Chapter 443 - 386 - 392

Three Requests

Here's the 3rd chapter of the week. Happy reading!

With Boblige conquered, Iblia's conquest was complete. Lorist stood on one of the cliffs behind Boblige and looked at the snow-covered fields, smiling in a good mood. The old fox, Duke Fisablen, had finally been locked in a cage. From that moment on, House Fisablen's road to hegemony was cut off and they would not pose a threat to House Norton again.

Jaeger and House Fisablen's Frontier Legions might be entangled in Wild Husbandry for a good while. Or, House Fisablen might join with the barbarians to attack Southern's border. There was also a chance the duke himself would find a way to launch a surprise attack on Pedro. But, the general situation was now set in stone. No matter how hard House Fisablen tries, they could not win anymore. Even if they manage to sneak a few victories, those couldn't do much harm to the Nortons overall. As long as the flow of resources and products was regulated closely, the house might become just another barbarian clan like so many already on the plains.

The only thing left is to see whether the old fox knows what's good for him, thought Lorist gleefully.

Howard, standing beside him, was already at his limits; he could no longer resist the cold and pulled his cloak tighter.

"We ought to go back, Your Grace. What's so interesting about the white abyss? The wind's so strong too."

The logistics camp was actually a renovated bandit stronghold. The logistics officer, Woryo, had ordered his soldiers to build a luxurious three-story-tall stone house for him. It was now Lorist's chambers. The former owner was kept in the stinky barns with the soldiers he loathed and on which he looked down. He was now just a Norton captive. He'd been given a decent pummelling during the first night. His bruises were so bad it made it difficult to look at him.

Howard added another piece of pine wood to the fire. He added some macks and water into the copper kettle and hung it over the fire. Drinking a cup of steaming-hot macks on a winter day was a bliss that filled the hearts of many with warmth and comfort.

Els kicked his feet at the entrance before he wiped some snow and mud off his boots on the rug. Once satisfied that his shoes were clean enough, he headed for the second floor.

"Your Grace, Seirya arrived."

The young Seirya no longer looked impressive and domineering. He was pale and silent as he was presented to Lorist. The things that'd happened to him over the last couple of days was a nightmare. First, House Norton's Firmrock weathered the snowstorm and appeared out of nowhere near the Boblige's rear entrance. They took the unprepared logistics camp by storm with before they encircled the main camp of Third Frontier's four other divisions. Using their ballistae which had incredible firing range for a lockdown on the various sections of the camp, no one could rush out of their lodges to launch a counterattack.

After enduring and starving for two days, Potterfang's threat to burn the place down finally forced Beloput to have his men drop their weapons and surrender. He committed suicide publicly soon after, saying that he had failed the duke's trust and expressing his desire to make up for his sins with his life.

Nobody reacted in time. It all happened so quickly and without warning. Seirya thus had to watch his commander, his respected uncle, fall -- his throat spurting blood everywhere and staining the ground red. He was completely frozen. They had lost just like that. There was no grand charge into battle, no great faceoff on the battlefield, no exciting exchange of blows and blocks, nothing. Boblige was lost just like that, and Third Frontier had surrendered to the enemy. It was a complete defeat where all the soldiers were wiped out. The commander decided to take responsibility for the shame of surrendering by taking his life. What was left for him to do?

Over the past two days, he'd lived like a walking corpse. He ducked in his corner, not caring about anything, neither drinking nor eating, until he was brought before Lorist.

"So you're Fisablen Seirya?" asked the man as he looked at him curiously.

Seirya acted as if he heard nothing.

Els patted on his shoulder and yelled, "Hey, are you deaf?! We're talking about you!"

Seirya snapped out of his stupor.

"Ah, what did you say?"

The man smiled and repeated his question.

"Yes. I'm Fisablen Seirya, a member of House Fisablen. Do your worst, I'm not afraid," said Seirya emotionally.

"I don't need you to do anything. Don't worry, even though House Fisablen is our enemy, we will follow the traditions and customs and the code of chivalry. Now you're our captive, I want to ask you something..."

"In your dreams! I will not betray the house!" exclaimed Seirya resolutely.

"Hahahaha!" the man laughed.

He pointed at a youth standing nearby buy, whom in response poured some macks and offered it to Seirya.

"Nobody wants you to betray your house. We're not really interested in House Fisablen any longer anyway. It's simple: you lost. The war's outcome is certain no matter what you try."

"You launched an underhanded surprise attack. I'll never accept this."

"Whether you accept it or not isn't my concern. The only goal of war is to emerge victorious. Strategy and tactics are of utmost importance. Didn't the duke teach you something this basic? Don't tell me your duke fights his enemies one-on-one honorably all the time? If that was the case, House Fisablen would not even be worth my mention," said the man in a calm tone.

Seirya blushed and realized he had uttered something foolish. The reason Duke Fisablen was given the title of Wargod of the Plains was that he often fought with the odds and numbers stacked against him. Tactics like surprise attacks, ambushes, and assaults were milked dry of their efficiency. In the end, it all culminated in new territory for the empire, as well as the house's growth into one of the strongest in the northeastern area.

"Drink some macks first," said the man warmly, "I asked you to come here to fulfill a plea your commander, Galini Beloput, asked of me before his suicide."

"Commander?" asked Seirya, suspicious.

"Yes," Lorist nodded and said, "Before your commander ordered you to surrender, he made three requests, two of which I've agreed to. But I didn't think he'd actually be that stubborn. Even though we conquered the camp and you had no chance, he would only order your surrender after he was assured you'd be spared."

"He... He made requests?" asked Seirya.

"He was an honorable knight, determined and persevering. He single-handedly bore the responsibility for your loss. He was no coward, but a knight and military officer of the highest caliber. I admire his courage and feel pity for House Fisablen's loss of such a magnificent and heroic knight," continued the man solemnly as he stood up.

On Grindia, suicide was considered an act of cowardice. Regardless of what god or goddess one believed in, none of them advocated suicide. For example, the warriors and knights that were believers of Singwa considered suicide humiliating and cowardly. Back when Gold-ranked Knight Chevany, a subordinate of Duke Loggins, lost the battle against the Nortons, he chose to die by Lorist's blade for the same reason. He couldn't commit suicide by his own hand as believers of the war god believed the souls of suiciders wouldn't enter the god's kingdom.

"Thank you..." Seirya finally lowered his head as tears fell uncontrollably.

The praise his enemy offered in the honor of his commander had finally opened his heart. His vexation finally melted away. Instead, he even felt a sense of pride over what his uncle had done.

After crying for a good while, he muffled his voice. The young man passed him a hot towel. After he'd cleaned his face, he stood up and saluted his captor.

"Lord Norton, may I know what three requests our commander made?"

"Sure. I'd tell you even if you hadn't asked. Sit down and have some macks. I heard you haven't eaten anything for two days. I'm concerned for your health. If you continue like this, you won't complete the mission your commander left for you," said Lord Norton as he gestured to the sofa.

"The first request was that news of your surrender be delivered to the duke. He asked that you be the envoy to deliver the news. Given that the snow's made it impossible to travel, he agreed for the news to be sent after the rainy season passes. You may pick twelve soldiers to go with you. We'll provide the mounts and supplies. Also, keep your commander's remains well. You'll have a carriage to take it with you."

Seirya teared up again.

"Your commander also asked I let your house ransom the knights and attendants. I must admit he duped me into agreeing. I thought he was referring to the Fisablen knights and attendants in Third Frontier. He only revealed he meant everyone in the in the legion after I'd agreed. I'm pretty mad about it, but I am a noble, so I'll keep my word. As long as the house can afford the ransom, I will let them go."

Seirya raised his head proudly when he heard this. His commander had duped Norton Lorist!

Such a child... Lorist smiled, What point is there to keeping the knights here? They would never betray their house unless they were abandoned. If they did they'd have no honor to live by left. Even I won't recruit a knight who so easily betrays his oath. Your house controls the greeks, so I can make a nice trade.

"I didn't agree to his third request, though. I won't let the house ransom the rest of the legion. It's impossible. I won't have the duke rebuild his forces so easily. Beloput tried to convince me they'd only be used to deal with barbarians. He hoped I'd let them go so they could return to their families. I may be benevolent, but I'm not naïve. I did promise to let them go when House Fisablen surrenders or signs a peace treaty, though."

Lorist stared intently at the kid.

"That's all I have to say. You may pick 12 soldiers to follow you back. You don't have to stay with the captives either. Your treatment and rations will be same as that of my men. If you have any additional requests, feel free to bring them up and I will do my best to assist you."

"I only have one request. I wish to leave before the rainy season. May I go after the snow lifts in the second month next year?" asked the kid, standing up.

Lorist observed his resolute expression… and nodded.

"As you wish."

Snow usually stopped falling in the 2nd month of the year. However, the ground would still be frozen and muddy -- hard to travel on. People and horses slip and fall easily in such conditions. Despite that, Seirya insisted on returning early and Lorist didn't stop him. It was his business if he wanted to look for trouble.

After Seirya left, Potterfang and Malek entered the room. Lorist greeted and had them take seats.

"You should know what comes next not that we have Boblige, right?" began he as he tapped on the map of Southern that hung on the wall, "We'll hold Southern against the barbarians. This won't be a quick operation. It'll likely continue for several years. Firmrock is the house's best legion, there's no unit better suited for this operation."

Potterfang and Malek stood up straight.

"Worry not, Your Grace. Firmrock won't let the Fisablens into Southern."

Lorist had the two sit down again.

