Surprising Pledge of Loyalty
Here's the fourth release of the week. I wonder if anyone has made some maps for the submission of the competition yet? The deadline for the competition is release time tomorrow, which is 2300 hours GMT +8!
Lorist was well aware what the second highness was thinking about. It was almost certain that he had his sights set on House Norton's carroballistae. What Lorist didn't understand was on what basis the second highness thought the house should help him? In every business transaction, there would always be profit for both parties. What would House Norton gain then if he helped him reunite the empire?
In terms of contributions, House Norton easily trumped all the kingdom's other noble houses and there was no longer anything the second highness could provide that they didn't already have. Did the second highness intend to rely on a heartfelt conversation to convince Lorist to send his warriors to their deaths for his ambitions?
House Norton's current rank didn't come from nothing either. Instead, it was through the great contributions their house made to the kingdom, which the second highness understood as well. However, the monarch had always been wary of the Nortons. He was convinced House Norton would have the might he required to reunite the empire after taking a tour through their dominion.
That was also the thing that troubled Lorist the most. He had already made it clear that the second highness' choice was wrong and that all the fault lay with him alone. Had it not been for his rampant effort to raise the kingdom's military, Andinaq would've developed even faster than The Northlands. Whether it be living conditions or economy, it would have been far better than The Northlands was now. But the second highness actually gave up such a precious opportunity in favor of single-mindedly reuniting the empire. He lost everything in a single setback as a result.
Lorist was incredibly dissatisfied with the second highness' attempts to leech off his house now that he had ruined his own kingdom.
You've regained your throne and control of the kingdom, this is your second chance. I'd like to see if you will let it slip through your fingers a second time. Will you develop the kingdom quietly for a decade like we did or build a poor army and tire your people out even more than they already are?
The second highness also understood the subtext of Lorist's words perfectly. He had already failed once and only managed to convince the four houses to serve him by signing that humiliating contract. Even the restoration of his throne was thanks to House Norton. While it seemed like the kingdom was strong once more in the view of outsiders, while the kingdom's territory had increased three-fold, while the kingdom had defeated and incorporated the former Madras duchy, the second highness felt no sense of accomplishment. At the end of the day, Madras wasn't taken by his own efforts. He felt unaccomplished, left out, and even a little humiliated.
The second highness also understood that making empty promises would not budge Lorist in the slightest. Lorist was no idiot and wasn't displeased with the current situation at all. Even though a king like him had to maintain some degree of autonomy, what he did to Lorist previously had caused the latter to view a liege like him with caution. In the current situation, the second highness couldn't force Lorist to abide by his will, given that the house's might and their army was beyond reckoning with. He felt a constant pressure from them. Apart from doing his best to get on their good side or turn against them entirely, the second highness could do nothing else.
After a long period of consideration, he decided he wouldn't prioritize either military or development. Instead, he requested House Norton give him aid as sincerely as he could without putting up any airs. Lorist exhaled and began to bargain with the second highness. He knew the monarch had confiscated a huge amount of wealth from the noble houses he exterminated, so instead of letting him sink it all in the endless abyss of war, it would be better for it to be used to improve the house's income.
After a whole night of arguing, the sky began to brighten once more. The two finally came to an agreement at daybreak. As Lorist had expected, his liege would put most of his efforts into the military and didn't care much for development at all. Even the few factories he agreed to build produced arms and military equipment. But Lorist couldn't be bothered to interfere so long as he could weasel a huge sum from the man.
The second highness was also rather satisfied with the arrangement. He had never imagined he could source most of his military resources from the Nortons at such a low cost. A good portion of the gear was even better than what any factory he built himself could ever produce. According to the second highness's current plan, he would invest the ten million gold Fordes he had into the military to further strengthen his standing, only had to spend around 400 thousand gold Fordes to purchase the equipment and resources he needed, which was worth more than 600 thousand gold Fordes. It also included the catapults of which he dreamed, much to his delight. He was so enthralled that he held dearly onto Lorist's hand, seeming unwilling to let him go even as the latter was about to leave. The other onlookers felt a chill run down their spine.
On the 19th day of the 12th month, Lorist bid farewell to the second highness, who was still unwilling to part. He left the army camp and sent an eagle to the regiment led by Blademaster Shuss and Patt he had stationed at Egret Basin. They were ordered to withdraw to Vanades and await his arrival.
On the 22nd day of the 12th month, Lorist and company arrived at Vanades. They began their journey once more after a day of rest and arrived at the lower stream of Metropoulos near the floating bridge. After crossing the river, they traveled at a leisurely pace and eventually made it back to Firmrock Castle on the evening of the 34th day.
"Thank the protection of Wargod Singwa. My prayers have been answered," Charade exclaimed as he tugged on Lorist's sleeve, "Your Grace, I was worried sick that you wouldn't be present for the first celebratory event our house is hosting on new year's. Just imagine what it would be like if you missed such a grand gathering with all your vassals and knights. It would most certainly be the most disgraceful moment of the house in its three-century-long history."
"Stop complaining," Lorist snapped, "Didn't I make it back in time? I know I can't afford to miss this event but if I didn't go there myself, we'd have more than Reidy to worry about. His Majesty was in grave danger as well."
"What? What does our bloodthirsty king have to do with this?"
Since the noble houses' massacre, the second highness had gained yet another moniker among the knights and nobles: The Bloody King.
Lorist detailed his rescue of Reidy and the second highness.
"It's such a shame, why couldn't you wait a few moments longer? Having Reidy escape during the chaos caused by the heroic death or capture of His Majesty would've been the best outcome."
"What are you talking about?!" rebuked Lorist, "He's our king, the sole inheritor of the blood of the Krissen imperial family! Who would dare kill him? Don't forget that 'kingslayer' isn't a title just anyone wants to bear. All Xanthi and the other blademasters wanted was to capture him alive and send him back to the duchies. If that really happened, it would be troublesome for us too. As the kingdom's highest-ranked duke, we would've had to ransom him or deploy our forces to free him. It would severely disrupt our plans. I'm glad I managed to arrive in time to sort this out before it became a problem."
"I was just speaking my mind," Charade said, dissatisfied, "Your Grace, tomorrow's the last day before the new year celebration. The high-ranked officials, household knights, and vassal nobles are already here. Duke Kenmays, Count Felim, and Count Shazin are also here. Additionally, all the ceremonial preparations are complete, including the badges for the vassal nobles, new and old. Do you want to give it a check?"
"There's no need. I've already seen the drawings. It'll be fine as long as it doesn't go against any regulations. I'm very much assured about this since you're the one in charge. If there's nothing else, I'll go get some rest. Also, tell Duke Kenmays, Count Felim, and Count Shazin that I'll dine with them tomorrow afternoon," said Lorist before he headed for the rear of the castle.
"Your Grace, I understand your trip has been rather tiring, but I'm afraid there's something I need your decision on immediately," said Charade as he flipped open a folder.
"What?" asked Lorist as he stopped.
"It concerns Viscount Eidis, Viscount Zinderson, Baron Klaus, and Baron Wade from Winston," Charade said with an odd expression, "They came over to pledge their allegiance and even brought some of their family members to be political hostages. Look, here's the pledge letter they wrote."
"What did you say?" Lorist asked without receiving the letter.
He stared at Charade, confusion written on his face.
"Aren't they Iblian nobles? I recall staying at Viscount Eidis's little town for a night when we went to Windbury last time. Why has he brought his three allies over?"
"Your Grace, they really are here to pledge allegiance. This is the letter they penned. I already told them you weren't present and asked them to come back after new year's but they refused to listen and insisted on meeting you no matter what. They've already been waiting up for two weeks," said Charade after he successfully stuffed the letter into Lorist's hand.
Lorist gave the letter a quick read as the attentive Howard hurriedly brought over a candle from the wall.
After reading the four pledges, Lorist ordered, "Charade, have them meet me in the study in an hour. I'll take a bath and have a meal in the meantime. I'll ask them why they want to pledge allegiance to us in such a hurry later."
Lorist turned to Howard and patted his shoulder.
"Didn't you hear Sir Charade say Count Felim is here? Your beautiful fiancée is no doubt here as well. I'll do fine without you for a while, wash up and meet your little wife. Be sure to behave during the night, okay? You're still young after all."
"Your Grace!" scowled Howard angrily.
He only did so for a moment. He couldn't resist the urge to see his fiancée and ran off, tomato-faced.
Charade laughed himself to tears.
"Don't forget to have Reidy come here!"
As Lorist's study was filled with classified documents, servants were not allowed to clean it up. The ones who carried out that task were usually Reidy, Howard, Els, Patt, or even Jim, the people Lorist trusted the most. However, since Reidy entered seclusion training, Els formed his own family, and Jim was sent off to carry out a secret mission at the gunpowder research lab following his recovery, Howard was the one put in charge of cleaning the room. Now that Howard's been given a short break, Charade asked Reidy to replace him for the moment. Otherwise, Lorist and he would have to clean the study on their own.
After bathing and having something to eat, Lorist headed to the study and saw Reidy finishing up with the cleaning. The fireplace was lit, its heat erasing the cold that had built up during the owner's month-long absence.
Seeing Reidy making some macks, Lorist started thinking.
Howard has a fiancée already, and Els is married, but Reidy's still single... Maybe I ought to ask him if there's a girl he's interested in. It's about time he found himself a wife...
