Baron Miranda
At the harbor, the family's soldiers detained all the sailors who manned Sloph's ships and brought the captain and the three vice captains back to the bastide for vetting.
Sloph and Blademaster Pike's heads were impaled on stakes and held up high in the air. Lorist displayed their heads at the town for three whole days to let the townsfolk know who's currently in charge. If the same situation where Charade was denied access to weapons and other provisions were to come again, Lorist didn't mind punishing a few of the townsfolk in case his message wasn't clear enough.
Sloph's henchmen had carried down three large chests and one small one from the ship before they died. The first large chest stored various goods such as tea leaves and macks. In the second one was Blademaster Pike and Sloph's personal belongings. The third large chest contained cosmetics and clothes for women. It was apparent that Sloph was rather fond of his concubines and often spoiled them with gifts. Too bad he wasn't alive to see that the women had already been distributed among the senior students of the academy back at the bastide.
Lorist opened the small chest and found around 10000 gold Fordes within and thought, Charade would definitely be delighted to see this.
After that, Potterfang and Loze got off the ship and said to Lorist, "Milord, the rest of the stuff on the ship is mostly food, mainly rye flour and bran, that is probably meant for the slaves. There are also a few piles of rough linen and a couple of spears and armor."
"Alright, transport all these stuff to the bastide. Loze, have a pike infantry company stationed here to watch these ships," said Lorist.
"Yes, milord." Potterfang and Loze saluted and left.
Dulles rode over on a horse and dismounted. He appeared quite downcast as his carroballista unit didn't get to show off their might. Lorist had originally planned for them to fire at the Blademaster along with the crossbowmen company if his javelins weren't having any effect on him. It was a 'shame' that the Blademaster couldn't last until that moment.
"Come on, don't look so down. Get these chests onto your carroballistas. One of them contains stuff for women. Go pick some stuff from it to gift to your maidservants. I'm sure they'll return the favor graciously during the night," teased Lorist.
Suddenly, a cavalry scout could be seen riding quickly into the plaza. Stopping in front of Lorist, he said, "Milord, there's an armed group heading towards the Sloph Bastide. Sir Yuriy believes that they're the forces of the local dominion lord. They number around 1500 to 2000 people, with most being civilian farmers and a few knights. Sir Yuriy asks if he should attack them. Currently, the light cavalry scout unit is only observing from afar."
"Tell Knight Yuriy not to be reckless and send someone over to communicate with them. If the other party is hostile, use hit-and-run tactics and try to keep the casualties low. If they're not here for a fight, tell their commander that I'll meet up with him and explain the situation right away," said Lorist to the scout.
"Yes, milord." The scout quickly left the way it came.
Scratching his chin, Lorist was thinking that the dominion lord's reaction to this situation was a little too slow. He had already wiped out the slavers and occupied the bastide for eight whole days. And during the last two days, he had also enforced a curfew on the citizens at the town to make sure that no word of his ambush spreads out. In normal circumstances, the dominion lord should be aware of a situation right away. However, not one of their scouts could be seen during the past few days at the bastide until after he sealed up Armatrin Harbor. The lord probably assembled an army to come inspect the situation as the harbor was probably pivotal to the dominion's economy.
"Patt, put those two heads into boxes and pack them up nicely. We're going to give the local lord a gift," instructed Lorist.
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Lorist quickly arrived at a small hill, guided by Yuriy and his scouts, who then took got into formation and lined up neatly.
"Milord, look. If we charge over from here, I'm sure those people would definitely turn into shambles right away. They're just farmers, not true soldiers," said Yuriy, full of confidence in his own unit.
At a hill in the distance, groups of farmers with pitchforks and woodcutting axes as weapons loitered around in a disorderly manner. Yuriy must have already sent someone to inform them that they were not the forces of the slave traders but rather the personal armed forces of another baron. That was why they looked so relaxed and didn't bother to get into formation. Some even sat down to rest and and chat with the others around them.
On the top of the hill were a group of armored knights who looked straight in Lorist's direction. Behind them was a flag that depicted a small white flower. Lorist didn't recognize the family from the insignia, however.
"So, tell me. What comes after you beat them into shambles? You want to cause trouble with the rest of the nobles around here and prompt them to form an alliance against us? Here in foreign lands, we have no one else to rely on. From an ethical and legal standpoint, we are in the wrong as this is not our home dominion," said Lorist.
"Ugh..." Yuriy stopped talking right away. He merely felt the unbearable urge to attack the disorganized farmers without thinking too much about the implications.
"Patt, bring the family flag with us. Reidy, carry the boxes with you. We're going over there for a bit," said Lorit as he got on his horse and wanted to leave right away.
Yuriy pulled on the reins of Lorist's horse and said, "Milord, wouldn't it be dangerous for you to go personally with so few people…"
"I'm fine. We will appear more sincere and less hostile with lesser people. And don't forget to look to your back. Potterfang's heavy-armored battalion is almost here and Terman's knight brigade is already stationed there. The crossbowman company as well as Dulles's carroballista unit is also on the way. Trust me, they wouldn't dare try to mess with the likes of us," said Lorist as he pointed to the back. Yuriy turned his head to look and saw Terman's knights arriving at the foot of the hill.
"Then, may your departure be swift and safe," said Yuriy as he let the reins go. Lorist then led Patt and Reidy to the opposite hill in the distance.
When they reached the foot of the hill, Lorist dismounted and handed the reins of his horse to Reidy and paced towards the group of people clad in extravagant-looking armor quickly. Patt followed behind on his horse while carrying the battle standard of the Nortons with Reidy at the back with Lorist's horse.
"May I know which one of you is the dominion lord?" said Lorist to the group of armored men.
"I am Baron Miranda, Lord of Armatrin Harbor. May I know who you are?" said a fully-armored man at the front of the others as he removed his helmet to reveal his exhausted looking, middle-aged face.
"I am here to pay my due respect, Lord Baron. I am Norton Lorist of the Northlands," said Lorist as he bowed and saluted the baron.
"Norton? I think I've heard that name somewhere before..." said the baron as he stared hard at the battle standard with the symbol of a raging bear that Patt was carrying.
"Oh, I remember now. The Roaring Raging Bear of the Northlands. The Nortons are a nobles who have been entitled by the emperor because of military merit. I'm curious as to why someone from so far in the north would be here in my dominion and even seal off my harbor?" asked Baron Miranda as he stared hard at Lorist.
Lorist shrugged and said, "Lord Baron, my army is just here to escort me back to my homeland to inherit the position of the family head. I myself didn't expect that they would get attacked by hostile forces within your dominion who intended to capture them and sell them off as slaves."
Baron Miranda's expression darkened as he cursed, "That damned slaver group…"
"However, they didn't know that we were actually an army and we wiped them out entirely after our reinforcements arrived and occupied their main camp. I think it was called, um, Sloph Bastide or something… As for sealing off the harbor, Lord Baron, I deeply apologize for that as we had no choice and had to ensure that we remove the enemy entirely. Reidy, bring me the box."
Lorist opened the box and showed the two heads to the baron. "Lord Baron, these are the heads of the leaders of the enemy who dared to provoke us, Sloph and Blademaster Pike. We neutralized them at the harbor just one hour ago."
"What? You managed to kill Sloph and Blademaster Pike?" said Baron Miranda, shocked. He then revealed an ecstatic expression and asked, "Is that for real?"
The baron's men also started chattering out loud and gathered to look at the heads within the box.
"The heads are right here. You��re free to check them as you please, Lord Baron."
Baron Miranda personally dismounted and took the box from Reidy without even bothering to ask his subordinates to do it.
"Hahaha, it really is Pike and Sloph. These damned bastards, I didn't expect that they would ever end up like this." Baron Miranda was so elated that he started laughing out loud and lost all composure. It seemed that the rumors and reports that he received about the death of Sloph was true after all.
At that moment, the baron's men started a commotion again, as on the opposite hill, rows and rows of heavy-armored soldiers, crossbowmen, knights and carroballistas could be seen. The look on Baron Miranda's face instantly changed as he asked, "Is that your army?"
"That is right, Lord Baron," replied Lorist.
"Your army looks like it can even rival that of a kingdom! Why would the slavers even dare to attack you in the first place?" No sane person would dare to challenge an army such as that and expect to escape unscathed. Baron Miranda suspected that Lorist was merely using the slavers as an excuse to pillage the bastide.
"Lord Baron, when we first arrived at your dominion, we didn't intend to cause any trouble and wanted to keep a low profile. That is why I ordered my forces to disarm and not bring any of their equipment over. But, that made the slavers think that we were another slave trading group and demanded that we give them half of the people we had. We tried to explain who we really were but they didn't believe it and even sent people to attack us. I had no choice but to give the order to exterminate them. You can go ask the citizens of the town. We were truly unarmed when we first docked at the harbor."
After listening to the explanation, Baron Miranda understood that there was no way that Lorist could be lying as the truth could easily be discerned by asking the townsfolk. It would seem that the slavers truly did look for trouble themselves this time and ended up being completely eradicated.
Looking at the heads in the boxes again, Baron Miranda revealed a smile and waved for two of his knights behind him and told them to ransack seven or eight different shops that he listed.
"These shops are all owned by Sloph's relatives. The lot of them completely monopolized the whole market at the harbor to the point that I, the dominion lord, couldn't collect even a single copper of tax from the sales they make, causing me to be unable to develop the harbor at all," explained Baron Miranda.
