Chapter 420 - 253 - 257

Mayflower Merchant Guild Assault Incident

Sorry for the later-than-usual release. This is the first regular chapter of the week.

Here's the question of the day for you to discuss:

How do you think this incident will affect the political climate of Grindia?

Moribak was satisfied that the merchant guild eventually settled on his initial plan to expand to the north. Not only was his second elder brother reprimanded harshly by his father, his eldest brother was working earnestly on hiring the other blademasters.

The word he had received during the past three days wasn't bad: the Twinhead Dragon Merchant Guild's rank 3 blademaster, Kafzo, and the rank 2 blademaster from the Forde Merchant Guild, Rolik, had both accepted the mission. As for the two blademasters of the Wessia Merchant Guild, they were not in Morante City at the moment and would only return during the end of the 12th month. Additionally, the Mayflower Merchant Guild's few blademasters were occupied with guarding the letters about glass production and couldn't afford to leave until the auction was over. Moribak believed that there wouldn't be a problem in hiring them after that.

Following that, Moribak began to gather intel seriously. He painstakingly formed three groups of loyal and elite members of the merchant guild and disguised them as a few smaller merchant guilds to sail to Silowas Island secretly. After all, if one wanted to launch a targeted attack on the enemy, one must know the enemy's whereabouts. They couldn't let the blademasters wander around like aimless flies, after all.

Moribak would never have imagined, however, that the three middle-class merchant ships he sent were all expropriated by Lorist at the Sea of Grief, along with the whole crew, who were forcefully absorbed into the ranks of Lorist's marines. It took three months for a few of them to return to the guild. However, by then, the Chikdor Merchant Guild no longer paid any heed to Lorist and Silowas Island.

Just when Moribak was patiently and confidently waiting for his plan to be carried out, a piece of news was released – shocking the whole of Morante.

At that time, Moribak was discussing the matters of the floating port with his trusted aides. The contraption was one of their trump cards and could be used at the reefs of the northern seas. The floating port was constructed by lining up and tying together huge, watertight wooden boxes and letting them float in the ocean so that goods could be transported to shore. During windy and stormy times, the wooden boxes could also be pulled onto the shore, to be redeployed after the bad weather passed.

With such a flexible method in his hands, the reefs in the shallow waters of the northern coasts would no longer pose much of a problem. Thinking back to what Saibyoeff had said, Moribak felt like laughing out loud.

Only an idiot like him can come up with something as ridiculous as land reclamation. When the guild successfully obtains Silowas Island, I will bring up this floating-box port of mine, which will instantly boost the impression the higher-ups have of me in the guild. If First Brother makes a mistake sometime in the future, then I will naturally be able to replace him as successor without any difficulties.

Just as he was drunk on his fantasies, Moribak heard a commotion outside. One of his personal attendants barged into his room and said, "Master, master, it's horrible! Something big has gone down! Just moments ago, the blademasters of the Teribo Kingdom launched an attack on the Mayflower Merchant Guild. The guild has suffered huge casualties! Right now, the old master and the rest have already rushed over there..."

Moribak jumped from hearing the shocking news.

"The Te-teribo Kingdom... Why would they... against the Mayflower Merchant Guild... Thi-this... Their courage truly knows n-no bounds..." stammered he.

As the saying goes, 'one won't die if one does not seek death'. The Mayflower Merchant Guild truly had it coming for them. Had they auctioned out the two letters concerning the glass production methods on the agreed-upon date – the 5th day of the 12th month – then they would've shed the heavy burden they bore and nothing else would've happened. However, the vice president of the guild believed that it was too short notice, most of the ones who had come to the city and were interested in the two letters required more time to prepare the funds. Additionally, the merchant guild believed that they could use this opportunity to make the guild one of the biggest auctioneers on the Grindian continent by making more thorough preparations, hence the decision to delay the auction of the letters by another ten days.

The ambassador of the Teribo Kingdom had actually been sent on a supremely important mission to Morante city, accompanied by a few blademasters and gold-ranked knights. He kept his travels low key and arrived at the city on the 4th day of the 12th month. He paid a visit to the high officials of the guild. The moment he arrived to discuss whether they could take back the two letters in exchange for 10 million gold Fordes.

The guild's president courteously declined, however. Since word of the auction had already spread out, it was no longer possible for them to settle the matter privately. It would cause irreparable damage to the guild's reputation. However, the president said that t Teribo Kingdom was more than welcome to join the bidding war during the auction. He did say, however, that he felt 10 million gold Fordes would only be enough for one of the letters.

The chance to have the Teribo Kingdom join the auction was another reason it had been delayed. The kingdom needed time to prepare its funds.

If the Mayflower Merchant Guild had made the sale on the very next day, on the original date for the auction, the Teribo Kingdom wouldn't have had a chance to react. But the ten-day delay allowed the ambassador to keep in contact with Teribo VII. Letters were delivered one day after another by their messengers, but the guild didn't mind. They believed the kingdom busy gathering funds.

Little did the guild imagine that the kingdom had other means at their disposal: the destruction of the two letters themselves. In the letter Teribo VII sent to his ambassador, he expressed angrily that the production methods were the rightful property of the kingdom and that the auction was like putting up for sale a wallet one picked up instead of returning it to its rightful owner! Despite the owner of the wallet bringing 10 million gold Fordes as a sign of gratitude to reclaim the wallet, the merchant guild still didn't yield!

Teribo VII was truly mad at the recent developments. For all of the past century, the Teribo Kingdom had provided selfless support to the trade union to fend off the invasion of the Krissen Empire at the Falik plains. Not only that, one Krissen Empire ambassador who had visited the Teribo Kingdom to garner their support was even beheaded in a show of goodwill.

Incredibly troubled, Teribo VII thought, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather... The goodwill you have shown the trade union has amounted to nothing more than feeding a hungry wolf... Back then, when the trade union was pressured into a corner by the empire, it was the Teribo Kingdom that formed an armed alliance with the other nations around us to reinforce Morante city. Only after that was it possible to defeat the Krissen Empire...

Teribo VII believed firmly that the trade union was only able to triumph over the empire because of the kingdom's support. Without them, the trade union would have long faded from existence. That was why he felt that the trade union should be thankful for them and offer them aid when they needed it to return the favor.

But to the people of the trade union, they were the ones who had to weather a whole century of assault from the Krissen Empire. It was their blood that was spilled, and it was through their own sacrifice that the various neighboring nations were able to retain their freedom and autonomy! The trade union took for granted the aid of the other nations because they felt that they deserved it. Should the trade union fall, the other nations around them wouldn't able to escape theirs either. They were all in the same boat, after all, if it was sunk by the Krissen Empire, all of them would sink together.

It was also the pride of the Moranites and the main source of their self-perceived superiority over the people of the other nations. During the previous century, it was the Moranites who marched to the battlefield with their heads held high while chanting their war cry! All the neighboring nations did, was provide support. Even though the resources were far from enough on the frontlines, the generous Moranites wouldn't fuss over such small matters, as it had been their own ancestors who were fighting on the battlefield bravely, saving the neighboring nations from their fate!

This was the main difference in the viewpoints of Teribo VII and the Moranites. While the big-seven merchant guilds, who were in power, weren't as shallow as the average Moranite, they couldn't help but be affected by that mindset.

For the big seven, even though they acknowledged that the Teribo Kingdom was one of the biggest supporters of the trade union, through their incredible contributions during the trade union's war with the empire, they believed that the trade union also repaid them in the form of generous benefits or conditions for the trade they had done over the years.

Other matters aside, the Teribo Kingdom was given monopolistic access to the trade union's market for glass and were exempt from taxes. This was the way the trade union intended to pay back the kingdom's support. It is important to note that the Teribo Kingdom was the sole producer of glass. Being the only producer of glass that was also allowed to use the trade routes from Morante city to export their products throughout the rest of the continent, the Teribo Kingdom profited greatly and eventually became one of the richest factions in the whole continent.

Over the past 20 years of peace following the successful thwarting of the empire by the trade union, disagreements had begun to sprout in the high council of the trade union concerning the benefits afforded to the Teribo Kingdom. There were also a number of representatives that thought the kingdom had profited more than ten times of what they had contributed in the first place.

In the end, the trade union is comprised of merchants who were sensitive to the profits involved in the glass trade. These smaller merchant guilds also submitted a report they worked on together detailing the lucrative profits involved in the glass trade of the Teribo Kingdom.

Chasing profits were the instincts of merchants, and the smaller merchant guilds were all quite jealous of the monopoly the kingdom had in the glass trade. Even though the trade union was considered to be the official distributor of the glass, making the kingdom the official supplier of glass products to the union, the ones involved understood that the profit gained from distributing the glass products was only a drop in the ocean.

The big-seven guilds did not lack the foresight required to govern the union. Those who were able to make it to the top were not simple minded. They were worried that the moment they changed the benefits they gave to the Teribo Kingdom in the glass trade, the nations surrounding the trade union might begin to worry about the rising power of the trade union. After all, the trade union didn't rely on drastic policy changes to widen their influence and instead resorted to subtler, sneakier methods to expand their power and influence over the other nations to develop in the trade union's favor.

That was why the big-seven guilds suppressed the opinions of the representatives of the smaller guilds and increased coverage in their newspaper on the contributions the Teribo Kingdom had made to the trade union, further cementing the rhetoric that the friendly relationship between the union and the kingdom must be upheld, thus justifying the continuation of benefits given to it in the glass trade.

