Family in Dire Straits

The Family's Plight

The carriage stopped at the courtyard gate. Ready said to Pat, who sat beside him on the driver's bench, "We're here. This is Master's home."

He climbed down and opened the carriage door. Lorist stepped out carrying Alisha, followed by Shiward, El, and Sertkamp.

The other hired carriage arrived with Fatty Shi, Telman, Yuri, and Steve. They got out and filed into the courtyard. Pat did not follow the others inside. Instead, he helped Ready unhitch the carriage and rubbed down the two Zino horses with a dry cloth.

Ready found that odd. "What's wrong? Why aren't you going in?"

Pat thought for a moment. "My grandfather sent me to find the young master. He told me that whether the young master returns to inherit the territory or not, I'm to stay by his side and protect him. He's the only legitimate heir of the Norton Family bloodline left. Nothing can happen to him."

Ready laughed. "Pat, I don't mean to look down on you, but if you stay by Master's side, he'll be protecting you, not the other way around. At your Black Iron rank, you'll be doing well just to keep yourself safe and not become a burden when he's in danger."

Pat shot Ready an annoyed look. "We have a saying in the Northland: even the most vigilant beast dozes, and even the strongest horse stumbles. I already know the young master is Black Iron Locke. Being undefeated at Silver Rank is impressive, but no matter how formidable he is, he's still only one man. All I need to do is stay beside him and quietly serve as his shield. I'm Black Iron rank now. If I train hard and reach Silver Rank, I'm sure I'll be able to help him."

"Well said, Pat." Lorist had come up beside them without either noticing. "Did Old Steward Cress really tell you to stay with me?"

Pat nodded without hesitation. "If you go back to inherit the territory, I'll be your personal guard. If you refuse, I'll still stay by your side to protect you."

He smiled ruefully. "But you've changed even more than I imagined. It isn't just your fighting ability; your personality is completely different too. You don't need my protection at all now. My grandfather and the others thought that after being out of touch with the family for so long, you must have had a hard time. It seems we were all wrong."

Lorist nodded, moved by his words. "Ten years. In the blink of an eye, I've been away from home that long, and out of touch with the family for seven. You'll change all sorts of things to make a living. It took plenty of hardship to get where I am today. Come on, Pat. Let's go inside and talk about home."

This time, Sertkamp gave a more detailed account of the Norton Family's situation. A string of misfortunes had cost the family most of its fighting strength. Lorist's father had been a Gold One-star Swordsman. An injury sustained while hunting a demonic beast in his youth had halted his progress, but he had still been Gold rank. His death had deprived the family of its pillar. The death of Lorist's eldest brother had robbed it of hope. The eldest young master had been a Gold Rank Knight. A poisoned arrow had struck him in the back during a charge, and the poison had killed him shortly after his men carried him to safety. As for the Third Young Master, a serious illness after he fell into water as a child had left him unable to awaken Battle Qi. That was why, when he encountered a demonic beast, his startled horse threw him. He died of his injuries.

Lorist felt deeply uncomfortable. He knew the Norton Family's Third Young Master had fallen ill because Little Locke, the original owner of his body, had jealously pushed him into a well when they were children. That illness had left him unable to awaken Battle Qi. By that reckoning, Little Locke bore at least half the blame for the Third Young Master's death. Lorist had inherited the body, and with it, the burden of that responsibility.

Sertkamp said that when the Third Young Master encountered the demonic beast, the family's only Silver Three-Star knight had been guarding him. He had killed the beast but suffered severe injuries himself and was still recuperating. The family now had only one Silver One-star female Knight: Andre Basha, daughter of the late old family knight Andre. She and the eldest young master had grown up together, and the baron had arranged their marriage. No one had expected the eldest young master to die in battle before they could wed. Sertkamp asked whether Lorist remembered the red-haired girl who was always following his eldest brother around.

Lorist nodded. In Little Locke's memories, the red-haired girl who was always with his eldest brother had been as fierce as any boy. Little Locke had once tugged her braid, and she had beaten him soundly for it. The painful memory had stayed with him.

Sertkamp said that apart from Basha, the Silver Rank female Knight, the family had only a few Black Iron Swordsmen in the garrison and several elderly Black Iron veterans at the castle. Basha was now managing the territory's affairs, while Old Steward Cress had stepped back because of his age. The family therefore hoped the second young master would return soon to inherit the territory and take charge.

