So when
"I know, but we should at least give them some face," Fatty Shi replied with a grin. "Actually, Count Kett's protest document is surprisingly well-written. I didn't know he had such literary talent. He spent days crafting it—it's well-reasoned and well-argued, and he was careful not to directly accuse our family, instead using plenty of coded language… It's a pity Your Highness didn't care and just tossed it in the wastebasket…"
"If you want it, fish it out of the wastebasket yourself. I couldn't care less about his talent. No matter how gifted someone is, if they can't serve our family, it's all wasted." Lorist said, "Your arrangements didn't run into any problems, right? How much did we squeeze out of the Commercial Alliance this time?"
"No problems. The grain warehouse base outside the east gate has been converted into a resettlement area for those inner-city residents released from the dock prison camp. Count Kett has already had no choice but to sign an agreement with our family, commissioning us to transport these inner-city residents. He paid another 250,000 gold Forde and also had us provide the freed inner-city residents with potatoes and other coarse grains to keep them fed.
Count Kett should actually be thanking us for releasing the prisoners in batches. The first batch was over three thousand, the second over two thousand, the third over eight thousand—just these ten thousand-plus people kept him scrambling. If we'd released all one hundred thousand prisoners at once, it would have caused absolute chaos. He complained that we're only releasing the inner-city residents who've lost their wealth, but he fails to consider that if those people were let out with their personal belongings and without our supervision, plenty of them would end up dead.
So far, the Commercial Alliance has paid over 6.3 million gold Forde in ransoms and other fees for all the captured personnel. Count Kett complained that this exceeded their budget by more than double and even mocked our
Manager Spell is personally overseeing the dock prison camp now. Ever since Lord Tagel secretly spread the word in the camp that only those who spent every last coin they had on them would be the first to gain freedom through the Commercial Alliance's ransom, spending in the prison camp skyrocketed. At the same time, Lord Tagel spread two more pieces of information: first, that even if these people took their money out, the Commercial Alliance would confiscate it; and second, that anyone who won red chips at the casino would earn their freedom, and the Norton family's armed forces would protect both them and their private property. As a result, both casinos in the prison camp have been packed beyond capacity these past few days.
According to the reports from the prison camp, our family has taken in nearly three million gold Forde in just these ten-some days. Manager Spell was so delighted he couldn't stop grinning—he said that this prison camp of over a hundred thousand people alone could bring in nearly ten million gold Forde for our family. On top of that, Lord Tagel plans to put on another show at the docks in the next couple of days. He's gathered nearly two thousand outer-city residents and prepared over twenty buckets of cattle and sheep blood for a grand performance of our family's forces crushing a civilian riot. First, to frighten the stubborn old-timers in the prison camp and show them just how dangerous Morant City has become. Second, to let Count Kett and the Commercial Alliance know through these released residents that our Norton family forces have sunk exactly as deep into the Morant City quagmire as they'd hoped…"
Fatty Shi's report had Lorist roaring with laughter. The whole thing had started with two prisoners whom Ledos, the boss of an outer-city gang, had delivered as gifts—Mennato, the chief steward of the Livode Trading Company, and Pinkov, the Gold-rank swordsman. Once those two fell into Tagel's hands, they hadn't lasted two days before spilling everything about the Commercial Alliance's plan to incite a riot in Morant City.
When Lorist read the report, he figured he might as well have some fun. Since this chief steward and that Gold-rank swordsman were the operation's top coordinators, he decided to let them continue feeding intelligence and messages back to the Commercial Alliance, requesting reinforcements and the like. Lorist's thinking was simple—he just wanted the Commercial Alliance to send a few people over for his third disciple Genorio to practice against. This disciple of his had excellent character, but the one thing that displeased Lorist was his lack of competitive spirit. Genorio didn't care for fighting at all—even his sparring matches with the guards usually ended in draws.
He was deeply cherished by Lorist. The third disciple, Genorio, was a tall young man—lean, well-built, with swordsmanship and
Sometimes Lorist wondered how Sembawood, a pirate, could have produced such a good-natured son. The old pirate had roamed the seas, robbing and killing without scruple, and many family knights were ashamed to associate with him. Yet his eldest son was beloved by nearly everyone, thanks to his kind nature, his mild temperament, and his honest and straightforward character that made it impossible to dislike him. His only fault was that he didn't like fighting.
Sending Genorio to charge into battle on the front lines—well, the chances of him dying would far outweigh the chances of survival. Even Lorist, a Sword Saint himself, couldn't guarantee that Genorio would be safe even with him standing right beside him. Sparring with the guards had already lost its meaning, because Genorio's temperament was one of neither arrogance in victory nor dejection in defeat—he simply didn't care much about winning or losing. That was why Lorist had set his sights on the Commercial Alliance, hoping that their sent fighters could serve as test-cutting dummies for Genorio. It might help his disciple gain some insight, because these sparring partners would be fighting for real with their lives on the line, and Genorio would have to see blood if he wanted to stay alive.
But what Lorist hadn't expected was that his little idea, once in the hands of Fatty Shi and Tagel, had snowballed into a grand plan. If you're going to deceive, deceive completely—make the Commercial Alliance believe that the Norton family's forces had sunk deep into the Morant City quagmire. On one hand, this bought time for the newly established Morant City Autonomous Committee to get through its initial period of managerial adjustment and firmly secure control of Morant City. On the other, it would mislead the Commercial Alliance's judgment, allowing the family to wait for the opportune moment on the battlefield to deliver a fatal blow.
