Chapter 397 - 140 - 144

Chapter 140 Shock Prev ChapterNext Chapter

The large tent was quickly filled with the tables that were brought within it by the servants. The difference between these tables and those which the knights sat by outside was that these were far more intricate and the servants even laid a fine, white linen table cloth onto them before they placed vibrant flowers and baskets of assorted fruits upon them.

In total, there were 20 long tables lined up into two rows. On either side of each table were 12 chairs in total. Lorist took a few looks before Viscount Kenmays told him that since the knight competition was organized by their two families, there was no master seat. It was possible that he merely didn't want the Nortons to use the opportunity to steal the spotlight. Even so, Lorist felt that this arrangement was apt as it symbolized the equal standing between the two families.

The few tables in the middle were reserved specifically for dominion lords. Apart from Lorist and Viscount Kenmays who were seated face to face at the first table given their status as the organizers of the competition, the rest of the seats were arranged according to the relative titles of the attendees with some noble ladies sandwiched in between. The side-most tables were prepared for the guests or Gold ranked knights who were invited to the banquet by the dominion lords. Lorist noticed that apart from Josk, only two other Gold ranked knights were brought over by their lords. Shadekampf on the other hand had a seat for himself over there as he had played a large part in the committee of the competition.

Given that it was Lorist's first time attending a formal nobles' banquet, he tried his best to behave cordially and seriously. That aside, Viscount Kenmays who was seated directly opposite him was chattering away, impressing his listeners with the vast knowledge he had. They were especially enraptured with his unique interpretations of the major events that had happened during the course of Grindian history.

As he cut the steak with his silver utensils and brought them to his mouth while listening to the incessant tales of Viscount Kenmays, Lorist heard a mention of Morante City. All of a sudden, Viscount Kenmays turned to Lorist and said, "I've heard that Baron Norton had left the Northlands and studied at Morante City for more than 10 years. Something quite major happened over there last year, didn't it?"

Last year? I don't remember anything particularly significant. I don't think anything noteworthy happened before I left. Lorist shook his head and said, "Last year, after I received the summons from my family, I began my journey back immediately, so I'm afraid I'm not informed about what you are referring to."

"Oh, then you must've made your move too early. Back at the Dawn Academy within Morante City, there was an Iron ranked instructor called Locke who dueled all the Silver ranked instructors within the academy sector. Up to 30 Silver ranked instructors were defeated by him during that time. After that, the Iron ranked instructor Locke stepped down from the dueling platform and has gained a fearsome moniker of Iron Locke the Silver Undefeated for beating all his challengers without losing even a single duel. It's a shame that I had something else on my hands back then and wasn't able to make my way to the city to witness the wonder myself, what a shame..." said the viscount with utmost regret.

No worries, this one is sitting right in front of you. You can open your eyes wide and observe to your heart's content.

"Oh, I know about that. Instructor Locke's swordsmanship truly is profound. He is really deserving of that moniker," said Lorist without the slightest hint of embarrassment nor shame.

Viscount Kenmays changed the subject quickly and said with a smiling face as he raised his silver cup, "This knighthood competition lasted 27 whole days and Baron Norton, you only showed up today on the closing banquet. Don't tell me that you got bored of seeing fights like these back in the city and can't be bothered to witness the competitions between the knights? Baron Norton, shouldn't you at least try to explain the reason for your absence?"

Lorist raised the silver cup in his hand in a similar fashion and said, "Haha, I really didn't have a choice as there were really too many matters I had to settle within my dominion. I'm sure all of you here know that I've just succeeded the dominion and the title recently and I hope you can tolerate my absence because of that. Even so, Lord Viscount, no, I should address you as Lord Count now... I've heard that Count Lopez has passed his title and dominion to you. I really have to congratulate you for this. Here's a toast to your amazing achievement."

Even though Lorist didn't say it that loudly, every person within the tent didn't miss a single word and chatters resounded throughout the tent. By the time it finally quieted down, the gazes of everyone within the tent were focused on Viscount Kenmays. A few dominion lords even seemed rather restless on their seats as if they wanted to return to their dominions right away. Baron Felim of the Family of the Pegasus even seemed like he was in deep thought.

Viscount Kenmays's face froze up with a smile, but he quickly recovered and made a pained expression as he said, "Sigh, I'm sure that most of you know that I've been here for the most part of the competition, so I really didn't expect that something of that magnitude would happen. All of you know about the close and intimate relationship between Count Lopez and my father. It truly is a tragedy for the count to have been injured during an encounter with the mountain barbarians. Didn't he write me a request for help some time ago? After I received it, I brought my family's forces to his dominion right away so that he may command it to defeat the barbarian threat. Not in my wildest imaginations would I have thought that the count would entrust his title and dominion to me on his deathbed and request that I take care of his two sisters from the threat of the mountain barbarians. While taking care of his family is something is definitely an obligation I intend to fulfil, I still have the issue of the barbarians to worry about. How troublesome."

Lorist tried to console him and said, "The Kenmays Family is indeed one with a rich mercantile background. I'm sure that you will manage to find a way to make up and coexist with the mountain barbarians. As long as they don't launch any assaults, then I'm sure that you'll be able to bring the dominion the count left you to prosperity within no time."

"Thank you for your kind words, Lord Baron. Then again, I've heard that you refused the demand of Duke Loggins not long ago and even hurt his Gold ranked knight who was sent there as an ambassador and incited the duke's rage in the process, causing him to announce his deployment of the Northland Army to punish your family. I wonder if you need our help to console the duke and put in some good words for you... Perhaps he may consider sparing the Norton Family..." Viscount Kenmays retorted.

"There is no longer a need for that," Lorist said in a dissatisfied tone as he chugged a few gulps of wine. He continued, "That dogshit Duke Loggins has sent two regiments of the Northland Army numbering around 4000 people led by Gold ranked knights Chevany and Hennard to invade the dominion of my family. After they entered the dominion, they massacred all the folk of Wildnorth Town right away..."

Lorist paused and could clearly see the look of perturbation and delight that flashed past quickly on the face of Viscount Kenmays.

"A massacre... of the whole town?" Viscount Kenmays muttered stammeringly.

The part of the announcement that made the viscount feel delight was the fact that the duke's men had already entered the Norton Family dominion using a new, yet undiscovered route. The part that made him perturbed was the massacre of the townsfolk; given the scarce population within the Northlands, even if two lords were to start an all-out war with one another, they wouldn't lay their hands on the non-combatants and would at most pillage them for their goods. Duke Loggins on the other hand massacred a whole town at the Northlands and news of that would definitely incite strong animosity and objection from the other nobles in the Northlands. Nobody liked to deal with a greedy and cruel superior noble.

Soft chatters once again filled the tent as the various nobles discussed with one another the things Lorist had just said. Knowing that Josk was a knight of the Norton Family, the noble ladies gathered around him and offered their condolences, causing Josk to feel awkwardly uncomfortable and struggle to respond while sweating out in anxiety.

Many nobles looked at Lorist with sympathetic gazes as the two regiments numbered around 4000 men and the Gold ranked knights of the duke would definitely give the Norton Family a hard time. Even though Lorist was attending the banquet like nothing was happening, in the eyes of the other nobles, he might probably have to surrender and be stripped of all his belongings to be able to escape the predicament he was in. They believed that the only reason Lorist was there was so that he doesn't lose any face as most of them knew the temperament of the duke quite well.

However, Baron Felim was the only one who looked at Lorist with suspicion as he found that Lorist's face didn't have the slightest indication of worry at all as well as the audacity Lorist showed when he insulted the duke in front of all the nobles. A person who was getting ready to surrender to the duke's forces would definitely not be able to utter something like that.

"That's right. The males, the elderly and the infants were all killed with only 1000 or so women and young girls remaining to be sold to slave traders. That son of a bitch of a duke can't be human, for him to even be willing to do something so heartless. The reason I wasn't able to be present during the competition was because I had to deal with all that. I only managed to settle all of it during the past few days, just in time for today's banquet," Lorist said as he used his fork to stuff yet another piece of steak into his mouth and accidentally smearing some oil on his cheeks. "Wow, your family's chefs are really great. This taste is wonderful."

"Urk... Sold to slave traders... How terrifying..."

Lorist turned his head and saw one lady beside Josk who pretended to faint sickly into his embrace, perfectly emulating what a model benevolent noblewoman would do once she heard about the cruel and indifferent nature of reality. Poor old Josk didn't know what to do as he couldn't hold her tightly nor let her fall to the ground and had no choice but to gaze at Lorist and signal for help.

Hah, it's your own fault for looking so good and dressing up so flashily like a peacock, Lorist thought as he pretended to not see anything.

