The Blade Mountain Range stood like a steep wall, separating the
"Are all the coastal waters of the Blade Mountain Range like this—full of hidden reefs?" Lorist asked.
"Yes, milord," old Papa Barek said. "The entire Blade Mountain Range on our family's side is like this. The only places where you can reach the coast are those three gaps I showed you before. Everywhere else, you simply can't climb down at all. In the past, when we boiled seawater to make salt, we'd go down through those three gaps, bring firewood and large pots, and it took about ten days to get the job done..."
"Milord, I know what you're thinking—you want to find a sea access point here, don't you?" old Papa Barek asked.
Lorist nodded.
"Milord, follow me." Old Papa Barek led Lorist along the clifftop for half a day, arriving at the far end of the escarpment.
"Milord, look over there..."
In the distance, a section of the steep mountain wall had collapsed into the sea, forming a slope. What caught Lorist's curiosity was that he could faintly make out the remains of some wooden pilings on it...
"Milord, back then the four great families of Northwild Town also wanted to take advantage of sea transport to connect with the outside world. They spent over a year building a long pier along that slope, extending deep into the sea to bypass the coastal reefs. At the time, your grandfather was the head of the family. He went to Northwild Town to negotiate with the four great families, demanding half the shipping rights. But before negotiations concluded, a storm destroyed the pier without a trace. The four great families suffered devastating losses—all their invested capital was wiped out. What remained were those broken pilings..." Old Papa Barek recounted a piece of family history that Lorist had never known.
"Are storms frequent here?" Lorist asked.
"Not many. It's mainly in April and May that large waterspouts tend to appear over the sea. There are strong winds and heavy swells at other times, but storms are rare," old Papa Barek replied.
"Forget it. Let's head back. We've been in the Blade Mountain Range for nearly two months—it's time to return," Lorist said.
After
The problem Fatty Shi had encountered concerned table salt. Previously, with fewer than ten thousand people in the family, when they ran out of salt they would—as old Papa Barek described—bring firewood and large pots to the coast and boil seawater for a few days to produce enough. But now, with over five hundred thousand people flooding into the Norton Family's territory, and each person consuming one pounds of salt per year, that meant five hundred thousand pounds of salt—never mind the additional salt needed for tanning hides and curing meat.
Fatty Shi had received a report from Steward Spell that by July of next year, the family's entire salt reserves would be depleted. He brought the report straight to Lorist, demanding that Lorist head to the Blade Mountain Range immediately to find a way to produce salt in large quantities—instead of spending all day fooling around with Miss Tessie in the office...
For Lorist, this two-month trip to the Blade Mountain Range had been enormously fruitful. The first thing confirmed was that what grew abundantly in the deep valley old Papa Barek had discovered was indeed rubber vine. Although the quantity couldn't compare to the over one million barrels of rubber vine sap produced annually by the Roman Empire, being able to provide nearly a hundred thousand barrels per year was more than sufficient for the grand territorial development project Lorist had planned.
The second discovery came from Master Heed, who was in charge of mineral resource surveys. He had found a mountain of black iron ore in the Blade Mountain Range—the entire mountain was composed of black iron ore. He had also discovered tungsten-gold veins and chromium silver deposits nearby. He was so overjoyed that he practically danced with delight, boasting grandly: "Give me a little more time to study, and I'll definitely forge armor superior to the standard equipment of the White Lion Corps..."
Lorist found this rather strange—wasn't this too much of a coincidence? These three mineral deposits seemed as though they had been deliberately placed together. But the world was vast, and stranger things existed. Unable to make sense of it, he decided to set the matter aside.
As for the salt crisis that had Fatty Shi so anxious, Lorist had come up with a solution: solar salt production. No need for the hassle of boiling brine. Originally, Fatty Shi had planned to assign three thousand workers specifically to boil salt, spending two months to produce two million pounds of reserves, then going back to boil more whenever supplies ran out...
Lorist had never seen a pig run, but he had eaten pork. In his previous life, he had visited salt pans before, so he still remembered some of the principles and steps of solar salt production. He selected a broad valley and drafted a plan for salt pans, entrusting old Papa Barek to oversee the work. The main expense was the infrastructure. Not many workers were needed—around a hundred would suffice—but the monthly salt output was estimated to exceed a hundred thousand pounds, more than enough to resolve the family's salt shortage.
"That's right. First, the salt pans below need to be packed solid with earth and stone, then coated with green adhesive clay and smoothed flat. When the tide rises, open the water inlets in the barriers to let the seawater flood the salt pans. After sun-drying for two or three days, transfer the concentrated brine to the deep pools and flush it with diverted mountain spring water, letting the impurities settle. Then pour the clean saltwater on top into the upper-layer salt pans and dry it once more—what you get is edible white salt..." Lorist explained to old Papa Barek for the final time.
