Chương 128: 126. Final Preparations

Kivamus was starting to become excited just thinking about it, but then he remembered their current situation. And, truthfully he didn't really have access to any of it other than coal, did he? Even if there were no bandits operating that quarry, that land was still owned by some other baron, and he wouldn't have access to any of that limestone unless he bought that land from the Count of Cinran - assuming that was even allowed in this kingdom. The same went for the clay mine.

That land was likely owned by the Baron of Kirnos, which meant that without buying that land from the baron, he wouldn't get a constant supply of clay either. There was certainly an option to just buy the limestone and clay directly from those bandits, but he didn't know if he would be able to do that, especially knowing that they were using slave labor for it. There was also the fundamental problem of transporting such bulky raw materials on this rough terrain without any modern transportation methods.

Not to mention that those barons had a pretty good thing going for them - using slave labor to get those materials for dirt cheap prices, only to sell them in the bigger cities for a lot of profit - so it wasn't very likely that they would sell that land - not for a reasonable price anyway. And at this moment, he couldn't afford even a reasonable price for that land... Well, there was always the option to really go the medieval way...

and try to conquer that land - assuming the Count forgave the petty skirmishes between the barons under him. But that idea was laughable at best. He barely had enough men to defend his village from a small group of bandits right now... And he was thinking of conquering the surrounding lands for resources... He sighed. As much as he hated those barons using slave labor and bandits, he would still have to think of some way to get those raw materials if he ever wanted to make concrete here.

But that problem was for the future. For now, he had to focus on their immediate concerns, and that included keeping the villagers safe and fed for the coming winter. Feroy's question made him come back to the present.

"I hardly know anything about the rules of nobles, but if we know that the Baron of Kirnos was also involved in the previous raid, couldn't we do something like... trying to complain against him?" the ex-mercenary asked.

"Maybe to the Count of Cinran, and ask for reparations for the raid? The barony of Kirnos does come under him, right?" Kivamus looked at Gorsazo, since probably he was the one with the most experience dealing with nobility. Gorsazo shook his head.

"It won't work, since it's all a conjecture at best. We have no definite proof to tie the Baron of Kirnos to the previous raid. So it will be Lord Kivamus' word against his, and the Count has no reason to take our word over the Baron of Kirnos'." Kivamus nodded, but Feroy spoke up thoughtfully.

"But what if we got that Torhan guy to support our claim?" Kivamus raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"What do you mean by that? Why would he ever do that?" Feroy snorted.

"Well... he certainly won't do it willingly..."

"You mean..." Kivamus blurted out. Feroy nodded.

"I could try joining his clay mine as a slave. It will take some time to become close to him, you know? But once I get a good opportunity, I could snatch him from there. And if there is another trusty guy ready with a horse nearby, we could bring him here and then take him to Cinran to present to the count." While Duvas grimaced after listening about the underhanded method, Kivamus wasn't sure what to say for a moment. Was the ex-mercenary really contemplating kidnapping a person openly?

Then he remembered what kind of a guy Torhan must be if he was running a mine with slave labor. Having listened a little about the ways of Nokozal and how he treated his slaves, that Torhan guy likely wasn't any better, not to mention he had already raided Tiranat in the past and left the village to starve and freeze to death after putting their houses on fire. So did he really care that Feroy was willing to kidnap such a person?

But he was still surprised to hear that the ex-mercenary would risk his life for this, since Feroy's life would be far from safe if he was discovered. However, with his knack for blending in anywhere, and his plethora of experience dealing with all kinds of lowlifes, Feroy might just be able to pull it off as well. But could he really give his approval to such a task? The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Before he could think of a reply, Gorsazo spoke again.

"That isn't likely to work. Even ignoring the risk to your life if you do that - and we already have too much of a shortage of trained guards to send you away for weeks, if not months - we still have no way to ensure that Torhan would speak against the Baron of Kirnos in the Count's court." Feroy began saying something to oppose that, but Gorsazo spoke over him.

"I know what you are going to say, but you can't really use your methods to ensure Torhan supports us right in front of the count, can you? And anyway, dealing with nobles is not the same, Feroy." He added, "The count would still have to hear the opinion of the Baron of Kirnos, who will certainly deny it.

And a known bandit isn't likely to sway over the opinion of the nobles in the court of Count Cinran - assuming the Count even allows us to present a bandit in his court to show our side of the story - not to mention our only advocate being a bandit isn't going to help us much anyway." Kivamus thought about it some more, then said, "Let's leave it for now, Feroy. The politics of nobles work very differently from what you are used to.

And while I have no doubt in your abilities, it is far from certain that you will succeed in your task or even return alive from Torhan's mine." Feroy gave a reluctant nod.

"I can't deny that, milord. But I just wanted to help the village, you know?"

"I understand that, Feroy," Kivamus said, "but you are already helping us as one of our few trained guards." At that moment, the outer door of the manor hall opened, and Hudan walked back inside. The guard captain reported, "All our guards are now alert and ready." He glanced at Calubo, who had been quiet for some time, before speaking, "Since we know for sure that there are only nine bandits out there, I know we can take them out with our numbers.

It still won't be easy, since I'll have to leave at least half of our guards back here - just in case the bandits have already left their hideout in the forests - but I'll have most of our trained guards with me, so we should still be able to finish them off." Hudan continued, "From what Calubo has told us, Nokozal thinks that most of our grain would be kept outside the manor walls with the merchants, which is not the case.

Apart from that, we only give weekly rations to the villagers, and it has already been six days since the last one, which means the villagers would barely have any grain in their houses right now. So in case we are late in reaching their hideout and aren't able to eliminate them right there, it will mean that Nokozal is still going to try to attack the manor walls once he sees that the villagers don't have any grain for them to steal, since he doesn't want to return empty handed."

"Then why don't you just keep all our guards here to defend the manor, since you don't know for sure that you'll find them in their hideout?" Duvas asked, "That will allow you to keep fighting at full strength against those bandits, especially if they are going to attack here anyway." Hudan shook his head.

"That would mean they might already have killed some villagers by then before they turn to the manor." He added, "It's certainly possible that the bandits might have left their hideout by the time we reach there, but if there is even a small chance that they are still there, we have to take it, since our best option to eliminate them with minimal losses is to fight them within the forests - without any villagers nearby or any houses for the bandits to put to fire."

"That does make sense," Duvas said. Hudan continued, "Other than saving the villagers' lives, our most important task is to defend our grain stores, so we have to do our best to protect the manor." He looked at Feroy.

"So you'll stay here to lead our guards in case the bandits attack the manor while we are still out." The guard captain added, "Apart from some of our trained guards, I will also leave all our archers here, since they will be completely useless with us in the darkness of the forests. While they still won't be of much help in the night even here, at least they have a chance of hitting the bandits in the light of the burning torches outside, which won't be possible in the forests." Feroy nodded.

"I'll put the archers on top of the servants hall and the manor house, and I'll give a horn to them. From that height they can watch our surroundings as well and warn us if they see any bandits. And Yufim is a good enough archer that he might just be able to take out a couple of bandits by himself even in the night." Kivamus said, "That horn is a good idea." He looked at Hudan, "If the archers blow the horn here, that means they are already here and you should return to help us immediately."

"Of course, my Lord," Hudan said.

"That being said," Kivamus continued, "you should also take a couple of horns with you, just in case you have to divide the guards into different groups and one of those groups gets outnumbered or needs help." At Hudan's nod, he asked, "But can our new guards fight well by now?"