Knight and Wand

Chapter 153: Removing Armor but Not Returning to the Field

As the troops withdrew, the smell of gunpowder disappeared and peace returned to Fort Wachter.

In the reception room of the castle, Baron Gunnar looked uncomfortably at his opponent, with whom he had fought for more than ten years: "I never thought that one day I would sit at the same 'table' with you."

Elliver leaned back in his chair comfortably, and said with a relaxed smile, "Really? If I remember correctly, more than two months ago, we sat at the same table in the General's Camp in Mamor and cursed each other."

The Lord of the Thorn Flower still remembered the other party's proud look when he obtained Redingburg.

But things change. After taking over "Achesburg" with a population of nearly 20,000, Elliver looked at "Ledingburg" owned by the Viper Baron Dawson. The small town with a population of only two or three thousand was not worth mentioning at all.

"This is a metaphor! You people in Farolis still call yourselves cultured." Baron Gunnar snorted coldly.

"Only cultured people would not use such inappropriate metaphors." Elliver raised his chin and said, "Let's get back to the point, Lord Gunnar. Your time and mine are both valuable. I have to rush back to Glade County as soon as possible to take charge of the situation."

"Is my son still here?"

"Canis? I haven't seen much of him, but he should have gone to Loncar or Selva with my vassal."

Since the Farolis family would save Canis, Baron Grey Wolf was not worried about the safety of his eldest son. He glanced at the door, turned around and said seriously: "Are your people reliable? I don't want others to know that I have been here."

"Don't worry, the nobles of the royal party won't know that the leader of Wolfenhall is secretly flirting with the remnants of the former king." Elifer joked sarcastically.

Gunnar frowned in disgust at Elifer's sarcastic remarks.

But since he needed help from others, he could only hold his nose and try to put forward his proposal.

After listening to Gunnar's words, Elifer's mocking expression gradually became serious.

After some probing, the Lord of the Thorn Flower came up with a plan.
"I can help you, but the reward the Wolf family pays is not enough to match the benefits you are about to get. That little money can't buy the rich land you are about to get." Elliver waved his hand and asked Sir Marcelo behind him to spread out the map on the table.

"Do you want to take back the territory that was taken away from the Wolf Territory sixteen years ago?" Gunnar frowned. He would never agree to this. The Wolf Family has been operating here for more than ten years. How could they spit out the land they have eaten?

"If possible, I would like to drive you all back to my hometown in Faraje County." Elliver shook his head and pointed at the map. "But I don't have the energy to fight you right now. The land south of the Nightmare Forest is very vast. I have been entangled and bound by past grudges for many years, and I am already tired of it."

He was even further west of Aiken Village west of Longka, close to the southwestern edge of the Wolf Territory, and he drew a vertical line straight down that went straight through the Nightmare Forest.

"All the forest areas east of this line will belong to the Thornflower family. The Gunnar family must write a letter to the king promising that they will never get involved in the new territory opened up by the Faroris family. I have no control over the areas west of this line. You and the other lords of Kosos can handle it based on your abilities." Elifer retracted his finger and unceremoniously allocated one-third of the Nightmare Forest in the east to himself.

Gunnar raised his eyebrows at Baron Thornflower's big appetite: "You are dreaming, Lord Farolis, why don't you take a closer look at where this line starts?
The Thorn Flower family is going to enclose the land from the southern end of the Wolf Territory? Do you want the Gunnar family to turn the territory they conquered in the south into an enclave?"

"What does the enclave have to do with it? The Wolf Territory in Kossos County where Gunnar's family lives, and your hometown in Farayel, are also enclaves," said Elifer fearlessly.

"Can the territory of Orland be compared with that outside the country? If the Wolf family's territory outside cannot be connected, how can I transport supplies and troops if I encounter an attack by the Kantadar people? Do I have to ask you to pass through every time? Your Excellency is very good at planning." Gunnar said dissatisfiedly.

"You can take a detour further west. The forest west of this line is still unowned land. So what if the shape of the territory takes a slight turn?" Elifer said with a smile.

"Further west? You want the Wolf family to enclose land in the south of Baron Flagg's territory?" Baron Gray Wolf was so angry that he almost laughed.

Asking him to seize territory in the south of the royal party's allies, is the Wolf family so bored that they would openly betray the royal party?

"Mr. Gunnar, you are begging me, not me. I have already given the conditions to the Thorn Flower Family and will not force you to make a choice. If the Gunnar Family has the ability, they can open a road to the south in the forest. But I will not let you pass through my road in advance."

Elifer leaned back in his chair with a smile, pointed his finger at the armrest and said, "If you are willing to wait for half a month and take the Thorn Flower family's road with the kingdom's army, I will definitely not stop you then."

Upon hearing this, Gunnar clenched his fists and stood up, looking so angry that he wanted to leave in anger.

But the Wolf Lord clearly weighed the pros and cons in his mind, and finally sat down slowly.

When you attack with the army and distribute the territory, it is not certain how much land you can get from each lord.