In actuality, that was only one of the methods the big-seven guilds employed. The other was to put clearly the dissident opinions towards the kingdom so that they could, for themselves, in essence, say, 'Look, we here at the union have already shown the Teribo Kingdom much generosity, and it is now the kingdom's turn to give something back. As the party that profits most from the glass trade, shouldn't the kingdom take a step back? Even if the benefits given stay the same, at the very least, the kingdom should help out with some donations or charity events so that the relationship between the kingdom and the union wouldn't look so awkward.'

It was too bad that the trade union's hints were as useless as lighting a candle for a blind man. To Teribo VII, the benefits were what the kingdom deserved. He even thought that the praise the Morante Daily had for them was a sign of weakness from the trade union.

Happily, he proclaimed to his officials, "Look, those merchants can't afford to have us leave on them! That's why they are broadly publicizing our friendly relationship with them!"

Teribo VII is nothing but a simple-minded idiot! was the common opinion those of the big-seven held. It was why all of them were unanimous in the decision to use the auction of the two letters held by the Mayflower Merchant Guild to give the kingdom a huge blow. Teribo VII should know his place and treat the trade union with some respect.

Additionally, the increase of glass producers would be incredibly beneficial to the trade union. This was the difference between how nobles and merchants viewed the matter of the auction. The people of the trade union felt that the auction was nothing but a common transaction which they did not have to bother interfering with, while the nobles, especially ones as strait-laced as Terbio VII, felt that it was a matter that would threaten the existence of his kingdom. Whatever it took, he had to stop the letters from being sold.

As such, when the ambassador passed on the non-interference stance the six other members of the big-seven were taking, Teribo VII blew up completely.

Since you guys don't care about the survival of the Teribo Kingdom, then don't blame me for not giving the trade union any chances.

With a solemn expression, he gave the order for the two letters to be destroyed.

On the night of the 8th day of the 12th month, the Teribo Kingdom's ambassador once again paid another visit to the Mayflower Merchant Guild and tried hard to negotiate for the reclamation of the two letters, to no avail.

In the end, he left the merchant guild shrugging and saying, "Well, you can't say I didn't try my best," before leaving on his carriage.

Less than thirty minutes after his departure, the guild was under the assault of seven blademasters and more than 20 gold-ranked knights.

The assault was far beyond of the expectations of most. Many of those on the site were dead. The assailants were incredibly cruel, they didn't show the tiniest bit of mercy to their adversaries. Their goal was clear: head to the vault the ambassador visited before and wipe out the four blademasters that were guarding it.

However, the guild intentionally did not tell the ambassador that the letters weren't in their hands. Instead, it was guarded by the eight blademasters from the academies as well as the rank three blademaster sent by the guild. As for the letters the ambassador was shown, they were fakes forged by the guild and placed in the vault guarded by four blademasters as a decoy.

After suffering such a sudden assault, the four inattentive blademasters suffered huge casualties. Apart from a rank two blademaster that managed to escape despite being heavily injured, the other three rank one blademasters were all killed. The other guards were almost completely wiped out. The ground was littered with severed limbs and corpses.

The Teribo Kingdom had deployed a rank three blademaster, 2 rank two blademasters, and 4 rank one blademasters, as well as 27 gold-ranked knights. Apart from 1 rank one blademaster who was killed in a suicidal attack by his opponent, another rank one blademaster was injured and five other gold-ranked knights dead. Their mission could've been said to be a huge success.

The moment the rank three blademaster tore the two letters into irrecoverable pieces, they all prepared to leave. However, they were unable to do so. The Mayflower Merchant Guild was one of the big-seven guilds of the trade union, their headquarters were naturally one of the most secure areas in the city. The moment cries of pain and slaughter rang out from the guild, the city's garrison force was put on high alert. By the time the rank two blademaster that escaped sounded the alarm, the forces stationed nearby, and the other merchant guilds, would send their men to secure the perimeter.

It didn't take long for the news of the garrison force's devastation to be spread out. The big-seven guilds were all shocked and every one of them instantly mobilized their own blademasters. Even four of the blademasters of the academies were sent out along with the rank three blademaster of the Mayflower Merchant Guild as reinforcements.

There was no way the assailants could sneak away. After half a night of intense fighting, a third of the inner city area of Morante was devastated, with countless innocent lives sacrificed in the process. The blademasters and gold-ranked knights who realized that they could no longer escape launched into a crazed frenzy of slaughter and destruction, causing their pursuers much trouble.

In the end, one rank three blademaster of the Teribo Kingdom escaped despite his injuries, with another rank two blademaster managing to evade capture by disguising himself. The rest were all wiped out, becoming lifeless corpses that lay on the cold, hard ground.

When the president of the Mayflower Merchant Guild angrily rushed to see the ambassador with his men, the ambassador only shrugged and said, "I already tried my best."

As soon as the last words left his mouth, black blood flowed from his mouth and he died.

Such is the account of the infamous Mayflower Merchant Guild Assault Incident as documented in the history books of Grindia. However, the people back then didn't realize that this was only the opening act of the chaos that was to come. The chain of events would eventually lead to the rise to prominence of the House of the Raging Bear and the eventual formation of the mighty and prosperous Raging Bear Dynasty.

Setup and Counters

Here's the second regular release of the week. Gosh these recent chapters are long! T_T

Lorist arrived at Silowas Island with the ships he had expropriated on the 34th day of the 12th month. There were another two days left until the 36th day of the 12th month, which was one of the three great celebrations in a Grindian year, it celebrated the coming of the new year.

In ancient times, the weather was cold during new year and snow fell constantly, so Grindians would stay at home, indoors, to welcome the new year. People would celebrate in their homes by feasting and sleeping without doing anything else. It was also why the day was known as the Day of Rest. But with the improvement in warmth-retaining clothing, people started going out on the streets during the Day of Rest. Some shops even used the opportunity to have sales, further reinforcing the day's festive air.

Charade awaited Lorist's arrival worriedly at the port. Even though Lorist had sent him a letter, it was incredibly lacking in details. Additionally, Josk and Els only stayed briefly before heading back to the Sea of Grief. They only mentioned that something big had happened without being specific. It caused Charade so much worry he had bags under his eyes.

However, when he finally met Lorist, he didn't bother asking about what happened and instead told him a piece of good news right away. There was word from the Northlands that Terman and Yuriy had both broken through to the one-star gold rank. That meant that Lorist had another two gold-ranked knights under him. The household now had a total of eight gold-ranked knights.

Lorist was overjoyed. He turned to Els, who simply shrugged.

"I have a feeling that my turn will come next year," he replied.

Lorist's gaze returned to Charade. He laughed bitterly.

"I think I'll need two or three more years... I don't even have enough time to deal with the matters at hand, so how would I be able to sit still and train? I've already been here for more than a year..." was his answer.

Terman, Yuriy, Els and Charade were the friends that Lorist had made during his ten years at Dawn Academy, and they were also his most trusted subordinates. When they first joined Lorist's cause and became his knights, they were only at the three-star silver rank. Even though Terman and Yuriy didn't have much talent in training, through their hard work and military experience over the past seven years, they finally managed to take the next step and become gold-ranked knights.

Els, on the other hand, trained in the dark attribute battleforce technique passed down in his family. Dark attribute battleforce was known to be slower to train. Even though Els only held the position of the leader of Lorist's guards and didn't seem that impressive, Lorist believed that the moment Els broke through to become a gold-ranked knight, he would definitely be able to impress many with his prowess.

Charade, on the other hand, was easily the most talented among the four. It was too bad that he was entrusted with so many important tasks. Charade's impressive management skills had actually held his battleforce training back and Lorist felt quite sorry for having no choice but to burden him.

Lorist hugged Charade tightly and said, "I'm sorry, old friend. The burden I've entrusted to you with is indeed too heavy. Head back to the Northlands with me in due time and stay there for two years. Train hard and break through, you'll be given a manor of your own like Terman and the rest."

Stunned, Charade asked, "What's wrong, Locke? Didn't we agree that I would be put in charge of the development of Silowas Island?"

Lorist laughed bitterly and said, "I'm sorry, we've got involved in a huge, troublesome matter and Silowas Island will soon become a battlefield. Our enemy this time is incredibly powerful and I can't have you stay here. It is too dangerous. You will have to go back to the dominion. Let's talk more at the camp. This is not a good place to discuss this."

Senbaud walked over and reported to Lorist, "Milord, all the ships have already been anchored and checked. The crews for the ships have been assigned. Please give me further instructions."

Charade looked at Senbaud curiously.

"This is...?" asked he.

"Oh, come here. Senbaud, let me introduce you to the chief knight of House Norton, Charade. He makes the decision in my absence," Lorist introduced the two, "This is Senbaud, a gold-ranked pirate. Pretty rare, right? Now he's the squad leader of my marine assault vanguard. He's proven to be rather capable in the little time he's been with us already. I've been considering making him Freiyar's aid and vice commander."

With a troubled look, Senbaud said, "Milord, please don't bring up my pirate background... I'm now your subordinate. If I am a pirate, then you're the pirate boss..."

Initially, Senbaud thought the position of the squad leader of the marine assault vanguard was nothing more than a glorified title for suicide squad captain. However, when they were raiding, or rather, expropriating ships at the Sea of Grief, Senbaud realized that Lorist rushed into battle even sooner than he did. Many times, Lorist was able to subdue a whole ship all by himself. Most of the time Senbaud's job was to clear up Lorist's mess. His tasks ranged from deciding on the expropriated ships' quartermasters, restructuring the crews, and capturing the prisoners. Lorist had even praised his resourcefulness a few times.

