"Your Lordship, it's still half an hour's ride. There's a stream up ahead, and past the stream, around the woods, you'll find Wolf Valley — that's Baron Dina's fief. There's a small hill in the middle of the valley, and the baronial castle sits on that hill, connected to a village..."
The guard reporting to
Lorist nodded. "Let's move. Once we reach the barony, we'll get some proper food and rest properly. This weather — rain comes and goes in an instant. The mountain paths are slippery, so everyone be careful."
July weather brought frequent thunderstorms. Lorist had just been caught in one — it changed without warning, poured hard and cleared fast. Most of the guards hadn't even pulled out their rain cloaks before they were soaked like drowned rats, and by the time they got them on, the rain had stopped. A pointless ordeal.
This was a mountain path. Though the road was wide, the recent rain had turned the ground to a muddy mess of yellow mountain clay. Hooves sank in and came up trailing great clumps of mud, so they could only walk slowly now — no more galloping. The wheels of the two carriages were equally caked in thick layers of yellow mud, making them suddenly feel terribly heavy.
Lorist had come this way to take those two girls and their young aunt away from Baron Dina's fief. Two years ago, he had attended the Paradise Revels in the imperial capital and met that girl named Aridoli Dina. He had also spent a passionate night with her aunt, who went by the alias Tracey. He remembered the girl saying she liked Lorist very much and wouldn't attend the Revels anymore — she would go home and wait three years for Lorist. If he was willing to marry her, she would bring her sister along and they would both wed him.
Last year, Lorist had sent El on his behalf with a thousand gold Forde and a batch of gifts. When El returned, he told Lorist that the girl had been devastated to learn Lorist was a Count. She and her sister held no titles, which meant they couldn't marry Lorist properly. At best, they could only serve as concubines. That was something the girl refused — she had originally believed Lorist was only a knight, in which case she and her sister could become knights' wives. If Lorist did well and was promoted to baron, they would become baronesses...
Lorist hadn't wanted to pressure the girl. But the situation in the Andinak Kingdom wasn't looking good. The girl's family lands bordered the Redlis Kingdom's northwestern region. If the
They rounded the woods, and the view opened up. Ahead lay a valley that gradually sloped downward, with cultivated fields spreading across the foothills. Several streams wound through the plots of farmland, and in the distance stood a small hill crowned by a modest castle. Beside the castle was a village enclosed by a palisade wall of raw logs. That was Baron Dina's fief.
"Your Lordship, it looks like Baron Dina's fief is under siege," Reidi said, lowering his spyglass.
"Hmm?" Lorist took the spyglass and held it to his eye. It was true — at the base of the distant castle hill, a motley collection of makeshift camps had been set up, blocking the castle's front approach. On the open ground before the castle, several mounted men were shouting up at the walls. And on the castle walls... through Lorist's spyglass, he spotted a slight young girl wearing a brass-colored half-armor, brandishing a long sword with remarkable spirit as she stood on the battlements trading insults with the riders below.
"Heh—" Lorist laughed. The girl on the walls was Aridoli herself. He hadn't expected this girl to have such a fierce side — taking the field in person. The problem was, she was so petite, yet she was wielding a two-handed greatsword a meter and a half long. The sight was almost comical.
"Your Lordship, it looks like some sort of territorial dispute between nobles. Look — there are only four or five hundred people in that camp below, and they're armed with farming tools and wooden sticks. Seeing this really makes it feel like child's play," Reidi remarked with a sigh, still peering through his spyglass.
Lorist looked back. This time he had brought over two hundred light cavalry guards and two four-wheeled carriages.
"Reidi, take the guards and lift the siege. Scatter that camp and capture those mounted men up front. And tell everyone not to kill — those are just farmers conscripted by their lord. Take as many alive as you can." Lorist issued the order casually. Those people ahead weren't even worth his personal effort.
"Yes, Your Lordship." Reidi acknowledged and issued a few crisp commands.
The guards dismounted to clean the mud from their horses' hooves, adjusted their gear, and remounted to await the charge order.
Reidi raised his hand, and the guards began trotting forward. They were still at a distance and didn't need to charge immediately — otherwise, their mounts would be exhausted by the time they reached the camp. As the formation advanced, the two squadron leaders barked commands and the two hundred guards split into four squadrons of fifty. With the camp now barely three hundred meters ahead, Reidi appeared at the front. With a sharp "Hyah!" he spurred his horse into a gallop.
