Chapter 428 - 296 - 300

Garrison Division

This will be this week's 4th release.

I'd also like to let you guys know that this will be the last release of the week. My final exam paper is due next wednesday, so I will have to focus all my attention on studying. Rest assured that the missed chapter will definitely be made up for in the coming weeks (after the 8th) when I can continue translating at full force! See you guys until then!

"You two are as close to me as blood brothers. Don't be so tense around me. Relax," said Lorist.

His words didn't have the desired effect.

They looked each other in the eye and said even more respectfully, "Milord, if you have any instructions, we will definitely see it done even if it'll cost us our lives."

Lorist let out a troubled smile and sat back down on his swordtooth tiger skin seat, taking a deep breath. He realized that ever since he did not heed the advice of the others around him, ever since he insisted on killing the 100 thousand prisoners and using their heads -- along with those of the dead enemy soldiers -- to build the 33-meter-tall pyramid, all the household knights and soldiers looked at him with deep, fearful respect.

One time, when Lorist saw Els daydreaming, he secretly approached him and patted on his shoulder playfully. The moment Els turned back and realized that it was him, however, he was so shocked that he jumped almost three feet high. Charade also stopped interacting with him on an informal basis and maintained the demeanor of a proper subordinate; he refused to call Lorist by his nickname, 'Locke'.

Additionally, the slave fighters who had originally intended to return home had changed their minds almost instantly when Lorist asked them to reconsider joining the Nortons. Even those who did want to go home promised gingerly that they would bring their family members to the dominion before joining the house and stressed that they were not trying to run away from returning the grace he had showed them.

Sigh, guess I've become the demon king... Well, Dread's Monument was probably a big part of it.

Even the situation at Nupite was completely in order. Despite housing over 400 thousand people, everything went without a hitch. All of the liberated slaves obeyed the policies and directives of House Norton without so much as starting a street brawl. Everything looked eerily peaceful.

Sol, it seems that the liberated slaves fear me more than they did their former slavers.

Lorist was at a loss about what to do. It was one thing to kill the 100 thousand combatants they had captured. But Lorist's hatred for the pirates and slavers' descendants had driven him to kill off the civilians as well. The move made sense, he wanted to remove the seeds of vengeance from the get go so that they would not cause any trouble in the future, but that didn't mean it wouldn't strike fear into the hearts of others. One could even say the unintended consequences were beneficial; Lorist had wanted to deter others from making trouble for him in the future, and this did achieve that aim. It was just that his chosen approach seemed to be a little too effective. It had isolated him from even his own men.

The two, both of whom were technically Lorist's seniors -- his father's two illegitimate children -- Molocinque and Wellickson, were on edge regardless if what he said. They behaved like they were walking on ice that shouldn't even be able to support their weight.

"Norton Molocinque, three-star-silver-ranked household knight and current regiment leader of the heavy-armored division's third brigade, you have shown true heroism and your troops adore you.

"Norton Wellickson, two-star-silver-ranked household knight and regiment leader of the light cavalry scouts division's third regiment, you have defended your station with bravery and courage despite your injury."

Lorist tossed the folder in his hand onto the table.

"Eight years have passed since I returned to the dominion and become the head of the house. As my elder brothers sharing the blood of my father, you have performed incredibly well. I am incredibly appreciative and have allowed you to bear the family name. I have asked you two to come because I intend to discuss the archipelago's defense with you.

"I believe you are well aware that the archipelago is now our overseas territory. I intend to form a garrison division for the archipelago comprising five brigades. Molocinque, I want you to be the division commander. Wellickson will be your aide."

Both Molocinque and Wellickson were shocked. It was already incredibly magnanimous of Lorist to see them as equals, given their illegitimate heritage, but now he was giving them such a responsibility, such a chance to prove themselves? This was not something they could have hoped for, much less expected. In other noble households, illegitimate children were usually oppressed and looked down upon, but here they had not only been made official members of the household, but were even being given a chance to make some contributions and build a name for themselves.

"Don't think too much about this. It is my fortune to have two talented brothers. In fact, I expect you to rack up more contributions house. My hope is that you will eventually be given noble ranks and enfeoffed land of your own so you can form your own branch families. This is the only way to grow House Norton's might stably. I've decided to give you this chance for this very reason. I hope you will use this opportunity to take charge and refine your abilities to manage and command. You must build a stable foundation for your future efforts," continued Lorist.

He rolled open a beastskin map of the archipelago.

"Come over and look. I'll brief you two on the strategy for the archipelago's defense," he called.

Once the two were leaning on the table and staring intently at the map, he began his brief.

"The garrison division the house is going to form will have three land-based brigades and two maritime brigades. Each will be made up of three thousand men. Their loadouts will be similar to the local defense brigades. The three land-based brigades will be stationed at the capital, the hilly area and Nupite respectively. We'll also construct several citadels at these locations."

Lorist tapped on the map as he explained.

"The two maritime brigades will be stationed at Nupite. They will have 16 armed ships under their command with which they will patrol the waters in and around the archipelago. Wellickson, you shall report to Senbaud right after this and begin learning the ropes of sailing and training your troops at sea. There's no rush, you have three years, so take your time to learn properly and train your troops well. My hope is that, starting three years from now, the archipelago will supply the house with a thousand elite soldiers annually.

"As for the three land-based brigades, Molocinque, they're yours to command. You also have three years to finish the three citadels' construction. Maintain order around the archipelago and cooperate with Hector to ease the liberated slaves into their new lives. I hope that the archipelago can be self sufficient within five years.

"Nupite's inner city will be given to Governer Hector as his main base of operations. He will form another city defense brigade there and it'll serve the governor's office directly. Remember, the governor's office is separate from the military's command structure. The garrison has no control or say over the city defense brigade, understood?"

"I understand, Milord. I will definitely help Governor Hector out to defend the archipelago," saluted Molocinque.

Lorist nodded and said, "The detailed plans for the division is with Knight Charade. While the governor's office has power over the garrison division, that is only limited to annual supply and inventory checks. It doesn't mean they can direct military affairs. I believe you two won't let me down and taint the Norton name. Go now and report to Knight Charade to discuss the details and difficulties of the new divisions formation."

"Understood, Milord. We'll take our leave now."

In actuality, the largest benefit obtained from the Hanayabarta kingdom's extermination was not the wealth and resources, it was the manpower. The main reason Lorist had been unwilling to expand his military by recruiting civilians from his dominion was that he did not want to deprive the dominion of the manpower it needed to develop. The Norton forces were mainly two umbrella units, namely, the standing assault units, and the defense units that defended the towns.

The assault units consisted mainly of two heavy-armored divisions, two spear cavalry divisions, one carroballista division, one wheelbarrow ballista division, and a mounted archer brigade, scout brigade, the Thunderbolt Brigade, guard brigade, knight brigade, the female brigade and five other local defense brigades. There were 43 brigades totalling roughly 120 thousand people.

The defensive units consisted of the new recruit brigade, five police brigades -- formed mostly from retired soldiers from the main force and responsible for the defense and security of warehouses and factories as well as the transport of resources -- and the various garrison units of the towns and villages. They totalled 60 thousand men. The defense brigades don't receive as many benefits as those in the assault brigades. For example, the police brigades only pay half the salary of the assault brigades, and garrison soldiers got only a third of that. In essence, both the police and garrison units were considered half soldier and half civilian. Those in the new recruit brigade did not receive any salary at all, only an allowance and a few menial benefits.

With Lorist's formation of the new Oceanic Legion, which already had more than 17 thousand personnel, the Norton's forces totalled more than 200 thousand men. With the total civilian population of the dominion and its overseas territories being little more than 1.1 million, the soldier-to-civilian ratio was around one to five, which was already quite excessive. To expand the military even further would be utter madness.

Even so, Lorist had his reasons. While the number of troops was no less impressive, only around 80 thousand men from the assault brigades could truly be mobilized. For instance, the mobilization of only 45 thousand soldiers almost bankrupted the house. Despite all that, the military's expansion was an inevitability, with its growing influence and territory, and the prisoners whose term of service were expiring soon.

Slightly over 30 thousand youths had been taken captive after the Duke of The Northlands' defeat, and, after three years of service, their terms had expired. Around 10 thousand had been fit for military service and with their inclusion, the houses forces grew to 80 thousand. The house had no choice but to recruit them. It would've do them no good to have the released prisoners join and serve other noble families. Following the defeat of the second prince's 100-thousand-strong army, more than 60 thousand captives had been taken in. Coupled with the civilian youths who had wanted to join the military over the past few years, the house's forces had gradually grown to their present size.

