Knights and Magic Wand
Chapter 362 - 362 175 New Home

362: Chapter 175: New Home 362: Chapter 175: New Home After leaving the dungeons of Archers, Leon and his two companions did not learn much about the situation in the East from the Kantadar prisoners of war.

The few minor lords from Glade County were originally under the command of Count Mamor and in constant battle with the large army of Trosa when Orland first attacked Kantadar; they had learned of King Aviut’s withdrawal from the Eastern campaign through messengers that returned to the army after failing to seek reinforcements.

These northern nobles of Kantadar, who had recently left Mamor’s forces to rush back to Glade County, knew very little about the actual situation on the eastern border.

With some regret, Leon bid farewell to Balfe, who had also been recently knighted as a baron, leading everyone on the journey home from Glade County.

“Shouldn’t we take a detour to check out our fiefs in Glade?” Even though it had been two days since the ennoblement ceremony, Lokhak was still visibly excited.

Although he and Azeryan had not earned enough merits to be knighted as barons, the feats they had achieved in the battle of Longka had still multiplied the size of their feudal territories several times over.

Azeryan had been awarded four knightly fiefs that were nearly as large as, if not larger than, Platon.

Lokhak, on the other hand, received a small Kantadar town in Glade County and two knightly fiefs located in Kosos County; his fief count might appear one less than Azeryan’s, but the population and annual revenue of that small town were obviously far more than one or two villages.

As for the fact that his lands did not connect and stretched across both the north and south of Nightmare Forest, this was actually quite common.

Since becoming a lord, Leon had realized that many nobles, especially the lesser nobles, held lands that were not like those in the coloring games he played in his previous life, with patches of land next to one another and clearly demarcated like national borders.

Examples of having a fief in the east and a manor in the west were commonplace; it was very common for properties to be scattered from one end of the country to the other.

Even the realms of the great nobles often had exclaves scattered around for various reasons, despite trying to keep their holdings contiguous, to say nothing of the lesser lords under the great feudal lords.

“What’s the rush, have you mastered the Uria language yet?” asked Azeryan with a smirk during their light conversation.

Lokhak scratched his head and smirked, “Well…

that’s why I have you guys.”

Watching Lokhak’s eagerness, Leon shook his head and advised, “When you return this time, study Uria more with Lady Vanessa and your sister when you’re at ease.

As our territories expand, there will inevitably come a time when you have to deal with affairs in Glade County on your own.

You can’t expect the Kantadar subjects under your rule to learn Felu and converse with you, can you?”

Lokhak’s enthusiasm dimmed upon hearing this; although he wasn’t completely clueless, when it came to conversation, his proficiency in Uria was still at a level where he might confuse “watchtower” with “hip joint.”

“Don’t be anxious,” Leon comforted him by patting his shoulder.

“Let’s first prepare when we get back home.

I plan to assemble the troops later and have a formal inspection tour through our new territories.”

“A show of force?” asked Azeryan.

“Yes, after all, we are foreign nobles to the people of Glade County, not natives of Orland,” Leon nodded.

“Before engaging with the local populace, it seems necessary to properly demonstrate our military strength and authority.”

For the common people, whether their head was a Kantadar lord or an Orland lord made little difference.

But the wealthier villagers and gentry were always less content.

Not to mention their daring to rebel, just the thought of them exploiting the information gap because the new lord isn’t familiar with local conditions, such as evading taxes or underreporting populations, would be enough to give a foreign lord a headache—issuing a warning upfront would be better for both parties.

This is what it means to expand one’s territory.

Azeryan’s properties were all in Kosos County, and Lokhak only had to manage one small Kantadar town in Glade County.

But Leon had much more to consider.

There were a total of eighteen existing towns and villages on his lands.

Including Avalon and Selva, half were Orland people’s territories, and the other half were Kantadar people’s territories.

With so many places, it was no longer possible to manage one or two manors hands-on, like he did before.