Before he finished his thought, the door to the study was given a knock. Reidy opened it and let Charade and the four nobles enter. They all wore expressions of delight and disbelief, as if Lorist had returned and offered them lifeboats when they were sinking.
Lorist stood up and apologized sincerely.
"I'm really sorry to have made you wait so long. I had to deal with an unexpected incident concerning my disciple and only just made it back. I heard you've been waiting for more than ten days and even wrote a letter of pledge to the house. Could you please let me know what has driven you to do such a thing?"
The four nobles greeted Lorist respectfully with a salute, which Lorist graciously returned. They breathed sighs of relief.
Viscount Eidis stood forward to represent the rest and explained with a troubled smile, "Your Grace, our four houses have reached the end of our line. We have no other way to survive but to pledge our allegiance to you."
Following the viscount's explanation, Lorist and Charade understood that the four houses had been forced into their current predicament by Duke Fisablen. Either they accepted the duke's conditions or they watched as their houses were torn apart. Only through pledging their allegiance to a powerful house like the Nortons could they survive.
The 20 thousand cavalry the duke brought with him to Windbury for the knighthood tournament last year didn't leave once it was over. Instead, they dug in. After Melein, the biggest threat to House Fisablen, the duke turned his sights to Windbury.
He brought another 20 thousand men, he clearly wasn't messing around. There was already a legion's worth of frontier cavalrymen stationed at Windbury. With this legion in hand, Duke Fisablen lashed out at the nobles in the capital cruelly. He didn't bat an eye. Every day, there were nobles either killed for treason or sent to the dungeons. Unlike the second highness, however, he didn't kill the nobles off all at once. Instead, he wore them down over the rest of the year. Even though it was no different from the second highness's act which destroyed his reputation, the duke had employed a milder method that didn't evoke nearly as big a reaction despite the fact that the number of noble houses he exterminated wasn't that far off from the second highness. It was as if he was simmering the nobles to their deaths slowly and patiently.
Lorist had already been informed about this thanks to Furybear's informants. Since he was going to attack the capital himself anyway, he was more than glad that Duke Fisablen would dirty his own hands on his behalf. Not only that, he could even improve his reputation by defeating Duke Fisablen and conquering Windbury by claiming he did so to fight for the honor of all nobles. All he had to do was find some of the exterminated houses that managed to escape and give them aid to carry out a smear campaign against Duke Fisablen. The duke's reputation would definitely be ruined. This was also why Lorist ignored the incident and only instructed his men to quietly collect evidence instead of interfering.
But after Duke Fisablen exterminated all the noble houses in Windbury, he turned his sights to Winston. He decided to offer them a chance to pledge allegiance and have their dominions moved to Southern. It caused quite an uproar. The nobles decided to band together and resist him. Duke Fisablen was waiting for exactly this all along and declared them traitors immediately. He attacked with his full force and exterminated more than 20 noble houses in the span of two months. All the men were hanged and the women were given to the Frontier Legion soldiers and grassland barbarians that distinguished themselves during the campaign.
Even though Viscount Eidis and his three allies didn't rebel outright, the order they received required them to move to Southern in the coming spring, which was before the 5th month, with no more than a thousand of their subjects. Their current dominion would be managed by the duke's house. Southern's current desolate and bandit-ridden state was well known. Going there with only a thousand subjects was practically suicide. They would be torn apart like a raving wolf's prey. It wasn't even certain that they'd make it to their new dominions.
"Your Grace, this is why we want to pledge allegiance to you. We understand Duke Fisablen started killing the other nobles off in preparation for the conflict with The Northlands' four houses. Last I heard, Duke Fisablen was going to bring all the youths across the many dominions in Winston to Eastwild. Their other family members would be gathered at the capital. He's planning to build a citadel at Dawoktown as a buffer for Windbury and the main point of resistance against you."
Lorist nodded.
"I'll gladly accept your pledges. House Norton now considers your houses vassals and will move your dominion to Delamock without any demotion. As for the family members you sent over, I will let them serve in my personal guard. I wonder if this arrangement is appropriate?"
The four nobles revealed expressions of elation as they knelt instantly and pledged loyalty to House Norton in the name of their ancestors. They were incredibly respectful and thankful when they left.
Charade looked at Lorist suspiciously as he waited for them to leave.
"Locke, tell me, what are you up to this time?" he asked when they were finally alone.
Banquet and Entitlement
Enjoy the fifth release of the week! There's something big happening on Monday, so look forward to it!
The common Grindian calendar had 12 months and it contained the good elements from the magi's calendar and the fairy calendar for practical purposes. Each month of the common calendar had 35 days. The 5th, 9th and 12th months each had an extra day, not noted on the calendar.
These three days were publicly acknowledged by all of Grindia as Bathing Day, Harvest Day and New Year's.
As Lorist had promised, Viscount Eidis, Viscount Zinderson, Baron Klaus, and Baron Wade -- nobles who used to belong to the peerage of Iblia -- were all taken in as vassals. It was rather troublesome Charade. Not only did he have to confirm their new territory, he also had to organize the formal enfeoffment ceremony during the new year's celebration. He was so busy he didn't have time to attend Lorist's reception of Duke Kenmays, Count Felim, and Count Shazin. When Howard came to ask him to attend, he said he was far too busy and merely asked some food be sent over.
It wasn't until the late morning of the 36th day of the 12th month that Charade finished his work. Lying on the couch tiredly and looking at Lorist looking the documents over, he mused that he'd definitely resign if there was another similar incident. He was more than fed up with Lorist's whimsical decisions that made him work overtime all too often.
Lorist smiled and reminded Charade that the new year's celebration would commence at seven so they had more time. Charade ought to go back home for a few hours and rest before washing up and preparing to attend the banquet. Since Charade was one of the nobles formally entitled during the celebration, he reasoned he wouldn't want to look too haggard during the party.
Charade got up and ran out. His voice drifted into the office from the hallway.
"That's right, I've finished my work. Why am I still here? I'll go back home now."
Lorist smiled.
"And there he was complaining how harsh the work I gave him was. Yet, he's running out so quickly in such an energetic manner," commented Lorist to Howard.
Firmrock Castle was decorated all over that day and the central part of the castle was been cleaned up rather well. On both sides of the streets hung flags of varying colors and the weather also seemed excellent. Not only was there no snow, the sky was bright and blue with the crescent Silvermoon hanging brightly above as well.
"If it weren't this cold, the day would be perfect," said Duke Kenmays.
He was standing with Lorist, Felim, and Shazin on the veranda on the castle's top floor, looking at the distant carriages approaching the center. Behind the four nobles were Howard and his fiancée, Katrina, Felim's beloved daughter. They were both talking quietly in a corner wearing sweet smiles.
Kenmays had already changed his dominion to Sidgler and had taken everything with him. At the same time, the five nobles' territory he occupied had also been handed to House Norton. Having nothing better to do, he came over to enjoy the festivities and dragged Felim and Shazin along to become the entitlement ceremony's witnesses.
"If you ask me, Firmrock Castle is far too small. It doesn't fit your status as a duke. It was designed to be a citadel, so it's a little too small to be The Northlands' base of operations," commented he.
Lorist nodded.
"That's true. Come spring, I will move to Gildusk. It's a convenient place from which to oversee the war soon to take place in Winston and Southern. Baron Charade has already instructed Grandmaster Ciroba to begin redeveloping the city and the southern part of The Northlands, but Grandmaster Ciroba made a rather problematic request."
"Oh? What is it?" asked the three nobles curiously.
They all knew Ciroba was the house's chief architect. Almost all the developmental projects had to go through him before making it to Lorist's desk.
"Well, he said the name of Gildusk came from the two artists cum architects that designed the city, Gil and Dusk. He feels he's even more amazing than them and wants the reconstructed city to be named after him. Otherwise, he wouldn't involve himself. Tell me, doesn't Ciroba sound really weird to you?" asked Lorist with a furrowed brow.
Ciroba's weird inclination to name every project after himself was indeed rather troubling.
"Hahahaha..."
"Well, Locke. just tell the grandmaster I will construct my household castle when I return to Southern. If he's willing to come help out, I'll let him name the castle," said Felim.
"Are you crazy?" Kenmays rolled his eyes, "Last time you mentioned wanting to name your castle Pegasus Castle since that was also what your ancestors' first castle was called before it was destroyed by Krissen IV in the War of the New Moon. Now that House Felim is finally returning to its original domain, would it be appropriate for your new castle to be named Ciroba Castle instead? You're right, it does sound rather weird and hard to pronounce."
"Haha, I'll definitely have the castle's name engraved in the smallest form possible and display a huge statue of the Pegasus on our walls. That way, everyone will come to call it Pegasus Castle instead of paying attention to the inscribed name," Felim said with a confident smile, "Do you think I'd be that stupid?"
Kenmays gasped.
"You... Isn't that cheating?"
"What? I will inscribe his name on the castle for real. If others can't see it properly, it's their eyes' fault, not mine. House Felim doesn't pull tricks like that, alright?" argued Felim.
"Alright, there's no need to overthink this. I'll have Grandmaster Ciroba design a new castle for you. I believe he'll be more than interested in redesigning such a well-known castle without having to name it after him. All you have to do is dedicate a statue to him," interjected Lorist with a smile.
"Locke, the number of people here is increasing. Look, it's filled with carriages. It's finally time to receive the guests. How many years has it been since I attended something like this? The last time was before the second prince was defeated." asked Kenmays as he turned to the plaza.
