Mister Tim
The one who followed Patt into the large tent was a man who looked to be in his forties that wore a loose-fitting grey cloak that did not quite fit his physique as well as a set of brown breeches; they were obviously the clothes the convoy provided for the people to withstand the winter cold. Even though this middle-aged man wanted to present himself as a noble, his eyes that looked all over the place unnervingly gave his nervousness away.
Lorist had a bad impression of that man on first glance. Even though he seemed rather sharp, he lacked the refined air of a noble and seemed more like a merchant or a butler, as could be inferred from his eyes that kept on moving nonstop as if he was plotting something in his mind.
"I, the heir of Viscount Tebri, Tebri Tim, give you my congratulations on the victory, great sir," said the man as he bowed deeply to Lorist, who still remained seated.
Lorist started laughing out loud right away. No descendant of nobles would address oneself as the successor when making an introduction and would only state their family name and their dominion's location. While this might be able to fool the common folk, any noble who had received proper education for etiquette will be able to see through it right away. It seemed that the man's identity was quite questionable.
"I am Norton Lorist of the Norton Family from the Northlands and I am the person in charge of this convoy. May I know who you really are?" Lorist didn't bother to hide his suspicion at all.
"I, I really am Viscount Tebri's son. If you don't believe me, you can ask the ones whom you've saved. Many of them know me personally and have grown up with me together. Otherwise, they wouldn't be willing to heed my instructions and want to leave with me at all…" said the middle-aged man with a flustered look, as if Lorist had struck his most sensitive part with his question.
"Is that so?" said Lorist indifferently.
The man slumped downwards like a ball that had lost all its air. "That is definitely true, sir. I am indeed the eldest son of the viscount. However, I'm the only one who's still alive that bears his blood as my family members have all perished. That's why I'm his sole successor."
Lorist suddenly came to an understanding. That man was in fact an illegitimate son of the viscount, whose family had probably been wiped out by Count Cobry just recently. That's why this man dared to call himself the successor of the family head.
"What kind of post did Viscount Tebri assign you?" asked Lorist.
"The Lord Viscount had me manage the business of the three orchards within his dominion. Due to spending most of my life among the common folk, I haven't had much interaction with people of noble standing," said the man honestly without hiding a single thing.
"Alright, how about this? Mister Tim, I'm not the least bit interested in whether you're truly the heir of Viscount Tebri. I heard that you requested us to give you some weapons and equipment for free. Let me ask you this then: why do you think we have the obligation to fulfill that unreasonable request?" Lorist said as he stood up and stared at the middle-aged man.
"S-sir… Isn't there an obligation between nobles to help each other? And… I-I also want to equip my men to go up against the count's forces…" From Tim's point of view, Lorist's aggressive speech and gestures pressured him greatly and made him forget all the arguments and excuses he had thought up before. Flustered, he could only resort to that traditional reasoning.
"Haha, Mister Tim, first things first, you, are not yet a noble. Don't think that just because you're his son and heir that you will automatically become one. You must have the recognition of at least three other landed nobles to be able to officially lay claim to the position of the viscount's heir. Only then can you go to the capital to obtain a birthright certificate from the senior noble that the Tebri Family has pledged allegiance to. The aforementioned method is the proper, more traditional route to ensure one's noble status. The other method is to assemble a strong army and force the local lord to cede their title and the right to rule the dominion to you. I believe that second method is what you're trying to achieve. Am I right, Mister Tim?
"It could also be possible that Viscount Tebri did not register your name in the family registry as his eldest son. That should cause you quite a lot of trouble if you were to attempt the first method. Then again, Mister Tim, you should not forget your status as a war prisoner of Count Cobry. And we, the Norton Family has managed to defeat the count's forces, so we have the rightful claim to the spoils of the battle. In theory, we have all the right to kill you or sell you to a slave trader, unless you are able to pay a suitable ransom for your freedom like other nobles would should they be captured.
"And when it comes to the obligation between nobles to look out for each other, Mister Tim, do you really understand what that entails? That clause only applies when the neighboring nobles of a region get attacked by invaders or waves of magical beasts. And as it stands now, I am a noble from a different nation entirely. Even if you were a noble, there's completely no obligation for me to lend you a hand. Heck, I can even have your head lopped off and offer it to my senior noble for a reward because you're from a different nation. Your excuse of wanting to help us resist the count is also really pathetic, you know that?"
The middle-aged man was currently shivering and sweating all over. Back then, the moment he called himself the successor of Viscount Tebri, the citizens of the dominion would instantly bend to his will and not offer any sign of resistance. Even when he was captured, he still had some degree of influence among the other prisoners there. He did not expect that his self-proclaimed status of a heir would be instantly torn down by a true noble within moments.
Lorist merely walked around that man and examined him carefully before saying, "Mister Tim, personally, I don't care if you're trying to impersonate a noble or whether you're really the viscount's son. It's a good thing to have ambition: it helps motivate one to strive hard for one's goals. If you can offer a favor of equivalent value to me, then I will forgive your ignorant transgressions. However, if you think that you'll be able to take from me without offering anything in return, then I will really have to consider how I should punish a charlatan like you. Should I hang you or behead you? You're free to make the choice."
Tim instantly slumped limply to the ground as he recalled how his father, Viscount Tebri, so casually ordered someone to be beaten to death with a gentle and smiling expression as well as how his other brothers who were the legitimate sons of the Tebri Family caned some of the dominion's citizens to death for having startled their mounts. From a young age, he had been taught how to live his life humbly given his status as an illegitimate son and slowly gain his father's trust to become an official in the dominion by his mother who was one of the count's maidservants. He was also instructed to take advantage of his status as the illegitimate son of the viscount to glean some advantages for himself from the dumb common folk.
But when his father and brothers were all killed by Count Cobry's forces, he was struck with the sudden revelation that he was the only person who still carried the blood of the viscount. Even though he hadn't received any etiquette lessons for nobles nor awakened his Battle Force, he had been allowed to learn how to read and write as he had gained the favor of his father. But his hardships didn't stop him from building his reputation as the sole heir of the viscount among the dominion's citizens and he capitalized on his experience and wit from his days as a traveling merchant as well as his skills as an orator to form an insurgent force by recruiting the citizens of the war-torn land and had managed to erect a stronghold within the western mountains. However, that all ended when the count's forces crushed his own and made him their captive.
Originally thinking that there would be nothing more waiting for him other than death, he was quite surprised to discover that the powerful rebel-sweeping forces would actually be defeated by a convoy's military escort, thereby liberating him from his predicament. After having his fill of food on the night of the camp's occupation, he went around to ask about the convoy and suddenly realized the potential benefits he could gain from that opportunity. He thought that the moment he introduced himself as the heir of the viscount, the master of the convoy would treat him like a person of exalted status and adhere to his every request. At that time, he had already thought up a number of proposals and even planned to use the convoy to crush Count Cobry and fantasized about his glorious return to the viscount's dominion with a large military force and become the noble that everyone admired and respected.
But when Lorist prompted him to choose the way in which he would be put to death, all those fantasies vaporized within an instant. So this is what a real noble is like. Sociable, yet cruel, and having subordinates that would be willing to do anything for him, unlike my own who can only be swayed by fear or the promise of a reward. To Tim, Lorist reminded him of the fearful side of his father that had the life of the common folk at his fingertips.
Shriveling up on the ground and crying out loud, Tim pleaded, "Sir, please have mercy on me… I shouldn't have ever dreamed about gaining the title for myself… Please spare this pathetic life of mine! To you, I am but an existence that only compares to that of an ant… I'm not worth your attention at all…"
Lorist took a step back and said, "Please get up, Mister Tim. If you would like to become a noble, you should at least have some degree of self-respect. No noble would ever humiliate oneself like what you just did. A proper noble would never submit to anyone, even in the face of certain death. Perhaps, you have misunderstood my intentions. I've mentioned that I don't care whether you're the viscount's son or not. What I want to know is what status were you assuming when you made that request of me?"
Seeing the dumbfounded look on the kneeling man, Lorist gave a bitter laugh before proceeding with his explanation. "MIster Tim, if you think that you will be able to get what you came for without any reciprocation, then I can kill you for being a fraud and liar, because that act would have insulted the Norton Family name. You should know that nobles hate nothing more than petty tricks and being insulted."
Tim felt a chill down his spine and once again had a flashback of the moment he witnessed his father ordering for a fisherman to be hanged for attempting to hide his catch in order to avoid paying his fair share of tax. That fisherman lost his life just because he dared to try to trick the viscount. He could clearly recall what his father had said back in the day, "I don't really care about the fish you were trying to hide from me. But I can definitely not forgive those who dare to lie to my face."
