"Pat, go invite
"At once, my lord." Pat turned and walked toward the mercenaries gathered in the distance with the surrendered Flying Feather soldiers.
Jim and his twenty mercenaries helped Pat bring two prisoners over. What struck Lorist as strange was that the closer these mercenaries got to him, the more solemn their expressions and movements became, as though showing some particular reverence.
"What's gotten into you all?" Lorist asked Jim.
Jim pointed at the two Gold-rank shield-guards' corpses lying not far away and licked his lips. "My lord, they, they..."
"They? They were just two Gold-rank shield-guards. By the way, Jim — why did the Flying Feather Mercenary Corps have these two extra men? None of you ever mentioned these Gold-rank shield-guards." Lorist was somewhat displeased. When the plan was being arranged, neither these mercenaries nor
"No, my lord." Jim grew anxious, fearing Lorist might misunderstand. "We had absolutely no idea they'd come back. We hadn't heard a thing from them for over a year. Whenever we ran into that captain, White-Hair Adams, at a tavern and asked about it, he'd just laugh it off and say they'd gone off to apprentice under some master, never mentioning where they'd gone. None of us paid it much mind — everyone was busy scraping together a living, and nobody was going to press the matter of where they'd actually gone. So none of us included them on the Flying Feather Corps' roster."
"You're saying these two Gold-rank shield-guards were famous?" Lorist's interest was piqued.
"Yes, my lord. These two shield-guards were very well-known in the royal capital, Windbury City — they were the famous Twin Shield-Guards. They were twin brothers. The elder brother wielded fire-attribute combat force, and the younger brother had water-attribute combat force. Because they were twins, they were said to possess a natural telepathic connection — an extreme level of unspoken coordination even without words — on top of their combat force attributes being highly complementary. A couple of years ago, when the brothers were still at three-star Silver rank, they joined forces against two Gold-rank opponents and ground them down to the point of collapse through sheer attrition. One of the opponents escaped, but the other was killed by the two brothers. That battle made their reputation overnight, and their fame soared."
"These two brothers were orphans. Around the age of eleven or twelve, Captain Adams discovered them and took them in as his adopted sons. He poured an enormous amount of effort into training the pair. Just now, I heard a few of my friends from the Flying Feather Mercenary Corps say that these two brothers had been living in seclusion for over a year, all to break through and advance to Gold rank. They only rejoined the Flying Feather Corps two months ago, and then they fought a duel in the royal capital against a Sword Saint named Luintz under the
Jim grew more nervous the longer he spoke, to the point of stammering. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed that the famous Twin Shield-Guards of the Kingdom of Iberia — those very same brothers — now lay dead on the ground as nothing more than lifeless corpses, and after they had only just advanced to Gold rank at that. In the beginning, Jim and the other mercenaries had surrendered because of Jostick's godlike archery, and because Jostick was at Gold rank, they had assessed themselves as no match and laid down their arms. Apart from Jostick, these surrendered mercenaries had not given Lord Lorist the slightest bit of respect. They had considered him, a mere
Now, all twenty mercenaries finally understood. The seemingly unremarkable Lord Lorist was in fact a terrifying existence on the level of a dragon. Setting aside the two Gold-rank shield-guards, just watching how he had strolled through the chaos as if taking a leisurely walk, cutting down Flying Feather mercenaries one after another with a casual strike or two — his methods were ruthlessly efficient, leaving every last mercenary trembling in fear. What had truly driven the point home was his final confrontation with Captain Adams. In a single exchange, he had decapitated the captain — the very same Adams who had been locked in a desperate struggle against Jim and Pat, both Silver-rank fighters, who had been drenched in sweat just trying to hold him off. That display made the mercenaries fully grasp the chasm between themselves and Lord Lorist in terms of strength, which was precisely why they had approached him with such extreme caution and deference.
