On May 4th, 1772 by the Galentea Common Calendar, the
The large battalion of guards defending the capital wisely laid down their weapons and opened the gates to surrender. First, the disparity in numbers was far too great — the ratio of attackers to defenders was nearly ten to one, and everyone knew resistance held no chance of success. Second, the garrison's equipment compared to the Norton Family's forces could only be described as being generations behind. Especially when the iron crossbow bolts fired from the steel crossbows mounted on those one thousand chariots pierced deep into the city walls from over two hundred meters away, every last garrison soldier lost the will to resist.
In the end, the ultimatum from the self-proclaimed Golden Knight, Ross the Savage Tiger, was what finally convinced the garrison battalion to open the gates and surrender. The Golden Knight said that if the guards did not surrender, then even if they perished in battle, the Norton Family forces would not spare their families living inside the city. So if these soldiers wanted to resist, they should think of their families first…
After entering the royal capital, taking control of the city's defenses, and strictly prohibiting entry and exit, the Second Prince hiding in the Rose Palace had already learned of the Norton Family's advance into the city. For the Second Prince, this was nothing short of a thunderbolt from a clear sky. Great Swordmaster Galinnan's failure to return had already left the Second Prince restless and uneasy, a vague premonition of disaster lurking in his heart. But the Second Prince still clung to the belief that his master would not fail — after all, he was a half-step-peak Great Swordmaster. The most likely explanation was that he had sustained a minor wound during the assassination and had simply found somewhere to recuperate.
What the Second Prince had not expected was that as he waited left and right, no news of Galinnan's return came, nor any report of harm befalling the Norton Family head. Instead, word arrived that the Norton Family had dispatched troops to retaliate and had already conquered the royal capital. Pale with fright, the Second Prince killed the servant woman who had come to report the news with a single sword strike, stripped her clothes off and draped them over himself, then disguised as a woman, slunk away from the Rose Palace, and headed for the slums.
Hiding in the slums was a sound strategy — the Second Prince knew full well that ordinary noble forces had absolutely no interest in raiding foul-smelling, penniless paupers who owned nothing. They would be far more interested in pillaging the commercial district, the commoner quarters, and the wealthy noble quarters. But the Second Prince had fatally underestimated the Norton Family forces' moral floor: they wanted both money and people. The wretches in the slums were, to the Norton Family, the finest human resources for developing Northland. Once these paupers were given land and housing in Northland and settled into a stable, property-owning life, they would become the Norton Family's most loyal supporters.
And so the Second Prince, wearing a servant woman's clothes but sporting a magnificent handlebar mustache, stood out like a crane among chickens. Unfortunately, the Norton Family soldiers dispatched to the slums to round up paupers for relocation had no idea they were looking at the famously infamous King of Iblia. They crowded around this man dressed in women's clothing with great curiosity. Some speculated he might be a pervert. Others wondered if he might be a bottom among certain like-minded enthusiasts…
At that moment, several particularly enterprising Norton Family soldiers prepared to check whether the fellow still had his two assets intact below, while several others of similar inclinations grew visibly excited, eager to drag this kindred spirit into a nearby room for a more in-depth exchange. Facing the imminent threat to his rear, the Second Prince finally capitulated. He shouted at the top of his lungs that he was the King of the Iblia Kingdom and demanded to be treated with the respect due to a sovereign…
Nobody listened. As a king and former imperial second prince, his body had been extraordinarily well-maintained — soft skin, fair and smooth. To those soldiers with certain inclinations, he was simply a heaven-sent delicacy! Their eyes reddened with animal lust, and they couldn't care less about what he was screaming. It wasn't until after they had satisfied their urges and regained their senses that they remembered the nearly lifeless fellow on the ground had apparently said something about being a king…
Thus was the Second Prince presented before Ross the Savage Tiger and Malek. After finding a few nobles to confirm that the bare-bottomed, still-bleeding wretch before them was indeed the Second Prince, even the perpetually easygoing Ross the Savage Tiger was rendered speechless. They had no choice but to fetch a few apothecaries to administer healing potions to the Second Prince and keep him alive.
Upon receiving word that the Norton Family forces had marched out of Northland and conquered the royal capital of Wendbury, two border ranger regiments stationed at Piedro City, under the command of Great Swordmaster Viscount Christopher, mobilized swiftly and arrived at the capital in just three days and two nights, bottling up the Norton Family forces within Wendbury.
