that average blademasters only get paid three thousand gold Fordes annually. Over the past few years I spent at home, I came to realize that what I truly want is a life of peace. I only need enough money for my own purposes; more doesn't necessarily mean I'll become happier. All I need is my family. It's a shame I don't have much money with me right now. Otherwise, I'd be willing to pay you five thousand gold Fordes for a year's leave to spend with my family," said Engelich in a regretful tone.

"Forget it, Engelich. To think that an old guy like you would be as obedient as a mule that requires caning," Lorist said, "But, I like your attitude. It's precisely because of it that you were able to breakthrough to become a blademaster. Right now, I'll leave you with an assignment. Before we set sail in another ten or so days, give Reidy some guidance with his swordsmanship for two hours. Actually, make it an hour and a half. Also, help Howard establish his basic stances. When I saw you train yesterday, I noticed that your basic sword stance was incredibly firm and allowed you to manipulate your sword in a very peculiar manner. I hope you will be able to guide them in those respects."

"Understood, Milord," said Engelich as he nodded.

"Also, after training, come here. I will have someone arrange an office for you. You have to understand the battle strategies and the development goals of the house so that I can have you help out when I require it. I'll ask Howard to bring you to the training grounds at the rear hill now. When you come back, make sure to read through the information on Silowas. Look, they're all here," said Lorist as he pointed at a thick stack of beastskin documents in the corner.

Engelich wore a helpless expression as he was escorted away by Howard.

Lorist looked at the silhouette of the old man and mused, "Huh, as if I'd let an old guy like you slack off."

...

Count Kenmays's regiment of attendants and servants only arrived at Firmrock castle during the night. When he got off the carriage, he could be seen with two new beautifully-dressed maidservants.

Raising his brows in surprise, Lorist asked, "Have they changed again?"

Count Kenmays replied, "Yeah. Those two got pregnant and had to get married off to others. I had to pay out quite a sizable dowry for them too..."

Lorist nodded to the maidservants before he said, "Since they are pregnant with your child, why don't you keep them around as your concubines?"

"No way," Count Kenmays said, "Letting them stay after they have a child will cause them to have unhealthy ambitions. It'll bring me nothing but unrest. For their own sake as well, marrying them off is still the best course of action. I give them a yearly allowance as well. When the child is older, I'll adopt them and begin cultivating their talents. It's the best arrangement for everyone involved."

Good Sol, this guy is as calculating as people get. As expected of the descendant of a merchant family, thought Lorist as he smiled and invited the group into the castle.

When the two of them entered the study, Count Kenmays walked to the familiar wine rack and opened a bottle of fine wine. Taking on the role of host, Count Kenmays said, "Come, this wine is pretty good. Let's have a drink."

"Sol!" Lorist cursed, "I noticed that half of my wine disappeared after I returned from a trip at the end of last year. So, the culprit was you..."

"Old friend, good wine is to be enjoyed with good company. How would we enjoy the luxurious taste they provide otherwise?" Count Kenmays said before he asked curiously, "Oh, where were you? That supervisor and Potterfang were so tight-lipped. They wouldn't even reveal the slightest hint as to where you were and only said you weren't in the Northlands. Troubled, I dug around and found no record of you leaving through the suspension bridge of my family nor the one at the Felim House. Also, Duke madras has sealed off the crossing point at Metropoulos River. How in the world did you leave the Northlands? Did you fly away using your wings?"

Laughing out loud, Lorist said, "I went to the Andinaq kingdom and delivered the second prince there. During the 29th day of the 12th month, the third prince passed away and Second Highness Auguslo beheaded the second prince and used his head as a sacrifice during his father's funeral."

Count Kenmays exclaimed, "What did you say?! The second prince is dead?! I only heard that the third prince was dead, but nothing about the second prince being buried with him..."

Lorist nodded and said, "Charade went to the imperial capital on my behalf and he personally witnessed the second prince's head displayed beside the third prince's coffin. It was in a silver basin and his expression was anything but dignified."

"Good Lord Singwa... So the second prince is no more, just like that?" mused Count Kenmays in terror.

Lorist merely nodded.

Count Kenmays downed the wine in his cup in one go, shook his head in thought, and asked, "As per the usual protocol, given that the second prince is my senior noble, I should be mad at you for being the main cause of his death. Given that you acted out of your authority against a senior noble, I should declare war against House Norton to avenge the second prince. But I wonder why I feel some kind of hidden joy and relief right now?"

Lorist smiled and said, "You little bastard... You should be thanking me for relieving House Kenmays of such a troublesome character. Now that you no longer have a senior noble, you can do as you please. Isn't that better? If you still had the second prince lording over you, there would come a day that you would have no choice but to revolt. After all, the second prince's greed was such that he wouldn't even leave the bones behind when he eats.