Charade nodded towards Senbaud and said, "Nice to meet you, Senbaud. Don't mind what Milord says. He likes to joke around a lot. You should work hard now that you've joined the household. You'll have a bright future as long as you do."

Charade resolved himself to start training hard so that he could break through to the gold rank as soon as possible. Seeing many of his friends break through the milestone, and how the ones Lorist recruited were also of the gold rank, Charade felt it would be a little unseemly for a chief knight like him to only be on the verge of the three-star silver rank.

"Freiyar, come here. Senbaud will be your aide from now on," called Lorist to Freiyar, who had his eyes fixed on the large-class merchant vessels at the coast.

Freiyar got off the ship.

"Good day. I'm Freiyar, the leader of the navy marine brigade," he said.

Lorist continued the introductions.

"This here is Tok, the vice captain of the marine assault vanguard. He's also quite capable in naval battles. He will serve under you. Freiyar, this is Uncle Torin, Tok's father, and he's quite capable with logistics. Senbaud only managed to keep so many ships in check with his help. Your marine brigade will finally have a proper supervisor."

Charade asked, "Milord, did you expropriate all these ships yourself?"

Lorist merely nodded. Everyone present had an unspoken understanding of what 'expropriation' meant.

"Milord, why did you have to resort to that?" asked Charade hesitantly.

He understood Lorist's personality well during his years of interacting with him. He had heard Lorist say that robbery was the most unskilled crime that had no bottom line. It was naught but a result of oppressing the weak with force. Seeing that Lorist had expropriated so many ships, Charade thought that he must have had some good reason behind it. He thought about what Lorist had said about Silowas Island becoming a battlefield. He couldn't help but wonder what was really going on.

"Let's talk about this when we go back. You'll know the truth soon enough," said Lorist with a sigh.

When they returned to the camp, Charade was informed of what had happened.

Angrily thumping on the table, he said, "Ridiculous... What does the implementation of the nobility system have anything to do with the Chikdor Merchant Guild taking Silowas Island as their own dominion?!"

Unlike the enraged reaction of Patt, Nors, Jim, Hansk, and Kedan; Senbaud, Torin, and Tok were all shocked. They felt it was thanks to the trade union that they had so unfortunately drawn the attention of Lorist.

Lorist's frenzied sweeping of all the ships at the Sea of Grief to form a fleet against the Chikdor Merchant Guild shocked them greatly, but at the same time, it generated a sense of excitement for them. They never expected that hit-and-run pirates like them would have a chance to confront the ships of the trade union.

The Chikdor Merchant Guild was the hegemon of the southern seas, however. Did they stand a chance of victory against such a formidable force?

"Don't worry," Lorist said as he waved his hand, "I am prepared to deploy Potterfang's heavy-armored division over here and form another steel carroballista division. There shouldn't be any issues with two divisions defending the island. The Chikdor Merchant Guild may be impressive at sea, but they are nothing but soft-shelled crabs on land. If they want to conquer the island, they'll have to make landfall. No matter how many they send, we will wipe them all out. Let's see how much manpower and resources they're prepared to deploy."

"What should the navy marine brigade be in charge of, in that case, Milord?" asked Freiyar.

"Your marine brigade will officially be known as the Oceanic Legion from now on. Freiyar, you are the commander of the Oceanic Legion."

Originally, Lorist wanted to call them 'the navy', but after considering the fact that such a concept didn't exist on Grindia, and given the rather underdeveloped state of naval warfare, he chose a name that was simpler to comprehend.

"The marine brigade we have at Bullhorn Bay will be your reserve troops. This time around, Senbaud will help you arrange the ships I expropriated into two armed fleets. One of them will focus on speed and have patrol, reconnaissance and interception duties. The other will be relatively slow and focus on transporting manpower and resources, and fight in direct confrontations, understood?"

"Yes, milord, I understand," replied Freiyar.

"Let me remind you: this time around I've expropriated lots of ships, including most of their crew. Senbaud already has an organized name list. Currently, the two armed fleets are manned mainly by our marines and the pirates that joined us along with Senbaud. As for the men from the ships we expropriated, you should be cautious with their use. If anything goes wrong, it will become incredibly hard to keep under control. If these fellows perform well, we must naturally treat them as we would our comrades. Discrimination is completely forbidden."

"Yes, milord. I will do as you say," promised Freiyar.

After Freiyar left, Charade said, "Milord, while there wouldn't be any problem for Potterfang's heavy-armored division to be deployed here, forming another carroballista division on the island won't be possible."

"What?"

"Even though Silowas Island is huge, two-thirds of its area is covered by mountains and dense forests. Only the terrain here in the eastern area of the island is suitable for agriculture and habitation. We wouldn't be able to feed a whole carroballista division's worth of men and horses. Additionally, we just took in up to 60 thousand refugees from the southwestern area of the Andinaq Kingdom to prepare for large-scale development. Even the food we purchased from the Second Highness can only last us four months at most, and the Second Highness has refused further purchases. He said that the remaining food he had was not for sale as it was reserved for his troops," explained Charade.

"Oh, is that so?" Lorist was troubled after hearing the explanation. He had forgotten that Silowas Island was barely able to sustain its population with on its own agricultural produce alone. Bringing in more soldiers would cause a food shortage.

Potterfang's heavily-armored infantry division excelled in close combat. Even though their armor seemed like the standard issue armor of the house's forces, they wore another layer of mail armor, much like Terman's knights. While it increased the load on each soldier, it afforded them far greater defense.[1] Despite that, they would only be able to show their best performance when acting in concert with the carroballista division, defending as the latter attacked.

The problem was that each carroballista required two horses to move it around swiftly so they could be stationed around the battlefield with ease. Without war horses, the steel ballistae couldn't be moved around the battlefield and stationing them would be quite troublesome. The ballistae wouldn't be able to fire at short notice in that case.

The most Lorist could do about this was to return to the Northlands and discuss how they could resolve the issue with Grandmaster Sid and the rest. Additionally, there were quite a lot of matters back at the dominion that Lorist had to deal with personally, such as setting Professor Balbo's gunpowder research into motion, as well as Master Mancheny's glass production. Lorist also had to start experimenting with cannon and gun designs. Once he had functioning designs, he could equip his ships therewith. Once that was done, the Chikdor Merchant Guild would be in for a nasty surprise. Who the true hegemon of the seas was, was a question that would have to be reconsidered.

Lorist wasn't too willing to leave Silowas Island even so. He understood that House Norton lacked high-tier battle power the most. Based on military power alone, if Lorist claimed House Norton to be ranked second in might, nobody would dare to claim the first spot. Be it the quality of their soldiers or of their equipment, the house's forces completely trumped the other powers by leaps and bounds. Even the Second Highness' 300 thousand-strong army didn't pose much of a threat.

However, apart from Lorist, there were no other blademasters serving the house. During his recent trip to Morante City, Lorist realized that the big-seven merchant guilds could easily bring out four or five blademasters to be stationed elsewhere. However, House Norton only had Lorist.

Even though human-wave tactics could be used to swarm blademasters, it would cost the lives of countless brave soldiers. The huge bleeding gash caused by the assault of Blademaster Zarinan on the house's forces had yet to heal completely. That was why Lorist wasn't intent on leaving Silowas Island in the near future. He had to stand by to receive the Chikdor Merchant Guild's assault.

Lorist believed that since the guild had already lost one blademaster, he could definitely take on three or four more. If he could wipe out at least two of them, his forces could exterminate the invading enemy forces. The guild, after being taught such a harsh lesson, would definitely come to understand that taking Silowas Island was nothing but a pipe dream. Lorist would only be able to return to the Northands without worry after they had been taught this lesson.

"How about this, Freiyar, you will form the two other fleets as quickly as you can. Have the fast fleet patrol the island and maintain its security. When the other armed fleet is completely formed, have it focus all its efforts on transporting food from the Northlands to the island. We must have at least one year's worth of food stocked here," decided Lorist.

"What about the refugees we brought in, Milord? Are we going to stop the development plan?" asked Hansk as he stood up.

He had been put in charge of the planning effort for the development of the dominion. His hand, full of beastskin documents which he seemed intent to report on, attested to this fact.

Lorist almost freaked out as he thought, Why are so many transmigrators I read about able to spend their days in luxury, earning money and hooking up with girls? And even when a war does come to them, they would be able to send tens of millions of soldiers onto the battlefield easily? In contrast, I don't even have enough food to supply two divisions of soldiers here... And given the amount of other stuff I have to tend to, I'm usually busy for the whole day...

Rubbing his temples, Lorist asked, "Summarize it for me, Hansk. Tell me how many development plans you have finished preparing."

Hansk flipped through the beastskin documents in his hands a few times before replying.

"Milord, the main ones concern the move of Whitebird Town, the expansion of the port area, the construction of the defensive walls, and other infrastructure for Whitebird Town and the commerce area, the construction of the embankment at the east part of the island, as well as the replanning and rebuilding of the seven villages and farmland. The renovation of Seaview Manor is nearing its end, and the location for the port for exclusive use of the marine brigade has also been decided. However, the location on which the local defense brigade's citadel is to be constructed has not been decided yet, mainly because of the folk of Whitebird Town's objections."