"If Lord Baron, you, are enjoying the steak, why don't I order another serving for you?" said the viscount as he twirled the silver cup in his hand nonstop. After arduously waiting for Lorist to have another gulp of meat and wine, he asked impatiently, "What happened next?"

"Huh? What about it?" Lorist asked while he seriously considered whether he should get another steak.

"Well, didn't you say that the duke sent 4000 men into your family's dominion and massacred the citizens of Wildnorth Town? What happened after that?" Viscount Kenmays had the sudden urge to smash his silver cup into Lorist's face as he thought, can't you finish your story before you take another bite? How long has it been since you had any steak? Don't tell me the forces of the duke sweeped your dominion clean to the point that you can't even get some yourself?

"Oh, you were talking about the duke's force of 4000. Hehe, they're completely decimated. While they entered the dominion quite easily, there's no way I would just sit back and let them waltz out," Lorist said candidly.

Clang! The cup Viscount Kenmays was holding fell straight to the floor. Directly following that, a few other clangs could be heard as the nobles stared blankly at Lorist.

"You... What did you say? What was that about decimation?" Viscount Kenmays couldn't care less about the cup he had dropped and pestered Lorist for a more detailed explanation.

"Come on, what's so surprising of the duke's men being completely wiped out? You're already this old and yet you couldn't hold a cup properly, how uncouth... And to think that I was planning to have you do me a favor... It seems that I have to seriously reconsider it," Lorist said slowly and calmly.

"How can that be..." Viscount Kenmays cried out loud.

Back then when the new nobles that were just entitled by the Second Prince, the one who had the most military might was one of the Second Prince's Gold ranked guards. Due to being entangled in an affair with the queen of the Iblia Kingdom, the guard was exiled to the Northlands and demoted to a baron. Probably due to the sponsorship of the queen, the Gold ranked guard managed to bring around 1000 soldiers into the Northlands and wasn't willing to submit to the duke. In the end, the duke sent 2000 Northland Army soldiers led by Knight Chevany and conquered the new baron's castle within a mere three days. The head of the Gold ranked guard could still be seen hanging from a wall within the duke's mansion in Gildusk City. Viscount Kenmays could recall the times he saw the head for himself during his visits to the duke.

That was the reason why all of the nobles within the Northlands feared the duke so much and didn't dare to antagonize him lest they had to face the brunt of the Northland Army, causing the duke to grow ever more arrogant and dare to reap more profits from the nobles. Now that Lorist mentioned that he had defeated over 4000 soldiers of the Northland Army, the nobles were all filled with shock and doubt.

"Oh, that's right, what about Knight Chevany and Knight Hennard?" asked Viscount Kenmays hurriedly. Even though Lorist said that he had wiped the duke's men out, if he said that the Gold ranked knights leading the soldiers managed to escape, then there was a huge possibility that Lorist was lying. Hennard might have managed to run away... Given that Viscount Kenmays was an acquaintance of Knight Chevany, he understood that the knight definitely wouldn't leave his men behind given his stubborn and old-fashioned personality.

"The favor I was about to ask of you is in part related to that," Lorist said. He asked the viscount in a steady tone, "I heard that you have quite a close relationship with the dogshit of a duke?"

"It's... it's passable. What did you mean by the involvement of the favor with the knights?" asked Viscount Kenmays as he once again felt the unbearable urge to tear Lorist's mouth open. Can you not dally around when talking about something so serious?!

"It's like this: Knight Chevany had sacrificed himself heroically on the battlefield. I have his body and I hope that you can help me transport it to his family. Other than that, we have captured Knight Hennard and ten plus other Silver ranked knights. They hope that they will be able to pay a ransom for their freedom, so I will pass the name list to you later. Tell their family members or friends within the army to come here and pay the ransom," Lorist said.

"Sho-shouldn't you be giving the name list to the duke?" Viscount Kenmays asked curiously.

"Well, I've thought about it before," Lorist said. "Those Silver ranked knights think that the duke wouldn't bother to pay their ransom. So, they'd rather pass the word to their family members and friends for their help."

Viscount Kenmays listened in shock before he thought in realization, what a great, calculative move... If rumor of that spreads within the Northland Army, who would still be willing to serve the duke? His marvel aside, the viscount was more than willing to help out with that task as causing the duke trouble would be good for the formidable reputation he was trying to build up for his family.

"Very well, I'm more than happy to help you out with that," said Viscount Kenmays. He looked at Lorist and asked sincerely, "Given that you've wiped the men of the duke out, I'm sure that you've sustained quite some amount of casualties. Don't hesitate to come to me should you need any help."

Lorist looked at the viscount and thought, hehe, are you still pining for the return of the 100000 gold Fordes? Are you trying to see if you're able to launch an attack if my family is weak from weathering the duke's assaults?

"Oh, the casualties truly are horrible..." Lorist said as he sighed deeply. "We actually lost up to 30 brave men with almost 100 injured soldiers... It truly is horrible..."

Viscount Kenmays turned and left immediately as he had better things to do than listening to Lorist's bullcrap.

"Hey, don't go just yet! Didn't you say you want to help out?" Lorist called out from behind him.

Chapter 141 The Whereabouts of the Convoy Prev ChapterNext Chapter

Within the main tent, Josk, Waxima, Ovidis, Pajik, Patt, Jim, Paulobins, Reidy, Supervisors Hansk, Kedan and Spiel, Butler Boris, and Shadekampf were seated neatly in two rows as they listened to Lorist speak. Apart from Belnick, who was preparing to break through to the Gold rank, and Old Man Balk who accompanied Grandmaster Sid to forage the dominion for resources and Pesha, whom Lorist didn't like too much, all of the Norton Family knights and officers were gathered there.

"Yesterday, Shadekampf has already transported the remains of Knight Chevany to Viscount Kenmays and the freedom of the Silver ranked knights and Knight Hennard will have to be negotiated with the duke. I believe that we will have about three months to rest and recuperate, since it will take some time before the duke finds out about the defeat of his troops. He'll definitely be unable to launch an attack on us right after that since he has to both consider how many soldiers he has to send over lest they get wiped out by us once again. If the number is large, I doubt that the duke would be willing to spend so much funds on the expedition," Lorist said.

The people within the tent instantly broke into laughter.

"It can be seen that Viscount Kenmays is not on the same side as the duke. Given that the Kenmays Family is focusing their attention on the eastern Northlands, they need us to keep the duke's hands tied and also hope that us and the duke will wipe each other out. That's why they will definitely try to stir something up after we hand them the name list. Even if the duke is willing to pay the ransom for the Silver ranked knights, I believe that he definitely won't bother about the 1000 plus surviving soldiers that we have captured. I know that the Kenmays Family will definitely take this opportunity to spread that around to affect the morale and loyalty of the duke's soldiers.

"Even if the duke sends his soldiers to attack us, he will have to wait until the issue of the captives, which we can even intentionally delay, to be settled first. However, that doesn't mean that we fear the attack of the duke. As long as he dares to come, we will make him run away with his tail between his legs. I, on the other hand, would like to see if the duke will be able to weather through the loss sustained through the defeat of his army this time around. If the Northland Army has to be downsized, I wonder if he can still act so brashly in the Northlands. I believe that by then he should be unable to control the other landed nobles and will find it tough to even protect himself," Lorist said with a cold smile.

"Next, I would like to use this period of temporary peace to reorganize our forces and give them proper training to increase their combat efficacy to prepare for the tough times to come. Shadekampf, do read out the plan you drafted for the reorganization of the family's forces to everyone," Lorist said as he nodded towards Shadekampf.

Shadekampf stood up and took out a beastskin document and said, "The guard squad will be reorganized to include 120 people who fit the criteria of having Iron ranked Battle Force. They will be equipped with a riding shield, a pike, hauberks and chain mails, a side arm of their choosing, a quiver of javelins and two mounts. The squad leader will be Patt and the vice squad leader will be Paulobins.

"A squad of mounted archers will be formed with the leader and trainer being Josk. During the recent knight competition, we have recruited 29 wandering knights and 22 of them have shown themselves to be quite capable in archery. They will be added to the 120 man squad and the requirements for other recruits will be having Battle Force of Iron rank and above, good archery skill and good horse handling. They will be equipped with hauberks, leather armor, longbows, three quivers of arrows, a longsword, an arm shield and two mounts."

Lorist then turned to Josk and said, "Joe, I will leave the mounted archers squad to you. This will be the main offensive unit of our forces, so you must train them well..."

Josk knocked his fist onto his left chest and said, "Milrod, I promise to make the mounted archers squad the sharpest blade we have in our arsenal."

