The rumbling of the carriage wheels had long since faded into the distance.
"My lord..." Tager's voice came from behind him.
"What do you think?" Lorist did not turn around.
"My lord, Count Chigwick wasn't telling the whole truth. He said he got news about our
"My lord, I was standing off to his side and behind him, so I could see everything clearly. Every time he grew nervous, his left hand — hidden from view below — would grip his trousers tightly. I noticed the exact moment it happened: it was when you asked him whether the Four Central Duchies had any agreement with the Commerce Union. As he answered, his left hand was clutching his trousers the entire time, but you were sitting across from him, so your line of sight was blocked and you couldn't see...
"Also, when he said he came to Wendbury's royal capital specifically to attend and witness the knight's tournament hosted by Grand Duke Fisaburon, his left hand gripped his trousers again. I found it very strange — why would he lie about such a small thing? Perhaps he knew you came to propose a marriage alliance with the Fisaburon Family, and his own goal is Princess Sylvia. He lied because he was afraid of you. Hehe, my lord, you have a rival..."
Tager chuckled with schadenfreude, knowing full well that Lorist wouldn't get angry over something so trivial.
"Speaking of Princess Sylvia, do you know why she left Wendbury in such a hurry and rushed back to her family's territory?" Lorist asked without turning his head.
"No, I don't, my lord," Tager replied. "Through some of Grand Duke Fisaburon's guards, we managed to learn that when Princess Sylvia left seven days ago, she had a bit of an argument with the Grand Duke. Apparently, she demanded that the Grand Duke cancel this tournament, but he refused. Princess Sylvia went crying to the Queen, and then got into a terrible argument with her as well. After that, she took her guard unit and her godmother, Great Swordmaster Cinti, and hurried off to the Eastern Wasteland Province. Over the past two days, the Grand Duke has sent three batches of messengers to summon the princess back, but so far there has been no reply..."
Lorist stroked his chin. "Could something have happened at Grand Duke Fisaburon's stronghold in the Eastern Wasteland Province? No, that can't be right. If something serious had occurred, the first person to panic would be that old fox Fisaburon, yet he's still sitting in the royal capital preparing for the knight tournament in two days. That clearly means nothing major has happened…"
"My apologies, my lord. Our intelligence operatives were unable to enter the Eastern Wasteland Province. This is my failure," Tager said.
"It's no fault of yours. The Eastern Wasteland Province is Fisaburon family territory, and there's no large city like Wendbury there either. Naturally, they'd be extremely strict about monitoring population movements — there's nothing that can be done about it. In the meantime, take advantage of the month or so we have while the tournament is being organized. Try to see if you can pick out a few men from the Grand Duke's personal guard and buy them off, so they become nails our family has embedded at the Grand Duke's side…"
"Yes, my lord. I'll do my best."
"Also, look into those nobles who came from the Four Central Principalities. I have a feeling their intentions aren't as straightforward as simply pursuing Princess Sylvia…"
"Yes, my lord."
……
"What did you just say?" Lorist was stunned.
"Yes, my lord. The young prince of the Folundo Principality and the Great Swordmaster fled in the middle of the night last night with their thousand-plus guards. They even left behind the four cartloads of betrothal gifts they had brought to court Princess Sylvia. Grand Duke Fisaburon said that since they hadn't actually proposed yet, the gifts should serve as compensation for your victory in yesterday's duel. He's already having people sort and load them onto carriages — they'll be delivered here very soon."
Tager stood before Lorist and said with a bitter smile, "My lord, we had originally planned to start by approaching that young prince's attendants and close associates. After all, Count Churchwic of the Handera Principality and Count Dalek of the Sabaji Principality both traveled with minimal entourages — only three or four attendants each. Every one of them is taciturn and highly vigilant. They don't go out to taverns at night either. We were unable to extract any intelligence from them.
"The little prince brought over a thousand guards, and among them were nearly a hundred personal attendants and servants. Gossiping from that lot would have been the easiest thing in the world — get a few cups of horse piss into them, needle them a bit, and they'd spill everything, including what they saw their mothers doing in the bath when they were kids... What a shame, my lord. You scared them off yesterday. That Count Churchwic must have told them about how formidable our Norton Family is, and that's why they fled in the middle of the night..."
"Lorist rubbed his temples in frustration: "Forget it then. The knight tournament won't start for another month. We'll just take our time getting close to the other two counts' attendants during this period. Maybe someone will let something slip, and we'll figure out what those two counts are really after. Let's just leave it to fate."
Around ten in the morning, Grand Duke Fisaburon arrived at Anna's inn with four carriages. Upon seeing Lorist come out to greet him, he burst into laughter: "Count, you've truly surprised me. I never imagined you would actually destroy an entire kingdom. What an extraordinary achievement."
"If it were Your Highness the Grand Duke, you wouldn't have needed to go all out like I did. You could have crushed them with a single legion. A daring assault to capture Greater and Lesser Goldstream — now that would be a truly heroic feat."
