"Now this is what I call living!"
At that moment, he was in the third-floor study of the central castle keep in Wrathbear City. The gentle November sunlight poured through the large windows, warming him comfortably as he reclined in a chaise lounge, a hint of drowsiness stealing over him. Mm — last night he had spent half the night tangled up with Sylvia and four concubines under the same blanket, and then that precious son of his had woken him bright and early with his wailing. Now, basking in the sunlight, he was starting to feel sleepy.
But
"Hey, hey, hey, Your Highness — you've been back resting for five or six days now. It's time to take care of some real business..." Fatty Shi complained. He couldn't stand seeing Lorist so relaxed. Every time he thought about how he himself had been run ragged while Lorist lounged in the sun, his sense of fairness took a hit.
Lorist sighed and got to his feet. But when he saw the stacks upon stacks of documents that Fatty Shi and his three attendants were carrying, he couldn't help but groan: "You can't be serious — how are there this many documents?"
Fatty Shi directed the three attendants to set the documents on the desk and sent them on their way. Meanwhile, he ordered Jenolio, who was standing nearby, to bring him a bottle of fruit wine. He also told the kitchen steward to prepare a fine meal at noon and send it directly to the study — he would be working here today.
"This many documents is a lot?" Fatty Shi said discontentedly. "Go take a look at my office sometime — see if there's even room to set foot. It's packed solid. These documents here are summaries of all affairs over the past two years, and I've already handled most of them. Now you just need to review and sign off so I can file all the execution documents in the archive room."
This was the
But Lorist processed these documents quickly, signing and stamping after barely skimming each page. As the Norton family's chief knight, Fatty Shi had handled these matters very competently, and Lorist approved of his solutions. A few documents that caught Lorist's particular interest were set aside for closer examination later, along with questions for Fatty Shi about the details. The large stack on the desk was soon dealt with, but three more equally massive stacks remained.
"Oh right, Your Highness — has Schwade returned yet?" Seeing Lorist stretch and pause, Fatty Shi, who was savoring his fruit wine, asked.
"Not yet. Reidi went to pick him up — he should be back in a day or two." The two-year secluded cultivation period had long since ended, but reportedly Schwade had gained insights during his training and was still honing his swordsmanship at the mountains behind Rockstone Castle. After Lorist returned to the family's domain, Reidi had been dispatched to Rockstone Castle to bring Schwade back.
"When Schwade returns, do you plan to have him take over the Guard Battalion?"
"Mm." Lorist nodded. "But the most important thing is to get him married first. Before I came back, Duke
"Did Duke Filim say what the dowry would be?" Fatty Shi asked with great interest. "He's been promoted to Duke now — I imagine his daughter's dowry won't be anything shabby. At the very least, it needs to be presentable."
Lorist shook his head with a smile: "You know the Filim family's situation. The entire Southern Province has become their domain. Duke Filim would gladly break a single gold Forde in half to make it stretch. The Southern Province is destitute — relying solely on the income from his original family holdings to support the entire province's development is genuinely difficult. So the material dowry for his daughter Katarina isn't much, but he plans to consolidate the entire Podorichi Mountain region into a single Viscount's fief and give it to his daughter as a dowry. The catch is that developing this viscountcy will require my help."
Fatty Shi clicked his tongue in admiration: "Now that's quite the grand gesture from Duke Filim. The Podorichi Mountain region accounts for nearly a tenth of the entire Southern Province's area — that dowry is going to leave people stunned. That kid Schwade sure has good luck, getting a viscount's fief without even being knighted yet."
Lorist nodded: "Actually, this was a last resort. Before we left, the
"None of his damn business," Fatty Shi muttered under his breath, displeased.
"Words carry weight," Lorist said. "After all, the Southern Province is now Filim family territory. We deployed the Rockstone Legion on the Eastern Wastes border to guard against the Fisablen family and to help Duke Filim. But others don't see it that way — they'd say the Norton family is using military force to oppress the Filim family and seize the Southern Province's revenue."
"So I plan to hand over the Southern Province border defense line to the Filim family's newly formed Garrison Legion and withdraw the Rockstone Legion. And Duke Filim's plan to consolidate the Podorichi Mountain region as his daughter's dowry neatly solves this problem. We deploy the Flying Tiger Legion at Podorichi Mountain, and they can watch over and support the Southern Province border defense line, responding immediately to any Fisablen family movements."
Lorist continued: "If we pull the Rockstone Legion back, I'd bet the first person to lose sleep would be Duke Filim. He has no confidence in repelling a surprise raid by the Fisablen Grand Duke's border patrol cavalry corps."
"There's no way around it. The Second Prince is currently stationed in Hans City, consolidating the eleven provinces he recently acquired. He'll certainly use the Fisablen family to keep us four Northern families in check. Demanding that we withdraw the Rockstone Legion is simply preparing to leave the Southern Province border open. And Duke Filim has no interest in letting his family's Southern Province become a convenient thoroughfare between the Second Prince and the Grand Duke of Fisablen. So consolidating the Podorichi Mountain region into a viscountcy as his daughter's dowry is his way of ensuring we don't withdraw our troops — that we continue staying in the Southern Province to help his family guard against the Fisablen threat." Lorist analyzed.
"Do you think the Fisablen Grand Duke will send troops into the Southern Province again?" Fatty Shi asked.
"No. He's an old fox — he understands the current situation perfectly. Right now, he'll just stay within his own domain building strength. There's no way he'd stir up another war. The momentum is gone — the Iblia Kingdom is history. No matter how he dreams, he can't fantasize about dominating the northeastern region. On one side is our Northern alliance of four families, on the other is the Second Prince with his eleven newly acquired provinces. If he harbors any delusional ambitions, he'll drag the entire Fisablen family into the abyss."
