Confrontation with Princess Sylvia
The first bonus chapter of the week is finally out as well! Thanks to Di Lac N. from the USA and Lyndon S. from the Phillipines for your contribution! There will be another release ten minutes later as I'm at the final stages of editing it right now. In the meantime, enjoy this chapter and make sure to vote on the chapter release method! The link is below.
http://www.strawpoll.me/13146717
Even Lorist couldn't have predicted that things would turn out this way. Just that morning, he received a report that Knight Hennard had occupied Gildusk City with his troops, and just now during the night, he got wind that Knight Hennard had become a prisoner. That was too drastic a development! And so, Lorist had no choice but to head straight for Gildusk City.
By the time he arrived there, it was already the evening of the next day. Baron Felim who had his troops encircle the duke's manor came forward to receive Lorist and Count Kenmays had one of Knight Hennard's subordinates explain the details of the situation.
It all began because of Gold ranked Knight Tabik's rude mouth. As he had received orders to take control of the duke's manor, when he met with Princess Sylvia, perhaps because he believed that the Second Prince had completely lost and the princess no longer had anyone to rely on, he began to flirt with her. That caused the princess's rage to well up before she challenged the knight to a fight immediately. In an unexpected twist, the princess actually knew how to use Battle Force and was a Gold rank at that. It must be known that Princess Sylvia was only 20 years old that year, and 20-year-olds who had trained up to Gold ranked Battle Force were few and far between. It was something that usually wouldn't be possible even with exceeding talent.
The poor Knight Tabik never would have dreamed that the stunning beauty that was the princess was actually akin to a female dragon in strength, causing him to be caught completely off-guard. Not only was he captured by her, he was pummeled thoroughly first in front of everyone present.
When Hennard heard about it, he instantly rushed over to negotiate with Princess Sylvia for Knight Tabik's release and apologized on his behalf. He also promised that he definitely would not touch the princess's residence and would allow her to roam freely as she wills within the Northlands.
Initially, the talks went well. However, the princess suddenly drew her sword and pointed it at Hennard and said that she would only release Tabik if Hennard defeated her in a duel. Having no other choice, Hennard accepted the duel reluctantly.
As Hennard was an experienced knight that had partaken in many battles with Two Star Gold Battle Force, his techniques were naturally superior to that of the princess, allowing him to gain the upper hand right away. Even though he was fighting at a disadvantage because he was afraid to accidentally wound the princess, he believed that she would eventually give up, so Hennard's family knights merely watched the duel calmly.
But, when Hennard decided that he wanted to knock the princess's sword away with one blow to force her to surrender, his foot suddenly slipped. Not only did his strike miss, he even exposed his chest completely, causing Princess Sylvia to be able to have the chance to put her sword up to his neck.
Seeing that, the other Silver ranked knights immediately drew their swords and rushed forward, only to see Knight Hennard toss his sword away and shout at them to look for Baron Felim and Lorist to come over to solve the problem before being guided into the duke's manor with Princess Sylvia.
When Baron Felim first heard about it, he was greatly shocked and instantly sent his troops to surround the manor and demanded the princess to release the two hostages. However, the princess said that she would only comply if she was defeated in a duel and said that if the baron dared to send his troops into the manor, she would kill off the two knights immediately.
The reason Baron Felim didn't want to confront the princess himself was because he felt that he wouldn't be able to take her on. He was also warned to refrain from doing so by Knight Hennard's subordinates because if he was captured as well, there would no longer be anyone there to take charge of the situation. Additionally, Knight Hennard's loss was a little weird as making a simple mistake like that was unlike the performance of a Gold ranked knight.
"And that's how we arrived at a stalemate here. Princess Sylvia has sent someone to request for some fresh fruits and vegetables and we've satisfied that demand of hers," said Baron Felim as he laughed bitterly.
After patting his attire, Lorist turned to leave and said, "I will head to the duke's manor to take a look."
At that moment, Baron Felim and Count Kenmays hurriedly stopped him and said, "Lord Norton, Locke, don't be hasty. We must discuss this in detail..."
With a mere turn of his body, Lorist evaded Baron Felim's outstretched arm and said, "Don't worry. Princess Sylvia is a Gold ranked swordswoman and she wouldn't go out of her way to cause trouble for an Iron rank like me..."
On the other hand, Count Kenmays was being restrained by Reidy.
The count shouted angrily, "Are you going to just watch as your lord walks to his death?"
Reidy snickered and said, "Don't worry, Lord Count. My lord has yet to lose a single battle so far. And, Gold ranked Knight Chevany had died because he was defeated in a duel with my lord..."
"Is that true?" Count Kenmays said, shocked. Baron Felim who was beside them also had his interest piqued. Both of them knew that Knight Chevany and Knight Hennard were the ones who were ordered by Duke Loggins to lead the 4000 Northland Army soldiers to invade the Norton Family dominion. In the end, their army was utterly defeated with Knight Chevany dead on the battlefield and Knight Hennard captured. Apart from that, no other detail was made known to anyone else.
Reidy pointed to the guards beside them and said, "It's true. Just look at our guards who are not even nervous in the slightest. That shows the confidence they have in our lord. Before this, our lord led the soldiers himself in every single battle we fought and usually charged at the very front. We're already used to seeing him slaughtering the helpless enemies while not even getting injured himself. That's how we managed to capture Knight Hennard in the first place and that's also why he's thoroughly convinced of his loss."
In a few moments, Lorist arrived at the entrance of the manor and he lightly pushed open the main gate.
Beyond that door was a small courtyard where the guards of the manor trained and changed shifts.
Standing at the gates, Lorist took a deep breath and announced his presence. "I, Count Norton Lorist of the Norton Family, have come to pay Princess Sylvia a visit! Please grace me with your presence!"
Even though Lorist wasn't shouting, his voice was clear as thunder and echoed throughout the skies of the manor.
All of a sudden, a commotion seemed to have occurred within the manor before a large group of guards scrambled out of it to face Lorist as if they were going to fight a formidable enemy.
Not long after, a loud call could be heard. "Princess Sylvia of the Iblia Kingdom has arrived..."
This was Lorist's first encounter with the princess and he finally understood Count Kenmays's obsession with her looks. She did in fact possess beauty that rivaled that of a goddess. Despite the fact that Lorist had lived two lives and met his fair share of beauties, he was still quite impressed when he saw the princess. Only one word popped up within his mind at that moment: fairy.
She did indeed look as beautiful and elegant as the fairies depicted in ancient folklore. Lorist sighed in marvel slightly and calmed his mind to stop focusing his attention on her stunning looks.
Princess Sylvia was also checking Lorist out herself. Ever since she arrived at the Northlands, she was curious about this dominion lord who had yet to show himself publicly and her first impression of Lorist was that he looked really common. He didn't wear the shiny Sid Steel armor that his family soldiers wore and was only dressed in a common grey-colored linen short coat on the outside with a black shirt underneath. He wore a pair of long black pants and a pair of black leather boots. He also donned a layer of silver wire mesh armor on his upper body.
At a height of 1.8 or so meters, Lorist was considered of slightly above average height among the people of the Grindia Continent and his looks didn't stand out at all. He didn't look particularly handsome nor was he any ugly, just normal. Princess Sylvia who has definitely seen her fair share of handsome men would definitely not even be able to recall how Lorist looked like had she met him on the street. He practically looked like a forgettable extra in a movie scene.
However, what made Princess Sylvia feel that Lorist was more than meets the eye were his rich, black eyes that were filled with spirit which inspected herself with perfect clarity, radiating a sense of calm and security, much unlike the glazed stares of other nobles which seemed respectful on the surface but actually gave off a lewd vibe. Lorist's long, black hair was tied up in a ponytail at the back of his head, and his brows seemed to give off a sense of confidence, giving him a unique aura that made others feel that he would never cave from any challenge, which was quite unusual among nobles.
Lorist lowered his head and bowed down slightly with his right hand clutching his chest to make a salute among nobles of equal standing and said, "Your Highness, revered Princess Sylvia, the current head of the Norton Family, Norton Lorist, pays his respects."
"As a noble of the Iblia Kingdom, how dare you not submit yourself to the princess? Are you refusing to acknowledge her superiority?" Before Princess Sylvia even said anything, one of the guards harshly reprimanded Lorist.
"May I inquire since when has the Norton Family been a noble family of the Iblia Kingdom? Why don't we know about it? If the Norton Family did in fact pledge allegiance to the Iblia Royal Family, then please show me the document of proof! Otherwise, shut your pathetic mouth!" Even though Lorist still remained smiling, the rage in his eyes forced the guard to take two steps back without being able to make a retort.
Princess Sylvia stepped forward in front of the guard with a cold expression and said in a cold tone, "Does that mean that Baron Norton does not acknowledge that he is a noble of the Iblia Kingdom?"
