Chapter 440 - 368 - 373

Escape

The fifth release of the week is finally here! Hope you guys enjoy the read and cya next week!

Duke Fisablen woke up really early in the morning. With the coming of old age, his need for sleep diminished. However, he never thought of himself as old despite being at the age of seventy. As a rank 3 blademaster, his body was as fit as a man in his fifties. He was still so healthy he could release his pent-up desires the night before on two maidservants in his palace.

The reason he couldn't sleep was probably due to all his worries.

I wonder what happened to Xanthi... She still hasn't returned. I heard from an informant in Shabaj she was hunting down that Norton child with two other blademasters, but she hasn't contacted me since the chase started. What was that child called again? I think he was the swordsmanship section of the knighthood tournament's champion. Poor Jinuindor... For such a rare talent to die at the hands of the Nortons like that...

The duke felt his rage well up every time he thought about it.

Xanthi should be fine. She's a rank 3 blademaster, after all. I sure was surprised when she broke through three years ago. I resolved myself to attack the greater and lesser golden creeks thanks to her breakthrough. The Hubet tribe there aren't people to mess with lightly... They have seven fighters on par with blademasters.

Duke Fisablen had had to work together with Xanthi to kill six of the blademaster-level fighters to cause panic in the tribe before the military attack could be launched. They wiped the tribe out in one go and conquered the creeks.

As a rank 3 blademaster, Xanthi should have nothing to fear when traveling across Grindia. All she had to be wary of were the old hidden masters. Even if she met other rank 3 blademasters she could still escape unscathed.

She must just be having too much fun and forgetting to report back in time... Well, women are free spirited I suppose, thought the duke as he shook his head and stopped worrying about Xanthi.

He never even dreamed that Lorist would deal with his lover and make her the second highness' captive.

With his dominion peaceful, and Viscount Kristoph taking care of the golden creeks, he focused on the citadels and basic infrastructure at the golden creeks' construction. So far, House Fisablen had forcefully moved more than 200 thousand young men and women from Melein and settled them down at the creeks. They planned to move another 300 thousand citizens from Eastwild make the creeks the house's new headquarters over the rest of the year.

As for the lack of manpower at Eastwild, Winston's citizens being moved there would have to suffice. Coupled with some of the domesticated barbarians, Eastwild's population could still be maintained at approximately 500 thousand. As Sylvia was put in charge of dealing with the development of Eastwild's irrigation infrastructure, he hoped the dominion's agricultural growth would make it self-sufficient within the next two years so they would no longer have to rely on importing large amounts of food from the salt merchant committee. While House Fisablen's dominion was not lacking in meats, it would be quite a waste to let the commoners feast on meat all the time. All they needed was a filled stomach.

Currently, House Fisablen relied on their livestock to trade for resources with other nations. While the house had started to earn much more from mining gold following Goldcreek's occupation, the mining operations themselves cost quite a bit to set up. Gold could also be kept for times of need, while livestock was another story altogether. House Fisablen was provided with livestock by the grassland barbarian tribes annually, almost 100 thousand animals each time. It didn't come at any cost to the house either. They were able to exchange the livestock for lots of goods from the salt merchant committee, which was in turn used to trade for more livestock at a marked-up rate with the barbarian tribes. The trade netted the house quite a bit of profit.

The moment he thought of Princess Sylvia, Duke Fisablen's expression darkened.

Sylvia was so obedient and delightful when she was younger... Why did she grow into such a rebellious woman? She actually fell for that kid leading the Nortons... What's so good about him anyway? He doesn't even take a duke like me seriously. To be honest, he would make a decent husband, but he isn't on our side. In fact, the Nortons are secretly our enemies...

The duke felt like he had been slapped in the face when Lorist refused his conditions for the marriage up front.

Rumors were not to be believed so readily. It was widely said among the nobles that House Norton's new leader was someone who didn't have a shred of ambition and only knew how to turtle up in his dominion like a coward. He even formed the alliance of four houses for protection. If other noble houses had that kind of military power, they would've started a war by now. However, Duke Fisablen didn't share their opinions. When he analyzed Lorist's actions and predicted his moves, he couldn't help but be awed.

Even though he didn't know of the saying, 'one can easily be king by erecting high walls and stockpiling food', he didn't look down on Lorist's plans in the slightest. The Northlands had been turned into a tank since House Norton consolidated the strength of their three allies. They were at a point where they could attack and retreat as they pleased. When word of Madras'conquest spread out, the duke was surprised, but not dumbfounded. The four houses did have the might required to end a nation.

It's no wonder that kid dared refuse my conditions. He had that kind of confidence all along. When it comes to his personal strength and the might of his house, he's not the slightest bit inferior to House Fisablen. In fact, he's better in many respects...

Duke Fisablen took a deep breath.

And to think I tried to put a leash on him using Sylvia in hopes of being able to keep his house out of my way... It's a shame he's far too stubborn... Or, maybe he knew that was what I was going for all along and crudely refused my third request.

There's no doubt House Norton is going to turn against us completely soon. The last batch of arms they sent over was just a ruse. The apology Count Kenmays sent last year said they would raise prices two or three-fold. It seems they want to bleed our newfound gold out of me.

However, that wasn't the main thing that worried him. Even though the four houses knew the house wiped out Melein and established a trade route to the four central duchies, they still raised the price of goods. Weren't they worried the house would order what they needed from the duchies instead? The duchies had more than enough salt to go around.

It all pointed at only one conclusion: the houses were trying to stretch their claws into Iblia. Perhaps, wiping out Madras had given them the confidence to ignore the house's existence. It was common knowledge that Iblia mainly relied on House Fisablen and declaring war on the kingdom was akin to challenging the duke himself.

What he regretted most was taking too much time to deal with the kingdom's nobles. Fortunately, two of the four houses of The Northlands relocated their dominions at the same time. He believed they would only settle down this year. The soonest they would act was next year.

Perhaps I should send out an envoy to prod the waters. Even if it'll cost me two million gold Fordes to strike up another deal with them, at least I get to buy a year of peace, thought he.

Hopefully, my plans for Winston can be completed this year so we will be ready for them and can fight them over there. We're too tight on time. The three citadels must be completed this year. We still need to train the garrison legion to man them and move Winston's people away... There's too much to do!

The two maidservants pleasured to unconsciousness by the duke finally woke up. Seeing the duke breathing heavily, clad in nothing but his night robe, they hurriedly brought over some warm water and shyly cleaned up his body while letting him cop a feel or two. The two were planning to give the duke some quick morning stimulation, but he refused their offer and left with his sword to train.

By the time Lorist arrived at Rose Palace, Duke Fisablen had ended his training and was enjoying a hearty breakfast in his study after his bath. He looked over stacks of documents as he ate. Just as he was dealing with some of the kingdom's matters, a horn rang out. It did nothing but cause the duke to crease his brows, however. He thought it was just the soldiers gathering to train at the plaza causing trouble.

It was to be expected, many of the soldiers were picked from the Southern noble's private forces. Many had already awakened their battleforce. Though they were mostly bronze or iron ranks, some might think it was a good time to cause trouble now that First Frontier Legion was away.

No worries, I'll just take my personal guard and kill off a few of them later. I'm sure the rest will quiet down and become obedient.

He always ruled with an iron fist. How would the rowdy grassland barbarians obey him otherwise? He employed the carrot and stick approach. If they obeyed orders, they would be rewarded; if they didn't, death was the way to go.

But when the alarm bell signaling an enemy attack sounded, he finally lost his cool.

This isn't just some disobedient soldiers... Who's attacking?

Just when the duke was about to send the palace guard out to check the situation, a loud bam echoed through the castle as the main doors were kicked open.

A familiar voice declared as arrogantly as possible, "Duke Fisablen! You have an honored guest! Aren't you gonna come over to receive me?!"

"Who dares act so impudently?!" roared the duke.

The moment he left his room, he saw Lorist fighting off a bunch of palace guards near the collapsed doors. With but a flash of the sword, a loyal palace guard's limbs fell all over as he tumbled to the ground and joined the 40 or so corpses already there.

"Stand down!" yelled the duke.

The guards were the house's elites. Following the knighthood tournament, he had taken a page out of Lorist's book and picked two thousand soldiers with awakened battleforce to serve in his personal guard. He was planning to have them train beside him for another three years before assigning them as squad leaders to his main force. It would not only increase the loyalty of his troops, but also the strength of his forces through an effective chain of command.

"Hehe, Your Grace, Norton Lorist pays his respects!" greeted Lorist after he stopped chasing down the small fry.

While the duke appeared calm on the surface, he was actually quite unnerved.

Lorist? How did he come all the way here and bust down my door?

