563 - 570

Enfeoffment and Arrangements

"The four wives that came with him are all pregnant again," added Jinolio.

It was Lundmorde's personal affairs, but Jinolio couldn't avoid mentioning it.

Charade and Lorist shared a shocked glance. What was that man drinking?

Lorist wanted to curse the man. Did he has breeder pig in his bloodline?

"Doesn't the bastard already have 17 children?"

"He did,Your Grace. He's become a legend. A few call him the 'heroic father'. Men teach their sons to aspire to his state, to have seven wives and countless offspring. His eldest turned seventeen this year. His currently studying at Dawn Academy."

"His wives are all bears. Who would want that?" asked Charade, dissatisfied.

He had two sons and a daughter. His wife was no less fertile than any of Lundmorde's wives, but he had only a fraction of his children. His wife had spoilt his son too much while he grew up; the boy was no nothing more but a run-of-the-mill noble brat. He preferred lazing around all day and reading a book here and there to training his body properly. The boy was also a real lecher. He was just 20 but he already had three concubines. Charade wished he could have a couple of concubines or a few more wives, but his wife wouldn't allow it and her blademaster grandfather-in-law stood behind her.

His other children were about the same age, they differed just less than a year and a half from one another. His wife devoted herself to her daughter and neglected his second son. The boy was practically raised by his great grandfather, who spoilt him into a lawless brute with a superiority complex. He frequently picked fights with his older brother for the thrill of beating him. He'd even awakened his battleforce at just fourteen. Engelich had every intention of making the little barbarian his successor and was carefully teaching him everything he knew.

Charade was too busy to tend to his children himself, but he didn't approve of his grandfather-in-law's approach to rearing his second son. He was deathly afraid the old turtle would turn his son into a coward. The old man was a rank 1 blademaster, but he never did anything for the house. He hid away in his house and thought up every possible excuse not to be d up for service.

He'd also not made any progress in his cultivation since breaking through to become a blademaster, whilst Reidy and Shuss, both of whom started cultivating much later than Engelich, had not only caught up to him, but had surpassed him. Both were now rank 2 blademasters. The last time the old man had showed himself was when Lorist was being pursued by blademasters after his confrontation with the windstorm swordsaint. And he vanished the moment he received his first injury. It was barely more than a cut, but he refused to move again, claiming to need several years to recover from his grave wounds.

It took Charade a massive amount of effort to pry his second son away from the old man and send him to Nico Academy. He also courted Lorist as his son's future master for several years before he finally got him to agree to let the boy be his attendant when he turned sixteen. If the boy could gain Lorist's favor during his time as his attendant, he would have a swordsaint master. The eldest son was beyond salvation as far as martial ability went, but Charade was okay with letting him waste his life away since he could make his second son his heir instead.

He was betting House Charade's future on his second son and would even fight his grandfather-in-law to make sure the kid grew up to be a worthy heir. He was actually interested to see if the old coward would dare compete with a swordsaint for his great-grandson. He seriously doubted the old man would even manage to get a word of protest out of his mouth even if he somehow managed to muster the courage to confront him.

That was why Charade envied Lundmorde. It wasn't that his wife hadn't blessed him with children. He just couldn't compare, neither in terms of women, nor in terms of children. If he could have seven wives, his family would no doubt be merry. Even if he didn't have twenty plus children, he'd at least have more than ten. And it wasn't like he couldn't afford to raise them.

"Seventeen plus five and four more in four stomachs... It seems Lundmorde will soon be a father of 26... Looks like he's had quite a good life in Jekhano," joked Lorist.

Lundmorde was conscripted after offending a noble in Morante and sent to the battlefield. There he managed to save Jekhano's crown prince who took him in. His four wives left to search for him and eventually found him with the prince after several years. It was practically a play.

The Union declared him a traitor when he left with the crown prince and threatened his execution should he be caught. As a result, he was forced to stay in Jekhano until the Union could be removed from the picture. Only now that the Union was no longer a threat could he return.

"Don't forget he has three more wives in the dominion. I'm certain they won't let him rest until they're all pregnant again as well. It's quite likely he'll have more than 29 children before the end of next year. I don't think it'll stop there either. They'll probably keep popping out children until they're too old to keep going," spat Charade.

"I pity him. It must be tough to raise such a big family," said Jinolio.

"Yes. The poor sod only had one small silver as spending money last I heard. He became a doctor because he had to do extra work on the side to earn more money. He's probably more miserable than any of the peasants were before they became refugees and later our subjects. He can't spend just a little on his women, if he buys one of them something, the rest demand their share as well. Not to mention the birthday presents and parties," added Charade.

"Isn't he going to be made a baron this year? You did pick a decent piece of land for him, right?" asked Lorist.

"I did," Charade nodded, "Lundmorde's barony will be near Sanderson mountain range. It's a portion of a valley in the mountain range's foothills. It's borders lie on the shore of a small lake in the valley, and into the forest up the mountain. It already has a castle and there's also a small silver mine just into the forest. We've already made a lease agreement under the title so he'll get a third of the mine's profits. That alone should be two thousand gold Fordes a year. If he makes good use of the other resources, he should get three thousand gold a year. And if he develops the dominion well, it can be increased with taxes."

Lorist rapped his fingers on his desk and wrote a few lines on a piece of paper. He handed it to Jinolio as he spoke.

"Take this to Bowrey. Draw ten thousand gold from the vaults in my name. Charade, take Jinolio with you and visit Lundmorde. The money's a gift for him from to to thank him for his years of service and as a repayment for his years of hardship outside my territory and away from his family.

"I apologize for putting this on you as well, but Lundmorde will likely not have time to come visit me, and it isn't appropriate for me to go see him myself, so I have to saddle you with this. It should be enough money to have a good celebration of his return and take a good, long vacation whilst still having some left to start up operations in his barony. I don't want him to have to borrow money anymore.

"It's long overdue, Your Grace. Lundmorde's misery is your fault, after all. You were the one that forced him to marry all seven of them. I'm sure Lundmorde will be grateful for the gift. I doubt he'll have saved up much in his time in Jekhano; his wives wouldn't have allowed it."

Lorist laughed heartily.

"It's not like he didn't deserve it. He can only blame his lack of self control. He should've known what would come if he got any of them pregnant. And don't make it sound like you're pitiful. You're very fortunate. Your wife's given you three children already. Give Lundmorde leave till the fourth month next year. He should be pretty happy to be made chief inspector of the police and we could do with the extra pair of hands."

Lundmorde was given a wonderful job as a gift as well! Chief inspector was one of the highest positions in the force below central command. Felicitas had seven towns, and each only had one chief inspector. Apart from maintaining security, chief inspectors were responsible for solving crimes and ensuring their beats were clean and hygienic and that the roads were clear and people weren't doing funny things on them.

He would probably be given a beat close to or around his barony, so he could also do the job from home. Not to mention he would have a salary worth 300 gold a year, at least several times what he could earn as a healer.

More importantly, however, since he would still be an active servant in the house, he would continue to accrue merits and could get promotions in the future, which meant he would be continuing to climb the ladder rather than having to climb off it to look after his dominion. He had a good chance of becoming a count something in his later life.

"Your Grace, my praise in Lundmorde and Dawn Academy's alumni's place." said Charade, bowing deeply.

He had been the one to invite Lundmorde, then a herbalism lecturer, to join them. Eight had since left them. Seven switched sides and joined Auguslo, of whom all but one were now dead, and one had been killed on the journey north. The remaining 28 had all stayed with Lorist and now occupied high positions in House Norton's government and army. Lundmorde was the only exception, the only one who had yet to climb high up the ranks. Instead, however, he outshone everyone when it came to family and offspring.

Lorist pondered alone in his study after his friend and disciple had left.

Lundmorde could not compare to other humans. Was he doping himself with some kind of drug? Lorist had seven women as well, if his concubines were included, but he didn't even have half as many children, not to mention that most were bastards. And when Sylvia, Fennazali, and Daisy had wanted to become pregnant, it took him months to finally knock them up. Lundmorde, on the other hand, had his women pregnant within a couple of months of having given birth, consistently.

He was a legend for all the wrong reasons, especially now that he'd returned with yet more children and four wives pregnant yet again. Many shared Lorist's suspicions that he was using a special concoction to boost his performance. A few even held banquets to bribe him to give them some as well. Even Sylvia had asked Lorist to look into the rumours.

The days passed calmly otherwise. Lorist returned to Cherry Blossom Ridge with his family in the 10th month. He couldn't bear to stay in Northsea any longer, it was too cold. His years in the warm south had made him soft. He had originally wanted to return to Ragebear instead, but Sylvia refused to go with him, and wouldn't let him leave her either, so he was forced to accompany her to her mansion instead.

Lorist finally returned to his castle in Ragebear in the 12th month for the celebrations. The city was already bustling with parties and feasts. The new year's celebrations of his house had turned into a month of festivals and parties. The people were even calling the 12th month the Month of Joy. Even the cold weather and constant snowfall did little to dampen people's mood. The snow instead became sculptures that lined the street. A few artists had even begun specializing in frozen art and had exhibitions and sculpting competitions in the city's parks.

People didn't just do it because it was an excuse to have fun. They wanted to give thanks to their duke's exceptional leadership, his achievements on the battlefield, and to celebrate his return to the city and be thankful for being his subjects. House Norton had also pulled out all the stops and were sponsoring many of the large events held in and around the city.

