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Chapter 278 News from Tarkel Prev ChapterNext Chapter

Lorist finally understood what it meant to have everything go wrong because one underestimated one's enemy. He had considered the people hiding within the inner walls nothing but mere cattle waiting to be slaughtered. He thought all he had to do was wait for Ovidis's Thunderbolt Brigade to arrive and obliterate the ballistae on the walls before launching an attack when the enemy was deprived of their ranged defense. After that, he could occupy the four inner walls and begin dealing out retribution to the slavers and slave traders.

However, he didn't think they would as desperate as they evidently were. They were willing to risk everything for their lives. They gathered up all the slaves in the inner city, modified a carriage by nailing some doors onto the push handles, and forced the slaves to push the shielded contraptions straight towards the Norton soldiers' line to draw their attention. Following that, tens of thousands of people rushed out of the gates and continued their charge without regard for their casualties in a desperate struggle to push past the defensive line and head into the wilderness before making their way to the royal capital.

Lorist suddenly recalled a joke from a show in his past life about a 'baldhead' reprimanding his subordinates for being inferior to pigs, as the 'rabbits' had to spend more than two days and three nights to capture tens of thousands of pigs whereas his tens of thousands of subordinates were captured within an afternoon by the 'rabbits'...[1]

Even though the enemies rushed out in droves like a bunch of pigs, real pigs only knew to escape but those enemies would resist when they had to. When they saw that there would be no escape, they would make their last stand against the Norton soldiers. Some silver and gold ranks went all out before their moments of death, inflicting huge casualties on the Norton troops.

Lorist could do naught but order the rest of the soldiers to regroup before giving pursuit later and avoid enemies that they weren't able to handle in the interest of minimizing casualties. They were under orders to stall the enemies as best they could until more household knights arrived. On another front, Lorist himself was busy heading all over to give his assistance, all the while instructing Malek and Loze who had just arrived and were going to rest up to help him out.

It was only in the afternoon that Lorist gave the order to cease pursuit. During the night, when everyone else was gathered in the tent, Lorist felt like slapping himself after hearing the casualty report. There were more than 2900 casualties, of which 824 were dead. Almost an entire brigade had been rendered incapable of battle. Most of the dead died during the enemy's frenzied charge.

While it didn't show on his face, Lorist felt extreme remorse and thought that he should have pretended that he had the intention of negotiating with the old ambassador if only just to stall for time and let them feel safe for the moment behind their walls. Why did he have to tell the enemy about his clear intentions to kill every single one of them? After scaring the old man away, he even had Potterfang erect the terrifying monument outside the walls, which was definitely the straw that broke the camel's back.

That went horribly!

Lorist sighed and felt humbled after realizing that it had been his own overconfidence, his own hubris that had led his men to their death.

While the port was heavily-defended, only a single brigade of heavy-armored troops and another brigade of wheelbarrow-ballista troops were stationed at each of the three other gates of the walls. Lorist had believed that 500 ballistae were more than enough to secure each of the gates, but he did not take into account that his troops needed to rest. The midnight when the enemy charged out, less than 100 ballistae were fully manned and able to fire, which was one of the main causes for the enemy's successful escape.

"Milord, we've run the estimates," said Potterfang as he walked into the tent.

His left arm was bandaged.

He had been the first to rush to the troops' aid. Fortunately, he arrived in time to save Engelich's life. The old blademaster had been forced back by three other blademasters and would have been in a huge pinch had Potterfang not arrived in time.

Compared to blademasters, Potterfang was a bit lacking. But his swordsmanship was strongly defense oriented, so he was able to keep the enemy occupied without trouble. Fiercetiger Loze later rushed over and changed the situation completely. One of the blademasters who was fighting Engelich saw that the situation was taking a turn for the worse and ran. One of the other blademasters was killed by Loze and Engelich.

As the second blademaster was struck down, the third - occupied with Potterfang until then - attempted to escape as well, but Potterfang - in exchange for a blow to his shoulder - foiled his attempt. Luckily, Loze and Engelich made it in time and killed him before he could do more damage.

"Speak," said Lorist, clutching his head.

"Milord, there are 7432 enemy corpses at our defensive line. Five thousand of them were found near the city gates. Over 1700 of the dead were slaves. After a day's pursuit, we managed to capture 35 thousand prisoners, most were women and children."

Sol, so over 70 thousand enemies were within the inner city and we only managed to capture and kill around 40 thousand in total... Most of the 30 thousand who escaped must have been youths who were willing to leave the elderly, women and children behind...

Lorist only hoped that Josk and Yuriy's scouts would be able to hold the enemy back. They mounted and equipped with longbows and crossbows, so they should be able to deal quite a bit of damage.

But the number of horses available was not enough! Each scout at most had one mount to themselves instead of the usual two. It was just not possible to bring enough horses along on such a rapid response expedition, one which had to cross a vast ocean no less. Even Ovidis's Thunderbolt Brigade assignment of two horses per siege engine had to be cut down to one. Their mobility was halved as a result. If they had another cavalry brigade, the escaped enemies could easily have been surrounded. However, only Loze brought his beloved steed with him. Lorist didn't even have a mount.

"Well, for our captives, have Hector pick out the women to serve in the harlot camps and let the slave patrol squads use the rest as target practice. Allow them to vent their anger or exact their vengeance, but make sure to cut the heads off for embalming. Loze, I trust that you will be able to see it's done."

"Yes, Milord," said Loze, standing to attention.

"Malek, I'll leave clearing out the inner city to you. After that, keep all the spoils we have within the inner city and make sure not to forget to assign food and other supplies to the slave camp once every three days, understood?"

"Yes, Milord," replied Malek.

"Pog, reorganize our family forces and leave behind two heavy-armored brigades and one wheelbarrow-ballista brigade to defend the inner city and monitor the slave camp. The rest will rest for three days before marching towards Hamidas," instructed Lorist.

"Roger."

At that moment, a guard entered the tent and reported, "Milord, Tarkel has a report for you."

Huh? Why is Tarkel still on the island? thought Lorist with surprise.

He had instructed Tarkel and Els to infiltrate the Hanayabarta kingdom two months earlier. Their mission was to gather information on Nupite and Hamidas, and to find out whether it was possible to ransom the household knights and officials. Until Tarkel's arrival today, however, they had never contacted him. As a result, Lorist had been forced to deploy his forces despite the risks involved. He didn't think that Tarkel would still be on the island.

But if he's here, what about Els?

At that moment, Tarkel entered the tent. He saluted and began his report immediately.

"Milord, Els and I posed as two relatives of several high officials in the Peterson Merchant Guild and made our way here. Upon our arrival, however, we discovered things weren't going to go as smoothly as we'd hoped. The Hanayabarta kingdom has close relations with the Chikdor Merchant Guild, but not the Peterson Merchant Guild. The slavers didn't take us seriously, though they treated us with courtesy. They assumed we were young masters traveling around to see the world."

Even though he had been ignored by the slavers and slave traders, Tarkel still managed to fit in by getting acquainted with the mid-lower class officials and quickly gained access to large amounts of information, such as how many slaver bands and slaver nobles participated in the attack on Silowas as well as the number of slaves dispatched to every location and what they were tasked with.

Tarkel even made records of what the warehouses around Nupite had and also managed to rescue more than ten captured islanders from Silowas by purchasing them. But just as he was about to send his report, Tarkel realized with a shock that no ships were available to him.

The ships had long since finished their business on the island and had left. Some of the friends he'd made during his stay also advised him against boarding the merchant vessels of lesser, unknown slaver bands, especially since half of his slaves were women. Being attacked by the crews of those ships at sea was a real possibility, as they could easily dispose of his corpse without leaving a single trace behind.

The best course of action available to him was to wait for another month. By the end of the 10th month, the ships of the Chikdor Merchant Guild was scheduled to arrive at the kingdom, and it was far safer traveling with them than with anyone else. So, Tarkel had no choice but to stay at Nupite to await Lorist's arrival. Unfortunately for him, he was forced to evacuate into the inner city at the insistence of the few 'friends' he made, and he only managed to escape when chaos broke out during the reckless escape conducted by the people within the inner city. When he saw the household soldiers entering the city, he revealed his true identity and was busy settling down the islanders he had freed and waited for Lorist to return from pursuing the enemy.

"Why would the Chikdor Merchant Guild's fleet be coming here during the end of the 10th month?" Lorist asked, his curiosity piqued.

"I heard that their fleet comes over here routinely during the 4th and the 10th months to engage in trade. During their previous trip in the 4th month, the third young master of the Chikdor clan came over for a visit and began telling the slavers about his initial plan to invade Silowas before the War of Glass threw it out of the window when he was drunk at a banquet. It was he who had revealed that our house brought in tens of thousands of refugees to help develop the dominion and it was thanks to this information that the slavers attacked our island," explained Tarkel.

"Haha... Chikdor Merchant Guild and the third young master... So they were indirectly behind the attack all along," said Lorist as he began to understand the truth of the matter.

Well, this is a debt that I'll definitely collect in the future.

"Where's Els?" asked Lorist.

"Milord, Els has gone to the Hamidas. Over 1300 soldiers of our house were captured on Silowas. Apart from 30-odd of them who were tortured to death, they, including Knight Charade and Knight Jim, were sent to the Dueling Grounds..."

Tarkel began to cry out of the blue and pleaded, "Milord, you have to go and save them quick! Less than 300 of those captured are still alive right now... They were sent to fight against magic beasts and other slaves... Too many good men have died. Last month, they even held a festival to celebrate the founding of their kingdom, and over 500 of our soldiers died! Els and I had to witness their gruesome deaths without being able to do anything. The audience even felt that the show was not exciting enough and even clamored for the injured ones to be killed! Those people within the capital... They have to be killed without question! Milord..."

Tarkel's words were like oil being poured into a fire. All the knights within the tent cried out to be sent into battle against Hamidas.

Lorist waved his hand with a solemn expression to stifle the chatter within the tent.