He had been incredibly wary of Lorist ever since the latter killed a gold-ranked knight with one move during the duke's banquet ahead of the tournament. If he was armed, he wouldn't have any trouble taking out a gold-ranked knight instantly either, given his prowess as a rank 3 blademaster. But even he wasn't confident he could do the same unarmed like Lorist.

"Yo-you... How did you get here?" asked he.

As he spoke he secretly made a gesture with his left hand behind him.

"Haha, Lord Duke, I came to visit with my forces, of course! Since Iblia no longer has a king, it's about time the kingdom goes with it. Our four houses have come to help it along. Come, Lord Duke. Let us discuss what lies ahead for the two of us."

From how he was still holding his sword, it didn't appear he wanted to talk about anything though.

"Dream on! I'll not permit Iblia to fall!" roared the duke.

"Oh really?" Lorist snickered, "I'm afraid it's not up to you anymore. Pops, your First Frontier Legion has already been wiped out completely. Not one made it out alive. How'd you think we got here? Listen to the cheers outside. That's the sound of our victorious occupation of Windbury. It's over, pops. Drop your weapon and surrender. I'll give House Fisablen a chance for survival on behalf of Sylvia. You'd better be obedient though! Hahaha..."

Lorist laughed heartily now that the duke was in front of him. There was no way he could escape now. As long as the duke was felled by his hands, all his troubles would be solved.

"Bullshit!" the duke cried, "Norton brat, I'll never yield to the likes of you in the name of House Fisablen! You better forget about making me surrender. As long as I have a sword in my hand, I'll fight you to the end!"

"Is that so?" Lorist said mockingly, "No worries. I'll fight you until you discard your sword and kneel before me. Let's see what kind of crap you can spout then! En garde!"

Lorist dashed forward and launched a flurry of attacks.

Clang-clang-clang!

Three sword clashes saw Duke Fisablen knocked backwards three meters.

"Not bad, pops. Your foundations are much stronger than that old hag. It seems I'll have to break a sweat to take you down," praised Lorist.

"What do you mean?" asked the duke as he carefully circled Lorist, sword raised, as if he was trying to find an opening to attack.

"Don't you get it? By old hag, I mean Blademaster Xanthi. She's a rank 3 too, right? She didn't even take ten hits. She's currently in a cell in the imperial capital."

While Lorist appeared confident in being able to take down the duke, even engaging in small talk, he was still extremely cautious. If he failed because of too much gloating, he would become a huge joke. The duke had been a rank 3 blademaster for a long time already and might still have some tricks up his sleeves.

"You're... you're lying!"

Duke Fisablen messed up his footwork in a fit of slight panic.

Lorist didn't take advantage of it, however.

"Oh really? Do you think House Norton will let you beat us around as you wish? You knew Reidy was my disciple and even dared to chase him down yourself. Did you think I was someone you could afford to piss off? Don't mistake a resting tiger for a cat! You think our four houses wouldn't know what you're trying to do at Winston? How idealistic of you to think we would let you turn Winston into the stage for our battle. Dream on!"

"You're going too far! I... I'll take you down here!"

The duke's face flushed angrily as he prepared to leap at Lorist.

"Well said!" replied Lorist as he made his preparation to receive the rain of attacks.

He didn't think the duke would actually jump back instead after feinting and shout.

"Fire!"

The moment the order rang out, more than a hundred longbowmen hiding in the corners of the palace appeared and fired at Lorist all at once.

"Sol!" cursed he.

I didn't think he'd do something so shameless! He's a rank 3 blademaster, isn't he?! How dare he ambush others with hidden bowmen?!

Lorist had to deal with the hundred longbowmen first. A good number were of the silver rank. The arrows they fired were quick, accurate and powerful. He had to leap about and deflect a good number of them before he managed to approach the archers. The moment he did, he launched into a bout of massacre. However, he lost track of the duke as a result.

The loud neigh of a warhorse sounded from the outside. Lorist leaped up a beam on the main hall and saw the duke leaving Rose Palace with tens of guards towards the south gate. Before he rode away, the duke even gave Lorist a glance from afar.

Darn it, that old pest is trying to escape! Lorist leaped down from the beam and headed for the gate as well.

Pursuit

Hi guys. We're back with the first release of the week. Enjoy!

Whap! Whap! Lorist slapped himself hard on the face and wallowed in deep regret. He didn't think a rank 3 blademaster like Duke Fisablen would run without hesitation after crossing swords only twice. He had also been far too hasty in that he didn't conquer the other three city gates first before coming to seek out the duke.

Darn it! It's like having a duck fly away before I even cooked it! If that old fellow manages to get away, my strategy will be greatly affected!

Seeing the duke ride away with several dozen people, Lorist realized his legs would never catch up to them. He hurriedly shouted at the duke.

"Fisablen you asshole! Is your zodiac sign the rabbit? Why do you run so quickly?! Come back and fight me if you have any guts! Don't just run away! Some rank 3 blademaster you are! Wait, is your level even real?! Don't tell me you're just faking it!"

Upon hearing those words, a number of guards were angered and turned to chase him down. Duke Fisablen shouted something as he turned around. Most stopped disgruntledly. But three who couldn't or didn't listen to the duke's orders continued their charge.

Duke Fisablen stared coldly at Lorist without caring about those three guards. He gave a few orders to the guards at the south gate and left the city.

The three that charged at Lorist got into an arrow-shaped formation, with the guard captain swinging his silver-blade-glow-infused sword down at Lorist. The two guards behind him wielded spears that also had silver blade glows. It looked incredibly similar to a poisonous python and went for Lorist's flank.

Lorist suddenly fell backwards. The sword missed his chest by a hair's breadth. The mount's hooves landed right next to his head. The three guards didn't think he had such a move up his sleeve. The mounts lost their target, causing the two spears to pass above him. Lorist leaped up and landing as lightly as a feather on the left spear. He pivoted onto the warhorse. With three flashes of his sword, the three guards were beheaded and thrown off their horses.

He flicked his sword clean and sheathed it before he hooked the falling spear with his foot. He twirled it around and hooked the other two horses' reigns. He pulled harshly and turned all three around.

"Hiyah!" cried Lorist as he rode towards the south gate, now with three horses in tow.

He resolved to chase the duke down no matter what.

"Fire!"

The moment the duke arrived at the gate, he gave the order to fire. In response, several dozens of arrows descended from the top of the walls. Lorist looked up and saw a dozen spear-wielding guards firing at him while a few more turned were turning a sentry ballista around.

He cursed and spun the spear in his hand, deflecting the arrows. Currently, the sentry ballista was almost turned around. He jumped off his mount and flung the spear at the walls like a javelin. It pierced the three guards moving the ballista like lightning bolt. The three were nailed to the walls with audible squishes and squelches. They could only cry out in despair as the spear punctured their abdomens.

The other guards looked at them with shocked expressions before they cast their bows, shields, spears, and other weapons away and ran screaming, no longer caring about manning the gate or walls.

Lorist got back on the saddle and prepared to continue chasing the duke down, only to see his mount slump from an arrow it had taken in the chest not too long ago. It was currently stumbling towards the front with hints of blood coming out of its mouth.

He had no choice but to jump off. One look told him it was no longer salvageable; the arrow had pierced about a foot into it. It was already on the brink of death. Fortunately, he had two other mounts. He quickly decapitated the dying horse, ending its suffering, and mounted one of the others. He immediately resumed the chase.

After an hour, the duke and his cohort's mounts began to slow. Lorist switched his final mount and spurred it onward. The change let him finally close the distance a little. Earlier, the people at the front had only been only as large as peas, now, they were of the size of a thumb. He estimated he had probably closed the distance from 300 meters to about 200, and it seemed it wouldn't take too long for his targets' mounts to wear out even further.

He could hear horses galloping behind him. He turned around and saw forces with Count Felim's banner coming up behind him. It was none other than their light cavalry. Much to his surprise, there were only a couple of men but each brought with him three or four spare horses.

"Your Grace! Your Grace!"

A familiar voice rang out. Lorist took a closer look. It was Reidy and Els. They had six mounts with them besides their own.

"Where did you get so many horses?" asked Lorist.

"We found them at the camp stables, Your Grace. There are about ten thousand. They must be the First Frontier Legion's reserves. Count Felim said you went after Duke Fisablen by yourself, so he had us follow you to bring more mounts. He also sent Knight Bonawar and a regiment of light cavalry over. Count Felim and Terman's knights are behind them," yelled Els.

As there were too many horses around, much of what he said was drowned out by the galloping had he been softer.

"How's the capital?" yelled Lorist.

"I'm not sure, Your Grace. When we left, the four gates were already taken. I believe Count Felim wants to leave the city to Sir Potterfang."