"Naturally. Your Highness, everyone knows that the Norton Family of the Northlands only promised the Krissen Royal Family to defend the empire's borders and we have carried out our duty for the past 300 years without rest. After countless generations of effort, we brought peace to the Northlands. However, the empire fell into chaos with the three kings fighting for power, breaking what we used to know as a strong, formidable empire into shambles. Despite that, the Norton Family continues to carry out our mission to protect the borders of the empire and refused to participate in the chaotic internal affairs of the empire. Let me ask you then, Your Highness, whether the behavior of the Norton Family qualifies and unswerving loyalty?"
"Are you sure? Don't forget that your family pillaged the duke's dominion like bandits a few years back. Even though the empire has fallen, does that allow you to act wantonly like that?" Princess Sylvia retorted coldly with a smile.
"Your Highness, even though the empire is gone, the Norton Family is still fulfilling its mission and is upholding the burden by defending the rest of the lands from the magical beast wave. As for the unfortunate incident that occurred a few years back, it was sorely due to Duke Loggins's reckless greed that prompted him to stretch his claws maliciously towards the Norton Family. What we did was merely self defense. As for the citizens of the duke's dominion, they have followed us back to our own dominion on their own accord to flee from the flames of war ad begin their peaceful lives anew. Your Highness, think about it, has the Norton Family occupied any inch of land that rightfully belongs to others? No. We have only stayed within our dominion and continued on with our lives. Even so, there were some that didn't want to let us rest in peace, forcing us to retaliate in kind," Lorist argued.
Princess Sylvia's fair, white cheeks reddened as her anger welled. "You truly have a cunning mouth, Baron Norton. Did you rely on that mouth of yours to fight against the magical beasts, I wonder?"
Even though her insult was harsh, Princess Sylvia had already been embarrassed to the point of rage and could no longer care less.
Lorist merely smiled calmly and said, "Don't forget, Your Highness, that I have already satisfied your request for some corpses of the magical beasts. You should know how much our heroic warriors have suffered after seeing the corpses yourself. Need I remind you that the Norton Family currently holds the rank of a count as well? Because of the efforts of our generations of ancestors in protecting the borders, the Andinaq Royal Family, true heir to the blood of the Krissen Imperial Family, has entitled us with the rank of a count, and we have accepted it as we believe our efforts merit the promotion."
Even though Princess Sylvia didn't have anything to say about the first part of Lorist's statement, when she heard the rest, she snorted and said, "I see that your family has colluded with the Andinaq Royal Family... No wonder you dare to be so defiant to the King of the Iblia Kingdom and has refused his demands multiple times..."
Lorist burst out in laughter before he took out a piece of paper from his breast pocket and said, "Your Highness, perhaps you should hear for yourself the three demands your king issued to my family."
So Lorist recited the demands word by word out loud, and with each sentence, the face of the princess paled. She understood that no noble would ever agree to demands as preposterous as those. Those demands in essence wanted the Norton Family to jump blindly into an endless abyss! This time around, the princess truly felt utterly humiliated.
"No, I don't want to hear it anymore! I don't wanna..." muttered the princess as she stomped her feet on the ground repeatedly, throwing a massive fit.
"I've finished reciting them, Your Highness. Let's put aside the grudge between the Second Prince and I, since the 100000 soldiers he brought to attack us has already been wiped out and his whereabouts are currently unknown. The reason I'm here is to discuss with you about the release of Knight Tabik and Baron Shazin, both of whom you have imprisoned. On what conditions will you grant them their freedom? You should know better that there is much to attend to after a huge battle and that there are many responsibilities waiting for them to fulfil," Lorist said.
Now that they have returned to the topic at hand, the princess regained her calm and said, "It's simple. As long as you can defeat me, I will let them go."
After taking a closer look at Lorist, Princess Sylvia clicked her tongue and said, "Count Norton, you shouldn't have any business here since you're an Iron rank. Have a Gold ranked knight of your family fight in your stead."
Lorist merely laughed out loud and drew his sword. "I might as well give it a try..."
"How dare you?!" shouted the guard who stood by the side of the princess as he charged over with his longsword that emitted a silver blade glow.
Thud! A moment later, that Silver ranked guard fell flat on his face right at Lorist's feet.
Swoosh! Two other Silver ranked guards rushed forward with their swords as well, only to suffer the same fate as their comrade.
By the time there were tens of guards by Lorist's feet, he got annoyed and said, "Your Highness, how many more guards do you have? You might as well have all of them come at me so that I can save more time..."
With a serious expression, Princess Sylvia drew her sword and waved it at the guards who wanted to rush forward and said, "You're not his match. Let me..."
"Neither are you, Your Highness Princess Sylvia. Have that person hiding behind you step out. Don't think that I didn't notice it just because that person is hiding beneath the shade of the tree," Lorist snapped candidly before turning to look at a huge tree near the walls of the courtyard.
"I've never seen a sword style such as yours and I don't know how you managed to discover me. I can only say that your style must be of a very peculiar origin," said a woman with a hoarse voice as she stepped forward from the tree, dressed in a loose, black robe.
It was the first time Lorist revealed a nervous look. His dynamic vision was actually unable to pinpoint the location of the person, who seemed to be standing beneath the tree. He just couldn't sense the human presence from under that robe.
Lorist licked his lips and said, "I believe you're Her Highness's adoptive mother, Blademaster Xanthi. No wonder Knight Hennard had lost during his fight with her. I see that you have been giving her a hand. I knew that something felt weird... The princess is definitely talented, no doubt, but given her young age and her One Star Gold Battle Force, how could she have defeated a Gold ranked knight who had experienced multitudes of battles?"
"You dare to look down on me? En garde!" shouted the princess in rage as she launched herself towards Lorist with her sword drawn, emanating a golden blade glow.
"Stop!" shouted the woman wearing the black robe. It was unclear whether she was asking the princess to stop or for Lorist to not resist and allow the princess to expel her rage by striking him.
Naturally, Lorist did not pay that voice any heed. Bending his body backwards, the princess's sword pierced only thin air. And as if he was a spring, Lorist bounced back up and approached the princess quickly.
The princess was shocked as she previous thought that Lorist would dodge or parry her strike. But she didn't expect that he would remain at the same spot despite dodging and even spring back up to get so close to her. The poor princess had never had another man so close to her face within her personal space and instantly lost her cool and panicked with the only thought in her mind being to stretch out her hands to push Lorist away.
Lorist's body swerved once more and now, he appeared behind the princess and caught the sword-hand of the princess with his own. His other hand reached for his own sword and pressed it against the fair face of the princess, causing her to stand completely still upon feeling the cold flat of the blade against her face.
A glint from a sword suddenly manifested mid-air and headed straight for the princess's pale face...
Victor of the Duel
As always, don't forget to vote on the poll here. I'll be finalizing the results in a few more days.
http://www.strawpoll.me/13146717
And here's the second bonus chapter of the week, also thanks to Di Lac N. from the USA. Happy reading!
But the glint dissipated as the black-robed shadow landed lightly on the ground 5 meters away from Lorist and Sylvia.
"Release Sylvia right this instant!" said the robed woman in her enraged, hoarse voice.
Lorist seemed serious, but unhurried, as he smiled and said, "I believe you'll be willing to release Knight Tabik and Knight Hennard now, right?"
The black-robed woman didn't hesitate as she turned to the stunned guards nearby and instructed, "You guys, bring those two Gold ranked knights over here and tell them that they're free to go."
"Yes, revered master," said the guards as they stared at Lorist who was holding the princess hostage before entering the manor hesitantly.
Lorist kept his sword and took a few steps back, releasing Princess Sylvia in the process.
Now that she was free, Sylvia wasn't flustered at all and instead turned to look curiously at Lorist.
The moment the black-robed woman saw that Lorist had released Sylvia, she immediately leaped to her side and as she did so, Lorist stepped back another four meters to ensure that there was at least 7 meters of distance between them.
"You truly have keen senses. However, aren't you afraid that I will turn back on my word now that you've released the princess?" asked the robed woman with a haughty tone.
Lorist shrugged casually and said, "I didn't have a choice. Senior, you are a Blademaster and the pressure you're applying on me is too much. Only by maintaining our distance can I be confident that I will be able to receive your blows. And if a Blademaster like you can't keep a promise, I can only blame my bad luck."
"Good..." The black-robed woman hugged Princess Sylvia in her bosom and said, "I will release the two Gold ranked knights. However, you will have to stay."
"No problem," Lorist replied. "I'm of the intention of sparring with you as well, senior..."
At that moment, Princess Sylvia regained clarity of mind and plucked her face from the robed woman chest and asked, "Um, Count Norton... What's your name?"
Even though there was a slight breach of etiquette on the princess's part, Lorist nevertheless responded. "Norton Lorist. Your Highness, my name is Norton Lorist."
The princess nodded and said, "Regardless of our status as nobles, as a swordswoman, I will definitely defeat you to wash myself of the humiliation I received."