In the first place, Lorist's recruitment of the released captives was so that the dominion's civilian population would grow. Given the benefits joining the military entailed, the captives that joined the force would definitely bring their families over to the dominion and settle down, inflating the population in the process. Not only that, those who qualified to join the military already had their battleforce awakened, so refusing them was akin to pushing them to serve other noble houses. Only idiots would push away such a great deal.

Apart from the captives, the house made no attempt to recruit soldiers from the civilian ranks, save for the formation of the Oceanic Legion, because that would adversely affect the dominion's development. Given its thriving state, manpower was in short supply and the liberated slaves were just what it needed.

Apart from the 40 thousand refugees and six thousand islanders abducted from Silowas, there were another 410 thousand slaves liberated, including over 100 thousand women and children. Of all of them, 170 thousand elected to stay at the archipelago. Most of them were second or third generation slaves that had been born there and had come to see the archipelago as their home.

Among the remaining 240 thousand slaves, 30 thousand wished to return to their homelands. Apart from that, most were able-bodied youths who had lost their families and had no homes to return to. Most were civilians of the former empire. They were either sold into slavery by their dominion lords or had their villages raided and pillaged by the slavers. Lorist ordered Potterfang to pick out 60 thousand to form 20 police brigades. He also intended to form a garrison division and a city defense brigade. This left only 120 thousand, whom Lorist intended to bring back to The Northlands to hasten its development.

The military's expansion was motivated mainly by the lack might required to defend the dominion. It was currently an era of chaos, so conflict was never in short supply. The second highness was currently leading his force across the Redlis kingdom. By the time he manages to reunite the empire, it would be entirely possible that he would set his sights on The Northlands. Lorist had already warned Count Kenmays, Baron Felim, and Baron Shazin to strengthen their military in preparation. The Nortons would not hide behind their allies either. They will stand together with them, side-by-side on the battlefield.

"Milord, Sir Senbaud has returned," reported Jim as he entered the tent, breaking Lorist out of his train of thought.

Senbaud was incredibly busy as he had to manage more than 300 ships for the transport of resources from the Hanayabarta archipelago to Silowas. He had already made more than two trips during the 9th and 10th months, but only a tenth of the resources had been transported so far.

Lorist was currently rather reckless with his financials given that the wealth of the whole Hanayabarta kingdom had just been added to the treasury of the Nortons. Putting other things aside, the money the kingdom had already amounted to 17 million gold Fordes. More than six million had come from the underground treasuries under the palace burned down by Lud III much to the shock of everyone.

Lorist did not really understand why the descendants of those pirates liked to bury their stuff underground. It only took some simple questioning on the servants of those slaver nobles for the underground vaults to be determined, easily netting them millions of gold Fordes' worth of goods. Looking at all the goods he unearthed, Charade smiled greedily with satisfaction and knew that all that would last the house for at least the next two to three decades to come.

"Have every knight and those above the regiment leader rank head to the main tent for a military meeting to discuss our future plans," instructed Lorist.

All those who were summoned did not really understand the reason for the meeting, given that the Hanayabarta kingdom had already been eliminated. All within the tent wondered whether Lorist intended to start another war.

"Silence! The Lord Count is here!" announced Els, causing the rest within the tent to quiet down and get into order hurriedly.

Lorist entered the tent with two blademasters, Engelich and Shuss, followed by Jim and Tarkel from behind.

"We pay our respects to our lord!" called out the household knights as they saluted.

"Alright, take your seats, gentlemen," said Lorist as he waved his hand dismissively, before he headed to the tigerskin chair. Engelich and Shuss stood at the sides of Lorist while Jim, Els and Tarkel all stood behind him.

"Tarkel, report the intelligence you gathered to everyone here," instructed Lorist.

"Understood," Tarkel said as he stepped forward and opened a folder in his hand, "The northern fleet of Chikdor Merchant Guild travels to the Hanayabarta archipelago to engage in trade every 5th and 10th month. Their fleet includes around 40 to 50 ships, among which are 16 to 20 large-class, long-distance cruisers with the rest being middle-class armed ships. Their crew number around six thousand men and there is one rank 1 blademaster among them.

"During every one of their trips, the northern fleet of the Chikdors would first travel to the Shyarsia kingdom to trade for spice before making their way to the Hanayabarta kingdom for trading and ordering daily goods, weapons, alcohol and fashion or luxury goods. It is said that the yearly profits obtained by the northern fleet amount up to 400 thousand gold Fordes annually.

"During the end of the 5th month this year, the third young master of the Chikdors, Moribak, had traveled to the Hanayabarta kingdom and revealed to the slavers during a banquet about our recruitment of more than 60 thousand refugees to Silowas to aid in development, which ended in the slavers' invasion of SIlowas, causing us to sustain major damages."

After Tarkel finished his report, he stood back down. Lorist looked at the household knights within the tent, furrowed his brow, and said, "I don't have any evidence whether the third young master had intentionally conspired with the slavers of the Hanayabarta kingdom. But based on the hostile relationship between Chikdor Merchant Guild and the Norton house, we will consider our two parties as being in a state of war. That is the reason I've called for this meeting. We shall discuss whether we should exterminate all of the ships of the northern fleet when they come to Port Nupite without letting a single one of them off!"

Surrender

I'm finally free from my exams! Here's the first regular chapter of the week to commemorate my liberation! Muahahaha! I'm freeeeee!

"Swerve the ship towards point 26, half sail!" yelled a voice.

"Understood! Swerve ship towards 26, half sail!" replied Kurt loudly as he spun the ship wheel with great strength.

The ship tilted and the world outside slowly shifted. A few well-trained marines hung on the mast and lowered half of the sails adeptly.

Rain drizzled on the ocean. Eventually a series of bumps appeared on the horizon. Eventually the bumps became distinct from the ocean itself. The captain of the ship, Schumak, let out a relieved sigh and ordered his helms to change their direction. The ship corrected its course and headed for Nupity, slowly fading into the chilling drizzle.

It was only a quarter past six in the morning and it already felt like the sun would not be showing itself for the day. All Schumak could hope for was that the drizzle would let up when they reach Nupite, he didn't want the ship's unloading to be delayed. He was not concerned with how slippery the port would be for the slaves transporting the cargo. Rather, his worry stemmed from the fact that his cargo that was not waterproofed properly, making them unfit for moving in times of rain.

Droplets of water rained down upon the greyish-black beastskin rainshield. Schumak raised his head, looked to the sky, and estimated that he would see Nupite by noon. Given his long experience at sea, his estimations were usually rather accurate. Looking back at the fleet of ships of which he was in charge, he could not help but feel a sense of pride. This was the northern fleet of the Chikdor Merchant Guild. in other words, it was the strongest fleet the northern seas had ever seen. Schumak's effort had paid off long ago when he was given the honor of commanding such an impressive fleet.

It required between 20 and 26 days to sail from Hidegold Bay to the Shyarsia kingdom. The kingdom was situated near the southern side of the various island nations. A survey by the Chikdor Merchant Guild found that sailors' psyches would suffer if they didn't see land for more than 15 days. The first symptom they would demonstrate was a steep increase in irritability. At the 20 day mark sailors would begin to suffer from despair and aggression. The combination of these three malaises meant that fights were frequent and often over the most insignificant of things. It wasn't very rare for the most trivial of disagreements to burst into a fierce fight from which life threatening injury could result.

The fleet stopped over at the Shyarsia kingdom to complete their assignment to trade for spices. When they first set sail, the sailors and other crew members were patient, obedient, and easier to control. While the journey to the Shyarsia kingdom was not a short one, they managed to arrive before any misfortunate incident occurred and the sailors had ten-odd days to rest up before continuing the voyage. The trip to the Hanayabarta archipelago from the kingdom took less than 10 days, so the average voyage shouldn't encounter any problems.

Should one sail from Hidegold Bay straight to the Hanayabarta kingdom, one would have to travel for easily more than 20 days. However, it took no more than ten days for one to travel from the island nations to the continent to Grindia, after which one only had to sail along the coast of the continent back to Hidegold Bay. That did not in any way suggest that prolonged voyages were something to be encouraged; sailors would naturally begin to worry about their families and homes after two months absent. All that knowhow was something the Chikdor Merchant Guild had discovered over the years.

