On the thirty-second day of August, the Dawn's Flying Fish reached Hilovas Island. The voyage from Ox Horn Bay to Hilovas Island had taken seventeen days in total, which was still reasonable considering it was their first time sailing this route. With no knowledge of the sea conditions, they had reefed the sails and proceeded slowly each night as a precaution. Old Jack said that once the sailors grew familiar with the route, it would take no more than ten days to make the trip from Ox Horn Bay to Hilovas Island at the Dawn's Flying Fish's speed.
Hilovas Island was the only large island off the coast of the Andinaque Kingdom, situated roughly three hundred li from the mainland. A round trip by sailing vessel took one full day. In terms of area, Hilovas Island could be divided into one count's fief plus three viscount's fiefs. The pity was that it was an extinct volcano island — two-thirds of its surface was taken up by volcanic mountain ranges and forests, with very little arable land among the beaches.
According to the documents transferred to
After the imperial civil war ended, the Third Prince — who had established the Andinaque Kingdom — grew worried that the Second Prince, who had distinguished himself in battle, would pose a threat to the Eldest Prince's position as heir. The Eldest Prince excelled at administrative affairs, and the Third Prince did not want the Andinaque Kingdom to suffer through another three-princes-contesting-the-throne scenario like the imperial civil war. At the same time, he misjudged the overall situation, believing that no major wars would follow and that the kingdoms and principalities carved from the empire would enjoy a long period of peace, with everyone needing time to recuperate and heal the wounds of war.
Based on this assessment, the Third Prince chose the steady and dependable Eldest Prince to succeed him on the throne. He stripped the Second Prince — who threatened the Eldest Prince's position as heir — of his military authority, and on the pretext of being unable to maintain three great corps, disbanded the White Lion Corps that had supported the Second Prince. He dispatched the neutral Gale Corps to the Meleyn Principality to assist the Grand Duke of Meleyn in repelling the invasion led by the Second Prince's Iberian Kingdom's army.
Finally, the Third Prince granted the entirety of Hilovas Island as a prince's hereditary territory to the Second Prince, ordering him to take up residence there and forbidding him from leaving without permission. This was essentially a form of banishment. In the Third Prince's eyes, with him personally guiding the Eldest Prince in handling the kingdom's affairs and the Second Prince's threat neutralized, his eldest son should smoothly inherit the throne in the future, ensuring political stability in the Andinaque Kingdom.
But what the Third Prince never anticipated was that he himself would be targeted by wave after wave of assassins sent by both the Eldest Prince and the Second Prince. Unable to guard against every attempt, he was struck by a poisoned arrow. He was barely saved, but was left paralyzed in his sickbed. As for the supposedly steady Eldest Prince, his character proved extraordinarily weak. The nobles of the Andinaque Kingdom saw through his vacillation and united to ride roughshod over him, brazenly suppressing the royal family and carving up the crown's direct territories. The kingdom's situation deteriorated daily, mired in turmoil and unrest.
Stripped of his military authority, the Second Prince could only remain on Hilovas Island, burning with anxiety yet powerless to do anything about the kingdom's deteriorating situation and the royal family's plight. It was at this moment that the Second Prince received word that a massive caravan had entered the kingdom's territory — a caravan escorted by a formidable armed force. This caravan was currently locked in a standoff with the allied noble forces at Green Field Plains.
The Second Prince boarded a ship and departed Hilovas Island overnight, hoping to reach the battlefield in time to mediate between the caravan and the nobles and secure some benefit for himself. But what he did not expect was that while he was still en route, news arrived of the Battle of Green Field Plains — the caravan's armed escort, outnumbered two to one, had routed the allied noble forces and hanged every lord along the way who had participated in the alliance with the intention of robbing the caravan. Their territories had been razed to the ground…
The most important news was that the banners this caravan flew were the
Having seized control of the Andinaque Kingdom, the Second Prince recalled the Gale Corps, reorganized the Royal Guard Corps, and then used the massive number of refugees in Andinaque to screw over the northern caravan — dumping the burden of those refugees onto the caravan while he himself sharpened his troops, stabilized the kingdom's situation, and restored agricultural production.
