"My Lord, the transport of goods is complete. The Red River Valley Manor Castle and the immigrant town have been reduced to ashes. All your instructions have been carried out, and here is the inventory."
"What's the point of bringing back all this junk, Sedekamp?"
"My Lord, though these things are old and shabby, they can still be washed and put to use..." Sedekamp replied.
"What about those last few carts? They seem to be carrying something very heavy," Lorist asked, pointing at several large freight wagons.
These final wagons were loaded with what appeared to be very heavy items, causing them to lag significantly behind the main convoy.
"Those are floor tiles, My Lord. I saw the tiles in the manor's great hall were quite excellent, so I had them pried up. Once our new castle is built, we can use them ourselves," Sedekamp said, looking quite proud of himself.
Lorist gave him a thumbs-up. "I tell you, the next time you see that fatty Shrade, you can proudly tell him you've completed your apprenticeship!"
Watching Lorist's retreating back, a bewildered Sedekamp grabbed
Redi burst out laughing. Having followed Lorist the longest, he'd often heard Earl constantly complaining about Fatty Shrade's stinginess and miserliness back then, so he knew Shrade's personality and character well. Thinking for a moment, Redi answered with mock solemnity, "That's My Lord praising you, saying you're even more meticulous with calculations than Knight Shrade himself, a proper Steward..."
……
Lorist and Jost sat in the main tent, drinking steaming-hot Machos. Incidentally, this was also war loot seized from the Red River Valley Manor Castle, and there was plenty of it. Besides sending two large jars to Miss Trist, Lorist had claimed the rest entirely for himself.
"Over the past half month, the seven groups of people I caught coming to the Red River Valley Manor Castle were all envoys sent by neighboring lords—some friendly, some wanting to trade, and others requesting aid. The last ones caught were proposing marriage alliances with the Kenmays family. I locked them all up. Before leaving, I burned the Red River Valley Manor Castle down right in front of them, then let them go..." Jost was reporting.
"It's strange. Why hasn't the Kenmays family sent any scouts at all? This is highly unusual. Could it be they never received news of the Feather Mercenary Group's destruction, or even that the Red River Valley Manor Castle was occupied by us? That seems impossible." Lorist scratched his head, unable to figure it out.
……
As it turned out, Lorist had guessed correctly. The Kenmays family knew absolutely nothing. The three fleeing Feather Mercenaries were very unlucky; the one shot in the back couldn't last half a day and perished. The remaining two fled in separate directions. One, in a panic, ran straight into a battlefield between two lords. One lord was ambushing the other. Seeing the Feather Mercenary dash into his ambush, he mistook him for a scout from the rival lord and immediately ordered his men to fire. Thus, that Feather Mercenary became a pincushion.
The last Feather Mercenary ran for a whole day. Exhausted, his horse spent, he found a village to rest. Upon arrival, the mercenary discovered the village was populated only by the old, weak, women, and children. Upon inquiry, he learned all the able-bodied men had been conscripted by the lord for war. The mercenary, driven by malice, used his superior strength to bully the villagers into providing him good food, drink, and women. In his mind, as a
This Feather Mercenary was ignorant of Northland customs. Normally, guests were to be warmly received, as Northlanders were hospitable. However, for an evil guest, the rule was clear: leave your life behind. This was the fierce, untamed side of Northlanders. The mercenary believed he had these villagers completely at his mercy. Having eaten his fill and drunk well, he was just about to take the two women toying with them when one stood up to pour herself some tea. The mercenary, a bit thirsty from the alcohol but still maintaining vigilance, saw her take a sip and snatched the cup from her, pouring its contents into his own mouth.
After drinking the tea, the Feather Mercenary saw the two women smirking coldly at him. Realizing something was wrong, he tried to stand and subdue them, only to find his limbs paralyzed, powerless. And then... the Feather Mercenary was buried alive by the village's old, weak, women, and children. His weapons, horse, leather armor, and personal belongings allowed the villagers to come into a small fortune.
The Feather Mercenary Company, famous throughout the Iberian Kingdom's capital of Windbury City, had been silently annihilated in Northland, and no one knew. The Kernes Family assumed that with the Feather Mercenary Company, they needn't worry about the safety of their viscounty, and focused only on haggling with Duke Lujins, hoping the Duke would allow their family's armed force of over two thousand to enter Northland.