"Stop being so noisy. Hamidas is right over there and not a single one of them will escape anytime soon. The house will definitely have its revenge. As much as I'd like to march towards the capital right here and now, think about it. We've only just arrived last night and our troops haven't had the time to rest properly and recover. The soldiers at the defensive line were so tired that they only realized the enemy's desperate attempt to charge out at the very last minute.

"It takes one day to travel from Nupite to Hamidas on horseback. The charged happened in the early hours of dawn, so Hamidas will only receive word of our arrival tomorrow. I trust that not one of them will be in the mood to watch any more of those Dueling Grounds shows, so our captured soldiers and knights should be safe for the moment. What we need to do now is to get three days of rest before marching towards Hamidas and avenging the deaths of our heroic soldiers!"

"Understood, Milord!"

"Tarkel, why did Els stay in the capital?" asked Lorist.

"Milord, Els is presenting himself as a swordsmanship-crazed young master and bribed the manager of the Dueling Grounds to allow Charade, Jim, and the other knights to spar with him. That way, they won't be chosen as the fighters for the shows of the slaver nobles. During the celebratory show, Knight Rafaed sacrificed himself to save Knight Charade. Knight Jim and Tok were also injured."

"What about Charade?" asked Lorist worriedly.

Knight Rafaed was one of the regiment leaders of the third local defense brigade who had been captured as he was injured and out cold following his reinforcement of Whitebird Town. The thought of him sacrificing himself for Charade was a surprising one.

"Knight Charade is fine and only lightly injured. However, because of Knight Rafaed's sacrifice, the boss of the Dueling Grounds feels that he is some kind of big shot and refused Els's attempt to purchase him. Els has no choice but to visit him on the pretense of sparring. Els, on the other hand, intends to organize a revolt at the Dueling Grounds and fight his way out of Hamidas. It will prove very difficult, however, given there are two blademasters standing guard. Also, the slave fighters are not armed. There's no way the plan will work," replied Tarkel.

Upon hearing that Charade was still alive, Lorist breathed a sigh of relief.

Engelich stood up and said, "Milord, why don't you let me sneak into Hamidas and rescue Knight Charade and the rest?"

As the matter concerned the happiness of his beloved granddaughter, Engelich was willing to give it his all.

"You won't do," Lorist said while shaking his head, "You'll surely be recognized by many who escaped from the rear gates of the inner city since you were stationed there. The moment you appear at Hamidas, the blademasters will definitely come for you. It's fine if you want to kill yourself, but don't drag Charade and the rest down with you."

The old man sat back down, fully understanding that Lorist spoke naught but the truth.

"If anyone's sneaking in, that would be me. Apart from the old ambassador yesterday, most of the people within the inner city don't know how I look. Later, make sure to check the corpses and captives and see whether that old man managed to escape. If he didn't, I will make my way to Hamidas and find some way to rescue Charade and the rest," said Lorist.

"Milord, you can't take this risk," advised many of the knights in the tent.

"I've made up my mind, so don't bother dissuading me. You guys just focus on allowing the troops to rest and reorganizing them for the next attack. Remember, launch the attack three days from now. Don't worry about me, I'm pretty confident that none of the blademasters at Hamidas will be able to take me on. Perhaps, I might even be able to cause them some trouble," said Lorist with a laugh.

"Tarkel, work with Malek to sort the valuable spoils we have and keep them well stored behind the inner walls."

Tarkel saluted and said, "Yes, Milord."

Chapter 279 Changing Strategic Arrangements Prev ChapterNext Chapter

Josk and Yuriy returned the next day. Both looked incredibly haggard. Well, anyone would look like they did if they only just managed to escape being chased by three blademasters for a whole night.

The order Lorist had given them was to lock down the route between Nupite and Hamidas so the news of the port's assault and fall wouldn't spread to the capital. During the afternoon of the day before, they arrived at the target location with their scout brigade and began to set up their defensive line after picking a place to set up camp. They even managed to capture a number of messengers heading for Hamidas. All seemed to be going well.

But a day later, Josk and Yuriy noticed the appearance of a convoy of carriages guarded by a substantial cavalry detachment. They were initially able to stop them from advancing, but, as time passed, more and more enemies began to arrive. They easily numbered ten thousand. Eventually, they launched a full-scale assault on the brigade's position.

Josk and Yuriy believed that the enemies had escaped from Nupite and were prepared to stop every one of them. They had their scouts occupy the high ground around the path for ease of interception.

Despite making two frenzied charges, the enemy did not succeed in dislodging the scout brigade from their positions and suffered heavy casualties. Their corpses littered the road. They responded to the situation by breaking their forces into two units. One was sent against each of the enemy positions whilst their carriages charged down the road once more. In order to prevent a sidestep along the other side of the road, the scout brigade had to spread itself too thin to cover both sides of the road. They were unable to bring their full force to bear on either of the two units and began to waver. Things soon broke into chaos.

Josk and Yuriy were targeted by three blademasters right away. Josk's marksmanship could threaten a rank 1 blademaster, but it was not able to do the same for those of higher ranks. Unfortunately for the two, the enemy had exactly a rank 2 blademaster among their number. The blademaster quickly understood the situation and pursued Josk relentlessly. If not for Yuriy's desperate assistance, Josk might have met his end. The two were quickly separated from their troops and had to spend the whole night running around before they finally shook the blademasters off.

When the two regrouped with their troops, they counted 1000 casualties, and that despite the fact that the enemy had only fought to break through their lines, and not to eradicate or exterminate them. Seeing that their troops were tired and worn, the two of them decided not to give pursuit and instead brought the men back.

While it pained Lorist to admit it, Josk and the others knew that his actions had been a grave error. Underestimating the enemy and treating them like a pack of wild dogs, Lorist thought that he would be able to overwhelm them by stacking the last proverbial straw, hence his decision for Josk and Yuriy to intercept them initially. Had the scouts allowed the enemy to use the path and employed hit-and-run tactics by attacking from their rear, in which their advantage of ability could be fully utilized, they might have been able to cause huge damage to the enemy, far more than the 8000-odd kills they had.

Waving his hands to dismiss the two of them, Lorist began to think with a solemn expression. It seems that this expedition is not going as well as I had hoped. I guess exterminating a whole kingdom was never going to be an easy task. While the enemies at Nupite didn't even stand a chance, the things that happened after the first attack has been one accident after another.

With only 8000 enemies killed, at least 15 thousand will make it back to Hamidas, and I'm sure they have quite a few high-tier fighters in their ranks as well. The royal capital is also guarded by 28 thousand soldiers of the royal family's defense legion. Taking into account the conscription of the slavers who make it back, it is extremely possible for them to cobble together over 40 thousand men. Should that be the case, their military might will rival my own...

After a rough estimation of his troop numbers, Lorist concluded that the two heavy-armored divisions and one wheelbarrow-ballista division each had 15 thousand men left. Given that he left two heavy-armored brigades and one wheelbarrow-ballista brigade back at Silowas, he only brought around 36 thousand men with him. Coupled with the Thunderbolt Brigade's catapults, the scout brigade, his two guard regiments, and Senbaud's Oceanic Legion, he had 46 thousand men.

However, Senbaud's Oceanic Legion could not participate in land battles, unless Lorist no longer wanted to return to his dominion. The post-landing casualties so far amounted to 5000 men. This meant that he only had 38 thousand able-bodied men left. After assigning a heavy-armored brigade and a wheelbarrow-ballista brigade to Senbaud to sweep the other islands, that number decreased by another six thousand. Add to the fact that he left a company of a hundred heavy-armored troops on each of the 27 islands to stand guard, up to another brigade's worth of men were no longer available. Additionally, the two heavy-armored brigades and one wheelbarrow-ballista brigade he would be stationing at Nupite meant that Lorist only had a little over 20 thousand soldiers for the march to Hamidas.

Though Lorist felt like crying from his frustration, he was not able to tear up. With only 20 thousand men available to him, forget about taking Hamidas, it would already be fortunate for him to not be encircled by the enemy midway there. If he were the king of the Hanayabarta kingdom, he would forcefully conscript another 60 thousand young slaves and mount a suicide attack on his camp. He would use the assault to exhaust the enemy's ammunition stores and take things from there. He would likely not win the battle, but it would definitely severely wound the enemy. Not only would the capital be safe, the kingdom might even stand a chance at retaking Nupite.

No, this won't do. I'll have to reorganize the distribution of my forces. Attacking Hamidas will require at least one complete heavy-armored division and three wheelbarrow-ballista brigades as the vanguard. Coupled with my one thousand guards and another two thousand scout cavalry troops as well as the Thunderbolt Brigade, I will have close to 30 thousand troops. If I can form another five police brigades with the slaves, we should be just a little shy of 40 thousand men.

Lorist sighed and reminded himself that war was no children's game and that describing military might by only approximating numbers was incredibly unwise. Despite that, he had to consolidate the number of his veteran soldiers. Only by being able to do so could he obtain victory and minimize his losses. Using untrained slaves on the battlefield was a double-edged sword. While he could superficially inflate his numbers by doing so, the first troops to collapse into disorder when the battle broke out may very well be those slaves. The chaos that would inevitably ensue thereafter might also cause them to turn back in an attempt to escape and disrupt the formations of his main forces.

Forcing the slaves to act was no great feat for the Hanayabarta kingdom. If they refused to comply, they could simply put some to death to scare the rest into submission. However, there was no way Lorist could employ such a method. He had justified his attack with the liberations of the laves, doing such a thing would go against his stated goal and undermine his position.

A simple mistake during the first conflict had cost Lorist so much. If the enemy could be wiped out when they were within the inner city itself, then the Norton forces would be able to show up at Hamidas without anyone noticing. Even if they weren't able to wipe out those in the inner city all at once, they could still keep the enemy trapped within and slowly claim the land around the capital with the help of the slaves' support and gradually deal with Hamidas.