Lorist broke out in laughter uncontrollably at the princess's childish temper that caused her to behave like a sore loser.
"Your Highness, you're a Gold ranked swordswoman. Do you really have to stoop that low for an Iron rank like myself?" Lorist asked.
"I don't believe that you're only Iron rank. You must be hiding your true abilities," Princess Sylvia retorted.
"You should note that I only used my skills without circulating the slightest ounce of Battle Force when I defeated your guards and caught you just now," Lorist said.
After hearing that, the princess gave it some thought and was shocked to realize that what Lorist said was completely true.
"Hehe..." snickered the black-robed woman. "Sylvia, he's merely misguiding you. While he did in fact not use any Battle Force, he's using some kind of energy that we are completely unfamiliar with. Even though this kind of energy is less noticeable than Battle Force, it is actually more explosive than it. As it is stored within the internals of his body, he can react and move much faster and more agilely than normal people. I bet it's also because of the mysterious energy that he's able to detect my hidden presence. You are definitely not his match right now. I will be testing his true strength shortly."
Lorist started letting out some cold sweat in awe of the Blademaster that had so quickly discerned the anomalies during his quick fight with the princess to the point that she was able to feel the internal energy flowing within his body. The acuity of her senses was far too frightening.
At that moment, Knight Hennard and Knight Tabik walked out of the manor and let out a look of joy the moment they set eyes on Lorist. However, they quickly discovered the black-robed woman and Princess Sylvia, causing their expressions to return to their former seriousness.
"Are you confident?" Knight Hennard asked.
"It's hard to say, I think I stand a 50 percent chance. You guys should leave first so that I will have one less thing to worry about and can fight more freely," Lorist said in a low voice.
"Do you need us to apply some pressure?"
"No need, just leave. Women are fickle and they change their minds for reasons men like us can never fathom. If you leave, even if I lose, you'll still be able to escape. But if you stay and I lose, this trip I made will have been in vain," Lorist whispered quickly.
"Alright, then we'll head out first. Be careful," Knight Hennard said with a nod and left with Knight Tabik without any hesitation.
"Hehe... You said that women are fickle?? I see that you have quite a peculiar view on us women. Since you said that, Lord Count, I suddenly feel like going back on my word. Since you're so confident, I'll chase them down once I apprehend you first..."
Even though Lorist said that in a very low volume, it was still audible to the black-robed woman.
As he concentrated all his attention, Lorist smiled and said, "Your reaction to that only serves to prove my point."
"Ugh..." The black-robed woman groaned, speechless at Lorist's statement. "Sylvia, stand back. Look closely at how I teach this bastard a lesson!" roared the woman in her hoarse voice.
"Okay. Godmother, please be careful..." Princess Sylvia said before she stepped to the side obediently.
All of a sudden, biting, cold flashes of the blade filled the area around them and the darkening sky seemed as though it had been sliced clean apart by a blade of light. Lorist was slightly stunned as he thought, so this is what happens when a Blademaster goes all out? It does cause me to feel a kind of despair and hopelessness of not being able to escape...
Biting his tongue and using the pain to snap himself out of his daze from gazing at the beautiful arcs traced by the Blademaster mid-air only to be faced with the countless blade strikes coming his way, Lorist said, "Here I go..."
Not only did he not retreat backwards, Lorist stepped forward into the storm of slashes, becoming one with his sword as he charged straight for the eye of the storm.
Clangclangclangclang!
Loud clashes of swords could be heard nonstop. Sparks could be seen where Lorist's sword parried the slashes as his body occasionally shifted in and out of focus, leaving behind an afterimage or two. The Blademaster's posture was graceful as ever as she landed lightly on the ground while Lorist took a few steps back as he hurriedly parried another four blade attacks coming his way before regaining his stability.
"No wonder you're so arrogant. With swordsmanship like that, it's easy to see where your confidence came from," said the Blademaster calmly with not one trace of anger from before.
"You're quite formidable as well. I've finally experienced a Blademaster's strength for myself," Lorist said with a forehead full of sweat with a few sword cuts on his coat. Even though his body wasn't harmed in the slightest, the mere sight of the cuts on his clothes showed how dangerous that exchange had been. However, Lorist still wore a relaxed expression as he understood that while it would be difficult for him to defeat the Blademaster, escaping wouldn't be a problem at all.
Even though Lorist and his subordinates had killed two Blademasters before, it was the first time Lorist faced off against one in a melee. The case with Blademaster Louinse was merely a result of bad luck on the Blademaster's part. The other time was when Lorist first led the northbound convoy towards the Northlands and encountered the Sloph Slave Traders at the Lormo Duchy who were backed by a Blademaster. In the end, the Blademaster was wiped out during the conflict with the convoy along with the organization he tried to protect.
The moment that Blademaster whose name Lorist had already forgotten got off the ship, he was killed from the combined fire of the 400 plus crossbowmen and Lorist's 72 internal energy-infused javelins and didn't even get an opportunity to show off his sword skills.
Lorist has always kept the words of Blademaster Claude of the Dawn Academy close to his heart. 'A Blademaster's area of influence in which he can observe with perfect clarity was spread out like a plate. As long as one was within that area, the Blademaster would hold an advantage of over ten times. Fighting against a Blademaster was like placing a cup onto a plate. The cup will always be within the area of influence of the plate and be put under pressure. That's why the optimal way to defeat a Blademaster was to stay out of the plate and defeat him with ranged attacks.
And that was exactly what Lorist had done in the past. However, after experiencing a head-on fight with a Blademaster in close combat, Lorist truly understood the degree of their abilities. When compared to a Gold ranked swordsman, a Blademaster was completely in a different league. When Lorist fought against Gold ranked swordsmen, Lorist was able to gain the upper hand early in the duel and obtain victory quite easily. But when he fought Blademaster Xanthi just now, he was constantly at a disadvantage and preoccupied with defending like a turtle trying to withdraw into its shell.
Perhaps due to Blademaster Xanthi's gender and physique, she trained in a swordsmanship style that was quick and swift. Her sword strikes were fast as lightning and the constant streams of strikes gave off a feeling of invincibility. However, in terms of pure strength, Lorist felt that her strikes were on par with most Gold ranked knights. That's why they didn't pose any real threat to Lorist.
Despite that, Xanthi's strikes were truly too fast. If Lorist didn't have the aid of his natural gift of dynamic vision, he definitely wouldn't have been able to resist the torrent of blade glows like he did just now. The 'sense' of the Blademaster within her area of influence was nothing to scoff at and she reacted by changing the trajectory of her strike the moment the previous strike was parried to have it come from an unpredictable angle, forcing Lorist to fight defensively without being able to launch a counterattack.
If the Blademaster didn't knock herself and Lorist apart after her first torrent of attacks, Lorist probably would've been unable to continue resisting. As he was already sweating all over, he believed that the Blademaster was probably having a hard time as well, but he couldn't be sure as she was wearing a black robe that obscured her face.
Lorist subsequently widened his legs and got into a horse stance that seemed as stable as a mountain. With a serious gaze, he stared at the Blademaster and said, "Senior, if you may..."
"Heeaaargh! En garde!" shouted the Blademaster as she leaped forward. This time around, she used a different attack pattern and moved like a black butterfly, circling Lorist gracefully nonstop as she snuck in one swift strike after another.
On the other end, Lorist held his treasured sword with both hands tightly and blocked the incoming strikes in a seemingly slow fashion with the least possible movement. He was defending with all his might without the slightest intention to attack.
Clangclangclangclang!
Loud clangs rang out once again as the swords clashed, but it was unlike the clear, crisp sounds from before and instead carried with them a low hum.
This torrent of strikes lasted shorter than the previous one as Blademaster Xanthi somersaulted backwards in the air. But when she landed, she seemed to stagger as if she didn't find a good footing.
"Gah, you..." mused the Blademaster in rage.
"Senior, if I don't return your strikes, it would be disrespectful of me! Here I come!" Lorist roared before he smiled and shifted his feet. His figure was approaching Blademaster Xanthi at breakneck speed with his sword slashing diagonally downwards.
At that moment, Lorist seemed to have transformed into a fierce general on the battlefield, cutting down two sword strikes at once with the sword not diverting from the original trajectory in the slightest. On the contrary, the Blademaster's wrist shivered as the stream of internal energy passed from Lorist's sword to hers, causing her to be unable to continue holding onto it. The sword slipped out of her hand and landed on the ground with Lorist's sword pointed at her chest.
What followed was complete silence. Nobody expected Lorist to defeat a Blademaster at all. Even Xanthi herself was unwilling to accept the result and merely continued to stare at the sword pointed towards her while shivering in fear.
"Thank you for going easy on me, senior," Lorist said before he sheathed his sword and turned to leave.
"Wait... Can you tell me what that energy within your body is called?" said Xanthi with her hoarse voice.
Lorist stopped for a bit before he said, "To be honest with you, I am indeed not training in Battle Force. I call the energy I use 'internal energy'."