Shadekampf continued, "A company of cavalrymen will also be formed. The company will contain four main squads with another supply squad with the total number of men being a full 600 people. The commander of the company will be Waxima and the only requirement for recruits would be having Battle Force at the Bronze rank and above. They will each be equipped with a hauberk, a chain mail, a riding shield, a riding lance, two mounts, and one side arm of their choice.

"The guards will also be reorganized into two companies. The commander of the first company is Pajik and the commander of the second is Ovidis. Similarly, each company will have four main squads and one supply squad at a total of 600 people. Each company consists of one sword and shield infantry squad, one longbowmen squad, two pike infantry squads and one supply squad. They will be equipped with hauberks, square shields, bucklers, pikes, longbows, longswords, throwing axes, javelins, etc.

"Additionally, two more defense units will be formed and the members will be recruited from those who don't make the criteria of the aforementioned units. Each squad will have from 100 to 120 members and they will be equipped with grey-colored leather armor, pikes, longswords, longbows and various types of shields."

Shadekampf then placed the beastskin document down before he bowed to Lorist and went back to his seat.

Lorist looked at his seated subordinates and said, "Did you all understand that? I hope that you all can come up with your own methods to carry out the training and reorganization and show them to me for approval. Other than that, I will be stationing one of the defense units at Maplewoods Bastide with Pajik being the sub-leader for now. This unit will be responsible for the defense of the bastide. As for the defense unit here at Firmrock Castle, it will be in charge of regulating order, ensuring security, patrolling, and guarding the warehouses. Ovidis will be the sub-leader of this unit. Given that we don't have enough soldiers for now, begin the training even if the units are not yet filled up.

"I will set up another camp for new recruits at Firmrock Castle which will be left to Shadekampf, Patt, and Paulobins. I will be the chief instructor over there. The recruits will learn to awaken their Battle Force within the camp as well as basic military regulations. After they receive basic training, they will then be sent to different units depending on their own individual capabilities until the space for the units are filled up.

"Other than that, Supervisor Hansk will be the chief finance and resource officer of the family and will be in charge of our supplies and finances and its distribution. Butler Boris will take charge of civil and business matters, Shadekampf will manage the arsenal of the family's forces and Supervisor Kedan will manage the camp of the captives. When Old Man Balk returns, he will take over production and manufacturing while Supervisor Spiel will work on agriculture. I will be leaving the food supply and the family's sustenance to you.

"By the time we defeat Duke Loggins, the Northlands will no doubt fall into another period of chaos. Without the iron grip of the Northland Army, the ambitious dominion lords will start to act. We can't do much apart from preparing for the worst so that we will be able to survive during the troubled times to come and lay a firm foundation for our family's strength. This will have to depend on you all," Lorist said as he rose to his feet and bowed to his men.

The rest of them got up and returned the bow as they said in unison, "Milord, we will definitely do our best to serve you."

Lorist clapped his hands and said, "Alright, go do your stuff. Jim and Reidy, stay back for a while."

Everyone left the tent with the exception of the two. Jim said in a troubled fashion, "Milord, why didn't you give me any assignments?"

Lorist laughed and said, "Haha, you must have been quite impatient just now. The reason I didn't give you any task is because I have a mission for both you and Reidy. Reidy, when we left the convoy, it was the 2nd month. And now, it's almost the 9th month already but the convoy still hasn't arrived yet. That's why I will leave the task to locate the convoy to Jim and you. Find out the why they have been delayed for so long. Jim, bring a few of the mercenaries that joined our forces over with you as well and pretend to be a group of mercenaries on a mission. Do be careful on your journey and get anything you need from Shadekampf. I've also written a few letters for Charade, Potterfang, Els, Terman and Yuriy. Tell them I miss them. Oh, and these letters are for Alisa and Howard."

"Yes, milord. We will definitely carry out the task successfully," said the two of them as they saluted in unison.

...

"The castle is down! We have entered the gates!"

"It's our victory!"

"We have won!"

"..."

As they let out their excited cheers, the guards tossed their sun hats high up in the air.

The banners at the foot of the hill were waved frantically as the soldiers cheered for yet another one of their victories. Charade who was mounted looked from his vantage point at the top of the hill towards the flag of the dominion lord in the distant castle get lowered and replaced by that of the Norton Family. However, the expression he wore was a displeased one as he solemnly said to the guard beside him, "Come, let's go back to the tent."

Within the tent, Els was lying down on a soft couch and reading a knight novel. His left leg was wrapped up by a huge and thick bandage: he had gotten hurt two months ago when he was impaled on the leg by a Silver ranked knight with his riding lance. It would take at least half a year to recover from an injury of that degree.

Charade went into the tent with a gloomy face, prompting Els to ask out of curiosity, "What's wrong? Didn't we succeed in taking the castle? Why the long face?"

"Sigh..." Charade let out a long tired breath. "I'm not happy about this at all. Even though I know this is a pithole, we had no choice but to jump straight into it. It really feels super bad to be used by others like this."

Els also quieted down at that statement. Originally, they thought that the journey through the Andinaq Kingdom would be a mere walk in the park. However, it actually turned out to be a road filled with countless thorns and the northbound convoy had to carve a bloody passage out with their own hands.

Three months prior, they had already arrived at Benz Citadel that was located at the border between the Redlis Kingdom and the Andinaq Kingdom which Potterfang had conquered with his heavy-armored cavalry. However, they received a piece of bad news during their stay.

Charade had planned to give up Benz Citadel to the soldiers of the Andinaq Kingdom as that would relieve the convoy of any baggage before they resume their journey up north through the Andinaq Kingdom quickly. However, Potterfang, who arrived one step earlier at the former imperial capital, now the royal capital of the Andinaq Kingdom, didn't manage to meet the Third Prince, Andinaq I. After asking around, he found that the Third Prince had fallen sick and the matters of the kingdom were currently managed by his son, the First Highness.

That was why Potterfang decided to visit the First Highness, Delwick, but Delwick refused to send any soldiers to be stationed at Benz Citadel and told Potterfang that currently, the influence of the royal family was only limited to the royal capital as many nobles of the kingdom had formed an alliance to resist and grapple with the royal family and he had no other choice and couldn't spare any help to the convoy even if he wanted to.

Potterfang subsequently went to contact his acquaintances from the Whitelion Legion and the news he got shocked him deeply. The Andinaq Kingdom was truly in a dire state: given that the Third Prince had been at his sickbed for more than a year, the First Highness who had relied so much on the stronger nobles within the kingdom had become their plaything. Among the three most reputable armies within the empire, the Whitelion Legion had been disbanded, the Fiercegale Legion had joined the Melein Duchy and the royal family's local defense guards only had one regiment of troops remaining and were barely able to defend the royal family with the meager amount of taxes collected from the capital.

The former population of 500000 of the capital had declined to a mere 50000 with the once merry business districts turning into abandoned slums. Back when the empire got divided into many powers, the Third Prince faced the most brunt of the Forde Trade Union as he was the one who was officially named by the emperor as the true heir of the imperial family. Even though the Andinaq Kingdom was founded on three of the most prosperous provinces of the empire, without any trade and business going on, and given the fact that the agricultural produce wasn't enough to sustain its own population, the kingdom began its steady journey to decline. Following that, the dominion lords tightened their choking grip on their citizens to squeeze more out of them and even fought each other to expand their territory.

The Third Prince's Andinaq Kingdom was merely an afterthought after that. The First Highness's claim that the royal family didn't have power outside the capital was also true. Having received that information, Potterfang quickly returned to Benz Citadel to discuss the state of affairs with Charade. He didn't expect that information about the resources and wealth the convoy had would actually be leaked by one of the First Highness's retainers to the alliance of dominion lords who turned their gazes to the convoy.

Charade decided right away to leave Benz Citadel unguarded and departed with the whole convoy. On the 5th day of their departure, however, the convoy encountered the forces of the alliance at the Green Plains.

The alliance that was formed by 37 different noble families had around 30000 troops and they had come to rob the convoy. But after their first few defeats, they changed their approach and demanded that the convoy give up two-thirds of everything they had in exchange for safe passage.

Charade refused the unreasonable demand outright and the two parties were at a stalemate. Back then, the noble alliance had 30000 soldiers. Even though the convoy was made up of more than 50000 people, only 15000 of them were combatants and they were severely outnumbered.

After 20 days, conflict broke out once again. The alliance launched their attacks first followed by counterattacks from Charade and Potterfang. What was surprising was that the soldiers of the alliance broke formation almost instantly when the convoy's soldiers charged and given their far inferior gear, the first battle was completely dominated by the northbound convoy. With minimal casualties, they even managed to capture 17000 enemy soldiers.

Upon discovering the true might of their own troops, Charade and Potterfang were elated. Charade instantly ordered his men to pay the noble alliance back for the trouble they have caused and as the convoy passed through the dominions of each noble, they took the castle of those dominion lords and hung the nobles who joined the alliance publicly and took everything they had to replenish the supply of the convoy.

