Chapter 387 - 83 - 88

Chapter 83

River-Crossing and Arrival

Probably because he wanted Lorist to leave his dominion as soon as possible, Viscount Kermas didn't cut any corners on the items he promised to deliver, much to Shadekampf's delight. The 7 carriages of food and 3 carriages of textiles had all been brought over in one go and the 10 carriages that came along was also given to them as a gift, causing Shadekampf to be relieved as he didn't manage to procure as many carriages as he had hoped.

Now with 10 extra carriages in hand, Shadekampf wouldn't have to worry about not having enough to transport all the goods. After another night of checking and finalizing, Lorist's group finally departed Fenyata Town on the 11th day of the 2nd month.

Three days later, Lorist's convoy arrived at the border between the Andinaq Kingdom and the Madras Duchy and rested for one day at the Nadgas Border City around the area before entering the duchy a day later.

Compared to the Andinaq Kingdom, the Madras Duchy seemed to fare much better after the conflict in terms of both civilian standard of living as well as order and security. This was much in part of Duke Madras's efforts who had taken a defensive stance during the civil war within the empire and only defended himself against invaders without lashing out at anyone else, allowing for his duchy to be in better shape in comparison to the lands of other powers. He paid meticulous attention to the borders as well, earning him the title of 'The Hedgehog Duke'.

Lorist's convoy traveled along the duchy's border from the south to the north for a distance of around 650 kilometers and only encountered two groups of mountain bandits and another cavalry bandit group within 7 days. Naturally, these ignorant fools soon regretted their decision to prey on the convoy and by the time it arrived at the border between the Madras Duchy and the Northern Highlands, the Metropoulos River, the number of carriages filled with resources and loot had already increased by 6 with another 70 or so prisoners.

"Milord, after crossing Metropoulos River, we will arrive at the outer regions of the Northlands and will only have around 350 kilometers left to travel. We no longer have to travel at night anymore as we will be able to reach the family dominion well before the third month if we travel for 50 kilometers a day," said Shadekampf as he breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that his decision to bring along so much resources had not delayed Lorist's arrival at the dominion before the inheritance ceremony.

The Metropoulos River was calm and tranquil as the clear water quietly flowed downstream.

Beyond that river, elevated lands could be seen in the far distance with a number of lush-green mountains filling out their field of view.

This was the Northlands, the homeland of the original owner of Lorist's body.

Lorist looked towards the distance and thought, so this is my homeland…

"I recall that ten years ago when I left the dominion with the merchant convoy, there was a bridge somewhere here and the stream under it was rather turbulent unlike how calm it is now."

"Milord, I believe the bridge you are talking about is the Hendliff Suspension Bridge which is located upstream the Metropoulos River around 50 kilometers from where we are. The Freist Castle, which is one of the territories of the Duke of the Northlands, Duke Loggins, is just beyond that bridge. Because you said that you didn't wish to deal with the duke before we embarked on our journey, I have decided to cross the river over here instead. This place is one of the two crossings to the Northlands from the Metropoulos River. After we cross it, we will arrive at the dominion after passing through 7 territories of other nobles," explained Shadekampf.

"Where is the crossing then?" Lorist asked.

"It's just a little further up ahead. That is the territory of Baron Silas. I'm sure he would earn quite a bit from the toll we have to pay given the size of our convoy," said Shadekampf.

"Well, we have to pay what we ought to. Let's go. After we cross the river, we'll set up camp to rest for another day," said Lorist.

...

As a noble, one would normally be entitled to cross another noble's territory at no cost whatsoever. In normal circumstances, Lorist only had to use his badge to demonstrate that his convoy wasn't a merchant convoy to be allowed to cross the territories of other nobles without having to pay a fee. However, when it came to crossing rivers, it was different as the fees for the ferry service had to be paid regardless.

Baron Silas's harbor wasn't large and only held two boats. A plaque was erected near the harbor that indicated the pricing for crossing the river: it would cost 1 imperial silver for a person, 10 imperial silvers for a horse, 1 imperial old head gold coin for a carriage filled with goods, etc. Even if one was a noble, the price would still remain the same with the only benefit of being allowed to cross ahead in line should there be others waiting to use the ferries as well.

What's the point of being allowed to cross earlier? It's not like there's anyone else waiting here… According to that old guy who's repairing the oars, the boatmen are also away as well…

The arrival of the convoy had turned the once serene surroundings to be filled with merry chattering that even caused the baron to personally bring a squad of garrison troops over to calculate the total cost for all the people, horses and carriages of the convoy. When he received the bag full of gold coins from Lorist as payment, he smiled so hard he couldn't shut his mouth for quite a while. The baron who was in a cheerful mood even especially asked his servants to bring some bottles of wine from his precious collection back at the castle and treated Lorist to a drink.

However, Lorist felt quite troubled at that moment as one boat could only ferry 4 carriages and a few people at once and each trip across the river easily took up to one hour. His convoy had near 100 carriages, 600 horses and many more people. How much time would he need for the convoy to be completely brought over to the other side of the river? There were only 8 boatmen after all and they needed to eat and sleep as well. Lorist estimated that it would probably take seven or eight more days before it could all be completed.

Baron Silas apologized deeply for the inconvenience given the amount of payment he had received for the convoy's crossing and said that it couldn't be helped as he only had two boats with eight boatmen.

Lorist then asked, "Do you happen to have any rope?"

Baron Silas nodded and said, "Yes, of course we do. Due to the fact that my dominion is near the river, we are easily able to harvest the reed that grows at the banks which we will then make into ropes. This can be considered one of the unique local products my dominion has to offer."

Lorist then asked Baron Silas to procure a lot of rope for him which he connected one end to another and linked them to the front and back of each boat. He then tasked his men on both sides on the river to make large pulleys which can be used to guide and pull the boats to and fro the riverbanks. That way, not only could the boatmen save much more energy for each trip, the stability of the boats when it neared the shores could be better managed, thus shortening the time for each trip from one hour to only thirty minutes.

Even with the increased efficiency, it was already evening of the second day when Lorist got onto the last boat. Looking at Baron Silas who was seeing Lorist away and waving nonstop from the other side of the bank, Shadekampf said in a dissatisfied tone, "That baron actually got 150 imperial gold coins from us as toll… It's no wonder he's so eager to come over to see you off even though it's already getting this late."

Lorist waved back to the baron on the riverbank and recalled the night before when he brought Ovidis along with him to the baron's castle after having been invited there as a guest, much to the full-bearded former bandit's surprise. The reason Lorist brought him along was because Josk and Patt were busy managing the matters of the camp on the other side of the river, leaving only Reidy and Ovidis together with Lorist. After receiving the invitation, he instructed Reidy to monitor the proceedings of the crossing and was only left with Ovidis to bring along to the banquet.

At that night, Lorist presented Baron Silas with an upper body plate armor that was decorated with golden engravings which was part of the loot he got from the bandits they encountered along the way. Lorist didn't know which unfortunate noble the bandit stole it from, but due to it being too eye-catching on the battlefield, the bandit leader who was wearing it got shot in the throat by Josk at the start of the battle.

As it had no noble family insignia on it, it was the perfect gift to present to someone. Lorist reasoned that the armor was probably order-made by someone as a gift for some young noble's ceremony of coming of age. Lorist himself didn't take a fancy for that flashy armor as wearing it was just like saying to one's enemies, 'Hey, I'm here, quick, shoot me!' That kind of suicidal thing was definitely not what Lorist wanted to do.

However, the baron absolutely loved Lorist's gift to the point that he wasn't willing to let it go. After the banquet, the full-bearded Ovidis excused himself and returned to help Reidy organize the crossing as he felt a little out of place. Baron Silas on the other hand invited Lorist to go sample even more well-aged wines from his precious collection.

When they were in his study, the baron thanked Lorist once again and said that even though there were many merchant convoys of the northern nobles wishing to cross the river, due to the lack of manpower and boats, the convoys usually didn't want to wait and went straight to the Hendliff Suspension Bridge to make their crossing, causing him to lose quite a bit of potential revenue. Now that Lorist had improved the system they had at his crossing and greatly increased its efficiency, he believed that it would spur many of the convoys to choose to cross the river at his dominion instead.

Lorist felt weird at the fact there were convoys that would even think of crossing the river at Baron Silas's dominion to begin with. In the first place, Lorist's convoy only traveled to the baron's territory because he wanted to avoid dealing with Duke Loggins. But, why would the other convoys go out of their way to try to avoid using the Hendliff Suspension Bridge?

"Isn't the toll for crossing the Hendliff Suspension Bridge half as cheap as using your ferry service? Why would the convoys even want to cross the river at your dominion?" Lorist asked.

Baron Silas laughed out and said, "Duke Loggins of the Northlands is quite famed for his immense greed. Even though the fees paid to cross Hendliff Bridge is half of what I charge here, they would end up at Freist Castle the moment they cross the river. The duke has set up a strict customs in that area. Even though nobles would usually be allowed to pass without paying a fee, if the duke discovered anything he liked in any of their convoys, he would forcefully purchase it at half of the market price. If one is fortunate, one would only lose one or two carriages to the duke. The ones who have it worse could lose up to half of their convoy. That caused the nobles of the Northlands to complain to no end and choose to cross at my place instead."

...

Lorist stood atop the boat and felt refreshed by the chilling gust that just blew by. Thinking back at what the baron had said the day before, even though the Northlands was huge and had the Metropoulos River as a natural border, there were only two places where one could enter or leave it. The first place was the Hendliff Suspension Bridge, however, that place was under the duke's control. The second place would be Baron Silas's ferry crossing, but due to the large width of the river at that part, it was difficult to construct a bridge there and crossing with boats took far too much time.