"Internal energy? Energy brought out from within the body? What a fitting name. This style sounds similar to the training method used by the ancient martial monks of legend..." mused the Blademaster who no longer cared about the fact that she had lost to Lorist.
"Milord, milord..."
It was then when Lorist realized the presence of Reidy, Els, Patt and Josk within the manor. They had been observing his fight with Xanthi the whole time with Josk having drawn his bow in full alert.
"Don't say anything. Let's leave first and chat later," Lorist instructed in a low voice.
All of them complied and left quickly with Els even going out of his way to close the gates of the manor.
After walking several meters away from the manor, Lorist's body slumped weakly right onto Els, much to the others' shock.
"Don't panic, I'm not injured. Just tired. I already don't have enough energy to walk, so carry me back. Reidy, prepare some hot water for me to bathe in. I should recover after taking a long rest, so don't worry," Lorist said with the last of his breath.
Josk said, "Follow milord's orders and bring him back first. Look..."
Everyone lowered their heads to look at the footsteps Lorist left on the ground which were wet from all his sweat...
As a result of having gone all out, the internal part of Lorist's dantian had been deprived completely of all energy. The match that lasted a whole hour was one of the riskiest fights that Lorist had ever been in. If he didn't decide to end the fight by expending all his internal energy during the second clash to shake up Blademaster Xanthi's Battle Force, causing her to drop her sword and be unable to parry the next strike, he might have lost the battle in the end.
The main factor Lorist was able to win was his explosive use of internal energy to suppress the Battle Force of his opponent. By the time the Blademaster dropped her sword, Lorist no longer had an iota of internal energy that he could circulate and use, hence his brief departure from the manor without much of a word. With him being exhausted as he was, he would have collapsed right there on the spot if he had stayed any longer. It was fortunate that Josk and the others were there for him to carry him back while he was immobilized.
Four Family Alliance
Here's the first regular chapter of the week, enjoy the read! Also, the poll concluded with 56% of you voting for the cliffhanger tag on cliff chapters instead of withholding them, so I will use that method in the future! Take note that chapters I consider cliffhanger are those directly connected within the same timeframe.
After stretching his body, Lorist no longer felt any desire to sleep. At that moment, he was filled with energy and he unconsciously recalled the scene when he fought against the Blademaster. Back then, it felt like the whole area was a completely separate space cut off from the outside with a wave of cold that swept away everything... Lorist couldn't help but feel the urge to spar against the Blademaster again.
However, he was surprised to find that he no longer felt the previous subconscious uneasiness and alertness when thinking of Blademaster Xanthi. Instead, he regarded her as a fighter on the same level as if that was the most natural feeling to him.
Now that he had slept for a long period of time, his body was well rested and completely rejuvenated.
Lorist got off his bed and assumed the horse stance to circulate the Crimsonblood Battle Force of his family before switching to the Aquametal Technique. With each cycle, internal energy was restored to his dantian and he only stopped when it was completely filled.
Even though Lorist had expended all his internal energy during his fight with the Blademaster, he realized that his internal energy capacity had increased despite being stagnated for quite some time. He now understood that only by using up all his internal energy would it benefit his training. As he thought that, Lorist continued to analyze the internal constitution of his body.
At that moment, sounds of familiar footsteps could be heard coming from outside the door. Lorist only just realized that the sky had already darkened.
Reidy pushed open the door and saw Lorist standing by his bed. Elated, he said, "Milord, you're finally awake?"
Lorist nodded and said, "Reidy, get me something to eat. I think I can swallow a whole cow right now."
"Milord, you've been asleep for two days and three nights! It's no wonder you're hungry! Wait for a bit, I'll go cook something up," Reidy said before he left hurriedly.
"Huh? Did I really sleep for that long?" Lorist mused in a shocked manner. However, Reidy had already left and he didn't get to ask for a more detailed explanation.
Fortunately, Patt, who had heard the commotion next door, came over and explained that Lorist was so deeply asleep that he couldn't be woken up no matter how loudly they called. He also said that Josk theorized that given the drawn-out breaths Lorist was taking in his sleep, he was fine and would wake up naturally when he was rested enough.
Reidy returned soon with a few pieces of white bread and a cup of macks. "Milord, fill your stomach up with these first. I've already woken the cooks and they'll be cooking up a feast for you."
"Did anything significant happen during the two days I was asleep?" Lorist asked as he bit into a juicy piece of roast chicken leg. That chicken was roasted early in the morning and it was already cold and hard. But Lorist couldn't care less as he was far too hungry.
"Yes. Yesterday, Princess Sylvia sent a messenger to inform us that she will be returning to the Wild Husbandry Province two days later and appointed milord to be her escort. Also, Count Kenmays and Baron Shazin have been arguing for the past two days about salt trading. Count Kenmays said that Baron Shazin didn't know how to do business at all and competed directly with his family's business while Baron Shazin said that the Kenmays Family were devious merchants that slipped sand into their salt so that they could sell less for the same price. The argument got real bad while Baron Felim merely watched without doing anything," Reidy reported.
"Those two fellows..." Lorist muttered. "When I finish eating, I'll go and settle this with them."
...
Baron Shazin Hennard had gotten on rather bad terms with Count Kenmays from the arguments during the past two days. Actually, he understood why Lorist had him, the count, and Baron Felim meet at Gildusk City. After chasing the Second Prince out of the Northlands, the four families will be the local hegemons. As long as they entered an alliance, there was no longer a need to worry about others taking advantage of them.
However, Knight Hennard didn't think that he would be reprimanded by Count Kenmays with the reason being how he resold the 500000 kilograms of salt Lorist sold to him for 10000 gold Fordes for only twice the price, earning himself 10000 gold Fordes in the process to relieve his military costs, much to his delight. But that act of his caused him to be berated by Count Kenmays who thought that the same amount of salt could be sold for 30000 gold Fordes as well as the fact that the sudden influx of salt in the market harmed the Kenmays's own salt business.
That being said, Hennard didn't give the count any face either. Even though they've met a few times at the noble meeting hosted by the Second Prince, they didn't socialize much. To Hennard, Count Kenmays was a useless heir to the family who only knew how to mess around with women, but he still tolerated his behavior on account of his relation to Lorist. After all, he knew that the Norton Family and the Kenmays Family were on good terms.
Even when Lorist arrived, those two argued nevertheless like two enraged cockerels, one of them berating the other as a brainless brute while the other laughed at the former as a babyface who only knew how to mess around with women.
Lorist looked at Baron Felim who was enjoying himself as the argument continued. It almost seemed like he would clap his hands in amusement. Lorist sighed as he had no choice but to sort out the trouble between his two allies.
"You two, can't you save others some worry? To think that the two of you are practically related..." Lorist said in a raised voice.
"What did you say? He's related to me? How did I not know that?" Hennard said as he pointed at Count Kenmays.
Count Kenmays also tapped his chest and said, "Who said we were relatives? Our families have never interacted. Locke, don't just go around spouting crap..."
Lorist sighed and looked at Count Kenmays before saying, "Didn't you say before that if your cousin sister didn't go missing, you would've sent her to me as a concubine? You even said that apart from Princess Sylvia, your cousin sister is the most beautiful woman you've ever seen, right?"
"I did, so what?" Count Kenmays said as he recalled the time when they chatted in private, not knowing the relevance of that conversation to the current situation.
Sometime back, when the count was chatting with Lorist, he mentioned how difficult it was to prove himself in the circle of nobility as a family that had recently just been given a rank with their merchant background. He also talked about his cousin sister Olivia who had been sent to Duke Loggins to be his lover at the young age of 21. She had also gone missing by the time the Norton Family razed the duke's dominion to the ground.
At first, the count suspected that the Norton Family had imprisoned her, but when Lorist allowed him to check if she truly was anywhere within the Norton Family dominion and look through the newly-made registry, the count's cousin was nowhere to be found. Count Kenmays mentioned that his father was too short-sighted to have used such a beauty to appease the duke in hopes that it would gain the family a better standing among the nobles. In the end, the storm that was Lorist swept his father's plan under the rug without warning at all.
Had his father been able to plan further and waited more patiently, he would've united Olivia and Lorist in marriage so that they would no longer have to worry about their position in the future. Count Kenmays felt extreme regret for what his cousin went through and even though she was already the duke's lover, he had still intended for her to become a concubine for Lorist so that their families would have a better relationship.
Concubines were usually maidservants of nobles who have physical relationships with nobles but couldn't be officially married. Even though children given birth by concubines would be considered illegitimate, there was still a good chance for them to be included in the official family roster and enjoy same benefits as direct descendants.
Count Kenmays also swore that his cousin Olivia's beauty was only second to that of Princess Sylvia, causing her to be cared for extremely well by his father. His father had mentioned that Olivia would become an insurance for his family in a political marriage. It's too bad that she was seen by the duke who appreciated his cousin's beauty a lot and indirectly forced the hand of the Kenmays Family to send her to him.