The people in the camp had spotted the incoming light cavalry. The girl on the castle walls and several guards wore expressions of stunned disbelief. The mounted men before the castle frantically wheeled their horses around to flee, waving their arms and shouting.
Reidi didn't cut. Instead, he used the flat of his blade to smack a gaping, frozen giant who was watching the cavalry charge straight at him. The man flew three meters through the air and crashed face-down on the ground, unconscious. He had Reidi to thank — if Reidi hadn't used a controlled force to send him flying, a direct hit from a galloping horse could have killed him.
Once the cavalry crashed into the camp, the small-scale skirmish was over. The mounted leaders hadn't required much effort from Reidi — one sword-strike apiece sent them all sprawling. Reidi wielded a heavy sword; despite its single-handed design, it weighed twice as much as a two-handed greatsword. It took his prodigious strength alone to wield such a heavy weapon as lightly as an embroidery needle.
The moment the mounted men fell, the farmers in the camp surrendered en masse. Another ten or so wearing leather armor and carrying swords and shields took one look at the situation, promptly dropped their weapons, and held both hands high in obedient compliance with the guards' orders.
The girl on the castle walls suddenly cheered. She must have recognized the standardized armor on the guards as friendly. El had been here once last year, and the girl had surely come to know that this armor was
When Lorist rode up to the camp with ten guards and the two carriages, the girl had already lowered the drawbridge and come out with five or six armed guards. She was speaking with Reidi, who was watching over the captured riders.
One of the prisoners face-down on the ground was shouting about treachery, sneak attacks, declaring war without honor, and a lack of knightly virtue. Before Reidi could even respond, the girl pointed at him and hurled a sharp rebuke. The guards behind her swarmed forward and began using their fists and boots to teach the noble lord on the ground what knightly honor really meant — the girl even snuck in a few kicks of her own...
Lorist watched with a bead of sweat on his brow. He truly hadn't expected the girl who had once been so delicate in his arms to have such tomboyish energy. He rode up, leaped down from his horse, and flashed a broad grin at her. "Hey — should I call you Tracey or Aridoli?"
The girl froze. She stared at Lorist, and her eyes slowly reddened. She dropped the greatsword she'd been dragging, then threw herself at him, hammering his chest with her fists. "You only just remembered to come see us now, you scoundrel..."
Lorist laughingly caught her small fists. "I'm sorry. I really have been busy — I couldn't find the time. That's why I sent my subordinate last year to check on you. This year, I've only now had the chance, so here I am."
The girl remembered something and pouted. "You lied to me! You said you were a knight. Your subordinate already told me you're a Count! So why did you even come..."
"There's a silly girl who said she'd wait three years for me. I couldn't stop worrying, so I came to take her away." Lorist gently stroked the girl's brown hair.
"Hmph!" The girl tossed her head with a haughty air, dodging his hand. "You're a noble and distinguished Count, while we're just a baron's sisters. In your eyes, we're no different from village girls. You'd never marry us properly — so why take us away? Make us your concubines? I'll never agree..."
Lorist simply smiled at her. "Alright, enough. Let's sort out this mess first. What on earth is going on here? Who are those people? Why were they attacking your castle?"
The truth came out quickly. Baron Dina's fief actually occupied only half of the valley. The other half belonged to an old man lying face-down on the ground — Baron Andrew's territory. When the Second Prince had marched on the Redlis Kingdom, Baron Andrew's two sons had both joined his forces. The elder son, Pritchet — the foul-mouthed one who'd gotten a beating — had participated in the Second Prince's surprise attack on the Fedliga royal capital. He'd survived the harrowing crossing of the great snow mountains of the Cloudsever Range, though he'd been frozen half to death. After capturing the royal capital, the Second Prince had formally granted all the noble scions who followed him and rendered great service the rank of Royal Knight.
Later, when the soldiers of Campana Province surrendered to the Second Prince, this newly minted Royal Knight was escorted home by his younger brother to recover from his wounds. He was fortunate enough to avoid the Second Prince's subsequent defeat and entrapment. Half a year later, mostly healed, the two brothers had been thoroughly frightened by the Second Prince's ruthlessness. Unwilling to return to the front lines in his service, they hid at home, using their unfinished recovery as an excuse to live in leisure.