Tim nodded in agreement to Lorist's previous statement.
"Mister Tim, if you're not approaching me as a conman but as a noble, then I should offer you a helping hand as well. However, nobles don't give their help without expecting anything in return. Are you prepared to pay the price for my assistance?" Lorist asked.
"I can help you form and army, take the dominion back for you and even give you the proper training and lessons necessary on the customs and traditions of nobles so that you will act and behave like one and not embarrass yourself in front of other nobles. However, this will not come cheap, Mister Tim," Lorist said.
"I… I have some money and supplies that I can offer you for your help…" Tim was gradually getting the drift of what Lorist was hinting at and he was even more excited after Lorist said that he would provide him with the training necessary to become a proper noble, or at least, behave like one.
"That's the spirit, Mister Tim. It's great that you intend to cooperate with me. However, can you tell me where you would get the money and supplies from as payment for my assistance?"
Tim then told Lorist with absolute honesty about the location of the funds and resources he had. He mentioned that when Count Cobry's initial assault began, Viscount Tebri had brought Tim along with him to bury a stash of gold coins in a secret location so that he would one day be able to use it to regain his power. He also instructed Tim to not return to the castle and head to the areas within the dominion that had yet to be taken over to move the food and supplies to a cave within the mountains which he had discovered when he went out on a hunting trip with Tim. It was an abandoned bear cave that only the two of them knew of.
Having carried out the viscount's instructions properly, he returned to the dominion only to find that the castle had already been taken over and the viscount as well as all the rest of his family had all been put to death. Tim said that there were almost tens of thousands of imperial gold coins as well as enough food to last 3000 people for up to six months.
Looking at the map, Lorist noticed that the hiding place that Tim told him about was only 1 day's worth of travel away. He then called Reidy to bring Els over and instructed him to bring Patt, Tim and several other soldiers to head to that location to bring the gold coins and supplies back to the camp.
Before they left, Lorist wished them a smooth journey and promised Tim that he would arrange for someone to start the etiquette training when he got back.
When he returned to the large tent, Reidy came up to him and reported, "Milord, Knight Josk has come over with a group of people and has requested to meet with you."
Josk's Wish
Upon seeing Josk, Lorist noticed that he looked rather haggard glum. There were a large group of people behind him numbering around 400 people of ages ranging from their mid-teens to their fifties. Every one of them held held makeshift weapons or farming tools in their hands.
"Milord, I have let your expectations down…" said Josk humbly before he saluted.
Lorist laughed and said, "Don't worry about it. The tide of battle is really hard to predict, so accidents like these really can't be blamed on you. Moreover, we have troubled you so much to go all the way there and back. So let's cut the pleasantries short and enter the camp first. We'll talk after we get you something warm to eat."
The aromatic smell of cooked meat wafted around the camp. Charade had ordered to have the dead mounts of the pike cavalry to be skinned and cooked in a big cauldron into stew, providing a hearty serving of meat for all within the convoy.
Upon hearing what Lorist had just said and taking a whiff of the mouth-watering smell of food, Josk's men instantly let out a loud cheer as their stomachs growled aloud.
Embarrassed, Josk said, "Milord, to be honest, we haven't eaten for the past day. Everyone's pushed to the brink of hunger already."
The near 400 men settled down in the camp pretty quickly after thirty or so tents were set up in the northwestern section. After that, Shadekampf had someone bring over some horse meat and potato stew for them to fill their stomachs with.
Within the tent, Josk could be seen wolfing down his food: he almost instantly finished the whole bowl of horse meat stew and the tens of pieces of bread Reidy had brought for him. After having his fill, he started to recount his experience after returning to the stronghold.
Among the insurgents who fought against Count Cobry, Josk could be considered as a rather influential person with almost 700 men under his command and a total of 2000 people including the soldiers' family members. However, he didn't have the intention of setting up his own stronghold and instead chose to let the family members stay at the largest stronghold, the Hiddenbull Stronghold, while he led the soldiers to cause trouble for the count, enabling him to be one of the most active insurgent groups in the area.
The recent skirmish between the Hiddenbull Stronghold and the count's forces had caused Josk to lose nearly half of his own men and drove him to try to burn the supplies of the count in an act of desperation, resulting in him getting acquainted with Lorist. When he left the convoy to rally up the other insurgent groups, he had imagined that they would be thrilled to join the war effort.
However, when he arrived at the western mountain area, he was only met with rejection and ridicule. To the people living in the mountains, the fact that the count's rebel-sweeping corps had left the mountains was already considered a victory for them. They believed that they should take advantage of the peace that was to come to rest up instead of provoking the rebel-sweeping corps, lest they once again fall into their sights. They even suggested to Josk to let the convoy and the count's forces wipe each other out.
Some of them even suspected Josk for entering into a secret agreement with the convoy. Otherwise, why would he bother asking the rest of them to attack the count's forces? Given that they had struggled so hard just to protect their strongholds from the rebel-sweeping corps, to take the initiative to attack them was like knocking an egg against a rock.
And some others even hoped that the convoy and the count's forces would mutually obliterate one another so that they will be able to take advantage of the whole situation. Given that Josk had told them about the size of the convoy, they inferred that it would definitely own a huge amount of resources that would instantly make them filthy rich.
Toiling away for three whole days at the mountains to try to negotiate with the insurgents, Josk ended up heavily disappointed that nobody bothered to join his cause to aid the convoy in attacking the enemy's main camp. To make matters worse, the leader of the Hiddenbull Stronghold invited Josk over and told him that they would no longer be able to sustain the 2000 family members of the soldiers and Josk's men due to the losses they sustained during the recent skirmish with the count's forces and suggested that they either join the stronghold and survive on some meager amount of rations until spring the year after or bring them away from the stronghold to find other means of survival.
Josk was angered beyond belief as that signified that the Hiddenbull Stronghold intended to take advantage of Josk to make up for their own losses without even taking into account their contributions in resisting the count's forces. In fact, the stronghold did not lack any supplies at all as they had obtained two-thirds of the supplies pillaged from the count's warehouse that was just recently conquered by Josk's forces.
The prideful Josk instantly exposed the lies of the stronghold's leader and left with his men that very night. After that, he brought them to another stronghold within the mountains that had been ravaged by the count's forces. Josk was starting to feel a headache welling up when he saw the pained and crying old people and children as well as the 100 or so injured men. The mere thought of the leaders of the western mountain insurgents caused him to grit his teeth in anger. These short-sighted ambitionless bastards who only dare to hide in their little corner will never be able to help me avenge my family. They are completely satisfied with staying at the strongholds for the rest of their lives within the mountains.
When he recalled his arrangement with Lorist and the way the stronghold leaders treated him, for the first time in his life, Josk felt like rushing into battle and dying to end it all. That was why he left all of his rations with the women and children at the abandoned stronghold and rushed all the way to the encampment with 300 of his able-bodied men to the camp. He thought that as long as the convoy was still fighting with the count's rebel-sweeping corps, he would sacrifice himself and do whatever damages he could to the enemy to fulfill his promise with Lorist.
However, when he arrived at the battlefield with an empty stomach, the fight had already ended for two whole days. At that moment, Josk instantly regretted that he had spent so much time to convince the stronghold leaders to no avail.
Lorist gave him a brief summary of the battle that had occurred and said that the convoy was only able to obtain victory due to a series of unlikely coincidences. After that, Lorist suggested that Josk move his men and their family members to this camp as the convoy would leaving in the next two days, citing the reason that the camp was much easier to defend and incredibly hard to besiege with ample land for farming as well. He said that as long as he occupied the camp, his days in the future would be much easier and he wouldn't have to face the likes of the mountain insurgents ever again. If Josk was willing to do as he suggested, Lorist said that he would have some of his carriages help out with the moving and even leave enough equipment and supplies for them.
After considering it deeply, he shook his head and turned down Lorist's goodwill and gave a response that greatly shocked him. "Milord, I would like to join the convoy and follow you up to the north. However, when we arrive at your homeland and dominion, I will come back here after everything is settled down to kill the count and all his illegitimate sons before returning to serve you completely."
Lorist wondered why Josk would end up at that decision as well as his history with the count.
Josk sighed and said, "Milord, I'm truly, very tired. I really gave it a lot of thought on the way here and I realized that I may not be as good a leader as I had hoped. I even ignored the feelings of my own men to go through such lengths to resist the count due to a personal vendetta. After all this time they took me as their leader, I still can't give them and their families the care they deserve. I only realized all my mistakes when I led these men away from the Hiddenbull Stronghold. I really have wronged the warriors who have fallen in battle under my command for not being able to provide their families with a sustainable and peaceful environment to live in… I really can't do it…
"Milord, I'm really grateful that you were willing to give the camp to us. But I understand that even if we were to stay here for the time being, we wouldn't be able to avoid the inevitable conflict and battles that are to come. That's why I would like to entrust you with my men so that they can have a peaceful life when they reach the Northlands. I believe that you will definitely be able to let them have the comfortable and blissful life that they deserve."