"Mm, those two brothers were quite formidable. No wonder they were able to pin me down for so long — it took a great deal of effort to deal with them." Lord Lorist nodded, completely oblivious to the fact that his words nearly drove the surrounding mercenaries to collapse on the spot. *Quite formidable?* Those two had fought a Sword Saint for over three hundred rounds, yet they could only keep *him* occupied for less than half an hour before he killed them. Did that mean he was even more powerful than a Sword Saint? The mercenaries exchanged strange, incredulous looks at Lorist.
"Jim, I must thank all of you. When we were at a disadvantage fighting the Flying Feather Mercenary Corps, you reached out to lend a hand. On behalf of the
They had felt somewhat ashamed when they first started attacking the Flying Feather mercenaries, but now — being so generously rewarded — they felt it had been more than worth it.
"Also, there is something I'd like to ask," Lorist said. "Jim, would you be willing to join the Norton Family and become my knight?"
The surroundings fell silent at once, and every eye turned to Jim.
Jim's face flushed crimson. He turned to look back at his companions. In some mercenaries' eyes, he saw undisguised envy — in their view, becoming a Family Knight for a territorial lord was the best possible end a mercenary could hope for. In others' eyes, he saw dismissive indifference — they believed the Norton Family was beset by troubles on all sides and clearly had no future; joining such a family was worse than the freedom of mercenary life. Still others harbled jealousy and resentment — everyone had pitched in to help, so why was only Jim being invited? It was deeply unfair.
Jim lowered his head in thought for a long while. When he finally raised it again, his expression was resolute. "My lord, I am only a mercenary. For now, I wish to first complete the commission you have given me…"
Lorist felt a twinge of regret, but he still waved his hand and said, "That's all right. I understand how you feel. But since I've extended the invitation, the doors of the Norton Family will remain open to you at all times. You are always welcome."
"Thank you, my lord…" Jim bowed deeply at the waist.
"And what about the rest of you? Are you willing to join the Norton Family's armed forces?" Lorist looked toward the nineteen mercenaries.
After a moment, six mercenaries stepped forward. "My lord, we are willing to serve you."
Lorist was quite pleased. "Welcome aboard. I look forward to seeing you distinguish yourselves for the family and earn the rank of Family Knight."
Of the six mercenaries, one was at the Silver One-Star tier, four were Black Iron, and two were Bronze. Their willingness to join at this juncture was undoubtedly a significant boost to the family's military strength, which had suffered heavy losses.
Just then, Cedkanp came carrying a box. Inside were twenty small leather pouches, each containing twenty gold Fordes. Lorist was very satisfied with Cedkanp's thoroughness and ordered the rewards to be distributed in the pouches. However, the Silver One-Star mercenary spoke up, saying that since he was now a soldier of the Norton Family, it was only natural for him to serve — there was no need for a bonus.
Lorist smiled. "Take it. The Norton Family isn't short of this money. This is your reward for joining the family, and we need to keep these things straight. Your reward is yours to have. After you take it, go get some rest. If anything comes up, I'll call for you."
The mercenaries took their rewards and departed in small clusters of two and three, quite happy about it. Some even poured gold coins out of their pouches as they walked, counting them over and over, reluctant to put them away even after several rounds. Only Jim had not left — it seemed he wanted to say something to Lorist.
Lorist noticed Jim's unease and asked, "What is it? Jim, have you changed your mind?"
Jim replied respectfully, "My Lord, I'd like to plead for mercy on their behalf. They know us and are our friends. During the battle just now, they never laid a hand on your people either — they just went through the motions fighting us. And when you arrived, they surrendered early. I beg the Lord to spare them and let me take them along to complete the mission you assigned us."
Lorist stroked his chin in thought for a moment, then said agreeably, "Very well. Since they haven't caused any losses to our Norton Family, I can let them go. For your sake in pleading for them, I'll allow you to take them with you. The terms I give them will be the same as yours — how does that sound?"
"My Lord, thank you for your mercy and generosity. I thank you on their behalf." Jim was deeply grateful.