Viscount Christopher was clear-headed — he did not attack the capital. Instead, he relied on the mobility of his rangers to pin the Norton Family forces inside the city. Perhaps his twenty thousand rangers could not face the Norton Family forces head-on in roughly equal numbers, but Viscount Christopher was confident that even if the Norton Family tried to withdraw, he would not allow them to take the capital's wealth and supplies.
Five days passed, and the two sides remained locked in standoff. Viscount Christopher was in no hurry whatsoever. For him, the longer things dragged on, the better. First, he knew the food reserves within Wendbury City were limited — most of Winston Province's grain was in the hands of the local lords. Once the Norton Family forces in the city ran out of provisions, they would collapse without a fight, and he could claim victory effortlessly. Second, he had already dispatched messengers to notify the Grand Duke of Fisablen; in another five or six days, the Grand Duke would personally lead two more border ranger regiments to reinforce. By then, the Norton Family would be turtles in a jar with nowhere to run.
Viscount Christopher placed one border ranger regiment in the front and another on the flank, planning to offer only token resistance before pivoting to both wings, adhering to a tactical doctrine whose primary objective was harassment and delay to slow the enemy's advance.
However, the horns that subsequently sounded from every direction were what finally made Viscount Christopher realize that the turtles in the jar were actually his own two border ranger regiments. As the battlefield space compressed, these two border ranger regiments were ultimately surrounded by nearly fifty thousand elite troops from the Norton Family, the Shahin Family, and the
Watching the three Northland families' forces show no urgency to attack after completing the encirclement — instead continuously digging connecting trenches — Viscount Christopher understood that things looked grim. Without room to maneuver, the rangers could not possibly deploy their full combat effectiveness. In a bid for survival, Viscount Christopher personally led a desperate charge, hoping to carve open an escape route. But three breakout attempts all ended in devastating casualties under the rain of fire from the chariot-mounted steel crossbows and longbowmen, ending in crushing defeat.
Surveying the rangers whose morale had plummeted, Viscount Christopher finally made a decision. He went alone, sword in hand, to the front lines of the three Northland families' forces and demanded a duel. If he won, he hoped the three Northland families would spare the remaining fourteen thousand-plus rangers and grant them a way out, while he would submit to whatever judgment they saw fit. If he lost, he would order the rangers to dismount and surrender.
Although both Hennad and Baron
As a first-rank Great Swordmaster, Viscount Christopher realized with despair the moment he crossed blades with Lorist that he was likely no match for this young Norton Family baron. The young man's swordsmanship was biting as a bitter winter, making him feel as though he stood in a world of ice and snow. The sword light danced like swirling snowflakes, penetrating every opening — seemingly light and effortless, yet when blades met, it carried the weight of the earth itself. This reminded Viscount Christopher, against his will, of the feeling of practicing swordplay with his adoptive father, the Grand Duke of Fisablen. Now he finally believed the rumors that the Second Prince had sent Great Swordmaster Galinnan to assassinate this Norton Baron, only for the attempt to fail and Galinnan to be killed instead.
After desperately blocking for over two hundred exchanges, Viscount Christopher's sword was finally knocked flying by Lorist. Dejected, he ordered the surrounding rangers to dismount and surrender. The remaining fourteen thousand-plus rangers silently obeyed Viscount Christopher's command and became prisoners of the Norton Family.
Having eliminated these two ranger regiments, which Lorist had viewed as a serious threat, Lorist honored his promise. He ordered two of his chariot steel crossbow battalions to assist the Shahin Family and the Filim Family respectively in sweeping through the lords' castles and estates. Lorist stressed that grain was the top priority — only with food could a territory remain stable. The Norton Family was willing to purchase whatever grain they seized at market price.
After entering the capital, Lorist's first priority was to visit the Second Prince, who was still walking with his rear end elevated. This was the first time the two met face to face. After hearing about the Second Prince's ordeal, Lorist was struck speechless with amusement. If he had known this day would come, why had he acted so rashly in the first place? His current fate was entirely of his own making — no one else could be blamed. Lorist completely ignored the Second Prince's cold, viper-like stare, contemptuously spat on the ground, and without bothering to utter a single word, turned and strode away.
In occupying the royal capital of Wendbury, Lorist issued several commands that the world found peculiar. First, he treated the Queen Consort, still residing in the Rose Palace, with the utmost respect and courtesy, specifically assigning family soldiers to serve as her personal guard. Second, apart from emptying several royal warehouses within Wendbury City, he left the capital's nobles and wealthy citizens entirely untouched — no looting, no extortion.
Third, this time the Norton Family did not relocate all the commoners from the capital as they had done before. They only forcibly relocated tens of thousands of paupers from the slums along with some commoner artisans, to the point that some nobles actually remarked the capital's air felt fresher, praising the Norton Family's forced removal of those lowly paupers as a virtuous deed — a great service to the capital, worthy of commendation.