"Oh, what's up with that?"

"Milord, the folk of Whitebird Town believe that they will not need another local defense brigade because they already have a town garrison of 500 men. They think that the garrison alone is sufficient for the defense of the town. Our original plan was to build the citadel for the local defense brigade between Whitebird Town, the commerce area, and the port..."

The one who explained the situation was the leader of the third local defense brigade, Patt.

"Where will the port for the marine brigade and our Oceanic Legion be constructed?" asked Lorist.

"Over here," Hansk said as he opened a map of Silowas Island, "It's right here along the ridge between Whitebird Town and Seaview Manor. There is a small bay here that will prove to be convenient shielding from waves and strong winds. However, we will have to use a lot of manpower to level the terrain."

Lorist nodded, "Then, station the third local defense brigade where Farama Village used to be. That way, the local defense brigade, the Oceanic Legion, and the two regiments of guards at Seaview Manor will form a triangular defense perimeter. Even before we mobilize our forces from the dominion of the house, the Chikdor Merchant Guild will find it difficult to pierce our defensive line.

"As for Whitebird Town, leave it as it is and let the garrison there maintain order. However, notify them that a battle between House Norton and the Chikdor Merchant Guild will soon take place on the island. For the ones who wish to leave, we will provide them transport to the Northlands. The garrison can choose to maintain a neutral stance in the conflict between us and the guild. They intend to take the island as their own dominion, so I'm sure they wouldn't do anything to the folk living here..."

Just after he finished speaking, Els, who was in charge of the patrols, rushed in with a white letter.

"Milord, the Second Highness just sent an ambassador here to notify us that Andinaq I, the king of the Andinaq Kingdom, passed away five days ago..."

The Third Prince is dead? The founding king of the Andinaq Kingdom, who was officially the heir to the legacy of the Krissen Empire and unfortunate enough to be injured as a result of the assassination plots between his two other brothers, Andinaq I, had finally left the realm of man. Second Highness Auguslo was finally free of the last chain that bound him. He could now finally mobilize his army and begin the war to unify the Empire.

Lorist received the letter from Els, "The skies are changing..."

[1] The author woefully overstates the effectiveness of wearing mail under plate here. Don't get me wrong, mail is very good armor, but it is largely superfluous when worn beneath plate. Mail was worn historically mainly to cover the sections between plates and in joints that would periodically be exposed during movements. The sections where the mail is beneath the plate see very little, if any, benefit from the addition of mail.

The Glass War

Here's the first bonus chapter of the week brought to you by Christopher P. from the USA. Liking the constant stream of updates? ;-) (even though the earlier part of the week was barren)

Charade went to the imperial capital to pay his respects. Lorist hadn't gone, so Charade was there as his representative as well.

What a joke... Going to the imperial capital at this time?!

The reason Lorist was so against meeting the second highness was that he would definitely be asked to 'contribute' to the kingdom in every which way.

Another reason for his resistance to a visit was that he could not afford to take the risk of leaving and having the Chikdor Merchant Guild attack during his absence. Lorist felt that it would be best for him to stay put at Silowas Island and wait for the enemy to attack. This time around, he had to teach the Chikdor Merchant Guild a lesson they could never forget.

The preparations for the battle continued smoothly and those who wanted to evacuate left successfully. Patt also visited Lorist secretly and asked him to write a recommendation letter to be sent to Telesti.

Actually, he had successfully wooed White Restaurant's Martha. Both she and her mother were willing to head to the Northlands to start a new restaurant by the port city. Business on the island wasn't going particularly well, so it wasn't a hindrance to their decision.

However, Martha's mother, Nataya, hoped that their neighbor, Professor Hugo, and his family would be given the same treatment. After asking around, Patt found that Professor Hugo was actually a literature and history professor from the Royal Knight Academy at the imperial capital who had returned to his hometown to escape the civil war. Patt thought that, since Telesti was building Nico Academy, it would be a good idea for Lorist to write a letter recommending Professor Hugo for a teaching position there.

After asking around as he wrote the letter, Lorist realized that he had met Professor Hugo before. He was the puffy, drunk man at Whitebird Restaurant when Lorist had first visited.

No wonder that old guy didn't fear a dominion lord like me and even dared to say that all nobles are perverts... He must have seen lots of things in the imperial capital. He probably understands what truly lies beneath the pleasant and mannered visages of most nobles.

Not many of Silowas Island's residents chose to leave. Most gave their familiarity with island-life and the absence of any desire to move as their reason. As long as they were allowed to continue to live as they had been, they didn't care who their dominion lord was. House Norton hadn't bothered to care for the island for five whole years after receiving it as a fief, so they felt little to no loyalty to it. They felt that they could live as usual whether there was a person lording over them or not.

In fact, there were quite a number of complaints after Lorist arrived at that island. Many of the residents felt that while the developmental plans their dominion lord had in store provided many money-making opportunities for them, it also gave them lots of trouble, affecting their peaceful daily lives.

However, the beauty, Martha, and her family managed to convince a bunch of island residents to head to the Northlands with them, roughly 100 people in total. They were families of substantial wealth. They were worried that their houses and belongings would be raided during the battle, so they felt it would be better for them to move to the Northlands.

The manager in charge of convincing the islanders' move promised that they wouldn't have to worry about accommodation or work in the Northlands. The port city's construction was completed, so there would be enough housing as well as some more benefits to make up for their losses. Additionally, the Northlands required all sorts of talents, they needed not worry about finding employment. Anyone with a skill would have no trouble finding employ.

In his conversations with Patt, Lorist got to know that Victor, the limping captain of Whitebird Town's garrison, was also one of those who had been vying for Martha's affection. However, compared to the young, handsome, wholesome, and strong Patt (it should be noted that those were Patt's personal opinions of himself that do not in any way represent how Lorist perceives Patt), who also had two functioning legs – as opposed to Victor's limp – Martha's choice was obvious.

It was part of the reason for the garrison of Whitebird Town's objection to the construction of the citadel between the town and the commerce area. Patt was the leader of the third local defense brigade and Victor was the captain of the local garrison, with both of them vying for Martha's favor, their units naturally experienced some friction between them as well. Patt, however, wore a face full of smiles the whole time. He radiated the aura of superiority belonging only to a victor (no pun intended).

Good Sol!

It was fortunate that Lorist didn't snap in anger.

Those two bastards are actually treating the house's development plans as a game! To think that I thought the folk of Whitebird Town were actually against the plan... So it was because of these two's personal grudge... Well, that limp isn't a member of the house. When the house stabilizes here at the island, there would be many chances to deal with him. As for Patt, a family knight, how could not realize the weight of the matter…

Naturally, it wasn't that Lorist wanted Patt to have given up on the beauty. But that, at the very least, he should have informed Lorist of the true nature of the situation at the first opportunity. That way, he wouldn't have to move the third local defense brigade to the soon to be abandoned Farama Village. Relying on the limp Victor and his 500 untrained garrison soldiers to defend Whitebird Town was not the best idea.

The days passed one after another, but the enemy had yet to arrive. Each day felt as long as a year for Lorist. He awaited the arrival of the Chikdor Merchant Guild for so long that he thought that he was turning into a rock.

During this period of time, Freiyar had completed the formation of the two fleets, one was led by Senbaud to the Northlands to both send the evacuees there and to bring food to the island. After five days in the Northlands, Senbaud returned. He was far more respectful towards Lorist when he did so.

"I didn't expect that milord's family would be so mighty," said Senbaud.

He finally understood why Lorist had the confidence to fight against the Chikdor Merchant Guild. He had his horizons truly expanded during his trip to the Northlands. However, he was still rather confused about Lorist's rank. Despite being peers in title, Count Lorist and Count Seleih were worlds apart; the latter was nothing more than a beggar compared to the former. Whether it be in terms of his dominion, or his household forces, Count Seleih couldn't compare to Lorist in the slightest! In actuality, House Norton's forces had already exceeded that of a duchy.

Senbaud was working hard to eventually become a knight of House Norton now, but it wasn't going too smoothly for him. Even though a gold-ranked swordsman would be more than welcome to enter the ranks of the knights of most other noble houses, it wasn't the same for House Norton. It prized achievements and contributions the most, though hard work could also be an acceptable substitute for stellar performance. Without one of those, however, one would not be accepted as a knight of the house.

However, after taking a quick stroll around the dominion of the Nortons, Senbaud had resolved himself even more. He wouldn't join any other house, even if they came over to invite him, after what he had seen. Based on the eight manors built for the house's gold-ranked knights at Salus Settlement alone, Senbaud was already filled with desire. The facilities of the manors were complete and not lacking in the slightest. They even with servants and workers already in place. Each year, the manors would produce at least 500 to 800 gold Fordes in profit.

It had to be noted that Senbaud only earned around 100 gold Fordes annually from toiling away and risking his life as a pirate. But now, even before he was a gold-ranked knight, he was receiving a salary of ten gold Fordes a month, which was more than enough for his wife and children to live comfortable, even luxurious lives.

I absolutely have to become a gold-ranked knight of the house and get a manor for my wife and children, thought Senbaud resolutely.

On the 22nd day of the 1st month, Charade returned from the imperial capital. Even by then, the Chikdor Merchant Guild still hadn't shown up to attack. Even Charade was suspicious of the situation. Was the Chikdor Merchant Guild intending to wait for winter to pass? Would they only attack in the 4th or 5th month?