After that, he told Lorist about why he hated the count so much. To Lorist, it all seemed like a children's tale of happiness as well as one of revenge.
Josk's father was a Gold ranked knight who had left his newlywed wife around twenty years ago to answer the call to arms of the empire to resist the invasion of the trade union, only to die on the battlefield and never return. After Josk was given birth to, his mother soon left the world from a sickness that has ailed her since she had gotten wind of her husband's death. Orphaned from young, he had only managed to survive thanks to the goodwill of his neighbors. During one fateful day when he was twelve, he managed to save Baron Omador from a raging wild boar and was brought back to the castle of the thankful baron.
Among the landed nobles in the area, Baron Omador was considered to be an eccentric person. First, he was extremely devoted and never had any illegitimate children nor affairs with his maidservants and has remained single after his wife passed away and lived with his precious daughter ever since. Additionally, the baron also had a great relationship with the citizens of his dominion and rarely punished them for no good reason and usually laughed it off when anyone committed a simple mistake. He would even distribute food and clothing to his citizens during festivities, earning him the reputation of the most benevolent noble in the area.
After understanding Josk's family history, the baron decided to adopt him and trained him strictly in hopes that one day he would become a Gold ranked knight like his father. Josk himself also trained zealously and successfully became a One Star Gold Knight who was well-versed with the bow and arrow under the baron's tutelage at the age of 24.
During the 14 years Josk lived at the baron's castle, the baron's daughter also gradually grew up and the two of them fell in love to nobody's surprise. The baron was extremely pleased with the relationship and let his daughter get engaged with Josk and said that they would officially become husband and wife when his daughter reached 20 years old.
Up to that point, the whole story seemed like it came right out of a children's storybook. However, on the day when Josk was supposed to get married to his lover, the count sent someone to request the baron's daughter's hand in marriage for one of his illegitimate sons. During that time, the baron was incredibly furious and chased the messenger away. Who knew that right after that, Count Cobry and his army invaded the baron's dominion and surrounded the whole castle and declared war with the baron using the excuse that the act of chasing away his messenger was a grave insult to his status.
The castle that was prepared for a wedding ceremony was naturally not a match for the count's army and was breached within two short hours. Josk, who was defending the castle at the frontlines, had ended up severely injured and only managed to survive from having been rescued by his subordinates. On his trip away from the castle, he regained consciousness for a moment and witnessed a scene that he would never forget: the castle that he had lived in for the last 14 years had been set on fire with black fumes rising high up into the sky, with his betrothed plunging to her death from the highest floor of the castle in her snow white gown.
Josk let out an inhuman shriek before falling back into the indifferent embrace of unconsciousness. It took another half a year before he completely recovered from his injuries and infiltrated the count's mansion in an attempt to kill the count and his illegitimate son. However, of the three arrows he had managed to unleash, two of them managed to take the illegitimate sons' lives while the third only hit the count's shoulder. After that incident, he was under constant pursuit of the count's forces. Due to his seething hatred for the count, he eventually formed an insurgent group that aspired to cause as much trouble to the count as possible.
In the middle of telling his story, Josk broke down into tears and suddenly knelt in front of Lorist. He said that if Lorist was willing to help him take revenge, he would definitely accept him as his lord and will be willing to serve the Norton Family for life.
Quickly helping Josk up from the floor, Lorist expressed that he had always admired Josk's skills and said that he would definitely be glad if Josk was willing to serve him. However, he said that he couldn't agree to exterminating the count lightly as the main objective of the convoy was to head to the Northlands and the whole convoy's wellbeing will be affected by that decision. However, he assured that the convoy's travel plans was still not set and he would definitely see how he can help out if it was within his abilities, as the Norton Family also had a grudge against the count for killing off their merchant convoy.
After that, Josk finally calmed down and was led by Reidy to a nearby tent for some rest. After all, even a Gold ranked knight would be exhausted after traveling such a long distance without food or sleep.
Lorist stroke his chin as he drowned himself in his thoughts. He strongly believed that Josk would be a great addition to his forces and would make a stellar subordinate. However, he had to fulfill his wish and exterminate the count and his family in order for that to happen. Hm? I suddenly feel like I'm in an RPG game. The Gold ranked marksman Josk is like a quest reward for exterminating the count.
Alright then, let's think hard about how I can complete this quest, mused Lorist to himself as he sat down on a desk and started analyzing the map of the area.
Strategizing
When Charade, Potterfang, Terman, Yuriy and Loze hurried over, they saw Reidy bringing a few of the surrendered garrison troops out of the tent. Upon entering the large tent, they noticed several maps, large and small, were littered all over the place as well as a table that had half of its surface occupied by beastskin books that were marked with all sorts of symbols by Lorist.
"What are you doing?" asked Charade curiously as he approached. After looking at it for some time, he still couldn't understand what Lorist was trying to achieve.
On the other hand, Potterfang instantly had a hunch about what was going on. "These look like the distribution of soldiers and supply lines…"
Upon hearing what Potterfang had said, Charade looked back at the side and got a shocking realization, "Are you planning to take on Count Cobry?"
Lorist nodded and took out a small map and circled a part of it, "Look, this is the count's area of influence."
He subsequently drew a single line outside the circle and said, "This is the path that we were going to take and it just so happens to circumvent that area of influence. If we manage to travel up to 35 kilometers a day, it'll take us around 12 to 14 days to leave this area. However, we'll only be passing through the wilderness or the places where the count's forces have ravaged and that would make it hard for us to resupply and do business.
"But if we take this route…" Lorist drew another line that passed through the circle and continued, "It'll only take us 7 days and it's far more convenient for us to procure resources along the way. However, the precondition of using this route is that we have to first defeat Count Cobry."
"Then, have you thought of how you would go about achieving that?" asked Charade.
"Nope. I've just got the count's garrison troops over and questioned them about the situation at hand. I do have some thoughts about it, but I'm not sure how the count would respond to our actions, so I'm not too confident if that's the best way," said Lorist as he shook his head. He then took out a book and placed it on the table.
"You guys should join me in planning this too. After all, I can only consider so many scenarios by myself. Reidy, get me the Kirov War Chess set," Lorist said.
Kirov War Chess was a war game created by the General Kirov from the Romon Empire about a hundred years ago. Lorist felt that it was quite similar to the modern chess back in his world. However, the chessboard was more similar to that of monopoly board game rather than the traditional checkerboard.
"Count Cobry has a new city in development that is modeled after the capital called Geldos City," said Lorist as he pointed towards the book he placed on the table before he put two cavalry chess pieces and four infantry chess pieces atop the book. "Currently, Geldos City has two cavalry companies and one garrison regiment defending it. It is worth noting that one of the pike cavalry companies as well as two companies within the garrison regiment were only recently formed and don't have any real battle prowess. According to the surrendered troops, the count only has one personal guard made up of a squad with members that are at least at the Iron rank equipped with heavy armor to look out for his safety."
After that, Lorist placed a plate onto the table and put a cavalry and infantry chess piece each onto the plate. "Williamiles Castle is defended by a cavalry company and another garrison company and the soldiers number almost 1000 in total. Even though the allied noble armies that are currently in a conflict with the count have around 4000 men, they're still gradually being pushed into a corner by the count's forces and are currently passively defending themselves. What a useless bunch."
Casually commenting on the allied noble armies, Lorist put down another cup on the table and placed an infantry chess piece within. "Over here is Burdock Bastide, which is situated within the count's original territory and there is a company of garrison troops stationed there. Now, pay attention to Geldos City, Williamiles Castle and Burdock Bastide. If you connect all three points to each other, you get a triangular shape. So, if one side is attacked, the other two will be able to go back it up as quickly as possible. Unless our forces far outnumber that of the count's, we will not be able to take down the forces stationed at Williamiles Castle and Burdock Bastide to reach Geldos City.
"Fortunately for us, the pike cavalry company and garrison regiment that were supposed to be stationed at Burdock Bastide has already been annihilated by us and they only have one company of garrison troops sent there from Williamiles Castle stationed there. Taking into account that the pike cavalry from the rebel-sweeping forces have also been wiped out by us, their forces have weakened quite a lot and no longer pose much of a threat to us. What I have in mind is we take the opportunity when Burdock Bastide is only weakly defended by a single garrison company and disguise ourselves as insurgent forces and start causing trouble in the dominion of the count to lure him to deploy his soldiers from Geldos City so that we can occupy the city posthaste. As long as we manage to get Geldos City and Burdock Bastide within our control, the count's foundation will have crumbled and there will be no way he can rise up to power again."
