CH-03 : The Overlord Of Golden Sunfield [1]

Cloud Sun Empire, Southern Twilight Plains, Domain of Golden Sunfield, Duchy of Bradford, Bradford Noble Mansion.

It was a normal day in the Household of Lord Duke.

Aside from the arrival of some important guests from the distant south-eastern Domain of Silver Moon, nothing significant was going on today in the House.

However, there were several undercurrents ongoing as in the previous week, the Lord Duke had made a public statement to the people of his domain.

The Duchy of Bradford, as it was called known to people, lording over the fertile golden lands of the southern Twilight Plains, yielded massive amounts of food products every year, was able to stand out among the several other Duchies as one of the most prestigious and populated domain in the entirety of the Cloud Sun.

Having been supported by the Imperial Family of the Cloud Sun, the Noble House of Bradford founded themselves firmly over these fertile lands nearly fifty-five years ago and from then, almost no other Noble Families or other powerful Duchies were able to shake their might.

Harvesting large amounts of grains every year, producing massive amounts of food-related products, and stockpiling the surplus food as reserve enabled the House of Bradford to become one of the dominant forces in the southwest in the quickest possible time. 

It wasn't that no one schemed against them, or tried to extinguish the Bradfords to take over this profitable region, many tried yet none succeeded, even for once.

The predecessors of this Noble Family once supported the Imperial Cloud Sun Family to stand against the group of the fanatical people who wished to hold powers in their hands and destroy the Imperial authority. After their defeat, the Imperial Family backed the Bradfords firmly, without taking back a step against other forces who stood against them during then.

With their vision, military power, and backing of the Imperial Family, the Bradfords didn't shrink back and stood firmly against other powerful Noble Houses at that time. Several small-scale skirmishes and even two small to medium-scale wars broke down between these forces within ten years. Even with the Imperial support, the Bradfords paid a lot to ensure their victory. However, their rule over this dominion became final as they thoroughly wiped out their enemies in the war, without giving them or any people related to them to come back for further chaos.

As the rule of the House of Bradford solidified over these lands, they finally started to use the fertile lands of the southwest region strategically, producing large amounts of food, thus elevating the downcast situation of the commoners of the domain as well as they started to stockpile surplus food as strategic reserve, to use it for future wars and expansion of their power.

And now, one can easily say by looking over that part of the history, that the Bradfords didn't fail and succeed. Nearly thirty years ago, after waging several wars for conquest, expansion, and solidification of power, the House of Bradford was able to completely unify the southwestern domain of the Cloud Sun, the Domain of Golden Sunfield. And today, the House of Bradford stands as the undisputed Overlord of the southwest, deterring other powerhouses from openly reveling in their hideous thoughts.

But even then, not everything went on as the people holding the powers in their hands wanted. For the last six to seven months, several minor Nobles opposed some decisions made by Lord Bradford, unyielding in their refusal. Whether it was to increase the amount of food-stock production or submit upto 20% of their yielded crops to their Overlord during any kind of future expedition and military preparations, these small Nobles firmly stood against the Lord Duke of Southwest. 

No one knew from where these people even got their courage to stand up against their Regional Overlord, who wielded more than enough power, both financially and military to thoroughly crush them. Even when they were also aware of their shortcomings, they didn't yield to pressure and step back.

To combat the Lord Duke's preemptive retaliation against them, they even formed an Alliance between themselves. Although small, when nearly eleven minor Noble families, holding prestigious ranks of Baron, Viscount, and even Marquis stood shoulder to shoulder against him, Lord Duke had no other choice but to reconsider the threat brewing in his dominion.

The presence of the Marquis of Crystal Valley in such an Alliance had already become something that the Lord Duke couldn't afford to overlook. Despite having a formal stable relationship, the Crystal Marquis stood firm in his decision to stand against the House of Bradford, leading the other minor Noble Houses in a rally against them. Even though some people had considered that Crystal Marquis had become ambitious in challenging the rules of the Bradfords, the House of Bradford showed restraint. Neither did the Lord of Bradford launch any retaliatory measure, nor did they suppress this newly formed Alliance of the minor Nobles through sheer military might. Instead, the Lord Duke himself engaged them in open dialogues, to sort out the misunderstandings between them. 

