Lorist was indifferent to the purging decree issued by the Second Prince. He had no fondness for the nobility of the imperial capital. Those nobles had already degenerated beyond salvation. If the Andinak Kingdom was to be revitalized, these parasites and bloodsuckers clinging to the kingdom's body needed to be swept away. If Lorist and the Second Prince had switched positions, Lorist would have done the same — though perhaps with less extreme methods. He wouldn't have resorted to a bloodbath against the entire noble class of the imperial capital. Though one could say the Second Prince had unscrupulously used the crudest and bloodiest means to amass a tremendous fortune from the blood and corpses of those nobles — wealth sufficient to deal with the kingdom's crisis.
A man's stance is indeed determined by the position of his backside, just like Ross the Fierce Tiger. When he had first joined the Northbound Convoy, he was merely a commoner officer discharged from the White Lion Legion. Having endured seven years of civil war within the empire, he had come to despise all nobility, believing it was their greed and injustice that had brought a mighty empire to its ruin. So when the Northbound Convoy reached an agreement with the Second Prince and swept through the territory nobles of the Andinak Kingdom, Ross had been the most ruthless executor, personally hanging thirty to forty resisting territory nobles from the gallows.
In the blink of an eye, ten years had passed. As a Golden Knight of the Norton Family, Ross had become a quasi-noble, and with Lorist's ascension to Grand Duke of the Northland, he was confirmed to hold a seat among the soon-to-be-conferred baronages. And so the fellow had transformed himself, holding himself to the exemplary standards of nobility, ensuring his every action conformed to proper noble etiquette. The Second Prince's purge of the imperial capital's nobility had thrown him into a fury — he considered it an insult to the noble class and wished he could fight the Second Prince to the death.
People do change. Once he had wanted to kill every last noble, and now he took pride in being one himself. Not to mention that after capturing the imperial capital, the fellow had taken four noblewomen as his mistresses, and this time he had even rescued the families of all four of them.
But after some thought, Lorist felt there was nothing to complain about — he was no different. If anyone claimed he was a loyal territory noble of the Andinak Kingdom, that would be a slap in his own face. Hadn't he also prioritized the Norton Family's interests above all else? Perhaps in the eyes of the Second Prince — now king — he was even more detestable than those purged imperial nobles. The only reason the Second Prince hesitated was that the Norton Family was too powerful and dominated the entire Northland.
And so the Second Prince was up to his tricks again — that was the second matter in the letter. The Second Prince insisted that the Norton Family's armed forces had not fulfilled their obligation simply by capturing the imperial capital and restoring him to the throne. Rather, they were to make him king of the Andinak Kingdom — and not the castrated version that Queen Kerry had negotiated. Those provinces that had been ceded must be returned to the kingdom's territory.
In other words, until the three provinces that Queen Kerry had ceded for peace were recovered, the Second Prince would not acknowledge that the Norton Family had fulfilled their oath. Heh — Lorist sneered. The Second Prince was being a shameless rogue, abandoning even a king's dignity. His goal was simple: to send the Norton Family's forces into conflict with the Commercial Alliance and the four central duchies, simultaneously weakening the Norton Family while fishing in troubled waters from behind.
Lorist studied the map. After the Hansdomos Province of the Andinak Kingdom had been ceded, it combined with the northwestern territories of the former Redlis Kingdom to form the Zitulam Duchy, whose Grand Duke was originally a count from the Andwoolf Province of the Redlis Kingdom. It was in Majik Province that he had flooded the Second Prince's seventy-thousand-strong army, causing Wilibaloin — one of the Second Prince's famed Five Tigers and a Golden Knight — to die on the battlefield in shame and rage. By all accounts, the Grand Duke of Zitulam was very much an enemy of the Second Prince.
The two southwestern provinces formerly belonging to the Redlis Kingdom had been ceded to the Andinak Kingdom after the Eldest Prince's defeat, then later ceded again by Queen Kerry to establish the Blite United Duchy. Its rulers were three Grand Dukes who had been elevated for their distinguished military merits in the war against the Second Prince. Clearly, both the Zitulam Duchy and the Blite United Duchy served as buffers placed in front by the Forde Commercial Alliance against the Andinak Kingdom. The Alliance had evidently anticipated the possibility of the Second Prince making a comeback and reclaiming the throne.