It wasn't just the peasantry that were in a celebratory mood. The city was flooded with nobles from all over the soon-to-be empire. Many had come with hopes of meeting the kingdom's only swordsaint, others had come to attend the inauguration ceremony and to network with the new and up-and-coming Norton nobility, and yet others had come to network and socialize with those noble. It was quite possible that, despite Auguslo's best efforts, this celebration would match, if not eclipse his ascension ceremony and celebrations.

As for those to be made peers, they included Spiel and Kedan, who were being given the title of count. Sixteen knights, including Charade, Reidy, Shuss, Camorra, Hector, Kriston, Balk, Ciroba, and Tarkel, were being given the title of viscount in addition to their previous titles as barons.

Fourty six men were going to be made barons, one of which was Shadekampf. He'd been Lorist's attendant from the very beginning, and it was finally time to reward him for his decades of service. Howard was another. He was already a viscount thanks to Duke Felim, though he wasn't the duke's vassal. It was a dowry for marrying his daughter. He was technically a vassal directly under the king, since Duke Felim had given him the viscounty without demanding his allegiance, and since he had no title or land under Lorist. This barony would formally make him Lorist's vassal, if only in the capacity as a baron, since Howard's wife was technically the title holder of the viscounty.

Few doubted that this celebration would be remembered for years, if not generations to come, and not for being so close to the king's ascension to emperor.

Chapter 564 Alisa's Marriage

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The winter harvests came after the rainy season. Lorist's lands were flooded with cheer. In fact, the weather had been nice since Lorist took over 20 years earlier. Despite the stormy ocean weather in the north, the coast had not been hit by a severe storm in over two decades, nor had there been any floods.

Spiel was not surprised when Lorist brought it up during one of their meetings, however. According to him, the Northlands was known for its calm weather; disasters were rare. The only reason it hadn't been properly developed before Lorist came along was the chronic shortage of people. Few people were willing to brave the magic beasts that used to roam the region annually. With them gone, however, there was little to stop people from coming north.

The biggest problem the north used to face beside the magic beasts was the chronic belligerence of the region's nobles. What little growth in population there was thanks to childbirth was quickly squandered in petty squabbles. There was also the issue of occasional barbarian raids from the mountains. The Nortons were especially plagued by them and spent most of the little wealth they saved up in campaigns against the hordes.

Things were different now, however. The beast waves were no more, the old squabbling nobles were gone and the new ones were all loyal to Lorist, and the barbarians had not come down from the mountains to raid in over a decade. The people were now free to unearth the region's riches. It was certainly a great help that the region finally had decent infrastructure. The region's population had seen a historic explosion and there was little sign that, even now that Lorist was no longer shipping tens of thousands of captured peasants north, the population would not continue to grow substantially for the foreseeable future.

The region was not just in a good present condition, but all forecasts predicted it would rise to rival even the most prosperous regions elsewhere in the empire. Lorist's rule would no doubt go down in history as the greatest rule of any noble in the empire's history, maybe even of any noble on the continent. There was little doubt in Spiel's mind that Lorist would be remembered as Norton the Great, or something similar. He kept saying Lorist should take a few years off and spend some quality time with his family. His greatest duty now was to ensure that his successor would be educated enough and correctly such that he would not squander the glory his predecessor had built.

Lorist agreed. His life in the north to date had been a tale of continuous war and crisis. It was time to step away from the path of bloodshed and focus on letting his lands thrive.

Life, unfortunately, was not accommodating of man's wishes. He had developed his dominion rapidly, but had done so without sufficiently overhauling its fundamental governing system. He was still ruling it like he was a baron only responsible for a single town, someone who could afford to be in direct control of everything. But his lands were now greater than most kingdoms. Despite that, he still had to keep watch over almost everything that happened. His desk was permanently buried under reports and documents that required his attention.

Viscount Josk, for one, had come to see him not long ago. He came to ask permission to take Jaeger to the wildlands to do training and run a few wargames.

"Do you have a fever? What's going on?" Lorist had asked, putting his palm to the man's forehead, "It's mating season right now. We don't go into the wildlands until the 10th month when the catch will be the best. You're six months early!"

Freiyar had definitely opposed Josk as well, as was Malek, otherwise he wouldn't have come to Lorist. Lorist was most puzzled that Josk would want to do anything with Jaeger at all, he rare got involved with the legion at all.

"What's going on, Joe? You should be in your viscounty right now. You have to find yourself a woman and get to work on an heir, not running off to the wildlands to hunt. I understand you are very loyal to your late fiancée, but you have a responsibility to yourself and your subjects to secure your bloodline. Besides, would your late fiancée want you to live alone like this for the rest of your life? Wouldn't she want you to have a family and experience the joy of being a father?" Lorist asked.

Josk didn't meet Lorist's gaze. He kept his head low and only muttered about wanted to do more for him. He had been forced to cancel the previous year's hunt because of the new year's celebration and wanted to make up for it. Many other nobles had begun forming winter armies as well and the price of fur had doubled. A missed hunt was hundreds of thousands of gold Fordes down the drain, at least.

Lorist smiled bitterly. The house's finances were fine. They didn't need to hunt every year just to stay solvent. A missed hunt wasn't a big deal. Cutting supply to the market for a season or so might actually be a good thing since it would chase the price up.

Josk left with an odd expression as if he had trouble he couldn't articulate but he didn't say anything. Lorist grew suspicious and had Viscount Kriston investigate the matter.

Potterfang came two days later with a grim air about him. This time it was about his daughter's marriage. His little elf-like brat of a girl, Alisa, had quickly grown into a beautiful young lady. He temperament, however, broke Potterfang's heart.

Lorist's impression of her was still that of the coquettish girl that mocked him whenever she saw him. It wasn't his fault though. He had rarely, if ever, played with her again after the convoy arrived in the northlands. If his memory served, Telesti had taken her as a disciple a few years earlier, hoping to raise her into a proper lady.

"Hold on, she's 28 already? And she's the knight-commander the Order of the Cherry Blossom?" Lorist choked.

The Order of the Cherry Blossom occupied a very awkward position in the military. They were a small knightly order nominally in the military, but they weren't subject to its chain of command. Sylvia was given command of the then 'woman brigade' when she married Lorist and turned it into a knightly order. Since she was the order's captain, no one from the military brass had the authority to give any of the order's members commands, not to mention that, as a knightly order, they were technically completely autonomous of any faction. The only reason Lorist could give them orders was because Sylvia was his wife and would listen to him, so technically he suggested something to Sylvia and she was the one that actually gave the order. The order was only peripherally trained in combat, however, since they were mostly a ceremonial force concerned with guarding Sylvia, though they were trained and deployed as healers from time to time.

Lorist had wanted to give them a more active role as combat medics, but they weren't interested. Before they were turned into an order, when they were still known as just the woman brigade, they had been deployed against Iblia during the campaign against the second prince's climax. Norton's side had suffered few losses, but the woman from the brigade couldn't handle the blood and gore. Many were struck with night sweats, angst, and incessant nightmares thereafter. The unit nearly disbanded after the battle, in fact.

The brigade was put under Tigersoar, but most of the women quickly paired up with men from the legion and retired after getting pregnant.

With the unit reduced to a mere husk, Lorist had to retrain the unit from the ground up. He took it out of Tigersoar and turned it into a reserve force that dealt mostly in paperwork and handled medical stations and hospitals behind the front lines. They did quite well in that role. They frequently put on shows for the recovering soldiers which boosted morale.

Sylvia found out about the brigade shortly before the marriage and asked to be given command of it as Lorist's wedding gift, which Lorist was happy to do. She quickly went about turning the brigade into a proper knightly order with her as its captain. She didn't get involved in most of its inner workings after it was set up, however, instead that duty fell to the unit's technical second in command, but practical leader, the order's knight-commander. The order operated out of Sylvia's personal residence, Cherry Blossom Ridge, and she named the order after the place since she loved it so much. Thus Pesha's pet project from two decades earlier had become the Duchess of the Northlands' personal knightly order, a force none but the Duke and the Duchess could command.

"She decided to become a knight after seeing Pesha when she was young? I didn't think that woman had any fans."

"Yes, Your Grace. Alisa went to Dawn Academy to study and awake her battleforce when she turned 16. She spent several years there in the knighthood course. She went to Nico Academy and became Lady Telesti's first knight. Her ambition get the better of her after a few years though. She grew restless and eventually joined the woman brigade. She advanced to two-star silver rank two years ago and became the order's new knight-commander."

Potterfang appeared frustrated. He had wanted to keep this under wraps at first, but his relationship with his daughter had always been tense. Had took the daughter of one of the house's captured nobles as his wife, against the wishes of his children, Howard and Alisa. The two felt he had betrayed their deceased mother and Alisa stopped listening to her father. Potterfang couldn't exactly barge in and take his daughter out of Nico Academy and away from Telesti as her knight since she was Lorist's lover, though it had been years since the two had interacted.

"I see... So Alisa is both Telesti's knight and knight-commander of the sylvia's cherry blossoms. No wonder I haven't heard anything about her for so long."

Alisa would have been mentioned in at least one report if she'd pledged herself to House Norton. Lorist's memory was quite good and he would have known it was her immediately. She had joined the Order of the Cherry Blossom, which was nominally part of House Norton, but knightly orders were a difficult thing. Even if their heads were members of a noble household, orders were never part of any political faction. They were independent military forces that operated according to their founding ideals, so even though Alisa was a part of Sylvia's order, she was not technically a member of House Norton.