"With Boblige in our hands, the defenses in Southern will have more support. The house can now transfer Tigersoar there, it doesn't have to station as many men here. House Kenmays's heavy-armored division and Shazin's light cavalry and light infantry divisions can return as well. I will leave everything here to Firmrock. Naturally, Count Felim's Pegasus will aid you. I'm putting them under your command.

"Also, I will replenish Firmrock's two thunderbolt brigades. You may use the 23rd local defense brigade's tactic of setting fire to shield carts. I won't say much more. The rest is up to you.

"I will return to The Northlands in a few days; there's much to deal with there. Set up proper defenses, I don't want any mistakes, understood?"

"We will not disappoint you, Your Grace."

Property and Taxes

Phew, we're almost at the end of the week again. Enjoy the read!

Lorist returned to The Northlands on the 7th day of the 1st month of the new year. He observed The Northlands' capital, Roaring Bear City, formerly known as Gildusk, from a distance in the cold. Grandmaster Ciroba had renovated it without a hitch. He'd even gone out of his way to fashion a huge statue of a bear in the central plaza. The plaza was thus named Ragebear Plaza.

The city needed another year's work before renovations would be complete. Most of the year's infrastructure was completed the year before, from waterways and irrigation works to walls and roads. What had to be done now was the building of the many houses and buildings. Ciroba had proclaimed optimistically that everything would be done before the eighth month of the previous year, but the internal furnishings and decorations would take more time. Ciroba's aide, Zanben, would be in charge from the 5th month since Ciroba had to head to Southern to build Pegasus Castle.

Lorist stayed in the city for just ten days. Apart from checking out its progress, he also met with Shadekampf. The servant who'd followed him around since his childhood had become a magnificent talent in management. The new settlements in the south of The Northlands, namely Haven, Harvest, and Vigor's, construction was proceeding well. It would be completed in no more than two years. The only problem was the relatively low population. Settlements had to be populated to become prosperous.

Charade brought Supervisor Spiel in a hurry to receive Lorist. Ever since he'd received Tarkel's report in the 11th month about the possibility of a mountain barbarian invasion, he'd stayed at Firmrock Castle to guard it. Lorist understood the barbarians' might well and was certain they wouldn't leave their mountains in the winter but Charade still had to be prepared just in case. Now that Lorist had returned, the situation in Southern had stabilized, Iblia conquered, and Tigersoar returning soon as well, Charade could finally let go of his worries.

He also gave Lorist a piece of good news: the estates in the east of Roaring Bear, that is, the section reserved for nobles' manors, were selling like hotcakes. All 67 estates had been gobbled up by the nobles and House Norton's funds had grown by roughly 1.6 million gold Fordes. Spiel was so ecstatic he almost couldn't shut up. It should be noted that the land sold was completely empty. It didn't have a single building.

The nobles that bought the land would have to spend even more of their money to build their manors. All House Norton had to take care of was making sure the basic infrastructure, such as roads and parks, was in place. The endeavor was very profitable. Mainly because the landowners also had to pay an annual tax on their land, which was a thousandth of its market price. In other words, while the land sold was private property, it was still Norton territory. Given that the Nortons were in charge of the land's safety, they would have to pay some sort of 'protection fee'.

Lorist was incredibly shocked. The plots ranged from five to eight thousand gold Fordes. How did it add up to 1.6 million? It was already six times more than what they'd estimated they'd get. What in the world had made3 the nobles willing to spend so much money? Charade explained gleefully that he hadn't settled on a fixed price. He just drew the boundaries, listed a minimum, starting price, and sent the maps to the various nobles, both honorary and landed. The entire peerage received the same map, including the old Winston nobles that'd joined their side. The demand turned out to be incredibly high, so Charade organized an auction. In the end, given the demand, the plots all sold at five to ten times their original price.

The nobles that didn't get any of the plots, demanded the district be expanded so they could get a plot as well. He'd estimated they could set up two similar districts and still sell out. So, he and Spiel picked two more areas set up another 150 plots. Lorist just had to give his approval and they could go ahead with the auction.

Lorist looked over the documents and scribbled about with his pen. He crossed out the larger district and left only about 58 plots. Charade and Spiel looked at him anxiously. He was denying them a mountain of gold!

"There's no need to be hasty," Lorist explained, "The two districts ensure all the nobles can get a piece of land. Do you think they'll go crazy for them during the auction if they know they're sure to get a plot? It'll be difficult to raise the price if everyone has a guaranteed spot. We can only increase their value if we limit the number."

Charade's eyes widened and he smacked his forehead.

"Apologies, I was being too hasty and forgot about that completely. I thought the new districts would sell for the same price as the first. This is my fault."

"It's not your fault. You two just didn't understand the reason the nobles were so crazy for the land," Lorist consoled with a smile, "Basically, the reason they're willing to pay such a high price is: the act of purchasing a plot is an expression of loyalty."

"An expression of loyalty?" asked the two oddly.

"Yes," Lorist nodded, "You carried out the auction after we'd already eliminated First Frontier and conquered Windbury, and the duke'd fled to Southern. Everyone can see we're winning the war. House Fisablen may be a strong house in our region, but they suffered defeat after defeat at our hands. It's nearly impossible for them to turn the tables. Unless we do something incredibly stupid, Duke Fisablen will lose the war, War god or not.

"Given these circumstances, and that House Norton is the alliance's leader, they placed their bets on us. We've also now decided where The Northlands' capital will be and given it a name, one reminiscent of our own family: Roaring Bear. Clearly, this is now our headquarters. The act of purchasing land from us here is a gesture of loyalty. In other words, they're saying they're willing to be in the same boat with us. Naturally, they're also looking for more opportunities to work with us. If they have any dealings with us, there's no doubt they'll prosper.

"Now that we've achieved our goal of conquering Iblia, Winston and Southern are under the four houses' control as well. Andinaq now controls more than half the former empire's territory. While we're loyal to kingdom in name, the four houses are their own powerful faction. The nobles know this as well. Compared to the second highness, we're a far better option for their allegiance. They can't even be bothered to deal with our king."

Lorist pointed at the documents in his hands.

"Actually, no matter how much we charge for these plots, the nobles will grit their teeth and buy them to show they stand with us. However, I don't wish to sow any animosity. Apart from making them willingly give us their gold by raising the land's value, we have to make the value compound and rise over the years.

"For example, I plan to put just 40 plots up for sale. The rest will be used to build kickball stadiums, horse-racing stadiums, and battleforce-training halls. We'll also build facilities for high-level herbalists. We can even dig a small stream from a nearby lake so the people here can swim and kayak. The lake can be used for picnics and walks as well. We'll have luxurious restaurants and tea houses, and luxury shopping areas and streets. We'll make this district a noble paradise. If we do this, the land will be in greater demand and its value will go up even more.

"We can set up another special district or an elite residential area nearby afterwards. Naturally, the price will be even higher thanks to the surrounding infrastructure and the value of the land nearby."

"Your Grace, you're a true schemer," exclaimed Charade.

Spiel furrowed his brow.

"Your Grace, don't you think these two districts sound a little similar to the rich district in the city? Won't this lower the rich district's value?"

"Hehe," Lorist shook his head, "The rich district is just that, an area for rich nobles and commoners alike. Anyone with money can purchase land there. However, these two will be for nobles only, or guests that receive invitations from nobles. No amount of money will let you qualify to purchase land here. This will inevitably inflate the nobles that purchase land here's sense of status. And, given that the rich commoners also wish to be a part of this, they will try even harder to contribute to the house so they may receive our recognition and be given an honorary title.

"Starting next year, the house will no longer acknowledge other nation's titles. Supervisor Spiel, set up a system for foreign honorary nobles to become local honorary nobles. Naturally, they'll have to pay a fee."

"But, Your Grace, what point is there to this? They're only honorary titles, what difference is there between titles we issue and titles other nations issue?" asked Spiel, confused.

Charade chortled.

"Absolutely golden, Your Grace! The difference is huge, Spiel. First, His Grace said that honorary titles from other nations won't be acknowledged starting next year. In other words, honorary nobles from other nations won't be able to attend any of our gatherings, balls, or banquets. They won't be able to mingle with the four houses or their vassals.

"All the foreign nobles that've purchased land already have to have their titles converted or they'll lose the land. We don't offer noble titles very easily, people without noble titles can't buy them no matter how much they pay, so our titles are worth far more than other people's titles. Our faction is one of the strongest on the continent. Honorary nobles we acknowledge will have a far higher standing in other nations' noble circles. People will have to think twice before offending them since we are their backers and will stand up to defend them.

"Also, after this announcement, the land's price will go up even more. Honorary nobles will scramble to get a plot. I don't doubt for a second that the 40 pieces we'll sell this time round will be worth far more than the 67 we sold first..."

Since it would soon rain gold, Spiel kept his mouth shut and waited.

Lorist smiled bitterly.

"Had it not been for our losses, I wouldn't have come up with something like this. Then again, taking money from nobles and rich commoners is far better than increase the poor's tax. Also, Baron Charade, Tigersoar and Jaeger's casualties are quite heavy. Make sure their pensions are paid to the families as well as those who retired because of their injuries. I've decided to decrease the taxes levied on households with dead or injured soldiers while maintaining the benefits they receive like the other soldiers of the house. Reduce their taxes by a third."

Most landed nobles taxed their commoners more than two fourths. In other words, half of the crop grown on the rented land would be given to the noble as rent. Also, there were miscellaneous taxes such as for housing, water, boats, etc. Nobles would only have to pay a tenth of their tax revenue to their liege in tribute. Many nobles raised their taxes as high as seven tenths and kept their subjects poor. They would have to rely on labor and blood tax to keep up with the high taxes.

