Why had Paul Binns returned at a time like this? Wasn't he with Josk, keeping watch on
"My lord, I don't know whether this is good news or bad. After it happened, Lord Josk lost his composure entirely and ordered me to rush back and report to you at once, so you could make the decision." Paul Binns's face was deathly pale.
"What exactly happened?" Lorist asked.
"It was like this. Last night, around seven or so, Northfield Town was all lit up and bustling. A great many people had put on new clothes and were heading toward Grand Duke Lukins' army's camp. Lord Josk slipped close to the camp to scout, and after a while came back and said the camp was throwing a grand feast tonight — it seemed they were celebrating the four great families of Northfield Town receiving their baronets from the Northland Grand Duke. We were all furious, so we decided to go over and stir up some trouble, disrupt the ceremony as much as we could…"
Paul Binns spoke as though reliving the memory: "Lord Josk led us in a stealthy approach to the camp again. To our surprise, the enemy's outward watch was remarkably lax — even the sentries in the watchtowers had turned their backs and were staring at what was happening inside. We made it right up to the outer fence without any trouble. We had originally planned to shoot fire arrows in and set the tents ablaze, but Lord Josk stopped us. He said something felt off and told us to wait a while, to see what was really going on…"
"Through the gaps in the fence, I could see the people of Northfield Town sitting in the central clearing of the camp, gathered around bonfire after bonfire, drinking and eating meat. Before long, two knights in iron armor walked over, and all the lavishly dressed leaders of the Northfield Town group went to greet them. One of the knights, who had a goatee, laughed and said a few words, so those Northfield Town people all knelt down. Then that knight apparently said something utterly shocking, and every single person from Northfield Town froze where they were. The other knight beside him drew his sword and drove it straight into the chest of an elderly man who led the Northfield group…"
"We were completely stunned watching from outside. All we heard was a blast of horns, and from the tents near the center of the camp poured out wave after wave of fully armed soldiers who fell upon the gathered Northfield townsfolk. It was a true massacre. The people of Northfield Town were unarmed — they couldn't resist at all. Even those who knelt and begged for mercy were killed. Lord Josk said there were close to two thousand people from Northfield Town who had come to attend the feast, all men, not one spared — old or young. Blood flowed like rivers, even spilling out past the camp fence. When only five or six hundred remained, they banded together and grabbed burning logs from the fires to fight back. They managed to set a few tents ablaze before the Silver Knights on horseback charged in and cut them down to the last man…"
"After that, half of Grand Duke Lukins' army split off and marched on Northfield Town. They quickly smashed open the city gates with a battering ram and surged inside. Screams, cries, and wails of anguish erupted from within the town, and several buildings were set on fire. We were all so shocked we'd gone numb — we couldn't understand why this was happening… It was Lord Josk who brought us back to our senses and led us away from the camp. In the morning, we saw the soldiers in the camp dig a massive pit and throw all the corpses into it, douse them with fire oil, and set them alight. Then they packed up camp and marched toward Northfield Town. Soldiers also came out of the town and dug a large pit outside, using carts to haul out loads upon loads of corpses and dump them in for burning. Lord Josk has sharp eyes — he said the bodies being brought out of the town were almost entirely old people and children…"
"My lord, right now the army Grand Duke Lukins sent has seized control of Northfield Town. Lord Josk doesn't know what to do next, so he sent me back to report to you…" Paul Binns finally finished recounting the night's catastrophe. Perhaps he still hadn't recovered from personally witnessing the massacre, because throughout his entire account he had been trembling uncontrollably.
Lorist took off his cloak and draped it over Paul Binns's shoulders. Paul Binns, grateful, opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. He merely clutched tightly at the cloak on his shoulders.
He lifted his head and looked in the direction of Northfield Town. Sure enough, he could faintly make out two columns of grey-white smoke winding upwards. Though the news of the massacre of Northfield Town's residents shocked Lorist deeply, there was a hint of secret joy in his heart. Betraying the
Lorist very much wanted to burst into laughter, but he held back. What pleased him was that one of the burdens piling up on him had been removed. Although he detested the residents of Northfield Town in his heart, he came from another world after all. The education he had received in his previous life made it very difficult for him to lay a hand on the elderly and children. Even if they were relatives of the enemy, asking him to raise a butcher's knife against unarmed old, weak, women, and children was truly a difficult proposition.
