Chapter 553: Knight Wickesas

There's a saying that goes "idle enough to die, busy enough to keel over." Lorist felt that he was currently far too idle for his own good. Over the past two months, the Norton Family's armed forces had seized four provinces from the Commercial Alliance and stirred up storms across the Galentea Continent — four nations restored, mutual aid and friendship agreements signed with sixteen countries in the central and southern regions, the Qigeda Kingdom gaining independence, and the Mayflower Commerce Association breaking away from the Commercial Alliance to form its own kingdom. This series of events, each worthy of being etched into the history of the Galentea Continent, had nothing to do with Lorist. He felt like he was growing mold from sheer boredom.

In contrast, Fatty Shi, Malek, Reidi, Al, Schward, and the other senior members of the family were all busy beyond belief. As Fatty Shi put it, they didn't even have time to close their eyes and sleep soundly. Each day they managed at most four or five hours of sleep, and the moment they opened their eyes, they had to put on their best smiles and engage in the political chess matches with the envoys sent by the sixteen central and southern nations — negotiating agreements, mediating disputes, dividing benefits, and signing treaties. Setting everything else aside, just the drinking alone made them throw up several times a day. Those envoys from the central and southern nations might not have been much at anything else, but they were all masters at drinking and boasting. Only by getting them thoroughly drunk and happy would they stop obsessing over minor details and agree to sign the agreements in good spirits.

Even Malek, known as "the Iron-Faced," was made to vomit four or five times, which goes to show that hosting those envoys from the central and southern nations was no easy or pleasant task. But none of this had anything to do with Lorist. His status as a Sword Saint alone had placed him on such a high pedestal that he was practically above mortal concerns. If he were merely the Grand Duke of Northland, the visiting envoys included plenty of dukes, and Lorist would have had to personally receive them — otherwise it would have been a breach of etiquette. But Lorist was also a Sword Saint, so instead it was those duke-envoys who had to respectfully pay their respects, present their greetings, and offer gifts to Lorist. Those of lesser status didn't even qualify for an audience.

Even Ledos, the ruling official of the Free Union — who was run off his feet and whose face had stiffened from forced smiling — couldn't help but envy Lorist's leisure with a touch of jealousy. But there was nothing to be done. In aristocratic circles, it all came down to status equality. Unless a king came in person, Lorist had no obligation to receive anyone. As Fatty Shi had said, a Sword Saint had to carry himself like one. The airs had to be put on, because it wasn't just a personal matter — it represented the dignity and honor of the Norton Family, representing every member of the Norton Family as well as the ancestors of the past three hundred years and countless predecessors who had served the family...

So even if Lorist was so bored at night that he lay on the rooftop counting stars, he had to maintain the Sword Saint's air of authority. Occasionally receiving one or two visiting nobles, exchanging a few words, accepting their gifts, and dismissing them was enough. All the follow-up work could be handed off to Fatty Shi and the others. As for the unbearable boredom, Fatty Shi and the others couldn't do much about it. But according to aristocratic custom, when one had nothing to do and felt bored, the options were either drinking or women. So Fatty Shi and the others selected many beautiful women and sent them to Lorist, including some that the noble envoys had delivered as gifts.

Lorist had no interest. If he were still a mercenary back in Morant City, having so many beautiful women around would have made him overjoyed — so many beauties to pluck at will. It would have been paradise for a man. He could have lined up several rows of flesh screens just for show. But now Lorist was past forty, and his temperament had begun to settle. He was no longer as impetuous as in his youth. Women were all the same, anyway — the more you had, the more trouble they brought. He already had a beloved wife and four affectionate concubines at home, plus two lovers on the side, and a whole flock of children. Lorist couldn't be bothered to involve himself with any more beauties.

Of course, it wasn't that Lorist was being pretentious or playing the prude. The main reason was that while these women were all beautiful, they still fell slightly short compared to his wives, concubines, and lovers. Never mind the ethereal beauty of Princess Silvia, Anna's gentleness, Fenagali's adorable charm, Aridori's spirited bearing, and Tessie's intelligence — even Daisy and Maria, the two concubines from minor noble families, were extraordinarily stunning.

So naturally Lorist's standards were rather high. Among the women sent to him, there was no one particularly outstanding — no beauty capable of toppling kingdoms, no one who could make Lorist's eyes light up and his appetite stir. The gifts from the central and southern nations' envoys also included beautiful women, but they were essentially dancing girls meant for entertainment and as playthings. Lorist couldn't be bothered to pick a few from among them, and this was also the best way to avoid stirring up waves back home after returning to the family's territory.

After signing the "Galentea Continent Central and Southern Twenty-One Nations Agreement," Lorist returned to Brin Hill in Morant City ahead of the family's armed forces. Before departing, he arranged all of the beautiful women who had been sent to him as wives for the unmarried, meritorious soldiers in the family's army. This once again won him the loyalty and cheers of the family's soldiers. As for those women — well, no one bothered to consider their feelings. After all, they were either captives of the Norton Family's armed forces or gifts from foreign nobles. Being able to marry a good husband was the greatest fortune they could hope for.

