It wasn't that there was anything wrong with his body. Rather, Lorist was pondering what exactly that blood-red world was. The day before yesterday afternoon, he had led the family forces to the palace gates and faced the third-rank Great Swordmaster Rossy Garcia. In all fairness, this third-rank Great Swordmaster Rossy Garcia was far inferior to the Gallinan Great Swordmaster who had once come to assassinate Lorist. The Gallinan was known as being half a step from the pinnacle, meaning just one more half-step would make him a Sword Saint. This Rossy Garcia, while still formidable, couldn't be considered truly exceptional, and had been at a disadvantage throughout his clash with Lorist.
However, the old man Rossy Garcia was remarkably tenacious, entangling Lorist for over two hours. During that time, the royal guards of the retreating Haniyabada Kingdom kept launching sneak attacks at Lorist, causing him enormous trouble. Most frustratingly, Rossy Garcia's sword attribute was nearly identical to Lorist's—both carried an icy chill—so the freezing cold from Lorist's swordsmanship had little effect on him. In fact, the colder it got, the better the old man fought.
In the end, Lorist once again entered that blood-red world. Within it, he felt his speed, agility, strength, and physical fitness multiply two- or threefold. The third-rank Great Swordmaster Rossy Garcia couldn't even withstand ten of his strikes before being cut down with a single sword blow. Lorist also dispatched the twenty-odd royal guards who had been constantly sniping at him and causing trouble.
From the platform on the third floor of the royal chambers, King Luther III of the Haniyabada Kingdom witnessed Rossy Garcia's death at Lorist's hands and knew all was lost. With no hope of reversal, he set fire to the palace. At that moment, Lorist had just emerged from the blood-red world, utterly exhausted. When a guard reported that the palace where King Luther III resided was ablaze, he let out two hearty laughs, collapsed to the ground, and fell into a deep sleep.
Now Lorist was pondering what exactly this blood-red world was. He wanted to believe it was a domain, but the descriptions of a Sword Saint's domain didn't quite match this blood-red world. Moreover, he felt his own level hadn't truly reached that of a Sword Saint—he was probably on par with the late Gallinan, or perhaps had reached the state of being half a step from the pinnacle.
The most detailed description of a Sword Saint's domain belonged to the Storm Sword Saint of the Kelia Kingdom, who had once opened his domain for others to experience. Those fortunate enough to enter and observe described the experience as suddenly being caught in a violent storm—the wind howling, rain pouring so hard they couldn't even open their eyes. In such adverse conditions, let alone crossing swords, they couldn't even protect themselves. There was nothing to do but submit helplessly.
Because of this, Lorist had always assumed that if he were to advance to Sword Saint, his domain would be one of ice and snow. The Great Swordmasters who had sparred with him thought the same. But now—what was this blood-red world? He couldn't say it wasn't a domain, because once he entered it, he felt as though everything was under his command. Even a third-rank Great Swordmaster was reduced to someone he could slaughter like a chicken. In this blood-red world, with just a thought, his body could appear wherever he wished—like teleportation. This was unmistakably the feeling of a domain.
What made Lorist uncertain were two things. First, he had never heard of any Sword Saint who wielded two different domains. Second, his swordsmanship performed normally—in his two-plus hours of fighting the third-rank Great Swordmaster Rossy Garcia, they had been evenly matched. This proved he was still far from Sword Saint. A true Sword Saint could have subdued the old man in thirty to fifty moves.
But then Lorist considered that he wasn't cultivating the world's traditional
This blood-red world had to be a domain. Entering it forcibly elevated his power to the Sword Saint level, which was why his body and mind felt so utterly drained upon exiting—exhausted enough that all he wanted was to sleep.
He needed to give this blood-red world a name. What should he call it? Blood Domain? Lorist shook his head. Then he remembered that night of slaughter, standing in the Imperial Guard Corps camp with corpses all around him. Well, since every entry into this blood-red world was accompanied by slaughter, he might as well call it the Slaughter Domain. From now on, he would need to practice and familiarize himself with this domain more. And his cultivation could follow this direction—working to raise his physical attributes until they matched what he felt upon entering the Slaughter Domain.