This time around, the journey involved 67 ships. Before they departed, the management intentionally transferred over 22 large-class, long-distance merchant vessels, mainly because of the letter now in in Schumak's room.

The war with the Teribo kingdom had caused the guild great losses. While their armed fleet did not incur any losses, the guild lost two rank 1 blademasters and seven gold-ranked swordsmen, all of whom had received painstaking effort and investment from the guild over the years.

Fortunately, thanks to First Young Master Serihanem's cunning plan, the Twinhead Dragon Merchant Guild's president, Cobleit, started to trust the Chikdors deeply. He enfeoffed the whole Urubaha duchy to the guild as compensation for their contributions right after the war ended.

But whilst they had finally obtained their own dominion, they were in an even deeper pit than before. It was common knowledge that the Urubaha duchy was a poor nation filled with mountainous regions. The most troubling part was that the availability of cultivable land was so bad that the nation was barely able to sustain its own population. The reason for the formation of the two armies-for-rent was to earn some extra coin for the duchy. All the while decreasing the number of people that required feeding.

As for the civilians, those that wanted a proper diet would become pirates or bandits. The late Duke Urubaha did not care much for their shenanigans. All he cared about was that he be able to collect his taxes. In some instances, his two armies were hired precisely to solve the banditry problem. Either way, he stood to benefit from the situation.

The two armies were absorbed into the Chikdor Merchant Guild when they took over, and was currently a massive burden. Both the Crimson Legion and the Tricolor Sword Legion only had 24 thousand men each, but as a whole package, there were another 200 thousand family members that had to be fed, almost a quarter of the whole duchy's population. The late duke did not care about the families. He only cared about those that could bring him money, and only as far as their ability to make him money stretched. He felt that his giving his soldiers a job with pay was already more grace than they deserved.

Now that Clan Chikdor had taken control over the two armies, they did not wish for them to be as disloyal as they had towards Duke Urubaha. Not only did they have to make them formal standing armies, they also had to ensure their loyalty. They had to enforce military regulation as well as take care of the soldiers' families. However, the War of Glass had caused the prices of food to skyrocket. That was especially the case now that the continent's nations had become cautious towards the Union. Most of the established trade routes had been closed off, with important supplies such as food and metals put under embargoes. The insane prices for food and other supplies within the Union didn't come down as they had expected and hoped, they remained just as high, and even increased.

The Urubaha duchy, required food first and foremost. Only with food could the guild grasp the unwavering loyalty of the civilians within the duchy. For one, Serihanem's plan to develop basic infrastructure within the duchy to rectify its poor state was a step in that direction. Within just two or three years, the guild would be self sufficient with the duchy. It might even begin to see profits.

The main problem was that, no matter how much money the guild had, they were unable to purchase food from the neighboring nations. Even if they did, it would cost a king's ransom. It was not a price even the rich and mighty Chikdor Merchant Guild could afford. The main motivation behind the transfer of more than 20 of those large merchant vessels to the northern fleet was to procure large amounts of food, at least a million Pors, from the Hanayabarta kingdom. Incidentally, a Por is the unit of measurement used in Grindia. It equates to about 50 kilograms. The measurement and name is derived from the linen sack by the same name and the weight it can hold.

The letter within Schumak's ship cabin was penned by President Chikdor personally. In the letter, the president requested that the guild be sold food based on the years of amiable interactions the guild and the kingdom. The reason the king's explicit permission had to be obtained was the alarming amount of food actually ordered. For that, the president had also prepared lots of exquisite gifts.

The fleet traveled through the waterway leading to Nupite. Schumak looked a at the islands from the deck of his ship a little worriedly.

Did the slaver lords actually develop a conscience and stop their slaves from working in the rain?

It did not take long for Schumak to choke with laughter at his passing thought.

Well, why should I care? The slaves' got nothing to do with me anyway.

Currently, the decks of the merchant vessels were filled with sailors. They were far more excited to be at the Hanayabarta kingdom than the Shyarsia kingdom. Other things aside, merely the 'quality' of the women in the brothels here were far superior to those in Shyarsian brothels. The women who fished for customers at the docks of the Shyarsia kingdom were mostly descendents of fishermen or farmers, it was revealed by their tanned skin. Some sailors were convinced they could even smell the stench of fish and mud on them.

The Hanayabartan harlots were mostly female slaves brought over from all over the continent. Not only were their services cheap, there were more than enough of them to satisfy the sailor's needs for a few days and nights.

After passing by Featherfall Island, Schumak finally spotted a group of slaves. It was a family of three. They stood by a run-down stone house on the island, looking at the ships expressionlessly as they sailed by.

"This is weird, since when has the slaver nobles allowed a family of slaves to live together?" asked rank 1 blademaster Kuchid.

Originally, the guild was backed by five blademasters. However, with the loss of one during the interception of the Flying Fish of Dawn and two during the War of Glass (one had perished to defend President Cobleit during an assassination attempt and the other was tricked into being killed by Duke Urubaha when he was at his most defenseless), only Kuchid and Udi, a rank 2 blademaster, remained.

Blademaster Kuchid was attached to the mission because the guild would not permit any mishap on a mission as important as it. He had been specially transferred from his original post at the southern armed fleet.

"Hehe, sir Blademaster, you might be unaware, but the Hanayabarta kingdom does allow slaves to form their families," said old Kurt, the helmsman, "Old female slaves are allowed to wed their male slaves as reward. However, most of the female slaves are used ones that have probably been impregnated by the slaver nobles. They allow them to be wedded to the other slaves precisely because it would save them the trouble of having to raise their unwanted kin. Should they ever wish to have fun with the female slaves again, their husbands would have to stand guard outside their house when they get on with their business."

"Haha, it seems that the slaver nobles live quite plentiful lives. With all those slaves running their manors for them, they are able to live carefreely. They can get their hands on anything they could possibly want and they have the slaves' lives in their hands," said Blademaster Kuchid with a chuckle.

Schumak, on the other hand, shook his head with displeasure.

All those fellows consider is how life is from the slavers' point of view, not the slaves. I can only imagine how horrible it must be to be one of those poor souls.

Even so, given his post as the captain of the guild's northern fleet, all Schumak could care about was whether he would be able to complete his mission. He didn't have the luxury of sympathizing with the slaves.

Past Featherfall Island was Goldshark Island and Duck Island. Nupite was already visible far in the distance.

Huh, there's nobody at the port. Must be because of the rain. Those jetties look oddly empty though... Shouldn't there be at least a ship or two over there?

"What's going on? Did something happen at the port? It shouldn't be that quiet around here," said Kurt, slightly surprised.

"Well, the empty port can only be good for us," Schumak said as he rolled his eyes, "we won't have to worry about finding a spot. Besides, weren't we informed that the kingdom's slavers set out to attack Silowas island? You know, that island belonging to some count that the guild wanted to take as its dominion not too long ago? Perhaps the slavers' ships have gone back to attack it again."

That line of reasoning was indeed rather reasonable, so no one bothered arguing.

Even so, as they approached the city, more and more sailors filled the decks of the ships, impatient to get down for some fun.

"Eh? Why did the slaver nobles build that small hill? Is that a pyramid? What's it for?" asked old Kurt.

As they got closer, Kuchid suddenly gasped. Others began chattering incessantly.

"What's going on?" asked Schumak.

"Those... Those are all... hu-hu-hu-human heads... stacked up... pyramid," stammered the blademaster.

"What are you going on about?" asked Schumak, before he turned to look.

He instantly felt a cold wave wash over his body. His whole being felt frozen, as if he had fallen into an icy abyss.

When the fleet was less than a hundred meters away from the port, the 30-odd-meter-tall pyramid entered the sights of those on board. Pyramids were no rare sight. The continent had its own fair share of pyramid-shaped buildings in the ruins of the ancient civilization, but most of them were tombs. The pyramid that was on the Nupite's shores, however, was constructed wholly of stacked human heads.

It was apparent that the heads had been intentionally embalmed. The pale faces still had the despairing, frenzied looks on their faces from the moments of their deaths. Not one, but all the heads wore similar expressions. The shock brought by the sight was unimaginable, especially with the transparent, resin-like material that filled the space between the heads, making the pyramid look like a crystal encasing countless human heads.

All the sailors on board the ships looked at the shores in deathly silence. All they could feel was the cold numbness that assailed their limbs. It froze them in place as terror crept out of the depths of their psyche and made their teeth chatter and their limbs shiver.