"Milord, your plan sounds really viable. Why, then, are you hesitating to do so?" asked Potterfang.
"It's mainly because we still don't exactly have enough soldiers to gain a victory without incurring a heavy loss at the same time. If that were the case, not only would we lose the control over the situation, we might also get attacked by others who are preying on the convoy. That is why I'm currently trying to come out with some way to minimize the losses our forces will incur. If only we can somehow get rid of another pike cavalry company…" said Lorist with a bitter laugh.
"But milord, I think that our forces are more than enough to handle the count's army. Why do you say otherwise?" asked Loze curiously.
"We have to consider the security of the convoy as well and cannot send all our forces without leaving some behind. After doing some calculations, I found that we can only afford to dispatch three pike infantry companies, one heavy-armored cavalry company and the carroballista squad as well as the knight brigade. We have to leave behind one heavy-armored cavalry company and two pike infantry companies to be able to ensure the convoy's safety. With the constable squad having to remain to regulate the convoy and the camp guard company being in charge of watching the war prisoners, even if we were to draw some forces from those units, we would only have 2000 extra men give or take. And Yuriy's light cavalry scouts will have to leave a squad behind to patrol the surrounding area and can only spare three squads to join our main attacking force and two more squads for the group that will ambush Geldos City.
"We also have to consider how the count will respond to our movements. If he hears that insurgents have come to attack his dominion, then he might possibly deploy all his forces, meaning that he will send two companies of pike cavalry and the garrison regiment of Geldos City, a staggering number of 3000 people, to exterminate the 'insurgents'. If we include the nobles that have allied with him, he can easily raise an army of around 5000 people. That's why I'm worried that we will suffer heavy losses if we fight head on with his main force," explained Lorist patiently.
Lorist gave a long sigh and said, "Actually, I was considering using the opportunity provided to us by the defeat of the count's pike cavalry to prompt the insurgents to cause trouble in the count's dominion when Josk said that he would rally them from the western mountains to attack the enemy's main camp and give the count no choice but to deploy his troops. That way, we can focus our forces to deal with the disorganized enemy and use the insurgents as our scapegoat to lessen our casualties as well.
"Who would have expected that the insurgents would be so cowardly and not dare to take any risks. That's why Knight Josk felt disillusioned and came over with his men to join our side."
Lorist then briefly told the rest about the history between Knight Josk and Count Corby. "I would really appreciate a Gold ranked talent like Josk and would definitely love to have him join the ranks of the Norton Family Knights. That's why I'm so eager to wipe out the count to avenge the family's merchant convoy while fulfilling Josk's wish at the same time. That's also the main reason why I'm sitting here going through the maps and trying to formulate a plan that will entrap the count's forces and avoid going into direct confrontation with them."
"Knight Josk really is a devoted man! It's nothing but good news if he intends to join us, We should definitely help him out," said Charade sympathetically after hearing about Josk's experience. "But Lord Locke, you seem to have missed out on an important piece of information."
"What is that about?" asked Lorist.
"Yesterday when Els was questioning the surrendered garrison troops, I overheard one of the soldiers saying that when they received news at the western mountains about the occupation of the camp, the illegitimate son that was in command sent some pike cavalrymen back to Count Cobry to report that incident before ordering for them to go take the camp back, bringing along the captive youths with them. Given that it takes four days to travel from the western mountains to Burdock Bastide, Count Cobry will only receive the report of the camp's occupation by today and will still think that the rebel-sweeping corps is in the process of recapturing the camp. Lord Locke, what you missed was how the count would behave given that he had only received the news of the occupation today," said Charade.
"Huh?" Lorist's eyes instantly brightened. "If I were Count Corby, upon receiving the report and taking into account the less than ideal snowy weather for the past two days, I will definitely worry about the rebel-sweeping corps. I will send them some reinforcements straight away and the fastest unit that is available to me is the pike cavalry company. It will take them around 4 days to travel to this camp by horse from Geldos City, which is to say, the count's reinforcements will arrive within 3 to 4 days. We still have a chance to take out their pike cavalry."
"That's correct. Also, didn't Knight Josk mention that some of his men's family members are still at the abandoned stronghold? We should go there openly to escort them back and spread the news of the pike cavalry's demise while we're at it. Even if they don't believe us, they will definitely send someone to check out the situation for themselves. We can then invite the people they send to witness us defeating the incoming pike cavalry company and tell them that without the pike cavalry, the count's might will effectively be halved and there is no better opportunity to raid the count's dominion like now. I believe that the insurgents will definitely spare no expense and send out all the forces they can muster to the count's dominion. When the insurgents throw the dominion into chaos, we can then sneak our way to conquer Burdock Bastide. Or, if the count decides to send his main force over there, we can have the insurgents' forces keep them busy and secretly send our elites to ambush Geldos City," added Charade.
"Good, that is exactly what we'll do," said Lorist excitedly with both his fists clasped. "Reidy, we have no time to waste. Quickly invite Knight Josk over."
After giving Reidy that order, Lorist looked at Charade, Yuriy, Terman, Potterfang and Loze and suddenly felt that something was off. "Oh, you all came together at the same time. Is there something I should know?"
The gang suddenly remembered why they came to Lorist in the first place. Charade laughed bitterly and said, "Milord, the reorganization plans that you have drafted were mostly carried out smoothly. The only issue is the lack of war horses. The various units have already started quarreling over the remaining war horses we have right now."
According to Charade, the convoy originally only had more than 700 war horses. They obtained a few dozen after raiding Viscount Mestre's castle as well. Coupled with the 2000 war horses obtained after eliminating the rebel-sweeping corps, the total number of war horses they had was still less than 3000. Based on Lorist's reorganization plan, a total of 4000 horses would be needed and that did not include the mounts needed by the camp guard and the constable unit. Currently, Terman, Yuriy, Potterfang and Loze had already argued day and night over it and finally settled to go to Lorist for a solution.
Lorist laughed out loud before continuing, "There isn't a need to quarrel over something like that! Just endure it for the moment. Don't we have some people sending horses to our doorstep in another four to five days? How shameless for you to be arguing over something so trivial like this. When we defeat Count Cobry's forces, we will have all the horses we want."
What Lorist was referring to was the reinforcements sent by the count. Given that each cavalryman had two mounts, the convoy would definitely not be short on those by the time they defeat the reinforcements.
After that, Josk entered the tent with Reidy and overheard about the lack of horses. He said, "Milord, if you are willing to trade weapons and equipment with the insurgents in the western mountains, I estimate that you will be able to get around 600 war horses."
Lorist nodded and said, "That's good. I'll be counting on you for that."
After that, he briefed Josk on the plans they had gone through just now.
Surprised and delighted, Josk said, "Milord, are you really going to exterminate Count Cobry?"
"That's right," said Lorist. "Since we have already destroyed so many of his troops, we might as well finish the job thoroughly and uproot the foundation of his power, lest he cause more trouble for us in the future."
"Milord, it is my pleasure to be in your service," said Josk as he deeply bowed to Lorist.
The Battle Begins
"Milord, we've returned," said Patt as he entered the large tent with Els and Tim.
"Oh, you're back. Reidy, ask Charade and Shadekampf to come over. Oh, don't forget Dulles as well," said Lorist as he rubbed his face to refresh himself. He did not have any sleep last night as he was planning hard on how to minimize his losses in the upcoming fight against the count's pike cavalry company that was en route to reinforce the rebel-sweeping corps.
"Sit down. Was the journey smooth? Patt, get Mister Tim some macks; I've been smelling its fragrant smell since this morning when Reidy was making it," said Lorist.
Charade and Shadekampf came over quickly and Lorist had them do an inventory check and record on the food and money that has just been brought over.
Without delay, Charade came back into the tent with a cheerful expression and said, "Milord, there are 100000 kilograms' worth of refined flour."
"Huh? Mister Tim, why does Viscount Tebri have so much of that?" asked Lorist.
Tim stood up and bowed before he said, "MIlord, the 100000 kilograms of refined flour is made from two years' worth of produce from the viscount's land. The crop has been converted to flour for ease of trading. Every two years, there will be a merchant convoy that goes to the viscount's dominion to purchase that flour for a price of around 1000 gold Fordes. I have been in charge of dealing with the merchants all this time."
"Oh, so that was the case. With this stock of refined flour, we can loosen up the rationing of the supplies of the convoy by quite a bit. Mister Tim, thank you for this. Rest assured that I won't take your things for free and will purchase them according to market price," said Lorist as he nodded in satisfaction.
