recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Princess Sylvia Fisablen

2 Star Gold Rank

## Story

When Princess Sylvia received word of Hollycost’s death, at Windbury, she requested Duke Fisablen postpone the tournament by a couple of months so she could return to Eastwild to tend to the matters resulting from poor Hollycost's death. After all, he was technically the rightful heir to the kingdom’s throne. However, Duke Fisablen refused. He thought the prince, who had just died wasn't of much use to him in the first place, and the knighthood tournament concerned the reputation and future of the house, especially because it involved Sylvia's marriage. It had to go on no matter what. As for the dead Hollycost, he would deal with it as he would with deceased household knights.

Sylvia was angered and disappointed at Duke Fisablen's cold and heartless decision. After a huge argument, she looked for her aunt, the queen, to report the death of her son. She didn’t expect the queen to be even more heartless than her father. “I never cared about him when he was alive, why should I now that he’s dead?” was all she was on the matter. Fuming with rage, Sylvia threw a huge tantrum before she brought Blademaster Xanthi and her guard with her back to Eastwild to bury Hollycost. However, she realized that she wouldn't be able to give Hollycost a burial fitting a prince no matter how hard she tried, because even in the entire kingdom, Hollycost's name itself was somewhat of a taboo. Since the queen herself didn't want anything to do with the dead prince, the nobles treated him like he didn't exist. In fact, the queen and the nobles were relieved that they didn't have to bother with the prince’s burial.

So, Sylvia could only carry out the matter herself. While she did receive Duke Fisablen's incessant letters demanding her return to show her face at the tournament, the letters only made her angry and caused her to ignore the messengers completely. But when the final messenger came over with a letter that stated the princess would be dragged to the capital by the duke personally, she made the decision to run away. She headed for Firmrock Castle. She did so because she felt the Norton dominion was the only place her grandfather couldn’t drag her out of.

## Relationships

* Norton Lorist: She had fun at Silowas for about half a month with Lorist. During that time, Sylvia was just like a lovestruck maiden falling in love for the first time. She grew closer and more reliant on Lorist.
* Krissen Hollycost: The young prince was abandoned by the queen after his birth and was put under Duke Fisablen’s charge, who treasured the child like his very own kin. However, when he found that the young prince had a birth defect, he no longer cared as much and didn't consider him a trump card anymore. In fact, it was Sylvia who had dragged the child along with her and raised him like her own little brother.
Melein Duchy

On the 30th day of the 6th month, the four central duchies united and launched a military campaign against the Melein duchy. The duchies’ army attacked Messen Castle on the 23rd day of the 6th month. Duke Melein also died on Mount Leiffdema surrounded by enemies. Melein had been completely wiped out.
Grandmaster Jilian

After Lorist was entitled Duke of the Northlands, the house entitled twelve barons including Grandmaster Jilian.

He was entitled because of his technical contributions. Due to the nature of his discoveries concerning materials, which were not as eye-catching as those of grandmasters Fellin and Sid, there was much argument about what reward Julian deserved.
The Guard Squad

The Guard Squad

100-odd fully-equipped men, under Ovidis’s command.

## Story

38 of those men were Ovidis’s own subordinates. When they went to the stronghold to plunder the goods, Shadekampf also managed to get thirty other people to join them. After they returned, Patt suggested that they form a guard squad with the people that had joined them so that Lorist will look far more impressive upon his return to his homeland escorted by one. That’s why Patt picked another 30 men from the bandit captives to fill up the numbers required for a full squad and appointed Ovidis to be the captain of these men.

They had been forced into banditry to survive the harsh days after the war and didn’t do much evil across the years. They were more than happy to cast away their status as bandits to be in Lorist’s service, especially after he showed them his true abilities on the battlefield. Ovidis guaranteed that they would definitely be loyal to Lorist at all times.

The casualties the Guard Squad suffered from the battle against the the Feathersoar Mercenary Crew, numbered 14 men. Including Pete, Mark, Ankor, and Wessen, comrades who had deserted the army and joined the bandits together with Ovidis.

Ovidis's guard company was stationed at Firmrock Castle as usual and Pajik's guard company was to defend Maplewoods Bastide and reinforce the two army bases of the Pentasword Mercenary Crew should they need any help.

## Personnel

* Ovidis
* Pete
* Mark
* Ankor
* Wessen

## Abilities

The equipment was issued on the orders of Shadekampf, mail underneath a layer of scale armor. Given that the men have all awakened their Battle Force, two sets of armor wasn’t too much of a burden. Patt also said that the better armored they were, the less likely they were to die, thus being able to better protect Lorist.