"As for acting out of my authority, that's just bullshit. It's not like the second prince is my senior noble or anything. Since he dared to attempt to take advantage of us, he should have been ready for the consequences. Also, we did not kill him. That was the second highness. Since he represents the Krissen imperial family, it's well within his right to do so and that has nothing to do with House Norton."

The count made a thumbs up and said, "Since when did you get so sly? Isn't sending the second prince to the imperial capital basically sending him to his death? Also, I almost let you change the subject... The death of the second prince is no big deal. What I want you to tell me is how you traveled to the Andinaq kingdom."

Lorist pointed at the map of the Norton dominion on the wall and said, "Look at it yourself. Didn't I tell you this already? Second Highness Auguslo represented the Krissen imperial family and made me a count. He also enfeoffed Silowas to my house. A few years back, my household finally managed to build a port at our northern coast. Later, I had someone make me a ship and I departed from there. I even went all the way to Morante."

"Good Sol!"

This time around, Count Kenmays mimicked Lorist's catchphrase before he hurried to stare at the map for a good long while.

"Locke, your house is going to be rich! With a naval trade route, gold coins will flow towards you incessantly! Merely the transportation fee will be more than enough for your house to live in opulence. Good Lord Singwa, shipping products by sea would save so much money when compared to transporting them by land! Brother Locke, no, Master Locke, let this one buy some shares... Please let me benefit a little bit from this!"

"Scram!" Lorist scolded half-jokingly, "Do you think making money is that easy? You didn't even consider the cost of the ships, hiring and training sailors, as well as the risks of setting sail. To be honest with you, I just received word that Silowas has been attacked by pirates and suffered heavy losses. I have to make another trip in ten days' time. So, I'm not sure if I will be able to make it back before the new year. That's why I asked you to come for this short gathering of ours. Naturally, I also have some good news to announce to you guys."

"Ah, I see. The risks of setting sail are pretty high, especially with new trade routes. Winds, storms, pirates, navigation errors, there's just so many things that can cause heavy losses," the count agreed, "But I still want to use your trade route to travel to Morante. I haven't been there even once despite how famous it is. Now that I mention it, it's kind of embarrassing."

"Maybe next year. Let me deal with the security issues for now. I'll bring you to Morante after that."

"Very well, then it's decided. So, Locke, what was it you said you wanted to announce?" asked Count Kenmays.

Lorist said, "I'll tell you all when the other two arrive. I don't want to repeat myself for no reason."

"Tch, it's one of your weird quirks again."

Baron Shazin and Baron Felim arrived the next day. As expected, Baron Felim brought his precious daughter over, so Lorist let Howard take a three-day leave to spend some time with his fiancee and improve their relationship.

In the study, Lorist had his servants bring out the golden-laced glass tea-set, the magnifying glass, and the white writing paper and gifted each of the representatives of the three houses with one of each. He announced that those were the products of his household and that he would let the salt merchant committee have the distribution rights for them. Additionally, he told the count that the Norton House was already able to produce glass and that he no longer required the Kenmays House to resell glass to them.

While Baron Shazin and Baron Felim were overjoyed by the announcements, Count Kenmays looked rather down. He had grasped the opportunity to stock up on glass as the war between the Teribo kingdom and the Union had stopped glass production almost completely. The count had intended to sell the glass he managed to stockpile for a higher price to House Norton, but it appeared that the plan was no longer workable.

Lorist told Baron Shazin and Baron Felim that it was time to raise their military strength. He announced to the three the second highness's conquests at the Redlis kingdom and expressed his concern regarding the second highness' possible intention to come to the Iblia kingdom. By then, 300 thousand soldiers would set foot in the Northlands. Lorist said that while he was a noble of the Andinaq kingdom, he wasn't sure if he could stop the second highness from taking action against the other three houses. They were vassals of the second prince and nobles of the Iblia kingdom, after all.

"I advise you all to be prepared just in case. Without a strong military force to fall back on, things might not go as well as you might think," said Lorist.

Battle Report

Here's the fourth release of the week. Enjoy the read!

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"Milord, why do you want the three other houses to expand their military? Not only would you have to provide them loans, you would also have to sell them weapons and equipment at a low price. Currently, our house's treasury has less than a million gold Fordes. Supervisor Hansk said that if you continue to spend so much money, we will no longer have enough for future developments," said Howard as the two were en route to Professor Balbo's gunpowder research lab.

Lorist stretched out his hand to ruffle Howard's hair as he chuckled.

"And here I thought spending time with your fiancee had taken your focus away. I didn't think that you would be pondering a matter such as this..."

"Milord!" exclaimed Howard with dissatisfaction, "I was just puzzled at why you did that..."

"Haha, come on, Howard, I was just joking around. Don't mind me," Lorist said, "There's a saying that goes like this, 'prepare an umbrella when the sky looks dark, or risk being showered like a roadside dog'. The situation our house is facing right now is a little similar to that. If we don't make ample preparations, we will be soaked in the rain when the time comes.