Lorist didn't say any more. He pointed at Duke Fisablen's group in the distance before picking up his pace again.

After yet another hour, the duke slowed even more. No matter how they were whipped, they couldn't run any faster. The best they could manage was a decent trot. Lorist's group fared much better, but they were similarly tired by such a long chase. Lorist and Els switched mounts again and closed another 100 or so meters. They could even see their targets' panicked expressions clearly.

It wouldn't take them more than ten minutes to catch up.

Hehe, Duke Fisablen, I'll see where you can run now! thought Lorist with an insidious and excited expression.

However, the moment they approached a mound, Lorist was completely flabbergasted. The duke's group ahead hurried their mounts the best they could towards a pasture nearby where hundreds of other saddled warhorses were grazing peacefully.

"Sol! Where'd those horses come from?!" cursed Lorist as he saw the duke switch mounts.

A hundred or so men wearing the armor of House Fisablen saluted the duke. He didn't dally and rode away after saying a few words and pointing at Lorist. The soldiers ran at Lorist, weapons raised.

The countless light cavalry troops behind him drew their swords and spears and engaged the enemy. The Fisablen soldiers were terrified when they saw so many cavalry troops coming from behind. They swallowed their battlecry and stared at the oncoming cavalry blankly. In the last moments, before they drown in the sea of horses and men, they understood why the duke was in such a hurry. They had so foolishly thought Lorist was the only one giving chase and even tried to take him down.

"Why's there a patrol here?" asked Lorist curiously.

"Your Grace, Twilight Lake Town is roughly 15 kilometers ahead. The patrol was probably sent from there," reported Knight Bonawar of House Felim loudly.

"Oh, Twilight Lake Town..." Lorist recalled the report Tarkel sent him.

There were two regiments of roughly two thousand men stationed at the town. They were likely part of Third Frontier Legion. As they had participated in Melein's conquest two years earlier, they had incurred some casualties and part of their ranks were not yet replenished. They currently numbered 37 thousand men and were stationed in Southern to protect the road between Winston and the four duchies, Twilight Lake Town was loaded with construction materials for the three citadels Duke Fisablen intended to build.

"Forward! Give chase after we switch mounts. Duke Fisablen must die today!"

Lorist grit his teeth and switched to another mount. He chased the duke once again, now about 200 meters ahead, followed by Reidy and Els.

The 15 kilometers was covered quickly, and the stone-and-timber walls of Twilight Lake Town came into view. The guards there had already blown a horn to alert the rest to open the gates for the duke.

Lorist drew his sword and pierced his mount with it. It cried out in pain and rushed forward with every ounce of energy it had like a mad beast. He approached the group in front more and more as the seconds ticked by.

When the last of the duke's guards entered the town, the guards manning the walls quickly prepared to close the gates. Just before the door shut, Lorist appeared and pulled on the reins of his horse whilst simultaneously spurring it on with his feet. The horse read and kicked off. It soared through the sky and rammed into the gates. A loud bang echoed out over the pain and reverberated through the walls as the gate was knocked open. The guards operating it from behind were sent flying. They coughed out blood as the crashed into the ground several seconds later.

Lorist jumped to the ground and walked through the gate, his mount breathing its last desperate breaths behind him. He pointed his sword at the duke and called out.

"Old turtle! Why aren't you running?! Don't tell me this's all you got! You better surrender now!"

While Duke Fisablen's expression darkened considerably, he didn't leap at Lorist with rage. Instead, he pointed at him and said something to his guards. The extravagantly dressed men beside him waved their hands and yelled out some orders. A few hundred cavalry clad in Fisablen armor approached him, shields and spears raised.

As it happened, fighting in the midst of chaos was Lorist's favorite pastime. He calmed himself as the blood-colored world filled his vision. The cavalry galloping towards him turned into mechanical mannequins. He launched forward. Like a gentle breeze, the sword in his hand raked past their ranks with a bright glow as it claimed one life after another with startling ease.

Corpses littered the ground and blood flowed in streams down the streets. When there was no one in front of him, Lorist woke from the blood world. Much to his dismay, unfortunately, apart from the Fisablen soldiers, whom now stared at him with terror, no one else was present. The duke had once again left.

"Good... Good Sol! Fisablen you coward! Won't you fight me properly even once?!"

Galloping sounds once again echoed into Lorist's ears as Els, Reidy, and Knight Bonawar approached. The soldiers, who'd faced his wrath and saw their duke escape with a few others, intelligently dropped their weapons to surrender. They were spared in return.

"Should we give chase, Your Grace?" asked Bonawar respectfully.

He had finally witnessed what the duke of House Norton was capable of and understood why his lord adored him so much. Lorist had massacred the guards all by himself and even scared a rank 3 blademaster away. Nearly half of the 700 plus soldiers of the town had been killed by Lorist alone, 297 in total. It was no wonder they dropped their weapons and surrendered the moment Bonawar arrived. He had thought he would have to fight a bloody battle first.

Lorist shook his head exhaustedly. He had tired himself out with the massacre.

"Forget it. Have our troops occupy the town and deal with the remaining soldiers. We'll head for Southern when the rest arrive. Our men must be worn out as well. We'll achieve nothing even if we continued the chase. Let's all have a good rest."

"Understood, Your Grace."

Humiliation of the Duke

Enjoy the second release of the week! Happy Valentines Day for those fortunate enou-- *sobs and cries*

Three days later, Duke Fisablen's group rode haggardly past the crossing point at Southern and arrived at the main gates of Third Frontier Legion's campsite.

After taking a bath, the duke ignored the fatigue and summoned his military officers to a council meeting. The duke told them the harsh truth: they had been attacked by the four houses and First Frontier Legion had been wiped out. They had also lost Windbury and Third Frontier Legion would be the next target.

A substantial commotion broke out among the officers and the house's household knights. They either barked about how they would make their enemy pay, or expressed worries about the might of the alliance's forces. After all, First Frontier Legion was fully drafted and armed, and was among the top three forces in the whole of the house's forces. If even they were wiped out in a single, the Third Frontier Legion would have a far harder time.

Duke Fisablen also didn't explain why he only brought a select few with him on his escape from Windbury. All he did was issue a successive stream of orders. First, they would regroup, especially the patrol troupes they had scattered, to fortify their military camp. The walls would be strengthened and outposts erected. Moats would be dug and supplies gathered. They had to be completely prepared for their enemy's inevitable arrival.

They would send scouts and informants to Winston immediately to monitor ever enemy movement. They also had to find their missing soldiers and find out where the First Frontier Legion's captives were being kept. If everything really was as Lorist had said -- that First Frontier Legion had been completely wiped out -- then the house's informants had to find out how. Most importantly, they had to find out how many forces their enemy had deployed, and why.

They also had to send envoys to request help from the four central duchies. Duke Fisablen told his envoys to inform his llies that Iblia was currently under attack by the nobles led by the duke of The Northlands, Norton Lorist. They had already lost Winston and Windbury, and House Fisablen's forces were mounting a defense in Southern. However, their enemy was immense and they could only barely hold their ground, but not for long. The moment Southern fell under enemy control, Duke Fisablen would have to return to his dominion to defend it, and the duke of The Northlands would probably turn his sights on the four central duchies.

The central duchies' biggest worry was Andinaq's king, Auguslo. The man previously known as the second highness was the Krissen imperial family's heir and wasn't keen on pardoning their traitorous acts. The four dukes knew the four houses of The Northlands, who had reinstated the second highness, were loyal to him. The moment the second highness joined forces with the four houses, themselves were powerful enough to wipe out Madras and possibly Iblia on their own, they would target the central duchies.

Duke Fisablen wasn't sure, however, whether they shared the second highness's goal. He knew Lorist wasn't someone loyal to Andinaq, given how the his forces were busy exacting revenge against the Hanayabarta kingdom so far away when the second highness was on the frontlines waging war against Iblia. If Lorist were truly on his side, the second highness's throne wouldn't have been taken over by Queen Carey either.

But his suspicion wouldn't affect his excuse to get his allies to aid him in the slightest. It was mainly because the duchies were unwilling to share a border with Anidnaq. If they did, there would be no peace for them. It was far better for House Fisablen to tangle with The Northlands' forces in Southern than having the conflict take place within the duchies' borders.

So, Duke Fisablen didn't hold back. Not only did he have his envoys call the duchies to reinforce him, he also requested astronomical amounts of food and equipment. He was confident the dukes would seriously consider his request. Even if he only got half of his request, it was already enough. It was expected that the duchies would try to bargain.

After sending out his envoys, he ordered his soldiers deployed. Apart from ordering the reserve legion set to arrive at Windbury that month to regroup with him instead, he also ordered Fifth Frontier Legion, stationed in Eastwild, to rush to Southern to bolster his forces. As for the defenses in Eastwild, it would be handed to the garrison legion. With the few legions Duke Fisablen mobilized guarding Southern, their dominion was still safe for the time being.

