Chapter 98: Maplewood Manor

Steward Kedan and Sedekamp rode their horses up the small hill and arrived at Lorist's side.

Lorist asked, "Do you know the details of why the Dunbassen family withdrew from the garrison in Northwild Town?"

"My lord, after you left Northwild Town with Sir Beruneke the other day, it seems something happened to the Dunbassens the very next day. They covered it up tightly and we couldn't find the cause, but I remember that night Master Morin, Master Hassan, and Master Chubim went together to meet Grandmaster Dunbassen. They appear to have reached some sort of agreement, and afterward the Dunbassens withdrew from the garrison," Steward Kedan replied.

"And you? What did you find out?" Lorist turned to Sedekamp.

Sedekamp nodded. "Last night I treated a former garrison member who had been dismissed to drinks. He got drunk and told me that the four great families have actually been concealing their true strength all along. Each family has several clan members who have advanced to Silver rank — that's the source of their nerve in openly defying the family. What baffles the four great families is that these Silver-rank clansmen can't learn systematic Combat Force techniques. They have no idea how to use Silver-rank Combat Force and can only fumble through on their own. The former garrison member also told me that this time the Dunbassens really took a hit. They only had five Silver-rank clansmen in total, and somehow four of them died at once, along with two Three-Star Black Iron members. Their strength plunged from second among the four great families to dead last. I suspect the other three families turned up to put the squeeze on them, and the Dunbassens were forced to withdraw from the garrison."

Lorist laughed. On the way back from Northwild Town the other time, he had killed six bandits who tried to ambush them. He had originally thought all four great families were involved — Beruneke had identified two of them as Dunbassen men — but he hadn't realized the other four were Dunbassen too. This had dealt the Dunbassens a crushing blow, shattering their backbone in one stroke. He had originally hoped the four great families of Northwild Town would tear at each other over those three Knight Aspirant positions, but the outcome had been decided so quickly. As it turned out, the Dunbassens had been the sacrifice. He could only blame himself for hitting too hard.

"Any problem with that Caxi fellow?" Lorist asked.

Sedekamp replied, "I've asked many people. They only know he exists but haven't had any dealings with him. I also made inquiries through several former garrison members, and they all said they didn't know Caxi and hadn't heard of him being close to any particular family. He normally stays at the lord's manor with Lord Beruneke. Apart from Grandmaster Dunbassen, Caxi has had no contact with any of the other family heads. I don't think there's any problem with him."

Lorist mused for a moment and said, "What strikes me as strange is that Sir Beruneke was poisoned by Grandmaster Dunbassen for two years and was essentially under house arrest at the lord's manor. As his attendant, did Caxi really notice nothing suspicious? So I find it hard to trust his loyalty. Still, since no problems have come to light, once we arrive at the manor castle, have Caxi report to the guard unit. I'll teach him to awaken his Combat Force as a reward for accompanying Sir Beruneke these past two years."

"My lord, you've been too lenient with Northwild Town's garrison this time. Not only are you paying them wages, you're also giving them leather armor and spears. But I suspect they won't follow your arrangements," Steward Kedan said.

"They will. They have no choice. Have you forgotten that I changed the land grant rules?" Lorist said.

"You mean the rule that gives each garrison member sixty mu of farmland?"

"Yes. Four hundred garrison members at sixty mu each — that comes to exactly twenty-four thousand mu. That's essentially all the farmland in Northwild Town. The Morin family, the Hassan family, and the Chubim family have already filled every garrison position with their own people. Do you think they'd let that farmland slip away? As for the garrison members who didn't belong to the three great families, they've not only been dismissed from the garrison but have also lost their land. What do you think they'll do?"

"They'll cause trouble?"

"Of course. The three great families originally planned to have me establish the new town's garrison and recruit all those people in. That way, they could pacify them while extending their influence into the new town. But they didn't expect me not to set up the new town's garrison right away — I've said it will only be established after the new town is completed. So those people are left with nothing. They've lost both their farmland and their garrison positions. All the benefits are gone. Do you think they'll accept that willingly?"

Lorist smiled coldly. "I gave the three great families a one-month deadline precisely because I want those people to start making noise — to drive a wedge between them and the three great families. In the end the three great families won't be able to stand it and will have to send the garrison to round them up and pack them off to Poplar Flats to build the new town. Before long they'll be at each other's throats. That way Northwild Town will lose more than half its population. I reckon what's left will be three to four thousand from the three great families. Take out the women, children, and elderly and there'll be at most a thousand or so fighting men. When the time comes we'll only be dealing with those thousand, not the original six or seven thousand of all Northwild Town."

Steward Kedan looked thoughtful.

Lorist glanced at Northwild Town in the distance. The last cart transporting people had already passed through the gates. "Let's go, Steward Kedan. You're in charge of settling these people in the open ground in front of the manor castle. Sedekamp, you're responsible for explaining the new compensation rules to the families of the former family soldiers. Set their minds at ease — our family will never mistreat those who serve loyally. Understood?"

"Yes, my lord. Understood," Sedekamp replied.

…

Over at the loading yard, Steward Hansk was settling accounts with the Northwild Town transport convoy while Steward Sper was reporting to Lorist.