Dulles then entered the tent and saluted to Lorist. Lorist asked him to wait for a while because he had something he needed Dulles to do later.
Subsequently, Shadekampf came into the tent with a large book and reported to Lorist, "Milord, within those seven large chests, there is a total of 17000 gold Fordes as well as 11000 imperial gold coins."
"Mister Tim, as the heir of Viscount Tebri, I believe that 1000 gold Fordes will be quite suitable as the ransom for your freedom given your status as a prisoner of war. The remaining gold coins will be taken care of by our convoy for the time being until you officially inherit your title and your expenses will be deducted from the figure. We will definitely return what remains of that sum to you when the time comes. Are you okay with that arrangement?" asked Lorist towards Tim.
Tim deeply bowed and said, "Milord, let's handle everything at your discretion."
"Good, that's a wise decision. Mister Tim, how many men do you have in your command at the moment?" asked Lorist.
"Um, I'm not too sure about this myself. There should be around 600 people. I should probably ask Knight Gemors about the exact number…" said Tim without confidence.
"Knight Gemors? Who's that?"
Tim quickly explained to Lorist that Knight Gemors was a Two Star Silver ranked knight that had served the viscount. Only, his age was rather high at 53 years old and he had a carefree personality and frequently commented on the viscount's way of handling things without holding back, thus making him not favored by the viscount. Had it not been for the fact that his family was a long line of knights that served the Tebri Family, the viscount would have sacked him long ago.
Consequently, he was sent to guard the refined flour business with Tim and was also the one that helped Tim to move the stock of refined flour to a secret location. When he realized that the viscount and his family had all been wiped out upon returning to the castle, he quickly took Tim as his lord and made an oath to secure the Tebri Family line throughout the generations. He also played a large part in rallying the citizens of the viscount's dominion to join Tim's insurgent force.
Given that Tim had passed the order to surrender when the rebel-sweeping corps broke through their stronghold, the force of the stronghold had not diminished by much. After being saved as a result of the convoy's occupation of the camp, the people under Tim's stronghold gathered together with several others from neighboring insurgent forces and quickly formed a group of 600 men. However, Tim said that he wasn't well-versed when it came to military matters and left it all to Knight Gemors's jurisdiction.
"How about this, Mister Tim, I will find your men later and provide them with some equipment. You can then go over to the camp of the rebel-sweeping corps that we have just taken to set up your own camp. I will allow you to use the flag of the Tebri Family. After that, send some people who are good with words to the western mountains to spread the news of our victory over the count's forces and encourage the insurgents to join the war effort. Tell them that they will not only be able to cripple the count forever but also make a good haul by raiding his dominion and that the things they manage to obtain will remain in their possession. After your unit receives the weapons, have Knight Gemors start their training before you return to start your noble etiquette lessons.
"Dulles, let me introduce Mister Tim to you. He is Viscount Tebri's heir. Due to certain reasons, he wasn't given training for noble customs and etiquette. I understand that you have been a temporary instructor for the etiquette course for the Dawn Academy when we were still at Morante City. I am now entrusting Mister Tim's training to you. Make sure to turn him to a prim and proper noble within the shortest time possible, understand?" instructed Lorist to Dulles.
"Yes, milord," acknowledged Dules. He then turned to Tim and said, "Come on, Mister Tim. I will observe your behavior and start correcting you when you carry out the assignments given to you by our lord. The training has already begun."
When Dulles left with Tim, Lorist said to Charade and Potterfang, "Make a new account for Tim's gold coins as well as the food he brought back and give him a copy of that as well. Tell him that if he needs anything, he can claim it from the main camp and the expenses will be deducted from his account. When allocating equipment to his men, use the ones obtained from the garrison troops that surrendered to us and sell it to him at a rate of 70% of the market price. As for the resources he will require to set up a new camp, sell it at a normal market rate. You two, while it's okay to sell it to him at a slight profit, don't go overboard."
Charade started laughing out loud and said, "I was just considering whether I should raise the price by a few times, but it was shot down by you immediately. Oh well. Shadekampf, we'll do as your young master says and sell the weapons and equipment with a 30% discount and charge a normal price for the supplies Tim will need. I'll leave it to you."
"Yes," said Shadekampf as he hurriedly left the tent.
The only ones who currently remained within the large tent was Lorist, Charade, Els, Patt and Reidy. Patt couldn't withhold his curiosity anymore and decided to ask Lorist, "Milord, why were you so lenient with Mister Tim and even bothered to help him become a noble? Isn't it a little too much to assist a con like him? If this were the Northlands, he would have his head lobbed off and displayed to the public for attempting to impersonate a noble."
Lorist laughed and said, "Patt, whether Mister Tim is a conman or not is not up to us to decide. It is not completely unprecedented for a family to be inherited by an illegitimate child. If we were at the Northlands, I would definitely kill him and swallow up his dominion just as most other nobles would. However, we are now in the Redlis Kingdom and the Northlands are thousands of kilometers away. Why would I bother to take something that I won't be able to benefit from? Killing Mister Tim does not profit us in any way. On the other hand, if we give him the appropriate nurturing and let him become a bona fide noble with an army to be commended within the area, then he would owe us a favor. In the future, whenever we have anything we need help with, we know who to look for. Understand now?"
Charade also offered his opinion on the matter. "Also, helping Mister Tim form his own army will also serve as a reminder to the insurgent forces as to whether they should become our friend or foe. If they ally with us like Mister Tim did, we will provide them with weapons and equipment and help them gain their dominions back. If they go against us, then we will not show them a shred of mercy and wipe them all out. The important thing is that we don't lack funds nor equipment but rather people who would be willing to purchase the gear from us. That's why we didn't prey on Mister Tim's gold and food. As long as we show ourselves to be fair and trustworthy, we will naturally be able to attract some of the insurgent forces to do business with us."
...
Just as Charade has stated, ever since Tim brought his men to set up camp under the banner of the Tebri Family and after Josk brought the family members of his subordinates back from the mountains in a grand and public fashion, coupled with the men Tim sent to spread the news about the count's rebel-sweeping corps's demise, the insurgent forces have started sending people to the convoy to trade for weapons and equipment. Charade has managed to exchange many unused items for war horses in a short period of time due to the fair prices and quantity of the weapons offered, temporarily alleviating the desperate lack of mounts the convoy faced.
As for the ones who came to trade their war horses for food, they were rejected by Charade with the reason that the convoy themselves were also lacking in that resource. However, Charade invited the insurgent forces to plunder the count's dominion after the the defeat of the count's reinforcements that were on their way. Even though the representatives of the insurgents were rather dubious of the invitation, they still left some of their people to monitor the situation to ascertain whether the convoy was really going to take out the count's reinforcements.
After another two days, Yuriy sent someone to report that Count Cobry's reinforcements have finally been spotted. As expected, they were a company of pike cavalrymen that were escorting tens of other carriages that seemed to be transporting some supplies. It seemed that the reinforcements had traveled at a rather slow pace for the past 6 days and it would take another day for them to reach the camp. Lorist had originally expected for them to arrive within four to five days.
The process of surrounding and ambushing the count's forces proceeded without much difficulty: when the pike cavalry company noticed that they had been surrounded from all sides, Knight Josk went all out and showed off his divine marksmanship in front of everyone by taking down three of the Silver rank commanders of the company with only three arrows. After the battle, it was discovered that two of the commanders were the illegitimate children of Count Cobry; Knight Josk had managed to inch ever so closer to his goal of revenge.
After that, Terman's newly-formed knight squad and the heavy-armored cavalry company led by Potterfang and Loze started their assault. The pike cavalrymen who had been traveling in the snowy weather for up to six days had no way to resist such a ferocious attack, especially given that their leader had already fallen in the beginning of the battle. It didn't take long before they ceased all resistance and surrendered.
After the battle, Lorist and his knights got to know that while their forces only sustained light injuries, the only casualty had been accidentally knocked off his horse by one of their own and stomped to death by a horse in his chest. The other soldiers' injuries were also due to accidental friendly fire while the ones actually hurt by the enemy numbered less than ten. After that report was concluded, Terman, Potterfang and Loze all had faces as red as a baboon's rear and were completely speechless.
However, the insurgents who were monitoring the battle did not notice that discrepancy and were completely enthralled by the fearsome manner in which the convoy's forces obliterated that of the count's. They all came to the realization that the count had actually lost three of his pike cavalry companies as well as one regiment and one company of garrison troops to the convoy. That meant that the count only had half of his military might left. Currently, the count's dominion was akin to a scantily-clad and defenseless girl who practically couldn't resist anybody's forced advances.