The main reason why the Metropoulos River was considered a border for the Northlands was this: aside from Baron Silas's crossing, the river mainly flowed through high cliffs or rugged terrain where the current was far too turbulent to allow for any crossing with boats to be done.

Lorist suspected that the population of the Northlands was so sparse because the main locations of entering and leaving it was under private control of people like Duke Loggins and Baron Silas and served as their main source of income.

Even if Charade and the rest of the convoy managed to make their way back to the Northlands, with the entrances being under the control of others, the family could easily be locked at the Northlands without being able to do anything about it thus limiting its development. There was a saying Lorist had heard of in his past life, 'Building the road is the first step to becoming rich'. But with the main paths of entry to the Northlands beyond his control, how would he be able to bring his dominion to prosperity?

I guess one of the first things on my agenda once I return to the dominion is to find a way to pave a new entry point so that I won't have to be at the whims of others. Sigh, I guess the day we will be able to do as we please is still far off. Lorist looked at the distant mountains and once again fell into deep thought.

Having been delayed for yet another day due to crossing the river, Lorist's convoy continued their journey on the 25th day of the 2nd month. He decided to cross the remaining 300-odd kilometers of distance during the next five days to reach his dominion by the 30th day of the 2nd month.

After setting his foot on the Northlands, Lorist noticed the reality of its war-torn state that was first brought up by Charade during the meeting they had some time ago.

After only passing through three dominions of other nobles, they have already witnessed 5 conflicts between the landed nobles in the area. Some older noble families acted against new ones while others called for their neighboring families to invade the territories of their enemies. There were even some who invaded others to settle old grudges with many others engaging in conflict over a myriad of reasons. Fights broke out everywhere and the sounds of killing and slaughter could be heard at every corner.

But perhaps due to the low population of the Northlands, the conflicts between the various nobles were only on the scale of skirmishes between different small villages. Usually, the forces of those nobles only numbered around hundreds of farmer soldiers with tens of garrison troops and less than five knights. The largest force Lorist had seen only consisted of four to five hundred farmers in tattered clothing.

The most laughable part was that one of the nobles actually had his eyes set on Lorist's convoy and demanded for half of everything they had to be given up as a toll. Given that an act like that violated the sacred right of nobles of being allowed to pass through each other's territories without any cost, Lorist mobilized his guard squad and completely crippled the opposing army without a single casualty, causing the ignorant and arrogant noble to prostrate before Lorist and pleading for his freedom while crying profusely. Lorist released him after receiving 50 Northlander Horses and 4 carriages' worth of food as ransom.

To prevent further incidents like that from happening again, Lorist instructed his guard squad to be fully-equipped at all times to escort the convoy in as high a profile as possible. As expected, nobody dared to cause the convoy any trouble in the following days with two warring nobles even stopping all activity to make way for the convoy to pass.

On the fifth day, the convoy arrived before an ancient, ever-reaching forest and a long-stretching mountain range.

Shadekampf and Patt cheered out loud before explaining, "Milord, we have arrived at the dominion of the family. That over there is the Black Forests and the mountains in the distance are known as the Magical Dragon Mountains. Beyond all that is where the Morgan Hills is located. From there, it would only take another day of traveling before we will be able to arrive at the family's bastide."

After another half day of travel, the convoy circled around the sides of the Black Forests and arrived at the Morgan Hills.

However, Shadekampf and Patt were stunned by the walls that could be seen blocking the pass through Morgan Hills. On top of it was a flag that didn't belong to the Norton Family but instead depicted three all-encompassing golden rings…

Takeover

The fortified walls that had appeared before them caused Patt and Shadekampf great surprise.

"Three gold rings… This is the Kenmays Family's insignia… Don't tell me that our family…" said Patt as his expression turned exceedingly gloomy.

"Huh? Shadekampf, why didn't you tell me that there's a barrier wall over here?" asked Lorist as he rode over.

"Milord, this is indeed the dominion of our family. How-however, the barrier isn't constructed by us… When Patt and I were first sent to seek you out at Morante City, this fort wasn't here. Also, there���s no way the family has enough resources to build something like this," stammered Shadekampf.

"Oh, so you're saying that this fort was built within our lands but not by us?" Lorist felt a bad omen as this was a situation he had not conjectured even once when he was thinking about the family's current situation.

Commonly speaking, something like this happening would signify that the Norton Family had already been defeated by a foe and had their lands conquered by them. From the sturdy and slightly rugged look of the fort, it seemed to have been completed months ago. Right now, there were two options Lorist could choose from. Either he stealthily leaves the area, or start an all out war to take back the family dominion.

The guards on the walls have already noticed the group below that was flying the flag of the Norton Family. One leather-armored man pointed towards the convoy and started to call out loudly for battle preparations.

"One, two, three. Huh, they really did put quite a lot of money in their fortifications. They've actually equipped a simple barrier wall like that with three ballistas, how unexpected…" mumbled Lorist as he checked out the defensive infrastructure the barrier wall had.

"Which family uses that three-ringed insignia?" Lorist asked.

"Milord, that would be the Kenmays Family with whom we've had conflict back when they attacked us for the copper mines in our dominion…" said Shadekampf.

"Then does this mean that the Norton Family has been defeated by the Kenmayses? Otherwise, there would be no way for them to build this fort here," said Lorist with a wry smile as if he was about to leap into battle at any moment.

"No, I don't think so, milord," said Patt as if he had thought of something else.

"Hmm? What's on your mind?" Lorist asked.

"Milord, if your family had lost to the Kenmayses in an all out battle and lost control of the dominion, then there wouldn't be a need for the Kenmayses to build a barrier here as the dominion would already be theirs. I haven't heard of anyone who would make a barrier in their dominion. Isn't that just causing more trouble for themselves?

"Also, back then when the former family head led our family's forces against that of the Kenmays', they mainly relied on hired mercenaries which don't have much battle prowess. Even if the family army is decimated, there is no way that the Kenmays would be able to take our our family's bastide. Additionally, the Wildnorth Town isn't that far off from the family bastide, so no matter how shitty their garrison is, they wouldn't shrink out on a matter like this that their survival depended on. Should the family truly fall, they will definitely follow as well. That's why they would definitely not sit back and watch the Kenmays Family take over the castle.

"I think that Viscount Kenmays built this wall here to cut off the family's communication with the outside world for some reason. They must be planning to lock us in the desolate Northlands and force us to one day lower our heads to them," inferred Patt.

"What you said makes sense. When we take this fort, we will know the truth right away," said Lorist as he nodded.

"Milord, you're going to launch your attack now?" said Shadekampf, astonished. "But we haven't made any preparations yet. Without siege ladders, how would you be able to conquer the fort? There are three ballistas on the walls you know…"

"Siege ladders? I don't need any. Look, the walls are only 4 meters tall and there are only roughly 30 small fries guarding it. It would be giving them too much credit to even bother constructing siege ladders. While the three ballistas are certainly powerful and would definitely prove to be a threat to large groups of people, it would be far too slow to operate for it to be able to hit me, as I can easily avoid the bolts. Patt, tell Ovidis to ready the guard squad and ask them to follow suit right after I make my way up the walls," said Lorist.

"Yes, milord," Patt replied, before he said, "Milord, you should be careful. Why don't I accompany you up there as well?"

"Hehe…" Lorist started laughing out loud. "You should know my abilities better than anyone and getting up this wall shouldn't be much of a problem to me. However, you're in full armor, so the weight should give you quite some trouble when you try to get up. Additionally, if I go alone, the ballistas will have fewer targets to shoot at. Don't worry, the guards up there are nothing to me."

After that, Lorist rode alone straight towards the walls. When he was within 70 meters of it, a loud twanging sound rang out as one of the ballistas on the wall fired. Lorist quickly pulled his horse to the side and avoided the bolt that flew past his flank and buried itself a few inches into the ground.

Within but a short moment, Lorist had already gotten so close that the ballista wasn't able to aim at him anymore, at which point he took out a javelin from his quiver.

Whoosh! Three javelins were thrown by him towards the wall and all of them embedded themselves firmly onto the surface, causing the guards on top of it to laugh out loud, thinking that Lorist had failed miserably in an attempt to shoot them.

What they did not expect was that when Lorist arrived at the wall, he started to travel along its sides, causing a few of the guards above to try to shoot him down with their longbows to no avail as the walls had blocked off the ideal firing angle entirely.

Lorist then turned in the other direction and started removing his boots from the stirrups and knelt on top of his mount. When he saw the javelins that he had embedded into the walls, he jumped and grabbed the lowest javelin with both his hands like an agile monkey and used the momentum to perform a spin to launch himself up to the top of the walls.

Upon witnessing the crazy circus stunt, the guards by the walls were all thrown into stupor with their mouths agape. By the time they had snapped out of it, Lorist had already steadied his footing and started to draw out the longsword on his back.

After the officer in command cursed and called out a few names, the few guards beside Lorist lifted their pikes and shields and leapt towards him, thinking that they would be able to defeat him with sheer numbers.

With a few sword flashes, the five guards who had rushed over all had their throats cut open as they fell towards the ground with blood spurting out of their necks. Swiftly leaping over the dead bodies on the ground, Lorist rushed towards the leather-armor-wearing commanding officer.