Lorist's words clearly hit the mark on Grand Duke Fisaburon's pride. His mouth split into a grin as wide as a chrysanthemum: "Heh heh, you're quite something. I really am growing more fond of you the more I see. Young yet not reckless, with extraordinary martial skill. Good, good, good."
After repeating "good" three times, Grand Duke Fisaburon finally remembered the purpose of his visit: "Ah, right, Count Norton..."
"Your Highness, you're an elder — just call me Locke. Calling me 'Count' feels too formal," Lorist interrupted before the grand duke could continue.
"Very well, I'll call you Locke then. Here's the matter — yesterday you won the duel, and Prince Dolk was supposed to pay you ransom. However, last night he received an urgent message and had to return to the Folundo Principality immediately. The situation was pressing, so he had no choice but to travel through the night. Before leaving, he entrusted me to deliver these valuables to you as his ransom and to offer his apologies."
Grand Duke Fisaburon delivered this utter nonsense with a perfectly straight face, while Lorist stood beside him nodding solemnly in apparent approval — approval for the grand duke honoring his charge and for young Prince Dolk upholding his promise to deliver the ransom. In reality, both of them knew perfectly well that these valuables were the betrothal gifts Prince Dolk had been preparing to present to Princess Sylvia in his courtship. In his hasty flight, they had been left behind, and now Grand Duke Fisaburon had repurposed them as ransom for the duel's victory.
What puzzled Lorist was why Grand Duke Fisaburon was going out of his way to speak on Prince Dolk's behalf. According to Tager's report, Prince Dolk and that Great Swordmaster had left in the dead of night without a word, fleeing in extreme haste. The grand duke had only learned of their departure that morning, and reportedly had cursed them as cowards and spineless wretches right in front of his guards. These four carriages of gifts must have been deliberately left behind by Prince Dolk — most likely as compensation for the Fisaburon Family, but more probably with the hope of using the grand duke's hand to deliver them into Sylvia's possession.
But why had Grand Duke Fisaburon so quickly decided to pass these gifts on to him? It could only be described as cleaning up after little Prince Dolk. What reason could the grand duke possibly have for doing this out of the goodness of his heart? He could easily have kept the gifts for himself — as for the damage to Prince Dolk's reputation for being a coward and a liar who refused to pay the duel's ransom, what did that matter to him? He could have just stood by watching the fun, just as he had done at yesterday's banquet! Could the Fisaburon Family have some request of the Folundo Principality? That was impossible — if anything, it should be the Folundo Principality asking favors of Grand Duke Fisaburon…
Lorist pondered all this inwardly, but wore a pleasant smile on his face. "I never expected little Prince Dolk to be so faithful to the honor of the nobility. He truly lives up to his status as a prince of the Folundo Principality. In truth, he could have simply sent a servant to deliver a message — the ransom could be paid at any time. There was no need for Your Grace to make a special trip."
Grand Duke Fisaburon's cheek twitched as he recalled what had happened at yesterday's banquet. After Lorist and his companions had taken their leave, Count Chujiweek had told everyone that the Norton Family had destroyed the Kingdom of Hamaneiabada just last year — slaughtering virtually the entire population, sparing only twenty to thirty thousand young women, cutting down everyone else regardless of age. Then they had used over two hundred thousand severed heads to construct a pyramid of skulls towering dozens of meters high.
Everyone had been stunned, many suspecting that Count Chujiweek was lying. But the count had sworn an oath that it was true, claiming he had seen the pyramid of skulls with his own eyes. After witnessing that horrific sight, he had fallen gravely ill for several days upon his return. Every time he closed his eyes, the pyramid appeared before him, every severed head on it leering and shrieking at him. So today, upon seeing Lorist, he had immediately been reminded of that terrible pyramid of skulls. How much ruthlessness must a person possess to order the construction of such a thing! That was the true reason he had been trembling before Count Norton…
If that wretch Chujiweek hadn't come running to me first thing in the morning to tell me that little Prince Dolk had fled in the night, and then instructed me to handle things this way so you wouldn't grow suspicious and interfere at the last moment, ruining everyone's plans — why on earth would I have rushed over to clean up after that worthless little Prince Dolk? It was all because I was afraid your Norton Family might send troops to intervene!
Grand Duke Fisaburon lightly patted Lorist on the shoulder. "Don't mention it — there's no need to be so polite. I'm the host here. Everyone has come to support the Fisaburon Family out of courtesy, so naturally I should help resolve these little inconveniences for them. It's no trouble at all. The grand assembly opens the day after tomorrow, and tomorrow I'm hosting a banquet, inviting all the nobles in the royal city to attend. Consider it a pre-celebration for the assembly's success. Locke, you absolutely must come…"
"Of course. When Your Grace commands it, I will naturally be there."
"Good, it's settled then. Tomorrow I'll send someone to lead you there," Grand Duke Fisaburon said with a smile.
…
The next day's banquet came and went, and on the third day, the Knight Tournament officially commenced.
Lorist was just a bit bored because he found himself unable to enter the matches. He could one-shot a Gold Three-star knight with a single move, so going down to face Silver and Gold rank knights as opponents afterward... Lorist admitted his skin wasn't quite that thick. Especially after Grand Duke Fisaburon somewhat obliquely expressed his hope that Lorist wouldn't compete, Lorist gracefully agreed, and then let his subordinates participate in this Knight Tournament.