"I'm not that worried about the Chikdor Merchant Guild. Even if they're the so-called hegemon of the sea, they are, in the end, just merchants. I'm not worried about our expedition to the Hanayabarta kingdom either since they're naught but a bunch of pirates, slavers, and slave traders. They won't be able to resist our house's elite soldiers for long.

"The one person I'm most worried about is Second Highness Auguslo. Given his long-held ambition of becoming the emperor of the reunited Krissen Empire and his recent success in conquering Frederika despite the odds that were stacked against him, there's little doubt that he'll be on the winning side of the conflict at the Redlis kingdom.

"From the ambush, we can see that the second highness is indeed a brilliant strategist and not just an inept king. He really hopes that he can realize his ambitions one day. After exterminating the Redlis kingdom, his armies will most likely turn to the Iblia kingdom next. So far, given the status of the Iblia kingdom, there's no way they'll be able to resist the second highness's attack.

"Given that the Northlands is already under our full control, we don't really have anything to worry about. But, when the second highness completes his extermination of the Iblia kingdom and turns his troops to the Northlands, given how much of a control freak he is, do you think that he will allow the three houses, the Shazins, Kenmayses, and Felims, to control part of the Northlands? After all, they are nobles entitled by the second prince.

"Even if those three pledge allegiance to the second highness, the second highness's next move would be to try and split our alliance apart. He would either decrease their noble rank and take part of their territory away or move their territory to another place entirely. That way, the second highness will be able to stretch his claws into the Northlands. Salus and Redriver are both outside of the formal dominion of the house. The second highness would easily be able to come up with an excuse to enfeoff those lands to other nobles intentionally and cause conflict between us and them."

"But Milord, didn't the second highness say that he would make you the Duke of the Northlands? As long as the whole of the Northlands become yours..." Howard said before he paused after seemingly realizing something.

"Hehe," Lorist chuckled, "When the second highness said that back then, he was in a weak position, given that he had only just gained control of the Andinaq kingdom. He still required us to do the heavy-lifting, so he made all sorts of promises. But right now, he has control over 300 thousand soldiers. By the time he exterminates the Iblia kingdom, his power will be set in stone. The other nobles will flock to him in droves and his army might become even bigger. It's not impossible for him to end up with 500 thousand troops. Do you think he will keep the promises if this were to become the case?

"Our house focuses on raising elite soldiers. While we seem to have quite a huge number of troops right now, the actual land forces we have capable of participating in open field battles number only around 80 thousand. We're also going to war with Hanayabarta soon. Only two divisions of spear cavalry and one carroballista division, along with our knight brigade, will be left behind to protect the dominion once the expedition departs.

"Other than that, the mounted archers stationed at Hidebull Mound are there to resist any barbarian invasions. The other two local defense brigades are stationed at Tortoise Hill and Firmrock Castle respectively. As for our three police brigades, they're in charge of guarding our warehouses, prisons, labor camps, factories, and much more. The only ones remaining are the garrison squads of the various towns which are also responsible for the people's safety.

"If you look closely at this map, you'll come to understand that the western area of the Northlands has already been made into grazing plains for the livestock of our house, roughly 300 thousand cows and lambs are currently being raised there. In the next three years, the Fisablens will be providing us with another 600 thousand of them to fulfill their agreement with us to trade livestock for military equipment. The other three houses allied to us don't really mind that we're using the area to raise livestock since they will also benefit from purchasing some for themselves at a lower price.

"But if the second highness starts expanding his influence in the Northlands, the western livestock area is where he'll strike first. After all, it is not part of our dominion. There are many excuses he can use to take the livestock away and we'll be unable to do anything about it. Unless we want to fight against the forces of the second highness when they're in their prime, we will have no choice but to swallow the losses without complaint.

"Given the might of our house, we are able to recruit up to 300 thousand soldiers and are not afraid of the second highness's forces. In fact, we can even defeat him. But what good would that do us? Not only would it affect the lives of our subjects, we would also suffer great losses even if we defeat the second highness. And given that the second highness is our senior noble, going against him is treason.

"The ideal course of action is to strengthen the three houses allied to us and let them take the brunt of the second highness's assault in our stead. Our house will only have to provide reinforcement without actually being involved in direct confrontation. With a natural barrier like the Metropoulos River, I'd like to see if the second highness will be willing to send his troops to the grinder just to conquer the two suspension bridges. Either the second highness agrees to our conditions and leaves the Northlands under our control and that of the other houses, or he grinds against our allies until they give way."

"Milord, what if the second highness orders us to take out our allies? He's our senior noble after all," asked Howard.

"There would be no issue with that. Unreasonable orders from senior nobles can be refused with no repercussions. He has no right to ask us to betray an alliance we have formed," replied Lorist.

...

It had been two months since Lorist supplied some firearms to Professor Balbo to experiment on, and, just recently, the professor reported that he had made great progress. After sending off Baron Shazin, Baron Felim, and Count Kenmays, Lorist made his way to the laboratory as soon as he could.