It was evident that the rulers of both duchies had fought the Second Prince to the bitter end and were the least likely to compromise with him. Naturally, the Commercial Alliance behind them would not support any such compromise either. Now the Second Prince was playing the scoundrel, demanding the recovery of the two southwestern provinces and Hansdomos Province before he would consider the Norton Family's oath fulfilled. This also reflected the Second Prince's anxiety about those two duchies. He feared that once the Norton Family's forces withdrew, those duchies would launch an invasion. Without the two southwestern provinces and Hansdomos Province, the imperial capital would effectively become the front line — disastrous for the Second Prince's efforts to reintegrate the kingdom.
The Norton Family's strength, meanwhile, could wait until both sides had exhausted each other, then deploy elite forces to seize the former Redlis Kingdom's territory in one stroke.
Lorist had no objection to sweeping away those two duchies in passing. After all, they had only been established a few years ago and lacked the depth of the Mardras Duchy. With the Bedrock Legion and the Flying Tiger Legion's offensive capabilities, crushing them would be child's play. His only concern was the Grand Duke of Zitulam — anyone who could inflict such a devastating blow on the Second Prince was no simple character. But if the Bedrock Legion were tasked with attacking Zitulam Duchy, Lorist trusted that Bodenfeng's steady, experienced approach would leave the Grand Duke of Zitulam at his wit's end. The Hansdomos Province had no great rivers — only valleys and basins, perfectly suited to the Bedrock Legion's style.
What irritated Lorist, however, was the Second Prince's insatiable greed. The reason he had insisted — over the objections of numerous retainers and knights — on restoring the Second Prince to the throne was not merely to draw the Commercial Alliance and the four central duchies' attention away, ensuring that the future enemy, the Grand Duke of Fisablen, would not receive support from the central duchies. As a ruler, one had to consider the bigger picture.
Lorist did not deny that he harbored ambitions of kingship and nation-building. He had given his utmost effort to integrate into this world of combat force, having come from another world. After all, his soul hailed from an ancient Eastern civilization with five thousand years of history. Perhaps the original owner of this body would have been a die-hard loyalist of the Andinak royal family, but Lorist was not. He had forged an unprecedented new situation for the Norton Family — becoming Grand Duke of the Northland and dominating the entire northern region was something the Norton Family's ancestors had never even dared to dream of. In this regard, Lorist had more than repaid his debt to the Norton Family.
Similarly, in the eyes of outsiders, the Norton Family had become the Second Prince's most steadfast and powerful supporter. There was nothing in Lorist's actions that anyone could criticize — except, perhaps, the Second Prince himself, who had suffered in silence and was forced to abandon all dignity and play the rogue.
Gifting the Second Prince a legion's worth of standard equipment, dispatching the family's armed forces to capture the imperial capital and restore him to the throne — Lorist had done everything impeccably, all so that when he eventually turned against the Second Prince, no one could fault him. The path to the crown was tortuous and thorny, with both sunlight and shadow, but a sovereign should project an image of openness and integrity. Any moral failing would become a fatal weakness for a dynasty's founder. This was the most important reason Lorist had rejected his retainers' and knights' proposal to keep the Second Prince in the Northland.
The Second Prince was now digging his own grave. His blood purge of the imperial capital's nobility would only drive the nobility further away — there would not even be nobles willing to flock to his banner in the future... Lorist picked up a sheet of letter paper and began writing his reply. He told Ross the Fierce Tiger and Bodenfeng that they could attack the two duchies and recover the Hansdomos City and the two southwestern provinces of the former Andinak Kingdom. After all, if ninety steps of a hundred had already been taken, they might as well walk the remaining few to leave the Second Prince without a leg to stand on.
