Chapter 266: Act 33 – Expansion (14)
“Sir Minate’s army has arrived at the Gels crossing.”
Brendel fell silent for a moment, but when he spoke, it was with this statement.
Everyone present was taken aback, momentarily taken aback.
Brendel’s words did not avoid the Master Craftsman Berun, but once the latter realized it, he slightly bowed, “Since this topic has nothing to do with me, I’ll take my leave first, Lord!” He placed a hand on his left chest as a sign of respect following Erluin’s noble etiquette, but as he raised his head, he reminded, “Although that’s what you said, my lord, I’m waiting for good news.” After saying this, the elder calmly walked out of the yard.
“What happened?” Juliette turned around to question after seeing the detestable old man leave, “Why haven’t we received any news?”
“The information was delivered directly to Husher,” Brendel replied, introducing the Wild Elf girl beside him: “This is Flour, you all know her, let her explain.”
All eyes turned to the elf girl. Flour remained composed, slightly raised her chin, and slowly recounted the current situation.
When they heard that only six or seven hundred men had crossed the river from Sir Minate’s side, and that there were only a few knights among them, while the army consisted largely of untrained peasants and mercenaries, the expressions of everyone present turned peculiar.
“Wait a minute, this guy doesn’t need to rush to his death, does he?” Juliette swept her long red hair behind her neck, shaking her head in confusion, “With so few people, we can easily swallow them whole.”
“Could it be a ruse?” Crenshia asked cautiously.
“No, I think that lord probably doesn’t expect us to be so bold,” Brendel analyzed. “The most loyal knights under Grudin had already perished during the last battle in the inner city; the remaining private soldiers are just a bunch of disreputable mercenaries and adventurers. When those people scatter, do you really think they will escape to send a message?”
Everyone fell silent; after all, abandoning their lord and fleeing wasn’t an honorable act, especially in this era, where one might risk being hanged for such cowardice—naturally, no one would choose to do something so unprofitable.
“Therefore, it’s entirely possible that Sir Minate and Baron Parsons got their information through other channels, for example, from the remaining refugees fleeing from Firburh or even whispers from the outskirts,” Brendel continued.
“That night, to prevent more people from escaping, we had already issued an order to blockade the area around Firburh,” Antinna interjected here, “Within ten miles outside the city, your people are on high alert; as for whether Sir Minate’s spies can sneak in, you know best.”
Juliette and Crenshia exchanged glances; it wasn’t that they were confident, but their subordinates were all seasoned mercenaries. These people might not be the best soldiers, but they were certainly the best hunters. Given their rich experience, they trusted that spies from a minor noble like Sir Minate would find it hard to infiltrate the city, let alone obtain more accurate information.
However, to blindly mobilize troops based on such limited information was a clear sign of the nobility’s arrogant blindness, as if they didn’t take their group of ‘commoners’ seriously at all.
Brendel raised his head and immediately saw Juliette and Crenshia straighten their backs; he was taken aback and couldn’t help but feel surprised, but then he understood—after subduing Tagib and his subordinates, it seemed these mercenaries were starting to realize that their status within this group was no longer what it used to be.
On the other hand, facing Count Rendener’s retribution, the mercenaries had no choice but to rely on Brendel. Thus, when Brendel manifested sufficient strength, they set aside their extraneous thoughts and began to consider what kind of status they could obtain in this collective.
Even someone like Juliette, who was not particularly keen on vying for power, had to consider her subordinates.
Brendel smiled slightly, thinking there might be another reason. When he heard that Sir Minate had only six or seven hundred men and that they had over a thousand burrowers hidden in the forest as allies, it was practically a guaranteed achievement—naturally, everyone was eager to share in the spoils.
He first glanced at Juliette, then at Crenshia. In fact, Vurn and his men were still on the front lines, and the former Karasu cavalry captain was among the three captains who first expressed their intention of submission to him—long before the lumber mill dispute, he had quietly approached to discuss matters and agreed to hand over all his men to Brendel’s command. However, Brendel knew that putting too much trust in one person might make the two captains suspicious. After a moment of thought, he said:
“Mr. Crenshia, prepare to support Vurn,” he instructed. “Try to maneuver around the front lines once the battle starts, cut off that lord’s retreat, and capture as many as possible. It would be best to capture Samuel himself; I’d prefer to keep him alive—he’s still useful to me—”
He paused for a moment, “Of course, you need to assess the situation yourself. Take your orders!”