Most of the guard squad members used to be common bandits who have never received any formal military training or drills and know nothing about strategic formations other than rushing straight at the enemy like how most bandits fight. If they were up against weaklings, then there wouldn’t be a problem. But if their enemy was an experienced mercenary crew which has weathered many battles, it is almost guaranteed for the guard squad to be at a severe disadvantage given their lack of understanding of military tactics.
Norton Family Progenitor

Originally a hunter, he joined the army of the
founding emperor, Krissen I, as a scout after hearing a call to arms
echoed by a group of traveling bards. He has since experienced
hundreds of battles and accomplished many deeds, winning the trust
and favor of the emperor and granted knighthood, despite being of
peasant birth.

Following the campaign that had stabilized the
foundations of the empire, Krissen I asked his loyal vassal what he
wanted. The Norton family founder said that he wished to return to
his homeland and live out the rest of his life there. Looking at the
old knight whose hair had already turned white, Krissen I let out a
long sigh and took out a map. Seeing that the northern highlands were
mostly desolate mountains, he drew out a large area and granted the
territory to the knight, who was subsequently styled baron, and
granted him the highly-ranked Blazing Battle Force manual, hoping
that the baron’s descendants will continue to safeguard the
northern borders.

In present day, seven generations had elapsed
since the first ancestor of the Norton family.
Hausky's Mercenary Squad

## Story

The price at which he paid Hausky's Silver ranked squad members in the past was 1 imperial gold coin per month while Iron and Bronze ranked members got 50 imperial silver coins each month. The total would only amount to a little more than 100 gold Fordes per year.

The disbandment of Hausky's mercenary squad. 20 or so of them were willing to join the forces of the Norton Family while 30 plus others and some injured mercenaries were not willing to leave their life of freedom and joined the four mercenary crews.
Yuwen Ridest

Yuwen Ridest

Yuwen Ridest, nicknamed Yuriy, was a man from a line of shepherds from the grasslands. One of Lorist's close friends since the days of the academy, he joined Lorist's northbound convoy and eventually ended up being the commander of the light cavalry scouts.

## Background

Yuriy was a student of the Dawn Academy and was also an assistant instructor for their horsemanship course with a Battle Force rank of Two Star Iron. Like Lorist, he worked and studied part time and frequently joined up with other mercenaries to accept low-ranked missions for some extra money.

## Abilities

When he first joined Lorist's cause and became his knights, he was only at the three-star silver rank. Even though Yuriy didn't have much talent in training, through his hard work and military experience over the past seven years, he finally managed to take the next step and become a gold-ranked knight.
Ruhr

Mort and Ruhr, messengers of the northbound convoy who had traveled far and hard. Of all the people in the group that had set off to find him, only those two had made it, the rest died along the way.

Ruhr and Mort were willing to tag along with Lorist to meet up with the convey. He appointed them to be the captains of the guards to manage the security of the supply carriages.

Ruhr had been killed during the night attack he launched on Bread Hills by a ballista bolt.
Baron Farad

## Background

He was very good at horse-breeding. Originally, he was the breeder of the Second Prince and he even saved his life once during their second attack against the Melein Duchy. After that, he was made a baron and sent to the Northlands. He was rather stubborn and the moment he arrived, he attacked the nearby Baron Slaydor and even killed all his family members before taking over the dominion.
House Norton Dominion

The western area of the Northlands was made into grazing plains for the livestock of the house, roughly 900 thousand cows and lambs were being raised there, provided by the Fisablens over several years, to fulfill their agreement with the Nortons to trade livestock for military equipment. The other three houses allied to them did not really mind that they were using the area to raise livestock since they would also benefit from purchasing some for themselves at a lower price.

## Law

Lorist decided to sweep the dominion clean of the syndicates that had just started taking hold. It proved a rather simple job since most of the members were also waiting out the winter in their homes. As he dug out the syndicates' roots, he found that over 20 household knights were involved. He needed more proof to implicate them before he could take any further action, so they were marked for further investigation. Three silver-ranked knights ended up being expelled from the house and stripped their knighthood. When Kriston, the head of law enforcement, made his report, he pointed out that those who joined the syndicates were mostly fighters that slacked off often on their duties or had too much time. Many were from knightly, or military families, or even from the families of household officials. Some retired warriors were also among their ranks. While they frequently caused small-scale trouble, they were careful to avoid causing huge commotions. Gradually, they had grown into a force that posed a threat to the civilians and had gained monopolies over sections of the economy. Kriston believed the best method to deal with them was to come up with strict operating protocols and increase the training and authority of the police units. Lorist left most of the work to Kriston and had him bring the protocols and regulations to Telesti. With so many scholars over there, they would be able to draft effective regulations for the house based on the ones of the old empire. Nearly. two thousand criminals that were sent to the Hanayabartan archipelago, the rest of the dominion was bathed in prosperity.
Viscount Eidis

## Background

Both his father and grandfather were well-known gold-ranked knights; however, he was only a two-star silver rank without any hope of breaking through to the gold rank. His father's fame was especially prevalent in Winston, but he had perished in the empire's last invasion of the Union. It was a matter from 30 years ago and the viscount had been only 16 when he became the house's head.