Labor refers to working for the nobles for free. They even had to prepare their own food. Usually, labor terms lasted from 12 to 15 months. Blood tax refers to serving in the noble's levy. The nobles provide two meals a day, basically pig feed, the commoners wouldn't be paid a dime. They only profited from plunder. But most of the spoils would be given to their lords. If they were unfortunate enough to die in battle, their lord just had to inform their families, they didn't have to give them any compensation. The households that lost precious family members would find it even harder to cope with their main manpower gone.

House Norton's taxes had always been two fourths. It was already the lowest among nobles. When Lorist returned to the dominion to take up position as household leader, he learned that the taxes were too high and had tried to make them 30 percent, but it'd prompted strong opposition from the household knights and officials. Charade had privately advised him to not stand out too much by adopting such a radical policy, as it would cause them to be ostracized by the rest of the nobility. So, Lorist had never touched the main taxes. However, he did decrease the miscellaneous taxes wherever he could. One of the big ones was the fishing and hunting tax, which was only one tenth.

Even though the main taxes couldn't be touched, soldiers' families would receive benefits. Households with members in the garrison would receive a tax cut of one tenth. They only had to hand in four tenths of their harvests. Households with members in the house's main forces were only taxed three tenths. If they retired, the taxes would only go up to four tenths.

Before, households with members in the military who died in battle would receive a one-tenth decrease in taxes permanently. However, Lorist wanted to decrease it by another ten percent and was unyielding despite Spiel's objections.

"Actually, Supervisor Spiel, our house's main source of income isn't the taxes we levy on the harvests. Instead, it is the industrial and business sectors. Even after developing Felicitas, Salus, Redriver, and Greatriver, our annual harvest tax has still not exceeded a million gold Fordes. It's not worth much more than what we generate in Wildnorth Town in Felicitas itself. The harvest tax isn't actually anything worth considering. Decreasing it by another one tenth would instead generate goodwill and gratitude among the commoners.

"This time around, our casualties are as high as 40 thousand. Our annual pension payouts in the future will near 100 thousand gold Fordes. There's no need to grumble about something insignificant like a harvest tax that doesn't amount to 10 thousand gold Fordes. Forget about such a small amount of money and let the households of those who sacrificed themselves for us know that we will not forget the blood they've spilled and the sacrifices they've made for our sake."

"I apologize, I was in the wrong, my Lord. I will respect your decision," apologized Spiel with a deep nod.

Mayor Doboff

Enjoy the last release of the week! Cya guys in two days!

"Barbarian courage is useless in the face of Loristian scheming." ~ Terman

On the 27th day of the 1st month of Year 1779, Lorist returned to Firmrock Castle.

There was no new year's celebration this year, mainly because the leader of the house, Lorist, was not around. There was also the matter of the war, which made holding a celebration a little inappropriate. However, Iblia conquest was complete. Winston and Southern were both now under the four houses' control. House Fisablen was locked within the three provincial plains, and Lorist also managed to get the position as governor of Windbury. Basically, it meant Winston would soon also be in the Nortons' jurisdiction.

While there wasn't a celebration this year, next year's would be even merrier. It would see the house welcome even more vassals. Lorist would have to entitle another large group of honorary nobles to acknowledge their contributions over the previous two years.

Rumors of a mountain barbarian invasion, surprisingly, hadn't caused a panic among the folk. However, the atmosphere in Firmrock Castle was still anxious and lifelessness. Lorist went to the rear of the keep and found only Dilianna and her one-year-old son there to receive him. After asking her about it, he learned that her two nieces, Arriotoli and Fennazali had gone to the new Dina barony now in Delamock. She had only refused to go because she was worried that the cold of winter would harm her precious child.

The other two new maidservants he'd taken in didn't think he would return in a month, so they had returned to their families for new years.

Oh well, it doesn't really matter if they're not here. I'll be fine with Dilianna.

He didn't manage to get any good sleep, in spite of the castle having so few occupants, because this son made too much noise in the night. Either he wanted to be breastfed or be with his mother. Given that he'd tussled with Dilianna three or four times already, he ended up getting no sleep.

He decided to go to his study for a nap. Just as he was walking there yawning, Howard appeared.

"Your Grace, Sir Tarkel and Mister Doboff have been waiting for you in the guest room for more than an hour now."

While it wasn't odd for Tarkel to come over so early in the morning, Lorist couldn't quite recall Doboff, though the name did sound familiar.

The moment Howard saw his expression, he knew his teacher was having a hard time recalling the man.

"Your Grace, Mister Doboff used to be the Pentasword Mercenaries' leader. You made him mayor of Twinmount Town."

Oh, that's the guy...

Lorist had hired the mercenary group to guard the outpost at the intersection between Magical Dragon Mountain Range and the dominion, as the first line of defense and an early warning. However, after he'd spent time among the barbarians, he got to know that the ones neighboring them were engaged in internal conflict, so they wouldn't come down to raid the dominion anytime soon. Hence the outpost being rather quiet for two years besides a few small skirmishes shortly after its first completion.

After that came the house's development of Blackmud Marsh. A wall was built on the border between the dominion, Tortoise Hill, and Hidebull Mound, along with forts at the other two areas. One local defense brigade was stationed at both the forts, so the outpost between the two mountains outside the dominion began to lose its importance. As a result, the house terminated the mercenary band's contract.

At first, Lorist had planned to absorb the group into the household forces but their leader, Doboff, refused. He was already old and didn't wish to live a life of blades and blood anymore. Given that he was going to disband the group, he would leave whether to join up to the men themselves.

However, he'd had already grown attached to the outpost he had lived in over the years. Given the recent time of peace, it had managed to develop into a small town where many mercenaries and adventurers would gather before they headed deeper to explore Magical Dragon Mountains. It was also through that town that small merchants traded with the barbarians. Some of the latter, who were more adaptable and intelligent, came to the town to trade their wares. The town had become a small bridge that connected the dominion and the barbarians.

However, Lorist had just returned from barbarian captivity and he avoided all word on them thanks to his traumatic experiences. He refused to even consider the notion of using the town to infiltrate and influence the barbarian tribes. Since Doboff was unwilling to leave, he made him the town's mayor. Apart from paying a small tribute, their administration wouldn't be interfered with in the slightest. They were left to do what they pleased. To Lorist, since the area was outside the household dominion, there wasn't a difference whether they controlled it or not. It wasn't something that would affect the house greatly.

When the intelligence agency, Furybear, was formed, the one in charge, Tarkel, took note of the small town outside the dominion and sent his men to do a detailed investigation. In the end, he realized the town had developed properly under the ex-mercenary leader's administration. Doboff himself hadn't overstepped his bounds and considered Twinmount Town under Norton control. Hd didn't rule with uninhibited ambition. Apart from paying a yearly tribute, the extra funds collected would be used to develop the town's infrastructure. Twinmount Town's population had grown to roughly two thousand. Most of whom relied on hunting, collecting herbs, and trading with the barbarians to make a living.

Two years earlier, Tarkel had submitted a report to Lorist about Twinmount Town. In it, he suggested it could be directly administered by the house. Building it into a large-scale trading post like the one House Kenmays had in the east would not only provide large amounts of herbs and other rarities, it could also be used to take note of the barbarians' moves.

However, Lorist had been completely occupied with his dealings with the second highness and the plan to take out Madras. Given the unpleasant memories he had, he neglected reading the report in detail before archiving it. No matter how much he tried to avoid the matter, however, he was only delaying the inevitable. The barbarians were a looming threat that had recently begun to move again.

"Get me a basin so I can wash my face. And bring those two to my study!"

He ought to freshen himself up to understand the possible attack thoroughly. Tarkel and Doboff soon made their way to the study. After greeting Lorist, Tarkel reported his experiences before he sent out the emergency message.

The matter was first discovered by Major Doboff. According to him, the barbarians would be most active during autumn. It was also when their trade with Twinmount Town would be most frequent. But, when Doboff inspected the trade market, he realized something weird was going on. The barbarians that had come didn't bargain at all. They were willing to complete the trade even if it meant taking a loss, and they purchased mostly metal tools and weapons.

This odd behavior peaked his interest and roused his caution. While it wasn't uncommon for barbarian traders to incur losses, those who'd come to town in recent times were sly and cunning. The number of merchants that got scammed was also increasing. Those who treated the barbarian traders as uncivilized fools often ended up suffering losses. But this time around, the barbarian traders were unusually agreeable and didn't mind taking losses if it meant being able to purchase even more metalware and weapons. It was weird, considering that they'd mostly bought daily necessities in the past.

Doboff secretly sought out an old barbarian that Doboff had rescued once. When the barbarian first arrived at the town, he bumped into a tough mercenary whose eye caught onto the piece of fine white leopard skin the barbarian'd brought to sell. He insisted on trading a cruddy old sword for it and even boasted that the sword was a precious weapon. However, it broke apart the moment the old barbarian knocked against it with his dagger, so he refused the trade 'offer'. It resulted in the mercenary blaming him for breaking his precious weapon and beating him until he spat out blood.

Doboff happened to pass by at that moment. He rescued the old barbarian, got a hold on the situation, and punished the mercenary. He became good friends with the barbarian and had frequent interactions with him. Sometimes, the man even brought precious herbs as gifts for the mayor during his visits to his home. Given their relationship, Doboff trusted his information he got from him on occasion.