Professor Balbo, Grandmaster Sid, Grandmaster Julian and Grandmaster Fellin were all present. Upon getting into their seats, they began reporting their progress to Lorist.

While Professor Balbo had yet to find any success making the canister shot ammunition that Lorist described to him, he did have a surprise in store. The professor took out a few bullets encased in a bronze shell.

"How did you make the primer for these rounds?" asked Lorist.

"Milord, I simply had some fire crystal grains placed at the bottom of the shell with a piece of flint. When the hammer knocks against the flint, the smallest spark will ignite the fire crystals and set off the gunpowder in it as well. The gunpowder will then explode and propel the projectile outward," explained the professor.

Grandmaster Fellin opened a red wooden box on the table and revealed two revolvers intricate golden patterns on their barrels and ivory grips. The ivory grip on one side had a carving of a beautiful woman and the other was carved with detailed patterns. Lorist thought they looked completely like the antique revolvers he had seen online in his past life.

"Oh? You guys actually managed to make the revolvers," mused Lorist with surprise.

"Yes, Milord," Grandmaster Fellin said, "We spent two months making the two according to the designs you provided. I also handcrafted the bullets personally."

"Ugh..."

Lorist was speechless the moment he found that the parts of the two revolvers were all handcrafted by Grandmaster Fellin. His craftsmanship was at such a high level that even Grandmaster Sid wouldn't be able to compare. However, the problem was that Lorist had hoped that they would be able to find a way to mass produce the guns instead of having Grandmaster Fellin craft them himself. That way, the grandmaster probably wouldn't be able to finish more than a hundred guns even if he worked until he dies of old age.

"Do these guns work?" asked Lorist worriedly.

"Of course they do," Grandmaster Fellin hurriedly replied, "We tried firing them a couple of times. However, the firing range is quite short. A lead bullet fired from roughly 30 meters away can only punch through a wooden board as thick as a finger. If the gun is fired from 50 meters away, it wouldn't hit its target at all."

Hmmm, so it has an effective firing range of roughly 30 meters... Any further than that, the bullet would go off course...

"Also, milord, we weren't able to make the automatically-rotating cartridge that's connected to the trigger mechanism. So, we had no choice but to borrow the dwarven gun's design. The hammer has to be cocked back for the next bullet to be loaded," said Grandmaster Fellin.

Ah, no wonder the hammer looks a little large. It's so that it can be cocked by the hand more easily.

"Milord, you should also take note that the barrel will overheat after five quick shots. It must cool before it can be reloaded and fired again," reminded Grandmaster Julian.

Well, I guess the material for the construction of the barrel isn't ideal either, for it to overheat after only five shots...

"Are there any other flaws?" asked Lorist.

"Well, Milord, even though the bullet primers are made by me with each one containing the same amount, sometimes one or two out of five bullets would fail to ignite. I suspect that's because the flint piece didn't produce any spark," added Professor Balbo.

Lorist was already completely speechless. In the end, the two revolvers are nothing but intricately-carved decoration pieces. It's no wonder that the engravings were so detailed. The product was meant only for admiring its craftsmanship. But no matter what, they were still the first two revolvers the house produced and they still had some historical value to them.

"Were the bullet shells all made by you guys personally too?"

"No, we hired over 20 smiths and had each of them make ten shells. After that, we picked those that were roughly of the same size and gave them to Grandmaster Fellin for some polishing. We picked 73 of them and filled them up with the chemicals so they can be used with the guns. You can reuse these shells simply by filling them up with more gunpowder. We also have some molds for making lead bullets and a tool to fit the lead bullet into the shell," said the professor.

As long as the shell was kept, one could refill it with gunpowder. That was a rather decent solution for limited ammunition.

"Alright, I'll take these two guns, the bullets, and the molds. You will no longer have to work on these anymore. Having grandmasters like you spend two months on these is a little too wasteful. You're no regular smiths, your talents can be put to far better use," said Lorist, much to the grandmasters' joy.

"Were there any difficulties you faced during testing?" asked Lorist.

"Milord, we found that the main problem was that there was no suitable material available to us for the construction of the gun barrels. The ones on the guns we have now are made of steel. It's far from ideal, they overheat too easily. Also, making the barrels takes quite some time and effort. We also had to test different heat-resistant bricks to see if we could modify our furnace to see if we can directly cast molten steel into barrels," expressed Grandmaster Sid.

Nodding in agreement, Lorist thought that he had been far too ambitious. Without establishing the more fundamental technological foundations, he had intended to leap straight into producing such advanced contraptions. Even though the grandmasters were able to make those two revolvers with much effort and time, the revolvers had too many flaws and were incredibly impractical to make. Grandmaster Sid was correct in that they had to discover a new material to make the barrel with before they could progress.

