Stepping back and closing the door, Lorist let out a long sigh. Over two hundred years of accumulated savings and the wealth generated by the residents of Northwild Town—all of it was concentrated in these four rooms before him. Greed knew no bounds, and the human heart was unfathomable. In order to protect their fortunes and oppose their own lord, they would rather collude with the Grand Duke of the Northland, only to cast themselves into the abyss…
"Seal this place. You're in charge of assigning guards to watch over it," Lorist told Reidy.
Reidy nodded. "Understood, Your Grace."
"Vasima, how are things on your end?" Lorist asked.
Vasima replied, "The tally is done. The ones locked in the courtyard next door are all young girls and virgins — six hundred and thirty-one in total. I questioned that
"And in the residences of those Silver Knights and the minor officers in the army, we found a considerable amount of wealth and women they had taken. How should we handle those?" Vasima asked.
Lorist rubbed his forehead. "Bring those young women back. Let them stay together with the girls next door. Northwild Town isn't that large — many of them are likely related to one another. Gathering together, they can comfort each other. Cordon off an area for them with food, clothing, and water, and let them look after themselves. Once this war is over, we'll take them away. Fort Rock has plenty of young men, and what it lacks is precisely women. After these women start new families, perhaps they'll forget the nightmare of Northwild Town and begin a new life..."
"Yes, Your Grace. However, in the back rooms there are also four women. They were attendants to that Gold Knight, and they're remarkably beautiful. Your Grace, would you like to see…?"
"Take them all away, I'm not in the mood. As for the treasure you've found, have it transported here to Lady
"Yes, Your Grace, I will see to it," Vassima replied, standing at attention.
"Your Grace,
Lorist was taken aback. "Why didn't he come in? He usually bursts right through..."
Paul Bins chuckled. "Jim says he's been learning knightly etiquette from Sir Vassima. From now on, every move he makes must be like a true knight..."
Lorist laughed as well. "Let him in then. It's quite rare for that rascal to actually bother learning knightly etiquette. I was even thinking of finding him a tutor after this battle, but it seems that's no longer necessary."
Though still carrying the dust of his journey, the Jim who now stood before Lorist made the latter's eyes widen slightly. His posture was upright and proper, nothing like the sloppy stance he used to have.
"Your Grace, we've confirmed that the hidden route is indeed impassable. Here is the detailed topographical map of the surrounding area we surveyed," Jim said, handing over a scroll of beast hide paper.
During those days holed up in the forest, Jim had grown bored and kept pestering to attack the enemy camp again. Lorist had instead assigned him a task: to survey the passage General Haussky had discovered—the one the Duke's forces used to enter the family's territory—and carefully check whether it was truly impassable after Haussky burned the suspension bridge. He was also to survey the surrounding terrain for any bypass trails and produce a map.
Jim had taken a few guards and departed for six days. Now, he had returned.
"Your Grace, you move too fast — you didn't even wait for us to come back. I only knew you'd taken Northwild Town when I saw our family's Angry Bear banner flying over the walls," Jim complained.
"Heh, opportunity knocks but once. When I spotted a chance to strike, I had to take it. You're the one who spent the past few days in the forest complaining about being bored. But confirming that this passage is now truly impassable is no small contribution. Next, we deal with the army besieging our Maplewood Manor. I intend to keep every last one of them here. Getting in is easy — getting out won't be so simple. Jim, go rest for now. Tonight, head back to Maplewood Manor. Tell Knight Josk and Knight Pacchiko that the moment they spot the enemy breaking camp, they're to take two squads of family soldiers along with Haussky and the rest, and follow on their heels. If the enemy moves to attack Northwild Town, they're to strike their camp from the rear. Understood?" Lorist asked.
Jim snapped to attention. "Understood, Your Grace."
"Paul Bins, bring me that Silver Knight who surrendered. There are things I want to ask him," Lorist said.
The surrendered Silver Knight was perfectly cooperative, answering every question without hesitation. He even recounted the full argument between Knight Chevani and Knight Henneed word for word.
"That doesn't add up. You say the Duke ordered Chevani and Henneed to bring two battalions, so where are the remaining two thousand? Where are the other two companies?" Lorist asked.
The Silver Knight replied, "Your Grace, each battalion left one company behind to garrison their main camp. Only a little over four thousand men came here."
"So that's how it is." Lorist nodded. "Why massacre the residents of Northwild Town? Wasn't it they who guided you in?"