Charade took a breath of cold air as he spoke of the rumors he heard in the capital.

"The second highness is truly cruel. He actually lopped off Second Prince Iblia's head and put it in a silver basin in front of the Third Prince's altar as a sacrifice. The poor Second Prince never would've expected to die at the hands of his own nephew. Even in death, the prince's severed head still wears an expression of shock and terror. What a horrible way to die...

"Also, Second Highness Auguslo gave a rousing speech at the plaza in front of the palace. He claimed that nobody can suppress the desire of the empire's people to reunite and said that anyone who wanted to stop them would be mowed down by his army...

"Naturally, the tens of thousands of people cheered after the speech ended, shaking up the whole capital. All of the people there – soldier and civilian alike – felt that something was lifted off their shoulders following the death of the third prince. Right now, Second Highness Auguslo's army is making the final preparations for war. I estimate they will engage Redlis's forces in the 4th month after the harvest of the winter wheat."

Lorist continued to wait on the island until the 11th day of the 2nd month, on which two large-class, long distance merchant vessels of the Peterson Merchant Guild arrived at the island. The vice president and several others from the guild were onboard, as well as Dulles and the 40 or so talented men he had recruited in Morante City.

"Milord, you should stop waiting here like an idiot. The trade union is already in a bloody battle with the Teribo Kingdom and have no time to bother with taking Silowas Island," said Dulles after greeting Lorist.

After hearing Dulles and the vice president's explanation, Lorist came to understand that the move he made before leaving Morante City, that is, the release of the two letters, had an unintended effect. The letters actually served as a catalyst for the conflict between the trade union and Teribo, and the smaller conflicts at their borders eventually developed into an all-out war.

Lorist was more than elated when he heard the news. Initially, he only thought of causing some trouble for the trade union by releasing those two letters. However, he only thought that this would cause enough tension between Teribo and the trade union to cause them to dissolve their friendly relations. Never would he have thought that he would be able to cause a war between them.

Then again, the letters were only able to play their part thanks to the cooperation of the strait-laced Teribo VII. After the assault incident on the Mayflower Merchant Guild, a third of the inner city of Morante City was ruined. As a result, many of the high officials of various merchant guilds and their family members lost their lives. That did not only involve those from the big-seven guilds, but also the smaller ones that were situated at the inner city as well.

All the residents in the city were boiling with rage and the big-seven guilds were completely unable to suppress the people. It was especially the case with the smaller merchant guild fanning the flames. One representative of the council after another gave their speeches in the public streets, all carrying the same rhetoric of punishing Teribo so that the innocents would be avenged. There were even some that chanted the slogan, 'Attack Feyers City, and catch Teribo VII alive!'

However, the big-seven guilds were more rational than that. Even the Mayflower Merchant Guild which suffered the most losses attempted to suppress the desire of the citizens for revenge. The big-seven sent an ambassador to the capital of Teribo, Feyers City, to get an audience with Teribo VII. The ambassador suggested the kingdom hand the rank three blademaster and rank two blademaster who had managed to escape to the trade union to be punished as murderers so that the citizens of Morante City could be appeased. Additionally, the ambassador requested Teribo pay for the damages incurred by the trade union and was even ready to renegotiate the tax-free benefit the kingdom had with the union on the glass trade.

The big seven guilds felt that their handling of the matter was already really generous, but they didn't expect Teribo VII to so stubbornly refuse all of the suggestions of the trade union. He stressing that the attack on the Mayflower Merchant Guild didn't occur on his orders and that he didn't bear any responsibility for the matter whatsoever.

He even began to utter nonsense in front of the ambassador of the trade union, saying that he thought the blademasters and gold-ranked knights who attacked the Mayflower Merchant Guild must have been incredibly patriotic subjects of the kingdom who acted on their own behalf seeing their kingdom's plight. Teribo VII said that those valiant warriors must have been unable to overlook the trade union's sly betrayal and decided to take action against the Mayflower Merchant Guild regardless of their own lives to destroy those letters so that the kingdom's secret could be kept.

That was how Teribo VII argued that the kingdom bore no responsibility whatsoever for the actions of those patriotic and heroic subjects. They also insisted that the ambassador's demands were nothing but nonsense.

Teribo VII's response infuriated the ambassador of the trade union to the point that he almost spit out blood in anger. Even though the proof was laid in front of him, Teribo VII refused to admit to the allegations. The ambassador really couldn't believe a matter between two nations was being handled in such a childish manner.

Just when the ambassador was leaving, having said that Teribo VII would definitely bear the consequences of his actions, Teribo VII lashed out once again. He gladly declared that he would award the brave warriors with the highest honor and hold a ceremony at Feyers City in memory of the brave heroes that were willing to give their lives to protect the interests of the kingdom.

This time around, the ambassador truly coughed up blood.

By the time the big seven guilds received Teribo VII's official reply from the insulted ambassador, they felt as if they had been slapped squarely in the face. So, they made a joint decision. During the 5th day of the 12th month when the auction was held, the Mayflower Merchant Guild made their own bid and purchased the oil and green glass production method letters with 23 million gold Fordes.

In actuality, the academies didn't really receive such a huge amount of money for the letters. A day before the auction, an agreement was made with them. Each academy would receive 1.5 million gold Fordes apart from the Dawn Academy, which got 2 million gold Fordes. After that, Academy Head Levins would announce that the letters were indeed sold for 23 million gold Fordes and 'donate' 20 million to the restoration of the inner city. The remaining 3 million gold Fordes would be used to set up the Mancheny Fund to support poorer students in their studies. While that was the cover story, all parties involved made quite a huge profit off the deal. However, Dawn Academy managed to also greatly improve their reputation.

Upon receiving the letters for the glass production methods, the trade union announced that they would produce and market their own glass products and refuse to import those produced by Teribo, thus completely severing any and all benefits afforded to the kingdom in the process.

The moment the kingdom received word of that, Teribo VII jumped in rage.

What?! So the two letters that were destroyed at the cost of so many blademasters and gold-ranked knights were fakes?! The trade union truly is sly... No wonder nobles always get the short end of the stick when dealing with merchants. It was all because of the paranoia of the merchants that caused us to fall for their ploy and suffer so many losses in the process...

Teribo VII, who automatically victimized himself, began to boil in rage. There was no way he could form another group of blademasters and gold-ranked knights to steal the letters back. Thus, he decided to mobilize his army of 50 thousand to the border of the trade union. He was prepared to use his military might to force the trade union to cease glass production immediately.

However, Teribo VII forgot one crucial fact. Even the impressive Krissen Empire boasting an army of 300 thousand men wasn't able to make the Forde Trade Union cower, not to say much about the Teribo Kingdom's 50 thousand. The trade union soldiers often bumped into Teribo Kingdom soldiers and would delve into a round of verbal abuse. It was fortunate that both sides didn't fight with their weapons, but bare-handed brawls were not uncommon.

In the end, one of the trade union's villages near the border fell victim to a squad of Teribo soldiers. They barged into the village for some food and rest. In the meantime, some of the soldiers felt the need to show the womenfolk of the village what a true Teribo man was capable of in bed.

Who would've expected the soldiers to encounter a Morante City mercenary group there? Mercenaries weren't beholden to as many regulations as formal defense soldiers. Normal soldiers would have to first lodge a formal complaint after sending the offending enemy soldiers back to their camp and request the other party to punish the offenders for violating military regulations.

However, when the mercenaries realized the village folk were oppressed to no end, they instantly broke into a fight. The Teribo soldiers that managed to escape reported that they had been ambushed, causing several squads of reinforcements to be sent to the village. As a result, the slaughter of the mercenaries began. That incident attracted the trade union's defense forces, further growing the scale of the border conflict.

When Teribo VII heard about the battle at the border and the number of deaths among his soldiers, he was elated and thought that he could use that as an excuse to teach the trade union's unruly mercenaries some manners. So, he ordered his 50-thousand-strong army to launch an attack on Morante City, intent on encircling the city and forcing the trade union to sign a treaty.

The war effort progressed without trouble at first as the trade union didn't think that Teribo would actually launch an attack. They had been assaulted in a completely unprepared state, allowing the Teribo Kingdom's army to occupy the two cities at the border of the Falik Plains. The act was akin to prodding a nest full of hornets. The trade union declared war against Teribo immediately with the pretext of self-defensive retaliation. They wanted to let Teribo VII taste the consequences of his own actions, which had started the war.

The moment the trade union unleashed their forces, Teribo came to understand the saying, 'a dog that bites doesn't bark'. Right before Dulles boarded the ship heading to Silowas Island with the others, not only did the trade union take back the two occupied cities, their forces even breached Teribo's defenses and crossed its borders, conquering seven of its commanderies, which was about half of the kingdom's whole territory.

The Teribo Kingdom only occupied an area roughly equivalent to four provinces of the Krissen Empire, it didn't use provinces to split up its territory and instead split it up into 15 commanderies.

"Right now, Teribo VII is crying out for the neighboring nations to reinforce him and even mobilized everyone he could in his kingdom. swearing that he would resist the heartless enemy that forgot all the aid his kingdom had offered. He said that the army of the trade union even broke a taboo by taking over heaps of the kingdom's territory," said Dulles in a snickering voice.

The Haphazard War

The second bonus release of the week was brought to you by an anonymous donor. Enjoy!