Lorist nodded and thought that this baron did indeed have a knack for business and management. He called Reidy to accompany the two knights to the town so that their pike infantry company don't attack them by mistake.
"You said that you already took over the Sloph Bastide?" asked Baron Miranda.
Lorist smiled and understood what the baron was getting at. "That's right,, Lord Baron. Please rest assured as I will be staying here for another month at most. As there are many family members of the soldiers in my army, it would take quite a bit of time for us to prepare before we can leave. We should be leaving for the north during the new year and will hand over the management of the bastide to you."
The baron's face reddened with embarrassment as according to the traditions and customs of nobles, the bastide rightfully belonged to Lorist as he was the one who had occupied it and he had no obligation to return it to the local lord. Normally, if the lord wanted to reclaim the place, he would have to pay a sum of gold in return. However, Lorist was prepared to give it back unconditionally and only asked to be given a month's time. This made Baron Miranda feel a little bad for gaining Lorist's favor without paying any remuneration.
"How about this? Let me pay for all the resources and expenses you would incur during your stay at the bastide. I will definitely fulfill my responsibilities as the Armatrin Harbor's lord," said Baron Miranda.
"Thank you for your consideration," said Lorist gratefully. "If you have the time, why don't you come over to visit the bastide and let me offer you some hospitality while I'm here?" he offered.
Baron Miranda eyed the rows of soldiers on the opposite side and looked back at his subordinates before nodding and saying, "Alright, Your Excellency. Let me disband my men before I go to visit you at the bastide."
As Lorist had yet to officially succeed the title and position of the family head, he couldn't be addressed as 'Lord Baron', so Baron Miranda could only refer to him respectfully as 'Your Excellency'. But it wasn't undeserved given the amount of soldiers Lorist commanded.
Lorist saluted respectfully once more and said, "Then I will await your arrival at the bastide."
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Baron Miranda only brought five knights and fifty other members of his personal guard during his visit to the bastide.
On that day, Lorist organized a grand banquet to receive the baron and his four knights and introduced his own knights to them as well, causing Baron Miranda to be envious of the talent Lorist had under his wing. However, he noticed that Lorist's servants behaved quite oddly, specifically, their mannerisms. Lorist laughed bitterly and said that the servants were actually family members of many of his subordinates who only worked for the sake of the banquet. He mentioned that he didn't feel comfortable with handing the task to the servants of the bastide just in case something goes wrong and has detained them along with the other family members of the slavers. He said that he would leave their judgment and treatment to the baron.
Baron Miranda was glad at that proposal and said that he would send some of his own servants over to help out within the bastide for the time being. Lorist also handed the family members of the slavers to his disposal. Whether he sold them or used them, the baron would profit either way.
When the banquet ended, Baron Miranda asked Lorist a question. Given that only three of Lorist's subordinates were Gold ranks, how did he manage to take care of Blademaster Pike? He mentioned that if Sloph didn't have the Blademaster backing him up, he would have taken the slavers out long ago as a lord like him couldn't let some other power call the shots within his own dominion.
Lorist thought for a bit before he took a silver cup and placed it into a small basin. "If one fights against a Blademaster in close combat, one would be like the cup inside this basin and would find it hard to escape the control of the basin. The method I used to counteract that is much easier."
He put the basin back on the table and tossed the silver cup towards it. With a clang, the basin shattered into many pieces.
"It's just that simple," said Lorist. He credited the death of the Blademaster to his crossbowman company. "Even if someone is a Blademaster, when faced with a fully-equipped and properly trained army, he wouldn't even stand a chance."
Baron Miranda nodded incessantly with a look of understanding on his face.
Various Preparations for the Journey
Lorist really required the help of Baron Miranda as without his permission, no matter how strong his army or how wealthy he was, he wouldn't be able to gain the support he needed from Armatrin Harbor in terms of human and material resources and that would have a huge effect on restarting the journey north with so many new people in their convoy.
Lorist, Charade and his other knights have carried out various discussions and came to the conclusion that the largest tribulation for the northbound journey was the 1000 km route they had to take through the Redlis Kingdom. If Lorist only crossed the kingdom with ten or so people, that wouldn't pose much of a problem. However, he now had 6000 plus people in his convoy as well as a huge amount of precious resources.
The Redlis Kingdom was founded by the former First Prince of the Krissen Empire. During the days when the empire still existed, the First Prince had already been known to be a violent, untrustworthy and avaricious person who has had his right to succeed the imperial throne revoked by the emperor himself and was relegated to the Bodolger Province which was very distant from the imperial capital. However, that seemed to work in the First Prince's favor as he quickly managed to gain control of the military forces of the province and plundered the citizens of their wealth in the masses to form his own personal army. Sometimes he even had his soldiers masquerade as bandits to rob traveling merchants, making him the prime suspect for the demise of the Norton Family's merchant convoy.
When the emperor passed away, the FIrst Prince was also the first one to fly the flag of rebellion and effectively plunged the empire into chaos and civil war. Currently, only one year and a half after the peace treaty was signed, the First Prince started to look for an excuse to start another conflict with the Forund Duchy as that used to be one of the wealthiest provinces during its days under imperial rule. Fortunately, the various powers in the central part of the former empire's territory, the Farkel Duchy, the Handra Duchy, the Forund Duchy and the Shabaj Duchy were aware of the First Prince's intentions and have since formed a military alliance to resist the Redlis Kingdom's invasion. Various skirmishes were already going on at the mid-southern area of the border between the four duchies and the Redlis Kingdom.
What Lorist and his knights were worried about was now that they were at Armatrin Harbor, which was a territory of the Lormo Duchy, they would have to enter the border of the Redlis Kingdom to be able to reach the Northlands. Given the amount of people and resources the convoy had, there was little doubt that they would become a target for the First Prince. Though, the First Prince didn't have it easy either as after he had plundered his own territory clean, bandits groups have mushroomed in response to the hard times the citizens were experiencing.
Additionally, with the incessant conflict between the Redlis Kingdom and the four duchies and the frequent plundering of the duchies' citizens by the First Prince's forces, not one of them did not hate the First Prince to the bone. That was why even if the First Prince were to retreat back into his own territory, the allied army wouldn't let him off that easily and would fight their way beyond the Redlis Kingdom's borders. There were even rumors that the First Prince was relying on loans to keep his army operational so that the front lines do not crumble.
Charade believed that if they were to take the main highway to the north, no matter how strong their army, they would no doubt be targeted by the First Prince's forces. Given that the First Prince had a grudge against the Nortons, he would probably want to use that opportunity to wipe the northbound convoy out and also take all the resources they had.
Potterfang and Charade both suggested that the convoy take a roundabout route to the northwest that was 150 km longer than the main route and pass through various other dominions of other noble families. The reason for that was because they would easily be able to suppress the various smaller nobles and force their way through with military might if necessary. The dominions were also plagued with bandits and that would serve as decent training for their soldiers as well as earn the favor of the nobles.
Potterfang also said that if they wanted to escape the fangs of the Redlis Kingdom, they would have to travel at a rate of 25 to 30 kilometers per day. That way, even if the First Prince were to receive word of their presence, his soldiers wouldn't be able to catch up to the convoy.
"If we manage to occupy this place, then we will no longer have anything to worry about," said Potterfang as he pointed to a spot on the map. That place, Benz Citadel, was at the border between the Third Prince's Andinaq Kingdom and the Redlis Kingdom. Potterfang was quite well-informed about that area because he used to participate in battles over there back in the days when he was in the Whitelion Legion. He mentioned that the Whitelion Legion had defeated the First Prince's army before at that place but due to the support in the form of resources the prince had from the Forde Trade Union, they managed to siege the place and wait until the Whitelion Legion ran out of provisions and had no choice but to retreat, causing the crucial citadel on the border to go to the hands of the First Prince.
Potterfang said that ever since that event, both nations couldn't afford to keep fighting and were forced to sign a peace treaty. The Whitelion Legion was subsequently disbanded. As the First Prince wanted to focus his forces on the central area of the former empire's territory, he only left 1000 or so troops to defend the citadel. Potterfang discovered half a year back when he was passing through the area with his two children on the way to Morante City that the security at there was extremely lax. If they could take advantage of that situation and attack the citadel, they will be able to easily conquer the place without sacrificing too many of their soldiers.
Lorist understood Potterfang's intentions: if they manage to conquer the citadel and hand it to the Third Prince, they would be able to gain his favor and will also be able to avoid pursuit from the First Prince's forces and continue their journey to the Northlands without worry.
After deciding on which route to take, the next issue was to think about how they would be able to let the convoy travel at least 25 kilometer each day. It seemed that they had no choice but to rely on carriages. Otherwise, the children and the elderly among the family members of the soldiers wouldn't be able to keep up with the speed. According to Charade's plan, they would group four to five families together and fill up each carriage with around 12 to 13 people each, totalling up to 250 carriages solely for the use of non-combatants. Including the carriages for the main convoy, Charade concluded that they would require at least 600 carriages before they would be able to start the journey.
During the course of their stay at the bastide, Charade utilized the manpower of the non-combatants to the maximum and categorized them according to their various skills to start building their own carriages. However, the most they could build within a month was estimated to be only 200. Including the ones they already had, they would only have 300 by the time they had to leave. The horses required to pull the carriages was also lacking. A four-wheeled carriage required two horses to pull, so 600 of them needed at least 1200. However, even after taking over the bastide, Lorist only had around 600 horses.
