Chapter 77: Interests
It had been four days.
Four days had passed since the outbreak of war.
The villagers from Plain Village, Old Mountain Village, and Fisher Village had all already gathered in White Mountain City.
And as expected, Lily had understood Ion's intention. So, on the very day the villagers from Fisher Village arrived, she immediately deployed personnel to form a two-hundred-man escort team responsible for protecting the City Lord's Manor, especially at times like these, trustworthy individuals were more important than ever.
Currently, among the entire White Mountain City, only the villagers from Fisher Village were people Lily could trust.
As for maintaining the public order in White Mountain City, Lily had also directly mobilized a large number of villagers from Plain Village.
These villagers had just been rescued by Ion, so their stance naturally leaned toward Lily for now.
But whether that would still be the case after the outbreak of war, Lily couldn’t be sure, and thus she dared not entrust them with the task of protecting the City Lord's Manor.
Whether these villagers would come into conflict with the residents of White Mountain City was already beyond Lily's control.
Right now, she could only do her best to prevent the order in White Mountain City from collapsing.
But in truth, she was well aware that White Mountain City had already fallen into a state of war-induced fear, and the collapse of order was unavoidable.
In just two days, about a third of White Mountain City's residents had fled.
If Lily hadn’t reacted quickly enough to seal the city gates and execute a group of people who attempted to storm the gate, the entire White Mountain City would already be in complete chaos.
But even so, she truly didn’t have enough manpower to maintain stability across the whole city: even if she could swiftly select a large number of villagers to serve as escorts, she still lacked sufficient weapons to arm them, not to mention these villagers were not strong enough to suppress the underground criminals within the city.
This was the sorrow of a family with a shallow foundation.
Striding quickly down the corridor of the residence, Lily said rapidly to Sherry at her side, "Sister Sherry, I've already arranged an escort team for you. You must leave tonight and head to Red River City as soon as possible to reunite with your father."
"What about you?" Sherry was momentarily stunned, then quickly asked, "Will you leave with me?"
"I won't." Lily shook her head. "I can't leave. If I leave now, not only will White Mountain City completely collapse, but the reputation of the Bole Family will also be utterly destroyed. So I can't leave."
Lily knew very well.
For a Bloodline Noble with a fief, the most important thing was the population of the territory.
If all the people of a territory fled, then even if a Bloodline Noble held a fief, it would merely be an empty plot of land, hardly worthy of being called a 'noble'.
Many nobles, for the sake of developing their territories, often bought large numbers of slaves to fill the population.
But more cost-effective than buying slaves was launching raids on other people's territories, after all, such actions didn’t cost a penny and could bring in large populations.
Four days had passed, and the villagers from Andar Village and Mountain Ridge Village had not come to gather in White Mountain City.
Lily already knew that Ken Andar’s knightly family, which had sworn fealty to the Bole Family for three generations, had become a thing of the past. It was highly likely that his father and Yam’s father had met tragic ends as well.
So, at times like this, she couldn’t leave White Mountain City even more.
After all, if even she fled, then White Mountain Territory would become a truly empty land, no one would believe that the Bole Family could protect its people.
So even if the Bole Family had the chance to reclaim White Mountain Territory in the future, no commoners would be willing to return with them.
But if she didn’t leave White Mountain City,
Then the banner of the Bole Family would still stand here.
That was hope.
Even if the final price of that hope would be her own death.
"Sister Sherry, your task is extremely important." Lily grabbed Sherry’s hands and said solemnly, "You must reunite with your father and inform Monica Kasein of the current situation in White Mountain Territory. She should be the current city lord of Red River City, and her stance will represent the Kasein Family’s forthcoming support for our White Mountain Territory. You must let them know our situation as soon as possible."
"I... I understand." Sherry was somewhat flustered, but still forced herself to calm down and nodded with realization.
Lily held Sherry’s hands tightly, her gaze filled with pleading. "Please, Sister Sherry."
"I will!" Sherry nodded, her expression earnest.
Watching Sherry quickly taken away by several guards to make preparations, Lily’s gaze appeared extremely complicated.
Although she felt a bit guilty for exploiting Sherry’s naive mindset, Lily had no choice, she truly had no one else left to use.
Her mind spun rapidly, thinking about the next urgent matters she had to handle.
Knight Commander Ken Andar was likely dead, and the villagers of Andar Village had probably been entirely plundered and taken away.
Her husband Yam and her brother Giggs were both still unaccounted for. She had no idea from which direction they might return to White Mountain Territory, so she needed to assign a few more people to wait near the border of Gem Territory to prevent them from being ambushed by the enemy.
Then, she still needed to assign people to scout the fallen regions and confirm whether her father and Yam’s father were still alive.
One task after another...
Lily finally felt a tremendous sense of suffocation.
However.
She lowered her head and looked at her ever-growing belly, gently placed her hand over it, and in the next moment, her gaze turned resolute.
