Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio After sending off Princess Sylvia and her entourage, Lollister returned to his busy administrative duties. To his surprise, Sunbarwood brought him news of the Shayslan Kingdom's surrender. In September, Sunbarwood led the naval army into battle, but after a round of bombardment, the Shayslan Kingdom raised a white flag. It was said that they were scared stiff by the pyramid of human heads, and no one dared to resist.
Even the cousin of Luther III of the former Sparta Kingdom of Haneah, the current Queen Dowager of the Shayslan Kingdom, and the mother of the little king was forced to drink a glass of poisoned wine by the king's uncle. Then, he beheaded her and placed her in a crystal box as an apology. The head was accompanied by two million Gold Coins and rare treasures worth a million Gold Coins. The hostage who accompanied the head was the little King's seven-year-old half-brother …
How should he deal with this? Lollister felt a headache coming on. There was no precedent of a kingdom submitting to a family. It would be considered a fantasy if word got out. However, the Shayslan Kingdom was located overseas and had never been taken seriously by the countries of the Galinthea Continent. Moreover, the Cheekend Merchant Group had handed over the sea spice trade route to the Shayslan Kingdom to the Norton Family. It was only natural that the Shayslan Kingdom would be under the family's jurisdiction.
This time, Torin and Tork were escorting the transport ships back. As the logistics supervisor of the naval army, old Torin reported the situation of the Shayslan Kingdom in detail to Lollister. He believed that the military power of this archipelago kingdom was in the hands of the king's uncle, Shahram. The little king was still underage and was treated as a puppet of the kingdom. Moreover, he deeply hated the king's uncle who had poisoned and beheaded his mother …
Sigh, there was no lack of palace infighting! Lollister sighed and announced the decision on how to deal with the Shayslan Kingdom. He did not want to divide his energy into the internal strife of this archipelago kingdom. What interested him was the specialty spices of the Shayslan Kingdom. The northern people's living conditions were better now. They were used to eating meat, and there was no shortage of beef and mutton. The transportation of these spices back was a good source of income for the family's territory.
Laurist was preparing to build another merchant fleet and open up a sea trade route to the Shayislan Kingdom. At the same time, he would use the archipelago kingdom as a dumping ground for his family's goods. They would ship luxury goods and daily necessities over and spices back. As for the power struggle within the kingdom, the family did not need to get involved. It was fine as long as the Shayislan Kingdom guaranteed the supply of spices.
"Sir, what should we do with the little hostage and the woman's head?" Old Torin asked.
"Just send this woman's head back to the little king. It's such a waste of such a beautiful crystal box. Of all the things that could be stored inside, it's actually a human head. Isn't it disgusting?" Laurist waved his hand. "That little hostage is still too young. Let's put him in Nicole Academy for a few years first. When he's mature enough, we'll send him to Dawn Academy. Whether he's good or bad will depend on him. Make sure that he doesn't have to worry about anything. Every year, we'll provide him with an annuity equivalent to the family's Gold Knight salary. After all, he's given our family two million gold coins. We shouldn't treat him unfairly. He can also be a spare tire in case something happens to the Shayislan Kingdom in the future. "
"Yes, my lord."
After dealing with this matter, Laurist began to plan where the Flying Tiger Army should go to train. The news of the Fisablon Family's surprise attack on the Jinchuan region and the establishment of a province made Laurist's mind tense up. Right now, he could not determine whether his family's Flying Tiger Army was stronger than the Fisablon Family's field ranger army. In terms of type, the Fisablon Family's ranger army was a classic light cavalry. They were similar to the Norton Family's light cavalry scouts. They came and went like the wind, advancing and retreating as they pleased. Only by gathering a large number of troops and compressing the battlefield could they force them to fight head-on. Just like how they had dealt with the two ranger armies led by Viscount Christopher in the capital. …
As for the Norton Family's Flying Tiger Army, although they were also cavalry, they leaned towards medium or heavy armored cavalry. The defense of the steel-armored cavalry was not much weaker than the former Christen Empire's Royal Knights. Furthermore, they focused on discipline, formation, and charging power. They had chariots and steel ballistae for long-range attacks, steel-armored cavalry for charging into battle, and catapults for sieges and fortresses. It could be said that the Flying Tiger Army was an army that could move quickly in the field.
If the Flying Tiger Army was compared to a spear, then the Grizzly Bear Knights led by the family's Gold Knight Terman would be like a giant hammer. No matter how well-organized the formation was, it would collapse with a single strike. Its defensive power was unimaginable. The Ferocious Tiger Ross's Flying Tiger Army was clad in steel armor. The front of their warhorses was equipped with steel armor. On the other hand, the Grizzly Bear Knights were clad in steel armor on the inside and fine steel armor on the outside. Their mounts were clad in steel armor, and they weighed more than a ton along with their horses. They were practically invincible human-shaped tanks. Apart from the large ballistae that could pose a certain threat at a distance of fifty to sixty meters, normal longbows couldn't do anything to them.