No sooner had Lorist arrived back at Brin Hill and barely caught his breath than he found Tager standing before him.

"Your Highness, His Majesty the King has returned to the imperial capital," Tager reported.

The previous November, the Second Prince had remarried in Fisablen Duchy. It was said that the Grand Duke of Fisablen had gathered all the women of marriageable age in his family and presented them for the Second Prince to choose from — there had to be at least one suitable match, the old man figured. Whichever one caught the Second Prince's eye, the Grand Duke of Fisablen would adopt as his own daughter and marry off to the Second Prince, striving for a match of equal standing.

Lorist had stayed by Princess Silvia and Daisy's sides to ensure their smooth deliveries, and couldn't be bothered to attend any wedding. So he had kept his return a secret, sending Bodfenger and Steward Kodan to represent himself and the Norton Family to deliver gifts and attend the Second Prince's second grand wedding.

"His Majesty the King issued a decree even before reaching the imperial capital, relieving Knight Wickesas of his duties as Acting City Lord and transferring the position to Knight Lipired, the commander of the Imperial Guard Corps. Knight Wickesas has now been sidelined." Tager continued his report. "Your Highness, there is also another piece of news, though it hasn't been confirmed. It's said that the new Queen is already pregnant — she should be about three or four months along by now..."

"It seems His Majesty the King has been quite diligent, getting the new Queen pregnant so quickly. If she bears a boy, I'd say that bastard Knight Wickesas is in for trouble. His best outcome would be getting exiled far away to some minor lordship," Lorist chuckled.

That Knight Wickesas had been asking for trouble. After being refused by Baron Camora, he had actually tried to deploy royal forces to attack Kelin Port and even wanted to have Baron Camora arrested and brought to the imperial capital. The first force he dispatched was a hundred-man squad of Royal Guards — presumably the most reliable military force at his disposal. Unfortunately, those Royal Guards' luck was terrible. They thought this would be an easy plundering trip, a chance to make a fortune from the newly established Kelin Port trade market. Moreover, they didn't believe any noble would dare offend Royal Guards, since the Crown Prince Knight Wickesas stood behind them.

These Royal Knights had forgotten about the Norton Family and Lorist the Sword Saint. Perhaps they had grown accustomed to throwing their weight around in the imperial capital. Furthermore, most of them were drinking buddies of Knight Wickesas who had secured their positions in the Royal Guard through personal connections. They had no access to the information known by high-ranking nobles, and no one had bothered to tell them about the Norton Family's fearsome reputation. In the eyes of some shrewd observers, this hundred-man Royal Guard squad was nothing more than a pawn sent to test the Norton Family.

The fate of this Royal Guard hundred-man squad could be easily imagined. They were surrounded and disarmed by Kelin Port's garrison forces, then received a thorough beating. No one paid any attention to their cries about Crown Prince Wickesas's orders. Instead, they were stripped bare, bound with their hands behind their backs, and had their warhorses confiscated. In this state of naked humiliation, they were escorted back to the imperial capital. The sight of a hundred naked Royal Guards entering the city caused an absolute sensation — a hundred-man collective streaking event was simply too eye-catching. Countless spectators lined both sides of the road, commenting on and critiquing the parts dangling between these Royal Guards' legs, inflicting upon them psychological trauma that would never fully heal...

Knight Wickesas flew into a rage. How dare he! The Norton Family dared to disregard him as the Crown Prince, the future King of the Andinak Kingdom! And to so thoroughly humiliate the Royal Guards who represented the dignity of the royal house — this was a provocation against the Andinak royal family, the greatest humiliation he, the Crown Prince, had ever suffered! Regardless of whether the Norton Family head was the Grand Duke of Northland or a newly appointed Sword Saint, the Norton Family had to give the Andinak royal family an explanation. Wickesas wished he could point this out to Lorist's face.

Having heard somewhere the claim that even a Sword Saint must respect the king and obey the king's commands, Knight Wickesas paid no heed whatsoever to the Norton Family. Since the Royal Guards proved useless, he decided to try ordering the Imperial Guard Corps instead. But after issuing his command, the Imperial Guard Corps remained completely motionless. His orders sank into the sea like a stone, without so much as an echo.

Wickesas was furious. He rode directly to the Imperial Guard Corps' garrison and, naming Knight Lipired specifically, demanded that the commander immediately lead the corps to march on Kelin Port and arrest everyone from the Norton Family who had humiliated the Royal Guards, bringing them back to the imperial capital for his personal judgment. Knight Lipired ignored him and instead gently advised him to calm down — all of this would naturally be handled when the Second Prince returned. Knight Wickesas would do well to simply continue carrying out his duties as Acting City Lord.

Wickesas grew even angrier. He publicly accused Lipired of disobeying the Crown Prince's orders — was this not tantamount to treason? His words left no room for maneuver, forcing Lipired to produce a secret decree from the Second Prince. The decree's intent was straightforward: Lipired was to observe Knight Wickesas's every move in the imperial capital and, at critical moments, forcibly prevent Knight Wickesas from committing erroneous actions.