"Very well, Grandmaster Sid's statement holds true. It won't be good for us to rush this. The house will fund you for testing different materials. Also, right now, we're only using our water-powered machines to hammer and press metals. I wonder if you can try to make similar machines for hole-boring, cutting, and drilling? That would save us lots of manpower and time," said Lorist as he casually tossed a few rough blueprints of the machines he just named, which Grandmaster Sid took in a hurry as if they were heavenly treasures.

"Milord, right now our consumption of saltpeter is far too high because we are using 40 cannons to train our cannoneers. The production of saltpeter will no longer be able to keep up with the consumption in ten days," reported the professor.

This is a new issue... After giving it some thought, Lorist replied, "How about this? Decrease the amount of gunpowder used for the training sessions. It'll be enough as long as they can fire the cannons. Ration the gunpowder we give to the cannoneers and caution them to use them sparingly. Other than that, I will invest more funds into making a few more mining valleys near the Bladedge mountains to increase its production."

...

After leaving the gunpowder research lab, Lorist rushed to the port city. Senbaud's fleet had returned the day before and they would be leaving after a day of rest to transport soldiers to Silowas.

Engelich and Loze would also be sailing aboard the Flying Fish of Dawn to the Sea of Grief to expropriate more ships while Lorist had to stay at the dominion.

Within the main camp at the port, Senbaud and the rest welcomed Lorist's arrival.

"Senbaud, you shall stay here the day after tomorrow and leave the fleet to Uncle Torin. Let them depart first," said Lorist.

"Understood, Milord," replied Senbaud, even though he didn't understand why Lorist instructed him to do so.

"Do you see the Windstorm over there? That's your new flagship. You have to familiarize yourself with it before you set sail," said Lorist as he pointed to the new ship that was docked at the bay nearby.

With his eyes gleaming, Senbaud praised, "What a beautiful ship, milord. But can't I just get used to sailing it during the journey itself?"

"No, Senbaud. This ship is not anything like the regular ones you have sailed. This is the only invincible warship on the whole of Grindia so far. You'll understand what I mean when you get on board," teased Lorist.

"Very well, Milord. I shall carry out your will. Also, this is the battle report submitted to us from Knight Lundmorde at Morante," said Senbaud as he handed over a thick back of documents.

Lorist took one out and realized that it detailed the war effort of the second highness at the Redlis kingdom. Huh? This doesn't look right... Why hasn't the second highness wiped out the Redlis kingdom's resistance yet?

Not counting the force stationed at the border of the Madras duchy as well as the garrison forces within the Andinaq kingdom, the second highness should have around 240 thousand soldiers. With the occupation of Frederike and the surrender of the 70 thousand troops defending Kanbona Province, the second highness should have more than 300 thousand men at his disposal.

But after the nobles at Anderwoff refused to surrender to the second highness, and the first failed attempt at wiping them all out, the second highness turned to a more gradual strategy and managed to obtain a victory by conquering Anderwoff. However, the remaining nobles banded together and were still resisting in Majik. It also seemed that they had received large numbers of reinforcements as well, further strengthening their forces.

Weird, why is there no news of the first prince? It's only mentioned that he's missing after escaping from Frederika, thought Lorist as he continued flipping through the pages.

The second highness had split his 300-thousand-strong force into three units. One unit was stationed at the Lormo duchy's border as a threat for them to relinquish their autonomy and fall under the banner of the empire once more. Another unit was busy sweeping clean the riches of the nobles within the territory of the Redlis kingdom while pillaging their resources and food so that the main force would have enough sustenance. The last unit was marching towards the Redlis kingdom's final province, Majik, and would be engaging the traitorous nobles there.

The second highness seems a little too rushed, commented Lorist.

He took out a report concerning the war between the Teribo kingdom and the Union.

The moment he read it, he was dumbstruck. What the hell is going on? Why are the Urubaha and Teria duchies wiped out from a conflict that's supposed to involve only the Union and the Teribo kingdom? Add to the fact that the Urubaha duchy is thousands of kilometers away from the Teribo kingdom, and is separated by the Tedanini mountains and two other smaller nations, how in the world was it wiped out?

The Death of Duke Urubaha

Apologies for the long delay, but here's the 5th regular chapter of the week! See you guys next week for more!

Duke Urubaha had it coming. Never before had a rank 3 blademaster died as unsightly a death as the duke. He had only his greed to blame, well, that and his lack of self-awareness, which had made it so that the president of the Twinhead Dragon Merchant Guild couldn't stand him. The president had disregarded their family ties and fed the duke a force-dispersing toxin. In the end, the duke was beheaded by an attendant, cleft from shoulder to shoulder from the rear, he died just like any normal old man. It was an inglorious and unceremonious death. One to be remembered throughout the ages for all the wrong reasons.

In the middle of the 7th month of the year 1773 at the capital of the Teribo kingdom, the army of the eleven allied nations, which numbered around 140 thousand men, and the Union's army, which numbered around 180 thousand, had been in a stalemate for more than two months. Neither side attacked nor defended; not even knight duels were carried out. The main reason for that was that the knights of the allied nations' army did not think that the Union had knights among them. Most of the gold-ranked fighters were mercenaries and the allied nations' knights felt it beneath them and their honor to challenge such lordless, masterless vagrants.