When the Kenmays Family first arrived at the Northlands, they didn't have a good foothold yet, so the count's father wasn't able to resist the pressure and had no choice but to present Olivia to Duke Loggins. According to the count, if Olivia didn't go missing after the conflict between Duke Loggins and Lorist, then he would've had her become Lorist's concubine instead since that was not a bad position to be in and it was probably the only thing the Kenmays Family could do to make up for the bad experiences she suffered.
"Just go ask this fellow over here. Wasn't the concubine that gave birth to his most beloved child called Olivia? He even included that child in his family roster and allowed him to become the heir of his family," Lorist said as he pointed to Hennard, who had even written a letter to Lorist one year back asking him to become the godfather of his son.
"Huh? This babyface is the cousin brother of Olivia?" Hennard said with his mouth agape from the shock.
"So you only care about her body without bothering to check out her family background? Even though she warmed your bed for the past two years and even gave birth to your child, you didn't even bother to find out?" Lorist questioned.
"This, this... Olivia never mentioned her family background in detail to me and only said that she came from a mercantile family and was forced to become the duke's mistress because of his threats... I thought that it was a pretty common occurrence so I didn't bother to ask anything else," replied Hennard abashedly.
Hennard was quite the romantic person. Ever since he secretly escorted the favorite lover of the duke away with the help of Reidy and brought the other four beauties from Wildnorth Town back with him, he declared that all five of them would be his concubines and even pledged that he wouldn't take an official wife for the rest of his life. All children of his five concubines would also have a chance at being the heir of the family.
However, the first three children were all daughters. It couldn't be overstated how happy he was when the duke's former lover gave birth to his first son. Delighted that his family finally had a successor, he even asked Lorist to be his godfather.
It was not until Lorist heard from the count that he had a cousin that he understood that the concubine that had given birth to Hennard's son was in fact the missing cousin of Count Kenmays. Initially, he had planned to inform the count of that fact in private soon, but he didn't expect the two of them would get into such a fierce argument before he found the chance.
At that point, Count Kenmays and Hennard both looked at each other awkwardly without saying a word.
Breaking the silence, Count Kenmays said, "Um... Is... is Olivia doing well?"
Hennard quickly replied, "Yes, definitely... She's a good mother..."
It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Hennard's act of secretly bringing Olivia out of the duke's dominion was the sole reason that caused the count to be unable to locate her. When Hennard realized that, he was so embarrassed that he kept his gaze on the ground the whole time like an ostrich.
Even though Lorist wanted to laugh at that hilarious situation, he had to resolve it nevertheless. He knocked on the table a few times and said, "Alright, settle your family issues later. Let's first discuss the reason I had our four families gathered here. Now that the Second Prince has escaped with his whereabouts still unknown, the Northlands has basically fallen into the control of our four families. From this day onward, there will be none that will take advantage of us and I will also not permit anyone to even try. That's why I am here to propose an alliance between our four families to maintain complete control over the Northlands as well as back each other up in times of need. What do you guys think of it?"
None of them had any objections as an alliance was beneficial to all of them. In fact, they were all eager to enter one. Baron Felim laughed exaggeratedly before he said, "I suddenly feel that the skies look brighter than before now that I'm free from the grasps of others. The taste of freedom is delicious."
"Alright. Next, we will decide the area each family will rule over so that we will not have any territorial disagreements in the future. As the Northlands is huge with abundant land, develop it as you please. But, I only have one condition. While I won't oppose it if you desire to conquer more territory, you must develop the lands you conquer. If you don't, I will not recognize your ownership over that land, so I hope you all remember this point," Lorist said resolutely.
Hennard, Count Kenmays and Baron Felim all agreed to Lorist's condition as there was no point in conquering more land without developing it to generate income. Add to the fact that it would also piss off the Norton Family, only an idiot would do something like that.
"I also have a suggestion," Lorist said. "The disagreement between Count Kenmays and Hennard about the sales of salt made me believe that we should also form a trade agreement. I have decided to establish a salt merchant committee dedicated to managing the sales of salt. The Norton Family will be selling 500000 kilograms of salt to the committee at a price of 10000 gold Fordes for it to be resold. Are you guys willing to take part?"
"How will we split profits?" Count Kenmays asked.
"Each of your families will own 30 percent of the shares by investing 10000 gold Fordes as capital and manage the committee's operations. I, on the other hand, will only take 10 percent of the committee's shares and I will not be sending anyone to be part of the management. If you guys can agree on it, I suggest that we let the Kenmays Family be in charge of the main business decisions while the other two families send accountants to monitor the operations. Profits will be split according to the respective shares we hold," Lorist said.
"I agree," Baron Felim said right away.
With a great opportunity like that, Baron Felim naturally agreed as quickly as he could. In fact, he was so grateful that he had the urge to hug and kiss Lorist to express his gratitude.
"I agree as well," Hennard said. He understood that Count Kenmays was not wrong that he was not a good businessman and the salt business was merely a side job for him to make more money for the bonus salary of his troops.
Currently, only Count Kenmays remained in deep thought. In actuality, his family had the most to lose from Lorist's suggestion as his own salt business could earn up to 40000 gold Fordes for every 10000 invested. If he agreed to join the committee, his profits would naturally be lesser in comparison. Coupled with the fact that he had to split 70 percent of the profit with the others, it wasn't worth it at all no matter how he looked at it.
But when he raised his head and saw Lorist smiling, he suddenly understood Lorist's intentions. The formation of the salt merchant committee was a necessary component for a functional and beneficial alliance for all. Only if the other families stood to gain something from the alliance would they truly be willing to help the Kenmays Family out with utmost sincerity in time of need. Compared to the extra profit of a few ten thousand gold Fordes, the loyalty and aid of the other families were far more valuable.
"I'll be part of this as well and I'll definitely earn all of us good money," Count Kenmays said.
"Then it's decided. We just have to sign over here to agree to the terms we've discussed," Lorist said as he took out a document.
...
With but a short meeting, the four families of the Northlands formed an alliance. Historians in future generations would come to praise the alliance as it allowed the Northlands to constantly develop and have lasting peace, drawing many people all over the war torn lands to move to that peaceful haven.
The four families would also continue to honor the alliance for the millenia to come with not a single one of them betraying it or regret being a part of it. Whenever there was trouble for one family, the other three families would definitely do their utmost to help, turning even the most dire situations around so that the alliance members could continue to propagate and flourish. The alliance was such a long-standing one that it was even heralded as the pinnacle of trustworthiness and unity by all.
Prisoners and Letter
Here's the second regular chapter of the week. Sorry for the late update, just finished editing it moments ago. Enjoy!
With the four family alliance settled, Lorist breathed a sigh of relief. After all, the Northlands was far too large; the area it covered was easily as wide as that of two duchies combined. To travel from Firmrock Castle all the way to Hendliff Suspension Bridge took at least 7 days on horseback. However, given that it was occupied by Baron Felim's forces, there was no longer a need to worry about troublesome outsiders like the Second Prince entering the Northlands without warning.
Lorist hoped that Baron Felim and Hennard would reorganize their troops and build up combat ability by routinely sending them to the Second Prince's Winston Province for some excursions to bring in more commoners to the Northlands while pillaging some nobles who didn't cooperate. The point was to cause as much turmoil as possible within the area around the Iblia Kingdom's capital to sabotage the Second Prince's chances of forming yet another army to once again threaten the peace of the Northlands.
Baron Felim and Hennard both agreed to that request right away but they also stated one of their own. As they were quite impressed by the performance of the Norton Family's soldiers, they requested Lorist to provide them with the same stainless steel armor that they thought Lorist's soldiers were using. However, they didn't know that the armor used by the Norton Family forces were actually made from an extra durable steel which was only coated in silver.
Initially, Lorist had planned to distribute some of the metal armor taken from the prisoner soldiers of the First Legion to the other two nobles. However, Baron Felim and Hennard perceived those armor as inherently inferior and believed that the low quality only provided slightly better defense than normal leather armor. Having witnessed the performance of the armor used by the Norton Family forces, they naturally didn't hold normal iron armor in high regard.
At that moment, Count Kenmays came to join the conversation and also decided to outfit his own troops with better equipment. In the past, no matter they be plate armor, scale armor or chain mail, he would be satisfied as long as they were metal armor. However, after seeing the armor of the Norton Family, he felt that his own troops were poor beggars in comparison. Putting aside other factors, just based on looks alone, the Norton Family troops looked far more imposing. Additionally, he felt that getting new sets of identical armor for his troops would improve their uniformity as well as give a slight boost to their morale.
Seeing the other three pleading nonstop, Lorist told them that Grandmaster Sid was the one who redesigned the armor for his troops. He also mentioned that while he naturally couldn't offer the armor used by his own troops for sale, he could have Grandmaster Sid design other custom-made armor sets for each of the three families which would have no less defensive capability than the armor of the Whitelion Legion.