"So you want me to convince her to get married?"

"I don't know how to say this, Your Grace. Howard is Your Grace's disciple and is married. I don't mind whether he remains your servant or found his own house. I trust my son, and with you there to guide him, I have nothing to worry about. But Alisa is 28, and she hasn't married or had any children yet. She's already very old to still be unmarried and I worry she'll grow into an old, lonely woman if this goes on.

"I'm her father, so I should be the one to arrange a good husband for her, but she won't listen to me. She has her own ideas about marriage and she's been stirring up a big commotion in that regard lately. I shouldn't be talking about her behind her back, but I worry as her father. Please, Your Grace, will you not help this old father and deal with this before it becomes a scandal?"

Potterfang left Lorist with many questions unanswered after only vaguely explaining the situation. Lorist was not about to get involved in something that could be hot water without knowing what was going on first, so he had Kriston look into it first.

When he got the report, he nearly jumped through his study's roof.

Chapter 565 Blissful Union

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Fact was indeed stranger than fiction. Lorist checked the report to confirm he wasn't reading a romance novel.

Josk and Alisa's private affairs had little bearing on Lorist's lands as a whole, so the internal affair's department had not paid them any attention before. They naturally wouldn't skimp on investigating it once Lorist asked about it, however.

House Fisablen had gone to war with Lorist eight years earlier. Fisablen's sly manoeuvring had let him escape Southern as it fell to Wild Husbandry and set up an ambush with the grassland barbarian legion. He wiped the second and third Jaeger divisions out there and Colonel Pete died whilst Yuriy was heavily injured. Josk had pushed his men in to relieve his comrades and severely injured Duke Fisablen in the process.

It was the first, and one of the few, losses Lorist had ever suffered. He was short 30 thousand men by the time the dust settled. The two colonels were sent to the woman brigade to be treated, and there Alisa met Josk again. He was her first assignment as part of the brigade.

The first met when Josk was still a dashing young knight tagging along with her 'Uncle Lorist'. He wasn't a much of a talker and didn't smile often. Despite his youth at the time, he was still older than Alisa enough that there was a decent argument he should be called Uncle Josk. The two did nothing but see each other in passing once or two in the end, though.

The woman brigade gossiped about Josk being the most handsome of House Norton's knights during his stay at the field hospital. His lost love story only made him more attractive. Many were heartbroken when they heard about his injuries and wished they could have taken his place.

Alisa was 20 at the time, but Josk was already 36. She was likely at least partially influenced by her friends and comrades' worship of the man, but she quickly fell in love with him. She swore to herself, when Josk was about to leave the hospital, that she would marry him and no other man.

Josk, however, saw her affectations as just the crush of a young girl. He knew more than anyone the difference in their ages, he was practically brothers with her father. He had no intention of putting his friendship with Potterfang on the line for a likely messy relationship that had every chance of failing miserably. He believed Alisa would move on if he treated her coldly like so many of his fangirls.

But she just would not give up. She spent every waking moment by his side, regardless of how much Josk tried to get rid of her.

Josk was at the point of giving in when he was cleared to return to active duty and dashed out of the hospital like a man running from burning forest. Alisa would continue to visit him frequently, but he managed to avoid her most of the time.

Unfortunately she was a good tracker, at least when it came to him, so he still bumped into her more times than not. It didn't help that she would also come up with every excuse she could think of to either come visit him, or have to go to his compound, at which point she'd obviously go look for him. One of her favourite excuses was to put up a performance for the men in Josk's barracks with a troupe from the brigade. And she didn't miss any event related to him. She was there for his birthday, the day of his knighting, and the day of his entitlement as a baron. He also had to get letters from her every couple of days.

This had been going on non-stop for the entire eight years since she'd met again him again in that field hospital. Josk had been content with keeping her at arms length as he had been for however much longer it took. But Alisa's father was beginning to put more and more pressure on her to get married. Her brother and liege had also been getting involved lately.

But she didn't want to marry anyone but Josk, but Josk had no intention of getting involved with any women, period. He couldn't just continue to ignore her, but he also couldn't take her in because of his vow to his deceased fiancée, and he didn't know how to respond to her.

In the end, Alisa took matters into her own hands and forced herself on Josk. She visited Jaeger again with a troupe when they were returning from the campaign in the south. She fed everyone enough alcohol to make them pass out drunk, slipped Josk a nearly lethal dose of aphrodisiacs and spent the rest of the night with him.

Lorist's couldn't believe his eyes. He did not think the little girl he remembered had it in her to force herself on one of his subordinates. She didn't stop at that either. Since Josk had taken her virginity, she reasoned he had little choice but to take her in, so she moved into his castle and was practically viscountess already. Josk, in response, avoided his lands like death itself and thought up every excuse he could to stay with his forces or anywhere but home.

Lorist downed his cup of tea, only to spit it all over when he read about where Josk currently was.

Perfect! So he really was staying away because he didn't want to meet Alisa. Was he doing it out of guilt for having taken her virginity? Then again, she was the one to force herself on him, so he was the victim, really. And then she even took it upon herself to all but declare herself his wife already and take over governing his lands in his absence!

So that was why he wanted to take Jaeger out. He wanted to get as far away from the woman as possible. Unfortunately she had sent out every man she could to look for him and drag him to his dominion and force him to marry her. It was quickly turning into a massive scandal and would likely ruin Josk and Potterfang's family names. The one was inept at dealing with women and the other was a draconic vixen with no sense of propriety.

Lorist finally pitied Potterfang. Josk was Lorist's trusted subordinate and dear friend. Though his rank wasn't that high, Potterfang considered Josk his equal as well. Now, however, it was only a matter of time before Josk became his son-in-law, and the man would likely resent him for not stopping the marriage.

As such, there was a wild goose chase going on all across the Northlands that had been causing quite a stir. Many people watched on and gossiped about it like it was a comedy. The two responsible for this affair didn't care, but Potterfang was at his limit. He just wanted everything to go away even if it meant forcing his friend to marry Alisa. Josk, however, was perfectly willing to live like a vagabond if it meant he could avoid the woman.

"Jinolio!" Lorist called, "Tell Reidy to find Josk and tell him I order him to return to his dominion and marry Alisa. He can drag the man in front of me if he still refuses."

Josk was hiding in Reidy's manor. He didn't have many close friends in the army. He had wanted to hide it out with Yuriy, but Alisa kept sending men to his lands and castle to look for him.

Reidy's manor was one of the eight Lorist had confiscated when he conquered Ragebear. He gave the three left after his wife and concubines each took one to Glacia, and Reidy, and the last one was still up for grabs. Not many people knew about the manors, which made them the perfect place for Josk to hide.

This was perfect. Lorist could use the excuse of Josk having defiled Alisa to force him to marry her and it would solve a number of problems at once. He didn't really think about the fact that it was against Josk's wishes. She was young, beautiful, and attractive, Josk must have enjoyed it, so he simply had no say in the matter. It also didn't matter that Josk had made a vow on his deceased fiancée's grave to remain faithful to her for the rest of his live, Lorist wanted him to marry someone, so that's what would happen. He had bedded the girl, so he had to wed the girl as well. It didn't matter in the slightest that it had been against his will, his wishes, or his vows.

Lorist thought about his old neighbor, Li, from his past life. The man had a daughter who entered a trading company after graduating and became the mistress of the company's boss. After three years of struggling, she finally got the boss to kick away his old wife and be made the main wife instead. Every time the balding boss came to Li's house, he had to address Li, five years his senior, as 'Father'.

As he expected, Reidy soon dragged Josk into the study. He knew Josk would not accept it. He didn't even answer Lorist after the man had tried gently convincing him for several hours.

Lorist was forced to drag his wife and concubines into the mess so they could slap some sense into Josk. He knew that, them being women and wives and concubines, they would side with Alisa no matter what. So he could count on them dogging Josk until he gave in and he would not be able to convince them otherwise no matter what he said.

It took the women just half an hour to convince Josk that he had some responsibility in the matter and a duty to marry her. They also convinced him that he was wrong to keep his vow to his wife when he had another women pining for him.

Successfully indoctrinated, Lorist returned to his dominion and wedded Alisa. The woman really loved him after all, so it wasn't her fault. He had a duty to be loyal to her since he'd taken her virginity. Surely it would be a very happy time for him.

Lorist was very happy to hear Josk had finally seen things his way like he should have so long ago and immediately arranged the marriage. It took less than a week for the marriage to be held. He also made sure to keep Josk by his side until the wedding just in case, but his women had done a good job and Josk didn't try to run.

Lorist could finally breathe a sigh of relief when the pair strolled out of the hall, husband and wife.

Just as he was about to leave for a short trip with his family after seeing his subordinate off, however, trouble once again came his way. It was from Morante, again… But this time it was the religious trouble rather than political trouble. The shrines so prolific in Morante, had come to ask for permission to build shrines in the Northlands and convert the populace.

Chapter 566 Belief and Supervision

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Hey Guys! Prince here.

So I made it through surgery, now four and a quarter teeth lighter; three wisdom teeth, one molar, and a quarter of a poor bystander which will have to be fixed once the mouth is in working order again.

The worst part for me is always waking up from anaesthesia afterwards. That feeling of being awake but with only half your head working is the worst! Anyway, I look and feel like I've been through a boxing match, and I suppose you could say I have. The pain medication is doing its thing, though, and, whilst making me feel like I haven't slept in days, it keeps the pain at bay. So I can get back to editing and you guys can get back to reading.