There were quite a number of savage sailors that had seen their fair share of death, some had even crawled directly out of piles of bodies, but faced with the pyramid in front of them, not one managed to maintain their composure. All they did was stare blankly at the structure. They forgot their duties entirely.

More than ten ships actually collided after the helmsmen saw the pyramid. The whole fleet was brought to a standstill.

Just when Schumak snapped out of his stupor and attempted to give the order to get back into formation, he heard the familiar sound of Nupite's horn.

Countless elite soldiers rushed to the port and got into formation. They awaited the fleet's arrival. Some even brought with them countless ballistae to the frontlines.

The expressions on Schumak and Kuchid's faces changed immediately. Subsequently, horns resounded from Goldshark Island and Duck Island and either side of the waterway the fleet was traveling through. Unending rows of soldiers came out and pushed their odd-looking pushcarts. A few minutes later, a horn sound sounded behind the fleet. More than eight large-class ships blocked the waterway the fleet had just come through. The whole northern fleet had become a helpless sitting duck, it could only wait for its fate to arrive.

Lorist brought blademasters Engelich and Shuss as he headed to the port. Facing the fleet, he called out, "Disarm and abandon ship if you want to be spared!"

All the Norton soldiers roared in unison, "Disarm and abandon ship if you want to be spared!"

The northern fleet responded with silence.

Lorist waved his hand and the horns blared once more.

All of a sudden, the rows of catapults launched flaming projectiles at the fleet. The projectiles crossed over 400 meters of water before falling into the water and beating up countless waves.

Schumak mused with a pale look, "What do we do now?"

Kuchid grit his teeth as he muttered, "We have no choice. There's this blademaster on the port radiating seething killing intent... I'm afraid that I'm not his match..."

Schumak looked at the sailors who were on the deck. Not one of them dared to look him in the eye. It appeared that all of them had lost any will to resist when faced with the pyramid. Given that they had been encircled, all that would follow resistance was annihilation.

Schumak solemnly nodded and uttered his last command as the fleet's captain, "Lower all sails, put up the white flags, and approach the shores slowly! We're surrendering!"

Shocking News

Here's the second release of the week! Stay tuned for the third in another ten minutes! It's double release day!

Lorist only managed to return to SIlowas by the end of the 11th month along with the ten police brigades formed from the liberated slaves. In the following winter, the Oceanic Legion would not have time to rest up. Instead, they had to continue shipping the food and supplies, soldiers and liberated slaves all the way to Silowas. The whole process would continue until the 2nd month of the next year.

Currently, the Oceanic Legion numbered around 45 thousand men, with more than 400 ships spread out across the seas. Lorist ordered the Oceanic Legion's commander, Gold-ranked Knight Senbaud, to reorganize the legion following the completion of the transport process in hopes of forming two armed patrol fleets with cannons as their main armament to defend the coasts of The Northlands as well as Silowas. Not only that, he intended for three transportation merchant fleets to be formed, as well as release around 200 ships that he had commandeered before his campaign and compensate the losses of the owners to ship some of the slaves who wished to go back to their homes on the continent of Grindia.

As for the 20 slave-formed police brigades at the Hanayabarta archipelago, they would join together with the five local defense brigades at the dominion to form a local defense legion, comprising of five divisions which each encompassed five brigades. In total, the legion would have 75 thousand men and would become one of the most important defensive forces for the Norton house.

Having benefited from the wealth upon exterminating the Hanayabarta kingdom, Lorist had more than enough funds to reorganize his army. Not only did he form the local defense legion, he also intended to form two open-field battle assault legions. Firmrock Legion would be infantry focused while Tigersoar Legion would serve as a shock troop unit comprising mainly of cavalry.

Time flew during the course of the busy days. During the 3rd month of the next year, Lorist hosted a new year's knight festival at Firmrock Castle within the dominion and announced his decision to reform their military. The formation of the Firmrock Legion would involve two heavy-armored divisions, one wheelbarrow-ballista division, and another division formed from the combination of the two scout brigades that were consolidated from the ranks of the mounted archers and light cavalry scout brigades, the Thunderbolt Brigade, and three other logistics brigades, with a total number of 60 thousand men spread across four different divisions. It would be headed by Gold-ranked Knight Potterfang with Gold-ranked Knights Malek and the newly-joined Messen as his aides.

The Tigersoar Legion would be headed by Gold-ranked Knight Fiercetiger Loze, with Gold-ranked Knight Yuriy and Divine Marksman Josk serving as his aides. Tigersoar Legion would comprise of two spear cavalry divisions, one carroballista division, another division formed from the combination of a scout brigade, the female brigade, and three other logistics brigades. It would also have a total number of 60 thousand troops.

Finally, the local defense legion comprises 25 brigades, numbering 75 thousand men in total, with Gold-ranked Knight Freiyar as the commander, with two gold-ranked knights, Belnick and former slave fighter Jades, as his aides.

Apart from the three legions, Terman would continue his post as the commander of the three Norton Knight Brigade numbering nine thousand men. Lorist himself on the other hand would control his own personal guard brigade of three thousand men. Other than that, the Oceanic Legion Senbaud commanded had 18 thousand men. In other words, the total number of troops the House of Norton had was 225 thousand, and that did not include the police brigades, garrison legion, and town and village guards that had more than 100 thousand people in total.

Firmrock Legion would be the main infantry assault force and would be stationed at Silowas. Tigersoar Legion on the other hand would be stationed between Salus and Redriver. Given that The Northlands was desolate and mostly empty, it was the place where cavalry troops could shine with their advantage in mobility. The 25 brigades of the local defense legion on the other hand were stationed at different locations, with the first local defense brigade assigned to Firmrock Castle, the second brigade assigned to port city, which was named Northsea by Grandmaster Ciroba. The third and fourth brigades were stationed at the citadels at Hidebull Mound and Tortoise Hill respectively to defend against any potential barbarian invasion.

As the western part of The Northlands had already become the livestock-rearing area of the Nortons, Lorist agreed to Charade's suggestion to reinstate the smuggling path through the Bladedge Mountains the former residents of Wildnorth Town used. That was the path that the troops of Duke Loggins, led by Gold-ranked Knights Chevany and Hennard, used to sneak into the territory of the Nortons. With the passing of almost seven years, the vines that had been set aflame had long grown back and could be used again to construct another suspension bridge.

With the new path, the livestock produce of The Northlands did not have to be shipped through a large detour pass Firmrock Castle into the dominion of the Nortons. Instead, they could be brought straight through the smuggling route at Bladedge Mountains into the dominion within only two days. Lorist did not plan to have a proper bridge constructed as he planned to have a vine bridge built based on the ancient bridges of Sichuan he saw in a documentary in his past life. Following that, he intended to build a citadel near the cavern where Chevany died and defend it with the fifth local defense brigade.

The remaining 20 local defense brigades would begin training within the dominion in various aspects, such as battleforce awakening, military engine training, and other martial training. Lorist informed his household knights that he hoped for the Norton house to have an unparalleled elite force that is fitting for the name of the Roaring Raging Bear within the next two years.

Following the announcement of the military reorganizations, Lorist began to talk about the results of developing the dominion in the past year. With the development of Redriver and Northsea concluding in the current year, the only development project that remained was Nico Academy, with the exception of the restoration of the smuggling path and the construction of the citadel nearby there. Lorist assigned Shadekampf the tasks of maintaining the roads within the dominion, including widening and flattening them better, so that the state of transportation within the dominion would improve.

The development plan of Silowas would proceed as previously planned, with the main workforce being the tens of thousands of liberated slaves brought over from Hanayabarta. Coupled with the aid of Potterfang's Firmrock Legion that would be stationed at Silowas, the development should be complete within the next two years. The main supervisor of the house's census department, Hansk, was appointed to be the new governor of Silowas.

Lorist found himself some free time after the meeting and headed to visit his disciple, Howard. When he left for the Hanayabarta kingdom, he had stopped Howard from accompanying him on the campaign despite the latter's insistence. Given the dangers involved, Lorist would not be able to spare extra effort to look after Howard during the conflict. But Howard had maintained that given that he had broken through to the iron rank, he would be more than capable of defending himself from some random soldiers.

Lorist merely smiled at his disciple's response and got Reidy to start training Howard to develop dynamic vision, which Lorist stated was one of the main requirements a disciple of his had to fulfill. Given that Howard was already an iron rank, Lorist advised Howard to take the chance during his absence on the expedition to develop dynamic vision.