With that, the other three revealed expressions of joy. But before saying anything else, Lorist snapped them out of their daydreams and asked them how they would be able to pay for the cost as each set of armor cost no less than 40 to 50 gold Fordes to make alone, not to say anything about profit yet.
Upon mention of funds, Baron Felim and Hennard's expressions both turned sour. Fortunately, Baron Felim had some wealth on his hands valued around 100000 gold Fordes from his successful conquest of the two bastides of other landed nobles. But Hennard was practically broke and couldn't pay out more than 20000 gold Fordes. Initially, he thought that he could raid the treasury in the duke's manor to gain quite an amount of wealth, but out of his expectations, Princess Sylvia and her Blademaster godmother was still there and had captured Knight Tabik and himself before he could start. Had it not been for Lorist's timely arrival, both of them would still be imprisoned within the manor.
By the time Princess Sylvia leaves the manor, there shouldn't be any valuables remaining within it. Hennard sighed in resignation at the depressing thought. But at that moment, Count Kenmays approached him and gave him a novel idea as his cousin-brother-in-law.
Count Kenmays said, "Right now, what do you think you can do to gain the most amount of money? The answer is, selling off military equipment. Before this, us three families bought a huge number of metal armor from the Norton Family, right? We can just resell that armor to others and use the funds we obtain from that to buy new equipment. As long as Lorist cuts us some slack and doesn't profit too much at our expense, we might even have some funds left from selling the old gear."
Upon hearing that idea, Baron Felim and Hennard turned their frowns upside down and praised Count Kenmays for his keen insight. They followed up and asked who they should sell the old equipment to.
Count Kenmays answered, "I believe the ideal person to sell them to is Duke Madras. These past few years, his forces suffered huge casualties and the Madras Duchy doesn't have any copper mines. Most of the equipment purchased by the duke is either done at a high price from the central four duchies or traded with using food. Currently, as the four central duchies are arming themselves for war, Duke Madras wouldn't be able to buy any equipment from them to refit his army. If we can get into contact with him, I believe he'll offer a good price for our equipment."
The three of them continued to discuss the matter for the rest of the day before finalizing it and handling it to the salt merchant committee since Count Kenmays was in charge of it anyway. However, since they had just split the duke's dominion, Baron Felim and Hennard had things to settle within the area, so the meeting was scheduled one month later at Firmrock Castle, during which Lorist would present the armor designed by Grandmaster Sid to the three other families.
...
Now that the matter was handled, Lorist intended to return, only to remember the troublesome task that awaited him. Princess Sylvia said that she wanted to return to the Wild Husbandry Province and even appointed him personally to be her escort. Even though the Second Prince's territory is on the other end of the Hendliff Suspension Bridge, can't you go back yourself? Why would you go out of your way to use the suspension bridge built by the Kenmays Family at the eastern Northlands? It seemed that Lorist would have to spend at least ten or so days to accompany the princess all the way to the territory of the Kenmays Family.
Even though Lorist had planned to drag Count Kenmays along with him on the trip with the princess, the moment the truth about Hennard's concubine being the count's cousin sister was revealed, he insisted on meeting up with her first. Coupled with the fact that he would be a little busy meeting up with his other lovers at Gildusk City, the count couldn't leave that area during the days that followed, so Lorist had no choice but to escort the princess himself.
What a useless friend, Lorist thought helplessly. Fortunately, Josk's mounted archer unit had just arrived at Gildusk City. Coupled with the guard brigade led by Els, there would be around 6000 men joining the trip. But when it came to dealing with the princess, Lorist was the only one who could handle it.
Princess Sylvia's own escort consisted of around 400 soldiers, including a fully-armed squad of mounted guards of 120 plus soldiers, split into equal halves of men and women, with most of them being Silver ranks. Combined with the princess's own Gold ranked Battle Force and her Blademaster godmother, Lorist couldn't imagine an imbecile that would dare to provoke them.
Apart from that, they had more than 80 four-wheeled carriages as well as around 300 attendants and maidservants. Given its large scale and status as a noble's convoy, it was the least Lorist could do to show respect by providing a suitable escort.
Just a while after they departed, Lorist's expression had already changed, because along the way he saw many of his own family soldiers escorting groups of poorly-dressed people who were carrying their belongings with them heading in the direction of Firmrock Castle. As Lorist could no longer withhold his curiosity, he stopped one of the squads of soldiers and asked them what was going on.
The squad leader who recognized Lorist frantically saluted before replying seriously, "Milord, these are all prisoners..."
Enraged, Lorist pointed to the elderly folk and women and shouted, "Are you blind? Who told you that these elderly people and women are prisoners? Do they look like they would be sent to the battlefield?"
The squad leader said in a panicked manner, "Milord, I didn't have a choice either. If we don't classify them as prisoners of war, the supply stations on the way won't provide us with any food to distribute to them. How else would we feed them? Additionally, they are family members of the soldiers that joined the allied noble army who have become our prisoners. These people here are worried about their captured family members and willingly followed us as prisoners to be brought back with us. Just now, they were even singing aloud happily as they traveled..."
"Ugh..." Lorist was completely speechless as the people he saw did indeed not look like they were forcefully captured. Instead, they seemed to be in high spirits. However, Lorist found something weird about the guard's statement and questioned him about it. "What's that about supply stations along the way?"
"Milord, I'm not too informed about this either. The orders from the top was for us to transport these 200 or so people to the main camp at Firmrock Castle and the supply stations that were set up along the way was there for us to rest at night and resupply," replied the squad leader.
Lorist finally understood that the supply stations were not that much different from those that were set up during the days of the convoy's travels. The reason the supply stations were set up was to facilitate the transportation of so many people, which the squad leader wasn't aware of.
After waving for the soldier to return to his duties, Lorist called for Els and said, "Els, bring some people along with you to find out why the convoy situation is repeating itself even though all we did was win a battle."
After Els left with ten or so guards, Lorist heard a clear, crisp voice asking, "Count Norton, what's going on? Where are they going? What are your family soldiers doing to those people?"
Turning his head, Lorist saw Princess Sylvia with her face veiled by her scarf, riding atop a snow-white Zeno Horse with a few mounted female guards by her side. She was observing the people who were passing them by intently.
Lorist took a deep breath and replied with a sycophantic tone, "Oh my dear revered princess, ever since the Second Prince entered the Northlands, he raised the tax rate heavily and oppressed the various landed nobles and commoners in that area, causing everyone there to be displeased. Not only that, the Second Prince even ransacked the property of the citizens to raise supplies and funding for his own army for his ambitions of conquest, further pushing the commoners into lives of poverty and suffering.
"But upon hearing that I've defeated the Second Prince, the commoners from all over the Northlands were incredibly elated and celebrated us for chasing the Second Prince out of the Northlands. But they were worried that he would one day return. Coupled with the word that our family provides free housing and farmland to newcomers into the dominion and enforcing only a low tax rate, these commoners made up their minds to follow our family forces back to the dominion in hopes that they will be able to live more peaceful and happy lives.
"Sigh, I didn't get a say in that matter given that they all came willingly. Just look at their happy faces. No matter how hard we tried to dissuade them, we weren't able to shake them off. Operating with such a benevolent policy is harder than I thought and their presence only serves to make it harder for my family forces. Not only do I have to task some soldiers to escort them along the way, I also have to feed them. What do you think, Your Highness? Does a benevolent and peace-loving noble family like us, the Norton Family, deserve any praise for our efforts?"
Reidy and Patt who were listening to Lorist's speech nearby found it incredibly hard to suppress their laughter.
Princess Sylvia on the other hand was completely shocked at what she heard. When she rode away with her horse, she said in a low voice, "Count Norton, you're truly thick-skinned, you know that? How shameless..."
However, Lorist didn't blush at all and merely snickered at that comment.
...
Els returned after a day had elapsed since his departure. He said, "Milord, I've met a messenger along the way."
According to the messenger, he had been sent to deliver a letter to Lorist by Knight Potterfang, Knight Charade and Knight Loze.
Lorist understood the situation after he opened the thick envelope and read the letters within.
It actually began ten days ago when the various nobles fled the battlefield with their remaining soldiers the moment they saw that there was no hope for them to overcome the waves of ballista bolts. To capture more prisoners, Fiercetiger Loze, Terman, Yuriy and the rest led all their mounted forces and gave chase. A couple of nobles who managed to retreat into the castle of a local noble family along with their shambled forces put up quite a fight for their survival, causing Fiercetiger Loze's forces to sustain tens of casualties from sheer carelessness.
Enraged, Loze called for a brigade of carroballista troops as reinforcements and after flurries of ballista fire, he managed to take over the castle and had the 7 nobles who resisted hanged. After that, he cleared out the dominions of the respective nobles and shipped everything he could find ranging from food, supplies, and money to Firmrock Castle, including even the citizens of those dominions.