"If you like parties so much, why didn't you just host your own banquet? You're also a duke. You're more than qualified to host a banquet. Don't tell me House Kenmays doesn't even have enough money for a simple banquet!" said Lorist with a laugh.
Kenmays sighed.
"Talking to a banquet idiot like you is really off-putting. Don't you know the most important thing of a banquet or social event is the attendees? The more the merrier! What good would a banquet do if I hardly have any household knights or vassals? There's no point hosting one just for my house!"
"You could promote a few knights. It's not like there's anyone to stop you."
"They aren't qualified yet. Their contributions are still lacking. Additionally, my father said it was thanks to House Norton and luck that House Kenmays managed to make it this far. All we should do is mind our own business and pay attention to our dominion since the external affairs of our alliance are all dealt with by you. We only have to fulfill our duties as your allies and will be compensated in kind."
"I really have to say, your father is a cunning man. Not only is he using us as his shield, he even gets to taste some leftover blood," praised Lorist.
"It's to be expected. Who asked House Norton to be the strongest? If there's anyone that has to take hits for us, it's you! Don't the rest of you agree?" asked Kenmays, confiding in his comrades.
Felim and Shazin both laughed. Without Lorist, there wouldn't be the alliance. Neither would their houses have been able to soar to such heights and even solidify their titles among their peers. Kenmays' words rang true in that Lorist was indeed their leader that had to take care of his subordinates.
"Well, it's about time. Should we head down now?" asked Shazin after taking another look at the carriages.
"Alright. Let's get going. Best not let your ladies wait," agreed Lorist.
He was chaperoned by Telesti of Nico Academy. She brought her two daughters along. The moment they met, Lorist was shocked to see how slender Telesti had become. After asking about it, he learned that she was stressed from having to take care of the academy and her two daughters. Losing sleep was something she had to deal with on a regular basis.
"Locke, had it not been for the fact that today was also an entitlement ceremony, I wouldn't have left the academy. My schedule is really far too tight, there's too much I have to do. Stop advising me to stop. This is a choice I made for myself," said Telesti.
Lorist sighed deeply and gave her a hug.
"My dear, the sea of knowledge is vast and endless. Even a sailor has to rest and recuperate once in a while."
Kenmays' chaperone was a voluptuous noble lady -- the widow of some count long passed away.
Felim's chaperone was his beloved daughter Katrina.
Shazin came with his concubine, Kenmays' cousin, as his chaperone. It seemed the beauty from House Kenmays stood a chance of being made the matron of his house.
Lorist led the group with Telesti at the front. Applause and cheers thundered in the hall as the group entered.
The banquet's organizer, Charade, represented the house in the welcome speech. Lorist gave a light-hearted speech that basically outlined the plans for the next year, and stated that House Norton was confident their might and courage would bring them all to victory in the upcoming conflicts. Their allies' trust was thus, of course, not for naught.
"What on earth did you have me read?" Lorist complained afterward, "This isn't like me at all. Do you have any idea how embarrassed I was up there?"
"I worked on this all night, I didn't even sleep," Charade rolled his eyes, "Besides, you checked the speech yourself this morning. You should have complained then."
"Sol," Lorist gasped as he wiped the sweat from his forehead, "I didn't think you would write something like this so I didn't remember to check. Nobody reminded me either..."
"Whatever," Charade shrugged, "It's not like they were all paying attention anyway. It's mostly just formalities. What they're anticipating is the entitlement ceremony so there's no point complaining about the speech now."
The entitlement ceremony soon began. First was the re-entitlement, or demotion, of the 17 nobles relocated to Delamock. Thereafter the five Northland nobles House Kenmays kept followed suit. Next came the two Madras nobles whose beauties had pleased Lorist and managed to save their houses by becoming vassals. Finally, it was Viscount Eidis and the other four who joined the faction at the last moment's turn. They used to be Iblian nobles, but now they were Lorist's vassals. The last one to be entitled was Baron Dina, whose title was given to Lorist's lover, Dina Arriotoli temporarily until her younger brother matured.
The ceremony was simple. Charade announced the names and rank of the house to summon the nobles. They would go up the stage and salute. They received the silver tray Howard brought over containing the deeds of entitlement and the deeds to their land, as well as a decree signed personally by Lorist along with their identification badge which bore the insignias of the respective houses.
Lorist remained seated on his throne. His right hand held a sword and his left hand was outstretched. The pose was one a liege assumed when accepting a vassal's pledge of allegiance. The left hand represented grace and acceptance, while the sword symbolized caution and might. Each noble would receive the silver tray and pledge their allegiance by kissing the back of Lorist's left hand, before bowing and leaving. After the vassals were entitled it was the turn of the 14 new houses.
The two grandmasters, Sid and Fellin, were up first. They received their certificates with teary eyes and prostrated in front of Lorist during their pledge of allegiance on behalf of their future descendants. Lorist expended quite some effort to get them to stand up and regretted giving them a rank so high it might've taxed their hearts a little too much with excitement.
Potterfang and Loze's entitlement went off without a hitch. But Charade's entitlement caused a small commotion when his father fainted from sheer excitement, much to Charade's embarrassment.
After the 14 nobles were entitled it was the honorary nobles' turn. Apart from Hanayabarta's Governor Hector -- who was absent -- the other five were present for the ceremony.
The ceremony wasn't enjoyed by everyone, however. More than 30 nobles of the Madras duchy had been stripped of their dominions. Only after House Norton eliminated the Iblia kingdom and conquered Winston would they be enfeoffed. These nobles were in a similar situation to many of the original Northlander nobles and had no choice but to patiently wait in The Northlands.
Apart from them, and the household knights and high-ranking household officials, there were some other people of relatively higher status given honorary titles. They were the rich factory owners and merchants who operated within the dominion. However, they were considered nobility among The Northlands because of their honorary titles and status. Even Lorist didn't think The Northlands would have so many honorary nobles. A large majority were those who escaped from the smaller duchies eliminated by the Union.
While House Norton could ignore and not acknowledge the honorary titles graced upon them by others, it wasn't that they could outright revoke the titles since they were qualified to attend the social gatherings of nobility. Since they all received invitations, they had to contribute to the banquet as well by becoming event sponsors.
Kenmays was the one most familiar with the honorary nobles. It was apparent that he enjoyed the night greatly from how well he blended in with the ladies among them.
After seeing the worn-out Telesti, Lorist said with concern, "Let's go, my dear. I'll take you to rest. You seem exhausted."
Strategy and Deployment Meeting
Here's the first release of the week, released earlier to celebrate the launch of "The Sword and The Shadow"! Please check out the announcement on the home page!
"I was originally considering how we should deal with the Frontier Legion at Windbury. It'd be ideal if they chose to hole up in the city. In that case, the worst it'll come to is the capital's destruction. Nobody can resist our forces' attack. Even if the duke was there himself, we'd just bury him alive along with the rest of the legion and end the whole lot there.
"It's just one of the possible scenarios ideal for us. It's no understatement to call the duke a cunning fox, he's been in hundreds of battles. The moment he smells something fishy, he'll run far away and make it incredibly hard to track him. The moment he hears about our troops being sent to Windbury, he'll no doubt give up on the capital and move all its food and wealth away. He might even take all the youths as well. We'll only be left with the old and the sick. Even if we manage to take Windbury, it'll only be a worthless ruin.
"The duke will no doubt continue his retreat with all the valuable resources and manpower. When we conquer Winston and head to Southern, he'll find a battlefield large enough for him to employ hit-and-run tactics. He'll definitely exploit the Frontier Legion's mobility to sabotage our supply lines and cut us off from the support of our conquered land while also grinding down our troops' morale. He knows if he drags the battle on, the day our troops wear out and crumble will no doubt come."
They were in a large meeting room. Following the three-day-long new year's celebration, everyone involved, from high-ranking household knights to knight generals, were gathered in the room, listening to Lorist give a briefing on their strategy.
It was the 3rd day of the 1st month of Year 1778. Lorist had formally mobilized the house's carroballistae to Iblia against the Frontier Legion of House Fisablen.
"According to various sources, House Fisablen's total force is around 240 thousand. Naturally, the duke won't pour all his forces into this conflict. He has to defend the greater and lesser golden creeks as well as Eastwild. Coupled with the forces defending Wild Husbandry, they likely have around 120 to 150 thousand men they can deploy against us. There is a possibility he will recruit more soldiers from the grassland barbarians, so there should be another few tens of thousands serving House Fisablen.
"We don't really care for our enemy's numbers. But this foe will be a completely different beast from the ones we've faced so far. The main difference is their mobility. It far exceeds our forces'. When we attack Southern, we must take great precautions to defend our supply line incredibly well. This will decide whether we can cut off the duke's support from the duchies.
"We have to give it our all even for something as seemingly trivial as this. In our original plan, we will gather Tigersoar and Firmrock as well as House Felim's Pegasus to force our way through using our numbers. It'll force the Frontier Legion to retreat to Winston. Firmrock and Pegasus will invade Southern once this is achieved. Pegasus will be in charge of eliminating bandits while Firmrock will set up citadels and moats at locales with ideal terrain. We will lock Southern down complete to limit where Frontier can go.