But now, he had to prepare for open field battles. The Hanayabarta kingdom would definitely mobilize their troops. The fact that so many people were able to escape from the inner city was a testament to the low number of troops the Nortons had brought with them. Even idiots would not sit around helplessly and watch their doom encroach upon them. The next step the Hanayabarta kingdom would take would be to conscript more soldiers and send out some troops for reconnaissance as well as attempt to drive the Norton troops back to sea.

Lorist summoned his guards and instructed them to pass the order down for a few gold-ranked knights and Blademaster Engelich to go to the city hall of the inner city for a meeting on revising their strategy.

During the night, the main hall of the building was illuminated by candlelight. Lorist pointed at the map of the Hanayabarta kingdom as he briefed his subordinates on the current state of affairs.

Potterfang asked, "Milord, do you mean to say that we're no longer able to attack Hamidas head-on with our soldiers?"

"Pog, if you're the king of the Hanayabarta kingdom, what would you do when you receive reports of our invasion?" questioned Lorist.

After giving it some thought, Potterfang said, "I would mobilize my troops immediately to conquer the hilly area between Nupite and the capital and set up defensive lines there to prevent our forces from entering the plains where the capital is located. After that, I would send out scouts to gain an understanding of the might and distribution of the enemy forces, all the while conscripting more soldiers to aid with the war effort. If the enemy forces are not enough, I would choose to drive them back to sea and take back Nupite."

"Not bad, Pog. Your hypothetical is spot on. While we don't know for sure whether that's what the enemy will do, it's best if we no longer act carelessly and give them the benefit of the doubt. Tomorrow morning, the five reorganized heavy-armored and wheelbarrow-ballista brigades will have to march to the hilly areas to set up a line of defense before the troops of the kingdom do so.

"This unit will be led by Fiercetiger Loze with Malek as his vice. Pog, since you're injured, stay here to guard the port. Josk, Yuriy, take two thousand mounted scouts and keep an eye on the enemy's movement, patrol the supply routes to Loze and Malek as well. Also, send some troops to the plains' slave farms and free as you can. Cause as much trouble as possible. Don't allow the enemy to harvest their crops, we need to keep our siege as short as possible, understood?" asked Lorist as he thumped on the map.

"Understood, Milord," replied Josk and Yuriy in unison.

"Preserve as many of your men as you can; don't clash with the enemy if you don't have to. Your advantage lies in the fact that you're light cavalry, meaning that you can easily escape enemy pursuit. Since the Hanayabarta kingdom doesn't breed horses, and they only have around 1800 cavalry, they're greatly inferior to us on that front. If you have a chance, wipe them all out in one go.

"Another thing, if you do manage to cause chaos at the plains near the capital, the enemy will definitely hate you to the bone. They might just send out blademasters to wipe you out the moment they spot you. Knowing that you can have Malek and Loze set traps for the enemy blademaster and deal with them using our steel ballistae. Don't use our scouts to engage the enemy head-on like you did yesterday," warned Lorist.

"Yes, Milord, we will definitely pay attention to that," said the both of them with a slight flush of embarrassment.

"Pog, it is really important for you to stand guard at Nupite. The house only mobilized eight heavy-armored brigades, but we've already got more than a brigade's worth of incapacitated troops, not to mention the other thousand cavalry scouts and two regiments of wheelbarrow-ballista troops. I've already ordered Senbaud to stop sweeping the neighboring islands for now to consolidate our forces. When he sends the rest of our troops here, reorganize two heavy-armored brigades and one wheelbarrow-ballista brigade and deploy them to the frontlines to reinforce Loze. Other than that, order Ovidis's Thunderbolt Brigade to head out at the same time. It will become our main force against Hamidas.

"Gather all the injured in the inner city and leave a brigade of heavy-armored troops and another regiment of wheelbarrow-ballistae to guard them. I will also have 500 of my personal guards stay behind. That way, the remaining heavy-armored brigade can be disbanded, reassign the men as senior officers to the police slave brigades.

"I will give you five days. After the formation of the ten police slave brigades, send five of them to bolster our ranks at the frontlines where they can also receive preliminary training to get them into shape. Senbaud will be assigned two of the remaining five brigades as well as another regiment of wheelbarrow-ballista troops to continue the island-sweeping operation. The other three brigades will be in charge of helping out with supplying the frontline troops and will be our rearguard.

"We've already conquered Nupite and the supplies here, including the food and equipment, are quite plentiful. So far, we've no need to worry about being unable to sustain our troops. The ten new slave brigades may take as many supplies as they need. So, you must be vigilant in the selection of the slaves that join the ranks. They will be treated the same as proper soldiers of the house, and their family members will also be allowed to enter the inner city to help us with various tasks such as caring for the injured. Make sure to compensate them for their work, understood?"

Potterfang nodded and said, "Milord, I got it. I will make sure to turn their allegiance to us as soon as possible and make them feel proud to be House Norton's soldiers. However, after we form the ten police brigades, who will keep the order? As of today, we have more than 30 thousand of them here."

"I've already instructed Hector and Karman to aid you however they can. After the formation of the ten police brigades, more slaves will be recruited to form some defense units. After each island is swept, leave behind around a hundred to three hundred men from the defense units to stand guard. Two additional defense brigades will also be formed from the slave camp. The rest of the men will fish, harvest, and transport supplies. We have to keep them occupied.

"Also, Josk, Yuriy, before you two leave tomorrow, head to the slave camp first. Karman has assembled a group of slaves who are familiar with the layout of the terrain around the capital. They also have quite a number of other acquaintances there. With their help, the slaves at the plains will be able to trust that we've truly come to rescue them."

"Alright, milord," replied Josk.

"Engelich, I suppose you should leave with Fiercetiger Loze and the rest to guard the frontlines. That will be all for now. Does anyone have any other opinions?" asked Lorist.

Engelich stood up and said, "Milord, the attack on Hamidas has been delayed, and the arrangements you made will take quite some time to complete. The Hanayabarta kingdom has ample time to be aware of the real reason for our invasion. Won't they take vengeance against our captive knights and soldiers?"

Oh, I see that the old fellow is worried for his grandson-in-law's safety. I suppose I can hardly blame him for it.

Lorist smiled and answered, "I've just received some good news this afternoon. Some guards that were surveying the results of the battle involving the scouts informed me that the ambassador that had been sent to meet me is dead. So I'll be leaving with Tarkel tonight and head to Hamidas to rescue our knights and soldiers at the Dueling Grounds.

"If the Hanayabarta kingdom deploys their troops, the longer you can drag the battle at the hilly area on, the safer my mission will be. Also, make sure not to be too hard on them and cause them to turtle up and retreat. We will be trapped within the capital and that would be horrible. Make sure to pretend to be unable to resist their onslaught and let them take a few areas that are not crucial to our overall strategy. Put them under the impression that they still stand a chance to win if they give it another push."

Everyone within the tent erupted in laughter, with Josk saying, "Milord, should I follow you to the royal capital as well?"

Lorist laughed and said, "No, you can't. The three blademasters that chased you down will definitely be able to recognize you. Not one of you should follow me there. The sudden presence of a gold-ranked swordsman will bring suspicion to me. The enemy aren't idiots, you know, so only Tarkel and I will be going. That's final. It'll get really busy tomorrow, so make sure to fulfill your respective duties and not let me down."

"Understood, Milord."

Encounter

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

The rumbling of horses' hooves broke the night's silence. About a hundred light cavalry rode forward at breakneck speed. They came to a halt at the edge of a valley. The leader waved his arms. Shortly after a squad of ten broke away from the group and headed off into the area. The main unit dismounted and began to feed their horses. An hour later, the men mounted up once more and continued heading towards the plains near the capital. Nobody noticed that only eight men rejoined the main unit.

Lorist and Tarkel had snuck into the woods. After they were unable to hear the sound of the galloping, they began to make their move.

Had they traveled by carriage using the route directly from Nupite to Hamidas, they would arrive at the capital about fourteen hours after their departure. A messenger that traveled quickly on horseback would only need about ten hours to cover that distance. It would take at least a day and a half, however, to make one's way from Nupite to Hamidas on foot.

Lorist and Tarkel could not use the main route, it was under Norton control. Even idiots would suspect someone who reached the capital with that route. Thus, the two prepared to make a detour around the hills and pretend to be one of the enemies from the inner city that managed to escape capture at Nupite.

After walking for two hours and resting twice, the skies were gradually beginning to brighten.

Lorist, who was walking at the front, ceased his steps and pointed forward before sneaking in the direction. Tarkel was by his side.

They were in a dense forest. Not far from their position was a small hill where sounds of flowing water could be heard.

Right beneath the hill was a small, busy stream, next to which a few people were resting. They seemed to be some nobles who had escaped from the port.

A hugely-built, tanned, half-naked man with one battle scar after another visible on his unclad back could be seen standing in the middle of the stream, crouching and attempting to catch some of the fish with his bare hands.

Unfortunately for the man, he did not have any experience catching fish. His endeavors bore no fruit despite getting himself wet; his prey eluded his snatches one after another.

A glamorously-dressed noble could be seen leaning on a boulder near the stream. He appeared in his thirties with a pale look on his face. He wore a tired gaze and sat slumped over the boulder, An old man was massaging the noble's feet as he cursed the huge man in the river for being so useless.

Beside the nobleman knelt a middle-aged man, in his forties. Another huge man wearing shiny-silver chain mail could be spotted lying on the ground not far away, using both his hands to prop his head up as he stared absent-mindedly at the commotion going on nearby.

Tarkel signaled to Lorist with his hands. Upon seeing Lorist nod, the two walked out from the woods towards the riverbank.

"Who goes there?" called out the mail-wearing man.

He appeared to be the most alert of them all, given that he leaped upright and drew his sword right away. With a flash of light, a golden blade glow covered his sword, revealing his level. But, while the mail-wearing man was of the gold rank, his stance was rather laughable. His front foot stepping weakly on the ground and his weight centered around his rear. It was the stance of a person ready to make his escape at any moment.

The kneeling middle-aged man and the nobleman turned silent at the sight of the newcomers. As the middle-aged man drew his sword in preparation to guard the nobleman, his master kicked him in the back and said angrily, "What are you waiting for? Put the shoe back on me right this instant!"