Don't forget to join our discord server if you guys want to hear about these kinds of shenanigans as they're happening or just want to argue with people over which of Lorist's concubines makes the best waifu.

Toothless regards.

Prince

"You can't let these foreigners spread their superstitions in your land. These supposed representatives of the divine are just a bunch of power and wealth hungry dogs. They would pray for any place that's prosperous and rich and use the excuse of converting people to scour wealth. Some of them even preach disloyalty to the secular lords. You can't let the Morantian shrines into your land."

Viscount Hector, governor of Wild Husbandry, was the first to oppose the shrines. He used to be an apprentice instructor in Mobel Academy in the imperial capital. He escaped the war and fled to Silowas, becoming Whitebird Town's secretary. He was accepted into Lorist's service when the duke retook the island and slowly rose through the ranks to the position of governor thanks to his excellent ability in administration.

It was common knowledge that back when the Krissen Empire was in its prime, a few emperors ignored the shrines. Krissen IV famously chased shrine ambassadors out of the empire when they went to ask him for permission to spread their faith in his empire.

He believed the empire was founded by the labour of man alone, the gods had no place in it. The only time he ever heard the gods mentioned, was in the prayers of soldier before going into battle, yet no god ever came to aid them. He believed in his hands and his sword alone.

In response, the shrines did most of their conversion and proselytizing near the empire's borders were the emperor and his forces rare tread. The most prolific of the shrines worshipped the wargod, the god of wisdom, the goddess of the earth, and the goddess of the silver moon. But the emperor was considered the spirit of the nation, so since he did not believe, most of his people did not either and even those that were converted, were lukewarm believers at best. The shrines could thus not get enough money to fund their activities from the people and were forced to return to Morante after the war ended.

The instructors-in-training and budding officials in Mobel Academy were trained to follow in the footsteps of the imperial family. Since they practically worshipped the emperors, they were vehemently opposed to the shrines. The shrines claimed the gods were the ultimate authority over the world, which was an affront to the right of the emperor to rule over his empire.

Charade was of a different opinion, however. He believed it was inevitable that the shrines would wish to come north after they saw how prosperous the north was through the trade done in Morante. Lorist had many subjects and they were, on average, far more wealthy than any other land's people. The shrines wanted a piece of the pie and there was no real way get them to give up.

The shrines couldn't compare to House Norton's might, but they had the commoners' hearts. If Lorist blatantly opposed the shrines, he risked alienating his people. Most of his subjects had been forced to move into his lands from elsewhere, from places where the shrines were dominant. As a result most of his people were believers in the gods. Their hatred for Lorist and his forces had begun to mellow because he had given them good lives, but if he attacked or slighted their faith, that might all be undone.

There was also the matter of the political implications of turning away the shrines. Lorist was supporting the Free Union, and the shrines were one of the greatest factions there. Turning them away would strain his relationship with the Free Union.

Charade was in favour of letting the shrines operate within Lorist's dominion, on condition that they were closely monitored and regulated to ensure they didn't spread any messages or beliefs that conflicted with Lorist's objectives and interests.

Kedan also shared his opinion, a rare occurrence. He was of the same mind as Charade. Being in charge of the police, he had a firm grasp on what was going on in Lorist's dominions. The people were naturally superstitious, and needed some spiritual force in their lives. Without the shrines there to fill that role, countless cults had sprung up across the land and they were the primary source of crime and unrest at the moment.

The house had opened many halls of learning, but it would take decades for the population to become literate and be well-educated enough to not fall to superstition. And most of those being taught were children, the adults were all still just as uneducated and superstitious as before. Their superstition made them believe their good fortune was thanks to favour from the gods, rather than good governance by Lorist and his vassals and subordinates.

A couple of villages in Redriver Valley, for instance, had recently started worshipping a wiccan god said to live in the nearby Black Forest. They frequently made blood sacrifices under the full moon. Two children, a boy and a girl, would be killed as sacrifices. Another cult was becoming popular in the east of The Northlands. They worshipped Walis, a sun god and brother of Singwa. Walis was said to be immortal and could turn stone into gold and even pass on his divine abilities to a believer. Some were donating their wealth to the cult in hopes of being blessed by Walis and becoming richer. Naturally they ended up on the streets, some then killed their family believing they hadn't donated enough, and sacrificing their family would make up the difference.

The shrines didn't bother when the lands were desolate, but now they could make a lot of money, so of course they were coming. It helped that most people used to be so concerned with just putting food on the table and saving up to wait out the winter that they didn't have time or energy for frivolous faiths. What little they could spare for prayer and faith was all directed at the sun and war gods. Now, however, they had more than enough time, energy, and money. A few religious scuffles had even broken out between fanatic groups.

If for nothing else, the shrines were not extremists, so it was better to have the people believe in mundane and benign faiths than have them fall to violent and deviant cults. And even better if they worshipped at shrines that could be closely monitored to ensure they toed the lord's line.

The others present were silent as they carefully contemplated Kedan's words. This was indeed a new and serious problem. At times of war people were easy to please and they all tended to worship gods related to war. Now, however, their beliefs were started to scatter in all strange directions.

Viscount Camorra agreed with his two foregoers, but also shared Hector's concerns. The shrines had been willing to compromise so far because they didn't have much influence among the people, but once they became entrenched, they would no doubt begin to think about throwing off Lorist's overwatch and use the people to pressure him to agree to their demands.

At the very least, the shrines could not be allowed to congregate. Each shrine had to base itself in a different region, ideally, they'd also only be allowed to proselytize in their specific region so that their growth could be limited and they could be kept from coming into conflict with one another or uniting to form a single faction. It wouldn't be too difficult to come up with good arguments for this either.

They could just argue that they're letting each shrine build its headquarters in a place most relevant to its god, such as putting the god of the sea and god of storms shrines in Northsea since they're all about the water and sailing. Putting the goddess of the earth and the goddess of the harvests' shrine headquarters in Felicitas since they're related to agriculture, which was that region's specialty. The goddess of the forest and the goddess of the rivers could be put near Black Forest. And Firmrock and Ragebear would have the wargod.

In this way, Camorra quickly came up with a reasonable division of the land between the 20 or so deities and their shrines. They could put shrines in Wild Husbandry and the eastern parts of the Northlands to speed up the mountain and grassland barbarians' assimilation.

The group quickly agreed with Camorra's plan. They would let the shrines operate in their lands, but they had to headquarter themselves as directed. The next question, then, was how to regulate them. Charade supported Camorra's idea that they be limited to operating only in their designated region. Spiel quickly added that they should limit the money the shrines were allowed to take from the people. Each believe could only donate up to a certain limit of his income in a year, any further donations would result in punitive taxes on his income. The shrines should also have to report their income and should be required to spend at least a specific portion thereof on charity work to support the poor, such as setting up and running charitable hospitals.

Kedan added that the shrines should not be allowed the right to give anyone sanctuary from the law, and any members of the clergy would also be subject to the law. They would also have the responsibility of maintain religious order by combatting any cults that appear in their region. Camorra chimed in again to suggest that the forceful conversion of people should also be forbidden, as well as any interference with another shrine's operations. They would only be allowed to talk to people about their gods and their faith, but couldn't force them to follow the faith, and they couldn't try to make it so that businesses and other organisations required their workers to be of a certain faith to be hired or to continue to work there or get promotions.

With these regulations in place, Hector slowly came around to the idea that the shrines could be beneficial. In the end, everyone decided on 18 regulations and presented them to Lorist.

Lorist smiled.

"And who would enforce these regulations?"

Everyone was stunned. None of them had thought about who would be responsible for ensuring the shrines followed their regulations. The government didn't have the spare manpower to allocate to this task, but they couldn't let the shrines in without these regulations.

Lorist shook his head. He suggested that they have the shrines regulate each other alongside his government. They would form a regulatory council that would ensure everyone kept to the regulations and deal with any offenses.

The shrines would have to fund the council from their own pocket as well. The council officials could work in the administration on the side, but they couldn't let that interfere with their council duties. The council could fine member shrines for offenses and the fines would be used to fund the council as well, though of course a portion would be taxed. If it came to the point where a shrine was banned and their region confiscated, the council could allocate it to bordering shrines by majority vote of the council. The council would also be called the Council of the Faiths.

Lorist was confident it would be a very tempting pot of gold for the shrines, so they would keep each other in check and look for any opportunity to call each other out to get a portion of the fine money. This would pit the shrines against one another and keep them from banding together against him and his government.

Charade led the negotiations. The negotiations took all the way to the 7th month to conclude. The next month, Lorist signed the regulations into law and the shrines were officially allowed to begin operating in his dominion within their designated regions.

The populace quickly calmed down and many of the cults vanished.

Dean Claude's Request

"It's not easy being popular."

Lorist woke up in a bad mood on the morning of the 13th of the 7th. Anderbael had gotten into trouble again. He had grabbed a cockerel after getting up in the morning and blamed it for waking him up. He had decided to roast it, so he tied it over a fire with a rope.

It naturally didn't end well. The cockerel became a dashing fireball. It set everything it passed alight, the small forest in the castle's rear bailey, the chicken coop, the trees lining the road down to the main gate, and quite a few things in between. It looked like the castle was on fire from outside the inner skirting walls. The fireball even ran into a passing maid and lit the linen she was carrying on fire. It made it into the storeroom behind her as she ran of squealing, setting a number of things inside alight before collapsing by the entrance on its way out. Quite a resilient thing it turned out to be.