So, Howard left with Reidy in the end. When Lorist returned to the dominion, Reidy reported to him that Howard had indeed successfully developed dynamic vision. However, given the difference in physical traits between Howard and Reidy, it took the former up to half a month before he got used to the vertigo-inducing ride on the spinning chair, the embarrassment of which prevented him from coming to see Lorist himself.

By the time Lorist arrived at the training grounds behind Firmrock Castle, he saw Howard training in swordsmanship. It was apparent that his swordsmanship had improved quite a lot following his development of dynamic vision. Lorist was rather satisfied with the results and felt that Howard would be more than capable of taking on silver ranks in another two years of training.

Apart from guiding both his disciples, Lorist went to pester Telesti on occasion or visit his concubine Irina to relieve his sexual needs. Two months later, both Irina and Telesti got pregnant once again. Irina was more than delighted at the news, but Telesti was furious beyond belief, given that she had to focus on the construction of Nico Academy in the following year. Thus, she declared Lorist an unwanted guest and refused to let him visit her.

Having no other choice, Lorist returned to Firmrock Castle and happened to meet Charade, who was preparing to submit his request for vacation. Charade intended to enter seclusion training with Blademaster Engelich's personal guidance for two years to break through to the gold rank.

That was a matter Lorist had agreed to back when they were still at Hanayabarta. After accepting Charade's vacation request, Lorist opened a few bottles of wine, ordered some snacks and drunk with Charade for one last time before his seclusion. After a few drinks, Charade finally asked, "Why did you launch such a large military expansion effort right after the extermination of the Hanayabarta kingdom? Do you have another target in mind? Given the current number of more than 300 thousand total troops, the military costs have long exceeded the income generated by the dominion. It would cost more than a million gold Fordes to maintain our military based on a rough estimation. I'm worried that this would become a huge burden for us in the coming years."

Lorist chuckled before he brought over a map of the Madras duchy, thumped his fist on it, and said, "No worries, the Madras duchy will become ours in another two years."

When Charade wanted to ask more about what he meant by that, Lorist had already slumped unconscious onto his sofa.

It did not take long for Charade's absence to cause a chain of problems of its own. Before ten days even passed, Dulles, Els, Jim, Waxima, Pajik, Pete and a few other silver-ranked household knights submitted their own leave requests, with the same reason of wanting to break through to the gold rank in the following two years. Even former bandit Ovidis of the Thunderbolt Brigade did the same.

"What the hell are you guys up to?! Are you going to go on a leave too?" barked Lorist angrily at Ovidis.

Ovidis said in a troubled tone, "Milord, didn't you give me a high-ranked fire attribute battleforce manual when you first took me in as a household knight? Back then, I was already at the three star silver rank. By now, I've already familiarized myself with the contents of the manual and am already at the peak of my rank. I feel that I will be breaking through soon, so I had to ask for a one-year leave."

"Ugh..." Moving closer to Ovidis, Lorist did in fact feel that he had the aura of peak three star silver rank. Right away, his rage turned into joy as he patted on Ovidis's shoulder and said, "Alright, I'll approve of your leave. Work hard and make your breakthrough soon. The sooner you become a gold rank, the sooner the house will have another gold-ranked knight in its ranks. I already have a manor at Redriver ready for you."

Upon mention of the manor, Lorist suddenly understood the reason for the sudden rush to take leaves by all the three star silver ranks among the household knights. With the eight manors at Salus already given to Potterfang, Loze and another six gold-ranked knights, and three manors at Redriver assigned to Senbaud, Jades and Messen who joined not too long ago, only five manors remained. All the three-star-silver-ranked knights were worried that they would be one step too late to claim a manor for themselves.

"Gosh, these bastards... Why are they all in such a hurry? It's not like the house is short on knight manors! There's no point in rushing to see who's first!" exclaimed Lorist. Despite that, he agreed to let those knights take their leaves since it did not seem that the house would be in any foreseeable conflict in the next two years. On the other hand, he opened a map of The Northlands and contemplated which part of it too develop next.

On the 23rd day of the 5th month, Lorist returned from his visit at the gunpowder research lab at Bladedge Mountains. Before a suitable metal alloy can be developed, there's no point in developing firearms. It seems like the age of firearms would not come anytime soon. All we are able to make now are bronze cannons; focusing too much effort on smaller firearms simply isn't beneficial in the long run. After all, Grindia is a world of battleforce, and cold weapons are far better than firearms for warfare.

Other things aside, the steel ballista developed by the Norton house could fire up to 300 meters away, whereas the firearms they made could only shoot up to 150 meters away. In a line firing formation, ballistae still far outperformed conventional guns.

Howard knocked on the door, entered, and said, "Milord, there's an urgent report from Northsea that states that the Flying Fish of Dawn has returned from Silowas with news of the latest war developments. The Forde Trade Union has already conquered Kanbona Province of the Redlis kingdom. The 170 thousand soldiers led by the second highness is trapped in the three provinces of the Redlis kingdom and has already lost contact with the Andinaq kingdom. Additionally, the first young master of the Chikdor Merchant Guild, Serihanem, has just arrived at Silowas, saying that he has come as an ambassador of peace and wishes to have an audience with you. Supervisor Hansk had him wait at Silowas and is awaiting your instructions on how to deal with this."

"What?!" exclaimed Lorist in surprise. During the 9th month of the previous year, the report he received about the second highness's campaign in the Redlis kingdom concerned his successive losses at Majik Province. However, at that time, he still had more than 200 thousand troops at his disposal, not including the 100 thousand he stationed at the Andinaq kingdom and the various provinces he conquered. Lorist thought that with the number of soldiers the second highness had, victory for him was only a matter of time.

Upon his return from the extermination of the Hanayabarta kingdom months ago, the first thing he heard about the second highness was how he was still entangled with the nobles of Majik Province. During that time, Second Highness Auguslo had sent his 100 thousand troops to the Handra and Farkel duchies with the demand for the four central duchies to relinquish their status as sovereign state and return under the jurisdiction of the empire. However, the four dukes refused that demand and formed an allied army to resist the force of the second highness and also gave the Majik nobles military support.

At that time, Lorist was more than glad that the second highness was finally suffering consequences for his own actions and understood that anything could happen from then on. Thinking back at their meeting back at the imperial capital some time ago, the second highness had announced that the dukes of the four central duchies were still loyal to the Krissen Empire and would soon join his ranks for the reunification effort.

But now, things started going south. While Lorist was part of the Andinaq kingdom faction, he understood that Second Highness Auguslo was more than wary of the military force of the House of Norton to the point that he had never summoned them to join the war effort. However, Lorist felt back then that the second highness would be able to hold on despite the odds and did not pay it too much heed either. After all, sending soldiers to meddle in the conflict without a formal summons from the second highness could be considered treason.

Given that he was under no obligation to send in any reinforcements, Lorist holed up in The Northlands once again. But little did he expect that with the passing of half a year, not only was the second highness's attempt at exterminating the forces of the Redlis nobles unsuccessful, he was also stabbed in the back by the Union and lost Kanbona Province and contact with the Andinaq kingdom as a result. Currently, Frederika, Anderwoff Province and Bodolger Province which he occupied was still within the territory of the Redlis kingdom. Coupled with the chaotic front at Majik Province, the second highness was in a precarious spot. Having lost his supply line, it was a huge uncertainty whether he would even be able to hold his ground at the frontlines.

"Weird, where did the Union get that kind of force to pull that off?" Lorist mumbled as he stood up. He turned to Howard and said, "Pass the order down that I intend to make a trip to Silowas."

Reconcilliation

Here's the third regular release of the week! If nothing goes wrong, there will be six releases this week in total to make up for the chapter I missed last week.

Please note that this chapter is still unedited.

"Respectful greetings to you, Lord Count. This one is Serihanem of the Chikdors. I have come to express our peaceful intentions on behalf of the Chikdor Merchant Guild." The one dressed in the standard noble attire of the Union, Serihanem, bowed respectfully to Lorist before he presented his list of gifts.

Howard received the list and placed in on a small table beside Lorist, who gave it a glance and saw assortments of jewellery, fashionable clothes, high quality armaments, wine, and even four zeno horses. All of them combined were easily worth over 30 thousand gold Fordes. Lorist thought back at the times when he toiled so hard only to earn a little more than eight thousand gold Fordes a year. To think that the gifts by the Chikdors would easily rival the wealth amassed by a silver-ranked swordsman over 30 years of hard work.