"Go ahead and do what you need to do," Lorist said with a smile. "What Morant City needs most is time. Let the Commercial Alliance believe that our Norton family forces are fighting the million residents of Morant City to a mutual bloodbath—a pyrrhic stalemate. Then, when they deploy troops to pick up the scraps, we'll slap them hard across the face. In half a year, once the Morant City Autonomous Committee has found its footing, we can have them establish a new commercial alliance—or maybe call it the Free Alliance. I'd love to see where the Commercial Alliance puts their face then. With their stronghold gone, would they still have the nerve to call themselves the Commercial Alliance? After that, it'll be our Norton family forces helping the Free Alliance resist the Commercial Alliance's invasion of the Mana Hill Plains. I'm sure plenty of people will be dropping their jaws…"
"I can guarantee the Commercial Alliance will be drowning in regret. If they'd known it would come to this, they would have signed a ceasefire agreement with Your Highness right away and established peace between the two nations. Your Highness's plan, honestly, is vicious beyond words. This isn't just a bait-and-switch—it's uprooting the Commercial Alliance's very foundations!" Fatty Shi exclaimed.
Lorist shook his head. "They brought it on themselves. They wanted to enjoy the prestige of territorial nobility while still raking in money the way they always had. The world doesn't work like that. The old Commercial Alliance could only develop within the Mana Hill Plains and Morant City, which is why all the trading companies were able to unite against outside threats. But after these merchants instituted the baronet system within the Commercial Alliance, everything changed. People are selfish—once each trading company had its own territory, they naturally funneled all their resources into developing their own holdings. Morant City's decline to its current state can be laid squarely at the feet of these trading companies. The old Grand Duke of Morant, if he knew the Commercial Alliance had developed into this, would probably have been so furious he'd have crawled out of his coffin. All we need to do is kick these trading companies out and restore Morant City to what it once was."
"Your Highness, you're absolutely right," Fatty Shi said, flattering him for a moment before asking with a cheeky grin, "Oh, by the way—has any new news come from the capital these past two days?"
As a perennial opponent of the Second Prince, Fatty Shi was also very interested in the question of His Majesty the King's hat color. After hearing the news that the queen was seven months along, Fatty Shi had been gleefully waiting to see the Second Prince and the Fisablen family go at each other's throats…
"No new news. The latest from three days ago was that they'd caught the adulterer, but we still can't find out the details about him. Apparently, the Royal Guard Corps imposed martial law in the capital, strictly forbidding anyone from discussing the queen's pregnancy. The most laughable part is that when the news first broke about the queen being pregnant, there were plenty of fools who, without understanding the situation at all, hung lanterns and celebrated the great king's succession being secured. It was practically a slap in His Majesty's face…"
Lorist and Fatty Shi both laughed rather uncharitably. In the midst of years of warfare, a piece of royal gossip that delighted the masses had suddenly dropped into their laps—it was quite refreshing.
Tagel hurried in. "Your Highness, new news from the capital…"
"Read it quickly," Fatty Shi urged.
"Yes. The queen's lover's identity has been confirmed. He's the vice commander of the Royal Palace Guard, named Veksas. Twenty-seven years old, Silver rank, two stars…"
"Hmm? Veksas, only Silver two-star at twenty-seven? Which family does he belong to? How did he become vice commander of the Royal Palace Guard?"
The Commercial Alliance's Great Swordmaster had mistakenly believed Lorist was recuperating in the palace and launched a surprise raid on it; the Andinak Kingdom lost a Great Swordmaster in the battle. Upon learning the news, the Second Prince had been furious and reinforced the palace defenses—the nearly three hundred Royal Palace Guards all possessed Silver-rank Combat Force.
"Your Highness, this Veksas doesn't come from a noble family," Tagel said, reading from the thin strip of gray silk in his hands. "The letter says he was only a Knight Aspirant. His adoptive father was a royal knight who had served the king for many years and only retired due to old age…"
Tagel's eyes suddenly went wide, and his speech became halting. "Y-Your Highness… the letter says… says that this V-Veksas is actually… actually His Majesty the King's… illegitimate son…"
"What did you say?" Lorist snatched the silk strip from Tagel's hands and spread it on the table. This time, Fatty Shi abandoned all pretense of rank and etiquette, squeezing in beside Lorist to read along.
The letter's claims were true. The rumor that this Knight Veksas was actually the Second Prince's illegitimate son had been circulating in the capital for some time, though it had never been confirmed by anyone involved. After the queen's pregnancy scandal erupted, Veksas—the queen's lover—naturally had been arrested. Strangely, the Second Prince had arrested Veksas but then left him entirely alone without any punishment, which only fueled the rumors in the capital's gossip circles that Veksas was the king's illegitimate son.
The head of the Norton family's spy network stationed in the capital was truly a dedicated and capable operative. To confirm this intelligence, he tracked down an old servant who had attended the Second Prince since childhood but had been left behind due to illness when the Second Prince was granted the fief of Xilowas Island. After paying a handsome sum, he finally extracted a piece of information from the old servant: when the Second Prince was seventeen, he had secretly been involved with one of his father's young handmaidens. The handmaiden later gave birth to a child, but both she and the child soon disappeared, never to be seen again. As such, it couldn't be confirmed whether this Veksas was the Second Prince's illegitimate son, though the age matched—it had been twenty-seven years since then.
Holy hell, this just kept getting better. The Second Prince had fathered a child with his own father's young handmaiden, and now his illegitimate son had gone even further—sleeping with his stepmother and getting her pregnant. Each generation was more outrageous than the last…
"Tagel, send a messenger hawk to the Grassland Province and ask my cousin Krissia whether she knows anything about this—confirm whether this Veksas is truly the king's illegitimate son…" If anyone would know the Second Prince's private affairs, it would certainly be his cousin Krissia, who had maintained the closest intimate relationship with the Second Prince for nearly twenty years.
"Yes, Your Highness," Tagel replied.
…