The attacks the convoy launched didn't deplete its forces in the least. Of the 17000 captive soldiers, Charade had the ones who knew useful skills such as smithing, crafting, cobbling and tailoring assimilated into the members of the convoy and had the remaining 14000 or so men split into four different suicide units which were given simple equipment and sent to attack the castles of the other dominion lords with the promise that they would regain their freedom if they were victorious. They would also be offered the chance to join the convoy on the journey to the Northlands to start their lives anew.

At first, things progressed smoothly and the castles of two dominion lords were successfully conquered. But it did not take long for something troubling to occur: a group of vagabonds started tagging along the convoy from behind in hopes that they would be able to receive protection as well as going to the Northlands to live the peaceful and blissful life there that Charade had so loudly proclaimed.

When Charade was busy brainstorming a solution for that issue, a group of people arrived at the main camp of the convoy's forces and their leader was the second son of the Third Prince, the Second Highness, Auguslo. Accompanying him was the Gold ranked female knight, Norton Glacia.

Chapter 142 Charade the Demon Prev ChapterNext Chapter

"My apologies, Second Highness. Even though the Norton Family is under the jurisdiction of the Krissen Royal Family and you are one of its members, currently, you represent the royal family of the Andinaq Kingdom. Also, our lord has willed that we lead the convoy all the way to the family's dominion and didn't say anything about helping the Andinaq Royal Family solve the issue of rebellious dominion lords within your kingdom," Charade said as he refused Auguslo's request.

The aim of the Second Highness in coming over with his group of 20 was to try to mediate between the convoy and the alliance of nobles so that they could come to a truce and stop battling. After all, that was the request of his most intimate and loyal subordinate, Norton Glacia. Secondly, he wanted to see if he could purchase some food supplies as the kingdom had been struck with a severe lack of resources due to the trade embargo of the Forde Trade Union.

The Second Highness believed that the alliance would give him some face as he was the one who led the Whitelion Legion and the Fiercegale Legion during the times of the civil war and kept the First and Second Princes in check so that they didn't reach the imperial capital. Many of the dominion lords within the alliance had received help from him before and thus owed him some form of favor.

However, as he was on his way to the convoy, he heard that the convoy's forces managed to utterly crush the soldiers of the alliance. This news filled the Second Highness with shock as he didn't expect that the convoy's escort troops would actually be that powerful. Upon seeing Glacia's elated and excited reaction, Second Highness Auguslo started contemplating his next move.

While the Second Highness had gained some stellar achievements in the military, he wasn't favored by the other nobles within the Andinaq Kingdom. To them, having great achievements translated to being willing to achieve anything regardless of the cost. While the Third Prince did rely on the Second Highness to lead the two armies to resist the assaults of the First and Second Princes, it had drained the kingdom of its much needed resources and caused it to become a desolate husk of what it used to be. Additionally, the Second Highness was a rather stubborn person and nobody liked an impulsive and forceful king. That was why the nobles gave their support to the First Highness and caused the Second Highness to be exiled back to his own principality at an island near the western coast of the kingdom by the Third Prince, Andinaq I.

Being drained of resources and vitality from the constant battles of the civil war, the Andinaq Kingdom could no longer sustain three large armies, resulting in the Whitelion Legion being disbanded and the Fiercegale Legion joining the Melein Duchy to resist the Second Prince with their aid. The royal family's local defense guards had also been downsized quite substantially given the state of finances of the kingdom to the point that they were left with only one regiment of troops.

Having lost the military power necessary to control the kingdom, the nobles no longer took the Andinaq Royal Family seriously. Coupled with the Third Prince falling sick due to an unknown disease, the weak-willed First Highness got pushed around by the nobles when he took over and that allowed the pride and arrogance of the nobles to inflate even more. They began to blatantly ignore the laws of the kingdom and oppressed the citizens all the while forming their own private armies and dividing the territory of the royal family among themselves, which eventually resulted in the formation of the alliance for the sole purpose of putting pressure on the Andinaq Royal Family.

Having witnessed the state of the kingdom, the Second Highness resolved himself to one day unify the Krissen Empire and restore the imperial family back to its former glory. It was too bad that he didn't have a reliable force of his own at the moment and even his personal guard and the garrison soldiers within his territory numbered to only 300 people. And while his elder brother the First Highness wasn't the best at resisting external threats, it was the opposite when it came to internal threats given the almost paranoid awareness he had towards his own younger brother which he deemed a potential hazard to his own regime to the point that he stopped giving any subsidies to the Second Highness using the excuse that the kingdom was running severely low on funds.

Even if he had the will, the Second Highness couldn't do much without any soldiers and power of his own. But when he saw the might of the convoy of the Norton Family, he started having his own plans. The sole reason he went to the convoy was to borrow food and troops to restore stability to the Andinaq Kingdom by way of eliminating the noble alliance and forcing the First Highness to abdicate and grabbing the throne for himself. But Charade saw through his intentions right away and refused his request immediately.

"Is Abelyde the family head right now?" Glacia asked.

"Abelyde? Who's that?" Charade asked the beautiful female knight with a curious look on his face.

Glacia's expression suddenly changed as she shouted, "Who the heck are you? Why are you impersonating the people of the Norton Family?" She already had her hand to the hilt of her sword.

"We are no doubt knights of the Norton Family. Our lord is indeed Baron Norton. Oh, the current Baron Norton is Norton Lorist," Charade said as he brought out his knight badge and infused his Battle Force into it to manifest the misty form of the roaring raging bear.

Stunned, Glacia asked after she hesitated for a moment, "Lorist? Are you talking about Little Locke? That crybaby? The one who has snot all over his face? Wasn't he exiled to Morante City?"

"Pfft..." Everyone within the tent burst out in laughter at hearing the childhood nicknames of their lord.

Resisting the urge to laugh, Charade replied, "Yes, milady. Locke was indeed exiled to Morante City but he received summons from the family a year ago. Currently, he is the only person left within the direct line of succession and he had no choice to return to the dominion to inherit the dominion and his title. Many of us here are friends of his back at Morante City and we were accepted into the family as knights by him and are on a mission back to the dominion with this convoy. May I ask who you are and what relationship you have with the Norton Family?"

"What did you say? Little Locke is the only one left that can succeed the Norton Family? Then what happened to Abelyde and Norwesk?" Glacia asked hurriedly, before she regained her calm and realized her abrupt behavior. "Apologies, I am Norton Glacia, Lorist's elder cousin sister. My father is Lorist's Second Uncle and he used to be the vice captain of the knight brigade of the empire's local defense force."

"I offer you my greetings..." Charade said as everyone within the tent saluted Glacia.

"The names you mentioned just now referred to the First and Third Young Masters, right?" Charade asked. "It's like this..."

Charade told Glacia everything he knew about the state of the Norton Family, causing Glacia to burst into tears. The Second Highness hugged her as he tried to comfort her.

"I thought that losing my father was one of the worst things that could have happened to me... But to think that the family had gotten even worse over the years..." Glacia mumbled.

"Mistress Glacia, please calm your feelings and trust that the Norton Family will once again return to glory under the leadership of Locke. The journey of the convoy will be an important cornerstone to restore the family, so I am afraid that I cannot accept Your Highness's request as I have to ensure that the people and resources within the convoy arrive at the Northlands safely," Charade said.

"If that's the case, there's even more reason to accept His Highness's request. With the military might of the convoy, you'll be able to easily wipe out the forces of the nobles who are going against him. Just capture their bastides and take their resources so that you'll have enough to last the whole journey back. I've been to the family dominion before and I know that it is a desolate place deprived of every kind of resource. That's why the more you bring back to the dominion, the more beneficial it will be to the family," Glacia argued.

"If you agree to help me out, when I take control of the imperial capital, I will instantly raise the rank of the Norton Family from a Baron to a Count," promised the Second Highness. "I also won't take your supplies for free. I can offer you the equipment and gear of the Whitelion Legion that was disbanded long ago in exchange for your help and supplies. I believe the Norton Family will stand to benefit quite a bit from gaining these equipment."

Charade started to hesitate as he couldn't think of a reason to refute the offer. While a rise in rank was nothing of note, the equipment of the Whitelion Legion was a different story altogether. Being the main offensive force of the Krissen Empire, the Whitelion Legion used quality equipment which boasted excellent offense and defense that were crafted by the best smiths of the empire. They were easily two times better than usual equipment and the armor Charade wore was garbage in comparison. Other than that, the Whitelion Legion had 89000 members which were fully equipped and divided into four regiments. Including the stuff of the supply units, Charade estimated that there would easily be 100000 sets of gear in total.