Lorist really didn't have much time to spare. He had to return to the Northlands to inherit the position and the title before the 3rd month of the following year. It was already the 11th month right now and he only had three months left to bring the whole convoy across a distance of over 2500 kilometers to reach the Northlands.
Even so, the decision to stay at the Sloph Bastide for another month was inevitable as they needed the extra time to prepare the rest of the carriages they needed before the start of the journey. As long as they manage to go through the Redlis Kingdom, the convoy would be able to proceed onward without any worries and Lorist can leave the convoy and bring a few others with him to go back to the dominion first to make it in time for the succession ceremony.
That was why Lorist really needed the aid of Baron Miranda. As long as the baron agreed to let the citizens within his dominion help out with the construction of the carriages, they would be able to leave on time within a month. Originally, Lorist was still troubled over thinking of a way to convince the baron to help. What he didn't expect was for Baron Miranda to offer aid of his own accord, much to Lorist's delight. The act of giving up the bastide for free as well as the families of the slavers to the baron was probably the main factor for his decision to help out.
During Baron Miranda's stay at the bastide, Lorist announced that he would rename the place into the Miranda Bastide much to the baron's delight. He then pledged that he would aid Lorist however he could and agreed to have his citizens help out with the carriage building and also provide up to 1000 horses for the convoy. Though, the main motivation behind the baron's actions might have been because he wanted the convoy to depart as early as possible so that he can truly take over the bastide.
The baron told Lorist candidly that he intended to make the Miranda Bastide his new home and headquarters of the dominion as its location was strategic and easy to defend, but incredibly hard for people to siege given the advantageous surrounding terrain as well as the defensive fortifications within. Secondly, he believed that his control over the Armatrin Harbor would be strengthened even further and expressed his intention to invest and develop the place further. He said that he could already smell all the coins that would be rolling into his pocket in the near future.
Lorist truly admired the baron's eye for business and thanked him for his kind favor of providing the carriages and horses for free. He presented the three ships that belonged to Sloph to the baron as a gift in return, thus fulfilling the baron's long dream of owning his very own small fleet. In actuality, the price of three hundred carriages as well as a thousand workhorses was about the same price as the barque that Sloph came in. But the nobles usually wouldn't engage in trading that straightforwardly like merchants would because it was considered uncouth. That was why the baron offered what he could for free and Lorist reciprocated by returning the favor.
As promised, three days after Baron Miranda left, he sent his main supervisor and almost a hundred servants to help out at the Miranda Bastide and specifically sent two young and beautiful maidens to serve Lorist personally. The supervisor even told him that the girls had already consumed the Mishla Elixir so he wouldn't have to worry about leaving behind any unintended offspring.
Naturally, Lorist quickly had his knights move out from the central building of the bastide to some of the other vacant houses so that the supervisor could start planning the renovations as that would be Baron Miranda's mansion in the near future.
Baron Miranda was quite impressed at Lorist's ability to read between the lines and thought that if Lorist didn't have to go back to his homeland to inherit the title, he would definitely love to have him as his subordinate.
Probably due to having gained quite a bit from ransacking the shops of Sloph's relatives, the baron also signed a contract with Charade during his stay. The clauses of the contract were as follows: First, Lorist will have to help Baron Miranda train a 720 men personal guard, a 120-strong heavy-armored soldier unit, 240 crossbowmen as well as 360 pikemen within a month.
Second, the personal guard will be assembled within three days and stationed at the former slavers' camp south to Armatrin Harbor and the equipment of which shall be provided by Lorist. The fee for the equipment and training of 20000 gold Fordes will be paid by Baron Miranda.
Third, Lorist will offer the extra weapons the convoy didn't need for sale at 60% of the market price to Baron Miranda.
Fourth, the baron will provide Lorist with 300 cows and 2000 sheep, the fees of which will be deducted from the sum he had to pay to Lorist.
After signing the agreement, the baron left the bastide to collect the funds and conscript people into his personal guard. Lorist and Charade called Els and Terman over and told them to head to Morante City right away to purchase all the worn out equipment from the other academies. Back then, Lorist only bought old equipment from 7 academies but there were a total of 28 academies within Morante City and there was still much profit to be made.
Charade then regretted that he didn't think about this ploy beforehand. If he had started to buy up all the used equipment and refurbished them for sale, he would already earned over 1 million gold coins! The armors that the heavy-armored soldiers only cost up to 10 gold coins each to buy and fix up. If he were to sell them at 40 gold coins each to the baron, he would turn a huge profit and the baron would still be under the impression that he got a good bargain.
Els and Terman then left for Morante City with 50000 gold Fordes to purchase not only the used equipment from the academies but also to order the axles needed for the construction of the carriages. Lorist also had them deliver a letter to request President Peterson to help them up with acquiring the axles.
Currently, the Miranda Bastide was bustling with activity. Lorist finally understood the true difficulties that came with managing a group of over 6000 people. In terms of clothing, Charade already had it covered as he had ordered quite a lot back in Morante City as well as confiscated quite an amount from the bastide's residents. They already had enough for the whole group.
As for food, it mainly concerned dry provisions that they could bring along on the journey. The whole group already consumed more than 5000 kilograms of food every day courtesy of Baron Miranda during their stay, along with quite an amount of treats like fruits, vegetables and meat, causing the supervisor of Baron Miranda to freak out and be forced to import more to curb the shortage.
Given that their needs were provided for by the baron during their stay, the food that they brought over could be saved up for the journey ahead. Charade decided to make black bread with the ingredients they had. Black bread was usually used to feed soldiers and it was different in that it was almost half a meter long and was thicker than Lorist's arm. Upon removing it from the oven, the bread cooled down and hardened quite a bit to a point where Lorist thought that it might even be harder than bricks.
Each black bread can last an adult ten whole days and the way one usually consumed it was different than that of normal bread. Should one attempt to bite it as it is, one's teeth would undoubtedly fall out. There were a few ways one could eat black bread. If there was ample time, it could be roasted over a fire and cut into half for meat to be sandwiched in between. If there wasn't enough time to roast it, the bread could be hammered into powder and cooked with water to make some gruel. It could also be consumed after simply softening it up with water and chewing it slowly before swallowing the clump.
It was relatively easy to prepare black bread. Using a mixture of rye, bran, salt and some optional additions, it only had to be allowed to ferment and baked. Potterfang said that during one food shortage, the Whitelion Legion even mixed sawdust and tree leaves into the mixture. Additionally, the bread wouldn't spoil for at least half a year. Charade planned to have 10000 long black breads made and have each soldier carry two and one for each family member. Lorist even joked that if a soldier's weapon were to break during a battle, he could still use the bread as a mace to hammer the enemy to death.
Other than black bread, Charade also planned to have the 300 cows and 2000 sheep given to them by Baron Miranda to be made into dried meat and jerky. He also ordered a large amount of pickled fruit and vegetables so that the convoy would have some snacks to spice up their meals.
When it came to shelter, there was only one solution. Tents. There was no way a group of 6000 people could stay within inns. Charade had considered the problem of accommodation quite extensively and had decided to allocate one tent for every carriage of people. The camp would then be set up in the center with the carriages forming a wall and surrounding it.
As for transport, they would primarily rely on four-wheeled carriages. However, the journey to the Northlands was unlike normal trips undertaken by normal convoys. Given the risks and dangers, the army that escorted the convoy would further complicate the process as the transportation of equipment, rations as well as the herbalist unit to go around to provide aid would need to be considered.
On the 23rd day of the 12th month, Els and Terman returned on a large ship of the Peterson Merchant Guild to Armatrin Harbor and brought back 700 sets of carriage axles with them. They reported that the President Peterson had his people buy up all the axles for sale in Morante City and even dismantled more than 100 of their own carriages to make up for the demand.
Aside from the axles, they also spent nearly 20000 gold Fordes and emptied eight other academies of their used equipment. They didn't approach every academy, however, as they were worried that they wouldn't have enough time and space to ship all those equipment back.
Els and Terman said that the amount of equipment was truly too much. When Charade asked the baron to fulfill his end of the bargain to purchase the equipment, he was instantly flabbergasted as he realized that all his money could only afford a third of the equipment, and that was already discounted at 60% of the market price.
He could only use 60000 gold coins to purchase a quarter of the equipment. However, he still managed to turn a profit in the end by selling them to the neighboring nobles at a higher price.
That prompted Charade to realize that the number of carriages needed for the convoy would have to grow again to 800 to accommodate the increased baggage of the equipment. Thus, he decided that he would offer the equipment up for sale to the other nobles on the way to the Northlands and use the profit they would earn for the development of the dominion in the future.
Time passed quickly and it was already the new year. All the preparations for the journey had already been completed and the convoy would depart within another three days.
To celebrate the coming of the new year, Lorist announced that he would give every soldier one gold Forde and every one of their family members one large silver. He also decided to organize a large festival, causing everyone of the convoy to cheer with excitement.
It was already getting late into the night and Lorist found it difficult for him to fall asleep. He took a walk outside the yard and looked towards the stars hanging high up in the heavens, subsequently losing himself in his thoughts. Now that the northbound journey is about to begin, I wonder how I will fare as a lord when I finally return to my homeland?
The Journey North Begins
On the 3rd day of the 1st month, Lorist bid farewell to Baron Miranda and began his journey.
The massive convoy used the main road and traveled up to 60 kilometers within that day.