The Wolf family has already gained a lot of advantages in Mamor County. It is impossible for the royal party to always give all the benefits to Lord Wolf. After all, the Thornflower family now controls the pass, and the royal party does not need the Wolf family to "charge" against Baron Farolis.

Gunnar complained, "You are such a greedy guy. Even if you take over Glade County, you still can't be satisfied? You still want to occupy such a large forest. Do you have so many people to open up the forest?"

"The Wolf Family doesn't need to worry about this. As for greed? The situation of the Thorn Flower Family today is all because of you. How many concessions has the Farolis Family made? You can press on as usual, but I don't need to retreat this time." Elifer sneered. When he was young, he inherited a ruined family business and watched in humiliation as the royalist nobles cut up the ancestral territory piece by piece. Now they blame him for greed? He hasn't settled accounts with the royalist nobles yet.

Baron Gunnar said no more. He lowered his eyes and looked at the map, gradually falling into deep thought.

Oliver waited patiently with an expressionless face.
After a long time, Baron Thorn Flower got a satisfactory answer.

"Okay, but after the Wolf Territory's army moves south, you must ensure the passage and safety of my army and supplies in your southern territory. If you do anything, I will not only give up my southern territory, but also bring the war to the Thorn Flower Territory."

"There's no need to threaten us. Even if we have a grudge against each other, even a lion will share water with its prey when it's thirsty." Earl said with a smile.

But both he and Gunnar understood that it was because the "lion" was not hungry yet.
Of course, Elifer did not intend to let Gunnar's army pass through Selvadong.

He pointed to Aiken Village at the southeastern end of Wolf Territory and said, "From Aiken Village in your territory, clear the forest to the south, build a road to connect to my road, and march south quickly. You can reach Kantadar in less than a day."

"What? Your path is so close to Wolf Territory?"

"Yes, it's that close. My army has occupied the checkpoint in the forest. If you don't want your army to be trapped in the forest, tell your wolf cubs to be well behaved when they pass through." Elifer did not hide the location of the ancient path in the forest. This road could not be hidden, as it would soon usher in countless kingdom armies traveling between the front and the rear.

Gunnar looked at the location pointed out in surprise, and understood something in his heart: "You ordered your men to invade the Wolf Territory before, so you wanted to hide this marching road."

"Invade? I don't want to repeat myself. The Thorn Flower family has never ordered anyone to invade the Wolf Territory. It was your good son who attacked first. Do you still want to use the so-called witchcraft to make an excuse? I hope your army will not be scared by the ancient ancestors of my Thorn Flower family in the forest."

Elifer shook his head. He had already bought the corpse of the undead that the Wolf family had moved in after the arbitration meeting that day. Although he couldn't recognize who it was, considering the traces of the curse left in the forest, it should be an ancestor of the thorn flower who entered the cursed land.

"If you hadn't seized the Wolf Lord's village, how could Canis have..." Gunnar stopped talking halfway.

After thinking about it carefully, now that he knew that Warlock Met was a spy colluding with foreign countries, Gunnar suddenly felt a little strange about the content of the letters he had previously exchanged with his eldest son.

It was well known that foreign enemies were instigating a civil war among the lords of Cossos County. He could not help but plan to return to Wofnhall and carefully confirm the contents of the previous correspondence.

And the suspicious eunuch beside General Trosa
April 673th, rd year of the Orland Kingdom calendar.

It was an exceptionally sunny spring day for Selva, Ronca, Plethon, and all the surrounding towns and villages.

The dark clouds of war that had shrouded the Territory of Thorns dissipated.

The brief conflict between Farolis and Gunnar is over, and the army assembled in Longka will gradually disband and return home.

Although defending the local area and the homeland was the duty of the armed people of the territory and there was no salary, all the young and strong men in the three territories who participated in the war and did not flee received a considerable post-war reward.

Even the soldiers who did not kill any enemies received at least 15 silver nalers from the distribution of spoils as military pay for the battle.

For ordinary tenants in Pleton and Longka, this amount of money is enough to save up after two years of hard work.

Even if a conscript died in battle, Leon would arrange for his guards to deliver the military pay and additional death compensation to their relatives door to door and bury their bodies properly.

As for the warriors whose kills are verified, they can get extra generous rewards after being recorded in the roster.

This naturally did not miss the elite troops brought by Sir Redo. Without the Duwana halberd veterans to tie down the opponent's main force, there would probably be no chance to capture Canis in this battle.

Considering that the number of soldiers under his command was not too large, Leon and his companions personally supervised the distribution of rewards and military pay.

They actually received the unexpected military pay and large bounties, and even the conscripts who were disabled due to serious injuries in the medical camp were delighted.

Looking at the disabled patients who were so grateful to him, Leon, as an Earthling in the modern society of his previous life, couldn't help but sigh and feel ashamed.

Even though this level of pension benefits exceeded that of ordinary contract soldiers in the world, from his own perspective, it could still be considered cruel.