Having figured out the direction of his future cultivation, Lorist felt much more at ease. He climbed out of bed and called, "Someone come."
The person who entered was
"Hmm? Why is it you? You're injured—you should be resting properly." Lorist was surprised.
"Having returned to my lord's side, I must naturally fulfill my duties," Jim answered seriously.
"Fine, suit yourself. Just don't let it hinder your recovery," Lorist muttered. "Who's in charge out there right now?"
"It's Lord Shrade. After Lord Ross the Fierce Tiger took the royal city and met Lord Shrade, he handed over full authority over the city's affairs to him, taking only responsibility for patrols and security," Jim reported.
"Mm..." Lorist nodded and ordered, "Get me something to eat and drink. I'm starving."
He had barely bitten into two rolls of bread when
"Aren't you here to handle things?" Lorist grabbed a roast chicken.
"Uh..." Fatty Shi gave a bitter smile. "Locke, I used to be genuinely grateful that you risked going alone into the arena to rescue me. Now I've figured it out—you saved me so you could work me to the bone handling all this trivial paperwork!"
Lorist laughed too. "Fatty, weren't you the one who used to love this kind of work the most? How did one stint as a captive change your mind..."
"Ugh..." Fatty Shi heaved a long sigh. "I'd like to request some time off..."
"Why?"
"I keep thinking about those family soldiers who died protecting me in the arena... like Knight Raphat... I'd like to take a long leave to first advance my Combat Force to the Gold rank. If I had been Gold rank from the start, not so many family soldiers would have sacrificed themselves for me. At the very least, that vermin of a Great Swordmaster wouldn't have been able to use me as leverage against Erle. It was my neglect of personal cultivation that caused all that trouble..." Fatty Shi lamented.
"That's not on you. As the family's chief knight, it's the family soldiers' duty to protect you. But you should indeed raise your level. I approve your long leave, but that's for after we return to Northland. Right now, on the Haniyabada Islands, you still need to help me sort out affairs here first," Lorist said.
"Of course. Rest assured, we won't be staying here long. By the end of October or early November, we'll need to return to Shilovas Island," Lorist added.
"So what do you plan to do with the Haniyabada Islands?" Fatty Shi asked.
"Incorporate them under our family's jurisdiction. From now on, this will be our family's overseas territory."
"But our family hasn't received conquest authorization from the Andinak royal family. Locke, this can't become our family's official territory," Fatty Shi reminded.
"That's fine," Lorist waved his hand dismissively. "When I deployed my forces, the
Well, since Lorist was dead set on treating the Haniyabada Islands as the
"Locke, I understand. Here, sign these documents first." Fatty Shi handed over the thick stack of files.
"What are all these?" Lorist asked.
"Requisition lists for provisions and supplies, a roster of soldiers to be rewarded for meritorious service, an inventory of captured goods to be shipped back to Shilovas Island, and requisition forms from the newly formed guard battalions requesting standard equipment, among others..."
Lorist sighed wearily, took the folders, gave them a rough glance, and began signing.
"You're not going to verify them?" Fatty Shi asked.
"If you're bringing them to me to sign, that means you've already verified them. A quick look to get the gist is enough. No need to waste time and energy checking everything again," Lorist replied.
"Fine, thanks for the trust. Actually, I also came to discuss something with you," Fatty Shi said.
"What is it?"
"About the slaves. Right now, over a hundred thousand freed slaves have gathered near the royal city. Apart from the thirty thousand or so under our family forces' command, the rest are slaves freed from the royal estates on the Royal City Plain. They're lingering around the royal city doing nothing, simply consuming our captured grain reserves. Meanwhile, the wheat in the fields on the Royal City Plain has ripened and no one's harvesting it. We can't exactly force them to work. What should we do?"
Fatty Shi was genuinely troubled. On one hand, the wheat in the fields was going unharvested. On the other, over a hundred thousand people were consuming grain reserves without doing any work. Every time he saw grain from the storerooms being distributed to the idle slaves clustering around the royal city, his heart ached. But these slaves had answered the family's call to revolt and had contributed to the family's cause. He couldn't very well deny them food...
"How much wealth did we capture this time?" Lorist didn't answer directly but instead asked another question.