At that time, the northern caravan faced enemy forces blocking its path ahead and a food crisis pressing from behind, trapped at the border with no room to move — the situation was dire. Had Lorist not arrived at the northern caravan, it likely would have splintered and collapsed before long, with no way out except to carve a bloody path through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
After Lorist arrived at the caravan and took charge of the situation, he saw through the Second Prince's scheme to use the caravan for his own ends. To win Lorist over, the Second Prince elevated him to the rank of Count, raised the Norton Family's standing, and granted him Hilovas Island — his own hereditary domain — as an additional fief and compensation.
The Iron Guard Corps from Chidana Fortress seized Yungeshandra Province from the Madras Duchy.
After Lorist led the family caravan northward, the Second Prince built the Mountain Pass Fortress as a defensive barrier to protect Yungeshandra Province, and then used Vanades — the largest commercial city of the Madras Duchy — to sow discord between the Madras Grand Duke's Sea Mountain Corps and the Iberia Kingdom reinforcement forces led by the Second Prince, pitting them against each other and successfully avoiding the danger of being attacked from two sides.
Then the Second Prince concentrated his forces to face the massive invasion led by the Eldest Prince — an army of seventy thousand from the Redlis Kingdom. First, he ordered the Gale Corps to resist in successive stands, inflicting such heavy casualties that the Eldest Prince's seventy-thousand-strong army lost more than half its numbers. Then, he ambushed the Eldest Prince's remaining thirty-thousand-plus elite troops at Flowing Water River, relentlessly besieging and annihilating the army of thirty thousand, forcing the Eldest Prince to disguise himself as a refugee and flee.
The Battle of Flowing Water River reversed the tide of war. The Second Prince led his army in a counterattack into the Redlis Kingdom, forcing the Eldest Prince to sign a humiliating treaty on the spot, ceding two provinces to the Andinaque Kingdom. After returning from the campaign, the Madras Grand Duke — who had fought the Second Prince to a mutual stalemate — sent envoys to sue for peace, ceding Yungeshandra Province to the Andinaque Kingdom. This catapulted the Andinaque Kingdom to become the largest kingdom by territory following the fragmentation of the former Krisen Empire, greatly strengthening its power. The Second Prince rose to fame as a result, hailed as the new generation's God of War.
Now, five years had passed. Lorist had finally stabilized the Northland, allowing his family's territories to undergo significant development and expansion. Only now did he come for the first time to this new domain granted to him — Hilovas Island.
The docks of Hilovas Island were situated along the shore of its only town, Whitebird Town. A slightly curved wooden pier extended nearly a hundred meters into the sea, flanked by a stretch of pristine white sand and waters of crystal-clear azure.
What surprised Lorist somewhat was that seven or eight ships were moored on both sides of the wooden pier, several of them elaborately decorated. The flags fluttering above their masts clearly bore the crests of noble houses. It seemed Hilovas Island wasn't as remote and seldom-visited as the legends claimed.
There were no pilot boats, and the seaside town showed not the slightest reaction to the arrival of the Dawn's Flying Fish. Not even the usual crowd of curious onlookers had appeared at the dockside.
The Dawn's Flying Fish had already lowered its white sails on the three masts, relying only on the fore and aft sails to slowly approach the wooden pier. When it was close enough, several sailors leapt onto the pier, caught the ropes thrown over, and hauled the Dawn's Flying Fish alongside, mooring it to the wooden bollards along the edge.
Lorist ordered, "Wilson, leave half the sailors to watch the ship. Dolles, have five steel crossbowmen stay aboard in defensive positions. Something feels off about this Whitebird Town — how can there be nobody at the dock? The rest of you, follow me into town and let's find out what's going on."
Lorist soon discovered that Whitebird Town wasn't deserted at all. Rather, everyone had gathered in the central square. Two or three thousand people packed the modest plaza wall to wall, their clamor and protests rising in waves.
Lorist patted the shoulder of a man of forty or fifty dressed in sailor's garb and asked, "Friend, can you tell me what's happening here?"