Cursing in disbelief at the sight of the five fallen guards and seeing Lorist coming in his direction, the commanding officer quickly drew his sword and picked up a shield from the ground as he retreated backwards gradually while shouting for the other guards to fight Lorist together with him.

Two other pike-wielding guards stealthily approached Lorist from behind and thrusted towards him at the same moment. Delighted that an opportunity like that had shown up, the commanding officer manifested his blade glow and just before he was about to attack, he saw Lorist suddenly fall back like a gust of wind and circle between the two thrusting guards. His sword flashed once again and both the guards dropped their pikes and fell as croaking sounds resounded when they tried to scream with their slit throats from which blood was gushing out.

Panicked beyond reason, the commanding officer turned tail and ran. You think you can escape? Quickening his steps, Lorist quickly caught up to the the officer, who suddenly turned his body while shielding himself as he swung his right sword-wielding arm diagonally downward.

Where's he, thought the guard in surprise after discovering that his sword slashed nothing but thin air. He took two steps to recover from his stance and just as he was about to look for Lorist, he felt a cold blade pressed to his neck as a raspy voice sounded from behind him, "Drop your sword and surrender and you'll be spared."

With a clanging sound, the frozen officer dropped only his shield and slowly turned towards Lorist.

With a press of the blade to his neck, Lorist indicated for him to drop his sword as well. The officer gradually lifted his longsword into a throwing position and tried to draw Lorist's attention to it away from him. All of a sudden, he jerked backward and freed himself from Lorist's hold and quickly tried to escape.

However, he didn't know that he wasn't as quick as Lorist's reaction and the longsword eventually found its way through his neck.

"You truly have a death wish…" cursed Lorist.

He only wanted to ask that officer about the fort, but he didn't expect that he would resist even though his life was clearly at stake. Lorist didn't have the time to deal with fools who didn't know what was good for them and decided to kill him to save himself some trouble. Turning back to the corridor of the walls, he saw eight bodies littered around the ground with the remaining tens of guards having long escaped from the walls.

Looking at the direction the guards were running towards, Lorist cursed, "Sol…" He noticed that the Kenmayses didn't intend to build just a border fort here, but rather a whole city. 300 meters away from the walls he stood on was another even taller and better fortified wall.

Hearing Ovidis and some of the guard squad members shouting from the outer side of the walls, Lorist said, "Wait a second."

He then got down to the inner side and opened the gates. The first one to enter was Josk.

"Milord, that was far too reckless of you. You should've at least waited for me to disable those ballistas, you know," said Josk as he came over while carrying a ballista bolt in his hands.

"Am I not in perfect condition now? Don't worry, you'll have your chance later. Look ahead, there is another wall there," said Lorist as he pointed in the far direction.

"No problem, leave it to me! Hiyah!" Josk gave his mount a kick and subsequently sped towards the direction of the wall with Ovidis and the guard squad following behind.

"Sheesh, Joe… I didn't ask you to attack it now! Sol, he's pretending not to hear me again and is even increasing his speed…" said Lorist in an irritated tone.

The walls further ahead was far taller than the previous one and it looked far better fortified as well. It was quite worrying for Josk to just bring a squad of men and rush in like that as they may incur heavy losses from attacking recklessly.

Intending to go out of the walls to retrieve his mount, he discovered that it had already returned to where the convoy was. At that moment, it was being pulled by Patt as he slowly approached the walls with Shadekampf and Reidy, who was currently driving a carriage.

Lorist waved for them to hasten their speed, but Patt, Reidy and Shadekampf thought that he was cheering for his solo victory at the walls instead. So, they cheered and waved back cheerfully.

Pissed beyond reason, Lorist thought, normally these fellows are quite witty, but all of a sudden they turn into idiots when you really need them. I really wonder how those geniuses manage to confuse my beckoning for a victory cheer…

When they were finally within shouting distance, the three only realized their mistake after they heard Lorist's enraged roar. Patt quickly brought the horse over and Lorist gave him a deathly stare. Just as he got onto his mount and prepared to rush to the second wall, an excited guard approached him from the direction he was about to head to and said, "Milord, milord! We've successfully taken over that wall!"

"Wha–" mumbled Lorist as he almost slipped off his mount.

"What are the casualties?" asked Lorist anxiously.

"Casualties? There are none, milord," said the guard before he hesitated and continued, "There are no casualties among the enemy too."

Lorist was confused. The heck does that mean? If both sides have no casualties at all, then how have we managed to occupy the walls? Is this a children's game or what?

With a wall as tall as that, the defenders only have to keep shooting from above to chase the attackers away. Even if Josk's marksmanship was unparalleled, with him being on flat ground, he would still be quite disadvantageous when facing off guards who are stationed up high. Also, with only one bow, it wouldn't be hard for the defenders to suppress Josk and pressure him away with pure numbers.

Even though Lorist managed to take over the former wall by himself, that was actually due to his bet that the enemy would be caught off-guard by his solo assault. The other factor was the element of surprise that he had employed by swinging himself up onto the walls that was only 4 meters tall.

"How did Knight Josk pull that off?" Lorist asked curiously.

"Oh, milord, Sir Josk only shot three arrows. The first one broke their flag pole, the second one destroyed one of their ballistas and the third shot through the mercenary captain's two-handed axe. The moment the mercenaries discovered that Josk was a Gold rank, they surrendered right away," said the messenger.

It was absolutely ludicrous: Lorist could imagine the face of the mercenaries that were stationed there as they discovered that Josk was a Gold ranked archer who was leading a troop of fully-armored soldiers heading their way. It was no surprise that the mere Silver and Iron ranked mercenaries knelt down to surrender without bothering to resist.

But back when Lorist first killed off the 5 guards that rushed at him, the commanding officer thought that he was merely an Iron rank with excellent swordsmanship and didn't even try to launch a sneak attack and resisted him head-on. Even when the Silver ranked officer was at knifepoint, he would rather take his chances to escape than die an embarrassing death in the hands of an Iron rank.

Upon realizing the reason why the officer had not chosen to surrender, Lorist wore a brilliant smile on his face while actually trying really hard to restrain the frustration in his mind. Thank goodness I didn't attack the second wall, otherwise the mercenaries wouldn't surrender until almost all of them are killed. Josk on the other hand only had to show his abilities as a Gold rank to make the enemies surrender. He only had to relaxedly unleash three arrows to cause them to stop all resistance…

"Cursed Battle Force… Cursed Blazing Battle Force… Stupid hereditary Battle Force technique of my family…" mumbled Lorist in annoyance.

"Oh, milord, Sir Josk asked for your presence over there. It seems like he has discovered something important," said the messenger as he recalled the other matter he was tasked to report.

"Okay, I'll be on my way now," said Lorist as he calmed himself. He turned to Shadekampf, Patt, and Reidy and said, "Let the convoy settle down. We'll set up camp over here today. Make sure to shut the gates and have someone be stationed on the walls, alright?"

"Yes, milord, we understand."

The Plan of the Kenmays Family

Lorist felt that the second wall was on a totally different league than the first one he managed to takeover himself. The latter was merely a simple 4-meter-tall pile of rocks whereas the one before him right now was double-layered with a 7-meter-tall outer wall and another inner wall that was easily above 10 meters in height. The surface of the walls was even covered by a layer of green clay, making it smooth and sturdy.

Upon getting up onto the walls, Lorist discovered that the 10-meter-wall he saw from the outside was actually a building that was erected on the walls that had its roof linked to the outer wall which was augmented to a saw-like pattern to match it. Within that building were some military equipment, living quarters for soldiers as well a room in which a broken ballista was kept; that was probably the one that Josk had destroyed previously.

Josk had already been waiting for Lorist for quite a while on top of the walls and greeted him when he saw him approaching.

Lorist said with dissatisfaction, "You were just lucky this time that the defenders were unmotivated mercenaries who only worries for their own lives. Had a proper garrison unit been stationed here, you wouldn't have been able to take this place without a single casualty."

Josk laughed and said, "You are right, milord…"

"Also, next time, don't even dare to pretend that you didn't hear me. You have to give me some face too, you know?" Lorist continued to complain.

Josk merely snickered in response.

"That aside, I heard that you discovered something important?" said Lorist after he remembered the main reason he rushed over in the first place.

Josk pointed further ahead and said, "It's all in that room over there. You'll know what I'm talking about once you see it for yourself, milord."

Josk was pointing at the five buildings that were built by the side of the walls where a few guard squad members could be seen watching over a few prisoners.

The building in the middle of the five was the largest among the rest. It was about 6 meters in length with a width similar to the buildings beside it at 3 meters. Several large wooden gears and a huge winch could be seen within the room.

"Is this the mechanism used to open and close the portcullis[1][1]?" Lorist asked.

Josk nodded.

Usually, in large cities or cities ruled by a rich lord, a heavy iron portcullis would be installed beyond the main gates. Normally, they will be lifted up and left as is and only be lowered whenever the main gates are breached to serve as a secondary defense.

"Sol, is Viscount Kenmays showing off his wealth? To spend so much money to construct such an expensive fort… It doesn't sound too practical to do this just to lock the Norton Family within the Northlands… What in the world is he up to?"

"Milord, look behind you. The answer to your question is right there," Josk replied.

Turning to his back, Lorist could see a small room to his right within which several maps could be seen hanging on the walls. In the middle of the =room was a large sand table on which several castle replicas were placed.

On the sand table, a hill city beside a waterway could be seen surrounded by large spans of farmland. Further away was a mine and beside it was a model of a large factory facility. And at the end of the hill where the city was located was a heavily fortified citadel base.