If they had dispersed into small groups, those two thousand-odd family soldiers would have reached Northland long ago. But the Kernes Family refused to do so. First, it was at the
They had even offered a woman of the family — the Viscount's own cousin — to the Grand Duke as a mistress. But this time, no matter who spoke on their behalf, the Duke refused them entry. The two sides had been going back and forth for nearly three months.
Viscount Kernes was busy — so busy he had no time to pay attention to his own viscounty. For three months he had been rushing about, giving gifts, money, and women, trying to ingratiate himself with Grand Duke Lujins's capable and favored subordinates, asking them to put in a good word. He himself spent every day attentively serving at the Grand Duke's side, even fighting for the privilege of pouring tea and carrying water. Finally, under pressure from the Second Prince and after House Kernes paid a steep price, Grand Duke Lujins was moved by the Viscount's wholehearted devotion and at last relented. After the Viscount wrote a guarantee that if the Duke ever needed it, House Kernes's force of over two thousand would follow his orders without question, the Duke signed the passage permit.
With the permit in hand, Viscount Kernes sent it at once to his father in the distant capital of Windbury City, urging him to dispatch the family's armed force of over two thousand to Northland as quickly as possible. He also sent an attendant to the viscounty with a letter, informing the chief steward at the Red River Valley estate castle to prepare for reception and a military campaign. Once the two thousand soldiers arrived, he would march against
At that very moment, the Viscount's three attendants stood staring blankly at the site where the Red River Valley estate castle had once stood. It was nothing but ashes and rubble. The estate castle was gone. The migrant town was gone. Even every last person had vanished without a trace. Who had done this? The attendants exchanged bewildered glances. One seasoned attendant steadied himself, then assigned tasks: one was to scout the castle construction site still under way and check whether it remained under the Viscount's control. Another was to return immediately and report this terrible news to the Viscount. As for himself, he would go to the neighboring lords to find out who the culprit was.
...
"My Lord, no need to rack your brains over the Kernes Family. We've already hauled all the supplies back. It's hard to learn what's happening in the outside world from here, so we might as well just wait patiently. What's coming will come, and if it doesn't, that's fine too — we certainly won't be short of things to do." Josk spoke between sips of his ale.
Lorist slapped his thigh. "You're right, Jos. I'm just not used to it. Back in
Josk set down his cup. "Let's talk about something else, my Lord. I just got back and heard a rumor — they say you're courting Lady Tresti. Any truth to that?"
Lorist was somewhat dejected. "That's right, but I failed. Miss Tresti's ideal is to become a great scholar, so she has firmly decided to remain single. She doesn't want to be bound by marriage, nor does she want to waste her time bearing and raising children..."
Over the past month, Lorist had sought out Miss Tresti many times, hoping to steal a kiss. Unfortunately, she was always on guard. Either her old Steward was standing nearby, or little Vini was with her. On one occasion when neither was present and Lorist was about to make a move, Miss Tresti called Sangben in, leaving Lorist utterly helpless. That day, he had brought two clay jars of mixed grain, determined to wait out the clueless Sangben. So he sat there brewing and drinking the grain drink instead. In the end, he drank cup after cup until he couldn't hold it anymore and had to run off to relieve himself. It was from that day onward the rumor spread that the Lord was courting Miss Tresti.
"Remain single, huh. Hehe, that's rather nice. I think I'd like to stay single for the rest of my life too..." Josk mused.
"Oh, cut it out. Stop daydreaming and find yourself a woman to carry on your family name. That's what matters. I don't want my divine archer knight's legacy to end with my son's generation. Oh, right, Jos. This time, I'm planning to announce that once the slave laborers gain their freedom, I'll select a company of guards from among them. You need to keep an eye out for me and train at least a small squad of longbowmen and crossbowmen. What the family lacks most right now is trained ranged forces. Plenty of people know how to play around with bows and arrows in peacetime, but they're useless in a real fight. If we'd had a small squad of well-trained longbowmen or crossbowmen the last time we dealt with the Flying Feather Mercenary Group, our losses wouldn't have been nearly so great." Lorist spoke with gravity.