On the 4th day of the 1st month, the convoy traveled another 20 kilometers before noon and left the main road for a forest path detour. Having just crossed a small hill, they arrived at the territory of the nobles of the Redlis Kingdom.
On the third day of the journey, just when the convoy was about to start moving again, Yuriy sent someone over to report that the local dominion lord, a viscount, has led more than 20 knights to the convoy and said that they would attack the convoy should they not leave ten percent of whatever they had as toll.
Lorist merely laughed and asked the scout who made the report, "Did Knight Yuriy tell the viscount that this is the army of the Norton Family and we're only making our way back to our dominion without doing any business on the way?"
The scout replied, "Sir Yuriy has already told the viscount many times, but he refused to listen and stubbornly insisted that we are a smuggling group that is pretending to be a noble family. He even said that if we were going to impersonate nobles, we would be better off if we used a flag from some well-known one and not the flag of the Norton Family, a family that he hasn't heard of before at all."
Loris turned to his back and called out, "Terman, go forward to invite that viscount over. I'll let him know personally what our family is made of."
Without delay, Terman came back with the viscount as his prisoner.
Terman said that when he led the knight brigade on a charge, the viscount's men either turned back to escape or got off their horses to surrender, leaving the viscount himself staring in disbelief as Terman and his knights took all 27 of the viscount's men prisoner.
However, the viscount still retained the proud, unyielding demeanor that was expected from a noble; even though he was taken prisoner, he still held his head up high and cursed, "You actually dare to go against me, the family head of the Mestre Family? Are you looking to start a war with us?!"
However, he also said that if Lorist was willing to reimburse him for his loss and apologize, he would be willing to let the convoy off due since he was a benevolent and forgiving person. "You are to offer a huge tribute to me as an apology and… Ooooh… This maidservant looks pretty decent…" He was referring to Molise who was standing by Charade's side.
Lorist gave a bitter laugh and turned to Potterfang and said, "I suspect this guy doesn't have a brain."
The stuck up and arrogant viscount was instantly strapped onto the hollow rotor on the orders of the enraged Charade. Reidy had him go through more than ten minutes of the excruciating vertigo-inducing experience, after which the viscount was let go. He then answered every single question Lorist's group had with tears and snot all over his face.
It appeared that Viscount Mestre was in the midst of a war with a neighboring baron. Just yesterday night, the viscount and his men had intended to raid a small village nearby but they returned empty handed. As they were on their way back to the castle, however, they saw the northbound convoy and the viscount tried to make up for his loss by demanding for a toll fee to be paid. He also mentioned that his castle and the rest of his forces was only 30 kilometers away at a lake nearby.
Lorist said happily, "Oh, so the viscount has come over to invite us to his castle as guests. Terman, bring this Viscount Mes-thingamajig to his castle and have his men surrender. Otherwise, have him hanged right outside his castle. Also, have Dulles and his carroballista unit accompany you as well. If they refuse to surrender, besiege the castle right away. We're going to lodge there tonight."
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Currently, Viscount Mestre felt extremely cold. Having just opened his eyes and still feeling a little woozy, he thought, that cursed fatty, he actually dared to treat a noble personage such as me in that fashion… When I get back to the castle, I will gather the citizens of my domain and teach them a lesson… Wait, where is this? It seems quite familiar…
The viscount gave his face a pinch and felt much more conscious of his surroundings. He found that he could oddly recognize that place. Finally, he noticed that this was his castle and the room he was in seemed to be his bedroom. But why had his bedroom changed so much?
The viscount propped himself up from the floor and noticed that he was stark naked with not one piece of garment on his body. What is this, thought the viscount as he inspected the piece of cloth that was covering him when he was unconscious. It seemed to be a rough linen bag that was used to store wheat.
Ridiculous! What did they do to me? The viscount cursed and walked quickly towards the empty spot where his bed once was and pulled on the bell rope to summon his maidservant to help him dress up. However, when he pulled on the rope, it merely slipped downward with the other end having fallen on the ground. The rope was disconnected.
Pinching his nose at the smell of the linen sack, he brought it up to his waist and used the rope to fasten it and walked towards the exit barefoot. Looking along the walkway, he couldn't see a single soul. The viscount called out loudly for his servants, but no one answered.
Going over to an adjacent room, he noticed that it was completely empty just like his bedroom without a single article of clothing, furniture or footwear left behind. All that remained was an icy cold wall. He checked the other rooms only to find that the furnishings and decorations that used to be there all but gone.
Wandering around his castle, the viscount noticed that even the torches on the walls were all missing and started fearing for the worst. What in the world happened? Where is everyone else? He then rushed towards the balcony and felt the sunlight warming his skin up before breathing a sigh of relief.
From the balcony, he swept his gaze over the rest of his castle and noticed that it was surprisingly clean, so clean that not even a single carriage, metalware, textile, livestock or person could be seen. The castle was only left with nothing but the stones and wood that it was constructed from.
"Is anyone around? Is there anyone left?" cried out the viscount in despair from the balcony.
"Milord, you're finally awake. That's… that's great." A silhouette could be seen leaning on the castle walls from afar. The viscount narrowed his eyes and thought, isn't that my loyal butler? Why is he half naked with nothing but a sack covering him like me?
The viscount quickly made his way to the yard where his butler was at and was met with the butler's emotional ramblings. "Milord, you're finally awake You have been out cold for two days already!"
The viscount rested his hand on the butler and asked, "Where is everyone? What happened to my castle? I can't see a single thing anywhere!"
"Milord, did you forget? Two days ago, a group of bandits threatened that if we do not surrender and let them in the castle, they would have you hanged. We had no choice but to comply for the sake of your life and surrendered without resistance. The bandits said that they were the army of some Norton Family and complained that you have delayed their journey and also caused them to suffer a blow to their morale. They demanded that we pay them back for their losses. But, milord, you understand too that our family doesn't have much gold coins left. The bandits then consumed all the livestock within the castle and took every single thing within it, not leaving even a single piece of cloth behind and also dismantled all the doors and took it with them," explained the butler.
The viscount was already going crazy with rage. "Then, what about the servants? Why don't I see anyone here?"
"They have all left with the bandits, milord. Before they left, they gathered everyone in the castle and a fatty asked all of us whether we wanted to leave with their group. I refused and they instantly stripped me naked and left me here while the others followed them and left long ago," said the butler.
"Milord, they only left me two sacks after I desperately pleaded. I have only managed to find a porcelain bowl after two days of searching and I just used to cook up some oatmeal. Milord, do you want to have a meal first?"
Having heard that there was food, the viscount suddenly felt the emptiness within his stomach. "Alright, get me some then."
At that moment, sounds of horses galloping could be heard approaching the main gates of the castle. The old butler's face instantly changed as he said, "Milord, this is bad! The Bocchi Family's men have come to attack us!"
"Shut the gates immediately," said the viscount anxiously.
"But, milord, the bandits took away the castle gates as well! During these past two days, I only managed to build a wall of rocks to shut the entrance of the castle…" said the old butler.
"We're finished..." said the viscount as he knelt down in despair.
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Charade wasn't concerned in the slightest about their encounter with Viscount Mestre at all. To him, the viscount was a complete imbecile. He truly wondered how a person like him became a landed noble in the first place. The viscount thought that he could boss anyone around just because he was a noble without even bothering to consider the actual capability of his forces. He even wanted to take my Molise… Good thing we didn't let him off lightly.
At that moment, Charade was standing in front of the castle of the third noble they ran into during their journey. The dominion lord, a baron, was currently haggling over the price of a pile of weapons. When they passed through another noble's territory the day before, Charade sent a messenger to state their intent on doing business with the dominion lord. However, the lord was frightened by the military might of the convoy and had turtled up within his castle, refusing to respond to anything they said. Charade could do naught but give up on the notion of selling their goods to that noble.
Charade had learned his lesson after that and when they passed by the current baron's castle, they only bought three carriages and offered some of the stuff they took from Viscount Mestre's castle as gifts for the him. The reason the things were given away was because it was too much for the convoy to bring along on the journey.
Seeing the gifts dangling before his face, the baron appeared on the walls of his castle and asked Charade of his intentions.
Charade made a knight salute and stated that he came to represent the Norton Family's convoy and asked whether the baron would be able to offer their group with some provisions in exchange for some weapons and equipment.
Upon hearing about weapons, the baron quickly got out of his castle to take a look and picked 100 pikes, 20 chain mails, 20 round shields, 20 two-handed greatswords as well as 3 full sets of knight armor. All the items totaled up to around 500 gold Fordes, but since the baron did not have that much money at hand, he decided to offer some other resources he had for trade.
In the end. the baron spent 100 gold coins and ten carriages with two horses for each all filled up with wheat as well as 5 cows with another 50 pigs to be exchanged for the weapons. To commemorate his first sale, Charade offered the items at 80% of the original price and even treated the baron to a bottle of wine produced by Sloph's vineyard.
The baron was quite happy at having been treated to some fine wine and kindly advised that once the convoy leaves the mountain range, the convoy would no longer be in his dominion and warned for them to be on their guard as that area was rife with bandit activity. He also told them to be wary of attacks from Count Cobry's army.
Charade hastily thanked the baron for his advice and invited the baron over to the convoy's campsite near the mountain range for a banquet.
The baron thought it over and said that he would attend it and hoped that his presence would not cause too much trouble for the convoy.
Charade quickly responded that having the baron over to join them for the night was an honor and said that he would go back quickly to prepare for the banquet that night.