"Tigersoar's mission is exterminating the waves of cavalry stationed at Winston to protect our supply line to Southern. We'll also take the most important citadel at the border of Winston and Wild Husbandry: Pedro. This way, we can sever any communication between the two provinces. As for Jaeger, currently stationed in the eastern part of The Northlands, they will be put in charge of attacking Wild Husbandry. I don't require our newly-formed legion to suppress the Fisablen forces at Wild Husbandry effectively. They just have to keep the battles within the Fisablen dominion. Making Wild Husbandry the battlefield to limit our enemy's ability to mobilize troops would be ideal.
"This plan has the benefit of being reliable and stable. We will have enough safeguards to ensure our success. Its downfalls are also obvious, though. Given our superiority in numbers, Duke Fisablen will have to be crazy to seek a field-battle or a siege. It'll be rather difficult to gather the enemy in one place and wipe them out in one go. The old fox will most likely abandon Winston to preserve his numbers. He'll trade land to keep the initiative in battle.
"The more places we conquer, the more troops we'll have to leave behind to defend them. Frontier Legion's mobility far exceeds ours, we can only fight defensively. With that mobility, the duke can also gather a large number of troops to attack the soldiers we leave behind to defend some places by outnumbering them. If Duke Fisablen reduces his Frontier Legions into many divisions instead and stations them in Winston, not only will our forces be forced to be on the defensive, our supply lines will also be at risk."
Lorist used a long thin stick to tap on the map of Winston hung on the wall.
"That was our original plan, as well as why I stationed Tigersoar at Winston. It was so our supply line would be kept safe. However, thanks to Viscount Eidis and the others joining our side, there's another way we can exterminate the Frontier Legion.
"If we can exterminate them and conquer Pedro, we'll no longer have to worry about being harassed by cavalry in Winston. We can see that, apart from the main crossing point between Winston and Wild Husbandry at Pedro, the two provinces' border is the precipitous Pisper Mountain Range that stretches all the way to Southern. No large army can cross Pisper, so as long as we can exterminate Frontier Legion at Winston, not only will we be able to cut off Duke Fisablen's influence, we can also make Winston a safe place where we can fall back to.
"According to Furybear's reports and the news Viscount Eidis brought, we know that Duke Fisablen is already anticipating our arrival. So far, the duke has already killed off the nobles in the capital and started working on the older noble houses of Winston. Frontier Legion has already neutralized 23 regions."
Lorist pointed at Viscount Eidis. It was his turn to speak.
Eidis was rather moved that he and his allies were allowed to participate in such a confidential strategy meeting. It was a sign of the great trust they'd been given. At the same time, the four houses got to know that House Norton had already set their sights on Iblia for quite some time, so they were relieved they had switched sides soon enough.
"My most respectful greetings to you all. According to my knowledge, Duke Fisablen gave the order to all old noble houses of Winston approximately two months ago, demanding we pledge allegiance to him and relocate. He blames the fall of Iblia on the internal struggles between the noble houses and used it as an excuse to demote us. Many dissatisfied nobles banded together in defiance of his orders. They didn't expect that the duke was already prepared this and quickly snuffed them out by deploying Frontier Legion, however. He already ended 23 noble houses in two short months.
"Houses like ours that aren't able to resist can only abide by his order to relocate before the 5th month. In other words, right after the winter harvests, we'll have to leave our dominions for our new ones in Southern with less than a thousand people, while our original domains will be put under the management of the duke's ambassadors. It forced the four of us to seek out House Norton for help.
"I've received one of the duke's ambassadors before and my hospitality caused him to reveal that Duke Fisablen was already prepared to give up on Winston the moment he heard that the four houses of The Northlands exterminated Madras. He will stage the battles in Winston to delay us. Ideally, he will seal off the routes from Winston to Wild Husbandry, which are the two metal suspension bridges between the provinces. He's even prepared to destroy them if he has to. This way, they only have to station a small number of troops at Sanderson Hills to delay our advance. The duke will also rely on the vast lands of Winston to make use of Frontier Legion's mobility and grind away at our forces.
"The ambassador even said that Duke Fisablen was going to move all the youths in Winston to Eastwild and Goldcreek to make up for his dominion's lack of manpower. The rest will be focused on Windbury and some other fortified towns to serve as supply points for the Frontier Legion. That was why he suggested we best obey the duke's order and relocate to Southern. The duke will begin exterminating bandits in Southern after his preparations in Winston are complete so he can start trade with the four central duchies."
After finishing his briefing, Eidis nodded to the others and sat back down.
"I'm sure you guys heard it loud and clear, right? Duke Fisablen is not someone who messes around. When we plot, he also plots. Winston used to be the province with the largest population in the empire. It used to house an estimated 1.5 million people. Since then, the province has experienced years of civil war, the second prince's rampage, and our own interference. We took in approximately 340 thousand people."
Those in the know laughed when Lorist mentioned the taking in of refugees, which was a little underhanded, to say the least.
Lorist laughed as he continued.
"There are an estimated 400 thousand people still in Winston, around 70 thousand of whom are in Windbury. The rest are mostly the subjects of the province's nobles. The nobles that actually develop their dominions and put in the effort to stimulate the growth of local production, like Viscount Eidis, Viscount Zinderson, Baron Klaus, and Baron Wade, are few and far in between. Their territories have a combined population of nearly 40 thousand, thanks to the success and prosperity of trade at Viscount Eidis's town, Dawok. They also managed to gather large numbers of refugees to kickstart farming efforts.
"Right now, Duke Fisablen is targeting nobles like them. The nobles that move to Southern will receive military support to combat the bandits and resources from the duke. The new dominions there will eventually effectively contribute to the extermination of the bandits and limit their influence and growth. Naturally, it would be quite troublesome for the duke if the nobles there end up being killed off by the bandits instead. There's no doubt it'll intensify the noble's dissatisfaction.
"We will not allow Duke Fisablen to move all the youths of Winston to his dominion. Baron Potterfang, Baron Malek..."
The two newly entitled nobles stood up upon being named by Lorist.
"You two will lead Firmrock to Dawok in Viscount Eidis's dominion in three days. Viscount Eidis, Viscount Zinderson, Baron Wade and Baron Klaus will aid you in this matter. Since it's currently winter with most of the routes sealed off, Duke Fisablen and Frontier Legion will not expect us to make our move now. Your mission is to move the subjects of these four nobles to The Northlands. Thereafter, you will disguise yourselves as their subjects to resist Duke Fisablen after the harvest during the rainy season.
"Viscount Eidis and the others should also be able to prepare a general force of six thousand. Coupled with the youths from their dominion, it should be possible to form a force of 20 thousand. To resist these 'traitorous insurgents', Duke Fisablen will have to mobilize Frontier Legion. The moment they leave the capital, we will exterminate them at Dawok and take the city with ease."
"Understood, Your Grace," said Potterfang and Malek in unison as they sat back down.
"The crucial point of this arrangement is that we don't attract the attention and suspicion of the legion's scouts. We will need the help of Viscount Eidis and the others."
"Your Grace, please be assured they will not suspect a thing," said Eidis.
Lorist nodded.
"If the rainy season didn't start in the 3rd month, I would've liked for our forces to encircle and conquer Windbury right away and trap Frontier Legion and the duke within the city. It's too bad our forces would find it incredibly difficult to stage a siege in the rainy weather, not to mention the fact that we can't bring our catapults along. It would be incredibly disadvantageous to have our troops stationed outside the city in the rainy season. A plague can spread pretty quickly under those conditions.
"That's the logic behind my intention to lure Frontier Legion out. We will trick them into a field-battle. Count Felim, make sure Pegasus is ready to deploy with Tigersoar after the rainy season. Make your way to somewhere near Dawok undetected and wait for the opportune moment, understood?"
Felim stood up.
"Understood, Your Grace."
"After the extermination of Frontier Legion, lead the troops to Southern with Firmrock right away. We must cut off the route connecting House Fisablen and the duchies as soon as possible. If the duchies' forces join up with House FIsablen, Count Shazin's household legion and Tigersoar will be the first to join in as reinforcements. We must make sure a strategic location like Southern remains under our control. This is the most important key to exterminating or forcing House Fisablen to submit to us," declared Lorist resolutely.
Rainy Season
Here's the second release of the week, released earlier to celebrate the launch of "The Sword and The Shadow"! Please check out the announcement on the home page!
The rain fell ceaselessly.
Grindia's rainy season saw rain fall nonstop for up to a whole month. It might last more than a month or two in the southern parts of the continent and those areas were the most susceptible to floods.
Lorist was currently staying at the former duke's mansion in Gildusk, located at the south end of The Northlands. He paced about in the study, glancing at the map on the table from time to time. The door received a series if knocks before Howard entered the room.
"Your Grace, Baron Charade, Baron Camorra, and Baron Freiyar have arrived."
"Quick, invite them in," ordered Lorist, elated.
"Greetings, Your Grace," greeted the three as they saluted.
"No need for the formalities. I hate having to keep up appearances in front of insiders. Take a seat," said Lorist with a wave of his hand.
"What would you like to drink? Fruit wine, tea, or macks?" asked Lorist.
"Your Grace, I think I'll have a cup of your special brew instead. It's been really moist lately, so having some of your wine to warm up would be ideal," said Charade.
"No way. We're going to have a meeting. I can't have you getting yourself drunk! Don't push it if you don't have good alcohol tolerance. This is not normal wheat or fruit wine. You can drink those without much problem. Drinking a small cup of strong liquor is like drinking five bottles of fruit wine in one go. If you want some, I'll let each of you take a bottle with you to enjoy at home."
