Nalant's Reward (Part Two)

The king looked toward the counts, while the counts kept their eyes on their noses and their noses on their hearts, saying nothing.

The Tulip Family had already taken all the glory, so naturally they would not fight for any benefits for Nalant. Being spectators was enough.

As for Bernard, it was not appropriate for him to speak up immediately either. He obviously needed to see what the king himself intended first, then whether there was any chance to secure more benefits for Nalant.

"Since none of you will speak, I'll say it myself!" Seeing their reactions, the king understood what they were thinking and began speaking. "First, the gold coin reward. Since Nalant's contribution this time was considerable, following the customary practice of previous years, three hundred gold coins shall be taken from the castle-guarding coins collected in Barnby's territory and awarded to him."

"You have no objections to that, do you?"

"Your Majesty, no objections!"

Several counts nodded. Every year, one-tenth of the castle-guarding coins—around two thousand gold coins—was set aside as rewards.

They could be awarded to individuals or to entire families.

That depended on whether there were any minor nobles with outstanding merits during that year's autumn campaign.

If there were none, then the rewards would go to the few families with the greatest contributions, with the counts distributing the gold coins among their vassals afterward.

Thus, awarding Nalant three hundred gold coins was perfectly proper.

However, since the king had taken the initiative to bring up rewarding Nalant at this meeting, there would naturally be more than just this little bit of gold.

After a pause, the king continued, "Besides the gold reward, I intend to reward Nalant by allowing him to keep all of his gains in the coming autumn campaign, just as with