It was no wonder old Papa Barek kept asking questions. In thousands of years on the Galentea Continent, no one had ever heard of solar salt production. Most importantly, it didn't require the enormous quantities of firewood that boiling salt demanded. Transporting firewood to the coast had always been a major headache.
The side of the Blade Mountain Range facing the sea was all steep cliffs, but the interior consisted of gentle grass-covered slopes with virtually no wild trees—or rather, anything that might have grown there had long been chopped down by the salt workers for firewood. Beyond the slopes rose jagged, rocky peaks, and people had to wind around their bases, climbing up and down slopes along mountain trails to leave the Blade Mountain Range.
Miss Tessie and her handmaiden Little Winnie were picking wildflowers on the gentle slope, planning to make flower crowns. The two bounced along like a pair of children who hadn't yet grown up.
Ever since Lorist had forcibly awakened her body, Miss Tessie had lost her customary reserve and propriety, becoming quite interested in matters between men and women. Especially after she discovered that their physical intimacy greatly alleviated the menstrual cramps that had always plagued her, she had begun actively seducing Lorist and never tired of their trysts in the office.
The only thing that irritated Lorist was that no matter how things went between Miss Tessie and him in the office—she was always eager to try new tricks—no matter how much Lorist tried to persuade her, she simply refused to agree to marry him. Being a lover? Fine. Being his wife? Out of the question...
This time, Miss Tessie had originally not wanted to come to the Blade Mountain Range. But Lorist had told her, "Reading a hundred books is not as good as traveling a thousand miles. Your mother used to venture deep into primeval mountain forests to investigate ruins—she wasn't the type to hole up at home reading all day." And so Miss Tessie had joined the expedition.
Seeing Lorist's grim expression, Miss Tessie immediately understood that he had been disappointed once again. Past this stretch of the Blade Mountain Range lay the Black Mud Swamp—they had reached the end, and Lorist still hadn't found a suitable sea access point along these several hundred li of mountains.
He kissed Miss Tessie gently on the cheek. "Darling, it's time we headed back," Lorist said softly. "I honestly didn't expect you to last through this entire trip to the Blade Mountain Range. Nearly two months—you've gained quite a lot, haven't you?"
Unlike Lorist, whose goal had been finding a sea access point, Miss Tessie had been interested in the mountain region's flora and fauna, the growth of medicinal herbs, and the geological formations of the Blade Mountain Range.
With a haughty little huff, Miss Tessie said, "I'm no pampered princess. Whatever my mother could do, I can do too."
Looping her arm through Lorist's as they descended the slope together, Miss Tessie said, "Locke, honestly, these two months of surveying and studying the Blade Mountain Range have solidified a theory of mine. The Blade Mountain Range could not possibly have formed naturally. It seems as though a deity used divine power to construct a seawall on the western side of the Northland—to block storms and tsunamis. It truly is a miraculous feat..."
Lorist simply smiled without responding. His little lover had read too many books, and her mind was always full of fantastical notions. He would simply humor her.
...
By the time they returned to
During the final ten-odd days of Lorist's last expedition to the Blade Mountain Range, several groups of messengers had already arrived at the camp outside the mountains. The news they brought was varied, but it all boiled down to one thing: Rock Fortress was now crowded with envoys from various territorial nobles. Among them, the two most important were the messenger sent by the
Lorist received Viscount Kemaith first. After all, among the guests at Rock Fortress, he held the highest rank. But it was Viscount Kemaith who suggested that Lorist should meet the Second Prince's envoy first—his own business was not urgent and could wait until last.
The Second Prince's envoy was a dashing middle-aged nobleman who introduced himself as Viscount Sindson. On the Second Prince's orders, he had delivered a letter to Lorist and requested a personal handwritten reply in return. Beyond that, he said nothing.
Lorist curiously opened the Second Prince's letter. It was long, spanning several sheets of animal-hide parchment. The first two sheets were entirely about the deep bond of battlefield camaraderie between the Second Prince and the Norton Family, expressing grief and nostalgia for the death of Lorist's elder brother on the battlefield—words that stirred deep emotion. But on the final sheet, the Second Prince's wolfish greed showed its true face.
The Second Prince believed that the conflict between the Norton Family and the Northland Grand Duke Duke Lugins was deeply regrettable and tragic, and that precisely because of infighting among the kingdom's nobles, the kingdom could not marshal its full strength to restore the former Krisen Empire. He claimed to have already punished Grand Duke Lugins, who had instigated the war, but for the Norton Family, which had pillaged the Grand Duchy, he announced the following penalties:
First, the Norton Family must hand over the nearly three hundred thousand gold Forde worth of valuables plundered from Grand Duke Lugins's personal vault to the Second Prince as punishment for the pillaging of the Grand Duchy. In exchange, the Second Prince would drop the matter of Lorist forcibly relocating over two hundred thousand of the Grand Duchy's subjects into Norton Family territory.