Fatty Shi had organized a slave excavation team that was digging up hidden underground vaults belonging to slave merchants and trading companies. He believed there would be several million more in earnings by month's end.
Additionally, they had sealed three gold vaults in the royal city the day before. The gold coins, silver coins of various sizes, and copper coins within totaled over one million gold Forde. He was confident that after a thorough search of the royal court and the noble district, the haul would increase dramatically. "Locke, our family's funding shortage can be considered resolved. The wealth captured from the Haniyabada Kingdom alone is enough to sustain another ten years of major development."
"Heh heh..." Lorist was pleased. "I always said that robbing a kingdom is the most profitable venture. Of course, the prerequisite is winning at minimal cost. My only regret is that our family's territory is simply too remote. We're surrounded by either paupers or tough nuts to crack. Sometimes I really wish the Mana Hill Plains were our family's territory—surrounded by fat prey like the Trenber Kingdom. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water..."
Fatty Shi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "My lord, we're nobles, not bandits. Please don't say things like that in front of others. Also, you said we conquered the Haniyabada Kingdom because these slave traders and slave-catching squads attacked our family territory, Shilovas Island. Our military response was entirely justified, and the destruction of the Haniyabada Kingdom was a natural consequence. It wasn't because we were short on money that we came to rob them..."
"Mm, I know. That was just a convenient bonus. Everyone understands." Lorist laughed. "Since we've earned this much, we can afford to spend a bit freely. Later, send someone to the slave camps around the royal city to post announcements, calling on those slaves to form harvesting teams and farming teams. We still need to make use of those fields on the Royal City Plain. After harvesting the wheat, we'll plow and sow winter wheat. No matter how large our grain reserves, we can't just sit idle and eat through them."
"Slaves who join the harvesting and farming teams will be provided with food, clothing, and shelter, plus payment. I believe these freed slaves need money as well. Those who work hard can earn a small silver coin per day. I think that price will attract many to join."
"Starting tomorrow, slaves who refuse to work for us will receive nothing but two bowls of wheat porridge a day—no dried meat, no bread. No work, no food. Providing two bowls of porridge to keep them from starving is already extremely merciful. They have no connection to us whatsoever. There's no reason for us to feed them..."
Fatty Shi was dumbfounded. "My lord, that doesn't seem right, does it? When you sent the scout cavalry to incite them to revolt, that's not what you said!"
Lorist shook his head with a smile. "No. At the time, we promised to let them coordinate with us in the revolt to create chaos on the Royal City Plain and lure out the Haniyabada cavalry for our scout light cavalry to ambush and destroy. What did we promise those royal estate slaves? Freedom. Now they're free to go wherever they want, and no one treats them as slaves anymore. We've fulfilled our promise. But that doesn't mean we have to feed them for life. That's none of our business—understood?"
"If these freed slaves are willing to trade their labor for pay, we welcome it. The family needs hardworking people who want to improve their lives through diligent effort, not a bunch of lazy freeloaders. And if they dare to oppose us, I won't hesitate to show them the Norton Family's power and the Roar of the Fury Bear!"
"Oh, and give them something to aspire to. When the family forces expand in the future, we'll select recruits from among the slaves who serve us—not just anyone who happens to be strong or tall."
Fatty Shi had grased the meaning behind Lorist's words and nodded. "My lord, I understand."
"Mm. The entire Haniyabada Islands have over four hundred thousand slaves, most of whom are able-bodied young men and women without family obligations. Used well, they will greatly strengthen our Norton Family. Used poorly, they'll become a considerable burden. My plan is to keep between a hundred to two hundred thousand slaves on the Haniyabada Islands. We'll distribute farmland and build houses for them, letting them settle down, start families, and become our family's serfs."
"Additionally, we'll conscript ten battalions of soldiers. Combined with the ten battalions formed at Nubit Port, that gives us over sixty thousand troops—just enough to make up for our family forces' shortfall. Troubled times are here, and we must have the means to protect ourselves. The remaining slaves, except those who wish to return to their hometowns, will all be relocated to Shilovas Island to carry out development and settle as permanent residents. That's roughly the arrangement. What do you think?" Lorist asked.
"It's a very well-considered plan, my lord," Fatty Shi replied.
...(To be continued.)