So far, Second Frontier Legion was defending the greater and lesser golden creeks while Fourth Frontier Legion was defending Wild Husbandry. Neither could be mobilized. They were, instead, alerted of the attack and prepared to defend against them. Wild Husbandry bordered The Northlands, after all. The best way to deter an invasion was to destroy House Kenmays's iron suspension bridge so they would have one less place to defend. That way, Fourth Frontier Legion could tangle with the enemy in Winston through their citadel at Pedro.

After giving his orders, Duke Fisablen stared at the map silently for a long time. Finally, he decided what else he had to do. He would conscript soldiers from the hundreds of grassland barbarian tribes in the great northeastern plains. The barbarian soldiers could prepare their own robust warhorses, weapons, and rations. And as reward for joining the war in Southern, he generously promised whatever they managed to obtain during the campaign would be theirs.

The household knights and officers in the tent were shocked at the duke's order and objected strongly. The moment they allowed the barbarian soldiers to raid during the campaign, it would do more harm than help to the house's forces. If word of House Fisablen becoming the enablers of barbarian raids spread, their reputation would take a huge hit. Even disregarding that, having disobedient barbarians that preferred to act on their own accord would give their forces a lot of trouble.

Duke Fisablen laughed bitterly. He explained that the Northlander houses couldn't be underestimated, given how they could silently eliminate First Frontier even though they were just 50 kilometres from Windbury. The two regiments of Third Frontier at Twilight Lake Town, almost two thousand men in all, were wiped out as well. Given the current numbers of Third Frontier, the duke wasn't confident they could hold off the inevitable attack. He would have to thank the heavens if their two reinforcement legions could arrive in time.

"This isn't hearsay or propaganda. This war will be a tough and drawn out one. If we don't throw in everything we have, we will be forced back to the corners of the great northeastern plains. Even if we survive, we will be at the mercy of others, subject to their whims and desires." he told his subordinates solemnly.

"But if we manage to emerge victorious, we'll be able to suppress the four houses and link Winston, Southern, and The Northlands into one solid wall. We will be the hegemons of the whole northeast. By relying on the trade route with the four duchies, we can build our strength up gradually. Everyone that contributes to this war will be greatly rewarded, and I won't hesitate to give out titles and land to distinguished household knights and make them part of the peerage.

"The more grassland barbarians that participate in the war, the better it is for us. We can use the promise of great reward and strict military discipline to control them to some extent. Those who don't obey shall be sentenced to death as traitors and their tribes will suffer collective punishment. Those who follow orders will be our scapegoats. We can use them to grind away at the enemy's forces while diminishing the barbarian's numbers as well, removing the threat they pose for good. We must use the casualties we will sustain to neuter the possibility of a revolt from the barbarians."

When the meeting adjourned, Duke Fisablen had a simple meal. He went to bed immediately afterwards and slept for ten hours straight. The days of running had tired him greatly. When he woke up, he took another bath, had some food, changed into some nice clothes, and had his attendants leave him alone while he enjoyed a bottle of fruit wine as he wallowed in his own tears. All this time, he had been torn by the fact that he had been chased away so haggardly. It was the most humiliating moment of his life.

He had never had to run for his life as desperately before. Not only did he lose Windbury and Twilight Lake Town, he also lost First Frontier. It messed his plans up entirely, and deprived him of the wealth and manpower of roughly 300 thousand people. He had been robbed, beaten, and stripped naked. The robber had even wanted to take him hostage and threaten his house. Fortunately, he managed to escape.

Thinking back on when he confiscated the wealth of the Southern nobles he slaughtered at Windbury and the Winston nobles that rebelled, the duke felt the onset of a headache. It was a huge sum, more than three million gold Fordes. He had intended to use it to construct a strong garrison legion with which to man the three citadels to secure Winston as the battlefield for the upcoming conflict. But it had all become the four houses' spoils.

When he took Lorist's two strikes at the Rose Palace, he could tell the young man wasn't a beat weaker than he in terms of swordsmanship. While he could probably rely on his vast battle experience to hold him back for about 300 strikes -- and even win with some luck -- he was well aware that the result of the duel would be meaningless if what Lorist had said about the extermination of First Frontier and Windbury falling were true. Based on that information, he believed escaping the capital as soon as possible was the only choice.

And yet the duke didn't think Lorist would go out of his way to hold him back. He even sunk to the depths of street thugs and cursing like them as he gave chase. It was due to the pursuit that the duke truly understood that if he had lost to Lorist in the duel, House Fisablen would no longer have a strong foundation to rely on. It would scatter into chaos and the alliance would easily harvest the fruits of victory.

He had come to this conclusion during his escape. He couldn't afford to fall into Lorist's hands no matter what. He could lead the house to regain what he had to give up to escape, but only if he escaped. He would make Lorist pay for this humiliation with blood and flame.

Naturally, Duke Fisablen still had lingering fears of Lorist's swordsmanship. He recalled he had wanted to use the confusion the 600 household soldiers created when the attacked Lorist in Twilight Lake Town to launch a sneak attack or two. But when he saw Lorist dive in like it was just a training exercise, he lost all hope of confronting him. Even he would run away if he had to face a regiment like that. Perhaps he would have to rely on hit and run tactics to slowly kill them off. The most important part was that he absolutely couldn't be surrounded and entangled by so many soldiers at once. That was why most blademasters weren't willing to face off against whole formations of soldiers.

Yet, he had witnessed Lorist charging at the swarm of soldiers. Like an agile fish swimming freely in the river, like the gales blowing freely through the dense forests, he wasn't threatened in the slightest by the spears and swords of the many soldiers. He was like the ghostly apparition of a farmer of life reaping his harvests, claiming the life of one soldier after another, longsword in hand.

Duke Fisablen was immensely shocked at how everything had gone down. It was the power of a domain. He had called his guards and left without a word. It was no wonder he dared to barge into the Rose Palace and face off against a rank 3 blademaster alone. Lorist had absolute confidence in his abilities and swordsmanship. He dared to do so because he was certain he could deal with the situation. Duke Fisablen was relieved he didn't fall into his trap and escaped instead.

However, he was still confused . How did Lorist manage to wield a domain even though he wasn't a swordsaint? Normally, only people in the saint realm could use domains. Lorist didn't gave off the impression of having broken through as a swordsaint.

Duke Fisablen had met a swordsaint personally before. When he was still a rank 1 blademaster just appointed to be the commander of the empire's Frontier Legion, he had an audience with Krissen VII. Back then, the empire still had a resident swordsaint. The feeling he got when he faced the swordsaint was the domineering oppressiveness of a mountain. All of a sudden, the peak of the mountain turned into a vast and endless ocean. The only feeling left within the duke's mind was one of indiscernible nature. It was precisely because of what he experienced then that he trained even harder and managed to reach rank 3 as a blademaster 20 hard years later.

Lorist didn't give off that kind of aura.

Perhaps the kid happened to figure out how domains worked by sheer luck. Oh, back then, Xanthi said he was training in the arts of the ancient eastern martial monks. Either way, he's already a quasi-swordsaint. He just needs a little bit more time to fully break through.

It would be great if Xanthi were here. Perhaps we could work together to resist him, perhaps even teach him a lesson.

When the duke recalled that Lorist said Xanthi had been taken captive by the second highness, his anger only got more severe.

I should send someone to find out more about this! Perhaps that kid was just messing with me! I hope he was!

When he finished his bottle of wine, the duke finished venting his feelings.

Kid... Lorist... Perhaps you dwarf me when it comes to swordsmanship and training... But let's see who triumphs in the war. I swear on House Fisablen that I will pay back all the humiliation I've suffered at your hands ten times over. I'll start by wiping out every last man under your and the other nobles' command!

Arrival

It's finally Chinese New Year, guys! There won't be a change to the number of releases, but be ready for unexpected delays here and there. Do any of you have special angpow for me? *stares expectantly*

Five days later, the House Fisablen's light cavalry scouts bumped into the vanguard of the alliance of four houses. The 100-men squad belonging to Third Frontier Legion were attacked by a light cavalry unit that had the same numbers as they did. After leaving 37 corpses behind, Third Frontier Legion's scout squad retreated immediately. Within the short skirmish that lasted no longer than ten minutes, the forces of the Northlanders got a victory of 37 kills for 13 casualties. This was known to be the first of many battles in Southern later in history.

Word from the defeated soldiers Duke Fisablen gathered revealed that the attack by the four houses wasn't carried out on a whim. Instead, it was a planned and prepared step to exterminate the Iblia kingdom. The Fisablen guards that escaped Windbury said that they discovered three legions bearing the Norton banner as well as a knight brigade. There was another legion with the banner of the Pegasus.

