Chapter 94: Crisis

In the upper camp, more than a dozen alchemical crows bobbed and wheeled about a clearing, feasting on delicacies of chopped fresh meat and plump grains of wheat.

The guards in the camp were long since used to it. By now everyone knew that these great birds, called dust falcons, were pets raised by their lord, and exceedingly useful ones at that.

In Victor's domain, the guards had already learned to make simple use of the dust falcons. When a guard squad went out on patrol, they would take one along. If they needed to send word back to camp, they only had to point the bird toward the direction they wanted and make a special gesture; the dust falcon would then fly back to camp carrying the note. After completing its task, it would even return to the patrol, for it could remember both direction and scent. In that regard, it was far more versatile than the red-eyed raven, and so it had become the guards' favorite companion.

Victor scattered a handful of golden wheat grains on the ground, drawing a flurry of competition among the alchemical crows. Watching the vigorous great birds, he could not help smiling.

At present, Victor had produced eight alchemical militiamen, nineteen alchemical auxiliaries, twenty-five alchemical crows, and five alchemical war mastiffs. The funds remaining in the Alchemy Tower amounted to three thousand three hundred and fifty gold sols. In Victor's eyes, the alchemical crow was the most cost-effective of all his alchemical units. It was precisely these crows that allowed his orders to reach every guard squad within a matter of dozens of minutes, kept communication open with the various villages, and helped him watch over the outer edges of his territory to guard against unknown threats.

The alchemical war mastiff, by contrast, was the least cost-effective unit. Though powerful and intelligent, it had obvious limitations. First, its size was far too conspicuous. Second, its main weapon was fangs eight to ten centimeters long. That was adequate against medium and small targets, but against larger foes it was difficult to land a killing blow at once. Canines generally seized prey only to devour it alive; that was the reason. Most importantly, each alchemical war mastiff cost eight hundred gold sols and lasted only four years, averaging two hundred gold sols per year, making it the most expensive of all alchemical creatures. For that reason, Victor had no desire to produce any more war mastiffs.

After tossing out the last handful of grain, Victor clapped his hands and headed to his office. When he entered the room, Lilia and Nelson were standing around the enormous bearskin, marveling at it. They had been looking for a full half hour already.

Seeing Victor enter, Nelson asked excitedly, "My lord, it's unbelievable. How was a savage bear shot so easily?"

When Victor had asked Nelson to identify the bearskin, Nelson had scarcely believed his eyes. Only a savage bear could have a hide of such immense size. After inspecting it carefully, he found the skin incomparably tough, resistant to knife and sword alike, and confirmed that it was indeed the hide of a savage bear.

Savage beasts were extremely difficult to hunt. Not only were they swift beyond measure, but their endurance was extraordinary. Most crucial of all, they were keenly perceptive and could evade most traps. As for a savage giant bear like this one, Nelson admitted that he was no match for it, and an ordinary crossbow could not even pierce its thick hide. Yet now that invincible monster had been killed, and even its skin had become a trophy.

Nelson knew that Victor commanded a secret force, the very people who had gone to carry out the mountain patrol mission. He had never imagined that they would not only complete the task, but also hunt down a savage giant bear.

Victor stroked the thick, lustrous bearskin and said casually, "They were merely lucky. That giant bear was mating with a she-bear and was caught at just the right moment."

Though Victor had concealed part of the truth, the meaning was the same. In the end, it had died for a female bear.

"Nelson, I don't know much about the hides of savage beasts. How much do you think this one could sell for?" Victor asked with a smile.

Nelson reluctantly caressed the bearskin and said, "My lord, in the Kingdom of Dothor, leather is considered a relatively cheap good, but a complete savage giant bear hide like this could fetch at least ten thousand gold sols. After all, the hides of savage beasts are exceedingly rare. As for what it might sell for in Gambis, I couldn't say."

"So much?"

Victor was startled by the price. Ten thousand gold sols was a huge sum; with that money, he could produce at least eight more alchemical militiamen.

"You must not sell it. This bearskin can be made into a set of leather armor for Victor," Lilia quickly objected.

Her thoughtfulness moved Victor somewhat. With his current physique, he could certainly wear chain mail, but it would inevitably affect his agility and speed, so Victor still preferred leather armor. A savage bear hide was indeed the perfect material for crafting the finest armor. But for Victor, money was most important right now.

Victor shook his head. "The bearskin will definitely be sold, because we are about to expand the guard force."

Nelson's eyes lit up as he grinned. "My lord, is that true?"

"Victor, no! There is already a shortage of labor in the territory. How can we expand the guard force at a time like this?" Lilia said to Victor, ignoring Nelson's pleading look.

Victor tapped lightly on the table. Expanding the guard force was a decision he had made after careful thought.