The Glass War that occurred during the 1st month of the year 1773 between the Forde Union and the Teribo Kingdom caused much distress among the military historians. There were many arguments regarding the event and no consensus was ever reached.

One historian argued that the 30 years of peace enjoyed by the Union had caused their people to forget how to go to war. As for the performance by Teribo VII, it was even more laughable. During the war, which lasted for eight months, the confrontations were at most skirmishes over a village or two, there wasn't a single account of either side launching a proper attack, or of a field battle between the two sides. The war was fraught with betrayals, surrenders, trades, and ploys, however.

In the end, the war was recorded in the chronicles of Grindia as one that greatly influenced the political situation of the whole continent. Although the war lasted only eight months, it resulted in the destruction of the Teribo kingdom and seven other neighboring nations to vanish. In actuality, the conflict was a disorganized, brainless, and messy affair, nothing more than an insane banquet of insidious plots.

If you were to read a whole book on the subject, you would be unable to breathe afterward. 'Death by laughter' would be written on your tombstone.

Teribo VII, for instance, ordered a count, Count Edmund, at one point to attack Morante with his 500-thousand-strong-army. The count instructed his troops to march on Bluweck, a Union city in the Falik Plains, he even ordered the marching band to perform as they marched.

One might argue that the count intended to use a hitherto unheard of tactic to confuse his enemy before launching the attack, but the truth was that he simply thought it was standard military procedure. The count's troops actually did manage to confuse the garrison, if only because of the complete illogicality of their behavior. In fact, the garrison troops even thought the Union had struck some sort of agreement with the kingdom.

The garrison didn't bother to stop the advance of the troops, they merely watched the performance. The soldiers even informed their captain to come out and receive them as guests. The captain, upon witnessing the scene, was confused as well. Why on earth had he not received any notice of their impending arrival beforehand?

The kingdom's troops, who, at this point, had marched to the gates of the city, hadn't even bothered to send out scouts. The impression they gave was that of a friendly army. The garrison's captain could only curse the messenger he believed to be drunk somewhere for not bringing him the notice due. Despite his misgivings about the situation, he headed outside to prepare the reception.

And that was how one of the Union's cities was lost. After the city's successful capture, Count Edmund ordered his troops to continue on to Ritte. It, too, fell by the same token. Had Count Edmund known his success was thanks to the confusion his own ignorance had wrought on the enemy, he would have attacked a few more cities before the enemy could react. His fame would have soared overnight had he done so.

It was a shame that he didn't. He thought, instead, that the garrisons had surrendered out of fear, that they had been terrified by his army's confidence. He didn't bother to question the two officers, whose names were indicative of their peasantry. He simply locked them up.

What Count Edmund did pay attention to was the arrival of tea time. He was already rather satisfied with conquering two cities within a day and felt that he should throw a banquet during the night to congratulate himself. There were a number of noble-born widows in Ritte. The count felt that some might just choose to follow him after hearing of his magnificent military exploits.

The count ordered his troops to lock down the city and prevent any entry or exit and prepared his magnificent banquet. As he went about preparing for his feast, his soldiers began harassing the citizens. At the same time, a patrol outside the city realized what had happened, and began to take action.

The Union's garrison forces couldn't really be blamed for being so careless. They had been indoctrinated with the idea that the Teribo Kingdom was a great ally to the Union. Even after the Mayflower Merchant Guild incident, most of the people felt that it was just some kind of freak accident that the higher-ups would sort out sooner or later.

The other reason for the failure was winter. Even though the Falik Plains were far warmer than the Northlands during the winter, there had been no precedent for battles breaking out during the season. Most of the garrison had taken leave to spend time with their families. The patrol troops were left even more confused when they saw the kingdom's army advance with a marching band. Nobody would imagine that an attack would accompany the performance.

During the evening, news of the kingdom's 'attacks' and the loss two cities spread to Morante. In stark contrast to the cheers and excitement the city's folk had shown when they had heard about the war, the big-seven guilds were completely terrified. They didn't know how strong the kingdom's forces actually were for them to be able to take two cities in a single night.

It should be noted that the Union's garrisons had experienced incredibly gruesome sieges in the past.

It's no wonder that Teribo VII dared to threaten to go to war with us, thought the heads of the big seven guilds, who were under the impression that losing two cities was a testament to the might of the Teribo Kingdom's forces.

However, they did not cower even though the enemy was already at their doorstep. Quickly, the Union decided to formally declare war. After considering the harshness of a dragged-out conflict, they announced that any citizen would be allowed to participate in the war, and those with contributions would also be awarded titles and land following the implementation of the nobility system.

The Twinhead Dragon Merchant Guild's president, Cobleit William, solemnly took up the role of commander-in-chief. He had undertaken painstakingly careful preparations to combat the might of the kingdom's forces. The plan was to build an army and deploy it at Calidor, the third-closest city to the kingdom, and their next logical target, by the 3rd month.

President Cobleit contacted the Calidor's garrison immediately and forbade them from going into battle, no matter how much they were provoked by the enemy, and make defense their only priority. As long as they could defend Calidor, the Union's army could use the same strategy they had used against the Krissen Empire a couple of decades earlier: the would drag the conflict on for as long as possible and bleed the enemy white. One the enemy was pale, they could launch a single, decisive counterattack that would end the war and give them ultimate victory.

The Union didn't put much emphasis on military might. Despite being at war with the Krissen Empire for more than a century, their standing army had always been quite small. It couldn't even rival the forces of a standard, small duchy. The whole of the Union, across the rich Falik Plains, the Callisto Hills, and Hidegold Bay was only defended by three armed forces, namely: the garrison's of the respective cities, the patrol regiments, and the Invincible Fleet.

Apart from Morante, seven other cities were located on the Falik Plains. However, each city was only defended by a 2 thousand man garrison. Morante was slightly better off. Their garrison numbered 4 thousand. The rest of the Falik Plains and the Callisto Hills were only defended by a small regiment of patrol troops that did monthly rounds.

The most well-funded force was the Invincible Fleet, and that was mainly due to them having to deal with raiders and pirates on a regular basis. After all, those parties were what truly threatened the interests of the Union. There had also been suggestions to put the Invincible Fleet under the complete control of the Chikdor Merchant Guild since it was already the hegemon of the sea. The Union would no longer need to fund the fleet, it could instead leave it entirely to the Chikdor Merchant Guild.

However, the Chikdor Merchant Guild rejected the suggestion, they argued that its fleets only engaged in ocean combat to protect its monopoly on the various trade routes. They even threatened to keep the fleet anchored at Hodegold Bay; it would serve only as a symbolic deterrent, without any actual combat capabilities.

The most underfunded segment was the garrison forces. They enjoyed no sympathy from the council members, despite being as severely understaffed as they were. Some within the council felt that, since the Krissen Empire was no more and their neighbouring nations were all on friendly terms with them, it was time for the garrison forces under the direct command of the Union to be disbanded. The cities would have to rely on their own local militia garrisons to defend themselves. Of course, the reduction in expenditure was a great incentive for this opinion.

It was a bad habit of merchants to skimp on any spending that wouldn't bring them profit. Every annual council meeting saw countless arguments concerning military spending. The big-seven guilds were markedly more rational than the rest, however. They had jointly vetoed the proposal to disband the state-funded garrisons as well as proposals to decrease the Invincible Fleet's funding.

As a result, the retaliatory army formed by President Cobleit had a regiment of garrison soldiers from Morante and a regiment of light cavalry patrol troops from the Callisto Hills as its main force. The rest of the army included seven armed regiments belonging to the big-seven guilds, which were considerably more capable. The rest of the army consisted of civilian companies from smaller merchant guilds, mercenary bands, as well as some Moranites who wished to answer to the Union's call to arms. Within the span of three days, President Cobleit managed to gather an army of 500 thousand men, though they were naught but a ragtag bunch of troops.

The president didn't mind the that it wasn't a cohesive unit, however. After all, the Union was quite experienced with siege battles. For the past century, it was with these 'ragtag forces' that the Union had resisted the invading Krissen Empire. The army would still be of much use in resisting the kingdom's forces.

President Cobleit found the most comfort and confidence in the fact that his army contained a high number of high-tier fighters despite being not formally trained. For instance, the leaders of the mercenary bands were usually of the gold rank. Other than that, the seven groups of soldiers sent by the seven largest merchant guilds had all had their battleforce awakened, not to mention the blademaster that led them.

While a group like that wasn't easy to deal with, it would definitely serve as a real pain defending against the enemy. Should the Teribo Kingdom wish to take the city, they would have to lose lots of experienced soldiers and high-tier fighters. This was the foundation of the Union which had resisted the Krissen Empire's 100-year-long invasion.

Naturally, there would be a lot of factors at play on the battlefield that couldn't be accounted for beforehand. As countless military historians have pointed out, while the Union's army was a disorganized bunch, the Teribo Kingdom's army was nothing but a joke.

When President Cobleit led the Union's forces towards Calidor to set up a defensive line, he heard some rumors from Ritte that sounded like something out of a legend.

Count Edmund had already been held up at Ritte for three days, mainly because he got intimate with two beauties there and wasn't ready to part with them yet. So, the count reported to his king that he was sitting out battle during the winter. He stated that the bad weather made it incredibly hard for troops to travel. He would continue his advance when the snow melted a little bit more.

Teribo VII was quite convinced with the count's excuse, given the count's reputation. He proceeded to wait patiently for news of the Union losing the war to come from the front lines. Never did he consider how long it would take for messengers to travel between him and the front.