If they could obtain all the gear of the Whitelion Legion, then the Norton Family would not have to worry about weapons and gear for more than ten years. As long as they were able to form an army and provide it with those equipment, the family would unquestionably be able to reign supreme within the Northlands and develop the dominion with the peace and security that came with it without the slightest worry about the chaos and turmoil of the lands.

The Second Highness didn't have much of a choice either as the Whitelion Legion had been disbanded and all that remained was their equipment. Even so, many sets had been used and worn out over the course of the conflict within the empire and the sets in good and bad condition combined only numbered around 70000 instead of the 100000 Charade believed it to be. Originally, the Third Prince, Andinaq I, had planned to sell those gear for a high price to purchase the much needed food and other resources to stabilize the kingdom. However, the Forde Trade Union was only willing to offer less than a tenth of the cost required to manufacture the gear to take advantage of the Andinaq Kingdom's desperation. In a fit of rage, the Third Prince stopped all negotiations immediately and even cut off trade ties with the Forde Trade Union.

The people of the trade union were also infuriated by that response as during the past 100 or so years, the Whitelion Legion was involved in all the invasions the empire made on the Falik Plains and they were even the biggest contributor to the empire's successes! To them, it was already very generous of them to offer to purchase the equipment at that price. They had intended to have the equipment melted down and made into a monument to commemorate the dissolution of the Krissen Empire with the insignia of the Whitelion Legion placed at the very bottom to symbolize the complete triumph of the trade union. Since the Third Prince wasn't willing to sell the gear, they gave up and didn't bother to convince him otherwise anyway.

Without trade, the once lively imperial capital started to regress as the quality of life gradually worsened. The embargo also caused the nobles of the Andinaq Kingdom much distress and some of them even lusted after the gear that was left unused in the warehouses of the empire.

The Second Highness himself didn't have any other choice either as the Andinaq Kingdom's finances are in the red and he had to offer an appealing proposition for the Norton Family for them to be willing to help out. After brainstorming, he came up with two methods, the first of which being granting the family more territory and land as well as a higher-ranking title. That was something the Second Highness was extremely unwilling to do as the Andinaq Kingdom only encompassed three of the provinces of the former empire with the already limited land split between many noble families. Given that there were more than 100 noble families within the kingdom, even the royal family's territory had to be reduced. That was why he planned to eliminate the nobles that were causing trouble and only spare the ones who were loyal to the kingdom to lay the foundation for the restoration of the Krissen Empire.

Giving the Norton Family a higher title and part of the territory taken from the purged nobles was akin to luring in yet another tiger after chasing away a pack of wolves. As the Second Highness was still unsure of the loyalty of the Norton Family, he refrained from that thought to save himself some trouble. The second method he could use was to offer the equipment of the Whitelion Legion as he observed that the convoy took their defense and security very seriously with even the most basic foot soldier being equipped with metal armor. He thought that the gear of the mighty Whitelion Legion would prove very alluring to the convoy, and he was right.

Even though Charade was able to keep his calm when he heard that offer, the three within the tent that had relatively high positions in the convoy stared straight at him. Those three were Potterfang, Lode Wales and Mons Malek respectively. As they were former members of the Whitelion Legion and were all commoner officers, the Second Highness couldn't recall their faces even though they have met before. Upon hearing that the Second Highness was willing to give them the equipment of the Whitelion Legion, the three felt completely ecstatic, but they couldn't reveal their thoughts openly and could only stare hard at Charade in hopes that he would accept the offer.

In the end, Charade nodded.

The results of the negotiation were as follows: the convoy would use 100000 gold Fordes to help fund the formation of a 20000-strong army for the Second Highness and supply them with equipment and food. The new army would accompany the northbound convoy and cooperate with them to defeat the nobles of the alliance and the spoils of war would be split evenly among the two parties for the whole period until the Second Highness ascends to the throne. The Second Highness on the other hand would agree to raise the rank of the Norton Family to that of a count when he goes into power with no change or addition to the size of the dominion. Additionally, the gear of the Whitelion Legion would be completely handed to the Norton Family and it was promised that there were no less than 70000 sets in total and any additional sets would be given to the convoy for free.

Even though the convoy was biting the short end of the stick given that they had to go to battle almost immediately and the Second Highness only had to make promises without actually putting anything up front, Charade agreed to the deal in consideration for Glacia's standing. Other than that, he also had plans of his own that would ensure that the convoy wouldn't suffer much losses either. Also, he felt that it was a good opportunity to get on the good side of the Second Highness and pave a way for the family's influence into the Andinaq Kingdom, allowing the family's trade convoys to one day be allowed passage through the territory of the Andinaq Kingdom to Viscount Tim's dominion at the Redlis Kingdom.

Charade's plan was simple: he would use the convoy's main force in the open field battles and scouting missions as he was confident that the armored cavalry unit of the Norton Family would be able to utterly crush any enemy resistance without trouble. He also considered it to be a good chance for the soldiers to gain experience. The battles which would cause the most casualties were the sieges and he planned to have the convoy's ranged units aid in the effort. That way, he could minimize the casualties of the convoy's forces and also resupply the convoy with the loot they took. What was there for them to lose?

After the expedition began for two or so months, the forces of the convoy swept past the Hanstmost Province and the Central Province of the Andinaq Kingdom under Charade's leadership, forcing 35 dominion lords to submit and swear their allegiance to the Second Highness in the process and earning him the moniker of 'Charade the Demon'. He also used the youths among the captives and vagabonds to form a 20000-strong army for the Second Highness as per the agreement which was used to encircle the imperial capital, giving the First Highness no choice but to abdicate and pass the throne to the Second Highness.

The Second Highness also fulfilled his side of the bargain and gave all 73645 sets of gear of the Whitelion Legion to the convoy and also signed the certificate of the entitlement that was testament to the elevation of status of the Norton family leader from a baron to a count, complete with the official imperial seal. On a side note, the Second Highness also hoped that the convoy would continue to fight for him and help him restore the empire.

Charade refused the request without hesitating and the Second Highness merely laughed it off without stirring up any fuss. But when Charade announced that they would be departing immediately to resume their journey back to the Northlands, the Second Highness asked for a favor: since the convoy was headed for the final province of the Andinaq Kingdom, the Welbassia Province, which was also the main stronghold of the noble alliance which the Second Highness couldn't reach his hands into no matter how hard he tried, the Second Highness made an optimistic request for the convoy's troops to clean up the rebellious nobles as they had done during their passage through the previous two provinces.

Charade shook his head and said, "My apologies, Your Highness, the convoy has already been delayed for too many times and we have to head for the Northlands immediately. As long as the nobles don't stop us on our tracks, we won't act against them for no reason."

The Second Highness laughed and said, "But there is a lot of food within that province... Well, no matter if you can't help it."

In the end, the convoy parted with the Second Highness on friendly terms and Glacia had even written a couple of letters meant for Lorist and entrusted them to Charade.

And so the convoy continued its journey north, but Charade and the rest quickly felt that something was not right. By the time the convoy reached the Welbassia Province, the vagabonds that followed behind them numbered more than 100000.

After making some inquiries, Charade found that he had been duped. As the population within the Andinaq Kingdom was quite dense, the food shortage that plagued it caused the citizens to wander around to forage for food for their survival. And somehow, rumors that the northbound convoy was handing out food and bringing people to settle down within the Northlands spread and caused many of the vagabonds to seek it out.

Enraged, Charade wrote a letter to the Second Highness about the issue to which the Second Highness responded, writing, 'The Andinaq Kingdom has roughly 400000 vagabonds. Due to the efforts of the convoy which freed up more land in the Hanstmost Province and the Central Province, I have only managed to settle 100000 of them down despite the best of my efforts. I cannot do much about the rest who chose to follow the convoy. However, if the convoy is willing to clean up the Welbassia Province, the extra land might be enough for another 100000 or so people to settle down..."

It was at that moment when everyone's face froze up. There was no way that they would be able to travel quick with so many vagabonds slowing them down! However, they couldn't just leave them be and ignore them as they might be prompted into attacking and robbing the convoy out of desperation. 100000 desperate and hungry people was no small threat. On the other hand, if Charade chose to feed the vagabonds, the food source that would last 60000 people for three months might run out within only one month. The only solution was to attack the bastides and castles of the dominion lords within the province to attain more food to feed the vagabonds as well as help the Second Highness settle some of them down within the province.

That was the main issue that plagued the convoy which caused Charade much grief and frustration as he had no option but to jump into the abyss despite knowing what lay below.

Chapter 143 The Experiences of the Messengers Prev ChapterNext Chapter

Looking at the 200 plus new recruits training within the camp, Lorist shook his head in disappointment. They were mostly recruited from the citizens who moved over from the Kenmays Family's immigrant town. Compared to the slave laborers of the Kenmays Family, their physical capabilities were far inferior as most of them were malnourished.