"My lord, Sir Josk brought a hundred and twenty-four four-wheeled wagons this time. We scraped together eighty-seven four-wheeled wagons from the family's manor castle — mostly spare carts from the family's trade caravans and military baggage wagons from a few years back. However, the family has plenty of two-wheeled carts. They're mainly used for hauling supplies around the estate or moving farm laborers out to the fields. If you need them, my lord, we can provide a hundred and thirty-five."

"Steward Sper, how many surplus workers do we have at the estate this time?" Lorist asked.

"My lord, Steward Hansk has already tallied it. There are seven hundred and forty-eight surplus workers."

"So that's two thousand one hundred and seventy-five people to transport to the Morgan Hills castle site, counting the one thousand four hundred and twenty-seven from Northwild Town. Transporting all of them will take two hundred four-wheeled wagons. How much grain and supplies can the remaining wagons carry?"

"My lord, what you mainly need to transport is grain and cloth. The family warehouses have plenty of grain stored up. Cloth is in shorter supply, but we have a good quantity of pelts that can be sent over for making clothes. If we put the two-wheeled carts to use as well, we can ship a hundred thousand jin of grain and a batch of pelts," Steward Sper replied.

"Then that's the plan. Arrange it as you've suggested, and put the two-wheeled carts to use as well," Lorist ordered.

Lorist turned his head and noticed that Josk beside him had gone off into his own thoughts, staring into the distance.

"Hey, Josk, what are you thinking about?"

"Oh, my lord, I was wondering. When we went to Northwild Town, I noticed the words 'Northwild Town' were carved above the gate. But why is the gate of our family's manor castle completely blank, with no name?" Josk said.

Come to think of it, Lorist realized that whenever people referred to it they always just called it "the family's manor castle." It really didn't have a name. Strange — the family had a history of over two hundred years, yet no one had ever named the manor castle.

"Steward Sper, do you know why?"

Steward Sper shook his head. Just then Steward Hansk finished his accounts and came over, and Lorist asked him the same question.

"I seem to remember someone asking about this before, back when the old master was still alive. He said, why bother — there's only one manor castle and one town in the family's territory. The town is already called Northwild Town; that's the garrison's domain. The manor castle is our family's home, so just call it 'the family's manor castle.' It even sounds more intimate that way," Steward Hansk recalled.

Lorist shook his head. "That won't do. If the family has more manor castles in the future, not naming them will cause confusion. Let me come up with a name. Look at these surrounding hills — all covered in maple forests. Our family's manor castle shall be called Maplewood Manor. Find a stonemason and have the name carved above the gate."

"My lord, what an excellent name — so fitting. I'll have it done today," Steward Hansk said.

Lorist called out to Steward Sper, who was about to leave. "Steward Sper, I'll have to trouble you these next two days. Get the supplies and wagons ready as quickly as possible. Today is the fifth of March. I want to set out on the seventh, so we can reach the castle construction site at Morgan Hills by the eighth."

"Very well, my lord. Rest assured — I guarantee the convoy will depart on the seventh," Steward Sper promised and hurried off.

"My lord, there's really no rush. You don't need to push the convoy out so soon," Josk said from the side.

"No, Josk, have you forgotten what Steward Boris said? The Kemmes family will be sending a large shipment of supplies and slave laborers to the castle site around the tenth. I plan to arrive before the eighth and see if there's a chance to swallow up the supplies in that convoy," Lorist said.

…

On the morning of the seventh of March, around nine o'clock, the convoy set out from Maplewood Manor, with two hundred and eleven four-wheeled wagons and a hundred and thirty-five two-wheeled carts loaded with people, grain, and supplies, heading for the castle construction site at Morgan Hills.

Accompanying Lorist on this trip were Steward Hansk and Steward Kedan. Steward Hansk had pulled over two hundred young men from Maplewood Manor — those currently in training to awaken their Combat Force — to serve as drivers, letting them make this trip first and resume their training on the way back.

Pat took the sixty guards from Maplewood Manor's newly formed guard squad who had already awakened their Combat Force, combined them with the sixty former bandits Josk had brought when he arrived, and formed them into an escort detachment. They rode Northland steeds, patrolling and watching the convoy along the way.

Lorist grumbled to Sedekamp, who was riding behind him, "Why do I always feel like I'm stuck dealing with convoys? Look — leaving Morant, I had to organize a convoy. Just when I finally left the convoy behind at Geldos and traveled light for a few days, you and Pat went and built me another convoy at Fonyata Town. Now I've only been home for a few days and I'm off with yet another convoy. Convoys, convoys — I'm sick to death of them…"

Sedekamp knew Lorist was only joking. He smiled but didn't respond.

Josk, however, laughed. "My lord, you could have waited another day and set out later. I'll take the convoy ahead and you can catch up tomorrow."

Lorist waved his hand. "No good. I've realized I'm the worrying type. If I wait another day, I'll be a nervous wreck the whole time, fretting and unable to relax. Better to go with the convoy and put my mind at ease."

…

With the convoy moving at its current pace, the return trip would take an estimated fourteen to fifteen hours — nearly double the time it had taken to come.

After the convoy had been moving for five or six hours, around two in the afternoon, Josk — who was riding at the head of the column — sent a man back to ask Lorist: they were a few li from a small lake; should the convoy stop and rest for two hours before pressing on?

Lorist was about to ride forward to take a look when he suddenly spotted dust clouds rising from a ridge to the left front. Dozens of horsemen appeared over the ridge, brandishing their weapons and letting out shrill, piercing war cries as they charged straight from the ridge toward the convoy…