In the evening, the baron came over with his eldest son, a Three Star Silver Knight, and four other attendants. Upon entering the campsite, the baron expressed his wonder and praise at the Norton Family's military might.
Charade, who was seated at a table that they had took from Viscount Mestre's castle, introduced Lorist and the family knights to the baron. The baron was called Charles and his son's name was Soria. After that, they all started eating and chatting merrily.
Charade said that the main reason he invited Baron Charles over was to get an understanding of the situation of the areas where the convoy would be passing through. The baron and his son thus started telling the group everything they knew.
According to Baron Charles, the mountains where the convoy had set up camp at was the border between his and Viscount Debonar's territory. However, not only was Viscount Debonar dead, the neighboring Baron Anlar, Count Bajri as well as Baron Omador also suffered the same fate. That was to say, Lorist's convoy would be passing through lands that were currently without rulers. He said that there would not be any place where Lorist can resupply as the cities and villages there had all been raided to ruin.
And the cause of it all was Count Cobry's private army. It was said that in his younger days, the count was a morally bereft knight who was also a serial womanizer whose favorite pastime was to travel around within his dominion to force the women he fancied into bed with him. No matter whether they were in their teens or their late forties, he didn't let even one of them out of his grasp, thus causing the women in his dominion to stay cooped up within their homes or leave it altogether.
Due to his lifestyle, the count had over 60 illegitimate children. Though, he didn't mind that fact at all and adopted all of them, thus causing the neighboring nobles to give him the moniker, 'Count Ravenous'. On one occasion when Count Cobry went to the imperial capital for some merrymaking, he got to know the First Prince and the two of them quickly became close friends. Two years later when the First Prince was exiled by the former emperor, the count returned to his dominion and stayed within his bastide to nurture all of his illegitimate sons.
After a couple of more years when the First Prince raised the flag of rebellion at Bodolger Province, the count responded by bringing his thirty other grown up illegitimate sons to pledge their allegiance to the First Prince. After the civil war, the count returned with his army and loads of loot and gold back to his dominion, but only ten of the thirty sons still survived.
At present day, even though the count was already in his sixties, his ambitions still hadn't waned. Soon after his return to the dominion, he used various excuses to start conflicts with the neighboring nobles and has successfully expanded his territory to twice its former size. The 13 noble families who had resisted him all perished. The men were culled with the women suffering fates worse than death: they were either abused to their last breath or sold to slave traders when their oppresors were done with them.
There was one noble who made complaints about the count's cruelty to the First Prince so that the fallen noble families may be avenged. However, the First Prince stated that he was unaware of the full picture and would investigate the matter further before taking any action. But no follow up was done even though the noble had waited for more than three months. It was after that when he ran into one of the count's sons who was one the way to the Redlis Kingdom's capital to pay their taxes and tributes.
A fight erupted between the two with it ending with the noble's death at the hands of one of the servants of the illegitimate son. It was described that the servant was angered by the noble who insulted his beloved master to the point where he couldn't contain himself and started lashing out violently. This led to the servant being given the death sentence for killing a noble with the count's son remaining unscathed from the whole affair.
When word of that matter spread to the territories of the noble families near that of the count's, a chain reaction occurred. People started to accuse the First Prince of favoritism towards the count. At that moment, one of the aides of Count Cobry revealed a stunning fact when he was dead drunk at a tavern: before the count returned to his dominion, the First Prince had promised him that he would grant the count the title of 'Duke of the Northwest' if he was able to make the nearby nobles submit to him and that the lands of the nobles would become part of his dominion.
That was why Count Cobry was so fervent in looking for trouble with the nobles around the area without heeding any of the customs and traditions of nobles when it came to war. He even purged every single one of the opposition, down to every single family member, so that they wouldn't cause any problems to him in the future. The whole of the kingdom's nobles all lost faith in the First Prince upon hearing that revelation and almost 40 of those families banded together to form an alliance to curb the threat of Count Cobry, vowing to support each other should any one of them be troubled by the count. Even so, given the past grudges some of them had with others, it was not uncommon for some of them to stab another family in the back from time to time. During the past half year itself, two families have already fallen to Count Cobry's clutches. The alliance also suffered quite a number of losses in battles, causing some of the members to leave it and join the count's side instead.
Baron Charles then downed another large glass of wine before he said now that Count Cobry's army has wiped out the Debonar Family, his own would undoubtedly be the next target. Recently, other than expending his efforts on raising an army of his own, he has also sent some of his sons and daughters to Morante City to some relatives living there to minimize the damage Count Cobry would cause should he succeed in his next conquest. That was also why he purchased so much military equipment from the convoy.
The baron's eldest son, Soria, told Lorist all he knew about the count's forces. Having gotten quite a great haul from the recent conflicts. the count brought over a thousand mercenaries when he returned to his dominion. These men were all mounted and equipped with leather armor and pikes. They called themselves the Spear Cavalry. Adept at chasing down and surrounding their enemies, they were the main force of Count Cobry's army. Other than that, the count also had a local garrison that numbered around 2000 people which was led by a couple of his illegitimate sons who had joined him in his previous expeditions and also helped him manage some of his other territories' security and administration.
Whenever the count defeated an enemy, he would raze the whole territory that belonged to his fallen foe and bring the surviving citizens of the land back to his dominion to serve as slave laborers to build infrastructure for his dominion. Rumor has it that Count Cobry intended to build a city that rivaled that of the kingdom's capital as his main base as the Duke of the Northwest.
Soria also said that in the dominions of the noble families who have been eliminated, small resistance groups formed by the locals that numbered from ten to a hundred people were all over the place and they caused the count quite a bit of trouble. Due to the lack of resources and provisions, they often acted as bandits from time to time and pillaged not only the count's dominion but also the territories belonging to the other nobles as well. In an attempt to wipe out the resistance, the count had sent his forces to the lordless dominions to kill the insurgents as well as capture some strong young men for extra labor.
Among the ranks of the insurgents, there was a famous knight called Josk who was a One Star Gold rank that was famed for his superb archery skills. In one of his exploits to avenge his former master's family, he snuck into Count Cobry' dominion alone and managed to snipe two of the count's illegitimate sons as well as hurt the shoulder of the count himself, causing a large bounty to be of 100 gold coins to be placed on him. Currently, Josk leads a force of over a few hundred men and has even threatened some local nobles to provide them with weapons and equipment. Soria expressed his hopes that Lorist's convoy won't run into him as he crossed that area.
He advised that Lorist take a detour and not pass through the area that was within the count's influence. Otherwise, should the count or the insurgent groups set their sights on the convoy, no matter how strong they were, there was no doubt that they would suffer quite a huge loss. Other than that, when Soria and his father were passing through the area, they noticed a huge number of refugees which followed armies around in hopes of being able to get some food. They would also become a potential burden to the convoy.
After sending the baron and his son off, Lorist's expression turned solemn. Should we continue on the original path or go back the way we came? This was indeed a matter that required extensive consideration.
Kill Them All
Lorist decided to let the convoy continue on its original path as he agreed with Charade's rationalization: the convoy was only passing through the area and not intending to fight for the right to rule the place. Besides that, the convoy was being escorted by an elite military force. Based on the military might they had, Count Cobry would definitely think twice about whether he would attack them, as, if he ended up being crippled from all the casualties he would get, wouldn't that open up an opportunity for the other scheming nobles to cause him even more grief? They believed that the count wouldn't make such an irrational decision.
Charade also said that if the count didn't give them any trouble, they could also trade weapons with him so that he may be able to unify the lands under his rule more swiftly. As for the livelihood of the other nobles, it didn't have anything to do with the convoy. No matter what kind of person Count Cobry was personally, it didn't matter much to Lorist and his gang as they were only passing through the area.
That reasoning had Lorist convinced to take the original route that they had planned. Potterfang also mentioned that given the family's forces, there was no need for them to fear the insurgent groups as they were mainly concerned with fighting the count. As long as they didn't band up together to attack the convoy, Potterfang was confident that he would be able to protect its safety.
However, Lorist didn't expect that he would actually run into such an arrogant and brutal bunch that didn't even bother to communicate before they attacked, much to his anger and dismay.
The convoy was divided into three battalions, namely, the vanguard battalion, the main battalion and the rearguard battalion. The vanguard battalion had up to 100 carriages with Yuriy's scout cavalry squad and a company of pikemen traveling ahead of them. Their task was to ensure the safety of the area in front of the convoy and notify the ones behind them about the best road to take or where to set up camp as well as prepare the appropriate measures for the defense and safety of the convoy.
The main battalion had 600 four-wheeled horse carriages that transported the convoy's provisions, weapons and equipment as well as the family members of the soldiers. It was guarded by Terman's knight brigade, a company of crossbowmen, the heavy-armored battalion, a company of pikemen as well as 160 other guards.
The rearguard battalion had up to 100 carriages with only Dulles's carroballista unit and a company of pikemen guarding it. The main reason for that was the condition of the muddy road they traveled on. To prevent any damage to the carroballistas, such as having their wheels stuck in a pit, the former two battalions served to stamp the roads flat and sturdy by traveling ahead of the rearguard battalion. The main role of the rearguard battalion was to provide support for the carriages that needed maintenance and transport some miscellaneous baggage, such as the stuff they had taken from Viscount Mestre's castle. The people from the viscount's castle were also escorted by the rearguard battalion.
