The news Aridorli brought was a jumbled mess. Her claim that the
However, given the great distance they had to travel and the fact that they were hauling their share of the war spoils, the twelve hundred-strong Dina family garrison wouldn't arrive back at the Norton Family's estates in Dreimurk Province until May or June of the following year. Sir Masa had arranged for the garrison to spend the current winter and the coming rainy season in the Imperial Capital before setting out. Attached was a list of spoils — owing to the Norton Family's armed forces looking after them, the Dina family garrison had suffered only minor casualties while reaping enormous profits. The total value of their plunder came to nearly three thousand gold Forde coins…
"Ari, last time you mentioned sending servants to Northland to deliver letters to your sister, but they were turned back at the river crossing. Apparently the Norton Family's First Guard Legion had taken over river defense and temporarily cut off all traffic between Northland and the outside — is that true?" Lorist asked.
"Yes." Aridorli nodded. "The pontoon bridge at the lower
Something felt off. Had something really happened within the family? Lorist stroked his beard as he pondered — these days his beard had grown to half an inch long, and when he looked at his reflection in the washbasin each morning, he resembled Zhang Fei from the old folk legends of his previous life.
Back in July, Aridorli had written several letters and sent two servants to Northland because she had yet to receive any reply from her sister Fenagali or her aunt Diliana, and she was also worried about her younger brother who was studying at the
But what Aridorli hadn't expected was for both servants to return after only half a month. The news they brought was that the Norton Family's First Guard Legion had taken over the defense of the Mitobro River. Not only had the lower pontoon bridge been dismantled, but even the iron-chain bridge connecting to Winston Province had been closed to all traffic. The stated reason was that the Grand Duke of Northland had been gravely injured in his duel with the Storm Sword Saint and needed quiet recuperation, and simultaneously, to guard against assassination attempts by ill-intentioned parties, all cross-border traffic had been cut off.
With even the mail disrupted, Aridorli had gone to Lorist, who at the time had considered it perfectly normal. When he had left Northland, he had entrusted the security of the family estates to Beruneik, commander of the First Guard Legion. Now that Lorist was absent from Northland and the Commercial Alliance had sent Great Swordmasters to assassinate him, the focus of attention naturally fell on Northland. While he didn't worry about his family's safety, Northland would inevitably be harassed by those Great Swordmasters. Beruneik's decision to take over river defense and cut off traffic was therefore a perfectly reasonable response — nothing unusual about it.
But now Aridorli had brought new information from Northland, and this time it had come from the three great Norton legions at the Mana Hill Plains front — and those three legions had set out directly for home. Something serious must have happened.
But what did Sir Masa's letter mean by saying the
Lorist racked his brain but couldn't figure out what could have gone wrong in the family estates. Beruneik would never betray him. Fatty was his close friend. And
In the end, Lorist decided to send Reidi to Northland to investigate what was actually happening. His internal injuries had mostly healed, and in another two or three months he could resume practicing the Golden Water Art to restore his strength. Furthermore, continuing to practice the Dan Sea Qi Convergence Technique no longer required Reidi's help with guiding his internal energy — and besides, Reidi had been rather restless lately, having already gone all the way with Aridorli's maid Sunilulu yet refusing to commit to when he would marry her, nearly driving Aridorli to blood with rage.
Tagel, who ran the Norton Family's intelligence network.
With Tagel on the job, the upheaval in Northland quickly became crystal clear before Lorist's eyes.
Two years ago in August, Lorist had dueled the Storm Sword Saint at the front lines. Both were gravely injured. When the news reached Northland, the Norton Family's upper echelons were caught between joy and sorrow — joy because Lorist had become a Pillar Sword Saint, sorrow because he was gravely wounded and had been taken to the Imperial Capital by the Second Prince to recuperate.