Pat, who had served as Baron Norton's guard, described how Lorist's father had walked into an ambush. When the baron heard that the Mountain barbarians had come down from the mountains to raid again, he assembled the castle's cavalry. There were eighteen riders, the family's principal mobile force. With the baron and Pat, they numbered twenty in all. Having learned that more than fifty Mountain barbarian raiders had come down, the baron also sent for the garrison, intending to wipe them all out.

Because the baron and his men were mounted, they went ahead. When they reached the site, they found the raiders unprepared. They calculated that the garrison would arrive soon and decided to attack first. Once the garrison saw the fighting, it would join in. Caught between the two forces, the Mountain barbarians would surely be destroyed.

Pat said he had urged the baron to wait until the garrison arrived before attacking, but the baron would not listen. At first, the assault went well, catching the Mountain barbarians off guard. But when they saw how few men the baron had, they rallied and dragged the cavalry into a fierce fight. Had the garrison appeared then, the Mountain barbarians would have been routed. But they waited and waited, and the garrison never came. As his men's casualties mounted, the baron grew desperate and charged into the fighting himself despite his illness. Just then, the Mountain barbarians cheered: more than fifty reinforcements had arrived. The baron's force could not withstand them. Seeing the danger, Pat hurriedly escorted the baron, who had already taken several blows, off the battlefield. Every one of the family's cavalrymen died.

Only after Pat returned did he learn that the garrison had never left town. Furious, he stormed its camp alone with his sword and wounded Garrison Captain Malte. The garrison soldiers would not stand for that. More than a hundred of them surrounded the castle and demanded that Pat be handed over. Basha and Old Steward Cress drew on the respect they had earned over the years to settle the matter, though it was no easy task. So when Sertkamp was sent to Molent City to find Lorist, the old steward sent his grandson Pat along. Pat could escort Sertkamp on the road, and keeping him away from the territory would stop him from picking another fight with the garrison.

As Sertkamp and Pat continued, everyone realized that the Norton Family's situation was not merely difficult. It was dire. The first problem was the winter Demonic Beast Tide. Every winter, demonic beasts from the wasteland came into the territory in packs to look for food. Herbivores such as Magic Bulls and magic sheep were manageable; at worst, they damaged fields and orchards. But packs of Winter Wolves could attack even the castle, manors, and town.

The second problem was the Mountain barbarians. The Norton Family's territory lay in the far northern wasteland. To the north stretched the endless Black Mud Swamp; to the west stood the Blade Mountain Range, with the sea beyond it. Northlanders got their salt by crossing the range to the coast, climbing down the cliffs, hauling up seawater, and boiling it. The work was arduous, so salt had always been expensive in the Northland. To the south lay the Black Forest and the wasteland hills, the territory's only route to the outside world, connecting it to other nobles' lands. To the east stood the Dragon Mountain Range, a vast expanse of ridges and dense primeval forest. The Mountain barbarians roamed those mountains for hundreds of miles.

The Mountain barbarians were said to descend from humans who had fled into the mountains in search of refuge during the Dark Age. After centuries in the forests, cut off from the outside world, they had regressed into tribes that worshipped primitive totems. They ate raw meat, drank blood, and lived by the rule of the strong. Though they had some contact with the outside world now, they were still known for their unreasonable, brutal, and arrogant ways.

From the time the Norton Family's first ancestor became lord of that wasteland, the Mountain barbarians had been a constant menace. They came down to plunder whenever they pleased, stealing anything they could. They were craftier than demonic beasts, more vicious, and harder to deal with. The Norton Family had once expanded across the wasteland and established more than ten farming villages. Mountain barbarian attacks had inflicted such heavy losses in lives and property that the family had eventually abandoned every one. This time, Lorist's father had gone out to fight despite his illness because the Mountain barbarians had raided the territory's only pasture and driven off a great many cattle and sheep.

The Norton Family's third problem was the territorial garrison. The territory now had a population of more than five thousand. Over three thousand lived in Northland Town, its only town. Most were relatives of garrison members or surviving family members of soldiers who had served the Norton Family. They occupied two-thirds of the arable land in the territory's secure areas and turned over only a tenth of their harvest each year. They owed nothing else.