"I hold you to your word. Hehe... One whole bottle... Howard, you better remember this well. I guess I'll have macks for now," brightly smiled Charade.
"Sol, I got tricked again."
Camorra requested tea and Freiyar asked for fruit wine.
"It's already been raining for about two weeks. It will continue in The Northlands for another ten or so days. After the rainy season, I will head to the frontlines. The war will also start then. Whether we can expand The Northlands' influence will depend on the outcome of this war.
"After I head to the frontlines, Baron Charade will be in charge of the affairs here. Considering that it'll be drawn out, The Northlands' development in the next two years will be in the southern area. We will set up settlements Haven, Harvest, and Vigor. They're to be modeled on Salus. Each settlement will have six to eight towns. Also, have eight knight manors constructed so that future gold-ranked knights can be rewarded.
"Gildusk will also be redesigned and renovated from the ground up. It will be called City of the Bellowing Bear and will be The Northlands' capital. Apart from these, outside this manor, near the current eastern city outskirts, I will have a special area built. We will sell the land to honorary nobles of The Northlands who wish to erect their own castles and manors. The castles they intend to build must first be certified, of course, and we must keep a blueprint too. Additionally, only those with honorary titles given by our house will be qualified to purchase land. It will be auctioned off to the richest buyer, naturally."
Lorist shrugged as he continued, "We have no choice but to do it as the war with House Fisablen will no doubt cost us a lot. This plan was drafted by Baron Spiel. Currently, House Norton stands strong and the honorary titles we acknowledge are worth quite a lot. I believe our profits will range from 100 thousand to one million. If we include the profit generated from the sale of land, the house will earn up to three million. The construction of castles will no doubt require materials and manpower, so it'll also help stimulate our economy. That's why I agreed to let the honorary nobles build their manors there.
"Baron Charade, as the chief supervisor of The Northlands, you have to pay attention to these three matters. You may put Shadekampf in charge of designing the three settlements. Apart from Salus, Felicitas, Redriver, and Greatriver, which has just finished construction in the eastern part of The Northlands, Shadekampf will be responsible for the other settlements. The fellow has already garnered lots of experience and will definitely be one of your most valuable aides.
"You should first consider Gildusk's renovation. The city will be the center of administration for The Northlands so everything has to be perfect. The other matter concerns the special area where the honorary nobles will be able to purchase land. You will head the pricing negotiations since you're the best at it in the house. Don't disappoint me. The last thing concerns Count Felim's subjects. After we conquer Southern, Count Felim will move his subjects to his original dominion in batches. You have to help out with the move. The Northlands will only truly belong to House Norton after their relocation."
Charade stood up to show his dedication.
"Your Grace, please be assured that your orders will be carried out according to your specifications."
Lorist nodded and turned to Freiyar.
"Baron Freiyar, you will be relocated here from your previous post at Silowas because of the upcoming campaign. This time around, you'll be deployed on the battlefield."
Freiyar smiled excitedly.
"Your Grace, I've always looked forward to being sent back to the frontlines. Staying at the rear for so long is making me rust up..."
Lorist waved his hand at him.
"Come and look at the map here. The local defense legion is our largest unit, with 25 brigades forming five divisions of 75 thousand men in total. You will relocate here to plan the legion's defense stations as well as coordinate the divisions on missions in Winston.
"The first local defense division, including the first to fifth brigades, will be stationed at the old dominion near Firmrock Castle. They'll be spread across Firmrock Castle, Hidebull Citadel, Tortoise Hill Citadel, Northsea, and Bladedge Castle. Originally, Bladedge Castle was the main base of the Ragebear Knights. However, they will follow me to the frontlines this time around and will be stationed nearby in the future. Bladedge Castle will have to be defended by the fifth local defense brigade.
"The second local defense division, including the sixth to tenth brigades, will be stationed to the south of Firmrock Castle. More specifically, the metal suspension bridge in the eastern part of The Northlands, Hendliff Suspension Bridge in the south, the floating bridge on the Metropoulos river, the citadel in the western part of the Bladedge Mountains that connects to the internal part of the dominion, as well as Gildusk.
"The third local defense division, namely the 11th to 15th divisions stationed at Silowas right now, will be moved here and put under Gold-ranked Knight Jades' command.
"The fourth local defense division, including the 16th to 20th brigades, is currently stationed in Delamock. Two of the divisions are located at Kobo and Vanades, with the other three supervising the 100 thousand plus captive laborers currently building the main highway. The division's commander will be Baron Belnick.
"Freiyar, you will personally command the fifth division, 21st to 25th brigades. THere are some strategic positions we have to take in as soon as possible when we invade Winston. They are Pedro, Dawok, Windbury, Twilight Lake Town roughly 50 kilometers from the capital, and the mountain stronghold, Sehak, the crossing point from Winston to Southern.
"Apart from Windbury, the other four places, have to be renovated into fortified citadels. Sehak used to be a crossing point between the two provinces, but it's been worn down after many battles. We'll have to erect a new citadel there to secure Winston properly.
"If we can exterminate the duke's Frontier Legion stationed at Windbury as planned, then our renovation and construction efforts will proceed without problems. But if it doesn't go according to plan, you will have to hold your stations while you complete your construction efforts. Duke Fisablen will definitely not leave us to ourselves to fortify those locales. He will definitely do everything he can to slow hamper our progress. This is the main reason I ordered you to relocate here."
Freiyar laughed out loud and thumped his chest.
"Your Grace, the local defense legion is particularly adept at defense. Even if we don't have fortified citadels, we still have our own ways to make the enemy bleed. To be honest, I'm getting more and more impatient to set foot on the battlefield."
Lorist punched Freiyar's chest as he laughed.
"I trust you will carry out your duties to my satisfaction."
Freiyar performed a knight's salute.
"The local defense legion will not let you down, Your Grace."
The last one to receive orders was Baron Camorra.
"I called you here to appoint you to the position of Logistics Commandant. You will be the chief logistics officer of our forces, so every shipment of resources to the frontlines must receive your screening and permission. You will control their allocation as well."
Camorra nodded respectfully.
"Yes, Your Grace."
"We have long been preparing for this war. From weapons to food and vehicles for transportation, we have almost everything ready. This is a summary of our inventory," said Lorist as he handed a thick folder to Camorra.
"However, there are a few things that you have to pay attention to. For your escort, I have already ordered Firmrock and Tigersoar to each send a brigade of retired soldiers. Viscount Eidis and the other old nobles of Winston have also picked out elite soldiers to form a division of security troops to take care of the convoys' safety. You won't have to worry about manpower on that front.
"You also have to pay attention to the one million gold Fordes' worth of resources, House Kenmays's 500 thousand gold Fordes, as well as Count Shazin's resources worth 300 thousand. Everything is support for Count Felim's relocation to Southern to settle down in his family dominion. Since Southern is more or less a wasteland right now, they will not be able to set up a stable foundation without our aid. As this shipment is only for that, I want you to place extra care and concern on it.
"Our houses have more than enough for our troops, so you don't have to worry about that. The largest problem we might face, however, is the allocation of manpower. On the one hand, our house will try to stop Duke Fisablen from moving Winston's youth to his dominion. On the other, we need you to relocate the youth.
"I'm sure you've heard about the renovation and construction efforts following the occupation of Windbury when I talked to Freiyar just now. We will no doubt require lots of manpower. I've already ordered the dominion to mobilize four experienced construction units, each number roughly a hundred men. That's why we still require approximately four units of ten thousand comprised of Winston's able-bodied youth to facilitate the construction effort.
"If the war turns out well and we successfully exterminate the duke's Frontier Legion and complete the citadels' construction, the workforce will have to head to Southern and help Firmrock set up the defensive infrastructure there. Moats will have to be dug for the implementation of our iron cage tactic.
"Other than that, if we have any captives, we will use them to work on the roads between Winston and Southern. All the equipment and resources will be transported to Windbury once it's secured and your logistics operation center will be moved there as well to make it easier for you to support the war effort in Southern.
"The whole logistics affair will no doubt be incredibly chaotic. You're the only suitable person of which I can think. Do you have any thoughts on the matter?"
Camorra nodded and simply.
"Your Grace, I will need permission to promote and encourage those of the escort team as well as the laborers. I can only raise their morale and promote efficiency if I can do that."
"No problem. You may design some reward schemes and show them to me when you're done," agreed Lorist magnanimously.
"Then there won't be any problems," said Camorra as he accepted the post.
"Oh, Baron Charade, how many people have moved from Winston in the past 1 month or so during winter?" asked Lorist when he recalled another matter of which he had put Charade in charge.
"Your Grace, Firmrock Legion's first division arrived at Viscount Eidis's old dominion near Dawok on the 10th of the 11th. The skis and sleds are functional until the 29th of the 2nd. So far the house has moved 87 thousand people from Winston, 32179 of whom are youths. The house has urgently allocated up to 100 thousand sets of cold-resistant clothing," reported Charade, uttering one number after another flawlessly.
The youths Charade referred to were men between 16 and 35.
"That doesn't sound right. Didn't Viscount Eidis say there are approximately 30 thousand people in their dominion, and that the subjects of the other three houses combined only numbered 40 thousand? Why are there so many?" asked Lorist curiously.