Josk nodded. "Understood, my Lord. It's just that those slave laborers are all ordinary people who haven't awakened their combat force. The training regimen I've drawn up might not be suitable for them..."
"That's fine. I'll be staying here at Castle Rock for another twenty days or so. Even though Maplewood Stronghold is pushing hard for my return, I can delay a bit longer. These twenty days, I'll mainly be teaching these slave laborers how to awaken their combat force. Their bodies are very robust and healthy from years of hard labor. With a bit more physical conditioning, most of them should be able to awaken. You can select the people you need from among these newly awakened recruits. As for the longbows and crossbows, I've already ordered that pair of master bowyers, father and son, to get started. They assured me they'd first provide a batch of simplified versions for training within a month. The truly good longbows and crossbows will take much longer—perhaps by the middle of next year." Lorist explained.
"Mm, simplified bows and crossbows will do. Their range, power, durability, and accuracy might be a bit lacking, but they should be sufficient for now. It's a pity our northbound convoy hasn't arrived yet, my Lord. If it had, we'd have all these weapons ready—whatever we needed, whenever we wanted." Josk sighed.
"Indeed. I miss them too. Damn that fat fool Shrade—no news of where the convoy even is after all this time. It's been over three months, and he hasn't sent anyone to let us know..." Lorist muttered resentfully.
...
"Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!" Fatty Shrade sneezed three times in a row.
"Heh, trying to act tough — saying Fatty isn't afraid of the cold, wearing so little, and now you've caught a chill, haven't you?" Ail said gloatingly from the side.
"No, I'm not cold. My nose just itched all of a sudden — someone must be talking about me behind my back." Fatty Shrade casually grabbed the cloak off Ail's back and wiped his nose with it.
"Damn it, Fatty Shrade, have you no shame?!" Ail yanked the cloak free and tossed it to a guard walking past. "There — it's yours."
"One cloak per person. Once you give it away, you can't claim another." Fatty said, eyeing Ail askance.
"You wouldn't dare. You soiled mine, so you'd better give me yours in compensation. And even if your wife is wearing it, I'll tear it right off her." Ail said.
"..." Fatty backed down. He knew Ail would actually go through with it. "Fine, you win. Go get another one when we make camp."
"Sneezing like that just now isn't normal at all. Someone must be badmouthing me." Fatty brought up the topic again.
Ail sneered: "You actually hope someone's saying good things about you? You spent three months in Geldos City — do you know what nickname those nobles gave you? Skinflint Shrade. There are people cursing you behind your back every single day. Didn't you see how those nobles were practically ready to roll out the drums and gongs to celebrate when we left Geldos City? That wasn't a farewell — they were celebrating that the plague had finally gone..."
Fatty declared with righteous indignation: "I couldn't care less about those nobles. Let them curse all they want — I won't lose a single ounce of flesh. I'm a knight of the Norton Family, so of course I only look out for my own family..."
"Maybe it's Lorist talking about you behind your back. We've been wandering around the Redelis Kingdom for over three months now, wasting way too much time. Bodfing led the family forces to seize
When Lorist was brought up, Fatty fell silent for a moment, then quickly retorted: "There was nothing I could do about it. We'd just taken over Geldos City — there was all that equipment and supplies to handle, new troops to train, supply convoys to reorganize, and on top of that I had to sort out the cooperation between Viscount Tim's fief and the Peterson Trading Company. I even had to step in and mediate disputes between the local nobles..."
"Right, and then you bled them dry. Now those nobles don't have enough food to last the night, let alone anything beyond their weapons and armor. They're rubbing their hands together, just waiting for us to leave so they can start fighting each other..." Ail taunted.
"But if we hadn't done that, would we have over four thousand wagons and fifty thousand men? A caravan this large is bound to move slowly — I'm sure Lorist will understand," Fatty said.
"Fatty, I miss Lorist. I wonder how he's doing. If there's nothing pressing when we get to the Andinak Kingdom, I'm thinking of going ahead to the Northland to find Lorist. What do you think?" Ail said.
Fatty nodded. "That works. It'd be a good chance to send Lorist a message, let him know the journey's gone smoothly and everyone's doing well..."
……