That was because the slave laborers were integral to the profits of the Kenmays Family, so it's understandable that they were well fed. These immigrants are different in that it's already considered for them to have infrequent meals that allowed them to barely survive. After being brought to the Northlands by the Kenmays Family, the immigrants were given some farmland and small amounts of supplies before they were left to fend for themselves and they would also be required to pay a tax after two years, so it wasn't weird that they couldn't even afford regular meals.

It'll take at least 6 months before they can be put to good use, Lorist thought as he stroked his chin. After that, he saw the Iron ranked butler of Telesti entering the new recruit camp and hurriedly rushing towards him.

The butler greeted him and said, "Milord, my mistress had requested that you go over to the construction site's base of operations. She has something she needs to discuss with you."

The reason Telesti asked Lorist to go over was to talk about the construction of the residential areas. Given that the main castle was constructed next to the mountain range, it was as high as six storeys and that allowed it to be defended easily and be exceedingly hard to attack. Three out of six storeys of the castle was already completed.

However, there were two large expanses at both the mountain ranges beside the castle and residential areas for the knights and the staff of the castle were planned to be built over there. Currently, the blueprints for the residential areas had been completed and it was awaiting Lorist's approval.

The slope of the mountain range to the north of the castle was larger and had relatively more level terrain and Telesti had come up with two plans with the aid of Grandmaster Ciroba. The first was to construct larger houses which the land could only fit 38 of. The second was to make the houses smaller so the area could fit 58 of them, 20 more than the former plan.

The slope of the mountain range to the south of the castle was steeper in comparison and it could only fit 11 such houses at most. Lorist had to decide which housing arrangement they were going to use.

Looking at the completed replica for some time, Lorist felt that he wasn't too satisfied with it. After giving it some thought, he told Telesti, "How about this? The slope to the northern side of the castle can be split into four levels, so construct larger houses atop the first two levels and build smaller ones at the lower levels. As for the southern slope, I recommend constructing multi-storied buildings, maybe about three floors each. I hope that the base area of these buildings can be larger and each room shouldn't be as small as the ones within academy dorms, maybe around 4 to 5 rooms the size of the small houses in each building would do."

Just as he left the base of operations, he saw Paulobins approach him. Paulobins said, "Milord, two beggars showed up and they claim to be the messengers of the convoy and requested to meet you..."

Messengers of the convoy? Delighted, Lorist asked, "Where are they?"

"They are waiting outside your room," said Paulobins as he handed over the reins of the horse to Lorist.

Even though it hasn't even been ten days since Reidy and Jim left, news of the convoy is already here. It seems that they'll be here soon, thought Lorist happily as he rode quickly to the southern walls of the castle.

Upon getting into the building, he saw two haggardly-dressed men whose faces were completely smudged in grime and one of them was even wrapped in a dirty bandage. No wonder Paulobins thought they were beggars.

Seeing Lorist come over, the two beggars burst out in tears as they kneeled down and cried, "Milord, we're finally able to meet you again..."

Lorist said, "You are..?"

"Milord, I am Ruhr and he is Mort and we are part of the guards for the convoy. Have you forgotten us?" said the uninjured guard as he sobbed.

Ruhr and Mort, hmm, they are Els's subordinates. Then again, their current form looks horrible...

Lorist squatted down beside a busybody guard who was doing nothing but snickering and said, "You blind fool, what are you doing sitting there and laughing like that? Go get your brothers some water for them to wash themselves. Get Shadekampf to come here as well."

After washing their faces and changing their clothes, the two messengers looked more familiar in Lorist's eyes. Shadekampf who just rushed into the room recognized them right away as he was the one who used to bring the guards around to make an inventory of the things the convoy obtained. "Ruhr, Mort, why have you come here?"

"Sir Shadekampf, we're here to pass a message.." Upon the mention of their mission, the two started to cry again.

The letter was given to Lorist and there were five pages in total. Charade mentioned in the letter that the battle on the Green Plains was a huge success and that Els had injured himself. The letter also described the meeting of the convoy with the Second Highness and Glacia and their agreement in much detail as well as Charade's intention to gain the equipment of the Whitelion Legion.

After reading the letter, Lorist felt both happy and perplexed. He was glad because his elder cousin sister who was quite fat back in the day and bullied him frequently had become a Gold ranked knight. However, he was troubled that the convoy was still caught up within the Andinaq Kingdom and it didn't seem that they would be arriving anytime soon. It was possible that snow would start to fall after Charade and gang cleaned up the rebellious dominion lords of the kingdom. Given that it was already the 9th day of the 9th month, winter was coming and the snowfall would definitely make it much harder for the convoy to travel.

Looking at the date of the letter, Lorist was shocked to see that it had been signed on the 28th day of the 6th month.

"You guys took two whole months to travel here?" Lorist felt weird at that time frame as he had only taken one month to travel from Geldos City to the Northlands. Why did it take so long for the messengers to arrive?

The two messengers continued their sobbing as one said, "Milord, when we left, there were 12 of us. But now, only the two of us remain..."

Lorist asked concernedly, "What happened?"

"Milord, the 12 of us were fully-armed and had two mounts each. When we passed through the Andinaq Kingdom, we came under frequent bandit attacks and by the time we reached the Madras Duchy, there were only 7 of us left. Within the duchy, things mostly went on fine until we arrived at Whitestone Town which was near the Hendliff Suspension Bridge. Just as we were about to cross the river, we heard some merchants who came from the other side mention that Duke Loggins intended to send his troops to punish the Norton Family who have disrespected him, so we didn't dare to use that route and headed for the ferry port downstream.

"After we crossed the river there, just as we were about to get some food and rest within a town, the garrison force of the town labeled us bandits and wanted to arrest us. As a result, only five of us emerged alive and we lost all our luggage and mounts. Those garrison soldiers were also frightened by our tenacity and no longer dared to chase us. Having no choice but to travel on foot, we traveled for another 5 days to the dominion of Baron Farad. Initially thinking that we could get some help from him, we didn't expect him to treat us as vagabonds and capture us while also taking all our armor, weapons and money.

"After working a month of forced labor under the baron, we were enlisted by him into his forces because he had gone into conflict with some other viscount. We were shoved to the battlefield with nothing more than a pike. After two days of fighting, Waylin and Azk perished and I, Mort and Gilson managed to escape in the midst of chaos. However, Gilson had gotten hit by three arrows and didn't make it. Ever since, Mort and I didn't dare to enter anymore towns and wandered in the wilderness for six days before we finally arrived here..." said Ruhr as he delivered his experiences while sobbing all the way.

Lorist thumped on the table in anger and said, "Unbelievable... What did you say that baron was called? And what's the name of that town?"

Needless to say, the baron was one of the new nobles that had just been entitled by the Second Prince. Northlanders were usually very amicable to guests, and travelers to towns would usually get aid from the townsfolk. For messengers like them, Northlander nobles would treat them to dinner like honored guests apart from providing the basic necessities like accommodation and supplies. Naturally, they stood to benefit from getting news from outside the Northlands from visitors and some more generous nobles might even give some money to reward them for the information.

Ever since the entitlement of the new nobles at the Northlands, the atmosphere and culture there had degraded. When they lacked resources, the new nobles would impersonate bandits to pillage others and if they didn't have enough citizens, they would kidnap people from nearby villages. Many old landed nobles of the Northlands were currently in conflict with the new nobles because of those issues. During the knighthood competition, one noble who participated was recognized by some to be one of the bandit leaders who robbed another noble family's merchant convoy.

So, Baron Farad, huh, Lorist thought as he looked at the map and found the dominion of the new dominion lord which was only two days of travel away from the Firmrock Castle and next to Count Spenseid's dominion. As for the town that Ruhr mentioned, it was under the jurisdiction of Viscount Darwof and that town may be an immigrant town that was constructed only recently given that the members of their garrison were merely ruffians that dared to prey on messengers. That town was slightly further away and it would take 5 days to travel there by horse, so Lorist made a mental note to settle them at a later date.

"Ask the guards outside to get Knight Josk and Knight Waxima to come here," Lorist instructed Shadekampf.

"What's the status of the convoy right now? Is Els recovering from his injuries well?" Lorist asked Ruhr and Mort.

Ruhr replied, "During the battle of the Green Plains, our forces' losses were low and less than 1000 of the soldiers were killed or injured. Had Sir Els been fine, he would have led us back on our mission to deliver the letter. Back then when we were at Benz Citadel and preparing to send some information here the first time, Sir Els had volunteered to be part of the messenger team but he later changed his mind when Sir Potterfang returned..."