## Story

The last time Houses Shazin and Felim led their soldiers to storm the city, the viscount knew what was good for him and donated a great sum of money and food to them. Given his rather good reputation, they spared him and his dominion. He had developed quite well during the next two years, a rare breed of good noble in Winston. He didn't have a good relationship with the queen, so he's allied with a bunch of nobles and gained quite a bit of influence.

Viscount Eidis would have thrived had they been in a time of peace and stability given his keen eye for business and benevolent attitude towards his subjects. Unfortunately, this was not a time of peace and not an era of stability. His prosperity served only to attract hungry wolves like moths to the fire, only these moths could bite against the fire and the wolves could do more than howl at the moon.

## Relationships

### Family

Eidis had a wife, two sons and seven-year-old daughter. His two sons were 24 and 21 respectively. The elder was a three-star-silver-ranked knight and the younger a one-star silver rank. All the viscount's hope of the house having another gold-ranked knight layed firmly in his two sons.
Crimsonblood Battle Force

(Ch. 88)

The main difference between blood attribute techniques and that of other attributes was that no matter what attribute one’s original awakened Battle Force was, upon training in a blood attribute technique, one’s Battle Force attribute would irreversibly change into the blood type as well. That was also why Lorist didn’t bother to buy a blood attribute Battle Force technique in Morante City during his days of research, as apart from the one one sale at the mercenary guild, there wasn’t any other place where he could find a blood attribute technique.

Flipping the manual open, he saw the first two chapters that detailed the basic hexagonal blood circulation map that he was familiar with. After that was the chapter for the Silver ranked stage of the technique. Reading the main points and memorizing the differences between nodes of the Iron rank circulation path and that of the Silver rank, Lorist circulated his Battle Force and moved it according to the Silver ranked path…

He then drew his sword and a blade glow emanated from it after he injected the sword with his Battle Force. Giving a bitter laugh, he thought, I’ve finally broke through the Silver rank. However, my blade glow won’t be able to hold for long as my Battle Force still dissipates into my meridians and dantian region. Without the Battle Force circulating in my bloodstream, I won’t be able to sustain the blade glow for long. Oh well, I guess I’ll still pass myself off as an Iron rank to catch people off guard with my Dark Stage power.
Redriver Settlement

Shadekampf, was left with the management rights to the development of Redriver.

Lorist instructed Shadekampf to plan for eight new farm towns and eight manors to be built in the red-river valley. It was the land that had originally belonged to the Kenmays. He named the place Redriver. His proclamation caused many to wonder how House Kenmays would react to the, now official, occupation of their original dominion. However, House Kenmays was preoccupied with their dominion in the eastern Northlands. Practically speaking, they've abandoned the red-river valley for several years. They would not develop land so close to the Norton’s dominion. In fact, this move made them feel more at ease. It reassured them that they had truly buried the hatchet.
Dina Fennazali

Dina Arriotoli's sister, **Dina Fennazali**.

Fennazali resembles Arriotoli's quite a lot, quite the beauty.

She seemed gentler than most girls of her age, yet carried with her an elegant air.

Fennazali looked at Lorist with a gaze that had a hint of shyness, which was natural for a girl whom he only met for the first time.
Brennan Charlando

**Brennan Charlando / Old Char**

The
boss of the Red Grace Inn, A
thin and tall old man with glum face

Battle Force: One Star Gold Swordsman

## Appearance

While Charlando is a 60 year old man, he was a pretty good man who was still in decent physical shape given his abilities as a Gold ranked swordsman.

## Story

He proposed to Louise, and she agreed, becoming the female owner of the Red Grace Inn.

## Relationships

* Norton Lorist: Lorist had only met Charlando twice, with their first meeting even ending up in them fighting. However, Charlando found him to be a person of good character, given how he foolishly protected that thieving woman that one time due to his sense of justice. He also didn’t resist the pummeling of the crowd of common folk the other time and would rather endure their blows than risk accidentally injuring them. People like that were rare and even asked Els to learn from his behavior.
* Brennan Louise: Charlando had married Louise ten years earlier. Back then, he was still in rather good shape and managed to get Louise pregnant twice. He now had one ten-year-old and another seven-year-old. Perhaps because they were raised in an inn, the two children loved to drink and would do so the moment they were not supervised. Louise blamed it all on Charlando who had let them taste alcohol back when they were still feeding on nothing but milk. Charlando grew fearful of his wife. The moment Louise's anger flared, Charlando would shrink up like a turkey about to be slaughtered. He completely lost the proud air of a gold-ranked swordsman.
Viscount Mestre

## Personality

Stuck up and arrogant, the viscount was a complete imbecile. The viscount thought that he could boss anyone around just because he was a noble without even bothering to consider the actual capability of his forces.