The Nortons had mobilized Firmrock, Tigersoar, local defense legion and Ragebear Knights while the Felims sent Pegasus Legion along, causing the duke much stress and worry. House Norton had already sent all its main forces to Winston, so were they trying to fight the forces of House Fisablen to death? Or, did Lorist receive orders to exterminate the four central duchies right after exterminating the Iblia kingdom?

If it were the latter, the duke didn't mind keeping low and let the four central duchies duke it out with the four houses of The Northlands. In fact, he would secretly be glad for such a thing happening. After all, the grudge the second highness held was common knowledge, and it wouldn't be surprising for him to order the four houses, who were loyal to him, to attack the four central duchies. House Fisablen could definitely wait until both sides were worn thin before they deployed their forces and claim the spoils of defeating Lorist and the alliance of four houses.

However, the duke's wish was completely shattered two days later when a few riders came over to deliver two pieces of bad news. First, the citadel at Pedro, the only place to cross from Winston and Wild Husbandry at the Pisper Mountains, had been breached by House Norton's Tigersoar Legion. Only two thousand of the ten thousand plus men of a division of Fourth Frontier Legion stationed at Pedro managed to escape alive. Their casualties were horrible and up to twenty thousand citizens had been forcefully relocated to The Northlands. Four Frontier Legion commander, Gold-ranked Knight Bakri was ambushed when he was leading his division in pursuit and perished on the battlefield from three arrow shots.

So far, only 28 thousand men remained in Fourth Frontier Legion. After vice commander Knight Benlyse reported all that to Duke Fisablen, he requested the house for reinforcements. As they had to defend the settlements of the commoners, Fourth Frontier Legion was at a disadvantage when they faced House Norton's Jaeger Legion. Conflict broke out within Wild Husbandry and House Norton's Jaeger Legion was roaming free at the province unabated and moving droves of citizens, livestock and horses to The Northlands. House Fisablen's losses were huge.

Duke Fisablen smashed the golden cup in his hand onto the ground in anger. There's no need to wonder anymore. Lorist's campaign is definitely directed at House Fisablen! It was nonsense for me to think that the four houses of The Northlands are loyal to the second highness. It's obvious that they will only deal with the four central duchies after House Fisablen is no longer a threat to them! This is a war for the house's survival!

However, the duke knew he couldn't afford to be distracted. During the past two days, House Felim's Pegasus Legion arrived at Southern. As a light cavalry legion, they were engaged in all out combat with Third Frontier Legion. There were more than ten conflicts breaking out on a daily basis. It seemed from the reports that Pegasus Legion's light cavalry scouts had an obvious advantage. The northern part of Southern was slowly being encroached upon by Pegasus and the Third Frontier Legion was unable to breach Pegasus's defense lines in the slightest.

Duke Fisablen found that he was being held back at Southern. The unit he was most concerned about was the Ragebear Knights. They had mysteriously stopped all advance the moment they arrived at Sehak, that was located at the border between Southern and Winston. What's going on? Shouldn't they be forcing Third Frontier Legion back to their camp by launching a joint attack?

Fifth Frontier Legion would be arriving in another two days, so Duke Fisablen would have a total of two legions under his control, approximately 70 thousand men. However, the duke really doubted the capability of Fifth Frontier Legion. From the reports sent over by Third Frontier Legion soldiers, it could be concluded that Pegasus Legion wasn't much stronger than Third Frontier Legion. In fact, they paled in comparison when it came to courage and hardiness. However, they had an edge in terms of equipment. If a soldier of Third Frontier Legion got cut with a sword, he would die with his guts spilling out. However, all the soldiers of Pegasus Legion would suffer was their broken armor. While they might end up gravely injured, it wouldn't be fatal for them. That reminded Duke Fisablen about what Lorist said about how one copper coin would only buy you goods worth one copper. The equipment House Fisablen bought from the Nortons were the cheapest ones.

If the Ragebear Knights attacked the camp of Third Frontier Legion, Duke Fisablen was confident that his defensive arrangements would be able to fend the knights off and deal them huge casualties. Even though Ragebear Knights were heavy-armored cavalry that far exceeded Third Frontier Legion both in terms of attack and defense, attacking a fortified camp was another story. Duke Fisablen had his own method fit for dealing with those walking tin cans.

The duke wasn't surprised that Ragebear Knights were the first unit of the Nortons to arrive at Southern as he had paid long attention to their troops since some time back. Firmrock Legion was comprised mainly of heavy-armored infantry and it would take them more time to arrive at Southern. Tigersoar Legion was a spear cavalry unit that was classified between light and heavy cavalry and they would remain at Pedro for the time being. Local defense legion was a defensive unit that was only sent to Winston to take over the defense of the strategic locations. That made it possible for Ragebear Knights, a heavy cavalry unit, to be the first to arrive at Southern.

What in the world is Lorist up to? Don't tell me he intends to gather all the forces of his house for an all out battle with us at Southern? Otherwise, what reason would Ragebear Knights have for staying put at a stronghold like Sehak? Defending? That can't be right. Knight brigades aren't used for defense. Weren't they giving us time to mobilize our forces by leaving their knights just sitting there? The correct way to do this should have been attacking without hesitation to drive our Third Frontier Legion out of Southern so we wouldn't be able to join up with the reinforcements of the four central duchies...

Duke Fisablen wasn't able to leave Southern at the moment and he came to a sudden realization that he had to defend the route to the four central duchies by himself. Not only that, the invading forces of The Northlands was able to move about unabated and they didn't even take the forces House Fisablen stationed around the crucial transportation points of Southern seriously. Not only did House Norton station Ragebear Knights at Sehak, House Felim also occupied the northwestern part of Southern and set up a tight defense line. They also began eliminating bandits at that area.

What is going on here? thought Duke Fisablen as he scratched his head in confusion. Only after staring at the map for a good while did he realize that Count Felim was reclaiming the old dominion of his house. However, it had already become a wasteland over the years, hence the duke's confusion at first. It was no wonder that Pegasus Legion set up a tight perimeter around the borders of the old dominion.

Duke Fisablen snorted and thought, Southern's going to be embroiled in war soon enough, so what's the point even if you reoccupy your old dominion? For development? You might as well throw gold coins straight into the water! There wasn't anything left in the old dominion of the Felims. No castle, farmland, manors, commoners, no nothing. Only bandits all round. Developing that area was a huge endeavor that took up gold, manpower and time. And those efforts would be wasted during a time of war and chaos.

House Felim's dominion occupied up to a quarter of the area of Southern. Even though it was at the northwestern area and Pegasus Legion had the advantage in a confrontation with Third Frontier Legion, it was House Fisablen who held the initiative for battle. There was no way the northwestern part of Southern could escape involvement in the upcoming battles. Other than that, no matter how huge Pegasus Legion was, it was only a light cavalry legion and all House Fisablen had to do was to send out two of their own Frontier Legions to wipe out Pegasus in no time.

I'll spare House Felim's legion for now and let them do their thing, thought Duke Fisablen. What he had to deal with first were the Norton forces. The halt of Ragebear Knights at Sehak possibly foretold the low mobility of Firmrock. It would take a few more days before they arrived. It seems that Lorist is intent on having an open-field battle with me...

But did he think me an idiot? Duke Fisablen would never engage in an open-field battle with the Norton forces if he had the choice. Trying to ram against heavy cavalry and infantry with light cavalry was a move an imbecile would make. The duke's original plan was to fortify the campsite's defensive facilities and drag out the battle as long as he could to wear away at the morale of the enemy before he ambushed their supply lines and harassed their advance to force the Norton forces to retreat from Southern in the end. That would leave a void for the Frontier Legions to fill to take back Winston and bring the conflict back there.

After much consideration, Duke Fisablen decided that he would ignore the situation at Wild Husbandry for now. He penned a letter for the vice commander of Fourth Frontier Legion, Benlyse, to appoint him as commander as well as inform him about the situation, and that the house wouldn't be able to offer any reinforcements for the time being. If they could no longer hold on, they were to evacuate all the commoners of Wild Husbandry to the east shore of Soxius River. They could effectively hold their ground along the river while waiting for the situation to turn for the better when House Fisablen regains their advantage.

Soxius River originated from Pisper Mountain and flowed across Wild Husbandry into the great plains. It was the main source of water of Wild Husbandry for both domestic use or livestock rearing. Both shores of Soxius River were the most prosperous areas of Wild Husbandry, but they weren't situated near the central area of the province and were closer to Eastwild. The implication of the duke's order was the loss of two-thirds of Wild Husbandry's territory. But it was sufficient as long as the incomplete Fourth Frontier Legion was able to hold the east shore of the river. To the duke, the situation at Southern was far more important.