"Hold on a moment first. I still need to ask them a few questions." Lorist beckoned for the two surrendered Flying Feather mercenaries to come before him.
The questions Lorist wanted to ask were three in number, and very straightforward.
The first question was: why, when Captain Adams's men had fallen into the ambush, been surrounded, and faced the threat of the city's siege crossbows, was he still thinking of resisting? This was far too contrary to the code of conduct for a mercenary. They weren't a regular army, nor were they a lord's household troops. They should have been thinking of their own lives, like Jim and the others, rather than throwing the Flying Feather mercenary company into a suicidal fight.
The two Flying Feather mercenaries' answer was simple. Because this time, when transporting supplies to the Northland, the Camus family patriarch had made Adams a promise before their departure: if the Flying Feather mercenary company could assist Viscount Camus in forcing the Norton Family to submit, then the Camus family would be willing to grant Adams the title of Baron, and carve out a piece of land from the submitted Norton Family's territory as Baron Adams's fief. After all, the Norton Family's territory was simply too vast — splitting it into four or five baronies would be no problem. Once Captain Adams obtained the baronial title and land, he would become a vassal lord of the Camus family. And Adams had promised his men that once he became a new noble lord, he would take in his own mercenaries as Family Knights and household soldiers. That was why Adams and his men had fought so desperately.
Damn! Hearing the two Flying Feather mercenaries' answer, Lorist didn't even know what to say. The Camus family's scheme was truly well-crafted — they had dangled the Norton Family's territory before Captain Adams as a grand promise. No wonder the Flying Feather mercenary company had fought so ferociously, inflicting such devastating casualties on his personal guards and garrison soldiers. Damn it, the Camus family truly deserved their reputation as an established merchant dynasty!
The second question was about what Captain Adams had mentioned while chatting with Jim beneath the city walls — that the Camus family had been recruiting retired officers and soldiers in the royal capital of Windbury to form a two-thousand-strong family army. Was that true?
They were worried this armed force would affect Captain Adams's future standing within the Camus family. Captain Adams had told them not to worry about it. The Second Prince supported the Camus family's formation of this household army in order to cause trouble for Grand Duke Lugins of the Northland. Meanwhile, the Camus family was playing along with the Second Prince on one side, while sending envoys to Grand Duke Lugins to pledge their loyalty on the other, hoping the Grand Duke of the Northland would allow this two-thousand-man family army to enter the Northland. The negotiations were still ongoing.
Lorist's third question concerned the Red River Valley estate castle in Viscount
The Flying Feather mercenary company had spent roughly ten days resting at the Red River Valley estate castle before hauling the supply convoy over to the castle construction site, since the journey from the royal capital all the way to the Northland had already consumed a full month. The two Flying Feather mercenaries knew the Red River Valley estate castle and the immigrant town inside out, and they answered every question without hesitation, which greatly satisfied Lorist.
After waving to signal the mercenary Jim to take the two surrendered Flying Feather mercenaries back, Lorist turned to look at Josk and Pat. "Joe, Pat, do you still have the energy for this?"
"My lord, just give us the order." Both Josk and Pat declared that they were still in high spirits.
"You both heard what those two Flying Feather mercenaries just said. The Kemmes family's territory is completely hollowed out right now — the Red River Valley estate castle is sitting there completely undefended. The immigrant town only has a garrison of about a hundred men, and it doesn't even have city walls yet. It would be terribly rude of our Norton Family not to return the favor, so I've decided to send you two on a visit. You have one hour to prepare. Take a squad with you — bring those guards who operate the castle ballistae, and find some uninjured attendants as well. If they're too tired, bring a few carriages so they can rest during the ride. Once you've seized the Red River Valley estate castle and the immigrant town, send me word. Move what needs to be moved, haul what needs to be hauled. I want to turn that place into scorched earth and leave the Kemmes family with nothing but an empty basket," Lorist said through gritted teeth.
"Yes, my lord. Understood."
……