Even though the Lord Duke decided not to reveal his fangs to these people, who were his subordinates and were quite necessary to maintain law and order throughout the realm, fate had something else planned for him.

The Crystal Marquis, clearly emboldened by his ravenous intentions and aided by the supporters hidden in the dark launched several attacks on various fronts of the regions directly controlled by the House of Bradford. And quite surprisingly, they were able to damage the Bradfords significantly by taking down five of their powerhouses in rapid succession, plunging the outer domains of the House of Bradford into a crisis.

The Lord Duke, who was caught with surprise, clearly hadn't expected the sudden rise of the Crystal Marquis's strength, nor the reason for such ferocity, even before the dispute between them turned into a full-blown war. Even with all of his Intelligence Departments, he had failed to gather any clue behind the sudden rise of the Marquis.

But even then, the House of Bradford wasn't an easy mount to be ridden by anyone. They had the power, and sufficient strength to suppress the whole domain and also the firm support of the Imperial Cloud Sun Family. By relying on their strengths, Lord Duke declared a lightning fast strike against the Crystal Marquis, where his powerhouses rapidly converged on the Marquis's territory and destroyed each sign of resistance with sheer brutality. 

Faced with the Lord Duke's unyielding brutality and sheer suppression, the Crystal Marquis struggled vehemently. But even with that, the House of Bradford didn't relent, as it was always in their practice to completely wipe out their enemies to destroy any chance of their chaotic return in the future. The current Lord of the House followed this tradition from his predecessors wholeheartedly, rapidly destroying everything that belonged to his enemy. 

And the outcome was clear as day!

After several skirmishes and a small-scale war that continued over two months, the Crystal Marquis's forces crumbled. The House of Bradford didn't stop there and maintained their advancement to the heartland of the Marquis's territory. The Marquis was killed, his entire family and relatives were imprisoned, their Noble Household was destroyed, and everything that was of value was looted thoroughly as the spoils of war. 

Even though wars weren't rare in the Cloud Sun, such rapid deployment, destruction, and the efficient end of a war that completely destroyed such a powerful Noble House in the Empire was indeed something.

Many observant people had already seen the consecutive breakthrough in cultivation realms of the powerhouses that belonged to the House of Bradford during the war, thus clearly surpassing and suppressing their enemies in an overwhelming manner.

And now, they had won and taken over everything that once belonged to their enemy.

The Lord's strength surged, clearly suppressing everyone with a palm under the Imperial Sky.

Many people, who had previously thought of following the Crystal Marquis into a rebellion against the House of Bradford, quickly abandoned their ideas and started to disperse in the wilds, rather than to be caught by the forces of Lord Duke and tortured to death.

However, these people weren't so lucky after all. The current Lord Duke knew very well that he couldn't let his enemies leave his dominion so that they could make a comeback in the future with a greater force, which they would surely do. Thus, just after ending the war with Crystal Marquis, the Lord Duke declared war on all those who supported the Marquis into a rebellion against him and the Imperial Family in the last week, thus creating a rather intense atmosphere in the whole Golden Sunfield Domain. 

Throughout this week, the Lord's house dispatched several powerhouses, out of which most of them belonged to the House of Bradford, whereas some other powerhouses came from the Capital of the Cloud Sun, to completely purge the rebellious ideas of these minor Noble households. 

The other ten minor Noble households of Barons and Viscounts, who initially supported the Marquis in a rebellion and formed an Alliance with his house, became the priority target of these deployed powerhouses. Even though these households were damaged along with the Marquis's force in the previous war of annihilation, they still retained a sufficient amount of strength. And, the Lord Duke, who was already aware of this matter, didn't hesitate to launch a purging campaign against them.

The purging went on over the week, and today, when the Lord Duke was meeting the dignitaries who came from the Silver Moon Domain, reportedly another powerful dominion-level force of the Empire, he was visibly shocked to learn from a messenger that his youngest son, the man who had a bright future in the Cloud Sun, now lay dead somewhere in the distant north-eastern Dark Forest.