The bright silver moon, large as a copper basin, hung in the deep blue canopy of the sky, scattering its silvery moonlight over the mortal world…
It was already deep into the night. Standing atop the high terrace of Granite Castle, gazing down at the tranquil valley and the distant old and new cities slumbering in the darkness,
Seven years. Time had flown so quickly. When he had organized the caravan heading north from
How many hardships and tribulations he had experienced along the way, Lorist could no longer recall clearly. What he did notice was that his enemies were growing ever stronger. Last time, the
Now, what he faced was an entire kingdom in its own right. Though this kingdom had been founded by pirates, nearly a hundred years of development had transformed it into an independent slave-owning monarchy. They had their own military and countless brutal slave-hunting parties. When combined, these slave-hunting bands formed a formidable armed force that could not be underestimated.
Lorist had read the confessions of the captives, especially the interrogation records of the Great Swordmaster who had been impaled. That Great Swordmaster had revealed that the assault on the Shilovas Islands had nearly consolidated the power of every major slave lord and slave merchant in the Hanaiabada Kingdom. They had dispatched around eighty slave-hunting parties—the smallest consisting of a few dozen men, the largest of five to six hundred—for a total force of over twenty-four thousand troops, with nearly five hundred ships deployed…
Someone had heard word—Lorist didn't know from where—that the Shilovas Islands were recruiting fifty to sixty thousand displaced laborers for a massive development project, and the Hanaiabada Kingdom's great slave lords and slave merchants had set their sights on this pool of refugees. They had even sent men disguised as smugglers to the islands to investigate. Once they confirmed the intelligence was accurate, they launched a coordinated attack.
However, they had underestimated the island's defensive strength. By the time they occupied the entire island, they found they had lost over eighty ships and nearly ten thousand men. Some slave traders were already regretting it—the cost of the operation had been far too steep. Although they had captured a great many slaves, each family's share was meager. And the slave-hunting parties they had lost were the elite armed forces in their masters' hands.
Take the captured Great Swordmaster, for example. His master, Duke Gufuman, was a renowned large-scale slave lord in the Hanaiabada Kingdom. This time, he had dispatched five of his slave-hunting parties—nearly two thousand men—but two of his ships were destroyed in naval interceptions, and two more parties that had charged ahead upon landing were wiped out, leaving only about a thousand survivors.
After occupying the Shilovas Islands and taking stock, they found they had been allocated only four thousand-odd slaves. Compared to their losses, the spoils were hardly worth the cost. That was why the Great Swordmaster had decided to send the slaves off first while he and the remaining slave-hunting parties stayed a few more days to hunt down the residents who had fled into the mountain forests. Then Bodenfeng's reinforcements had arrived, and none of them would be leaving…
"My lord…" Behind him came Schwade's soft voice.
Lorist didn't turn around. "Finished with evening practice?"
"Yes, my lord."
"Good. Go rest—you needn't worry about me. The three allied families will arrive in the next day or two. I wonder if Baron Felim will bring his precious daughter this time? If he does, I'll give you three days off so you can take your fiancée sightseeing…"
"My lord!" Schwade, sensitive by nature, blushed with embarrassment.
"Heh heh…" Lorist laughed. "Oh, and ask the kitchen to prepare something for me to eat, then bring a bottle of wine from my study. After that, you can go to sleep."
"Yes, my lord."
Schwade was efficient; within moments he had two servants set up a table and chairs on the terrace with wine and dishes. Perhaps out of revenge for Lorist's teasing, the lad had the kitchen send up a massive smoked goose…
The moonlight was beautiful tonight, and Lorist had finally found the mood for a small drink and some light snacks. But a whole enormous smoked goose sitting on the table rather ruined the ambiance. Gnawing at a greasy goose while sipping fruit wine and singing to the moon—the image simply didn't hold together…
"That brat…" Lorist muttered, leaving the goose untouched. He poured himself a glass of fruit wine and stood at the edge of the terrace, gazing at the distant scenery, sipping slowly as he reviewed everything he knew about the Hanaiabada Kingdom.
The Hanaiabada Islands lay to the southwest of the Shilovas Islands. At the speed of a medium-sized armed merchant vessel, it would take eleven days to reach them. The Dawn Academy's Flying Fish could make the trip in about seven or eight days.