...
Yam and Akar were riding on horseback, swaying slightly.
Yam still maintained a straight posture, but Akar had already slouched, as if afflicted by soft-bone disease.
Looking at Atork, who was chatting happily with Giggs up ahead, Akar curled his lips. "Brother, I keep feeling like that guy from Bayor Territory has ulterior motives."
"But White Mountain Territory needs reinforcements right now." Yam sighed softly. "Given the situation in White Mountain Territory, it would already be difficult to resist a single lord from Fertile Territory, let alone three... And this is without a doubt, once war breaks out, we will surely face an attack from all three lords of Fertile Territory."
"Is Marquis Visen really going to just stand by and do nothing?" Akar asked.
"I don’t know." Yam hesitated for a moment, then still shook his head. "I’ve already handed over the letter that Lord Ster asked me to deliver to the Marquis. What happens next is hard to say. But if war really does break out, the Marquis will surely inform us, right?"
Akar thought about it but couldn’t think of anything unreasonable, so he nodded. "Even if the Marquis doesn’t inform us, Father will. So since we haven’t received any news yet, maybe the war hasn’t broken out at all."
As the brothers conversed, Giggs also rode over.
"Yam, Akar, Lord Atork wants to invite us to Bayor Territory. He said he could introduce us to his father. What do you two think?"
Upon hearing Giggs’ words, Yam and Akar were both stunned. The two exchanged glances, unsure how to respond.
In a certain sense, meeting Viscount Bayor would certainly be a good thing. After all, if they could gain the support of that lord and he was willing to send troops to reinforce White Mountain Territory, it might be possible to prevent the outbreak of war more effectively.
Even if they could bring back reinforcements, they might become a surprise force if war broke out upon their return.
However.
They had already been away from White Mountain Territory for quite some time and had no knowledge of the current situation.
Logically, it would be more appropriate to return first. Furthermore, if they could discuss this connection to Bayor Territory with Baron Ster, Lily, and their father, perhaps Baron Ster could leverage this relationship to gain even greater benefits.
"If we refuse now, would it seem rude?" Yam asked.
Akar just listened on the side.
With his brother and father present, he usually didn’t like to speak or think much. Most of the time, he leaned more toward eliminating the person posing the question rather than thinking about how to solve the issue.
"If the excuse is appropriate, then no." Giggs shook his head.
"But right now, we don’t even need an excuse. We’ve been away from our fief for a long time and truly need to return to understand the latest situation. I'll decline the invitation."
"Alright." Yam nodded.
The two watched as Giggs spoke with Atork for a few moments. Soon, a look of regret appeared on Atork’s face, but he didn’t say much more. After exchanging farewells with Giggs, Yam, and Akar, he left with his people.
At this point, both parties had actually entered the territory of Red River Territory.
Heading west would lead to Bayor Territory, while heading north would bring them to Red River City.
Of course, Atork could have continued north with Yam and the others to Red River City and then turned back toward Bayor Territory, but that would have added about two days to his journey.
"Looks like you misunderstood him." Yam, after exchanging farewells with Atork, turned to Akar. "He didn’t press further, so clearly he didn’t have ill intent."
Akar grunted a few times but didn’t speak.
The two parties thus parted ways.
As they grew farther apart, Atork finally looked toward the family knight beside him and spoke. "If you have something to say, then speak."
"I don’t quite understand, Young Master. Why did we separate here? If we continued traveling together, we could have bought two more days."
"Being too deliberate will only arouse suspicion." Atork shook his head. "As long as everything is done just right, it won’t raise doubts. If we kept traveling with them, it would look too intentional. Giggs might not think much of it, but Yam and Akar would definitely suspect we were playing some role in this matter."
"Grandfather said, when arranging a move, we must learn the methods of Marquis Visen. It’s true he and Count Shuvaric are enemies, but their other identity is that of high nobles. As long as Marquis Visen does not want to formally go to war with Count Shuvaric, they must follow the rules of high nobility."
"It’s just an exchange of interests."
The knight beside Atork looked puzzled. "Exchange of interests?"
But Atork didn’t speak again.
He knew that from the moment they parted ways, his mission was complete.
'Too bad it only bought two more days.'
'The Kasein Family has already gained plenty from this; they probably won’t take any further action.'
"What a pity." Atork sighed. "The Bole Family still has a legitimate heir."
...
A day and a half later, Giggs, Yam, and Akar finally arrived at Red River City.
The three had originally planned to rest for a day there, but instead they were met by Monica, who rushed over in haste.
Then, they heard the news they least wanted to hear.
"Why didn’t you pass through Gem Territory!?"
"The three lords of Fertile Territory officially invaded White Mountain Territory eight days ago."
"The Knight Commander of the Bole Family has already fallen in battle."
"Baron Ster and Knight Ion Soderbell are currently missing!"