Without much delay, several of the insurgent forces of the western mountains quickly sent their troops to gather at the camp, effectively filling it up to the brim. Lorist and Charade called for their leaders and discussed for a whole day, promising that the convoy would support them with their own forces to give the 3000-strong insurgents a chance to pillage the count's dominion within the coming days.
The first place to fall was the count's original territory, Burdock Bastide. Within a single day, the bastide administration had received tens of reports of their citizens or warehouses being plundered by bandits and was thrown into severe disarray. The Gold ranked illegitimate son that was stationed at the bastide angrily rallied three squads of garrison troops in an attempt to squash the impudent 'bandits' who dared to ravage their dominion. When they broke through the ranks of two of the insurgent groups, Potterfang and Loze led a company of heavy-armored cavalrymen to the forefront of the battle and completely vaporized the three squads of garrison troops, with the head of the Gold ranked illegitimate son severed and paraded around on a pike.
Upon seeing the severed head, the last squad that was defending the bastide chose to surrender and the control of Burdock Bastide was officially transferred to Lorist.
"Onward!" shouted Charade on top of a huge and majestic Zeno horse as he waved his horsewhip valiantly.
Near a thousand horse carriages lined up into four columns headed out of the camp. Within it, the flag that bore the insignia of the raging bear was lowered and a flag that depicted a horseshoe belonging to the Tebri Family was raised.
After receiving Lorist's report of the bastide's capture, Charade ordered the convoy to set out for it. Before they left, Charade even transferred the ownership of the camp to Tim for 1000 gold Fordes. Tim agreed to that transaction happily as he felt that the strong defensive fortifications of the camp was far better than the ravaged dominion of Viscount Tebri.
Having received days of training in noble customs and etiquette, Tim seemed to have a slight air of nobility emanating from him and has started to dress more presentably. With the support of the convoy, he has managed to rally 1000 young and strong soldiers as well as 2000 non-combatants under the banner of the Tebri Family and had become a force on par to the other insurgents. However, there was one thing that still caused Tim quite a bit of worry: the amount of the money he had entrusted to the convoy was depleting rather quickly. As of now, he was only left with around 10000 gold Fordes.
This wasn't due to the convoy taking advantage of Tim's funds. In fact, he was extremely grateful for the convoy's help and support as well as the reasonable prices they charged for the items sold to him. His financial issues mainly stemmed from the upkeep required to sustain the thousands of people under him, causing him to eagerly look forward to the day when he can go get a big haul from the count's dominion. During the latest expedition, he brought eight hundred of his men to join the convoy's forces and even gave each of them a large bag to take as many valuables as they can.
Troop Deployment
Count Cobry was fuming with rage as he squeezed yet another golden cup in his hand into a crumpled up chunk. All his servants didn't dare to take loud breaths lest they end up like that unfortunate sob the day before, who had returned to the embrace of the Earth Mother Goddess having been struck on the head with a similar chunk that used to be a metal cup that was thrown by the count after he had accidentally made a loud noise when the count was irritated from hearing about the bad news.
The count unconsciously squeezed his fist and turned the cup into a plethora of different shapes. He only noticed that the cup had been squeezed into a small golden ball of metal when the jewel inlaid on the cup fell out of his palm. Placing the golden ball on the table, the count stood up and paced around in frustration before going to the veranda, causing all the servants to let out a breath of relief as nobody was hurt in his presence.
Count Cobry was already 63 years old that year, but he still looked like a strong and healthy middle-aged man. Even though he had been criticized for his bad character among the noble circle, his talent in Battle Force training was definitely top-notch. Not only was he a Two Star Gold rank, he had managed to bring up 17 Gold ranks and 38 Silver ranks out of all his illegitimate sons. If the count were at the Morante City's academy sector, he could use those results to earn himself a Gold ranked Battle Force instructor badge without much difficulty.
Relying heavily on his illegitimate sons, Count Cobry has managed to expand his territory by quite a huge margin and solidified the Cobry Family's position as the hegemon of the northwestern area of the Redlis Kingdom. However, just when the rank of a duke was within his reach, his plans had been overturned all of a sudden. How could he not be pissed?
Since he first became good friends with the First Prince ten years ago at the capital, the count has always served him well by disguising his troops as bandits to raid merchant convoys. The count had sacrificed over 6 Gold ranked and 13 Silver ranked sons in hopes of being granted the title of the Duke of the Northwest by the First Price. But that could only be achieved if he manages to make the former nobles of the Krissen Empire submit to the First Prince.
The northwestern area of the Redlis Kingdom was the place where nobles who had military achievements were enfeoffed land. While the nobles there were loyal to the First Prince in name, none of them actually took him seriously. When the First Prince first raised the flag of rebellion, only a few of them actually joined the war effort enthusiastically. And when it came to taxes and administration, all of the First Prince's attempts to raise the taxation rate has been suppressed either openly or secretly by the nobles.
The count understood that his reputation in the northwest was not that impressive. Back in the day, having a less than ideal reputation as a branch family spawned from a birth outside of wedlock, not a single noble family wanted to form marriage alliances with the Cobry Family. The First Prince had wanted the nobles of the northwestern area to give 20% of their earnings as tax, but the count understood that they would definitely not agree to that proposition. Thus, he resorted to using military force to subdue the nobles since he believed that the northwestern area would one day become his dominion and the lesser nobles there area there, the better he would fare.
How, then, did everything start to go haywire? Count Cobry stood at the veranda and looked towards the site where the new city was being built that was blanketed by a cloud of dust. The layout of the city before his eyes had been inspired largely by the design of the capital and he planned to have it be his headquarters when he becomes a duke in the future and use it as the center of administration for the northwestern area.
In the past, the count frequently felt proud and full of himself when he witnessed the city's construction from the veranda. Even though life was fleeting, his name and legacy would forever live on in the form of the city and weather through the indifferent passage of time. He had even planned to erect a large statue of him when the main construction of the city was completed and hold the ceremony of his ascension to the title of the duke there.
His dream would only require two more years to come true! The count grasped both of his fists and steeled his resolve to not allow anyone stop him in his tracks of realizing his long-held desire. The current situation was looking pretty good for the count as the allied noble armies had been forced into a corner and had no way to resist him whatsoever, as could be seen from the fact that many of the nobles had started writing private letters to him stating that they would be willing to switch sides and obey his orders. And with the gradual increase of the count's power, he had managed to wipe out many of the neighboring nobles and had turned their dominions to uninhabited wastelands that housed no one apart from some insurgent forces or bandits who probably had death wishes.
When the count thought about the insurgent forces, he was once again reminded about the merchant convoy that his rebel-sweeping corps had attacked out of habit from the old days when they masqueraded as bandits. Until now, they were still entangled with the convoy and seemed to have forgotten his order to capture people from the mountainous strongholds to be used as laborers.
The count could never even imagine that the forces he had sent out had been all wiped out. He truly believed that his force that consisted of two companies of pike cavalry and five companies of garrison troops was completely invincible in the northwestern area of the Redlis Kingdom. He reasoned that his men probably didn't dare to send reports back to him because they were worried that he would be further angered by the fact that they were having a hard time taking back the camp as the convoy's forces had a defensive advantage. Then again, he had sent yet another company of pike cavalry along with a sizeable amount of food and supplies as reinforcements, so he believed that he would receive the good news in a couple more days.
He was angry yet curious at the same time about the convoy that spread so far that one couldn't see the end of it from the other end, as reported to him by one of his men who had participated in the second assault on the convoy. Which merchant guild could the convoy belong to? It was glaringly apparent that they did not put the count in any regard from the manner in which they decided to cross his lands unannounced.
What he didn't expect was that the entanglement between his rebel-sweeping corps and the convoy's forces had given the pests from the western mountains a chance to occupy the Burdock Bastide when his forces were spread thin. That place was the original dominion of the Cobry Family! Had it not been for the reports of the citizens who had evacuated the area, he probably would've been unaware that the bastide was being ravaged by the insurgent bandits for five whole days already.
At first, the count didn't believe the report of the citizens at all and even gave them a savage round of caning. However, even under the painful strokes of the cane, the citizens' testaments still stood firm and they even swore that all of what they said were true. Half-believing the reports, the count sent a squad of pike cavalrymen to check the situation out. According to their reports, they had encountered Divine Marksman Josk and many other bandits that numbered around a company's worth of men. After engaging in a brutal skirmish with the enemy, only a few of the pike cavalrymen managed to make it back alive.
Upon the mention of Josk, the count felt a chilling sensation on his shoulder where Josk's arrow had once pierced. Given Josk's participation, it wasn't hard to guess that the illegitimate sons stationed at Burdock Bastide had met their demise. Based on what the citizens' and his cavalrymen's reports, he estimated there to be around 3000 rioters, which was about the number of the insurgent forces that hid themselves in the mountains. It seemed that they were going all out for that attack.