On the map, the Hanaiabada Islands bore a striking resemblance to a snarling octopus with its tentacles flailing. The name "Hanaiabada" itself had originally belonged to an octopus demon god from ancient mythology—one who loved to stir up storms upon the seas. Legend had it that this octopus demon god once stole a precious ornament belonging to the Blood Moon Goddess Sufina. Enraged, the Blood Moon Goddess seized an opportunity when the demon surfaced to breathe and summoned her husband—the great god Sigwa, who embodied the roles of Sun God, Light God, and War God—as well as her sister, the Silver Moon Goddess Daflyn. Together, the three gods cast their combined spell and transformed the thieving octopus demon god into this octopus-shaped archipelago…
It was said that women were the one thing no one should ever cross. With women, you had to coax and flatter, never provoke them, for the consequences were beyond anyone's guess. The octopus demon god might have imagined fighting the Blood Moon Goddess for three hundred rounds over that ornament, but he never expected her to simply call in reinforcements and turn him into a string of islands…
Situated far from the Galentea Continent, the Hanaiabada Islands had always been regarded as a remote, desolate backwater with nothing of value. It wasn't until the pirates established a kingdom there and vigorously developed the slave trade that people on the Galentea Continent slowly revised their view of the Hanaiabada Islands as barren wasteland.
If you combined the total area of all the Hanaiabada Islands, they would surpass the
The Hanaiabada Kingdom, now over eighty years old, had a total population of just over five hundred thousand. But of those five hundred thousand, over four hundred thousand were slaves. The tens of thousands of pirates who had founded the kingdom—perhaps as karmic retribution for their many evil deeds—had, after generations of breeding, only managed to produce a population slightly over one hundred thousand.
Even among rough-cut pirates, geniuses could emerge. In Lorist's view, the second king of the Hanaiabada Kingdom had been exactly such a genius. The pirate-founded kingdom had originally operated on an elective system—whomever the pirates chose would rule. But the second king had successfully converted it into a hereditary monarchy, locking the throne firmly in his own bloodline.
After being elevated to the throne by the pirates, this king had completely abandoned their old way of life based on plundering. He distributed the long, narrow islands surrounding the main island as fiefs to his subordinate pirate captains, granting them slaves to clear the land and farm. He conscripted ordinary pirates into a royal army, giving them a life free from want. He declared an end to raids on the coastal nations along the Golden Coastline, easing tensions and opening up trade routes. He also developed the slave trade on a grand scale, ultimately setting this kingdom—founded as something of a joke—on a path of steady development.
To be a citizen of the Hanaiabada Kingdom was to be blessed—though this blessing was built upon the tears and blood of slaves. Born into lives of material comfort, this was the generous welfare the second king had bequeathed to the pirates' descendants. However, to live well, they either had to serve the king as soldiers or acquire useful skills.
The Hanaiabada Kingdom maintained two standing military forces: the Royal Guard of twenty-eight thousand men, and the Royal Patrol Fleet of twenty-four large and medium-sized armed merchant ships. Both forces were under the direct command of the royal family. The nobles of the Hanaiabada Kingdom were all major slave lords, and the private forces they commanded were essentially the descendants of the pirates who had once served under their ancestors. As for the slave-hunting parties below them, they were composed of desperadoes, deserters, mercenaries, and criminals recruited from the Galentea Continent.
The Hanaiabada Kingdom had two major cities: the inland capital of Hamidas on the main island's center, and the famous Nubite Harbor—the largest slave trading port on the entire Galentea Continent.
Although the nobles maintained residences in the capital Hamidas, they preferred to live in Nubite Harbor. It was their paradise. There, they drove slaves to build luxurious and extravagant mansions, enjoying lives of debauchery atop the piled bones of their laborers.
As a port city, Nubite Harbor offered access to specialty goods and fashionable items from across the Galentea Continent. It also provided a convenient base from which the Hanaiabada Kingdom's great slave lords could dispatch their slave traders and hunting parties by sea to the impoverished or war-torn regions of the continent, bringing back a continuous flow of slaves…
Lorist had great confidence in the combat power of his family's armed forces—they were elite troops without equal on the Galentea Continent. This time, Lorist planned to bring along Bodenfeng's two heavy armor corps, the Cart-Mounted Steel Crossbow Corps,
What still troubled Lorist was the question of how to land these thirty-seven thousand troops on the main island without alerting the enemy. According to the map, the bay of the Hanaiabada Islands was also elongated, which meant Nubite Harbor was tucked deep inside it, shielded by several long, narrow islands that served as natural outer barriers.