If it wasn't for the fact that warhorses with good endurance, high endurance, and high sprinting speed were hard to come by, Terman's knights would've long since had an entire division instead of just ten thousand men. However, if they were compared to the Fisabulon Family's field ranger army, Loriste realized that both the Flying Tiger Army and the Grizzly Bear Knights would be able to completely suppress the ranger army. However, the problem was that Duke Fisabulon wasn't an idiot. He was an old fox. He would only deal with the Norton Family's Flying Tiger Army and the Grizzly Bear Knights in a way that benefited the rangers.
The rangers were light cavalry. Whether it was the Flying Tiger Army's Steel Spear Cavalry or the Grizzly Bear Knights, it would only be a waste of effort to chase after them. They might even be ambushed when they were tired. However, if they didn't chase after them, the rangers would just keep harassing them like flies. Even if they didn't cause much damage, it was still very annoying. One could be a thief for a thousand days, but not a thief for a thousand days. Maintaining constant vigilance would only lower the soldiers' energy and vigilance, making it easier for the rangers to ambush them.
In reality, the best way to deal with the rangers was to use light cavalry scouts. Should he form another light cavalry scout division? That was the only thought that flashed through Lollister's mind before he dismissed it. Princess Sylvia had been touring the northern lands for close to a month. Tagger's Volibell Intelligence and Investigation Bureau had sent a large number of investigators disguised as coachmen and servants to make contact with the princess's entourage. They had obtained a lot of information. One of the pieces of information was that Duke Fisabulon had incorporated the captive grassland barbarians into the army. This was to assimilate them, and also to make up for the expenditure of the family's armed forces.
Compared to the grassland barbarians who had grown up on horseback, the light cavalry scouts of the Norton Family could rely on good equipment and long periods of training. Currently, apart from the lack of suitable long-range weapons that could be launched on horseback, he was afraid that his subordinates would oppose the formation of another light cavalry scout division. After all, in order to form the Flying Tiger Army, the Monolith Army, and the Imperial Guard Army, he had already spent more than three million gold coins this year. Even if the spoils of destroying the Haneabada Kingdom were bountiful, they couldn't afford such a torment. It was better to let Grandmaster Sid and the others research excellent long-range weapons on horseback first …
Loriste didn't think that his family would come into conflict with the Fisabulon Family in the next two years. They had just signed an arms agreement, and these two years would definitely be a period of peace. In addition, if he participated in the Knight Tournament next year, it was very likely that he would be married to the Fisabulon Family. If he married Princess Sylvia, then the Fisablon family would become his family's ally, and the Field Ranger army would no longer be a threat to him.
When he thought of Princess Sylvia, Loriste didn't know what to feel. All the retainers who knew about this were very much in favor of this. Even Governor Hansk of the faraway Sirovas Island and Governor Hickard of the Haneabada Islands had written letters, hoping to facilitate this marriage as they believed that it would bring great benefits to the Norton Family. However, in Loriste's eyes, it felt strange. He had always treated Princess Sylvia as a cute and beautiful little sister. He never thought that Princess Sylvia would actually take a fancy to him …
To Loriste, the only benefit of Princess Sylvia's visit was that his harem, Miss Dena, had completely quieted down. That was because Miss Dena realized that no matter from which angle she looked at it, be it in terms of status, beauty, or even combat aura rank, temperament, or family background, the two sisters were far inferior to Princess Silvia. They did not even have the qualifications to be jealous of the princess. This was because almost all the retainers of the Norton Family approved of the marriage between Loriste and Princess Sylvia.
Miss Dena angrily stopped the torment of helping her sister to the throne of the Norton Family's matriarch. She announced that she would go into seclusion to advance to the Silver rank, and then become the first female knight of the Dena Family. Loriste almost laughed his teeth out. He had only heard that advancing from the Silver rank to the Gold rank required training in seclusion. He had never heard of someone advancing from the Steel rank to the Silver rank. Wasn't this making a mountain out of a molehill? The enraged Miss Dena pounced on Lollister and bit him a few times before she could vent her frustrations …
Loriste, who was at a loss, could only let the Ferocious Tiger Ross lead the Flying Tiger Army to the Barbarian Plains to hunt the herbivorous magical beasts. He even sent Swordmaster Seuss to accompany him, while he hid in the Monolith Castle. His laziness flared up, and he didn't want to move at all. He stayed in his family's territory to celebrate the New Year.