He revealed that the last year's Kubawessen festival, held only once every twelve years, the barbarians celebrated the birth of Mountain God Kubawessen and would have all sorts of activities to commemorate their deity. For example, they would have one sacrificial rite monthly where they sacrificed large numbers of livestock to the mountain god. All the chieftains would also participate. Most \hailed from the larger tribes, with the chieftains being mostly Jambassens from other territories across Magical Dragon. The Jambassens were similar to landed nobles.

The largest tribe neighboring the Norton dominion was called the Habibaba. Their chief was a Great Jambassen, roughly equivalent to a duke, with more than 20 tribes under his control. In the past, Habibaba had always been struggling for the title of Great Jambassen with another large barbarian tribe. But in the recent Bywessi Conference, they yielded to Habibaba and their chieftain's wish came true. He was finally made a Great Jambassen. After the conference, the Great Jambassen decided he would show the flatlanders what the mountain barbarians were made of. It was highly probable the barbarian horde would start their invasion next year, hence the majority of products traded for being metalware. They wanted to caste them into arrowheads and weapons.

The old barbarian advised Doboff to leave Twinmount Town so he wouldn't be in the way of the invasion. The army mobilized this time would number up to a hundred thousand. Upon hearing of how developed the Norton dominion was from his subordinates, the Great Jambassen soon turned the focus of his campaign there. It was said some traveling merchants were also bribed to be their informants and guides.

The moment Doboff learned of this, he made a report to the house. Tarkel was the one who personally went to verify it's veracity. Some mountain barbarians were bribed with luxuries and meals and gave similar reports.

At the end of the 11th month, the old barbarian made his last visit and told Doboff that a group of grassland barbarians came to request the Great Jambassen form a grand army and set out for the dominion. They claimed the land was almost completely undefended. The old barbarian didn't know whether the Great Jambassen accepted the proposal and set out for Twinmount Town because he was worried about Doboff's safety and wanted to advise him to leave.

As Lorist had expected, the barbarians didn't launch their invasion when winter was so near. Even if the Great Jambassen accepted the proposal, there was no way it could be achieved given that they couldn't leave their shelters without cold-resistant clothing. If there was a snowstorm, loads might die without even a fight. He estimated the soonest they would descend would be during the 4th month after the rainy season.

A barbarian army of 100 thousand, huh, thought Lorist with a cold smile.

Currently, the forces of the Norton house wasn't like it had been back during the days of Lorist's father, when a few hundred barbarians were all it took to plunder the house's livestock and scour about without worry. House Norton was a huge entity, one that rivaled even a kingdom. Both their advanced siege weaponry and military gear were far beyond the barbarians. Even another 100 thousand wouldn't be much trouble.

"Your Grace, I have a map of a gold mine," said Doboff as he stood up and carefully took out an old an torn beastskin and placed it on Lorist's table.

Tarkel looked surprised. It was obvious he hadn't anticipated something like this transpiring. It seemed he wasn't aware that Doboff possessed such a map.

"Actually, I wasn't the one to discover it, nor does it have an owner," Doboff explained, "Two years ago, an old mercenary got shot with a poisoned arrow. I discovered him unconscious on the ground when I was out hunting. It was a shame he was beyond saving. He handed me the map as he breathed his last breath. During the past two years, I surveyed the area carefully and found the mine, deep within the Black Forests. There's a small hill near a riverbank where the mine is. However, the area is inhabited by roughly 30 thousand barbarians.

"Your Grace, to be honest, I've thought of monopolizing the mine by keeping its existence secret. However, I realized I have no way of dealing with the tribes, so I can only give you this map."

Lorist appreciated Doboff's frankness greatly. He recalled the riders that he encountered when he was on the way to Firmrock Castle from Maplewoods Bastide back then. That time, Josk showed off his divine archery skills and made them discard their shot comrades and retreat into the forest. When they went to investigate the bodies, they found they were carrying sacks of gold grains. Lorist had suspected the barbarians controlled a gold mine, and it seemed he was right. The mine Doboff mentioned could possibly be the one the riders controlled.

"Thank you, Mayor Doboff. Your contributions will be remembered. We will not mistreat our loyal subjects. We thank you for your efforts," said Lorist as he stood up.

"You're welcome. It is my pleasure to be of service to the house," replied Doboff a little hastily, surprised.

"Tarkel let Mayor Doboff rest in the castle for a few days. When Tigersoar arrives, we will hold a meeting to discuss how we should deal with the barbarian army. We will have to trouble the mayor to brief us on the situation as well. Let's leave it at that."

"Understood, Your Grace," said Tarkel as he stood up.

"Thank you. I will be more than happy to help the house out," said Doboff.

Barbarians and Gold Mine

Enjoy this week's first release!

"We Nortons know a sickness of the heart only gold can cure." ~ Charade

On the 23rd day of the 2nd month in the meeting room on the second floor of Firmrock Castle, Lorist tapped on the map of the dominion on the wall with a wooden pointer.

"I'm sure you've all heard what Mayor Doboff had to say about the barbarian tribes, right? A hundred thousand barbarian soldiers can't compare to even just one of Duke Fisablen's frontier legions' strength. In terms of organization and equipment, our forces' greatly surpass theirs. I ignored them until now because they haven't caused trouble before and I didn't want to bother playing hide and seek in the forests.

"But now they've come with an army of 100 thousand. They consider us no different from the scattered nobles of past Northlands. They really think that 100 thousand soldiers will let them walk unhindered through The Northlands. In actuality, they're no different from a dish served to our doorstep. Like a fresh fish sent for us to butcher. We ought to polish our blades and think of where we should cut first."

The household knights laughed at how Lorist described the whole situation.

When they'd quieted down, he continued, "I never really considered them a threat. Not because of ignorance, because I understand them far too well. Even if they have another 100 thousand, they still won't be a threat.

"They'll have a hard time coming for us from the 500 kilometer stretch starting from Azure River to the eastern part of The Northlands, all the way to the part of Magical Dragon Mountain Range that border the dominion. But, according to historical records, only two areas were really harmed by their pillaging: our dominion and the eastern Northlands. These two areas are where their raids are most rampant. They are also the most developed areas.

"Ever since House Kenmays took control of the eastern area, their approach to dealing with the barbarians has been carrot and stick. They set up a trading post and began doing business with them. Through trading fairly according to market price, they managed to obtain various specialties in exchange for other useful daily necessities. As a result, the barbarians were able to get their hands on what they needed and wanted without resorting to pillaging. They also divided them to incite inner conflict between the tribes through trade relations. This way they could ensure they wouldn't unite.

"As for the barbarian tribes that only cared for pillaging, House Kenmays hired other tribes to attack them. They offered high rewards according to how well the employed barbarian fighters performed and also occasionally mobilized their household forces to deal an even harsher blow to the incessant raiders. By exterminating them or driving them far away from the eastern area, the raiders were no longer a threat. Within five or six years, the eastern part of The Northlands no longer had to suffer pillages. The border was completely peaceful.

"The facts show that House Kenmays's policy is really effective. Currently, the barbarians' herbs and specialties are a large part of the salt merchant committee's business. I really can't help but admire House Kenmays' head for his wit and farsight. As expected of one who hails from a merchant family.

"However, we can't mimic their methods. We're running out of time. The barbarian army will soon arrive. While we did have the opportunity to do so in the past, we didn't set our sights on them. Back then, our forces were far too busy with things going on in the west.

"Mayor Doboff just briefed us on a tribe called Habibaba which rules the territory near our dominion. Habibaba is a tribe with roughly 300 thousand members. The chief is the Great Jambassen, akin to a duke. He also commands over 20 vassal tribes. Given their tradition of conscripting all their tribesmen as warriors, it's no ruse that they can mobilize 100 thousand.

"Even though there is also word of the army's intentions to raid the eastern area, it's all based on the testimonies of the barbarians that come here to trade. They spread it around like some kind of folktale. The area they'd have to go through to attack the east isn't under Habibaba's control and the tribes there haven't answered the call. This alone makes me confident they won't target the eastern area. While we still have to keep our guard up, there's no need to be too anxious.

"In the area between the eastern Northlands and Firmrock Castle is the fully developed settlement, Redriver. It's separated by hundreds of kilometers and the Black Forest from the mountain range, which serves as a natural barrier, there's no way the barbarian's will attack through there unless they're willing to spend two or three months paving a way through the forest. This is why Redriver wasn't invaded in the past, and why it won't be now.

"Our house has also developed part of Blackmud Marsh near our dominion. We have a wall from Tortoise Hill to Hidebull Mound where the 3rd and 4th local defense brigades are. Twinmount Town is right in front of that line, and that's where it'll be the easiest for them to invade. They used that very spot to enter the dominion in the past as well. Now that we have completed our defenses there, we can be confident in keeping them out.

"If their army is blocked here, they'll look for another location to break through. The area between Hidebull Mound and Firmrock Castle is separated by the Black Forest, which is roughly 50 kilometers wide. However, that part of the forest isn't where the swamp intersects, so it's the mostly likely place to go through. It'll be Tigersoar's hunting ground. All the mountain barbarians coming through there are your prey. I don't want to hear about any barbarians making their way to the villages or towns."

Fiercetiger Loze stood up and clutched his chest.

"Your Grace, Tigersoar will not disappoint you. We promise to not let even one escape."

Lorist nodded and gestured for him to sit.

"I trust you and Tigersoar's abilities. I'll leave this to you. As for Terman's Ragebear Knights, you will be transferred to Tortoise Hill fort to hold them there. The moment you see their forces split, attacks them from the fort. Strike all the way along Azure River until you circle to the rear pathway where they came from. From there, launch a pincer attack to crush them completely."