The man didn't turn around. With a resentful snarl, he cursed, "What else could it be? That bastard Viscount Yasran has come around again to collect taxes..."
"Collect taxes?" Lorist was stunned. Wasn't Hilovas Island the Norton Family's new territory? How could someone come here to collect taxes?
"Speak clearly! Who's collecting taxes here? And for whom?" With taxes and money on the line, Fatty was already in a fury. This was Norton Family territory — the family hadn't sent anyone to manage it for five years, and now they discovered someone was here collecting taxes? This was far more than a simple slight against the Norton Family. It was practically a slap to their face! He seized the sailor-clad man before him and dragged him straight to the front.
The man was about to let loose with a string of curses, but upon turning and catching sight of the dozen-odd family guards in standardized armor flanking Lorist, he immediately clamped his mouth shut. A man who had seen enough of the world, he instantly understood that these were people he couldn't afford to cross. He quickly lowered his head in supplication, swearing he would reveal everything he knew without the slightest concealment.
"It's like this. Today, Viscount Aslan brought a small squad of soldiers to collect taxes. Our town mayor, old Hugo, refused his unreasonable demand to increase taxes. Viscount Aslan flew into a rage and actually ordered old Hugo to be strung up in the square and lashed fifty times. The Whitebird Town garrison has already mobilized, but this time Viscount Aslan brought a gold-rank knight with him. Even though the garrison outnumbers them, not a single one can match that knight, so both sides are now at a standstill. We all rushed over when we heard the news, hoping to rescue old Hugo..." The man quickly explained the reason so many people had gathered in the square.
"Isn't Hilovas Island Norton Family territory? On what grounds is this Viscount Aslan coming to collect taxes?" Schwade asked.
The man didn't dismiss the young man's question because of his age, and explained, "This Viscount Aslan was commissioned by the Kingdom's Regent, His Royal Highness the Second Prince, to collect taxes."
"Commissioned?" Fatty asked furiously. "This is already Norton Family territory. What right does the Second Prince have to send someone here to collect taxes?"
"...and fishing boat taxes. They say these are all 'restoration taxes,' levied to fund the reunification and revival of the Krisen Empire..." the man recalled.
"Damn it!" Fatty was about to explode with rage. Tax collection like this? If they could just collect taxes like this, what the hell was the point of granting a fief in the first place?
"Then what new tax items did he add today? Why did the town mayor refuse?" Lorist asked.
"Well... I'm not entirely clear on that. But from what I heard just now, it seems that the Norton Family, whom no one has ever seen and who have never come to Hilovas Island, apparently still holds another family territory up in the Northland. Because it's so far away, the taxes from that territory were never forwarded to the Second Prince. Viscount Aslan decided to make up all the back taxes the Norton Family has failed to pay over the years right here. When you add it all up, every last coin in the Whitebird Town treasury wouldn't be enough — every household would still owe a massive debt. They say each person would have to pay over three gold Fortes just to clear it. So everyone gathered here partly to save the mayor and partly to protest..." the sailor muttered.
"Heh, heh..." Lorist had actually been laughed into anger. Wonderful — they'd even dreamed up a tax justification like this. He was truly learning something new. For a territory like the Northland, separated by thousands of miles and cut off from the Kingdom by enemy nations, the Kingdom couldn't just collect taxes from it. Normally, subsidies should be granted instead to recognize loyalty and steadfastness.
Lorist was furious. He didn't know whether this was the Second Prince's doing or Viscount Aslan acting on his own. Originally, since he hadn't come to manage his new territory, the Second Prince had no need to specially dispatch someone to collect the tithe tax. It could simply be tallied up in the books and settled once the lord arrived at his new territory — that was the established practice among nobles. Lorist was inclined to believe the Second Prince wasn't aware of this, which meant this Viscount Aslan was going to have a very painful lesson coming his way.
"Sound our horns and raise our banners — let everyone on Hilovas Island know that the Norton Family has arrived, their lord has come!" Lorist turned and ordered the guards behind him.
"Yes, my lord!"
…(To be continued...)