The Stingy Nalant?

"Andrew, if Nalant is truly unwilling to change his territory, I can exempt Storm Territory from all future taxes!" The Count, seated upon his iron throne, perceived Andrew's dilemma.

As a vassal, it was naturally an obligation to pay taxes to one's liege.

Beyond taxes, a liege also held the right to conscript a vassal for war for two months each year, during which time no compensation was required.

"Steward Thomas, has Nalant truly made up his mind?"

"Yes, Lord Andrew. That is what Lord Nalant instructed me to say!"

"Good!" Andrew nodded. Although his youngest son had been somewhat cowardly, he had now become brave. Perhaps he, as a father, should let go; after all, no glorious lord was ever raised under protection—they were all forged through courage and battle.

"My Lord Count, then let Nalant remain in Storm Territory," Andrew said respectfully to the Count.

"Very well! I shall have someone draft the tax exemption for Storm Territory and hand it to Nalant's subordinate shortly," the Count nodded. "Since the reports from all the second sons have been completed today, let us conclude the meeting here."

"My Lord Count, I have a gift here that Lord Nalant wishes to present to Lady Stella!" Just then, Thomas caught sight of the gifts held by several servants ahead and felt a sudden jolt of alarm.

He had actually forgotten to remind his lord to bring a gift for Lady Stella when they set out.

After all, this was a private matter of Nalant's affections, and as a steward, he could not interfere. But now, there were clearly seven gifts in the servants' hands; if his own lord failed to present one, he would surely be outshone by the other sons of knights.

"Hmm, just hand it to the servants," the Count nodded.

Thomas then took out a bottle of perfume he carried with him and placed it into the servant's hands.

When the servant received the perfume bottle, the corner of his mouth twitched. As a servant of Tulip Castle, he naturally recognized this bottle—it was the common perfume usually sprayed in the corridors of the Count's castle.

The civil officials from other territories were also left wide-eyed at this sight.

The Count saw it too, but said nothing. Once the servant accepted the perfume, the meeting was officially concluded.

"My Lord, following Sherry's guidance, the two spies who just infiltrated Storm Territory have been captured!" Inside the Storm Territory castle, Vivian was reporting to Nalant.

"Hmm, how many is that now?"

"Reporting to you, my Lord, this is the sixth one!"

"Very well, lock them up for now," Nalant nodded.

Ever since two days ago, Quinte had been continuously sending spies into his territory. Fortunately, Nalant knew that once the salt went on sale, Quinte would certainly send people to investigate if he caught wind of the situation.

Thus, he had instructed Sherry to have her bees patrol the border between Quinte Territory and Storm Territory every day. If anyone approached, they were to return and report it, and sure enough, Nalant had managed to catch six spies.

"At their current speed, the caravan should have reached Tulip City by now. They should return in five days at the latest. The salt is only the beginning. Since you are so arrogant, don't blame me for making you kneel and sing for mercy!" Nalant estimated the time, calculating when he would resolve the camp situation.

Although the caravan had not yet returned, he had already begun the process of destroying the camp in the buffer zone.

"Lord, I have already sent out the bees for today!" Not long after Vivian left, Sherry scurried into Nalant's study.

This little girl spent her days with the bees now, having the time of her life playing inside the castle.

The guards and servants felt their scalps tingle whenever they saw her playing amidst the buzzing swarm.

"Very good, Sherry! Tell your mother to bake two extra loaves of white bread tonight; both you and Vivian shall have white bread to eat!"

"Yes, thank you, my incredibly generous and handsome Lord!" Although Sherry possessed such an incredible ability, she was, at heart, still just a little girl.

Aside from being small, delicate, and easy to... ahem... well, didn't little girls just love delicious food?

Therefore, Nalant often used white bread to bribe her.

These days, besides preventing enemy spies from sneaking in, Sherry had another important task.

That was to carry out the first step of the plan against Quinte's camp.

The task was simple: every day, Sherry would send two swarms of bees to Quinte's camp, specifically targeting the guards on duty along the wooden walls, especially the archers in the watchtowers.

Quinte's camp was comparable to a small fortress, with wooden walls reaching five or six meters in height.

With his mere twenty-five men, Nalant could not possibly launch a frontal assault, so he had to be quiet and stealthy.

When raiding the camp, the only way to ensure the guards wouldn't discover them was to have no guards on the walls.

That was precisely why he had Sherry send the bees to attack the guards.

For days now, the guards in Quinte's camp had been having a miserable time. They didn't know where a hive of bees had come from, but they visited the camp several times a day.

They stung anyone they saw, especially the guards in the watchtowers. Almost everyone had been a victim, and the more miserable ones were already bruised and swollen.

When Sir Dili, a mid-tier Title Knight, found out, he was also at his wit's end regarding the bees. In the end, he had to order the guards to take temporary cover whenever the bees appeared.

Dili had also sent guards to search the nearby woods for a hive, but they found nothing.

However, Dili did not suspect that these bees were being directed by someone; after all, such a thing was unheard of. He had never heard of anyone capable of commanding bees.

In a beautiful garden within Tulip Castle stood a pure white, exquisite cottage built of marble.

This was built by the Count for his only daughter, Lady Stella, the Flower of Tulip.

"Wow, My Lady, what a beautiful seashell! This was a gift from Sir Billy of Greenwood Territory!" In the luxurious and exquisite hall, the gifts presented to Stella by the second sons were laid out on a large table.

Stella had no interest in any of it and continued reading a book, while her maid, Lina, was happily unwrapping the exquisite gift boxes.

"If you like them, you can have them," Stella replied to her personal maid without even looking up.

"Ah! My Lady, I dare not accept this. If Sir Billy finds out later, he will surely blame me!" Lina immediately refused, though her hands moved even faster as she tore into the gift boxes.

As each box was opened, beautiful colored crystals, fresh magic potion fruits, unique handcrafted bracelets, and other exquisite gifts were laid out upon the table.

"Huh, is this a gift?" When she finished opening the seventh box, Lina felt a bit puzzled. She remembered the servant who delivered them saying there were eight gifts in total.

"There is still Sir Nalant's gift left to open. Could this be the one he sent? My Lady, this Sir Nalant is so stingy!" Those gift boxes all contained notes handwritten by the second sons, so Lina immediately knew the only one remaining was from Nalant.

"Hmm? How is he stingy?" Hearing the name Nalant, Stella finally showed a flicker of reaction. To treat the Land of Misfortune as a land of fortune—let alone the principality, there were likely few people in the entire continent who would do such a thing.

"My Lady, look, this bottle of perfume is the gift Sir Nalant sent! This is clearly the same perfume we use here at Tulip Castle to spray in the corridors and the great hall!"

Lina held the perfume bottle directly out in front of Stella, her face full of indignation.

Looking at the gifts sent by the other second sons, then looking at this gift that didn't even have any packaging, Lina had already branded Nalant as stingy.