"Understood, Your Grace," said Terman as he stood up and accepted the order.

Lorist pointed the stick at the eastern Northlands.

"I've already ordered Waxima to temporarily serve as Jaeger's division leader. This time around, they suffered huge casualties because of the ambushes. However, the remaining soldiers are still enough to form a division. We will station them in the eastern part of The Northlands as a contingency. As for the villages of Felicitas, Salus, and Redriver, have them enter combat level two after the harvest. Make sure they're on guard when they start sowing seeds for spring. Also, form garrison regiments that can be sent to reinforce the frontlines at any time. Baron Charade, you are in charge of this."

Charade stood up.

"Your will be done, Your Grace."

"Next, we have a piece of good news," Lorist said as he tapped on the map, "Over here."

Lorist pointed at the part of Black Forest between Hidebull Fort and Firmrock Castle. He dipped a goose feather into some ink and drew a red circle around the area. "This is the hilly part of the forest. There's also a large riverbank there roughly 20 kilometers away from Firmrock. According to Mayor Doboff's surveys, there is sure to be a gold mine. He reported his findings not long ago.

"However, it's inhabited by 30 thousand barbarians. They're a tribe called Warisingk, one of Habibaba's vassals. Our true focus this time shouldn't be defeating the 100-thousand-strong barbarian army, but, instead, occupying these hills and taking the gold mine.

"Let me first remind all of you that in this conflict, performance is not measured by the ratio of kills to deaths. Instead, what we want is for as many of them to be taken captive as possible. Why do we want that? Simple: the house is extremely lacking in manpower. The 20-odd thousand captives that surrendered after we took Madras have already served two years. This year is their third and they'll regain freedom the next year. The transportation and irrigation routes in Delamock have also been greatly overhauled thanks to the hard work of these captives and they will be working on the final phase of development for the rest of the year.

"However, we just defeated House Fisablen and obtained two provinces. Winston and Southern are in need of development. It's rather barren and there will be lots of development projects that require lots of manpower. While we have more than 100 thousand captive soldiers, a good number of them are injured, far from enough are left to develop the two provinces.

"The whole region is now under Norton control. It's imperative we restructure the transportation facilities to increase the region's productivity. We need lots of free labor. Even if we conquer the gold mine, we will need laborers. Since there's an army of 100 thousand coming our way, I hope we can capture at least 60 thousand youths to contribute to the development of our dominion."

Tigersoar's carroballista division leader and Gold-ranked Knight Dulles stood up.

"Your Grace, do the barbarians we capture this time get freed after three years of labor as well?"

Lorist shook his head.

"They're not soldiers belonging to the former empire. They are different from us. These barbarians will serve eight to ten years until they assimilate our way of life. When they agree to be our subjects, they will regain their freedom. Otherwise, let them work as laborers for the rest of their lives."

Dulles breathed a sigh of relief.

"I can finally stop worrying. If you said they would be free after three years of work, where would we find free labor after that?!"

The rest broke into laughter. Tigerloze stood up again.

"Your Grace, is Tigersoar put in charge of securing the gold mine?"

"No, you will only play a supportive role.

" Lorist said as he pointed to Reidy.

"Originally, I had planned to have Els and Reidy take over Jaeger, but, due to the matter of this gold mine, I've decided to let them take over the two guard brigades as the main force for the operation. At the same time, I have also transferred the 7th and 18th local defense brigades over to take charge of the defenses at the gold mine after we conquer it.

"Tigersoar lost almost a division after the huge battle in Southern. They'll have to wipe out the mountain barbarians that come out from that part of the Black Forest. As for the hills around the gold mine, I will leave it to Els and Reidy's guard brigades."

"Understood, Your Grace," said Loze as he sat back down.

"Even though I want you guys to catch as many captives as you can, but don't take any risks. A hundred thousand mountain barbarians aren't scary. We can definitely defeat them. But what we have to watch out for is that each of those mountain barbarian warriors is tough and courageous. They will fight to the end even when the odds are stacked against them, given how they glorify death on the battlefield. In the same vein, I hope that you guys don't put our household soldiers in danger in trying to catch those captives.

"The easiest way to deal with these barbarian warriors is to take out their braves. Fight them one on one and make them lose their morale and their will to fight to the death. Mountain barbarian warriors have always worshipped strength and they believe that one-on-one duels are sacred. They will definitely not do anything underhanded to interfere with a duel. That is a trait we can make use of. After encircling the enemy, challenge their representative to a duel. If we win, they surrender, and if we lose, we release them. Only through doing so will those mountain barbarian warriors obediently surrender themselves to become our captives.

"That's the gist of our strategy in dealing with the barbarian invasion. If there's anything that we need to change later, I will make sure to notify all of you. It is now the second month and I estimate that the barbarian army will descend from the mountains around the 5th month. There's still roughly three months' time. The rainy season will follow after winter and we have to harvest the winter wheat and plant the spring crop following the rainy season. So, we must use what little time we have to train an reorganize. If you guys need anything, report to Baron Charade. He will be in charge of the logistics in this operation to resist the barbarian army."

After Lorist concluded his announcement, the meeting adjourned. Everyone returned to their own posts to begin preparation. Lorist, on the other hand, brought a regiment of guards and headed to the eastern Northlands. He wanted to visit Josk and Yuriy, the two commanders of the defeated Jaeger Legion who were recovering from their injuries.

Jaeger's Consolidation

Here's the second release of the week!

The snow began to melt during the second month. Both large routes and small paths from Firmrock Castle to the eastern Northlands were muddy and hard to travel on. That was also why Lorist wished to redo The Northlands' whole transportation infrastructure. At the very least, the roads had to be usable, unlike the current mud-rivers they were. This was how most roads on the entire continent were. A merchant's most important tool, a tool he had to have with him at all times, was a spade. A spade so he could fill up the holes in the road on the fly to keep his convoy moving.

House Kenmays hadn't scrambled to build a massive city when they took control of the eastern part of the Northlands, there were currently still just two relatively prosperous towns there. One was Singe, on the border with Magical Dragon Mountain Range, where the barbarians traded. It was filled with taverns, whose customers were exactly these barbarians. You could even see drunk barbarians snoring away on the sides of roads at times during the night.

The other was Whiterock. It used to be a small village, named after a huge white rock near the town. It had caught its new lords' attention because it was the area's settlement nearest the suspension bridge to over the border river between it and Wild Husbandry. It was made the salt merchant committee's headquarters and expanded with several dozen warehouses, carriages garages, and lodgings for the committee's employees. The village soon grew into a proper town.

When their dominion was moved, House Kenmays moved to Sidgler and took more than 200 thousand citizens with them. A small number of Sigler citizens were relocated to this part of the Northlands. There were less than 50 thousand. This was mostly because most of those moved to the Northlands were moved into the three new settlements in the southern Northlands. The place was reasonably developed already, it just lacked population.

While House Kenmays took many citizens with them when they left, they left the traders that dealt with the barbarians and also those that maintained the warehouses in Whiterock Town. It was actually a request made in the name of the salt merchant committee. Given that the Nortons had a stake in the committee as well, they would receive quite a bit of profit from their operations, so they agreed quickly.

Jaeger's main camp was currently there. When they received word of Lorist's visit, Waxima, the legion's temporary commander, rushed out of the camp to receive him. He'd taken half a year to recover from his failed attempt at breaking through to the gold rank two years already and was currently once again at the peak of three-star silver-rank. He was likely to make his next attempt soon.

Lorist had contemplated a long time before letting Waxima take charge of cleaning up the mess that was Jaeger. He'd always been a loyal, courageous, and responsible knight. While he wasn't much of a talker, he was sincere, accountable, and frequently demonstrated his worth with his actions. Given that Jaeger had suffered a huge defeat and their morale was low, they needed a knight like Waxima to slowly build themselves back up.

And he'd not let Lorist down. Even though he hadn't been in the position for a whole month yet, Lorist noticed the camp was incredibly orderly and clean, everything was in order. The men carried out their various duties efficiently. No one looked down or depressed; on the contrary, everyone seemed polite and energetic. They had a very hopeful atmosphere about them.

Lorist did notice something out of place, though. Everyone wore a single non-uniform-code-abiding item, a single white feather.

"The feathers are to remind everyone of the brothers they lost, to remind everyone of the humiliation they were put through. The feathers must be stained red with the blood of our enemies to wipe this shame away. It is also to honor the sacrifices of their fallen comrades that has given them a chance to take revenge sometime in the future. These martyrs are worthy of being remembered for their sacrifice, and their valor," Waxima explained when Lorist inquired.

Lorist nodded.

"You're right. But I don't think Jaeger suffered a huge loss. Three of our divisions faced off against 100 thousand grassland barbarian cavalrymen. It wasn't just any confrontation either, they were part of a far bigger, organized offensive. Yes, the casualties were great, but Jaeger should be proud of their performance in spite of these odds."

"A loss is a loss no matter how you sugarcoat it, Your Grace. Jaeger was defeated because it was too careless. They thought they could roam Wild Husbandry unhindered and neglected to survey the area properly. Even after they discovered some barbarian scouts, they thought they were only a small cavalry unit and proceeded to attack. That was why they fell for the ambush. Commander Yuriy who set out to reinforce them didn't first try to find out why they'd been put in such dire straits first, he just charged in blindly.