The huge man in the stream also looked towards the woods cautiously.

"Don't be so tense, Kalik, it's me," said Tarkel as he got closer to the stream.

Upon realizing that it was indeed Tarkel, the middle-aged man said, "Oh, Tarkel?"

"Good riddance, I was completely damned by the lot of you. You forced me to enter the inner city saying that the place would be properly defended, yet you made your escape even before the enemy made their attack. Had it not been for my miraculous luck, I might have died as a result of your actions," cursed Tarkel as he stepped into the stream and walked towards the middle-aged man.

Being able to see clearly for himself, the middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Ah, so it's you, Tarkel... I thought that Klimo would be with you as well..."

"Kilmo? He's long dead. We were still together when we left the city, but a stray ballista bolt nailed him right back on the walls! You don't know how terrified I was! I ran and ran only to notice that I had somehow lost Ballop and Feline. Right after, though, the enemy cavalry troops started closing in on me," said Tarkel as he spun a story while approaching the middle-aged man.

"So you're saying that you made it here alone?" asked the wary gold-ranked knight.

"Come on, there's no way I would be able to pull that off!" he complained as he sat down in a tired manner. He continued after he took a few swigs from the stream.

"Had it not been for the three guards that the guild sent to protect me in the shadows, I would've long been captured or killed by those cavalry troops."

"Locke, it's okay now. Come out, they're friendlies," called Tarkel towards the woods.

Lorist emerged from the trees and approached slowly.

"He's one of the guards sent by your guild? Why haven't I seen him before?" asked the middle-aged man, Kalik.

"They were tailing me in secret, mainly to protect Els and me and to report our trip back to the guild. Had it not been for the emergency, they wouldn't ever have appeared," explained Tarkel.

It was enough to convince the rest that Lorist's untimely presence was fortuitous. It was quite common for huge noble families to send someone to watch over their descendants secretly as they traveled around. By doing so, they would also be able to understand the temperament of their descendants better and evaluate whether investing money and effort in training such ah heir was going to be worth it.

"Didn't you say that there were three of them?" asked Kalik as he eyed down Lorist.

Tarkel cursed out, "Sheesh, I don't know how the hell I ended up deciding to come to your island just in time for a war to break out! Didn't you say that you don't have any sort of enemies? Gosh, they even came knocking at your doorstep! Had I been allowed to stay in the outer city, I might have been treated as a VIP and wouldn't have to worry about my life...

"But after I was brought into the inner city by you lot, I was forced to run for the whole night, only to meet up with more cavalry troops who wouldn't bother to hear my explanation at all. Had it not been for my guards' help, I would have been long dead. In the end, three of the cavalry troops died at the cost of my two other guards. It was far from enough to stop the rest of the cavalry from giving chase, however. Had it not been for Locke here, who's adept at navigating the woods, I would've had to toil hard and scale the hills just to be able to survive!"

Kalik stroked his nose in embarrassment and said, "Tarkel, I only brought you there for your own safety since you're a friend of mine. I didn't think that the enemy would actually be that powerful..."

Tarkel waved his hands dismissively and shook them dry as he said, "How in the world did you offend someone as mighty as them? I think I heard some people from the guild mention that they recognize the bear insignia of the enemy, but I just can't recall their names."

Kalik kneeled back down and said, "I'm not too sure either. I only heard that around three months ago, some slaver nobles and slaver bands got together and sent a few people to Silowas, an island in the Andinaq kingdom, to hunt for more slaves. The operation didn't end too well. I believe the island was the dominion of a house called Norton..."

"House Norton?" Tarkel exclaimed, "Good gods, how did the lot of you get the courage to offend them? It's no wonder they came all the way here..."

"Oh? You know about House Norton?" asked Kalik.

"I've only heard rumors. They are known as the Roaring Raging Bear of the Northlands and are a house of the former Krissen Empire with sizeable military achievements. Before I left to travel, I heard the Nortons defeated the 100-thousand-strong army of the Iblia kingdom's king. How brain dead were you to provoke people like them willingly? Gosh, a military-oriented noble house like them will persist until they settle the grudge completely. Wasn't the dominion of the Nortons in the Northlands? Since when did they own Silowas?"

"Honestly, I don't know much about this either. I heard that Silowas also belonged to the Nortons and that they'd brought up to 60 thousand refugees there to begin development. That's why the higher-ups decided it was a good idea to target them. I heard during one of the meetings that our kingdom has been lacking slaves as of late, so it's no surprise they got greedy when they heared about all those refugees," explained Kalik.

"Are the nobles of your kingdom all idiots? Even if you want to attack, you should at least research the background of your target. Why didn't you use your brain a little? Is a noble house that's capable of recruiting more than 60 thousand refugees that easy to target? Normal nobles won't even be able to sustain 60 thousand of their own subjects! With your slaves dying because of your reckless use, it's no wonder that you're lacking in them! Why don't you guys understand that slaves are not expendable objects; they will continue to create wealth for their owners if used right. Can't you give them a little more care for that? The death of a slave is naturally a loss for the master. It's just that simple!" criticized Tarkel.

"Kalik, where is this friend of yours from? It sounds like he has strong opinions on us, the nobles of the Hanayabarta kingdom. Should we have him educate us on how to train and discipline our slaves?" asked the noble who was still leaning on the huge boulder.

"Ah, Lord Viscount, I forgot to make the introductions. I'm truly sorry for that. This is the eldest son of the Peterson Merchant Guild's vice president, the guild is one of the Union's big-seven. The other young master that's not present with us is called Elibak, and they've come to visit our kingdom to learn more about us. That over there is his guard, um, what's his name again?" asked Kalik.

"He's called Locke, a guard of the Peterson Merchant Guild. It's my pleasure to be made your acquaintance, respected Lord Viscount. Tarkel of the Peterson Merchant Guild pays respect to you," greeted Tarkel respectfully to the pale-faced noble.

However, the nobleman merely humphed without bothering to answer the greeting.

Not minding it one bit, Tarkel headed to the stream and asked Kalik quietly, "Who's that?"

"That's Viscount Timba. His ancestor was one of the 17 dukes who founded the kingdom, but his title has since degraded after being passed down for three generations. However, his elder sister is the consort of the current king, Lude III. She just gave birth to a male heir for the royal family. It's quite possible he'll be made a count soon," explained Kalik with a similarly quiet tone.

The 17 dukes were in fact 17 pirate bosses with greater influence than the rest. Given that pirates ran the kingdom, it was quite expected for things to be run a little differently. A regulation was made in the early days that if the duke's successor was not able to pay a healthy sum to inherit the title, it would be downgraded by one rank when it was passed on. While the territory of the dominion would not change, the lesser rank did sound less than pleasing to the ears of many. It seemed that the predecessors of the current viscount were rather frugal, to say the least, willing to have their rank downgraded rather than paying the inheritance sum.

"What about that person?" asked Tarkel as he gestured with his gaze at the gold-ranked swordsman lying on the ground behind the boulder.

"That's one of Duke Gouffman's gold-ranked knights. He's called Oss or something. We only just met him yesterday, and the viscount paid a good price for him to be our escort to Hamidas," said Kalik.

Kalik was one of the few close friends Tarkel managed to make at Nupite. He was a junior supervisor working for the city hall. He was in charge of the security and management of the warehouses. After being treated to a few drinks, he found himself treating him as a good friend and was even willing to share the warehouses' details and information about the resources stored near the city.

Tarkel had promised him that if the Peterson Merchant Guild formed a trading post in the city, he would give him ten percent shares. That was why Kalik was so insistent on bringing Tarkel to 'safety' in the inner city the moment the Norton troops defeated the three thousand or so slaver fighters.

Being a frequent visitor of the city hall, the junior supervisor was actually acquainted with the viscount. During the city's evacuation, Viscount Timba escaped on a carriage but was unfortunate enough to be one of the first to make his way to the hilly area where Josk and Yuriy are camped, waiting. In the end, all of his servants and guards were killed, only two slaves were still by his side. The first was a grey-clad middle-aged man, and the other the huge man currently attempting to catch some fish in the river.

In his rush to escape, the viscount encountered Kalik. The latter was forcefully brought along to be his escort. Later, Duke Gouffman's men showed up, but they didn't bother with Viscount Timba for he had lost all his troops and servants. Afraid that he would be drafted into their forces as enemy fodder, Kalik encouraged Viscount Timba to take a small detour to avoid the main route, which required crossing the hills to arrive at the capital.

Kalik suspected that gold-ranked knight Oss was a deserter as he was traveling on the same route as their group. Kalik had no choice, however, but to allow Oss to tag along. The former was only an iron rank and didn't have much of a say in the matter.

Kalik continued to whisper quietly into Tarkel's ears, "This gold-ranked knight Oss is not trustworthy. Given that he was able to disobey his lord's order and desert, we are no doubt nothing but ants in his eyes. Had it not been for Viscount Timba's promise to pay him after they arrive at the capital, I suspect that he wouldn't risk his life being with us like this."

Kalik was also glad to meet Tarkel as he was a silver-ranked swordsman. At the very least, he would be able to take a few hits for Tarkel when the latter tried to escape for his life should some misfortunate incident come to pass.

"So, what are you guys up to right now?" asked Tarkel curiously.

Setup

Here's the fourth regular chapter of the week! The fifth is coming shortly after!

"Well," Kalik said with a bitter smile on his face, "From yesterday till now, all we've had are two pieces of wild fruit. We filled our stomachs with some stream water last night. In the morning, Viscount Timba could no longer resist his hunger and ordered his slave to catch something for him to eat. But he's been going at it for more than an hour now and hasn't gotten anything for us yet..."

"Why's that viscount barefoot?" asked Tarkel.

"Ugh, well, the Lord Viscount has never experienced a journey this grueling. The walk yesterday caused two blisters to form on his feet, so he's been riding that slave on the way ever since," Kalik said, before he turned to look at the fish-catching man.