The night before President Cobleit arrived at Calidor, Ritte was thrown into utter turmoil. One of the garrison's top officers, gold-ranked swordsman Jessbon, had been absent during the original attack, of the original 2 thousand or so soldiers in the garrison, 1418 had escaped the city during the original assault. Of the remaining forces, 300 had been put to death for their resistance, and another 400 held captive.

"Brothers, our garrison force has always been neglected. Those council members can't wait to disband us and have forgotten the sacrifice and contributions we made during the Krissen Empire's invasion.

"Even though we are a proud unit, we also have a rather embarrassing record. We lost Ritte just like that. I refuse to live with the shame of losing the place we were supposed to defend. So, I will ambush our enemy tonight. Is there anyone here who is willing to die fighting alongside me?" Jessbon had asked those who accompanied him.

All 1 thousand 1 hundred plus garrison soldiers responded fervently. They would rather die in battle. So, they secretly snuck into the city under Jessbon's lead and began their suicidal assault on the city hall.

Over the century-long conflict with the Krissen Empire, the Union's garrison forces had gained a lot of experience. For example, they knew that all walled cities had three or four secret paths to the outside which could be both used to escape in a time of crisis. Even if a city was taken by the enemy and heavily defended, the rightful rulers could use the secret paths to begin their assault and catch the enemy unawares.

This assault was no exception. The thousand plus garrison soldiers' attack greatly surprised the troops occupying the city. As Count Edmund, who was staying at the city hall, heard the sounds of fighting encroach upon him, he jumped out of his bed naked and stretched out his hand. However, he didn't manage to grasp his clothes and instead caught his hands on a band he wore around his waist in formal attire.

Count Edmund thus rushed out of the building naked without batting an eye. Arriving at the stables, he quickly took one of the horses and began riding. At the same time, the soldiers that barged into the count's room only saw two confused beauties. By then, the count had already managed to rush out of the city hall and went his own way.

As for the soldiers who noticed the commotion at the hall, they hurriedly prepared to eliminate the enemy, only to be greeted with the sight of Count Edmund riding towards them butt-naked. As he swayed, he called out, "I'm Count Edmund! Quick, let me through the gates!"

The gates had only been opened slightly when the count was already through and on his way to the horizon. Seeing that their general had run away, the soldiers who remained didn't bother to fight either and made their escape.

So transpired the greatest recapture of a city in the entire history of Grindia. The Union's 1 thousand 1 hundred plus garrison soldiers' suicide attack against the 45 thousand Teribo soldiers stationed at Ritte ended with the enemy general, Count Edmund, escaping naked on horseback, and the remaining soldiers crumbling in disarray. There were roughly 10 thousand who escaped and 27 thousand who surrendered. It was said that the troops that surrendered even obediently stacked their weapons in a corner and lined themselves up by the streets in an orderly fashion.

Regiment Captain Jessbon, who had become famous because of the battle cried that night. Where would he find the food needed to feed the 27 thousand prisoners?! Upon receiving Jessbon's message, President Cobleit hurried to Ritte to take in the prisoners.

Count Edmund took two cities in a single day and lost them in a single night as well. After he escaped from Ritte, he went to Bluweck and shouted beyond its gates. There were 5 thousand Teribo soldiers stationed there. By the time the gates were open, clouds of dust had begun to form behind the count.

Ah, that must be from the soldiers who escaped... Wait, what if they're actually the enemy? Gah, I have no time to differentiate between them!

After finishing the thought, Count Edmund quickly fled to the Teribo kingdom.

The moment the soldiers stationed at Bluweck witnessed his retreat, they thought that since the force of 45 thousand that went ahead of them had already lost, there wouldn't be much of a point to them remaining. So, they began their retreat as well. Bluweck was miraculously recaptured that very night.

After two days, President Cobleit arrived at the border of the two nations with his 500 thousand troops. As for the conflict, the Teribo kingdom's forces crumbled even before any actual battle began. Given the situation, was the Teribo kingdom going to be on the losing side?

Even though the big-seven guilds were considering what they should do to wrap up the situation, the smaller merchant guilds, mercenary bands, and volunteer soldiers were unhappy. Since all of them were there because they were promised land and titles for their achievements, if no battle occurred, wouldn't they have wasted their trip? So, the decision was made to breach the kingdom's border.

After the big-seven guilds hesitated for two days, they received word that two of the kingdom's commanderies had already been conquered.

The Mayflower Merchant Guild's president said, "Since it has boiled down to this, let's just wipe Teribo out. We will need land to enfeoff for those with achievements, after all. Other than that, the simple-minded king will only cause us worry if left to his own devices right next to the Union. And since we already have the secret of glass production, we might as well take the source of their ingredients: Quartz Mountain. That would save us even more capital for venturing into the glass business."

Since the Teribo kingdom is such a delicious dish, we shouldn't abstain from enjoying it now that it has already been brought to our mouths! thought President Cobleit as he grit his teeth.

He converted his retaliatory army into an invasion force and sent it marching towards the Teribo kingdom.

Clash of the High-Tiers

This third bonus chapter of the week was brought to you by an anonymous supporter. See you next week!

"The Union managed to push the kingdom's army out of their territory in just ten days? Does that mean that the Teribo Kingdom will fall in another month?" asked Els.

Dulles clicked his lips and said, "The situation is already beyond me. When I arrived, the Union's main force was in a standoff with four-allied nations' armies. The army they can muster now has to be from Teribo VII requesting aid from his neighboring kingdoms. I have no doubt that they are desperate to chase the Union out of the kingdom."

"According to them, however, they have come to mediate the conflict. The reason they stopped the Union's forces from advancing was to prevent peace from being further disrupted. They all know full well that the Teribo kingdom's forces can't withstand the Union's. Had it not been for the huge price offered by Teribo VII, no nation would dare to offend the trade union.

"Was there any conflict during the standoff?" asked Josk.

He had quite a bit of experience in life, so the joke of a war fascinated him.

"How could there not be? The Union's ragtag bunch are at least still not completely insane. They wouldn't launch an attack on well-fortified defenses unless there were worthwhile benefits involved. In fact, the reason they invaded the kingdom in the first place was so they could benefit. They want to rack up some contributions and raid the lands of the kingdom's rich nobles. None of them are idiots who would go on a suicidal mission for no gain. President Cobleit is having an emergency discussion with the allied nations as we speak. He's hoping to convince them to retreat and refrain from interfering in the two country's war.

"Milord, when I departed, the trade union had already taken over seven of the kingdom's commanderies, almost half its territory. Despite this massive gain, they've never actually fought a proper battle! Most of the time the kingdom's soldier would surrender the moment they notice the Union approaching. There was even one garrison captain from one of the commanderies who sent somebody to inform President Cobleit that he would open the gates without resistance as long as he was given the dominion lord's daughter's hand in marriage. Naturally, the president accepted," said Dulles.

He gulped down a cup of water to quench his thirst. His throat was not used to being used this much.

Charade barged into the room all of a sudden. He had just returned from surveying the construction site. The moment he heard about the war between the Teribo kingdom and the trade union, he became anxious. Given that his father was a glass merchant, would the war affect the peace of his family?

Without waiting for Charade to say anything, Dulles said, "Don't worry, Brother. Your family is fine. Given your father's fox-like cunningness, he had long brought the whole family to hide at the Dawn Academy. He also bought a few warehouses' worth of glass with the money he had remaining. After I asked him why he bought so much glass, he said that since glass products wouldn't expire as long as they weren't broken, he could keep them until the Peterson Merchant Guild starts the trade route to our dominion. He will ship all the glass to the Northlands and be satisfied if he can get his capital back four times over."

Even though Charade felt relieved after hearing of his family's safety, he blushed when he heard about how his father planned to do business at the dominion. His awkward expression caused all those present to laugh teasingly.

Lorist patted on Charade's shoulder and said, "There's no issue. Uncle is quite a fast-adapting person. He is always welcome to come to the dominion to do business. As long as he doesn't violate our regulations and doesn't oppress others with his power, he is free to earn all he wants. If his business runs well, we can even have him take charge of our house's exports. Dulles, tell me more about the war."

"Yes, milord," Dulles said.

He paused for a while to recall what he could before continuing.

"Over 100 thousand Union troops have moved in and occupied the kingdom's territory. They've noticed how weak the kingdom actually is. It's basically a piece of deboned meat. Naturally, everyone wants to take a bite. Almost all of Morante's mercenaries are over there now. Even Charlando formed a mercenary band with Kindoz and the rest. They're intent on making a profit in the kingdom. Louise said they were going to raid some of the rural nobles' manors.

"Now that Teribo VII is facing the destruction of his kingdom, even he must be starting to realize that things have gotten out of hand. He's ordered Count Edmund to be hung and requested the aid of his neighboring nations.

"He's also ordered his ambassadors to spread word of the increasing threat the Union poses. Apparently, they are supposed to put emphasis on that the Union has turned its sights on the previously either uninvolved or allied nations now that the Krissen Empire has been dissolved. Now that the kingdom has already become the union's first victim, Teribo VII wants to warn everyone that the neighboring nations will be next. I understand that he's encouraging the nations to unite against the Union.

"His propaganda has been quite effective. He's been king for 20 years now and is no doubt using every trick he has. I'm sure he can sleep soundly again now that he has four other nations helping him out.