What followed was the Hunting Rider Legion refusing to obey Fatty's orders. Jost and Ross the Fierce Tiger of the Flying Tiger Legion each took their forces south on their own initiative, intent on taking revenge on the Commercial Alliance for Lorist's sake. Fatty had no choice but to dispatch the Bear Rage Knights, stationed in Vendenas City, to Muye Province to guard against and repel the raids of the steppe barbarian cavalry.
Similarly, with Ross the Fierce Tiger and Jost taking two legions to the front, Fatty was left with a massive mess. Nearly five hundred thousand forcibly relocated immigrants had been dumped in the Southern Provinces. Fareya, commander of the Fourth Guard Legion, and Earl, commander of the Fifth Temporary Guard Legion, were left tearing their hair out — on one hand maintaining order among the immigrants, on the other ensuring the logistics supply line stretching across eleven provinces. The Fourth and Fifth Guard Legions, with a combined strength of seven regiments, simply didn't have enough troops.
Fatty had no choice but to draw one regiment from the Second Guard Legion and send it south as reinforcement. This left the Second Guard Legion, garrisoned in southern Northland, with only a single regiment to defend the capital Bear Rage City. Reluctantly, Fatty asked Beruneik of the First Guard Legion to dispatch one regiment to take over the three external access points.
Last January, Lorist was attacked in the Imperial Capital by Great Swordmasters dispatched by the Commercial Alliance. Protected by Great Swordmaster Hughes and Reidi, he fought his way out of the city and fled to Dreimurk Province. Hughes and Jenorio then led the bodyguard detail to draw away the pursuing Great Swordmasters, fighting their way back to Northland and reaching Bear Rage City. Reidi and Lorist, meanwhile, vanished without a trace.
Shortly after, Bear Rage City came under harassment from Great Swordmasters. Fortunately, Sandy —
No one expected that at the family's most perilous moment, Steward Hanske of Maple Forest Manor would suddenly make his move. He first hosted a banquet for Beruneik, commander of the First Guard Legion, claiming he wished to inquire about Lorist's whereabouts — as a longtime servant of the Norton Family, naturally he was concerned about his missing lord. Commander Beruneik had originated from Maple Forest Manor and could not refuse Steward Hanske's invitation, so he attended the banquet.
At the banquet, Steward Hanske proposed that since the family head's whereabouts were unknown and all of Northland was in a state of panic, perhaps Leskter, the eldest young master of Maple Forest Manor, could step in as temporary family head to stabilize the situation and calm the people's hearts.
Commander Beruneik refused. But Steward Hanske had come prepared — he had somehow hired two Great Swordmasters who subdued Beruneik on the spot and confined him within Maple Forest Manor. Simultaneously, he rallied old loyalists to seize control of the First Guard Legion and also conscripted garrison troops from every town in the family's original territory, all under the banner of proclaiming Young Master Leskter as the temporary family head, and marched on Bear Rage City…
"Wait…" Lorist was utterly bewildered. "I personally purged everyone from Maple Forest Manor out of both the Guard Legions and the three great family legions. So how did Hanske manage to rally old loyalists and seize control of the First Guard Legion? And how could the legion's soldiers have been swayed by Hanske?"
Tagel let out a long sigh. "Your Highness, you overlooked one body of the family's garrison forces. The Reserve Battalions."
Lorist suddenly understood. The Reserve Battalions were mostly composed of retired soldiers from the three great legions. Their duty was to guard the family's material stockpiles, prisons, top-secret mines, workshops, and production facilities — also a way to give these retired family soldiers a chance to continue contributing. The Norton Family's armed forces had a total of five Reserve Battalion formations, all within the original family territory in Northland.
Over a decade ago, when Maple Forest Manor had first joined the family's armed forces, at least one to two thousand of their people had been recruited. Back then, the newly returned Lorist had been desperate for manpower and had swept nearly every able-bodied man from Maple Forest Manor into the family's forces. Over time, these Maple Forest Manor-origin family soldiers had been replaced by newer recruits. After retiring, they joined the Reserve Battalions to continue serving the family.