"But when he was let down yesterday during the night, he cried out in pain. It seems that the old slave seemed to have solved that temporarily by giving him a massage."

Tarkel said, "Oh no, if the blisters aren't treated quickly, they will take quite a while to heal. Don't you know this?"

"Well, what else can we do? The Lord Viscount is sensitive to pain, and we don't have the tools to pop the blisters. Apart from this sword of mine, I don't have anything sharp. The viscount also left with only two slaves and nothing else, and slaves aren't allowed to carry weapons. As for that gold-ranked knight, he's been behaving rather weirdly for a while now and doesn't really seem to care about us," complained Kalik.

"Well, then perhaps you want to join us on the journey? With a burden like the viscount with you, you won't be able to escape should anything bad happen. It's better if we leave as soon as possible," Tarkel whispered to Kalik.

He felt that having Kalik by his side would be more than enough to enter Hamidas. There was no need for him to put up with the young noble's antics. One look and he could tell that the noble youth had been spoiled from his birth. All he could worry about was how troublesome this journey to the capital would get, especially with that suspicious gold-ranked knight tagging along.

Kalik shook his head and said, "No, that won't do. When we arrive at the capital, we will need someone to back us up. Without money or influence, the soldiers at the capital won't let us in. If we do manage to send Viscount Timba back to the capital, however, we will have earned quite a good merit. After all, he's the only younger sibling of the king's consort. Their parents passed on quite early and he was raised single-handedly by the consort herself. As long as we can bring him back safely, we no longer have to worry about anything. With Viscount Timba backing you, you'll be able to start the business you talked about without any problems."

Tarkel stoked his bearded chin in thought.

"Do you mean that we have no choice but to bring that viscount back to the capital?"

Kalik nodded.

Standing up, Tarkel said, "Then, let's get to know each other better."

Moving closer to the boulder where the viscount was resting, he bowed and asked, "Lord Viscount, I brought some medicinal supplies with me. Do you need me to help treat the injuries on your foot?"

"Oh, you have medicine that can help my foot heal?!" exclaimed the viscount with joy as he stretched his foot out to Tarkel right away, "Quick, treat me immediately. My foot hurts so much that I'm unable to even step on the ground."

Seeing the left foot whose skin is as smooth as a baby's, Tarkel understood why it pained the viscount so much. It was apparent that he had not worked so hard since the day of his birth. From the looks of the two large blisters, the viscount must have been traveling for more than a few hundred meters.

"Lord Viscount, it will hurt a little when I pop the blisters, but it'll feel cooling and refreshing right after I apply the ointment. However, this is the best medicinal product our guild offers for sale and we only need a little bit to stop the bleeding on your foot. In twelve hours, your wound will scab up properly and you'll be able to walk just fine."

As he said that, Tarkel brought out a small silver box. When it was opened, a fine hooked needle could be seen embedded in the cover. Tarkel used it to pop the two blisters and remove the fluid within before wiping it clean with a white cloth. He used the scoop end of the needle to take out some ointment and gently apply it to the wounds.

The moment Tarkel popped the blisters, the viscount let out groans of pain. But when the ointment was applied, he breathed a relieved sigh.

"Ahh, that feels rather nice. It doesn't hurt anymore."

Using a thin linen strip, Tarkel bandaged up the foot.

"Lord Viscount, even though the treatment is complete, you will still have to avoid stepping hard on the ground in the next six hours to let a scab form. In twelve hours, your foot should be fully healed."

Viscount Timba gingerly sat down on the floor and looked at his foot as he said, "Um, thank you... I will definitely reward you greatly when I get back to the capital."

"There's no need for that, Lord Viscount. We are partners in this journey now, so we'll have to help each other whenever we can. It's my pleasure to be able to be of service," said Tarkel flawlessly.

His skill with words was one of his characteristics that allowed him to get along with almost anyone.

All of a sudden, Knight Oss appeared before Tarkel, stretched out his hand, and demanded, "Let me see that ointment of yours."

Tarkel on the other hand didn't mind it and handed it to the knight. The knight opened the lid and took a whiff of the smell before saying, "Not bad, this is good stuff," and pocketed the silver box before leaving. Tarkel, Viscount Timba and Kalik were left stunned.

What's going on? Is this daylight robbery?

Lorist stepped forward into the knight's path, with his hand on the hilt of his sword, just like how a real guard would behave.

"Scram!" ordered Knight Oss.

"Knight Oss, what's the meaning of this?" said the viscount, finally.

Turning around, the knight said with a solemn look, "Milord, I am your personal bodyguard and the only gold-ranked knight around. If we encounter an enemy, I'll be the first one to jump into the fight, so I have to take into consideration how I can best be of service to you. With this medicine in my possession, I'll be able to stop bleeding in the middle of the fight so that my performance won't be hindered. It's best for me to be the one carrying it."

The viscount was speechless. While he was spoiled from his birth, he was no idiot. He turned to look at Kalik and saw the later shake his head in helplessness.

"Well, Tarkel, I feel that the knight has a point. Just let him have your ointment. I will definitely make this up to you when we reach the capital," said Viscount Timba a little apologetically.

"It's alright, Lord," said Tarkel with a smile before he waved to Lorist.

Lorist stepped back expressionlessly and cleared the way for the knight. Despite that, Knight Oss still spat in front of Lorist before going back to lie down on the rock.

The atmosphere at the riverbank then was tense and awkward. No one bothered to speak up and break the silence.

"Curses, Hannu, can't you catch any fish at all? I'm already starving over here," mumbled Kalik as he looked at the slave in the river, changing the subject as he did so.

Tarkel sighed as he looked at the fruitless efforts of the huge slave.

Shaking his head, he said, "He's only working a fool's errand. Have him come back up to go pick some firewood. I'll let Locke catch you some delicious fish. We ourselves haven't had anything to eat yet, so it was fortunate for you to be able to join us. Locke, go get us some fish."

Lorist did not say anything. He simply nodded before he headed to the river and waved for the huge man in it to get on shore.

The slave called Hannu looked back at the viscount, who scolded, "Didn't you hear me call you back up? Go get us some firewood."

Lorist stepped onto the two huge rocks in the river and held his sword in his right hand. He stared at the stream in complete silence.

Kalik asked curiously, "Will he be able to catch anything without getting into the water?"

Tarkel smiled and said, "Don't worry, Locke's great at surviving in the wilderness. With him around, we won't have to worry about having an empty stomach."

The moment Tarkel finished his sentence, the longsword in Lorist's hand pierced the stream like a lightning bolt. After the splashes of water dispersed, a black-patterned fish could be seen dangling on the end of the sword. Lorist flicked his sword. The fish flew in a neat arc before it landed in front of Tarkel.

Laughing out loud, Tarkel shouted, "Get us some more so we can have some nice fish soup!"

Lorist nodded and continued doing his thing.

Kalik recovered from his stupor and said, "Tarkel, it's already enough for us to roast the fish. We don't have any pots to make soup in the first place."

Snickering, Tarkel said, "Kalik, to be honest, I'm a silver rank in name only. My swordsmanship is a total mess. But my silver-ranked battleforce on the other hand is good for this..."

Tarkel took out his dagger and infused it with his battleforce, causing a silver blade glow to manifest. He then took up a large cobblestone, dug the dagger into it and turned it around once or twice, causing the powdered stone to fall out. Before long, a rough approximation of a bowl was left in Tarkel's hand.

"Look, after breaking through to the silver rank, you'll no longer need to worry about not having anything to eat with in the wilderness," said Tarkel.

Kalik and Viscount Timba looked shocked to realize that there was such a benefit to being a silver rank.

Splat! Yet another fish fell in front of the two. Tarkel brought out a small blade and handed it to Kalik.

"Clean this fish up while I look for a rock large enough to make into a pot."

Kalik looked at the blade in his hand, then at the fish, before he tossed it to the grey-clad slave.

"Yannu, clean this fish up. I'll set up a cooking station."

The fish in the river was plentiful, but the largest ones were only as big as the palm of one's hand. Lorist managed to catch around 30 of them without much trouble before he headed into the woods and returned with some wild vegetables and mushrooms. Tarkel also finished making a large stone pot. After cleaning those up, they placed the pot on the wooden cooking stand set up by Kalik and began boiling some stream water.

Lorist put ten fish into the pot as well as some of the mushrooms and vegetables he picked before taking out two bamboo containers from his waist, one of them contained salt, and the other, spices. He sprinkled some of each into the pot and waited for the soup to cook.

Tarkel and Kalik, on the other hand, were using a heated stone plate to grill some fish. At that moment, Kalik was flabbergasted by the bottles laid beside Tarkel.

"This one contains some oil, and that contains butter. Look, all you need to do is to apply some of it using the brush over here. Also, hand me that small silver box, there's some salt in there. That silver container over there has a mixture of my favorite spices which will make the fish taste doubly as good," said Tarkel as he introduced Kalik to his seasonings.

"Wait, Tarkel, why do you carry so much things with you? I thought you didn't manage to bring any luggage when I dragged you into the inner city," said Kalik with surprise.

"Hehe, Kalik, you may not know this, but the Peterson Merchant Guild has long made preparations for these situations," Tarkel said as he pulled open his robe, "Look, this belt of mine is called the 'treasure pouch', which I can use to store many useful things. There's medicine over here and some fish hooks over there. Even though we're relying on Locke to catch fish right now, there won't be a problem for me to survive in the wilderness alone even if he were not here given the things I have in the belt."

Kalik praised, "Wow, as expected of one of the big seven guilds of the Union... You're prepared for everything."

Tarkel laughed and said, "Kalik, this treasure pouch belt of mine is specially-made. Locke's own belt is not as good as mine and doesn't have nearly as many things prepared for emergencies. There's also a secret compartment here where more than ten gold Fordes and some gold Forde notes are stored. So, I would have some money to spend by the time I reach the capital, unlike you, not having even a single copper with you."

When he finished, the fish was already cooked. Kalik carefully moved it into a small stone plate and prepared to serve it to Viscount Timba.

