NOVPUBOutside the castle, Gillian bowed his head to Ghislain and said, “The preparations for departure are complete.”
“Good. Get Daven to Baron Valua as quickly as possible and deliver the food before Amelia moves,” Ghislain instructed.
“Understood.”
Before Daven could even regain his senses, Gillian dragged him along to join the procession.
Fenris's army moved towards Baron Valua’s territory as quickly as possible without taking a break.
At that moment, Amelia bit her lip upon hearing the report that Ghislain had taken Daven with him.
‘How could this happen? How did he manage to sneak Daven away before I could act?’
Amelia was well aware that Ghislain had gathered quite a lot of information about her. Even when he extorted 20,000 gold from her before, it hadn’t seemed like mere guesswork.
However, she never imagined he would predict the timing of her actions and successfully abduct Daven. Had he even held a banquet beforehand to create a smokescreen?
‘That bastard Ghislain...’
Amelia's insides boiled with rage.
Though she had considered him an unusual opponent, she had always thought of him as someone she could easily eliminate.
Now, after suffering a proper defeat at his hands, she realized that her previous thoughts had been completely wrong.
Even though Ghislain had occupied the territory of Count Cavaldi and kept an eye on his movements, he had still managed to catch her off guard.
‘There was too much of a gap in information. No, it’s not just about information.’
At this point, it was as if he had directly seen and predicted her and Harold’s movements.
Amelia reflected on everything Ghislain had accomplished so far.
The conquest of the Beast Forest, victory in the battle against the Ferdians, the development of cosmetics, predicting the drought, the rumors of flying contraptions, and countless knights.
‘Is it really possible for one person to achieve all this in such a short time?’
A chill ran down Amelia's spine.
Logically, it was impossible. If one were to look at the achievements Ghislain had made, they could compare him to a hero from the founding myths.
She even began to wonder if his preparations for the drought weren’t merely coincidental but something he had genuinely anticipated.
Could she act as Ghislain did?
It was impossible.
It required more than just considerable knowledge and experience. It demanded insight and luck that penetrated through everything.
Her teeth clenched involuntarily.
A strange feeling of defeat washed over her. The thought that Ghislain had predicted and prepared for her movements was infuriating beyond measure.
But this wasn’t the time to dwell on such feelings.
‘What’s done is done. There’s no need to regret what has passed. I just need to repay him.’
‘Think, think. What is he planning to do now?’
‘He’s not an ordinary person. I need to anticipate his actions.’
‘If I were Ghislain, how would I utilize the current situation?’
Once she had completely taken control of Rayfold, she needed to attack Ghislain along with Harold. After all, for Harold, the greatest obstacle to conquering the North was Ghislain.
Ghislain would surely anticipate this and try to prevent her from joining forces with Harold.
‘If I present Daven, I’ll have a justification to attack here.’
Amelia thought about this initial possibility, then shook her head.
He was the kind of petty person who would extort 20,000 gold by threatening his fiancée. Would he really bear the loss of using his own forces?
There was no way he would do that.
‘Then...’
The answer was clear: entrust Daven to someone who might rebel against her.
“Bring me the map!”
With a swift motion, Amelia’s eyes quickly scanned the regions near Rayfold.
Out of the seven vassal baronies, she had secured loyalty from four through persuasion and intimidation.
Now there were three remaining. Amelia's mind began to race.
‘Where could it be? Where is it?’
The fact that he had snuck away the heir indicated that he was trying to induce a civil war in Rayfold. That meant he intended to tie her hands and weaken her forces.
She had to prevent that at all costs.
‘This is not the right place.’
One of the remaining baronies was not too far from Rayfold and had weak forces. It would be too risky to send Daven there safely.
That left two options.
Both were considerably distant from Rayfold. Distance-wise, they were even closer to the territory Ghislain had occupied, Count Cavaldi's.
As Amelia bit her lip in contemplation, her gaze fixed on one side of the map.
The southernmost part of Rayfold, a place known as Rayfold’s Shield.
It was the territory where Rayfold’s steadfast and loyal vassal stood firm.
‘Baron Valua!’
If she were Ghislain, she would definitely send Daven there.
With enough food to hold out through a long siege.
Amelia waved her hand at Bernaph and spoke urgently.