Even though the two armies didn't clash, messengers were sent to and fro between the sides. It was becoming apparent that the report on the Morante Daily was true: the War of Glass wouldn't end until the treasury of the Teribo kingdom was squeezed dry.

It was a good thing for the allies, given how foolish Teribo VII was being with his money. The allies' 140 thousand soldiers would most certainly not take the initiative to launch an attack. They only had to stay on guard within their camps month after month, feeding off the provisions from the Teribo royal family. Not only were they well-fed, they were also paid well and on a monthly basis. Oftentimes, some noble ladies would even come to the camps to make merry. The soldiers of the allied army enjoyed their days greatly and wished that they could last a couple more years.

The Union, however, found it hard to distance themselves from the conflict. From the moment they retaliated and conquered half of the territory of the kingdom the war had only escalated and there was no end in sight. While the allies' army was funded by the Teribo Kingdom, and the nations thus bore no burden or expense in fielding their forces, the Union's 180 thousand soldiers placed a great burden on their finances.

Despite that, the Union had no choice but to persevere. The war had already had a far-reaching effect, having been dragged on for so long. For instance, the eleven nations had joined up at the Teribo kingdom's request to stand off against the army of the Union for money. But should the Union show any sign of weakness or inability to hold their ground, the allied army would hold nothing back and bite on the Union for some additional benefits.

It was the main reason the forces of the Union didn't mount an assault. While they were confident in their ability to maintain their position, taking the initiative to attack might come with an incredibly heavy price. The 180 thousand soldiers already on the field were all the Union could afford to muster. No one could predict how much morale would drop from the failure of such an attack.

Despite being the instigator of the whole conflict, Teribo VII was only now becoming aware of the predicament he was in. He sent another demand for peace to the Union, phrased in a far humbler manner than the first. He was willing to accept the initial conditions put forward by the Union, namely, the secession of half of the kingdom's territory as reimbursement for their losses.

Teribo VII had forgotten, however, that he no longer had the greatest say on the issue, that honor belonged to the allied nations. The generals of the army had realized how fat of a cow Teribo VII was and intended to milk him for all he was worth. There was no way they would allow such a juicy cash cow to call off the conflict when they were at the height of their profits. Thus, they confidently assured Teribo VII that they would be able to drive the Union's forces out of the territory. At the same time, they cut off the royal family's access to the outside world. All Teribo VII had to do and could do, was to continue paying for their 'military expenditure'.

By the time Teribo VII realized the gravity of the situation, the Teribo kingdom had already been ruined. So, he decided that he might as well cause as much grief as he could for his sworn enemies. He doubled the bounty for the Union's high-tier fighters. With that, the gold-ranked knights of the allied army were moved, further escalating the assassinations and counter-assassinations. Among the many conflicts there were, the most eye-catching one was the death of the Urubaha duchy's blademaster duke.

As the highest authority of the duchy, as well as a rank 3 blademaster, Duke Urubaha could be considered one of the people with the highest status in the allied army. However, he had one fatal flaw: his endless greed for money. Even though the Urubaha duchy was a poor nation, the duke still profited much from renting his armies out to other nations. He easily earned more than a million gold Fordes annually from these transactions. The duke pocketed all the money, however, without investing anything to improve the living standards of his subjects.

Anyone who visited the duchy knew that everything, whether it be the capital or the palace the duke resided in, was in rather bad shape. The fountain at the plaza located opposite the duke's palace was the only public facility in the whole duchy that was built in the days of the current duke's grandfather. It was only good for providing clean water to passers-by to relieve their thirst. However, the current duke had even thought of profiting off the fountain by charging a fee for every drink. However, the duke gave up on the idea when he found that the pay for the guards would be higher than the profit it would generate.

The Urubaha duchy's subjects all thought of their current duke as a hateful dragon that only knew how to hoard all the riches. The duke's palace was even colloquially known as the dragon's lair. The most popular rumors were about how much the duke loved to sleep in a bed of gold coins. It was pretty apparent how bad an impression the subjects of the duchy had on their duke.

They even complained of the duke's stinginess when it came to the profits his two armies earned him. For instance, each army rented for 100 thousand gold Fordes monthly, but 60 thousand of those entered the personal wallet of the duke with the rest being the pay for the soldiers, the food they consumed, and equipment maintenance.

An army numbering 24 thousand men couldn't do much with 40 thousand gold Fordes a month apart from paying off the salary of the soldiers. With so little left behind for them, the soldiers were fed the worst kind of food, and just barely enough to keep them going. Even their equipment was among the lowest in quality available. In fact, the soldiers were usually glad to be rented out as it meant they would be better fed since the renter was responsible for their sustenance.