...

On the 32nd day of the 5th month, Firmrock Legion finally arrived at Southern.

Lorist was rather troubled by how long it took. It's all that cruddy road's fault, being muddy and moist. The journey that should've taken only twelve days got extended to 26. As a result, Firmrock Legion also served as road repairers during their travels. If they didn't do so, even if they arrived timely in Southern, their supply line would be unable to effectively support them given the condition of the road.

Lorist finally understood why the second prince and the nobles of Southern didn't think about going back to the province and instead moved to Windbury even if it meant being in conflict with the nobles of Winston. Apart from the fact that Southern was a wasteland, the roads were already badly ruined. While a small merchant convoy or two could barely travel there, it was impossible for a large convoy to do the same. In other words, that main highway was even harder to travel on than a pedestrian's path.

However, the delayed arrival of Firmrock also brought with it some benefits. Firstly, Loze managed to conquer Pedro with Tigersoar. The remains of the Winston soldiers were also wiped out at the same time. Winston was already under complete control of the house. Next, Josk, leading Jaeger Legion, managed to greatly damage Fourth Frontier Legion. He even managed to kill Two-star Gold-ranked Knight Bakri with a surprise attack of three arrows, allowing Jaeger Legion to control the pace of battle against Fourth Frontier Legion, managing to beat them back haggardly.

With Winston and Windbury under the house's control, the supply lines could be arranged without problem. Baron Camorra had already initiated the transport of resources from Gildusk to Windbury. Military supplies such as rations and wealth obtained at Windbury also greatly pleased Lorist. He didn't think that the wealth Duke Fisablen confiscated from the nobles he exterminated would fall into the hands of the house. It truly was a gift that popped out of nowhere.

As for the four brigades of fifth local defense division Baron Freiyar commanded, they were headed for Dawok, Pedro, Windbury and Twilight Lake Town respectively to begin work on the construction of defensive citadels. The remaining 25 local defense brigades were headed for Southern. As Ragebear Knights was going to make Sehak their main camp, they would save lots of construction work for the 25 local defense brigades.

However, the original plan to launch a lightning-fast attack had been ruined by the accursed road. Lorist had actually planned to chase Duke Fisablen out of Southern before setting up a few defense perimeters at key locales and digging lots of moats to completely incapacitate cavalry troops. Given the situation at Southern, it seemed that Duke Fisablen would be fighting a defensive battle. While Lorist was still on the way, he received reports from the cavalry scouts on Duke Fisablen's deployment layout implied that the duke intended to wear down the Norton forces gradually. After all, defending was far easier than attacking.

It's a shame you miscalculated, old guy, Lorist thought with a gleeful smile as he watched the catapults being transported along the repaired road, You'll quickly be able to witness for yourselves the might of these weapons our house developed. Times have changed, and an old relic of a wargod like you should retire already.

Tower Defense Tactic

Here's this week's fourth release! I'm getting a sore throat from all them Chinese New Year snacks!

"Watch out! The grassland barbarians are here! String the steel ballistae! Prepare to fire!"

Tall stone towers straddled a very normal-looking hill's brow. Each was surrounded by a ditch roughly a hundred meters from the tower. The spiral ditches were also laden with barricades. Any attacker would have to circle around them while being fired at from the towers to pass through and arrive at the tower's doors. The towers themselves weren't that big, they could fit at most a hundred people [1]. Towers like that were rather rare in the eastern parts of Southern. They were arranged in a net-like formation that spanned almost half of Southern and reached all the way to the border of the eastern half of the province.

About a thousand leather-armor-wearing, messy-haired grassland barbarians with varying face paint stopped at a point far away from the towers. The carriages that followed soon arrived and large shields were brought out. As they waved their crude weapons around, the barbarians bolstered their courage with their war cries and advanced, shields in front.

One of the towers near the frontmost part had already been set alight. A wisp of green smoke floated into the sky; it was the signal that indicated the tower had been breached. As a few other towers nearby lit up as well, it was a sign that the whole front part of the battlefield was under enemy attack.

A Firmrock soldier biting one stalk of dried grass in his mouth looked at the slowly-advancing barbarians. Even though the enemy outnumbered them ten-fold, he didn't seem concerned. Spitting out the grass, he turned back.

"Leader, there's really something wrong with these grassland barbarians' heads. Have they already forgotten about how terribly they were massacred during the last few attacks? Did they think those eight wooden shields would be able to deflect the steel ballistae bolts? They're really stupid... I wonder how many of them will die this time before they retreat..."

A soldier next to him, aiming the steel ballistae smiled.

"Wanna bet? I bet a gold coin they'll drop the shields and run after only around a hundred die."

A heavily bearded soldier came over. He was the person in charge of manning the tower, a company leader with 100 men in his command. Mostly, forces with around a hundred men were squads. They had one leader in command of the whole group. Beneath him were the lowest command rank, ten officers each in command of ten men. The Nortons' forcers, however, had ten men in each squad, with the squad leader being in charge of ten men as well. Companies had a hundred men. Five companies made a regiment, and five combat regiments and a supply regiment made a brigade of three thousand men. Five brigades formed a division, and four divisions a legion with 60 thousand men in total.

The bearded man slapped the back of the soldier who'd asked to bet's head.

"Like I'll let you bet more than a month's salary away. You're not a child anymore. You should be saving up for your family and thinking about retiring from the corps if you have so much time on your hands. Be more alert. Our armor might be pretty good, but the barbarians aren't vegetarians. Klido was struck in the arm by an arrow and it had to be amputated. You guys better be unharmed by the end of this, you hear?"

When the thousand or so barbarians messily used the weapons in their hands to attempt to fill the ditches, one of the towers, stationed with a company of troops, armed 20 ballistae all at once. The towers were roughly twelve meters in the air and split into four separate floors. Each of the floors from the second floor upwards to the roof had five ballistae installed. Apart from the uncovered roof, the floors below were shielded well and the ballistae fired through aiming holes. In other words, the towers were actually designed by Lorist using the 'pillbox' structures used by the Japanese in the historical films he watched.

The ballista operators within the towers were incredibly cunning. They didn't fire at the large shields, instead, they targeted the barbarians filling up the ditch. When one of the barbarians died, the others would scramble behind the shields in fear without making any other attempt to fill the ditch. Though there were a few archers that fired towards the towers, given that they were roughly a hundred meters apart, they weren't able to get an accurate aim at all. Given the crude bows of the barbarians that couldn't fire with much force, the parabolic shots scattered without reason or order at random locations.

It was nothing but a joke. That didn't resemble a proper battle at all. Instead, the attackers were akin to targets the defenders used to practice with. Even after more than 60 barbarians died near the ditch, not half of it was filled yet. In the end, all the barbarians hid behind the shields and didn't dare to look out. The attackers were completely stuck.

Should the barbarians press their attack without regard for their casualties, they could reach a tower's entrance for every two to three hundred men lost. If they were lucky, they might even get to break the doors down to attack the soldiers inside the tower. That was assuming the towers didn't have other tricks to react to such situations. However, the problem was that no barbarian was willing to become one of the two hundred. They had come to raid, not die and let their comrades profit in their stead.

The bearded man looked at the eight still-standing wooden shields and mumbled to himself as he stroked his beard.

"It really is quite the task for them to push shields that large up the hill. But what can they do merely hiding behind them?

"Leader, should we use flaming arrows?"

The bearded soldier shook his head.

"It's pointless. Those large timber shields would take far too long to burn down. It's too bad we weren't allocated any catapults. Otherwise, one fireball would be enough to take care of the shields."

"Leader, should we focus fire on those shields and see if we can damage them?" asked the gambling addict.

"Alright. Let's try," agreed the bearded man.

They targeted the middlemost shield and with an order from the bearded officer, 20 bolts shot out like lightning towards the shield. However, it merely shuddered for a bit without moving much. The bearded soldier said with disappointment.

"It's useless... It managed to hold up..."

Barely before he finished his sentence, the soldiers' cheer could be heard from beside him. "Leader, look! The shield's falling!"

The shield that was struck with 20 ballista bolts fell to the ground and smashed to pieces, revealing near a hundred of barbarians standing behind it as well as those who were crushed by the shield itself.

Seeing a chance, the bearded man yelled, "Restring and shoot the little rabbits!"

It did indeed look like a rabbit hunt. The barbarians that lost their shield hopped about chaotically. Apart from half of them that managed to hide behind the other shields, the rest were targeted by the steel ballistae. After three volleys of ballista fire, more than 45 barbarian soldiers fell. There were a good number of barbarians that tried to run out of the ballistae's firing range only to fail and be impaled from the back by the bolts.