Fortunately, however, he will not sit idly by and ignore the future lives of such seriously disabled soldiers. Families whose male members are unfortunately disabled due to fighting will be taken care of by the territory's policies, just like families whose breadwinners have died.

There are not many seriously injured soldiers surviving now, so it is easy to take care of them. However, if we encounter larger-scale battles in the future, it will be a problem if there are no reasonable arrangements after the war.

As for leaving it to fend for itself? Leon had never considered this option.

If one is so cold-blooded, how many people will fight for him at the cost of their lives in the future?

What happens before and after one’s death are both important parts of building a strong military.

Tax reduction, relief subsidies, shelter and foster care. Leon recalled the various corresponding measures and detailed systems of the ancient dynasties in his previous life, and he needed to discuss them carefully with Azerien and others.

The young and strong men in Platten were the first to disband and leave.

Afterwards, Longka's young and strong troops, except for retaining a minimum militia, were disbanded on the spot and gave up their weapons to serve the people. The old, weak, women and children of Longka returned to their homeland, which had been upgraded from a "village" to a "fortress" and was almost unrecognizable, and cleaned up the farmland that had been trampled and destroyed.

Fortunately, every household has young and strong people joining the war, and the income of Longka residents has increased significantly, so life this year will be more relaxed and worry-free than in previous years.

The last to go were the Selvans.

After returning victoriously with the veterans, Leon dismissed the conscripted soldiers and sent them home to recuperate. Sir Redo also said goodbye and went to report to Lady Adelina.

The next day, after a simple night's rest, Leon called everyone in the family together to discuss territory affairs.

Gathering around the long table in the hall on the first floor, Azerien, Lohak, Old Brian, Olivia, Corvis, and Elena sat down.

Leon first listened briefly to the report from Ms. Elena, who was entrusted as the housekeeper to oversee the affairs of the territory, on the situation in the territory when everyone was away from home to fight.

The progress of the Selva Barracks has only been completed about halfway because the fighting was temporarily stopped, but the barracks that have been built are sufficient to accommodate at least sixty or seventy soldiers for daily residence.

In addition, to Leon's surprise, the newly built East District of Selva has already brought in a lot of income under the care of the baggage trains and soldiers traveling in the woods, and it is expected that a lot of commercial taxes will be collected this year.

Finally, there are the hundreds of refugees from Aiken Village.

They set up a camp on the west side of the northern slope of Selva, and usually worked as laborers in the construction of barracks and villages in exchange for food and wages.

Leon plans to talk to the leader of these Aiken villagers from Wolf Territory and invite them to stay and settle in Selva.

If someone insisted on returning to Aiken, Leon would not stop them, but he felt that no one would want to return there after hearing the bad news he brought.

In that small village, all the property that the villagers did not take away was looted, and now there is nothing left in Aikene.

Of course, the army of the Thorn Flower family never set foot in the Wolf Territory, and it was not Leon who looted the village.

Based on what Leon saw when he went to investigate with the scouts, he estimated that it was probably the work of the mob recruited by the Wolf Family, and perhaps even the soldiers of Wolfenhall were involved.

If they go back now, the villagers of Aiken will face a situation where they are penniless, without livestock or poultry, and without any property or food.

It's like starting from scratch wherever you go. Leon believes that he is definitely more merciful than the tax collector in Wolf Territory. It just so happens that Selva has a large tract of land to be divided and is in need of people to farm it.

As for the original Selva natives.
The morale of the local young and strong people was in a strange and inexplicable state of excitement.

When I returned to the territory yesterday and announced the disbanding of the army at the barracks and the collection of weapons and armor into the barracks arsenal, these young and strong men who had been demobilized and returned to the countryside were visibly uncomfortable.

After the initial distribution of ransoms, and now with the spoils and military pay, the Selvans were all rich.

The old soldiers, who had more money than they could earn as farmers in their entire lives, were not frightened by the Battle of Longka. Instead, they seemed to have no intention of returning home to farm.

That's not a problem.

Now that Selva has sufficient funds, complete weapons, and the people are willing to help, Leon does not mind training the Selva people into an elite standing army as soon as possible.
The problem is that the local young and strong people don’t want to farm anymore, so someone has to come and farm the fields on the west side of the territory.

People always need to eat. Last year, it was a bumper year in the Gray Mountain Valley, and there was no shortage of food in the markets across the south. But if it were a bad year and there was no food stored, it would cost who knows how many times more to buy food.

The current Aiken villagers can just fill the labor vacancies left by the local people who have left their jobs to join the army.

Discussing the territory's political affairs one by one, Leon looked at the territory's financial expenses summarized by Ms. Elena, as well as the military pay, food and pension expenses compiled by Azerien.

Since the last financial settlement, as of today, I have spent a total of about 700 gold crowns.

But looking at this huge expense, Leon did not feel panicked.

Not to mention the weapons, armor and horses worth more than 1,300 gold crowns seized in this battle.

He didn't even know how to spend the 5,000 gold crown reward.

It's really a happy trouble.

(End of this chapter)