"Please, take a seat," Lorist said as he waved his hand, "As the first young master of the Chikdor clan, I wonder what business do you have with me for you to make such a long trip all the way to Silowas."

Serihanem smiled bitterly before saying, "Lord Count, you should know better why I've come. To be frank, my third brother's reckless actions has caused your house huge losses and put us on a hostile standing. Back then, the guild was mainly focused on the war with the Teribo kingdom and didn't have any opportunity to make it up to you for that incident. That's why our misunderstanding grew even deeper, causing our guild even more losses.

"I have come on this trip in hopes to resolve our differences and form an amicable relationship between both parties. I hope that you will be forgiving and release the crew members of our northern fleet. The guild is more than willing to pay their ransom to get them back. Lord Count, please don't refuse my earnest request. I understand that the Norton house has exterminated the Hanayabarta kingdom and did the most righteous deed of liberating more than 400 thousand slaves. I hope you will be able to extend the same vein of mercy to our honest and hard-working sailors as well who only want to make end's meet for their families.

"They are only serving in the fleet because it is their job. I'm sure their families are eagerly awaiting their return. Lord Count, if you have anything you're dissatisfied with, please don't hesitate to tell me about it. The Chikdor Merchant Guild will definitely do all in our power to ensure that you are compensated in full. The main reason for my trip here is for the release of our sailors so that they can be reunited with their families."

Lorist looked at the man who was only a few years older than him with scrutiny. The man presented himself as frank, honest and sincere and would easily be able to make others feel like they can get along with him well.

"Please sit down, Sir Serihanem," Lorist beckoned for the man to sit again, "I believe you of all people know why I am so particular against men of your guild. To be honest, the Norton house is practically at war with the Chikdor Merchant Guild. The only difference is that no official declaration of such conflict was made. Let me also add that all of this started because of the guild in the first place."

"Lord Count, please just address me with my name. I am most undeserving of being addressed with such a respectful title," Serihanem said as he raised both his hands, "I understand your point. Apart from coming here to ransom our sailors back, I've also come here in an attempt to resolve our conflict. The Chikdor Merchant Guild does not in any way wish for war with the Norton house.

"I believe that you know that we originally intended to have Silowas as our dominion. But now that we already have the Urubaha duchy as our territory, the main cause for conflict between us is no more. I have come here to ask for your forgiveness for our actions in the past so that we can start anew with a relationship that will benefit us both, instead of one that will dye the seas with blood of the innocent."

"Serihanem, even though you said you don't wish for the innocents' blood to dye the sea, do you know how much blood of the innocent islanders at Silowas was spilled? Did you know why our house mobilized our troops to exterminate the Hanayabarta kingdom?" asked Lorist with a stern tone.

"Lord Count, I am well aware. That was caused by the actions of my reckless third brother when he was drunk at a banquet at Hanayabarta. However, I can assure you that the leak of intelligence about Silowas was purely accidental. My second brother and I have always been against our third brother's plan to take Silowas. To the guild, Silowas is too far from the southern seas which we control. Apart from its convenience of being an island, it is not suitable at all to be the dominion for our guild.

"Not only that, we were involved in the War of Glass at that time and have since put our northern strategy on indefinite hold. It was that which caused my third brother to feel incredibly frustrated and resulted in his trip. It was after that during the banquet at Hanayabarta when he unconsciously blurted out the status of Silowas in a drunken fit, which caused the slavers and nobles of the Hanayabarta kingdom to set their sights on the residents of your island. This is definitely not something we could envision happen...

"It's not that I'm trying to push responsibility away from us. We were also worried during the end of last year when our northern fleet didn't return from their voyage. It was not until the 3rd month when we were able to get hold of information of the extermination of the Hanayabarta kingdom by your house and that our northern fleet has been held captive. My father then questioned our third brother promptly about the issue. At that time, even my third brother was unaware of what was happening. It was the attendants that served him who recalled that he accidentally leaked our northern plan when he was drunk at the banquet.

"For that, my third brother had suffered two harsh slaps from my father and was exiled to the wastelands of the Urubaha mountains. My father said that since it was the fault of my third brother that your house suffered such huge losses, we are willing to give you all the ships of our northern fleet as compensation. All we ask for is that our sailors be allowed to return.

"Lord Count, regardless of whether my third brother leaked the information, surely nobody can refute that the slavers have already been targeting the 200 thousand refugees at the two southwestern provinces of the Andinaq kingdom. Your house's bringing in of more than 60 thousand of them for the development of Silowas would have alerted the slavers about it eventually. All my third brother did was say the wrong thing at the wrong place. He was merely venting his frustration without the intention of causing trouble for your house."

"Well, aren't you a talkative one," Lorist said as he looked a the round-faced Serihanem while shaking his head, "Well, the matter has already been over for a year, and there's no longer a point in pursuing whether the third young master was intent on causing trouble for us or not. The slaver traders and slaver bands of the Hanayabarta kingdom have already attacked Silowas and made hell of it, and the house has already repaid that debt in blood by eliminating the kingdom and slaughtering their civilians to build the Dread Monument so that future generations won't forget this lesson.

"As to why we captured the northern fleet, the main reason for that is because the Norton house is on a hostile front against your guild. It was your third young master that harbored hostile intentions towards us and dreamed of making Silowas the dominion of your guild through the execution of your northern strategy. Other than that, it was your northern fleet that happened to make its way to Port Nupite. It's not like we sought them out intentionally to capture them in the first place. Fortunately for you, they were smart enough to surrender without resistance, so all we had in store for them is three years of labor.

"I want to stress that the House of Norton is capable of being reasoned with. We won't oppress those weaker than us. While we appreciate peace, we do not shy from war either. If the Chikdor Merchant Guild truly wishes to cease hostile relations with us, I am more than happy to allow that. However, I must first see the sincerity in your actions. While it was you who started the conflict in the first place, it's not up to you to end it at your convenience. I would like to know what kind of price your guild is willing to pay for that to happen."

Serihanem took a deep breath before he stood up. During the start of the 3rd month, more than ten ships that had been returned following the expropriation returned to Hidegold Bay. Up to a thousand liberated slaves brought word that the Hanayabarta kingdom has been ended by the Norton house, as well as how the young count heading the house ordered for the genocide of the civilians and nobles of the kingdom to construct a human head pyramid that was made up of more than 170 thousand human heads at Port Nupite.

That news shocked the whole Union. Following the gradual release of expropriated ships, and the slaves that traveled on board them, word of those incidents spread far and wide. It did not take long for the fame, or notoriety, of the Nortons to skyrocket.

In the history of the Grindian continent, massacres during wartime were not uncommon. However, there has never been a precedent in which a whole kingdom's civilians were killed off. The slaughter committed by the Nortons was nothing short of cruel. Even the chroniclers, historians and journalists of the continent were afraid to make their way to the Hanayabarta archipelago to see all that for themselves in fear of having their own heads stacked up on the human head pyramid.

However, when one of the alumni of Dawn Academy revealed that the current head of the Nortons was no other than Iron Locke, the Silver Undefeated, the academy began to swarm with journalists, much to the dismay of Academy Head Levins. In the end, the old fox wrote a recommendation letter for all the pestering journalists and guaranteed that the Norton house would definitely not cause trouble for them with the letters in hand. Only after that were the journalists daring enough to go to Hanayabarta for a visit.

Thus, the journalists found a few of those formerly expropriated ships and traveled aboard them to the archipelago. After a round trip of a month and a half, they began huge coverage on the incident during the 5th month about everything from how the enmity between the Nortons and Hanayabartans built up all the way to how they ended up conquering the capital. The journalists and scholars were warmly welcomed by Governor Hector and brought on a tour across the island, causing them to cast the Nortons in a more favorable light.

When they reported on the human head pyramid and depicted pictures of it, they did not fail to mention the touching tale of how Governor Hector had begged the count by kneeling for seven hours straight to spare the 12 thousand females. However, that did nothing other than cast Count Norton as a cold-blooded despot.

All of the reports were gathered by Knight Lundmorde who had his own pediatric and gynecological clinic at Morante and delivered to Lorist. When Lorist read the reports, he did not put them to heart, as he was well aware that this was the reputation he would gain when he made that order back then. Sometimes, only with cruelty will the enemy fear oneself and think twice before causing trouble. Lorist was curious to see whether there were any other enemies who would face the forces of the Nortons with confidence.