By the time the second wooden shield was successfully taken down, the barbarians hiding behind the other shields could no longer take it and turned tail to run, their weapons discarded. There were even some who rolled down the hill. They knew that the wooden shields couldn't protect them. Sooner or later, the shields that remained would be shot down as well and it was far better for them to run than be sitting ducks.

A bunch of horses could be seen roughly four hundred meters away from the towers, out of their firing range. From their previous attacks, the barbarians had learned that it was ill-advised to ride their mounts up the hill. Despite the non-stop firing from the ballistae in the tower, at least half of the barbarians managed to leave the firing range. By the time they were only about 60 meters from their mounts, a large group of light cavalry showed up and scattered them like eagles scattering chickens. Alas, two legs were slower than four. Soon, one after another fell from the riders' blades and dyed the foot of the hill red.

...

"Now you see it, right? Duke Shabaj, this is the step-by-step strategy employed by the four houses. They set up the towers like a wide-encompassing net. Some towers are just 300 meters apart. They are closer to one another than the range of the ballistae. I've ordered a thousand-men cavalry regiment to pass between the two towers. We didn't think there would be more towers behind them. Only 400 returned."

Duke Fisablen was currently speaking to an old man clad in elegant armor. Not long ago, their group just stopped at a hill not far from the battlefield to witness the sight of the barbarians' failure to breach the tower formation.

"Towers like these only have a hundred men inside at most. The only question is where the four houses managed to obtain so many sentry ballistae. Based on my observations, these ballistae should be modified variants. Their firing rate is fast and they also have great range and accuracy. Even though I had more than ten thousand barbarians attack ten towers, the results are obvious. These barbarians aren't for sieges. While they excel in field battles, they have no way of defeating these towers.

"If we want to eliminate them, we will have to use disciplined infantry. House Fisablen's forces are mostly light cavalry so we have no way of dealing with them. In fact, our mobility is greatly limited. Lord Duke, I hope you can hurry the other duchies to send their troops as soon as possible. Since we're in the same boat, we'll have to drive the four houses away and stop them from conquering Southern. Otherwise, no of us will have peace in the days to come," said Duke Fisablen frankly.

It was the 12th day of the 7th month on Grindia and it had already been almost 50 days since Firmrock arrived in Southern and faced off with Duke Fisablen.

The moment Firmrock arrived, they began to set up camp near the duke's defenses. He didn't mind and decided he would first set up his defenses well before launching his attack. That was but common sense. He just ordered his two legions to prepare for a defensive battle.

What the duke didn't expect was that Firmrock would take so much time setting up camp. After three days, he finally felt something was off. When he took a look at the camp with his own eyes, he realized they weren't actually setting up camp at all. Instead, they were working on defensive fortifications as well, fortifications far more defended than the duke's.

Not knowing what was going on, the duke thought,what the heck is going on?! Who's supposed to be the defender?!

Even after Firmrock finally finished setting up their defenses, they didn't launch an attack. Instead, they began construction on the tower outposts. Under the protection of Ragebear Knights, they managed to finish the towers' construction in ten short days. The construction materials shipped non-stop were used to fortify the towers. Most of it was green glue.

When Duke Fisablen realized the towers would become a huge obstacle for light cavalry, he immediately ordered for the reserve legion that had just arrived to attack. But he, regretfully, came to realize that even the ferocious reserve legion wasn't able to do much against those tower outposts. Instead, they returned with huge casualties. The moment he ordered them to retreat, Ragebear Knights launched their attack from hiding and caught them horribly off guard. In the end, they were only able to retreat after losing half their numbers.

Duke Fisablen currently faced a huge dilemma. He realized the light cavalry he had used to storm the grasslands had lost all their potency in Southern. The net of towers constructed by the four houses had greatly limited what light cavalry could do. Even though he would still be able to take the towers down by sustaining huge casualties, he knew well that sacrificing hundreds of household soldiers for capturing one tower was not a worthwhile exchange. Each tower only took about ten days to build, but training light cavalry soldiers as qualified as those he'd lose took years.

Seeing the number of tower outposts grow before his eyes to cover even more land, he considered whether he should give up on the crucial transportation point and find another important location where he could set up towers just like the houses had. But before he settled on that decision, he received a piece of good news: Duke Shabaj had personally led 20 thousand troops to reinforce Southern and was already on his way to meet him.

Duke Fisablen was elated to hear that and turned his sights on the reinforcements of the four duchies. As almost all of the reinforcements were infantry, they were just the right fit for taking down the towers. Afterwards, his light cavalry could mow down what remained of the forces. The duke had unconsciously changed his goals from taking Southern back to fighting to the death.

To sound more convincing, the duke intentionally had ten thousand volunteer barbarians with disciplinary problems attack the towers. The would be forgiven if they participated in the attack. The duke was also generous enough to offer them a huge reward should they emerge victorious and even prepared large shields for them to weather the endless ballista fire. Even though he didn't hold much hope for their success, the barbarians' performance caused the color to drain from his face. Even so, the demonstration only reinforced his words about how inadequate it was for light cavalry to attack the towers.

Duke Shabaj was a blademaster with lots of experience. However, he was merely a rank 1 blademaster that broke through relying on precious and rare medicines. Seeing the barbarians' attack, he laughed.

"Lord Duke, the four central duchies are paying lots of attention to what is happening here in Southern. This matter is of utmost importance to our peace and we have decided to not let this province fall into the hands of the Andinaq kingdom's alliance of four. Apart from the 20 thousand troops I brought with me, the other dukes will arrive soon with their own 20 thousand. Not only that, we also brought you a lot of resources you can use.

"Since we're allies, we will definitely uphold our due responsibilities. We definitely won't sit by and watch the forces of the Andinaq kingdom invade the territory of your house. As for how we should take down the towers, we'll have a discussion when the others arrive. We'll stand by your house no matter what and drive Andindaq's claws back."

[1] I don't know exactly how a tower than can fit a hundred people is 'not that big'. It's absolutely HUGE! I call CNSS (Chinese Novel Scale Syndrome).

Onset of a Great Battle

This is the fifth release of the week! Cya guys next week~

Lorist kept sighing in his tent. The situation in Southern seemed to be building up to a huge conflict unlike what anyone had expected. He regretted that he didn't attack Duke Fisablen to stop him from constructing his own fortifications the moment Firmrock arrived at the frontlines. That way, even if he had sustained huge casualties, he could have driven House Fisablen's Frontier Legion out of Southern instead of merely standing off against them like he was now. As the enemy reinforcements increased, he could only take a defensive stance.

The tower outposts tactic was something he'd deployed by drawing inspiration from the tower defense games he played in his past life. Originally, he merely wanted them to encompass the area he controlled to stop enemy messengers from passing through to limit their communication. However, he had not foreseen how effective they would be against cavalry. So, he continued to build more and more and covered the area he controlled with a network of towers. Ragebear Knights and the three Tigersoar divisions he moved over were like the spiders perched on a net, they would devour anyone caught instantly.

The towers' construction was relatively simple. First, the foundations had to be secured, then the ground filled with rocks. Green glue would be poured into the seams to secure them in place. Thereafter, evenly cut rocks would be stacked on top of the foundation until a tower was built. As the northwestern area of Southern was rather hilly, rocks were easy to come by. Given that the silver-ranked knights of Firmrock were already used to using their blade glows to cut rock, one day of hard work by ten silver-ranked knights was enough to gather the rocks required to build the towers. It would also train their battleforce, so it killed two birds with one stone.

All that was left was to fill in the seams with green clay again and a tower that could defend an area with a radius of 100 meters around it was ready. Given that it only took ten days to build one, towers were erected day after day and the area Lorist controlled expanded. A third of Southern was already under the four houses' control.

However, as the number of towers increased, Lorist realized that something was wrong. What he was doing was unlike the tower defense games he played. Each tower he built had to be manned. So far, there were a total of 170 towers, but a little more than one division's worth of men from Firmrock had been sent to man them. That was more than 17 thousand people.

A month ago when he arrived with Firmrock, they were faced with House Fisablen's two legions of 70 thousand men and a further 30 thousand grassland barbarian soldiers as well as a greatly fortified camp. If they were fighting a field battle, he didn't fear the duke's 100 thousand troops. However, leading 60 thousand soldiers of Firmrock and 10 thousand from Ragebear Knights to attack a heavily fortified camp was a rather foolish idea. So, he ordered three divisions from Tigersoar sent over to bolster his forces. By the time the three Tigersoar divisions arrived, House Fisablen's reserve legion had also arrived. The number of the duke's troops was still about 30 thousand above Lorist's.