## Story

Viscount Mestre was in the midst of a war with a neighboring baron. The viscount and his men had intended to raid a small village, but they returned empty handed. As they were on their way back to the castle, however, they saw the northbound convoy and the viscount tried to make up for his loss by demanding for a toll fee to be paid. The viscount, led more than 20 knights to the convoy and said that they would attack the convoy should they not leave ten percent of whatever they had as toll. He also mentioned that his castle and the rest of his forces was only 30 kilometers away at a lake nearby.

Terman led the knight brigade on a charge, the viscount’s men either turned back to escape or got off their horses to surrender, leaving the viscount himself staring in disbelief as Terman and his knights took all 27 of the viscount’s men prisoner.

The viscount was instantly strapped onto the hollow rotor on the orders of Charade. Reidy had him go through more than ten minutes of the excruciating vertigo-inducing experience, after which the viscount was let go. He then answered every single question Lorist’s group had with tears and snot all over his face.

“Milord, did you forget? Two days ago,

The convoy threatened that if the Viscount's men did not surrender and let them in the castle, they would have the viscount hanged. They had no choice but to comply for the sake of his life and surrendered without resistance. They used the fact that they were the army of the Norton Family and complained that the viscount delayed their journey and also caused them to suffer a blow to their morale. They demanded that they pay them back for their losses. But, the viscount's family didn’t have many gold coins left. They then consumed all the livestock within the castle and took every single thing within it, not leaving even a single piece of cloth behind and also dismantled all the doors and took it with them. They gathered everyone in the castle and Charade asked all of them whether they wanted to leave with their group. The viscount's butler refused and they instantly stripped him naked and left him there while the others followed them.  They only left the butler with two sacks after he desperately pleaded. He had only managed to find a porcelain bowl after two days of searching.

The viscount awoke two days later, the find everything and everyone gone, except for his butler, who explained what happened.

The Bocchi Family’s men came to attack them, however, Charade took away the castle gates as well. During the past two days, the butler only managed to build a wall of rocks to shut the entrance of the castle.
Grindia Military Units

On Grindia, there was a particular way in which the military was organized. The one at the top of the hierarchy were legions, which consisted of divisions of several types of troops, such as heavy-armored divisions, pike infantry divisions, etc. And each division could in turn be further subdivided into regiments, companies and squads, in decreasing order of size. Commonly, a squad numbered around 80 to 120 troops. 4 to 5 squads formed a company, and 4 to 5 companies constituted a regiment, with a division containing at least 4 to 5 regiments in total. For example, in the Whitelion Legion, one of the three main armies of the former empire which Potterfang used to serve in, the total amount of soldiers numbered up to 80000.
Dunbarsen Family

## Background

When the Norton Family first started recruiting for the garrison force, the first generation family leader of the Dunbarsens, an apprentice herbalist, was one of the first people who joined. When the standard of living of his family started to get better, he sent his son to his former herbalist teacher to learn the craft. Ten years later, his son returned as a rank 1 herbalist to the town and followed in his father’s footsteps to join the garrison. After that, it had become a family tradition for the descendants of the Dunbarsen Family to become herbalists or apprentice herbalists.

The Norton Family has tried several times to recruit the people from the Dunbarsen Family, but all of those attempts have been refused. The Nortons couldn’t force them either because they were the only herbalist family in the whole of the dominion. However, we made an agreement so that they would help treat our injured family soldiers. The relationship between the Dunbarsens and the Nortons have been like that for the past 200 years or so.
Pentasword Mercenary Crew

The disbandment of Hausky's mercenary squad, caused the intersection point at the Magical Dragon Mountains to be unguarded. If the Norton Family sent a squad of soldiers to defend it, that would affect Lorist's future plans. After giving it some thought, Lorist decided to pick one from the four mercenary crews and contract them for the defense of that area.

The Pentasword Mercenary Crew accepted Lorist's offer without a second thought but they also brought out a condition of their own. The leaders hoped that the family members of the crew members would be allowed to move into the Norton Family dominion and become subjects of the Nortons, which caused Lorist to be quite surprised.

The leaders of the crew said that there was no other choice. They mentioned that the crew was originally formed from members from a few different villages with the aim of earning enough to pay off their oppressive dominion lord that demanded huge amounts of tax. Recently, the taxation got even worse and the citizens of the villages could no longer hold out. While the mercenary crew could defend the citizens from military oppression, taxation was not something they could avoid. To add to that, their villages were near Windbury City and they frequently got harassed by the soldiers of the kingdom.

After participating in the operation with Lorist, the five leaders of the crew made up their minds as they found the way the Norton Family treated their own subjects to be exceedingly benevolent. After seeing the abandoned farmlands of Wildnorth Town, they felt that it was a good opportunity for them to move over.

Lorist was elated at the proposition as the dominion lacked people the most. He expressed his welcome to not only the family members of the crew but also the rest of the citizens of the villages to move into his dominion with the promise that they would be granted farmland as long as they move over and that he would only tax them 30% of their harvests as well as 10% of other miscellaneous economic activities such as fishing, hunting, firewood gathering, etc. If any household had members serving in the Norton Family's military, they would also receive many tax exemptions.