Having crossed the hills that marked the border between Baron Charles's and the other nobles' territories, Lorist instructed the convoy to be on high alert. On the first day, the journey went smoothly, but there were reports from pikemen that stated that some people have been sighted inspecting the convoy's campsite from afar. Lorist ordered for the crossbowmen company to make defense preparations and kill anyone who entered the camp. Fortunately, no such incident occurred during that night.
Noon on the second day since leaving the border, Dulles who was stationed at the rearguard battalion, reported that there was a group of people who followed the convoy from behind. Lorist instructed him to ignore them if they had no hostile intentions and let them do whatever they want. On that day, the convoy traveled more than 30 kilometers.
The third day since their departure, they passed through an abandoned town along the way. The buildings were noticeably burnt with many walls broken down and stained with soot and blood. From time to time, pieces of rotten body parts and shattered bones could be spotted on the grassy ground by the roadside.
That day afternoon, when the main battalion was passing through a forest, 100 mounted men equipped with leather armor and pikes charged straight towards them.
The main battalion with its 600 carriages stretched around 1.5 kilometers from head to tail with Lorist at its front. Upon hearing about the approaching horsemen, he brought Terman along to the encounter site right away. This happened the moment they were about to travel across a small hill.
Given that the main battalion was the middle section of the convoy, its security was managed by one of the senior students of the Dawn Academy. Seeing the 100 men galloping towards them, he brought three others on horseback and signalled for them to stop so that they may engage in negotiations. To show his sincerity, he didn't even bring his sword with him and ordered his attendants to not be in defensive formation.
Usually, when one was met with such a situation, one would stop and get off one's horse and send a representative, given that the convoy wasn't their enemy and there was no need for them to engage in conflict.
The group of horsemen slowed down, much to Lorist's relief. However, when he was about to get off the horse to get closer, something unexpected happened.
The horsemen quickly arrived before the senior student and a loud whistle could be heard. Two large nets were tossed by some of the horsemen and the senior student was trapped and was pulled off his horse. The hundreds of men then continued riding forward, stamping the senior student into meat paste. The three attendants of the senior student were also caught off guard and got impaled to their deaths…
The horsemen let out a loud cheer and started killing everyone within their sights. As there were only around ten pikemen who were patrolling that section of the convoy, they were all obliterated within seconds.
The whole place was pure chaos with a few carriages that carried the family members of the soldiers banging into each other. Screams of terror and cries of agony constantly echoed in the air.
One of the horsemen grabbed onto the hair of a girl on a carriage and pulled her out savagely, before stripping her naked, pinning her on the ground and taking his pants off. He was actually about to commit such a bestial act in broad daylight.
Another horseman grabbed a baby from its mother's embrace, causing the mother to leap forward in a desperate attempt to save her child. The horseman merely laughed and tossed the baby to another one of his mates, who readied the tip of his pike and let the baby land onto it, before letting out a wild, ghastly laughter, obviously elated at his accurate 'catch'. The baby stopped crying right away and the young mother stood there unmoving, as if she couldn't believe what that which had just happened before her eyes. It was not until the horseman who took her baby grabbed her when she snapped out of it and gave his arm a huge bite. Screaming in pain, the horseman lifted his pike and nailed the mother down to the ground with it and trampled all over her body on horseback with his mate.
Another white-haired old man could be seen desperately shielding his grandchild from harm. One of the horsemen rode over and used his pike to nail both of them to the ground before brandishing his sword and lopping off the head of the old man.
The actions of the 100-odd horsemen had managed to create what many would consider a hell-like scene within minutes…
Lorist, who was still on his way from the small hill, was so enraged that he felt like his blood was boiling as he prompted his mount to go faster, leaving Terman and his knights far behind. It was then when the rest of the convoy started to react to the attack, with Potterfang mobilizing his troops and heading to the place where the attack occurred.
As he approached, Lorist let fly several javelins, nailing down the two horsemen who were trampling around the body of the young mother and her dead infant.
Just as the savage man's member was about to penetrate the young girl's body, a javelin sent him flying for three to four meters from where he originally was and pinned him securely on the ground. That horseman desperately clutched on the javelin before gurgling out blood nonstop and writhing on the floor in pain.
Having only brought a quiver of 12 javelins with him, Lorist managed to kill 12 horsemen before they noticed his arrival and started rushing towards him.
Drawing his longsword, his first slash severed the head of the horse as well as the whole upper torso of an incoming horseman. Blood gushed out unceasingly from the neck of the headless horse with the man who was cut in half still alive and letting out screams of pain while clawing about insanely on the ground.
One of the horsemen who followed behind the first one was greatly startled by the sight in front of him. But before he could react, Lorist's longsword swiftly melded through his neck like a knife through butter, sending yet another head flying through the air.
The third horseman aimed his pike forward and charged forcefully towards Lorist, who twisted his body on horseback to an inexplicable angle in response. The pike passed through the space where Lorist's body once was hitting nothing but air. A sword flashed as the two horses dashed past each other and the third horseman fell off his mount with a huge opening in his chest.
The fourth and fifth horsemen tossed a net towards Lorist. Seeing it land on him, the two laughed gleefully. However, as they were about to pull it in, they only heard a low grunt before feeling an irresistible force pulling them forward instead, sending them flying towards Lorist. He actually managed to use his internal energy to turn the tables and pulled his adversaries towards him.
At that moment, the pike that the third horseman had intended to pierce Lorist with was still airborne. Lorist used his right foot to hook it up and held the pike in his hand before using it to make a fine kebab out of the two horsemen who were flying towards him.
Within but an instant, five people died without being able to put up a decent fight. It was then when the rest of the horsemen noticed the fearsome adversary who had just arrived. The leader of the group whistled loudly and tens of other mounted men surrounded Lorist from a distance. Given the length of his longsword, he couldn't lash out at the horsemen who circled him and attempted to stab him with their pikes. At that moment, he was trapped from all sides.
The loud sounds of the horses' hooves thumping on the ground intensified as Terman's men approached. They split into two units with one going for the horsemen who were surrounding Lorist and the other charging at the direction of the other horsemen. Twenty of the enemy soldiers instantly fell to the lances of the charging knights, with only two of the knights suffering light injuries thanks to their excellent defensive equipment. In the midst of the chaotic battle, Lorist grabbed at a random pike that was coming at him and impaled a few more of the enemy riders with it.
The 100-men-strong horsemen group was only left with 60-odd men. Upon seeing Lorist and Terman's fierce counterassault, they banded up and started retaliating as well. Having already been enraged by the scene before them, Terman and his fully-armored knights all rushed toward their enemies with bloodshot eyes and quickly incapacitated the incoming horsemen. With a longsword in his left hand and a pike in his right, Lorist rushed towards wherever the enemy was and began slaughtering away without holding back, causing ten other horsemen to die by his hand.
The pained cries of man and beast intermingled as the attackers crumbled. Never did they expect for the convoy's forces to be that powerful. In only a few moments, only 30 of the original 100 were left. The remaining foes understood that they have run into an insurmountable wall and quickly turned to retreat. At that moment, Yuriy's scout cavalry squad came over with Reidy, Charade and Patt to offer their support.
With a dark expression on his face, Lorist got off his horse and jumped onto another one that Reidy had brought over. He instructed Charade, "I'll let you handle this place. Let Terman and his knights help you out."
"Where are you heading to?" Charade asked.
Lorist responded by pointing towards the 30 men who were escaping as he radiated a murderous killing intent. "I'm going to kill off every single one of them, even if I have to chase them till the ends of the earth!" He then rode towards the escaping men without waiting for a reply.
Charade shouted towards Reidy and Patt, "What are you guys waiting for?! Go follow him quickly and bring a few more horses and javelins with you! Also, get Yuriy and his scouts to go support him as well!"
...
The chase only lasted within half an hour before Lorist managed to catch up to the escaping horsemen as they were slowing down due to their mounts having run out of stamina. While they could still travel at a slower speed, it was far from their maximum performance when they were in their peak condition.
Having just gotten on a fresh mount which has yet to be tired out, the distance between him and his prey narrowed ever so gradually.
It was at that moment when a few of the horsemen who were lagging behind decided to turn over and face Lorist. Either they had already accepted their fate and wanted to put up a last fight, or they had not seen Lorist in action on the battlefield moments before.
Even though there were two quivers' worth of javelins hanging by his mount, Lorist didn't intend to use them as he felt that killing these fiends with those would merely be giving them a swift, painless death. Within his mind flashed the images of a head that was full of white hair flying through the air and a despairing young mother looking at her child impaled upon a pike, along with the numerous other corpses that laid unmoving back at the convoy. Lorist's eyes were currently bloodshot. Now that the fiends were slowing down, he felt an uncanny patience as he prepared to make these humanoid demons regret that they were ever born into the world.
"Agh!" cried a horseman as both his upper limbs were sent flying through the air with his body tumbling down his mount, contorting in agony. Lorist carefully maneuvered his horse around the corpse so that he wouldn't die instantly from being stepped on.
"Ugh!" Another horseman's voice rang out as Lorist forcefully parried his pike and used his own pike to pierce through the horseman's chest. Lifting him up from his horse with the pike, Lorist carefully lowered the it so that the impaled man wouldn't slip off the tip and dragged him along the floor, causing him to continue letting out ear-piercing wails.