The rent of the Urubaha duchy's armies to the Teribo kingdom, however, was thrice the normal price; each army of his would be paid 300 thousand gold Fordes. That was the reason the duke was willing to rent out both his armies at once. He figured that since his own duchy was not particularly developed or prosperous, nobody would bother to conquer it.

When Teribo VII raised the bounty for high tiers another time, Duke Urubaha figured that he could earn himself a couple million gold Fordes given his prowess as a rank 3 blademaster. Thus, he often found himself participating in the chaotic assassinations.

However, the Union had long had their preventive measures in place and managed to successfully counter-kill those who came bounty hunting. Some traps they set to bait in the high-tier fighters even cost the allied army a good number of blademasters. As such Duke Urubaha couldn't find many opportunities to strike. In desperation, he changed his tactics.

He was the relative of President Cobleit, so he had gone to Morante a number of times. His beloved grandson was studying at an academy in Morante. Being the grandson of an influential duke and a relative of the president of one of the big seven guilds of the Union, that youth spent his days in the city in absolute bliss. He lorded over his peers day in and day out. The Twinhead Dragon Merchant Guild frequently had to clean up after him.

During his visits to Morante, Duke Urubaha would also often visit the Twinhead Dragon Merchant Guild, so it was natural for him to be acquainted with quite a few of the guild's blademasters. From time to time, he would even spar with them to temper his swordsmanship. So, the duke turned his sights on the guild's blademasters.

First, he sent letters to inform the blademasters of the Union of the location of the allied army's high-tier fighters with the intent to ambush them when they came after the blademasters. After some investigation the blademasters concluded that his warnings were true, so they let their guard down. They thought that he was trying to keep them safe on account of the relationship they had with him, despite now standing against them in the war.

In those moments of lapsed guard, the Duke Urubaha struck. He intentionally made a false report that there would only be one blademaster waiting in ambush instead of three, causing the Union to send out only three blademasters to deal with the threat. It ended up with a three-on-three battle where both sides were evenly matched. In the end, they settled on considering the matter a draw and left it at that. The duke rushed over at that moment and claimed that there was an unexpected incident in which the other two blademasters insisted on following the lone blademaster at the very last minute, causing him to have to rush over to prevent any unfortunate accidents.

The three blademasters of the Union didn't suspect the duke in the slightest and even treated him as one of them, thanking him gratefully for all he had done for them so far. The duke struck them down as they thanked him.

The result of a rank 3 blademaster taking on one unprepared rank 2 blademaster and two other rank 1 blademasters was obvious. The three blademasters were slain by the duke in quick succession. Their heads were brought back to Teribo VII and exchanged for the reward.

Unfortunately for the duke, a scout had witnessed the whole affair and quickly went back to inform the Union's main force. A huge commotion broke out in the camp, with many angry folks marching right up to President Cobleit's tent to complain about the matter. It was no small issue, given that the deceased rank 2 blademaster was provided by the Peterson Merchant Guild, and the two rank 1 blademasters belonged to the Mayflower and Chikdor merchant guilds respectively.

All three guild presidents were fuming and were just short on enough rage to scream directly at President Cobleit. The matter dragged on for almost the whole night. When it concluded, President Cobleit laid back tiredly on his chair, loathing his relative to the bone. The duke had used the contacts the president had given him to carry out such a despicable plot for money, without regard for any previous relations.

He realized, then, that the first young master of the Chikdor Merchant Guild was still in the tent.

"I have an idea to deal with this issue..." he told the president.

The duke's fate was sealed in stone that very night. President Cobleit agreed to cooperate with Serihanem. It was even said that the president expressed with a sigh that even his many grandchildren were not nearly as capable as the first young master of the Chikdor Merchant Guild, who was a true merchant through and through.

The president brought the duke's grandson to the frontlines forcefully and wrote the duke a letter. He said that his grandson wished to meet him. They erected a small camp not far away from the main one where they would meet.

While the duke was quite money-minded, he was far from naive, to say the least. While he did not believe that President Cobleit would dare to act against him directly, given how he had just killed three of the Union's blademasters for the sake of the bounty, he was quite wary of the invitation being a potential trap. However, he still had to meet his grandson. He was one of his heirs, after all.

So, the duke responded that he would agree to a meeting with the condition that he got to decide the venue, which President Cobleit agreed to.

Thus, Duke Urubaha ordered his Crimson Legion to move their camp closer to the left side of the area where the two armies faced each other and had President Cobleit bring his grandson there. The duke was not worried in the slightest about being attacked by a few blademasters at once. He could easily escape unscathed with his abilities. As for the Crimson Legion, he didn't mind if they got wiped out. After all, if the duchy was rich in only one thing, then it was people. And they were more than willing to serve in the military to earn their keep.

President Cobleit headed to the camp of the Crimson Legion with a whole troupe that transported mainly some supplies to host a banquet. Since the president was the one to invite the duke to a banquet, he had to pay for all the costs involved. Additionally, the duke was someone that wouldn't treat anybody to a meal even if his life depended on it. Even if he had no choice but to show an important guest his hospitality, he would serve nothing but the cheapest and most basic dishes.