These hicks from Northfield Town had grown accustomed to doing whatever they pleased within the family's territory. Did they really think territorial lords outside were all as merciful and easy to talk with as the Norton Family's predecessors? Colluding with Grand Duke Lukins to attack their own lord, they still harbored dreams of receiving a ducal title, never realizing just how difficult it was for a commoner to become a territorial lord. Ignorant of the world and their own place in it, they actually believed the Grand Duke's promises. They had not a shred of self-awareness, not knowing that their act of rebelling against their own lord was viewed as a grave taboo by all territorial lords. Now suffering a massacre was simply the retribution they brought upon themselves for their treason.
The massacre had conveniently eliminated this great malignancy from the family's territory. Otherwise, even if Lorist had captured Northfield Town, he would have been racked with headaches over how to deal with the relatives of the traitors. Killing them all would require concern for others' opinions, as after all, many people in Maple Forest Manor had distant kinship ties with them. Letting them go was also not ideal—these elderly and children would pass down their hatred for the Norton Family generation after generation, becoming hidden landmines within the family's territory, future sources of instability.
Lorist felt more than half the weight on his shoulders lift, but he truly could not understand why Grand Duke Lukins' army would make such an unwise decision and massacre the residents of Northfield Town. This was not merely cutting off one's own arm; it had plunged this army that had penetrated deep into the Norton Family's territory into a dangerous situation. Lorist had already keenly perceived where the opportunity to defeat this army sent by Grand Duke Lukins to punish his family lay.
Could it be that Grand Duke Lukins thought that once his four-thousand-strong army had entered the heart of the Norton Family's territory, everything would be settled and they would be invincible? Was that why he had so brazenly struck at Northfield Town, which had led and colluded with them? If that were the case, Lorist would be very happy to give Grand Duke Lukins a resounding slap and teach him a lesson he wouldn't forget.
From Lorist's perspective, this massacre brought countless benefits to the Norton Family. Without the massacre, Northfield Town's rebels would have formed a solid rear for the Duke's army. Not only could they have served as a logistical and supply base, but they could also have guided the Duke's army to attack the Norton Family's weak points. Many people in Maple Forest Manor had connections with Northfield Town. Under the Duke's army's assault, what Lorist worried about most was internal dissent—people from Northfield Town directing those within Maple Forest Manor to coordinate an inside attack and capture the family's main castle.
Now that the massacre had occurred, the people of Maple Forest Manor would only unite in hatred, resolutely resisting without wavering or thinking of surrender. With the example of Northfield Town right before them, everyone knew there was no other path but fierce resistance. Under such circumstances, the Duke's army's hope of capturing Maple Forest Manor quickly was a mere fantasy. And the longer their attacks faltered, the greater Lorist's chance of victory became.
Even from the perspective of troop numbers, the Duke's army's massacre of Northfield Town was a blunder. The part Lorist found most incomprehensible was this point. Why hadn't they temporarily appeased Northfield Town? Setting other things aside, Northfield Town could have provided over a thousand troops to transport supplies and defend the town itself, freeing the Duke's army of rear concerns and allowing them to commit all four thousand soldiers to the main assault. Now, with the massacre, the Duke's army would have to station at least a thousand men to guard Northfield Town, leaving only three thousand or so for the attack. If the assault on Maple Forest Manor faltered, they would still have to send men back to Northfield Town for supplies. At that time, Lorist would absolutely not let such delivered dishes slip away.
The more Lorist thought about it, the more excited he became. At this moment, he felt he had a great chance of defeating the Duke's army — a far cry from the cautious, step-by-step approach he'd had that morning when he'd set out, looking for any opening he could find. Now, he could hardly wait to reach Maple Forest Manor.
"Vasimah, order the troops to pick up the pace. We must reach Maple Forest Manor before dusk," Lorist said.