"I questioned the surviving soldiers and have written a detailed report. I'm not trying to pin the fault on anyone. I just want this valuable lesson to be learned and remembered so our men don't make this mistake again. Jaeger became arrogant with their power and lowered their guard, they underestimated their enemy, which gave them the chance to catch the legion off guard. Had they stayed vigilant, had they stuck to procedure, they wouldn't have been caught as they were."

Lorist was rendered speechless. He understood Waxima wasn't trying to make him look bad, though; he was just stating the facts as they were. He appreciated his frankness even more.

He responded after a moment of silence.

"Apologies, I was wrong. Your words ring true. A failure is a failure. We shouldn't try to underplay it just because we had to sacrifice many of our men. However, I'd like to know why the scouts weren't sent out when the third division was out on a mission."

"Well, according to third division's men we managed to rescue, division leader Pete was worried the scouts wouldn't be enough to take the unit on. He thought it would lead to unnecessary casualties. He only sent the scouts out as far as they could be covered by the carroballista.

"Sir Pete died on the battlefield. I am unfit to judge whether his decisions were correct, but I believe he didn't realize there were 100 thousand enemies waiting for them. He just wanted to keep the men safe. Third Division was newly formed at the time, and heading out to Wild Husbandry was supposed to be training for them. He had to think carefully about pitting greenhorns against barbarian cavalry.

"Taking into account that Third Division brought two carroballista brigades, it's obvious he believed the small group of enemies weren't anything to be afraid of. They couldn't stand against his men. So, he only sent the scouts around three hundred meters ahead so they would still be protected by the carroballistae. That's how they were eventually encircled."

Waxima's theory sounded rather reasonable but Pete had died so there was no way to hold anyone accountable. He just had to accept the explanation without comment and continue surveying the campsite.

Dinner was held in the mess hall. Lorist dressed like all the other soldiers and dined together with them. Those that dined with him were so elated and excited they almost forgot to eat. He chatted with them and asked about their families. He didn't forget to motivate them and tell them how much the house was prioritizing the legion's reconstruction either. He hoped they would stand strong again soon and wash their humiliation away.

During the night, he visited Josk and Yuriy, who were still recovering from their injuries. The herbalist in charge informed him that, while Josk's injuries were rather severe, he was recovering quite well… mainly because he had a great constitution. There was also the fact that he was rescued right after he was injured, unlike Yuriy, who continued to fight maniacally despite his injuries. By the time he was rescued, he was already at his last breath, unconscious and injured all over, with his flesh flayed and bones chipped. A couple of his battleforce circulating major nodes had also been destroyed; he was no different from a disabled person. He required help from consumption to excretion. The herbalist estimated it would take at least three or four months for his normal bodily functions to recover, and another one or two years of training before he would return to the gold rank.

Josk was already well enough to sit up.

"That damned duke set me up," he grunted, bitterly, "Even though a marksman like me can shoot enemies from a distance, I didn't think the duke would disguise himself as a normal soldier and launch a surprise attack from in their midst. I was busy looking for the leader to snipe and left the normal barbarians to the guards.

"In the end, that bastard jumped out of nowhere. Anyone who blocked his way was killed. He quickly approached me. I knew something was off when I recognized him. I fired a dozen arrows, but he blocked them all, before I turned and rode away. The duke knew he couldn't give chase, so he threw his longsword at me. Fortunately, a guard blocked it. It still pierced through him and bit into me. I fell with him. The ground shoved the damned thing right through me. I nearly fainted.

"The bastard caught up pretty quickly. A few dozen men took up positions between us to try and protect me. It was too chaotic and I lost the sword somewhere along the way. I only heard what happened to the guys that stood between us after we'd already gotten pretty far away from the battlefield."

"What happened?"

"Dead, they're all dead…"

Josk's physical condition was good. He'd only injured his sternum and lungs and was recovering rather well. He would be right as rain in a few months. At one point during their conversation, he even proclaimed -- basically shouted -- that he would lead Jaeger back into Wild Husbandry one day and slaughter everyone who'd taken part in the attack. Seeing that he was still that spirited, Lorist stopped worrying about him.

Yuriy, however, laid in his bed like a dead man. Despite his necrotic disposition, he was alive and conscious. Tears poured out of his eyes when he saw Lorist. The latter held his hand by the bed and accompanied him for a long time. He told Yuriy there was no rush and he should prioritize recovering from his injuries first. Now that the house had forced House Fisablen back to their own dominion, and cut them off from the outside world, the duke could struggle all he wanted, but he wouldn't be standing up again anytime soon.

When Yuriy recovers, Jaeger would've been rebuilt and retrained. According to Lorist, he would accompany Yuriy to the great northeastern plains and sweep it clear of the barbarians before going to make trouble for House Fisablen. They would test themselves against Frontier to see which was the better light cavalry unit.

Lorist stayed in the camp for half a month before he returned to Firmrock Castle. Before he left, he instructed Waxima to make preparations to defend against the mountain barbarians' invasion. Though the eastern part of the Northlands probably wouldn't be attacked, it couldn't hurt them to be prepared, just in case.

Two days after he returned to the castle, the rainy season began.

After a few days of consideration, he called for Charade and Spiel.

"I'm going to reorganize the local defense legion. It will be made three legions with slightly smaller numbers. There's no need for each to have 75 thousand men, Currently, apart from The Northlands, our house also controls Delamock and Winston. Windbury and Pedro, both strategic cities in Winston, are a little short on defenses. They can't just have three sound strong brigades guarding them. The moment they are attacked, we might lose them and our house will suffer immensely for it."

Lorist took out the plan he had spent a lot of time coming up with.

Charade praised the reorganization from a strategic perspective.

"Your Grace, as the dominion's main defense force, the might of the local defense legion is indeed a little lacking. Even though it numbers 75 thousand, the dominion and influence of the house have expanded and many other places will have to be defended. The local defense legion can't handle the load.

"Even though the Northlands is the province with the largest area in the old empire, almost thrice Delamock, we only have 30 thousand men, ten brigades, stationed here. Even though each village or town has its own garrison, we still have to mobilize Tigersoar and Ragebear Knights to make sure we're safe. There's no way we can rely on the local defense legion alone to hold off the barbarians.

"If our household forces' field legions are all on excursions, what can we do in the event of another major barbarian invasion? Your Grace should increase the size of the local defense legion. From a strategic view, it needs to have at least enough power to hold off and defend against large-scale barbarian invasions like this independently."

However, Spiel, the one in charge of the household finances, expressed his objections.

"Your Grace, two-thirds of the household's budget is spent on the military! It's already going too far!"

Persuasion

We're back with our third release of the week! Hope you guys enjoy!

Spiel objected to Lorist's plan. He brought out a large list that detailed the scale the house's military and its huge yearly expenses.

So far, House Norton had five legions in total. Firmrock, with 60 thousand men, Tigersoar, with 60 thousand, the reformed Jaeger, with 60 thousand, the 75 thousand of the local defense legion, and the 55 thousand of Oceanic Legion. In total, the forces numbered 310 thousand.

At the same time, there were the 15 thousand from Ragebear Knights, the three thousand from Lorist's personal guard, and another three thousand from the guard sent out to carry out top secret missions. Lorist's personal guard was basically two brigades. The total number of men would be 331 thousand people. They were all the soldiers that enjoyed tier one benefits, with their total salary alone amounting to 1.3 million.

The house had another ten police brigades in charge of guarding warehouses, prisons, factories and other household properties and serve as supply convoy escorts. There were also the garrison units of the various towns and villages that totaled around 40 thousand men. Even though they were tier two forces, their salary and other benefits were still worth 200 thousand annually.

"Your Grace, the total number of men we have exceed 400 thousand. The entire population of The Northlands is just 1.6 million. Even if we include Delamock and Winston and the citizens of our vassals, it's still only 2.3 to 2.4 million. Having a citizen-to-soldier ratio of five to one is incredibly dangerous. As if the burden of having such a military is not enough, our house has been involved in war consistently for the last two years and the military budget has grown immensely. If not for the 30 million gold Fordes plundered from Hanayabarta, The house would've gone bankrupt long ago."

Spiel looked rather emotional.

"Your Grace, that was only an estimate. If we include the expenses of Furybear in setting up a patrol unit in every town, and the pension paid out to the dead or injured soldiers, the total annual amount would exceed two million. It doesn't include the expenses incurred in replacing broken equipment and dead warhorses as well as lodging, clothing, food, medicine, and other necessities.

"We spent four million just last year. Forming Jaeger alone cost us a million, and conquering Iblia another three million. Even though by occupying Windbury, we obtained near two million gold Fordes, our expenses are still double our income! While the house has about ten million gold Fordes stored, if we continue like this, we won't even last three years! The house will collapse!

"I'm not exaggerating this at all, Your Grace. At first, I was thinking of telling you to cut the budget by half after we deal with the invasion. The number of soldiers our house employs rival that of the imperial family of the Krissen Empire! They could have so many forces because they controlled the entire empire. We only control three provinces. One legion is already enough to defend each. If war breaks out, we can emulate the imperial family and have our vassals conscript soldiers to mitigate our costs."

Lorist laughed bitterly when he considered the appalling difference in mentality. If Lorist acted like the former Duke of The Northlands, Loggins, he could've lived out the rest of his life in comfort and luxury, given the house's current standing. However, it was currently a raft traveling upstream. If it didn't progress, it would regress. The hidden threat the second highness posed, the longevity of the alliance, and the pressure of the countless knights jumping for a chance to contribute forced him to walk down the road of expansion.