Sometimes, he felt sad when he thought about it. After returning to his family's territory for almost ten years, Loriste had been running around for the sake of the family's development. He didn't feel comfortable staying in the Monolith Castle to celebrate the New Year this year. Especially since the three allies had followed Loriste to Moronte City this year. They wouldn't be coming to the Monolith Castle for the New Year this winter, which made Loriste feel lonely. If it wasn't for the three ladies accompanying him, Loriste would have gone to the Barbarian Plains to hunt magical beasts with the Flying Tiger Army.
Loriste, who had nothing better to do, did a thorough cleaning of his family's territory during the winter. He focused on the underground organizations that had just sprouted. Since they were all staying at home during the winter, he was able to catch them easily. Pulling out the bottle gourd and pulling out the roots, no less than twenty family knights were implicated in this winter cleaning operation, and all of them were given demerits. Among them, three Silver Knights were even stripped of their knight titles and chased out of the family.
As the criminal inspector of his family's territory, Kriston had submitted a report on these underground organizations to Loriste. It pointed out that the members of these organizations were mostly idlers who liked to fight. Their family members were either family knights or officers of the town guards. Some retired family warriors had also joined or formed these underground organizations. They didn't commit major crimes, but they kept making small mistakes. As time passed, they became a force that the good citizens feared. They consciously or unconsciously monopolized some of the profit-making industries in their area and slowly developed.
Kriston believed that the most effective way to crack down on these underground organizations was to formulate a comprehensive criminal law as soon as possible. Strengthening the training of the town guards and expanding their power to crack down on crimes was the best way to prevent the emergence of these underground organizations.
Loriste handed over the matter of formulating the criminal law to Kriston. He asked him to take the criminal law formulated by the former Christen Empire to Nicole Academy to look for Miss Tracy. There were many old scholars there, and they could use the old empire's criminal law to formulate a new criminal law suitable for the Norton Family's territory. He believed that the old scholars at Nicole Academy would be very interested.
The year 1776 of the Galinthea General Calendar passed peacefully. Other than a group of nearly two thousand prisoners sent to the Haneabada Archipelago, the Norton Family's territory was still as prosperous as ever.
After the rainy season of March, Ferocious Tiger Ross led the Flying Tiger Army back from the Barbarian Plains, bringing back the carcasses of more than a hundred thousand herbivorous magical beasts. Loriste inspected the Flying Tiger Army and found that the warriors had become very strong after a winter's training in the Barbarian Plains. He was very satisfied with the results.
When April came, there was a lot of good news. Fatty Shi successfully advanced to the Gold rank with the help of his father-in-law, Great Swordsman Ingelec. Ayer, who was also in seclusion, and Paciko, who was far away in Maple Forest Manor, also became the new Gold Knights of the Norton Family. This increased the number of Gold Knights under Loriste by three. The Norton Family now had fourteen Gold Knights.
However, there was also bad news. Peter and Vasima, the two Silver Knights, failed to advance and needed half a year to recover from the damage to their bodies and minds. In addition, Dolus, Jim, and the former mountain bandit, Big Auvickis, were still in seclusion …
To Loriste, Fatty Shi's advancement to the Gold rank meant that he could be a hands-off boss again. He could entrust all the trivial administrative matters of the territory to Fatty Shi. After being in a good mood, he worked hard on Dinah and the other two girls. His young aunt, Delia, happily got pregnant. Loriste was going to have another child.
After Fatty Shi came out of seclusion to take over the affairs of the family's territory, he understood what had happened in the year he had been in seclusion. He sighed at the current situation of the Dawn Academy. After all, everyone was from the Dawn Academy. At the same time, he praised Loriste's decision to move the Dawn Academy to the Northern Lands. He felt that this was an important matter that concerned the fate of the Norton Family for a hundred years. He planned to use the family's power to build the Dawn Academy as soon as possible so that it could start recruiting students as soon as possible.
As for the marriage between Loriste and Princess Silvia, Fatty Shi's opinion was different from the other family members. He maintained a cautious attitude. He felt that the marriage between the Norton Family and the Fisablen Family was not all good. Instead, he felt that they should be wary of Duke Fisablen's actions. To the Northern Lands, the Fisablen Family, who occupied three provinces, was an opponent that could rival the Norton Family in terms of power and influence. They had to be watched closely.
On the 15th of April, the Norton Family once again held a family meeting in the Rock Castle. As the chief Knight of the family, Fatty Shi laid out the various goals for this year. The next thing to prepare was for Loriste to go to the Royal City of Winderbury to participate in the Knight Tournament hosted by Duke Fisablen. Loriste's goal was to bring Princess Silvia back to the family's territory …
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