The viscount looked incredibly happy when he received the fish. He had spent almost the whole day hungry. The moment he smelled the pleasant fragrance of the fish, his mouth salivated like never before. But before he got his hands on the plate, a large hand stretched over and snatched it away.

"Milord, since I'm your bodyguard right now, I have to taste test the fish for you to make sure it isn't poisoned," said Knight Oss, before he began to wolf down on the fish.

"Not bad, it's rather decent," said the knight when all was left was nothing but bone. Knight Oss then came to Tarkel and took the two other fish that were almost done cooking and began feasting on them.

"You..." growled the viscount with his face flush with anger.

Just as he was about to rebuke the knight's behavior, he saw Kalik shaking his head in discouragement. Having no other choice, he stifled his complaints with a sour look.

After the knight finished his fish, he tossed the stone plate away, pointed at Tarkel, and said, "You, give me that belt of yours."

Tarkel took two steps back and said, "No way..."

Knight Oss then drew his sword and manifested his golden blade glow.

Revealing an insidious smile, he threatened, "Are you sure you want to cross swords with me, a gold-ranked knight? I don't wish for that nice belt of yours to be bloodstained, so hand it to me and I'll spare your life."

Lorist dashed between them, much to the knight's amusement.

Knight Oss laughed and said, "A mere iron rank wishes to resist me? I see that I'll have no choice but to make an example out of you for the rest to see..."

The gold-ranked knight swung his sword horizontally without much care as he thought that the iron rank guard would no doubt be felled by a single strike of his.

Clang! The sword covered in a golden glow was knocked away instead, causing the knight to have a look of astonishment on his face. The figure in front of him blurred and in the very next moment, he saw a fist enlarging before his very eyes. With an audible 'pow', Knight Oss's face caved, his nose bled and his head to rung, even his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

The fist pounding him again and again, hits struck him in quick succession. All of a sudden, the knight felt his right hand twist. Viscount Timba and Kalik could clearly see the guard called Locke pull the knight's right hand down to meet his left kneecap. With a loud snap, the knight's arm was broken and he loosened his grip on his sword, allowing it to fall to the ground.

"Aarrrgh!" cried Knight Oss in pain. But before he could react, he felt a knee digging its way deep into his torso. He stopped screaming and slumped to the ground.

Everyone present looked at the iron-ranked guard, Locke, who had just treated a gold-ranked knight like a sandbag, with fear. They had never imagined that an iron rank could fight such a one-sided battle with a gold-ranked knight. By the time Tarkel snapped out of it to stop Lorist, Knight Oss was already at his last breath.

Lorist raised his leg and stomped down, breaking the knight's left leg. The poor knight was momentarily woken from his slumber by the sudden pain, but fainted shortly afterwards for the very same reason.

Lorist crouched to retrieve the silver box he had stolen and stripped the knight clean, not even leaving behind any undergarment for the knight. In the end, he brought his spoils and placed them in front of Tarkel and proceeded to taste the soup as if nothing had happened at all. He added some more firewood to the pile. The soup could use some more cooking.

Kalik and Timba looked at the naked knight, before turning back to stare at Lorist. Both wore the same expression of disbelief.

"Umm, Ta-ta-ta-tarkel... Don't you think this is weird? Your guard is only an iron rank," said Kalik to the man who was busy rummaging around the spoils on the ground.

Tarkel didn't even bother to turn his head as he replied, "What's weird about that? Even though Locke is only an iron rank, his unarmed combat capabilities is top-notch in our guild. Nobody can beat him on that front. None of the silver-ranked swordsmen in our guild can beat him, and even gold-ranked swordsmen have lost to him for being careless. He's known as Iron Locke, the Silver Undefeated in Morante."

It was then that Viscount Timba and Kalik realized that the first move Lorist had taken was to disarm the knight. Only thereafter did he proceed to 'dismantle' him piece by piece using his two fists. He never bothered to use his own sword.

"Eh? This is weird. Kalik, why were you guys starving in the first place? Knight Oss carried with him quite a lot of stuff. Look, there's salt, jerky, and even a small bag of flour. Can't you make some gruel by cooking it with water? That'll be more than enough to fill you up, no?" asked Tarkel as he stood up with a few bags raised in his hands.

Viscount Timba and Kalik turned to look at the fallen knight and thought back to the time they spent starving, lying against each other's back for support, and hatefully thought, no wonder the knight didn't complain about his hunger yesterday! He was keeping the food for himself all along!

Viscount Timba found himself wanting to give the darned knight a few stabs with a sword.

Lorist's mouth curved slightly as he thought, Not bad, Tarkel, you lured him into our ploy hook, line and sinker, giving me a good excuse to waste him completely. With Knight Oss around, the viscount wouldn't rely on Tarkel enough. But with him gone, the viscount will be forced to rely on Tarkel and will come to have a good impression of him. With Viscount Timba backing us, it'll be far more convenient when we enter the capital...

Arrival

Here's the fifth release of the week, enjoy your double release!

Also, for our dear patrons, you'll be able to read (and comment on) early access chapters on the liberspark site itself! All you have to do is to create an account over here and link it to your Patreon account throught the 'Profile' tab! Do note that it takes up to one hour for the inital sync between the two accounts, but after that, you'll be able to access the early chapters according to your support tier! I hope this feature will be helpful!

Viscount Timba and Kalik both finished the whole pot of delicious fish soup in almost an instant. Lorist tossed the remaining fish into the stone pot for a second serving before he left to pick more wild vegetables and mushrooms.

Viscount Timba asked curiously, "Why are you cooking again even though we've already finished?"

Lorist pointed to the pair of slaves - Hannu, the huge one, and Yannu the old one.

Kalik said unconcernedly, "They're both slaves, so you don't need to feed them. We can just give them the remains of the fish head."

Tarkel smiled while shaking his head as he said, "Kalik, we are currently on the run. This is not a simple field trip. Taking care of everyone in our group is actually the key to our safety and survival. Look at Hannu. Though it displeases me to say this, he is somewhat like your mount, Viscount Timba. Even mounts have to be fed water and food, right? Otherwise, they will collapse midway and cause us much trouble. If we don't feed him well, he won't have enough energy to carry you around and there's no saying when we'll be able to leave our dangerous predicament."

Viscount Timba nodded in agreement and said, "Tarkel's right. Well, isn't it quite fortunate for you slaves to be able to have the same food as us?"

Since they had to wait for the two slaves to finish eating before they could resume their travels, Tarkel got hold of the sack formerly belonging to Knight Oss and took out some dough Lorist had stuffed in it and began making small biscuits as rations. By the time they wrapped everything up, it was already afternoon.

Not one of them bothered with the moaning, pleading knight. It was as if they didn't notice him there. With his limbs broken, and stripped naked as he was, the former gold-ranked knight was nothing more than a cripple that could do nothing but wait for his death.

Before they continued their journey, Lorist stopped the viscount from climbing up on Hannu's shoulders and only made some hand gestures. Confused, the viscount asked Tarkel, "What's he up to?"

Tarkel said, "Lord Viscount, Locke feels that it is not adequate for you to be riding on the slave's shoulders. It's a little too eye-catching. You'll easily become the first target the enemy sets their eyes on. He feels that it's better if you get carried on his back instead.

Viscount Timba asked, "Why didn't he just say so?"

Tarkel replied, "Lord Viscount, Locke has always been the quiet type. He doesn't like to speak unless he has to."

In the meantime, Lorist had used the knight's clothes to make a soft hammock-like back sling for the viscount.

The viscount was rather satisfied with the makeshift sling and asked Tarkel whether he would be willing to give Locke away, saying that he would be more than happy to pay a high price for him.

Tarkel shook his head and said, "Lord Viscount, Locke is not a slave, and I'm not the one employing him. He's one of the rare talents cultivated by my guild for more than ten years and he only answers to the president. Don't misunderstand, while he obeys my orders on the surface, he has all the right to escape by himself if the situation is dangerous enough. The merchant guild can afford to lose me, but not someone like Locke, on whom they're willing to spend huge amounts of money to train into a blademaster that would serve as the martial foundation of the guild."

"Oh, then how are they trained?" asked the viscount interestedly.

"Lord Viscount, apart from us, the Peterson Merchant Guild, all other guilds of the big seven basically do the same thing. They take in young orphans and train them according to their talents, be they academic or martial, so they'll be the cornerstones of the guild in the future. By the time they become a gold rank or a blademaster, the guild would have spent more than 10 or 100 thousand gold Fordes on them," replied Tarkel.

"Why can't you just hire blademasters instead of cultivating them yourselves?" asked the viscount in confusion.

"Lord Viscount, while we do hire blademasters, it's exceedingly rare. Unless we're very well-acquainted with the person and their background," Tarkel said solemnly, "Our guild is not like noble houses such as yours. We have lots of trade secrets that we have to protect, so we find it hard to trust the loyalty of blademasters that are not raised as our own. If, by any chance, our trade secrets are revealed, that would cost us quite severely."

"Ah, I see," mumbled the viscount, nodding, "That's right, hiring blademasters could prove to be quite troublesome as well. I've spent a huge price to hire blademasters before and all they care about is money. A couple of times they even gave me an unpleasant look when I asked them to do something. And to think they would be that useless when deployed... Not one of them returned to me after they were deployed..."

While the viscount was complaining, Tarkel secretly asked Kalik about what he said and quickly found out the truth.

When Lorist was leading his troops on shore, the rank 2 blademaster hired by Viscount Timba brought four of his gold-ranked knights and 300 slavers to join the battle. However, all of them were crushed, not even a messenger managed to escape and report their defeat. The viscount had lost all his high-tier fighters and, as a result, he had to escape with his two slaves.

Lorist stifled a laugh when he heard about how the rank 2 bladesmaster, who had been giving Engelich trouble during the initial fight, was actually the viscount's man. In the end, that blademaster died from being impaled by multiple ballista bolts.

Viscount Timba, on the other hand, began to show more interest at Tarkel's description of the orphan-raising program and hoped that his own house could employ the same method to garner loyal supporters. There would be no shortage of orphans for him to raise either, he could simply use the progeny of his domestic slaves.

