Chapter 217: Northern Territory

However, Julian still had no time to visit Baron Belair.

After the weary banquet ended the next day, Julian had to begin handling affairs.

Before Bevan departed, the five members of the Senate finally determined the nature of the former Marquisate.

Without making any additional renaming, it was directly merged into York Territory. Only in address, it was referred to as the Northern Territory of York.

According to tradition, when a new state was reconstituted, all lands belonged to the Lord. Only after the Lord conferred new nobles and enfeoffed new lands would the territory be divided in size and given distinct names.

This was also the way for a new Lord, or rather a new national ruler, to proclaim sovereignty.

Yet now, the power structure of York Territory was indeed strange. With York plus the entire Marquisate in the north that had been merged in, this already amounted to nearly one-third of the original Principality of Patlin’s land, practically occupying the entire northern region of the Principality of Patlin.

And yet, the Lord himself had gone south, pressing straight downward. From the news gathered merely at Light Port, it was already known that almost all the noble lords in the hinterlands along the Northwind Mountains had sworn allegiance to the Lord, and the armies assembled had already stepped into the southernmost Marquisates and Earldoms of the Principality of Patlin.

Now only Viscount Youn, trapped in the middle, and two Border Earls with distant blood ties to the Patlin Family on the eastern side still retained autonomy.

In theory, the Lord had already taken more than two-thirds of the Principality of Patlin’s land and could already proclaim himself Grand Duke.

Yet the Lord continued to press southward, refusing to accept that Marquis’s surrender, showing no sign of returning to York Territory.

Thus, the current administrators of York Territory were in a rather awkward position.

Even their Senate had been propped up by the Church and Knight Wolf. Who knew what the Lord’s true attitude would be?

It was only due to past pressure, and now by force of habit, that they deliberately ignored this point and kept the Senate system functioning.

But for the five senators at present, they had no choice. If anyone foolishly went out shouting that they had been forced and did not want to be a senator, there would surely be many eager to take their place.

Besides, they knew in their hearts that when the Lord returned and truly investigated, the ones to bear the brunt would certainly be the Church. They themselves would simply await arrangements and had no authority to take sides.

Thus, in this awkward matter of territorial naming, for one, they lacked the authority to rename the land, and for another, they wished to quickly merge the former Marquisate into York. Therefore, they adopted this simple and crude naming.

Julian, a knight of the former Marquisate, had no objection. After all, it was not through support from those lands that he had attained his Senate seat.

Once the naming was fixed, the assignment of officials was left to Administrator Piero, while the first matter Julian took in hand was the garrisons of the Northern Territory.

Due to the war against Werewolves, more than a thousand warriors had been gathered in the Northern Territory. After Puniel had made simple arrangements, he had patted his backside and left with Baron Belair.

Of course, at this point, all in the Senate understood that Puniel’s arrangements earlier were only partly to maintain order. More of it had been to set these warriors to work handling the Werewolf matter.

Werewolf hides could be stripped and made into leather armor far stronger than ordinary beast hide.

Werewolf teeth, tails, and claws served as ornaments proving valor. Local gentry and merchants did not mind purchasing such things, and the Monastery was even researching whether they could be used medicinally.

Werewolf spines could be ground into bone powder, something all men would favor.

Werewolf sinews were no less tough than those of oxen. In these days of gradual ecological recovery, oxen could not be slaughtered at will, so Werewolf sinew was the best substitute, especially now when crossbows, powerful crossbows, and ballistae were being produced in bulk.

As for Werewolf flesh, nobles and gentry would certainly not eat it. Sour and foul though not fatal.

And Werewolf internal organs carried mild toxins. Humans who ate them would easily suffer problems. But according to unverified studies by certain anonymous Monastery apprentices, feeding them to livestock could make the animals grow faster.

The Senate suspected this was yet another of the Monastery’s social experiments.

Still, after so long, most Werewolf corpses that could be handled had already been dealt with. Only a hundred or so Werewolves remained penned up, not requiring many men. Thus, when Julian demanded the streamlining of Northern Territory warriors, Puniel agreed.

Julian required that only three categories of men be retained among the Northern warriors: those whose physiques reached the level of Upper Warriors in the Monastery system; those who fought bravely in the Werewolf war; and those under thirty who had served as squad leaders in the army.

After reduction, about four hundred remained. One knight and his squire would lead three hundred to garrison Greywind Fortress. Another knight and his squire would go near the port town of Lever—established by Knight George and the more than a thousand rescued people—and build a medium fortress for garrison.

They already knew that a stretch of dozens of miles connected to the former Principality of Corlay, now the Church Nation, had been polluted. The crosses planted at the edge of the contamination disturbed them deeply.

