Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio The veins on Christen Iberia's hands were bulging.
As the former second prince of the Christen Empire and the current king of the Iberian Kingdom, he felt that he had been humiliated like never before. Never in his wildest dreams did he expect that the new head of the Norton family would reply to him with only two words: Get lost.
The second prince had spent a lot of effort to gather information about the Norton family. When he sent troops to the Madras Principality, he heard a rumor that the Norton family in the north had a large convoy that helped the second prince of the Andenak Kingdom seize the ruling power and stabilize the kingdom. They also helped the second prince conquer the Madras Principality's Lejidana Fortress and swept through the Yungesandra province.
The second prince had only laughed at the rumor. Was it possible? Although the Norton family was known as the Roaring Bear of the North, the young master who was going to inherit the family business, the Golden Knight Abel, had died in battle under the second prince's command. Even the merchant family, the Kemmes family, that he had just conferred as a noble, had been suppressed. Since they had no value, the second prince ignored the disputes of the nobles in the north. In order to win over Duke Lujins of the North, the second prince had even taken the initiative to transfer the jurisdiction of all the nobles in the north to the Duke of the North.
But when the second prince occupied Kebo City, he received accurate information from the refugees in the city who had been abandoned by the convoy. The Norton family did indeed have a large convoy of more than ten thousand carriages, and they had also kidnapped nearly a hundred thousand refugees to the north. But when the second prince sent troops to chase after them, he found that the Norton family's convoy had already crossed the Mitobro River. The troops could only look at the river and sigh.
Then the second prince was busy plundering the private wealth of the nobles in the Madras Principality's Delemke province. He hanged them with the crime of colluding with the Andenak Kingdom's reinforcements to rebel against the Iberian Kingdom. He also had to wipe out the private armies of the nobles who had raised their troops to resist. Up until the moment they were defeated in Kebo City, he had completely forgotten about the Norton Family's northbound convoy.
The Madras Duchy had earned a lot from this expedition. Not only had the debt to the Madras Duchy been written off, they had also plundered a large amount of money from the nobles in the Delemark province. It could be said that they had made a huge fortune.
The Second Prince had no choice but to withdraw his troops from the Madras Principality after the failure of the Battle of Kebo City. After experiencing two major defeats in the "Dawn Raid" and the "Battle of Kebo", the Second Prince had lost more than fifty thousand men. Although the majority of them were the private armies of the nobles, the second prince's father-in-law, Archduke Fisablun, had also lost more than 20,000 people in the three border defense corps that had been sent to support him. This was what the second prince was most distressed about.
In troubled times, military power was the most important. The second prince knew this very well. His next step was to use the spoils of war to form an army of the kingdom under his direct command. Firstly, it was to stabilize his position as the king, and secondly, it was to lay the foundation for the next expedition. However, the second prince could not think of a place in the kingdom where he could build an army and train his soldiers without any worries …
When the Iberian Kingdom was established, its territory was the five provinces of the former Christen Empire. Among them, the Northern Province occupied half of the Iberian Kingdom's area, and it was a unified province. Apart from suppressing the Archduke of the North to prevent him from establishing a duchy that was separated from the kingdom's territory, the second prince had never had a good way to bring the north under his control.
As for the Eastern Wasteland Province and Muye Province near the northeast prairie, they were the private lands of the second prince's father-in-law, Archduke Fisablun. They were also the foundation of the border defense corps under his command. Unless the second prince was crazy, he would not have any ideas about these two provinces.
Then the Iberian Kingdom was left with the Southern Province and the Winston Province where the capital, Winderbury City, was located. However, the Southern Province had just been smashed by Archduke Merine and the Gale Legion. If the second prince put the newly formed royal army there to train, it was very likely that Archduke Merine would have the idea of striking first. The second prince did not want Archduke Merine to attack the capital again.
When the second prince first established the kingdom, for the sake of face, he changed the Southern Province into three southern counties, and the larger Winston Province was changed into four counties in the capital. In order to raise military expenses and maintain his luxurious life, he had already sold his territory at a high price. Even now, he could not find a place to train his troops.
Just as the second prince was worrying about the next step of his plan with melancholy, a search team that acted as the vanguard of the army sent him a few merchants. From these merchants, the second prince once again heard the news of the Norton family's northbound convoy. They had defeated the coalition of the northern lords led by the Archduke of the North, Duke Lujins, and won a great victory. In order to retaliate against the Archduke of the North, they had also robbed the Archduke's territory in the southern part of the north and moved away the people in the Archduke's territory. Now that the north was without a leader, they were in a state of chaos.
This was really a big pie that fell from the sky. The second prince made a prompt decision and moved to the Hengdeli Bridge. As expected, he easily occupied two strategic strongholds, and then occupied the capital of the Archduke's territory, Gildusk City. In the Archduke's Mansion, he saw Duke Lujins, who had vomited blood and was unconscious.