One of the leaders, Doboff, was extremely excited to hear that as his village had to pay a tax of 70% of their harvest and 50% in other categories as well, causing his family and friends to be unable to live comfortable lives and being unable to sustain themselves for the long run. Lorist threw in another offer and said that all the mercenary crew members would receive the same benefits that the family soldiers did in that there would be a regular pension should any member of the crew perish from facing off against the mountain barbarians.

With that settled, it was time to consider how to free the villages from the grasps of their dominion lord. Doboff said he was quite confident that he could pull that off and Lorist gave him two months' time and 50 gold Fordes as a deposit, causing Doboff to rush to begin his plan excitedly.
Herbalist Unit

Lundmorde found a beginner rank herbalist as well as two herbalist apprentices from the slave camp. Unfortunately, those three were the only ones who had remotely any knowledge in the field. He had already recruited them into the unit. However, there seemed to be a man and his daughter in Sloph’s bastide who were respectively mid-ranked and beginner rank herbalists who were employed by Sloph and were in detention.

As for the medic squad of the northbound convoy, Lorist disbanded it and tasked Lundmorde to set up medical centers within the various towns and distribute the medics around to manage the centers and tend to the sick and injured.

Lundmorde himself was given two choices. Either he takes up his post as the manager of the medical center at Firmrock Castle or he becomes a medical instructor for the female unit. Lundmorde happily chose the latter went to report to Pesha for his new post.
Silowas Island

Silowas Island is actually the central hub of its region of the sea and controlling this island is akin to controlling the thousands of kilometers of shores nearby. From an offensive standpoint, one could attack the Andinaq Kingdom as well as the Redlis Kingdom's coastal provinces. From a defensive standpoint, one would only have to retreat back to Silowas Island and there's nothing the enemy can do about them. Naturally, one would first require a strong fleet.

Just like the offensive standpoint, one House Norton could ship the salt they produce to the coastal provinces and trade it with money or other required resources. Even if they didn't have enough farmland on this island, they could still trade for huge amounts of food for their use. Controlling Silowas Island would be akin to controlling everything from Hidegold Bay to the northern seas. It was no joke to say that whoever controlled Silowas Island was the ruler of the northern seas.

The house needed to form a strong fleet first. If they could have full dominion over the waters from this island to the Northlands, they could use Silowas Island as a starting point for their merchant vessels to travel to any other coastal city on the continent of Grindia. As long as trading continues, money would continue to flow to them and their family's might would also increase. That's why Lorist felt that the Second Highness made an idiotic decision to give up on this island. All he had in his mind were outdated ideas.

The folk of Whitebird Town believe that they will not need another local defense brigade because they already have a town garrison of 500 men. They think that the garrison alone is sufficient for the defense of the town. The House's original plan was to build the citadel for the local defense brigade between Whitebird Town, the commerce area, and the port.

During the civil war of the empire, Silowas managed to avoid any such catastrophe as it was situated quite far away from shore. So, many thought that it would be safe from the chaotic times and brought their families to the island, hoping that they would be able to spend the coming years in peace. Little did they know that while they did manage to evade the miserable civil war, they couldn't escape the claws of the slave traders that came from the sea.

Upon returning to Silowas Island, Lorist found a plot of land there to build a graveyard for the soldiers who had bravely sacrificed themselves, and arranged for a burial ceremony to be carried out.

The corpse count at the plaza was above 4000. Among them, Josk found the corpses of Mayor Hugo and Old Mike, the accountant.

The development plan of Silowas would proceed as previously planned, with the main workforce being the tens of thousands of liberated slaves brought over from Hanayabarta. Coupled with the aid of Potterfang's Firmrock Legion that would be stationed at Silowas, the development should be complete within the next two years. The main supervisor of the house's census department, Hansk, was appointed to be the new governor of Silowas.
Viscount Darwof

The messengers sent from the convoy were accused of being bandits and most of them were killed by the garrison soldiers of the viscount with only five of the messengers managing to escape.

Viscount Darwof sent his men to the Baron Silas’s dominion to demand him to share half of the transport fee for the ferries to him and threatened that he would seal off the banks from the other side if he didn't. However, the viscount only occupied half the area of the opposite bank and the baron could easily move his port to another spot. Naturally, he refused his demand and changed where his ferries docked. It would only take the passengers a little more time to reach the main road. After noticing the baron ignored his demands, the viscount commissioned for someone to build him two new boats to set up a new ferry port to compete with the baron’s business. However, when the ships were complete, he realized that more than 50 kilometers along the western bank of the river was within the baron’s dominion and he had no place to dock his ferries. In the end, he sent someone to negotiate for him to have a share in the profits of the dock in exchange for investing the two ferries with him. Even so, the baron didn't give him the slightest damn and in the end, he had no choice but to gift the ferries to him so that he would move the port back to the original location. That way, he can also profit a little from collecting a toll at his newly-formed customs point.