“Gather a pursuit team immediately...”
She stopped midway, gritting her teeth. Her clenched fist trembled with rage.
‘It’s already too late.’
Even if she gathered forces and set out now, it would be too late.
If they sent Daven alone, he would have already arrived at Baron Valua’s territory.
Even if they sent food with him, he would have likely reached there by now, and a considerable number of forces would have followed him, making it impossible to secure victory with a hastily assembled small group.
The enemy had been preparing and moving properly for a long time. If she moved hurriedly, there was no way she would win.
The Ghislain she had seen was no longer an easy opponent.
She closed her eyes and took a moment to calm her heart.
“Bernaph.”
“Yes.”
“Notify the lords of the remaining two territories, excluding Baron Valua, that I will give them one month. If they do not pledge their loyalty to me by then, I will mobilize my forces.”
“Will you not contact Baron Valua?”
“There’s no point. Prepare for immediate departure. He will likely stay holed up in the castle and not come out, so make sure to prepare primarily for siege equipment. I’ll go myself to sweep everything away.”
At that, the head of the Actium trade guild, Conrad, cautiously offered his opinion.
“Baron Valua is a highly respected commander. Perhaps you should try to persuade him...”
“He will fight to the very end. He’s the type of person who would do that. And...”
Amelia’s gaze turned cold as she continued.
“Daven will also be sent there. I’ll have to go personally and take his head.”
* * *
“Good, it’s going well.”
When Gillian returned after safely delivering Daven, Ghislain wore a satisfied smile.
Amelia would ultimately have no choice but to go to war with Baron Valua.
Once that happened, she wouldn’t be able to pay proper attention to this side until the war was over, making it difficult for her to play any tricks.
Baron Valua was not someone who could be dealt with lightly while distracted.
Harold was also under scrutiny from the royal faction, so he couldn’t start a war immediately.
‘After this failed assassination, he’s bound to suffer another significant loss and look for another way.’
Both sides were in a situation where they could not move recklessly. Ghislain intended to use this time to focus on developing the territory.
Currently, there were many large hatcheries in the territory, producing an enormous amount of chickens.
With an abundance of meat, the inhabitants of the territory were overjoyed.
“Our lord is truly amazing!”
“How did you come up with something like this?”
“I can’t believe there’s so much meat! I never thought I’d see a day like this in my life!”
For the inhabitants, meat had been something they couldn’t even dream of, let alone eat. They could barely manage to get bread, so what did meat mean to them?
The production had never been high to begin with, as most was used for the nobility and knights. Even they hadn’t been able to enjoy meat after the drought hit, as livestock had suffered significant losses.
Yet suddenly, meat began to overflow everywhere. Even if it was only chicken, the inhabitants were ecstatic about it.
Especially the elves, who had been undergoing physical training, were brought to tears as they indulged in meat for the first time in a long while.
‘Damn... Why does this make me so happy? It’s not like I received a luxury item.’
‘We used to eat only gourmet food...’
‘This damn beggar territory is so annoying...’
It was delicious, yet tears flowed. Especially the sight of Gordon devouring a hundred chickens alone made him want to cry.
“Alright! Once you’ve eaten, let’s start exercising right away! We need to absorb this quickly so it turns into muscle! Let’s give it our all today! No muscle loss!”
At such an inhuman declaration, the elves shut their eyes.
‘I’m going to throw up. That bastard...’
‘Can we please exercise reasonably...?’
‘Ah, another round of this is coming.’
As the elves predicted, Ascon, the master of anger management, stood up and started cursing.
“Hey! You bastard! Don’t you know that when you get older, your digestion isn’t as good? Do you think we’re all as foolish as you?”
As a master, he was adept at distinguishing who to curse and who not to.
‘That crazy lord, the pretty priestess, the nagging butler, the maid magician, the elderly sage, and the old man. Just exclude them.’
Everyone else would receive Ascon’s relentless tirade. Especially Kaor, who had a remarkable reaction every time he was cursed at.
He couldn’t kill him, so he went on a rampage by himself, which was rather enjoyable to watch.
In fact, others had also tried to provoke him, but every time they did, they found themselves summoned to face hell. The last time they were called, both the great-grandfather and the World Tree had come to greet them.