Coincidentally, Charade had just arrived at the prisoner camp outside Firmrock Castle and he, Loze and Potterfang had a joint meeting. They concluded that the development of Blackmud Marsh required lots of manpower and given that most of the nobles within the Northlands had participated in the Second Prince's campaign against the Norton Family, apart from Count Kenmays, Baron Shazin and Baron Felim's families, all the other noble families were to be considered enemies of the Norton Family. Thus, they decided to wipe them out all in one go so that there would be no one remaining to cause trouble for the Norton Family in the future.
As the order Lorist gave his subordinates was to pursue the shambled enemy forces, the nobles were considered by Loze and the rest as their target so they decided to carry out their orders thoroughly by pulling the weed out at its roots. If said nobles had surrendered without resistance, their lives might've been spared and their treatment would've been left to Lorist. But those who resisted were hanged along with their family without exception. It was as if Charade, Potterfang and Loze were reliving the days when they exterminated noble families as they traveled with the convoy through the Andinaq Kingdom.
After receiving news about the three wiping out the resisting nobles and sweeping their valuables clean, Yuriy, Terman and the rest supported those actions and split their forces into four, with the leaders of each being Loze, Waxima, Yuriy and Terman respectively, all bringing around one carroballista brigade with them to raid the rest of the Northlands. They destroyed castles, burned towns and took all the resources and commoners along with them.
Lorist had stayed at Gildusk City for a total of five days and that included the two days and three nights when he was out cold while recovering from the duel with Blademaster Xanthi. Before that, he took around 5 days to travel from Firmrock Castle to Gildusk City. Within the short ten days Lorist left Firmrock Castle, the Norton Family had already cleared out the landed nobles in the surrounding area, leaving only tens of noble families within the eastern Northlands temporarily untouched. It was estimated that within another half a month, apart from the Norton, Kenmays, Shazin and Felim families, there would no longer be any other noble family within the Northlands.
What troublesome bastards! Lorist put the letters away helplessly and understood why the messenger took so long to arrive. His subordinates had twisted his order to pursue the fleeing enemy into exterminating all the other nobles in the Northlands they considered to be their enemy! That's why the three responsible, Charade, Potterfang, and Loze, intentionally delayed the news from spreading to Lorist lest they receive the order to stop. And even if Lorist pressed the matter later, the others who didn't oppose the operation would all be held jointly responsible.
The problem was that most of the nobles within the Northlands had supported the Second Prince's campaign because they didn't dare to do otherwise. Now that most of their forces had been captured as prisoners, the remnant forces that defended the dominions of those nobles were naturally unable to resist the attacks of the Norton Family forces, allowing the dominions to be pillaged clean.
Whatever, I'll handle the issue of the other Northlander nobles when I get back, Lorist thought. What truly troubled him was that the others approved the actions of Charade, Potterfang and Loze. The main factor the knights were so keen on capturing prisoners and moving more commoners to the dominion was because they weren't willing to be part of the development effort of Blackmud Marsh. In the past, Lorist used the reason that the dominion didn't have enough manpower to convince them to help out. But right now, while the dominion definitely had more than enough manpower, it might come to lack food next.
Those bastards, always causing me to worry like that, Lorist cursed in his mind.
Escort
Here's the first sponsored chapter of the week brought to you by Di Lac N. from the USA! Enjoy!
"Your Highness, Battle Force is contained within the bloodstream of our bodies. The various blood circulation nodes within the body are used to form a pentagonal or hexagonal star. The key to training in Battle Force lies in controlling the speed of the flow of blood to generate a rhythm. That's why people who have awakened their Battle force can move at explosively fast speeds, gain increased strength, vitality and endurance as well as various other boosts in the body's condition.
"The technique I train in however, should be one of the ancient techniques passed down by the eastern martial monks within the legends like your godmother speculated. However, my technique manual was an incomplete one, so I myself don't know where this training method will take me in the future. As the ancient chronicles state, after a millenia of dark times since the fall of the magical civilization, too much information had been lost. The best we can do in our time is to speculate the wonders they could achieve during the age of the magical civilization based on the artifacts we find within the ruins.
"While Battle Force exists within our bloodstream, the energy I use to train exists deeper within my body compared to Battle Force. For example, Your Highness, you should be know a bit about the vital organs, right? Just like how Battle Force forms a pentagonal or hexagonal star from the various circulation nodes within the body, my technique connects my vital organs into a cycle along which I circulate Battle Force. That is the reason why I say my internal energy exists deeper within the body.
"Why am I training in internal energy, you ask? Well, it's a long story. I left my home to head to Morante City for my studies at the age of 14 and back then, I only had the first part of my family's Battle Force manual and could only train up to the Three Star Iron rank. Right after that, civil war broke out within the empire and I lost all contact with my family. I was only 17 at that time, so to make a living, I worked as a mercenary. Oh, are you surprised that a noble like me actually worked as a lowly mercenary before?
"Your Highness, you don't have to apologize. It's fine, I don't mind. With no one to support me, I could only rely on myself to survive and earn enough money to pay off my tuition. While life was definitely hard back then, I managed to live through it. The only problem I had was that I wasn't able to find a Battle Force manual that was suited for my Battle Force attribute. Back then, I wasn't aware that my family's Battle Force technique was of the blood attribute, so most of the high-ranked Battle Force manuals I bought to research didn't fit me. As I was unable to continue training, I couldn't break through to the Silver rank and was truly depressed back then.
"But when I first arrived at Morante City, I came across a worn-out little book which contained a diagram of the human body, much like those seen in Battle Force manuals, but there wasn't any pentagonal or hexagonal star diagram to be seen. Given that it had piqued my curiosity, I bought it and placed it on my shelf once I was done browsing through it. Little did I know that it would come in handy later. As I was unable to find a suitable high-ranked Battle Force manual suited for me to train in, I was extremely frustrated and annoyed. And one night when I was at my tipping point, I pushed all the books off my shelf in a fit of rage before going to sleep.
"When I woke up in the middle of the night, I regretted my outburst and proceeded to pick those books up. I didn't even have a candle back then so I could only rely on the moonlight coming in from the window to see. And when I picked that old, worn-out book up and held it under the illumination of the moonlight, I noticed that the page where the human body diagram was on seemed to have several layers. I then peeled of the outer beastskin layer of that book and found a thin silk cloth hidden within that beastskin page which had a picture of a bald martial monk with a training method inscribed beside it...
"Your Highness, you should know how frustrated I was back then from my stunted progress in training. I couldn't hold my curiosity back after seeing a novel technique like that, so I gave it a try, only to find out later that I would no longer be able to advance in Battle Force for the rest of my life, causing me to be stuck at the Iron rank forever. Despite that, my internal energy training progressed rather well. Even so, I've already trained to the peak level as described by that piece of cloth and even I don't understand how much further I can progress with that technique."
Lorist inspected the princess's expression and confirmed for himself that she was incredibly entertained by his story of a young boy who was exiled to a faraway place from home and eventually lost all connection with his family and had no choice but to struggle and work as a mercenary to make ends meet. Driven to despair by the inability to progress in Battle Force training, a miracle occurred and conferred upon that boy another chance. It was a tale filled with adversity and hardship that ended on a happy note.
When Lorist heard Blademaster Xanthi describe his training technique as the ancient technique of the eastern martial monks of legend, Lorist gained a sudden inspiration. That's right, why can't I just say that the Aquametal Technique is something like that? Even though nobody directly asked him about it after witnessing him defeat so many strong enemies, they were indeed curious what training technique Lorist used. As he couldn't possibly reveal that the Aquametal Technique was a hereditary one passed down within his family in his past life, he could still pass it off as a lost technique of the ancient martial monks.
Thus, Lorist retold his story in a fashion similar to those chivalric novels by mixing fact and fabrication intricately. Princess Sylvia on the other hand didn't have a single doubt for Lorist's story as she believed that he had no reason to lie to her.
Lorist thus decided that he would use that explanation for his odd technique in the future as well. At that moment, Princess Sylvia asked, "What's the difference between Battle Force and internal energy?"
"Well, the main ones I can think of are the observable effects and explosiveness," Lorist said after giving it some thought.
"Your Highness, Battle Force practitioners are able to manifest a blade glow to increase the damage of their weapons starting from the Silver rank, right?" Lorist said as he dismounted and approached a nearby boulder. " I believe you can easily split this boulder with your blade glow."
"Let me try," said the princess as she dismounted and approached the boulder with her sword drawn. Upon manifesting her golden blade glow and slashing, the boulder was split into two cleanly.
Lorist also took out his sword and said, "In that regard, we can say that there isn't much difference between Battle Force and internal energy. The only visible difference is that Battle Force gives off a blade glow while internal energy doesn't. However, infusing internal energy into my sword will also generate the same result, only without the flair of the blade glow."
Lorist then slashed downwards and split one half of the boulder into two separate pieces.
