Hooves struck the ground, kicking up dust. The knights on horseback held lances and Iris Shields as they faced off against several hundred Barbarian cavalrymen armed with round shields and scimitars. The knights would occasionally approach the Barbarian ranks, make brief contact, then pull away again. Now and then, they jabbed at the Barbarian riders with their lances, but the nimble cavalry dodged at once. The Barbarians also drew their bows and fired, but their composite shortbows' beast-tooth arrows couldn't pierce the knights' Iron Armor. The two forces circled one another, sometimes closing in, sometimes pulling apart.
At Blue Magpie Castle, Count Bristle-Wolf stood on the watchtower, observing the Bristle-Wolf Knights' squad as it tested the waters against thirty Barbarian cavalrymen. After years of building up their forces, the Bristle-Wolf Knights were equipped with matching Iron Armor and black-scaled horses. Each squad had a Senior Knight leading it. Against an enemy force of equal size, the knights could easily overpower a Barbarian cavalry force twice their number.
The Bristle-Wolf Knights squad outside the castle was currently led by Eldest Young Master Bristle-Wolf. He was one of the most promising young talents of his generation, gifted in Battle Qi, horsemanship, and technique. He lacked only combat experience.
Fortunately, this sort of probing was never meant to be a fight to the death. It was simply a way for opponents to test each other.
Ever since Count Bristle-Wolf realized the Barbarians' intent—to prevent the vassal knights across the Northwest from approaching Blue Magpie Castle and then pick them off one by one—he had been trying to find a solution. The situation between Bristle-Wolf and the Gray Goose was this: Bristle-Wolf's Knights and all its vassals' knights were stronger combined than the Gray Goose's cavalry, but the Gray Goose had now split into five groups. Fewer than a hundred men remained beneath Blue Magpie Castle, while the rest had broken into small bands to raid the vassals' territories and keep them from gathering at the castle. The Count couldn't bear the cost of sending his knights to charge a hundred cavalrymen without the vassals' troops to cover them.
Breaking the deadlock would require fresh forces. The Count had taken two measures. First, he sent out knight squads of ten to fifteen men to keep the Barbarians locked in a stalemate and probe their defenses. The Knights were formidable, and an Intermediate Priest from Bristle-Wolf City was stationed in the castle. As long as they controlled the intensity of their skirmishes with the Barbarian cavalry, they would avoid casualties and losses.
After several days of probing, more than a dozen Barbarians had been wounded or thrown from their horses, forcing them to recall some of the cavalry squads that had been raiding elsewhere. This allowed the Count's vassals to leave their castles and gather in Blue Magpie Territory. Viscount Elk and a Baron from east of Bristle-Wolf City, both on the watchtower now, had been freed to join them this way.
But gathering the vassals alone probably wouldn't be enough. Count Bristle-Wolf was calling his vassals to him, while the Gray Goose Leader was summoning more tribes from the plains. So the Count had also contacted the Kingdom's Blue Dragon Family. Using his private salt revenue for the next three years as collateral, he had asked them to send a twenty-five-man knight company in support.
The company was expected to arrive in about a month. The Count believed the local vassals, combined with these outside reinforcements, would be enough to drive off the Barbarians without losing control of his territory.
"You know Albert Gallop better than I do. He won't get caught by those Barbarians," Viscount Elk said behind the Count, trying to comfort Hark. "Your family has operated in that forest for so long. What are you worried about?"
"It's because I know it so well that I'm worried. The forest is full of Devil Beasts. One wrong move, and a Mana-Less person becomes a Mid-level Magic Beast's next meal. Why do you think I looked after the residents of two territories for Rothe Territory eight years ago? We know that forest too well. One Intermediate Knight can't handle everything in there." Hark couldn't stop worrying about his territory.
"I used to be firmly against your family trading food, salt, iron, and horses with the Barbarians. I thought it was just arming the enemy. But I don't think that way anymore. Black-scaled horses are too powerful, and when you can't use Battle Qi, Iron Armor is the best protection there is. Now the Barbarians have horses and armor. If we can't keep up, they'll just trap us in our castles."
"Are you really not going to say that our trade made the Barbarians stronger?"
"Come on. How many Barbarians could your little bit of trade have equipped with Iron Armor?" There was a saying in the Dragon Kingdom that the Barbarians had grown powerful because of the frequent trade between the border nobles and the Barbarians. "There are at least two hundred Barbarian cavalrymen in the entire Northwest Territory now. Their tribes must have at least as many Mana-Wielders and five times that number of Mana-Less people. Even if all the Mana-Wielders in the Northwest Territory sent every last bit of food to the Gallop Plains, they couldn't feed that many people."
"But the Empire can," Hark said with a bitter smile. "How do you keep salt and iron costs low while still protecting the nobles' profits? Simple: the Salt and Iron Department buys salt and iron ingots from the Barbarians on the Gallop Plains in bulk."
"Exactly. Salt and iron are both bulk commodities, and they're hard to transport. Local production is what makes a profit. And to secure even greater profits, the Salt and Iron Department also provides the Barbarians with ironworking and salt-boiling techniques." As a member of the Elk Family, which controlled an important route from the Empire's heartland into the Gallop Plains, Viscount Elk was acutely aware of how goods were transported. "Every year, large quantities of grain from the eastern and southern parts of the continent, along with Mana-Wielders from many defeated families, enter the Gallop Plains. The Barbarian tribes sustained by this grain and these slaves can now easily send a hundred cavalrymen to sweep through the Northwest Territory.
"And it's not just the Northwest Territory. The whole Dragon Kingdom buys salt and iron from the Barbarians. Our Gold Coins are divided between the agents of the Dragon Family and the Barbarians. Those coins have become the chains strangling us."
The two border nobles pieced together a secret that was common knowledge on the Gallop Plains. After repeated failed campaigns, the Human Race had decided to develop the plains' mineral resources through intermediaries. The Blue Dragon Family, acting as the Salt and Iron Department's agent in the Kingdom, made sure the Barbarians had the techniques and transport routes they needed.
This mining would strengthen the Barbarians, but no matter how powerful they became, they couldn't threaten the Dragon Kingdom's interior. Once they passed Bristle-Wolf City, the effects of Magic Turbulence nearly vanished. That meant the Barbarian threat would remain confined to the Northwest Count Territory.
The lesser nobles in the Northwest Territory were in danger, but compared to the cost of living for the people throughout the Dragon Kingdom and the interests of the Empire's Salt and Iron Department, such a sacrifice was necessary. That was what the Kingdom's high officials truly thought.
"I really don't know how you've managed all these years," Viscount Elk said, now deeply impressed by Hark. "Don't worry about your territory. Even if Albert and the others can't protect the residents, it won't matter. A few nobles from the east and south can pool together three hundred residents for you without any trouble. My Chief Knight's third son recently became an Intermediate Knight. I'll call him over tomorrow to serve as your family knight."
Now that the nobles of the Northwest Territory had felt the Barbarian threat firsthand, they all understood that Hark's territory was their outer gate. They didn't mind sending some of their people and Mana-Wielders to Hark.
"Who are those people?" the Count suddenly asked from the terrace.