Domestic slaves? Tarkel didn't understand what that term specifically meant and asked Kalik about it.

"Domesticated slaves, you see, are children of two slaves that had been intentionally allowed to breed. Well, some of them may be the result of female slaves getting pregnant after being forced by their owners. Given their status as slaves upon birth, they aren't nearly as rebellious as captured slaves and most often accept the status quo without question.

"Yannu over there is a second-generation domestic slave while Hannu is one of the third generation. His parents are also second-generation domestic slaves like Yannu. Domestic slaves can easily sell for double the price of captured slaves at the port.

"While Viscount Timba's idea of using domestic slaves is sound, there's a crucial problem with it. In the Hanayabarta kingdom, slaves aren't allowed to carry weapons. While they are allowed to awaken their battleforce, they can in no way be given a weapon to carry, they would pose too much of a threat to their masters."

As they traveled, Tarkel, Viscount Timba, and Kalik chatted rather heartily, which allowed Lorist to gather quite a bit of information about Hamidas. From how King Lud was actually a one-star-gold-ranked knight, to the fact that the three blademasters of the royal family were leaps and bounds stronger than those hired by the nobles, Lorist heard it all.

During the night, they feasted on the wild hares and cockerels Lorist managed to catch. Grease smudged all over their faces.

According to Kalik and the viscount, they were already near the border of the hilly area. They would only have to scale two more small hills from morning to noon the next day before arriving at the plains where the capital was located. Viscount Timba mentioned that he had hunted at those plains with his brother-in-law, King Lud III, before. It was the reason for his ability to recall the terrain of the area roughly. By the time they leave the hills, they would only have to travel for another half a day to arrive at a manor belonging to the royal family. After that, they would be able to take a carriage back to the capital.

The travels on the next day proceeded smoothly without incident. It did not take them long to travel across the two hills to arrive at the border between the hilly area and the plains. After a few more hours of walking, they could finally see the manor in the distance as they walked past a wheat field.

Lorist, who was leading the whole troupe, suddenly stopped in his tracks and made a gesture to listen, before he turned around and made some hand signals. Quickly, he jumped into the wheat fields and disappeared from view.

Tarkel tugged on the viscount's clothes and asked Hannu to squat down a little.

"Stop walking. Locke said that something is wrong with the manor up ahead. Let him go there to check first," warned Tarkel.

"I don't think anything's wrong with that. Aren't you being a little too paranoid?" asked Kalik suspiciously.

Viscount Timba joined in and said, "If we travel faster, we might be able to make it in time for a good meal before taking a nice bath and having some much-needed sleep. By tomorrow, we'll be able to take a carriage to the capital as planned, so please don't mess around right now..."

Tarkel said in a serious tone, "Lord Viscount, Kalik, I trust Locke deeply on this one and he mentioned that he feels danger up ahead. He told me that even though the wheat was already ready for harvest, we didn't see a single slave working in the fields for the whole afternoon we were traveling. There's definitely something fishy about this, don't you think?"

Upon giving it some thought, Kalik's expression changed and he said, "That's right. Milord, if everything was as usual, we would've seen slaves working on the harvest along the way here. But not a single one is in sight. It's possible that something's happened to the manor up ahead. Have you forgotten about the enemy's cavalry? I suspect that they've already made their way to the plains. If we go to the manor now, we might just walk straight into their hands!"

The viscount was finally convinced. He beckoned them to hide behind a pile of dirt by the road as they waited for Lorist to return.

After an hour or so, Lorist came back and signalled Tarkel with his hands. The latter went over and the two exchanged a few sentences. Kalik and the viscount couldn't hear what was being said clearly, but they caught enough to turn them pale. Among the phrases they heard were words like 'cavalry', 'hangings', and 'revolt'.

Tarkel gave the two a clear explanation upon his return.

"It appears that we are in trouble. Locke checked out the manor and said that there are more than ten cavalry soldiers over there. Based on their gear, it seems they are Norton scouts. Gallows have been erected and the supervisors and slave managers all hanged. That's not the worst of it though. The slaves are going to revolt and take up arms to encircle Hamidas for an attack."

Viscount Timba's face paled.

"Then, should we still head to the capital?" asked he.

"Don't panic, Lord, Locke said that they seem to still be planning the whole affair. He mentioned that they are going to the other manors around the plains to gather more slaves before they'll take action, so it should be quite some time before the revolt actually starts. All we can do now is wait here till nightfall. The soldiers here should have a hard time spotting us in the dark. It's best if we travel straight to the capital. I estimate we'll arrive by noon tomorrow at this rate," cautioned Tarkel.

Kalik added hatefully, "That's right. Lord, we have to wait here patiently until nightfall. Only by doing so can we rush to the capital and warn them about the impending revolt! His Majesty, the king, will definitely put these foolish slaves to death so this never happens again!"

With Tarkel and Kalik's urges, the viscount finally calmed down. They rested for an hour before the sun set and gave way for the night. Traveling single file, they snuck away from the bustling manor and headed straight for the capital instead.

Having traveled without rest in the following four hours, they stopped by a stream for a short rest.

Kalik asked, "Lord, I recall that there is another manor of the royal family not far from this stream. Should we check that place out as well?"

The viscount had already been frightened enough once, however, and objected to the idea right away. Given that the manors were not too far away from each other, within an hour or so on horseback, the slaves at the other manor might have been liberated as well. He was far from willing to take the risk of being hung at the gallows.

"Lord Viscount, are there many royal family manors like these around the plains?" asked Tarkel.

Kalik was the one who responded, saying, "Initially, these plains didn't have a name. But with the passage of time, we began to call them the Capital Plains. During the founding of the kingdom, the pirates who didn't know how to produce their own food and fought frequently for territory only relied on fishing for a living. That's why they initially attacked the Golden Coast so often. However, the coastal nations began to strengthen their defenses, causing the cost of procuring food by raiding to rise.

"When the second king, Lud I, came to power, he pledged to no longer raid those coastal nations and managed to establish new trade routes. Only thereafter was the food problem solved. Directly following this, Lud I began to develop Capital Plains fervently and built dozens of manors around the area. He effectively made these plains the main food producer for the kingdom. They're able to supply the whole kingdom.

"Currently, over 130 thousand slaves work at manors such as the ones we came across all over the plains. If all of them are roused by the Nortons for a revolt, the consequences would be unimaginable!"

Kalik shivered as he said the last sentence.

The group resumed their journey after another half-hour rest. By the time dawn came, they were all tired beyond their wits.

Another manor could be seen in front of them. Lorist again went ahead to check the manor out. He returned soon after. According to his report, the manor seemed to be untouched. The slaves and their supervisors were all fine and going about their business.

Timba and Kalik were gladdened by the news and rushed toward the manor without any reservation or hesitation. The manor's tenants immediately recognized the viscount and they were received hospitably. The viscount's visit, in spite of his haggard condition, was still a good omen for them, at least according to the supervisor.

The viscount didn't bother to listen to the supervisor's flattery. He hurriedly called for a carriage to be prepared for their immediate departure towards the capital. He only bothered to inform the supervisor of the impending threat as he stepped onto the carriage.

The manor's alarm bell could be heard signaling for the return of the slaves as the carriage drove away.

Dawn was upon them once more when they were about an hour from Hamidas. The carriage was already on the highway and was no longer at risk of being pursued. After another half an hour, a loud horn could be heard up ahead and the coachman stopped the carriage at the side of the road to make way.

A group of soldiers dressed in earthen-yellow garb could be seen lined up like a huge snake. They marched out of a huge castle in the distance, with more than a hundred cavalry leading at the front.

Kalik cried out with both his hands in the air, "That's our royal defense army coming from the capital! Hurrah! They've deployed! Praise be our king and royal defense army! Hurrah!"

Royal Capital

Here's the first release of the week, enjoy!

The manor's carriage was a simple two-wheeled wooden cargo carriage. Each side was covered with but four wooden boards. It had, however, been cleaned up pretty well on the supervisor's instructions since it was to be used by the viscount. It had even been loaded with a couch. The vehicle looked rather awkward.

Viscount Timba was fast asleep on the couch, and Kalik and Tarkel sat on two short stools on either side of it. Lorist, on the other hand, kept guard beside the coachman. Hannu and Yannu had to walk beside the carriage; their social status didn't allow them to ride in or on the same carriage as free people.

The Hanayabarta kingdom, being on an archipelago, didn't produce any of its own horses. As a result, imported horses sold for a high price, whenever any were available. The risks associated with dealing in horses were rather high as well. They were quick to get sick on ships, for one. They couldn't deal with the swaying. It wasn't strange for only half, or even just a third, of them to survive to journey to the islands. They were sold for a far higher price than normal so their merchants could make up for the losses suffered on the journey.

The carriage was being pulled by a Northlands horse. It's posterior was branded with the royal family's crest and the number 19. The coachman was another slave manager. He'd had to promise his colleagues quite a few benefits to get the position he currently occupied on the carriage since everyone knew what reward awaited him upon their arrival at the capital.

The coachman stopped the carriage at the side of the road when he saw the mobilizing soldiers. He planned to wait for them to pass before moving ahead once more but Kalik's loud cheers caused the knights at the front to notice them.

A few of the knights rode towards the carriage.

"Who goes there?" they asked, "Why are you making such a fuss?"

The coachmen informed the knights of his passenger's identity as the viscount, roused from his sleep by the calls, sat up and yawned drowsily. The knights, having learned of the high status of the carriage's occupant, left for guards with it and sent two men back to report to their lord.

A short while later, a large group of knights arrived with a luxurious four-wheeled carriage.

Their leader was a mustachioed man in his early fifties. He gave the viscount a hug and laughed heartily.

"My poor little Timba," he said, still holding the viscount in the air, "you're finally back! Did you know how worried your sister was? Before I left, she emplored me to bring you back safely. Haha, quick, get on. I've arranged for you to be sent to the palace to see your sister immediately."