The only thing that made these nobles uncomfortable was that this young Norton Baron had a petty heart and a heavy thirst for vengeance. He erected a pillar in the capital's central square and hung the cross bearing Great Swordmaster Galinnan's corpse from it, leaving it exposed to sun and rain. Below it, he hung a wooden plaque proclaiming that Galinnan, despite being a third-rank Great Swordmaster, had followed the Second Prince's orders to assassinate a territorial lord — a truly despicable and shameless act. This struck the nobles and wealthy citizens, who had once taken pride in having a third-rank Great Swordmaster stationed in their capital, like a slap across the face, leaving them with a burning sting.
On May 19th, the Grand Duke of Fisablen, who had been marching with two border ranger regiments to provide reinforcement, received the news of Viscount Christopher's defeat and capture and the total annihilation of his two ranger regiments. He halted at Sunset Lake Town, a hundred miles from the capital, and advanced no further, instead establishing defensive lines. At the same time, the Grand Duke of Fisablen dispatched a messenger to the capital to request an audience with Lorist.
Lorist received the messenger and first explained that this military action was directed solely at the personal grudge between the Second Prince and the Norton Family, and that the Norton Family had no intention of destroying the Iblia Kingdom. Therefore, he had treated all the capital's nobles with courtesy and respect, without the slightest offense. He then personally led the messenger to pay respects to Her Majesty the Queen in the Rose Palace, confirming that the Grand Duke of Fisablen's daughter, the Queen of the Iblia Kingdom, was living in comfort and ease — she even had the mood to host lavish balls and celebrations with the capital's nobility.
It was only after confirming his daughter's well-being that the Grand Duke of Fisablen could send someone to negotiate ransom. The family forces' operations were not yet concluded, and it was not suitable to discuss that matter.
The second demand concerned the Second Prince's life. Lorist firmly refused to hand him over, but he could guarantee that the Norton Family would only imprison the Second Prince and not kill him, as the Norton Family did not want to bear the reputation of having slain a king. As for the issue of the Iblia Kingdom having no king on the throne, Lorist made clear that this was not his responsibility. He was merely a baron of the Andinak Kingdom, and his grudge with the Second Prince was a private matter — he would not interfere in the Iblia Kingdom's internal affairs…
The messenger had never heard such brazen audacity and was immediately stunned by Lorist's thick-skinned shamelessness. Recovering his wits, the messenger angrily denounced Lorist, declaring that all of the Iblia Kingdom's misfortunes were connected to the Norton Family — from the old grudge involving Duke
Lorist shrugged and retorted that the Norton Family had always faithfully guarded Northland's borders for the former empire, working diligently without ever intending to cause trouble in troubled times. It was only because the Grand Duke of Northland and the Second Prince had overestimated their own strength and insisted on provoking them that the Norton Family had been forced to strike back. But arguing over these matters now was a case of each side having their own logic, so there was no need to waste breath.
As for the problem of the Iblia Kingdom having no king, Lorist offered a suggestion: wasn't the son of the current king and queen in the Grand Duke of Fisablen's possession? When the Norton Family withdrew, they would take the Second Prince with them. The Grand Duke of Fisablen could then install that child on the throne while serving as regent minister, thereby seizing true power over the Iblia Kingdom. As long as they did not provoke the four great families of Northland, everyone could coexist in peace.
After the messenger departed, Lorist remained in the capital for another ten days or so before leading his family forces on the journey back to Northland. Meanwhile,
One day after the Norton Family forces withdrew from the capital, the Grand Duke of Fisablen, maintaining their tacit understanding, marched in and reclaimed Wendbury City. After the three Northland families spent two months transporting supplies and relocating people before retreating back into Northland, the Grand Duke of Fisablen — now exercising governing authority over the Iblia Kingdom for the first time — finally could not endure the endless bickering and haggling. He threw the reins of government onto his daughter, Her Majesty the Queen of the Iblia Kingdom, and returned to his family's estates in Eastern Wasteland Province to enjoy himself.
This time, the three Northland families partnering to raid Winston Province all came away with overflowing coffers. Apart from the gains from the royal capital of Wendbury, which belonged solely to the Norton Family, all the looted supplies and the relocated commoners were divided equally among the three families. Lorist handed the wealth, grain, and hundred-odd thousand migrants assigned to his share over to Ross the Savage Tiger and Malek to manage, while he rode ahead with his guard battalion at full speed toward
…(To be continued.)