However, Lorist also stipulated a condition: after conquering the two duchies, the Second Prince must dispatch personnel to assume defense of the three provinces within fifteen days, or the Norton Family's forces would withdraw on their own and have no further involvement in the front-line war. Lorist specifically noted that Count Kenmais could be sent to negotiate with the Second Prince. If the Second Prince refused, then Ross the Fierce Tiger and Bodenfeng should simply pack up and come home. Anyone foolish enough to try to block their path or detain them should be killed without mercy. If they wouldn't appreciate the courtesy, so be it — since the Norton Family's two legions had fought their way to the imperial capital, they could certainly fight their way back.
As for the Second Prince's third demand, Lorist praised them for refusing it properly. Why on earth should they hand over the thunderbolt catapults and war chariot steel crossbows? Such weapons of war were not even in the possession of the Northland's three allies — how had the Second Prince even had the nerve to ask? Simply because he was the kingdom's king? Heh — as Ross had put it plainly, these were the Norton Family's secret weapons. If the Second Prince wanted them, let him declare war, brand them rebels, and defeat them — then he might have a chance.
Lorist finished writing the reply and called for Schwald to attach the letter to a message hawk's leg. The hawk could reach Shilovas Island in just a day and night, and from there a messenger could deliver the letter to Ross the Fierce Tiger and Bodenfeng in about three days. This was incomparably faster than Count Kenmais, who had written a letter to Lorist from the imperial capital and then sent his attendant galloping at full speed for seventeen days before it finally reached Lorist's hands.
With his decision made, Lorist no longer needed to worry about the Flying Tiger Legion and the Bedrock Legion. He trusted that Ross the Fierce Tiger and Bodenfeng would not disappoint him — especially with that shrewd merchant Count Kenmais among them. There was no way the Second Prince could get the better of them.
At this moment, Lorist was swamped. How to handle the enfeoffment and transfer of territories in the Dremak Province, how to develop the eastern region of the Northland, the official opening and enrollment of the Northland
Most vexing of all was a rumor spreading through the territory — that Lorist had been enraged by the Grand Duke of Fisablen's refusal to marry Princess Sylivia to him, and had therefore declared the Fisablen family his mortal enemy, determined to destroy them completely...
The lord was a man of principle and refused to abandon his concubines and children, but many others believed that compared to the noble Princess Sylivia, those concubines and children were hardly worth keeping, and that the lord should not give up the marriage alliance with the Fisablen family.
Originally, this had been nothing more than idle tavern gossip that no one took seriously. But as Lorist began making strategic preparations against the Fisablen family based on his understanding of their strength, the rumor had somehow transformed: the lord was supposedly furious over the Grand Duke of Fisablen's rejected marriage proposal and was preparing to invade the Fisablen family's lands to kidnap Princess Sylivia and make her his Grand Duchess. This version resonated perfectly with the territory's subjects and spread ever wider...
Lorist was so exasperated he didn't know which end was up, and he couldn't even find anyone to direct his anger at. It was Princess Sylivia who had taken a fancy to him first — how had it turned into him waging war over a beautiful woman?
Tagel, observing from the side, asked whether they should ban the rumor circulating through the family territory and arrest those spreading it to penal servitude.
Lorist sighed, his face dark, and said to forget it — let people say what they wanted. The mouths were on their faces; let them talk their fill. Forbidding them to speak through force would only make them believe it all the more in their hearts. Rumors die with the wise, and in any case, this was merely a personal matter. As Grand Duke of the Northland, one should have the composure to accept being gossiped about behind one's back...
On the nineteenth day of the eighth month of the year 1777 by the Galentean Common Calendar, the Norton Family's Flying Tiger Legion and Bedrock Legion launched a sudden attack on the Blite United Duchy. In fewer than seventeen days, they swept through the two southwestern provinces. Two Grand Dukes of the Blite United Duchy fell in battle, and the duchy ceased to exist.
On the eighth day of the ninth month, the Bedrock Legion launched its attack on the Zitulam Duchy. The Grand Duke of Zitulam led his duchy's forces out of the Hansdomos Province and stationed them in the northwestern region, facing off against the Bedrock Legion. On the thirty-second day of the ninth month, the Flying Tiger Legion and the Bedrock Legion handed the two southwestern provinces and the Hansdomos Province over to the Andinak Kingdom's White Lion Legion and the newly reorganized Royal Guard Corps, respectively, then embarked on their journey back to the Northland... (To be continued.)