Hearing his plight, he decided to accept his ferries and move his port back to the old spot. However, many merchant convoys came to complain to him that the viscount was getting more overboard with the toll. The baron had long worried about something like that happening as it would deter merchants from using my ferry service. Just as I was about to send someone to warn them, Lorist came over and taught them a lesson.

When Lorist crossed the river to seek out the convoy, he hung the garrison soldiers that were collecting toll at the customs point.

Viscount Darwof brought the men of his town to join up with Duke Loggins's forces to attack the Norton Family.
Victor

The limping garrison captain, Victor.

Confirmed dead were Victor, the captain of the Whitebird Town garrison and tax collection officer, Hart, who had been killed while defending the townsfolk during the evacuation.

## Relationships

* Patt: Victor, the limping captain of Whitebird Town’s garrison, was also one of those who had been vying for Martha's affection. However, compared to the young, handsome, wholesome, and strong Patt, who also had two functioning legs, as opposed to Victor’s limp, Martha's choice was obvious. Patt was the leader of the third local defense brigade and Victor was the captain of the local garrison, with both vying for Martha’s favor, their units naturally experienced some friction between them as well. Patt, however, wore a face full of smiles the whole time. He radiated the aura of superiority belonging only to a victor.
Lamboway

Lamboway, a knight of the Felim Family.

## Appearance

He was first seen wearing a black bullhorn helmet and a black chain mail. On his chest was a silver insignia of a pegasus which was spreading its wings in flight. The knight was mounted on a chestnut green Northlander Horse and his hand held a riding lance.

## Background

Knight Lamboway, has obtained victory for three consecutive Weiss Cup tournaments and was given the moniker of the Lion Cub Knight by Duke Pupadra himself. He has also attended the Minasevic Battle and more than ten famous knights have fallen to defeat before the mighty hooves his mount.

## Story

He challenged the Norton Family, to a duel. Ending in his defeat at he hands of Ovidis.

## Abilities

He is a Two Star Silver ranked knight.

In terms of technique, Knight Lamboway was far more practiced than Ovidis and his years of arduous training showed during the battle. However, Ovidis had more real world fighting experience on the battlefield and he attacked in a more savage way. Sometimes, he would even be willing to take Lamboway's strikes just so he could land a square hit onto him. That self-harming way of fighting quickly put Lamboway at a disadvantage as he had to withdraw his hands and feet as he parried Ovidis's strikes. Lamboway was eventually forced into a defensive position.
Boris

The head supervisor of the construction work, at Firmrock Castle. The former, head butler of Viscount Kenmays.

## Personality

Boris is quite a coward.

Lorist's opinion of that old butler was a good one in that he was a capable person that handled most of what he was instructed without trouble and was a talent in human resource management and administration. The only flaw he had was that he was extremely fearful for his own life. If the opposite was the case, there was no way that he would surrender to Lorist's forces so easily and work so earnestly for him in the first place.

## Background

He worked for the Kenmays Family for 40 plus years

He had been tasked to serve as the main supervisor of this construction site by the viscount.
Zitram Duchy

The province of Hanstmost, one of the former provinces of the Andinaq kingdom, had been fused with the northwestern area of the now defunct Redlis kingdom to form the Zitram duchy. The ruling duke was a former Redlis count from Anderwoff. After the flood in Majik consumed 70 thousand of the second highness' troops, and resulted in the death of Gold-ranked Knight Baroin, one of the second highness's five tigers, it could be said that the Zitram duchy was one of the second highness's sworn enemies. Obviously, both the Zitram duchy and the Allied Duchies of Britt were buffer areas for the Union so any retaliation by the second highness wouldn't reach their territory directly. The Union seemed to be rather wary of all possible scenarios and had already predicted the possibility of the second highness coming back.

On the 8th day of the 9th month of that year, Firmrock launched an attack on the Zitram duchy. Duke Zitram had his forces retreat out of Hanstmost. He stood his ground in the northwestern area of the old Redlis kingdom. On the 32nd day of the 9th month, Tigersoar and Firmrock handed Hanstmost and the two southeastern provinces over to Whitelion Legion and the Andinaq kingdom's newly formed royal defense legion before beginning their journey back to The Northlands.
Hansk

Hansk, the finance supervisor of the Norton Family. He is in charge of the accounts and budget planning of the family’s spending. The main supervisor of the house's census department, Hansk, was appointed to be the new governor of Silowas.

## Appearance

A middle-aged man with a receding hairline.

## Story

He was sent to help Telesti with the construction project at Firmrock Castle.

After Lorist was entitled Duke of the Northlands, the house entitled twelve barons included supervisors Hansk, Spiel, and Kedan as well. They were the three household supervisors from Maplewoods. They were finally rewarded for their years of service, service that stretched back to even before Lorist inherited his position as head of the household, and their contribution over those years.