"When they returned in the winter, they managed to convince another seven noble houses with similar fates to switch sides as well. That's what I was going to report to you. Baron Potterfang and Baron Malek promised the seven nobles that if they cooperated, they would also be able to receive House Norton's entitlement and be given the opportunity to become your vassals."
Lorist nodded.
"Ah, those are the conditions I told Potterfang and Malek before they left. Winston's old nobles go all the way back to the time of the empire. Unlike the nobles of Southern that attempted to take advantage of the empire to extend their influence and power, the nobles of Winston sacrificed a lot for the former empire. Additionally, they didn't involve themselves in the empire's civil war, so I'm willing to give them a chance."
"You're right, Your Grace. The seven nobles have already emptied their current dominions and are bringing all their family members to The Northlands. We have temporarily arranged for their accommodation at the former noble mansions of Gildusk. They wish to have an audience with you and hope they will be given a chance to fight against Iblia.
"So far, there are still approximately ten thousand commoners at Dawok, most are young widows. Viscount Eidis said that if there are no women in the town, Duke Fisablen's ambassadors will notice and have their suspicions raised. Lord Potterfang also agrees and stationed a division of wheelbarrow-carroballista troops and a division of heavy-armored infantry, totaling 30 thousand men, at the town. The rest are hiding in ambush in Baron Wade's castle."
"Wait, what about was the allocation of 100 thousand cold-resistant clothing you mentioned?" asked Lorist.
"Your Grace, you're not seriously expecting the Firmrock soldiers to disguise themselves as Viscount Eidis's subjects clad in the equipment of our forces, are you? I had no choice but to trade the cold-resistant clothes for the cruddy apparel of the commoners being moved here. It will also help ensure their safe travel to The Northlands in this weather. Our forces will don the beaten-up clothes of the transported commoners so they can fool the Frontier Legion scouts," explained Charade.
"Apologies, I forgot to take that into account. Also, notify the seven nobles that they may meet me and have lunch tomorrow. And Baron Camorra, you may pick 20 thousand men from the youths just arrived to group them up. When we attack Winston, they can travel there with baron Freiyar's local defense legion to the strategic locations to begin construction efforts," instructed Lorist.
"Understood, Your Grace."
Extermination
Here's this week's third release, guys! I have been down for a cold these past few days (mostly to the annoyance to others XD!) but I still managed to get this out in time! Enjoy!
"Report! An eagle message was just received. Your Grace, the three Frontier Legion divisions at Windbury have been deployed. They're heading to Dawok and will arrive at approximately during three in the afternoon," said Tarkel after he rushed to the tent hurriedly to update Lorist on the military reports.
Lorist smirked and said to Count Felim, "Duke Fisablen fell for it. He might be under the impression that this is just an act of rebellion from the nobles from Dawok in opposition to the order to move. It's probably due to the Frontier Legion soldiers that didn't get to conquer the town yesterday.
"The other noble houses' banners are hung all over the town wall, after all. The garrison soldiers there must number roughly 20 thousand already. It's only normal for the 10-thousand-strong Frontier Legion division to lose three skirmishes, with about a thousand casualties in each. That's likely why the duke mobilized the three other legions. He wants to make an example of the nobles that dare resist him. Their extermination would certainly put more pressure on other considering doing the same."
Stretching his hand over the map, Lorist laughed.
"Let's continue with our original plan. Count Felim, your Pegasus Legion will take the left flank, Loze will lead Tigersoar and attack the right flank. Terman, lead the Ragebear Knights around their rear and cut off their escape. I will join you with a guard brigade. Els, Reidy, take a squad each and deal with the Frontier Legion's scouts. Don't let them escape no matter what."
"Understood, Your Grace," said Els and Reidy as they left.
"Will we press the attack after we encircle them, Your Grace?" asked Felim.
"Yes. Given how far they have to travel, the soldiers will definitely need to rest when they arrive. Our ambush will catch them off guard when they are most exhausted. They won't be able to run from our ambush. It's ideal since we want to exterminate them completely. Leave cleaning the battlefield to Loze. He will head to attack Pedro the day after. We will travel to Windbury through the night and take the capital city by morning.
"Oh, and Tarkel, did the message mention whether Duke Fisablen joined the assault personally?"
"No, Your Grace. Word is that the one leading the three divisions is the legion commander, Gold-ranked Knight Hemorrison. He's an old subordinate of the duke and also among the duke's most trusted aides. He's been working for him for more than three decades. He's reliable and has lots of experience," replied Tarkel.
"In other words, Duke Fisablen is staying at Windbury?"
"Yes. The message said he was preparing to take command of the capital and towns' garrison forces that used to be under the nobles he exterminated's command. He wants to form a defense legion with roughly 45 thousand men to take care fo Dawok, Windbury, and Twilight Lake Town's defenses. Perhaps he couldn't leave because of that, so he left exterminating the nobles to Hemorrison."
"Haha," laughed Lorist coldly, "It seems the duke still isn't aware that our attack on Iblia has started already. He's still going about his plans as usual. It's too bad we won't give him any more time. We ought to accept his gift with grace before we pay a visit to the war god himself at Windbury. I'm looking forward to seeing his flabbergasted expression. Let's depart!"
"Immediately, Your Grace."
...
"Why do I feel uneasy? Will Dawok go own badly?" mused Hemorrison.
The Frontier Legion commander looked around suspiciously.
"Double the scouts. Expand our surveillance area to 15 kilometers ahead."
"Is something wrong, Sir? Dawok is only 50 kilometers away from the capital. It won't take more than half a day by horse. We didn't see anything odd along the way, not since morning, right? We'll meet up with Sir Udinas in another two hours at Dawok. We can rest for the night before we take the town tomorrow. I'm sure we can deal with the ragtag bunch quickly and carry out the duke's order. It's but a relaxing walk in the park. Why does it seem like we're facing our archenemy?" asked Gold-ranked Knight Maqais, the legion's second-in-command.
"I don't know why myself… something just doesn't feel right. I have a sense of foreboding similar to what I felt when we launched that surprise attack on the greater and lesser golden creeks but I really can't find the reason no matter how hard I think about it. The duke predicted the nobles' rebellion.
"But we didn't think they'd manage to rally another seven or eight nobles and gather a force of 20 thousand. They even made Sir Udinas suffer such a loss… It seems these nobles intend to fight a defensive battle now they just harvested their winter wheat. They want to force the duke to take a step back by prolonging this confrontation. Even so, the traitors will definitely regret it the moment we arrive. Even though we're light cavalry, we pack quite a punch," laughed Hemorrison.
"Sir, perhaps I know why you're worried," offered Maqais seriously.
"Let's hear it."
"There used to be 47 old noble houses in Winston. However, thanks to that darned king, the second prince of the empire, who sold noble titles to gather military funds, more than ten new noble houses emerged. Despite their conflicts with the nobles of Southern, which was the undoing of more than ten noble house, there are still 56 in Winston.
"Last year, we were ordered to exterminate 23 of them and the remaining 33 accepted the duke's order to relocate. Currently, there are roughly 8 noble houses gathered at Dawok. So, the other 20 or so will definitely watch this conflict from the sidelines.
"If we successfully take Dawok and exterminate the rebels, the other nobles will definitely obediently as the duke ordered. But if this gets dragged on and the rebels manage to secure Dawok, the others might be tempted to join them and stab us in the back. Winston will then be swallowed by a large-scale revolution. I believe that's what's bothering you right now, Sir," Maqais explained in great detail.
Hemorrison nodded.
"Your explanation is sound. However, what I'm worried about is that the nobles supposedly watching from the sidelines have already secretly formed an alliance. They may be in cahoots with the nobles holed up in Dawok and stab us in the back at the most crucial moment. That way, we can't occupy Dawok to carry out the duke's order. That's perhaps the thing that was worrying me."
"We can actually afford to fight at our own pace without rushing, Sir. Didn't the duke say he would send the reserve legion here next month to face off against the four Northlands houses? If the situation you described happens and all the Winston nobles rebel, we can just hold them off until the reserve legion arrives and takes them all out," said Maqais crudely.
Currently, about half of the five Frontier Legions were comprised of grassland barbarian recruits. They were mostly domesticated barbarians not only fluent in the common tongue, some even knew how to read and write. Having mingled for quite some time, they were no different from normal imperial soldiers. The reserve legion, on the other hand, was mostly formed from barbarians apart from the commanders and knights of the house.
In other words, while the reserve legion was one of the house's strongest units, it was also the most unruly. Many incidents of conflict occurred within the ranks. Duke Fisablen decided to mobilize the reserve legion to Dawok to prevent an invasion by the four Northlands houses.
"No, Maqais. What we need now the most is time," Hemorrison countered, shaking his head, "The four houses wiped Madras out when nobody was watching and helped Second Highness Auguslo reclaim his throne. His Grace was greatly shocked and decided to prepare to defend against them immediately.
"Normally, you would have to rest for at least two or three years after a war to recover. But, the four houses' casualties during their conflict with the duchy was so little they would require just two years to recover, and that's taking into account that the duke underestimated their might. After all, it was a war that wiped a nation off the map.
"However, when we heard House Kenmays and House Shazin relocated their dominions, His Grace breathed a sigh of relief and thought they wouldn't launch an attack on Iblia within the next two to three years. Dominion relocation is no simple affair. To tempt and misguide the four, His Grace sent messengers to the Nortons and the salt merchant committee to place an order for goods worth over two million gold Fordes.
