Inside Zebulun’s manor.
A soldier clad in armor knocked at a locked wooden door.
“My Lord!” He said it with a raised voice. His lord had partied last night with women and those who were attracted by his title and shining future.
After filling his stomach with wine, he was so deep into slumber that the sound of the horn could not startle him out of the land of dreams.
The soldier had been knocking for a while but received no response.
Another appeared in the hallway. “The manor has been invaded; break those doors!”
The soldier went back and slammed the door with all his might.
Boom!
The lock broke and he staggered into the room and found his lord sleeping with his limbs stretched out.
His mouth was slightly open as he snored. The sound of the door being broken down made him jolt and sit up.
“My Lord, the manor is taken.”
Jordan could not understand what his bodyguard said until they had lifted him and led him to the hallway.
Then, the sleep in his eyes vanished.
“What’s happening?!”
“Arghh!”
A scream fell into his ears, causing him to look back.
“We were suddenly attacked. They have breached the walls and are invading the manor.”
Jordan’s eyes widened. After a month of planning and keeping sober, he finally partied for a week, boasting about his victory, which indeed was in his grasp.
Hebron Town and Silver Castle were down; all that remained was the capital of Flameheart territory, Hebron City, which would have been conquered while he enjoyed himself in his party.
But what was this he was hearing?
Some men had breached his wall and the defence of his manor?
Where were all these coming from?
“Unhand me and speak!” He bellowed, and his bodyguards left him.
“My Lord, a powerful troop has invaded our walls and…”
Thud!
They heard something drop, and footsteps fell into their ears.
Two men appeared at the end of the hallway; one was fully clad in armor, which made him look dreadful, while the other was dressed like a lord.
He wore a white tunic, black pants, boots, and a coat.
But the weapon in his hand was more eye-catching than the tall, armored man’s broadsword.
Upon seeing Jordan, Asher knew he was the man he sought.
“Kill them! Kill them!!”
Jordan pointed at Asher and Alex and yelled at the top of his lungs.
“That’s him?”
He clicked his tongue in disappointment.
Alex, knowing what to do, ran past Asher and the three thuds echoed.
Alex sheathed his sword and turned to Asher who briskly walked past the corpses.
By the time they came out of the manor, the King Swordsmen had lined up before the manor with Nero slowly sheathing his swords into their scabbards.
“Pacify the people. Secure the walls.”
His men nodded. The King Swordsmen separated themselves, squadron by squadron.
“This place is only as big as a town, and it’s populated with farmers and stockmen.”
Alex said.
Asher looked around.
“He’s just a rich farmer who has gathered so much wealth that he decided to buy a title. Unfortunately, instead of trying to devour the Flameheart domain, he should have developed himself. At least he needed a proper defensive building.”
Asher shook his head.
“Find who keeps records for him.”
Alex replied with a nod and swiftly left.
Some moments later, a lean man named Artemas stood before Asher, trembling slightly.
“Look at me.”
Asher said as the man was so sacared that he refused to look at his eyes, but he needed him to look at his eyes before he could see the man’s panel.
At least, a man who was under Jordan Zebulun should not be ordinary.
He could only see the panels of captives and that of his citizens, and he needed to look into their eyes to gain access to their panels.
[Nam: Artemas
Age: 37
Rank: None
Talent: None
Job: Treasury Keeper
Loyalty: 8]
Asher shook his head.
“Where is your lord’s Treasury?”
Without restsisting, Artemas led them to the Treasury and told them the amount Jordan had stashed. All together, Jordan had hundreds of thousands of gold coins and several bags of farm products. His livestock were in the tens of thousands: chickens, cattle, mountain sheep, pigs, and even silkworm!
The man had lots of places to gain income from. He was a massive supplier to the county and had his influence spread far into the high plains without Claude’s knowledge.
As Claude had suspected, there were forces helping Jordan hide all these from him. So in Claude’s eyes, Jordan was just a wealthy farmer.
Asher was so stunned by the amount of wealth Jordan had that he couldn’t help but think that Jordan was definitely a genius. Mountain sheep and silkworms were useful to his tailors. It would give them materials to work with, increase their expertise, and his domain could start producing their own attire.
Since his domain was situated in a place where they were always affected by cold, the design of clothes would surely be different than the norm.
From Artemas, he found out the population of workers Jordan had were about 4000! All of them were skilled in one occupation or the other.
After waiting a week and some days, 500 infantrymen came from Nineveh and escorted the population toward the stronghold. Jordan’s manor was emptied, both of people, money, and livestock.
Some days later, Baron Scarlet and Baron Rutherford came to Jordan’s manor with their personal troops, but all they saw was ruins. The place had been razed to the ground!
Both barons stood outside their carriages, staring at the ruins with disbelief.
“What did Baron Claude write to you?” Victor Scarlet turned to Rutherford.
“That he has a dozen of my men in captivity. If I want to free them, I should pay 1 gold coin for each of them and 10,000 gold coins for my daughter.”
“Only a dozen of your men are alive?”
Baron Scarlet was shocked.
How could the great Tyre Infantry be exterminated in one night?!