During the whole chaotic affair, the Chikdor Merchant Guild had kept a low profile and only observed from the sidelines. They knew that something was off when their northern fleet did not return at the end of last year. Even the scout ships they sent were nowhere to be found. Actually, the scout ships that flew the flag of the Chikdors had ran into Flying Fish of Dawn and Windstrom when they were on patrol. Three of the ships were captured with another two sunk, with not even one successfully return to send word of the situation.

The Chikdor Merchant Guild originally intended to have the southern armed fleet to be sent to find the whereabouts of the northern fleet, but by the 3rd month, the expropriated ships had been returned and they began to understand the situation based on what the slaves said. The capture of the northern fleet by the Nortons at Hanayabarta was no secret; many of the captains of the expropriated ships were able to provide reliable information about that matter.

Fortunately for the Chikdor Merchant Guild, the northern fleet did not incur any losses. They only fell into a trap and was forced to surrender. It was later discovered that they had been sent to Silowas to work as laborers. By then, no one in the guild even dared to mention the northern strategy again. Even the third young master, Moribak, kept completely quiet. If he knew earlier how much might the Nortons possessed, he never would have dared to propose taking over Silowas in the first place. They had exterminated the Hanayabarta kingdom, a full-fledged kingdom! Other things aside, the blademasters that had died by their hand numbered 14 without any losses on the side of the Nortons. The news of 170 thousand civilians being beheaded and stacked up on that human pyramid brought chills to the third young master.

When President Chikdor learned that it was his third son that had accidentally revealed the information about Silowas and incited the interest of the slavers, he gave his son two harsh slaps and ordered him to head to the dominion of the guild at the Urubaha duchy and never leave. After that, he launched an urgent meeting with the other higher-ups of the guild to discuss how they would end hostile ties with the Nortons as soon as possible, resulting in Serihanem being sent on this mission of peace.

"Count Norton, our guild is willing to spend 200 thousand gold Fordes to ransom the sailors of the northern fleet back as a token of apology to your house. Other than that, we are intent on purchasing 56 thousand sets of equipment of the stainless steel model 107 variant at your set price of 89 gold Fordes each without any need for discounts over the next three years. We'll pay the sum in full every time we receive a shipment, is that alright?"

Serihanem secretly sighed and thought, had it not been for the six million gold Fordes we found at the treasury of Duke Urubaha, the guild would not have benefited one bit even though we acquired the whole duchy as territory. Sigh, the spice and other goods on the northern fleet confiscated by the Nortons cost easily more than 1.5 million gold Fordes, and we still have to spend such a huge sum to ransom our people back... If only we knew better...

Lorist tapped on the table by his side in thought.

"Have you seen the blueprints of the armor set ordered by the Peterson Merchant Guild?" asked Lorist.

"Yes, we have, Lord Count. We also know that they are produced by your house. It is far superior than those produced by the Wessia Merchant Guild, both in terms of design and defensive capabilities. After making the Urubaha duchy our dominion, the two armies-for-rent of the duchy will be reorganized into a proper garrison legion of 48 thousand men to defend us from enemies. That's why the guild is willing to give this business to the Norton house as a sign of our goodwill.

"Other than that, we are also willing to give up the trade route to the Shyarsia kingdom for spice to the Norton house. In the future, we will purchase spice from your house at Silowas. Additionally, this is one of the plans my third brother devised for the northern strategy. With this floating box port plan, I'm sure that the Cursed Coasts would no longer prove troublesome to you."

Serihanem brought out another document which Howard received and checked, before handing it to Lorist.

Lorist inspected it and found that it detailed a flexible port made by linking floating boxes meant to be deployed on shallow waters around the reef area. Serihanem was correct in that it would be able to neutralize the troubles of trading along the Cursed Coasts. In the event of stormy weather, the linked floating boxes could even be retracted and made into wave breakers and filled with earth to make a permanent port.

Finally, Lorist revealed a smile and said, "Alright then. I am willing to reconcile with the Chikdor Merchant Guild on behalf of the House of Norton. We will cease all hostilities with your guild and engage in a peaceful relationship."

Refusal

Finally, we're at the 300-chapter mark. It truly has been a rather hectic (and rewarding) journey for us. Here's to the next smooth-sailing release of the next 100 chapters! Hope you all enjoy the read!

P.S. it's the fourth release of the week.

Please note that this chapter is still unedited.

Looking at the sails in the distance, Lorist furrowed his brows in worry. First Young Master Serihanem of the Chikdors was aboard that very ship. As the 6000-odd sailors of the northern fleet would not fit in one ship alone, Serihanem had casually hired the Norton house's men to transport their ransomed crew back to Morante.

Lorist was not concerned for the safety of those transport ships as there would be no chance the Chikdor Merchant Guild would be willing to get into conflict with the Norton house just for the sake of those ten-odd measly ships. However, before Serihanem left, he had revealed where the troops of the Union that occupied Bodolger Province had come from. Even Lorist could have never imagined something like that being pulled.

A few days back following his conversation with Serihanem, Lorist came to understand some more details about the internal affairs of the Union. Ever since the Union obtained victory in the War of Glass, the nations neighboring them had sealed their borders and erased the trade routes as a kneejerk response to the sudden expansionist policy of the Union. But given that the Union had occupied seven other nations following the war, their territory had expanded by at least four to five times. As long as they allocated and managed their resources well, there would be no cause for concern for their sustenance.

However, after the big seven guilds of the trade union obtained their own dominions, they refocused their efforts and resources to their own territory. In that situation, their grasp on the control of the Union itself had waned. At the same time, the sub council that was usually relegated to the sidelines had increased their influence. It was then when the aftereffects of the War of Glass began to show.

The Union's sub council comprised mostly the representatives of the citizens, the second-rate merchant guilds and representatives of guilds of various crafts. The sub council's main purpose was to take care of the miscellaneous stuff like enforcing security, and bringing in more civilians. Following the war, the big seven had managed to successfully realized their goals to expand the Union. But even though the territory had expanded greatly, most of it was swept up by the big seven guilds and some other outstanding second-rate guilds. As a result, there were those who still had yet to have enough of their fill.

For instance, during wartime, the short-sighted merchant guilds and mercenaries who only focused on plundering the wealth of the nobles of the nations they invaded disobeyed orders from the military to do their own thing, much to the dismay of President Cobleit, then commander of the Union army. That was why the president decided to get back at those disobedient folk when the time came to split the rewards up, greatly decreasing the benefits they ought to have received as a punishment for disobedience and also kicking out a few that were promised noble titles out of the list.

It was already too late for the second-rate guilds and mercenary groups that had lost the lands that were once promised to them to regret. But that did not stop enmity from building up in the subsequent discussion of the sub council of the Union, much to the trouble of the big seven guilds. But given that the war had ended, there was no longer any place they could take for more territory to appease those parties. As a result, the Wessia Merchant Guild, one of the big seven, came up with an idea.

Back then, the Union had good reason to be wary towards the second highness and his army of 300 thousand. But given that he had been entangled with the nobles of the Redlis kingdom all this time since the War of Glass, those at the Union had begun to see through the second highness's facade of might. Additionally, if the second highness eventually manages to occupy the whole of the Redlis kingdom, he would proceed to the Lormo duchy and force Duke Lormo to return under the banner of the empire. That was something which the Union would never allow to happen. Since Second Highness Auguslo was eventually bound to be their enemy given their conflicting interests, the Union definitely did not mind driving the proverbial knife up the second highness's back to destroy his dreams of reuniting the empire.

Other than that, while the big seven guilds have obtained their own dominions, the nobles who originally controlled those lands were not easy to deal with. This would be a good opportunity to send those nobles to the frontlines to earn achievements to qualify for new noble titles and land.

That was the reason for the military intervention conducted by the Union at Bodolger Province. Only the Wessia Merchant Guild participated in the attack. The rest of the big seven were busy settling down into their new dominions. It did not help that the second highness had made an error himself, choosing to gather his troops at the Majik Province leaving only a small number of old garrison troops at the citadels around Kanbona Province. Perhaps, he had thought that there would be no point in stationing so many soldiers at places so far behind where his army was currently located at.