"His Grace deemed them unreliable and ungrateful — better to be rid of them cleanly. Besides, he heard they'd been using that hidden passage to smuggle goods for a century, so he also had his eye on their wealth. Originally, Lord Chevani and Lord Henneed didn't want to act so quickly. They still hoped to recruit the townspeople to help assault your family's castle, Your Grace. But the townspeople came up with every excuse — claiming they'd suffered devastating losses from your recent attack and flatly refusing to send any troops. So Lord Chevani decided they couldn't be trusted and the sooner they were dealt with the better. He lured them to the military camp under the pretense of granting them noble titles, and wiped them out in one fell swoop…"
What a waste. The residents of Northwild Town had brought nothing but ruin upon themselves. Lorist sighed softly. "Enough. You may go. I'll make sure the guards treat you all fairly."
"W-wait. My Lord, can I pay a ransom to gain my freedom? My family still has some money, and I have some savings of my own..." the Silver Knight asked anxiously.
Lorist pondered for a moment. "Let's discuss it after this battle is over. I'll consider your proposal."
"Th-then thank you, My Lord..."
…
It was two days before Knight Chevani received news of Northwild Town's fall. A squad of leather-armored cavalry on patrol had slacked off and ridden to Northwild Town hoping to find some women and enjoy themselves for half a day before heading back. Instead, they spotted the angry bear banners flying from the town walls and realized Northwild Town had already fallen to the
Knight Chevani had been drinking water when the news arrived, and the silver cup slipped from his grasp and clattered to the ground. He instantly understood why the soldiers who had left camp over the past two days hadn't run into any attacks — the mercenaries who had been roaming outside, waiting for an opportunity to strike them, had already captured Northwild Town and all returned there.
As for Knight Henneed, who had been garrisoning Northwild Town, Chevani no longer cared what had happened to him. What consumed his thoughts was that if he didn't retake Northwild Town, the enormous wealth they had extorted by massacring the townspeople would slip through his fingers. Failing to capture the Norton Family's main castle would only earn him a scolding, but if the Duke learned that so much wealth had been snatched away, it wouldn't be just a scolding. In a fury, the Duke might strip him of his knighthood and expel him from the
"Break camp. We're counterattacking Northwild Town immediately." Knight Chevani issued the order.
The camp was struck and the entire army marched back toward Northwild Town, arriving just as evening was closing in. Burning with anxiety, Chevani ignored the soldiers' endless grumbling. Once camp was established, he immediately ordered two squadrons to fell timber and build siege ladders through the night, planning to launch the assault on Northwild Town at first light the next morning.
Early the next morning, after finishing breakfast, Knight Chevani urged his troops into formation and set off toward Northwild Town carrying over twenty siege ladders and long wooden planks. In Chevani's estimation, even if the mercenaries hired by the Norton Family had managed to capture Northwild Town, they must have suffered heavy casualties — after all, seven hundred soldiers from the Northland Legion had been defending the town, along with one Gold Knight and over a dozen Silver Knights. Whether they had taken the town by surprise attack or some other means, the number of defenders currently holding it had to be small. With his force of over two thousand soldiers pressing forward at full strength, striking at multiple points simultaneously, the defenders would be stretched thin and unable to cover every front. In that case, he could very well recapture Northwild Town in the very first wave of attack.
Lorist stood on the city wall, coldly watching the enemy closing in from afar. On a small hill in the distance, a thin wisp of green smoke rose straight into the sky — it was the prearranged signal, indicating that Josk and the others had reached the vicinity of the enemy camp and could launch their assault at any moment.
"Heh, and they think they can take Northwild Town in one stroke. With this pitiful force — barely over two thousand men — I truly wonder where this Chevani found the confidence…" Lorist turned to the four mercenary company captains beside him. "Move all your people up. We have no need to hold back anymore. The moment we've held Northwild Town, it means we've already won this war. Tell your men — hold this attack and every one of them gets a gold furt."
All four mercenary captains were quite satisfied. Taking up the Norton Family's contract this time had truly turned out to be a windfall. Setting everything else aside, just the spoils of war had their men grinning from ear to ear. The soldiers of the Duke's Northland Legion, in the eyes of every mercenary, were walking little treasure chests — each one carrying a money pouch containing four or five gold furts, more or less. For mercenaries who earned their living by the sword, that sum represented roughly a year or two of total income.
Though they knew that all this wealth had been plundered from the slaughtered residents of Northwild Town, that was simply the way of things — whoever killed got to keep the spoils. So the mercenaries did not fear how many attackers might be coming. On the contrary, in their eyes, the men advancing below were not enemies at all, but walking bags of gold coins…
As Chevani watched more and more defenders in gray leather armor appear on the city wall, his heart sank. He realized the situation had changed far beyond his expectations. Could all those in gray leather armor really be mercenaries hired by the Norton Family? That couldn't be — the Norton Family's territory was so remote, where could they possibly have found so many mercenaries? There were nearly a thousand of them. If they truly were all the Norton Family's own fighting force, then it was clear the Duke had made a grave error — he had underestimated the Norton Family's strength…
"Halt!" Knight Chevani raised his hand. "Longbowmen, step forward — suppress the enemies on the wall! Sword-and-shield troops, watch your defense…"
As the longbowmen lobbed volleys of arrows onto the wall, the defenders raised shields, propped up wooden barriers, and nearly a hundred of them took up longbows to exchange fire with the attackers below.