At present, internal planning in the territory was already on the right track, and he had formed an interest alliance with the York family. The York family's informants had also been withdrawn. In return, Victor had provided the York family with several advanced designs. Fortunately, those designs were not sensitive technologies; even if they leaked, it would not matter much. The most important thing was that Victor had to keep the secret of the alchemical humans. If the York family's spies continued to operate in the territory, there was no guarantee that the dull-witted alchemical humans would not be exposed before their eyes.

Victor wrote a letter to Sylvia, inventing the origin of those technologies and shamelessly pinning the blame on Sophia, all in order to conceal the existence of the alchemical humans. Victor believed that Sylvia would not doubt the letter's contents; they were the most plausible explanation, and even if there were loopholes, she would fill them in according to her own logic. No one could suspect what they did not know, and alchemical creatures were precisely the sort of thing the York family did not know.

Now that the nails had been pulled out, Victor could expand his strength without restraint. The first step was to recruit more people.

After a moment's thought, Victor said, "Remember what Master Edwin said: without sufficient strength, we cannot control any more commoners. Therefore, if we want to recruit more people, we must first expand our armed forces. What's more, our territory is especially large, and it will take more soldiers to keep it under control."

A hereditary barony covered roughly five thousand square kilometers and had a population of about ten thousand. A baron's personal guard force would generally not exceed three hundred men, along with one to three knights and around ten apprentice knights. Victor's territory, by contrast, covered a full twelve thousand square kilometers, while its population, even counting generously, was only a little over two thousand. The guard force numbered one hundred men, along with Nelson, whose strength was comparable to a knight, eight alchemical auxiliaries, and five alchemical war mastiffs. Although Victor had no knight of his own, his high-end combat power was no weaker than that of an ordinary baron. The heavy silver crossbow gave Victor the means to stand toe-to-toe with knights; it could easily kill a savage bear, so killing an ordinary knight would be no problem at all. The trouble was that Victor's territory was too large, and he also planned to mine refined iron ore and oilwood in the mountains far from the territory's center. That would require more ordinary soldiers.

Nelson nodded repeatedly. He was deeply in agreement with the lord's judgment. Linda had already complained to him more than once that the public security patrol lacked manpower and wanted to draw guards away from his command. Nelson was sorely troubled by this. The guards had to cover too wide an area, and some men also had to be assigned as drivers.

Lilia also nodded. "We do need to expand the soldiers, especially Lady Linda's public security patrol. Recently, more and more freemen have migrated into our territory, and the freemen's settlement has already taken in more than seventy of them. I expect more will come later."

Victor did not find the influx of freemen strange. It was the warm season of the earth, when vegetation flourished and wild greens could be dug up everywhere. It was exactly the time when freemen moved about.

"Follow Master Baelor's teaching: separate these newly arrived freemen and question them one by one, doing your best not to let spies slip in. Also, do not let these people take part in village labor. They may only be assigned to hauling and road building," Victor instructed.

Lilia frowned. "Victor, if we keep them from village labor because of the spies, then we still won't have enough manpower. Even if we recruit freemen from Black Castle Town, we still can't eliminate the problem of spies."

"Who said we were going to recruit freemen from Black Castle Town?" Victor said with a smile. Seeing the puzzled looks from Lilia and Nelson, he added, "Doesn't Mist Lake Village still have more than six hundred people?"

Of course Victor understood that recruiting subjects from Black Castle Town would certainly attract a large number of spies, perhaps not only from the York family. But even if there were spies in Mist Lake Village, there would be very few. Who would pay attention to a freemen's camp? Even at the beginning, only the York family had planted a few informants there for special reasons.

"My lord, are you planning to subdue Mist Lake Village?" Nelson asked with bright eyes.

Victor said coldly, "I intend to summon Baelor once more. If he still refuses to see me, then I will have no choice but to send him to meet the Lord of Radiance."

Victor's original plan had been to reclaim Mist Lake Village two years later, mainly because of interference from the Chippman family. Ten days earlier, an old knight of the York family had boldly killed two of the Chippman family's informants and driven out a third. That was the York family's warning to Count Chippman. Victor decided to take advantage of the situation and, while the count remained intimidated, seize Mist Lake Village.

Moreover, under the suppression of the alchemical war mastiffs, Mist Lake Village could no longer supply purple cane to the Chippman family. Victor believed that if he acted against Mist Lake Village now, the Chippmans would probably not respond at all. After all, the mountain dwellers' camp had already won the Chippman family's favor.

"My lord, I'll go back at once to gather men and make a battle plan," Nelson said excitedly. He did not believe for a moment that Baelor would comply; that fellow had already refused the lord's summons many times.