Another two horsemen flanked Lorist from both sides with their pikes aimed straight at his body like insidious vipers. Within an instant, Lorist's silhouette vanished from the horseback and the pikes only pierced through air. Under the impression that Lorist had already got off his horse, the two horsemen turned their heads downward to look, only to see Lorist appearing on horseback yet again like a phantom. With an explosive slash, the horseman on his left was severed into two at his waistline and screamed in sheer terror. The horseman on the right let out a more heart-wrenching shriek after both his legs parted from his body with his horse also cut into two. The blood gushing out from the stumps of the slashes dyed Lorist and his horse crimson red.
The fifth horseman let go of his pike and sat on his horse unmoving, with both his hands clasped as he begged for forgiveness and mercy. Without a change in expression, Lorist leaned downward and picked up a pike from the ground, rode forward with it in hand, and thrust it into the horseman's mouth through the back of his head. Since you bothered to beg for mercy, I'll let you die a painless death, Lorist thought as the horseman's lifeless body slipped from his horse.
The sixth horseman had long been scared shitless upon seeing Lorist cut the horsemen that flanked both his sides into halves and he instantly turned tail to run. But in time, his horse slowed down to a much slower pace. He quickly noticed that Lorist had started approaching him from the rear. No, it was more like Lorist was riding his horse at a leisurely speed without any rush at all. Seeing a ghastly sneer appear his bloodied face that revealed two rows of shiny-white teeth, this horseman was frightened to the point of desperation and charged forward with his pike unexpectedly.
Lorist stretched his hand out and grabbed the incoming weapon and gave it a strong pull. Using the hilt of his sword, he knocked on the back of the head of the horseman and caused him to lose all his ability to resist, lying slumped and unconscious on Lorist's horse's saddle. He then took the nets they brought with them and fastened it to the horseman's neck with the other end tied to his saddle and threw the man to the back of his horse before resuming his pursuit.
Everytime he caught up to a group of horsemen, he would use that cruel method to make these damned souls hope that they would be granted death and eternal rest, further causing the horsemen in front to want to grow ever more anxious. Some even pierced the rears of their horses, hoping to jolt them to increase their speed in the face of injury and death.
However, the horses soon collapsed from complete exhaustion with the weapon still stuck to their rear ends and no amount of beating could bring them to life again.
Lorist slowly approached the enemy with his horse dragging the long dead chunks of the corpses of the doomed horsemen. At that moment, Lorist appeared to be smiling serenely, but his mind was rapidly devising a method to cause his adversaries the most amount of pain before killing them off. He truly hated the assailants to the utmost and he had not a single iota of empathy or mercy to spare on them.
Seeing the nightmarish being gradually creeping up to them, the horsemen looked at Lorist's bloodshot eyes with a despairing expression. Knowing that no salvation would come to them, they all cursed Lorist loudly in unison before gritting their teeth and plunging their pikes into their own chests.
Sol, they even committed suicide, Lorist thought as he cut the dying enemies into half before resuming his chase.
Leaving the small forest, Lorist noticed a military encampment not far away while the remaining 8 horsemen suddenly regained their vigor and started shouting loudly towards the camp as they started stabbing their mounts from time to time with their weapons.
Not a single one of you will be able to escape, Lorist thought, after which he prompted his horse to gallop faster to continue his onslaught.
Camp Intrusion and Takeover
The horseman who was lagging behind the most turned and thrust his pike wildly towards Lorist. He didn't expect for any of the thrusts to actually connect and only hoped that it would help stave off his punisher for the slightest bit longer so that reinforcements from his camp would arrive and save him in time.
Catching the wildly flailing pike with his bare hands, Lorist gave it a firm tug and swung his sword toward the despairing horseman. "Aggh!" cried that man loudly as his left leg separated from his body while he fell on the ground head-first.
Lorist caught up to another horseman who had already lost his pike midway during the chase. He could do nothing but stare at Lorist approaching and impaling him straight through the chest.
Shaking the body off the pike, Lorist saw that there were still six inhumane beasts riding in front of him. The camp not too far away had already noticed the situation and opened the main gates. Ten other similarly-equipped horsemen rushed out of the camp.
At that moment, one of the remaining escaping horsemen noticed that his mount that was slowing down. Suddenly, it lost its footing and crashed to the ground head first, rolling on the ground due to the inertia. When it came to a stop, it merely twitched a couple of times before it ceased moving entirely. The horseman, however, was pretty quick to respond to that as he had jumped off his saddle the moment his horse fell, and rolled on the ground to break his fall before recovering and standing up with his pike still held tightly in his arm. Seeing Lorist nearing him on horseback, the horseman made a savage expression, gave a war cry and rushed forward with his pike. His target wasn't Lorist himself, but rather his mount.
Giving a cool laugh, Lorist waved the pike in his right hand to meet the blow. The moment before the two pikes collided, the dismounted horseman gave a smug look and a blade glow suddenly extended out of his weapon.
Oh, so he's a Silver ranked combatant. Lorist still remembered that during the catastrophic scene back at the convoy just now, he noticed that there were two Silver ranks among the attackers, one of which had been struck off his horse by Lorist with the other one killed by Terman. He didn't expect that there would be another one among the escaping horsemen. However, his intention of hitting Lorist's horse with his blade glow was a futile one when; Lorist gave his pike a flick, causing it to collide against the other pike and knocked it out of trajectory.
Not only did Lorist's pike not break from hitting against his blade glow, he also felt a strong wave of energy conduct through his weapon, causing him to unwittingly let go of it. Looking up with disbelief, the horseman could only see Lorist's pike dig its way through his chest at lightning-speed.
The other five horsemen used their spurs to jolt their horses even faster the moment they saw the ten other reinforcements who were approaching from their front with Lorist quickly closing in behind them. Their horses shrieked from the pain and lurched forward even more quickly like an arrow that was just fired from a bow.
Thinking that they were already in the clear upon seeing the reinforcements, the five horsemen breathed sighs of relief. Just as they were about to greet the incoming soldiers, some of them noticed the stunned expressions of those coming to aid them and turned to their backs. Much to their surprise, Lorist had already caught up to them. Drawing a large arc in the air with his pike, Lorist swung it towards one of the horsemen and caused him to fall soundlessly off his horse with the back of his skull fractured.
The shadow of the pike moving at high speeds could barely be seen as it swished around while making an audible sound in the air. Another two horsemen had their backs sliced open seven or eight times with Lorist and fell off their horses right away. The remaining two horsemen lowered their bodies to lean on their horses to avoid being hit while the reinforcement soldiers cursed and charged at Lorist upon seeing three of their comrades slain so easily.
The first one of the reinforcement soldiers who had made his way in front of Lorist, a Silver ranked combatant, raised his pike that radiated a blade glow and pointed it towards Lorist's upper torso. After swinging his own pike to misdirect that of the enemy's, Lorist traced the weapon back to the horseman's neck and decapitated him.
Raising his pike and spurring his horse, Lorist rushed towards the ten incoming horsemen. Loud booms rang out as the pikes collided, with Lorist's occasionally finding its way into some of the horsemen's bodies, causing various shrieks to echo and mix. Within just one exchange, among 7 of the 13 horsemen reinforcements, 2 were on the ground struggling in pain with the other 5 already long dead. The remaining six of the reinforcements got back into formation, however, none of them dared to rush forward to attack.
Seeing two of the remaining horsemen that initially attacked the convoy distancing themselves from him, Lorist quickly continued his chase while the six other horsemen behind him felt insulted that they were totally ignored and started cursing loudly as they followed behind Lorist.
But, Lorist paid it no heed as if he wasn't aware of the rest approaching him gradually from behind at all. When one of them finally got near enough and prepared to stab him with his pike, Lorist suddenly twisted his body and hooked that man up with his pike and swung it towards another horseman. Before the second horseman could decide whether he should catch his incoming comrade, he noticed Lorist suddenly change direction, and within a flash, two other of his comrades had fallen off their horses.
The horseman was greatly startled and could no longer care less about his approaching ally. As he dodged the airborne body, a sudden flash of the blade of the pike could be seen enlarging before his very face, followed by the feeling of cold metal on his nose before everything turned black as he lost all awareness.
Without taking too much time, Lorist had successfully dispatched the six horsemen who were chasing him. Turning back to the direction where the other two had escaped, he noticed that they were only 100 or so meters from the main gates of the camp, with 40 plus other horsemen riding out to fight him.
Even though the encampment looks pretty big, there are only so few soldiers coming out, thought Lorist with much curiosity. By right, hundreds of soldiers should have rushed out like a horde of hornets by now given that they had seen tens of their comrades slaughtered right in front of their camp.
Once again rushing towards the enemy, Lorist laid his pike horizontally on the saddle and reached for his javelins with his right hand. Seeing 40 or so horsemen approaching, with a couple of grunts within a short period of time, he expended all 24 of his javelins, with each taking the life of one horseman with them. As the remaining 20 were still stunned at the sight and hesitating whether to continue the charge, Lorist lifted his pike once again and dove right into their midst. With the horse maneuvering like a swimming dragon and the pike lashing out like a lightning bolt, one horseman after another fell in quick succession. After a while, the remaining 6 or 7 horsemen screamed and turned back towards their camp to escape.
The two who had a part in attacking the convoy had just made it to the gates of the camp and the guards manning the gates desperately tried to close it. If they hadn't been so desperate to close the gates, Lorist would have still remained outside to fend off the other horsemen while letting the two escape, However, the moment he took note of that, Lorist figured that the main force probably wasn't at the camp after all. Otherwise, why have only tens of people come out instead of hundreds? Even if they didn't have enough horses, there could still be infantry units.