Spiel wasn't wrong in that only one legion was needed per province. However, if the house wanted to expand, it had to possess a spear and a shield; Firmrock, Tigersoar, Jaeger, and Oceanic were the spear, while they only had the local defense forces as the shield. There was no way Lorist would give up his spear for a bigger shield. He would be wasting his previous efforts. House Norton would be constantly barraged with attacks until it lost all the power it currently had.

Spiel didn't have any ill intentions. He was one of the house's most loyal elders. Otherwise, Lorist wouldn't have allowed him to hold so much power as the chief finance-officer that managed all of the house's finances. However, as Spiel paid too much attention to its spending, he wasn't aware of the situation the house currently faced. While it seemed to be a rising star, with Madras's and Iblia's conquests under its name, and its widespread fame following the successful suppression of Duke Fisablen, dangers still lurked beneath every syllable of the song of victory being sung.

Needless to say, Lorist had made Duke Fisablen fall into endless despair. It was like he gave the wake-up 'kick' to his dreams of monopolizing the eastern part of The Northlands. With but a slap, Lorist had sent the duke falling down from his pedestal, with his troops ruined and him losing his chance of coming back strong. All he could do was lick his wounds in his own dominion. However, Lorist didn't dare to let his guard down. It was obvious that House Fisablen would become the house's worst enemy in the east, one deathly resilient as well. Lorist had to be on constant guard.

While Lorist was an Andinaq, being the Duke of The Northlands and having the impressive achievement of conquering Iblia, Lorist knew better than anyone that the second highness to the west was not one to sit quietly and watch that unfold. The greater Lorist's contributions, the greater the second highness's doubt of his house. The second highness might have been quiet during the last year, and hadn't incited any conflict with the four duchies or the Union, but Lorist didn't think he was up to nothing. Given that he had conspired with Kenmays to make the second highness incur a huge loss through the contract, he was definitely scheming to get back at Lorist.

Right now, House Norton's impressive military was what prevented him from acting rashly. If they crippled their own forces, the second highness would be the happiest person. He could launch one attack after another against the house by rallying more troops, slowly overwhelming Lorist.

The legions can't go. At the very least, their current numbers have to be maintained.

Regardless, convincing Spiel that was the case was not going to be easy.

Looking at the list of legions, and their units and scale, and thinking back at the cost, He couldn't help but feel the supervisor's criticisms were valid. Having a citizen-to-soldier ratio of five to one was egregious. Most other nations that reached that point were biting off more than they could chew and weren't far from collapse.

Lorist stroked his chin and thought frustratedly, Why do I feel like I don't have enough soldiers even though we already have over 400 thousand?

He recalled a very famous saying on the web in his previous life.

Hmm, it must be a qualitative problem. What, then, is wrong with the house's forces?

Charade's laughter entered Lorist's ears.

"Hehe, Supervisor Spiel, your citizen-to-soldier ratio is mistaken. Instead of five to one, it is actually 20 plus to 1. We're definitely capable of having more soldiers than we do now."

Spiel flipped out in rage and flailed about as he stood up.

"Ridiculous! The figure isn't wrong, neither is the population count of The Northlands! Also, our military spending doesn't lie either! Strictly speaking, the ratio is four to one! Not five!"

"Please sit back down and calm yourself, Supervisor Spiel," Charade said calmly, "I wasn't suspecting the figures. I was just pointing out that the citizen-to-soldier ratio is mistaken. We shouldn't take the total number of soldiers and divide it by the population of the dominion. If the ratio was really as you said, then our dominion would have collapsed long ago. It wouldn't look prosperous and developed like it is now. Actually, you forgot two important things.

"The first is that our household has only launched a recruitment drive for the forces three times. The first was when we were recruiting marines for Oceanic -- I believe we got 20 thousand men -- rest of the 55 thousand were made up of mostly rescued slaves and pirates. The second time was when we were forming the wheelbarrow-ballista division, which saw 15 thousand people sign up. The third was carried out last year during Jaeger's formation. We recruited around 27 thousand soldiers and mixed them with 20 thousand veterans from other legions. Even though Jaeger's troops should number 60 thousand, the ranks were never filled. Only three of the divisions were successfully formed.

"In essence, we have only recruited a little under 80 thousand men from the dominion. Compared to the population of 1.6 million, the actual ratio is less than 20 to 1. Not only that, the space available in our legions is limited, resulting in many able-bodied youths being unable to join the ranks, having no other choice to join the garrisons. The youths serving in the patrol units across The Northlands frequently complain about how they're unable to join our forces despite their desire to.

"The second point you've forgotten is the origins of the soldiers that make up most of our forces. They weren't our subjects when they joined. Instead, they were mostly captives or rescued slaves. To be precise, they are serving as work-for-hire, hence the high military expenditure. The formation of Firmrock and Tigersoar was a result of the captives we got with the defeat of Duke Loggins and the second prince. These captives served our house for three years and obtained freedom. To avoid them having no other place to go and wandering around aimlessly, we recruited them.

"The formation of the local defense legion was a direct result of the 200 thousand slaves we liberated. As our dominion wasn't able to integrate such a huge workforce in a short time, we formed the legions to limit the chaos the slaves could cause. Not only did the formation of these legions not involve our youths, they're comprised mostly of captives and former slaves, who helped the dominion's population grow. The family members of these soldiers also moved to our dominion because of them serving in our military.

"Supervisor Spiel, I don't deny our military spending is high. But it's because of this kind of treatment and arrangement that our forces hold superior combat ability and are unstoppable on the battlefield. They are also incredibly loyal. Take, for example, the serious defeat of Jaeger at Wild Husbandry. Even though they were in an incredibly hopeless situation, the men still continued to fight. While we lost 30 thousand, the enemy suffered more than us. Following their defeat at the hands of the 23rd local defense brigade at Pedro, their morale dropped quickly and they soon lost the will to fight.

"Without our household forces, House Norton wouldn't have achieved these heights. It was precisely thanks to our forces that we were able to exterminate Hanayabarta and obtain so much wealth. Now that Delamock and Winston have been added to our dominion, our sphere of influence has greatly expanded even though we didn't obtain many resources. We are now the sole hegemons of The Northlands, and this will bring bright prospects in the near future.

"This time around, His Grace's plan to reorganize and expand the local defense legion isn't without good reason. It is intended to keep Delamock and Winston in our hands. Also, His Grace isn't planning to recruit soldiers from the dominion. Instead, he has his sights on the 100 plus thousand ex-Madras soldiers. Even though our military spending will increase by a bit more, we can integrate Madras's former forces into the house and better control unstable variables. It is extremely beneficial to us.

"I've always thought of having the captives of our house join our forces officially after serving their term. Not only would it increase their solidarity after serving in the forces with our own men, it would also make their families become our subjects willingly. While the military costs would stay high for a little longer, the house's income will increase as well. After all, we obtained two additional provinces. The local defense forces' expansion won't be a huge burden in the long run."

As the house's chief administrator, Charade understood it's situation exceedingly well. His arguments were so well-formulated that Spiel couldn't pick at any shortcomings. Everything Charade'd said was fact.

After some thought, Spiel found that Charade made a lot of sense. The house has always expanded its military through the captives first without affecting the development of the dominion. In that sense, Spiel's citizen-to-soldier ratio of five to one was inaccurate as the soldiers that were recruited into the force weren't subjects of the house in the first place. In fact, if the captives were allowed to do as they pleased after they obtained freedom, huge problems would easily arise. At the very least, the internal security expenditure of the house would increase. The free captives who were used to fighting and skilled at wielding weapons could easily be driven to the path of desperation for food and shelter. Recruiting them in the force would, therefore, be the better alternative.

"Very well, I agree to His Grace's plan to expand the local defense legion," said Spiel without objection, knowing when to step back when he was mistaken.

Lorist was elated that he no longer had to waste so much energy trying to convince Spiel. Charade really outdid himself this time.

Admitting Loss

Enjoy the 4th release of the week!

"The real act of marriage takes place in the heart, not in the ballroom, church, or synagogue. It is a choice you make." ~ Norton Lorist

Within the great hall of Crouchtiger Castle in Eastwild, the young Seirya knelt on one knee on the floor with soundless cries. In front of him was the coffin of Third Frontier's Commander, Galini Beloput. After much trouble and effort, he'd finally completed the bumpy trip across the plains to Crouchtiger Castle just as the snow began melting. The grief from being forced to surrender to the enemy made him unable to face Duke Fisablen and the rest of his family.

The duke didn't look too surprised, nor did he flip out with rage. He just circled the coffin, step by step, before finally sighing. He stretched out his hand to touch Beloput's icy face and mumbled.

"I doomed you, old friend. If I had made the decision to retreat to the dominion, you wouldn't have died like this. It's because I was too greedy. Even though we were in this kind of predicament, I hoped we could use Boblige to bargain with our enemy. To think it resulted in your death and the whole legion's capture..."

A look of defeat finally surfaced on the duke's face. Everything had gone against his wishes. Ever since he left Boblige and returned to the dominion, he'd led the various barbarian tribes on military campaigns, first to reorganize the half-beaten Fourth Frontier in Wild Husbandry, then to ambush Jaeger, before finally leading the 100 thousand barbarian cavalrymen to attack Pedro.

Back then, the duke thought there was much he could do to turn the situation around. He didn't think, not even for a moment, that he could turn the loss into a victory, he just wanted to make sure the kingdom the enemy took was nothing more than a ruin. He had acted like a spoiled child with the mentality of 'if I can't have it, you can't either'. The reason he allowed the grassland barbarians to raid and pillage was so he could cause as much trouble as possible. Nobody was supposed to profit. It had been the only way he could make their enemy wary of the house and not push to exterminate them completely.