The soldiers carrying planks hurried toward the wall. Once they laid the long planks across the moat and positioned the siege ladders against the battlements, the longbowmen behind them ceased their lobbing fire and charged forward together with the sword-and-shield troops. From here, the longbowmen would provide direct-fire support from the base of the wall for the sword-and-shield and spear troops climbing the ladders…
Without the cover of the sword-and-shield troops, the longbowmen remaining below the wall suffered a sudden spike in casualties. But in Knight Chevani's eyes, this was entirely worth it — of the twenty-odd siege ladders, soldiers had already climbed to the top on more than a dozen of them.
To Chevani's bewilderment, in a typical siege the defenders would fight tooth and nail to prevent the attackers from reaching the wall. Yet now, as his soldiers stormed onto the battlements, all he could hear were excited cheers from the defenders — leaving Chevani utterly baffled.
Well, the defenders on the wall now had a clear division of labor. Four mercenary companies occupied four sections of wall, each section defended by five or six siege ladders. Whenever a soldier from a Northland legion climbed over the battlements, four or five mercenaries were already waiting for him. In both individual skill and coordinated teamwork, these mercenaries outclassed the Northland soldiers. Swords and spears thrust in unison, and the soldiers who made it up the wall rarely survived more than two exchanges before falling. Then the mercenaries would drag the corpses back, pile them together first, and sort through the spoils at their leisure after the fighting was done…
"What the hell—is this what they call mob farming?" Lorist stared dumbfounded. Now he, Vasinha, Jim, and the few dozen guards behind him had nothing to do…
Knight Chevani grew ever more confused. How could so many soldiers have stormed the wall without any commotion? The Silver Knights he had sent up moments ago had barely reached the battlements before vanishing from sight…
Anxiety gnawed at Knight Chevani, and the sense of foreboding in his chest grew stronger by the moment. Just as he stood lost in uneasy thought, a roar of battle erupted from the great camp behind him. He spun around to see a band of riders had charged into the camp, slaughtering and setting fires. The small garrison of spearmen left behind had been sent scurrying for their lives, and a vast stretch of tents had already become a sea of flames…
"Sound the retreat! All forces withdraw—follow me to relieve the camp!" Knight Chevani was beside himself with fury.
…
The losses were staggering—truly catastrophic. Of the nearly twenty-three hundred men who had marched out, only about seventeen hundred remained. The siege alone had cost over five hundred lives, and not a single body had been recovered. Of the Silver Knights under his command, fewer than ten were still standing.
"…Most of the grain in the camp has been burned. What we managed to salvage is only enough to feed the current force for four or five days, and only at two meals per day. Sir, if we cannot take Northfield Town, the entire army will be annihilated…" the logistics officer reported.
Knight Chevani let out a long sigh. "You may go. Let me think…"
He sat in silence for a long time before pulling out blank sheets of parchment and beginning to write. He recorded every detail of the expedition—everything from the massacre of Northfield Town's residents and the plunder of their valuables, to the setbacks at Maplewood Manor and the fall of Northfield Town itself—leaving nothing out, filling sheet after sheet of parchment. Then he rolled the pages up, placed them inside a silver tube, sealed it with wax, and summoned his two personal attendants.
"I'll lead the troops back tomorrow. You two hide first, and after the army departs and there's no one left monitoring this place, cross over the Morgan Hills and deliver the letter inside this silver tube to His Grace the Duke. Understood?"
One of the attendants asked curiously, "Sir, why are we doing this?"
Knight Chevani let out a deep sigh. "I suspect we won't make it back. The Norton Family has backed us into a corner — they will never let us leave so easily. I have no idea what might happen on the road back, so as a precaution, I'm sending you two to cross the Morgan Hills and return. Be careful along the way, and you must deliver this letter to His Grace the Duke. Only then will he understand just how formidable the Norton Family truly is…"
…
When Lorist discovered that the enemy had broken camp and were heading toward the hidden passage, he laughed to himself. They were walking straight into their own graves. It seemed the enemy had no idea the passage had already been rendered useless. He linked up with Jostock, bringing along four mercenary companies and two squads of family soldiers, and began trailing them at a distance.
When the enemy entered the long mountain tunnel, Lorist stopped following. He ordered his men to surround the tunnel's exit and build a fortified camp, waiting for the enemy to come back out.
Two days passed. Fierce fighting seemed to erupt inside the tunnel. At noon, a Silver Knight carrying a white flag walked toward Lorist…
…