"This sand table is pretty well-made. Where is that hill city?" Lorist asked.

Josk shook his head and said, "Milord, I don't know about that. What I wanted you to see was not the whole sand table but rather that castle replica over there. I think the fort we are in right now is a castle in construction."

Beside the sand table was a semi-complete model of a castle. But upon closer inspection, Lorist noticed from its double walls that was the exact replica of the one he was standing on.

"Heh, Viscount Kenmays really spent quite a lot of money on this project…" said Lorist as he stomped his foot. "Look, the floors and the walls outside are all covered with green clay! If he really intends to complete the construction of this castle, just based on the cost of the green clay required, it would go up to tens of thousands of gold Fordes! Wait, where is that big-bearded fella?"

Green clay was one of the main materials used for construction in the Grindia Continent. It is a lot like cement that was used in Lorist's previous world and its compositions are quite similar too: both of the materials required lime, sand and clay to be mixed and heated at high temperatures. The main difference was that cement was cheap but green clay cost far more. Cement was usually mixed with water whereas green clay required a special type of glue to be added to the mixture.

Lorist's attendant, Reidy, had come from the Romon Empire. Within it was a mountainous area where most people were forbidden from entry and trespassers were killed without a question because that was the place where the glue vines were planted. It was said that glue vines were originally not native plants of the Grindia Continent and was actually brought over by the magi from another planar world thousands of years prior. These vines only grew in dark, damp conditions and each one was as thick as a large barrel. When a cut was made on its stem, a light-green liquid would flow out.

While that liquid seemed to be almost as clear as water, when it was heated up, it would turn really viscous and sticky and become exceedingly hard once solidified. That liquid would usually first be diluted with ten times the amount of water and heated before it was mixed with clay, lime and sand to form green clay, the best and most expensive building material on the whole of Grindia. Each bucket of glue would sold for 1 gold Forde and the Romon Empire reaped a yearly profit of up to 1 million gold Fordes from the sales of that green glue.

On the Grindia Continent, the less wealthy would purchase glue that was produced by boiling the skin of a Ground Wyrms to construct their homes (see chapter 25). However, the completed house would have a faint smell of the earth that would easily attract insects and insecticide must be sprayed once in a while to keep it infestation free. Another method was to cook a kind of black glutinous rice and mix it with lime, clay and fine sand to make it into a paste for building. However, buildings made with that allowed for moss to easily grow on it during the rainy season, so it had to be cleaned very often.

The ideal building material one could find was thus green clay that was hard as rock when it solidified and had a slight fragrance that aided to repel insects. Having lived in Morante City where green clay was frequently traded and sold, Lorist wasn't a stranger to the properties of the material. He was really impressed with the ability of Viscount Kenmays to be able to afford using green clay for a castle in the Northlands.

"Milord, Ovidis has left with half of the guard squad to go capture some people," said Josk.

"Capturing people?"

"That's correct. According to the surrendered mercenaries, due to a lack of materials to make green clay, the main construction supervisor of this castle had sent early a thousand slave laborers to go collect lime, clay and sand. Ovidis has left to apprehend these laborers," explained Josk.

Lorist then recalled that he did in fact not see any workers on the construction site when he came in earlier as they had been away for the aforementioned reason.

"Are the prisoners outside mercenaries? Get their leader to come in here, I want to ask him something," said Lorist.

The leader of the surrendered mercenaries was quickly brought before Lorist.

What Lorist wanted to know from him was the current situation of the Norton Family.

The mercenary gave it some thought before he answered, "Milord, we have only been hired by Viscount Kenmays less than two months ago. However, I've heard that around half a year ago, Viscount Kenmays's men had taken over the mines and went to attack the bastide of the Norton Family. However, they've lost tens of people and failed to conquer the bastide after besieging for up to half a month. After that, the viscount withdrew his troops and started the construction of this fort. By the time I made my way here, it had just been completed. For almost two months I've been stationed here, I've never seen a person from the Norton Family come by, nor did the scouts patrolling the area detect any of their spies. But, when I was on an assignment to send some supplies to the people at the mines, I heard a mercenary there say that he's seen someone from the Norton Family back when the viscount was withdrawing his troops. After they discovered that their mines had been taken, there was no other news nor sightings of them."

"Then do you know how the people who were managing the mines for the Norton Family are doing?" Lorist asked.

The mercenary leader shook his head and said, "I'm not too informed about that, but I believe they are probably forced to mine for the viscount. I remember there being a delivery of half a tonne of iron ore from the mines to the storehouse over here last month."

At that moment, distant chatters could be heard outside the room before a guard came in to report that Ovidis had returned with the slave laborers.

Lorist and Josk went back out to the walls and could see a long line of slave laborers traveling towards the castle gates flanked by the guard squad troops on both sides with Ovidis leading at the front.

Letting almost 1000 slave laborers settle down took a number of hours, and that was after they had been escorted over obediently. It was fortunate that the camp that they had lived in before they set out to collect building materials was not dismantled yet.

Lorist gathered Josk, Shadekampf, Patt, Reidy and Ovidis and prepared to discuss what to do next.

When Shadekampf and Patt entered the room and saw the sand table, they both let out a gasp of exclamation. They said that it showed part of the dominion of the family and the area that the sand table was modeled after was the terrain of the Morgan Hills.

"Milord, look. That's our copper mine! And here…" said Shadekampf as he pointed towards the citadel replica that was placed at a corner of the table. "That is where we are at right now. However, there isn't a city on the hills here. The farmland they have on the table is nothing but forests at the moment. And that waterway on the sand table isn't anywhere to be seen either…"

Upon hearing Shadekampf's comments, Lorist's curiosity piqued and he instructed Ovidis to bring the grand architect and the supervisor of the construction site to him.

The grand architect was a man in his forties and he claimed credit for the design of the castle without even being asked. However, he refused to answer some of Lorist's question about the castle and even cursed Lorist for cowardly assaulting and taking over the construction site when their side was unprepared. He demanded for Lorist to leave the area or face the consequences.

Lorist and his men all stared wide-eyed at the architect as if he had a screw or two loose in his head. In the end, Lorist was furious at the constant bickering of the middle-aged man and said, "You guys came to my backyard to build your own little building. Don't you think that I, the master of this land, should be pissed instead? Men, tie this fool up on the flagpole and give him 50 canes to make sure he knows his place."

After that, the elderly head supervisor of the construction work who sported a goatee, Boris, was recognized by Shadekampf to be the head butler of Viscount Kenmays. He had met that old butler a couple of times during the negotiations between the Nortons and the Kenmayses about the issue of the right to ownership of the copper mine. He had unexpectedly been tasked to serve as the main supervisor of this construction site by the viscount.

The goatee-sporting Boris was actually quite a coward. The moment the pained cries of the architect outside entered his ears, he quickly answered every question that was asked of him without hesitation, swiftly revealing the reason the castle was chosen to be built here as well as many other information about the Kenmays Family.

Viscount Kenmays's family actually had a merchant background. His father was the chairman of the largest construction merchant guild in the Krissen Empire. During the civil war, he had joined the Second Prince's side and donated huge sums of money to fund his war efforts. When the Iblia Kingdom was first founded, the viscount's father had managed to urge the Second Prince to grant his son the hereditary title of a viscount and a dominion in the Northlands in exchange for 200000 gold Fordes.

With the dominion in their hands, the Kenmays Family invested huge amounts of money into building a bastide at Redriver Valley. Being the chairman of the largest construction merchant guild in the empire, the father of Viscount Kenmays had an incredibly profound insight on the current situation. He believed that given the raving ambitions of Duke Loggins and his casual granting of titles to new noble families, the Northlands would definitely be in a long period of chaos before everything settles down. Even though the Kenmays Family had their bastide at Redriver Valley, it didn't have a terrain that was advantageous to them and would easily fall to enemy attack. That was why the Kenmays Family sent lots of people to survey the area and finally discovered the Morgan Hills, which was near the Kenmays Family's territory and within the dominion of the Norton Family. It was the ideal place to build a castle given the beneficial terrain. So, the Kenmays Family spent another huge sum to bribe the official that was in charge of drawing the borders between dominions to include the copper mine of the Norton Family into their own and used that as an excuse to start a war with them to force them away from the Morgan Hills so that they could start building the new settlement there.

According to Boris, even though the model of the castle is not yet finished, its blueprints were already completed and was beneath the sand table. When the construction finishes, the castle could house at least 10000 residents and the Kenmays Family intended to make it their main base of operations. As long as they station it with 3000 garrison soldiers, there was no way an enemy would be able to take the castle even if they had a force that was ten times that of the defending side..

As for the hill city that was depicted on the sand table, that was where the Kenmays Family intended to have their citizens live in. WIth it being able to house up to 60000 people and the ease of access to copper ore and timber from areas nearby, it would able to build an industry and economy around those resources. By the time the logging activities free up more land around the area, the waste area could be converted into farmlands. By that time, they could set up farming villages around the city and open up new irrigation channels to be able to sustain the demand for food in their dominion just from their yearly harvests.

To fulfill their grand development plan, the Kenmays Family had invested up to 300000 gold Fordes for the next five years of development to solidify its foundations in the Northlands. However, little did they know that only four months after the plan was started, Lorist had arrived.

"Do you know what the Kenmays Family intends to do with the Norton Family?" Lorist asked.

Boris replied, "I've heard the old master discuss it with the young master before. He said that he wouldn't totally annihilate the Norton Family as they would make a good target for the barbarians of the mountains so that the Kenmays Family's development will be unimpeded. The old master even said that he would offer the Norton Family help and support to withstand the barbarian attacks if necessary. He has mentioned that he is impressed with the martial prowess of the Norton Family and might consider making them a vassal noble house of the Kenmays Family."