Lorist stormed out of his room to the balcony from the smoke, but luckily the fires were already being put out. He dragged Anderbeal to his study by the ear and gave his rear a good spanking. The child ran to his mother and wet her bosom for half an hour with his tears. Sylvia nagged Lorist the whole time to not be so harsh on the poor child, sapping what little appetite he had left for breakfast. He glugged down to mouthfuls of bread and stormed up to his study.

It was time for Anderbael to be properly tutored. Sylvia was raising the child to be just spoiled, which was not good. At least it wasn't as bad as his first child. That said, the little brat was still very mischievous, though it stemmed less from a narcissistic egotism than healthy curiosity and a lack of boundaries. He was usually quite well-mannered, after all. Lorist's main reason for punishing the little boy was because he'd interrupted his morning exercise with Fennazali.

Jinolio entered the study with a cup of fresh macks.

"Anything on the schedule?" Lorist asked lazily.

"Dean of Dawn Academy Blademaster Claude has an audience at nine this morning to discuss establishing a branch academy," Jinolio answered promptly.

Time really flew. A decade had already passed since Dawn had moved over from Morante. Dean Levins had retired and handed his position to Claude. Dawn Academy was now the top school in the whole soon-to-be empire. Its student body numbered six thousand and the campus couldn't handle them anymore. Most of the kingdom's noble were sending their children to the academy, from barons to the other dukes and their family.

"Where does he want to set it up?"

Jinolio slapped his forehead.

"Didn't I hand Your Grace the application a few days ago? Dean Claude is trying to decide between Vanades in Delamock, in which case he'd set up a business faculty, or Windbury in Winston, in which case it'd be a knight school."

Lorist quickly recalled the matter. No wonder Claude wanted to see him. Kenmays and Felim were probably fighting over it again. Dawn Academy was a combined academy that taught multiple disciplines ranging from chivalry to accounting, the latter was a popular pick among many students for its potential to grant them well-paying jobs. They would be popular picks regardless of whether they applied to Lorist's military or his administration. The skill was popular with other nobles as well, not to speak of merchants and guilds.

Lorist had made Kenmays mayor of Vanades. He'd done pretty well in the post too. He didn't just turn the city into the salt merchant committee's headquarters, but also turned it into the capital of the kingdom's trade. Almost all of the kingdom's guilds were headquartered there. Now it seemed he'd set his sites on Dawn Academy. He was no doubt doing his best to talk a hole into Claude's head to start a business school in the city. A number of more mercantile nobles had started complaining to Kenmays recently that the competition for slots in Dawn Academy was too strong. They wanted a place closer to home to send their children, too.

Felim had his own plans for Dawn Academy. He wanted Claude to set up a knight school in Windbury so the more militarily inclined amongst the nobility wouldn't have to compete as harshly for spaces at the main campus. It made sense that they coveted being able to send their children to the academy, its technique were far superior to anything they could teach their children. A big reason for that was that most families only had parts of their ancestor's manuals regarding the training of battleforce. It was not good to train an incomplete technique. The Academy, however, could offer complete manuals. It also didn't help that it was prohibitively expensive to get personal tutors who knew enough to train the child properly. It was much cheaper to ship the children off to the academy, not to mention that it would be a golden opportunity for the children to mingle with higher nobility and build out their network of contacts and acquaintances.

Claude was too happy to oblige. If he could set up branch academies he could spread Dawn's reputation and influence and secure its position in the empire before any real competition even had a chance to get going. The academy had come a long way from its crisis days when it was on the brink of closing for good back in Morante. Lorist was the academy's savior, having convinced the former dean to move it to the Northlands and funded the construction of the new campus himself. Claude felt, given the massive role the duke had played in bringing about the academy's current fortune, and, in a way, his investment in the academy, he had a right to a say in such matters. Besides, both Vanades and Windbury were in his territory so he'd have to give his permission either way.

"It was blue, right? I probably threw it on that table there. Bring it for me, would you?" said Lorist, massaging his temples.

After much faffing, Jinolio finally found the application.

"What else is on the agenda?" Lorist asked, his eyes still closed and his fingers still massaging.

"Nobody else has asked for an audience. A messenger arrived from the king yesterday, though. The king summons Your Grace to the capital for his ascension. A reply is due. Also, Duke Kenmays wrote asking when His Grace should accompany Your Grace to the capital. Duke Felim and Duke Shazin have written to the same effect. They will leave for the capital on the 18th and hope Your Grace will accompany them."

"Why would I bother going so early?" Lorist muttered, "The ceremony is on the 10th of next month. I'll leave to I arrive three or four days ahead of the ceremony, but there's no need to get there a month early… Ugh, fine. Write to the king and tell him I'm too busy to go now. I'll leave so I arrive around the 5th. Tell Kenmays I'm sailing for the capital and I'll meet him at Platinum Beach."

"Your Grace, I need to know the date we leave," complained Jinolio.

"Fine--" Lorist counted the days on his fingers. "--It'll take seven days from Northsea to Jillin Harbor, so make it eight to be safe. We'll rest one day there, so that's nine. And it'll take another two to the capital. If we pick up Kenmays we can add another day. Twelve in all. On right, three days from here to Northsea, so 15 in all. We'll leave on the 25th, then."

"Which of the madams will accompany you?"

It went without saying that Sylvia would go, so Jinolio must be talking about one of his concubines.

"Just take them all, the children too. We can spend a few days at Seaview Manor on our way back."

"Very well."

Standard procedure was for Jinolio to relay the instructions to Bowrey who would tell Sylvia and the other 'madams'. The date had been decided more than ten days in advance, but since the whole lot would be going, time was needed to make the arrangements, the escort, the supplies, the other staff that would accompany them, the ships and the naval escort, and so forth.

Claude walked into Lorist's office exactly on time. The two hadn't met in years and both were quite emotional. Claude had watched Lorist turn into a legendary figure from a mere instructor of the academy one step at a time. The iron-ranked instructor was now swordsaint and a duke. Claude felt like he hardly knew the man. How on earth was he ever going to stand on equal footing with this titan again? He had been a gold-ranked instructor when Lorist was just an iron rank, but now, despite being dean of the academy and a rank 2 blademaster, he was lifetimes behind his former peer.

He forcefully shoved the frivolous thoughts to the back of his mind. What point was there in comparing himself with Lorist? Lorist was equal to a swordsaint, but his battleforce was still iron rank. They walked completely different paths of cultivation, so there was no point in comparing them.

Jinolio served fragrant tea silently while Claude reminisced. Claude got straight down to business after taking a sip. He would love to open two branches but, despite being as popular as it was, the academy only had the funds and the surplus staff to open one branch right now. Most of the money was budgeted for expanding and upgrading the main campus in the Northlands. Lorist wouldn't settle for a seizure of improvements there to be able to open two branches at the same time elsewhere, anyway. It wouldn't have been such a big deal if the two dukes weren't fighting tooth and nail over which branch should be opened.

Even if Lorist didn't want to, he had to be the one to make the decision, otherwise the one who didn't get their wish between the two dukes would never shut up.

"Open the business school. We won't see wars for at least the next decade or two, so there's no point in expanding your knight school. Besides, the empire will need administrative officials more than knights in the years of peace to come to help rebuild it."

Claude nodded.

"Alright. I'll make the arrangements."

"Why did Duke Felim bring up a knight school at all?"

Turned out House Felim had suffered heavy losses on the plains three years earlier and were anxious to refill the empty positions and get their army back up to full strength.

"Then why not set up a few diploma courses? He can send some men over to be trained in that instead. There's no need to start a new school just for that."

Claude was still troubled.

"It would certainly be less difficult and permanent than setting up a new knight school, but it's still very hard to do with our current resources, especially our staff numbers. We really only have enough to set up one new campus, we won't have any men to spare, even for just a few extra diploma courses."

Lorist burst out laughing.

"What? Come on, Claude. What about this? My men need a break from the military for a while, why not hire a few of our fellow alumni as temporary instructors? I'm sure they'd be more than happy to join the academy again for a while. You can only have them for three months though."

"Thank you, Your Grace."

Who Would Assassinate You?

On the 25th day of the 7th month, Lorist brought his family on the ferry ship, Blue Seagull, to head to the imperial capital to attend Auguslo's grand ceremony.

When they passed House Kenmays's domain, Sidgler, they stopped at Platinum Beach for half a day to pick up Duke Kenmays.

Blue Seagull was a new long-distance ferry ship made in the shipyards at Bullhorn Bay. It had 124 guest cabins in total and each round, it could carry up to 470 passengers. That was the first ship to exclusively transport passengers in the history of Grindia. Lorist already ordered three more such ships to be built to kick off the ferrying route from Northsea all the way to Hidegold Bay instead of using transport ships for that purpose.

This was Blue Seagull's maiden voyage. It would first sail to Jillin Harbor before continuing on to Hidegold Bay. Kenmays was given one and a half cabins because he unexpectedly wanted to bring two thousand people to the imperial capital. Fortunately, he also used two LLDAM-class ships of House Kenmays to ferry most of the others so that Blue Seagull wouldn't be overloaded with people.

"Locke, are you only bringing so few people to attend the ceremony?" asked Kenmays after he embarked.