Naturally, the duke didn't fail to check the kitchen staff and the ingredients they brought for the banquet. After verifying that nothing was amiss, he proceeded to ponder the true aim President Cobleit decided to host a banquet for him at a time like this.

President Cobleit came over without even a single gold-ranked knight. His entourage only included ten-odd silver-ranked attendants and the duke's precious grandson. The duke finally relaxed his guard when the banquet began.

President Cobleit said, "The reason I called you out here to meet is to advise you stop involving your army in this conflict. The war between the Union and the Teribo kingdom has already lasted far longer than it needs to."

In other words, he was acknowledging the fact that the Union's forces were suffering as a result of the duke.

"As for the death of the three blademasters, let's just say that my luck was bad. I earnestly implore you, please don't cause any more trouble on account of our familial relations."

The duke refused President Cobleit's advice outright.

"Cobleit, if I were the kind of person that didn't care about family, you wouldn't leave alive after this blanket. As the commander of the 180 thousand soldiers of the Union, your bounty is a staggering three million gold Fordes! The fact that I'm willing to let you come at the cost of three million gold Fordes not entering my pocket. In fact, I might have to ask you to reimburse me somehow in that regard..."

Never had the president dared to imagine that this relative of his would even consider killing him for the bounty. This realization finally resolved the residual hesitation he had.

The duke snickered and said, "Well, I won't really ask you to give me three million gold Fordes. As long as you're able to trick the presidents of the other merchant guilds into coming here with a joint bounty of three million gold Fordes, I am very much willing to let you go."

It was after the duke's statement that the atmosphere of the whole banquet turned stale and awkward. The few gold-ranked knights of the Crimson Legion were incredibly embarrassed at the behavior of their lord. It was at that moment when the duke's grandson came over and said, "Grandpa! Have a taste of this bottle of fine wine which I bought at the city! It's been some time since we met, and this time I finally found a way I can repay the kindness you've shown me!"

While Duke Urubaha was suspicious of everyone else, he loved his grandson from the depths of his heart. His grandson's gesture brought him great joy, so he opened the bottle of wine and poured himself and President Cobleit a cup.

President Cobleit didn't mind drinking it since he was far too stressed to bother with anything else. After taking a gulp, he found that the taste of the wine was rather pleasant and even asked for a refill.

The duke was relieved that the president had drunk the wine and even asked for another cup. He had held back to verify if the wine was poisoned in some way, but seeing the president's eagerness for one more serving, he felt no need to doubt his grandson's sincerity and gulped down the cup of wine without hesitation.

The moment the wine slid down his throat, however, the duke heard the sound of swords being drawn behind him. He turned around. The silver ranked attendants the president had brought along was walking towards him slowly, sword in hand. He had the gaze of a butcher preparing to slaughter a sheep.

"What are you doing?!" cried the duke.

He activated the battleforce in his body and prepared to leap into the air, only to find that he had no battleforce to activate. He was so weak that he wasn't able to even muster the energy to stand up.

Finally, he realized: he had been played. He turned to the gold-ranked knights that were responsible for guarding him.

"Quick, come save me!" yelled he.

The guards, however, only stared at him with scorn. They remained standing as statues. Nothing untoward was happening as far as they were concerned. Their duke was simply having a feast with family.

A blade flashed, and the duke's head tumbled from his shoulders. Duke Urubaha, a rank 3 blademaster, was killed by a mere silver-ranked attendant.

The duke's grandson stared with a stupefied look as his beloved grandfather was beheaded right before his eyes.

The tent's flaps were pushed open as Serihanem walked inside with a smile on his face. Before the head of the duke, he had the grandson sign an agreement to lease the Urubaha duchy to the Chikdor Merchant Guild for a million gold Fordes and an annual fee of 100 thousand gold Fordes. From that moment on, the grandson of the duke would spend the rest of his life at Morante as a political hostage.

When the agreement was properly signed, the Crimson Legion soldiers cheered. They joined the side of the Union along with the duke's other army, the Tricolor Sword Legion. With the aid of the Crimson Legion, the Peterson Merchant Guild managed to swallow the Teria duchy whole without any trouble. It was a given since the two blademasters of the Teria duchy had already fallen in the bounty hunt, and eighty percent of their military force had been sent to join the allied army.

The Crimson Legion was able to take over the Teria duchy's capital with a surprise attack that couldn't even be called a full-scale battle. Duke Teria's whole family was ordered hanged by President Peterson for resisting the Union and the Union annexed the territory. At the same time, the Chikdor Merchant Guild announced that they would make the Urubaha duchy part of their dominion, effectively putting it under the control of the Union as well.

With that, the smaller merchant guilds saw the same opportunity and turned their sights on the nations that had sent their armies out to reinforce the Teribo kingdom and had lost their blademasters...