The Gold rank, in the end, would allow the winner of the Silver swordsmanship competition to freely challenge the Gold swordsmanship champion. Of course, if they didn't wish to challenge, they didn't have to.
So when Lorist saw
Archery didn't even need mentioning; Jost dominated completely. He'd only shown half his true skill. More than half the archers present had already put down their bows and were preparing to try their luck in other competition events. With a monster like Jost in the archery event, there was no point in going up and making a fool of themselves...
So the mounted duel immediately became the most popular and intense competition of the tournament. Among the Silver guards, Pat, as the captain, was the first to be eliminated. Baron Sachin and Baron Phelim both had nine consecutive victories and had already advanced to the next round. Al was still resting at the side, having achieved six consecutive wins. He only needed to defeat three more opponents to advance.
The rules for mounted duels in the Knight Tournament were similar to those of a formal duel. Participating knights had to possess a knight's badge, a mount, a suit of knight's armor, a long spear or lance, and could also carry a long sword or other short weapon. Only after passing inspection could they register. If they lost in the arena, they had to surrender all their equipment and mount to the victorious opponent, or pay them the corresponding ransom. If they lost and were unconvinced, and happened to be wealthy, they could register again to compete...
Currently, the most miserable was a guard under Lorist named Roger. This lad was a Silver Two-star. He'd gone into the arena four times and lost every time. Since his equipment was standard Norton Family issue, he couldn't surrender it to his victorious opponent. He could only pay the ransom to his opponent. This set of equipment had been valued by the tournament's appraisers at one hundred Gold Forde. By now, he owed the family three hundred and fifty Gold Forde...
Lorist was furious. Knowing he was outmatched but still insisting on fighting—wasn't this just handing out money? So he ordered that anyone who had lost once was forbidden to compete again.
"How many of our guards lost money?" Lorist asked.
Pat looked very ashamed. "One hundred and forty... forty-one..."
"What?" Lorist was stunned. "How could there be so many..."
"My Lord, it's like this," Pat explained with his head hung low. "Of those one hundred and forty-one guards, apart from about a dozen truly unlucky ones, the rest won first and then lost. But... but the price difference in equipment meant we all... all lost money..."
Damn it, Lorist finally understood. His guard would step onto the field and defeat an opponent first, but that opponent's equipment was only worth thirty to forty gold Fordes. Then the guard would lose, and the ransom he had to pay was one hundred gold Fordes...
Lorist was absolutely furious. No wonder there were always so many opponents hopped up on adrenaline rushing to challenge his guards the moment they entered the field. Even several gold-tier knights had shamelessly ignored the unspoken rule that only silver knights challenged gold-tier knights, instead turning around to challenge his silver-tier guards. It turned out they were all treating his guards as walking money trees—one challenge was worth a hundred gold Fordes...
"In the future, anyone who wants to compete is forbidden from wearing the family's standard-issue equipment!" Lorist could only issue such an order.
"My Lord." Tager appeared before Lorist. "We've discovered that Grand Duke Fisaburun's men are actively recruiting those knights who lost all their equipment and gold in the mounted duels."
"Oh?" Lorist was somewhat puzzled. A jousting tournament like this was indeed one of the best venues for nobles to recruit Family Knights, but everyone was usually looking for those who performed outstandingly. What was Grand Duke Fisaburun doing recruiting all those destitute losers?
"Have you found out the reason?"
"Reportedly, they're not recruiting them as Family Knights. They're recruiting them to join Grand Duke Fisaburun's army. If they perform well, after completing a five-year service term, they'll still have the opportunity to become Fisaburun Family Knights," Tager replied.
This was essentially conscription, not Family Knight recruitment. Lorist wasn't particularly concerned. "What about those two Counts from the Central Four Grand Duchies—any movement from them?"
"My lord, Count Dalek from the Duchy of Sabbage is participating in the jousting tournament. He currently has nine consecutive victories and is awaiting the next round. Count Chujiweik from the Duchy of Handera isn't fighting, just cheering for Count Dalek. They're acting normally; no secret movements have been detected. Additionally, the envoy Grand Duke Fisaburun sent to Eastmoor Province has returned. It's said Princess Syliviaa refuses to come back. The Grand Duke flew into a rage and smashed a golden goblet..."
"There's also some less than good news, my lord."
"Speak!"
"Don't you think the movements of the Golden Knight currently fighting in the arena look familiar? My lord. Your Legion Commander, Rose the Fierce, has abandoned his post again and secretly snuck into Windbury Royal City to participate in this knightly tournament. To avoid detection, he wore his own set of knightly armor. If he hadn't been so flashy as to brand his armor with a golden tiger emblem, we might not have noticed him mixing with those vagrant knights, living in the tents over in the plaza..."
"Damn it!" Lorist ground his teeth. "When we return to the inn tonight, I want to see that fellow who's showing off in the arena standing before me!"
"Yes, my lord."
...(To be continued.)