Viscount Timba left thusly without so much as a farewell to his companions. Hannu and Yannu quickly stood on the side skirts of the carriage. The mustachioed knight recognized the two slaves and allowed them to leave with the carriage.

Tarkel, Kalik, and Lorist were ignored completely. As the carriage left for the capital, the knight ordered his men to continue leading the army.

Kalik was completely flabbergasted. He had not expected the viscount to abandon him so easily. Currently, he had no status at all and would not be able to find a place to stay even if he got to the capital.

The coachman, on the other hand, cursed out loudly at the departure of his potential benefactor. His trip had been for naught. Without the viscount, he would not be paid and he didn't know how he would explain it to his colleagues back at the manor. As his rage built up, he began to vent it on Kalik. He said that he should not have caused such a commotion to bring the knights to them and allowed them to notice the viscount. He even said that he was going to strip Kalik of his sword and belongings as compensation for how far he had brought them.

Kalik remained in his corner of the carriage without making a sound. He was so crestfallen he looked like a castrated chicken. In terms of status, he was inferior to even the coachman. The coachman was a slave manager working for the royal family whilst he was only a small time supervisor working at the Nupite's city hall -- a place, mind you, that had already fallen into enemy hands.

Lorist gave Tarkel a look. The latter quickly understood his intention and took out a single gold Forde and gave it to the coachman.

"I am the eldest son of the Peterson Merchant Guild's vice president. I promise that you will be rewarded duly if you bring us to the capital," he said, smiling.

With the gold Forde in hand, the coachman began to act incredibly friendly and amicable. He answered all the questions Tarkel had. He told Tarkel that the mustachioed knight was the current king's uncle and was a two-star-gold-ranked knight deeply trusted by the king. He added that, given that the royal defense army was mobilized, Nupite would be taken back from the enemy soon.

Lorist observed the troops that were praised so highly by Kalik but was quickly disappointed. He could see that the armaments they were given were not uniform and their ranks rather disorganized. The royal family's soldiers could be heard complaining as they marched by. One even boasted about their nighttime sexploits with multiple female slaves and other tall tales. Some of the soldiers around him asked for more details out of curiosity.

Lorist snickered as he thought, So that's what they consider elite? They're far from comparable to just our garrison forces, much less our elite troops. They've only just deployed even though I've been here at this hilly area for more than two days... I believe Loze is already waiting for them as well. I can only hope that he doesn't overwhelm the royal defense army and cause them to run back and turtle up in the capital. If that does happen, my plan to rescue everyone will fail...

It took the army most of the afternoon to pass by, but right behind them followed their supply train. Each carriage had only one horse pulling it, but ten slaves could be seen pushing each as well. A carriage was rather hard to move with only one horse, especially given how heavily they were loaded. There stood a soldier every couple of carriages that whipped those he deemed to be underperforming. The whip cracks were frequently accompanied by spats like 'lazy idiot!'. Another two hours had to pass before the road was clear and the carriage could proceed.

When they finally arrived at Hamidas, Lorist was shocked by the sight before him. He never expected to see such a magnificent castle -- even larger than the one at the imperial capital -- on an island kingdom built on the slave trade.

The coachman proclaimed proudly that in the founding days of the kingdom, the capital was at Nupite. But at the start of the second king's reign, the castle before them's construction was started. It took a full 18 years and 300 thousand slaves to build. After its completion, it was named the new royal capital, Hamidas.

Lorist's head ached. He had not expected the royal capital to have such a large castle. The castle's design felt like a copy of the maplewood bastide's. The bastide was built on a large hill and the only avenue of attack was the small road that led up to the gate. Hamidas, too, was built on a large, excavated hill, though it was about ten times bigger than the bastide's. From a distance, it looked like a city built on a platform. The only way to get up to it was a kilometer long road flanked on either side by a steep cliff at least 30 meters tall. The cliffs surrounding the castle itself was at least that tall as well, and on top of them were 20-meter tall walls. The 50-metre climb was the only way to attack the castle directly.

A castle like that could only be brought down with a long siege. It had to be starved out, no assault using current technology could breach its defenses. This wasn't something that Lorist and his forces could do, most certainly not given that -- according to Viscount Timba -- its food and water stores could last it a full three years. Nobody would be able to have an army surround a city for three whole years. The food cost alone would be astronomical.

Lorist also realized that his wheelbarrow-ballistae and catapults would not be of much use given that the castle had been built on elevated ground. The ranged weapons could only fire when it was brought close enough to the castle to be able to take out the defenders on the walls, but the cliff rendered that tactic unusable. Additionally, the castle walls were bound to be equipped with lots of ballistae themselves. Even Nupite's walls had more than a hundred, so Hamidas would definitely have more.

Lorist felt a strong urge to curse out loud, he had never imagined the island nation's capital would be that hard to take. He had expected it to be defended more or less the same as the Iblia kingdom's capital, Windbury. How could a pirate nation, not recognized by most of the other nations on the continent, be so powerful?

Lorist was extremely relieved that he had changed his tactics and had instead focused on defending his foothold at Nupite whilst trying to bait his enemy into attacking him first. Had it gone according to his original plan, where he would attack Hamidas right after taking the port city, he would have been caught completely off-guard by the capital's strong defenses.

The coachman sitting beside Lorist realized his silent mumbling and asked, "What's going on?"

Lorist replied, "Nothing, my balls just hurt?"

"Balls hurting?"

The coachman could not comprehend what Lorist meant. Just when he was about to ask, they arrived at the castle gates.

Entering the city cost a small silver per person. Additionally, given that the nation was in a state of war, the checks at the gates were stricter than usual. If Viscount Timba had still been around, they would not even need to pay and would be allowed to enter the castle without much trouble. The viscount's absence brought trouble for Kalik.

Lorist and Tarkel both had identification documents from the Peterson Merchant Guild and passed the screening process with relative ease. Kalik, however, only managed had his sword with him after his escape from the city. Additionally, the coachman stubbornly refused to back Kalik's claims -- he was the one that lost him the reward for bringing the viscount back. In the end, Kalik was searched harshly from top to bottom. It was already fortunate that they did not insist on probing his rectum to see if he'd hidden anything there.

In the end, Tarkel offered the coachman another gold Forde, and one large silver for each of the guards. The coachman was finally willing to testify that Kalik had come along with them from the royal family's manor. The guards were only willing to let Kalik into the city after they heard the coachman's testimony.

Hamidas was split into five sectors. The gate where the carriage entered was located in the east and was connected to the eastern sector, which was the city's largest commercial area. It was also a residential hub, more than 30 thousand citizens lived there alone. Most of the royal family members' defense forces lived there. Including the slave population, roughly 60 thousand people lived in the eastern sector.

The city's southern sector was reserved for nobles. All the kingdom's nobles had their mansions there. The western sector was a heavily-guarded warehouse area where the food and armaments were stored and was the smallest of the lot. The northern sector itself was divided into three districts, namely, the slave district, the tournament district and the army headquarters.

The slave district was the closest to the northern walls and was tightly packed with huts. The tens of thousands of slaves who lived there were mainly in charge of the waste removal and maintenance work at the city.

The tournament district, on the other hand, was where the dueling grounds were located. There was also a cock-fighting ring which also doubled as the city's largest casino. The nobles would often spent thousands of gold coins betting on the lives of the slave gladiators.

The northern sector's middle district was the royal defense army's base of operations, which also served as a buffer between the slave district and the rest of the capital. Should an insurrection occur, they would be able to react quickly to stomp down on any insurgents so that the safety of the rest of the capital wasn't compromised.

Apart from the four sectors, the royal sector located at the center was where the palace and court were. It was surrounded by tall walls which separated it from the four other sectors.

According to Viscount Timba, apart from the royal defense army's 28 thousand soldiers, there was another royal guard force of 2000 men stationed in the royal sector. The four other sectors each had a 1000-man garrison to maintain order and patrol the walls. In total, the city was garrisoned by more or less 34 thousand people.

The address Tarkel asked the coachman to head to was where an inn called the 'Blood and Flame' was located. Els had picked it to be his residence due to its proximity to the dueling grounds, a convenience for him as he went there almost every day to spar.

After the carriage drove for some ten-odd minutes, it finally arrived at the Blood and Flame.

Tarkel paid the coachman five gold Fordes, much to the latter's surprise and delight. He praised Tarkel incessantly as he left on the carriage.

The Blood and Flame was not as comfortable as the Red Grace Inn; the guest rooms upstairs weren't as clean despite the much higher price -- one gold Forde per night. Tarkel booked three rooms in total -- one for each of them -- before asking the inn's servants to prepare bathwater.

Initially, the middle-aged maidservant -- of relative beauty -- had wanted to bathe alongside Lorist. But after a long period of arguing, she gave up after some stern warnings. Cursing out loud and slamming the door behind her, she entered Kalik's room next door and it did not take long until the loud noises of promiscuity could be heard.

After Lorist finished his bath, he went to Tarkel's room, only to discover the man was not there. Going downstairs, he saw Tarkel chatting happily with the owner of the inn, so he took a seat at a table nearby and ordered a bottle of fruit wine while he waited.

After a while, Tarkel came over and ordered some food from a maidservant.

Taking a few looks around, he whispered to Lorist, "Milord, Els is not in his room. I've asked the owner about it and he said that he hasn't seen him for two days. According to him, Els left the morning the day before, as usual, to spar at the dueling grounds, but didn't return that night, he hasn't returned yesterday either. The owner thinks he might've been invited as a house guest by some noble..."

Lorist's gaze stiffened as he asked, "What do you think actually transpired?"

"I suspect that he's encountered some misfortune. There's no way that Els would attempt to socialize with the slaver nobles. He's pretending to be a young master who's crazy with perfecting his swordsmanship, so he won't bother with anyone else. Let's head to the dueling grounds after dinner. We've already made an arrangement to leave a sign outside the grounds for meet-ups," said Tarkel quietly.

"Alright, we'll do that," said Lorist, nodding his head in agreement.