Second, as the new head of the Norton Family, Lorist must travel to Gildusk City in the Grand Duchy before the end of November to swear fealty to the Second Prince, who was currently residing in the Grand Duke's estate. At that time, the Second Prince would consider elevating the Norton Family's noble rank as a reward.
Third, the Norton Family must provide the Second Prince with two fully staffed military divisions to assist in pacifying the Northland, and before July of next year, launch another assault on the Duchy of Madras under the Second Prince's command, making due contributions to the great cause of restoring the Krisen Empire.
These three conditions were quite lenient on the surface, not striking at the Norton Family's foundations. But Lorist knew that once he yielded to the Second Prince's demands, these three conditions would transform into three nooses tightening around the Norton Family's neck, dragging them step by step into the abyss.
Lorist had absolutely no interest in playing diplomatic games with the Second Prince. Ever since his elder brother had died on the battlefield fighting for the Second Prince, the Second Prince had paid no attention to the Norton Family whatsoever—sitting idle while the newly established territorial noble, the Kemaith Family, clashed with the Norton Family over border disputes and refusing to mediate. The rumors about the Second Prince's character were common knowledge. Trusting the Second Prince would be like trusting a sow could climb a tree...
What Lorist cared about now was the development and construction of his own family's territory. He had no interest whatsoever in conquering the Northland or the so-called great cause of restoring the Krisen Empire's dominance. He picked up a blank sheet of animal-hide parchment and wrote two simple words as his reply. After a moment's thought, he stamped the letter with his new family crest representing the rank of Count. Then he folded the reply, sealed it in an envelope, and handed it to Viscount Sindson.
Viscount Sindson took the reply and immediately took his leave. He had already waited at Rock Fortress for over ten days and was only too eager to return.
Next, Lorist received the envoys of seven or eight territorial lords and nobles, led by Baron Feilim of the Flying Horse Family as their representative. They had all come to Rock Fortress for the same purpose—hoping to purchase quality weapons and equipment from Lorist, such as iron armor and defensive siege crossbows...
To these envoys' requests, Lorist gave a one-word answer: sell. They could pay with grain and supplies if they lacked gold—the more, the better. Then he sent them all off to discuss pricing with Fatty Shi.
Finally, Lorist invited Viscount Kemaith back. He was curious about why so many territorial nobles had come to the Norton Family to purchase weapons and equipment...
The first thing Viscount Kemaith told Lorist was this: the chaos in the Northland had begun.
Kemaith went on to brief Lorist on the Northland's current situation. After he had escorted Grand Duke Lugins back to the Grand Duchy, the Northland Grand Duke had fallen ill. Because Sir Henned controlled the families of the former Northland Army's soldiers, he kept luring away the troops still garrisoned at
The Second Prince had received the news from merchants returning from the Northland while retreating to the royal capital after his defeat at the Duchy of Madras. He recognized an opportunity and dispatched the only border defense division still maintaining its formation to the Northland. Sure enough, they easily captured the two positions that had previously been considered impregnable. The Second Prince then abandoned any thought of returning to the capital and went straight to the Northland, seizing the Grand Duke's estate and ordering Grand Duke Lugins to be sent to the capital for treatment.
Then the Second Prince began issuing commands incessantly, starting to bleed the Northland's nobles dry. This enraged Sir Henned, who was holed up at Cherry Blossom Manor Castle. He led the Northland Army into a small armed clash with the Second Prince's forces, inflicting over two thousand casualties—yet another crushing defeat.
This was precisely why the Northland's territorial nobles had sent envoys to Rock Fortress to purchase weapons and equipment. The Norton Family had driven out Grand Duke Lugins, the entrenched tiger, only for the Second Prince, a hungry wolf, to arrive. For those ambitious territorial nobles, this was actually an excellent opportunity to strengthen their families' power.
Viscount Kemaith's purpose in visiting Lorist was straightforward: he wanted to form an alliance with the Norton Family. He also informed Lorist of a piece of news—the Kemaith Family had spent over five months and an astronomical sum of gold coins to construct an iron chain bridge in the eastern part of the Northland, connecting both banks. From now on, supplies traveling through the Northland would no longer need to pass through the Hendlefoso Bridge, which was under the Second Prince's control.
This was good news for Lorist. At the very least, with no sea access point found along the Blade Mountain Range, having an additional connection to the outside world was a welcome development. Lorist said he would need to discuss the matter with his knights before giving Viscount Kemaith an answer.
... (To be continued.)