But never did Second Highness Auguslo expect that the Union would launch a surprise attack and actually manage to conquer Kanbona Province. Given that the citadels over there was his only connection to the Andinaq kingdom, the strategy of the Union could be said to almost been executed with surgical precision. With but one strike, they had cut off the lifeline of the second highness. Not only that, the four central duchies have once more refused the second highness's beckoning to return to the empire and even formed an allied army of 100 thousand men to face off against the troops of the second highness and reinforce the troops at Majik Province, causing the second highness to be surrounded by enemies front and back.

Lorist breathed a long sigh at hearing all that.

"Milord, what are you worried about?" asked Potterfang from the side.

"The second highness's situation at the Redlis kingdom," said Lorist. He did not feel the need to hide anything from his treasured subordinate.

"Milord, there's no need for you to concern yourself over this," Potterfang said frankly. Ever since the experience of being manipulated and used by the second highness, he had held the grudge close to his heart, especially with regards to some of his friends which the second highness had poached. "Since the second highness didn't ask us to deploy our troops, there's no need for us to go out of our way to clean up his mess. Even if he's considered to be a senior noble of our house, we've always fulfilled our due obligation to him. I believe that Milord shouldn't have sent Supervisor Hansk to the imperial capital. You also shouldn't poke your hands into the affairs of this conflict. It's best for our house to rest up in the coming two years to reorganize our military and wait for better opportunities."

Lorist shook his head and said, "No matter what, the second highness is still a senior noble of mine. I should at least worry about him a little. If the imperial capital requests for us to deploy our troops to rescue the second highness, all we'll do is to send our forces and breach the enemy front at Kanbona Province. As for the nobles of the Redlis kingdom at Majik Province, I couldn't be bothered to care about them, unless I stand to see the first prince gone for good. Weird, as the king of the Redlis kingdom, why is the location of the first prince still unknown? It's already been a year and a half since his disappearance..."

At the end of the 6th month, Supervisor Hansk who was sent as an ambassador to the imperial capital had returned. Lorist was sparring with Blademaster Shuss at Seaview Manor at that time. After resisting over more than a hundred strikes from Lorist, Shuss eventually discarded his weapon and surrendered. As Lorist wiped some sweat off his face, he received the letter that Hansk handed over.

Upon opening it, he could see that the letter asked for the Norton house to stay put and not involve themselves into the military affairs of the Andinaq kingdom. The letter was even sealed with the insignia of the kingdom's regent.

Lorist read the letter over and over before turning to Hansk and asking, "Who's in charge at the imperial capital currently?"

"Milord, the one who received me at the imperial capital was Marquis Reid. When he read the letter you penned, he respectfully refused help from our house and said that he has already ordered the second royal local defense legion stationed near the borders of the Madras duchy to barge its way through Kanbona Province to arrive at the frontlines to reestablish contact with His Majesty the King. He then wrote this letter and had me deliver it back to you," replied Hansk.

"Marquis Reid?" Lorist murmured, as he recalled the old man he saw at one banquet of the imperial capital. While he could not quite remember how the man looked like, he did remember that the young son of the old man had brought a bunch of other noble youths to occupy Seaview Manor on Silowas for up to five years. It was not until Lorist's arrival on the island that they were apprehended and punished.

"Hahaha..." This old guy is definitely doing this out of spite. Sol, for him to let his private feelings affect his decision on the military matters of a nation and deal with this in such a childish manner... Hmph, you think I wanted to send my soldiers out? You just saved me a bunch of trouble, old fool! With this letter in hand, Lorist had all the reason in the world to completely ignore the second highness no matter how dire in need he was in.

"Well, Howard, make sure to keep this letter well no matter what. This is extremely important," said Lorist as he handed Howard the letter.

"Milord, just before I started heading back here, Marquis Reid assigned an escort for me. When I arrived at Jillin Harbor, I heard the garrison squad leader make an order to not let the soldiers of our house step on the shores even one bit," added Hansk.

Confused, Lorist asked, "What is the meaning of that? Are they treating us like enemies?"

Hansk made a bitter laugh and said, "Well, I don't know why myself. But that was the order I heard. They were also told to monitor our troops on high alert."

"But, Sir Hansk, even if they give that order, they shouldn't say it in front of you! Did you offend anyone of the escort?" interjected Howard.

"Hmmm," Hansk mumbled as he scratched his head in thought, "I don't think I had. All I did was stop them from attacking those helpless refugees on the way back... Did they have to offend us just because of that?"

"What's that about the refugees?" Lorist asked, "Tell me about that in detail."

"Well, it all started like this. We encountered lots of refugees during our stay at the imperial capital who were originally from the two southwestern provinces. We even managed to recruit up to 60 thousand of them to go to the island to help out with the development. However, after the second highness's assault on the capital of the Redlis kingdom, Frederika, he conquered Kanbona Province without even a single fight. It was then when the second highness settled the refugees down at Kanbona Province temporarily. But now that the forces of the Union have occupied Kanbona Province, those refugees have nowhere else to go and traveled to the imperial capital," explained Hansk.

"Why would they go to the imperial capital? They could always head to the territory of the Union, or even Morante," said Howard.

"That's because the Union doesn't welcome them. They are, after all, civilians of the former Krissen Empire, a scapegoat for the hate of those of the Union. The former empire had been at war with the Union for almost a century and who knows how much blood has been spilled over those conflicts. Both sides hate each other profusely. This is a grudge borne for life that is ingrained deep in their bones. Don't be mistaken about our amicable relationship with the Peterson and Chikdor merchant guilds. They are merchants, and they don't believe in justice or injustice, only profits. However, the civilians under their rule are different. Only after another century or so would the grudge between those two parties begin to fade," said Lorist as he stroked Howard's head. Having lived at Morante for almost a decade, he understood the mindset of the citizens well.

Hansk said, "Milord, that's exactly the case. Those refugees told me the same thing. According to them, the soldiers from the Union occupying Kanbona Province would attack them for no good reason. There has already been plenty refugees murdered for no just cause. The refugees were forced to leave that place. Fortunately, they set out on their journey early. Given how the Union's forces have already arrived at the two southwestern provinces, it won't take long until they reach the capital."

Hansk clutched his chest in worry and continued, "During our journey back, we would frequently encounter refugees in the way of our path. The ones escorting me would not hesitate to cut them down with no discourse whatsoever and even cursed the refugees for being cowardly leeches that allowed Kanbona Province to slip from their hands. They even blamed them for not being willing to fight to their deaths with the enemy and wanted to punish the refugees with death as they would deserters."

"Good Sol!" Lorist cursed uncontrollably, "How did knights like them even think that the refugees are responsible for this war? It's not their fault that Kanbona Province was lost! Their brains must be rotting from the insides!"

"That's all too right, Milord. The behavior of those knights got on the nerves of Sir Reidy, who promptly walloped them and gave their faces a few harsh slaps. Oh, now I know... Those knights must have been pissed that they've lost face to the enraged Reidy. That was why they bothered to announce their disrespectful orders right in front of us in an attempt to shame our house," said Hansk as he began to flush with embarrassment.

Both Els and Jim who led the guard brigade had gone on vacation to break through to the gold rank, so Lorist had Reidy take over as the leader of the guard brigade temporarily and accompany Hansk on his trip to the imperial capital.

"Haha, they wish to shame the House of Norton? I'd like to know where they got the guts to do that," Lorist said while snickering, "Howard, pass down my orders. Have Senbaud prepare his Oceanic Legion and get Potterfang's first division on board the ships. I want to head to Jilin Harbor to see for myself the one who gave the order to not allow Norton troops to step on the shores of the kingdom."

"Milord, if you do that, they'll think that we're trying to revolt right away," said Hansk in a hurry to dissuade Lorist.

"Worry not, my governor. I won't be stupid enough to actually order our troops to attack Jillin Harbor. All I want is to bring my guards there for a shopping trip. I'd like to see whether the garrison of Jillin Harbor will dare to attack a count of the kingdom like me. It's well within my rights to bring a guard escort with me around the kingdom. The moment they attack us, I'll charge them for treason for attempting to harm me, a count of the kingdom. After that, we'll be fully within our rights to act out of self defense. I want to see evidence for the order to not let us get on shore with my own two eyes no matter what!" said Lorist. However, he did not act rashly with anger like Hansk had predicted and was rather clear-headed instead, causing the old supervisor to heave a sigh of relief.

"Lord Locke, let me come along with you for a stroll," said Blademaster Shuss proactively.

"Alright, we'll leave right away. Let's see which fool dares come causing trouble for the House of Norton."