"Rest assured, there won't be any fierce resistance," Victor said with complete confidence.

Victor planned to use the alchemical war mastiffs to lure Baelor out, then use the heavy silver crossbow to assassinate him. The remaining diehards would not be a threat; without Baelor, Mist Lake Village would never dare resist the lord's army.

Just as Victor was full of ambition and preparing to put his plan into action, he still did not know that a terrible crisis was quietly drawing near.

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"My lady, a total of more than thirteen hundred people, led by the holy warrior Claude, are heading toward Victor's territory."

The Black Castle Town magistrate, Shaxs, looked fearfully at Countess Sylvia, whose face was like still water.

"So many people. How are they supplying themselves on the road?" Sylvia asked lightly, gazing out the window.

Shaxs answered, "Claude gathered a large stock of food from the Vilpan family, along with more than a dozen wagons. The rumor about Victor's labor-credit system was also spread by the Vilpan family's steward, Robbie."

Sylvia turned and asked Count York and the informant Achilles, "What do you think?"

"Shaxs, you are a fool!" Count York roared. "Why did you not discover the Vilpan family's scheme earlier?"

Shaxs was at a loss for words. At this time of year, freemen were already on the move, and most of them were lazy wastrels who could not find work. Movements of dozens or even hundreds of people would not have drawn his attention at all. But when more than a thousand people organized a migration, Shaxs immediately investigated it thoroughly. Only, because a holy warrior of the church was involved, he did not dare take further measures and reported at once to the countess.

"Enough. This cannot be blamed on Shaxs. We all overlooked the fatal flaw in Victor's labor-credit system: it makes it far too easy to elevate vassals. All freemen will go mad for it. This is not some conspiracy, but an open scheme, and an unsolvable one at that," Sylvia said with a sigh.

Sylvia felt somewhat vexed. The vassal system had taken thousands of years to gradually form the pattern of promotion through three generations. Because the practice was so old, many lords, herself included, had forgotten why three generations had been required, and merely followed the tradition by habit. As a result, she had not discovered the fatal flaw in the labor-credit system either, and yet that flaw had been seized by someone with intent.

"My lady, Baron Victor is in big trouble! More and more freemen will pour into his territory, and with church people among them, many countermeasures cannot be used!" Achilles said. "The baron's rule will collapse!"

"What then? Will those lowborn drifters destroy our purple cane?" Count York shouted. Just thinking of the countless precious stalks of purple cane being ruined made his heart ache.

Sylvia shook her head. "This is no time to feel sorry for the purple cane! Even if Baron Vilpan is not a complete fool, he is not much better. The one who could see through the flaw in the labor-credit system must be Queen Catherine. The question now is, what will she do next?"

Sylvia continued, "I'm afraid the freemen in other territories will also be stirred into action. More and more freemen will migrate to Victor's territory, people will starve, unrest will break out, and things will spiral out of control. Victor, as the lord, will be held accountable. Then the issue of his lack of a castle will be brought up. After that, Victor will be brought back before the Senate for questioning. In that way, the queen will once again have Victor in her grasp."

"What a formidable and vicious queen!" Sylvia added with a cold smile.

Count York drew in a sharp breath and asked helplessly, "Then what should we do?"

Back then, Sylvia's scheme against Vilpan had been meant to deepen the rift between Victor and the prince's faction. She had never expected Catherine's counterstroke to be so impossible to answer. If Victor were given a little more time, he might be able to weather this crisis, but as things stood, Victor's territory did not have that ability at all.

"Inform the Blood Fox. Have him bring men to infiltrate the freemen's ranks. Those freemen must never be allowed to assault Victor's camp. Victor's safety must be ensured."

"And then?" Count York asked, rubbing his hands together. He believed Sylvia would certainly solve the problem.

"Then we watch."

"What?"

Sylvia gave a soft laugh. "Otherwise, what can we do? Force those freemen back? Or slaughter them all? The church would never allow us to do that."

Sylvia did not care about Catherine's scheme. Catherine had seized Victor's fatal weakness, but Sylvia had likewise seized Catherine's weakness. So long as Sylvia forcibly kept Victor in Black Castle, Catherine would be helpless.

"You are no match for me when it comes to playing by the rules, but I will only speak to you in terms of strength."

Sylvia gazed out the window, where gardeners were tending her roses. These roses had all been transplanted from the crystal greenhouse; some had already withered, while others bloomed with vibrant life.

A dark red stirred within Sylvia's deep blue eyes. Under the countess's gaze, those dead roses slowly turned to ash and scattered on the wind.

"Victor, let me see what you are capable of. If you cannot solve this, I will place you in my greenhouse."

Sylvia's eyes glimmered with allure, and a blush of peach colored her cheeks.