## Abilities

Hansk, is well-versed with inventory and supply management.
Chikdor Serihanem

## Personality

He was rather satisfied that he was appointed the successor of the merchant guild by his father after his competition with his third brother. Normally, he was a serious, straight-laced person who maintained a calm and peaceful personality. However, he felt it was appropriate to display his brotherly love and compassion occasionally.

## Abilities

In terms martial talent, Serihanem couldn't compare with his brother, Saibyoeff, not by a long shot. The latter was already a one-star gold rank. Likewise, Serihanem wasn't as capable as Moribak in terms of calculation and planning. Compared to his two brothers, Serihanem appeared rather common. He had been nurtured within the guild from a young age, he could only claim to be a run-of-the-mill merchant who bought low and sold high. But in terms of grasping business opportunities he was better than his two brothers, and that aspect of his was what the merchant guild treasured most. Nothing was more important for the advancement of the guild than profits, and that sole characteristic of Serihanem was all he needed to be appointed successor.
Xith Castle

The dangerous terrain aside, the narrow pathway into Sidgler prevented any army from displaying their true potential. Small waves of a hundred-people going against the castle was nothing but suicide.

When Lorist led his convoy through the duchy, he had them disguised as merchants and successfully conquered Xith Castle. He left it in the care of the second highness's troops. But right after the duke mobilized Seamountain Legion from Sidgler, the second highness left after a few days because it was only good for defending against outside threats rather than inside ones. While Xith Castle was hard to take from the outside of the valley, the opposite was true from the inside. The reason was that the duke was afraid he would be trapped in the valley if anybody managed to conquer the castle and hold there.

The duke renovated the castle heavily over the past few years and made a simple citadel into a triple-walled contraption. The company he had originally stationed in the castle was also increased to a full regiment. Even if one managed to conquer the first wall, the troops defending the castle would still be able to put up resistance from the second and third walls. It was precisely because of Duke Madras's confidence in his castle that he allowed his most elite unit, Seamountain Legion, to head to the frontlines to give the Northland bumpkins a long due lesson and chase them back across the river.
Crossbowmen Company

Lorist wanted to form a 360-strong company of crossbowmen. He temporarily invited Malek to serve as the officers in charge of this unit. As many of his mates from the academy had no experience in the army and wouldn’t be too appropriate for the role of an officer now. Given he was an experienced military officer. Malek was originally the military judge of the Whitelion Legion, so he was to take charge of the crossbowman company.

The leftover Bronze ranked soldiers they had from the freed slaves, formed the basis of Mons Malek's 420-men-strong crossbowmen company.
Norton Molocinque

Norton Molocinque, three-star-silver-ranked household knight and current regiment leader of the third brigade of the heavy-armored division. He has shown heroic deeds and are greatly appreciated by his subordinates.

## Background

Molocinque, the first illegitimate son of Lorist's father and is the eldest of the bunch. He had obtained the support of the families of the garrison of Wildnorth Town, which was the main reason why he wasn’t approved as a candidate for the next family head.

## Story

As one of Norton Lorist's elder brothers sharing the blood of their father, he has performed incredibly well. Lorist was incredibly appreciative of him and allowed him to wear the surname of the family.

When the house took the Hanayabarta archipelago as its overseas territory. Lorist intended to form a garrison division for the archipelago comprising five brigades. Norton Molocinque, was made the division commander with Norton Wellickson acting as his aide. Both Molocinque and Wellickson were shocked. It was already incredibly magnanimous of Lorist to see them as equals, given their illegitimate heritage. But never did they expect to be given a chance like this to prove themselves. In other noble households, illegitimate children were usually oppressed and looked down upon.

## Abilities

Lorist gave him a high-ranked earth attribute Battle Force manual.
Krissen Empire

Located: North from
Morates City

current time: the day
that lorist arrived from the Relics Islands (chapter 1)

The empire had already
began to tear itself up since the start of the power struggle between the three
princes for the throne of the late Krissen Emperor six years ago.

Krissen Empire had
been enemies with the Forde Trade Union for more than a century, during which
at least three major conflicts erupted between the two powers.

Forde Trade Union /
Krissen Empire treaty

There are three main
clauses. First, the empire is to be partitioned into three kingdoms and seven
grand duchies. In other words, the Krissen Empire has ceased to exist and there
will no longer be any northern invasions. Secondly, the stability and security
of the trade routes are to be maintained and taxes will remain the same for all
nations, regardless of whether they are kingdoms or duchies. Additionally, the
subsidiaries of the trade union shall be allowed to conduct business freely in
any territory. The third clause states that the trade union is to give loans to
the seven nations with different interest rates ranging from 13 to 70 percent
depending on the nation.