Puzzled, Lorist asked, "What? Is there something wrong with that?"

He only brought a squad of 100 guards, his wife, lovers and children as well as around 200 servants. Put nicely, he was traveling light, but it could also be seen as him being stingy. Unlike the Duke of The Northlands, Kenmays brought more than two thousand people as was fitting for someone of his status. But since Lorist didn't really see grandeur with much favor, he preferred to travel with a smaller cohort.

Kenmays gingerly said, "Even though you're a swordsaint and won't have to worry about your personal safety when you travel, you at least have to bring a thousand guards out with you. Don't forget that dukes like us have to bring a thousand men from our forces to join parades for an event like these to show our loyalty to the king."

"That won't be a problem," Lorist said with a smile, "I can just bring a thousand garrison soldiers from Silowas to join the parade. Since we're only putting up airs, nobody will take this seriously. Given that our forces have only just returned during the end of last year, they're having their vacation now. So, I really shouldn't pick any of them to join the ceremony."

"Well, I suppose that works too." Kenmays nodded. "It's no wonder I didn't see Charade and Potterfang joining you. The subordinates of other lords on the other hand were scrambling for a chance to go mingle in the imperial capital."

"I already asked them to come with me, but they didn't want to. Perhaps they would rather spend time with their family than attend this ceremony. They've been out of home for three years after all, and they desperately need the kinship. So, I only brought Reidy and Jinolio with me as well as Patt, the commander of my guards."

Kenmays sighed with understanding. "I know. Three years back when I brought my ravaged forces back to Sidgler, I didn't feel like going anywhere at all and wanted to laze around at home. But you're different. You returned as a victor while we returned merely as bloodied survivors. I ate nonstop after I got back and laid with my maidservants like there was no tomorrow. It's only half a year later that I calmed down and took the reins of my house and trading guild again."

Lorist didn't say anything else. Back then, everyone was duped by Auguslo into thinking that the million-man army alone was enough to force the Trade Union to agree to return the two occupied provinces to Andinaq. Everyone thought they were just going to bring their forces for a walk in the park to get what Auguslo promised them. They didn't expect the Trade Union to completely disregard their enemy and choose to instigate the conflict themselves instead, leading into a three-year war that was bloody on both sides.

Lorist and the Union's swordsaint fought to a draw and left the frontlines, and then there was the revolt in the dominion. In the end, the three Norton legions had to return to the dominion to quell the problems, leaving the rest of Andinaq's forces to fend against the Union forces alone on Falik Plains. Thanks to the incessant human wave tactics the Union used which were enabled by their constant stream of recruits from the southern Union provinces, the noble army suffered great casualties and could barely hold the line.

Fortunately, Lorist led his forces back to the battlefield after he recovered from his injuries. First, he eliminated Invincible Fleet and sailed to Hidegold Bay to take Morante, turning the tables of the war in one move and forcing the Trade Union to leave Falik Plains, saving the skeletal noble army from total collapse and sending them back home. After that, they defeated the Union and forced them to surrender.

It could be said that had the Nortons not fought those battles, the upcoming ceremony would never see the light of day. Kenmays was well aware of that fact and he regretted being coaxed by Auguslo so easily for the benefits he promised. He joined as a result of impulse and a clouded mind and ended up losing half his total forces.

"It's always too late to regret!" Kenmays exclaimed, "You've said once that our king has ravenous ambition and doesn't know when to stop once he tastes success. I've forgotten that advice of yours almost completely back then. Had we not continued our assault on Falik Plains after exterminating more than half of the Union forces, we would probably have been able to restore peace with the Union. But our king wanted us to conquer Morante and shed its blood no matter what and ended up involving us in that bloody war. Every noble house that participated paid heavy consequences...

"Thankfully you were willing to come to our aid and bring us back from the swamps of blood. After our return, every noble in the kingdom knows that being able to return from Falik Plains would be difficult had the Nortons not stepped in, to say even less of holding this ceremony. If we had lost, the Union forces would have swarmed in with their momentum and whether the kingdom would still exist would be a question in itself, because we had already lost all our ability to resist back then..."

"The war is already over and the time of peace is upon us," Lorist interjected, "You didn't ask to travel with me just to complain about the bloody war, did you? What's past is beyond us, and the best we can do is to learn not to repeat our mistakes instead of dwelling over them. Tell me what you truly came here to say. Given how much you love the festivities and fun, you would've gone to the imperial capital long ago instead of waiting to join me."

Kenmays smiled bitterly. "Don't regard me like you did before. Ever since I returned from Falik Plains, I've lost interest in those balls and parties. But you were right in that I had a good reason to come with you. First, I want to thank you for agreeing to the launch of the business school branch of Dawn Academy in Vanades. This is great news for the city and the trading guilds within. Those guilds that want to expand will no longer have to worry about finding a place to cultivate their talents now that the school is going to launch and they'll be able to develop more smoothly without falling into common pitfalls with more educated people joining them."

Claude's meeting was around ten days ago and Kenmays had received word about it. His gratitude came as no surprise.

"Don't mention it. You developed Vanades rather well yourself, turning it into the trading capital of the empire. I was considering how I should reward you for that. However, I am curious about one thing. How did you convince those merchant guilds to set up branch in Vanades?"

That was a question Lorist had been dwelling on for a while. As he remembered it, even though Vanades was a prosperous trading city under Madras's rule, it couldn't be compared to Morante in terms of scale. The main reason for that was that Duke Madras mainly used Vanades to trade food. Ever since the extermination of the duchy, Lorist took the city under the house's rule.

After that, House Kenmays moved their dominion from the eastern part of The Northlands to Sidgler. Lorist negotiated with Kenmays and let him take the role of the mayor of Vanades, leaving all the trading guilds in the eastern part of The Northlands for him to operate. Salt merchant committee would also have a good place to take root and grow.

What Lorist didn't expect was that during Kenmays's term as mayor, not only did he manage to attract many merchant guilds to move to the city, he also made the city into the largest market in the northwestern area of the empire. Every year, House Norton earned around 400 thousand gold Fordes from Vanades, three times more than what they got from the largest livestock rearing grounds in the northeastern area, Windbury.

Kenmays cracked a smile. "Actually, the prosperity in Vanades is thanks to our king. Back when he was waging war against the four central duchies, His Majesty raised the taxes of all merchant guilds within the kingdom to 30 percent. Coupled with the other miscellaneous taxes like tariffs and tolls, the guilds effectively paid up to 60 percent of their total profit. Every sale under those conditions would be a loss, so they were forced to move away from the imperial capital.

"Vanades became the ideal choice for most of those guilds because it was under the rule of House Norton, so the taxes only amounted to around 40 percent. Since House Norton's territory was part of the commonwealth of our four houses, they only had to pay toll once. If they were based in Norton lands, they would also receive better treatment in the other provinces of the kingdom instead of being troubled to give away more of what they had.

"So, eventually, all the merchant guilds chose to move to Vanades. The more merchants there are, the merrier the city got. I used to be a merchant myself and I understand their needs well. So, I increased the security to maintain order in the city and cleared the trade routes of bandits and robbers to make the merchants feel safe. I also invested money to develop basic infrastructure to improve hygiene and provided protections for all trade conducted in the city. The city started to develop rampantly after that."

Lorist nodded and praised, "I didn't think you were so good at administering despite being a merchant apart from your amazing social connections and womanizing skills. Oh, apart from thanking me for the branch school, was there any other reason?"

Kenmays's face turned gloomy. "Yes. I also chose to travel with you for my safety."

"You mean.."

Kenmays slowly opened his robes and revealed his upper body. There were thick bandages wrapped around him with traces of fresh blood. Lorist finally realized what the odd smell he sensed was.

"During the past two months, I've been involved in three assassination attempts, and the most dire of them all is the one that happened this month The assassin knew that he wouldn't be able to get close to me, so he threw his longsword at me from a distance and made the wound you see here. That's why I wanted you to come as soon as possible. I could only relax after actually meeting you. Now, I won't have to worry about being assassinated anymore," said Kenmays painedly.

"Who did this? Did you catch the assassin? Why didn't you ask for help earlier?" asked Lorist angrily.

Kenmays shook his head. "I don't know who did it, but the assassin was a rank 1 blademaster. Even though our guards weren't able to capture him, he couldn't do anything much to me either. As for asking for help... I'm not shameless enough to ask a swordsaint like you to deal with something like that. House Kenmays would become a laughingstock among the other houses once word of this gets out."

"You'd rather suffer for the sake of your reputation?" Lorist thought for a bit with his brow furrowed. "This sounds weird. Why would they send a blademaster against you? Given your status and connections, there isn't a good reason why they would send a blademaster after you. You don't play that important a role in the kingdom anyway, so it'd be a waste to send a blademaster to kill you on three attempts.:

Kenmays objected, "Hey, what's with the slight? Did I say anything bad about you?!"

Lorist ignored his complains and continued to guess. "They're not giving up even though they weren't able to do much. After the first attempt, you must've increased your guard, yet the blademaster came back twice more. Nobody would do that unless they had a huge grudge against you. Did you put a green cap on some noble after cheating with his wife and not cleaning up properly or something?[1] Perhaps that'd be a reason why someone would hire a blademaster to come for your life, at least, I think it's the most probable scenario."

"Don't joke around. What does putting on a green cap mean anyway? I like green caps. That aside, I'm sure it's not what you're thinking. I think somebody was trying to kill me because of the salt merchant committee."