"That's why His Grace launched his plan to clear Winston. It was to prepare it for becoming a battlefield suited to weather their invasion. We need to build citadels at Dawok, Twilight Lake Town, and Windbury. As long as we can control these three strategic locations, we can rely on the mobility of our forces to drag the battle out and wear them down. That way, we can force them to retreat.
"If we fail to take Dawok, the remaining 20 plus houses will rebel and escalate the conflict. As long as this conflict persists, it might attract the four houses. Even if they haven't recovered their might, our house is similarly unprepared for it. Should we clash with the four houses right now, it will greatly affect the house's plan. What we want the least is to attract the four houses' suspicion and ruin the duke's plans."
Maqais nodded solemnly.
"In other words, we just have to crush Dawok right away and let the spectating nobles preparing to rebel see us hang the noble houses holed up within right away so they can continue to head to their assigned dominions in Southern obediently. We can easily reorganize the manpower in the dominions those nobles left behind and complete the mission without problems, right?"
"Correct. Oh, the scouts are back. Let's see what they have to say."
A scout rode quickly like the storm and came to a sudden stop before he reported.
"Sir, situation normal 15 kilometers ahead. We didn't spot anything noteworthy."
"Thanks for the hard work. Keep up surveillance and report anything you see right away," Hemorrison ordered, waving his horse whip.
"Right away, Sir," said the scout before he left in a hurry.
"Increase our pace," ordered Hemorrison as he turned to the orderly behind him.
Around two-thirty in the afternoon, Knight Hemorrison and Knight Maqais made it to Dawok with their three divisions. The third division commander, Udinas, had long been waiting to receive them.
"Sir, the camp is set up. Do you want to rest now?"
"There's no rush, Udinas. Tell me more about the situation. We can go check out Dawok's fortifications afterward," Hemorrison said as he waved his hand before he turned to the orderly beside him.
"Have Sir Karichok and Sir Benbrik come over and survey the town's defenses later and discuss our plan of attack."
"Understood, Sir," said the orderly as he turned and left.
The First Frontier Legion of House Fisablen numbered 46 thousand divided into four main divisions and one logistics division. Its commander was Three-Star Gold-ranked Knight Hemorrison - also the first division's commander. Its second-in-command was Two-Star Gold-ranked Knight Maqais, leader of the second division. Gold-ranked Knight Udinas was the third division's commander and was at the two-star-gold rank. As for Karichok, who Hemorrison had just summoned, he was a three-star-silver-ranked knight and the leader of the fourth division. Benbrik Hand was a two-star-silver rank and the leader of the logistics division.
While Hemorrison was commander of the legion, he was extremely polite and cordial towards the two silver-ranked knights, Karichok and Benbrik. After all, they were knights bearing the surname Fisablen and were distant relatives of the duke himself. They were considered members of the house.
"Sir, we arrived yesterday morning and launched three attacks after we set up camp. We used the grapple horse jump during the second and third attacks and managed to scale the walls, but the enemy numbers up there were too high. Too few of our men made it up the walls, hence our failure," said Udinas regretfully, as he explained the reasons for his three failed attempts.
The grapple horse jump was a technique that took advantage of low defensive walls. A rider would toss a grappling hook up on the walls and use the momentum of the mount's gallop to propel oneself up onto the walls. That was a technique many grassland barbarians were familiar with, and many imperial soldiers of the Frontier Legion also knew that skill.
"How well-defended are the walls?"
"They're defended mostly by elites. There are about 20 thousand soldiers on those walls. Apart from five or six thousand experienced old veterans, the rest seemed to be the youth laborers only recently conscripted. Their weapons are all over the place, ranging from farming to sewing tools. There were even women on the walls. Most of them are not armored at all, wearing only some worn out leather clothes. However, there are roughly 400 longbowmen who caused almost half of our casualties," replied Udinas honestly.
"Sir, the walls of Dawok are only approximately six meters tall, and rather thin, We can use rams to take them down tomorrow. Sir Udinas suffered a loss because of having insufficient troops. Now that the whole legion is here, we only have to topple the walls to finish the traitorous nobles off," said Maqais when his sharp eyes caught the wall's weakness.
"Very well," praised Hemorrison with a nod.
Just as he was about to say something else, the loud blaring of the horn rang out in the distance and interrupted him.
"What's going on?" asked Hemorrison in a panic when he dropped his horsewhip unknowingly.
The cries of the scouts could be heard in the distance.
Some used their last breath to shout, "Enemy attack! It's the Nortons and Felims!"
Hemorrison paled as he mumbled, "That... that's impossible..."
On the 26th day of the 4th month of Year 1778, the Nortons led the four houses of The Northlands to launch their assault on the Iblia kingdom, starting with the extermination of the First Frontier Legion of House Fisablen at Dawok.
Legion commander and leader of the first division, Three-Star Gold-ranked Knight Hemorrison, second in command and leader of the second division, Two-Star Gold-ranked Knight Maqais, and leader of the third division, Two-Star Gold-ranked Knight Udinas, all perished in the battle. Three-Star Silver-ranked Knight Karichok, leader of the third division, surrendered to the Nortons. The First Frontier Legion suffered more than 28 thousand casualties, with another 16 thousand taken captive without a single soldier managing to escape. This is known as 'The Dawok Extermination'.
City Entrance
We're here at this week's fourth release! Happy reading!
The purple-red tint of dawn colored the sky as buds of clouds floated past.
Vikdor opened his eyes, pulled apart the beastskin furs covering his body, and stood up on the walls. Stretching his body lazily, he wiped his face with his hand and removed a rather large piece of rheum from his eyes and turned to look at the noisy plaza in the distance.
"Darn it... The days ahead are gonna be tough... I can't even get good rest with them making so much noise so early in the morning," Vikdor mumble as he kicked his subordinates who were still lying on the ground of the walls asleep, "Get up, all of you. Stop sleeping. If the patrolling officer sees you still asleep, you'll be in for a whipping! Get up right now."
That was the north gate of Windbury and Vikdor was a leader of his squad of ten. The squad he was in charge in took care of opening and closing the city gates, with the added benefit of sneaking some 'unofficial toll' from merchants intending to enter the city.
"Boss, it's still so early, why'd you wake us up? It's not like the city bell rung already... There's no need for us to open the gates anytime before eight in the morning... Look, the sun still hasn't risen yet. Just let us catch a bit more shuteye," complained Klisha, a veteran soldier, in a sleepy voice.
Slightly pissed, Vikdor went over to give Klisha two more harsh kicks. "Don't you feel any shame from saying that? If it weren't for you and Fatty Bart asking me to go all in with my bet, I wouldn't have lost all the additional rations of our squad and take up the shift of Languan's squad, we wouldn't have to be basking in the cold breeze and could sleep well in our own camp!"
Klisha said with dissatisfaction, "That's because of your own shit luck... Languan already threw a one, three and four, and that roll is practically giving money away. Yet, you somehow managed to throw a one, two and three. Didn't you see how bright Languan's face was back then? Even after you lost the money, you didn't give up and wanted another bet by staking us, your squad members, to replace their shift if you lost. In the end, Languan managed to throw three sixes. It's all your fault we had to sleep through the night here."
When Klisha said that, Vikdor reddened with embarrassment that turned into anger. "Well, then why didn't you stop me earlier? Instead, you got me to bet all our money and I only bet to take their shift cause I wanted to get the money back. It's not like Fatty Bart and you were against it back then. There's no point in complaining now that we've lost."
"Can you stop arguing? It really spoils the mood to hear you grumble first thing in the morning, you know. You might as well use the time to think of how we can warm up and fill our stomachs first. Those lazy bums at the camp will only send us food at nine, not to mention that they'd have to serve that master and those other idiots first. Perhaps, the food might not come before ten," said a fat old soldier who was leaning against the wall and clutching his beastskin fur tightly.
Klisha turned directed his grievances to his new target and said, "Fatty Bart, is eating all you can think of? You're already so fat."
Annoyed, the fat old soldier barked, "It's got nothing to do with you. I won't fuss over every little thing like you rascals who don't see the bigger picture. Just get over the fact that we've lost. There's no point getting hung up on it now. The only thing I regret is helping that stupid duke out. We've never had a good day since he came. We lost our post as guards of the palace and were sent to look after the city gates. Not only did we lose our bonus pay, even our salary was cut by half. It's all thanks to that darned duke..."
The fat old soldier's words struck the minds of the other soldiers, who wholeheartedly agreed. They were rather dissatisfied with how they were treated since Duke Fisablen came over. Originally, they were part of the regiment of guards of Rose Palace under the direct command of the queen. Working at the palace was nothing short of a dream come true. Not only was the pay great, sometimes nobles would pay them huge sums to find out about hearsay in the palace. Not only that, there was also the benefit of networking with others. Fatty Bart used to get along with the guard of the royal kitchen and fattened up because he ate too many delicious treats from there over time.
However, the first act by Duke Fisablen when he arrived was to disassemble the regiment of palace guards. The regiment leader and the company leaders' heads were hung at the plaza of the palace. As for low-ranked soldiers like Vikdor, Bart and Klisha, they were distributed all over the four city gates to replace the private soldiers of the nobles from Southern.