Alright, I guess it's time I made my move. Don't think that just because I'm 63, I would be easy to mess with. However old a lion is, it would always retain its savagery and majesty and will retaliate when it is threatened. If I don't quell these rioters as soon as possible and word about this gets out, others would think the Cobry Family is on the way to its downfall to the point where it couldn't even handle some petty rioters. The count made an oath to himself that he would teach the insurgent pests a severe lesson and will not rest until every single one of them pays for their transgressions.
The count could afford to deploy a regiment of garrison troops numbering around 2000 people as well as one company of pike cavalrymen from Geldos City given that he had one newly-formed squad of pike cavalrymen and two squads of garrison troops which was more than enough to defend the city with. Coupled with the other pike cavalrymen he had stationed at Williamiles Castle and the soldiers of the nobles who were on his side, he easily rallied a force of 5000 people that was powerful enough to completely crush the insurgents of the western mountains, not to say much about a disorganized bunch of rowdy bandits. I guess this arrangement is fine. I'll deploy my soldiers within three days.
After finishing his thought, Count Cobry called out loudly, "Heed my orders…"
—————————————————————–
Lorist started pointing all over the map and said, "Here, here and here. Yuriy, send some people to be stationed there. These are the ideal places to monitor the road that connects Burdock Bastide to Geldos City. The count will definitely have his men use that road if he starts mobilizing his troops and we will be able to make our preparations the moment we see something going on. Josk, you did pretty well yesterday and managed to eliminate half of the squad of pike cavalrymen they sent over without relying on the forces of the convoy. However, the insurgents have lost quite a bit of men too, right?"
"That's correct. They have lost around 200 men. If I didn't happen to pass through that area with a squad of light cavalry scouts, they would probably have been wiped out entirely. However, I left the equipment and weapons of the defeated soldiers of the count to them and they were quite thankful and pleased with that arrangement despite their losses," reported Josk.
"That's the main reason why I praised you. Now that news of his soldiers' defeat has gone out, he would definitely mobilize the rest of his troops. We are prepared to face off against him at this spot. If we didn't have the insurgents fleshing out our numbers, we will not be able to stave off the full-force, head-on assault of the count and might even incur huge losses even if we emerge victorious.
"Where is the convoy led by Knight Charade located at now?" Lorist asked.
Potterfang pointed to a point on the map and said, "They're already here and will arrive at Burdock Bastide by tomorrow afternoon. I've already sent Knight Loze and a company of heavy-armored cavalry to receive and escort him along the way so I believe that the convoy would not have any problems reaching the bastide unharmed. Pleased rest assured, milord."
"How can I not be worried when the convoy hasn't arrived yet? I'm afraid that everyone will have to be quite busy within the next two days. Yuriy, make sure your scouts increase the patrols in the surrounding area, but try to shut an eye to what the insurgent forces are doing to minimize the conflict we have with them. Don't get into fights just because of their despicable behavior, alright?" said Lorist.
"Yes, milord. I will make sure to inform my subordinates to be careful," replied Yuriy.
"Just hold it in for now. When the convoy arrives, we will be able to send Malek to gather up the insurgents that are causing trouble and enforce military discipline on them. If they don't obey, then we will kill a few to make an example out of them for the others to follow suit. We have no choice but to endure for the first few days as we don't have enough manpower right now," said Lorist as he shook his head while laughing bitterly.
In actuality, the actions of some of the insurgents were even lowlier and more detestable than things common bandits would carry out. Incidents like robbery, murder and rape was rather common within the count's dominion at the moment, but it was an understandable consequence. Given that the insurgents have been fighting against the count for so long, they would naturally desire to cause as much havoc as they can within the count's dominion as a form of payback. However, it would be too extreme to allow them to vent all their hatred for the count onto his innocent citizens. As Knight Josk had put it, some of the insurgents used to run away on the mere sight of the count's soldiers. Currently, they were laying their hands on the defenseless citizens of the dominion and that had caused several fights to break out between the convoy's soldiers and the insurgents'.
"Josk, how fares the formation of your mounted cavalry unit?"
"Milord, the people who fit the criteria of that unit is exceedingly hard to find. Not only do they have to be good at riding, they must also have a talent for marksmanship as well as have some mastery in Battle Force. So far, I've only managed to find tens of men who fit that bill," said Josk in a downcast manner.
"It's alright, take your time. I believe when the unit is properly formed, it will definitely take the battlefield by storm," consoled Lorist with a smile.
...
On the next day, Charade arrived at Burdock Bastide with the rest of the convoy, causing everyone to be in a cheerful mood.
That night within a large hall, Lorist looked at the map and announced, "Today, Knight Yuriy brought us some news that the nobles who are allied with the count were leading their armies to gather at Geldos City. That means that Count Cobry is already rallying his forces and will possibly deploy his troops in one or two days to take the bastide back. Since we don't have much time, we'll rest up for the whole day for tomorrow and I'll have Potterfang lead a heavy-armored cavalry squad and three pike infantry companies over here to set up camp. Terman's knight squad and Dulles's carroballista squad will also leave at the same time.
"We'll leave two companies of pike infantry to defend the bastide with Charade being in charge of them. Knight Malek, you will be tasked with patrolling the surrounding area and gathering up the insurgents who have been exploiting the citizens of the dominion quite excessively. Make sure the insurgents obey our orders and ask them to gather up at Potterfang's camp. If there's anyone who refuses to comply…"
Lorist suddenly radiated a killing intent at that moment. "Knight Loze, you should know what to do…"
Lode Wales's face showed a sinister snicker. "I understand. I'll let them have a taste of my heavy-armored cavalry company if they dare to break their word…"
"Great. Mister Tim, you don't have to worry. As a true friend and ally of the Norton Family, you only have to let your men rest up and recuperate. When our forces start confronting Count Cobry's army, I will let you lead the ambush on Geldos City," said Lorist.
Success
Geldos City was situated not far from Burdock Bastide and a pike cavalry unit would be able to travel from one place to the other within one day and one night. However, when it came to infantry garrison troops, they required at least three days and two nights of travel. The presence of the disorganized farmer militia of the other vassal noble families of the count only served to slow down the whole process even further. Currently, the count was regretting his decision on bringing them along and ordered for the two of his cavalry companies to leave for the bastide sooner.
Just as the army was setting up camp after one day of travel, Count Cobry received news that two of his illegitimate sons had perished yet again, one of whom was Gold ranked with the other being a Silver rank. The soldier who made the report stammered in fear when facing the count as he had drawn the losing lot to be the one to make the report.
Just that afternoon, the two companies of pike cavalry noticed an enemy stronghold at the Motz Hills that just so happened to be on the path to Burdock Bastide. The leader of the pike cavalry that was reassigned from Williamiles Castle was also a Gold ranked son of the count. When he observed the enemy's stronghold, he noticed that while they had advantage being on higher terrain, being the common bandits they were, their fortifications were full of holes. It was crude and far from perfect.
As a result, the Gold ranked commander believed that he only required a company of pike cavalrymen to break through the stronghold to massacre the bandits within. And so he did just that only to notice that the defensive fortifications up front were merely a facade and the true line of defense was deeper within. Not only that, the bandits had also set up a trap and ambushed the pike cavalry company from all sides with concentrated volleys of arrows, crossbow bolts as well as huge ballista darts.
The messenger then handed the count a long javelin-like ballista dart that was retrieved from the illegitimate son commander's corpse. Even though he was at the Gold rank, there was no way he would be able to deflect all 12 ballista darts aimed directly at him, resulting in his death as well as another Silver rank stepbrother of his who was also standing nearby.
The pike cavalry company that rushed straight into the stronghold had suffered heavy losses and only two squads' worth of soldiers returned, among which more than ten were even injured. Fortunately, the bandits only stayed put and defended their stronghold without giving chase, causing yet another Gold ranked illegitimate son to regroup the soldiers and set up camp outside the stronghold without taking any rash actions and await reinforcements.
"This is a ballista dart…" Given Count Cobry's vast experience on the battlefield, he quickly recognized what the spear-like object was. However, what made him frustrated was how the bandits had managed to acquire a weapon of such caliber.
While ballistas were definitely powerful, they were also heavy and immobile and cost a lot of gold to maintain. For example, even if a ballista wasn't used, every two years, its arms had to be switched so that the durability of the wood wouldn't decrease its performance. When it came to the string, it had to be switched out after firing ten darts, and also cost quite a lot to be order-made. Apart from proper armies of kingdoms or garrisons defending large cities, no armed force, especially that of landed nobles, would choose to utilize ballistas as the upkeep was too high and it was troublesome to maintain.