"If that's so, then why did they attack the family bastide half a year ago?"

"Half a year after the former head of the Norton Family passed away, the young master sent someone over to negotiate if the Nortons would sell the Morgan Hills to the Kenmayses and end the conflict between the two families. However, the messenger that the young master had sent was insulted by the Nortons, and according to him, the Nortons have torn the young master's letter apart and said to the messenger that they wouldn't consider selling the smallest rock on Norton soil to the Kenmayses before chasing him away. That was why the young master besieged the bastide in a fit of rage, but he didn't succeed anyway. After that incident, he decided to carry out the development plan early and seal the Norton Family off from the rest of the world so that they will one day come out begging him to be forgiven," said Boris.

"Okay, then what's with the grand architect?" asked Lorist as he thought of the middle-aged man who must've been insane.

"Milord, Grandmaster Ciroba is the most accomplished architect in the Iblia Kingdom! Two years ago, the Rose Palace which he designed had received critical acclaim and that project had caused the grandmaster's name to soar to fame. He's a treasured talent of the Second Prince. The old master has spent quite a lot of money to hire Grandmaster Ciroba to come over here to plan the construction of the young master's city. Now that the main blueprints are complete, he should've been preparing to leave for the royal capital. Sigh, given his arrogant temperament, he even dares to not show any respect to dukes and marquises of the Second Prince's royal court. I believe milord's decision to punish him like that will definitely cause a lot of uproar," said Boris awkwardly.

"Hehe…" Lorist laughed lightly and thought, so that grand architect does indeed have a couple of screws loose in his head. The dukes and marquises he dared to disrespect are merely honorary nobles that have no real power. But he is truly looking for trouble for being brave enough to act like that in front of a landed noble like me…

[1] Vertically-closing gates at a castle gateway. See: Wikipedia

Construction Staff Appointment

During morning the next day, Josk, Shadekampf and Patt brought fifty guards and 24 carriages with them to the copper mine. The main reason for that excursion was to rescue the members of the Norton Family as well as eliminate the thirty or so mercenaries hired by the Kenmayses to be stationed over there.

Ovidis and Reidy on the other hand repurposed the coachmen into a garrison squad which was tasked with maintaining the security of the two walls of the castle in construction. The remaining 70 or so guard squad members were subsequently assigned to watch over the thousands of slave laborers and the surrendered mercenaries.

The plan had been drafted out the night before. Originally, Lorist wanted to go to the mines himself, but that idea spawned unanimous disapproval from his subordinates. Josk said that they couldn't let Lorist, their leader, do all the heavy-lifting and said that his frequent handling of every matter, large or small, caused a family knight like him to feel pathetic and useless. Lorist thus agreed to allow Josk to bring Shadekampf and Patt with him to the mines while he stayed put at the construction site.

After sending Josk and the rest off, Lorist patrolled the surroundings for a bit before returning to the building atop the inner walls. The more he stared at the sand table, the more questions surfaced within his mind. Having only obtained their dominion for less than two years, the Kenmays Family was able to carry out their expansion plan within such a short time. However, even though the Nortons have been enfeoffed their dominion for two hundred or so years and have had 7 generations of family heads, not only were they unable to successfully develop their land, they even ended up being sealed in the Northlands. Given the dire state of the family, they could only turtle up and hide in their bastide without being able to retaliate.

Lorist really troubled himself over the fact that his own family had allowed the Kenmayses to do as they pleased within their dominion without taking any action. Given that the Nortons have successfully repelled the assault on their bastide by the viscount half a year ago, and taking into account that the viscount himself had lost tens of men during that assault, it showed that the Norton Family still had quite a bit of military power. Logically speaking, the moment Viscount Kenmays started to retreat, the Norton Family would've sent some scouts to monitor the situation of the enemy's soldiers. However, not even one scout has been sighted during that span of time. What, then, had happened to the family?

It could be that the family had sent out scouts already on another target other than the Kenmays Family, but according to the leader of the mercenaries, one such scout had quickly left after discovering that the copper mine had been taken over. Sigh, I really shouldn't be thinking about the potential income the mine would bring during a situation like this. Additionally, even if the mine was being occupied, they should at least worry about the wellbeing of the Norton Family members who were working there. However, not even a single messenger was sent to the Kenmays Family to negotiate their release. It was truly too weird.

Even though Lorist was only 1 day of traveling away from the family bastide, he couldn't just leave everything here and depart without the others. He would still have to consider how he would manage the 1000 or so slave laborers as well as the 40-odd surrendered mercenaries as well as what to do with the semi-complete castle that he had just conquered. Lorist really missed Charade's presence; if he were there, Lorist would be able to leave everything to him without any worries.

Upon thinking of Charade, Lorist's thoughts drifted onto his fellow knights and friends, Potterfang, Loze, Els, Terman and Yuriy. I wonder if they've started the journey again with the convoy and how long they will take before they arrive at the Northlands. Gosh, there's the trouble of making the preparations for the arrival of the convoy as well…

Lorist's head started to hurt when he recalled the large group of people that was traveling to the Northlands. Given Charade's temper, how many of them would still remain by the time they reach the dominion? 20000? Or 30000? Thinking of how to let the people of the convoy settle down after they arrive was also quite a huge undertaking.

Looking back at the sand table, Lorist's gaze suddenly brightened up as he thought, isn't this the perfect place for them to settle down? I only have to take the plan of the Kenmays Family and implement it myself! If I choose to continue the construction of the castle here, the slave laborers would also have retain their jobs and I won't have to trouble myself to think about what to do with them. And when the castle is complete, I can have them go work on the hill city, after which they will be granted freedom and allowed to become citizens of the family's dominion.

Lorist wasn't worried about the costs involved to build the castle, as he wasn't lacking in money. There were only two things that he had to carefully consider. First, was the staff he would appoint to supervise and manage the construction project. Second, he would have to find a way to procure the materials required for the construction. Being the founder of one of the largest construction merchant guild of the former empire, the Kenmays Family naturally would have their own ways of finding materials and workers for their project. However, Lorist didn't have that ability and the Kenmayses may even prove to be an obstacle to the project's continuation.

"Men, get that old man with a goatee, what's his name… Ah, I remember. Get Boris to come here," instructed Lorist to the guards outside.

Butler Boris was quickly brought over and Lorist started to ask him about further details on the blueprints of the castle as well as some more information on the Kenmays Family.

According to Boris, Viscount Kenmays wasn't living at the Redriver Valley Bastide but rather the most developed city in the Northlands that was within the dominion of Duke Loggins, Gildusk City, where he owned a large viscount manor. Ever since Viscount Kenmays's cousin sister had become a mistress of the duke, the relationship of the Kenmays Family and Duke Loggins had gotten pretty close. The Kenmayses has also helped out quite a lot with the formation of the duke's Northland Army.

Viscount Kenmays preferred to stay in Gildusk City because he was a man who revelled in the parties and social gatherings of the nobles there and loved the company of the other noble ladies which his rural bastide castle was completely devoid of. The other reason was to maintain his good relationship with the duke. His presence during the return of his family's convoys when it entered the customs of the duke's dominion also made it harder for the duke to brazenly purchase too many items for half the market price.

The Redriver Valley Bastide of the Kenmays Family was currently only serving as a transfer point for the resources and supplies they transported around. And the butler also revealed that there would be a large shipment of around 3000 buckets of green vine glue, construction tools, an estimated 250000 kilograms of food as well as some other necessities like clothes to the construction site on the 10th of the next month. There might even be around 1000 extra slave laborers with another 200 or so female slaves.

"Are the female slaves the family members of the slave laborers?" asked Lorist curiously.

"Um, they aren't, milord. The slave laborers are mostly strong and virile youths. So, to stop them from causing trouble, we must placate and reward them once in a while. These female slaves are for that specific purpose. If the laborers perform well in their work, they would be allowed to spend a night with a female slave. This is a tried and true method the Kenmays Family has used to manage their slaves over the years," said Butler Boris.

Sol, that means that the women are there only to serve as sex slaves. Shaking his head, Lorist asked, "Are the Kenmayses that rich? I heard that they got their dominion by donating 200000 gold Fordes to the Second Prince. They should've spent quite a bit on the construction of Redriver Valley Bastide during the last two years. And now, they are prepared to allocate another 300000 gold Fordes for the development of the Morgan Hills. They must have at least millions of gold Fordes in hand to be able to accomplish all that." Lorist then pointed to the sand table.

Butler Boris explained, "Milord, from my experience of working at the Kenmays Family for 40 plus years, they are actually doing worse than before. I've always believed that the old master had decided to develop the Morgan Hills as a final lifeline for the Kenmays Family. They haven't made much money after the civil war broke out in the empire a few years prior. And ever since the founding of the Second Prince's Iblia Kingdom, they have been using their reserve funds. Even though the budget for the development of Morgan Hills is 300000 gold Fordes, 100000 of that is allocated to the construction of the castle and the city while the rest will be used to help the citizens settle down after the completion of the construction."

"100000? That shouldn't be possible. Based on my estimations, the construction of the castle should cost at least seventy to eighty thousand gold Fordes. There's no way that 100000 gold Fordes would be enough for both the castle and the hill city," said Lorist.