In terms of loyalty, the Reserve Battalion soldiers were naturally the most loyal to the Norton Family as a whole. But whether they were loyal to Lorist personally was another question entirely. In many ways, they bore the brand of Maple Forest Manor more than anything. Lorist's vigorous promotion of outside talent and his exclusion of Maple Forest Manor-origin individuals had made them feel abandoned. Thus, Leskter — the eldest young master from Maple Forest Manor — was far more likely to win their loyalty.
Because these Reserve Battalion soldiers had all retired from the various legions of the family's armed forces, and most had been mid-ranking squad leaders before retiring, when they answered Steward Hanske's call, they readily replaced the First Guard Legion's junior and mid-level officers and easily seized control of the entire legion. As for the town garrison troops — needless to say, they too were retired veterans. Having served in the family's various legions, most held squad leader positions in their respective town garrisons. When they raised the call from above, the garrison soldiers below naturally followed without question…
Lorist's face turned grim. "Didn't Baron Shrade take any effective measures?"
"Lord Shrade and Steward Speer walked right into the trap at that time — they were confined by Steward Hanske…"
Tagel continued his account. After seizing control of the First Guard Legion, Steward Hanske rallied garrison troops from towns across the region, assembling a force of nearly fifty thousand, and marched on Bear Rage City. Ovigis, commander of the Second Guard Legion defending Bear Rage City, was not one to back down. Though he had only a single regiment under his command, he refused to surrender, reinforced Bear Rage City's defenses, and prepared for a decisive battle against the mutinous First Guard Legion and the assembled town garrisons.
With a civil war within the family about to erupt, Fatty and Steward Speer decided to leave the city and persuade Steward Hanske to pull back from the brink — not to become an eternal sinner of the Norton Family. To their surprise, the moment they left, the deranged Steward Hanske confined them as well. If
It was said that Steward Hanske had furiously denounced Fatty as a treacherous scoundrel, claiming that Lorist had placed too much trust in Fatty and handed over the family's entire administrative authority, leading the family astray. Fatty, greatly aggrieved, demanded to know what exactly he had done wrong and what "wrong path" the family had supposedly gone down. Steward Hanske thought about it for a long time but couldn't come up with an answer. In his embarrassment and fury, he ordered Fatty hanged.
That was when Steward Kodan stepped in to mediate, pointing out that Fatty was Lorist's most trusted confidant. If he were hanged, Lorist would surely fly into a thunderous rage upon his return, which would not only destroy Steward Hanske's ambitions but also potentially implicate Young Master Leskter and Madam Ilinna of Maple Forest Manor and her son. Left with no choice, Steward Hanske swallowed his anger and had Fatty and Steward Speer confined instead.
Lorist was also exasperated. He asked Tagel, "What exactly is Hanske after? No matter how much he struts around now, the moment I return to the family estates, his dream will be shattered. Doesn't he realize that the bigger the mess he makes, the heavier the punishment will be when I come back?"
"Your Highness," Tagel replied, "Steward Kodan let slip that Steward Hanske has dispatched an envoy to the Mana Hill Plains front. Speaking in the Norton Family's name, he has petitioned His Majesty the King to appoint Young Master Leskter as acting family head, to manage Norton Family affairs until Lorist's injuries have recovered. He also pledged that the three great Norton Family legions would dedicate themselves to cooperating with His Majesty in the war against the Commercial Alliance and securing victory in the Battle of the Mana Hill Plains."
"Steward Hanske's scheme is to use His Majesty's recognition of Young Master Leskter to suppress Lorist. No matter what, Lorist is the Grand Duke of Northland in the Andinak Kingdom — even as a Sword Saint, he must respect the King's authority. That way, even if Lorist returns, he would be unable to punish Young Master Leskter. Steward Hanske hopes to split Northland into two parts — the original family territory managed by Young Master Leskter, with the remainder of Northland still under Lorist's control as Grand Duke!"
…