After giving Jimlai and the Machine Factory their detailed, demanding assignments, Victor left without delay.
Every minute was precious to him. He could not devote all his time to the affairs of his territory.
The Barbarians could attack at any moment. Faced with such an urgent threat, Victor knew he bore a grave responsibility and had to focus on military defenses.
For now, he had to leave the territory's other administrative affairs to the civil service led by Powell, the governor of Two Rivers County.
If the agricultural machinery produced by the Machine Factory had not been so important, Victor would probably still have been at a border fortress, inspecting its defenses and preparing for an enemy attack.
Victor rode back to the Lord's Mansion. He had barely begun dealing with his work when the captain of his personal guard came to see him.
"My lord Marquis, an urgent report from the border."
Victor raised an eyebrow. He had been gone only five days. Had trouble already appeared on a border that had been peaceful until now? Was his luck really that bad?
But after Victor finished reading the report, his tension vanished.
"Horse bandits? James and his Ranger Cavalry found a band of more than a hundred horse bandits!"
James had described his discovery in the letter. The Intelligence Department did not know where the bandits had come from. What if they were scouts sent by the Iron Bone Tribe? Attacking them recklessly might alert the enemy.
So James had sent a large number of Ranger Cavalry out from the Border Fortress and deep into the grasslands to investigate the bandits, in case they were part of an Iron Bone Tribe plot.
During the investigation, James's Ranger Cavalry discovered several more small bands. Each had only a dozen to