Baron Andrew's fief was roughly the same size as Baron Dina's, and both were impoverished landed nobles with a history of good relations and mutual support. Now that Baron Andrew saw his eldest son elevated to Royal Knight, he felt he had a powerful backer. His ambitions stirred, and he set his sights on Baron Dina's fief.
The old man's scheme was quite elaborate. He wanted to form a marriage alliance with the Dina family. He had two sons; Baron Dina had two daughters. His own wife had died early, and conveniently, Baron Dina's dead lord had a widowed sister — a real beauty, only about thirty years old. Just the thought of her made his mouth water. He'd marry them all off in one stroke — father and sons all becoming bridegrooms. As for that ten-year-old Dina boy, he could just take him as an adopted son and swallow up Baron Dina's fief entirely...
All the household servants were watching from the sidelines. The grudge had grown deep — they swore they wouldn't rest until it was settled.
The humiliated old man returned home and rallied the farmers and servants of his fief, gathering four or five hundred men, and declared war on Baron Dina's fief. Well then — Baron Andrew had twelve garrison soldiers, while Baron Dina's fief had eight. Baron Andrew's combat force was at
In manpower, Baron Andrew held the advantage. His fief's farmers, recruited drifters, and servants numbered over four hundred, while Baron Dina's fief had only two hundred-odd able-bodied men and women — half the enemy's force. But with a castle to defend behind them, the balance was restored.
This war had been going on for a month and seven days. Casualties on both sides... well, fewer than ten people injured in total, with not a single death. The worst injury was suffered by an unfortunate fellow who got stepped on by his own master — Pritchet's beloved horse — breaking two ribs. As for siege tactics... they relied on shouting matches. Baron Andrew and his two sons would hurl insults from below the castle, while the eldest Dina daughter would shout back from above. It was basically "Come out here if you've got the guts!" from below, and "Come up here if you've got the guts!" from above...
Well, this war truly was rather childish. No wonder Reidi, who had witnessed real battles, felt they were playing make-believe.
"What do you think we should do with them, Ali? Why don't we just hang them all?" Lorist had been feeling short-tempered lately — when something rubbed him the wrong way, his instinct was to eliminate it.
The three prisoners were terrified. Why did this man jump to executions so easily? They were nobles! Nobles were exempt from death in wartime — especially the nobles of a kingdom. As long as they weren't killed on the spot, territorial disputes could always be resolved through ransom. How could this man disregard the rules?
"I — I'm a Royal Knight! A knight of His Majesty the King! How — how dare you kill me..." The bruised and swollen Pritchet was still putting on a brave face.
"Oh, a Royal Knight doesn't amount to much. I once killed one of the Second Prince's viscounts right to his face, and then that viscount's brother — a Count — came seeking revenge with ten thousand men. I killed him too. There were quite a few Royal Knights among those I killed as well — I can't even remember how many. And the Second Prince didn't do a thing about it..." Lorist said it as casually as discussing the weather.
"You — you're that Norton... Count Norton? The Angry Bear of the Northland..." Pritchet's face drained of color. The affair of Viscount Yasilan and Count Yasilan was taboo before His Majesty the King — no one dared mention it openly. But within the military, the story had spread far and wide. Pritchet, serving under the Second Prince, had heard countless versions of Count Norton's clash with the Yasilan brothers during idle conversations.
"Ali, please spare us. When we were children, you were the big sister to us two brothers." Pritchet, having participated in the surprise attack on Fedliga with the Second Prince, had some awareness of the situation and immediately shifted his plea to the girl.
"I spit on you! Now you remember our childhood? You and your brothers have been awfully smug these past few days. You even wanted me to be your wife—" The girl spat right in his face.
"But Ali, I really do love you! It's you who always looked down on us two brothers. So when my father suggested it, I agreed. If nothing else, at least winning the battle would have fulfilled my wish..." Pritchet said, full of regret.
The girl fell silent, then her expression turned melancholy. She looked up at Lorist and said, "Forget it. Let them go. It's really just... pointless."
Lorist waved his hand, and a few guards returned Baron Andrew and his sons' weapons and horses. Honestly, the guards hadn't even considered such items worth keeping.
"Ali, am I... am I really never going to see you again?" Pritchet led his horse a few steps toward the edge of the camp, then turned back to ask.
The girl ignored him, taking Lorist's hand and leading him toward the castle.
...(To be continued.)