He must quickly build a bureaucratic system that could help him manage both the large and trivial matters of his Baron Domain.

Reflecting on the governance and the official system of the lands, Leon suddenly regretted that in his previous life, he had only enjoyed fencing, dabbling in handicrafts, indulging in food and fun, with no real experience in administrative management.

Applying military management techniques to governing the people, obviously, wasn’t suitable.

Miss Elena and several other literate and numerate noble ladies and young ladies could still uphold some duties.

Unfortunately, Lena and the seven children at home, although they had learned to read, count, and understand etiquette from Miss Elena and the others thus far, were still far too young.

Following the crowd, acting as a junior official to lend a hand to the superiors was manageable, but he was temporarily incapable of being entrusted with important tasks or standing on his own.

After much thought, his fiery gaze once again turned towards his own brother, feeling that Olivia’s mumbling metaphor that night was indeed somewhat apt.

Indeed, he still needed to continue squeezing his good brother.

Grasping Azeryan’s hand firmly, Leon couldn’t help wanting to bare his heart to his brother.

…

“Be my lifetime steward, I’ll do anything.”

Walking down the path, Azeryan was suddenly pulled by the left hand and turned his head in confusion, startled by Leon’s intense gaze, “What’s wrong?

Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Nothing, just thinking that Princess Ines’s fan is quite fashionable, one of these days I’ll find a craftsman, pluck some goose feathers and make a feather fan for you to see.”

“Ah?”

…

On the way back, there was no need to escort the Baroness anymore.

Because Adelina had stayed by Count Eriv’s side.

The situation in Glade County had stabilized, and it seemed that she would be living in Archers Castle to accompany her husband for a long time to come.

Leon estimated that his boss was probably facing a more severe talent shortage than he was, and Adelina, who was educated and had been helping Count Eriv supervise the fief’s affairs for years, could naturally be of great help in Glade County.

Although the Farolis Family had some prospective talent reserves, the extent of Thorny Flower’s power expansion was simply too large, who could have predicted six months ago that the family’s territory would suddenly swell by more than a dozen times in a very short period.

Especially since most of it was foreign territory, managing the affairs of nearly three hundred thousand Kantadar subjects was more complex than within Orland territory.

Even if he tried to promote family confidants and relatives from various side branches as much as possible, Leon still felt that Eriv’s manpower definitely remained insufficient.

This is why the Farolis Family had previously stopped expanding, not because they didn’t want more territory, but because they really couldn’t swallow any more.

Leon didn’t even want to think about how many urgent troubles his boss had to deal with every day now.

Luckily, there is a naturally adaptable “Treasure” in this world—feudalization.

Granting nearly a third of the territory at once to ten Barons of varying stature, to some extent, also greatly reduced the governance cost and pressure of the Thorny Flower Family…

Without the foot soldiers who had slowed them down on the way there, Leon and the eleven Knights were incredibly efficient on the road.

The next day they arrived at Avalon River Valley.

Passing through the town under construction, they arrived at the seamless and sturdy walls forged by Aphrodite’s magic, and Leon felt an indescribable change in his mindset.

Here was the new home for him and his partners.

Avalon Castle, situated at a strategic traffic nexus and located between Kosos and Glade, was undeniably the rightful capital of the Baron Domain.

And the grand residence construction plan that he had been scrupulously planning in his mind recently, could also be tossed aside like rubbish now.

The large fortress, occupying ten hectares, could house as many people as necessary without feeling crowded, and moreover, it contained infrastructure and sanitary facilities far beyond those of the current era.

In Avalon, after interacting with the Knight Officers, Leon planned to rest for the night before immediately returning to Selva to bring over Olivia and the others as soon as possible.

And Death Claw, as smart as it was, would surely understand their moving behavior.

After walking around the streets and alleys inside Avalon and picking out future residences for everyone, Leon’s steps lightened as he headed toward the Fountain Square near the mountain within the city.

He wanted to inform Lola of this good news as soon as possible.

In the future, he could visit her every day to learn.