In the past, the Norton ancestors had tried to develop their sparsely populated territory by welcoming refugees and buying slaves to free and settle as their subjects. They offered generous terms to anyone willing to join the garrison. Pay was low, but members' families were exempt from labor duties, poll taxes, and other miscellaneous taxes. Their families also received land and had to hand over only a tenth of its harvest each year.

Even as lords, the Norton Family had obligations to the Krissen Empire as imperial nobles. Besides sending troops when the empire called, they had to pay a tithe on their territory's farmland: a tenth of its harvest went to the empire. At the time, other nobles in the empire generally taxed half the harvest. Once poll taxes, transaction taxes, gate tolls, fishing taxes, firewood taxes, salt taxes, and the rest were added, a lord who left his subjects just enough to survive was considered merciful.

The generous terms offered to garrison members meant that, after paying the imperial tithe, the Norton Family received nothing from their households. At first, few subjects were tempted to join. Garrison duty carried risks, and each winter's Demonic Beast Tide was a serious test. But as the territory became more stable and its secure areas expanded, people saw how many benefits came with membership. Joining the garrison became all the rage. The Norton Family was pleased at first, but as time passed, the arrangement began to slip out of its control.

In Galintea, children generally moved out and established separate households when they came of age. Garrison families, however, refused to split up. Seven or eight siblings would marry and continue living together so that every branch could enjoy the benefits given to garrison members' families. Some garrison members even demanded that the Norton Family grant land to their siblings.

The Norton Family regretted its policy by then. But the patriarch at the time recognized the garrison's considerable service to the territory, so he merely limited the land allotted to members' families to ten mu per person. In the Northland, where there was only one harvest a year, that was barely enough to feed a family of three. He thought the limit would curb the trend. What the garrison members truly valued, however, was their families' exemption from labor duties and miscellaneous taxes. Using that status, they fished, hunted, made salt, and smuggled goods throughout the territory without handing over any of their income. They lived more comfortably than the Norton Family itself.

Over more than a century, fathers retired and sons took their places, while younger brothers replaced older ones who died. Garrison posts became hereditary in all but name. Northland Town gained more than a hundred modest commoner clans, ranging from twenty or so members to thirty or forty. Together, they had become a local power the Norton Family could no longer easily dislodge.

The Norton Family had considered taking action against the garrison, but its ties to the family ran too deep. Nearly all the maids in the family's castle and manor were daughters of those commoner clans, and many soldiers recruited locally into the family's own force were relatives of garrison members. The garrison quickly heard of any move against it. If the Norton Family resorted to force, both sides would likely suffer badly, and the family would become a laughingstock among the nobility.

Because of those concerns, the problem had been left unresolved. When the Norton patriarch was strong, the garrison obeyed willingly so long as he did not cross its line by revoking its members' and families' benefits. While Lorist's father and eldest brother were both there, it had followed orders. Its members had even gone along when the eldest young master commanded them to join his campaigns. But after he died in battle, the baron fell gravely ill, and the Third Young Master took over, the garrison began obeying in word while evading orders in practice. When the Third Young Master encountered a demonic beast while inspecting the territory, several garrison members accompanying him fled at once. Left with no one to watch over him, he fell from his horse and died.

The previous year had been worse. The garrison's failure to obey orders had led to the destruction of the family cavalry and left the baron gravely wounded. It had then gone further, surrounding the castle and demanding the surrender of Pat, the family guard who had wounded its captain. In a sense, that was already rebellion. But with its fighting strength gone, the Norton Family had been forced to swallow the insult and make peace. Dealing with the territorial garrison had become the most urgent task facing the next Norton patriarch.

The fourth problem was a territorial dispute. Viscount Kenmais' Territory bordered the Norton Family's land to the south. In a Northland full of wilderness, a little more or less land should hardly have mattered. But the disputed Morgen Hills held the Norton Family's copper mine, its only remaining source of income. The family could hardly hand it over. The two sides had fought several times, and Viscount Kemais had suffered heavy losses.

Viscount Kemais had no rightful claim in the first place. The Norton Family's territory had been marked out by the founding emperor of the Krissen Empire himself, and the map of its enfeoffment plainly placed the Morgen Hills within it. Viscount Kemais' Territory, however, had been granted five years earlier by the Second Prince, to whom the Northland nobles had pledged allegiance. Whether through carelessness or design, he had included the Morgen Hills in the Viscount's grant. By rights, the Second Prince should have sent people to clarify the boundary, and Viscount Kemais, as the later claimant, should have yielded. Instead, the Second Prince had muddied the waters. He told the two sides to settle the matter themselves and washed his hands of it. They had taken up arms, and the Norton Family had won decisively.