"Wait a second, you said that a message was sent back when the convoy was still at Benz Citadel?"

"That's right..." Ruhr replied, before he recalled something and asked, "Don't tell me... That you didn't receive the first message and didn't see any of our messengers?"

Lorist merely shook his head.

Ruhr and Mort looked at each other with expressions of surprise.

Ruhr continued, "Milord, they left one month before our departure and Sir Charade's message contained a report on the status of the convoy as well as the news Sir Potterfang received at the imperial capital. The leader of the 12 messengers was Krimor and he's one of the guards that milord may remember. However, if they haven't arrived yet, then based on our experience, they might have got into some trouble..."

"If they're alive, we'll find them. Even if they're dead, we'll locate their corpses. Nobody will be able to get away scot-free for harming the messengers of the Norton Family. I will definitely make sure you lot have a satisfactory answer to this," Lorist said as he ground his teeth. No wonder he felt that Charade's letter seemed to not be extensive enough given that the rest of the information had been in the previous letter he sent which had disappeared along with the first group of messengers.

"Brief me on how the convoy is doing. It isn't mentioned in these letters," Lorist said.

Ruhr and Mort began to explain what happened with the convoy after Lorist had left.

"What? The convoy now has more than 4000 carriages and 50000 people? And the escort force has grown to 15000-strong?" Lorist was so surprised that he almost jumped in shock. No wonder the convoy was able to take out more than 30000 soldiers of the noble alliance and even received a request from the Second Highness to help him root out the rebellious nobles of the kingdom.

Lorist now understood why Charade was so confident in accepting the request of the Second Highness. The convoy's strength had actually grown so much that they could play a pivotal role in deciding the future of a whole kingdom. It seemed that Lorist did not have to worry about the safety of the convoy. Given that it had already been more than 2 months since the letter was written, the convoy had probably completed the assignment given to them by the Second Highness.

At that moment, Josk and Waxima reported their arrival before they entered the room.

Lorist pointed to the dominion of Baron Farad on the beastskin map and had Ruhr and Mort tell the knights about their experiences, causing both of them to fume with rage.

"This noble is truly shameless..." Waxima said.

"Milord, we must give Baron Farad the retribution he deserves. Nobody should ever be allowed to treat our messengers like that," Josk proclaimed.

"Heed my orders. Bring the mounted archers squad and a cavalrymen company to that dominion and hang this Baron Farad at the entrance of his bastide. Burn his castle down and make a huge wooden plaque to explain why we did all that. Perhaps the new nobles would stand to learn something about the traditions and customs of the Northlands as well as the regulations between nobles from the baron's mistake," Lorist instructed.

"Your will is our command, milord. We will exercise it with utmost precision," said Josk and Waxima in unison as they saluted.

"Don't leave just yet. This time, you will have to make your passage through the dominion of Count Spenseid. I will write him a letter so he doesn't misunderstand the reason our forces are approaching his dominion. Also, Ruhr and Mort said that there was a group of messengers before them that never managed to arrive here. Make sure to ask around to see if you can also get some information about them..."

"Understood, milord," Josk and Waxima replied.

Ruhr and Mort then stood up.

Mort said, "Milord, please allow us to accompany them. We want to bring the bodies of our comrades home."

"You've just arrived after a long journey. Are you sure you can handle it?" Lorist couldn't force them to stay either as their reason was extremely compelling.

"We can handle it, milord," Ruhr said.

"How about this... Rest for a day and depart tomorrow. I will also check Mort's health for a bit and if you're fine, I'll allow the two of you to go together and even let you be the ones to personally hang Baron Farad. I'm sure you'd be happy to do that. Shadekampf. bring 20 guards with you and tag along to help them find the bodies of their heroic comrades. We will have a funeral for them and bury them at the Martyrs' Graveyard at Firmrock Castle when their bodies are sent back," Lorist said.

"Yes, milord," replied Shadekampf.

The Martyrs' Graveyard was built on a hill opposite the Firmrock Castle's main building. All family soldiers and guards would be buried there when they pass on so that future generations can easily honor them and pay their respects there.

"Thank you, milord..." mumbled Ruhr and Mort emotionally.

Chapter 144 Hennard's Ransom Prev ChapterNext Chapter

By the time Josk and Waxima brought their men back, six days of the expedition had already passed.

Lorist was currently taking a walk on the walls with Baron Camorra who had hurriedly rushed over from far away. The reason for his visit was to negotiate the release and ransom of the captured Gold ranked knight Hennard and the other ten plus of Silver ranked knights.

"Camorra, is my hearing getting worse or did you mistakenly tell me a wrong number? I really can't fathom that a Gold ranked knight's ransom would only be 100 imperial gold coins. That's not a ransom, that's just humiliation to the Gold ranked knight in question as well as an insult to the Norton Family. There's no way I will accept the price offered by the duke."

Lorist was also quite shocked as he had even prepared to negotiate for a higher price. But never would he have thought that the duke would offer such a ridiculous figure. If word of that laughably low sum truly spread out, then Knight Hennard would have no other choice left to him but to commit suicide.

As an example, during the knighthood competition, defeated knights had to offer up their mounts, armor, and weapons to the victors or pay an equivalent ransom. Normally, those were worth somewhere from 30 to 40 gold Fordes which was equal to 100 to 150 imperial gold coins. However, the case with the duke's knights was that they were captured as enemies on the battlefield as opposed to being defeated in a friendly competition.

If a Silver ranked knight was taken captive on the battlefield, all the belongings he carried with him would belong to the victor by default and if he wanted to regain his freedom, he had to first buy his equipment, mount and attendants back. If the price of all that was 50 gold Fordes, it would be multiplied by 2 and the resulting 100 gold Fordes would be the ransom that had to be paid separately for the knight's freedom itself.

In conclusion, a Silver ranked knight would have to pay around 150 gold Fordes in total to regain his freedom, attendants, mounts and gear to be allowed to leave. The one who captured the knight might even host a banquet to get to know the knight better before sending him off.

Additionally, if a captured knight had a noble title, he would have to pay another ransom that is fitting of the status of the title as true nobles were worth far more than quasi-nobles like normal knights. This was an agreed upon convention on the battlefield and no noble would dare to violate it. But the main point was that it only applied to Silver ranked knights.

Few Gold ranked knights would actually end up being captured on the battlefield due to their far superior battle prowess. In terms of Battle Force, Gold ranked Battle Force would last longer on the battlefield and had superior attack, defense and endurance. It wasn't possible to subdue a Gold ranked knight unless a huge sacrifice of troops was made or the knight was caught off-guard by surprise.

The best method to deal with a Gold ranked knight was to use another Gold ranked knight. Battles between two Gold ranked knights would always become the focal point of the battlefield and unless one was far superior than another in terms of technique, the loser would usually end up dead with the victor heavily injured and not faring much better.

Then again, Gold ranked knights being held captive was not without precedent: the Forund Duchy's Gold ranked knight Bisya was a prime example of this as he had collapsed unconscious after sustaining injuries from fighting against the forces of the Redlis Kingdom and became the captive of the First Prince. Duke Forund had to offer 3000 gold Fordes as well as a precious treasure sword to be able to sway the First Prince to release the knight and that incident was frequently mentioned among the nobility for some time.

Duke Loggins's offer of 100 imperial gold coins only converted to roughly 30 plus gold Fordes and that made Lorist very troubled. Even though Hennard wasn't captured on the battlefield and was instead apprehended while he was drunk, it wasn't like Lorist asked for 1000 gold Fordes in exchange for his freedom. But at least 500 to 600 gold Fordes would be fair, right? After all, the ransom was in a sense the measure of worth of the Gold ranked knight.

This 'wonder' of a duke really has no brains... Offering a price like that is really just an act of digging his own grave. If word of this got out, who would still be willing to serve him? What the heck is going on? The more Lorist wondered, the more curious he got.

"Camorra, please don't joke around with me, alright? This is crucial to the pride and dignity of the knight and it isn't something that should be treated lightly. I don't believe that Duke Loggins is that uninformed to be able to make that laughable offer..." Lorist told Baron Camorra solemnly.

Apart from showing a bitter smile, there was nothing Baron Camorra could say in response.

Ten days prior, Viscount Kenmays made a visit to the mansion of the duke at Gildusk City. He brought with him the corpse of Knight Chevany as well as news of Knight Hennard's and the other Silver ranked knights' capture and the loss of contact of the duke's 4000-strong army, which shocked the entirety of the citizens of the duke's dominion, causing the word to spread all over the Northlands. In a fit of rage, Duke Loggins once again smashed up his just-cleaned-up study and shouted maniacally that he wanted retribution and cursed loudly at the Norton Family. He even swore to kill off everyone who was related to the Norton Family.