"Milord, in actuality, the cost for the construction of the castle is only 30000 gold Fordes, with most of the money being used to purchase the 12000 buckets of green vine glue and the rest to be spent on the resources and food required by the workers. Given that the main labor force of this construction project will be the slaves of the family, it wouldn't cost them anything. And, some of the building materials can be foraged from the surrounding area. For example, the completion of this wall only used up 2000 buckets of green vine glue: the other materials used to make green clay were mostly gathered from the surroundings."

Oh, so according to Boris, apart from the green vine glue, the rest of the building materials can be harnessed elsewhere. This is good news indeed.

"Then, Butler Boris, you should understand how much supplies is left over here right?" Lorist asked.

Given that they had just conquered the castle the day before and Josk having just set out during the morning to the copper mine, Lorist's group still hadn't made an inventory of the supplies at the construction site.

"Milord, during the past four months, there have been 3 shipments of resources to the construction site that mostly comprised of green vine glue and food. With every shipment having 3000 buckets of green vine glue and given that 2000 buckets have been used to construct the walls, there are currently 7000 buckets remaining. By the time the next shipment on the 10th of the next month arrives, the 12000 buckets required for the construction of the castle will have all have been delivered and the following shipments after that will mainly concern food. If there are no changes, the shipment should come as planned. Nowadays, the food we have in the warehouse is running low with around 20000 kilograms left. The next order for food is supposed to be carried out after the following shipment, but now that you've conquered the site, there is a chance that it wouldn't come anymore. So, you will have to provide food for these laborers."

Boris looked at Lorist for a while before he continued, "Milord, The food available to the slave laborers is really limited. Given the tiresome nature of their work, each person requires 1.5 kilograms of food that will be split up into three meals a day. That means that the 1000 slave laborers would consume more than 50000 kilograms each month[1]. Milord, if you intend to use the slave laborers, you must make sure they have enough food to sustain them."

Lorist stood up, went beside Boris and gave his shoulder a pat before saying, "Butler Boris, you're pretty good at what you do. If you continue to give it your best, the Norton Family will definitely not mistreat you. Alright, you may go back for now."

"Yes, milord," said Boris as he bowed and started to leave. Just before he exited the room, Lorist suddenly thought of something else.

"Oh, wait, Butler Boris, where did the Kenmays Family buy so many of these ballistas?"

Boris replied, "Milord, these ballistas were order-made and not purchased. Three years ago when the Kenmays Family went to purchase slaves, they bought a father and son who used to be famed ballista craftsmen of the Teribo Kingdom who was sold into slavery as a result of offending a noble. Even though the Kenmays Family was a landed noble family, they did not have good family knights nor did they have a proper garrison, so they could only hire mercenaries to defend their territories. To strengthen their castle's defense, they sent the father and son over here to craft some ballistas to be installed here."

"Where are the two that you've mentioned right now?"

"They're together with the slave laborers," said Boris.

"How about this, Boris, please make sure the father and son have everything they need. They will be of good use to me in the future. And you, accompany Butler Boris on this errand and make sure to cooperate with him in completing it," said Lorist to a guard standing nearby.

"Yes, milord."

...

As Lorist circled around the sand table within the room, he thought about what Boris had said. The issue with the food wouldn't be a problem as the smaller convoy he had returned with had more than 50000 kilograms of food which would definitely be able to last the workers a whole month. By the time he returns to the dominion, he would then be able to send more food over to the construction site. Or, he could try to take the food shipment that will be coming the next month, though that was still some time away so there wasn't a need to worry.

It was currently the 32nd day of the 2nd month and Josk and the others would be returning the next day. The day after that would be the 34th day of the 2nd month and Lorist had to depart for the family bastide no matter what on that day. However, who would be in charge of the construction of the castle after his departure? There was no way Josk could, as he was a lone ranger who wasn't that good at working with others and hated troublesome matters like this, as exemplified from his previous performance when Lorist once asked him to form a mounted cavalry unit only to have Josk quit after a few days due to lack of interest after sending the men back to Yuriy's light cavalry scouts.

Shadekampf must also return together with him as Lorist would need him as a guide given that he had not been there in person even once before as he had transmigrated when the original owner of the body was studying at Morante City. He could have Josk, Reidy and Ovidis stationed here to watch the place and he believed that the guard squad would be more than sufficient for the castle's defense. However, Lorist needed someone to be in charge as he didn't know how long he would spend at the family bastide before he would be able to return to the castle here.

"Bring the grand architect over here," instructed Lorist.

The architect who had been given 50 canes had been brought before him. The once arrogant looking man currently looked incredibly haggard with his hair tousled all over his face and his garments torn and stained with blood. With a body full of cane marks, he slowly limped into the room.

"Grandmaster Ciroba? It was pretty rude of me the day before. I am the dominion lord of this land, Norton Lorist and I intend to have the construction of this castle continue as planned. I wonder if you would be willing to oversee the construction for me? I will definitely give you the appropriate remuneration for your efforts," said Lorist sincerely.

Grandmaster Ciroba merely gave Lorist a venomous glare without saying a word, having learned his lesson the day before. But he still spit on the floor and looked high up to the roof, indicating that he did not intend to give Lorist any heed.

Bursting out in laughter, Lorist told the guard, "Since he dirtied my room, should I have him lick his own spit clean?"

"Milord, that sounds like a good idea," replied the guard with a serious look.

Grandmaster Ciroba's face tensed up as he shivered at that moment…

"Oh well, let's not give him a hard time. For someone of his age to still behave so uncouthly… Just bring him back to his quarters," said Lorist.

[1] Each month on the Grindia Continent is 35 days long. See Chapter 30 for an explanation of the calendar.

Homecoming

Lorist went out of the room and looked downward from the side of the wall.

The surrounding terrain was actually a valley. The distance between the two walls at either end of the valley was easily over 300 meters. The first wall that sealed off the entry of the valley into the Northlands was 70 to 80 meters long. Beyond that wall was a large empty meadow spanning 800 meters surrounded by mountains on each side, with another opening on the other end that was around 200 meters wide. Now that the walls were completed, the two valleys were effectively shut off.

This truly is a great place to build a city. The lands within the valley was flat and even, making it an ideal spot for a mountain fort. Even though there was nothing but hills on one side, the mountainous terrain that stretched deep into the Black Forests had formed a natural barrier that prevented entry to the valley from anywhere other than the two openings where the walls were constructed.

Within the valley, the slave laborers gathered together under the sun and chatted in their respective groups with the occasional brawl breaking out. To them, days like these when they didn't have to work were exceedingly rare opportunities to rest. The tens of guards who were standing guard even gave the slaves looks of envy from time to time.

At another corner of the valley were rows of decrepit wooden buildings that were surrounded by a wall constructed from tree trunks lined up side by side. That was the warehouse that Butler Boris had referred to where the 7000 buckets of green vine glue, food and other construction materials were stored.

A little further away from the warehouse was a large camp where many carriages could be seen. That was the camp that the convoy Lorist brought over had set up. A few of the family members of the guard squad soldiers could be seen bringing buckets of clean water from a nearby lake to wash their clothes with.

At that moment, a little girl could be seen capturing bugs within the bushes near the convoy's camp as her ponytail swayed like a pendulum from her running around.

Isn't that Miss Telesti's maidservant, Vinny? Lorist started to think of Telesti upon seeing that young maidservant and slapped his forehead. I now have my construction manager.

"Go invite Miss Telesti over here and tell her that I have something I need to talk to her about," instructed Lorist to a guard nearby.

After a while, Telesti brought Vinny and her Iron ranked butler to the 200-meter-long wall at the other end of the valley and Lorist brought them into the room with the sand table and subsequently told her about his plans to continue the construction of the hill city and sincerely requested for Telesti to become the person in charge of the project.

"Why was I picked to be the person in charge for this undertaking?" asked Telesti curiously.

Lorist shrugged and said, "Sigh, I don't have a choice. None of my men are suited for this task. The fortunate thing is that the blueprints have already been completed with the replica model of the castle being finished halfway. Apart from some details that may need to be ironed out, there is no need to redesign everything from scratch. And you, Miss Telesti, the adopted daughter and student of the famed scholar Nico Albess, must have inherited the knowledge and intelligence of your mother and have become an accomplished scholar yourself. Since you can understand the complicated routes of the ancient ruins, there's no one more suitable to work with these blueprints than you, right?"

Telesti still appeared hesitant. Lorist said that he would naturally assign some subordinates under her to work on the project together. And given his absence, Josk and Ovidis would be in charge of the defense of the area. He said that Telesti only had to focus on the construction of the city and that he would let her manage Boris, Reidy and the 1000 slave laborers as she saw fit.

Now that the Northlands was in turmoil, Lorist had no choice but to return to his dominion to quickly settle things. He promised Telesti that if she were to help out, after he stabilizes the family's situation in the Northlands, he would definitely bring her to the Blackmud Marsh for a trip. And after the completion of the city in the valley, he would allow her to pick her own villa where she would be able to continue her research for the rest of her life with the funding provided by the family.

It was not known which of the conditions had caused Telesti to change her mind, but she accepted the position as the manager of the project right away.

Letting out a relieved breath, Lorist instructed someone to bring Boris and Reidy over and ordered them to cooperate with Telesti with regards to the construction project. After that, he said that he would let her use the five buildings on the inner wall as her main office for the construction work.

Morning on the next day, Lorist noticed the 1000 or so slave laborers leave the valley in a neat line escorted by Reidy and Telesti's Iron ranked butler and another 40 plus guards to collect more building materials.

Upon entering the main construction office, he saw Telesti talking to Boris with the latter nodding fervently.