The second prince waved his hand, and Duke Lujins left the north on the grounds that the capital, Winderbury, was more suitable for recuperation. Everyone had a tacit understanding that he would not be able to return to the north in his lifetime.
When he took over the mess left behind by the Grand Duke of the North, the second prince realized how thoroughly the so-called Southern Grand Duchy of the North had been destroyed. He could not even find a usable blacksmith or servant in the Grand Duke's capital, let alone the villages outside the city that had been burned to the ground.
At this time, the second prince received another report. When a company of 2,500 soldiers from the frontier corps and nearly 3,000 nobles' private army went to rob the seemingly intact town of Evensen, they were attacked by the remnants of the Northern Legion in the nearby Cherry Blossom Ridge Manor. They suffered heavy losses, and more than 2,000 of them died in the battle.
The second prince immediately ordered his army to go to battle. Unexpectedly, the remnants of the Northern Legion numbered more than 10,000, all of them riding horses and wearing iron armor. In front of them were two Golden Knights. One of them was the self-proclaimed Baron Shahin, one of the Golden Knights of the former Archduke of the North, Knight Henned. The second was also the Golden Knight Tabek. As the five famous Golden Family Knights under the Archduke of the North, they were no strangers to the second prince. In fact, they could even be considered old acquaintances.
Looking at the messy formation of his subordinates and the murderous aura on the opposite side, the second prince knew that if a fight were to break out, he would not be able to get away with it. So, he rode out alone and tried to persuade the knight. Only then did he know that Knight Henned had inherited his father's territory and the title of Baron. Now the Grand Duke's Cherry Blossom Ridge Manor Castle and the town of Evensen had become the territory of the Shahin family. Even Tabek had become Henned's family knight.
The second prince had no choice but to apologize for the ignorance of his subordinates and the act of offending the Shahin family's territory. He explained that because of Duke Lujins's illness, he had now taken over the Duke's territory and sincerely invited Knight Henned to join him in his great cause.
Knight Henned, who had become the Baron of Shahin, showed respect to the second prince. He accepted the second prince's apology, saying that ignorance was not a crime. However, as a vassal family of the Grand Duke of the North, without the Grand Duke's approval, he could not accept the second prince's invitation. After all, he was indebted to Duke Luggins. Duke Luggins had entrusted him with the Northern Legion during his time of crisis. Not only did Duke Luggins inherit the Baron's title, but he also made Knight Tabick his family's knight. Therefore, his loyalty to Duke Luggins was just around the corner. However, if Duke Lujins personally asked him to serve under the second prince, he would not hesitate to serve the second prince until his death …
First, he suffered a loss, then he was met with a soft rebuff. Depressed, the second prince retreated back to the city. The only thing he learned was that when he curiously asked Knight Henned where the armor of his soldiers came from. Knight Henned told him that they got it from the Norton family.
Therefore, the second prince spent a lot of effort to inquire about and collect information about the Norton family. When a steady stream of gossip and rumors were gathered in front of the second prince, he finally sorted out the information that was more or less reliable.
It turned out that the current head of the Norton family was the second young master who had been exiled by the family for ten years. He left the family at the age of fourteen and learned to fight with his bare hands. Although his combat power was only at the level of Iron, he once defeated the Grand Duke of the North's Gold Knight, Tabek, and made Tabek lie in bed for a year.
He was proud and arrogant. As soon as he took over the family's territory, he took the initiative to start a war with the Camus family. He set fire to the Red River Valley Manor castle of Camus and built a Rock Castle in the Morgen Hills. He refused the extortion of the Grand Duke of the North, annihilated the four thousand men sent by the Grand Duke of the North to fight against the Norton family, and sent troops to attack and hang Baron Fahrad, who used to be the second prince's whip and horse, on the charge of hurting the messenger of the Norton family …
It was said that the second young master of the Norton family made a fortune during his exile. When he received the news that the family wanted him to return to inherit the title and the family's territory, he organized a convoy and went all the way north. There were many Gold-ranked family knights under his command, and the most famous one was a Gold-ranked archer who returned to the family's territory one step ahead of the second young master. While he was in charge of the Rock Castle, the coalition of the Northern Lords organized by Duke Lujins could not break through. In the end, when the Norton convoy arrived, they suffered a crushing defeat.
After understanding the general information about the Norton family, the second prince only understood three things. First, the Norton family was very rich. Just the property they robbed from the Grand Duke alone was more than a million Gold Fords, not to mention the convoy that went north. There were nearly twenty thousand carriages, and it was said that the armors they carried were countless. Henned said that the armors exchanged for his ten thousand men were not even one-tenth of the total armors of the Norton family.
Second, the Norton family's armed forces were very strong. It was estimated that they had forty to fifty thousand men, and their weapons and equipment were more complete and advanced than the second prince's Iberian Kingdom and the border guards. Currently, the second prince could only befriend and not offend the Norton family in the north.