"Based on looks alone, it can be said that blade glows give off a more imposing impression. But in terms of explosiveness, internal energy is superior than Battle Force," Lorist said a he picked up a fist-sized rock. "Your Highness, if you don't use your sword, can you use your Battle Force to crush this rock?"
Princess Sylvia thought for a bit before shaking her head.
Lorist then clasped the rock with both his hands as he infused a little bit of internal energy into them, causing the rock to disintegrate within his grip with its powdered remains falling to the ground. Princess Sylvia widened her beautiful, big eyes in shock as she witnessed it.
"That is why I consider internal energy to be more explosive than Battle Force," Lorist concluded.
Princess Sylvia nodded and said, "My godmother told me before that the ancient eastern martial monks prioritized bringing out the inner potential of the human body from the inside like you said. According to her, their martial arts were more plain and trod a different path from Battle Force. As it was hard and arduous to train in, it was eventually lost in the passage of time. It must be fate that you managed to acquire a surviving copy of the technique."
"Perhaps. Never would I have imagined that my reckless action in the past would produce the results today. As I'm no longer able to train in my family's own Battle Force manual, many people look down on me because they think that I'm merely an Iron rank. Just like you did previously, princess, when you asked me to step down and have a Gold ranked knight duel for me," Lorist joked.
"You're still bringing it up..." Princess Sylvia muttered as she blushed. She then pouted and said, "You're the biggest liar of us all. Even though you can rival a Blademaster, you pretended to be an Iron rank to duel against a puny Gold ranked swordswoman like me... How shameless..."
After spending some time with Princess Sylvia, Lorist realized that the 20-year-old Gold ranked swordswoman wasn't the haughty and prideful noble mistress he initially thought she was but rather an incredibly curious, naive child. Having lost her parents at a young age and being spoiled by her grandfather and godmother, she trained hard in Battle Force and eventually matured into a most beautiful flower of unparalleled charm. But, as she hadn't experienced any turmoils of the outside world before, she was extremely curious about Lorist's own experiences and kept on questioning him about it. Even though she still acted a little spoiled, Lorist thought that she was merely a noble lady that hasn't truly matured through experiencing trial and adversity.
In another day, the group would arrive at the dominion of the Kenmays Family. In fact, they were already technically there, but ever since the Redriver Valley Bastide was burned down by the Norton Family. the Kenmays Family have given up on their original viscounty and focused all their efforts on their new territory in the eastern Northlands.
During most of the journey, the princess spent lots of her time pestering Lorist and asking him to tell her more stories about his days working as a mercenary at Morante City. Sometimes, Lorist would intentionally piss her off by talking bad of the Second Prince in front of her and saying things like how her grandfather Duke Fisablen was a warmongering lord, causing her to leave angrily as she couldn't make a retort. It became apparent that she was inferior to Lorist in both the sword and the word. But usually, she would come back after a while when her anger calmed to continue bugging Lorist for more stories.
Naturally, Lorist also got to hear quite a bit of rare intelligence from the princess, such as the fact that Blademasters were categorized into four ranks. For example, Blademaster Louinse who died from the bolt fired by the super ballista was merely a rank 1 Blademaster and he could be considered fortunate to have been able to reach that rank. But, his chances of actually becoming a rank 2 Blademaster was almost nil.
The princess's godmother, and her current teacher, Xanthi, was a rank 2 Blademaster while her grandfather Duke Fisablen was a rank 3 Blademaster, similar to the Blademaster serving the Second Prince, Zarinan. Princess Sylvia proudly declared that while Lorist managed to defeat her teacher and godmother, he would definitely stand no chance against her grandfather and would definitely lose within less than a hundred strikes.
Lorist said that it didn't matter because he was still young and could potentially outlive her grandfather. He said that he would challenge Duke Fisablen when he was so old that he could no longer hold a sword properly so that his victory would be assured.
Naturally, that statement pissed the princess off and caused her to call Lorist names like 'shameless' and such, which Lorist pretended to not hear.
Additionally, the princess also mentioned that age was not a factor for the various ranks a Blademaster could reach. Instead, profound insight was required. For instance, while Blademaster Xanthi did lose to Lorist in their duel, she did gain lots of inspiration from the duel and spent most of her days during the escort trip within the carriage to meditate upon them. That's why the princess was not obstructed from interacting that often with Lorist.
Ah, I see, Lorist thought as he came to realize that the reason Blademaster Xanthi did not meet him wasn't because she held hard feelings for losing but rather because she was meditating upon her insights within the privacy of her carriage.
Lorist laughed and said, "I believe that it would be quite difficult for her to gain any benefit from the insights she gained from the battle with me because the style of her swordsmanship is inherently quick and agile. When I realized that, I changed my approach to one that was as stable as a mountain and used weight to combat her lightness and accuracy to match her rapid strikes. While my sword style seemed slow to the eye, it was the perfect counter for her quick and incessant strikes, ultimately causing her to lose. If she intends to improve, I would recommend her to experience the wind. Be it a light gust or a windy storm, as long as she can comprehend the irregular flow of the wind's rhythm, I believe she will definitely benefit quite a bit from it and be able to improve her swordsmanship."
Princess Sylvia was stunned for a while when she realized Lorist was giving her godmother free training advice. When she recovered, she said, "Thanks, Locke. I will tell her about it right now."
...
The head of the Kenmays Family had been waiting for the group's arrival at the border of his dominion. After greeting Princess Sylvia, he told Lorist that five days ago, the Second Prince brought tens of guards to cross the metal suspension bridge of the Kenmays Family, presumably heading to the dominion of Duke Fisablen to borrow more soldiers from his father-in-law before returning to the Northlands for revenge.
Lorist said that it didn't matter since the four families had already formed an alliance. He told Count Kenmays's father that if the Second Prince came, he only had to stall him on the other side of the suspension bridge and within less than two days, the reinforcements from the three families would back him up so that the Second Prince never sets foot into the Northlands again.
When they were in the presence of the head of the Kenmays Family, Princess Sylvia was very conscious of her own behavior and no longer sought out Lorist that often as she did previously, once again putting on her polite princess persona, much to Lorist's delight as he hasn't had such a quiet and relaxing day for quite a while.
On the next day, Princess Sylvia set foot on the metal suspension bridge and the moment she crossed the river, she would be at the Wild Husbandry Province and Lorist's mission to escort her would end. He returned to the family dominion right away after bidding the princess goodbye.
On the way back within the carriage, Princess Sylvia sulked. Her godmother, Blademaster Xanthi, pulled her into her bosom and asked, "What's wrong? Did he move your heart?"
"Of course not, godmother... I only feel that Count Norton is quite different from the other nobles I've met. His stories are really interesting," said the princess as she started to blush.
"He is indeed a weird one. I couldn't read him at all. Sylvia, did you take a close look at the forces of his family? A little more than half of the soldiers are Iron ranked with the rest being Silver ranked. A random squad from his forces could even match up to your personal guards. Additionally, his soldiers are veterans that have experienced true combat and each of them radiate a strong killing intent. It is obvious that their combat ability far supersedes that of your personal guards.
"But here's the weird part. Even though the Norton Family has such competent and loyal soldiers equipped with quality equipment, rivaling even the personal guards of your grandfather, the count only stays within his dominion. If it were some other noble, they definitely would've conquered the whole of the Northlands right after exterminating the 100000-strong forces of the Second Prince. But what did he do? He actually formed an alliance with the three other families and let the land that would rightfully belong to the Norton Family remain in the hands of others!
"I really cannot fathom how he came to that decision. Even though I can't necessarily call him an idiot for doing so, he definitely lacks even the tiniest shred of ambition. Given the recent times, the various factions within the former empire are all gearing up for war. In another year or so, the peace treaty between the kingdoms and duchies will expire and the times of chaos would come again, spreading the flames of war all throughout the land. Even a person like your grandfather is worried for the future of the family.
"Your grandfather is an extremely prideful person. Had it not been for the fact that he was a general of the Frontier Legion, he definitely wouldn't have supported a wolf like the Second Prince. Additionally, the young generation of the Fisablen Family doesn't have any talent apart from you. Your grandfather also knows that he has made lots of enemies, so he places his hopes for the family on you. A person like Count Norton who doesn't have the slightest ambition is not even worth the attention of your grandfather, so he definitely wouldn't approve of you getting into a relationship with the count."
Blademaster Xanthi continued to stroke the princess's hair lovingly as she sighed inwardly. Even though this girl has always set her sights high, why would she be smitten by such an unimpressive person like Count Norton? This is going to be troublesome...
"Godmother, that's not true at all. I've never thought of having him as my partner... He's far too detestable and keeps bad-mouthing grandfather. He even said that he would duel grandfather when he's too old to hold a sword properly and win, how despicable..." Princess Sylvia muttered as she buried her face in her godmother's bosom. After that, the two no longer talked and only the rattling of the carriage's wheels could be heard.