City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Chapter 23: Tour

Mark Ramsy, Hakan Olofson, Mark Mollegaard, Bjorgy, LemonOx Kaine, Marco, Funki, Loise Taylor, Olaf Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George.

 
“If you were not an honorable merchant, Mister Remus, I would have invited you to join our mercenary company,” said Dan as he helped me get up.
 
“You praise me too much, Dan,” I said as I got up. 
 
A lot of people gathered; when I came here, there were only six people here, but now, there are around twenty, including Captain Markus, who is coming toward me.
 
“My uncle was not really exaggerating about you, Mister Remus; you are really something,” he said.
 
“It was only a spar, Captain Markus,” I said humbly, to which he smiled.
 
After speaking a few words with Captain Markus, I walked out of the training area with Dan, with legs that had already started to feel like jelly. 
 
I have overdone it, and now, I will pay the price.
 
Though, I do not regret it; if I were to fight that orc now, I would have a much better chance against it; I might even be able to score a few strikes.
 
“Use a muscle numbing medicine; it will help with soreness and pain,” Dan said as we began to climb the stairs of the keep.
 
A mirthless smile couldn’t help but appear on my face; I did not have one. 
 
I have it home, and if I knew something like that would happen, I would have brought it, but I am no seer to know; I might need that.
 
Click!
 
Soon, I reached my chambers and closed the door behind me, and was about to go for a bath when suddenly, I remembered something.
 
A way to relieve the soreness and pain; it is expensive compared to muscle numbing cream, but it will help.
 
I immediately took a healing potion and filled the glass with water before carefully dropping a single drop of potion inside before mixing it well with the spoon.
 
With that done, I took a clean cloth and dipped it inside before taking it and beginning to apply it to my body. The healing potion could heal any kind of body damage, including the soreness that appears due to the strained muscles.
 
I applied it all over my body; it took little ingenuity to reach the hard-to-reach places, but I was able to do it.
 
I lay naked on the floor as I let the healing potion do its magic; it would take around ten minutes to seep inside my muscles and worked its magic.
 
Ten minutes passed, and thankfully, no one had disturbed me. 
 
I got up and took a long bath in a heated tub; it made me feel quite relaxed, especially after the taxing days.
 
I stayed in the bathroom for nearly an hour before getting out and changing into the new set of clothes and went to breakfast. 
 
Thankfully, I was alone and did not have to suffer the presence of the family.
 
After breakfast, I returned to my room and read the book I had brought for around two hours before getting up and walking out of the room.
 
“Mister Remus, I am glad you are joining us,” said Captain Markus, as I appeared at the entrance of the table, where the horses were being readied.
 
“I can’t resist the offer,” I replied.
 
We are going to tour the baron; everyone important is present, my brother, madam and my uncle.
 
Captain Markus knows the territory well since he has been here for over a month.
 
Ten minutes later, all the horses were readied with their saddle; one of the guards brought me the horse; it was a red horse with green metallic hoves.
 
The iron-scaled horses, these horses are bred with monsters, which give them better stamina and bigger size while being easy to train and control like normal animals.
 
Seeing the horse, I couldn’t help but remember my parents. 
 
My mother loved horses, she had competed in her younger days before she had to leave due to injuries, but her passion never died out. They had even planned to buy a farm after retiring; I hope they followed up with that.
 
I petted the horse a few times before mounting it; the horse is very well-trained. It barely reacted as I sat on it.
 
“Good boy,” I said as I petted again gently and waited for the gates of the castle to open.
 
Soon, the gates opened, and horses trotted out under the lead of Captain Markus, who seemed to have some skill in controlling the large group of horses, which is not surprising, seeing he is a captain in calvary.
 
As the horses got out the gates and moved toward the forest.
 
“The weather is wonderful today, don’t you think, mother,” said my brother, “Yes, Lord Baron, it is perfect to take a tour of the barony,” she replied.
 
They talked, while I stayed silent in their conversations, only talking to them when they had asked question. 
 
“Lieutenant Vans, what do you think of bandits around?” I asked the woman beside me, “Most groups could be defended against well, like the ones you have encountered yesterday, but there are some that are very powerful,” she said, and her eyes became a little distant.
 
“Some have high numbers, while some barely have thirty, but they could easily break through the castle walls and slaughter everyone,” she added with a low voice.
 
Numbers are not everything; levels and skills affect the battles a lot more, and also the weapon they are using.
 
So, if the bandits are at good levels and skills, even a quarter of the numbers would be more than enough to break through the castles.
 
“But they would not attack the castle, right?” I asked, “Yes,” she replied, “Unless one has something really valuable or good enough reason,” she added.
 
The bandit orcs are not idiots; you could loot but never attack the castle, especially kill the noble, as it would bring the wrath of the empire. The empire will send forces to wipe them out, and if they hide in places where armies can’t come, there will be a huge bounty.
 
Adventurers and mercenaries would be more than willing to finish the job that the army couldn’t.
 
Time passed as the horses trotted through the forest; it was a wonderful place, especially in sunny weather. I wish there would be only a few people, especially not my brother, who is constantly running his mouth.
 
I did not listen to his chatter and focused on something else, the trees, the soul, which is very fertile. 
 
If used well, it will bring Edwin huge benefits through farming. 
 
“This is where the western boundary of barony ends, Lord Edwin; after this road is the territory of Ashleaf Barony,” informed Captain Markus.
 
Even if he had not informed, it has clearly been marked by the huge stones and deeds that clearly mention the area of the baronies down to inches. 
 
So, it is quite hard to mess around it.
 
Our horses turned and went toward the northern side; as we did, our expressions have turned serious.
 
Blain is one of the last baronies; at its northern border, there is buffer land, and after it is a territory of the Oksall city-state. 
 
Many orc tribes live at the boundary, most of them are good, trading livestock and doing some farming, but many tribes are resorted to banditry. Oksall sent their forces to clean them every now and then, but given how vast the forest is, they always came back.
 
For more than one hour, we found nothing more than a few prints of orcs, but when we reached the northern boundary, we saw them.
 
“They are not even trying to hide,” said my uncle as he looked at the small hill ahead with his spyglass.
 
I also looked through mine and saw the tiny figures on the hills, some even waving at us.
 
“Why didn’t prince send the forces and wipe away these bastards,” said Edwin as he looked at the orcs hatefully; even his rock for a brain understands that he is going to have a lot of problems in dealing with these orcs.
 
“Because Lord Baron, we won’t be able to kill all of them, and when the force leaves, whatever had remained, will harass you till you can’t even close your eyes at night,” replied Captain Markus, which shut up Edwin immediately.
 
“There is another solution. Giving that job to us; we will finish them till not a single one of them has remained,” said Jonah softly but loud enough for the people around me to hear.
 
“Which will be a very bad choice,” I said softly, to which he smiled.
 
I wanted to say even a prince would have that kind of money to spend on these pests, but that is not the right word to say in the crowd, especially in front of the prince’s men.
 
These orcs are pests; they could only harass and loot, and they will do it in a capacity that is acceptable, as going over that will invite swift retribution, not only from our side but also from the Oksall.
 
“One day, I will wipe away these bastards from the face of the earth,” declared Edwin, and I could literally see more than half of the people rolling their eyes at his statement.
 
Even the whole Empire would have a problem accomplishing that, much less a puny baron like him.
 
We stayed there for a few minutes, watching orcs as they watched us before turning back toward the castle.

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