Now that he had a hunch, Lorist stopped hesitating and followed behind the escaping horsemen and quickly arrived before the gates. The guards at the gates quickly took up their pikes that had been leaning on the walls in an attempt to block Lorist, only to end up dead by the side of the gates with holes dug deep into their chests.
After entering the camp, Lorist noticed that it was in fact quite empty. It seemed that the ones who came out to fight him just now were coincidentally near the gates at that time. Further away, the two fiends could be seen getting off their horses and entering a tent, presumably to report the encounter to their superior officers.
There was not one soldier standing guard outside the tent the two entered. Lorist got off his horse, tossed his pike aside and drew his sword before walking towards the tent.
The tent looked to be quite spacious from the outside and loud scolding voices could be heard.
Pushing the tent entrance open, Lorist could see the two escaped horsemen kneeling down to him and begging for mercy. Wonderful. I won't have to waste so much energy now that they won't resist. With his sword flashing, Lorist diced the two people's limbs into small parts, causing them to roll all over the ground and begging for a quick death.
Fwing! The sounds of two swords being drawn from their scabbards could be heard. It was then when Lorist lifted his head to check out the two men who stood up in the middle of the tent.
Standing in front of a bed within the tent was a plump man with dark brown hair and gray-colored eyes who had his upper body bare, wearing a fierce expression. In front of him was a stool on which stood a man half-dressed in a chain mail. The two of them currently had an expression on befuddlement with both their swords pointed to Lorist.
"You… Who are you? How did you get in here?" stammered the chain mail-wearing middle-aged man. Looking at the two limbless horsemen who were twitching in pain on the ground and turning his gaze back to Lorist, he broke out of his trance and breathed a deep breath before saying, "You actually dared to injure my men in my presence? How foolish of you!"
Without waiting for Lorist to reply, the brown-haired man regained his composure and leaped towards him like a raging storm, sending two blades of light flying towards Lorist with his two-handed sword.
Clang, clang! With but two light swings of his sword, Lorist knocked the blades of light away and said, "Hmm, a Gold rank?"
"Are you afraid now, boy? It's too late to have any regrets. I will let you understand that daring to go against us within our own camp is nothing but a death wish!"
"Ptooey!" Lorist displayed a completely unconcerned expression and said, "So what if you're a Gold rank? It's not like I've never fought one before. Since you said that these two fiends were your subordinates, then I guess you should be their leader? Then I guess I'll have to make you pay for the sins of your men who actually dared to attack my people. Even though they've already been wiped out by me, you still hold responsibility as their leader for not disciplining them well enough. How do you intend to make up for my loss?"
"What? You want me to pay you back even though you've killed my men? Let your mother roll in hell, what impudence! I will not rest until I skin you alive!" screamed the brown-haired man. With a heavy kick, he sent the brazier that was on the ground flying towards Lorist and rushed behind it with his sword readied.
Sol, Lorist cursed in his mind. Even though the man looked brutish and slow, he was in fact really quick-witted and sharp. While he looked like he was rushing towards Lorist in a fit of rage, it was actually a deviously calculated move that aimed to catch Lorist off guard by using the flaming hot brazier as a distraction. The man equipped with a chain mail had also moved to Lorist's back and prepared to engage in a pincer attack with the brown-haired man. So you think that by shouting, you can draw my attention to you and I wouldn't notice that guy behind me?
As the red-hot charcoal was flying towards him, Lorist noticed a 30-centimeter-long blade glow emerge from the sword behind him. That plain-looking man was actually a peak Silver rank combatant. With the burning brazier and charcoal as well as the brown-haired man on one side and the Silver ranked chain mail-wearing man on the other, Lorist seemed like he had his escape routes sealed and had no choice but to face the full brunt of the force head on. Both the assailants revealed a sly smile as they thought that Lorist would definitely lose to them if he dared to take their strikes head on. After all, they had even successfully killed Gold ranked fighters with their plots and tricks before.
However, Lorist slumped downwards suddenly and stuck close to the floor as he moved out of the attack range of both the men before standing up again almost 2 meters away. Now that he was no longer between the two of them, their attacks headed towards each other, much to their disbelief. The brown-haired man desperately retracted his arm, but that had disrupted his circulating Battle Force and the backlash caused him to breathe heavily as a result.
On the other hand, the man with the chain mail managed to cut the brazier apart, but he wasn't able to deflect each and every one of the charcoal pieces, some of which landed on his face and hissing sounds could be heard accompanied by a smell of burnt flesh drifting in the air. Having been scalded right in the face, the man tossed his sword away and clawed at the spots where the charcoal had landed while letting out a ghastly shriek.
Flashes of the light reflecting off the blade could be seen within the tent as Lorist suddenly creeped up to the Gold ranked fighter and stood straight up. Thinking that the brown-haired man's shadow had suddenly come to life, the Silver ranked man who had been jumping around just a moment ago pointed his finger towards the Gold rank's back wordlessly with his mouth agape. Still not recovered from the backlash he received from suddenly retracting his Battle Force, the brown-haired man could only leap behind the middle-aged man in hopes that he would be able to buy himself some time to regain his composure. However, his movements couldn't match the speed of Lorist's sword.
Three sword swings flashed and both the arms of the brown-haired man fell to the ground with another one of his legs parting from his body. With a loud thump, the man landed flat on the ground and still managed to roll behind the man with the chain mail as he had wished. But when he noticed his missing limbs, he started crying out in pain uncontrollably.
The middle-aged man stammered, "17th… 17th brother…"
However, the brown-haired man had long lost consciousness from all the blood he had lost. The middle-aged man once again picked up his sword and a blade glow quickly manifested. Under the impression that the middle-aged man would fight to his death, Lorist witnessed him swinging the sword twice before he dashed out of the tent right away.
Sol, do you think you can escape? Lorist followed the man out of the tent quickly, only to find the middle-aged man swinging his weapon towards him rapidly with a loud grunt.
Lorist lightly groaned in dismay. He had often experienced such desperate attempts when he was dueling all those competitors back at the Dawn Academy. However, now that he didn't have to hold back unlike the days when he was dueling, he raised his sword, aimed it carefully and moved into the rain of sword strikes like an agile fish swimming swiftly in a pool filled with blades…
"Ugh…" The sword pierced the man at his left chest as he voiced out his pain and slumped onto the ground with both his eyes opened wide in disbelief.
Lorist only used one sword strike. Without parrying any of the middle-aged man's strikes, he thrust towards the opening amidst the storm of swords and killed that man with only one move while only sustaining a few light scratches on his shoulder.
As he pulled his sword out and was about to head to the larger tent, Lorist detected sounds of people breathing from the tent before. Turning back and re-entering the place, he pushed the curtains around the bed aside and saw two naked young girls huddled together, shivering in fear. Trails of tear stains could be seen on their faces with numerous bruises all over the rest of their body as a result of the abuse they had received.
Lorist sighed and let go of the curtains and searched the tent for the girls' clothes, but he couldn't find them. He had no choice but to get two sets of clean men's robes and tossed it into the curtains before leaving for the larger tent.
Upon exiting, he saw that a battle was going on: it appeared that Yuriy, Reidy and Patt had led the scout cavalry to the camp after seeing Lorist rush in recklessly without regard for his own safety. However, they were only met with up to 70 soldiers who weren't even properly dressed in their armors, with some of them even coming out half-nude or barefoot. Faced with that comical sight, Yuriy and gang started slaughtering away in delight. The scout cavalry was just like Lorist in that they used their javelins to take down nearby enemies while opting for the crossbow to shoot ones that were further away. Before Lorist left that tent, they had already managed to gain control of the whole camp.
Seeing Lorist emerge from the tent, Yuriy quickly rode over. Getting off his horse, he said, "It seems like the main force of this camp has left only a few of them to guard the place."
Lorist said, "Ask your men to leave some alive so that we can question them later."
Yuriy relayed that order to a scout near him and that scout nodded before heading off again.
At that moment, Reidy and Patt could be seen approaching. "Master, 400 people are being held prisoner at the middle section of the camp. Also, we've discovered a large amount of food and other provisions at the back as well."
"Oh," mumbled Lorist as he looked towards Yuriy. "It seems that the camp is not an ad hoc one, but rather a long term outpost. Yuriy, send some men to follow Patt to go back and inform Charade to bring the convoy here. We'll be staying here tonight. Patt, make sure you stay safe."
"Alright," Patt said as he left the camp with three other light cavalry troops.
"Reidy, release the prisoners and have them stay together at that area. Make them some food as well. We'll handle the other stuff once Charade gets here. Yuriy, have the light cavalry sweep the camp once more just in case there are any soldiers who have managed to escape our grasp. Make sure you secure the food as well just in case anyone intends to burn it."
"Yes," said Reidy and Yuriy.
Walking to and fro around the large tent, Lorist waited patiently for the rest of the convoy to arrive. Several light cavalry troops could be seen searching the tents one by one. Just as Lorist was planning to ask someone to clear out the corpses in the large tent, he saw a blade glow flash from within a tent in the distance followed by two light cavalry soldiers flying out of the tent with blood coming out of their noses and another one falling on the ground outside the tent with his head severed. A tear opened up at one part of the tent as a silhouette emerged and got on a horse of the cavalry troops and escaped from the gates of the camp.
Sol, so there was still one Silver rank hiding there, Lorist thought, before he got on a horse nearby and started his chase.