"Salt merchant committee?"

"That's right. Do you remember Knight Wecksas, the one who cheated with the late queen? That bastard child of the king."

Lorist nodded.

"He was eyeing the market your house was trying to build in Jillin Harbor last year, right? Last year, he was made a count and give land in Majik, far away from the imperial capital. However, Wecksas hugged the leg of the king and bawled. He was allowed to stay in the imperial capital in the end, but his post as the commander of the royal guard was stripped from him.

"After that, Count Wecksas started a merchant guild called Andalou and I don't know how he did it, but he got the rights to the two salt mines in Koribia from His Majesty. So, during the latter half of last year, salt merchant committee got into a trade war to gain market share of salt in the kingdom. We lowered our prices so badly and won in the end, causing Wecksas to lose near 100 thousand gold Fordes," said Kenmays gleefully.

"So you suspect Wecksas to be the one who sent the blademaster after you? That can't be possible. He wouldn't be able to hire a blademaster with his status, and he must know that there's no salvation for him if he gets found out. The king will not be able to bear that kind of responsibility and Wecksas wouldn't be so reckless. I still maintain the cause to be your promiscuity," said Lorist doubtfully.

Kenmays sighed. "I knew you wouldn't trust my gut feeling."

"Don't worry, you won't have to worry about being assassinated from now on. When we're at the imperial capital, I'll get Reidy to protect you from the shadows. If the blademaster comes again, we'll capture him and find out who sent him."

"Alright. Thanks, Locke."

Arrival at the Imperial Capital

Who would want to kill Kenmays? Lorist dismissed it as a result of the duke's promiscuity, but he couldn't stop thinking about it. Lorist didn't even consider Kenmay's hypothesis. Everyone knew Wecksas was only a bastard. Auguslo had an heir now, so the bastard was worth very little, if anything.

While he was now a count, what little authority he had stemmed from that title, not from his connection to royalty, Auguslo had severed all of that. Wecksas started his guild to keep him busy, in part, because even he got bored of just sitting around in the city. Perhaps he was trying to take advantage of what little connection he had to the imperial bloodline to make money. Lorist had never taken him seriously and it wasn't like the brat could hire a blademaster, he had neither the status nor the funds.

Could the mastermind be Auguslo instead? He was the most likely candidate. It would be the perfect way to break the alliance apart, or at the very least cut of its best way to project and gather further influence within the empire. The alliance was the largest faction in the soon-to-be empire. Even Auguslo had to think six times before doing anything that was against their interests.

Lorist shook his head. He didn't know whether his guess was right or not. He knew Auguslo had the temerity to do something like this, but on the other hand he didn't think he was irrational enough to believe this could work. Besides, sending blademasters to assassinate people was a massive taboo. The risk of it becoming known that the emperor had tried to assassinate his vassals was too great, as was the damage it would do to his reputation. The empire would crumble overnight, all the dukes would declare independence at best, or march on the capital to depose him at worst.

Could someone be fanning the flames to get us to fight amongst ourselves? Maybe the Trade Union? No, couldn't be. They were still licking their stumps where arms used to be. They didn't have the men or energy to spare. Cobleit was even less likely to be this stupid than the emperor.

Lorist rubbed his temples. A headache was coming.

Reidy sat opposite him in the luxurious cabin. The two had been trying to figure out what was going on and how to deal with it since that morning. Nothing had come up yet,

"It can't be the duke. Why'd you even bring him up?" Lorist rebuked, "Fisablen has only three blademasters, including himself. Xanthi and Kristoph are the only other blademaster in his faction. House Fisablen hasn't recruited blademasters for years and they haven't produced one since Fisablen either. They're in the king's camp as well so they wouldn't act without his say so. Not to mention they'd gain nothing from Kenmays' death. The old man isn't dumb enough to offend me by doing something that benefits him none."

Reidy just shrugged his shoulders.

"Your Grace knows I don't like to get stuck on such difficult things. You're the one insisting I sit here with you. It's the king as far as I'm concerned. He's the only one with the funds to recruit blademasters and enough reason to do something like this. Duke Kenmays did mention the blademaster was foreign to him, and he knows all the blademasters in the kingdom. Didn't the king recruit two new blademasters last year? Maybe it's one of them."

Lorist still shook his head again.

"Even less likely. The king won't send his blademasters out to do something like this right after recruiting them. Kenmays is already familiar with the new ones anyway, he's certain its not one of them either."

"It's too weird. I wouldn't have believed Kenmays if not for the wounds on his body. Who would want someone as inconsequential as him dead? Kenmays isn't the only person in House Kenmays either. If he dies, someone else is ready to fill his shoes. The king most certainly wouldn't get anything from it. Maybe there really is a third party behind in all of this."

"No, it's even less likely that this is someone wanting to settle a personal grudge against Kenmays or someone in his family. He is a serial womanizer, but he never forced them and he never took married women. Certainly none of them had strong enough backings to do this, much less strong enough that their family might want to kill Kenmays because it was a humiliation."

Lorist rapped the desk with his fingers.

"And you're wrong about Kenmays being inconsequential. That's probably why someone wants him dead. I'm the strongest noble and my house is the strongest house in the empire, maybe even on the continent. Even the king can't go against us directly. This is prettymuch the only tactic he has if it really is him."

"But we don't need their help anymore. If anything, we're propping them up."

Lorist nodded.

"You're right, but that's only because our dominion is far more developed than theirs and they can't keep up. Do we tear our agreement up for that, though? House Norton is not so disloyal. We have no quarrel with one another and our best strategy for gaining more influence is to work together, especially since the king will do everything he can to undo us. So, if the king wants to deal with us, Duke Kenmays would be the best place to start. Don't underestimate him just because he's a womanizing merchant. He's the economic core of our alliance. Even I didn't think the salt merchant committee would become the centre of our alliance, and he's at its head.

"The salt merchant committee is the largest buyer of our products and our representative in the kingdom's market. The committee is also the backbone of Houses Felim and Shazin's income. Without it their domains would collapse in a year. House Kenmays has bet everything on the committee as well, it's what makes them worth keeping in the alliance, and their continued existence, much less their continued affluence, depends on being in the alliance.

"The better Duke Kenmays manages the committee, the more stable his house is and the longer our alliance will last. If the king is trying to destroy the the alliance, killing Kenmays is the best way to do it. The committee would collapse without him, and with it, the alliance.

"That's why I'm so furious about this. Our enemy, whoever it is, is targetting our weakest link from the get go."

"So Your Grace believes that, if Duke Kenmays isn't with us, Duke Shazin and Duke Felim will abandon us?"

"It's possible, though I can't be sure what will happen. None of it would be good, though… I know what you want to say. You think that, since we are so powerful, we don't have to take our allies seriously, right? You still have much to learn. Every noble must consider their interests first before they think about what would benefit their liege, allies, or kingdom.

"Without Duke Kenmays, the other dukes will have reevaluate whether the alliance is worth maintaining. It's true that we will decrease the pressure from Fisablen, but Felim worries that his house will be made our vassal. He won't allow it. They know how strong we are, but he doesn't want to stop being my equal. If he leaves, he'll switch sides.

"Unfortunately being too strong compared to your allies will make them weary of you rather than trust you more. Felim's lands are in Southern, right next to Winston. That's also where our first line of defense against Fisablen is. If he switches sides, we will be forced to garrison our border with him. It'll drive up our military costs and bog down our men. Our land trade with the Alliance will also be cut off.

"It's good to maintain the alliance. That's why I was willing to keep it for so long. You will go protect him for the time being. Wait in the shadows for the assassin's next attempt, and kill him. If you can, take him alive and find out who's behind this, but he cannot be allowed to get away no matter what."

"Rest assured, Your Grace. Duke Kenmays will not be harmed."

The voyage went smoothly and they arrived in Jillin harbor eleven days later. Lorist, Duke Kenmays, and the others stayed there for a day to wait for the guards from Silowas to arrive. They left the next morning after the men arrived and came ashore.

They arrived on the 4th of the 8th, a day ahead of schedule. Auguslo was quite gracious. He sent Knight Ripleid, general of the royal army, with a thousand ma regiment to escort them to the capital and waited for them by the city gate personally. Most of the kingdom's nobles already present waited in an entourage just inside the gate as well. Lorist had to dismount early and put up a courteous act, it pissed him off quite a bit.

He didn't like being cornered like this, but he had no choice. Auguslo had personally welcomed him. It was the biggest gesture the king could make and it would be unacceptable to not return the gesture in equal measure. He had to enter the city on foot. But it also signalled a submission to the king, an admission that he was a loyal dog and follower. It was made even worse by the fact that the king didn't refer to him using his title, but called him 'Brother Locke' instead. Others would see it as the king not caring about his title at all.

But there was just five days to the ceremony, so this was not the time to fight back. The whole city was decorated and everyone was watching.

Auguslo was happy to see Lorist had brought his family and lent him a grand villa near the palace and hosted a grand banquet to welcome the two dukes that very night.

Terrence-donkey Whip

"We're going for a stroll around town. Want to come along?" asked Sylvia, entering the study.

"Weren't you out the whole day yesterday?" asked Lorist, a book in hand.

"Come on, we only toured the palace with the new queen, stared at memorabilia, saw a few flowers, and played with the queen's pets a bit. That's not going out, it's socializing. It's just like how you men get together to drink.