Seeing Lorist enter, Telesti asked him what business he had there.

Lorist mentioned that there were a few parts of the design that he'd like to augment and started showing the both of them by using the model of the castle.

The Kenmays Family had intended to develop the valley into a military stronghold that housed only the members of the Kenmayses, the garrison soldiers as well as their respective family members. That was the point that frustrated Lorist the most.

Pointing to the model, he said, "Look, they even prepared to erect another castle in the middle of the valley. Given that we already have the two walls at both ends, there would be no need for the castle in the middle, so we can do without it. Using the mountainside castle walls as the main base of the city will be more than enough. Now that the castle in the middle is removed, we can use the empty space for a plaza and build residential areas and marketplaces around it."

Telesti agreed wholeheartedly to the change as she personally hated the design of the city where another castle was placed flat in the middle and thoroughly destroying the landscape of the valley. Now that the plan to build castle had been abolished, not only would the difficulty in constructing the city decrease, it would also save them a lot of work.

The second thing Lorist wished to change was the four-meter-tall rock wall. The Kenmays Family had spent three months to construct that taller wall that faced the dominion of the Nortons and simply slapped together the 4 meter one with a couple of rocks at the entrance of the valley that bordered their own dominion.

Now that Lorist had already taken over this valley, he decided to revamp the shorter rock wall into a first line of defense for his dominion. Before Lorist entered the room, Telesti and Boris were discussing how to strengthen the fortifications of that wall.

What Lorist had in mind was not to have a common flat wall. He took out a blank beastskin and started drawing an arc with a protrusion in the middle of it and requested for the wall to be built like that. If the wall spanned more than 200 meters like the one they were standing on, it would take a long time to complete the changes. However, the shorter wall on the other side was only around 80 meters long and it would only take up to one month of intensive work to completely change it according to Lorist's design.

Seeing Telesti write his requirements down, Lorist bade farewell and left.

In the evening, Josk, Patt and Shadekampf returned from the copper mine after the successful completion of their mission. They brought back tens of mercenary captives and saved over 70 members of the Norton Family who had been put in charge of the mining operations.

Shadekampf brought over a white-haired man who was in his sixties and said, "Milord, this is Old Man Balk, the supervisor of the family's copper mine."

Balk greeted Lorist in an elaborate manner as his eyes teared up and said, "Milord, thank you for remembering and rescuing us from there…"

Lorist helped Balk up and said that he would never forget about the people of his family and that it was his obligation to look out for them, so there wasn't a need to be that polite. Now that the toughest times had passed, the family still had to develop in the future and he mentioned that he would require people like Balk to give their best efforts to ensure that happened quickly. However, he told Balk to rest up for a period of time as he had just been saved from forced labor within the mine.

Balk was extremely moved when he heard that. "I know that many things haven't gone too well for the family during the last two years, especially after the Third Young Master passed away. This time, our copper mine has also been forcibly occupied by the Kenmays Family and we were thrown into the it to work as captives. I never expected for anyone from the family to come rescue us and thought that I would be mining there for the rest of my life. I really didn't expect that Master Lorist, you would delay your return to the bastide to inherit your title for the sake of rescuing us…

"That's why, don't worry about me! My body is in great condition, so please give me some work to do as I can't just sit around doing nothing!" Lorist subsequently gathered the rest of the group and made his arrangements and also sent Old Man Balk to help Telesti out with her work.

On the 34th day of the 2nd month, Lorist left for the family bastide along with Shadekampf and Patt on a carriage after bidding their farewells.

In Lorist's memories, he recalled that there were a lot of maple trees around Norton Family bastide and every autumn, the leaves would turn fiery-red and paint the whole landscape in a beautiful, nostalgic red. Within the midst of the maple tree forest was a grand, white hill where the Norton Family bastide was located.

The young Lorist's memories contained a brief impression of the bastide. It was a really large place with vineyards, livestock farms as well as a large crescent-shaped lake where children would have fun in during the summer. Opposite the lake was the stable of the family that housed the handsome horses that the young Lorist used to admire so often in a daze. At that time, his mother was still alive and lovingly referred to him as little horse lover…

Seven hours after they departed, Shadekampf stopped the carriage and knocked on the door of the passenger compartment. "Milord, we've arrived."

Lorist stepped out of the carriage and discovered that he was standing in front of a greyish-white castle. The drawbridge has yet to be let down for them.

"What's wrong, Patt? Shouldn't the drawbridge be lowered by now?" Lorist asked.

Patt said, "Milord, there's nobody standing guard outside at all. I think that the people within still don't know that we're here…"

Shadekampf went back into the carriage and reemerged with a horn in his hand before he gave it two loud blows.

"Who goes there?" said a voice as two people appeared on the walls of the castle and looked at the ground below.

"It's me, Shadekampf! And there's Patt! We've brought the Second Young Master back!" shouted Shadekampf.

"What? The Second Young Master is back? Wait, let me report it to Butler Gleis and Milady Pesha…" said the voice before the two silhouettes on the walls disappeared. After a while, Lorist heard another sound of a horn from the top of the walls before the drawbridge was steadily lowered. The moment the main gates opened wide, a red-haired female knight carrying a horse whip walked outside with wide steps.

"Shadekampf, so you've returned after all. I thought that you've died in some corner of nowhere," said the female knight as she gave Shadekampf, who was standing at the side respectfully, a whip with a laugh.

Shadekampf lowered his head and said, "Thanks to your blessings, we've successfully found the Second Young Master and brought him back, as per our orders."

The female knight replied, "You two are pretty lucky…"

After that, she turned to Patt and said, "Huh, you've changed so much after returning from this excursion. I can barely even recognize you anymore…"

Patt didn't answer and merely nodded towards the female knight.

She didn't mind his silence and walked up to Lorist before staring hard at him. "Second Young Master?"

Within Lorist's memories, apart from his father, the one he most hated was that red-haired girl who frequently took his elder brother away from him and followed him around all day. Once, he curiously tugged on that girl's red ponytail and ended up getting pummeled very harshly as a result…

Now that the girl from back then had grown up, she turned into a tall, bright-looking female knight.

Lorist broke the silence and said, "Si-sister Pesha…"

Seeing that Lorist still remembered the respectful way he addressed her as a child, the red-haired female knight nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad. Little Locke, you've grown up so much and have become so tall. It's great to have you back. You must've suffered quite a bit on the way here, huh. Come in, Old Butler Gleis is already waiting for you."

Gleis was already at a very senior age; back when Lorist left his homeland, he was already 63. Now that ten years had passed, he had aged even more quickly and already lost his ability to walk. However, his Battle Force training still lingered and even though he wasn't as strong and capable as he formerly was, his gaze was still cool and sharp.

Holding onto Lorist's hand and not willing to let go at his sickbed, the old butler made a happy, yet melancholic expression and said, "Child, I don't know if I should be happy that you've returned or not. The current state of the Norton Family is like a sinking ship. We might just be sending you to your doom by pulling you into the same boat as us…"

Lorist laughed and said, "Grandpa Gleis, as a descendant of the Norton Family, it is my duty to come back and help out during times of trouble. I will definitely not let our family that has weathered through the last 200 years fade into the ashes of time just like that. The Norton name will one day become one that fills the whole continent with awe."

Gleis looked at him admirably and smiled. "Child, it is good to have some ambition. However, we should always take things step by step. Go have something to eat and rest up. We'll prepare you for the inheritance ceremony tomorrow. The family has been squabbling over this issue of inheritance for quite some time. I'm sure the matter will be put to rest now that you'll be inheriting the position of the family head."

Lorist stood up from the butler's bed and bade him goodnight before he left with Patt and Shadekampf to the dining hall.

Power Struggle Rumors

Within Lorist's recollections, the dining hall should be the largest place within the castle of the Nortons. Every time his father hosted a banquet, the hall would always be filled to the brim with people enjoying delicious food and big mugs of ale. The partygoers that made merry throughout the banquets would always leave the floors in a terrible mess.

Lorist realized that the dining hall Shadekampf and Patt were leading him to wasn't the one within his memories after they took a different turn. He asked curiously, "Isn't the dining hall over there? Why are we heading here instead?"

Shadekampf asked, "Young Master, you still remember where the dining hall is at?"

"Naturally, I've only been away for ten years you know. I can still recall bits of my childhood," said Lorist.

"Young Master, we're not heading to the main dining hall. After the Old Master passed away, it hasn't been used ever since. We're heading to the smaller one," said Shadekampf.

The smaller dining hall Shadekampf was referring to was a small wooden hut that was built outside the kitchen. With the walls and flooring all constructed from wood and a large wooden long table within, it could house around ten people. Beyond the long wooden table was a bricked fireplace that was currently lit with several pieces of meat on metal sticks sizzling above the brazier that was right next to it.

A chubby cooking lady brought a large basin on the table within which a large, steaming bread was placed. On it was a saw-toothed knife. Taking the knife out, Shadekampf cut off three smaller pieces from the bread and handed them to Lorist. "Young Master, eat them while they're hot. It tastes pretty good, especially with some salt and honey that you can find on the table."

The cooking lady then brought another large bowl of potato and rib stew before she served the meat that was being grilled atop the brazier. Lastly, she put a bowl of baked apples onto the table and sprinkled it with some maple syrup.

"Dinner is served," said the cooking lady coldly before she left with a gloomy expression.

"What's up with her? Did I wrong her in some way?" said Shadekampf in a surprised tone as he looked towards Patt.

Patt merely shook his head.