Baron Camorra and another Gold ranked knight, the vice leader of the Northland Army, Bitson, expended great effort to calm the duke's rage and got him to start plotting another expedition against the Nortons.

By the time the duke calmed down and started to plan, all three of them were dumbstruck as they found that they no longer had enough soldiers they could mobilize to mount an attack. It was quite shocking that the once 20000-strong Northland Army which had been reduced to only have 16700 plus people left could only mobilize 5000 plus men of two regiments. Given that the 4000-strong troops were already completely defeated, there was no way another 5000 could make that big of a difference, was there?

There were many reasons for the inability of the duke to deploy more troops. The main one was that the Northland Army could be considered to be a relatively small army in that there were only 21000 members that were split into 2 divisions. Additionally, the Northland Army wasn't optimized for full scale open field battles and was instead modeled after a defense army. The southern part of Duke Loggins's duchy had a capital city, a citadel, three bastides and seven towns as well as the entry at the suspension bridge. These places had to be defended to ensure the security of the duchy, especially the capital city, the Hendliff Suspension Bridge as well as Fresde Citadel near the bridge. Those three locations were crucial points of defense against the forces of the Second Prince and every one of them only had a regiment of troops which was just enough to keep those places secure.

The other factor was due to the duke wanting to save his military costs. After the formation of the Northland Army, he had disbanded the various garrison forces all over his dominion because he felt that the Northland Army was more than enough to keep the dominion in check and could be used to fill the place of the garrison forces of the towns and bastides, thus saving him more money. Additionally, he believed that no dominion lord in the Northlands that caused him trouble would ever require him to mobilize the entire army. Usually, he only needed to send 2000 soldiers to take care of such minor insurrections.

Now that over 4000 of his soldiers were wiped out, it was like he had gotten a waking slap straight to his face as he realized that he didn't have any means to retaliate against the Norton Family. The other problem was that of the five Gold ranked knights that served the duke, Knight Tabik had been injured by Lorist and needed over one year of rest to recover, the most accomplished Knight Chevany had died on the battlefield, Knight Hennard had been taken captive and only two Gold ranked knights remained. Knight Aordem was tasked with defending the Hendliff Suspension Bridge and the Fresde Citadel. The vice commander of the Northland army, Bitson, was busy defending the capital of the dominion. Even if the duke deployed his troops, there was nobody suitable to lead them.

As he pinched his nose to stop the blood from flowing out, the duke instructed Baron Camorra to negotiate for the release of Knight Hennard and painfully took out 400 gold Fordes for the ransom. As for the Silver ranked knights and the captured soldiers of the Northland Army, he felt that they could wait until his troops defeat the Nortons and free them later.

Knight Bitson however felt that 400 gold Fordes was far too less and the Nortons definitely wouldn't release Hennard for that kind of sum and requested the duke to raise the ransom so that they may get Hennard back as soon as possible and have him report what he had witnessed from the battles within the Norton Family's dominion so that they may be able to better prepare themselves.

But the duke insisted that 400 gold Fordes was already the most he was willing to pay. As the three of them continued to discuss the matter, the butler of the mansion reported that one of the attendants of Knight Chevany had returned with a report about the happenings throughout the expedition.

The attendant of Knight Chevany looked really haggard. He explained that he had experienced much trouble while crossing the Morgan Hills with his comrade due to having met a magical beast, a Blackback Iron-toothed Leopard, during their travels. His comrade had sacrificed himself to kill the beast while he managed to escape the mountain range after many other life-threatening encounters and made it back to Gildusk City in one piece. Even though he was injured and worn out, he still fulfilled the task given to him by his master out of loyalty and made his way to the duke's mansion immediately to pass the silver tube which contained the letter to the duke immediately.

Duke Loggins took out a stack of rolled up beastskin documents from the tube and started reading. Knight Bitson and Baron Camorra were both rather interested with the contents of the letter, but since it was in the duke's hands, they had no choice but to wait patiently. As for the attendant who delivered it, he was sobbing in a corner after hearing about his master's death.

The things that happened next would forever be ingrained within the psyche of Baron Camorra: he saw the duke's face redden with rage as both his eyes seemed to be about to fall out of their sockets with steam seemingly gushing out of his nostrils. All of a sudden, the duke totally lost it and started rampaging about. This wasn't like his usual fits. This time, he was stomping all over and hurling anything he could get his hands on including the tables within the meeting room as he cursed at both Knight Chevany and Knight Hennard. "Those two bastards! I want to kill them so badly! I want to tear their corpses into a thousand pieces! How did the two of them manage to lose all that gold?! My 300000 gold Fordes! My gold coins! Chevany, it's all their fault! Why didn't they send my gold coins back first?! Hennard! Why did he fuck up his job in protecting the gold?! My money! My money..."

Baron Camorra was completely dumbstruck. Seeing the beastskin documents fall to the ground, he picked them up and hid at a corner where he would be safe from the airborne objects hurled by the duke and started reading. Knight Bitson also joined him to take a look.

They quickly came to understand why their lord reacted the way he did. It's all your fault, Chevany! If you had merely reported the decimation of the army, then that would be the end of that. Why did you have to tell the duke about the massacre of the Wildnorth Town citizens and the amount of wealth they had there? You even specified that it amounted to roughly 300000 gold Fordes! For that kind of wealth to have fallen into the duke's hands only to be taken away again... How else would he react but freak out completely?!

Perhaps because he was not able to resist hearing his master being berated by the duke so senselessly, the attendant spoke out and said, "Lord Duke, Knight Chevany has already sacrificed himself heroically on the battlefield..."

The duke whose bloodshot eyes had been completely clouded by the wealth that had escaped his grasps turned to look at the attendant as he started rambling unintelligibly, causing everyone within the room to feel a chill down their spine.

"Died on the battlefield? He thinks that his mistakes will all be rectified with his death? Even if he's dead, I won't spare him! He lost all my money, my 300000 gold Fordes! He has erred greatly! He must pay for his mistakes! Men... Men!" roared the duke loudly as his voice echoed throughout the halls of his mansion.

"Destroy Chevany's family completely right now! Confiscate all their goods, exile his family members and feed his corpse to wild dogs! He actually dared to lose my 300000 gold Fordes!"

"Milord, you can't do that..." Knight Bitson and Baron Camorra said in shock and unison as they hurriedly attempted to stop the duke's order.

"I can't? Why not? It's Chevany's fault. Why didn't he transport the gold back first and insisted on attacking the Norton Family's castle? Why did he bring the 300 longbowmen with him away from Wildnorth Town and caused the town's defenses to weaken, thus allowing for the ambush to succeed and causing my gold to fall into the hands of the enemy?! Why did he give up after only one failed attack at Wildnorth Town after it was captured and and retreated even though he had 1700 soldiers under him? He actually sat on his arse and witnessed the gold being taken away by the enemy! How could he have done that? Tell me, if he wasn't at fault, then who is?" shouted the duke back to the two of his subordinates, causing the both of them to be completely speechless.

"And you..." said the duke as he turned his attention back to the poor attendant. "You are a shameful deserter and a coward just like your master. You have betrayed my trust and lost my gold... My men... Hang him right away! Hang him this instant!"

The attendant who had labored tirelessly to complete his mission was completely shocked by the loss of the duke's temper and didn't even make a sound as he was dragged outside. Baron Camorra could only feel his heart shudder as his whole body shivered from the sheer terror. He suddenly realized that the duke before his eyes now looked more foreign than ever.

When a guard entered the mansion again to report that the attendant had been hanged at the flagpole outside the mansion, the duke started to calm down.

"Camorra, go to the Norton dominion tomorrow and tell them that I intend to pay the price for Hennard's and the Silver ranked knights' ransom. Remember, Hennard's ransom will be only 100 imperial gold coins and the Silver ranked knights' would be 10 imperial gold coins each..." said the duke while his eyes remained bloodshot with rage.

Baron Camorra's expression changed as he said, "Mi-milord... That's still far from enough..."

Duke Loggins said in an eerily calm voice that caused Knight Bitson and Baron Camorra to shiver in fear, "Tell the Norton Family that I won't be spending a single copper coin more for those sinners' release. The reason I want to pay their ransom is not because I want to help them regain their freedom but rather because I want them back here so I can punish them thoroughly. They shouldn't have lost my gold coins..."

After that, Baron Camorra stepped out of the duke's mansion in a daze and saw the corpse of the attendant that was still hung up high. As he turned back and exchanged his gaze with Knight Bitson, the two of them stood there without uttering a single word.

Finally, Knight Bitson broke the silence and whispered ever so quietly, "The Lord Duke has truly gone insane this time... You better look out for yourself... And you might want to tell Hennard that staying as a captive of the Norton Family is far better than coming back here..."