Third, which was also the most ridiculous point to the second prince, was that the new head of the Norton family, the second young master, was short-sighted and had no ambition. He was like a turtle guarding the house. Anyone who had the financial and military strength of the Norton family, as long as they had the slightest bit of ambition, the north would become a delicious meal on their plate. Unlike the new head of the Norton family, who defeated the Grand Duke of the Northern Lands, robbed the Grand Duke's territory, and then retreated back to the family's territory with the loot.
Looking at the map of the Norton family's territory in the north, and the Monolith Castle in the Molgen Hills that separated the family's territory from the outside world, the second prince felt that it was too funny. The famous Roaring Bear in the north had become a turtle in the north. Although the territory was large, it was extremely desolate. It seemed that the Norton family had moved so many people from the Grand Duke's territory to prepare for seclusion and development of the territory.
From the perspective of the second prince, he had to thank this new head of the Norton family who had no ambition. If it wasn't for him taking drastic measures against the Grand Duke of the Northern Lands, the second prince would not have taken over the Grand Duke's territory so smoothly. The second prince didn't care if his subjects were gone. In the seven counties that he ruled in the Iberian Kingdom, there were many farmers and war refugees who had lost their land. The second prince had already ordered the nobles under his command to bring these people to the Grand Duke's territory of the Northern Lands, where there were ready-made farmlands for them to cultivate. As long as the second prince was patient and waited for these farmers and refugees to settle down, the Grand Duke's territory would become a treasure land that would provide him with a steady stream of manpower and material resources.
Occupying the Grand Duchy not only eliminated Duke Lujins, who wanted to separate the Northland from the Kingdom of Iberia and become a duchy, but also provided the second prince with a place to train his troops and collect wealth. The second prince was full of ambition. He wanted to control the entire Northern Lands, tie all the nobles in the Northern Lands to his chariot, and make them bleed and sweat for his cause of hegemony …
What the second prince had now was time. He didn't want to rush, and everything would be done slowly. As for the Norton family that he couldn't afford to offend, the second prince didn't plan to let it go. The previous Grand Duke of the Northern Lands was also a guard dog, but he was still played by the second prince. The second prince was very excited. Since the new head of the Norton family was also a guard dog, then he had enough experience to deal with him. Compared to the Grand Duke of the Northern Lands, it was obvious that the little guy was easier to deal with.
The second prince wrote the letter to the new head of the Norton family after careful consideration. Even the three conditions were a test. The first condition was for the Norton family to hand over 300,000 gold coins from the Northern Duke's treasury. His motive was simple. He wanted the Norton family to think that his act of robbing the Northern Duke's treasury was a legitimate act of revenge. He had robbed more than a million gold coins, and the second prince only wanted 300,000 of it. This would make the Norton family feel that they had gained a lot. As long as they handed over 300,000 gold coins, they wouldn't be held responsible for moving all the people in the Grand Duke's territory. He believed that the Norton family would be very happy to send the 300,000 gold coins to the second prince …
The second condition was to target the new Lord of the Norton family, who was like a guard dog. He wanted the new Lord to swear loyalty to the second prince and raise the Norton family's title. This was both a temptation and a trap. As long as the new Lord was by the second prince's side, the second prince had his ways to manipulate him. What was the use of having more Golden Knights under his command? One of the reasons why Duke Lujins didn't dare to establish an independent duchy in the Northern Lands was because his five Golden Knights were repeatedly suppressed by the two Master Swordsmen by the second prince's side …
The third condition was for the Norton family to send out two divisions to pacify the Northern Lands for the second prince. This was actually another test of the Norton family's ambition. After all, the second prince would not be able to sleep peacefully with such a powerful force hiding in the family's territory. If he agreed to this condition, then it would mean that the Norton family was truly loyal to the second prince. By then, he could think about how to cut off the Norton family's meat and eat it …
Starting from the memory of the young master of the Norton Family who had died heroically on the battlefield for him, the second prince felt that the letter he had written was reasonable and touching. He even dreamed of the new head of the Norton Family kneeling before him, allowing him to take whatever he wanted from the Norton Family. People, soldiers, weapons, equipment, resources, and so on would come pouring in endlessly …
The second prince laughed out loud even in his dreams …
But what was with this letter? There were only two words on the paper — Scram.
The common language of Galinthea did not have the phrase 'scram', and no one had ever associated 'scram' and 'scram' together. This was not 'scram', nor was it 'scram'. But when these two words were put together, the second prince realized that there was a strong sense of malice in it. It was filled with contempt and mockery, as if he had been slapped in the face twice …
The second prince slowly folded the reply in his hand. As a person of high status, he still had the subtlety to maintain his composure. After sending away Viscount Sinderson who had sent the letter, the second prince clenched the reply and clenched his teeth. As long as he was given time and an opportunity, he would definitely make the Norton family fall into eternal damnation. When that time came, he would definitely make that new head of the family swallow this reply whole. No one had ever insulted the second prince who had been in such a high position since he was young. He would remember these two words …
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