…
Lorist waited anxiously at Maple Forest Manor for three days, but still received no word from Jost about the Duke's army garrisoned in Northfield Town marching out to attack. He simply couldn't figure out what the Duke's army was dawdling for. Could they be trying to entrench themselves in Northfield Town and wait for reinforcements? If so, his family's territory would be in terrible trouble, caught up in a prolonged war that would drag on indefinitely.
Just as he was about to head to Northfield Town to investigate, a guard came in and reported, "My lord, Hausk has returned."
Hausk was covered in dust and grime, his clothes tattered and his face exhausted. After saluting, he pulled a beast-hide map from inside his coat. "My lord, I found the route the enemy used to get in…"
Unfolding the map, Lorist saw that Hausk had drawn a winding line on it with charcoal.
"It's here…" Hausk's finger pointed at the Bladefang Mountains. "We followed the trail left by the enemy's main force all the way to the Bladefang Mountains, where we found a cave. Through the cave was a valley, and after half a day's walk, we reached another cave. That cave was long and dark — it took us nearly a full day to reach the exit. The exit opened onto a cliff, with a sheer rock face beside it. Vines hung down from the cliff, and the people of Northfield Town had used them to build a rope bridge over two hundred meters long and a little over a meter wide. The bridge was actually quite sturdy — even a fully loaded four-wheeled cargo wagon could cross it."
"After crossing the rope bridge, the other side was also a cliff face, but there was a mountain path leading down to the seaside, where there was a large beach. While we were resting on the beach, we were attacked. We drove them off and captured two prisoners. After questioning them, we learned that a local lord called Melard from the other side had gotten curious about Duke Lukins's army passing through his territory and figured he could score some easy gains. He sent over three hundred men from his household guard to follow along. The ones we drove off were their scouts. These scouts saw that we were just two or three mercenaries and got greedy, never realizing we had another twenty or so people resting under the sand dunes that they hadn't spotted. They ended up taking a real beating."
"Half of them went out, but of the three Silver Knights, only one managed to flee back — and he was still on fire. Even if he didn't die, he was in rough shape. That's what happens when you're the ones chasing at the very front."
Lorist was overjoyed. "You mean the rope bridge has been burned and that route is completely unusable now?"
Hausk thought for a moment before replying. "That should be the case. The rope bridge was over two hundred meters long, and after it was burned, nothing but sheer cliffs surround the area — there's absolutely no way across. Unless you wait three or four more years for the vines on the cliff face to grow back and hang down again, allowing someone to build a new rope bridge from them, that route is finished…"
"Excellent, Hausk! You've done the Norton Family a tremendous service. Now I don't have to worry about Duke Lukins sending any more troops through that path into our territory. As for the Duke's army at Northfield Town, they're turtles in a jar — there's no way out for them now. Haha." Lorist was so delighted that he clapped Hausk on the shoulder with great enthusiasm.
"Oh, right — Hausk, what kind of reward would you like? If you want to become a knight of the Norton Family, that's perfectly possible as well. I can promote you to my personal knight right away," Lorist said.
Hausk smiled ruefully. "My lord, I'd prefer a cash reward instead. This wasn't my accomplishment alone — I have twenty-four companions who share the credit, plus four comrades who gave their lives for us. If I became your knight, it would feel like a betrayal of them. And there's another reason, my lord: I'm nearly forty-five. I'm far too old to be your knight. I've been a mercenary for over twenty years, and honestly, I'm exhausted. I don't think I can keep doing this much longer. I used to dream of founding a mercenary company and handing it over to
Lorist nodded. "Very well, Hausk. I don't think you're old at all, but I respect your wishes. For this mission, every mercenary who went will receive ten gold foders each. The families of the fallen mercenaries will receive twenty gold foders each as a death benefit. How does that sound?"
"My lord, thank you for your kindness and generosity." Hausk bowed deeply.
"Oh, and after this war is over, I'll be building several towns across the family's territory. If you're willing, you could bring your family to settle in my lands — I'll reserve a Garrison Captain position for you. As for your fellow mercenaries, if any of them are interested, they're welcome to join the Norton Family's armed forces. I'm sure they'll have a bright future ahead of them," Lorist said.
"Of course, my lord. Thank you for your generosity. I'll pass your offer along to everyone," Hausk replied.