Wickesas was dumbfounded. He hadn't expected the Second Prince to have prepared such a contingency. However, the secret decree appeared to be genuine. Knight Lipired had followed the Second Prince for nearly twenty years, and every noble in the imperial capital knew he was the Second Prince's diehard loyalist. This was precisely why he had been appointed commander of the Imperial Guard Corps stationed in the capital — the Second Prince trusted him deeply.

Commander Lipired also understood the Second Prince's expectations regarding Knight Wickesas, so after producing the secret decree, he continued to offer kindly advice. He urged Wickesas not to be misled by slanderous whispers from petty men. Since the Second Prince had agreed to entrust Kelin Port to the Norton Family for development, he naturally knew what he was doing. As the Acting City Lord of the imperial capital, Knight Wickesas would do best not to interfere recklessly — he should focus on faithfully executing the grain trade agreement between the Second Prince and Lorist, so as not to disrupt the plans the Second Prince had set in motion.

This brought the Norton Family additional income.

In June, the Andinak Kingdom's treasury was completely empty, though its granaries were piled high with grain. The problem was that salaries and benefits for the kingdom's armed soldiers and civil and military officials could no longer be paid — they couldn't very well hand out a few bags of grain to each person. The Second Prince had always been more adept at waging war than developing the people's livelihood. Although grain production had been restored, commerce within the kingdom's territory had yet to recover, and nearly all trade was controlled by Duke Kenmais's Snow Salt Commerce Association.

The kingdom had not minted its own gold coins and used Gold Forde instead. The three-plus years of bloody warfare on the Mana Hill Plains had consumed most of the kingdom's gold and silver reserves, and with money flowing only outward, the Second Prince lacked the substantial capital needed to restore the kingdom's economy and commerce. After all, most tax revenues had been replaced with goods and grain, and the circulation of gold and silver coins in the market was growing scarcer by the day.

Under these circumstances, the grain trade agreement between the Second Prince and Lorist could be considered a vital pillar in saving the kingdom's economy. As long as there was no war, the kingdom had no need to stockpile so much grain and various materials. Trading the kingdom's grain for over two million Gold Forde could be used to pay the salaries of civil and military officials and the kingdom's armed forces, while nearly a million gold coins could be invested in industries such as mining to restore people's livelihoods and the economy. Within four to five years, the kingdom's economy would recover to its former level.

Unfortunately, the Second Prince's plans had been deliberately derailed by Knight Wickesas's greed. Once the gold and silver in the treasury ran out, Wickesas grew anxious and hastily sent people to Kelin Port, expressing willingness to continue executing the grain trade. But Baron Camora refused. According to the agreement, the transaction was supposed to be completed before June — it was now August, far past the deadline. Who would buy the trade grain now? So this year was out of the question, but the agreement could continue next year...

With no other options, Knight Wickesas had no choice but to adopt his subordinates' suggestions. First, salaries would be delayed by three months, with grain as an acceptable substitute. Second, the second-half tax payments due in September would all be collected in cash — even the tithes owed by all the kingdom's nobles were no exception. No grain or goods would be accepted; only gold, silver, and copper coins. Once the second-half tax collection was complete and the treasury had gold coins, back pay and various benefits could be disbursed. The third suggestion was to expand gold and silver mining operations, increase the kingdom's precious metal reserves, and then find a way for the kingdom to mint its own gold and silver coins to replace the Gold Forde.

In truth, only the first suggestion had any merit. The second was outright nonsense. Compared to the nobles who mostly kept gold and silver coins in reserve, converting the land tithes to cash was controversial but manageable. But for the farmers, it was a disaster. Previously, using grain to pay taxes still left enough of their harvest for a family to get by. Now, refusing grain and demanding cash forced farmers to sell their grain first and then pay taxes. The result was that grain prices plummeted, becoming increasingly worthless. Some farmers sold their entire harvest and still couldn't afford to pay their taxes. The kingdom, which had just begun to calm down, once again erupted with peasant uprisings.

As for the third suggestion, it was utterly pointless. The kingdom minting its own gold and silver coins was something that should be done, but it was not Knight Wickesas's prerogative to decide. The Second Prince hadn't pursued this option precisely because the treasury lacked sufficient gold and silver reserves. Wickesas's subordinates put forward this idea partly because they knew Wickesas was vain and grandiose, so they pandered to his ego, and partly to seize the opportunity to enrich themselves. After all, whatever happened, Wickesas would take the fall — he was the Crown Prince, and the Second Prince wouldn't do anything too severe to him...

At the end of September, the Second Prince's messenger arrived with welcome news: the Second Prince and the new Queen were already on their way back to the imperial capital. Along with this news came a decree from the Second Prince — relieving Knight Wickesas of his position as Acting City Lord of the imperial capital. Commander Lipired became the new Acting City Lord. Along with this, Knight Lipired received another secret decree: arrest all of Knight Wickesas's associates and subordinates and await the Second Prince's return to the imperial capital before proceeding with their punishment.

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