He didn't think the barbarians would actually be so spineless as to lose all their morale losing just 30 thousand men against a fort defended by just three thousand. The moment they saw the enemy reinforcements arrive, the dozen chieftains began thinking of retreating for winter.

That was the moment he knew he was beating a dead horse. He decided to go all the way with his other plan: gather all the tribes that had submitted to him and launch an attack on the strongest tribe, Korinubi, the night before the retreat. Caught off-guard, the great tribe suffered a disaster. He then led his barbarians to the plains to plunder the spoils from what remained of the tribe.

The situation was set in stone. Since House Fisablen would be trapped in their dominion, the great northeastern plains, he would give the strong tribes a makeover so they wouldn't cause trouble for the house in its weakened state. At the same time, he could make up for the house's losses by sucking the life out of the tribes. Since the troops he used were the other grassland barbarians, the house wouldn't lose anything. He just had to throw a bone to a dog to bite another dog to death.

At the end of the previous year, he'd been far too busy thinking of how to deal with the alliance after stabilizing the internal situation of the dominion. The great plains stretched far and wide and he was confident the four houses couldn't set foot in his dominion easily. All conflict would be limited to Wild Husbandry. As for the border between Southern and Eastwild, the four houses' forces were busy constructing defensive infrastructure, such as moats, to cut off traffic. He predicted the four houses would defend the south and attack from the east. They were gradually limiting the space he could roam free and survive.

That was why Boblige was so advantageous, he could both attack and defend from there. They could mobilize their troops from time to time to stir up unrest in Southern. Many times the number of troops were needed to defend against these raids. As long as they could drag the war on for long enough, the alliance would lose their grip on the resources drained and would be forced to the negotiating table. He could then bargain for better conditions to manage the damage the war would do to him.

He hadn't thought, however, that House Norton would deploy their troops in the middle of winter and take the huge risk in circling Eastwild to the rear of Boblige and conquering it. They'd forced Third Frontier to surrender without a fight, a fatal blow to the house. The duke didn't blame Commander Beloput for committing suicide to atone for his mistakes. He knew there was no way they could resist and not surrendering would result in a needless massacre.

"You shouldn't have killed yourself, old friend," murmured he with another long sigh.

He left the coffin after giving the cold face a final touch.

"Rise, Seirya. You've fulfilled your duties, you didn't let down the honor of Fisablen knight. Tell me about the time the duke of The Northlands met you. I want to know every word he said in detail and guess his intentions behind allowing you to do this. Did he really do so because he admired Commander Beloput's courage?" asked he as he raised his hand to have Seirya stand up.

Seirya wiped the tears from his weather-beaten face, stood up, and reported his meeting with Lorist completely. He tried hard to recall Lorist's exact words.

After a pause, Duke Fisablen waved weakly.

"Seirya, you must've been worn out. Go groom yourself and rest for a few days. I will take your contributions to heart. You're still young. You're the house's hope. Train hard and remember this trial. The house will require you young ones' service in the future."

"Understood. I will train hard to serve the house," promised Seirya emotionally before he left.

Tap, tap, tap. The duke knocked on his desk with the middle finger on his left hand in deep thought. He cracked a bitter smile. According to Seirya's recollection, Lorist was obviously sending him a message. 'House Fisablen's time is over. All that's left is for you to decide whether you'll admit your defeat.' If he submitted obediently, they would be spared. Otherwise, Lorist would stop at nothing to kill of every last one of them.

"Hmph, you ruthless and scheming brat... Forget making me submit! You shan't be allowed to mess with House Fisablen!" humphed the duke loudly with ragged breath.

He described Lorist the same way he would the duke. Even though each had never heard of the other's insult for them, they were mysteriously of the same mind at that moment. The only difference was that the duke called Lorist a brat instead of a sly old fox. Each considered the other his biggest rival.

However, Duke Fisablen knew staying angry would do nothing for him. His house was tough only on the surface at the moment. Third Frontier's surrender was not as huge as First Frontier's complete defeat. Theirs was the truly harmful scheme. The legion's soldiers fought to their deaths rather than submit. The legion was eradicated as a result. Given that the four houses didn't declare war beforehand, the house was caught completely off-guard.

Third Frontier, on the other hand, was forced to surrender. The house would have to take out a massive sum to ransom the knights and house members back. The duke believed Seirya that his relative and distant nephew, Woryo, was the cause of the legion's downfall. But there was no point to being angry at him. Having his own clansmen take up positions in the logistics of each legion was the elders' will. They believed only that would grant them a firm hand on the legions to ensure they would remain loyal.

Not all members of the house were loyal and wanted to serve it. For instance, the duke's second daughter, Iblia's queen, was intent on going against his will. The moment he thought about his daughter who had just made her way back to the dominion, he began to have a headache. He didn't think a queen would be inspired to start a brothel and ruin his reputation completely. Even now she was making her way to the greater and lesser golden creeks, thinking there was gold to mine there and that she would definitely get incredibly rich.

He slumped down in his chair in his study for a long time and thought about how he could deal with his current predicament. The house would probably have to suffer a huge humiliation in the coming days and endure their anger as they spent the next couple of years in their dominion. The four houses had cut the roads and paths that led out of their dominion and the house only had two legions' worth of men, around 100 thousand. Second Frontier was stationed at the golden creeks and Fourth Frontier in Wild Husbandry. There was also another 20-thousand-metal-armored garrison legion and his thousand personal guards stationed in Crouchtiger Castle.

While the house still had 120 thousand men, it would take most of them to defend its three provinces. Fortunately, when the duke was dealing with the threat of the grassland barbarians at the end of the previous year, he'd picked 20 thousand to form a new reserve legion as a tool to use against the barbarians in the future. That way, even if the remaining tribes united to attack the house, they would have a way to resist them. However, while it had enough troops to deal with the barbarians, it didn't have enough to take on the four houses.

Having ample for defense but not attack. That was the situation the house was in. Second Frontier couldn't be mobilized either as the golden creeks were one of the foundations of the house's revival. Many of the house's elders suggested its headquarters be moved to Goldcreek, but the duke considered the fact that it was a little too far from the central area of the former empire and decided against it.

"Have Sylvia come over," instructed he an attendant outside his study.

The one most hurt by the war no doubt Princess Sylvia. She had thrown a huge tantrum and tried a fast strike because of her desire to marry Lorist. But the poor princess didn't think that her paramour would actually attack her house without even declaring war and bring his allies to attack Iblia, making her grandfather escape haggardly back to the dominion after incurring huge losses.

When the war broke out in the 5th month of the previous year, First Frontier was completely lost, Windbury was conquered, and the moment the duke returned to Crouchtiger Castle, Sylvia's days became incredibly hard. Some people secretly cursed her for being a harbinger of misfortune after hearing about First Frontier's defeat and worrying about their relatives' well-being. They believed bad luck would be present wherever she showed up. The last time she traveled to The Northlands for a trip, the second prince was defeated by House Norton and a 100-thousand-strong army was wiped out. Now, when she wanted to marry into House Norton, it ended with them exterminating the whole kingdom.

When word of the four central duchies aiding Duke Fisablen spread, the ones who made the curses were delighted when they believed the four houses were going to be defeated. Some even told the princess up front that the Norton kid would soon be captured and made a serf. She wouldn't have to be married so far away and could see her lover in the dominion all the time.

But word of the coalition army's loss soon spread. It had been a complete smack on the face. The mocking and subtle cursing turned into full-fledged rebukes. Sylvia had lost quite an amount of weight from weathering the stress.

"Sylvia, you lost more weight. Are they still causing you trouble?" asked the duke warmly when he saw her.

"No, Grandfather. I'm used to it, I'm fine."

"I'm sorry, Sylvia. This isn't your fault, the war didn't break out because of you in the first place. House Fisablen wanted to rise to new heights and become the northeastern area's hegemons. That desire is also shared by the four houses and it resulted in this war. This was an inevitable conflict from which neither side could escape," said the duke with much thought.

Sylvia nodded wordlessly. On one side was her lover, on the other, her house. She was numb to all the happenings, caught in the middle of it all.

"I want you to go to The Northlands, to House Norton's dominion."

"What?" asked Sylvia, wide-eyed.

"I've no choice," he said with a pained smile, "We've lost. The situation is set, there's no turning back. I hope you will have a good talk with that brat so he shows us some mercy and not cut off too much meat. We're still the main force against the grassland barbarians. Without House Fisablen, they will frequently invade and harass the empire's borders. Have the kid think about this well."

Duke Fisablen breathed a long sigh.

"Sylvia, as your grandfather, I regret this deeply. I shouldn't have refused his marriage proposal. Otherwise, the war wouldn't have happened… but it's too late for regrets now. I need you to do three things on your trip. First, ransom the members of the house and our household knights. Second, have the salt merchant committee lift the sanctions on daily necessities. The plains only have alkaline soil and no edible salt. The farmers are at their wit's end. I hope they won't sharpen their blades quickly. Lastly, think of a way to convince him to let us ransom Third Frontier's common soldiers. We will need them to resist and suppress the grassland barbarians.

The duke silenced for a moment.

"Go pack up your clothes and luggage. Bring as much as you can with you. I will let you stay there for good.

"Grandfather, you..." Sylvia was sent into a stupor. "This means..."

"Let's leave it at that. I will arrange your escort and the negotiators that will join you. You will set out immediately after the rainy season," said he without giving Sylvia even a glance.

He turned with a wave of his hand and left.