"Then we can breathe easy for a few years of peace," Fatty Shi said.
"Yes. The question now is when the Second Prince will start causing trouble again." Lorist nodded, then remembered something. He turned and picked up a document from the desk that he had set aside earlier: "Oh right — this document says the standard-issue steel crossbows for the Hunter Cavalry Legion have entered mass production and been distributed. How are they performing?"
"Excellently." Fatty Shi's spirits immediately perked up. "Your Highness, you have no idea — Master Side's steel crossbows this time are practically personal-range siege weapons. They can fire with precision at a hundred and twenty meters, and the force is tremendous. Most importantly, they can be cocked easily while mounted. He says he borrowed from the lever-action cocking mechanism you proposed — a lever handle is attached to the crossbow body. After firing, you brace the crossbow against your shoulder, pull the lever, and it's cocked."
"Jost is absolutely in love with them. He's been pushing the Hunter Cavalry Legion soldiers hard to familiarize themselves with the steel crossbows and train in a technique called mounted line shooting. He says once that training is complete, the Hunter Cavalry Legion's combat power will increase several times over, delivering attacks like a storm of steel upon the enemy. The Hunter Cavalry Legion will become their worst nightmare."
"Is that so? I'll have to go see their training in a few days." Lorist set down the document and picked up another: "This is this year's New Year Celebration budget. Does it really need to cost this much?"
"Your Highness, don't forget — our family hasn't held a New Year Celebration in two years. This year, Princess Sylvia gave birth to a legitimate heir, and you've returned victorious from campaign. How could we not host a grand New Year Celebration? Besides, every knight of Commander rank and above will attend, along with Duke Kimmeth, Duke Filim, Duke Shahin, and all the nobles whose domains fall under our jurisdiction. The preliminary estimate is at least a thousand people. If our celebration's quality and expenditure are too low, it's the Norton family's prestige that takes the hit."
Fair enough — Fatty Shi had a point. Lorist reluctantly tossed the New Year budget document back onto the desk, muttering: "I just think this spending is pure waste — over seventy thousand gold Forde for seven days..."
That was just Lorist's nature. He would spend lavishly on military equipment and domain development without batting an eye, but he detested expenditures made purely for aristocratic face. Fatty Shi said, unconcerned: "Your Highness, this is an indispensable expense. For our subjects and the attending nobles alike, the more we spend and the more lavish the banquet, the more they'll believe in our family's strength — which makes it all the easier for us to govern them."
Lorist nodded and picked up yet another document: "What's the deal with this Supervisor Hanske? The Northland's road construction costs are through the roof — this much was disbursed?"
"Your Highness, I've already sent people to look into it and carefully reviewed the expenditure ledgers. The main problem is excessive rework. Those mountain barbarian laborers assigned to road construction have been very unruly — they've caused all sorts of incidents, delayed the entire project's progress, and pushed the schedule back. Not only has the budget overrun by half, but the originally planned three-year completion period will be stretched to four..." Fatty Shi answered.
"Then what has Supervisor Hanske been doing? Hasn't he punished those mountain barbarian laborers at all?" Lorist asked with a frown.
"Your Highness," Fatty Shi took a deep breath, "the truth is, these mountain barbarian laborer problems were all caused by Supervisor Hanske himself. He wanted to accelerate the schedule, so he extended the laborers' working hours and simultaneously cut their most basic benefits. This pushed the mountain barbarians' resentment to the breaking point. Then Supervisor Hanske employed even harsher punitive measures, which ultimately triggered a laborer revolt. Although the Imperial Guard Corps suppressed it, everyone was shaken after that, and the mountain barbarians have been dragging their feet ever since..."
"Why didn't I know about any of this?"
"You were about to return anyway, so we were waiting for you to handle it."
Lorist nodded — Fatty Shi had done the right thing. Tagel's Vollerbell Intelligence Bureau certainly had a file on the Supervisor Hanske matter, but Tagel had gone to
Lorist pulled the bell cord by the wall, and Jenolio entered from outside the study.
"Jenolio, go to the Vollerbell Intelligence Bureau and bring back all their intelligence on the Commercial Alliance and Central-Southern Kingdom army's situation, as well as the file on Supervisor Hanske," Lorist ordered.
"Yes, Your Highness."
"If I remove Supervisor Hanske from his position, who do you think could replace him to complete the Northland's road and transport infrastructure work?" Lorist asked.
Fatty Shi thought for a moment: "Your Highness, I believe the key to this project lies in those mountain barbarian laborers. Mountain barbarians have always been wild and untamed — harder to manage than the prisoner laborers we've captured in the past. You need both carrot and stick to make them obey. I believe Supervisor Kodan would be a very suitable choice."
Lorist considered this for a moment, then nodded: "Mm, I'll think about it."
"There's one more matter that needs immediate attention, Your Highness." Fatty Shi stood up and searched through the three remaining unprocessed stacks for a blue folder: "Your Highness, this is the list of those who need noble rank promotions this year. Take a look. If you confirm the names, I'll need to arrange their fief assignments and prepare all the necessary documentation."
Lorist opened the folder, looked over the list, nodded, and picked up a pen to add a name: Reidi.
"Your Highness, Reidi hasn't been promoted to
"Heh heh..." Lorist chuckled. "He'll never get promoted that way, but his current level is already comparable to a first-rank Sword Saint."
Fatty Shi slapped his forehead in vexation — how could he have forgotten? Reidi was Lorist's eldest disciple, and he practiced that Eastern warrior monk cultivation technique. Like Lorist, he was a wolf in sheep's clothing. Fatty Shi laughed too: "I understand."
...