The silver-haired middle-aged man’s eyes brightened slightly, as if he felt a weight lighten. He glanced at Juliette beside him and solemnly replied, “As you wish, my lord.”
Afterward, Crenshia straightened his sword like a true knight, bowed, and then turned to leave the yard, the sound of his confident footsteps echoing on the stone slabs outside.
Only Juliette remained standing alone in the yard, unable to help but furrow her brow, but in the end, she still did not speak. Medisa, seeing that all the disputing parties had left, breathed a sigh of relief and gave Brendel a slight bow in elven etiquette, “My Lord.”
Brendel nodded at her, watching Antinna, who also seemed to have relaxed. The wealthy young noblewoman felt a momentary release, having seen the annoying petitioners dismissed so easily by the lord.
However, this was merely an illusion; in truth, she felt no relief at all because problems wouldn’t resolve themselves, and procrastination was not a solution.
“My Lord, are we not heading to the front lines?” Antinna pondered, holding a document, and asked.
“What’s there to see?” Brendel shook his head. He saw no suspense in this battle; moreover, leaving it to Husher, Vurn, and Crenshia, these veterans, would be far more effective than if he went up himself.
He clearly understood that he was better suited for charging into traps; it was his forte, not to be some sort of commander. Brendel now felt that being a lord was already enough to give him a headache. As for more matters, he preferred to take it easy.
Given his time, it was better to solve more urgent issues. He turned his head and asked, “How much money do we have left?”
“About 3.5 million Tols, and that’s after factoring in Grudin’s collections and the precious metals from the treasury,” Antinna paused for a moment, then responded, “But considering the timeline, it’s actually not worth that much. In fact, the cash we have on hand is less than a third of that amount.”
“And, my lord,” the noblewoman said somewhat solemnly, “The food situation is urgent. As far as I know, Duke Toniger’s annual output barely meets consumption, which means we have to figure out how to feed them without having an extra person.”
Sensing Brendel might not have considered this, she added, “Mr. Retao still leads several thousand refugees at Port Gris.”
Brendel certainly hadn’t forgotten this point. He nodded and listened as Antinna continued, “When it comes to food trade, it’s not a simple matter. Firstly, we have no ships—”
“Port Gris must have ships, right?” Medisa quietly reminded, although she wasn’t familiar with the human world, she had recently brushed up on Toniger’s geography for handling potential future wars.
“Leaving aside the fact that we don’t control Port Gris yet, it’s merely a fishing port—” Antinna shook her head, “There might be some merchant ships docked there; however, regarding leasing them, not to mention whether the merchants are willing to do business with us at all, it still requires a significant amount of funding.”
“Secondly, we can’t use all our money for one thing. We need to defer everything that can be postponed, but at least half needs to be allocated towards the upcoming war. Frankly, I’m uncertain how long this situation will persist; Count Rendener will definitely not let us off easily.” The noblewoman sighed, “Not to mention that although we nominally control Firburh now, most of Baron Gris’ holdings haven’t come under our control—our situation could be described as perilous.”
She dropped her folder slightly, “Compared to this, I’d rather hide in the Black Forest right now—there’s nothing a capable woman can do without rice, my lord.”
After saying this, she gazed at Brendel with a resentful expression, “As for the magic laboratory you promised me, Antinna certainly has no issues with it being postponed. However, Master Berun seems to be getting impatient…”
Brendel couldn’t help but smile bitterly, fully aware that this noblewoman’s implication wasn’t that it was “no problem,” but indeed a problem—just that there was no way to resolve it for the time being. He also understood that Antinna’s words were grounded in reality; now that the autumn harvest in Toniger had passed, the only way to resolve the food issue was through trade, but in the end, it still came down to lacking funds.
Thus, figuring out how to acquire funds was his first priority.
He previously had a sum of money in Bruglas, left by Romaine when starting his first business. They left and entrusted this money to Retao’s daughter, Sue, for operations—if no issues had arisen, that sum should be at least several hundred thousand Tols.
However, now that Count Rendener’s territory stood between Toniger and Golan-Elsen, this funding was inevitably out of reach, and Brendel had to seek solutions from other avenues.
He first thought of the Shafdelon silver mines.
……
(PS. Happy tonight, thank you all.) (To be continued; for more chapters, please log in, support the author, support legitimate reading!)