If those islands were uninhabited, there would be no problem—Lorist could simply blockade the outer islands and trap the ships in Nubite Harbor like fish in a barrel. But these islands were fiefdoms of several great slave lords, covered with slaves working the land. If they spotted Lorist's fleet approaching, a single bonfire or signal smoke raised by any of those slaves would carry word to Nubite Harbor, and the pirates' ships would swarm out. That would be a disaster.
The best approach, for now, was to first transfer the expeditionary forces to the Shilovas Islands and make preparations for departure. Once Aier and Tagel sent back intelligence on the Hanaiabada Kingdom and they had a clear picture of the island's defenses, they could set out. Once the main force was ashore, he could teach those bastards what it meant to cross the wrong family…
Lorist had made his decision to march on the Hanaiabada Kingdom. Their retribution had come.
He hoped Aier and Tagel could find
With a long sigh, Lorist raised his cup and drained the golden wine in one gulp. He had still kept the news of Fatty Shi's capture from his family, to spare them from worry. Lorist turned to look at the hillside to the left of the castle. There, two terraces had been built with twelve large villas—the residences of the family's senior managers and commanding knights stationed at Granite Castle. Lorist remembered clearly that the very first villa on the top terrace belonged to Fatty Shi. Some time ago, Fatty Shi's father had come to visit his precious grandson and still couldn't bring himself to leave. How could Lorist bear to deliver such terrible news to them…
A flash of sword light caught Lorist's eye. He narrowed his gaze—that level of swordsmanship had already reached the standard of a first-rank Great Swordmaster. Why was it appearing in Fatty Shi's back garden, especially at this late hour of night…
Could it be that those slave lords had recognized Fatty Shi's identity and, to coerce him into their service, had sent someone infiltrating Granite Castle to kidnap his family? A sense of foreboding rose in Lorist's chest. Without bothering with the stairs, he leapt directly from the terrace, scaling down the castle's outer wall with the agility of an ape, racing toward Fatty Shi's villa on the hillside.
Everything seemed normal—the house showed no sign of disturbance. All Lorist could hear were the soft, regular sounds of sleeping. Occasionally he caught the grinding of teeth and murmuring of Fatty Shi's precious son…
Lorist slipped silently toward the back garden, merging into the dappled shadows beneath the moonlight like a dark wraith without a sound…
The flickering sword light in the back garden belonged to someone practicing alone. The blade moved with fluid grace, its lethal energy restrained but present. Though sword light crisscrossed the space, each pot of flowers in bud or full bloom continued to release its fragrance without a care, as though the cold flashes of steel dancing among the delicate petals were nothing more than phantoms…
The practitioner's precision, accuracy, and control within such a confined space were truly astonishing—and these qualities were precisely what distinguished a Great Swordmaster from a Golden Swordsman.
Lorist stepped out from the shadows of the trees.
The swordsman's senses sharpened instantly. He raised his sword in a defensive posture and called out in a low, cautious voice: "Who's there?"
"It's me." Lorist said flatly.
"Ah… my lord…" The swordsman flinched, hastily sheathing his sword.
"Follow me." Lorist said, turning to walk away.
The swordsman let out a long, vexed breath. Tonight's moonlight had been so beautiful, and he had suddenly been struck by the urge to practice. Who could have guessed the lord would return? He had been keeping his promotion to Great Swordmaster secret from Lorist for some time, but now that the lord had witnessed his practice, his level would surely not escape the man's keen eye. It was over—besides the inevitable punishment, his days of freedom were done. No more playing with his adorable great-grandson. He would be dispatched hither and thither, exhausted from endless errands…
At that same moment, Lorist was cursing inwardly. What the hell! This was utterly unfair! He had never imagined that this cowardly, craven old man—who had even offered up his own granddaughter just to save his skin, and whom Lorist had forced into a ten-year servitude contract—would have silently advanced to Great Swordmaster. What kind of godsdamned luck was this!