Since that area was impassable, simply holding the northern choke point would guard the pass.

As for the fortress near Lever, its purpose was both to protect the port and to guard against Fishmen.

Though none had been seen since a Fishman was caught in Odo Village, who could say whether they might suddenly cross Lake Salvador to attack?

After this streamlining, most of the retired warriors were arranged into the newly built villages of the Northern Territory as village guards.

With the efforts of apprentices who later became gentry, more than a dozen villages had already been established in the Northern Territory—more than enough to absorb these retired warriors.

At the same time, Administrator Piero officially appointed the apprentices Puniel had brought as officials, then sent them back to continue their previous work.

Since they had left prematurely without leaving contingencies, the gentry forces in the villages they once oversaw had resurged.

Of course, the senators felt that with these retired guards added, they should not be outmaneuvered by those gentry.

But even if they were, it did not matter. That would give them reason to dispatch knights to confiscate the gentry.

From the Northern Territory, five knights originally loyal to Puniel who had no new garrison posts were recalled. They were told they now belonged to the Senate—as Senate knights.

Though they had complaints at being casually switched to new allegiances, they still accepted.

And within only a few days, they came to feel this system of serving the Senate rather than a single noble seemed quite good.

At least they no longer feared that some order from Puniel might one day lead to sudden purging.

At Julian’s appointment, these knights, with their squires, formed an absolutely elite squad.

Once this elite unit had undergone training, Julian boarded a ship with them for Light Port.

…

It had been a month and a half since Knight Wolf departed. Before leaving, he had set the site of the garrison fortress to be built on Baron Morn’s lands.

It lay at the border junction of Viscount Youn, Earl Raul, and Baron Morn.

After friendly talks between Baron Bevan and Baron Morn, the latter felt that maintaining warriors to protect his own land was too costly. Thus, he requested Baron Bevan to convey in the Senate whether York could assist in stationing warriors to protect him and his territory, leaving himself only a guard retinue.

After all, Knight Wolf had chosen the fortress site on the outer edge.

At least when Baron Bevan brought this news to the Senate, he said it had been Baron Morn’s own request—expressed urgently and sincerely.

So the five merciful senators, devout believers of the Church of the Sanctuary, collectively agreed to Baron Morn’s request.

Julian, as the senator in charge of military affairs, naturally led the force himself. This time, the squad he brought was the third batch to arrive.

The first batch had been Knight Wolf’s elite cavalry. The second was over a hundred warriors left over after Wolf had reorganized York’s home garrisons.

At this junction, the fortress had only just been laid with foundations.

The builders were recruited by Bevan from Baron Morn’s lands.

Before recruitment, Bevan had sent elite cavalry to visit each village’s gentry. Naturally, the gentry declared themselves peace-loving, benevolent men, saying it was the village’s good fortune that its people could work for the merciful Lord Bevan.

As for the town, Knight Wolf had already visited Baron Morn beforehand.

The fortress’s construction left Viscount Youn and Earl Raul nervous, so in tacit understanding they too built fortresses within their own lands at this junction.

“That over there is Earl Raul’s fortress. Our merchants have dealings with his merchants. Though no open trade has begun yet, some small things have already begun circulating,” Bevan said, pointing to a half-built fortress on the left, mounted on his riding horse.

Even while resisting Fishmen, an Earl was still an Earl. He had conscripted nearly six hundred laborers to build his fortress.

Julian studied it carefully and asked, “Did you hear what garrison numbers he has at that fortress?”

Bevan said, “One Lord, and three hundred warriors.”

Julian said, “He directly placed a Lord there?”

Bevan gave a slight mocking smile, saying, “That is his fief to begin with. Of those three hundred warriors, two hundred were conscripted from his own subjects. As for the rest, they are the six hundred laborers. One might say this fortress is nothing but that Lord’s fief.”

Earls were high nobles, capable of enfeoffing Lords. To enfeoff a Baron, however, required a Marquis. As for Viscounts, they directly swore fealty to a Grand Duke.

Julian, after Bevan’s explanation, asked, “Wouldn’t that Lord harbor some dissatisfaction?”

Though Lords were usually knighted, they were not knights. When they became true nobles, their mouths swore loyalty to the Earl, but in their hearts they were surely loyal to themselves.

Such was the mentality of all nobles.

Bevan said, “Of course he feels no dissatisfaction. After all, he was enfeoffed by Earl Raul. Yet, since his land was conscripted here, he lacks certain goods and so trades with our merchants.”

“Of course, our goods are of such fine quality that their prices are naturally higher. So this Lord, much like Baron Morn, has run up quite some debts.”

Julian nodded. In other words, that Lord’s loyalty to the Earl was only perfunctory. With the right price, he could be sold over to York.

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