"You didn't wrong her in any way. But she's unhappy that you brought back the Second Young Master," said Pesha as she entered the room.

"Why would that piss her off?" Shadekampf continued to question.

"She used to be one of the Old Master's personal maidservants and she bore him a son. Even though he was merely an illegitimate one, the blood of the Nortons still flows within his veins. If the Second Young Master didn't make his way back, the next family head would naturally be chosen among the other illegitimate sons," explained the red-haired female knight as she pulled out the knife that was stuck within the bread and used it to cut a maple syrup-covered apple she took out from the bowl into several small pieces.

"That's only a pipe dream of hers," Patt commented.

"LIttle Locke, what is your Battle Force rank?" asked the female knight casually as she stuffed a piece of the apple into her mouth.

"Iron," Lorist replied.

"You're still an Iron rank after spending ten years at Morante City? Sigh, I guess you truly are the most useless one among you three brothers. Little Locke, let me put this out first, it's not that I am against you being the family leader, since there is nobody other than you have the most rightful claim to the position. However, you should remember this. First, don't even dare to mess with my affairs as you have no right! Second, the Norton Family is in a bad state, so we can't afford to have you messing around with it. That's why you should stay in the castle obediently after you inherit the position, understand?" said the female knight as she glared at Lorist.

"Mistress, you don't understand… The Young Master is…" uttered Shadekampf.

"Shut up! Know your place!" Pesha roared.

Lorist merely nodded.

As if she had won the argument, the woman humphed in satisfaction and took wide steps out of the room with her chest puffed out.

"The mistress thinks too much of herself," said Shadekampf.

"She's merely a frog at the bottom of the well who can't even fathom the existence of the world outside it," said Patt.

Lorist said, "Shadekampf, Patt, after you've finished your meals, go gather some information about the situation here in the castle. I feel that something is off and that the people here isn't too fond of my return."

...

"Young Master, we're here," said Patt as he took out the key Gleis had given him and unlocked the door to the study.

Having been closed off for quite a period of time, the air in the study smelled stuffy and stale. Patt quickly opened the windows to let some fresh air into the room.

After that, Patt said, "Young Master, I'll be leaving now. If you have anything you need, I'll be waiting by the stairwell."

Lorist nodded and headed for the desk at the back of the study.

He recalled that his late father, Baron Norton, used to give out orders while sitting behind that exact desk.

Opening the drawer of the desk, he found some old account books and notes as well as another iron box. He remembered that within the box was the Battle Force manual that was passed down within the family. After opening the iron box, a thick beastskin book was revealed before his eyes and on its cover were four large words with an ancient air: 'Crimsonblood Battle Force'.

Lorist was stunned. Wasn't the hereditary family Battle Force the Blazing Battle Force? Since when has it become the Crimsonblood Battle Force?

As his mind sifted through the memories of the young Lorist, he recalled a peculiar scene. As the young Lorist was copying the Battle Force manual, he asked his elder brother, "What are you doing?"

His brother replied, "I'm making a new book jacket for Pesha. The one she had is already in quite a sorry state, so I'm making another for her."

The young Lorist then said, "I want one too, brother. You must be fair to both Pesha and me."

"Alright, good thing I have two over here. I'll give the smaller one to you," his brother replied. He then handed Lorist a beastskin book jacket with the words 'Blazing Battle Force' on it for Lorist to cover his hand copy of the first two stages of his Battle Force technique with.

What the heck! That stupid child and his stupid brother! Lorist didn't know whether he should laugh or cry at the blunder that had caused him to think that his Battle Force was of the fire attribute and made him waste so much time researching other Battle Force manuals, only to end up with him deciding to train in the Aquametal Technique that was passed down to him in his previous life.

Had he known that the technique he trained in was called the Crimsonblood Battle Force, Lorist would have purchased the Burning Blood Battle Force manual that was put up on sale at the mercenary guild of Morante City. Given that it was a blood attribute high-ranked Battle Force technique, it was considered a rare treasure by the mercenary guild and was priced at a staggering 15000 gold Fordes.

The main difference between blood attribute techniques and that of other attributes was that no matter what attribute one's original awakened Battle Force was, upon training in a blood attribute technique, one's Battle Force attribute would irreversibly change into the blood type as well. That was also why Lorist didn't bother to buy a blood attribute Battle Force technique in Morante City during his days of research, as apart from the one one sale at the mercenary guild, there wasn't any other place where he could find a blood attribute technique.

Flipping the manual open, he saw the first two chapters that detailed the basic hexagonal blood circulation map that he was familiar with. After that was the chapter for the Silver ranked stage of the technique. Reading the main points and memorizing the differences between nodes of the Iron rank circulation path and that of the Silver rank, Lorist circulated his Battle Force and moved it according to the Silver ranked path…

He then drew his sword and a blade glow emanated from it after he injected the sword with his Battle Force. Giving a bitter laugh, he thought, I've finally broke through the Silver rank. However, my blade glow won't be able to hold for long as my Battle Force still dissipates into my meridians and dantian region. Without the Battle Force circulating in my bloodstream, I won't be able to sustain the blade glow for long. Oh well, I guess I'll still pass myself off as an Iron rank to catch people off guard with my Dark Stage power.

A few knocks rang out at the door of the study.

"Enter," said Lorist.

A girl dressed in a white gown entered the study and gave Lorist a quick glance before lowering her head. "Second Young Master, your bedroom is already prepared. Just take a turn when you get up the stairs and you'll reach it. Oh, your bedsheets have also been switched as well. When you want to take a bath, please ring the bell with the blue rope beside your bed and I'll start preparing the bathwater quickly…"

The girl's voice gradually grew softer and softer until she was less audible than a mosquito.

Lorist felt that it was funny how the girl was so afraid of himself. He waved his hand and said, "You may leave now. I will call for you when necessary."

As if she was granted amnesty, the girl bowed her head another time before she left hastily and almost bumped into Shadekampf who had just entered from the door.

Shadekampf looked at the girl and said, "Irina, it's you?!"

When Shadekampf closed the door to the study, Lorist asked him, "Do you know the girl from before?"

"Yes, she's called Irina and she was originally the Third Young Master's personal maidservant and she's older than him by one year. She's the one who grieved the most at the passing of the Third Young Master and cried day and night," Shadekampf replied.

"Do you have any news for me?" Lorist asked.

"Yes, Young Master. You wouldn't be able to imagine how heated the quarrel for the position of the family head has been among the various factions in the family. However, the moment you returned, the fight suddenly died down as they had no more hope for it," said Shadekampf with a smile, as if something funny had happened.

"What's so funny about that? Tell me."

"Young Master, despite dating the First Young Master for a couple of years now, not only did Mistress Pesha not bear any children for him, he even found another maidservant which he had a son with immediately after merely two encounters. Mistress Pesha had intended to make that son inherit the position of the family head, but that notion had been struck down by the rest of the family. Being put in an awkward position, your return has made it easier for Mistress Pesha to step down."

"Why would the others be against the son of my brother being the next family head?" Lorist asked.

"Young Master, that child is only 4 years old and can be considered your junior by a whole generation. That's why the mistress's claim was disapproved by many."

"Who are the ones who didn't agree with her?"

"Well, you should be wary of Molocinque, who's the first illegitimate son of your father and is the eldest of the bunch. I heard that he has obtained the support of the families of the garrison of Wildnorth Town, which was the main reason why he wasn't approved as a candidate for the next family head. Also, half a year back when the Kenmays Family surrounded our castle with their troops, the 7th illegitimate son of your father, Wellickson, has shown his bravery and performed very well in fending off the enemy. He has quite a lot of support from the elderly within the castle. The last one is the son of the cooking lady from before. She had tried to get the rest of the servants to support his son to become the next family head. Two other of your father's other personal maidservants also felt that their sons would be fit for the family head, however, causing the servants to split into three factions which argued all the time."

"Stop… Shadekampf, how many illegitimate sons and daughters does my father have?" Lorist's head started to hurt. The situation he was in was not much different from the dramas in his previous life that depicted the squabbles of rich families. He didn't expect that even his illegitimate brothers were also gunning for the position of the family head.

"There are 17 illegitimate children. If we include you and your two brothers, the Old Master had 20 children in total," replied Shadekampf hesitantly. "Including you, there are only 11 that are still alive."

"Are they all males?"

"No, milord. There are four illegitimate daughters, two of which are already married with the other two still only in their teens."

"Then does that mean all the living illegitimate sons are part of the power struggle?"

"Yes, milord."

"I understand now," Lorist said. "I've been wondering why the family hasn't taken any action and allowed the Kenmays Family to do as they please. So the bastards have all decided to pretend to not notice these matters until the family head is decided and even ignored the wellbeing of those working in the mine… How ridiculous."

Shadekampf felt curious and asked, "Why did Old Butler Gleis leave them to squabble among themselves without doing anything about it?"

"It's simple. Gleis himself wasn't sure if I would come back to the dominion to inherit the position. What if Patt and you couldn't find me or something bad happened to us along the journey? That's why he let them do as they pleased so that the tallest among the dwarves will be picked just in case I wasn't able to make my way back so that the family bloodline can still continue," explained Lorist.

"It's fortunate that you've returned. Now, they no longer have a reason to continue that squabble," said Shadekampf with joy.

"So that's why the people here aren't too happy of my return at all. I was the one who caused all the drama to cease. Oh well, it's getting late. Where will you and Patt be sleeping tonight?" Lorist asked.

"We'll be using the guest room by the stairs. I'll be alternating with Patt for patrolling during the night, so please rest well, milord."