‘Especially that pretty priestess, Piote or whatever? No, was it a boy? Anyway, I can’t mess with him. He seems to be under special management. Cursing him was genuinely satisfying.’
After getting caught for making Piote shed tears a few times, he almost got buried in the ground for eternity.
But now, judging from the presence of Gordon in front of him, he felt it was acceptable to provoke him. He could curse Kaor freely, so Gordon would surely be a piece of cake for Ascon.
As expected, Gordon was clenching his lips and trembling his hands even after receiving insults.
He couldn’t be killed or seriously injured. It meant he could only manage a few light hits.
However, that Ascon fellow had an uncharacteristically high level of endurance. No matter how many times he hit him, he would spring back up and continue cursing, making him feel more furious with every word he heard.
“Don’t curse me!”
In the end, Gordon threw another punch.
“Gah!”
Ascon rolled on the ground but didn’t stop his cursing.
“Your mother’s soup was awful! I vomited it up! Bastard!”
“Don’t talk about my mom! You crazy elf!”
Another punch flew from Gordon, but Ascon’s insults continued unabated.
The elves watching the scene shook their heads. Spending time on such pointless matters would rob them of their sleep and training time.
Thanks to the excess meat, everyone in the territory, including the elves, had become remarkably healthier.
However, not all territories had large hatcheries established. It was still too costly, making it difficult to distribute widely.
Although it required plenty of resources, the process of production would take considerable time as mages had to be involved every step of the way.
Yet this needed to be done for Ferdians too.
Ultimately, supplying large hatcheries to each village would have to be postponed, and they would have to distribute food from the main cities to the villages for now.
To do that, the first infrastructure needed was roads.
With Ghislain's orders, numerous workers were engaged in rapidly constructing roads.
Since the Ferdians actively provided soldiers and workers, the roads connecting major villages and castles were already somewhat organized.
However, the issue was that they had not yet been able to utilize those roads properly.
Ghislain gathered his vassals and said, “Now that we have roads, we’ll start a transportation revolution. Faster transport means faster territory development.”
At that, Claude asked, “Are you planning to procure a large number of horses, as you mentioned before?”
“Right. The horses currently in the territory are primarily used for military purposes, right? With a lack of horses, transport can only be delayed.”
Since food, meat, and construction materials were large in volume, they couldn’t be moved by hand.
But with a stark lack of horses relative to the territory's size, timely support was impossible.
In fact, the aspect consuming the most time on construction sites within the Fenris territory was waiting for materials.
Thus, Ghislain thought it was about time to procure more horses. It was necessary for transport, but not only that.
“To train a large cavalry, we need far more horses.”
To bolster military strength, they also needed to increase the number of cavalry units. Most of the forces in this territory were currently infantry.
Claude, feeling it was a good idea, brought up a question he had previously left hanging.
“How are you planning to procure them? You mentioned you would tell me later.”
“Are you against it?”
“Oh, not at all! Everything you’ve done so far has succeeded; why would I oppose you?”
Claude was now feeling a bit bolder. Having been exposed to so many unconventional situations, he was ready to accept whatever came next.
The other vassals felt similarly. They nodded along with empty expressions.
“Having horses is absolutely necessary.”
“Our lord can surely find a way.”
“Do whatever you want, our lord!”
Ghislain smiled in satisfaction. It seemed that sincerity eventually breaks through. Now, he could cut down on some of the tedious and noisy processes.
So, taking advantage of the moment, he boldly spoke.
“You know my father has been toiling away at the northern fortress for quite a while, right?”
“Yes, indeed. The barbarians have been raiding repeatedly, making it very difficult for him to defend and monitor, especially without sufficient funds and troops.”
“Exactly. Our ancestors have suffered greatly because of them. It’s always been a poor territory because of them. Originally poor, but made even poorer because of them.”
Claude didn’t respond but rolled his eyes.
This was alarming. Why was the lord dragging on about something like this when he was about to procure horses?
Ghislain had always been unpredictable, and he often said things that didn’t make sense until later revealed their necessity. 𝖓𝖔𝖛𝔭𝖚𝖇.𝔠𝖔𝔪
But if he was going to increase their horses? That suggested he was planning something dangerous.
Claude could only hope for the best.