House Felim's Pegasus was still exterminating bandits in the province's northwestern area. Since he couldn't afford to have his rear so chaotic on the frontlines, Lorist decided to wait for Pegasus to clear the area up first before ordering them to reinforce him. However, he didn't think so many grassland barbarians would answer Duke Fisablen's call. Their numbers neared 70 thousand. Lorist began to build his towers in response. It was not until he had built too many that he had split up Firmrock. Duke Fisablen, on the other hand, gained even more reinforcements: the 20 thousand Shabaj infantry.

All Lorist could do was look on as the enemy's numbers slowly grew to double his own. Frustrated and annoyed, he had no choice but to continue his tower tactic. If he didn't have enough soldiers, he would have to send an envoy to Count Kenmays and Count Shazin and request each send a division or two so they could man the towers instead of Firmrock's soldiers. That way, Firmrock's forces could remain consolidated and ready for an enemy attack.

How'd it turn out this way? I should have been the attacker, but now I'm playing a defensive game. I wanted to wipe out the duke's forces and the four duchies separately at first, but it seems they have now joined up against me. The war has evolved to the point all the plans I've drafted have to be put aside. I really don't know how this situation can develop in the future, thought Lorist.

All he could do now was respond to the situation on the fly. The tent's entrance opened and Potterfang walked in.

"Your Grace, Count Felim sent a messenger. According to him, Knight Bonawar is heavily injured."

"What?" Lorist said with surprise, "Knight Bonawar was injured? How? He's the commander of a legion! How could he have been in harm's way? Was it an assassination attempt or an ambush?"

Potterfang shook his head.

"I'm not sure myself. The messenger said he had heard it from someone else. Let's read the letter first."

Potterfang handed the letter over and Lorist gave it a quick look.

"Oh, it's about the issue with the mines. I see I'll have to make a trip there to solve the issue."

"Mine? What mine?" asked Potterfang.

"Just read the letter," Lorist said while he pointed to the letter on the table, "Andelik Hills is located near the border of Southern and Winston and there are two iron mines there, one larger than the other. Both are located within the old dominion of House Felim. When the second prince signed a treaty with the Union's Wessia Merchant Guild, he sold them a thirty-year mining permit. With the second prince now dead and Iblia gone, our alliance can naturally not be expected to honor that contract. Count Felim sent people to reclaim the mines, but it ended with Knight Bonawar being injured heavily by a blademaster guarding it. The blademaster even boasted that if we wanted the mines back, we would have to face his sword first. Wessia definitely won't hand the mines back so easily."

"Can't Count Felim just deploy Pegasus to retake the mines?" asked Potterfang without bothering to read the letter.

"He did, but the mines are on high ground and it's hard to attack. There's no way to encircle the mines and sending only a few up there is pointless. I have to make a trip to help the count out. His house's foundations rely on those two mines."

Lorist had no choice but to go as the four houses faced their enemies together. As House Felim didn't have their own blademaster, their gold-ranked knight was injured by an enemy blademaster. As the boss, Lorist ought to fight for his ally's sake. In the end, the trip took only around 6 days. It ended with the blademaster dead. It Lorist just three exchanges. The guild's supervisors and engineers were taken prisoner. The fellows who initially condemned Lorist that their guild would definitely not let him off turned rather timid after a few were hung. They answered when they were questioned and Lorist and Felim soon learned the truth of the matter.

They didn't think Wessia had invested so much money in the mines. Not only did they get new mining equipment, they also set up a refinery and smithy nearby. Within the smithy's storehouse were tens of thousands of sets of plate armor. According to the supervisor, the armor was ordered by Duke Fisablen. There were fifty thousand sets of armor in total and they were due for delivery to Windbury for the new garrison legion. Given that the city had already fallen and that the garrison legion was no more, the armor was left in the storehouses.

Apart from the armor, Felim's greatest gain was the hundreds of technicians and smiths. The refinery and smithy could continue to operate with them there and it would greatly speed up the growth of his old dominion. Thirteen thousand laborers were also liberated.

Originally, he had wanted the laborers to continue mining, but Lorist stopped him.

"Are you stupid? If you spare them from mining, they will instantly be completely loyal to you! Weren't you complaining about having nobody to recruit into your army? These miners are the perfect target! If you start recruiting them, you'll be able to form a smaller garrison legion. Not only that, you don't really lack weapons now, do you? With the refinery and smithy, you can already start making the gear you need, right?"

"But who will dig out the ores?"

While Felim was moved by Lorist's suggestion, he was still troubled that he had nobody suitable to mine.

"Mining? It's hardly skilled labor, right? Just use the bandits you caught. We also captured lots of grassland barbarians from the frontlines. They are fit and strong and a good fit for the task. Maybe you can set a mining quota. They will only be fed if they meet the quota. If they don't, it's their own fault," said Lorist mercilessly.

"But, we don't have enough prisoners. There are less than two thousand altogether."

"Worry not. The number will grow as the days pass. Didn't you see our enemy's camp? There're more than 100 thousand troops and about 70 thousand barbarians. We'll have lots of captives after this conflict," replied Lorist confidently.

But, a few days after Lorist returned to the frontlines, he was devastated to hear the report from the light cavalry scouts. The four duchies' reinforcements had arrived, roughly 60 thousand men in total. They also brought along carriages filled with resources.

Ten thousand men would already fill one's vision, not to say much about 60 thousand that brought carriage after carriage with them. They lined up like a long dragon leading to House Fisablen's camp. It took more than three days for the convoy to settle down. In the meantime, Ragebear Knights and the three Tigersoar legions had been waiting for an opportunity to attack but failed. The duke was rather cunning. He formed a tight defensive line with his frontier legion and the other barbarian troops to protect the reinforcements.

Looking at the distant cheering barbarian cavalry, Lorist turned down Terman's request for the Ragebear Knights to be allowed to attack.

"It's pointless. You'll only be falling into the duke's trap. If you attack they can grind you down with tens of thousands of barbarian soldiers. Even if your armor is strong, the warhorses can't fight that long. The moment your warhorses tire, heavy-armored units like you would be like fish on dry land. There are many ways to deal with you if that happens. Return to your post. Since the old guy's troops grow more and more numerous, it won't take long for him to go on the offensive. We have to be even more prepared."

House Fisablen currently had Third Frontier, which numbered 32 thousand men, Fifth Frontier with 45 thousand men, 18 thousand men from the reserve legion and 70 thousand barbarian soldiers. There was also the 80 thousand elite infantry from the four central duchies. The number of enemies Lorist had to face grew to a staggering 240 thousand plus. Facing them were the 60 thousand of Firmrock, 45 thousand of the three Tigersoar divisions. and the 15 thousand men of Ragebear Knights. For the last one, only three thousand knights and six thousand squires were combatants. The remaining six thousand were merely horse tamers and servants in charge of supporting the knights without any actual fighting capability.

However, Count Felim had also brought his two divisions of 20 thousand men to the frontlines, while Count Shazin was on the way with two divisions of 24 thousand men and would only arrive ten days later. Duke Kenmays, on the other hand, sent 15 thousand men, but it wasn't sure when they would arrive at the end of the month since they departed from rather far away. The alliance of four houses had 140 thousand men standing against the combined forces of House FIsablen and the four central duchies. There was a difference of 100 thousand men.

So, Lorist decided to go all the way with the tower tactic. At the broader areas up front, he constructed multiple tower clusters. Firmrock's soldiers also toiled through the night to connect the surrounding moats to make an uncrossable barrier.

Ten days passed. When the horn sounded on the other side, countless grassland barbarian troops rushed out of their camp. The first siege battle in Southern thus began.

However, that battle only lasted one day. The four central duchies mobilized 20 thousand of their elite infantry while Duke Fisablen deployed Third Frontier and 30 thousand grassland barbarians. As they were attacking the towers roughly 5 kilometers away from Lorist's camp, he deployed one Tigersoar division and three carroballistae brigades.

The attack on the towers was not a probe. Instead, they had discovered a weakness in Lorist's layout that allowed them to suffer fewer casualties. The duchies' 20 thousand elite infantrymen only suffered around three thousand casualties while the barbarians lost about ten thousand, mainly due to disobeying orders and being heavily punished by the Tigersoar division as a result.

Lorist looked solemnly at the enemies retreating in an orderly fashion from the mountain stronghold. While he had only lost little during that battle, three towers had been burned down and the 200 soldiers manning them lost. If the enemy was willing to pay the price of around 200 casualties, they would be able to reach the tower's base and set it on fire. While the outside of the towers was built with stone, the main structural support and floors within were constructed with wood and caught fire easily.

While the enemies retreated this time, there was no doubt that they would come back swiftly. They would definitely come up with even more methods to deal with the towers given their experience today.

The harsher battles ahead still lie ahead, thought Lorist.