"We're going to the most famous commercial street in the capital today. I heard they have sales all over to commemorate the ceremony. They even have dresses and accessories imported from Morante. I want to go have a look." Sylvia approached Lorist as she spoke and pulled him up from his chair.

Lorist got up unwillingly and pulled her into his armed, stealing a kiss.

"I'll stay here. I have several appointments today. Go have fun and buy whatever you fancy."

Sylvia stoop on her toes and returned the kiss.

"Alright, we're leaving now, then. Don't worry about us, Xanthi is coming along," said she.

Lorist had merely made an offhand comment for her to be careful, he didn't think she'd go and take that old woman with her. The capital was safe; it would be a slight to Auguslo's honour if something happened to a noble or his family right under his nose, after all. He would not forgive anyone that tried to disturb the ceremony.

Lorist scratched his nose as he watched his wife leave and thought about how women loved going out whether it was on Grindia or in his past life. Even his wife, Duchess of the Northlands got excited after hearing about sales, even if the goods weren't what she needed. She would always boy everything in a sale that caught her eye. In that moment it was about buying, she could figure out what to do with the stuff later.

There were five special noble districts outside Ragebear's east district and Lorist intentionally set up one luxury shopping and one entertainment district in the middle to exploit this very characteristic of women. It was the most luxurious area in the entire Northlands. Commoners couldn't go there if they weren't the guest of a noble. Even the staff were of the higher non-peer classes.

Lorist didn't expect his five women would become the district's most frequent customers. Almost their entire monthly allowances went into buying 'discounted' goods there. They even bought Norton products rather than just asking Lorist for them. They were definitely spending for spending's sake -- they never even touched most of what they bought.

Lorist once spoke with Kenmays about letting the maids dress more evocatively. Lorist came up with the trendy back-revealing design so popular among celebrities in his previous life. Kenmays made off with it like it was a treasure, but instead of making uniforms for his maids, he made a new line of dresses and sold them to nobles.

Sylvia and her sisters found out about it through their extensive social network the moment the dresses hit the shelves and nearly trampled someone under their carriage as they rushed to get the prettiest of the dresses. Sylvia got several dresses which she loved to bits, but when she tried them on in her room, she realised she could never wear these in front of anyone else. They were incredibly alluring, but she, as a duchess, had to be elegant, majestic, classy, not alluring. She was married, after all, what business had she wearing dresses designed to seduce men? In the end she gave her dresses to Fennazali. Her figure could make the most use of the dresses and she, being a concubine, was expected to dress seductively, her only purpose in life was to amuse and arouse her lover.

Dilianna, Fennazali, Daisy, and Maria however, also felt the dresses weren't fit for them once they got back to the castle. They may be concubines, but they weren't just any concubines, oh no, they were a duke, nay, a swordsaint's concubines. How could they dress as skimpily as other concubines did? They, being a swordsaint's concubines, were equal to the wives of other nobles, you know. They had to dress with accordant grace and elegance. They gave their dresses to Sylvia instead. If the head wife dressed like that, then they would only be following her lead and could not be criticised. They would just buy a new set for themselves later.

Sylvia had given one away and gotten four in return… They had each bought the dress separately from the others, so they only realised they'd all bought the same dresses after giving them to one another. Lorist couldn't stop laughing about it for two weeks. He couldn't argue, however, that the dresses were inappropriate for nobles of their standing. He suggested that they, instead, reserve the dresses for their nightly appointments with him.

Back in the present. Lorist wanted to avoid going anywhere in public with his women and children together at all costs. The last time had traumatized him more than that unrequested trip to the barbarians in the mountains all those years ago. He would rather fight someone even stronger than a swordsaint than go through that again.

Lorist didn't know where women got the energy to haggle for hours over a few coppers when they had a bag full of gold around their waist. The women, however, beamed more at winning a few coppers in a haggle than during the heights of their times with Lorist.

Sylvia, usually so concerned with appearing elegant and graceful, would hop around like a little girl, puffing out her cheeks and pouting so much Lorist could swear her lips would never return to normal, when she was having a particularly tough haggle.

Jinolio dashed in later that morning to find Lorist still stuck in his reverie.

"Your Grace, Sir Loze is back. He's a blademaster now!"

"Let him in, quick!" Lorist said, jumping from his seat.

Loze had disappeared two years earlier and left Tigersoar without a commander. The only trace of him was a letter he left on his desk in his office saying he was cultivating somewhere isolated and would return after making good progress. Now, two years later, the man had returned a blademaster.

Loze marched into the study proudly.

"I'm back, Your

He dropped a large bundle of bamboo containers. Lorist stared at the containers, trying to remember where he had seen them before. Why would Loze bring them into his study? Why not leave them outside? He couldn't find the answer and dropped the thought after a few moments.

"It's great you're back. Where did you disappear to? We couldn't find you these whole two years. We were really worried."

"Hehe… I was at the Relic Islands," Loze chuckled, "The magic beasts there are fierce and maniacal, just right for my training. Oh, I brought Your Grace a gift."

Lorist immediately knew what was in the containers. His expression turned a little awkward. Terrance-donkey Whip, the world's strongest aphrodisiac. Back when he was still an iron-ranked instructor at Dawn Academy, he had signed a few unreasonable agreements with Levins to be allowed to go to the Relic Islands to train.

Per Els's request, he returned with two Terrence-donkey Whips -- the genitals of those poor animals. Els cut them into slices and jarred them for a little business, but the venture didn't last long. A merchant guild that specialized in the product clamped down on it the moment the first batch was sold.

"Bastard, do I look like someone who needs that sort of thing?" Lorist barked, "But... since it's your gift, I'll force myself to accept it. Jinolio, put them away somewhere safe."

Loze glared at Lorist.

"Your skin is getting thicker by the day, as you sure you don't have a skin illness? Maybe it's malgrowth! I should call a doctor for an exfoliation treatment… I didn't say I was going to give everything to you either. It took me two years to get eleven sets, I'll give you three at most. Potterfang and Malek each have one reserved, and Dulles and Messen get a half each. The rest are for me. I didn't even tell Patt what these were when he asked. What if he wants some as well?"

Lorist's face turned red again.

"Why would you need so many? We'll split half between the two of us!"

"No. Your Grace gets three at most. Just cut the slices extra thin if you want more of it. You'll have enough for three years even if you use two portions a day! Didn't you say you didn't need any in the first place?"

"Fine."

Lorist didn't want to make too big of a fuss. His manhood didn't need others finding out about him using such things. Rumours of his dependence on such things would be even worse for him than being labelled a kingslayer.

"If you hadn't broken through, I would've thought you went there just to get these. I'm sure it wasn't easy getting so many," Lorist quickly changed the subject.

"Of course. Nobody can imagine how agile these beasts are. The slightest movement will send them scattering like bolts of lightning. Catching them is too difficult, to say nothing of hunting them. The 11 I got were wild as well. They work far better than bred ones. Hunting Terrence-Donkeys is the best kind of training, not least for the material rewards."

Terrence-donkey Whip was the concentration of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of sunjoy grass leaves. Terrence-donkeys loved to eat the grass and its meagre effects gathered in their whips over the years.

Loze happily rambled on about his heroic exploits for several hours. Lorist was forced to step in to silence him and get back on track. Loze then explained he had come to the capital after returning to Hidegold Bay to see Howard, who told him Lorist was in the capital for the king's ascension.

"I wanted to give him one since he's staying with his wife now, but he wouldn't take it. He kept saying his young and has more than enough energy for his wife. He'll regret it in a few years," complained Loze.

"Alright, enough," said Lorist exasperatedly, "I'm sure Malek and Potterfang will be really grateful. You should spar with Potterfang when you get back home. You're good at attacking while he's good at defending, it'll be good practice for you two. You should be able to suppress him as much as you can. He won't be happy with being at a disadvantage against you so it should pressure him into making his breakthrough."

Loze nodded seriously.

Kenmays stepped into the room at that moment. He was both Lorist's equal in title, his close friend, and his neighbour for the time being, so he could come and go as he pleased. He didn't see the bamboo containers and tripped over them, luckily none broke.

"What are these?" asked he.

"Terrence-donkey Whips. They're mine," snapped Loze as he quickly grabbed hold of them.

He had sensed the silver rank coming from a distance away, so he didn't even bother to look at him. Silver ranks were nothing in his eyes.

Kenmays's eyes brightened immediately.

"Dear Loze, it's wonderful to see you again. So, how much for a whip?"

"Not for sale."

Lorist shrugged at Kenmays, who shot him a hopeful glance. Loze had offered even his liege on three, how would he give some other noble any? Lorist happily picked up his three and handed them to Jinolio, whom he quickly shooed away before Kenmays had a chance to pester him for one.

He must need something even if not money... thought Kenmays.

He pulled the man to a corner and whispered something to him. Loze beamed happily and pushed a container into Kenmays's hands.

"Sheesh, we're friends, brothers even! No need for money! Take it as a gift!"

Lorist watched Kenmays unhappily.

Don't think I didn't hear you just because you were whispering in the corner.

Kenmays had promised to get Loze the most beautiful little flower buds amongst the lesser nobles to keep him company while he was in the capital. He made them out as open-minded and willing to do anything exciting. Loze immediately declared the duke his brother and gave him a whip.

"Did you come here for poppy-talk, or do you have an actual reason to come see me?" grimaced Lorist.

"Yes, yes, about that. I want you to come and check out the committee's new branch office."