As if one troubling incident occurred one after another, a few other reports caused the baron to lose sleep for the whole night. Before the sky had started to brighten from the first rays of the sun, the count left the farmer militia behind and mobilized his garrison regiment to hurry onward to rendezvous with the pike cavalry at the camp they had set up and managed to arrive there by noon.
After getting two hours of rest, the count ordered the sword and shield soldiers of the garrison regiment as well as the longbowmen to cooperate with the pike cavalry company to test the strength of the bandits' stronghold. He later discovered that while breaching the first line of defense of the stronghold was relatively easy, they ended up on a vast flat field that allowed them to be easily targeted by the bandits who used projectile weapons from the far side, raining down volley after volley of projectiles towards their forces. Count Cobry's men hurriedly retreated, leaving another hundred or so corpses behind as they left the stronghold.
This time, however, the count didn't notice any sign of ballistas being used. It seemed that his inference that bandits couldn't afford to maintain ballistas was correct and that the ballistas used yesterday must've been out of commission. That was music to the count's ears. Even though he had lost hundreds of men during the test battle that noon, it had allowed him to understand how the stronghold was defended. So they only have the terrain and projectile weapons to their advantage. When the farmer militia from the vassal noble families arrive in the afternoon, I can use them as enemy fodder to take the projectiles for my troops and easily crush the stronghold.
During that night, the count had the farmers help him construct near a hundred carts with simple wooden shielding. On the next day, the count had them push the wooden carts to block of the arrows while his units quickly made their way to the back of the stronghold. Seeing that the situation had turned against their favor, the bandits quickly shot out another volley towards the cavalrymen before fleeing the place quickly.
This time, the operation to capture the stronghold went well with only minimal casualties. However, the count noticed that around 100 meters along the path, there was another stronghold waiting for them.
Motz Hills was a collective name for a group of more than ten small hills around the area. Nobody knew why it was named as such, so the people merely called it according to what the maps that was passed down since ancient times stated. The path that connected Geldos City and Burdock Bastide passed through the middle of these nondescript hills was craftily utilized by the bandits to set up many simple strongholds that managed to effectively hinder the passage of the count's army.
To the count's dismay, he discovered that there were easily over ten more of those strongholds blocking his way on the path to Burdock Bastide, causing his face to contort badly with rage. Unable to directly stop the count's vanguard, the bandits had wittily set up various strongholds that allowed them to shoot at the count's forces from afar and retreat to the next when their defenses were about to be broken through. Not only would the count lose quite an amount of his forces along the way, it would also cost him a lot of time.
Even though he desperately wanted to flatten the strongholds with his forces, the traveling speed of the makeshift wooden shield carts was so slow that it took a few hours to move even a few hundred meters. Given that the farmers didn't have any sleep whatsoever the day before, the prior attack had completely drained them of their energy. On the other hand, the count was unwilling to let his own soldiers sustain casualties to attack the stronghold and was forced to rest for the night.
On the second day, tempted by the promises of riches, the farmers once again toiled away and enabled the count to conquer three strongholds within one day. Even though about 200 of the farmers perished during the attacks, the count did not care much for them and only tried to minimize the casualties of his own troops.
However, on the third day, the farmers started to dawdle around and refused to obey their orders as the count's pledge that each of them would be awarded one imperial silver for each stronghold conquered was left unfulfilled. The count had no choice but to promise to give them the money when he returns to his castle as he did not have that much coins on hand. However, the farmers only felt that they were being cheated and only managed to conquer one stronghold on that day due to their low morale. Even though the losses on that day was far lesser compared to that of the day before, the count was still pissed as there were still seven to eight strongholds left to be conquered. If they progressed at this rate, it would take them at least five to six days before they leave the Motz Hills.
Thus, the count wrote an order and sent a pike cavalry squad back to Geldos City to ask for more supplies to be sent over as he had only brought seven to eight days' worth of supplies given that he didn't expect the presence of so many strongholds along the path. The other reason he did not bring much supplies with him initially was that he was afraid that he would end up a laughingstock by preparing so thoroughly just to deal with a rowdy bunch of bandits.
What weighed the most heavily on the count's mind was that if his supplies were exhausted by the time he conquers the final stronghold, he would have no choice but to lead his army back to the city and truly become the joke of the century. To prepare for the worst, the count had ordered for around 15 days' worth of supplies to be transported over.
His second order was a request for some coins to be brought over so that the farmers would once again be convinced and motivated to become arrow fodder willingly. Naturally, Count Cobry planned to 'pay back' the farmers by the time he makes his way out of the Motz Hills and show them that his money would not be so easily taken.
In his third order, he planned to have his Gold ranked illegitimate son that was stationed at Geldos City recruit more soldiers within the dominion as he had a sense of foreboding that a big conflict was about to break out, as if the current situation was only the calm before the storm. That was partly due to the fact that the bandits who mainly relied on guerrilla hit-and-run tactics had learned how to resist his forces in a head-on battle all of a sudden. What had transpired for them to be able to change their tactics in such a short time?
—————————————————————–
It turned out that the squad of cavalrymen sent back by the count with the letter had been surrounded by Lorist's forces. The first few vanguards of the company that rushed out had their horses caught by a rope trap that caused them to tumble like there was no tomorrow. They were further greeted by the assault of Terman's knight squad along with thirty or so javelins that had been thrown by Lorist. The few of those cavalrymen who were fortunate enough to escape from the encirclement of the several hundred men ended up being shot to death by Josk, who was circling the area from a higher vantage point. The twenty or so riders only managed to survive after getting off their horses and surrendering.
Looking at the letter written by the count with satisfaction, Lorist laughed and said, "With this letter, Geldos City is already our possession."
Tim, wearing a suit of armor, congratulated Lorist and said, "Baron Norton, you truly are very thorough with your plans. You even guessed that the count would send a letter for extra supplies and planned for us to ambush his forces here. I had thought that we would be attacking Geldos City right away after circumventing his forces."
"Hehe, it isn't that difficult to figure out. Given that he didn't bring much supplies with him when he first set out and the fact that we managed to defer his forces at the Motz Hills for a couple of days, he was bound to run out of supplies at some point. It is only logical for him to send someone out to request for more. With this letter, we will be able to casually walk up to the city and have them open the gates without any trouble.
"Alright, you guys, change out into the clothes of the count's troops. We're going to head to Geldos City. Els, I'll leave the prisoners on your watch. Kill any who attempts to escape," instructed Lorist.
This time, Lorist formed the ambush unit with only Josk, Els and two squads of camp guards, Terman's knight squad, Yuriy and his two light cavalry squads as well as Tim and his 800 men who were carrying a large sack each.
When Count Cobry was still held back at the first stronghold, Lorist spent two days carefully circumventing the count's forces and hiding themselves in the area to prepare for the ambush.
In the evening, a squad of pike cavalrymen and a company of garrison troops arrived at the gates of Geldos City. The garrison squad in charge of guarding the city did have any suspicion whatsoever of their presence and lowered the drawbridge and opened the gates to the city without hesitation after receiving the count's letter. The 'squad leader' of the pike cavalrymen who had just arrived then asked the guards of Geldos City where the son of the count was located. Immediately after the guard answered, the garrison troops walking in from behind hastily rushed in and tied up the rest of the guards and even stuffed their mouths with bloody cloths that caused the guards to feel irresistible urges to puke.
Lorist instructed, "Yuriy, Els, quickly go and take control of the other three city gates and leave a squad of people behind to guard each gate. Terman, bring your knight squad with me to the duke manor in the middle of the city. Josk, you should come along too. Mister Tim, make sure you withhold your men and make sure they don't start raiding before we successfully take over the city, understand? Don't let their impatience ruin the whole plan."
"Milord, please be assured that I will not let you down," Tim replied.
Probably due to the absence of the usually strict count, the Gold ranked illegitimate son was irresponsibly not carrying out his duties and was instead busy hosting a nude party within a hall of the duke manor. Upon hearing the report of a manor guard about the count's letter, the drunk son stood up stark-naked and ordered for it to be delivered to him as he chugged away at his wine.
Lorist and Josk subsequently entered the hall as the one guarding the door had his neck snapped by Terman.
The two of them felt a chill down their spine as they witnessed the stark naked men and women within the hall engaging in indecent acts and debauchery with reckless abandon without a care in the world.
The stark-naked man before them lifted his wine cup and laughed in a drunk manner before he mumbled, "Enough looking around… Give… give me my father's letter… You should strip down as well… and… have fun with us… It's alright… You can… have all the women… you want… Or men, if… if that's your thing…"
Lorist and Josk gave each other a glance before they both wordlessly drew their swords...