This swordsman was none other than Yingjieliek. Years ago, when Lorist had organized the northbound caravan, a clash had broken out with the Slov Slave-Hunting Gang in the port city of Ametlin in the Lorum Duchy. Lorist, wielding his sword alone, had slain two of the gang's Golden Swordsmen. Yingjieliek, despite being a three-star Golden Swordsman, had not stepped forward to fight—instead, he had turned and fled. Lorist had chased him down, stripped him of his battle-qi manuals and secret savings, forced him to hand over his precious granddaughter, and made him sign a ten-year servitude agreement before letting him go.
At the time, it was Yingjieliek who had wounded Fatty Shi, leaving him bandaged up like a rice dumpling. In a moment of mischief, Lorist had paired the old man's granddaughter with Fatty Shi as a maidservant. To his surprise, the two had taken a liking to each other and become a couple. For Fatty Shi's sake, Lorist had let the old man be.
Later, when Lorist had returned from the family fief to meet the northbound caravan, he held a grand ceremony of rewards and promotions in the camp outside Ndegas City in the Andinak Kingdom. He had originally intended to promote the old man to the rank of Family Golden Knight, but Yingjieliek had declined, saying he was content simply to stay by his granddaughter's side. By then, Fatty Shi had already gotten the old man's precious granddaughter pregnant and had sworn that once they returned to the family fiefdom, he would marry her…
Lorist had simply assumed the old man had lived too long and experienced too much to have any ambition left—he just wanted a peaceful life. So he hadn't thought much of it and let the old man off the hook, allowing him to spend his remaining years in peace alongside his granddaughter. Who would have thought this would become a pleasant surprise—the old man had now become the first Great Swordmaster of the family.
This time, Lorist would absolutely not let the old man off. He would squeeze every ounce of usefulness out of him. After all, the old man trembled from the inside out the moment he saw Lorist, like a mouse spotting a cat. What baffled Lorist most was that, with this craven disposition, how on earth had the old man managed to advance to Great Swordmaster?
Back on the castle terrace, Lorist sat with great self-importance in his chair, pouring himself a glass of wine to savor, while making Yingjieliek stand obediently before him.
"Talk. When did you advance to Great Swordmaster?"
"My… my lord, it's been over a year now, a year and a bit…" The old man began to tremble with fear once more.
Lorist asked lazily.
"My lord… you… you weren't here…" The old man's voice quavered.
Hmm… Lorist couldn't remember either. He was always traveling about, so he let the old man's explanation slide. Still, he felt somewhat aggrieved: "Why are you shaking like that? Am I really that terrifying? I'm not going to eat you. Besides, you're a Great Swordmaster yourself now."
"N-no, my lord, I don't even know why. I just get scared whenever I see you."
"Forget it. Yingjieliek, enough with the nonsense. Now that you're a Great Swordmaster, it's time you put your strength to use for the family." Lorist said.
"My lord, please… let me go. I'm already so advanced in years…" the old man pleaded.
"Don't be ridiculous! Don't think I don't know that advancing to Great Swordmaster adds thirty years to your lifespan. You're practically as vigorous as a young man now. The family is facing a grave situation—I won't hide it from you. In a short while, I will lead an expedition to the Hanaiabada Kingdom, because those son-of-a-bitch slave traders attacked our family's territory on the Shilovas Islands, and your precious grandson-in-law has been captured by them…"
"My lord, what did you say?" Now it was the old man's turn to be shocked. The trembling and fear vanished in an instant.
"That's why I said I'll be marching on the Hanaiabada Kingdom soon. I will bring Fatty Shi back. And old man—you'll contribute too. In a while, I'll send you by ship to the Sorrowful Sea to commandeer some vessels. We're still short on ships to transport our forces."
With his precious granddaughter's happiness at stake, the old man no longer dithered. "Very well, my lord. I guarantee I'll secure enough ships."
"Good. You may go now. Keep quiet about Fatty Shi for now—don't tell his wife. When the time comes, I'll notify you." Lorist said.
"Yes, my lord." The old man turned to leave, but at the staircase he remembered something and looked back: "Ah, my lord—how many ships would be enough?"
"Hmm… start with a hundred or so. If that's not enough, we'll need more…" Lorist replied.
"A hundred?!" The old man was so startled that he misstepped, tumbling headlong down the stairs with a tremendous clatter.
Lorist shook his head and muttered, "With that kind of composure, I really can't fathom how he managed to advance to Great Swordmaster…"
…(To be continued.)