Nobles

Norton (Norton meant
raging bear in the ancient language of the fairies)

The former Krissen Empire was divided into three kingdoms and seven duchies, among which, the Lormo Duchy neighboring the Falik Plains has already sided with the Forde Trade Union. The next one was the Redlis Kingdom, ruled by the First Prince of the former Krissen Empire, that occupies 7 of the 29 provinces that used to belong to the empire, making it the power with the most territory and might in the area. Next, we have the Farkel Duchy, Forund Duchy, Handra Duchy and the Shabaj Duchy that occupy the center and most prosperous area of the territory that used to belong to the empire. These four duchies even formed a military alliance and they are currently entangled in incessant conflict with the Redils Kingdom.
Hidebull Mound

Lorist wanted to build a new citadel at Hidebull Mound where the mounted archers were stationed so that the two other citadels at the border of the dominion and the Magical Dragon Mountains could be better provided with support. Additionally, it was a strategic location with the river valley and two citadels to its east, the Blackmud Marsh to its north, and the Poplar Coast to its west. If Hidebull Mound could be occupied, even if the two mountain citadels were to be taken over, the barbarians still wouldn't be able to launch an attack on the dominion. Also, the magical beast wave had to pass through that area, meaning that attacks could be launched from there if their numbers were small to wipe them out before they even set foot into the Felicitas Settlement.

While the family did plan to build a citadel at that location, it lacked the manpower and funds at that time and was also bogged down by the troublesome folk of Wildnorth Town. The citadel constructed at Hidebull Mound had to be huge; small ones wouldn't be that reliable and sufficient for the purposes of the family. Now that the family had stable foundations and additional resources, the project could be realized and Knight Pajik's second local defense brigade would be able to guard it to ensure the safety of the family dominion.
Guard Division

The guard division led by Els on the other hand underwent a huge overhaul. Originally, the division numbered around 5000 soldiers and their duties, according to Els, were all over the place. Some oversaw escorting the convoy, others were guarding the mines and factories with some even monitoring the laborers. Additionally, Lorist's personal guard was also part of Els's guard division. They were basically something like duct tape, which was used to patch up all sorts of smaller problems.

The guard division was split into two in the end and the first would cease all their activities and only answer to Lorist and Els's orders. The newly-formed guard brigade would take over the duties of securing the warehouses, refineries and other jobs. Lorist also planned to have the other soldiers who were removed from their respective units because of the reorganization to join and form a second guard brigade which would oversee monitoring the 30000 plus laborers.
Waprey Terman

“I’m starting to feel that my days in the academy are far too uneventful and boring. I’m starting to crave some real battles. My father told me that as a knight, the greatest shame he had was that he didn’t perish on the battlefield but to illness instead. Being a knight myself, I don’t intend to succumb to the same fate as my father’s. I believe I should go all over the place to seek conquest and battle.”

Waprey Terman, a one-star gold rank who was born in a family of freelance knights, was the first one to join Lorist's northbound convoy. Deeply trusted by Lorist, he got the position of the commander of the Raging Bear Knight Brigade, numbering nine thousand men.

## Background

Terman was a member of the Enforcement Division with a One Star Silver rank and was also one of Lorist’s good friends in the academy.

## Abilities

When he first joined Lorist's cause and became his knights, he was only at the three-star silver rank. Even though Terman didn't have much talent in training, through his hard work and military experience over the past seven years, he finally managed to take the next step and become a gold-ranked knight.
Grei Howard

## Abilities

Howard exercised according to a routine Lorist had given him that had the effect of enhancing one’s fundamental capabilities and physique.

When Lorist left for the Hanayabarta kingdom, he had stopped Howard from accompanying him on the campaign despite the latter's insistence. Given the dangers involved, Lorist would not be able to spare extra effort to look after Howard during the conflict. But Howard had maintained that given that he had broken through to the iron rank, he would be more than capable of defending himself from some random soldiers.

Lorist merely smiled at his disciple's response and got Reidy to start training Howard to develop dynamic vision, which Lorist stated was one of the main requirements a disciple of his had to fulfill. Given that Howard was already an iron rank, Lorist advised Howard to take the chance during his absence on the expedition to develop dynamic vision.

So, Howard left with Reidy in the end. When Lorist returned to the dominion, Reidy reported to him that Howard had indeed successfully developed dynamic vision. However, given the difference in physical traits between Howard and Reidy, it took the former up to half a month before he got used to the vertigo-inducing ride on the spinning chair, the embarrassment of which prevented him from coming to see Lorist himself.

By the time Lorist arrived at the training grounds behind Firmrock Castle, he saw Howard training in swordsmanship. It was apparent that his swordsmanship had improved quite a lot following his development of dynamic vision. Lorist was rather satisfied with the results and felt that Howard would be more than capable of taking on silver ranks in another two years of training.
Count Dalek

## Appearance

Count Dalek of Shabaj was a man of huge physique and seemed to be in his thirties.

## Story

Dalek lead the main forces and was the first to breach Frederika's walls.

During the second round, Loze was faced with Count Dalek. The two had clashed many times and exchanged hundreds of blows before Count Dalek surrendered. That evening itself, Lorist received word of Count Dalek and Count Chujway's departure for their dominions.