Now that the Norton Family had weakened, Viscount Kemais was stirring up trouble again. Two years earlier, a cousin of his had become the mistress of Grand Duke Lukins, the Grand Duke of the Northland. Somehow, the Viscount had used her to build a connection with His Grace the Duke. Emboldened, he had dug a mining tunnel into the far side of the Morgen Hills and begun extracting copper that belonged to the Norton Family. The family could do nothing but swallow its anger.

If Viscount Kemais learned the truth about the Norton Family's condition, he would likely seize its copper mine at once. Without the mine's income, the family's finances would soon collapse. That was its fifth problem: a financial crisis.

Ten years earlier, the Norton territory had already had its troublesome garrison, but the family had not been one of those noble houses that survived by squeezing its subjects. It hunted demonic beasts for their hides and sent its merchant caravan to Molent City to trade Northland goods. A single round trip each year brought in substantial income. Back then, the family cavalry had numbered two hundred fully equipped riders, and the Norton Iron Cavalry was feared throughout the Northland.

Those good days had not lasted. Seven years earlier, a caravan led by Lorist's third uncle had been attacked by bandits. Everyone in it died, costing the family its main source of revenue. Soon afterward, the eldest young master led the Norton Iron Cavalry on campaigns for the Second Prince. When he died in battle, only a few dozen family cavalrymen escorted his body home, and more than half of them were wounded or disabled. Compensation for the dead and injured consumed most of the family's accumulated savings.

To make matters worse, the Second Prince sent word that the Norton Family's allegiance was henceforth transferred from the Krissen Royal Family to Grand Duke Lukins. If the eldest young master and the family cavalry had still been there, the baron would certainly have refused the order, even if it meant fighting every noble in the Northland. The Norton Family was loyal to the Krissen Royal Family, not to any particular prince.

While the eldest young master had lived, the Second Prince had courted him at every turn. Yet as soon as he fell in battle, the prince turned his back on the family. He offered neither compensation nor reward, then handed the Norton Family over to Grand Duke Lukins as casually as though it were an object. It was both an insult and a tragedy. But all the Northland nobles belonged to the Second Prince at the time, and the Norton Family lacked the strength to resist. It had no choice but to accept what had happened.

Grand Duke Lukins was no Krissen Royal Family. Besides collecting the farmland tithe from the territories of nobles under him, he imposed war taxes, blood taxes, territorial protection fees, and more. Together, they came to nearly half a noble territory's income. Other nobles could manage, but the Norton Family could not collect those extra taxes from the garrison members or their families. Instead, it had to pay on their behalf an amount equal to three-tenths of their farmland income. Without the copper mine to balance the books, the family would have run a deficit long ago.

Even after the war ended, His Grace the Duke did not reduce his levies. He added a Restoration Tax, supposedly to fund preparations to restore the Krissen Empire. No one knew when those preparations would end; the tax might continue for decades or centuries. Every major route connecting the Norton territory to the outside world now crossed Grand Duke Lukins' land, so the family had no choice but to endure it.

When Sertkamp and Pat finished describing the Norton territory, everyone fell silent. Even Telman, who had argued that Lorist should return to inherit it, said nothing. It was plainly a death trap. Whoever stepped into it would be finished.

Fatty Shi asked Pat and Sertkamp, "Has your family said when Locke must arrive to inherit the territory?"

"The baron died this March," Pat replied. "It took us over three months to reach Molent City from the Northland. The roads weren't safe. We ran into robbers, slave traders, territorial disputes, and all sorts of trouble, so we had to make long detours. Then it took us more than a month to find the young master here. Before I left, my grandfather told me that if the young master wanted to return and inherit the territory, he had to arrive by next March. If we aren't back by then, the family will have to choose an heir from among the baron's children by his maids."

Fatty Shi nodded. "That's something, at least. There's no immediate rush. Stay with Locke for now and see for yourselves which choice is truly best for him. That will give Locke time to think carefully about the path he wants to take. Let's leave it there for now."