His spirit and his body connected once more, allowing him to see the mortal world and not the spiritual any longer.
When he looked around, he saw himself on the bed with one of the apothecary’s apprentices, who was assigned to Silver Leaf, cleaning his forehead with a warm towel.
“My Lord!”
The man exclaimed.
Asher hurriedly sat up. “Leave.”
He ordered the apothecary, and the man left quickly. Disobeying his lord was equal to death.
Before Asher could think properly about what happened, the door swung open, and a white-haired man with a golden spectacle that had no handle walked into the room with a thick, white fur coat in his bent right arm.
“My Lord, you’re finally awake.”
Ashe frowned.
“How did I pass out?”
“Your men said you were just patting Aquilia when you suddenly began to act strangely like you were listening to something and you fainted. It’s been three hours since then.”
“What?!”
Asher ruffled his hair.
“I was careless. I should have known that you have not healed completely.” Kelvin sighed.
With a bitter smile he lowered his head.
“I hope that you can forgive me, Your Lordship.”
Asher didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “It’s not your fault, Kelvin.”
“It is.” Kelvin shook his head.
“I went to Tailor Lois to get a coat since you were always disturbed by the cold and she had surprisingly made a special coat from the fur of the Urak Bear.”
Kelvin dangled the coat before Asher. The length was made from the leathery skin of the ovoks. The shoulders and half of the back had the white fur of the Urak bear.
The ropes were made out of ovok tendons and there was an attachment at the back for his unique sword: Euodias.
The entire coat was white. It had fur at the handle and a black belt, in case he felt like tightening it.
All in all, the coat befitted a count. It would be able to amount to 100 gold coins because it was made from the materials of gold-ranked beasts and by a Journeyman Tailor who might become a senior anytime soon.
“It would shield you from the cold,” Kelvin said.
“Where’s Euodias?”
Kelvin raised an eyebrow.
“Who?”
“My sword. Where is it?”
“It’s in the other room.”
“Bring it.”
When the sword was brought and placed on Asher’s hands, he sighed heavily. He grabbed the hilt and caressed the scabbard.
To his shock, the sword unleashed a subtle hum and suddenly stopped, like what he heard was an illusion.
Kelvin noticed it.
“What kind of weapon is that?”
“A noble one with a cruel past.” Asher’s eyes flickered. He longed to know what happened in the past. Who was that shadow, and why did he use a pet beast to create his weapons?
Lots of questions troubled him but Kelvin’s call brought him out of his sea of thoughts.
“Your Lordship.”
Asher lifted up his head and looked at him.
“We received a letter from Baron Flameheart. He said it is from the count.”
Asher closed his eyes and opened them once again.
“What did it say?”
“Count William orders the barons you have under your custody to be released. He also gives you a two-month deadline to appear before his court, denounce the imperial title and swear loyalty to him or he will sweep through your domain like a storm.”
Asher got to his feet.
“Send a reply. A count doesn’t swear loyalty to a count. I await his troops.”
Kelvin trembled inwardly. Asher didn’t even show any sign of fear, knowing fully well that Count William wasn’t just powerful but had powerful noble friends and was about to form a marriage alliance with a dukedom!
“My Lord, do we start preparing for war?”
“No. I shall first head for Nimrim and deal with those orcs. It will take a while before he assembles a troop since there will be lots of consideration. They don’t know how we conquered the baronies in one fell swoop so he will be cautious in the meantime.”
As he walked to the door, he paused.
“Also, make sure the blueprint of the trebuchets is in place before the deadline. Send my reply in the second week of the second month of his deadline.”
Kelvin bowed his head.
When Asher left, he looked at the coat in his hand, and his eyes widened.
“My Lord, wait! You forgot the coat!”
He ran after Asher.
After visiting the forge and being informed that his armor wasn’t ready because of the hardness of the dwarven ore, Asher returned to Nineveh and began to assemble troops. He assembled 200 Bladebreakers, 200 Stormbringers, and 100 King Swordsmen.
These troops had mounts, meaning mobility was their fort.
With 500 soldiers, he marched toward Nimrim. His agenda was to conquer the town, which meant he needed to deal with a century-old fairy.
Luckily, Sirius was with him.
………..
From the cliff of a mountain, Asher and his BloodBlades squatted, looking at a bustling town guarded by soldiers wearing crimson garments above their plate armor. The town was protected by thick oak wood walls, 4 meters thick and 9 meters tall.
The wall alone made this town a fortress. It wasn’t easy to breach the wall except Sirius was sent; however, Asher didn’t want Sirius to be revealed so early.
After all, the fairy was also a hidden card.
It had been an hour since they left Nineveh and his men pitched 3 kilometers away from the town.
After investigating, they descended from the mountain and moved through the bushes, heading for their mounts.
“My Lord, they have 200 temple knights and all of them are gold-ranked! Is that supposed to be possible for an unknown town?” Nero asked.
Asher and his father did not respond to him as they looked at the knights cloaked in red around their mounts.
“They found our horses.” Nero whispered in alarm.
“They’ve found us.”
Asher sighed, causing his BloodBlades to be confused as the temple knights still couldn’t see them. They could kill them and escape so why did their lord say they were already found?
“Good armor. Who forged them?”
A charming voice fell into their ears.