"It seems he isn't satisfied with just sleeping soundly, however. I've heard he's contacted even more nations, asking them to join his campaign against the Union. He wants to fight all the way to Morante and force the Union to surrender. Aside from the benefits he wants to demand from the Union, he also wants to include the prohibition of glass production in the terms of surrender.

"Sol, if that isn't excessive, I don't know what is! Teribo VII truly is simple-minded. Even at a time like this, he's still not willing to give up on glass," commented Els.

Dulles continued, "Of course it is. Apparently, it's left his allies dumbstruck. The Union has already flatly rejected his demands. They're only willing to accept a cease-fire if Teribo VII reimburses them for the damages caused during the Mayflower Merchant Guild incident. They've also demanded that he cede the territory the Union currently occupies.

"Right now, the allied army is in quite a pinch. They only have 47 thousand people. They can't possibly take on 100 Union soldiers. They might have accepted Teribo VII's offer, but that doesn't mean they're willing to clash with the Union in full-on battle. Given that they won't even clash with the Union at all, Teribo VII's dream of having them fight all the way to Morante is just wishful thinking, it's never going to happen. They just want to end the conflict so they can go their own ways.

"They don't realize, however, how troubled President Cobleit is. He only controls half of the troops. The other 50 thousand are acting independently, and thus don't take orders from him. They're merely messing around in the territory already conquered. The trade union's own forces only include those of thebig-seven guilds, the patrol regiment, and the garrison regiment. However, these people number fewer than 30 thousand. They have even taken on a defensive stance just in case the allied army decides to ambush them.

"So far, the kingdom's forces are also watching the negotiations defensively. There was an article in the Morante Daily that mocked the war for being a stagnated one with no end in sight. "

Not one of them expected the war to stay at a stalemate for three long months. When Dulles left Morante, the stalemate had already lasted for little over ten days.

"Are you sure the big-seven guilds have their attention fully focused on the Teribo kingdom? Even the Chikdor Merchant Guild? They won't be coming over to fight for Silowas Island anytime soon, will they?" asked Lorist.

"That is correct, milord," Dulles replied, "Just before I boarded the ship to leave, I saw the Twinhead Dragon Merchant Guild, Mayflower Merchant Guild, Peterson Merchant Guild, and Chikdor Merchant Guild each send another regiment of reinforcements to the Teribo Kingdom. The Forde Merchant Guild, on the other hand, is busy taking in the Lormo duchy's Puljas province; and the Wald Merchant Guild is trying hard to convince the Mobia duchy to join the trade union in the same manner. As for the Wessia Merchant Guild, they're hesitant about the whole thing. They've invested a lot in the Redlis kingdom and aren't willing to give it up just yet.

"Oh, and President Peterson told me something secretly before I left. He said that the Chikdor Merchant Guild was originally going to hire eight blademasters above rank 2 to assault you. They've been left cowering by your killing spree last time," concluded Dulles with such an important revelation.

"What did you say?!" Els, Josk and the others all jumped in surprise, "You should've brought that up first!"

"Hehe, there's no need to worry about that anymore," Dulles said as he shrugged, "The Chikdor Merchant Guild's plan can no longer be implemented. All the high-tier fighters have gone to the kingdom, including even the Chikdor Merchant Guild's own blademasters. "

"Are you sure about that?" Charade asked, furrowing his brow, "What does the war there have anything to do with blademasters? Also, didn't President Cobleit only bring a few high-tier fighters with him? Don't tell me the Chikdor Merchant Guild is trying to mislead us. Milord, you should definitely pay attention to your safety in the future. While you can handle a single blademaster with ease, being assaulted by a group of them would definitely be disastrous."

"I'm sure," Dulles said, nodding, "Actually, this was the result of Teribo VII's antics. With the allied army standing off against the Union's troops, Teribo VII is preparing to reorganize the military layout of the kingdom. However, the kingdom's army has always been incredibly weak, especially for the last 200 years. What's even worse, the majority of the gold-ranked knights the kingdom had were wiped out during their assault on the Mayflower Merchant Guild.

"Without them, the nobles who wish to win some quick victories, as well as the normal soldiers, no longer have proper leaders. It seems that Teribo VII is trying to pull the Union down to his level since he can't match them as they are now.

"I suspect that's why he's begun to recruit the high-tier fighters of his neighboring nations. I doubt it's so they can join his army. It's far more likely that he wants them to assassinate the Union's gold-ranked knights and their blademasters. He's offered astronomical bounties for the heads of gold-ranked knights and blademasters, a single gold-ranked knight is worth 10 thousand gold Fordes, and a blademaster is worth 200 thousand. "

The bounties tempted even Lorist. He had half a mind to return to the Union to earn himself a few million gold Fordes.

"Has the measure been effective? " asked Els.

"Yes!" Dulles responded almost instantly.

"In the eight days between his announcement of the bounties and my departure, nine gold-ranked knights were already assassinated. They were mostly either mercenary leaders or captains of civilian militias. They were targeted when they were busy raiding manors. Not only were they wiped out, their troops were dragged into the mess as well. Only a lucky few managed to escape alive.

"Apart from them, one of the Riwald Merchant Guild's blademasters was also assassinated. According to the kingdom's official statement, two blademasters from the Teria duchy were responsible for that and the bounty has already been given out.

"President Cobleit was no doubt furious. He sent his men to the Teria duchy to confront their leader. Unfortunately, he didn't know where the blademasters had gone. He's insisted that Teribo VII be blamed, not him. The duchy apparently only pays its blademasters 6 thousand gold fords annually. It's no wonder they were swayed by the bounty.

"Just one day before I left, the Morante Daily reported that President Cobleit himself had been targeted several times. Fortunately, he wasn't injured and the three blademasters that came for him were killed. His bounty is far higher than that of an average blademaster. Since he's the commander-in-chief of the Union's forces, his head is worth 1.5 million gold Fordes. The identities of the three blademasters have also been revealed. They belonged to the neighboring nations as well."

"I'm worried for that darned uncle of mine," said Els.

Laughing, Dulles said, "Don't worry. Old Char's still pretty clear-headed and more cunning than most. The moment the bounty was released, he knew something was up and went back to Morante with me. They managed to raid two manors and brought with them quite a huge amount of fine wine and made quite the profit. Right now, he's happily continuing his job as the boss of the inn."

"Then, did the Union take any measures against Teribo VII's bounties?" asked Charade.

"There's not much they can do," Dulles said, shaking his head, "I thought about it quite a bit on my way here. I couldn't come up with any possible countermeasure. The Union can't retaliate in kind since they don't have any high-tier fighters left, apart from rank two and three blademasters. The Union is likely also unwilling to stoop to Teribo VII's level. It's laughable to even think that they can compete with the king's bounties. I have no doubt that they think Teribo VII's gone completely mad to be throwing away his money like dirty water. Nobody's willing to pay that kind of money.

"As for the ones who assassinated the Union's high-tier fighters, they were mostly from other nations. There's no way that the trade union can accuse them and put bounties on their heads without any hard evidence, it would only make them more enemies. Even if they did have the evidence, the nations could simply claim the blademasters acted independently and shift all the blame on them. This move has completely destabilized the Union's position, and apart from securing their high-tier fighters, there's not much they can do about it.

"There is word that one of the mediators from the neighboring nations criticized Teribo VII's move for creating more conflict. Right now, the Union has already sworn to wipe the kingdom out. But Teribo VII has still declared that he doesn't mind spending 20 million gold Fordes to wipe out all of the Union's high-tier fighters. He even claimed that it wouldn't take long for the Union to start begging to negotiate peace."

"Good Sol! He's smacking other people's faces with money!" Els cried out, "It's a shame I'm not a blademaster. Otherwise, I would be there earning a quick buck right now."

Future military historians criticised the war for being just a series of skirmishes over villages, but what they failed to mention was the absolute massacre of high-tier fighters that happened in the shadows between the skirmishes. About 76 high-tier fighters fell during the Glass War, ten times the amount expected from a war of similar scope fought on the field of battle. Among the 76, 52 were gold-ranked swordsmen, mostly belonging to the trade union, and 24 were blademasters. However, only 7 of the 24 were members of the Union.

The manner in which the war was fought was primarily decided by Teribo VII. The confrontations between the Union's high-tier fighters and those of the allied nations continued for almost half a year, but the Union stood as the victor in the end.

Without their high-tier fighters, the seven nations bordering the Teribo Kingdom were pillars infested with termites. Though they appeared strong from the outside, their power was hollow. They were crushed by the Union's army easily.

"While there's nothing weird about you coming back with the talent you recruited, why did the Peterson Merchant Guild send their people here too? Are they up to something? Did you interact with them during the trip?"

After being briefed on the war, Lorist asked Dulles about the people of the Peterson Merchant Guild.

"I have no idea," Dulles said, "I only know that the vice president cares the most about the local products and goods we have over here, he's even come along on the trip. They never asked about our military, so instead, we talked about the ironspine crocodiles we have at Blackmud Marsh. I suspect he wants to monopolize trade with our dominion."

"That's weird. Wasn't the Peterson Merchant Guild going to take the northwestern area of the Redlis Kingdom as their dominion? That's the main reason they weren't able to deal with our house directly. It seems that they've changed their mind about the embargo on products and trade with the Andinaq Kingdom. Oh well, there's no use pondering over it. I'll get to know what's going on after talking to the vice president during the banquet tonight," said Lorist as he shook his head as if it helped him to toss the matters he couldn't understand out of his head.