Back then, the nobles of Southern had fought quite extensively for the right to control the city gates. Yet, with but an order from Duke Fisablen, they had no choice but to hand control of the gates back thanks to the threat of the Frontier Legion. Similarly, that also set their own paths of doom in stone. Without control of the gates, they couldn't freely leave the city as they pleased, making them vulnerable to the duke's whims at any given moment.
Vikdor, however, was terrified when he heard the disrespectful words uttered by his subordinates. "Shhh! Shut up, all of you! Even if you don't feel like living anymore, don't drag me into this! Did you forget about how many people the duke killed during the second half of the previous year? How many of those aloof nobles are still alive right now? The pit we dug was filled with hundreds of corpses! Did you forget how many powerful nobles that were rendered into nothing but fertilizer for the soil?!"
Seeing the pale faces of his quiet subordinates, Vikdor continued satisfiedly, "Mere soldiers like us won't usually be the target of those nobles. But speaking bad of them is the worst taboo you can possibly commit. If word of it gets around, all ten of us, perhaps even the whole squad, will be beheaded by those cold-hearted nobles! Not just those who talk bad about them! All they need to end us with is an order! Do you understand? Now, get yourself together and stand properly. The patrol soldiers will come to check on us later, so do it right if you don't want to get caned."
Not long after, an agonized cry could be heard from the plaza in the distance. However, the sound soon came to a sudden halt.
Vikdor felt a chill run down his spine and mumbled, "I wonder which unfortunate fellow's head will be displayed in public next..."
Klisha said, "There were 17 yesterday... How many heads will fall to the ground today?"
Bart turned to the plaza and said, "Boss, I heard Burk from the palace kitchen say that the thousands gathered at the plaza to train are only the first batch. Duke Fisablen decided to form a new garrison legion with the private soldiers of the nobles and Burk even encouraged me to sign up fast. I'm a two-star iron-ranked after all, so there'd be no problem for me to become a leader of a 100-man squad. But now, I'm starting to wonder if a normal garrison legion even requires such strict training..."
Vikdor nodded and said, "That's right. I heard Squad Leader Boston say that this garrison legion is held to the highest standards of discipline, even higher than normal standing armies. I heard that they will be stationed at some strategic locations, so the instructors Duke Fisablen sent over are more harsh than ever. They just go around punishing or beheading people without a blink of an eye. I think you ought not to find trouble for yourself. The soldiers of that legion don't have it easy. I doubt you'll be able to handle it."
"Boss, stop talking. The patrol team is here," said another soldier who was squinting at the silhouettes in the distance.
The patrol team was formed from members of the personal guard of Duke Fisablen. A few teams would patrol all corners of the city multiple times daily. The patrol team for the walls numbered only ten people, but all of them were silver-ranked and were armed with the gear of House Fisablen, striking fear into the hearts of those that weren't content with being under the duke's rule.
"You guys seem well and energetic," the knight from the patrol team said in his rare acts of praise, "Who's in charge of you guys?"
Vikdor bowed as he said, "Sir, I am ten-man leader Vikdor."
The knight leading the patrol team said, "Vikdor, you did well. The duke ordered the gates to be opened one hour earlier and closed one hour later for these two days. Also, the men defending the city walls are to be doubled. I believe your squad leader has received the order already."
"Oh, why is that?" asked Vikdor curiously.
The knight didn't mind the question and explained the reason for that order. "After the winter harvests, the duke ordered the commoners of the dominions that are currently not under noble rule to bring the winter wheat to the city, hence the extension of the opening time for the gates. Also, First Frontier Legion was deployed yesterday, and we believe a messenger will come during these two days to send a report. We're leaving the gates open for longer so that we don't miss the messenger, understood?"
Vikdor nodded as the patrol team took their leave.
Bart said excitedly, "Boss, if the transport team is here, we can get a sack of winter wheat for porridge! Porridge made from fresh winter wheat is just so delicious!"
"We'll see. Go check if that's the transport team over there. There's such a huge convoy heading here, a little earlier than expected. Klisha, ask Squad Leader Boston why the additional men assigned to the gates aren't here yet. We won't open the gates until they come," said Vikdor as he looked at the long convoy approaching the city.
The men sent over by their squad leader were none other than Vikdor's nemeses, Languan's own group of ten. Languan used to be a mercenary and was of the three-star iron rank, yet nobody could recall what he went by in the past. Languan was but a nickname of his.
At that moment, the bell within the city rang seven times. After a short pause, it rang another seven times. It would ring another seven more times before the time reporting protocol concludes.
"Time's up. Languan, open the city gates. We'll stay here since running up and down like this is just too tiring," shouted Vikdor from the top of the walls towards Languan's group below.
Languan cursed, "I thought I could take some time off after winning against you yesterday, but that darned Boston sent me on another job. I still haven't had my breakfast, you know! I hope his member doesn't ever stand again even after seeing that young wife of his!"
Vikdor and the rest atop the walls laughed heartily, before Vikdor recalled something and shouted to Languan, "Hey, the transport team is already here! Get a sack of winter wheat from them! We'll make some porridge at the tower over there!"
It wasn't know whether Languan heard what Vikdor said. All he did was nod before instructing his men to open the gates. As the convoy approached the gate, a few men sitting atop the carriages filled with linen sacks jumped off and talked to Languan before handing a sack over. Languan stepped aside and let one carriage after another enter the city.
The one who handed Languan the sack remained at the gate and chatted with Languan. He also handed him a waterskin.
Darn, that must be wheat wine or something. Languan really has it good, thought Vikdor enviously. However, he soon felt a the walls of the city vibrate slightly.
What's going on? Vikdor thought he imagined the feeling, but he heard Bart say with a trembling voice, "Bo-boss... Look... Cavalry..."
Vikdor raised his head to look and froze up instantly. Countless numbers of cavalry troops could be seen swarming towards the city, and they didn't seem to be First Frontier Legion that left yesterday based on their armaments. Their armor and banners were different and they had to be the enemy.
"E-enemy attack!" shouted Vikdor with difficulty to Languan below, only to see the man from the transport team pull out a bloody shortsword from Languan's body before he turned up and smiled at Vikdor.
It's all over... The gate can't be closed because of all the carriages down there... We'll definitely die if we go down right now! The transport team is actually the enemy in disguise! The capital will definitely fall! thought Vikdor as his mind blanked out. What should I do... Oh, those cavalry came from the direction First Frontier Legion left in... That means the legion is already wiped out...
Who could possibly exterminate FIrst Frontier Legion and still have enough men to attack Windbury with? Vikdor looked begrudgingly at the cavalry approaching from the distance and saw a familiar insignia on the banner. A picture of the raging bear? Isn't that House Norton from The Northlands? They're here again... And there's also a banner with a pegasus... So House Felim is here as well...
Clang! Vikdor discarded his weapon and kneeled down on both knees on upon the walls,
"Bossm what are you doing?" asked Bart in confusion.
"Drop your weapons and kneel like me now! I'm making sure that you get out of his alive! If you're still armed when those guys make it up here, they'll attack you! Quick! Discard your weapons and kneel behind me!" cried Vikdor as quickly as he could.
...
Lorist was the first to ride all the way into Windbury. His target was Rose Palace because Duke Fisablen was over there. As long as he could capture the duke, the rest of the plan would be a no brainer. House Fisablen without the duke would become malleable as clay for Lorist's purposes. With Duke Fisablen out of the picture and Blademaster Xanthi held captive by the second highness, House Fisablen would have no one to lead them. Since Viscount Kristoph was someone Lorist could easily deal with, all he had to do was to wait for Sylvia to come crying to him and beg for House Fisablen to be spared. She would definitely agree to any condition Lorist brought up by then.
Well, that's thinking a little too far. First, I need to catch that slimy old duke, thought Lorist as he wiped the drool off from the corner of his mouth and continued riding towards Rose Palace.
Behind him, the soldiers bearing the banner of House Felim and the Ragebear Knights were flooding into Windbury through the north gate. Els, who had pretended to be part of the crew of the transport team to jam the gates with the carriages, was busy looking for a mount so that he could join up with Lorist.
After wiping out House Fisablen's First Frontier Legion at Dawok a day before, Lorist brought his guard brigade, Ragebear Knights and House Felim's Pegasus Knights with him. They left for Windbury at seven that night. Potterfang and Malek would follow behind them with Firmrock Legion and Loze and Tigersoar Legion was tasked with clearing up the battlefield.
At first, Lorist wanted to mount a night attack on Windbury, but he realized that his men and horses were already tired out when they were about 5 kilometers away from Windbury. Having no other choice, Lorist ordered his men to set up camp and rest. After all, even the strongest men couldn't handle fighting after a whole night of travel right after the battle to wipe out First Frontier Legion.
Guess we have no choice but to attack head on, thought Lorist. However, before six in the morning, the scouts patroling in the distance noticed a large convoy traveling towards the capital. After asking around, Lorist was delighted that such a convenient method of entering the city had fallen right into his lap. Els and Reidy brought the guards to masquerade as those of the transport team and quickly managed to take over the north city gate, causing Windbury to fall to their hands just like that.
The loud blaring of the alert horn finally rang out, causing the city bell to ring nonstop in response to the enemy attack. The patrol teams bravely resisted their foes, only to be reduced no nothing but bloody corpses soon enough.
The two large golden doors of Rose Palace was finally visible before Lorist. He drew his longsword and rushed straight towards the tens of soldiers standing guard at the palace entrance.